Rough in the Saddle (5 page)

Chapter
Seven

“Hand
me the one inch wrench,” Travis said to Colton, held out his hand, and wrapped
his fingers around the warmed metal. He was under the piece of shit truck that
had been laid up on the property for the last six months. He started undoing
the bolt that had been giving him shit for the last five minutes. Grunting out,
sweat beading his brow, and dirt and grease making it hard to see and breathe,
Travis finally got the son-of-a-bitch off. “Damn,” he said to himself and
handed the wrench back to his brother.

“You
get it?” Colton asked.

“Yeah,
finally,” Travis said and got out from under the truck. He grabbed a rag, wiped
the sweat from his face and the grease from his hands, and tossed it over his
shoulder. He saw
Jace
walking toward them from the
main house, a small collar in his hand. He got to them in a few minutes, handed
each of them a cold beer, and set the collar down.

“Got a call.”

“From?”
Travis asked and cracked open
the beer, chugging it all before
Jace
spoke again.

“That
ad I put in the paper to clean up the pigsties and cook a few meals a week.”

“You what?”
Travis said and set his beer can
down. “When in the hell did you put an ad in the paper?”

“Last
week, and this is the first hit we’ve gotten on it.”

He
looked at Colton. “Did you know about this?” Travis asked.

“Yeah,”
Colton said and rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, no offense but your
cooking is shit, Travis.” Colton grinned and looked at
Jace
,
who started laughing.

“Who
in the hell would want to clean and cook for us?”
 
Travis asked, being sincere because everyone
in town knew exactly who they were, and most everyone had a job already. To
have to clean up after three grown men wasn’t really what someone strove to do.

“At
least tell me it’s a woman.”

Jace
nodded after Colton spoke.
“Yeah, and she’s coming to check out everything, and vice versa, in a few
hours. Maybe you should get cleaned up.”
Jace
looked
pointedly to Travis,
then
looked at Colton.

“Cleaned
up for what?” Travis asked and grabbed another beer from the cooler. “This is
what we do, how we work and make a living. If she is coming to clean up after
us she might as well see how we really are.”

“I
don’t know about you two but I’m cleaning up. Hell, she might do a little
somethin’ extra, if you get what I’m saying.”

Before
either of them could respond to what Colton just said he was heading toward the
house. They had hours of work to do still, and although they’d been working
since five in the morning, it looked like Colton wanted to head out early.
Travis couldn’t even be mad at his younger brother.

They’d
been working their asses off for the last week, trying to get everything
situated so they had product to sell, so the animals were tended to, and were
doing a lot of upkeep for a bunch of shit that had been neglected over the last
year. He supposed he should have put his foot down and told Colton that they
had a lot to do still, but he didn’t, and instead finished off his second beer
and went for a third.

“Let
him be,”
Jace
said.

“You
don’t see me going over there and hauling his ass back to finish this, do you?”
Travis said and lifted a brow.

“He
just needs to find a good woman, and running through the town pussy like he
does is only making him lonelier, I think.”

Travis
stared at
Jace
, surprised to hear the other man
saying something sentimental, emotional even.

Jace
looked over at him and flipped
Travis off. “I’m not getting all mushy, just that I’m done hearing him bitch
about having to sleep with these random townies instead of having a woman he
can come home to.” They were silent for a moment, and then
Jace
sighed heavily. “I’ll be honest. I’m tired of the random hookups, too,
brother.”

Travis
looked down at his scuffed and worn boots. His jeans were dirty and stained
with grease, showing the hard work he did on the farm. “I think we all are,
brother, but finding something in this town for the keeping is going to be
harder than hell. Hell, unless you want to share a woman that is three times as
old as you and saddled with an old man.”

Jace
snorted, finished off his beer
and grabbed his second one. “I don’t know why I put an ad in the paper to be
honest. I think I just wanted to have a woman in the house that wasn’t fucking
one of us.”
Jace
sounded a little forlorn, and Travis
couldn’t help but feel sympathy for his younger brother. They hadn’t been in
any serious relationships, had always jumped from woman to woman, and he had to
admit that the idea of having someone at the house cleaning and cooking for him
did have an appealing ring to it.

But
if Colton started up with hitting on her, getting into her pants and fucking
this up, they’d always have the reputation in town as being the Sterling
man-whore brothers. Yeah, it was a pretty fucked up title, one that the younger
generation in town used for them, but that the older residents probably thought
it as well. But Travis couldn’t lie and say they didn’t have that title coming.

