Dirty Little Secret

by Jennifer Ryan

  Noah thought about it, and it did feel right. John had asked him to go for a ride; he wanted to be away from everyone where they’d have privacy. They’d ridden to their spot, where John had taken him countless times and instilled numerous lessons. They’d shared quiet talks and peaceful silences up in the hills overlooking the ranch. Yes, John had been trying to tell him about Roxy, but their conversation had been cut short.

  Annabelle rushed into the kitchen, cutting off any further discussion about John, Roxy, and the fact that he’d inadvertently admitted he wanted to settle down with a wife and kids.

  “What are you doing, Sprite?”

  She looked up from digging through the junk drawer by the sink. “I need a tape measure for Roxy. She’s taking me shopping.”

  The smile she beamed him melted his heart. It had been too long since he’d seen her this excited about anything.

  “I heard. No more pink ruffles.”

  “Oh, it’s more than that. She’s going to paint my room and put up new curtains. She said she can make it look just like one of those pretty suites I saw in the commercial about that really expensive spa that opened up a few months back.”

  “I remember.” Mary beamed. “That place was really beautiful.”

  “I showed her a picture online. Roxy said she could re-create it for me.”

  “I think we’ve got some painting supplies in the garage. I’ll dig them out for you.” Noah decided anything that put that smile on his sister’s face he could get behind.

  “Thank you, Noah.” Annabelle bounced on her toes. “This is going to be so cool.”

  Mary grabbed the tape measure from Annabelle’s hand. “I’ll take this up to Roxy. You have something to eat before you go. You’ll need your strength for all that shopping.”

  Annabelle didn’t need to be asked twice. She grabbed the plate Mary had piled with food and rushed to the table. He hadn’t seen her eat that enthusiastically in over a week. With a deep sigh, he took his plate and a seat at the table with Annabelle. No matter how jumbled his feelings about Roxy, he had to give her credit for bringing the smile back to Annabelle’s face.

  He wondered how many other surprises she had in store.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Roxy stood on the stepladder, reached up, and put the curtain rod into the holder. She spread the curtains straight, then pushed them to the side to let the light and gentle breeze in.

  “They’re perfect, Roxy. He’s going to love it,” Annabelle said from behind her.

  “The paint isn’t quite dry, but I don’t think it’ll smear.” Thanks to the two-in-one paint and primer, she’d been able to paint Annabelle’s and Noah’s rooms in no time.

  Roxy stepped down to the floor and surveyed the room. “Not bad. You really think he’ll like it?”

  “He will. Thank you.” Annabelle slammed into Roxy’s chest and wrapped her arms around Roxy and hugged her tight. “This has been the best day. I can’t believe how fast you changed everything.”

  “You were a huge help.” Roxy gave the girl a squeeze before setting her away. She wasn’t used to being hugged and touched.

  Annabelle had no trouble showing her affection. In fact, she was enthusiastic and outgoing. From their conversations, she learned Annabelle had a lot of friends, was part of the popular crowd, and loved horses, chocolate shakes, and country music. She hated her mother, her pink room, Noah and John hounding her about school, college, boys, and just about everything else. Roxy understood the underlying need; Annabelle desperately wanted a woman in her life. She didn’t so much as say how happy she was to finally have a woman besides Mary on the ranch, but it came through loud and clear.

  Roxy surveyed the room and took stock of all the changes, trying not to notice all Noah’s things. She’d learned a lot about him being in his room.

  He left his change scattered on the dresser, along with two screwdrivers and a pair of pliers. Apparently, Noah had a habit of stuffing tools in his back pocket and forgetting to put them away before he came in from the barn. Thirty percent of the laundry he tossed toward the hamper hit the floor. He liked boxer briefs, which she decided he’d look entirely too good wearing. Based on the number of books on his nightstand and stacked on a shelf, he spent most nights deep in a mystery or FBI thriller.

