Drawn to a Cowboy (Brother Duet #1) (4 page)

Sage

S
ix and a half hours later, a good hour or so more than it usually took, I drove under the metal arched entrance to The Bleu Moon Ranch with a hot dame on my tail.
Tail, she had a nice one. Those little shorts teamed with red Western boots and a tight tank top. I would follow that anywhere.
Okay, those were not the thoughts I needed to have on my brain—my upper or my lower.
Shit! Pull it together, you cannot get out of your truck with tented jeans
.

Easing my truck up near the main lodge, I waved her around me to an open space. Parked, I hopped down on the hard, dirty ground I had missed. Taking a few deep breaths, I reacquainted myself with the familiar fresh air that said home. Needing a moment, I was regrouping before walking to her car. Her door was already opened and she was leaning over her seat looking for something, it appeared. That lush ass of hers was not helping me.

“Go ahead, leave your stuff in there, we can get it in a bit,” I suggested, hoping she would stop wiggling her backside.

“Sorry,” she uttered as she backed up and stood. “My phone slipped off the seat.” She lifted it to show me as if I wouldn’t believe her.

Shutting her door, I gently grasped her upper arm and guided her to enter the building before us. I had an overwhelming urge to take her in a completely different direction, away from everyone. Private. Quiet, so I could hear the moans I imagined escaping her throat as I rustled them up with my hands, mouth, body…
Stop!
I told myself silently.

Up a few steps, we walked inside and were immediately greeted by something that smelled delicious. “Let’s grab some grub then we can get you settled in,” I said, crossing the lobby.

Halting our stride, she had her own request. “How about the little cowgirl’s room?”

“Right down that hallway,” I pointed. As she disappeared, I shook my head. We stopped three times on our drive, how could she have to pee again? What was it with women and restroom breaks? And why did she buy more to drink before getting back on the road? Is it a law that chicks needed to guzzle x-amount of liquids daily? Snapped from my questions, I turned toward voices, and went in their direction.

Walking into the mess hall, dining room, it was apparent the guys had spotted me, or I should say they noticed the hot red head that entered through the front door with me. I knew they weren’t interested in me. Nope, normally, I got nothing more than a few nods in my direction. Their main focus at that time of day was filling their bellies with dinner after a long day dealing with guests, good ones, and occasionally bad. A fine new addition in the lodge, and my luck changed—there was no way that we were going to be able to just slip in for an undisturbed meal.

“Did you see what the boss just dragged in?” questioned one excited cowboy to which lewd answers were replied.

Not wanting her or nearby guests to hear their comments, I walked over to them. “Shut your traps,” I said quietly. “She might be working here.” That got them even more riled up.

“Hope she’s teaching roping techniques. She can hog tie me and have her way with me.” That sparked the rest of them to interject what they hoped she would be doing on the ranch. Thank god her bathroom trip was a long one. And thank God for Norma walking over, or not.

“Where are you housing her?” Her hands were perched on her hips, a stern expression on her face, I instantly felt like I was in trouble.

I knew by her tone that she thought I had picked up a playmate, instead of an actual employee. I made certain she knew my bed was off limits, “The barn.”

“Hell yeah!” The men were whooping and high fiving each other.

“You can’t put her out there!” Norma exclaimed, waving her hand toward the rowdy crew to shut up.

“What’s wrong with it?” The boys echoed my words. “My old room is nice. I lived in it. It’s comfortable, clean, even has its own toilet and sink.”

“You forget the community shower?” an arched eyebrow challenged me.

“Oh, we’re okay with that. We don’t mind sharing the hot water with the little lady. We can take turns scrubbing her back for her, too. She could even return the favor.” Their suggestions escalated until Norma could be heard clearing her throat while nodding her head.

“Howdy boys,” Jade stepped right up to the table to greet the lewd bunch before turning and extending her hand to Norma, “Ma’am, I’m Jade.” Her name echoed around the table. They were so awestruck with her, they seemed to have forgotten their own names. She had that effect on me too. I had stumbled over my own name to her in the burger joint parking lot, if I remember correctly. Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice it as she coolly extended her hand and said, “Jade.”

