“Darlin’, you keep looking at me like that and I might start blushing. I don’t think I’d look quite as pretty doing it, though. What’s in the box?”
“It’s Lawrence’s things. I plan to drop them by his house this afternoon. I need to put it in my car.”
“Want me to put it in the dumpster instead?”
Juliana smirked. “Tempting offer. Thank you for the flowers and my lunch. That was thoughtful of you.”
“Just trying to make amends for upsetting you last night. I figure if you’re looking at me like you want to eat me for lunch, I must be forgiven. Yeah?”
Juliana knew she could’ve just laughed and said yes, made more light conversation, and maybe flirted a little with the good-looking cowboy. For some reason, his words had the opposite effect, angering her as did his egotistical assumption. Her emotions were on the ragged edge and she took it all out on him.
“Don’t think so highly of yourself, Mr. Peterson. I find that unattractive.” Snatching the box out of his hands, she strode away from him. Did he have to be so coarse? So egotistical? Did he really think so highly of himself? She heard his surprised exhalation of air, but he didn’t follow her as she flounced out the front door to take the damned box to her car.
Chapter Two
Ash grinned, enjoying the view as Miss High and Mighty Meyers sashayed away. His dick got even harder, watching those hips sway angrily. The sight of her turned him on like she was walking away naked, when in reality she was dressed in a matronly tailored blouse and a shin-length skirt and sensible heels. His dick asserted that it could have been a fricking burlap sack for all it cared.
“Oh, I like you, cowboy. You’ve got promise.”
He looked around and finally located the little elderly lady who owned the voice speaking to him. Damn, he didn’t realize how tiny she was. She must’ve had a stool behind the counter he’d stopped at earlier.
“I’m sorry, ma’am?”
“Oh, call me Evelyn. Juliana likes you. You can’t tell right now, I know. She has quite a temper to go along with her red hair. Some would call that passionate,” Evelyn said, enunciating with care as she walked up to him.
“I keep sticking my foot in my mouth.”
Evelyn chortled with amusement, “Yes, you do, cowboy. You have quite a way with words. But she likes you, just be patient. Her mind is on this breakup right now. She’s exhausted and oversensitive,” she said, shaking her head sympathetically.
“Well, Miss Evelyn. I need to get back to the ranch. Would you tell her that I didn’t mean anything by what I said? Just being mouthy?”
“I will, cowboy. Give her time. Oh! Just a little head’s up?” she said, gesturing with her little hands for him to come closer. “You might want to know she’ll be assisting Teresa on her moving day this Wednesday, packing up Teresa’s personal effects while Teresa takes care of wedding plans. Just in case you want to volunteer to help.”
Ash smiled at her and leaned way down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a real sweetheart, Miss Evelyn. Maybe I should be courting you instead.”
Evelyn chuckled with delight at his flirtation and confidently said, “Cowboy, if I was Juliana and forty years younger, I wouldn’t have walked away from your sexy, smart mouth. I’d have given as good as I got. Back in the day, I had suitors pining for miles around.”
“I’ll bet you did, Miss Evelyn. You can call me Ash, by the way.”
“Well, Ash, give her some time to cool off and start to feel bad about being so rude to such a handsome cowboy. She’ll come around.”
“You reckon?”
“A charmer like you? She’ll come around.” She shook her head slowly. “Juliana works too much.” She blew him an air kiss, waved, and walked back down the aisle.
Grinning, Ash walked out the side door where he’d left his diesel running and made the trip back out to the ranch, feeling unsettled. He wasn’t exactly disappointed but wasn’t happy that he’d had to watch her walk away from him again.
* * * *
Juliana angrily threw the box in the car and shot from the parking lot in her white Camaro like a scalded-ass dog. Carrying the box up to the front steps of Lawrence’s condo, she placed it in front of his door. Staring at it for a few seconds, she wondered why she’d invested five years in their relationship and all she had to show for it was one box.
