Spurred On by Sabrina York
The third sexy, Stripped Down novel
from the author of Stud for Hire and Cowboy to Command.
Just south of Fort Worth, Texas,
you’ll find a little ranch where the hot, toned cowboys are ready and eager to
take it all off and make your naughtiest fantasies come true...
As the owner of the Double S Ranch,
Cody Silver knows what women want—all except the one that got away. So when his
high school girlfriend Sidney Stevens comes back to town for her sister’s
wedding, Cody will do whatever it takes to prove that he’s a changed man.
After their explosive breakup, it
took a long time for Sidney’s broken heart to heal —and she’s not about to risk
it again. She’ll tangle with Cody and live out her simmering fantasies, but
when the time comes she’s going to walk away satisfied.
But love has a way of ruining the
best laid plans, and Cody and Sidney are about to learn that what you want
isn’t always what you need...
"Sabrina York can write a sexy
cowboy like no other!" Susan Stoker, New York Times bestselling author
READ AN EXCERPT!
Cody Silver’s feet tangled and he
almost fell on his face as a tall drink of water uncurled herself from a
refurbished red hot Mustang and surveyed the front yard of his ranch house. The
first thing he noticed was the curve of her ass because, seriously? It was a
fantastic ass. And then he noticed her boobs. His pulse picked up. His salivary
glands went into overdrive.
Her hair was gorgeous too, a kind of
burnt umber, not enough for her to be a classic redhead, but enough that it
probably spoke to her passion in bed. It tumbled down her back in a riot of
curls.
With that figure, she had to be
gorgeous too. Didn’t she? He found himself burning with curiosity to see her
face, so he headed in her direction.
This was his home. It was only
polite to welcome her.
Maybe she was a potential customer
for the Stud Ranch. Maybe she was a friend of Claire’s. Whatever. He didn’t
care. He just wanted to meet her because he hadn’t felt this kind of instant
attraction since—
She turned and he got a glimpse of
her profile and a skitter of unease rippled through him.
No. God no. It couldn’t be.
But then she heard him coming and
glanced over her shoulder. He saw her full on and his heart dropped clear
through to his churning belly.
His steps slowed. His anticipation
faded. His trepidation rose.
It was her. Sidney Fucking Stevens.
What was she doing here? After all
these years?
And why did she still have this
crazy power over him?
No other woman had. No other woman
did.
It had been over ten years since
their misbegotten affair and the sense of loss still felt fresh. Probably
because, after all this time, he wasn’t quite sure how it had happened. How he
had lost her. Why he’d done what he’d done.
He idly wondered if she still hated
him.
Or, perhaps, not so idly.
He sucked in a breath, steeled his
spine and tipped his hat as he approached. Then he fixed something that might
have been a smile on his face. Might as well try. “Sidney,” he said, ignoring
the catch in his voice.
She stilled. Her eyes narrowed and
her nose twitched. She looked him up and down with a frigid perusal.
Oh yeah. She still hated him.
“It’s been a long time.” The best
opening he could manage.
She nodded, but said, “Not long
enough.” She muttered it under her breath, but he heard. He suspected he was
supposed to.
“What, ah, brings you to these
parts?” he asked. “Are you here to see Claire?”
“Yes.” Her response was short and
clipped. Nearly snarled, as though she couldn’t bear to be in his presence.
Couldn’t bear to speak to him.
Now, Cody had his share of exes—more
than a man probably should—but none of them could hold a grudge like Sidney
Stevens.
“Claire’s out of town.” He hated
saying it, because she’d probably get back into her car and leave and he didn’t
think he could bear that. Though this altercation was anything but amiable, he
didn’t want it to end. Not yet. It was better to have her stand there and hiss
at him like an angry cat than leave. Especially after all this time. He found
he wanted, more than he should, to keep her here. Which was, all things
considered, foolish beyond reason. “Can I…help you?”
She did it again. Looked him up and
down. He was left with the impression that, in her opinion, he was lower than a
bug. But then, he couldn’t blame her. He’d been a dumbass back them and he
wasn’t much better now.
“Sidney?”
