by Gray Gardner
He wasn’t offended. He didn’t even seem confused. He simply rubbed his jaw and looked at me. In my underwear.
“Yeah, I should…I should go,” I said with more resolve, walking around him and grabbing my pile of clothes. I stepped into the jeans as he remained facing the other way, somewhat resembling a gentleman.
“So what’s on the agenda for today?” he asked, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder.
I zipped my jeans and pulled my shirt on quickly. “I guess I’ll just do whatever Caroline and Rowdy do…”
“No,” he disagreed, turning and folding his arms over his chest as he watched me pull my boots on.
“But…isn’t Rowdy my host-by-default now? He’s not that bad…”
“I’ll be your host,” he interrupted, standing perfectly still as he towered over me in that commanding way.
“What about your other guests?”
“My schedule just opened up.”
I frowned at him, but he gave me that I-just-dare-you-to-argue look. I sighed and conceded, as usual.
“Fine. I was thinking about…the river rafting trip today?” I asked, pulling my Dallas Cowboys hat over my hair as it hung around my shoulders. That had looked cool in the brochure.
“Doesn’t sound like you can get into too much trouble doing that. The rapids are pretty insipid.”
“Okay. I’ll be there after breakfast,” I huffed, turning and walking for the large dark brown double doors I saw on the other side of the room. He didn’t try and stop me. I glanced over my shoulder as I walked out and he was still staring at me, arms across his chest. Damn. Why did he have to be so good looking?
Chapter Five
Caroline gushed over me back at the cabin and over our coffee and donut at the little café. She didn’t barrage me with questions, though, so I figured Rowdy had filled her in. She always seemed to know when to talk and when to just keep quiet. That’s why we’d been best friends for so long.
“Oh, Blake…well done,” she congratulated me as we approached the River Lodge. People were standing around, trying on life jackets and helmets, and there was West standing on the riverbank, talking with one of the guides. He was in navy swim trunks with old tennis shoes, no shirt…and he looked like a fucking god. Tan, muscular shoulders, a little light colored hair across his chiseled chest, that sexy v-thing disappearing into his shorts…I couldn’t even speak for a second.
Caroline knew we’d spent the night together. I wondered if she thought we…
“Girls,” Rowdy greeted us, walking by and shaking a few people’s hands, as everyone got ready to climb into the ten person rafts. He was looking equally as tasty.
“Rowdy says that West…” Caroline began, but was interrupted by a woman calling us over to get our life jackets and helmets.
I buckled the blue vest over my t-shirt and kept my pink running shorts on, and Caroline gave all the guys a nice show as she peeled off all of her clothes and put her vest on over her tiny bikini. Rowdy helped her with her helmet as I snapped mine on quickly and walked to the water’s edge. West was right, the water was moving very slowly and the rapids looked pretty harmless. I glanced up and caught him looking me up and down, but didn’t get to say hello or anything because a guide stepped up right in front of me.
“Sorry, Kiddo, you’re either going to have to go on the children’s raft for the short voyage or sit this one out.”
My eyes squinted as I frowned up at him in the sunlight, realizing that he was speaking to me. “I’m sorry?” I asked, confused at the ‘Kiddo’ comment, but more confused that I was being singled out here.
“The raft for the kids is back there. Where’s your host?” he asked, looking around. His shaggy blonde hair blew across his forehead in the breeze as he snapped his life vest over his white BAR H RANCH t-shirt.
“I’m hostless,” I replied, watching as West continued readying the raft. “And I’m also not a kid. I’m 26, okay? I signed the release forms…”
“That doesn’t matter,” the guide interrupted in a condescending tone. “You have to be at least a hundred pounds to ride a raft with only one guide on board. Now, you can have your own guide and ride the children’s raft or you can leave, but you aren’t getting on this one.”
My mouth fell open as I stared up at him, people now climbing onto the rafts all around us, talking excitedly. I knew I should have felt offended at his high-handedness, but I was a little flattered that he really thought I didn’t even weigh a hundred pounds. I was petite, but not a stick figure.
