Redneck Romeo (Rough Riders #15)(24)

She managed to eke out, “You got rid of the beard.”


Dalton rubbed his fingertips over his face. “Yeah, well, it feels weird.” He laughed self-consciously. “Probably looks weird too.”


“God, no. It looks…” Fucking fantastic.


Why don’t you just blurt out what a hottie he is?


He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to finish.


Flustered, she dropped her gaze and noticed he held flowers. She met his eyes again. “For me?”


“Yes.”


“Why?”


He took a step closer. “To prove to you that I’ve changed.” His mouth brushed her ear. “So prepare yourself, darlin’. I’m gonna romance the hell out of you.”


“Here?” she whispered.


“Here, there and everywhere,” he murmured in that deliciously deep voice.


“Rory?” Glennis said somewhere behind her. “I’ve got an extra vase for those flowers if you need one.”


Rory had to stop herself from jumping away from Dalton like a guilty teen. “That would be great, Glennis.”


“If you wanna take Mr…?”


“McKay,” Rory inserted.


“Mr. McKay to your office, I’ll bring the vase to you.”


“Thanks.” Her gaze hooked Dalton’s. “If you’ll follow me.” She turned down the hallway. A few of her female coworkers poked their heads out as they passed by. Word spread fast in this office.


Dalton probably did that whole cowboy hat tip-nod thing that made women swoon.


I’ve changed.


Yeah, right. Rory whipped around to try and catch him in his charm-the-pants-off-every-woman-within-range act, but Dalton’s gaze was firmly on her ass. Nowhere else.


That shouldn’t have made her feel better, but it did.


Those big blue eyes met hers. “You caught me lookin’.”


No apology. No surprise. “Because you can’t keep your eyes off this sexy uniform?”


“It’s not clothes that make a woman sexy, Rory.”


She spun back around and cut through the copy center to reach her office. She’d intended to sit behind her desk, putting some space between them, but Glennis followed them in.


Talk about speedy.


Glennis set a vase already half-filled with water on the desk and handily plucked the flowers from Dalton.


Rory gave her an arch look at her uber-efficiency.


“I saw him with those and figured someone in this office was getting flowers. It’s my job to be prepared.” She left and shut the door.


She started to open the door, but Dalton intercepted her. “Leave it closed.”


“Why?”


“Because I want to talk to you in private.”


Before she could ask what he wanted to discuss, the ooh pretty! side of her brain focused on the hunky man flesh within touching distance. Almost without thinking, she placed her hands on his face. His skin was so warm and smooth. And he smelled amazing.


“Damn you, McKay. You should’ve kept this good-looking mug of yours covered up under that ugly fur.”


“What? I shaved it because you said you didn’t like it.”


He’d shaved it off for her? Her fingers traced the edge of his strong jaw. His cheekbones. The dimple in his right cheek.



Dalton made a growling noise and Rory found herself pressed against the door by two hundred pounds of cowboy. “Deal is, you touch me, I get to touch you.”


“Hey. I didn’t agree to that deal.”


“It’s unspoken.” Dalton angled his head and placed a kiss on the side of her neck.


She should’ve demanded he stop after that first soft kiss. Or the second, placed on her neck below the first. She really shouldn’t have let him string hot kisses down one side of her throat and up the other side. She probably should’ve moved away instead of leaning closer when he started rubbing his smooth face against hers.


But it felt so good.


“Rory,” he murmured in her ear. “Have me for lunch.”


That snapped her out of it. “What?”


“Have lunch with me.”


Jesus. This man muddled her brain to the point he could make her hear things she wanted to hear. “Dalton. I can’t.”


“Too short of notice, huh?”


“It’s not that.”


Dalton eased back but his hands remained braced beside her head on the door. “Then what?”


“This is going way too fast for me. You show up at the Twin Pines and bully-kiss me into giving you my phone number.”


“Bully-kiss? Never heard that one before.”


“The night before last when we had supper at your place you used that bully-kiss tactic on me then too.”


“I didn’t use the bully-kiss tactic yesterday,” he pointed out.


“Only because you went to visit your mom and we didn’t see each other,” she retorted.