Bad In Boots 02 - Ty's Temptation (7 page)

Granted, he’d worked his ass off this morning for a reason—named Evan…or Eve, he thought with a smirk. The woman was certainly the epitome of forbidden temptation, all wrapped up in a gorgeous five-foot-ten woman he wanted nothing more than to bury himself into. Last night was one of the longest nights of his life.

After today’s chores he knew he’d ache all over, but work had always been his escape—that and aikido. Jena had looked at him differently this morning as if she were surprised to learn something about him she didn’t know. He’d smiled in memory at the look he’d seen on Jena’s face last night when he’d taken Chad down. He never did tell his kid sis about his martial arts abilities. For him, aikido was more than just a tool for keeping in shape. It helped him learn to focus, to get over past issues in his life and move on.

“Want me to help out in the stables?” Ty called out to Harm.

Harm pulled a cowboy hat off the hook on the wall in the stables and threw it to him. “Yeah, hitch the flatbed to the tractor and get Keith to help you load up a couple of bales of hay for the stables.”

“Does that mean I’ll be mucking, too?” Ty chuckled as he plunked the black Stetson on his head.

Harm flashed him a wide smile. “I knew I was marrying into a smart family.”

Ty just shook his head. “Good thing I brought a change of clothes.”

* * * * *

Evan’s SUV bumped and jostled over the gravel road as she drove up to Steele Way ranch. She hoped Flash would be okay. Hell, the horse should feel very cozy. Evan had had to line the trailer with hay in order to get the skittish animal to go near it. Once she got Flash inside, the horse seemed to settle. Harm had said Flash loved going places, so maybe it’d been the double trailer that wigged the mare a bit. Evan wasn’t certain of the reason, but she was glad disguising the trailer as a stall did the trick.

Jena met her as she jumped out of her vehicle. “Hi, Evan.” Jena’s gaze traveled from Evan’s newly cutoff jeans and cropped T-shirt to her broken-in cowboy boots.

She grinned when her blue gaze met Evan’s once more. “I had no idea your legs were so long. You should wear shorts more often.”

Evan glanced down at her tan legs, thankful she’d worn shorts as much as she could when she was at home working in the yard. She laughed and moved around the back of the trailer to open the latch.

Three ranch hands rushed forth, saying in unison, “Here, let us help ya with that, Evan.”

“Then again…” Jena began in an amused whisper as she followed her around the trailer, cowboys following behind, “I think you’ll put a real dent in the amount of work the ranch hands will get done today.”

As the three men shouldered their way past each other, trying to get the horse down, Evan chuckled. “Hmmm, maybe it’s a good thing I only plan to be here for an hour to exercise Flash.”

“You are coming to the rehearsal party tonight, right?” Jena asked.

Evan nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Grasping Flash’s bridle, Evan met Jena’s gaze. “I thought I saw Ty’s car. Is he here?”

Despite Evan’s casual tone, Jena gave her a knowing grin. “Yeah, Harm’s working Ty’s butt off.” A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Which is kind of interesting to see him working so hard because my brother has always hated Texas heat.”

Evan glanced back at Jena as the woman followed her over to the gated area. “Really?”

Jena nodded. “Ty really doesn’t like Texas. When we came here to sell off my aunt’s property a couple of months ago, he couldn’t wait to get back home.” She tilted her head as she reminisced. “Come to think of it, he seemed to like visiting my aunt the couple of summers we spent with her.” She sighed and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “But then he’d grown up that last summer we spent here and I guess ranching bored him.”

Evan opened a gate to a pasture. She’d just pulled the bridle off Flash when she heard a tractor over near the stables. “Go enjoy a nice jaunt, ole girl,” she said, patting the horse’s neck.

“Speak of the devil…” Jena said, drawing Evan’s attention to her line of sight.

Evan’s heart rammed in her chest at the sight before her. Ty’s broad, muscular back was to her as he and another ranch hand rolled a bale of hay off the trailer next to the stables.

