Cowboy 12 Pack
Page 130
“You do.”
He fluttered his lashes. And my, they were long. “My zero-gravity boots are in the shop.”
He was so damn charming, even Porsche’s fury faded. But she propped her hands on her hips and thrust out a pouting lip anyway. “Are you going to stay?”
“Just for the weekend.” His expression was evil.
“Shit.” She whirled around and glared at her friends. “We might as well leave.”
“I dunno,” Jenn said, licking pancake syrup off her finger. “He’s going to be here.”
“Yeah.” Erin stroked the lip of her mug. “All weekend.”
Porsche’s eyes narrowed.
Crystal knew her well enough to know that something mischievous was bubbling behind those eyes. Porsche glanced at Crystal, at the two plates before her, and then back at Ford. And she smiled.
It was a chilling smile.
WHEN PORSCHE FLOUNCED over to the buffet to fill her plate, Ford took his seat at the table next to Crystal and tucked in. He ate and ate until he realized she was staring at him. He glanced at her and offered a smile.
Her lips parted—and damn were they pretty. Her throat worked. “You’re… You’re Porsche’s brother?” Something of a wheeze.
He tipped back his orange juice and took a drink, holding her gaze. “You know Porsche?”
For some reason, her attention whipped to her two friends. For some reason, they were both grinning like loons.
“We work with Porsche,” Erin said, leaning in.
“In Dallas,” Jenn added.
Ford’s heart thudded. He turned to Crystal. “You too?”
“Me too.”
Well, shit.
These were the women who had lured his baby sister to the city with the offer of a job she couldn’t resist. He’d resented them all for months. Now, somehow, he didn’t. In fact, it made him want to laugh. He’d been wondering how he could hold on to Crystal when this weekend ended, wondering how he would ever manage to find her again when she left. And now he knew.
“You all run that”—he waved his fork—“jewelry store?”
“It’s called Bling Babes,” Erin said. She waggled her hand and a rhinestone bracelet caught the light. “And it’s a web store.”
“And how’s business?”
“Excellent.”
“Girls do love their bling. And…what do you do…Ford?” Jenn purred. Her foot nudged his under the table and he yanked it back.
“I…I’m a rancher.”
“Porsche told us that, Jenn,” Erin said under her breath. “Remember? His spread is right next door.”
“A spread. Nice.” Jenn did like to purr. She was practically a cat with all that purring. For some reason, it made Crystal bristle.
“I raise cattle.”
Damn, the women’s attention was a little too intent. He felt the sudden need to escape. Crystal, on the other hand, was silent, poking at her pancake with the fork but not eating. Also, she didn’t meet his eye when he looked at her.
Funny how he knew what was running through her mind. She hadn’t just slept with some random stranger. She’d slept with her friend’s brother. No doubt she needed time to process it.
He thought it might be gentlemanly of him to give her that space. Aside from that, Erin’s foot was now making its way up his pant leg. Escape was his only option.
“Well, I better go talk to Cody,” he said, standing in a rush.
“About the fence?” Jenn asked.
“Yeah. About the fence.” A total lie. He wasn’t working on Cody’s fence, come hell or high water.
As he pushed away from the table, a cacophony erupted in the room as a herd of men pushed in. Ford gave them the once-over and winced. Crystal had the right of it. These weren’t real men, they were boys. And they sure as shit weren’t cowboys, even though they wore the costume.
It irked him that a couple of them sidled up to Porsche as she filled her plate. That she smiled and made goo-goo eyes at them. But it irked him more that one dude took his place by Crystal and another sat on her other side. His hands closed into fists, even though he knew punching the shit out of smarmy stripper dudes over breakfast would probably be rude.
That Crystal sighed and rolled her eyes when one of the guys put his arm around her and whispered in her ear was gratifying.
