Collier Cowboy Camp: The Complete Series by North Leslie

Author:North, Leslie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Afterwards, Taison stretched out in the shade. Emme was curled alongside him, her skin still damp from the water as he stroked a hand down her side. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this relaxed.

“Looks like all that physical therapy is paying off.” Emme was loose and limp beside him, her voice lazily satisfied. “Your leg held up really well in that water.”

Taison grinned. “Well, we have been upping the weights in the last few sessions. Though Georgia refuses to say by how much. She doesn’t want me to obsess over numbers.”

“Which you would.”

“Yeah.” He could admit that.

“Well,” Emme murmured, “anything I can do to help.” Throwing an arm around his chest, she snuggled closer—and then stilled. “Is this okay?”

“It’s fine.” Cautiously, he pulled her closer. He tried not to think about the way she fit against him, as if it was supposed to be like this.

“I just don’t want things to get weird again. Like they did after the first time we did this.” Her voice was quiet.

Taison hesitated. “I know. I didn’t want that to happen either. I just wasn’t sure if I should say anything. I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing.”

He felt Emme’s smile against his skin. “Bullshit. Big, handsome rodeo star like you—I bet you have women dropping like flies.”

“Well, yeah,” he said, which made her laugh. “But you move around so much when you’re competing, there isn’t much time for second dates.” Taison shrugged. “I didn’t want to screw things up.”

“I don’t have a lot of experience with this either,” she admitted. “The whole casual thing. I tend to be more of a long-term, intense relationship type—don’t worry.” Emme grinned when she saw his expression. “That’s not me trying to make this anything more than it is. It’s just…I like this.” She gestured to the two of them. “I like you. I didn’t want to mess things up either.” She paused, her expression unexpectedly vulnerable. “Friends?”

“Is that what we are?”

“I don’t know. It’s better than ‘temporary workplace associate with benefits,’” she said dryly.

Taison smiled, though something in him still felt unsettled. Friends didn’t really feel like the right word, but he wasn’t going to try to figure out why—or which word he wanted to use instead. “Friends.” He pulled her in for a kiss—and then laughed when Lucky padded over and tried to wriggle between them. She woofed at Taison and then curled up next to him, setting her head on his shoulder.

“That dog is in love,” Emme said.

He shrugged. “She just knows a sucker when she sees one.”

“I don’t think it’s that. You’re good with all the animals. It’s a gift.”

“It’s not that big a deal.”

“It is,” Emme insisted. “You have that way about you that just makes animals trust you, and that’s not a small thing. Not to mention, you’ve reorganized my entire office in a matter of weeks. And you’re practically running the adoption event.”

“It isn’t anything you couldn’t do.”

Emme leveled him with a look.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.