Montana Cowboy (Big Sky Mavericks Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

month or so back. Casual acquaintances acting on a mutual attraction. Maybe Austen would have thought twice if he hadn't been drowning his sorrows in scotch. He liked women. He liked sex. He liked to think he was a discriminating lover. He didn't screw friends. Sheri was a friend. Sheri wanted him to get back on the political horse, start a new chapter.
    "Easy for her to say," he muttered, lifting his face to the rain shower.
    He didn't want to think about Helena. Or Sheri. Or the future. Better to keep his mind on Serena James. Cute nose. Very nice teeth. Generous smile. Great tits. He couldn't help noticing when she ducked under Betty Lou's neck to get the dumb animal to swallow a few swigs of sports drink. Her shirt gaped and he'd gotten a damn fine view of a damn fine pair nestled in surprisingly bold turquoise and pink lace.
    He squirted a shot of shampoo into his palm and closed his eyes to scrub his hair. His fingers massaging his scalp reminded him of Serena stroking the little alpaca's neck to get her to swallow. Strange as it sounded, he'd been turned on by the intensity of Serena's focus. Her obvious compassion touched him on another level. As did the way her teeth worried her full, pink, bottom lip. And the look of triumph when she emptied the tube of pink liquid without spilling a drop.
    He rinsed the shampoo from his hair and looked down. "Well, hello, stranger."
    Getting roasted in an online blog every day for a solid month had a way of emasculating one's ego. It felt good to be hard. It would have felt even better if Serena James was naked in the shower with him, but she wasn't.
    A nice slippery lather of lilac scented soap would have to suffice.

    "A m I crazy? I am, right?"
    Betty Lou blinked her big brown eyes and pulled back her lips to reveal her sweetly endearing under bite.
    "Oh, you're no help. You haven't even been with a boy yet. You don't know about pheromones and hormones and sex."
    Serena opened the gate and let Betty join the other girls. Monique, Charlene, Grace Ann and Thistle were due to be bred. She'd planned to do a spit-off this afternoon. But that required a second handler and she sure as hell wasn't going to ask her gorgeous neighbor if he'd like to do a little breeding.
    She rolled her eyes. Breeding was elemental to a successful alpaca operation. Since a pregnancy lasted eleven and a half months, an owner needed to time cria births to spring and early summer. Her season might be extended in Montana, but her dad had never wanted babies born in hundred-degree heat or the bitter cold of a northern California winter.
    Betty had been in the breeding group when she developed the runs. Now, Serena would have to watch her a few days to make sure her stomach problems were cleared up before introducing Betty to Shakespeare, Serena's favorite herd sire.
    Shake was a favorite with the girls—nine years old, a seasoned pro. Plus, the crimp in his fine, dense fleece was unmatched. She had high hopes for several upcoming shows if—a big word—she could find a reliable helper.
    She knew good help was nearly as difficult to find as a good lover. Two serious boyfriends and a handful of really bad dates in thirty-five years on this planet did not make her an expert—especially considering both relationships ended with a bored, slightly relieved sigh rather than any true angst. She'd been called a genius—okay, by her mother—when it came to matching alpaca mates, but her own future looked decidedly unromantic and barren.
    Unfortunately, Serena liked sex. Coitus was fun while it lasted, but all the after-stuff got tricky—commitments, making someone else happy, blending his ways with her ways. Unpacking gobs of messy baggage that might include hideous things like stalkers and underlying abandonment issues. 
    I should have been a man . She closed the gate on her breeders. Love 'em and leave 'em. I could do that.
    She wondered if Austen Zabrinski was on the market. He didn't wear a wedding band. She