The Front Runner (Gold Rush Ranch, #3)

by Elsie Silver

The problem is, I’m kind of a loner. As an only child, I take pleasure in my solitude. There are very few people in the world I can spend extended periods of time around without eventually feeling agitated by them.

“Whatever you say,” he replies smoothly. “I just can’t fall in love with you, right?” I chuckle as I twist the doorknob to leave. “Oh, Stefan. I think you already are.”

“Trust me, Dr. Thorne, if I had you up against a wall, you’d be the meal.”

“I’ll be better company than a dildo. I promise.” She shakes her head again and swipes her kit off the ground. “Doubtful,” is her reply as she walks away. I can’t help but appreciate the way her cargo pants hug the round globes of her ass. The things I’d do to that ass. “Bet I can make you come harder too.”

She laughs, a girlish laugh. Not her usual throaty husk. “I’d like to see you try.” Challenge accepted.

“Good. Because I want to make myself abundantly clear.” We’re so close. I can feel the entire length of his body covering mine. He teases me with the lightest brush of his lips against my ear as he drops his voice and holds me captive. “You are not the pawn, Mira. You are the prize.”

“Challenge accepted. But I’m not going to fuck you until you’re begging for it.”

I secretly love this side of her. The resting bitch face. Even when she looks at me like that, her fierceness is exciting. She’s not afraid to let her claws out, and I’m not afraid to get scratched.

“Excuse me,”

“The next person to make that woman cry will wish they hadn’t.”

The world swirls around us, but we stand still, lost in each other. And damn, it feels good. I knew we’d be explosive, but this is mind-altering. This is like a drug. This is the best kiss of my life.

This woman is about to be my undoing. And I’ll do almost anything to prove to her I’m deserving.

I want to grab his ass so bad.

“Definitely not. Anyone who thinks they can speak that way to you in front of me is in for a rude awakening.”

I’d love to ask her how fake we feel after I make her come so hard she can’t see straight.

I could keep her secrets. She could be soft with me. She could let loose with me, and I’d still stand back and let her be the fiercely independent woman she is. I don’t want to tame her; I just want a front-row seat to watch her win the race.

“You owe me a pair of panties.” “I’ll buy you an entire shipping container of them if it means I get to keep ripping them off of you.”

“Mira.” Stefan’s hushed voice is gravelly as his lips move against my hair. “If you don’t watch that hand, I’m going to pull you onto my lap and fuck you right here in this car.”

“I don’t really care what you call me while I do it, sweetheart. So long as you spread those legs and let me worship between them.”