They
didn’t shield their reputations, didn’t try to act wholesome and pure. They
worked hard, and fucked harder, and screw anyone that thought they shouldn’t be
able to have a little fun. Travis was getting old for this shit, but on the
heels of that thought he envisioned that chocolaty goddess he’d fucked last
night. He’d gotten out of there the moment she’d fallen asleep, which had been
about three in the morning. He had taken a shower when he got home, jerked off
even though he’d screwed her brains out, and his if he were being truthful, and
still felt the desire to go back there and fuck her once more.

She
was the best lay he’d ever had, as romantic as that sounded coming from him.
Travis was a one-fuck, maybe two kind of guy. He made no apologies for that,
never tried to make
himself
something he wasn’t, and
the women he was with knew that. They didn’t expect anything more from him, and
that was fine by him.

But
Pearl made him feel something different, something more, and as soon as he had
been inside of her, feeling her warmth, smelling the scent of vanilla coming
from her flesh, he knew that if he wasn’t careful whatever he felt for her
could grow. He wouldn’t be good for a woman, wouldn’t be able to devote himself
to her. He was a loner, had always been one, and although he’d never cheat on a
woman he took as his own, he didn’t do commitment. He just was that type of
man, and that was not a type women tended to want in their lives, especially
with the sexual reputation he carried.

Scrubbing
a hand over his face, he breathed out, trying to push the lush image of Pearl
out of his mind. She was probably passing through Granite anyway, only here for
Shirley’s affairs, so he’d never have to be tempted with her curvy as fuck
body, and a face that could bring a man to his damn knees.

****

Pearl
stepped out of the café where she’d just had an informal interview, and
breathed out an exasperated sigh. They wanted someone, but even for a
rinky-dink little restaurant apparently she wasn’t what they were looking for.
Of course she had no waitressing experience, so that probably had a lot to do
with not getting a job offer. But Pearl didn’t want to serve people anyway.

When
she’d been in the city and doing advertising as a junior copyright editor,
she’d felt as though she were on a team. She’d made a name for herself within
the company, loved what she did to a certain extent, but there was also a part
of her that hated her job. Having to please people wasn’t really something she
excelled at, even if she was getting paid for it. What Pearl liked about
advertising was helping come up with pieces that would attract potential
buyers, snag their attention, and make them want to seek out more about the
product.

But
Granite, or any city nearby, had no openings for her in that profession, and
even after she got laid off and tried finding something in the city before she
moved into her grandmother’s place she hadn’t found anything. So here she was,
searching out any kind of employment now because she had no intentions of
leaving Granite.

She
got into her car and started the engine, but for a few moments just sat there
watching the life of Granite pass by. There were a lot of older residents in
the town, but this was a farming town that relied on that production to support
them. She looked down at the paper on her passenger side seat, saw the red
circled ad for the personal cook/cleaner, and knew that this was so not what
she wanted. But maybe the pay and schedule would be a dream, and then she could
focus on looking outside of Granite for something that fit her degree? She
could always commute, even if the nearest big city was over an hour away.

Grabbing
the steering wheel and clenching her hands on the leather, she rested her head
on the back of the seat and closed her eyes. She didn’t move, didn’t even
breathe for that matter, just thinking about where her life was now as opposed
to last year when she thought she had everything going for her. She now had
nothing, no family, no job, and was just trying to make it through each day as
she dealt with her emotions.

She
was supposed to be at Sterling Farms in an hour, and after she’d put the
address in her GPS on her cell, she saw it was half an hour away. Being early
was good, right? Either way, she’d either get the job, or not. If not then
she’d just worry about the next day, then the next, and so on. That was all she
could do.

Chapter
Eight

Pearl
pulled into the long dirt driveway, looked at the wooden and steel welded sign
above her that read “Sterling Farms”, and slowed. The farmhouse down the road
was big and rustic looking as well with a log cabin feel to it. She saw a large
red barn in the distance off to the side of the house, and behind the house she
saw two smaller homes.

She
increased her speed and went closer to the house. Once she was in front of it
she stopped beside of a rusty looking pick-up. The man she’d spoken to about
the job had sounded young. He’d said they needed help cooking and cleaning
since they were tending to the land and animals a lot of the time. Apparently
three brothers lived on this property. She didn’t know much about the ranch or the
Sterling brothers, and hadn’t really bothered or had time to ask around about
them. She was not sure who she’d ask anyway.

She
cut the engine and leaned forward to stare up at the log cabin style farmhouse.
There were lacy looking curtains hanging in the living room picture window.
Okay, so maybe there was a woman living in the house? But if that was the case
why would they need a housekeeper and cook? Maybe the woman was ill, pregnant?
There were a lot of things that crossed her mind, but none of that mattered
because she was here for a job, and that was all she needed to worry about.

