“Logan, I’m not blaming you for last night. I knew what I was doing.” As much as any insane person knew what they were doing. “But it was a one-time thing.”
“I seem to remember it happening twice.”
“You are being deliberately irritating.”
“I like to think of it as charming.”
“I think you need to look that word up in the dictionary.”
He took a few steps toward her, and this time she took an involuntary step back.
“Do I make you nervous, Skyler?”
Yes. “No. I just like my personal space.”
“You didn’t seem to mind sharing your personal space with me last night.”
She crossed her arms and stood her ground. “I can assure you that won’t be happening again.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Because she was afraid it would be way too easy to spend days in bed with him.
“I don’t have to have a reason.”
“I think it’s because you liked it and wouldn’t mind a repeat.”
She exhaled a huff of frustration. “Talking with you is like watching a dog chase its tail.”
“Only I catch what I’m after.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to walk back up the path to the inn.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” Logan said.
“No.”
“You like me, Skyler Harrington. Admit it.”
She ignored him as she kept walking.
“I don’t give up easily,” he called after her. “I’m going to win you over.”
That was exactly what she was afraid of.
Chapter Six
Logan picked himself up out of the dirt and eyed the practice bull that had just bucked him off in two seconds flat. “We’re going to have words.”
“Little off your game today,” Liam said from where he stood on the other side of the fence, his arms and one foot propped on the slats.
Logan climbed up the fence while the bull was directed out of the arena. “It’s more that animal’s nasty attitude.”
“I’ve seen you ride way nastier than Kudzu.”
Liam was right; he wasn’t at his best today. He’d chalk it up to just having an off day, but he knew better. It probably wasn’t good for his longevity to be thinking about a woman right before he plunked himself down on fifteen hundred pounds of bad attitude. But that was exactly what he’d done. Ever since Skyler had walked away from him earlier, he’d been devising a dozen different ways to change her attitude toward him, without an obvious winner.
“Better get your head on straight before you ride again,” Liam said, sounding as though he knew exactly what had been flying around in Logan’s mind. “I don’t think the good folks of Blue Falls are paying to witness a cowboy kabob.”
The scar on Logan’s chest ached at the image. He might enjoy the thrill of riding bulls, but he wasn’t crazy enough to think he was immortal. The night he’d gotten that scar was as close as he’d ever come to walking away from riding. Only the idea of his parents telling him he needed to settle down and get a real job got him through the healing and regaining his strength. The only thing scarier than getting ripped open by a bull’s horn was a life of mind-numbing boredom.
After Liam walked away to deal with some managerial issue, Logan dropped to the outside of the fence and watched a couple more riders take their practice rides. When the bull riders gave way to the roping teams, he headed for his truck.
He needed to take a shower before he saw Skyler again. He didn’t think she was the type of woman who found sweaty and dirty attractive. But who knew? She wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of woman either, but she seemed determined that that’s all they would have. So if she saw him strolling through the lobby and couldn’t control herself, he had no problem giving her all the dirty, sweaty cowboy she wanted.
As he rounded a curve near the inn and glanced at the park where they’d talked earlier, he had an idea that just might help him get on her good side.
Why was he trying so dang hard with her?
Because that was the best sex he’d had in ages, and it seemed a waste for them to sleep under the same roof but in different rooms when they’d both had such a good time the night before.
He made the turn into the park and then backed the truck up to the pile of discarded lumber that had once been the dock. He pulled on his gloves and started tossing the bowed and broken wood into the bed of his truck, careful not to poke himself with any protruding nails. He figured when he had it loaded, his cousin could tell him where he could dispose of it.
Halfway through loading his truck, he looked up to see Skyler hurrying down the path from the inn.
“Miss me?” he asked when she got close enough to hear him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’d think that was obvious.”
“Don’t try to be cute.”
“You think I’m cute?”
“Oh, my God. You’re impossible. Stop right now.”
He did as she commanded and leaned one hand against the side of his truck. “You said you needed this cleaned up.”
“Yes, but by professionals who I pay.”
“So you’d rather be out that money you could use for something else than accept my free labor.”
“What if you get hurt?”
“I’m not going to sue you, if that’s what you’re worried about. And I ride bulls for a living. I think I can dispose of some lumber without mortal injury.”
“I can’t pay you.”
She was really pulling out all the stops to get rid of him. He chuckled to himself. Little did she know the more she tried to give him the boot, the more determined he became to not let her.
“Did I ask for payment?”
She gave him a suspicious look, one that telegraphed exactly what she feared.
“And I’m not that kind of guy. When you end up in my bed again, it’ll be because you want to be there, not because I hauled off some rotting lumber.”
She crossed her arms. “When?”
He gave her a smile. “I’m ever the optimist.” With that he went back to loading lumber and imagining the two of them in that big fluffy bed at the top of the hill.
