Shane (Remington Ranch Book 2) by SJ McCoy

laughed. “It’ll take more than your normal with me.”
    “Exactly.” He squeezed her hand and looked into her laughing, honey-colored eyes for a long moment. “I want more than my normal from you.”
    The laughter faded from her face as she looked back at him. They stared into each other’s eyes until she broke the moment. “Ha! Nice one, Shane. I almost fell for that!”
    His heart sank. Her words felt like a slap in the face. He’d meant it! He didn’t want to just screw her, he wanted to spend time with her, get to know her. He recovered quickly.
    “I can see you’re going to keep me on my toes,” she said.
    He laughed as the server approached the table. “I’d rather get you on your back.” He smirked at her as the server looked from him to her.
    She gave him the evil eye before turning to the girl to place her order.
    Once the server had gone she gave him a cool look. “So what are we doing here? Are you just taking a roundabout route to the inevitable?”
    He raised an eyebrow. He thought he knew what she meant, but he wanted her to spell it out.
    “The inevitable screwing each other’s brains out,” she clarified.
    “I hope not. I mean yeah, I hope that part is inevitable, but I hope it’s not all we’re going to do together.” Her face relaxed a little. He hoped it was because she wanted to get to know him too. He rushed on while it seemed her defenses were down. “Since you have to keep other women away from me for the next three weeks, I was thinking we should spend some time together actually getting to know each other.”
    She gave him a wary look. “Doing what?”
    “Teaching you all those things you were asking about down by the river. I’ll take you out in the backcountry if you like?”
    She looked suspicious. “If you just want to screw, I’d rather do it at my place.”
    He laughed. “You, Cassidy Lane, are a cynic. Has anyone ever told you that?”
    Her face was hard as she nodded. “Oh, yes. I’ve heard that one before. I prefer to think of myself as a realist.”
    He shook his head, “No, reality is a lot less harsh than you give it credit for. I’m a nice guy. Yes, I want to sleep with you, but I also want to have fun with you outside of the sack, too. So I dare you.”
    She smiled at that. “What do you dare me?”
    He’d been right, she wasn’t the kind to refuse a dare. “To spend the weekend with me. We’ll head out into the backcountry. We’ll camp, I’ll teach you what it’s like out there.” He met her gaze, you’ll have to depend on me to keep you safe.” He watched the struggle on her face. He already knew her well enough to know that the thought of depending on anyone was alien to her. The thought of depending on him was probably even worse, but if she was too much of a hardass to do it, then there really wasn’t much point in him pursuing her. He liked that she was strong, liked her spunk, but he was a guy after all. He wanted to feel that she wanted him—maybe even needed him—for something.
    She pursed her lips. “I accept.”
    He laughed, “But you don’t like it, do you?”
    “Not one bit, no. However, I am intrigued. You’re not the big goofball you make yourself out to be, are you?”
    He smiled, she knew what he was doing. “Not many people see beyond the pretty face.”
    She shrugged. “That’s a problem—or a blessing—we share. I see beyond yours; you see beyond mine. You think we may as well find out straight off the bat if we’re going to be able to handle each other.”
    He smiled. “You know I want to handle you.” He let his gaze rest on her breasts and was rewarded when her nipples hardened.
    She narrowed her eyes at him. “You know damn well what I mean!”
    He smirked, “And you know what I mean.”
    She let out an exasperated laugh. “I do. And I guess this weekend we’re both going to find out just how much we can handle!”
    “In every sense.”
    ~ ~ ~
    Cassidy watched Shane as he drove back down the valley