“It’s obvious there’s something between us …”
Having sex with Jesse Chisholm would be the worst idea ever.
They were polar opposites. He was wild and exciting and Gracie wasn’t. At least, she was doing her damndest to prove that she wasn’t.
And that was the problem in a nutshell. Jesse called to the bad girl inside of her.
Not happening. She had an image to uphold. A reputation to protect. She was the mayor, for heaven’s sake.
Anxiety rushed through her, because as committed as she was to the path she’d chosen, she couldn’t help but feel as if she’d missed out on something.
She wanted one more night with Jesse. One more memory. Then she could stop fantasizing and go back to her nice, conservative life and step up as the town’s new mayor without any worries or regrets.
She would. But not just yet.
She slammed on the brakes, swung the car around and headed for the motel.
“Okay,” she blurted ten minutes later when Jesse opened his motel room door. “Let’s do it.”
Texas Outlaws: Jesse
Kimberly Raye
USA TODAY bestselling author KIMBERLY RAYE started her first novel in high school and has been writing ever since. To date, she’s published more than fifty novels, two of them prestigious RITA® Award nominees. She’s also been nominated by RT Book Reviews for several Reviewer’s Choice awards, as well as a career achievement award. Kim lives deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country with her very own cowboy, Curt, and their young children. She’s an avid reader who loves Diet Dr. Pepper, chocolate, Toby Keith, chocolate, alpha males (especially vampires) and chocolate. Kim also loves to hear from readers. You can visit her online at www.kimberlyraye.com.
This book is dedicated to Curt,
my loving husband and best friend,
You still know how to rock a pair of Wranglers!
Contents
1
THIS WAS TURNING into the worst ride of his life.
Jesse James Chisholm stared over the back of the meanest bull this side of the Rio Grande at the woman who parked herself just outside the railing of the Lost Gun Training Facility, located on a premium stretch of land a few miles outside the city limits.
His heart stalled and his hand slipped. The bull lurched and he nearly tumbled to the side.
No way was she here.
No frickin’ way.
The bull twisted and Pro Bull Riding’s newest champion wrenched to the right. He was seeing things. That had to be it. He’d hit the ground too many times going after that first buckle and now it was coming back to haunt him. His grip tightened and his breath caught. Just a few more seconds.
One thousand three. One thousand four.
“Jesse!” Her voice rang out, filling his ears with the undeniable truth that she was here, all right.
Shit.
The bull jerked and Jesse pitched forward. He flipped and went down. Hard.
Dust filled his mouth and pain gripped every nerve in his already aching body. The buzzer sounded and voices echoed, but he was too fixated on catching his breath to notice the chaos that suddenly surrounded him. He shut his eyes as his heart pounded in his rib cage.
Come on, buddy. You got this. Just breathe.
In and out. In. Out. In—
“Jesse? Ohmigod! Are you all right? Is he all right?”
Her desperate voice slid into his ears and stalled his heart. His eyes snapped open and sure enough, he found himself staring into a gaze as pale and blue as a clear Texas sky at high noon.
And just as scorching.
Heat swamped him and for a split second, he found himself sucked back to the past, to those long, endless days at Lost Gun High School.
He’d been at the bottom of the food chain back then, the son of the town’s most notorious criminal, and no one had ever let him forget it. The teachers had stared at him with pity-filled gazes. The other boys had treated him like a leper. And the girls... They’d looked at him as if he were a bona fide rock star. The bad boy who was going to save them from the monotony of their map-dot existence.
Every girl, that is, except for Gracie Stone.
She’d been a rock star in her own right. Buck wild and reckless. Constantly defying her strict adoptive parents and pushing them to the limits. They’d wanted a goody-goody daughter befitting the town’s mayor and first lady, and Gracie had wanted to break out of the neat little box she’d been forced into after the tragic death of her real parents.
They’d both been seniors when they’d crossed paths at a party. It had been lust at first sight. They’d had three scorching weeks together before they’d graduated and she’d ditched him via voice mail.
We just don’t belong together.
For all her wicked ways, she was still the mayor’s daughter, and he was the son of the town’s most hated man. Water and oil. And everyone knew the two didn’t mix.
Not then, and certainly not now.
He tried to remember that all-important fact as he focused on the sweet-smelling woman leaning over him.
She looked so different compared to the wild and wicked girl who lived and breathed