She hated the little twist of guilt she felt when she looked at it and remembered his words. He’d all but called her a workaholic. She shared a small portion of culpability at the demise of their relationship. Sure, he was a lying, cheating dickhead, but maybe there was some truth to what he’d said.
Juliana returned to the store and ate her now-cold lunch in miserable silence, grunting when Evelyn imparted Ash’s message to her. I am such a bitch. She looked morosely at the cheerful yellow roses in the pretty porcelain teacup. Her brain had completely short-circuited at the smart words that had come out of his mouth. The embarrassing part was that she had thought that he looked good enough to eat. Literally mouth-watering, “get me a spoon” good enough to eat. Resting her head in her hand, she sighed heavily and continued eating her lunch. She was certain now she’d never hear from the cowboy again.
Juliana came awake with a start, still holding her fork in her hand. She’d dozed off, only for a few seconds, but she’d actually fallen asleep while eating. That was probably part of her problem. She was tired, and he set her on edge. She was usually good-humored and ready with a quick comeback, but she was off her game. Ash had flustered her, and she’d reacted poorly. She could just as easily have invited him back to the office to sit and visit while she ate. Yeah, she was a bitch all right.
She slipped her hand in her pocket when it vibrated, pulled out her cell phone and opened the new text message.
I heard about this new disease. Maybe you heard of it, too?
Foot-in-mouth syndrome? It’s terrible. I’m sorry.
She sighed, chuckled, and began typing her reply.
Well, at least it doesn’t have as negative a connotation as
another condition I’ve heard of. Hellacious Bitch syndrome.
It’s hard to be cured of and may have cost me a
friendship today. I’m sorry.
Her phone vibrated again.
I forgive you, if you forgive me.
I know you’re tired. You need to rest.
See you Wednesday, pretty lady.
Why did that endearment set her heart to fluttering? How could he forgive her so easily? Where was he going to be Wednesday?
Wednesday?
I’m helping the guys move some furniture and boxes for Teresa.
Oh.
* * * *
Juliana strapped the last box out of the bathroom closed with packing tape and placed it with several others in the hallway. Grabbing larger empty boxes, she went into Teresa’s tidy bedroom and packed up her neat and organized closet, marveling at the simplicity with which Teresa kept her home. No one could accuse her of being a packrat like they could of Juliana.
While she was in the closet, she heard keys rattle in the front door and masculine voices as the men arrived to start moving the big items. One of them laughed as they continued their conversation.
Jack’s voice travelled down the hallway to the bedroom. “Juliana’s car is parked out front, so she must be in here somewhere.”
Poking her head out of the closet, she called, “Hi! I’m in here.” She was on her hands and knees in the closet when she felt a presence in the doorway behind her then heard a faint chuckle.
She stilled but didn’t turn back to look at him. “Cowboy?”
“Yep. You can call me Ash.” Maybe he was being economical on words for fear of sticking his foot in his mouth again. “You look different in jeans.” Or maybe not.
Risking a peek back at him, from underneath a row of blouses, she caught him devouring her great, big derriere with his eyes. Heat tingled in her cheeks as she backed out of the closet, to
face him head on. Ash offered his hand, which she reluctantly accepted, and helped her to rise. Her heart pounded in humiliation. A tiny voice told her to shut up, but she didn’t listen.
“What were you looking at?” she asked defensively, noting the big grin on his face, not appreciating him ridiculing her. Red flags went up in her brain, and she ignored them, too.
Ash shrugged. “I was just admiring the view, pretty lady. You should wear pants more often, although I like you in skirts, too. But I don’t care for those long, schoolmarmish skirts you wear to work. Where do you get those from? Prison-Wardens-R-Us?”
All she could do for a few seconds was sputter. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and she made noises, but nothing intelligent came out. Glaring up into his eyes, Juliana felt completely insulted. First he laughed at her big behind, and then he insulted the way she dressed. Finally her brain gathered some traction, and her tongue caught up with it.
“I did it again,” he began as his face fell.