Ty happened to turn at that moment and his gaze locked with hers. Evan thought for sure her heart had stopped beating for a second or two…the man so effectively took her breath away.

His gloved hand touched the rim of his cowboy hat in acknowledgement while his gaze traveled to her exposed waist and legs before meeting hers once more. A slow, sexy smile formed on his lips making her stomach clench in anticipation.

Evan couldn’t stop her own gaze from trailing over Ty’s well-formed body. He had the perfect triangular shape. Broad shoulders and a trim waist. A thin line of dark hair started at his belly button and narrowed past his buckle into his jeans. Beyond his washboard stomach, his body was so fit he even had those mouthwatering defined muscles that dipped past the waistline of his jeans, splitting his lower belly and waist into three perfect sections of cut muscles. Her fingers itched to run along his chiseled physique, to feel the hard flesh flexing against her.

“It’s a good thing my brother has been working his ass off, ‘cause now he isn’t going to get a bit of work done.” Jena chuckled next to her.

Jena’s comment jerked her out of her fantasy. “Don’t worry, Jena, I won’t keep Ty from working.”

Jena grinned. “I was just teasing you, Evan. Ty’s here for my wedding and a bit of vacation time, too. I would love to see him enjoy Texas again. Then maybe he’d visit me more than for my wedding.”

Evan heard the sad tone in Jena’s voice. She hoped Ty enjoyed his stay, too. That meant he might come back for a visit in the future.
Don’t even go there, girl
, she thought to herself.

Evan watched as Ty turned and began to break apart the bale of hay. Her stomach knotted at the shoulder and back muscles that bunched with each move he took.

“Hmmm, then again, maybe you should come by the ranch more often. I’ve never seen the men so…motivated,” Jena mused, glancing at the three ranch hands who were in the process of cleaning out the trailer’s floor for Evan.

* * * * *

Ty threw himself into his work. Harm must’ve been yanking his chain because the stalls had already been mucked. Fortunately, all he had to do was fill them with fresh hay.

As he moved back to the broken bale, he and Evan met face to face, their pitchforks digging in at the same time.

“Hey,” she said in a low, husky voice.

Ty’s groin instantly hardened at the sight of her cheeks rosy from work. His gaze gravitated to the cleavage the vee in her T-shirt allowed as she bent to retrieve a forkful of hay for her trailer, then returned to her face. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail and ringlets had escaped the band to frame her face in light, sweaty curls.

He glanced at the trailer she’d been working to fill with fresh hay. “Need some help?”

She lifted the scoopful of hay and turned away, calling over her shoulder, “No thanks. I’m almost done.”

Ty watched as she walked up the trailer’s incline. When she dropped the hay and bent slightly to spread it with the pitchfork, he almost choked as swift arousal slammed into his gut.

Her cutoff shorts rode her cheeks, giving him a perfect view of her ass while making him want to see the small private area the denim barely covered. He had no idea why the sight of those boots at the bottom of her long legs turned him on, but damn…they did.

He swallowed and swiped his gloved hand across his sweaty brow. That’s when he noticed several ranch hands had stopped working as if mesmerized. Some men were leaning against the fence, while others had paused mid-stride as they walked past.

When Evan leaned the pitchfork against the wall and dropped to her knees, preparing to spread the hay with her hands, biting jealousy gripped him. He knew the view the men were about to see. No fucking way were they getting that kind of show. Ty narrowed his gaze on the men. “Is it lunchtime yet?”

His curt comment snapped the men back to attention. With one last glance Evan’s way, the men turned back to their work.

Ty grabbed his discarded shirt and shrugged into it as his boots ate up the distance between Evan and him. He mounted the metal ramp, ready to lay into her, but the sight of her sweet ass swaying as she moved around on her hands and knees caused the words to lodge in his throat.

Very little light filtered into the trailer. The roof and sides made the space feel hot and secluded as he moved deeper into the room. He didn’t care if it smelled of horses. It was his own private haven with the woman who’d managed to haunt his sleep.

