The Front Runner (Gold Rush Ranch, #3)

by Elsie Silver

My breath turns to stone in my lungs. I’m too shocked to move. And too far gone to stop him.

A quiet gasp escapes me when I catch sight of the expression on his face. What I see there is primal. He’s not just looking at me appreciatively… he’s looking at me like he wants to devour me. I’m positive no man has ever looked at me like this before.

“You are not the pawn, Mira. You are the prize.” I reel, and I feel the burn of his lips against my skin as he presses a featherlight kiss to the spot his thumb had been rubbing.

plan to take my shot with that woman. I just need to soften her up first. Step one: talk to her. Step two: woo her. Step three: win her.

“Now I have to deal with you openly wanting to fuck me, too.” I tut her. “Such language, Dr. Thorne.”

I also signed off on his DNR with a smile on my face. It was as close to killing the bastard as I could get.” She freezes, and I wonder if I’ve gone too far. Only someone with a tarnished soul would take pleasure in something like that.

Unlike me. My feet go heavy, and a weight lurches through my gut when Stefan murmurs, “Challenge accepted. But I’m not going to fuck you until you’re begging for it.” And then he saunters away to work the room, like he didn’t just knock me into a complete tailspin.

She’s clearly annoyed. She’s got that look on her face like she might gut someone. 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.

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’ll burn it all down to make it happen.

This isn’t one for the record books. This is the record book.

love the way he touches me so casually. The way his hands linger on my body like I’m a piece of art worth savoring.

And then, there’s the kiss. This is why I keep to myself. Why I don’t date. I dip my toe in the shallows, and suddenly I’m flung into the goddamn deep end. I’m at a loss for how to navigate this situation. What I know. My feelings. My body’s memory of Stefan owning me the way he did. I’m fucked up.

All I know is that I wanted his hand on my leg to keep going. I wanted his lips on my skin.

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

Good god. I don’t think I’ve ever hooked up with someone so talkative. Maybe that’s why every hook up so far has sucked. Maybe that’s why I’m soaked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this wet for anyone,” I whisper back.

“Fuck.” My voice doesn’t even sound like my own. With Stefan’s lips on me, I feel like a completely different woman.

This man is going to be the death of me.

“Boring? Dr. Thorne, haven’t you learned by now that I love a challenge?” No, it has definitely never been like this before.

while he played Mario Kart. Yeah, I saw that. And he’s fucking terrible. He obviously needed the practice, so I just left him to it so I could disappear inside my head for a bit.

Dead school him girl

I’m definitely not going to be bored when Stefan Dalca finally fucks me.

But the unwanted little boy who lives inside me feels a bit different about that sentiment. It feels like she’s embarrassed. Like I’m a dirty little secret—and I don’t like that.

I know she’s worth it.

Since the first time I laid eyes on Stefan, I’ve been in his orbit. And suddenly, the pull is more than I can bear. Right now, he’s too close, and I’m too weak.

Sex has been boring for her? Challenge fucking accepted.

find fancy places to take her just so she keeps wearing it. Because her and I? We’re just getting started.

“Jesus Christ,” she breathes out with a small tremble in her voice. “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.”

“Is sex always like that for you?” she pants out, awe bleeding into her voice. And because I pride myself on being honest, I tell her the truth. “No. It’s never been like that. Not even fucking close.”

honestly don’t think about sex that often. Until him. Until his whispered words and searing glances. Now all I can think about is sex. This is a disease a condom can’t save me from. Obsession.

Hands that heal. Hands that save lives.” His voice drops. “Hands that belong in mine.” My heart races, and my body heats.

Stefan flips me flat onto my back. “I don’t think I do. You’re like a safe, and I think I’m close to figuring out the combination. So don’t worry, Mira. I’m going to get in there and learn all your secrets. I’ll keep them for you, too. Especially the one about me being exactly your type.” And with that, he winks and disappears beneath the covers.

But when I close my lids, all I see is Stefan and his beautiful green eyes. My new favorite color.

It’s cozy, and as someone who hasn’t had a lot of friends, I love the simplicity of it. Just good people and simple food under the open air

“Here’s to taking out all the sexist pigs.”

did a lot more than fondle his balls.” Violet spews water all over herself.

worry my bottom lip between my teeth as I search for the right label for Stefan and me. “It’s real.”

The fact of the matter is, I’m not ashamed of Stefan Dalca. At all. Luckily, Billie sort of let it go after I dropped that atomic bomb on girls’ night. She tossed out a joking, ‘Well, you know what they say: love is blind!’

This man. This look. It makes me want to dive deeper. I want to get lost in this connection, disappear into it, and never come back out. I have never felt so desired.

don’t see him as a threat. He’s not my enemy. And he looks at me the same way. He looks at me like I’m a dream come true. Words aren’t even necessary when a man looks at you like that.

Talk about a buzzkill. We just had the best sex of my life. The woman of my dreams is sprawled naked on my chest, and she wants to talk about my dead mom?

“I’ve always thought you were devastatingly handsome. Alluring.” She kisses me again, more slowly this time. “The nose. The accent. The quick tongue. I’ve always been drawn to you. Even when I barely knew you.”

You love so fiercely. I think she’d be proud of you. Just like I am.” Love. The word bounces around in my head. A perilous word to be sure. I love Nadia, absolutely. But the way Mira lumped herself in there felt a little too natural. My heart says she belongs on that list, but my head says it’s too soon. My head says that everyone I love ends up hurt. Or dead.

For a guy who claims that honesty is an important quality to him, I’m a fantastic liar. I shouldn’t love Mira. Because everything I touch turns to shit. And when I love something too much, the universe takes it away from me.

swear I can almost hear Nadia roll her eyes. That girl has an attitude the size of Texas. And to be honest, it’s part of what I love about her. And Mira. Fuck.

told Billie once that DD was her heart horse, a horse she could understand like no one else can. A term I learned from the villagers in my hometown. Looking into Loki’s wide black eyes now, watching his soft lips nip at the button on my jacket—trying to pull it off, I might add—I wonder if I’ve met a second heart horse.

There are days where I have no clue what the hell I’m doing with my life—where I wonder if it matters. But most of all, there are days where it feels like I don’t know where I’m going, because I have no idea where I came from.

Anxiety coils in my gut at the mention of the L word. The only thing I’ve loved in recent memory is my job. And my girlfriends at the ranch. Maybe the odd horse. Loving something is a distraction, a time commitment, a risk.

“Okay. So, you’re here because?” “Are you serious?” I hiss at him, stepping close enough that my thighs butt up against the wide oak desk. “You fucked my brains out. Like I am literally brainless now. You told me my hands belong in yours for crying out loud. I can’t stop thinking about it. And about you. And it’s all driving me crazy. What am I supposed to do now? I haven’t heard from you at all. And I just need to know what this is so I can organize my life accordingly. And that’s what I came here to ask you, but you’re sitting there looking like Professor Pornstar.” Stefan’s face slowly transforms from amused to serious, his gaze turning heated toward the end of my rant.

“This is fucking annoying. You’ve put a curse on me. You’re all I think about.”

You’ve put a spell on me. You’re all I think about.” My heart lurches in my chest.