“Look, dude, I’measily 120 on a good day, ‘kay? If you’d like I’ll drag a scale out here and show you. But I’ve really been looking forward to this and I’ll bet I’m the only guest who’s done this before…”
“Kid, move along to the children’s raft or go home,” he said, helping to shove the raft into the water.
“I’m not a kid!” I shouted, watching as Rowdy and Caroline frowned over at me and as West eyed me as he helped a middle-aged woman onto the raft. This had to be a joke.
“Is there a problem?” West asked, taking another woman’s hand and helping her onto a raft.
“He won’t let me get on,” I whined, gesturing at the guide.
“You know the weight limitations. She’s perfectly welcome to ride with the kids,” Blondie said, shaking his head like he didn’t have time for me.
I put my hands on my hips and waited for West to come to my rescue. Instead he sighed, looking between the two of us.
“We’re shorthanded, I have to ride this raft as a guide,” he began, throwing his thumb over his shoulder at the middle raft. “I can’t go with you on the kids’…”
“I am not riding with those kids!” I shouted, pointing at the group of screaming 11-year-olds and disinterested teenagers playing on their phones. I looked at West imploringly.
Both men looked down at me, one annoyed and the other concerned. No one said anything, though. They were serious. They weren’t going to let me on. I exhaled in an infuriated huff and threw my hands up in concession, taking a few steps back. The guide turned and hopped onto the front raft, taking a paddle and not even looking twice at me. West looked at me for a while as he snapped on his vest, then grabbed a paddle with a heavy sigh and shoved off in his raft.
Caroline gave me a confused wave as the four rafts floated down the river through the boulders and waving grass. I stood watching, totally confused about what had just happened. They rounded a bend and I finally came to my senses. I ripped the life jacket and helmet off and threw them to the rocky ground beneath my feet, then turned on my heel and briskly walked through the shadowy pine trees back to my cabin.
I threw on some jeans and boots and went to the stables. Denied. The cowgirl said I was only allowed to ride Chubs on the beginners trail ride. I grunted something at her and marched to the ATV paddock. Denied. The cowboy there said that I had to have my host with me and couldn’t ride anywhere without him. I threw my hands up and practically sprinted to the shooting range. The two cowboys there flat out said that West had told them not to let me near.
What was with him? I mumbled all of the way to the Commissary cabin, grabbed a six-pack of beer and a pack of string cheese, and then continued plotting how to avoid West for the rest of my deteriorating vacation. I popped open a beer and my laptop on our deck, sitting in the sunlight as I pulled up the employee performance reports my dad’s secretary had e-mailed me.
My dad had taken pity on his poor daughter who’d lost her job and had been dumped by her fiancé in the same year. He hired me on as a contract worker to help rate the satisfaction of his employees at his accounting firm and then see where he needed to either hire more people or make some cutbacks.
I used the scale of one to five and had nearly made it through a quarter of the reports, when my excel spreadsheet suddenly disappeared as the screen of my computer was closed. I yanked my fingers off of the keyboard in just enough time and looked up, surprised that the sun was so low and that
the wind was getting a little chilly.
“What the…are youworking?” Caroline asked, looking tan and windblown as she sat back on the fire pit ledge and drank a beer.
“Evidently I’m not allowed to do anything else,” I sighed, holding my beer as I spread my arms out. “I’m on a beautiful ranch in Wyoming and I can’t ride a horse younger than 25 years, I can’t go near an ATV unsupervised, I can’t even go within touching distance of a gun, and apparently now all river activities are out, too. So yeah, I’m working.”
She sipped her beer as she looked off into the distance. “Sorry we just left you…”
“No,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes and leaning back in the chair. “I apparently activate the protective gene in all men and they suddenly feel like I can’t do anything at all. Did you hear that fucking river guide today?”
“He’s not known for being cordial,” Caroline sighed, nodding her head. “Rowdy said he’s confined to the river lodge.”