  She loved the old antique sleigh bed. She’d played off the rich wood colors in all the furniture and added a hunter green spread with cream rope piping along the edge. The reverse side had alternating green-and-brown pinstripes between wide bands of the same cream color. The same reversible pattern drapes hung from the windows. Roxy kept the green side up on the bed with about twelve inches of the pattern folded down at the pillows. She used the cream-banded pattern on the inside of the room for the drapes, but the valances showed the deep green and cream piping. To complement the decor, she’d painted over the plain white walls with a cream to match the curtains and spread. The room felt warm, cozy, and inviting.

  Before it had been nothing but unrelieved brown and white, bare and uninteresting.

  “Do you think he’ll like the pillow and lamp?” Annabelle smoothed her hands over the new cream pillow she’d placed on Noah’s brown leather chair by the fireplace.

  “They’re perfect. He can read by the fire without keeping the overhead lights on. Help me spread the new rug out.”

  They unrolled the cream-colored rug that had an old oak tree with deep green leaves and thick reaching brown branches spreading out wide across the rug. Neither of them could help but run their hands over the ultra-soft, thick pile.

  “I can’t believe how lucky we were to find this. It’s nice to look at and so soft and plush. I want to take off my shoes and sink my feet into it.” Annabelle smiled, digging her fingers into the threads.

  “You and I make a great shopping team. You spotted the bronzed lamp that looks like tree branches. I think it’s perfect for this room and Noah.” Roxy gave Annabelle’s shoulder a squeeze to let her know what a great job she’d done.

  “I think I like the rug the best.”

  Roxy smiled. “Me, too. Makes this sitting area by the fireplace perfect.”

  Tired after a long day, Roxy gave in and flopped backward on the bed and stared up at the bronzed branch chandelier over the bed. “I’m taking a break. You take the stepladder and garbage out before Noah gets back. We want him to get the full effect when he first sees the room.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

  Roxy shut her eyes for a moment and quieted her mind. She smiled, thinking about how nice a day she’d had with Annabelle, shopping, talking, laughing while they painted. Exactly like being with her sisters.

  “If I’d known you were waiting in my bed with a welcoming smile, I’d have been back sooner.” Noah stood in the doorway just looking at her.

  God, she was gorgeous. He leaned against the frame, knowing if he took even a single step toward her, he’d be unable to stop himself from doing what he’d been dreaming day and night about doing with her.

  The smile faded when her eyes flew open. She rolled up from the bed and stood before him. Uncertain, she bit her full bottom lip and eyed him warily.

  “Sorry,” she said automatically.

  “No woman’s ever been sorry for being in my bed. Give me an hour and I’ll prove it to you.”

  Her golden eyes flashed fire, reminding him of the way John’s used to when he said something stupid and John didn’t approve. He wanted to take the words back.

  “Wham bam, thank you, ma’am. Is that it? I told you . . .”

  “You don’t sleep with men for sport.” He believed her.

  Damn if thinking about her sleeping with some other guy didn’t send his blood pressure through the roof and prod at his little jealous monster. Still, a beautiful, desirable woman like her didn’t spend many nights alone. The thought that she’d had a string of long-term relationships, men who got to spend night after night with her set his blood to boiling. He wanted to be the only one touching he
r, kissing her, sinking deep inside her.

  “Listen, honey . . .”

  “I am not your honey,” she snapped.

  Feeling surly himself, he planted his fists on his hips and glared. “Roxy. I’m tired, dirty, and my shoulder’s been killing me all day. One of the damn horses jumped the corral fence and three more before I caught up with him again. It’s the fourth time that brat has escaped and led me on a merry chase. I’m hungry and I want a shower and a shave.” He rubbed his palm over the stubble across his jaw. Maybe he’d keep the scruff if she was going to keep watching him with those hungry golden eyes. His body stirred, but he tamped down his rampant lust and focused on her and the fact he’d offended her. “I need some food and sleep,” he finished lamely.

  A week in bed with you would do me a hell of a lot of good, too.

  “I’ll leave you to it then.”

  She walked toward him, but he didn’t move out of the doorway, so she stopped a few feet away, waiting for him to move.

