How to Kiss a Cowboy Read Online Free Page A

good time to start. She took a healthy gulp and nearly coughed it out.
    Yup. Panther pee.
    They sat silently, awkwardly, until Suze knew the time had come and gone for some sort of exchange. But she didn’t know what to say, and he seemed oddly content to sit there, staring out into the darkness. She’d parked at the edge of the Cowboy Corral, beside a line of scrub that bordered the dirt parking lot. The lot was empty now, and the darkness seemed to go on forever.
    Finally, he spoke.
    â€œIs your mother the reason you barrel race?” he asked. “To honor her memory?”
    â€œNo. Not really. I mean, sure, it helps me remember her.” She stretched out her legs, crossing them at the ankles, and looked out at the sky. Sipping her beer, she felt dreamy for a moment, as if she could float up there and catch the stars. “But mostly, I do it so I can ride really, really fast on a good horse.”
    He smiled. “Escaping?”
    â€œProbably. I never thought of it that way.”
    â€œSo are you running to something or running away?”
    She didn’t even have to think. “Running away.”
    Brady gave her a sharp, appraising look, and she wished she had thought before she’d admitted that. It didn’t sound like much, but it defined her life—and that was kind of pitiful.
    Time to change the subject.
    â€œSo how about you? Why do you do what you do?” she asked.
    â€œWell, that’s the thing,” he said. “My brothers say I do it for buckles and babes, and that bothers me.”
    Suze grinned. “I don’t see why. If they want to judge you by that standard, you’re a howling success.”
    He laughed again. She so loved to watch him laugh. Maybe they’d be friends after this—if she could keep that trailer door closed. She didn’t want to be another one of the women Brady left behind. She wanted to be his friend. The challenge was to resist the sexual magnetism that emanated from him like the reflected aura that had shimmered around him in that puddle on the asphalt.
    â€œEverybody thinks I’m superficial,” he said.
    She almost laughed. Of course he was superficial. That’s what everyone loved about Brady. It might not feel good to be called shallow, but in a way, it was another word for honest . Brady never lied about his motives or pretended to be anything other than what he was. And that was refreshing.
    But right now he was being serious, and nobody wants to be laughed at. Staring up at the sky, she thought about how that would feel—to have everyone think your only purpose in life was to have a good time. She supposed life could feel a little empty that way.
    â€œThere’s a lot more to you than buckles and babes,” she said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here, with me.”
    He grinned. “Some people would say different.”
    She whisked away the comment with a wave of her hand. “I’m no babe. You left them back at the bar.”
    â€œYou’re right,” he said. “You’re not a babe. You’re something more.”
    She felt his eyes on her and tried not to blush. The things he was saying—this was better than any fantasy she’d ever had. And she’d had many fantasies, all of them starring the man beside her.
    The man who was looking for something from her. Not sex, but meaning. She needed to quit mooning about him and talk to him.
    â€œJust think about it,” she said. “What’s the real reason you do it? The deep down reason?”
    â€œSame reason you do, I think. The way you talked about riding before, about that moment when you start the race? That’s the kind of thing I do it for.” He looked up into the star-spattered sky. It was smudged with a few streaky clouds, but they didn’t obscure the bright speck of light that drew a quick arc across the sky and disappeared.
    Brady turned to Suze, a question in his eyes,