Lone Star Burn: Broncos & Bouquets (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Free

want it to be?
    “Sorry, Laney.” Her coworker stepped to her, mop in hand. “I was just about to clean that up.”
    She turned and looked at the floor behind her. A coffee spill, a typical hazard of the job. But it wasn’t so much feeling like a death risk. Not when it landed her in Sawyer’s arms.
     
    *   *   *
     
    Sawyer hadn’t planned on stopping into the coffee shop when he’d gone into town that morning. He was supposed to pick up the new stall gates Tony had ordered then head back to the ranch. But he’d seen the sign for Java Jane’s and felt a sudden craving for a good cup of coffee. And maybe a craving for something else—some one else—too.
    He hadn’t planned on asking Laney out on a date, either, but it spilled out of his mouth before he could stop it. It sucked when she’d turned him down though. But he wasn’t believing the dumb excuse she’d used. Not once he’d seen the way she’d looked at him. The hunger in her eyes. He’d felt the beat of her heart, and it wasn’t just adrenaline from the slip. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
    He’d tossed and turned last night, unable to get her out of his head. Unable to get Sarah’s words out of his head. He hadn’t known then what a spark felt like, but he sure as hell did now. When he caught Laney at the coffee house, her grasp on him, her chest pressed to his, he felt a spark all right. More like a friggin’ lightning bolt that radiated to his groin, his heart, his head. Every part of him wanted her. And he was prepared to annoy her until she broke, just like the wild horses he was so good at taming. He had a talent for it.
    Sawyer finished his day of work with a grin on his face, Laney on his brain. He went to bed and rolled out of it before dawn the next day. He got a jump on his work then drove into town for feed. They weren’t all that low, but better to be safe than sorry. And while he was there, he might as well stop at the coffee shop.
    “Are you here to claim your free cup?” she asked as he stepped to the counter, unsuccessfully trying to hide a smile.
    “No. I’m here to ask you out on a date, but I’ll take whatever you’re offering.”
    “Just coffee.” She poked her tongue out at him and filled a cup. “What do you want in it?”
    “Nothing. I don’t need fancy coffee.”
    “I figured. You don’t seem like a fancy kind of guy.”
    As she waited on other customers, he moved aside and took a seat at the same table they’d sat at yesterday. When the line dissipated, she moseyed on over.
    “Can I get you something else?”
    “Just a date with you on Friday.”
    She rested her hands on her hips. “That’s not on the menu.”
    “Damn. Cause that’s all I want.”
    She was fighting that smile again. “Then I guess you’re shit out of luck.”
    Sawyer finished his coffee, said goodbye, and went back to the ranch. Next morning, he went through the same routine, finding another reason to drive all the way into town. And again headed to the coffee shop.
    “How’d you get into the flower thing?” he asked as she wiped down the tables around him.
    “When I was sixteen I took a design class with my mom at a community center. The lady told me I had potential. Asked if I’d like to come help out at her flower shop for Mother’s Day. It sounded fun, so I did it. It was hard work and I learned a lot that week. I didn’t know it if was something I really wanted to do or not, but then I watched one of her designers make a wedding bouquet. I was hooked. I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life.”
    “Wow.” He’d never known anyone who just knew like that. He sure as hell hadn’t, and definitely not when he was sixteen. He was older when he fell into ranching and found a love for it after it kicked his ass. He’d never had dreams or goals when he was a kid. He did what he had to do to get by. If he’d known then what he knew now, he would have made damn sure to make some goals. Maybe things