  “I’m sorry about the smart remark. Your being here provokes something in me,” he admitted.

  “I’ve noticed.” She crossed her arms under her breasts, making the sun-kissed mounds rise out of the deep V in her paint-splattered black T-shirt. His mouth watered. When he met her eyes again, she dropped her arms, knowing very well what he’d been staring at.

  “Noah!” Annabelle shouted from behind him. “Do you love it? Isn’t it perfect? Roxy did most of the work, but I helped her paint and put everything together.”

  For the first time, Noah looked around the room. Finding Roxy lying across his bed stole his focus from anything else. She seemed to do that no matter where he found her. “I . . .”

  “You don’t like it.” Annabelle’s vibrant smile fell into a deep frown. She scooted past him to stand next to Roxy.

  Great, Roxy must think him a complete asshole for not saying one word about all the work they’d done on his room.

  He noted the new bedding, curtains, the green-and-white-swirled glass bowl filled with his change and miscellaneous pocket stuff he always tossed on the dresser. A vase burst with white flowers on the table by the bed; his books were lined up and stacked on the shelf, his most recent one lying facedown on the table beside his leather chair. A new lamp and pillow making the space inviting. He loved the new rug in front of the hearth.

  A fantasy blazed across his mind of Roxy laid out, naked, her arms outstretched, reaching for him. Flames waving in the fireplace, making light dance over her golden skin.

  “I, um, can’t believe you did this in one day. The place looks great,” he mumbled, feeling like a complete idiot.

  “Keep the windows open for a while to air out the paint smell. I put a couple extra sets of sheets in the linen cupboard in your bathroom,” Roxy explained, looking uncomfortable. “Annabelle, I’ll finish your room tomorrow. Excuse me, I’ve got some other things to do.”

  “Mary said dinner is almost ready.”

  “I’ll grab something later. I need to make a call.” She hesitated, then turned and wrapped Annabelle in a hug. “I had a great time with you today.”

  He’d never seen anyone exit a room so fast and look so out of sorts.

  “Did the two of you have fun today?”

  “It was awesome! She took me to this great bistro for lunch. We shopped several stores before we ended up in this really expensive high-end boutique. That’s where we bought all the bedding and curtains and that amazing rug and lamp. Don’t you love it, Noah?”

  “I really do. You picked some great stuff.”

  “I didn’t. She did.” With a frown, she admitted, “Roxy did most of the work. I helped, but she’s amazing. You should see what she bought for my room.”

  “How’d she pay for all this?”

  “She used a credit card,” Annabelle went on without a second thought to the money.

  Noah wondered how she could afford a new car and all this without using money from the ranch account.

  “It’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait until she finishes my room, too. We painted and got rid of all the pink and ruffles, but I wanted to get your room done, so we could surprise you.” Frowning, her enthusiasm fading, she said, “You don’t look very surprised or happy.”

  “I am, Sprite. I really like what you’ve done.”

  “Roxy did it, too. It would have been nice if you’d thanked her.” Annabelle scrunched her lips. “You don’t like her. That’s what this is about. You don’t want her here.”

  “I hardly know her. What did you two talk about at lunch?” Noah hoped to learn something about her.

  “She asked about school and how I liked living here. We talked about Mom and a little about Dad, but it made me sad, so she asked me about my friends and what I like to do.”

  “Did she tell you anything about her and Dad?”

  “No. She wanted to know if I did a lot of things with him. I told her how we used to go riding and camping and fishing. She seemed real interested.”

  “Did she tell you about her mother, or her life back in Vegas?”

  “No.” Annabelle tilted her head, lost in thought. “Actually, every time I asked about her, she changed the subject. I never really noticed. She wanted to know about me, so I did most of the talking.”

  Noah wrapped his arm around Annabelle’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Don’t worry about it, Sprite. You had a good time. Your room will look great, and you won’t be embarrassed to have your friends over. You shared the day with Roxy and she got to know you. I’d say all in all, you had a great day.” He rubbed his hand over her shoulder. “I need a shower. Tell Mary I’ll be down for dinner in ten minutes.” No time to shave.

