Broken Trouble (Broken Storm #1) (20 page)

              Who had somehow managed to lose his boxers during his tumble down the steps.

              I didn't have time to cover my eyes before seeing all of him.

Again.

I brought my hand up, shielding that part of him from my line of vision, my cheeks burning with a blush. I scanned the steps and spotted his boxers clinging to the banister of the stairs. When he had fallen, his boxers had gotten caught on the railing and ripped right off. I stepped down the few stairs, tugging them from the railing, and holding them out.

              "Just give me the boxers," Gavin ground out, closing his eyes, like he was resisting the urge to snap at me.

              "You just can't keep your boxers on around me, can you?" I snickered, enjoying his discomfort.

              "I don't do it on purpose," Gavin grumbled, glaring up at me.

              I threw the boxers down to him, watching him catch them and hold them against his groin, covering himself up. Mutt darted around his feet, completely unbothered by the incident. "Once is an accident, twice is understandable. Three times? That's just flat out teasing," I say, pretending to be serious as I winked at him. It felt so good to be able to screw with his head.

              His face twisted in confusion, but I turned on my heel and skipped up the stairs, only breaking stride when he murmured, then yelled, "Three?"

              Oops, I’d had forgotten that he didn't know about the first time I saw him without boxers. I picked up the pace and darted towards my room before he could ask me again, my face on fire. A door snapped open behind me and I glanced back to see Landon coming from his room, probably to check and see what all the noise was about.

              I smiled as I slipped into my room, shutting my door and leaning on it, then questioning why I was smiling. I was just enjoying being witness to Gavin’s karmic come-uppance, it wasn’t like I had feelings for the guy.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

              The next day was slow and kind of boring. Not as boring as sitting in a room, staring at the wall for hours, but it seemed to be just as uneventful. Gavin had decided to completely ignore what had happened last night. A bruise on his arm the only proof he fell down the stairs and lost his boxers. So I knew it wasn’t just a fantasy I’d imagined in my head. Not that I would ever fantasize seeing Gavin boxer-less again. I wasn't into him like that, so there was no reason to even be thinking about how muscular and stocky every single part of his body had been.

              And I did mean every.

              Not that I was thinking about that. Because I wasn't. At all.

              I really needed to have a talk with Starre.

              "Ready to get all hot and dirty with me today, Sweetheart? We have all day before the vet shows up." Jayden broke through my thoughts, grinning at me. It was amazing that even though he was in pain, grounded from going to the rodeo, and was constantly getting beaten down for flirting with me like he did, he never stopped. There was no off switch with him.

              I was grateful though. If he wasn't flirting with me then I'd really be worried about him. Plus, it was great for taking my mind off Gavin.

              "Actually, Nova will be helping me in the kitchen today, preparing for the rodeo tomorrow," Polly said, giving Jayden a warning look.

              "Ah, I was going to take Nova to town with me today to get supplies for the barn. If she wanted to of course," Landon spoke up, glancing from Polly to me.

              I felt like I was being pulled in several directions, not knowing who to go with. It was nice to be wanted for once.

              "I can always go with you after I help Polly," I suggested, hoping I wasn't making a mistake. I wasn't used to having so many people wanting me around, so I had no clue how to handle it.

              "Sounds good," Landon agreed, smiling at me before going back to his food. He didn't seem to mind waiting.

              I glanced over at Jayden, whose shoulders had slumped slightly, just enough to reveal how affected he was by everything that had been happening lately. I felt bad leaving him out. Even with his obsessive flirting, and the fact he was a complete idiot last night, it didn't mean he didn't need his spirits lifted. It was like he was covering his pain by flirting. So I threw a piece of biscuit at him. "And I'll spend this evening with you when the vet comes to do a check up on the animal and Sweetheart."

              His eyes narrowed in on mine, but he grinned, his eyes sparkling either from painkillers or from me trying to lighten his mood by calling him an animal. "Sweetheart, you can give me a check-up instead and see just how much of an animal I can be."

              "I don't think she needs to do that to see you're an animal. You make that pretty obvious," Landon commented, smirking over the rim of his glass of orange juice.

              "He's right though. Maybe we can look into getting you castrated while the vet's here," I added, nodding enthusiastically.

