His Texas Wildflower by Stella Bagwell

take our coffee and sit out on the back steps,” she suggested. “It’s much cooler than this kitchen.”
    And much safer, she thought, as she poured a dollop of cream into her cup. From the moment they’d entered the house and sat down to supper, she’d felt as though all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. She’d hardly been able to keep her eyes off him. And the more she’d looked at him, the more her mind had wandered to things she had no business thinking. Like how it would be to kiss him, to have him hold her the way a man holds a woman whenever he wants her.
    â€œI’m good with that,” he agreed.
    Releasing an inaudible sigh, she called to Beau and the three of them passed through the door and onto the back porch.
    â€œI apologize for not having a porch swing or lawn furniture,” she told him. “I couldn’t find any around the place and I’ve not taken the time to shop for much more than groceries and pet supplies.”
    â€œThe steps are fine,” he assured her. “I’m not used to doing a lot of chair sitting anyway. Most of my sitting is done in the saddle.”
    He waited until she’d eased down on the top step before he joined her and as he stretched his long lean legs out in front of him, Rebecca immediately wondered if she’d made a mistake by leaving the kitchen. At least in there their chairs had been a respectable distance apart. Now that they were sitting side by side on the wooden step, there wasn’t a hand’s width of space between them.
    What are you whining about, Rebecca? You’ve been itching to get close to the man. Now that you are, you want to run like a scared cat.
    She wasn’t feeling scared, she mentally argued with the mocking voice in her head. She was only trying to be cautious. Jake was obviously a love ’em and leave ’em sort of guy. He’d never taken a wife, or as far as she knew a fiancée, but she’d be ready to bet he’d taken plenty of prisoners of the heart. Would she be willing to become one more?
    Sipping her coffee, she tried not to sigh, to let him see that just sitting here close to him was shaking her like the winds of a hurricane. “I’m ashamed to admit that a lot of my work is done sitting behind a desk. I have so much reading to do, so many photos and catalogs to view, I don’t get to exercise as much as I’d like.”
    â€œYou look like you get plenty of exercise.”
    She’d not been fishing for a compliment and the fact that he’d noticed such a personal thing about her sent a flash of pink color to her face.
    â€œAt the gym,” she explained. “I meant natural exercise.”
    Between bites of cake, he glanced at her, his mouth curved in a suggestive grin. “What sort of exercise do you consider natural? ”
    She cleared her throat and wondered again why he made her feel so naive and inexperienced. She’d had plenty of boyfriends, even a few lovers. This one shouldn’t be causing a flash fire of heat to rush from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. This one shouldn’t be making her heart pitter-patter like those first few drops of rain right before a storm.
    Dating had never been simple or easy for Rebecca. Losing her father had taught her that loving someone with all her heart also carried risks. And for a long time after she’d first started dating, she’d kept everything simple and platonic as a way to keep her emotions protected. But then, as she’d grown older, she’d realized if she never allowed a relationship to grow between herself and a man, she’d always be living alone. Unfortunately, each time she’d let a man into her life, he’d found a reason to leave. Now Jake was knocking on the door of her heart and, crazy or not, she was desperately wanting to open it up and let him in.
    â€œI meant like…riding a horse.”
    â€œOh. So tell