The bits of hay Evan had dropped on her way up the ramp must’ve muffled his approach because Evan apparently hadn’t heard him coming. She continued moving around, spreading the hay with quick actions, oblivious to his presence. The lecherous part of him didn’t want to end the show either now that his body blocked anyone else’s view.

His heart rammed in his chest and his erection rubbed uncomfortably against his jeans. He adjusted his cock, trying to relieve the pressure his zipper caused. Touching himself only managed to turn him on more. Ty gritted his teeth, holding back his baser instincts to lean over and touch Evan. He could so easily slip his fingers past the tiny crotch of her jeans into her wet heat underneath.

He heard her heavy breathing as she worked and couldn’t help imagining her breathing like that for an entirely different reason. He wanted her like this, breathless and sweaty, bent over and ready to take him.

He closed his eyes, fighting his desire. But when he opened them and Evan actually wiggled her nicely rounded ass as she began to back up, he lost the battle.

Ty narrowed his gaze and squatted. With deliberate determination, he pulled the gloves off his hands and tossed them to the floor. Resting his forearms on his knees, he sat and waited for Evan to back into him.

His cock ached when she was within two feet. She’d stopped to grab something underneath the hay. Ty’s patience had snapped. He started to move forward, to clasp her curved hips, when something hard hit him on the forehead.

Pain radiated up his head. “Sonofabitch!” he hissed as he fell onto his back and grabbed his brow right above his right eye.

“Ohmigod, Ty!” Evan leaned over him and grabbed his hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were behind me.”

“Apparently not,” he said in a dry tone as he pulled his hand away from his head. Bright red blood covered his palm. “What’d you hit me with? A shovel?”

Evan’s brow furrowed as she looked at his cut. “No, Flash’s bridle had fallen from the wall where I’d hung it earlier. It was underneath the hay. I was tossing it behind me to get it out of the way…” She paused and a perplexed look crossed her face. “Though I have no idea how I threw it so high it hit you in the forehead.”

“I can think of better ways to get me flat on my back.”

She rolled her eyes at his blatant, sexy comment as she grabbed his hand and started to pull him to his feet. “Come on. I have a feeling that cut needs stitches.”

Ty shrugged off the pain and stood on his own. “Nah, I’ll be fine.”

A stubborn look crossed Evan’s face. “You’re going to the doctor even if I have to hogtie you again to get you there. Put your hand on your cut until I can get a bandage for you,” she ordered before she ran down the ramp and disappeared.

Ty sighed and did as she asked as he exited the trailer.

Evan met him as he came around the side of her SUV. “Okay, let me see it.”

He lowered his hand once more and she placed a bandage over his cut.

“Ow!” He winced and tried to pull back from the stinging pain.

She grabbed his arm and held him still while she applied pressure. “Stop being a baby. That’s an antiseptic to disinfect your cut. Keep it on there while I drive you to the doctor.”

Jena walked out of her house and ran down the steps once she saw Ty holding a bandage to his head. “What happened?”

“I, uh, whacked your brother with Flash’s bridle by accident. Since the trailer’s hooked to my SUV, can I borrow your truck to take him to Dr. Shelton’s office?”

“Yes, of course.” Jena glanced at her brother as she clasped his arm. “Are you okay?”

Ty rolled his eyes then winced at the pain. “I’m fine. I don’t need to go to the doctor, you two.”

A stubborn expression crossed Jena’s face. “If Evan says you need to see a doctor, then you will go.”

“She’s just overreacting.” Ty felt the women were definitely going overboard.

“Evan’s a—”

“Um, we’d better get going,” Evan quickly said, interrupting his sister.

“Yes, no point in arguing with him,” Jena agreed. “I’ll be right back with my keys.”

When Jena returned with the keys, she said, “I’m going, too.”

Ty shook his head “No, you’re not. You have more important things to do. Like get ready for your rehearsal.”

“Are you sure?” Indecision reflected in his sister’s gaze.

Evan took the keys. “Positive. Ty’s in good hands.”

Jena cast a thankful gaze Evan’s way. “I know that for a fact. Thanks, Evan.”