by Em Petrova
He shook his head. “Everything’s good, man. Just thirsty.” He lifted his beer in salute, and Dom nodded and moved on to talk to Kaoz, but Theo knew their conversation wasn’t finished.
His eyes wandered over to Sadie. She stood talking to Jada and Jada’s sister Joss, the bowl of fruit still in her hand. Theo located a deck chair, pulled it closer with his boot and dropped down to it to covertly watch her.
She smiled and laughed. When he met her, he didn’t see even the barest hint of grief glimmering in her eyes. If he had, he would have hesitated and maybe asked a few questions before having a romp with her in his truck.
Fragile, Dom had said. Looking at her now, he might agree with that. She had a delicate look in her eyes, which she turned on him at that exact minute.
Their gazes connected for a full heartbeat before she dropped hers, over his body all the way to his boots. Then she reversed and landed on his fly.
Jesus H, hold my hand.
He ached for her fingers wrapped around his cock again. He’d learned in his teens when he first led Katie Delray into the woods behind the football field that a woman could lead a man around by that appendage.
But that wasn’t all there was to Sadie.
He shifted his leg, and she jerked her stare up. It clashed with his again, and he gave that electricity right back to her, dipping his stare over her hair, breasts, lingering on her hips and hitting her boots before he popped it back to her face.
She twisted back to her friends, presenting him with her luscious ass.
Full globes that he could still feel cradled on his palm while he finger-fucked her.
Hell. Whatever game they were playing, he liked it. Yessiree, he liked it a lot.
Too bad he couldn’t be involved with Sadie. Hell, he could hardly trust Jordy to leave him at the ranch for long and his job was already on the rocks.
Besides, he wasn’t in the business of mending broken hearts—not even with amazing backseat sex.
* * * * *
“Oh my God.” Sadie pivoted in a circle to drink in every corner of the latest house the real estate agent had to show her.
Which wasn’t a house at all. It was an old schoolhouse, complete with tall windows, a high ceiling and wide open space. A blank canvas, perfect to make into her own.
“The place could use a little work, and since it’s a historical building, you’ll have to work with the codes…” The real estate agent stopped talking, probably because she realized Sadie wasn’t truly listening since the moment she unlocked the front door.
“Amazing,” she whispered, hearing her voice echo lightly back to her in the empty space.
“The owner bought the place thinking to renovate into a small home, but he never got around to it. When I heard it was on the market, I thought of you.” The woman smiled at Sadie.
She was prepared to sign the papers right now. Of course, asking about the price was something normal people did. Maybe she should at least try to act as if she cared about money, even if the schoolhouse was exactly what she’d been searching for and she’d pay any amount to own it.
To hell with haggling over prices and tedious numbers. She was already dreaming about draperies and a porcelain tile backsplash.
She turned to the agent. “When can I move in?”
She grinned. “The owner is eager to sell, so I imagine the paperwork will go through quickly. But…don’t you even want to hear the asking price?”
“Oh,” she said, distracted by the details of the heavy wood molding surrounding the windows. “what is the price?”
She heard the amount, mulled it over in her mind and said, “I’ll write him a check today for the full amount, while her mind flip-flopped to half walls to partition the living room from the kitchen and a big window added to the bedroom, codes permitting.
She couldn’t wait to get started. While the agent stepped outside to contact the owner, Sadie grabbed her phone and texted Jada.
I found it.
What? Where is it located? Is it that little ranch?
She shot off the address to her friend and a second later received an I’m on my way.
Sadie had so many plans rushing through her mind that she needed to make a list. She was so busy creating lists of supplies she’d need that she jumped at the sound of Jada’s squeal from the doorway.
Her friend bounced up and down a little. “Oh my God, Sadie! I wondered if the address might lead me to the schoolhouse, but…wow!” She hugged her.
Her own excitement was off the charts. This was the break in the clouds she needed—a place to call her own, her peaceful haven where she could dream and find new passions that didn’t have to do with Jackson.
“First, I’ll need all new electric wiring. Plumbing too. I’ll put the kitchen over there.” She waved a hand at the wall where two high windows broke up the long wall and allowed golden sunlight to pour in. She looked down. “I’m thinking tile floor in the kitchen, but nothing sterile and cold. Something with a wood look. Then transition to hardwood throughout the rest of the space.”
She turned to Jada. “Maybe you know some names of contractors I could call.”
“I can help you.”
The agent was back, listening to their talk. “I’ll leave you with a list of contractors as well, but I must warn you many are booked out pretty far. It might take you longer than you want to have the schoolhouse renovated.”
Sadie looked to Jada, who bit her lip and nodded. “It’s true, unfortunately. When Dom and I were updating bathrooms in our house, it took months to get workers on the job.”
“Well…good thing I’m handy with tools. I can build partition walls myself. The electricity and plumbing I’ll need help with, and the floor…” She cocked her head. “I might be able to tackle it after a DIY video or two.”
“Or you could call Theo Sutton.”
At the name the agent dropped, Sadie’s jaw dropped too. How many men went by the name of Theo in a small town such as Crossroads?
