by Jennie Marts
Pulling back the shower curtain, Harper peered into the small, shadowy shower and wondered when it had last been used. It smelled dusty, and she squinted into the dark as she searched for dead bugs or spiders. Dammit, why was she thinking about spiders?
She’d stood up to a six-foot drunken bully this afternoon without a second thought, but the idea of stepping into the shower with a spider, or three, gave her the willies. Holding up her phone, she tried to peer into the corners, but it was too dark. She hated to turn on the light, but maybe she could just do it for one second, just to check for spiders or cobwebs.
If she shut the door, surely the light wouldn’t be that noticeable. Except that the only light switch was on the wall outside the bathroom, so she wouldn’t be able to completely shut the door. Double damn it.
Okay, she could do this. She put the supplies on the small shelf in the shower and stripped out of her clothes. Cringing, she reached her hand partway into the shower, then snatched it back.
Come on, Harper. It’s not like a spider can kill you. Unless it was a brown recluse… Then it could. Triple damn. She couldn’t do it. She had to turn on the light. Just for a second.
She closed the door as far as she could while still reaching her arm through. Her fingers touched the switch, and with her other hand, she held the shower curtain open as far as she could so she’d be able to see every corner in the quick moment she turned on the light.
The bathroom was small, but she still must have looked like a crazy, naked woman as she stretched out the shower curtain with one hand and reached her other hand through the door. But she couldn’t dwell on that. Or the fact that with the door almost shut like this, the bathroom was super dark. And creepy.
But spiders creeped her out more. She took a deep breath, preparing to search the shower as fast as she could, then flipped the switch.
Holy shit! The switch turned on both the bathroom light and the office light! She immediately flipped the switch back down and crouched on the floor. She wasn’t sure why the hell she was on the floor. It wasn’t as if someone was shooting at her, but dropping to the floor was always the first thing characters did in movies, and it felt like the right thing to do. Except that she was naked, so nothing felt right.
She grabbed the tiny towel and held it up to cover herself as she gingerly stepped into the office and peered out the window toward the house. No lights had come on. The house still looked quiet. If Logan was already in bed, or even in the bathroom, he wouldn’t have seen the quick burst of light.
After waiting a beat, she tiptoed back to the bathroom. The good news was she hadn’t seen any spiders scurrying across the tiled shower. The bad news was she was going to have to leave the bathroom door and most of the shower curtain open if she wanted to be able to see to take a shower. There was no way she could manage it in the pitch-blackness that would result if she shut the door.
In the time she’d been in jail, she’d learned to shower efficiently and could wash her hair, soap her body, and shave her underarms in less than five minutes. And that was with lukewarm water and mediocre pressure. Even though the room was dark and creepy and conditions were less than ideal, she figured she could manage it here in less than four—as long as the water was hot.
Leaving the door open to let as much moonlight in as possible, she pulled back the curtain and turned the shower valve. It took a few seconds, but the water was hot and the pressure was good. She stepped in and let out a sigh as the warm water flowed over her body.
* * *
Logan couldn’t sleep. He’d tossed and turned and smashed his fist into the pillow to change its shape, but nothing helped. It wasn’t the bed. No, the sheets were clean and crisp, thanks to Harper. But the idea that she’d been in his room and making his bed had him imagining her in his bed. And his imagination was running wild with images of her arching into him and of him pressing his lips to her skin as he explored every inch of her curvy body. Images that were doing nothing to help him sleep.
His brain wouldn’t seem to turn off. And switching his thoughts to the ranch didn’t help either. He was stuck between contemplating how many ways his dyslexia had screwed up the ranch’s finances and fantasizing about a woman with whom he had no chance of a future because she’d already told him she hoped to be gone by Christmas.
Maybe he could ponder what an idiot he was in general. He let out a frustrated sigh as he threw back the covers and got out of the bed. Standing at the window, he surveyed the ranch in the moonlight. Soft flurries of snow floated through the air and all seemed quiet, which should have settled that uneasy feeling in his gut. But nothing felt easy tonight.
His gaze traveled over the landscape of the ranch buildings, and a small flicker of light in the barn caught his eye. Squinting, he searched the windows, trying to see it again. There. In the office. He swore he saw the slightest glimmer of light. But only for a second, and then it was gone.
He rubbed his eyes. Maybe the moonlight was playing tricks on them. This wasn’t the first restless night he’d had lately, and he was exhausted. And he’d already deduced that his imagination was running on overdrive. He was starting to turn away and head back to bed when the overhead light in the barn office blinked on. What the hell?
It went off again as fast as it had come on. But there was no way he was imagining things this time. Someone was out there! And there was only one person who would be sneaking around his ranch in the middle of the night. Ted!
The hired hand had threatened to come back, to make him pay. And Logan wouldn’t put it past the spiteful jerk to try to start a real fire this time or burn the whole barn down.
No way was Logan going to let that happen. He sprinted through the house and skidded into the den, avoiding turning on any lights to keep from alerting Ted that he was on to him.
Thankfully, the keypad lock on the gun safe was back lit. He quickly punched in the code and swung open the door. He wasn’t about to face a belligerent drunk sneaking around his barn without being armed. He grabbed a shotgun and some shells, then hurried to the foyer to cram his feet into his boots and jerk on a coat before slipping quietly out the front door.
