Drawn to a Cowboy (Brother Duet #1) Read online

  “Might as well be,” she huffed.

  “Those rooms are very nice. I slept in one of them for many years, hers as a matter of fact, and I survived. Hell! I’m still here.”

  “Yeah, living in a mansion.” I started to refute her words, but then she stung me with more words but good, “Well maybe she will enjoy the group showers. You and I both heard the boys were more than willing to share with her and let’s face it those are some mighty fine looking men. If I was younger…”

  “The fuck she will!” I burst out with fire in my eyes, blazing in her direction.

  “Oh!” She snickered, “somebody’s got a little crush.”

  It took every ounce of restraint to keep from saying more than a simple denial, “I don’t have a little anything on anyone.”

  “Okay, whatever you say. But if that’s true, why not let her stay in one of your guest rooms? Your log cabin is big enough for several guests. Much too large for just you all alone.”

  “I’m giving her a cabin as soon as one’s available. I think there is one at the end of next week. And one of the new cabins is close to being completed.”

  “The only cabin that is going to be open is the honeymoon cottage because the bride and groom switched to one of the tent cancellations. It will only be available for a week or so, not certain. She would probably love it, it’s so romantic. Perfect for a rendezvous too! Secluded, no one would see you sneaking in and out, but not for long. It’s booked for the rest of the summer. She’ll be back with the boys in no time.”

  “Shit! Get your mind focused on the fact that she is employed by the ranch.” I poured myself a much needed cup of coffee. My brain was in a fog since that woman roared into my view, quite literally. “What do we have that is opening?”

  “Nothing! I just told you that, it’s summer—our busiest time of the year.” As if to prove a point, she leaned over me and pulled up the reservation screen on my computer. It was all right there, “Sold Out!”

  “Well, who knows she might be okay bunking there longer, we could always get a cancellation. But I guess you were right about her current accommodations, she hasn’t complained at all.” I didn’t like the smug look on her face. “I don’t understand why you’re so afraid of that woman.” I wasn’t afraid, I was terrified. She had me thinking things I’d never thought before. Well, that’s not true, I wanted forever at one time, but she didn’t, or not with me. Jade had me feeling that same old painful, chest aching, hard-to-breathe bullshit—I wanted it to stop.

  Changing the subject, I outlined what my brother, Spencer, had proposed. He wasn’t really interested in the country life, but he saw the potential with the ranch. He had been out to the place a couple times since I had taken over, besides the few times when we were kids. His first time, he absolutely hated every minute that had him doing outdoor activities. He wasn’t meant to be a cowboy. Funny as kids, before our first trip to the dude ranch, he always wanted to be the Indian to my cowboy. We were twins, yet so different.

  Spencer and I did share a few common interests along with a family trust fund that we used to fuel our passions. We both loved good food, healthy as in fresh and chemical free. I had introduced that factor into the ranch kitchen, growing as much of our own produce as we could, weather permitting. Three large greenhouses that I had implemented on the property allowed us to do that.

  My brother had been promoting the same philosophy in his restaurants for years by changing his menus in accordance to what was in season. With the ranch in my hands for the past two years, I was finally ready to take Spencer up on his offer of taking over the restaurant portion. His staff, his menus and one of his super ingenious chefs. My part was cataloging equipment and inventorying non-perishable items before his arrival. Norma was thrilled, she knew all about crushes. She had a bad one on my brother since his first visit as a fully grown man. I had to laugh at how she batted her eyelashes at his every word.

  “I have everything that Spence asked for on his last visit. When did you say he will be here?” I swear I could hear her heart beating a mile a minute.

  “Next week, remember, he’s catering the wedding as his kick off.”

  “Oh yes.” Maybe she did know what I was feeling for Jade, she was losing it, too. “I do have the items he requested.” Refocused on business at hand, she pulled out a notebook and started reading off what sounded like a list. “The decorator is coming to set up a temporary leveled deck for the event. Stringing lights. The band is set. The additional food arrives the day before Spence.” There was that flutter in her voice, again. I laughed, reminding her that she was a married woman and that her husband would be helping out. She slapped my shoulder playfully, reminding me that she was to be respected as my elder, “You don’t get flippant with me, young man.” I laughed, assuring her that I was just trying to save her from incurring legal fees.

