EXCERPT :

“Miss?”

He’s speaking to me. Charissa shook her head and smoothed her brow to flash him her brightest smile. “Yes?” She moved closer to the tall man with the russet hair falling over his forehead, the rugged square jaw and the tiny creases around his eyes. He looks friendly. Nice. Kind. And sexier than any Matlantian or human I’ve ever met.

“I asked you if you liked my horse.”

“Oh, the horse.” Charissa saw the flicker of amusement in his eyes, but let it go. She knew he wasn’t laughing at her to be mean. “Yes, I do. I like your horse. I like him a lot.”

The inquisitive eyes zoned in on her making her, for once in her life, nervous around a human male. “His name is Adonis. It’s not his full registered name, of course, but—”

A few of the men snickered at the name and added comments below their breath.

“Sounds like a sissy horse to me.”

“Too sissy for a stud.”

“Who the hell gives a quarter horse a fancy name like that?”

Travis ignored the men, but answered their comments as if she’d spoken them. “I didn’t name him. Joe’s ex-wife did. She has a thing about mythology. Whatever his name, his bloodline is impeccable.”

Flustered by her reaction to the man, she turned to the horse and whistled at him. Adonis nickered softly in response. “Adonis. I like the sound of it.”

“I think it’s a Greek word meaning ‘handsome.’”

Even as the chuckles erupted again, she studied the man and nodded. “Yes, he is.”

Their eyes met and she knew he’d understood she hadn’t meant the horse. He blinked, examined her a bit longer and, finally, broke the silent connection. “Um, yes. He is. But I’ve never seen him cotton to anyone the way he’s done with you.”

Cotton? Would this “cotton” be a good thing? Charissa uttered a small laugh. This man didn’t know about her rapport with animals. “He understands how much I love animals, Travis. Your name is Travis, correct?”

“Travis Walker. I purchased him in a private treaty from Joe. Cost me a couple of dollars, but he’s worth it.”

“Yeah, more like about a couple of million of those dollars.” Joe chuckled as he rubbed his thumb and two fingers together.

“Oh? A treaty?” Charissa checked Joe’s reaction before asking, “Were you fighting each other? If so, it’s admirable that you’ve decided to make peace.”

From the exchange between Joe and Travis, Charissa knew she’d misinterpreted his words. Joe tucked his head to stare at the ground as those around them broke into laughter again.

Travis, however, didn’t seem to notice or care. “No, you don’t understand. A private treaty is a private agreement to buy a horse. Without going through an auction.”

Charissa blushed and hated herself for it. Control your emotions. “And this treaty cost you a few million? Dollars? Is that what he called them?”

He shot a hard look at the people who grew even ruder when their laughter threatened to escalate in volume. “Bucks. Dollars. American moolah.” As he tunneled his fingers through his hair, his expression softened as he scanned the length of her again. “You’re not from around here, are you? Are you from the Middle East or Europe?”

She shook her head knowing the motion would draw his attention to her silky black hair. As she’d known, he followed the action and lifted a hand toward her shoulders. He stopped, a bit stunned at what he’d started to do and dropped his hand. Instead, Travis paused and leaned toward her. When she smiled at him, letting him know she would allow him to get closer, he appeared to think twice about his move and stepped back. “Sorry, Miss. I, uh… You smell nice.” His features hardened with a slight pink trail running up his cheeks as the men around him coughed to cover their chuckles.

She liked that he could blush. It meant he was confident enough to blush. “Call me Charissa. I’m happy you like my smell, but I’m not wearing any perfume. The aroma you noticed is my body’s natural fragrance. Do you like it?”

The crowd around them couldn’t hold back any longer. Laughter rang out along with their comments.

“Yeah, Travis, honey, do you like it?”

“Ooh, baby, I sure do.”

“You smell so, so nice.”

“Is this a love connection?”

Ignoring the others, she started to narrow the distance between them even more, wanting his body as near to hers as possible. However, Rici stepped in, cutting her off from Travis.

“I think we’ve seen enough, Charissa.” Rici took her arm and guided her a few away from her object of lust. “We need to leave. Now.”