Read Pick Me for Free Online
Authors: Kristine Mason
thought spiked her body temperature. She wanted him, too. But choosing the wrong bachelor, even if he felt oh so right, would not bode well for her ego.
Somehow, she always managed to pick the wrong guy—the cheater, the deadbeat, the trumped-up, wannabe movie star. When she’d first met Colt, she’d come off a one year sexual hiatus. Her time with the show hadn’t allowed her the convenience of a normal relationship, which led her boyfriend at the time to dip his stick elsewhere. After a year with no sex, little time for socializing with the few friends she’d kept in touch with, she’d ached for someone to hold her. To pretend that, for one night, she’d meant something to someone.
“We’re almost there,” Colt said, finally breaking the silence as he veered the truck off the highway.
She stared at his profile, the rugged plains and angles of his handsome face, and wished he would have removed his hat. He had great hair. Thick and brown, sun kissed probably from being outdoors. Her fingers tingled at the thought of running her hand through his hair, knocking his hat off like she’d done last night in the parking lot, and drawing him in for a kiss.
“Super,” she said, then rolled her eyes to the passing terrain. Why couldn’t she seem to make more than a one word sentence today?
Because you could put your mouth to better use, her inner vixen reminded her. She shut that voice down, then perked up when she saw a large, weatherworn billboard.
Welcome to Sunny Springs, population 725.
“Is this where you live?” Finally a full sentence, she sighed with relief.
“Yep, although we have a few miles until we reach my ranch.”
As he drove through the small town, one of the store fronts caught her attention. Red’s Taxidermy.
“Is that the Red you were talking about last night?”
He grinned, but kept his eyes on the road. “Yep.”
“You weren’t actually serious about stuffing a coyote for me to display in my living room, were you.”
“Nah,” he chuckled. “They’re ugly creatures.”
“Let me guess, all of your answers, including the whole gun toting thing had been your way of trying to make yourself less appealing so I wouldn’t have picked you.”
“That was the plan,” he drawled and, after nearly eighty miles of driving together, glanced at her. That same simmering look she’d seen in his eyes last night, and again at the apartment this morning, was there. And it was doing a job on her nerves and the sexual tension coursing through her body. “But I’m glad it didn’t work.” He winked, then swerved off the paved road onto a dirt trail.
She gripped the door for leverage as the truck jumped and jostled, the backend fishing to the right as they met a dip in the dirt lined with gravel. “I’m assuming your ranch is somewhere off this dirt path.”
“It’s not a path. It’s a road, just a bumpy one.”
“Danny said he has GPS in the van, but is your dirt road going to register?”
“It should, and if it doesn’t, he’ll call me on my cell.”
“You actually have reception out here?” Oh the city girl in her was not believing any of that. They were eighty miles from Dallas, and the nearest town’s biggest sign boasted that of a taxidermist.
“Believe it or not, even us hicks have technology.”
“I didn’t mean to imply—”
“No worries, I know you didn’t. I never did have a chance to ask you where you were from, and don’t tell me Dallas, because I know a Midwestern accent when I hear one.”
He never had the chance because when they had been in Denver, they’d skipped the “getting to know you stuff” and dove right into sex.
“Chicago.”
He glanced at her again. “Well, Sunny Springs is far cry from the Chicago or Dallas, but I’m betting what you see ahead won’t have you missing those bright lights and all that concrete.” He shifted his gaze back to the dirt road and nodded. “Look, there she is.”
Valentina caught her breath, and
Somehow, she always managed to pick the wrong guy—the cheater, the deadbeat, the trumped-up, wannabe movie star. When she’d first met Colt, she’d come off a one year sexual hiatus. Her time with the show hadn’t allowed her the convenience of a normal relationship, which led her boyfriend at the time to dip his stick elsewhere. After a year with no sex, little time for socializing with the few friends she’d kept in touch with, she’d ached for someone to hold her. To pretend that, for one night, she’d meant something to someone.
“We’re almost there,” Colt said, finally breaking the silence as he veered the truck off the highway.
She stared at his profile, the rugged plains and angles of his handsome face, and wished he would have removed his hat. He had great hair. Thick and brown, sun kissed probably from being outdoors. Her fingers tingled at the thought of running her hand through his hair, knocking his hat off like she’d done last night in the parking lot, and drawing him in for a kiss.
“Super,” she said, then rolled her eyes to the passing terrain. Why couldn’t she seem to make more than a one word sentence today?
Because you could put your mouth to better use, her inner vixen reminded her. She shut that voice down, then perked up when she saw a large, weatherworn billboard.
Welcome to Sunny Springs, population 725.
“Is this where you live?” Finally a full sentence, she sighed with relief.
“Yep, although we have a few miles until we reach my ranch.”
As he drove through the small town, one of the store fronts caught her attention. Red’s Taxidermy.
“Is that the Red you were talking about last night?”
He grinned, but kept his eyes on the road. “Yep.”
“You weren’t actually serious about stuffing a coyote for me to display in my living room, were you.”
“Nah,” he chuckled. “They’re ugly creatures.”
“Let me guess, all of your answers, including the whole gun toting thing had been your way of trying to make yourself less appealing so I wouldn’t have picked you.”
“That was the plan,” he drawled and, after nearly eighty miles of driving together, glanced at her. That same simmering look she’d seen in his eyes last night, and again at the apartment this morning, was there. And it was doing a job on her nerves and the sexual tension coursing through her body. “But I’m glad it didn’t work.” He winked, then swerved off the paved road onto a dirt trail.
She gripped the door for leverage as the truck jumped and jostled, the backend fishing to the right as they met a dip in the dirt lined with gravel. “I’m assuming your ranch is somewhere off this dirt path.”
“It’s not a path. It’s a road, just a bumpy one.”
“Danny said he has GPS in the van, but is your dirt road going to register?”
“It should, and if it doesn’t, he’ll call me on my cell.”
“You actually have reception out here?” Oh the city girl in her was not believing any of that. They were eighty miles from Dallas, and the nearest town’s biggest sign boasted that of a taxidermist.
“Believe it or not, even us hicks have technology.”
“I didn’t mean to imply—”
“No worries, I know you didn’t. I never did have a chance to ask you where you were from, and don’t tell me Dallas, because I know a Midwestern accent when I hear one.”
He never had the chance because when they had been in Denver, they’d skipped the “getting to know you stuff” and dove right into sex.
“Chicago.”
He glanced at her again. “Well, Sunny Springs is far cry from the Chicago or Dallas, but I’m betting what you see ahead won’t have you missing those bright lights and all that concrete.” He shifted his gaze back to the dirt road and nodded. “Look, there she is.”
Valentina caught her breath, and