Porsche, not so much. She reveled in the attention from these greasy posers, flirting and laughing and touching their chests. She flicked a look at him, as though daring him to object, but he didn’t. He did, however, send one of the men, the man with his hand on her ass, a glare that made him pale and back away.
Forcing his fingers to unclench, Ford continued over to Cody’s table. He glared at his friend as he sat, and Cody shrugged. “Dude, you’re the one who wanted to be here. I coulda told you you’d see things you didn’t want to see.”
“Where did you dig these guys up anyway?”
“They’re…friends of mine.”
“Seriously?” And how concerning was it that Cody had friends who were strippers?
“Most of them have day jobs.”
“There’s a plus.”
“They’re just here for the money.”
“Another awesome tidbit.”
Cody chuckled. “It’s not as bad as it seems. I promise. And don’t worry. I’ve warned them all off Porsche.”
Ford shot a glance to the table where Crystal and her friends sat with Porsche, surrounded now by muscular man meat. One of the guys, a skeezy-looking bruiser with long hair, tucked a curl behind Porsche’s ear and then leaned close to whisper something. Her eyes went wide. “Really? That’s warned off? I shudder to think what they’d be doing if you hadn’t. Dry humping her on the breakfast table?”
Cody shook his head. “Dry humping is strictly for the night parties.” When Ford narrowed his eyes at him, Cody added with a wink, “It’s in their contract.”
“You suck as a friend.”
“Totally unfair. I made sure you knew she was here, didn’t I?”
“Well, thanks for that.”
“And I did you quite a favor this morning, I’m thinking.”
Ford gaped at him. “What favor?”
“Your visitor? In the barn?”
Ford’s gaze snapped up and met Cody’s. His shit-eating grin was an annoyance. “What do you mean?”
“You know damn well what I mean. So is she the one?” Cody’s question made something skirl through his gut. Certitude perhaps.
“The one?”
“You know. The girl. From last night?”
He couldn’t lie. “Yeah.”
Cody chuckled. “Then you owe me one, bro.”
“What? Why?” He seriously hated owing Cody one.
“I sent her over to the barn.”
“What?”
“Yup. She asked for a suggestion on some way to while away the time…”
“And you sent her to me?”
“Not to you. To the barn. Some shit about the puppies. But I saw the way the two of you were looking at each other over breakfast.”
“It wasn’t—”
“And I saw you kiss her before you came in.”
“On the forehead.”
Cody waggled his brows. “Riiiight. Anyway, you’re welcome. She is a hottie.”
He tried not to growl at Cody’s lurid tone. But he couldn’t help following his gaze to Crystal. With a clutch of panic, he realized she was extricating herself from the table and the man-ticles attempting to curl around her. But before he could leap to his feet to stop her from leaving, she was gone.
He reminded himself he knew where her room was, and grappled with the urge to follow her there. But he couldn’t do it. If she was leaving, she wanted privacy. And frankly, stalking her to her room wasn’t his style. And it was, putting it bluntly, a little creepy. So he kept his seat and glared at Porsche instead.
Crystal would come down at some point.
She would have to face him.
&n
bsp; They needed to talk.
Chapter Six
‡
“IS IT TRUE?”
Crystal had just sat down on her bed and started scrolling through her emails when Porsche burst into her room with Erin and Jenn on her heels. She’d been looking forward to some silence, some peace and quiet without all the raging emotion his presence seemed to incite, so she could work out how she felt about all this.
He wasn’t a stripper. He was a rancher.
And he wasn’t a random dude. He was her employee’s brother. Her very protective brother who had resisted Porsche taking the job at Bling Babes. Which, rather than making things easier, made them more complicated.
On top of that, this morning. In the barn. It had been amazing. She needed to grapple with that too.
None of that was going to happen with the cast of Ben-Hur swarming into her room and peppering her with annoying, needlelike questions.
“Well?” Porsche said, propping her fists on her hips. “Is it?”
Crystal sighed. “What? Is what true?”
“About you and Ford?”