* * *
A PART OF Skyler wanted to stomp her foot and scream. She was used to being able to orchestrate every aspect of her life, and Logan Bradshaw was playing havoc with that. But it wasn’t as if she could physically stop him from loading the lumber. Left with either leaving or watching the muscles in his arms as he worked, she spun on her heel and headed back up to the inn.
As she walked into the lobby, she found Amelia watching Logan. “Did you hire someone to start working on the park?”
“No.” She didn’t elaborate at first, but when Amelia gave her a questioning look, she felt she had to. Skyler threw her hand out in Logan’s direction. “It’s one of the rodeo riders. Evidently, he’s bored.”
“The guy who checked in earlier?”
Skyler glanced back toward where Logan was close to getting all the dock lumber in his truck. “Yeah.”
“Do you know him?”
“Just met yesterday.” Jumped out of a plane together, danced together and, oh yeah, had hot, hot sex until the wee hours. She really had misplaced her brain yesterday.
“He sure isn’t hard on the eyes.”
A zing of jealousy caught Skyler unaware. Looked like maybe her insanity was leaking over into today because she had absolutely no reason to be jealous of Amelia or her appreciation of Logan’s looks. Given half a chance, he’d probably take Amelia up on her interest. Skyler ground her teeth at the thought of that happening here in the inn, the place she
called home. Why couldn’t he have just stayed at the Country Vista?
“I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Okay,” Amelia said without taking her gaze away from Logan.
Frustrated to her wits’ end, Skyler turned and headed for her office. It took all of her willpower not to turn around and look out the window behind her, the window that would give her an unobstructed view of the hottest, most crazy-making guy she’d ever met.
* * *
LOGAN TOOK OFF his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he eyed the second load of junk he’d delivered to the county’s refuse center. He checked the sun’s location and figured he had time for one more load, which would pretty much clear away the damaged materials from the park.
With a wave to the guy on duty, Logan slid into the driver’s side and took off. He’d have to hurry to get the last load back here before closing.
When he pulled into the park, he noticed someone piling up the remaining debris. It wasn’t until he reached the parking area that the person looked toward him and he realized it was Skyler. Gone were the professional slacks, blouse and heels from earlier. She’d changed into jeans, a T-shirt that showed off her figure quite nicely and a ball cap with her red hair pulled out the back in a ponytail.
He smiled as he got out of the truck. “I knew you couldn’t resist me.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re full of yourself?”
“Often.”
She tossed a big piece of driftwood onto the pile, then placed her gloved hands on her hips as she looked at him. “And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Why should it? The people who say it are usually just trying to convince themselves that I’m not irresistible.”
She snorted and turned to pick up some more wood and a couple of soda bottles that had washed ashore.
“Aw, come on, admit it. I’m a fun guy to be around.”
“I guess you’re okay sometimes.”
He smiled wide, way more happy at that one little sliver of success than he should have been. He wasn’t sure what it was about Skyler that made him determined to feel her next to him again. After all, she was stubborn, prickly, adamant about keeping him at more than arm’s length. Was he attracted to her for no more reason than she was a challenge when he normally didn’t have to work that hard with a woman?
Something about that didn’t ring true. Even if Skyler Harrington wasn’t so resistant to their mutual attraction, he’d still want her in his bed, tangled in his sheets with all that awesome red hair mussed about her face. Damn if he didn’t get aroused just thinking about that.
One step at a time. First step was she’d actually placed herself here where she’d have to interact with him. So he started loading the truck with the material she’d collected. They didn’t talk, but that was okay. He was having a nice time just appreciating how her jeans cupped her behind. But the way that red T-shirt seemed to be caressing her breasts just might do him in. He had to fight the fantasy of backing her up against the side of his truck and taking her right there.
He shook his head at the image. His body might like that idea, but Skyler wasn’t that kind of woman. She was classy, professional, not a buckle chaser who would do it anywhere, anytime. For the first time in his life, the fact that he’d had sex with more than one of those women made him uncomfortable.
“You okay?”
He glanced at her, surprised by her question. “Yeah, why?”
She gestured toward him. “Your forehead was so furrowed you could have planted crops there.”
“Just wondering which bull I’ll draw,” he said. The words were out of his mouth before he realized he’d made the decision to lie to her, to not take the opening to flirt some more. He heaved a large piece of driftwood into the truck.
“Why do you do all these dangerous things? Jumping out of airplanes, riding bulls.”
“Easily bored, I guess.”
He looked at her just as her expression changed. It was almost as if a dark curtain had descended over her face.
“Nothing worse than boredom.”
There was an undercurrent of hostility in her tone, and for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why. Despite her words, Skyler sounded as if she could think of dozens of things that were worse than boredom.
As they tossed the last of the load into the truck, Logan closed the tailgate, then leaned back against it. “Why do you dislike me so much?”