“Where is Rowdy?” I asked, drinking my beer and shivering as it grew colder.
“Right here!” he called, jumping up on the deck and smiling. He was in his jeans and boots again. “Ready?”
“Oh,” Caroline suddenly said, standing up. “We’re going to eat and then go to the barn dance. Come on, let’s get ready.”
Barn dance?
“Uh, no thanks,” I smirked, watching as Rowdy devoured Caroline with his eyes as she walked to the sliding glass door. I was not about to be the third wheel in that little sexual game.
“Come on!” she whined, opening the door. “There’s no campfire tonight and the barn dance is like, the big thing here!”
She disappeared inside and I turned and looked up at Rowdy.
“Barn dance?” I asked, raising my brow.
“Everyone goes to the barn dance,” he nodded, looking at my laptop. “What, are you working?”
“It’s gotta get done,” I sighed, finishing my beer. “Are y’all going to make it back here tonight?”
“Why, do you want the place to yourself so you can entertain Weston Hamilton?” Rowdy smiled, tipping his hat back.
“His full name is Weston Hamilton?” I asked with a laugh. It figured. A regal name to go with such an imperial man.
“Yeah, that’s his full name.”
I sucked in my breath as West hopped up on the porch and shuffled around the table, leaning on the edge of the fire pit with Rowdy. God, how did he always do that? And why did he make a plain white button down and old jeans look so damn good?
“Aren’t you getting cold?” he frowned, looking at the goose bumps on my arms.
If he only knew that he was the cause of those. I swallowed and didn’t say anything.
“Oh! You’re here,” Caroline said, walking out onto the deck in tight purple jeans, pointy black boots, and a sequined black sweater set. She looked down at me in the chair, then back at West. “Good, I wanted to talk to you. You need to watch your step and be very careful here, okay? I don’t really know what your intentions are, but she’s in a really good place…”
“Caroline!” I interrupted in a loud voice, standing up and grabbing her arm as I felt my face flush. I did not need to be further humiliated on a day like that. “Jesus, I’m a big girl, okay? Thank you for caring, but…nothing is going on…”
“And it better not!” she frowned, shooting West a look of death. He stood perfectly still and didn’t even bat an eye at her. Rowdy, however, looked a little uncomfortable as he walked over and took Caroline’s hand.
“Let’s go on,” he suggested.
“You watch yourself,” she demanded, pointing at West and looking back at me over her shoulder as Rowdy led her away.
Well, that had been weird. I sat down feeling very confused, but it quickly turned to intimidation as West sat across from me, handing me an opened beer. He opened one for himself, not taking his eyes off of me as he drank.
“What was that about?” I asked, sipping my beer. “Do you have a worse reputation around here than Rowdy does?”
He actually smiled at that, finally looking down and setting his beer on the table as he folded his hands. Shaking his head, he looked up at me with those blue eyes and I think I drooled out of the side of my mouth.
“Are youworking?” he frowned, looking briefly at my black laptop.
Now it was my turn to frown.
“What the hell else am I supposed to do? Someone has been telling everyone to deny me access to any and all activities.”
He swallowed his beer and leaned back in his chair. “It’s probably going to rain tonight so they cancelled the campfire and bumped up the barn dance a couple of days. Get dressed and we’ll go,” he commanded. Arrogant asshole.
“No,” I answered, opening my laptop back up. “I have work to do and I don’t feel like going to a stupid barn dance.” Mature. Real mature.
Suddenly he was out of his chair and standing next to mine, slowly closing the top to my computer as he peered down at me. Oh, I was ready. If he wanted a fight I’d give him one. I was fed up with being excluded fromeverything. I stood and put my hands on my hips.
“Do you think you can make me go or something?” I asked, sounding less confident than I’d wanted.
The corner of his mouth turned up as he slowly nodded. “I know I can.”
Ugh. If that bossy cowboy didn’t turn me on so much I would have kicked him to the curb. As it was, I found it hard to even think clearly around him. I squared my shoulders up to him. “My barn dance dress is at the cleaners,” I sarcastically said, shooting him a fake smile.
