And this man... He wanted her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, parting her lips and sighing with pleasure when he slicked his tongue against hers. She really liked it when he did that.

But then he surprised her, moved his big hands down, over her butt, down her thighs and lifted her up off the ground, wrapping her legs around his waist as he kissed her and held on tight, walking them both away from the door, and up the stairs.

She pulled her lips away from his, and he pressed his mouth to her neck, down her collarbone. “What are you doing?” she asked, feeling dizzy.

“Bedroom,” he said, his voice husky, the word thick with pleasure.

Bedroom.

Her heart slammed into her breastbone, excitement fizzing through her.

She was going to Gabe Dalton’s bedroom.

She was completely okay with that.

He kicked open the door and carried her inside, kissing her mouth again as he sat her down at the foot of his bed.

He smiled, those blue eyes hot. Hotter than they’d been looking at that pretty blonde, and Jamie felt the most extreme sense of triumph that she’d ever felt in her life.

Better than getting a great score barrel racing.

Better than blowing up milk jugs with a .30-06.

Then he grabbed the hem of his shirt, and pulled it up over his head, exposing that incredible body to her.

She hadn’t even known.

She was around men who were in great shape. Had had a fair exposure to muscles all of her life.

But this was different. This wasn’t her brother, or a man who might as well have been her brother like Luke Hollister was.

This was Gabe Dalton.

Half-naked in front of her, with hard, cut abs, well-defined pecs and a sprinkling of dark hair over his skin.

Gabe Dalton, the man whose bedroom she was in, alone. The man she could do anything she wanted with.

She tilted her chin upward, grabbed the hem of her top and lifted it over her head. She was about to apologize for the lime-green sports bra, but Jamie didn’t apologize for much. So she was hardly going to apologize when she was presenting herself about a quarter naked to a guy she was going to have sex with.

He didn’t deserve an apology from her. No matter what her underwear looked like.

Anyway, he didn’t look like he required one.

His eyes only went hotter, and he closed the distance between them. He dragged his hand along the line of her jaw, and she closed her eyes for a second, luxuriating in his touch, the way she had wanted to do when she’d fallen off the barrel.

Today. That had only been today.

It didn’t seem like it. It felt like another lifetime ago. Maybe another body ago.

Because this one knew all kinds of things the one from eight hours ago hadn’t.

Knew all the ways that Gabe’s hands could make her feel good.