Bad In Boots: Colt's Choice Read Online Free PDF Page B

the coffee holder, taking a sip.
    The smell of the fresh roasted coffee beans permeated her senses. Elise inhaled, enjoying the aroma. “Man, that smells good. I planned to have a cup at the office.”
    A grin rode up his face and he handed her his cup. “Here, knock yourself out.”
    Elise gave him a grateful smile as she took the cup from him, her fingers brushing his. Her heart sped up to a rapid pace as he held fast until she had a firm hold of it. Elise put the cup to her nose and inhaled before she took a long sip. She looked over at Colt. His eyes held an intense look as he glanced over while she drank from his cup. She knew he thought the same thing she did. How could drinking after someone seem so innocent yet so intimate?
    She handed the cup back to him with a small smile on her lips. He took a sip and handed it back to her, giving her a heated look before he fixed his gaze back on the road. Just like the coffee warming her mouth and throat, her insides started to melt at the look he just gave her. Her breasts tingled and her stomach tensed when his gaze had briefly dropped to her lips, then her chest before returning to the road once more. The silence in the vehicle became way too intimate. As Elise lifted the cup to her lips, she asked, “So, how often do you go to the horse auction?”
    He kept his gaze on the road and answered, “Four times a year.”
    “I thought you bred your broncs.”
    “Sometimes we do. Most of the time, it’s easier to buy to fill in the gaps where our stock is weakest.”
    Elise nodded in understanding.
    “What did you do before you came to Texas?” Colt asked her out of the blue.
    Surprise he asked, she answered, “I worked for a start-up dot com company.” She gave a wry smile. “One that’s still doing very well.”
    “Why’d you leave? Why come all the way to Texas?”
    Elise shrugged. “I have no ties to Virginia, other than my parents. When this opportunity came along, I jumped on it.”
    Colt flicked his gaze her way, curiosity reflected in his steel blue gaze. “Why?”
    “I don’t know. I guess I wanted a chance to be a part of something. To be involved with something that doesn’t have anything to do with my dad’s money or his influence.” She smiled. “Plus, I get to spend as much time outdoors and with horses as I want.”
    Colt laughed at her thumb-her-nose attitude. “I take it your parents didn’t approve of your love of horses?”
    Elise looked at the road ahead of them. “They were fine with it when I was young.” She didn’t elaborate any further and was thankful Colt didn’t ask because they had arrived at their destination.
    Once he turned the truck into the driveway of the horse auction, she hopped out and followed him over to the makeshift pens that held horses up for auction.
    “Are pleasure horses sold here as well?” she asked. She had to walk at a brisk pace to keep up with his long strides.
    “Yes, they’re sold here,” Colt replied absently.
    When they arrived at the pens, Elise listened as Colt asked to see some of the latest stock and their bucking action. After he picked out a couple of horses, the man saddled one of them. As Colt moved toward the chute and pulled on a glove he had in his back pocket, Elise grabbed his arm, her heart racing. “You aren’t going to ride him, are you?”
    He flashed her a devilish smile. “How else am I going to find out if he’s rank enough to be in my rodeo?”
    Elise sighed and let go of his arm, though apprehension still gripped her. Colt knew what he was doing. This was his way of life, she reminded herself, trying to breathe through the tightness in her chest. She watched him move around to the chute to settle himself on the horse. Once he was seated and had the rope securely gripped, he nodded to the men and the gate opened.
    Elise’s heart stopped in her chest as the horse shot out of the chute and did its best to buck Colt off. Watching him on the back of that horse was like a