“Oh yes, Theo’s great. You know him from the party.” Her lips gave a quirk, because she still wanted the dirt on how Sadie and Theo knew each other. “He does the odd job or two when he isn’t working on the Bellamy Ranch.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll cross those bridges when I come to them. I’m just so excited to have a chance to buy this place!”
But Sadie already made up her mind she would not be calling Theo Sutton to lay her floor—or lay her.
Chapter Three
“Come here, boy. Got ya somethin’.” Theo held out the bulky shopping bag to Jordy.
As the kid stepped into the sunlight streaming in through the shed door, Theo saw he’d grown overnight.
“Damn, I think you grew since yesterday. I don’t even know if those’ll fit you.” He pointed to the bag Jordy accepted.
He looked inside and pulled out a big box. For a moment, he didn’t speak and then he glanced up at Theo. “Boots?”
“Yeah. Since you won’t come with me to town to have you fitted, I guessed at your size. The clerk brought it to my attention that those boots aren’t my size.” He slanted a grin at Jordy, who dipped into a crouch to set the box on the ground.
He opened the lid and touched the leather of the heavy, solid work boots. “These are great. I appreciate it, Theo.”
He gave a gruff nod. “Try ’em on now. If they don’t fit, I’ll take them back and exchange them tomorrow.”
The rumble of a truck engine had him striding to the door. “Be right back. Watch yourself, just in case.”
Jordy nodded and picked up the box, slinking into the shadows where he stayed hidden during the evening hours when Theo would bring him supper, and today, boots.
He stepped out of the shed and drew the door shut behind him. Cort rounded the corner, nearly stopping his heart in his chest. If he walked into that shed and found Jordy…
“I was lookin’ for you,” his boss said.
Theo positioned himself in front of
the shed door in the event he had to block Cort’s way of getting into his own shed.
He raised his jaw a notch in a questioning gesture. “Oh? You need somethin’ done?” he asked.
“You got a visitor.”
Theo’s brows pinched. Nobody visited him at work. Even his parents stuck to themselves, settling for the occasional phone call to rag on him about returning to college.
“Who?” Theo asked.
“That friend of Dom and Jada’s. They threw the party for her.”
“Sadie?” His heart set off at a fast clip that made his ears ring with the thuds.
He started away from the shed, only realizing after a few steps that Cort could go inside before he stopped him.
Right then, Huxley rounded the new hay shed with Sadie at his side. Theo’s stare latched on her—the sway of her hips and the way she wore her hair today, pulled into a ponytail dangling over one shoulder. The top of her head reflected the auburn highlights that had caught his attention from day one.
She was also smiling pretty wide and then she laughed at something Huxley said. Son of a bitch. Why did she run from Theo and joke with Huxley? Theo suddenly felt a snake of jealousy, and he was never jealous. Not ever. He figured if a woman’s eyes wandered elsewhere, then she wasn’t worth having anyway, let alone fighting over.
This woman, however…
He snapped back to attention, glancing around to see Cort walking in the other direction toward the pasture that flooded a few weeks before.
He glanced back at Huxley. Sadie looked up and caught Theo’s stare.
Why did his heart give that tug whenever he looked at the woman? At the winery, in the back seat of his truck and then the party… Was it his imagination or was that tug getting stronger, now resembling something more like a yank?
“Looks as if we found him. Thanks, Huxley.” She separated herself from the ranch hand, which shouldn’t make Theo want to grin and give his buddy obscene gestures but it did.
He started toward Sadie, reaching her fast with his long legs. Hell, had she always been so pretty? She was and he knew it. Dammit, he wished his body would shut down when it came to being around her. His cock was already starting to swell.
“You’re looking for me?” he asked her.
She tilted her head back, meeting his eyes. There it was again—it felt as if she held the end of a rope that’d been lassoed around his ribs, and every time she pulled, he felt his chest walls flex.
“Hi, Theo.”
“Sadie.” His voice came out as a roughened scrape.
Her eyes dropped to his mouth and then shot to his gaze again. “I hope I’m not bothering you. I didn’t know how to get ahold of you any other way than to stop in where you work.”
She glanced around and then crossed her arms over her middle as if holding herself together. What was that about?
Fragile, he reminded himself of Dom’s description of the woman. Though he didn’t see fragility in Sadie as much as he saw a woman who couldn’t hide her emotions. Whatever she was feeling passed over her features, or such as now, ran through her body.
“You’re not bothering me,” he said.
“Well…good.” She swallowed hard and stared at his chest for a moment. He wondered if she ever thought about laying her head there after she screamed out the last of her orgasm—an orgasm he’d given her. He knew how to make her body shiver, shudder and peak.
She cleared her throat and continued on, “I got your name from…” She broke off for a minute, seeming dazed.
He ducked his head to catch her eye. “Sadie?”
“Yes. I mean…Jada and the real estate agent both said that you lay flooring.”
He blinked, not quite keeping up when his brain lived in another hemisphere at the moment—in fact, he’d call it south of the belt. In his pants.
“Flooring,” he repeated and then nodded. “Yeah, I’ve done some odd jobs. Why? You need something laid?” He couldn’t resist teasing her simply to see if she’d smile.