  Speaking of legal matters, a new letter had arrived the day before, they just wouldn’t give up. I had full ownership of the ranch, it was in a written will. Three different attorneys (one of which was Hank’s and mine, Nick Granger), had gone over the deed, the will and all other paperwork that had been filed. The two bastards, literally, had gone through two different law firms and were probably about to fire the newest ones. What more were they going to try? Nothing had worked in their favor so far. I wished that they would just concede and move on. They got plenty from their father, why did they want the ranch too?

  “I see that look on your face. More lawyers breathing down your neck?” Norma watched as I flipped closed the latest letter I had received and tucked it back in its envelope.

  “Yes, they said they found some sort of clause. Told me to watch my back.” Scrubbing my hands up my face and into my hair, I leaned back in my chair. I was ready to forget that shit for the day, I was ready for a good distraction.

  Just as I was thinking about what I needed most, Jade showed up. “I’m ready to go,” she announced coming through the doorway in tight jeans and a tank top. And suddenly, I was wondering why I had suggested artwork for our four luxury tents. I could’ve just shown her photos or had her ride up alone. No, of course I couldn’t have her do that even though she did handle herself quite well aboard a horse. She had gone on a few daily rides with our guests. Even volunteered from day one to lag behind with the slower riders. She was amazing at calming people, not me though—she always had me on edge.

  “Where are you two off to today?” Norma asked, wearing a shit eating grin.

  “Oh hey.” Jade turned to see we weren’t alone. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, I can come back.” She started to back out of the office, “You guys finish up.”

  “Nonsense honey, we were just finishing up. I can only take him serious for so long. He needs to get out of here,” I noted concern in her voice. “What’s the plan? Whatever it is, have a hell of a good time!” Damn, Norma! I saw the gleam in her eyes, she was good one minute and the next she was full of vim, vigor and vitality. She was trying to make more out of our work relationship, but that’s all it was. We hadn’t had anything but platonic conversations.

  Of course, I thought of her over my desk, naked in a field of wildflowers, riding bare on horseback… in my bed. One too many times she was visible behind my eyelids as I stroked myself, I couldn’t help it. Since she whirled into my life a little over a week ago with her crayon-red hair—my favorite color in a box of twenty-four—she was never out of my thoughts for long.

  “Hello!” Jade waved her hand in front of my face. I looked up dazed. “Sal said if we’re going, we needed to get a move on. There could be a storm moving in.”

  “What? There isn’t a cloud in the sky,” I hissed as we started for the stables.

  Horses saddled, we climbed on, and started heading up the hilly path.

  “I notice you always hook me up with a mule. The first day Wayne helped me up onto a horse, I thought this is certainly a different looking horse. Hmmm… I was glancing around to everyone else’s mount and he told me,
‘it’s a mule, relax there’s nothing wrong with him.’ I told him okay, if you say so and off I went, and he was perfect.”

  “They are actually better at maneuvering the rocky hillsides, safer for you.” And I want you safe. Just looking out for my cowgirl. As if she was reading my mind and noticing how uncomfortable I felt about my own thoughts, she changed the subject making me wonder if I had said what I had been thinking out loud.

  “I love all the wildflowers, so colorful, so beautiful. I especially adore the ones that look like pretty little fairies resting in the middle of more boldly shaded petals. So many colors!”

  I had never looked at them that way. She was changing my views about a lot of things. “They are native to the area—I’ve been told—and they’re called Columbines. They’re abundant this time of year along with many other wildflowers you’ll be seeing in just a second or two.”