              "No one is going near my balls," Jayden glowered at me before his eyes flamed with heat. "Unless it's for pleasure of course."

              "Jayden," Polly warned, her voice drowned out by the sound of a phone ringing. "Dylan, can you get that Honey?"

              Dylan nodded, getting up from the table and heading to the kitchen. I felt kind of bad that we hadn't had much time together lately. It was like after the date, we hadn’t seen each other at all. I needed to find the time to spend with him. Maybe I could listen to him play music. Then I might be able to ask him about that girl he had mentioned on our date.

              I listened to everyone talk about their plans for the day, which consisted of either catching up on ranch work, or preparing for the rodeo. Dylan appeared at the kitchen doorway, motioning for me to come to him. I got up, slipping away from the table as I carried my dishes to the sink.

              "It's for you, Starre wants to talk to you," Dylan told me, smiling as he took my dirty dishes from me so he could do them. The guy was just so sweet that I couldn't resist kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you,” I said after my lips left his skin.

              Dylan blushed, then hesitated, his eyes flicking back and forth between my eyes and lips, before leaning down to press his lips gently against mine.

              The kiss was soft and sweet, just like the guy giving it. I ran my fingers through his hair, the other hand finding his shoulder and kissed him back. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before he pulled back, blushing and smiling in his adorable way.

              Then I remembered Starre was still on the phone. I moved over to pick up the phone and Dylan moved to wash the dishes. The moment was over, but that didn't stop my heart from skipping in my chest like a happy child.

              "Hey Starre," I greeted, wondering if she was still on the line.

              "Having some Dylan for breakfast?" Starre's voice came through the phone, completely amused. How could she even know we had been kissing? The girl had to have a sixth sense on these things.

              "Something like that," I said, blushing.

              "Good! We'll get into details on that later, but right now I need to ask you how last night went. Is everything okay? How's Jayden?"

              I paused, glancing behind me at Dylan. For some reason it felt wrong to talk about what had happened in front of any of the guys. Why? I had no idea. They already knew, so what difference would it make if they heard me telling Starre? Still, I took the phone out of the kitchen and went upstairs to my room. I decided to pick out my clothes for later on when I went into town with Landon while I talked to her, telling her what had happened after we had split ways last night.

              "Ah wow, Jayden and Gavin can't compete in the rodeo? They must be upset about that, but they deserve it. They should have listened to us last night and not been so stupid. Jayden could've been killed! Men just seem to have no brains at all sometimes. I don't know why women deal with them!" Starre ranted.

              It didn't sound like she was just talking about Jayden anymore. It sounded more like there was trouble in paradise. "Has Trevor done something stupid, too?"

              Starre sighed, then launched into the subject; like she had been waiting for me to ask. "It's nothing specific, he's just been so distant lately, like he's avoiding me! We haven't had movie night in forever. He keeps claiming he's busy, and when I ask what he's busy with, he won't give me a straight answer, or even look me in the eyes. He hasn't even been that romantic lately, it's like his mind’s somewhere else."

              "Maybe he is just busy. I'm sure he's got a reason for why he's acting weird," I assured her, trying to throw out some reason, which seemed to be what Starre needed. In truth, what was going through my head was that all those things were signs of the guy cheating, but Starre didn't need to hear that. She needed reassurance. Or at least that's what I thought she needed. I wasn't used to reassuring people. If Trevor was cheating on her, I'd help hold him down while she took out her fury on him. Knowing Starre though, she wouldn't need any help.

              "I hope so," Starre sighed.

              I heard a sound behind me and turned to see Polly standing in the doorway of the room, holding up a basket. She was ready to go.

              "I've got to go Starre, I can't wait until tomorrow when we can talk more."

              "Me too! I'll see you bright and early!"

              I said goodbye to Starre and followed Polly down the stairs, putting the phone back in the kitchen before following her outside. "The first thing we need to do is go pick fruit for my pies. It will get us out of the house and away from the boys for a while anyway."

              I got into the passenger's side of Polly's car and we took off down the road, both of us staying quiet the entire short drive until we reached an orchard.

              "I bake Mac a cake every now and then and he lets me pick what fruit I want from his orchard," Polly explained as she led the way through the trees, fruit surrounding us. "Here's the peach trees. Start picking the ripe ones you can reach, Honey."