  He wondered if that look Roxy gave him when he touched his beard meant she really did like him unshaved. He wondered if she’d like the feel of his scruffy face against her round breasts. Or between her thighs.

  Make that a cold shower.

  He scooted Annabelle out of his freshly painted room.

  Alone, he took in the space with one long sweep of his gaze. He hated to admit, he liked the changes—a lot. Roxy had done a great job and he couldn’t wait to try out the new sheets. Preferably with her in them with him.

  He didn’t think he’d get the image of her lying on her back on his bed out of his head for a long time.

  Still, he wanted answers to his questions. He wanted to know what made Roxy tick. He wanted her in his bed.

  Hell, he just plain wanted her.

  He had no idea for what or why, beyond satisfying his urgent need to get his hands on her perfect body.

  Still, her courage, strength, confidence, and easy manner intrigued him. She pulled at him like no other woman ever had.

  That had to be it. She was a mystery he needed to solve. He didn’t know anything about her and that’s what interested him. Not necessarily her, but the not knowing was what drove him.

  You’re lying to yourself.

  He stared at his reflection in the mirror over the bathroom sink, peeled off his shirt, and tossed it toward the hamper. It hit the side and landed on the floor. What bugged him the most was that it was Roxy who stirred his feelings and made him burn in the night.

  Her. John’s daughter. Half owner of his ranch.

  A woman who most of the time could barely look him in the eye and kept everything about herself a secret. But when she did look at him with a fire burning in her golden eyes before she banked it and turned away, he saw the potential for what they could have together.

  But, like John, she didn’t trust him with her secrets.

  He worked off his boots; tore off his jeans, boxers, and socks; and stepped into the shower, turning on the water. The shock of cold soothed his overheated body. The water heated, and he called himself ten kinds of fool for thinking getting involved with his partner in the ranch was a good idea.

  Since his body refused to give up having Roxy, he found some five-finger relief, stroking his hand up and down his hard length until his
balls tightened and he came with a jerk that shook his whole body. The release was nothing compared to what he wanted to experience with Roxy, but it took the edge off.

  When he headed down for dinner, his gut fluttered with anticipation—not for food, but another glimpse of her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Noah stepped into the kitchen, the only light coming from over the cooktop and the open refrigerator door. Roxy stood in front of it, popping grapes into her mouth and staring at the contents on the shelves. The smell of coffee helped wake his mind, but Roxy’s softly curved and rounded ass woke up the part of him that had kept him from sleep most of the night.

  He’d come down last night expecting to see her at the dinner table. Instead, she’d entrenched herself in the office with the door closed. He wanted to make her come out, demand she answer all his questions, but Mary stopped him with a look and a soft reprimand to leave her be. She needed time to get used to them and living here.

  “Morning,” he grumbled, still waking up from another night of restless sleep. Four o’clock seemed an unholy hour to be up, even for him.

  “Good night.” She shut the fridge door and headed out the back way toward the stairs.

  “Wait.”

  She stopped and turned to face him, her eyes tired with dark circles beneath.

  “Are you just now going to bed?” He noted the smudge of yellow paint on her cheek. “Were you painting again?”

  “The living room. I just finished.”

  “Why didn’t you wait to do it today?”

  “I got caught up on some work emails and passed that tired state where going to sleep is near impossible, so I did the living room. It happens to me a lot. My mind is still going, even though I’m tired. No sense going to bed just to lie there thinking for hours. I’ve discovered it’s better to keep busy until I can sleep.”

  “You have a lot of sleepless nights?”

  “More than I’d like.”

  “Me, too, lately,” he remarked under his breath.

  She turned to leave, but he stopped her. “Wait.” She turned back again. Her eyes fell down his face to his bare chest and over his jean-clad legs. They shot back to his face and held his gaze. He could tell she didn’t want him to see that lapse. No matter the pull of electricity between them, she seemed as reluctant as him to acknowledge it or give in to it.