How to Seduce a Texan

“You kissed me.” She leaned a little closer to him. One more and she’d have him completely bewitched.

“You wanted me to.” He shrugged nonchalantly as he straightened. “Can’t get your research done if all you’re thinking about is kissing me.”

Her thinking about kissing him! The only thing she’d been thinking about was seducing a story out of him. Of all the self- centered… Before she could do more than sputter and spit, Cal grabbed her hand and wrapped it around one of Bessie’s teats. Then he grabbed her other hand and did the same thing.

“Now, squeeze and pull, alternating hands,” he told her.

Ugh! It was worse than she could’ve imagined. “I can’t.” Because she didn’t want to!

“Pretend you have your fingers around someone’s neck that you don’t like. I’m sure there has to be someone in your life who pisses you off.”

She scowled at him. She was looking right at the person who was currently raising her ire. It wouldn’t be his neck she’d pretend she had her fingers wrapped around, though! Nikki squeezed and tugged on the teat, then another.

At first, nothing happened. On the fourth pull a stream of milk squirted out, pinging against the side of the bucket. She jerked her hands away.

“I did it!” She nearly fell off the stool in her excitement. She’d actually milked the cow. “Did you see that? And I hit the bucket, too.”

“Yeah, I saw.”

“Cal…”

“Don’t get too excited about a little drop of milk. You still need to fill the bucket.”

She pursed her lips as he turned away.

“I’ll be back to check on your progress,” he tossed over his shoulder as he walked away.

And she’d milk the damned cow even if it killed her. She’d show him! Fill the bucket, indeed! Not that she thought he was telling her the truth about that. It would take her all day to fill the bucket.

Cal drew in a deep breath as he stepped from the barn. Why had he kissed her? That was easy to answer. When Nikki turned to look at him all he saw were those luscious lips tempting him. How the hell was he supposed to resist?

He wasn’t immune to her even knowing she was a reporter and was here only to get a story. Damn it! He still shouldn’t have kissed her. If he didn’t watch out, he’d get himself into trouble because Nikki sure hadn’t seemed to mind his touch. But one thing had kept him from seeing just how far she’d let him go.

He didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her.

Not when he knew the story was all that mattered to her. He had the upper hand and planned to keep it. He didn’t care how she dressed or how much she flirted-he wouldn’t fall for her tricks.

If she’d done her research, Nikki would know that she wouldn’t get her story that easily. He was a hell of a lot tougher than that.

He strolled to the pickup, grabbed a sack of feed, and slung it over his shoulder before carrying it toward the barn. By the time he got there, he was back in complete control. As he set the sack just inside the door, he could hear Nikki mumbling.

“Well, that’s just great!” Nikki jumped from the stool, taking her milk bucket with her.

He leaned against a bail of hay and listened.

“You couldn’t wait to go to the bathroom? It’s not as though you had all the time in the world before I sat down. I saw you and you were just standing at the fence doing nothing.”

A slow grin spread across his face. She didn’t really sound angry, just put out. Damn, she was cute.

“In the future, I’d appreciate it if you’d see to your bodily functions prior to being milked. Just because you’re a cow doesn’t mean you can’t have any manners.”

Cal barely contained his laughter. She’d call it quits now. She might be The Barracuda, but this ranch didn’t have an ocean for her to swim in and it didn’t look like it would be that long before she’d go looking for bluer waters.

But she didn’t leave.

He quickly sobered when she repositioned the stool and sat back down. She had mettle, he’d give her that. There was no way she’d last, but yeah, she did have mettle. Odd, but his grandfather always told Cal that you could judge a person by how much spirit the person had.

Well, she may have spirit but it was for all the wrong reasons.

“Ugh! You stink.”

Bessie turned her head and looked at Nikki, mooing an apology.

“Those big eyes won’t get you anywhere, and I’m not going to forgive you-at least not for a while. You should be down here inhaling this obnoxious odor.”

Cal grinned as he went back to his pickup for the other sack of feed. It was already proving to be an interesting day. And he had to admit, she was kind of fun to have around. He hadn’t minded kissing her, either. No, he hadn’t minded that at all.

Chapter 7

“At this rate, you won’t finish in time to start the evening milking,” Cal said as he came up behind Nikki.

She jumped, almost knocking over the milk bucket, and she’d worked hard for that cup of milk.

She stopped long enough to look over her shoulder and give Cal her freeze-you-in-your-tracks glare. He had the nerve to grin. A lesser man would’ve turned and run away as fast as he could. Now that she thought about it, that might explain why she hadn’t had sex in a while.

Then his words sank into her brain. “What do you mean, evening milking?” she asked. Surely, he was joking. She looked at the cow’s bag. No, it wasn’t possible that it would fill up again that fast.

“Bessie needs to be milked twice a day,” Cal said, confirming her worst fear.

Well, hell.

She glanced inside the bucket. “I thought I was doing pretty good,” she grumbled. She had enough for a tall latte, except now she thought she might start drinking her coffee minus the milk. It was a lot different when you actually saw where the milk was coming from.

He motioned for her to get up. “Let me show you how a pro does it.”

Gladly, and she didn’t even care that he was apparently better at it than her. Not that she thought he would get much more milk out of the cow.

She stood, flexing her fingers, and moved out of his way. She would think on the bright side. If she had to milk the cow twice a day, she would probably drop a ring size by the time she had her story and was out of here.

She eyed the three-legged wooden stool. On the other hand, her butt might get broader from all the sitting. Not a good trade-off. But when Cal pulled the stool under him, she noticed his butt looked pretty darn good from this angle. Not bad at all.

“Sah, Bessie,” Cal spoke softly when Bessie turned to look at the newcomer. The cow quickly settled down as Cal began to milk her.

Milk immediately pinged against the sides of the bucket. Okay, so he was better at milking than she’d been. She frowned. But that wasn’t all. Bessie seemed more content that Cal was the one doing the milking. It would seem he was good with animals, and women.

Well, except Cynthia. Which reminded her that she was here to get a story.

“You’re a lot faster,” she told him.

“Years of practice.”

“Are you partners with your brother?” she asked, keeping her words casual. For a moment, she wondered if he was going to answer or if he had even heard her. He seemed pretty intent on finishing the milking.

“No, I’m just visiting a few weeks,” he finally spoke.