Helping them out, I called out each of their names, like a teacher during roll call: “Walker, Wayne, Rance, Grant, Hoss, and Sal,” As I went around the table introducing them, they all nodded their heads, adding smiles and/or winks. Watching the gleam in their eyes, I was having second thoughts—maybe putting her in the barn with my crew wasn’t such a good idea.

Guiding her away from the rowdy roughnecks, we grabbed a table and a single cardstock printed menu detailing the night’s selections. As I watched her reading, I assured her that everything listed was good, then I offered her a glass of wine. We had just started carrying a new label suggested by my brother. Wines and beers I brought in from all over, besides local businesses. The new wine was from the South of France, Pinard Vineyards. With our mutual selection of free-range, roasted chicken with julienned vegetables (fresh from my garden), I opened a label free bottle of a special white Bordeaux that was not for our guests’ consumption, but a gift from the vintner.

“Thank you.” She lifted her glass, “Cheers.” I met her glass with mine and smiled before tasting it. “Good,” she said, returning my smile. She made me lose my cool, her earlier rambling appeared to have rubbed off on me—she had infected me.

“So I was thinking, since all of the cabins are rented, that you could stay in the barn. There is one room open since one of my ranch hands had to back out for the summer session. It’s really a nice room, I promise. It has a private bathroom, but… the shower situation is dorm style.” She raised an eyebrow just as Norma had earlier. Two women giving me shit around here, more trouble. I wouldn’t be bullied, it would all work out, and so would the bathing situation. “The guys are usually up at dawn. You will be on your own time schedule so sleeping in, you will have the shower all to yourself. The door locks.”

Reaching her hand out, she covered my hand. “Relax, it sounds great. I can’t imagine you’d put me in a place that you wouldn’t be willing to stay in yourself. I trust you.” She pulled her hand away to take a sip of her wine. “This really is good.”

“Glad you approve of our fermented grape selection. It’s our latest addition to the culinary changes we’re making to the kitchen: New chef. New kitchen. New menus. New dining room. We’re working out all the details to update everything.”

“New artwork too?” she had a playful smirk on her gorgeous lips.

“Yes, your paintings.”

“What do you have in mind for the art? Hopefully, something better than the last place that wanted flowers in baskets and desert scapes,” she blurted out then stopped. “I guess, I shouldn’t be saying that, in case, that’s what you had in mind.” Her eyes widened in an “oops” kind of expression, she made me grin. “So, what do you envision?”

“I’ll show you photos of the cabin interiors tomorrow since they’re all occupied. And I’ll show you around the property and clue you in as to what we offer. The activities, so you can figure out what we’re all about. But besides telling you who we are, I want your opinion.”

“You might want to see my work first. You’ve offered me a position without knowledge of my talent or ability.”

“Seeing as a hotel chain had hired you, I assumed you were good.”

“You know what they say about assuming?” She smiled.

“Yes, I know.” I shook my head and began to eat the savory, herby smelling food that was set down before us.

“This food looks fucking incredible! Oops…” she said, looking around, “Pardon my French, but please tell me that you’re including food with my room?” I loved watching her dig right into her meal with such enthusiasm.

“Included, of course,” I smiled while my insides churned.

“Then I look forward to getting started,” she said, reaching out to shake my hand. Her hand in mine made my whole body stiffen. Working with her was going to be painful, I feared. The arrival of a cheese platter with dried fruits after our dinner was a nice distraction. “Oh, very French and perfect with this wine, too. You’ve got yourself a real swanky cow ranch here.”

I laughed. “I don’t know about that, but everyone appreciates good food. I hope you like cheese. This is a new addition.” I watched her take a bite of a semi-hard, ivory white cheese, following it up with a tiny piece of apricot. Closing her eyes, she licked her lips, and I nearly lost it at the sound of a low moan, reverberating all the way from her throat.

“This is pure heaven,” she said as she continued to sample the rest. “I’m thinking this one is a manchego, my favorite.”

“One of mine too.”
Damn!
I couldn’t find my words with her fingers skimming the items of the plate and placing them into her mouth. I had the overwhelming urge to feed her.

