Country Love (A Billionaire BWWM Romance) Read Online Free Page A

cowboy hat and wiped his
brow. He looked up lazily, like he only just noticed the huge black town-car in
front of him. Then he shielded his eyes and squinted in a pitch perfect caricature
of a celluloid cowboy. "Sorry bout that, darlin'" he drawled amiably.
"Was in the middle of somethin' there."

 
    I rolled my eyes . Dear Lord, get me out of this heat. "Not a problem," I gritted my teeth.

 
    Tanner Brock
braced his arm against the fence, paused, and then leapt over it with a feline
grace I would have never expected from a guy his size. I forcibly closed my
hanging open mouth, but I could feel my jaw dropping again as he strode towards
me.

 
    Up until now, I
hadn't gotten a good look at his face. But when he flashed me the full force of
his megawatt smile, I felt a flutter in my stomach that had nothing to do with the
greasy airport food I had for lunch.

 
    It wasn't that
his face was absolutely perfect.

 
    It wasn't that his
blue, blue eyes were exactly the same shade as the cloudless sky above us.

 
    It was...him.
Maybe the hot sun was scrambling my brain, but he seemed larger than life as he
approached me with that rolling, swaggering gait. He took up space not only
with the sheer, physical size of him, but also with the aura that surrounded
him. He was moving, but he didn't need to. The very air around him swirled with
his larger than life energy. In that moment I understood why he was a star. Men
like him… They have a presence that has to be felt to be understood.

 
    I couldn’t move.
I was stuck fast and sweating like a barn animal.

 
    Perfect.

 
    "Tanner
Brock," he said, his hand outstretched.

 
    "Monique Williams."
I had to lift my chin to look him in the eye. I wasn't a tiny little thing by
any means, but with my heels sunk down into the mud, I only came up to his
chin. He was six foot three...at least.

 
    "Monique, sweetheart,
I'll give it to you straight," he drawled in that cowboy voice. "I
got a lot of work to do round here and not a lot of time to do it. I know you
got a job to do, and I'll do my best to help you out, but I got my own
timetable here." He stared at me, unblinking.

 
    I was taken aback
with his directness. "Well, all right, Mr. Brock..."

 
    "Tanner's
fine, darlin'," he interjected.

 
    "Well
Tanner, my aim is to get some shots of your daily life at the ranch here, so
that works out perfect for me."

 
    Without meaning
to, I had slipped into the slow drawl of Heath County. Tanner noticed
instantly. His eyebrows shot up his forehead. "You a Texas girl, Miss Williams?"

 
    "I lived
here a spell," I smiled. I can turn accents on and off like a faucet.

 
    Tanner flicked
his eyes up and down, so quickly I wouldn't have noticed if he wasn't the sole
focus of my attention. "Pardon me, but I sorta figured a Texas girl would
have better sense when it came to footwear on the ranch."

 
    I looked down at
my submerged heels and bristled. "Well pardon me, but I thought a Texas
boy would have better manners than to be doing chores when he was expecting
company," I shot back.

 
    Tanner's perfect
lips curved downward. "You are right sweetheart, where are my
manners?" he drawled in a high falsetto. "Follow me down to the house
and I'll get you a nice cold glass of sweet tea."

 
    I shot him a
murderous look. "You know damn well I'm stuck," I said.

 
    "Oh
really?" he feigned shock. "Well darlin', I sure hope you packed some
boots in that nice luggage of yours."

 
    He knelt down
into the mud at my feet. "Hey now," I protested as he started yanking
on my foot.

 
    He ignored me and
yanked harder. I nearly toppled over as he pulled. At the last moment, I planted
my hand on his shoulder to keep from landing on my ass.

 
    He felt as solid
as a sun-warmed boulder. My hand lingered like it had a mind of its own. It was
all I could do not to stroke my hand down that sweat-slicked skin...

 
    "There you
are," he said, startling me out of my trance by