  Hitting the peak, one of the few meadows was visible amongst the flowers I had just promised, and off to one side before a forest of trees sat one of our luxury tents. These were an addition I made in the last year. We had always taken people off for overnight trips in groups. We set up temporary tents, did a cookout, campfire singing with everyone’s favorite toasty treat, s’mores. We still offer that, but some people wanted alone time, namely couples.

  So I came up with the large, sturdy, canvas tents attached to elevated platforms. We supplied them with hotel room amenities, nice beds, linens, and furnishings, including some fancy, heavy duty, battery operated lanterns. We even added an extra smaller tent, other known as an outhouse, close to the main structure. I had to admit they were stunning with the help of a local decorator.

  Dismounting the horses, we led them to some trees and wound the reins around some logs loosely, then we walked to the big canvas structure. Unzipping the flaps, Jade helped me roll back the sides of the large tent to reveal the room.

  “Oh my God! This looks like a fancy hotel room with a deck and everything.”

  “Grab a chair, I’ll get the other one and the table. In my backpack are some sandwiches and bottles of water. I had the kitchen make them.”

  “Perfect. I only brought cookies, some trail mix and a couple apples.”

  “Sounds like we have a feast.” Damn! She was so beautiful smiling at me. It took every ounce of willpower not to throw her over my shoulder, strut inside the tent and throw her down on the bed. Fuck! Why did I bring her here?

  “Did you see that?”

  “What?” I wasn’t paying attention.

  “I just saw lightning in the distance.”

  “Look at the bright blue skies here, we’re safe.”

  “Hear it?” I didn’t hear anything but my heart beating.

  Determined to ignore my tight chest and jeans, I spread out our food on the table and we began to eat as clouds began to arrive. There were still bits of blue dotting the sky, nothing looked ominous. I focused on her as she told me about the latest sketches she had finished. She was pleased with how her three paintings were coming along. She apologized for not working more quickly, but she was having so much fun helping out with the guests. I didn’t mind, she had no reason to say she was sorry. However, the longer she took to do the artwork the longer I would be in misery. Some pain wasn’t so bad, she was wonderful to have around.

  Crackling through the sky, bolts of light appeared in a few directions, I clearly saw those. Then we heard the rumble and even felt the ground move, it was so powerful. Next came big droplets of rain, slow and constant to pouring down. Grabbing our stuff we moved inside just as the rain turned into an actual all out raging storm. Crackle! Boom! Crackle! Boom! We were stuck.

  “Are you sure they’re okay out there?” she asked gesturing toward the horses.

  “They’ll be fine. We can’t bring them in the tent.”

  “I don’t know, this is the biggest tent I’ve ever seen, outside of a circus big top.”

  “Norma has them labeled as glamping instead of camping accommodations.”

  “They are glamorous. I’m not one that likes roughing it, but I could make an exception… Oh no! I don’t think they appreciated not being included under the canvas.” I followed her extended arm to see our two horses running back to the barn.

  “Shit!” I yelled, taking off my hat and slapping my leg with it.

  “Will they come back? Get lost?” I saw the concerned look in her beautiful pale green eyes as she looked off in the direction they had bolted, fearful for their wellbeing.

  “They know this area well. They will head straight back for their stalls.”

  “And us?” she asked hesitantly, biting her lip.

  “The guys will know we’re stranded once they see the horses without riders. Norma knows I was taking you up here. Someone will come for us once the storm eases up and the lightning stops.”

  Minus any other furniture inside the tent, we sat on opposite sides of the bed. “Guess we might as well get comfortable for the show,” she said pulling off her boots and flipping over onto her belly, facing toward the opening in the tent. Attempting to relax, I followed suit, but kept my distance. Quietly, we looked outside and witnessed a crazy, wild, stormy show. “Looks like Sal was right,” she laughed and moved over to nudge my shoulder with her fiery-red head.

  “Who knew he was a weatherman?” I tried to be cool.

  Avoiding my comment, she moved back to business. I wanted to kiss her for taking my mind off being so close together on a bed. Shit! I just wanted to kiss her. “This storm makes me think that the art in these tents should be all about bringing nature in. Imagine above the headboard…” She flipped onto her back and I watched her lips move. “Wildflowers… can name tents… no numbers… are you listening to me?”

