Borrowed Cowboy (Shadow Maverick Ranch) Read Online Free

adjoining wall, guarded by cedar cabinets his father had hand-crafted to his mom’s specifications. For as long as he could remember, Evelyn Mathis had ruled this space as a revolving door of kids and ranch hands passed through.
    The only action the kitchen saw these days came from Erin, who had claimed the position of temporary matriarch, and made daily rounds to ensure Pax wasn’t allowing the twins to starve.
    He kept the herd alive and thriving. He could handle a couple of kids.
    He opened the fridge and grinned at the stacks of food containers. Of course, who was he to complain if Erin wanted to cook? Looked like a win-win to him.
    He grabbed two longnecks and elbowed the door shut as he twisted the caps. He set one aside and tipped the other to his mouth.
    Reese walked into the kitchen, a sexy smile teasing the corners of her mouth.
    He stood at the enormous, curved island—the centerpiece of the kitchen and lately, where he ate most of his meals. “You look like the cat that ate the canary. What’s up?” Paxton waved her toward a barstool.
    Reese hooked her purse on the back, settled onto the seat, and took the beer he held out for her. “Hot guy. Cold beer. Do the math,” she teased. A pretty blush crept over her cheeks.
    Pax drank his beer while Reese looked everywhere but at him. He leaned forward on his elbows. “If it’s possible, you’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”
    Her smile indicated she thought he was full of shit. Or maybe it was the eye roll. “And you’re still a charmer.”
    “Just stating a fact.” He moved around the bar to slide onto the stool next to her. He turned until they were knee-to-knee and relaxed against the back of the stool. “So, Reese, what have you been doing with yourself?”
    She glanced to where his jeans touched her bare legs. “Nothing too exciting. I finished college, started a business.”
    She cradled her beer in her lap. Her nails toyed with the edge of the label and he wondered what she wasn’t telling him. A lot, he supposed. Stuff he shouldn’t care about. Stuff that wasn’t any of his business.
    “You plan mostly weddings?”
    She raised a smooth, toned shoulder. “Weddings, fundraisers, that kind of thing. I enjoy the creativity of it, and what I do helps to make people happy. It may sound silly, but I like it. I stay as busy as I want, and it pays the bills. What about you? Still a rancher, huh?”
    As though he’d be anything else. He’d been chasing cows since he could walk. Being a rancher didn’t leave much free time—something his ex-wife always complained about—but he loved the freedom working the land, the herd, provided. Loved working outside and getting his hands dirty. Loved being a part of what his family had worked for generations to create.
    A legacy that would be carried on by his siblings and their children. Pax had given up all hope of having a family of his own, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t leave his mark, however subtle.
    “Still and always,” he sighed and snatched the now freed label from her hand.
    She finally met his gaze. “Why do you say it like that? Being a rancher is in your blood. It’s who you are.”
    He knew that. He’d only been trying to get her to look at him and stop with the damn label.
    “And you know this how?”
    Tammy hadn’t gotten it. She’d married him with the idea he led some kind of glamorous lifestyle. Shadow Maverick was successful because he worked damned hard to make it that way, as did the rest of his family. He refused to sit on the sidelines while everyone else did the work, as Tammy had wanted him to do.
    It irritated the shit out of him Reese seemed to understand him better than his ex had. Irritated him even more to realize he wanted her. Right here, right now.
    Damn him to hell, he still remembered how Reese tasted, how hot and sweet her mouth felt on his cock, the way her body tightened as she came.
    He remembered other things too. The sound of her