One Hot Cowboy Read Free Page A

reason. Logical. So damned
    right when she was always wrong. “It’s
    dark. You’re alone. Does anyone know
    you’re here?”
    “I’m perfectly safe, Cabe.” She could
    hear the tightness in her own voice, but the
    adrenaline was subsiding, and no way
    she’d admit he was right. She never had
    before, and she sure as hell wasn’t starting
    now. Let a man like Cabe Dawson know
    he had the upper hand, and he’d walk all
    over you. “I practically grew up here. Only
    people likely to be out here are you and
    your brothers.”
    He shook his head. “ Likely doesn’t
    mean certain, Rose. Shit happens all the time.”
    “Yeah.” She carefully slipped her head
    backward, keeping her chest underwater.
    There were stars overhead—how long had
    it been since she’d watched the impossible
    crispness of this black sky with its
    countless pinpricks of light? Her fingers
    worked through her hair, washing out the
    last remnants of shampoo. “I know all
    about shit happening, Cabe. I don’t need a
    lesson from you there.”
    He just kept on eyeing her, and she
    would have paid the fortune she didn’t
    have to know what the man was thinking,
    because there was a hot lick of something
    in those dark eyes of his. The Dawson
    brothers were all big, dark men with a
    family tree rooted on their mother’s side in
    the Spanish conquistadors who had
    claimed vast swaths of California for their
    own. There was an almost possessive
    gleam in his eyes as he stood there.
    Watching her.
    She couldn’t be sure how much of her
    was actually on display in the dark, but he
    was standing next to her underwear. He
    knew damned well that she was swimming
    naked. Worse, her awareness of him
    created, as it often had, a sweet, hot ache
    in her that she knew she shouldn’t
    welcome. The sensation had her pressing
    her thighs together; thankfully, even he
    couldn’t see that well.
    So, she still wanted Cabe Dawson.
    Despite herself, then and now. She still
    wanted a cowboy who’d often infuriated
    her but never shown the slightest interest in
    her. Had probably barely even noticed her
    except as a neighboring nuisance. She’d
    done her best to forget him, had stayed
    away for years hoping to do so. Letting him
    know she still wanted him would be a
    mistake of monumental proportions.
    He hadn’t wanted her eight years ago.
    He wouldn’t want her now.
    And yet, he leaned forward, hands
    resting on his knees, and the sheer male
    power of him stole her breath away.
    Problem was, she’d always had a good
    imagination. She’d imagined all too
    clearly, before she left Lonesome the last
    time, what it might be like to teach Cabe
    Dawson a thing or two. On her terms.
    “If you don’t want me to teach you a
    lesson,” he said, as if reading her mind,
    reaching down a hand to haul her out,
    “don’t make me come in there after you,
    Rose.”
    She ignored that hand and got on with
    washing the rest of the suds out of her hair.
    “I mean it.” That rough growl of his
    made her wetter than she already was, and
    that just made her mad.
    Yes, the Dawson brothers were all big
    men, and she recognized the protective,
    overbearing stance Cabe was taking now.
    This man didn’t think she needed to be
    where she was, and he’d decided to help
    her out with a little redirect. His intentions
    might be sweet, but she’d left “sweet”
    behind her in the town where she’d grown
    up.
    “I know you won’t come in after me,
    Cabe.” If he did, he’d lower himself to her
    level, and that wasn’t like Cabe Dawson at
    all. She’d never once seen him yield when
    he’d decided to make a stand.
    “You sure?” He tossed that hat of his
    aside. For a moment, she thought she had
    him.
    “I’m naked,” she pointed out. Just in
    case he’d missed that little fact.
    She still couldn’t read him, but she’d
    learned years ago how to rile him up. That
    knowledge was bittersweet. She wasn’t the
    same girl she’d been all those years ago,
    but he