Her gut clenched. Holy hell. How to answer that?
“Did you two come into the house together?”
Oh. That. “Yes.”
“And did he serve you breakfast?” She said it like he’d done it naked. Which, frankly, was an alluring thought.
When Crystal didn’t answer immediately, Jenn poked a finger in her direction. “He gave you a pancake.”
Porsche’s eyes widened in horror. “A pancake?”
“And you ate it.”
“Only part of it.”
“You ate carbs?” Porsche hissed in an accusing voice, which was way out of proportion with the crime. It wasn’t as though she’d killed someone with the pancake.
“Yeah.” Erin smirked. “Because he told her to.”
“Right?” Jenn nodded. “He just looked at her and growled eat it and she did.”
“He didn’t growl.” Not really. More of a rumble.
“Oh, my God.” There was no reason for Porsche to stare at her like that. “So it is true. The two of you…”
“What?”
“That’s it. Just the two of you.” Her expression firmed. “Has there been some canoodling going on?”
Crystal winced. “Define canoodling.”
“Oh, my gawd,” Erin yelped.
“Oh, my gawd,” Jenn parroted.
They both stared at her with amused shock written all over their faces.
Porsche ignored them. She was intent on her own mischief. She usually was. She sat by Crystal on her bed and took her hands, tossing her cell phone onto the comforter. “You need to help me, Crystal.” This she said with the thrumming intensity of a horror movie victim about to die a grisly death.
“Um…what?”
“Help me!”
“Help you?”
“Keep him busy.”
“Keep him busy?”
“She’s repeating again,” Erin murmured.
“Keep him busy so I can have a good time. Come on.” She thrust out a lip. “It’s my birthday. All I want is to have fun. And he’s so…overbearing.”
“Bossy was the word you used yesterday,” Jenn reminded everyone, in case they weren’t keeping track.
Erin nodded. “And domineering.”
Crystal’s eyes flared. “How, um, how domineering is he?”
“Oh, come on.” Porsche frowned. “Like that matters?”
“Of course it matters!”
“Like you would object.” Porsche’s tone snagged her attention, made something a little acidic crawl through her veins.
Crystal stilled. Her mind spun. “What do you mean?” She spoke slowly, enunciating each word with exquisite precision.
“Oh, puh-lease,” Porsche muttered. “Everyone knows.”
Heat raked her. Her heart thudded. Sweat prickled on her brow. “What do you mean, everyone knows?” Her gaze whipped to Jenn, who shrugged.
“It’s not like it’s some big secret.”
“It was supposed to be!”
Jenn gusted a sigh. “Everyone knows what you like, Crystal.”
Erin nodded like a bobblehead doll.
“Because you told them! Jesus, Jenn! My private life is private.”
“Unless you tell Jenn,” Erin said sotto voce.
Porsche waved an impatient hand. “That is all beside the point.”
“Was there a point?” This was really too much. Really, it was.
“The point is, he likes you. I saw the way he was ogling you.”
“He was not ogling me.”
“He kind of was.”
Crystal glared at Jenn, and then Erin, because she opened her mouth to agree. “I thought you were my friends.”
Jenn fluttered her lashes. “We are.”
“Seriously, Crystal,” Erin said. “Have you looked at him?”
“He is super hot.” Jenn licked her lips.
Porsche rolled her eyes. “Oh, gross.”
“Well, he is.”
“And Porsche really needs your help.”
“I do. I do. I need you to keep him busy. Distract him. Come on, Crystal. Please?”
“I wouldn’t mind distracting him,” Jenn offered. She was generous like that.
“You know you want to.”
“He is gorgeous.”
“Handsome.”
“Manly.”
“Tall.” They were like a tag-team, Jenn and Erin were.
“Domineering…” Jenn added with a flutter of too-long lashes. Crystal vowed to snip them off in her sleep.
Something clenched deep inside her. “Oh, great. So you throw me to the wolves?”