              "Okay," I said, moving around the trees and picking fruit. A ladder would really come in handy with this.

              "So Honey, are ya enjoying your stay at the ranch? I hope the boys aren't bothering ya too much. They're not used to having a pretty girl like ya around, so I think they're all going a bit crazy."

              Of course, I should have known that picking fruit with Polly was really code for talking away from the snooping ears of the guys. "I'm enjoying it. The ranch is a really nice change for me and the guys have been really nice."

              "Nice to look at and be around?" Polly guessed, raising a quizzical eyebrow at me. It felt kind of weird talking to her about the guys. Dylan was her son and the others were like her own.

              "Yeah," I agreed with a blush.

              "Honey, I'm going to tell ya exactly what I've told the boys before. I want ya to be able to talk to me about anything. I'm not going to judge ya for anything you're going through. Lord knows we've all got our own problems or situations we have to go through. You're safe at the ranch and I want ya to treat it like your home. Follow your heart, no matter where it may lead ya. It's never too late to get what, or who, ya want in your life."

              My eyes blurred with unshed tears. Polly's words meant a lot to me. It seemed like she was telling me she approved of me enough to go for whichever of the guys I wanted. "What if I don't know that yet?"

              "You'll figure it out with time, just do what ya think is best for you. We all care for ya very much and we'll be here whenever ya need us. Those boys would do just about anything for ya, all ya have to do is ask," Polly paused, putting more peaches in her basket. "They're all interested in you, ya know."

              "I don't really know what to do with all the attention. To be honest, I don't even know how I could pick just one of them. I don't want to hurt any of them."

              "That's good, because that's the last thing I want is for any of them to be hurt," Polly said, giving me a look that told me she was serious in suggesting I avoid hurting any of the guys. Then her shoulders relaxed and she went on, "But, sometimes ya just have to go with what ya want and let things fall where they may."

              I nodded and smiled at Polly, but stayed quiet. I had a lot of things to figure out.

              After helping Polly pick the fruit for her pies, it didn't take very long for her to shoo me out of the ranch house and into the yard to find Landon. Apparently she’d said everything she felt the need to say and just wanted me out of the way now.

              I glanced around the yard, searching for Landon, or any of the guys for that matter. It was like a ghost town outside. After circling around the yard and looking through all the horse pens and fields, I gave up. It wasn't like I could walk all over the ranch searching for them. I would just end up getting lost, especially as I had no idea how big their ranch was.

              It was obvious they weren't around, which felt odd considering the entire time I'd been on the ranch, one of them had always been around. The silence of the country air was deafening, interrupted only by the random horse snort, and the muffled noise of Polly inside the house.

              I wandered over to Storm’s corral and went inside. I didn't get to spend much time with him. It seemed like the guys were always taking up most of my time, so I spent time with Storm whenever I could. Aside from rebuilding the barn, he was the reason I was staying around, wasn’t it?

              I sighed and relaxed as soon as Storm’s muzzle touched my hand. His breath wafted across my skin in soft whispers. I always felt calm around Storm, our trust growing with every minute we were together.

              I pulled some Sugar Straws from my back pocket. It was something I always seemed to be carrying around with me now, and opened one up to feed it to him. Finding a brush on the other side of the arena, I walked over to him. He reached his nose out towards it, his ears pinning back as he snorted, obviously not liking the brush idea. I reached forward with my hand and ran it across his shoulder, feeling his muscles twitching underneath my hand. Alternating between running my hands across him and feeding him Sugar Straws, I worked my way across his body, avoiding all the sensitive spots I’d learned of last time. When I reached the other shoulder, I nonchalantly raised the brush in my hand and gently touched it to his coat.

              With a squeal of rage, his ears pinned back. His head snapped around to grab the brush in his teeth, before flinging it to the ground. There, he commenced trying to stomp it into the dirt. When he seemed satisfied with his hoofwork, he snorted and bobbed his head, like he was proud that he had killed the brush. I laughed, holding out my hand towards him. Storm walked forward, nudging my hand, then my pockets.

              "Okay, Okay, I get it. No more brushes, just hands and Sugar Straws," I pulled out a few Sugar Straws and poured them into my hand, letting him eat it out of my hand. With the brush broken and stomped into the dirt, he was back to being mostly relaxed and carefree. The danger of the evil brush was gone. "I probably shouldn't even be giving you this. You'll think I'm praising you for killing the brush."

