Must Love Cowboys: This steamy and heart-warming cowboy rom-com is a must-read! (Once Upon A Time In by Carly Bloom (ebook reader that looks like a book .txt) 📕

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“Because you’d have left. I’m sorry I’ve always annoyed you so, but it’s the only way I can get your attention.”

“You can have my attention any time you want. All you have to do is talk to me.”

“About what? Cows?”

“Well, sure. Or any number of things. I like talking to you, Beau.”

A slight blush crept across his cheeks. “I like talking to you, too, Allie.”

“You don’t have to go to any great lengths to get my attention,” she said.

Beau grinned, and the devilish glint came back. “So, let’s say, if a cowboy wanted to get your attention, he wouldn’t have to do anything so extreme as this . . .”

Beau’s face disappeared from the screen, and suddenly she was looking at his shoulders, dotted with water.

“What are you—”

And now it was his glistening chest. Had he lost control of his phone? Maybe he was resettling himself, or reaching for something, or . . .

The phone moved lower, to Beau’s ripped abs. His hand made an appearance, lightly brushing over the delicious landscape, like a gameshow host showing off the big prize.

Silently, Alice urged Beau’s phone to go lower, and it did. But the man was covered in a towel. What a tease!

Beau’s face reappeared in the phone—lopsided grin—so apparently, the tour was over.

“Do I have your attention, Miss Martin?”

Alice nodded, because, boy, did he ever.

“You know,” he said, with a bashful little gaze that was what Claire would call sin on a stick. “I was thinking about you in the shower.”

“You were?”

“Yeah. I was thinking about you real hard.”

Real hard. Maybe he meant it had taken a lot of concentration. Maybe hard didn’t refer to an erection. Maybe she just had a dirty mind and . . . Dang it! She’d been trying really hard not to think of sex in those terms.

“And then I was um, interrupted by my phone. So, I didn’t get to . . .” He raised his eyebrow. “Finish.”

So, they were being dirty. And holy guacamole, dirty was fun. But was Beau admitting to masturbating in the shower? Not that there was anything wrong with masturbating or admitting to it. But he was clearly flirting. She should say something sexy back. “I hope you were able to rinse all the soap off.”

She winced. What a stupid thing to say!

Awkward silence, followed by a sigh. “You’re going to make me spell it out, aren’t you?”

Actually, if Beau could spell masturbation that would be awesome.

“H-A-R-D . . .”

Oh. He wasn’t going to spell masturbation.

“C-O-C-K.”

Alice fanned her face. She was getting heated, no doubt the result of synthetic yellow fibers and the talk of a hard cock.

“That’s what thinking about you does to me, Allie. Do you want to see it? I don’t send unsolicited dick pics. So, you’ll have to ask for it.”

Things were crystal clear now. Which was actually how Alice preferred it. Still, she should probably try to be a little playful. “I’ve shown you mine, so yes, I think it’s your turn to show me yours.”

Beau raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to have to do better than that. What, specifically, do you want me to show you?”

Alice bit her lip. Beau clearly wanted her to talk dirty (there was that word again), and she wasn’t very good at it. “I want to see you,” she said. “All of you.”

“Like, my shins? My toes? My elbow? Can you be more specific?”

Beau was exasperating. “You know dang well what I’m talking about.”

“I’m a little dense, darlin’.”

“No, you’re not, Beau Montgomery. And I would like you to show me your chest, followed by your abdomen, followed by your”—she lowered her voice to a whisper—“erect penis.”

“That’s assumptive.”

“How?”

“We’ve been talking so long. How do you know it’s still erect?”

Oh no!

Beau laughed. “I’m just kidding, Allie. I’m as hard as a rock.”

Whew. Good. “You can show me now. I’m ready.”

Beau smiled. “Here we go. Feel free to take screenshots if you see anything you like.”

She wasn’t going to do that. At least she didn’t think she was.

Beau’s face left the screen, and it was quickly replaced by the sun-kissed skin of his muscular chest, and Alice licked her lips. Slowly, the camera went lower, down to his abdomen and its clearly defined six-pack.

Alice broke out in a light sweat. She liked to think she was attracted to men for their minds (and she was—Beau was super smart!), but she was only human. And humans were biologically and evolutionally programmed to be attracted to strong physical specimens for the perpetuation of the species. Beau was a strong physical specimen. And even though she was not interested in ever having kids, her cells twerked and shouted, This one looks good! Make babies with this one!

She clenched her thighs. Science could be super irritating and uncomfortable. Especially when it made you want to lick someone’s skin. Which is what she wanted to do right now, because Beau looked tasty.

White terrycloth came into view, along with Beau’s fingers, which tauntingly toyed with the knot in the towel. And even though it wouldn’t be the first time Alice had seen a penis—she could label a diagram—she’d never seen Beau’s. Not clearly anyway (underwater at the river didn’t count). And she’d certainly never seen one via FaceTime. It was playful. Sexy. Delicious.

He pushed the towel down to below his tan line, and Alice’s mouth watered. But then he moved, and all she saw was his grinning face again. “You’ve got a bit of drool on your lower lip there, girl.”

Alice rolled her eyes. Because she was absolutely not drooling. Much. And also, he’d called her girl.

Beau laughed. “So, do you want the towel to come off?”

Inside her head, Alice hysterically screamed Yes! But what came out of her mouth was: “If you’re comfortable with it, then I’m comfortable with it.”

“So you’re saying . . .”

“Drop the towel, Beau.”

Beau’s smiled slipped away. “Yes ma’am,”