She
grabbed her purse and the resume she’d printed out at the library earlier in
the day, climbed out of the car and headed up the porch steps. There was a wind
chime hanging from the wraparound porch overhang, and the wind blew by, kicking
the little metal tubes together and causing a melodic song to play. Pearl
stared at the rusted chimes, and lifted her gaze to the butterfly made out of
wire atop the piece. The crystals that weren’t missing on the butterfly’s wings
shone when the light caught them.

“You
must be Pearl?” The deep voice came from the doorway, and she turned her head
and stared through the screen. She couldn’t see very well through the dark
screen, but when the door opened she saw a stunningly handsome man standing in
the doorway, the same one she’d seen at the bar when she met Travis. Her heart
started pounding fast, hard. He came out of the house, took a step toward her,
and she felt her throat close and her mouth go dry.

Oh my fucking lord.

No,
she was not standing in front of this man, one of the men she’d seen at the bar
with Travis the previous night, and who she just knew was related to Travis
someway because they looked so similar.

“Pearl, right?”
The man asked again and took
another step toward her. His blue eyes and dark hair were exactly the same
shade as Travis’s, and even the masculine, square jaw, shape of his nose, and
the way his hair
lay
on his head was almost identical.
Of course this guy looked younger, and the way he smiled at her was different,
too.

“Yes,
I’m Pearl. Are you
Jace
?” she asked, remembering the
man’s name she’d spoken with on the phone.

He
grinned, a dimple flashing on his cheek. “Nah, I’m Colton, one of the Sterling
brothers.”

She
swallowed.
“One of the Sterling brothers?”

He
looked at her a little funny, but she felt awkward right now, and he probably
could sense that. “Yeah, there are three of us you’d be cleaning after, which I
apologize for ahead of time. It can get messy, especially if we’ve been out in
the fields all day and tending to the animals.” He ran a hand over his worn
jeans.

He
spoke like she’d already got and accepted the position.
“Um.”
She looked around, not knowing how to react right now. She expected to see
Travis walking out of the house any minute now, and how awkward would that be,
seeing a man that she’d had a one-night stand with and who had snuck out in the
middle of the night. Of course she couldn’t blame him, because she would have
hauled ass out of there, too, if it had been the other way around. She’d never
had a one-night stand before, but she wouldn’t have wanted to deal with the
awkwardness after the fact.

Colton
lifted an eyebrow as he watched her, probably thinking she was a fool because
she couldn’t even form a coherent sentence. The front door opened again, and
the other Sterling brother, who she assumed to be
Jace
,
stepped out. He wore a plaid button down shirt, a white t-shirt clearly seen
underneath, and a pair of worn jeans encasing his muscular thighs. His cowboy
boots, just like Colton’s, were worn and faded brown, showing the hard work
they clearly did.

“You
must be the woman I spoke with on the phone, the one that is here for the job?”
he asked, his voice deep, slightly raspy. Both men were tall, muscular, with an
air of masculinity coming from them.

She
swallowed and nodded. “I am.” She looked between the two men.

“I
see you’ve met my brother, Colton,”
Jace
said, and
glanced at the other man. “Well, how about we take this inside?”
Jace
held the door open for her. She smiled and lowered her
head as she moved into the house. The smell of cologne filled her head as soon
as she stepped inside, as well as the scent of old burning wood, grease, and a
hint of what she thought may have been grilled steak. It was the weirdest
combination.

When
she looked at the living room that was to her right, she saw the horror of the
clothes over the couch and chairs, newspaper lining the coffee table, beer cans
tipped over, fortunately empty, but in a basket by the side of one of the
chairs. There were family pictures hanging on the walls, but they were too far
away for her to make them out clearly.

“Wow,”
she said under her breath. There was a worn, rustic pine looking staircase in
front of her, a deer antler chandelier that hung above her, although
“chandelier” might have made it sound more elegant than it was. This whole
place was very woodsy and masculine, but then again the house sat in the center
of acres upon acres of rural land and woods.

The
kitchen was to her left, and she held back her horror at seeing the sink full
of dishes crusted with food, the trashcan by the counter that was overflowing
with trash, and the counters that looked like they may be gorgeous white marble
under all that grime.

“Pretty,
ain’t
it?”
Jace
said from
behind her, and she turned around and tried to keep her expression neutral.

“Um.”
She looked at the living room
again, then back at the kitchen. “It’s a bit…”

“Yeah,
we know. This is Travis’s place. We live in the houses behind this one, but
most of the time we eat and hang out here.”

