Stripped Naked (Naked Cowboys) Read Online Free PDF Page B

tall pitcher from the table.
    “Why don’t we put all that aside and talk about something else for tonight.” She turned to Jinx. “Another drink?” Without waiting she refilled Jinx’s empty glass.
    “Want to come to the horse auction with us tomorrow?” Matt asked. “We’re helping Dillon buy a horse.”
    Jinx lifted her eyebrows. “Buy a horse?”
    “Yeah.” He took a pull on the beer in his hand. “I bought a place just at the edge of town with enough land so I can keep a horse or two. Just need to get something to put in the stalls.”
    Buck, who had said very little so far, nodded at Jinx. “I’m sure Amy would love to have you along. She’s pretty excited about you being home again.”
    Jinx couldn’t stop herself from studying Dillon over the rim of her glass, watching for his reaction to the invitation. What did he think about her being included?
    “Maybe Dillon doesn’t want a big mob trailing after him.”
    He lifted his shoulders in a casual shrug. “I don’t think one more body will make a difference. Sure. Come on along.” One corner of his mouth turned up in the hint of a smile. “Maybe you could bring along a camera and take pictures. Write up an article about it. I hear horse and cattle auctions are pretty big things around here.”
    Jinx frowned but kept her tone light. “Are you making fun of me, Sheriff?”
    “Absolutely not. Just making sure you cover all the news in the county.”
    But there was more than that beneath his teasing tone. Conflict, tension and an unwilling heat. The same heat she’d seen yesterday sizzled in his gaze again, unleashing something hot and wild inside her. Good Lord. She wasn’t even sure she liked the man and her body was ready to jump into bed with him. Hadn’t history taught her anything?
    They stared at each other, gazes locked, until Amy cleared her throat.
    “Buck, honey? Why don’t you come get that platter of steaks in the fridge and find out how everyone likes theirs cooked? Jinx, you and Reenie come help me carry everything else out here to the table.”
    The moment they were all in the kitchen and Buck had taken the meat outside, Amy turned to Jinx and closed her fingers over her wrist.
    “Okay, girlfriend. Spill it. What’s with you and the hunky sheriff?”
    “Yes,” Reenie chimed in. “We thought you’d only met when you did the story on the naked body.”
    “Nothing. We did. That’s all.” She closed her eyes and swallowed. “I mean there’s absolutely nothing going on here. Not. One. Thing.”
    “Uh-huh.” Amy grinned. “Tell it to someone who believes it. Deny it all you want, but I know what I saw. The air between the two of you is so hot I was afraid we’d all get burned.”
    “I’m telling you,” she insisted, “I only met him that once.”
    She winked at Reenie. “If that’s so, I can’t wait for tomorrow to get here. Imagine what things will be like after tonight.”
    “Dream on, kiddo.” Jinx busied herself gathering the silverware from the counter and putting it on a tray. “I’m off men forever. At least for the foreseeable future.”
    Reenie looked at her with a sober expression. “Bad experience? I am so there with you. That’s what made me leave Los Angeles and end up here. Bad guy, bad karma.” Then she glanced at Matt and smiled. “But look what I ended up with. The prize.”
    “Maybe you will too,” Amy chimed in. “If you give the guy half a chance that is. I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed.”
    “You’re a married woman,” Jinx reminded her.
    “If I was single, of course.” She shrugged. “Just sayin’.”
    Somehow Jinx made it through the rest of the evening without self-destructing, although it wasn’t easy. She couldn’t remember the last time her body practically sat up and begged for a guy. What about the moratorium on sex she’d promised herself after Max?
    Amy, the minx, maneuvered things so she and Dillon sat next to each other, and she wondered how she didn’t