  “Name tents after flowers.” Hopefully, that was what she was saying. I think I was close enough as she smiled. I am so screwed. I knew it for sure as I pressed my lips to hers. Her mouth tasted sweet with a hint of the apple slices she had been nibbling on before we quickly ran for shelter.

  My brain told me to pull away. My body told me it wanted more as she wrapped her arms around my neck and her fingers grabbed my hat, tossing it. With an arm around her, I ran my hand down her back, over her nice ass and lifted her leg to get closer. She moved right with me, winding her leg over mine. I couldn’t help myself, I pushed my painfully hard cock shamelessly up against her. We both moaned kissing and grinding into each other. It was the best dry humping, make-out session I had ever experienced.

  A loud crash had us both jumping apart. Taking our break as a sign, I moved onto my back and looked up at the ceiling. I rambled about how we picked tents that had high peaks so water wouldn’t collect and collapse the structures. We didn’t want them collapsing on our guests. I couldn’t stop my chatter. It wasn’t what I wanted to be doing right at that moment, but we barely knew each other. I couldn’t just throw myself on her… could I? I prayed she would stop me with her lips… her body. Instead it was laughter and her own rambling, we were quite a pair.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jade

  “I have a confession.” I had to giggle at the look on his face.

  “You do, do you?” He looked like he was afraid to hear what I had to say.

  “I love thunder and lightning. I think it’s magnificent. Thrilling! Most kids get scared and run and hide in their parents’ room. Not me, I would hop up from my bed and rush to the window to watch the show.”

  “Tornado skies, those are impressive. There was amazing thunder and lightning during the one I saw. The sky was wicked and wild. I had never seen a purple sky, deep purple and then with each flash of light it varied in shades all the way to a pale lavender, almost white. Spectacular! I refused to go to bed. Sat by the basement window for hours. I couldn’t be pulled away.”

  “Where were you to see a tornado… Kansas, Dorothy?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes. And I believe the name Toto may suit me better than Dorothy.” We both laughed.

  “A dog,
huh?” I asked once I regained enough composure to speak.

  “I look better in fur than a blue and white checked dress, and I’m not wild about red shoes… well, not sparkly ones.” I watched his eyes look down my legs.

  “You like my red boots, do you?”

  “Yes, I visualize you in them and nothing else…”

  “You do? Did you want me to put them back on?”

  “Sorry,” he mumbled. I bet he was thinking that he shouldn’t have said that. True or not, he changed the subject. “Sorry about putting you with the guys.”

  I laughed at him and shook my head. I knew what he was doing, back pedaling as fast as he could. It was probably obvious that I was playing along by the sexy smirk on my face. “I don’t mind. They’re better than girls I’ve roomed with. You know what, girls can be real pigs, and I mean with a capital p-i-g. I hosted girl surf trips in exotic locales for my grandpa since I turned eighteen until a few years ago.”

  “Well, at least you didn’t have to listen to their guy talk.”

  “Ha! Your guys… most guys are mild. Girls are graphic down to every vein on a penis or for some of the girls on the trip, vaginas. I learned more about my own anatomy than I needed to know. Plus I got a bird’s eye view demonstration walking in on a couple of girls once.”

  “I got one of those a few years back with a couple of ranch hands. I learned to avoid showering in the afternoons.”

  “So you worked here first?” I could tell by the way he sighed that he was thankful for my change of subject. Talking about penises and vaginas was not helping his jean situation, they appeared a bit tight in his crotch area. I would be willing to help him with that too, but he was my boss. I didn’t want him writing me up for sexual harassment. Although I would let him harass me happily!

  “Yep, stayed in your room every summer for many years.”

  “So we’ve shared the same bed already.” I winked at him just as a gush of water cooled us off. Well partially, even water couldn’t stop the fire burning deep inside of my body, longing for him.