Page 137 of Her Boss, Her Rancher: Sunrise On The Ranch

She’d been wound tight lately and Jared coming to her rescue tonight soothed her nerves. And now kissing him was...well, putting only wonderful thoughts in her head.

“Bella.” He called her name reverently, his tone humble and seemingly surprised. His hand cradled her face as his lips became more demanding. Kissing him was like a balm to her internal wounds, a safe haven where she could forget. “Tell me to stop, Bella. If you don’t want this.”

“Don’t stop,” she whispered.

A pent-up groan rose from Jared’s throat and he took her into his arms, wrapping her in an embrace. The glow of the fire, the twinkling stars and the fresh bite in the air together gave her a sense of amazing peace and comfort.

She felt safe with Jared. It was as simple as that.

And she ignored all the warnings screaming at her to be careful. To be wise. To be smart.

She’d needed solace and Jared was providing it. Her body was slowly awakening from a yearlong slumber. How good it was to feel alive again.

Jared kissed her deeper now and she accepted him into her mouth. The touch of his tongue on hers changed from sweet sensations to pulse-pounding heat, and she gave in to the yearnings to touch him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the blanket separating them slipped away, bringing her body up against his.

Her breasts crushed his chest.

“Oh, man, Bella,” he muttered. “I wanted to be conscious if you ever brought your mouth to mine again, but this is better than I’d ever imagined.”

It amazed her that he’d been imagining kissing her. She sighed into his mouth, the temptation to touch him further, to unsnap his shirt and feel the heat pulsing in his chest was battling with her sense of decorum. So far, they’d only kissed, but if she was bold enough to undress him, it would be an open invitation for him to do the same and she didn’t know if she was ready for that.

A buzzing rattled in her ears.

The timer to her soufflé was going off.

They both froze and Jared backed away first. “My breakfast,” he said, heat glimmering in his eyes.

“Your breakfast,” she repeated, the burn of his lips imprinted on her.

Jared rose first and gave her a hand up. She took it and they faced each other. “Bella, promise me you won’t be sorry about any of this.”

He stared into her eyes, her answer important to him. “I promise. I won’t be.”

He nodded and took a gulp of air. “Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Jared.”

And as if he meant to hold her to her promise, he bent his head and kissed her once more before opening the door for her to reenter the house.

The next morning she and Sienna strolled hand-in-hand along the path next to Jared. Good on his word, he was taking them to see the horses. “Cooper’s got a bigger string of horses at his place, but I kinda like our stable. And we’ve got a new foal, a filly to show Sienna. I think she’s gonna like Pumpkin Pie.”

Sienna’s ears perked up. “Punkin.”

“Yes, baby girl. That’s the horse’s name,” Bella said. “It’s a little one, just like you.”

Sienna stared up at the tall rancher. “Tared’s horsie.”

“That’s right, Sienna,” he said to her, smiling.

Sienna smiled back and reached for Jared’s hand, her fingertips touching his knuckles. Jared’s blue eyes melted for an instant as he folded her daughter’s hand into his. He glanced at Bella, shrugging, an awed expression on his face.

Her instincts were telling her this wasn’t a good thing, but she couldn’t dismiss seeing the joy in Sienna’s eyes as they approached the corral.

“Here we are.” Jared stopped at the fence, where half a dozen horses were frolicking around the perimeter of the corral.

“Let’s take a better look, Sienna.” Bella lifted her daughter up, setting her little boots on the second rung of the fence to give her a better view of the animals.

“Mommy!” Sienna pointed to the filly, the smallest creature in the corral with a reddish-bronze coat.