She huffed out a sigh and turned
away, raking her fingers through that glorious mane. “When will she be back?”
“A week. Maybe more?”
“What? Where the hell did she go?”
He blinked at her ferocity. “She’s
gone to Houston to do some marketing. See if she can get more customers in.”
Cody, his brother Cade, and sister
Claire, had turned their large ranch house into a B&B that specialized in
parties for women…complete with hot dancers. It had been Cody’s idea, one born
of desperation, when the bank had threatened to foreclose on the property after
their father’s death. They’d gotten a lot of interest, but the jury was still
out on whether this side-business could save the farm.
It would kill him to lose everything
his grandfather and father had worked so hard to build. He didn’t know who he’d
be without the Double S. And his siblings felt the same way. Each of them put
their all into this last gasp chance to save their inheritance.
Sidney made a face and sighed. “I
wish I’d known. I came from Dallas to see her.” Yeah. After high school, after
their break up, she’d moved there and—other than an occasional visit to her
parents—she’d never come back. He’d certainly never seen her around town. Not that
he looked for her. Every day.
He suspected she took great pains to
make sure they never crossed paths when she happened to come to Snake Gully.
Damn it all anyway.
She looked good, real good…but he
knew better than to say as much.
Her nose curled again. “I heard
about what you’re doing here.”
Sidney’s distaste was not the first
he’d faced. Snake Gully was a small, conservative town and even though the
ranch was on the outskirts, some of the old timers didn’t like the idea of
bringing in dancers and horny housewives from Dallas. They didn’t like it one
iota.
But not one of those bastions of
town had offered to help them out of their financial quandary. So, well…so
there.
He didn’t know how to respond, so he
just nodded. “What brings you to town?” he asked before he could stop the
words.
She pinned him with a sharp glance
and stared at him for a long while, as though trying to decide if she should
deign speak to him or just turn around and flounce away. At long last, she
said, on a huff, “My sister is getting married.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I heard. Um,
congratulations.” The word burned on his tongue. He knew Hanna’s fiancé…and
hated him. Zack Pucey was the biggest asshole on this side of the Rio Grande.
And the other side.
And anywhere, really.
Why Hanna had agreed to marry him
was a mystery. She was sweet and well-liked. Zack was despised. It was the
oddest coupling he’d ever seen.
Sidney shuddered. “Congratulations?
Thanks a bunch. Anyway, I’m in charge of the bachelorette party. I was thinking
about having it here.”
He gaped at her. A rowdy party
featuring a passel of hot, toned strippers was hardly Hanna’s style. But hell,
a booking was a booking. “Sure. Come on inside and we can look at the
calendar.”
“I’d rather deal with Claire.”
Not a shock. “She’s not here.”
“Or Cade.”
“Not here either.” He held out his
hands to illustrate his helplessness. Not that he wanted to get her alone in a
private space, but he did. Of course, if he dared touch her, she’d probably
rack him in the balls. But a guy could dream. “Looks like you’re stuck with
me.” He batted his lashes, surely not because he knew it would annoy her. “I
promise to behave.”
Well, hell. Maybe he shouldn’t have
made that vague reference to the fact that they’d once been something more than
icy-polite strangers. She’d melted him once. That was how hot she was.
But she wasn’t hot now. Now she was
cold. Frigid. Her icy glower made him shiver. He turned and walked back to the
house. He didn’t check to see if she followed, because that would be an
admission that he cared. Besides, he could hear her heels crunching on the
gravel.
And damn. She was wearing heels.
He loved her in heels.
He forced that scintillating thought
from his mind as he pushed open the door to the office and gestured to a chair.
Then he dropped into the seat the other side of the desk—surely not because he
felt a sudden need for some barrier between them—and opened the calendar. “Do
you have a date in mind?”
She mentioned something in June and
they settled on a couple options.
“And how many people?”
Another frown. “I don’t know.
Twenty-five?”
He arched a brow. “That many?”
“Tibby wants to come.” This she
spat.
His head came up so fast he bit his
tongue. Tibby. What a horror. Aside from being Zack’s sister and a monster in
her own right, she was the woman Cody’d started dating right after he and
Sidney broke up.