“Yeah, I’ll say. I dress like a professional, for your information. Let me say, on behalf of any other woman unfortunate enough to pop up on your radar, we don’t like it when you make fun of how we’re built. Yes!” she grated, “I have a big ass, I know. Now shut up and leave me alone!”
The rest of the apartment had gone completely silent, except for a soft whistle and an occasional rustle of foil. Ash’s brows drew together. “That’s not what I meant at all, lady. I’ll leave you alone.” He held up his hands as he backed from the closet doorway. The way he said “lady” made her heart lurch a little. He didn’t say it sarcastically. He spoke the word like, despite the ugly tone of her words and her current demeanor, that’s what he believed she was.
After Ash vacated the room, she threw a silent hissy-fit in Teresa’s closet, hands balled up into fists, jumping up and down, foot-stomping mad. It would be completely okay with her if she never had to turn her back on another living soul as long as she lived. She could not help the way her derriere was shaped. She took after her grandmother, who came from a long line of hour-glass shaped women, and Juliana was ever-aware of the big bazanga-butt she toted around twenty-four-seven.
Why couldn’t he leave well enough alone? He just had to make comments like that. And what was with him insulting her work clothes? I do not look like a prison warden. I dress stylishly, damn it! Her skirts needed to be long because she sometimes had to climb on ladders in the stockroom. She couldn’t have her stockroom employees looking up her skirts at her goodies, now could she? Jeans weren’t professional, and she could never find slacks that fit her properly because of her small waist and huge, damned ass! She stomped again for good measure. Damn it!
For a time, the apartment was filled with the sounds of the men removing all the stacked boxes from the hallway.
“Hey, Juliana?” Jack said from the doorway a few minutes later as she lifted the hangers off of the rods. Her breathing had returned to normal, and she was beginning to feel terrible about biting Ash’s head off. Why did she keep overreacting?
“Yeah, Jack?” She was unable to even look at him across the room.
“We brought you some breakfast tacos, if you’re hungry. We’re hauling the furniture out to the trucks.” He entered the room and stopped beside the closet door and asked softly, “Are you okay?”
Her cheeks warmed as she looked at him and tried to smile. “Yeah. I’m just—you heard?” At his silent nod, she continued in a shamed whisper, “I’m just…a bitch.”
Jack chuckled and said, “No, you’re not. Grace told me you looked exhausted, and she was right. Ash is a nice guy. I don’t think he meant to hurt your feelings. He’s outside with Joaquin right now. I got the impression he was sort of hoping to see you today.”
She looked up at him, surprised. “You didn’t ask for his help?” Oh crap, now she really felt like a bitch.
“Not specifically, no. When we pulled up, he asked if you were here already. He seemed happy when I pointed out your car in the parking lot.”
“Dang it. Thank you, Jack. I’m just going to stay back here and finish packing up her bedroom. I owe him an apology.”
“He’s not one to take offense easily,” Jack offered, making her feel worse, since she obviously was. “We’ll give you some space. Just keep putting the boxes in the hall and we’ll take it from there.”
“Okay. After I finish, I’ll pack the kitchen cabinets. This shouldn’t take long.”
They allowed her to work in peace, packing up Michael’s room and coming in only to take the furniture once she had the bed stripped and the end tables and dresser emptied. Joaquin and Angel took the first load and returned after unloading it and brought lunch with them. The tension had eased up by the time they stopped to eat around the kitchen countertop. Ethan and Adam bantered back and forth with Angel, Joaquin, and Ash while Jack and Juliana quietly looked on, laughing at their stories and jokes.
When lunch was over and they’d gone back to work, Ash leaned in to her as she emptied a kitchen cabinet. “I’m sorry I offended you. I really didn’t mean it that way. I realize, after thinking about it, that it probably didn’t come out sounding like a compliment but you’re—oh shit, never mind. I’m going to stop while I’m ahead. I think you’re very pretty, every bit of you.”
“I shouldn’t have taken offense, Ash. I saw you looking at my—well, you know, and I’m self-conscious about that…part, and I shouldn’t have jumped on you like that where others could hear. I don’t know why I’m so oversensitive around you.”
