Page 2 of Hollywood

“No?” He stepped back, gesturing. “Prove it.”

“Prove it?”

He jogged a few feet back to the discarded football. Clasped both hands around it. “Yeah, let’s see what you got.”

This was a mistake. I hesitated.

“Unless you’re all hat and no cattle,” he taunted.

“I have no idea what that means.” I stepped out from under the maple. “But I feel compelled to prove I’ve got some cattle.”

He laughed, eyes lighting up. “All right, then. Let’s go!”

I jogged forward, and he tossed the football at me. I scrambled to catch it, jolting to the side, fumbling it twice before locking hands around it. A sense of victory crashed through me. “Got it!”

“Good. Now run.”

What?

Tex charged. My heart leaped as if just zapped with a defibrillator, and a yell tore out of me. He was going to slam right into me! I darted to the right, attempting to avoid the bull running me down. Tex pivoted, a touch too slow, and I streaked across the park.

I could sense him just a step behind me. I put on a burst of speed.

Wham!

A heavy weight slammed into my lower back. Two-hundred-twenty pounds, to be exact. Tex laughed wildly as the ground rushed up to meet us.

I dropped the ball to catch myself. Tex’s body came down over mine. Damn, he didnothold back. My hands skidded through grass, stinging as if I’d just fisted ground glass. My face came an inch from eating dirt.

“Sonuvabitch!” I yelled. “This is my nice shirt.”

Tex laughed, sounding breathless. “Too easy, Holly. Too fuckin’ easy.”

He levered off me, and I flopped over onto my back, breathing hard. I hadn’t run that fast since middle-school gym class. My elbow throbbed. Damn it. “Nice. I bring you beer, and this is the thanks I get.”

“Aw, poor baby,” he teased. “Do I need to kiss your booboos better?”

“Yes.” I thrust out my arms. “Look at my hands, man. I need these for work.”

He sat up and took hold of my right hand, tilting it for abetter look, then brushed away some dirt. “Think you’re gonna live.”

The skin was red, but surprisingly whole. I could have sworn I shredded the fuck out of it. Grass was sharp, but not that sharp, apparently.

Tex’s eyes met mine, and there it was again, that draw between us.

I licked my lips, pulse spiking at his proximity. “You said you’d kiss it better.”

The words fell out of me. I wanted to take them back when his nostrils flared, but it was too late. They were out there.

“I guess I did,” he murmured, still holding my eyes. He lifted my hand and brushed his lips across the center of my palm.

That single touch ignited a wildfire. It burned through me, all sense lost. I grabbed his T-shirt with my left hand and pulled him toward me. He could have resisted, but he let me tug him closer.

Close enough to kiss.

We were inches apart, our breath mingling. He would never close that distance between us, but my heart ached for it. So did another part of my body that Tex probably wasn’t ready to think about.

We’d danced around it for so long. I couldn’t take it anymore.