by Soraya Lane
“Yeah, I may have misled you about that.”
Mia chewed and swallowed her mouthful. “I’m sorry, what?”
She sat in silence, waiting as Sam wolfed down the half of sandwich he was holding. He’d attacked it like he’d never eaten before. She was used to watching her brothers devour more food than a human being should ever be able to consume, but watching Sam was different. He was sexy as hell, and she found it hard not to stare at him now that they were close. He had a shadow of stubble on his jaw, his dark hair was tousled, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up past his elbow showing off tanned, muscled forearms. When he turned to her and flashed her a smile, she knew that Kat was right. She did think he was gorgeous and it had been way too long since she’d been with a man.
“I mean,” he said, looking guilty as hell, “that I might have misled you just to get you to give me lunch.”
“You what?” How could he be so gorgeous but so damn infuriating!
“I don’t want to push him, he did good today. So I’ll leave it at that until tomorrow. Other than to give him some more hay before I leave.”
“Sam! I’m not the hired help, you know. I don’t exist to bring you coffee and sandwiches for no good reason.”
She was pissed now. He was treating her like …
“The hired help?” he chuckled. “No, that would be me. Technically you’re the boss, sweetheart.”
She glared at him, losing interest in her lunch. “Well, as your boss, I’m telling you that I expect more from you today.”
“Oh really? Well, I say that boss or not, you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do with the horse.”
Heat flooded her cheeks, burning her skin and vivifying her anger. Who the hell did he think he was?
“So you’re done for the day?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
“No,” he said, eyeing up her sandwich. “You done with that? They were damn good.”
“Have it,” she said, hastily passing it to him, yanking her hand back when his fingers touched his. She angrily watched him eat it. “So what is it you propose to do for the rest of the day?”
He kept her waiting, taking his time to finish eating. “I propose that you saddle up a horse and get riding. Your father’s employing me to work here, so I may as well give you some pointers.”
“Pointers?” She dug her nails hard into her palms as she fought the urge to explode.
“Look, everyone needs coaching. It’ll be fun.”
Fun my ass, she thought. But she sucked up her anger, refusing to let him see how easily he’d managed to rattle her. She was a professional horsewoman, not some beginner, but he was technically right. Everyone needed coaching, and if he could give her an edge on her competition, then she’d be a fool not to listen to him and see what advice he had.
“Okay, fine,” she agreed. “I’ve already ridden Indi today, but I have a young gelding I was going to ride this afternoon.”
He laughed, and she wondered why he could rile her so easily.
“What?” she asked, drawing her knees up and feeling oddly vulnerable around him.
“Nothing. It’s just that you’re not used to anyone telling you what to do, are you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” she replied, meeting his gaze, looking into eyes so dark they reminded her of her favorite dark chocolate.
“You’re Mia goddamn Ford. Everyone looks up to you and everyone your entire life has probably been slightly in awe of you,” he said simply. “You’re used to being treated differently.”
She let his words wash over her, watching him, listening. “That’s not true,” she said, but the moment she said it, she knew she was lying. Maybe she had grown used to being treated differently.
“Look, I get it. You’re supposed to be my boss while I’m here. Well, you know what? I’m not any good being told what to do and having someone micro-managing me, just like you’re not used to being told you’re anything less than perfect.”
His words were blunt, but they were accurate. She didn’t even know what to say to him in reply.
“I’m a serious loner, and you’re a princess. We’re not exactly a team made in heaven, but I’m here and I’m curious about your riding, so what the hell are we waiting for?”
She laughed. She had thought she’d be more likely to cry than laugh, but the moment he looked at her and grinned, she couldn’t help it. There was more than a chance he was going to drive her absolutely insane while he was here.
“You’re fucking crazy,” she muttered.
“Oooh, did the princess just land an F-bomb?” he teased.
“Yeah, she did. And call me a goddamn princess again and I’ll punch you in the nose and break it.”
He shook his head, howling with laughter now. “Break my nose? Sweetheart, you couldn’t throw a punch that’d break my finger.”
“Oh yeah?” she sputtered. “It just so happens that I have two big brothers who beat the crap out of me when I was a kid. I learned quick to punch back hard, so don’t be so quick to judge me.”
They were both smiling when they pushed up to their feet, and Mia realized she hadn’t felt so good in a long time. Sam might be arrogant and a bit of a jerk, but he was honest, at least, and she appreciated that.
“Truce,” Sam said, holding out his hand.
Mia nodded and clasped it, smiling when his fingers wrapped around hers, engulfing her small hand in his. “Truce,” she agreed, thinking about giving him a quick jab to the nose to prove her point, then deciding against it.
“You know, I had you pegged as a pretty little rich girl who hardly knew the back end of a horse from the front, with no intention of ever working hard or getting her hands dirty,” he said.
“Guess you were wrong then,” she replied.
“Yeah, about everything except the pretty part.”
Sam held her hand a beat too long, and when she pulled away and met his gaze, she wished she hadn’t. Because the heat there was enough to make her want to back off, fast, and the confident, sexy look on his face told her that he could eat her alive if he wanted to.