“One of my friends turned me on to cheeses. She says that very often, the stinkier the cheese, the better the cheese.” I didn’t want to hear about a friend turning her on to anything, unless it was a female one. “She likes some really gross ones—gross to me, too strong and pungent, I nearly gagged on a few. Paris was perfect for her!”

“A French friend of yours?”

“She’s an American in Paris, like I was—art school for me, culinary for her.”

“So you went off to school together? Old time friends?”

“We’re friends now, but we didn’t start out that way. She came to see me one evening, very unexpectedly. My friend Lark had vacated her apartment three months shy of her lease contract when her engagement fell through. I had planned to stay with her for a couple months before I left for Paris. She left everything in the apartment, but her clothes. ‘No reminders,’ she said, asking me to allow a local thrift store to take everything before I flew off.” Settled back in her chair, Jade picked up her glass and took a few sips of wine. “Who could turn down an upper Madison Avenue apartment free of charge?” She laughed.

“That is a nice location.” I had been to New York City a few times to know.

“Exactly! Anyhow, I was enjoying a quiet night, five days before I was set to leave when I heard pounding on the front door. I opened it to a beautiful woman who blew by me asking, ‘Where is she, I thought it was over.’ I asked her what the hell she was talking about as she mentioned the name of a man I had been dating. I told her, innocently, that he wasn’t here. And as for Skylar as she called my friend, Lark, I told her that she went back to LA almost three months ago. It looked like a light bulb switched on in her head as she turned on me. ‘You! You are the one he’s fucking now?!’ Then it was my turn to realize that I had been dating
her man
—her fiancé it turned out.”

“Love triangle,” I said in a questioning tone, although I didn’t want to hear any more about it. I didn’t like the idea of her fucking anyone, except maybe me.

“Not exactly. It got worse. The guy was once engaged to
my Lark
too. I had never met him. She called him by a different name, his middle name. So when I met this guy my first night in town in a bar down the way from her apartment, I had no idea. He never clued me in either when he picked me up from Lark’s place.”

“What a slime bucket!” I took a gulp of wine and asked our server to bring us two snifters along with a bottle of cognac. Something stronger sounded fitting.

“You have no idea. Phoebe, the pastry girl, showing up was an eye opener. I had planned to go out with him the night before I was leaving. That never happened, but I did see him one last time. After sharing a bottle of wine, hearing the whole story that went on between Lark, Phoebe and the cheating bastard who was engaged to both of them at one time, she talked me into confronting him together. ‘Let’s catch him, offer him anal and he’ll show up.’ She grabbed my cell and texted him. And as she said he would, he replied back immediately that he was on his way.” I nearly choked to death on her words. “Sorry. I should’ve left that out.”

“No, it’s fine. Seriously, I hear worse from the ranch hands.”
However, hearing them from her lips had an entirely different effect on me.

“I’m sure you do.” She smiled, took a sip of the amber liquid and started to speak again. I prayed silently, that she was going to wrap up this story with her punching the guy, or at least that she sent him on his way. “When he arrived, we both stood at the door as we opened it. He was so baffled, he could barely speak, and he had no idea what to do. He dug an even bigger grave for himself when he flashed his phone screen toward us with the texts that he thought were between us, and it started buzzing. As Phoebe was reading him the riot act about taking advantage of me in my friend Lark’s apartment, who he was engaged to before she broke it off because of pastry girl, a text from someone named Pamela appeared.”

“What an asshole!” I couldn’t stop my outburst, I wanted to punch him.

“Yep, he was a total player. God knows how many women he had on his booty-call list. Phoebe finally had enough. She broke off their engagement right then and there, and she ended up coming to Paris with me. She stayed two weeks on the couch of my first apartment, feeding me pastry from every one of her favorite
pâtisseries
, and then some. It took me months before I could look at another baked good, even bread. She’s working on opening her own bakery in Manhattan after she gets back from Paris.”

“And your other friend is okay that you’re friends?”

“They have become friends too. The New York cad was nothing to Lark. She was using him, attempting to move on. She’s been in love with someone else since they were kids,” she said finishing off her cognac while shaking her head. “That’s a whole other story.” She yawned, “Oh, excuse me.”