and panties, zipping her pants, stepping into her shoes, and rushing down the hall for the staircase. By the time she reached her SUV, she’d only managed a half dozen of her blouse’s buttons, but they were the ones that would keep her from getting arrested, and that was fine.
What wasn’t fine was the way watching his bare ass as he’d sauntered away had her never wanting to leave. Had her, in fact, wanting to spend the rest of the day with him, on horseback, or in the barn while he did . . . whatever it was that he did. Had her wanting to belong.
If she’d been compelled to do any of that for her story, that would’ve been fine. But she’d wanted to do it because she enjoyed his company. He made her laugh. He made her curious—about his work, about his family, about the things he loved, the things he hated, his dreams for this broken-down ranch.
And that was skating too close to the emotional involvement she’d sworn to avoid. Not even for Boone Mitchell would she step into that trap.
TEN
A S MUCH AS he hated leaving the ranch at the end of a day, Boone meant what he’d said to Everly. He’d never be able to answer her questions if they were alone in the house. Their being alone would have him dragging her up the stairs to his bed. She could ask him what she wanted to know while there, but he’d have a hard time answering with his blood in another part of his body than his brain. And he was pretty sure she’d have a hard time taking notes with her hands busy elsewhere.
As it was, he mused, dragging his saddle and blanket from Sunshine’s back, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about this interview business, no matter his sounding all grown-up when he’d agreed to let her question him. He got that she was just doing her job. He also got that having her be the one to tell the Dalton Gang’s story would keep it from turning into some sort of literary lynch mob. Everly at least would be fair, he was sure of that, even with the less-than-positive parts of his past. He just hoped in all her digging she didn’t come across sins he’d forgotten committing.
They had to be out there. He was certain they were. But he’d been away from Crow Hill almost as long as he’d lived here. Hard to recall everything a man did as a boy, especially a teen boy fascinated with his own dick. And everything in high school had been about his dick. Unless it had been about beer. Combine the two and they made for a volatile combination. They also made for a lot of forgettin’ going on.
Mostly, though, he was worried about her running across the real trouble he’d got into with Les Upton. Granted, Les had caused the trouble . . . for his daughter, for his wife. For Boone. But Boone and his favorite part of his body had not been innocent in that night’s debacle.
If he and Everly were to get serious, he’d tell her about it. It was something he’d want her to know. But he would not open up that vein for her newspaper story even should she ask. Those facts had seen enough print back in the day.
“You want to come to town?” Dax asked, coming out of the tack room and stopping at Sunshine’s stall. Casper had already headed home, the two returning later than expected from the auction. “Arwen’s working tonight so I’m eating at the saloon. Happy to buy you a burger and a beer.”
Boone had kinda forgotten the other man was still here and huffed in response. “Happy since she owns the place and you buying means no money changing hands, you mean.”
Dax shrugged. “What can I say. It’s one of the perks of the relationship. The second best, I’m thinking.”
“Sharing her bed being the first.”
“I don’t think so.” Dax pushed up on his hat brim before draping his arms over the stall door, moving one foot to the bottom rung, moving it away when it creaked in protest. If they didn’t get a break soon, this barn was going to fall down around them before they could afford to build a new one. “I’d
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