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fireworks. He’d never find her in this throng, and especially in the darkness. But he couldn’t let her get away a second time.
    He didn’t make it ten steps into the crowd before he located several cowboys clustered around Joy. Ryder didn’t stop to see if she welcomed their attentions—he barged into the middle of them, breaking them apart with his big shoulders and bigger attitude.
    Joy’s face registered shock as he grasped her elbow and dragged her away.
    She dug her boot heels in. “Where are you taking me?”
    “Someplace where we can talk.” Several booming fireworks shook his chest walls. Joy’s elbow was warm in his fingers and he wanted to pick her up and shove her against the nearest wall.
    “I appreciate you getting me away from those guys, but you can let me go now.”
    He towed her through the mass of people to the far end of the arena where the chutes were located. Seemed fitting that he’d claim her here.
    She pulled out of his grip, but he caught her again, giving her a don’t-try-it stare that closed her pretty lips around her protest.
    After yanking open one of the gates, he shoved her into the chute.
    “What are you doing?” she burst out.
    “This.” He cradled her face with all the tenderness she brought out of him and lowered his mouth to hers. She gasped, and he took immediate advantage, swiping his tongue through the interior of her sweet mouth. She moaned. He growled.
    When she wove her arms around his neck, he lifted her against the side of the chute, letting her feel every inch of his desire for her. With a quiet noise of wanting, she angled her head and kissed him back.
    Soft exploring that soon raged into long, hungry kisses he never wanted to end. She dug the points of her short nails into his shoulders and he found her ass. Round and fitting perfectly in his hands.
    “Ask me to your room,” he muttered between kisses.
    “Never.”
    He stared into her passion-filled gray eyes and nipped her lower lip. “Why not?”
    She bit him back slightly harder. His cock ached. “Because I don’t date cowboys.”
    “It’s not dating. It’s a one-night stand.” Even as he said it, he knew he was lying. One night wouldn’t be enough.
    “I definitely don’t do one-night stands with cowboys.”
    “I’m a rancher too. Do you do it with ranchers?” He nibbled her throat, making her writhe against him. She stuck her hands into his back pockets, shooting heat through his whole lower body.
    “No...ranchers,” she murmured as he kissed a path down her neck to her collarbones.
    “Then who can you do it with?”
    “Nobody wearing a hat.”
    He withdrew, plucked his hat off his head and tossed it into the muck inside the chute. “Problem solved. C’mon, Princess. I’ve been standing five feet from you all day, and I’m aching for you.”
    She looked up at him, eyes wide and dazed. She kneaded his ass through his pockets, and he clutched her buns harder.
    The final boom of fireworks ended, leaving a ringing silence. Joy pulled away as the crowd cheered.
    “I can’t, Ryder. I know what kind of guy you are.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her, wanting her touch on him again. “What kind of guy is that?”
    “A playboy. I’ve heard things.”
    “You heard wrong,” he gritted out.
    She lifted a brow. “I don’t think so.”
    “Look, neither time you’ve seen a woman hanging on me have I initiated it. Besides, I could say you liked the attention of those guys who’d blocked you back there.”
    She gave a light shake of her head. “No.”
    He reached for her. “Then what’s stopping you? You want me. You want this.” He skimmed the curve of her breast with his knuckles, causing her to shudder.
    “I want more than the physical.” She ducked under his arm and opened the gate.
    Whirling, he grabbed the bars and fought back a curse. He couldn’t give anybody more than the physical, not with a dozen cameras on him at all times. He wasn’t going to try to start—and keep—a