Read Pick Me for Free Online Page A

for the first time since leaving her parents’ small bungalow when she’d left for college, she had an overwhelming sense of coming home. Stone pillars, with iron gates shaped into the image of running broncos, led to a beautiful, large colonial home with a three car garage. Huge oak trees shaded the winding driveway, while horses either ran or grazed in the pasture. The view of the lake flanking one side of the property was breathtaking. She could image her and Colt taking a picnic basket filled with wine and munchies, and watching the sunset there, while the horses softly neighed nearby, and the night creatures began to awaken and stir. As they made love on a blanket, the evening sky would be riddled with stars, not clouded by smoke from a processing plant or outshined by the city lights.
    As quickly as the image ran through her mind, she shoved it away. Dating Colt was a job. A means to an end. Four weeks, that was all she’d have to endure. Four weeks of dating him and two other guys, oh God, on camera, then she was free to go—with a signed contract guaranteeing a raise, a promotion, and the chance to have Derek seriously consider one of the screenplays she’d pitched to him.
    She stopped craning her neck at the lake as Colt drove closer to the house. Near the three car garage sat what appeared to be some sort of souped up golf cart with tires like a four wheeler and a cargo hold in the back end. “What is that thing?” she asked, hoping she’d have an opportunity to ride in it. The four wheeler looked like fun, and she would love to use it to explore Colt’s property.
    “It’s the Ranger I’d told you about last night,” Colt said as he parked the truck. “I asked my brother, Ruger, to stop by, bring it out from the barn, and make sure she was gassed up.”
    “Ruger? You mean like the gun?” she asked, then grinned.
    His cheeks reddened, and she melted. There was something about seeing her rugged, badass cowboy blush that did a number on her. Not that he was hers, but damn, maybe in another lifetime.
    “Yep, my dad had a thing for guns, and named all us kids after a firearm.”
    “ Us kids, how many are in your family?”
    “I’ve got an older brother, Win, named after the Winchester rifle, then there’s me, Ruger, then Barrett, and finally my sister, Remy.”
    “Let me guess, her full name is Remington.”
    He winked. “That’s right. Hell, when we were growing up, we even had a couple dogs named Smith and Wesson.”
    Laughing she shifted in her seat and caught his teasing gaze. “Liar.”
    “I wish I was. You could say my dad was a bit fanatical. Hang tight,” he said as he climbed out of his seat. He ran around the front of the truck, then opened her door. “Let me help you.”
    She was grateful for his assistance. Not only wouldn’t she break her neck trying to exit his gigantic truck, but it gave her a chance to touch him again. An excuse to allow him to touch her, despite the rules she’d laid out last night.
    Touch her, he did. Lifting her by the waist, rather than taking her hand, he pulled her from her seat and swung her around. Instead of setting her to the gravel, he held her against him for a second, then slowly slid her body down the length of his.
    By the time her hiking boots touched the ground, her nipples were hard. Thankfully, her knees didn’t give way. The man had that much of an effect on her, especially with his big hands still holding her waist, a few calloused fingers brushing the skin exposed by the slight rise of her tank top. 
    Needing a distraction, a way to put some distance between them before she threw her career away and took him against the truck, she opened her mouth to thank him, but he beat her to the punch. “So now you know about my name, I’ve been wondering about yours. I know you’re Italian,” he said, and ran a finger along a few curls that couldn’t be tamed by the flat iron, while he kept his other hand secured around her waist. “Is