Beyond that, Tibby was still
convinced that Cody was in love with her—even though their relationship, if one
could call it that, had ended nearly as soon as it had begun. Even though all
that had happened nearly a decade ago. Tibby attached to him like a remora
whenever they happened to cross paths.
Naturally, he avoided her like the
plague.
He swallowed heavily. Cleared his
throat. “Ah…Tibby?”
Sidney nodded. “She’s bringing her
friends.”
“Awesome.”
Claire was going to have a
conniption. She’d made it clear that Tibby was never to be invited to the
ranch. But if it was a condition of Sidney’s booking, he would have to accede.
Because he’d realized, all of a sudden, this was the opportunity he’d dreamed
of. An opportunity to see her again. And maybe, if he was lucky, to seduce her
again.
It was something he’d fantasized
about for ten long years.
Making love to Sidney again…and
finally getting her out of his system.
He hummed with excitement as they
waded through the details of her event. Even as he wrote down each of her
requirements, his mind was in a whirl, surreptitiously planning how he might
soften her wrath, when and where he might kiss her again. It was foolish of
him, but he couldn’t resist. Being so close to her again, drawing in her scent,
hearing her voice…all weakened his resolve, his protective instincts.
With a shock he realized, he would
do anything to be with her again. If only once.
When they’d finished all the
paperwork she stilled and folded her hands in her lap. Then she looked at him—really
looked at him for the first time. For once her gaze was not distant. It was
warm, open, almost pleading. “I have…a special request, Cody.”
He poised his pen over the order
form, even though all he wanted to do was stare at her. And maybe drool. “Yeah?
What is it?” Whatever it was, he’d do it. If only to see that sincere look in
her eye again. If only to please her.
She took a deep breath and captured
his gaze.
“I want you to help me scuttle this
wedding.”
Cody stared at her. As well he
should. It was an insane idea, but Sidney was out of ideas.
Obviously.
She’d been desperate enough to come
here. To take the chance of seeing him again, after all the heartache he’d
caused. And man, it had been hard to maintain a civil countenance in his
presence. She wanted to yell at him, rail, howl. She wanted to run. But she
didn’t. This was too important. Hanna needed this—even though she didn’t
realize it.
Still, Sidney deserved a frigging
Oscar for her acting.
Cody blinked. “Excuse me? You want
me to…what?”
She glowered at him. For some reason
he flinched. “Come on, Cody. Quit playing innocent. You and I both know there’s
something wrong here. Hanna doesn’t love Zack. Not really. We need to show her.”
He shook his head, as though he
didn’t understand. But then, maybe he didn’t. Men were notoriously oblivious.
About everything. “Show her what?”
“That she’s not in love with Zack.
What a mistake this wedding would be.”
“Sidney…” He sighed. “How am I supposed
to do that?”
“You have hot guys here. Can’t you
have one of them…?” She waved a hand in an illustrative manner.
“What?”
“Seduce her?”
“You want me to hire a gigolo to
seduce your sister?” He gaped at her so she glared back. “That’s illegal, you
know.”
“It doesn’t have to be a gigolo.”
Hanna was hardly the type of woman who needed pay for play. “What about other
men?”
“Other men?”
She shot to her feet and began to
pace. “Surely you have friends?”
He seemed slightly put out. “I have
friends,” he insisted.
“Some handsome, hot, single guy
friends who might like redheads?”
“You want to match make?”
“Whatever it takes. Anything to make
her realize that whatever it is she has with Zack isn’t love.”
“Are you so sure it’s not love?”
She whipped around and pinned him
with a sneer. “Zack? Really?” Surely Cody could see that Hannah was making a
monumental mistake. One that would ruin her life.
Cody took a moment to consider her
request, then shrugged. “I can try.”
Try? She braced her hands on the
desk and scowled at him. “Go through your little black book. Invite some
friends who might be interested.”
He pushed back his chair and stood.
“You’re asking for a lot.”
“Am I? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Asking that you invite some friends
to a party?”