The moonlight was all Logan had to see by as he carefully entered the barn, but he’d grown up here and knew every inch of this barn by heart. The light had come from the office, but Ted could be anywhere by now.
Logan cocked his head, straining to hear the slightest noise, and was surprised to hear water running through the pipes. Why would the water be running? That idiot was probably so drunk, he had to stop to take a piss in the middle of his vandalizing mission. That would be just Logan’s luck to catch an intruder with his pants down and his junk in his hand.
Or Ted could have turned on the water to flood the office just to cause malicious harm.
Logan’s heart slammed in his chest, and he could feel the adrenaline shooting through his veins as he made his way to the office. He checked behind him, furtively glancing around the dimly lit barn to make sure Ted wasn’t hiding in one of the stalls, waiting to get the jump on him.
The hair rose on his neck as he carefully opened the office door and heard the water in the shower suddenly turn off. Someone was definitely in there!
He flipped on the light and pointed the gun toward the open bathroom door. “Hold it right there, assho—!” His words faded as he took in the naked dark-haired woman he’d just caught stepping out of the shower and reaching for a towel.
Chapter 11
Harper shrieked, and her eyes widened as she saw the gun. She raised her hands over her head while squinting at the bright light. “Don’t shoot! It’s just me.”
“Harper?” Logan croaked. “What the hell are you doing out here? And why are you naked?” His voice cracked on the word naked.
“Because I was taking a shower.” She said that as if it made perfect sense, and he was the slow one. “Are you gonna shoot me?”
“Shit. No. Sorry.” What was wrong with him? He unloaded the gun and set it on the sofa, dropping the shells into his pocket as he turned his back. He’d been staring at her like a deer frozen in the headlights. And she had some damn fine headlights. “I thought you were Ted. Well, I obviously didn’t think you were Ted, but I thought Ted was out here. He threatened me this afternoon, and I thought he’d come back to cause trouble.” He could hear her scrambling to pull her clothes on.
“I’m dressed. You can turn around.”
She’d pulled her jeans up, but her head was tilted down as she buttoned her shirt. Her wet hair was dripping onto the front of the shirt, and she apparently hadn’t taken time to fully dry off or put on a bra because the soaked white fabric of the shirt was practically see-through as it clung to her full breasts. Holy hell! The sight of her hardened nipples erect through the cloth was almost more erotic than seeing her naked. Well, maybe. It was a toss-up. Either way, his brain couldn’t seem to connect with his mouth.
She looked up and caught him staring at her breasts, but instead of covering herself, she planted her hands on her hips and pushed back her shoulders as if daring him to look. Cocking an eyebrow, she nailed him with a steely stare. “First time you’ve seen a pair?”
“Yeah…” He nodded, then shook his head, trying to break his stupor. “Wait… I mean no. Of course not. They’re just so…perfect. I mean…you’re so perfect… Hell…I don’t know what I mean. I can’t think with you standing there practically naked.”
Could he be any more of an idiot? He turned his head as he shrugged out of his jacket and passed it to her. “Here. Put this on. Please. You’ve got to be freezing.”
“What about you? If I take your jacket, you’ll be the one who’s practically naked. Where the hell are your clothes?”
Shit. He looked down at himself, realizing for the first time that he’d run out of his house in only his boxer briefs and boots. He’d been in such a hurry to catch Ted, he hadn’t bothered to put on his pants. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not cold. The heat of my severe humiliation is keeping me plenty warm.” In fact, his skin seemed to be on fire. His body was heating from the inside, and he was sure it wasn’t all due to embarrassment.
“What do you have to be humiliated about? I’m the one that just got caught naked in your barn.”
“Lord, can we please stop saying the word ‘naked.’” He kept his eyes fixed on the office wall and tried to think of baseball stats or hockey stats or any kind of stats that would help keep his hockey stick from rising to the occasion. It was already making claims that it was ready to get in the game. And the thin boxer briefs wouldn’t do much to disguise that fact. “I was already in bed. But I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and saw the light come on in the office.”
“Damn. I was hoping you wouldn’t see that,” she mumbled.
“I’ll bet.” He was hoping she hadn’t seen the way catching her in the shower was affecting him. He picked the gun back up and held it in front of himself. “Let’s go in the house and get you some dry clothes.” Or take those back off again. “And then you can tell me what the hell is going on.”
He hazarded a look her direction and was thankful she’d pulled his coat on and was cramming her feet into her boots. Her backpack was open on the floor, and she tossed the few things she had on the bathroom counter into it and stood.
She let out a long breath. “After you.”
The gentleman in him couldn’t accept that, so he swept his hand toward the door. Plus, he’d rather follow her than risk having her get another look at his eager player trying to step up to the plate. Hopefully, the freezing walk to the house would calm it the hell down.
Inside the house, he leaned the gun against the wall. “Give me a minute to put on some pants, then I’ll find you a towel and some dry clothes.” He strode down the hall and into his bedroom. Dropping onto the bed, he jerked his boots off and tossed them on the floor, then grabbed his jeans and tugged them on. A stack of clean T-shirts sat on the edge of his dresser, thanks to Harper, and he grabbed the top one and pulled it over his head.