“It’s your red hair,” he said with a grin, ducking when she made to punch him as she struggled not to laugh, instead of being offended. “I’m going! I’m going! Ah! See? You’re getting to know me now!” She liked the way his unusual, bluish-green eyes twinkled and his cheeks dimpled above his muttonchop sideburns when he smiled. Ash Peterson was a handsome devil.
“Get to work!” Gesturing with a finger to the front door, she said, “I need a ladder to get that clock down. Teresa told me she had it wired to that nail because she was afraid that it would fall when she closed the front door.”
Ash tried to lift the clock off the wall where it hung above the front door, but he couldn’t see behind it to disengage the wire. “I’ll bring you the ladder when Ethan comes back from taking his load. He has one on his work truck,” he said, tugging on a lock of her hair before making a hasty exit.
“Urgh!” she growled, unable to suppress a grin.
When Ash was a little boy, he was probably one of those who showed he liked a girl by being obnoxious to them, tying their pigtails together, and making fun of them. They would’ve been dire enemies, for sure. Now, she thought he was charming in an obnoxious, overgrown pit bull sort of way.
Being in proximity to Ash left Juliana feeling a little off kilter. He wasn’t what she would call classically handsome. His features were weathered and tanned and, if she had to hazard a guess, was in his late thirties or early forties. The muttonchop sideburns and mustache he grew hid part of his face but added to his outdoorsy, masculine good looks. In contrast with his suntanned, callused exterior, his lips were full beneath the moustache and looked deliciously kissable.
A tingle had spread through her whole body, zeroing in on her clit when he’d leaned so close to her to apologize. She’d been able to feel his breath on the nape of her neck, above the neckline of her top. Reliving the memory, she gasped, filled with a mix of outrage and giddiness. He’d been looking down her V-neck shirt front the whole time!
There was no suppressing the smile that spread across her face. She continued stacking everything on the kitchen counter as they came and went, loading boxes and furniture. Ash brought the ladder in for her and then left to deliver items Teresa was donating to the Goodwill store, while the other guys took a load of boxes to Angel and Joaquin’s house.
Juliana finished packing the last of the glassware and was about to tape the box closed when she remembered the clock. She moved the seven-foot lad
der into place and climbed up high with the needle-nose pliers Ash had provided her, to get at the flexible wire that secured the fragile, old clock on the nail. It took a lot of doing, but eventually she got a hold of one of the ends and started unwinding it.
* * * *
On his way back from the Goodwill drop-off location, Ash grinned to himself, remembering the sight he’d beheld earlier that morning. Before Juliana had gone on her tirade, which served to make the memory only sweeter, she’d been on her hands and knees, working in the closet, humming to herself. He’d come up on her silently to enjoy the view as long as he could but knew the moment she sensed his presence because she’d stopped humming.
She’d had that luscious, upside-down-heart-shaped tush that stuck straight out, her curvy upper thighs stretching and flexing as she reached to the back of the closet for something, and all he could envision was what she’d look like, ready and waiting for him to thrust his cock into her from behind. He’d gotten painfully hard imagining how her pussy would feel. Depriving him of the view, she’d stood up, her cheeks rosy and her sky-blue eyes shooting sparks. Then her words had registered in his lust-soaked brain, but she’d had it all wrong. She’d thought he was making fun of her body.
His cock got hard again, thinking about telling her what he truly thought of her gorgeous ass as well as the rest of her, but he’d wait till they were completely alone before doing that.
He backed into the parking spot next to her pretty, new Camaro and climbed out of his truck, careful not to ding her white paint. Noticing the other guys’ trucks were still gone, he turned the knob and pushed the front door open, eager to see if she was alone in the apartment so they could talk for a few minutes.
Box Set: The Divine Creek Ranch Collection, Volume 2 [Book 4 - Rosemary's Double Delight (MFM), Book 5 - Spurs and Heels (MF)] (Siren Publishing Romance Collection) Page 21