Her
heart sped up at the sound of Travis’s name, cementing what she already knew:
she was in the house of the man she’d slept with last night, the one she
thought she’d never see again. “Travis’s place?” she said softly, looked at the
two brothers, and before she could say anything else or they could respond, the
hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

“Yeah, my place.”

She
felt shivers race up her spine, felt that warmth from hearing his deep, husky
voice move along her body and nearly have her moaning out loud. God, she was
hot, so hot, and the sweat that started to bead between her breasts had her
feeling uncomfortable and needy. Pearl turned around slowly, saw Travis leaning
against the wall, a dirty red rag in his hand as he cleaned off grease from his
fingers and palms, and she swallowed roughly. He stared at her, his blue eyes
piercing, his expression stern and also intense.

“Um,”
Jace
said from behind her, and she knew they had to
feel the pressure in the room. Hell, she felt like she was suffocating from the
intensity and heat that surrounded her.

Travis
pushed his way off of the wall, walked toward her, and when they stood a few
feet from each other she inhaled. She couldn’t help it. The scent of him
invaded her. It was the aroma of sweat, clean and masculine, which had her
insides clenching almost painfully. He stared at her, looked at her with those
light blue eyes of his, the corners slightly crinkling as his smile grew. But
the smile wasn’t one of amusement, but of satisfaction.

“Travis,
this is Pearl, the woman that I told—”

“I
know who she is,” Travis said, his gaze still on hers, the sardonic smile in
place. She felt her face heat at his words, because yeah, he knew her
really
well.

“Okay.”
Jace
said the word in a long, slow, and slightly
awkward way.

“Well,
I was going to give her a tour,” Colton started to say.

“I
can show her around,” Travis said, then slowly lifted his gaze to look at his
brothers.
“If that’s good with you two?”
He lifted a
dark eyebrow. “You can tag along,” he said almost as an afterthought, and
looked down at her again. “That is if Miss…”

She
cleared her throat, licked her lips, and took a step back, needing some room to
breathe.
“Connor.
Pearl Connor.”

He
didn’t respond right away, but then that satisfied smile grew.
“Pearl Connor.”

A
chill raced up her spine at the sound of her name coming from him. Yeah, she’d
heard him say her name when she was having sex with him, but this was so much
different.

“You
want the job, Pearl?” He lifted a dark eyebrow again, as if in challenge.

Looking
behind her, she saw
Jace
and Colton watching them,
almost surprised as well. Maybe this was a totally out there attitude for their
brother to have, or maybe they felt the heat and tension in the room, growing
with each passing second.

Straightening
her shoulders, she knew that she needed a job, and although this would be
awkward because of what she’d done with Travis, it would be even
more tense
because of her arousal for him. All she could picture
was them together, naked, sweaty, moaning each other’s names. “Yeah, I’d like
the job.”

He
didn’t respond right away, but then he flashed a smile, twin dimples popping
out on his cheeks. “Well, then it’s yours.” He held his hand out toward the
front door. “
Jace
, Colton, how about you lead the way
to the stables and we will start there?” Travis said, kept his focus on her,
but she heard them open the door,
then
felt the breeze
on her flesh.
“After you, Miss Connor.”

She
turned, her hands shaking, her desire at war with her need to keep a level
head. Before she got out of the door Travis placed his hand on the frame,
stopping her. She saw
Jace
and Colton still moving
toward the stable. She heard Travis inhale right by her ear.

“I
can still smell myself in your hair, Pearl,” he said, and she turned her head
to make eye contact with him. He had this smirk on his face, this arrogance
that wasn’t annoying but attractive. He knew what he did to her, how he still
affected the way she felt.

Yeah,
they’d fucked last night, fucked hard and long, and she’d been sore and
deliciously sated in the morning, but it was a one-night stand, right?

He
inhaled once more, this low sound leaving him. “I bet your pussy is still sore
from when I had my big cock all up inside of you, isn’t it,
darlin
’?”

Before
she could say anything in return, maybe slap his face for his crude language,
or clench her thighs in heated arousal, maybe even beg him to have a repeat
performance right now, he was moving out the door and past her. She watched him
follow his brothers, out onto the patio, and told herself that she was probably
making yet another bad mistake.

Yet
she wasn’t leaving, and was instead following them, because hell, who wouldn’t
want a man like Travis making them feel like they’d combust with just a look?
The thing was he was right, about everything. She was sore, she was wet, and
she sure as hell wanted to grab her ankles right here and now for him. It was
addictive,
he
was addictive after
only one night, and she wanted to see how far he’d go … or more aptly how far
she’d
go.