He grabbed another T-shirt, this one of a dark material instead of white—he groaned as the image of her breasts outlined in the wet shirt popped into his mind again—then rummaged through his dresser and found a pair of sweatpants.
He carried them out to the living room where Harper was sitting on the edge of a dining room chair. She’d taken off his coat and set it on the table.
She patted the jacket. “My hair is still dripping, and I didn’t want your coat to get any wetter.”
This time, he kept his eyes trained on her face. “Don’t worry about it. It gets wet all the time.” He handed her the clothes and nodded toward the hallway. “Here. Take these. And there are some dry towels in the bathroom. I’ll wait while you get dressed.”
Her bravado didn’t seemed to have diminished as she stood and took the offered clothes. “Thank you” was all she said before walking away, the loose shoelaces of her boots dragging behind her.
He swallowed as he sank into the chair and dropped his head onto his coat. Lord have mercy, the fabric smelled like her shampoo. He groaned. What the hell was going on? Why was she taking a shower in his barn? Was she homeless? He’d been so enamored with her, so glad to have someone to talk to—yeah, okay, it was more than that—but had he been so blinded by her beauty and quirky personality that he hadn’t taken the time to figure out anything about her?
No, that couldn’t be true. He did know things about her. He knew she was from Kansas and had been living with her grandmother. Nana. And that Nana had recently passed away, and Harper was having a hard time dealing with her death. She hadn’t told him that part, but he’d gathered it from the way her eyes had swelled with tears and she’d turned her head away when she’d been telling a story about her grandmother.
He knew that Harper liked ketchup on her scrambled eggs and drank her coffee black. He knew that her favorite color was purple, and she was a Chiefs fan. But apparently knowing how someone took their eggs and what football team they followed didn’t mean crap when it came to really knowing who they were.
The bathroom door opened, and Harper stepped out. Her hair was still wet, but not sopping, and it hung in loose waves around her shoulders. Damn, even with wet hair, no makeup, and baggy clothes, she was gorgeous. Her feet were bare, and she’d rolled the waistband of the too-big sweats over several times. It was obvious she still didn’t have a bra on, but not as obvious-in-your-face as it had been before. Aw hell, now he was thinking of her breasts in his face. Damn, he was a pig.
He cleared his throat. “You ready to tell me what’s going on?”
She shrugged. “How about something hot first?”
His eyes widened.
She planted a fist on her hip. “I mean something hot…to drink. How about I make us some tea?”
Of course that’s what she meant. What else would she have been saying? How about we strip down and make out a little before I tell you why I was naked in your barn at eleven o’clock at night? Yeah, that seemed plausible, dude.
He needed to get his mind out of the gutter and focus. “Some tea would be good.” And toss a shot of whiskey in mine. On second thought, he was having enough trouble keeping a clear head. He didn’t need to add booze to the mix.
He watched her walk into the kitchen and pull the tea bags and two mugs from the cupboard. She heated water in the microwave and poured it over the prepared tea bags, then carried the steaming mugs to the table. “Okay. Enough stalling. Tell me what’s going on, Harper. Why were you showering in my barn? Are you homeless?”
“No, not exactly.” She took a sip of tea as she regarded him over her mug. “It’s complicated.”
It always is. “Try me.”
“I’d rather not.”
He leveled a cool stare at her.
“
Okay. Let’s just say that I have business in Creedence and came to town to take care of it. When I got here, I didn’t exactly have a place to stay so I thought I’d couch surf in your barn until I got paid on Friday and could stay at a hotel or rent a room in town. It’s really not that big a deal.”
“Then why didn’t you just ask me if you could sleep there, or in the house, instead of sneaking around like a criminal?”
She winced. “I wasn’t acting like a criminal. I didn’t steal anything. I told you I wouldn’t take anything from you.”
Except a couple years off his life when she’d scared the hell out of him in the barn. And a little bit of his pride when he’d confronted her while wearing only his boots and a snug pair of boxer briefs. “I didn’t think you took anything. But why didn’t you just ask to stay?”
“Because I like you. You’ve been good to me. And besides Bryn, you’re the only friend I’ve got in this town, and I could use some friends right now. So I didn’t want you to know I didn’t have a place to sleep because I didn’t want you to look at me the way you’re looking at me now.”
He lowered his gaze. “I don’t think less of you. I feel sorry for you.”
“That’s just as bad. I don’t need you to feel sorry for me. I’m not a damsel in distress. Or a street urchin. I have a home. I told you, my grandmother left me her house back in Kansas. I’m just in between jobs and had business in Colorado and didn’t want to waste money on a hotel.”
What she was saying made sense. Mostly. She had told him about her grandmother leaving her the house. “This town is barely bigger than a postage stamp. What kind of business could you possibly have in Creedence?”
She glanced down at her hands and picked at a loose cuticle on her thumb. “Again, I’d rather not say. It’s personal.”
“Is it illegal?”
Her head shot up, and she glared at him. “No. It’s not illegal. It’s family stuff.”