              Storm snorted, then nuzzled my hand for more. I only had one Sugar Straw left in my pocket and I needed to save it for when I left the corral. Storm nudged me again, pushing me forward. "Not yet,” I said, moving away from him, only for him to follow.

              It made me wonder how long he would follow me around for. Walking forward across the corral, I could hear Storm following close behind, not stopping or even hesitating until I paused in the middle of the arena to pet him. He sniffed at my hand as it passed him, then his ears flickered and he lurched away, insulted that I wasn't giving him the last Sugar Straw immediately. I watched as he picked up speed, until he was running as fast as he could around me and the arena, his head held high, only lowering when he bucked occasionally.

              He might be on a sugar high.

              After a few laps around, he suddenly turned and ran straight towards me. I froze, unsure of which way to move, but then decided not to. I was building our friendship off of trust. What would that say to him if I didn't trust him not to trample me into the ground?

              It was probably a stupid move, but it was one I made.

              At the last possible second, he turned slightly and slowed, his hooves flinging dirt up into the air. He shot past me, dirt spraying across my legs as his side brushed my mine, then my back as he circled me. When he reached the front, he threw his head over my shoulder and stepped close, his nose reaching for my pocket.

              I stumbled back a step against his weight, before putting a hand on his chest. "Okay, you put on a good show, you can have it now." I pulled out the Sugar Straw and he took a few steps back, his nose hovering above my hands as I dumped it into the palm of my hand. His nose plastered into my palm as he lapped it up, starved for it like a cocaine addict.

              Maybe it was time to wean him off the Sugar Straws a bit.

              I ran my hand gently across his neck, but felt him nudging me for more of the sugary substance he was addicted to. "I don't have any more,” I stated, holding out both my hands to show him.

              Storm snorted, then turned and walked off in a huff. He went to the edge of the corral, nosing at the boards and peering out, his ears perked with longing. He had been cramped in this small corral since the barn burned and I knew he was wanting the freedom to run across a field and eat as much grass as he pleased. I decided right then that I would ask Wyatt about putting him in another fencing, even if I had to help build it. If I could get a halter on Storm, then I could at least take him for walks. Though by his reaction to the brush, I knew putting something on his face, a spot he still didn't like me touching, probably wouldn't go very well.

              The soft thuds of hooves made my thoughts dissipate. My eyes followed the horses and their riders as they came into view. Landon loped along on his black and white Paint, while Jayden rode a large, black horse. They slowed as they approached the corral, Storm laying his ears back, obviously annoyed by their presence.

              I rubbed a small circle on his neck to keep him calm and let him know that I hadn't left yet. He let out a long sigh, like he knew I had to go. Then he turned and walked off to the other side of the corral, ears still back in annoyance, and possibly, a bit of jealousy.

              Landon hopped down from his horse, undoing the girth on the saddle. "Good girl, Bonnie." I heard his low murmur as he removed the saddle from the Paint’s back before turning to me, "I'm just going to let her out in the field and then we can head to town."

              I nodded, watching as he led Bonnie away from the ranch yard and to a fenced-in field, leaving me alone with Jayden. Even though Landon had dismounted his horse, Jayden stayed on top on his, watching me closely with a disgruntled expression. When he caught me watching, the look vanished and was replaced with a flirty smirk, making me wonder exactly what he was thinking about.

So I decided to ask, even though I doubted I would get the truth from him. "What?" I knew he was going to make an inappropriate comment even before it came out of his mouth, it seemed to be his go-to move to avoid actually answering.

              "Just imagining you, your gorgeous body, and me in several compromising positions Sweetheart."

And there was the signature wink.

              "Were you having some problems with your own gorgeous body then? Because your frown was telling me all I need to know about that." I raised an eyebrow, closing Storm’s corral gate behind me.

              "Trust me, that will never be a problem for me, Sweetheart," Jayden said cockily, his smirk barely even drooping from my come-back.

              I needed to come up with some more original, witty retorts.

              Landon had made his way to the truck and removed his dirty, sweaty shirt, slipping on a clean one. I took that as my signal to start making my way to the truck. "Mhmm,” I hummed, putting every ounce of doubt I could into it.

