Except she really shouldn’t have been all high-and-mighty, when she was the one who’d been ogling his butt. It was her own darn fault she’d gotten caught.
“Really?” His eyebrows shot up and amusement played at his mouth. Not that she was staring at it or anything, or remembering how dark, hard and fierce that kiss had been. “You’ve been shopping for cattle before?”
“Cattle?” She made the mistake of meeting his glittery green eyes, vibrant even in the low light of the barn, and he sucked her in, mesmerizing her for a moment. “I...don’t think... I’m not here to buy cattle.”
Her fingers tingled all at once as they flexed in memory of clutching his shoulders the other night during their kiss. And then the rest of her body got in on that action, putting her somewhere in the vicinity of hot and bothered. A long liquid pull at her core distracted her entirely from whatever it was they were talking about.
“Are you sure? That’s what we do here at Wade Ranch. Sell cattle. Figured you were in the market since you came all this way.”
“Oh. No. No cattle.” Geez, was there something wrong with her brain? Simple concepts like English and speaking didn’t seem to be happening.
Kittens. Daffodils. She had to get her mind off that kiss with something that wasn’t the slightest bit manly. But then Kyle shifted closer and she caught a whiff of something so wholly masculine and earthy and the slightest bit piney, it nearly made her weep with want.
“Well, then,” he murmured. “Why are you here if it’s not to peruse the goods?”
Oh, she was so here to peruse the goods. Except she wasn’t and she couldn’t keep falling down on the job. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Amazing coincidence. I wanted to talk to you, too.”
“So I’m not bothering you?”
“Oh, yeah. Make no mistake, Grace. You bother me.” His low, sexy voice skittered across her nerves, standing them on end. “At night, when I’m thinking about kissing you again. In the shower, when I’m really thinking about kissing you again. In the saddle, when I think kissing you again is the only thing that’s going to make that particular position bearable.”
A stupid rush of heat sprang up in her face as she pictured him riding a horse and caught his meaning.
It was uncomfortable for Kyle to sit in a saddle. Because he was turned on. By her.
It was embarrassing. And somehow empowering. The thrill of it sang through her veins. Being in love with Kyle she remembered. Being a source of discomfort, she didn’t. Sex had been so new, so huge and so special the first time around. They hadn’t really explored their physical relationship very thoroughly before everything had fallen apart due to Kyle’s strange moods and inability to express his feelings for her.
She suddenly wondered what physical parts they’d left unexplored. And whether the superhot kiss—which had been vastly more affecting than the ones ten years ago—meant that he’d learned a few new tricks over the years.
“You’ve been thinking about our kiss, too?” she asked before she thought better of it.
“Too?” He picked up on that slip way too fast, his expression turning molten instantly as he zeroed in on her. “As in also? You’ve been thinking about it?”
He was aiming so much heat in her direction she thought she might melt from it.
“Um...” Well, it was too late to back out now. “Maybe once or twice. It was a nice kiss.”
His slow smile set off warning bells. “Nice. I must be rusty if that’s the best word you can come up with to describe it. Let me try again and I can guarantee nice won’t be anywhere in your vocabulary afterward.”
Before he could get started on that promise, she slapped a hand on his chest, and Lord have mercy, it was like concrete under her fingers, begging to be explored just to see if all of him was that hard.
“Not so fast,” she muttered before she lost her mind completely. “I’m here in an official capacity.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?”
“You were too busy trying to sell me a side of beef, if I recall,” she responded primly, and his rich laugh nearly finished the job of melting her into a big puddle. She shouldn’t let him affect her like that. Quickly, she snatched her hand back.
“Touché, Ms. Haines.” He crossed his arms over his powerful chest and contemplated her, sobering slightly. “Is this about my girls?”
She nodded. “I’ve provided my recommendations in a report to my supervisor. But essentially, I have no objections to you having sole custody of your daughters.”