Chapter 7
WHY the hell had he said that? He didn’t react, the only change in him was the tick in his jaw that he knew was flickering like crazy. Mia wasn’t a girl in a bar, she was his boss and he was here to do a job. So what if she looked like a goddamn supermodel?
She was flushed. It was unmistakable, just the pinkest of tinges coloring her cheeks, and she knew that he’d noticed. He listened to her clear her throat, smiling when she gave him a confused kind of look. He shouldn’t have said it, but he hadn’t exactly been lying, which meant he wasn’t about to try to extract himself out of it. If he did, he knew he’d only dig the hole deeper for himself anyway.
“Ah, shall we go saddle up?” Mia asked, her voice husky.
He shouldn’t have flirted with her. “Sure thing.”
Sam bent to collect the wrapper from the sandwich he’d eaten, balling it up, the water bottle swinging from his other hand. Mia glanced at him, and he gave her a quick smile back, not wanting to encourage her but not wanting to be a dick, either.
“Thanks,” Mia said, turning back to him and taking him by surprise.
“For what?” he asked.
“For saying I’m pretty,” she said. “It’s been a long time since I received a compliment, so thanks.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome.” He should have told her more, should have said she was damn beautiful, because she was, but he left it there. She hadn’t been fishing for compliments, and he wasn’t used to dishing them out.
He followed her past the stables, the horses all poking their noses out of their expensive houses. He’d been in some beautiful establishments, but the Ford ranch with all its luxury equine facilities was truly something else. He wondered if Mia had designed the place or whether it had already been here, but something told him that her daddy had built it especially for her. The entire ranch was immaculate and he coul
dn’t wait to take a proper look around the grounds and find out more about their operations. He gathered the ranch was successful, but clearly it was her father’s other business interests that had elevated his wealth.
“Have you always ridden?” he called out to Mia, standing beside a sweet-looking bay horse and letting him nuzzle his shirt.
“Yeah. Well, since I could convince my mom to let me ride.”
“Your mom?” he asked, curious since she hadn’t spoken about her before. He’d gotten the impression it was just her dad at the main house.
“Yeah, my mom. She loved horses, but she was cautious about letting us ride too young.”
“Hey, at least yours gave a damn. My mom up and left.”
Mia frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“So your mom, does she…” Sam wondered why he’d never heard about a Mrs. Ford before. He didn’t exactly move in the elite circles of folk like the Fords, but still …
“My mom passed away,” Mia said quickly. “I was only a teenager, so it was pretty rough, but she was a wealthy woman before she met my dad, and when she knew she didn’t have long to live, she built me this.” Mia held out her hands to gesture around. “I lost my mom, but I ended up with the best stables money could buy.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam said, seeing the pain on her face, the glint in her eyes the moment she’d spoken about her mother.
“Hey, she was a great mom. It’s just that I’d give all this up, every single thing, if it meant I could have her back, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “Believe me, I get it.” And he did. His mom hadn’t died, she’d left. His dad had stuck around, but he’d been an asshole, and when he’d died after a short illness a year ago, he hadn’t even shed a tear. He’d have traded both of his parents a hundred times over to get just one parent who gave a damn about him.
“Enough about me, sorry. I don’t usually tell anyone that, I just…” She threw her hands up. “Why do I keep telling you so much? I’m used to keeping to myself and training without hardly seeing another soul during the day, and now that you’re here I’m pouring my soul out to you.”
“That’s the problem when you’re a loner,” Sam told her, chuckling and stroking the horse beside him.
“Maybe I am a loner,” she mused, making him laugh. “Hell, maybe that’s why you kept rubbing me the wrong way so quickly.”
Sam shrugged. “Takes a loner to know one. Now go saddle up. I need to leave at a decent hour so I don’t have to feed my own horses in the dark again.”
Mia disappeared and he talked to the horses, wandering down the line to look at all of them. He’d only seen her ride the one, her favorite mare, but he had a feeling she was full of surprises, and her horses all looked impressive.
When she didn’t reappear, Sam went looking for her, wondering what the hell was taking so long.
“Hey, do you need a hand back there?” he called out.
He squinted in the half-light, dark compared to the full-sun glare outside when he ducked through the doorway and into the tack room.
“Oh, shit, sorry, just give me a sec.”
He stopped. Sam stood in the middle of the small room, saddles and bridles covering every inch of wall space, and Mia pressed into one corner, her tears impossible to hide.
“Hey,” Sam murmured, striding over to her. Hell, he hadn’t expected her to be crying. He’d thought she might need a hand carrying some gear out, but … he didn’t know what to do.
“I’m fine, please,” she said, holding one hand up to her face, the other stretched out in front of her as if trying to push him away before he was even close.
“You’re not okay,” he said, knowing how gruff he sounded but unable to help it. “Come here.”
She shook her head. “Please, I’m fine,” she managed, voice cracking.
“Your mom, huh?” he asked, knowing that there was no way in hell he’d managed to say anything to upset her this much. She was still grieving, he could see that from a mile off.
She nodded, dropping one hand, the other still covering her face. “Yeah,” she whispered. “It’s just I haven’t talked about her for a long time. She’s been gone twelve years so I shouldn’t be reacting like this.”