Skyler didn’t answer at first. Instead, she took off her gloves slowly and beat them against her jeans. “I don’t dislike you.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I just don’t want you getting the wrong idea.”
“You’re not the one-night-stand kind of gal. I got it.”
“But it can’t happen again. And you coming to stay at the inn, the continuous flirting, they all point toward you thinking that it will.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?”
“Yes.”
Damn if her answer didn’t punch him in the gut. Maybe all this time it hadn’t been that she was nervous about letting herself go. Maybe Skyler Harrington just thought she was too good for him. Well, then, good to know so he could direct his attention elsewhere.
He headed for the cab of the truck.
“Wait, Logan. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“You didn’t, babe. I’m just not your cup of tea.” He opened the driver’s-side door. “Gotta get this dumped before they close.”
What he really wanted was to get as far away from Skyler as possible. As he drove toward the refuse center, he wondered why anything she’d said had upset him. But it had.
* * *
SKYLER FELT LIKE a shrew as she watched Logan drive away. He’d spent his entire afternoon cleaning up the park with no expectation of payment, and she’d repaid him by insulting him. Yes, he’d probably hauled away all the storm detritus hoping she would invite him into her bed, but he’d still done it. What was wrong with her? Was she so afraid of her own weakness that her only defense was being a bitch?
She sighed and trudged her way back up the hill, the afternoon heat baking her. She’d be lucky if she hadn’t sweated off all her sunscreen and didn’t look like a tomato in a few hours.
Amelia was headed out the door on her way home as Skyler reached the front of the inn. “Hon, you look like someone just pulled you out of the oven.”
“I feel like it, too. There is a nice long shower in my immediate future.”
Amelia looked past her toward the park. “It looks a lot better.”
Skyler turned to look at the park and had to agree. With all the storm damage removed, she was able to see her plans for the park more clearly. And that was thanks to Logan Bradshaw. She needed to apologize to him. Just because she’d made an error in judgment didn’t give her the right to act the way she had. He was what he was, an incurable flirt. She didn’t have to be rude in order to get the message across that his flirtations weren’t going to work a second time. Well, third if you wanted to be precise about it.
After she finished showering and getting dressed, she looked up what room Logan was staying in and called him. There wasn’t an answer, so she went back into the hotel’s computer system and made a note that he was to have a free dinner and breakfast at the inn’s dining room. It wasn’t much in repayment for the work he’d done, but at least it was something. She’d stepped away from the computer when she had another thought. She sat back down and comped his room for the two nights he’d booked, as well. She felt better after that, though she still needed to apologize for her rudeness. That proved impossible when he continued to not answer his phone. More curious than she should be, she walked outside around midnight to find his truck still not in the parking lot.
Something unpleasant squeezed i
nside her at the thought that she’d finally gotten her message of noninterest across and Logan had found some other honey to occupy his time. She should be happy that she wouldn’t have to deal with his overwhelming attention anymore, but for some reason she wasn’t. As she lay in her bed, it had never seemed so big and empty.
* * *
SKYLER GOT UP the next morning determined to not have her day’s thoughts center around a certain cowboy. That proved difficult, however, when she walked down Main Street and saw posters for that night’s rodeo in every store window and stapled to several utility poles. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the cowboy featured riding an enormous bull was none other than Logan.
Her cheeks flamed when she remembered how those legs gripping that bull had felt when they were rubbing against hers. Shaking her head, she walked the rest of the way to Yesterwear, India’s vintage-inspired shop. When she stepped inside, the front counter was manned by Lara, India’s teenage summer employee.
“Hey, Skyler. India and Elissa are next door.”
“Thanks.” As Skyler walked through the store, a new outfit caught her eye. The frilly blouse and skirt had an Old West feel to it while still managing to be modern. India had such a good eye for that kind of thing.
When she stepped through the new doorway that led into the adjoining building, she spotted her friends talking to Liam and Len Goodall, who was handling the conversion of the formerly empty building into extra space for Yesterwear.
She realized she hadn’t seen or talked to Elissa since she’d left Skyler’s office without a word. But when Elissa spotted her, she smiled and waved. Skyler exhaled in relief, glad her friend got over being upset so quickly. Elissa wasn’t the type of person to let anything keep her in a bad mood for long.
“It’s looking good,” Skyler said as she approached the group. Already the quarter-circle stage was coming together in the back corner, as was the framework for three dressing rooms adjacent to the stage.
India’s face glowed with happiness. Not only had Liam proved to be the love of her life, but his buying the building was allowing her to fulfill her dream of expanding her business. Liam was quite a catch, and a little part of Skyler was jealous. She didn’t begrudge India any of her good fortune, but she couldn’t help thinking about what it would be like to find that kind of love herself. Her thoughts went back to her night with Logan until she forcibly pushed them away.
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