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The whole situation was devastating. She had to make Cisco see how badly they needed him to take on this challenge.
“Hmm.” He pondered that, rubbing his chest absently, which Suz really wished didn’t have her quite so mesmerized. “Has anyone tried talking to her?”
“I have. She won’t listen. She caught us that day.”
“The swimming lesson.”
She didn’t reply. He picked up her hand, held it in his bigger one, which felt comforting.
“Who taught you to swim so well by Saturday? I noticed a definite improvement in your skills. And Daisy was stunned.”
“Sam.”
“I knew it!” Cisco laughed, and it was a pleasant, rich sound that had her nerves practically jumping with its sexy appeal. Not to mention how nice it would be to put her head on that big, strong chest, let her hand roam down that trail—
“There’s only one way to solve this.”
She looked at him. “How?”
He rolled onto his side, pulled her face close to his. “We need to start a secret thing. Right now.”
“What would that solve?”
“I don’t know. But if I’m accused, I’d like to be guilty. I’ve never had a secret thing. It sounds fun.” He kissed her fingertips. “The only thing is, I’m not entirely sure you’ve told me everything.”
Suz cleared her throat a trifle nervously. “Like what?”
“Like the real reason you want me in BC.”
She squirmed a bit, Cisco’s rock-hard body giving her own body fits she had to ignore. “I told you. The committee has decided the fair thing to do is to hold a tiebreaker.”
“But the magic is the magic. It doesn’t care about ties, if I understand magic. The first race is the one that would matter, since you didn’t win me the second race, either.”
She lowered her gaze from his piercing perusal of her. “We’ve never tested BC’s magic before. We just don’t know.”
“What would change Daisy thinking she wants me?”
“Maybe if you go out with her, show her what you’re really like.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“I just know Squint could beat you if you guys ran the Best Man’s Fork,” Suz said a bit desperately. “And now that you’re all banged up, he’d really have a shot!”
“Oh, I see.” He laughed. “You want me to throw the race, so Daisy will see Mr. Leg Cramp as the big guy. The more desirable specimen.”
“In a word, yes.”
“And then, if she has her own man, by her own choice, she might give up on foreclosing.” He lingered over her fingertips, nibbling, sending shivers up and down Suz’s back. “That’s the game, my little Smurf, and the real reason you want me to go back with you. You’ve been sent to find me, meaning you drew short straw once again. You’re to bring me back, have me race and lose to my buddy so he can be the conquering hero. Thus will Daisy have a new love, and in her newfound state of happiness she will cease the legal proceedings that have the town in a twist. Because as we all know, as goes the Hanging H, so go the fortunes of Bridesmaids Creek.” He gave her a steady look, a half smile on his lips. “What you’re asking me to do, Suz Hawthorne, is to save Bridesmaids Creek.”
She sniffed. “Okay.”
He smiled. “I lived in BC long enough to know how the crafty minds works there. All this talk about you wanting to have a baby, and you acting all worried about me—that’s all a smoke screen.”
“Not entirely,” Suz said defensively. “I am worried about you. I’ve seen children tear up toys more gently than that bull lit into you.”
He leaned back against his pillow. “I don’t believe a word of your story. You want me to return to throw a race to my buddy.” He shook his head. “And if Squint gets another so-called leg cramp, am I supposed to walk to let him beat me?”
“In your present condition,” Suz began, and Cisco pulled her to him, effectively silencing her by kissing her, invading her mouth, stealing her senses. Suz realized she was in trouble; this wasn’t like kissing the big ol’ gummy bear, as she’d called Squint. No, this was all rock-hard, demanding man, slightly annoyed man, who had ideas of his own about how he wanted things to go.
His mouth wasn’t soft on hers, and she didn’t want to be anywhere but in Cisco’s arms. In fact, of all the guessing Cisco had done about why she was really here, why she’d actually sought him out, he’d hit a lot of the reasons why she’d been sent to find him—and not hit on the one reason why she’d actually come.
She wanted him.
She got as close to him as she could, and he tucked his hand under her fanny, pulling her closer still. Suz practically melted from the hot nearness and the rising heat taking her over.
When he released her, Suz gasped with surprise. And a fervent wish that he hadn’t.
“Now, little lady,” Cisco said, “you’ve had your say. I’ve listened to all the malarkey and whatsis from the BC crowd that I intend to. Here’s the deal. I don’t care what anyone prognosticates or sees in their crystal ball. The sky could open up and Zeus could hit me with a thunderbolt, and I still wouldn’t be damaged enough to go for Daisy Donovan. It should be perfectly clear to you by now that I want a thing with you, and I don’t care if it’s secret or not. I’m sorry your place is getting foreclosed on, but I’m not your magic carpet ride to salvation for that, either. In other words, I’m not the hero you’re looking for. All right?”
Suz blinked. “I think you are,” she said softly.
He shook his head. “I’m not, darling. I’m just Frog, no matter how much you want to turn me into Cisco, the conquering hero.”
He sounded serious, and angry, and almost like he wished she hadn’t come. Suz gulped, not about to let him go again, not when she’d come so far to find him. So she kissed him, not the way he’d kissed her, but softly, enticingly, begging him silently to make love to her.
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