“He’s hardly a wolf.”
“He looks like a wolf.” When Crystal glared at Jenn, she added, “With all that yummy fuzz on his chin.”
“He doesn’t like to shave during the week,” Porsche said. “But he shaves for church on Sunday.”
“He goes to church on Sunday?”
Porsche shrugged. “It’s a small town. Everyone goes to church on Sunday. So will you do it, Crystal? Please?”
Spend the weekend with Ford? Distracting him?
The idea had merit. Lots of merit.
It was only for the weekend, after all. She had no intention of seeing him after this. But the thought of walking away now, after what they’d shared, made her feel ill.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Oh, yay!” Porsche wrapped her in an effusive hug.
“I said I’ll think about it.”
“I know.” She grinned. “But you had that look in your eyes.”
“What look?”
“You know. That submissive look…”
All of them laughed then, like hyenas.
But it wasn’t funny in the least.
FORD CHATTED WITH Cody while he waited for Crystal to come back downstairs, keeping an eye on the hall so he wouldn’t miss her. He knew he should be watching for Porsche, but to be honest, she wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. And Cody was right. She was a grown-up.
Just knowing that he was here would be enough to incite her to behave. And if not, it was enough to make the studs behave. Indeed, when word got around the breakfast room of who he was and who she was, Ford could see the lurid expressions freeze on their faces. And they all slowly backed away.
Nothing like the presence of an older brother—who was bigger and rougher and more muscled—to make a tomcat sheathe his claws.
When Crystal bounded down the stairs, holding his hat, his heart lurched. And not only because she’d brought him his hat. He stood and left the table, left Cody mid-sentence. He squawked in outrage, but Ford ignored him, heading to Crystal like a bee to nectar.
“Hey there,” he said as he met her in the hall.
“Hey there.” Her smile was tenuous but sincere.
She handed him his hat and he plopped it on his head. “Thanks. Do you…want to go for a walk?”
“Outside? I think we should talk.”
“Ah. Talk. Okay. Yeah. I’d like that.”
As they made their way down the porch steps, she glanced up at him. “So, you’re Porsche’s brother.” Not a question.
“And you’re her boss.”
“Yup.” She forced a laugh. “How awkward is that?”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“It kind of is.”
“Can we ignore Porsche? At least for the time being?”
Her expression was slightly cynical. “I don’t know. Can you? Ignore her?”
“What does that mean?”
“You followed her here.”
“Only to make sure she was okay.”
“Do you follow her everywhere?”
“I didn’t follow her to Dallas.”
“You didn’t? Wow. That’s major.”
He wasn’t sure why she laughed, but he liked the sound of it. “I know she thinks I’m overbearing—”
“Bossy and dominating were the words she used.”
“Those too. But it’s only because I worry about her.”
Crystal patted his arm. He liked that too. “I totally get it, Ford. I have an older brother. And he’s pretty bossy too.”
“I just want her to be safe, is all. The thought of her, here, with a bunch of strippers…”
“I get it. Really I do. But she’s a smart girl. She can look out for herself.”
“I know.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. He knew Porsche was smart and savvy and could take care of herself. He also knew that was part of his issue in letting her go. She was all he had. All he had in the world. And it was a scary world. “I just need to know she’s safe. Can you understand that?”
She nodded. “I can. I do.”
He didn’t know why her acceptance released something deep inside him, but it did. He knew he had to back off and give Porsche some space, let her find her own road. But damn, it was hard.
Something else was hard.
Funny how just standing next to this woman in the yard was enough to get his mind drifting into fantasy and his body revving up for action. But another tryst in the barn didn’t appeal. Not when they could be interrupted at any minute by Cody, or—horrors—his sister. The urge to sweep her away descended.
“Would you like to go for a ride?”
“A ride?” Her eyes lit up.
“On horseback.” He had to remind himself she was a city girl. A ride to her might mean a spin in the car. Best to be specific.