“You look fine just like that,” he sighed, folding his arms across his chest. “What’s your next lame excuse?”
An old Cowboys hat paired with a faded green shirt that had Cheyenne Mountain written in cracked white lettering and my oldest pair of Seven jeans…yeah, that about summed upbarn dance attire. I took a step closer to him to show that he didn’t scare me. “I don’t dance.”
“I doubt that,” he huffed, very sure of himself. “Next?”
“And…I-I don’t want to go anywhere withyou.”
“Aw, now that’s just a lie.” He grinned, taking a step that completely closed the distance between us. I had to lean my head back even further to keep eye contact. He held up his finger as he glared down at me. “This is your one Mulligan, Sweetheart. The next time you lie to me you’ll be reprimanded.”
“What is this, boarding school?” I asked, holding my arms out. Reprimanded?
“Did you go to boarding school?” he asked, looking curious.
I rolled my eyes at the subject change and replied, “So what if I did?”
He shook his head and kept grinning. “Just interested.”
“Sure you are,” I mumbled, taking a step back and feeling a little more at ease.
He folded his arms over his chest, as the frown returned, saying, “Now seriously, why is it so hard for you believe that someone else cares about you and who you are?”
“It’s not that…”
“Then go to the fucking dance with me,” he said loudly, stepping forward. I stepped back and ran into the rough exterior of the log cabin. He penned me in with a hand pressed against the wall on either side of my head, staring at me. Waiting. Oh, he wanted an answer. I finally figured that out after a long silence.
“Okay,” I softly complied, pressing my lips together as I thought of his kiss that morning. A barn dance sounded tortuous, but maybe with him it wouldn’t really be so bad.
“You really are so sweet,” he sighed, looking a little conflicted as he stared at me. He finally pushed off of the wall and backed up a few steps. “Let’s go.”
I guessed I wasn’t changing, then. I took my laptop and set it on the table inside the sliding door, then turned and followed him off of the deck. Clouds rolled in overhead as the air turned cooler. About halfway there he finally spoke.
“The next time you forget a sweater you’re getting reprimanded, too.”
�
��Anything else?” I asked with artificial sincerity.
I saw his mouth turn up slightly as we walked in the twilight. At least I amused him. We approached the Dining Cabin and I paused at the doors, rubbing my arms as the wind blew strands of hair across my face.
“You need to eat,” he frowned, holding the door and looking annoyed.
Sighing and realizing that I probably wouldn’t win this one, either, I slowly stepped inside and went for the sandwiches. I grabbed the chopped brisket and quickly grabbed a spot at the very end of one of the long tables, perching on the edge of the bench and feeling relieved that no one was really sitting down at that end.
“You don’t talk much, you’re sweet as can be, and you don’t really like people. See? I already know so much about you,” he said, shaking his head as he sat across from me and placed his cowboy hat on the bench next to him. What was it about his messy hair that was such a turn on? I felt my cheeks flush as I quickly looked down at my food.
“I like people,” I argued, taking a bite and wiping my face.
His mouth turned up at the corner and my skin prickled. I concentrated super hard on that sandwich.
“But you hate eating family style in here and when you do, you sit alone at the end of the table,” he retorted, eating his sliced brisket.
“I like people fine I just don’t like…crowds,” I said, taking another bite. The truth was that I felt so uncomfortable in confined spaces with a lot of people that I sometimes got short of breath or nauseated. This was a new thing, by the way, starting around the time that Dan decided we couldn’t get married. I couldn’t explain it.
“Hey, it’s alright,” West kindly said, turning his head to the side and looking at me with concern. “I just like getting to know you better by making these little discoveries on my own.”
“Well what about you?” I asked, frowning down at my plate. “I haven’t discovered anything about you except that you don’t like the guest you’re hosting to have any fun.”
He actually laughed at that, and then shook his head as he stood and put his hat back on.