              His eyes darkened, then roamed over my body like he could see through my clothes. "You'll find out soon enough."

              "Maybe I don't want to find out," I lied, walking backwards away from him.

              "Try telling your body that. I bet it's flushed and w-" Jayden was cut off by Landon yelling from the truck, muffling whatever his last words were. Not that it was too hard to guess what they were.

              "Goodbye, Jayden," I said, turning around and walking away, my cheeks heating up in a blush. The guy was irritating and smoldering at the same time.

              "Good luck on your date!" Jayden called out from behind me, causing me to glance back in confusion.

              "What?"

              He smirked like he knew something I didn't, glancing at where Landon was waiting at the truck.

              He couldn't be serious.

              "We're just going out for supplies."

              "Mhmm," Jayden hummed, using the same hum of doubt and disbelief that I’d used.

              "You're wrong."

              "You'll see," Jayden said, then nodded to Landon. He must have gotten a knock on the head too when he was attacked by the bull. Landon hadn't even mentioned going on a date with me for awhile, so I thought he had taken a step back, letting the other guys fight over me.

              So, Jayden couldn't possibly be right about this being a date, could he?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

              As soon as I had climbed into the truck, Jayden's words slipped away and were forgotten. The drive to town was filled with country music blaring through the radio and comfortable silence between Landon and I.

              He was as boy-next-door as a guy could be. I’d never known the type before, but was happy I did now.

              We pulled up in front of a farm supply store and got out, heading inside. Landon went up to the counter, talking to an older man and telling him what lumber and feed he needed. When he was done, he turned to me, his lips sliding into an easy going smile. "Come on," he said, walking farther back into the store. I followed him, my eyes scanning the dusty interior of the place. I guess people who dealt with hardware, lumber, and feed would have a hard time keeping their store clean.

              Landon darted down an aisle and I followed, finding myself at a wall of different paint shades, paint cans, and spray paint. "I'm going to work on loading up the supplies, I'm leaving the paint to you. Pick out whatever colors you want."

He smirked and wrapped an arm around me, giving me a slight hug and bringing his lips close to my ear to whisper, "Go wild," before walking off.

              I stood for a few minutes, just staring at the wall of the many different paint shades, stunned. Was he really leaving the paint for the barn up to me? I had no idea what normal people painted barns, except for bright red. That was the traditional color to paint a barn, wasn't it? They seemed like tradition people, so isn't that what they would want to go with? And if that was the case, why have me pick out the colors? Then again, Landon had told me to go wild with it, so did that mean he wanted me to think outside of the box, and do something that wasn't traditional?

              Our conversation from days ago popped into my mind, remembering how Gavin wanted the tradition, normal barn colors, while Landon wanted something more difficult, just to keep me at the ranch longer.

              I sighed. I was probably overthinking this, no one else in the world could possibly be worrying this much about what to paint a barn. I sat cross-legged in the middle of the aisle, eyes scanning the colors. I slowly relaxed and let my creativity flow, finally coming up with the perfect idea, or at least I hoped it was.

              I would go classic, red with white trim on most of the barn, but the back of the barn would be mine. It had been a long time since I’d done any graffiti art, and I hoped they would approve. If not, they could always paint over it after I leave.

              I gathered the spray paint I would need and got a few gallons of white and red paint, wondering if it would be enough. I had never painted a barn before, so I had no idea how much we would need, but if we ran out then we could always run back to town. I grabbed a few paint brushes, then gathered up the paint and moved it all to the front of the store. It took several trips to move it all, and when I came back with the last load, I found Landon at the front counter, arguing with the man he had ordered supplies from. "I'm paying for it all, you can't not accept my money."

              "I've told ya’ over and over that it's free for ya’. The whole county has heard about what happened, ya’ know that. We've started a fund to help y'all buy supplies to rebuild the barn. It's paid in full," the man argued back, just as stubborn. The people around here had been fundraising to help them build the barn? That was something unheard of in the city. If someone's home burned and their insurance didn't cover it, then they ended up on the street or rebuilding out of their own pockets.

              "You know we don't want charity," Landon stated.

              "We help our own, Son,” the man put a hand on his shoulder, not backing down.