And she did, dipping her head to hide the prettiest smile he’d seen in ages. Maybe ever.
“Theo…”
“Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Man, remember?” He pointed to his chest, and she stared at it for a moment, brows screwed up.
Giving herself a visible shake, she chuckled again, forcing this one. “Um, yes, I do need some flooring laid. Hardwood.”
“Laminate?”
“The real stuff.”
He arched a brow. Of course Jackson Jesse James wouldn’t allow his widow to skimp and struggle in the event of his death, and a man who rode bulls for a living would have taken out a hefty life insurance policy. So it didn’t surprise Theo that she had some money to spend on good flooring.
“Where’s the flooring going?”
“In my new house.”
“Where’s that?”
“The old schoolhouse!” she burst out with a happy cry.
He damn near fell to his knees. The joy beaming from her face and radiating out of her every pore stole all thought from his head. He realized he’d taken not one step closer but two, which brought her head back farther to stare at him.
“The schoolhouse. Pretty cool place to live.” He heard a noise and tossed a look toward the shed.
“Yes.” Her chest gave a heave. “So can you do it?”
Kiss her? Hell yeah. Wrap her in his arms and lift her off her feet, guide her curvy thighs around his hips so he could rub his bulging erection into the V of her legs? He’d like to meet the man who tried to stop him.
He snapped back to reality.
Floor.
Fuck.
Schoolhouse.
Bend over.
“Yes. I have some free time in the evenings, but it’ll be late around seven or eight o’clock, after I finish evening chores.”
She opened her mouth to speak but several booming shouts drowned her words.
Hell, now what happened? His first thought was Jordy. If it wasn’t a fire or flood, maybe the kid had brought down locusts on the ranch?
The shouts grew closer, and he realized the ranch hands were running this way. Theo held up a hand for Sadie to wait a minute, but right then a horse careened around the barn, barreling straight at her.
She screamed, and Theo didn’t think—he whipped an arm around her and yanked her out of the way. He dropped her on her feet and bolted off running as fast as he could, hell bent for the pasture.
In what must be less than a minute but felt a lot longer, he reached the pasture, swung onto a horse bareback, dug in his heels and galloped across the field after the runaway.
* * * * *
Big hands came around Sadie’s shoulders. Stunned by what happened, she looked up at the man holding her.
“Are you all right?” Cort Bellamy asked.
She nodded, even though she wasn’t. Every second that ticked by, the gravity of the situation hit her. She’d nearly been trampled. This was exactly the reason she hated anything to do with ranches or rodeos, and at this point in life, she’d steer clear of zoos too.
Men sprinted around the building, and Cort released her to run after them. Sadie dragged a big breath of air into her lungs but it did nothing to calm her racing heart. Did she hop into her truck and leave as fast as possible? Or follow the others and see what was going on?
Did she want to find out what Theo was doing to catch that runaway horse?
Hands trembling, she steeled herself and rounded the building. A wide open field spread in front of her. Horses scattered as one galloped flat out through it, crossing to the next field in a blink.
And behind it—a horse and rider.
Her heart flip-flopped as her slow, shocked brain put two and two together and came up with the sum total that Theo was crazy, exactly like most of the men she knew.
Around her, guys cheered him on. Some were laughing at the situation. And even Cort didn’t appear to be worried as Theo closed the gap. She held her breath when he threw a lasso.
One of the guys cupped his hands around his mouth and booed at his miss.
Sadie expected Theo to reel the rope in and throw, but he convinced her of what she believed all along—men’s brains didn’t operate the same as women’s.
He leaned over his mount’s neck, spurred it faster and drew up next to the runaway.
“He’s gonna make a jump,” Cort said.
“He can’t be that reckless. Hitting the ground at that speed—”
Sadie made a choked, strangled noise in her throat that had both men glancing her way, and they said no more. She wrapped her arms around her stomach to force it to settle as she looked on at what would surely be a tragedy unfolding before her eyes. Yet she couldn’t look away. She hadn’t been in the arena the night Jackson died, and she was always grateful for it. So why couldn’t she look away now?
She swallowed the bile rising in her throat as Theo’s mount lost speed and the runaway pulled ahead. This is insane! She wanted to cry out, but it wouldn’t do any good—he’d never hear her and her words wouldn’t stop him anyway.
The guys let out a collective cheer when he drew even with the runaway. Before she could even gulp in a breath to hold it, he sprang off his galloping horse onto the runaway.
She screamed when he tilted, hanging off the side, clinging by the strength of his powerful thighs and a one-handed grip on its mane.
“Get up!” Cort bellowed in encouragement.
The horses and rider were so far away it would take the guys ages to reach him if anything happened…
Next thing she knew, Theo popped upright on the runaway.
A sickening relief washed over her—until she realized he had to bring that horse under control.
The abandoned, better-trained mount slowed his gait. It trotted along behind Theo and the runaway.
Sadie’s insides shook like a tree in a windstorm, and she clenched her hands against her sides while more worry than she should be feeling for the cowboy swallowed her in a tidal wave.