“Come here,” Sam said, not taking no for an answer this time as he opened his arms and pulled her in.
He held her, tight, letting her cry. She sobbed once, loudly, a noise that made his heart lurch for her, feeling her pain, before she went silent and relaxed in his arms. It had been almost a year since he’d held a woman like this; comforted a woman and held her and felt something for her. He stiffened. Only that woman had played him, ripped his heart out when he’d have done anything for her. Anything.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’d tell you it’ll get easier, but I doubt it will.”
He didn’t sugarcoat things, even this type of thing, but he did feel for her. She’d tried to talk about her mom all nonchalant to him, laughing about her beautiful stables, when in reality it had torn her in half and left her crying all on her own. She’d lost her mom and her best friend as well; no wonder she’d been prickly when he’d tried to muscle in and take over with the one thing she did have—her horses.
Mia pushed back and he wished she hadn’t. He’d liked the warmth of her against him, the tickle of her long hair catching in his stubble as he’d inhaled her shampoo or whatever it was on her that smelled so damn delicious.
“Sorry,” she murmured, her hands to his chest as she stepped back. “I don’t ever let anyone see me cry.”
He believed it. She didn’t strike him as the type to let anyone see her vulnerabilities.
Sam glanced down at her, at her hands against his chest, at the way she was looking up at him, her eyes wide. Her mouth parted, tear-stained cheeks making her look so vulnerable that it tugged at something inside of him he’d thought was long buried.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” he muttered, slowly raising a hand and brushing his thumb gently across her cheeks to blur the tears away.
Mia stayed still, her palms still planted against him, head tilted. He looked at her mouth, fought the urge to rub his thumb across her soft pink lips. Instead he dropped his hand, skimming past her long blonde hair on the way past.
Sam bent a little, eyes on her mouth, imagining what her lips would taste like. He wanted to kiss her so damn bad, wanted to push her up against the wall behind her and kiss the hell out of her. But he didn’t.
He’d sworn off women for a reason, and sexy or not, he wasn’t about to take advantage of his boss up against a wall. Even crying she was beautiful, but he wasn’t going there. He couldn’t go there.
Dammit!
Her eyes were dancing, her lips were parted, her hands were slowly dropping away from his chest. But instead of closing the distance between them, instead of hungrily tasting her lips against his, he took her hands, stepping back and squeezing them.
“You take all the time you need,” he said instead, hearing the husky note of his own voice. “I’ll be out here.”
He walked out, ducking back through the door and out into the bright sunlight again. Goddamn it! What the hell had he just done? He’d always prided himself on being able to keep his shit together, and he’d let himself get way too close to Mia.
He stalked off, pleased to be alone while she pulled herself together. When he’d found Kelly in bed with another guy, he’d vowed never, ever to let himself get close to a woman again. He’d loved her, damn, had he loved her, and she’d gone behind his back and fucked another guy in their bed when he’d been out at work. Add to that the fact he’d had to pay her big time because they’d been living together for over three years and their home was considered relationship property, and it had been enough for him to never let any woman get close again.
Now he only did one-night stands or casual flings. He met women when he was away traveling, when he could make it clear that he was only in town for a night or two. There w
ere no strings attached, there were no expectations. He wasn’t an asshole, he didn’t use women, but he made it clear that it was only ever going to be a fun night between the sheets.
But Mia was different. Mia was girlfriend material. Mia was from Texas, she was beautiful and she was … the kind of girl he didn’t need to get close to or lead on.
Sam went for a walk to cool off. He’d screwed up, but he wasn’t going to let it happen again. Mia was off limits. Mia was his boss. He just needed to keep telling himself that.
His dog appeared out of nowhere and Sam realized he’d forgotten all about him.
“Hey, Bluey,” he said, giving him a big pat when he loped over. “Come with me, bud.”
He had everything he needed in his life. He had his ranch, his dog, his horses, good people working on his ranch and his own work. He didn’t need anything else, and he needed to remember it next time he got up close with the gorgeous Mia Ford.
* * *
Mia was wondering if she’d gone crazy. Had Sam almost kissed her? She lugged her saddle, bridle and brushes out to the stables and looked around for him. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but she knew he wouldn’t be far. Which meant she had about zero seconds to get her shit together.
She let herself in with Fred, the gelding she’d told Sam about. She needed to get her head back in the game and forget all about what had almost happened. Because it hadn’t happened, which meant nothing had happened. Sam wasn’t interested in her, he never would be. Guys like him didn’t like girls like her, she had no expectations there. What she had was a crush on him, a little fantasy that wasn’t ever going to come true. It had been a moment, and that moment had well and truly passed. But Kat had been so right. She was craving being up close and personal with a man, and having a guy like Sam so close had brought it all back to her.
“Come on, we can do this,” she said to the horse in a low voice, brushing him down quickly before saddling him up. She used the soft body brush on his face before putting on his bridle, then double-checked his girth and went out to get her helmet, which she’d forgotten.
“Oh,” she said, almost walking smack-bang into Sam. He was standing outside the stable, hands shoved into his pockets.