“It’s a party for women.”
“There you go. You have horny
friends, don’t you?” Her tone underpinned the old adage that birds of a feather
flocked together and for some reason he looked wounded. She didn’t care.
His beautiful features firmed. He
eyed her with a sharp consideration that made her teeth clench. “And what do I
get in return? For this…favor?”
His tone made the tiny hairs on her
nape prickle. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Will you?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you
want?”
“I think you know.”
She leaped to her feet. “Forget it.
I am not sleeping with you.”
His smirk was so annoying she wanted
to smack it off his too-pretty face. “Did I ask you to sleep with me?”
“Then what?” A snap.
He shrugged and arranged his
features into an innocent mien, one he’d perfected after years of practice. “A
kiss. That’s all I want.”
She gaped at him. “A kiss?”
“Just a kiss. But a real one. You
know what I mean.”
“Fine. Come here.”
He laughed. It was low and rumbling
and arrogant and annoying as hell. “Not now. Later.”
“Later?”
“At a time of my choosing.”
Oh hell. He was even more
aggravating than she remembered. “Fine.”
“You agree to my terms?”
She shot him what she hoped was a
scorching glare. “Yes.”
“Excellent.” He stood and collected
her copy of the agreement and handed it to her and then, to her consternation,
followed her out to her car.
She had a little trouble walking on
the gravel in her heels. Surely she hadn’t worn them in case she ran into him.
Surely she hadn’t remembered how much le loved a woman in heels. She wanted
nothing to do with him. Nothing whatsoever.
She hated that the prospect of
kissing him made her belly warm, but she knew it was purely physical attraction
and nothing more. Because of all the men in the world, Cody Silver was the last
man she would want to be with. Any interaction with him was bound to end with
her heart shattered in pieces on the floor, and she refused to let that happen
to herself ever again.
She was so focused on her
determination to avoid becoming entangled with him again, that she plowed right
into him as he stopped by her car. Her ankle turned and, with a terrifying
crack, her heel snapped and she fell.
He caught her.
There wasn’t even a moment to
reflect on how good it felt to be held by those strong arms before his mouth
came down on hers. Warm, hot, demanding.
You’d think, after ten years of
hating him, she would have a modicum of resistance left in reserves. She did
not.
To her horror, she found herself
instantly sucked into the passion, the delirium of his kiss. God, he tasted
good. So good. Her mind stopped working and her body took over.
She fisted her fingers in his hair
and held him as he ravaged her mouth, nibbled on her lips and stroked her body.
It was mortifying that she seemed to
have no will whatsoever.
When he lifted his head and grinned
at her—an irritating, vexing smirk—a hard ball formed in her belly. He was too
damn arrogant for his own good.
“That was nice,” he said.
Nice?
Bastard.
She wrenched herself out of his arms
and teetered before him. “I hope you enjoyed your kiss.”
“Oh no.” He grinned again. Dimples
blossomed on his cheek. “That was not my kiss.”
Heat churned in her belly. “What?”
“That was your kiss.”
Fury raked her. Ripples skittered
over her scalp. “What?”
“You’re the one who instigated that
kiss.”
“I most certainly did not.”
“You threw yourself at me.”
“You are delusional.”
“Really?” Another smirk. “What was
it then?”
She reached down and pulled off her
broken shoe and waved it under his nose. “I fell.”
He pursed his lips. “Seriously
Sidney? That old chestnut?”
“My. Shoe. Broke.”
“I see that. But I’ve had women
sabotage their shoes before…so they could fall into my arms.”
Oh. Good. Glory.
He was, without exception, the most
self-absorbed, egotistical douche canoe on the planet.
Without a word, she whirled away,
hobbled to her car and tossed the damned shoe into the back seat. And then,
without so much as a glare in his direction, hopped into her Mustang and sped
away in a plume of dust.
God help her.
She couldn’t escape from his
presence fast enough.
And she couldn’t shake the looming
suspicion that she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life, coming to Cody
Silver for help.
GET IT NOW: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ESI3PT2/
STRIPPED DOWN SERIES from SABRINA
YORK
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