“The hard charger returns,” Stan announced drawing Avery’s attention. But the tall, dark cowboy’s eyes flared as he caught sight of me seated next to Stan. He approached Stan but never took his eyes off of me.
“Nice to see you too, old man,” Avery told Stan as his eyes locked with mine. I tried to look away but I found myself mesmerized, sure I was blushing like a schoolgirl. Stan got to his feet and Avery finally averted his stare to regard Stan. They shook hands as Avery’s eyes wandered my way again. “Who’s the filly?” he asked.
Earl stood and shook Avery’s hand, “This is Brenda. She’s come to us from Seattle to run the office and the kitchen.” Avery turned to face me as I stood from my chair. He took my hand in his strong, calloused hand and lifted it towards his face.
“Is that so? Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Avery told me and then kissed my hand. I felt weak in the knees and out of sorts suddenly. I admit, Avery was pretty.
“My pleasure,” I said as I felt a warm tingle in my core. The things that went through my head as he held my hand. The deliciously naughty thoughts I had as he flashed his amazing smile at me. Whew!
“Yes, yes it will be,” he told me and then winked at me. I pulled my hand away suddenly seeing Avery in a new light. He smirked as his hand stroked my cheek and his eyes looked me over greedily. “Come find me if you’d like some one-on-one riding lessons,” he told me. Part of me was shocked at the implication, repulsed by his brashness. Another part, however, was contemplating, against my will I might add, the specifics of his obscene offer.
Avery smiled at me and then turned to walk away. I felt hot, with both anger and something else. I clenched my fists but Stan interrupted my thoughts of telling Avery off right then and there. “Don’t mind the young charger. He’s a bit wild and untamed but he’s more bark than bite. Don’t judge him too harshly,” Stan told me. I turned my attention to Stan realizing I was staring at Avery’s amazing butt as Avery told the men about his new nephew.
“I’m fine. I can handle guys like him,” I said but it was a big lie. I’d never really met a man like him before and I’d certainly never “handled” one. Oh my, couldn’t I have used a different term? I banished the image my mind had involuntarily conjured up. It wasn’t that I’d never been with a man, I had, but none of them was anything like Avery. I’m not sure there was a man like Avery within a hundred miles of Seattle.
“Earl, where do you keep the truck keys?” I asked as I averted my attention with some difficulty. Earl looked at me funny.
“In the ignition,” he answered as if keeping them anywhere else would be foolish.
“Don’t you worry about somebody stealing them?” I asked and immediately saw the flaw in my logic. “No, I suppose you don’t,” I told him. The corner of Earl’s mouth curled up and he almost smiled.
“Going to bed?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m tired. I want to get up early and go to McHenry,” I told him. I really wanted to get away from Avery. He had me flustered. I was aroused yet angry at his torrid suggestion. God, I hated feeling like this. I made a living being in control. I was the girl that got stuff done, that was always a step ahead of things. Well, I used to be anyway. Now Avery made me feel like I’d been feeling for three years. Out of control.
“Nite,” Earl told me. As I went, Stan was the only other man that paid me any attention with something other than his eyes.
“Evening, ma’am,” Stan said as I left and I nodded and smiled. Then Avery peeled away from the crowd and stood in my way. Great!
“Yes?” I asked dismissively.
“I was wondering if you could add something to that list for me,” he said. I softened my stance a little and pulled the list out of the pocket in my jacket. I was about to ask Earl for his pen but Avery’s words stopped me. “Strawberries, champagne and some candles,” he said.
“You know, you’re an ass!” I said and walked around him. Avery and some of the men laughed. I slammed the door to the mess hall behind me and walked directly to my little house. It was almost dark and I made no attempt to avoid the dung, stepping right in a ripe pile. “Damn it!” I cursed as I tried to shake the gooey mess from my shoe. It didn’t work.
I left my shoes on the stoop in front of my living quarters and slammed my door as I entered. Suddenly, the whole day and the situation I was in hit me. I felt trapped, the only woman among a bunch of men who were more like boys for the most part. I was alone and in the middle of nowhere. I tugged my yoga pants off and as I began to fold them, I threw them instead, sat on the bed and began to cry. I wished I'd never come to Wyoming.
>>O<<
The next morning I left for McHenry while it was still dark. I finally slept after my little breakdown but even then, it was only eight o’clock. I woke up at two in the morning and after lying in bed for an hour debating my options, I finally came to the conclusion I was trapped. I had nothing left and nowhere to go. Once I’d accepted that reality again, for like the tenth time since I made the decision to come to Wyoming, I felt a little better.
I knew I had to get out of here but I needed money to do it. I could only make money by staying and working hard. Avery aside, the men here and the ranch in general needed a woman’s touch. I kind of felt bad for them being stuck out here all alone with no family. I decided I would do my best while I was here to take care of them. I mean, that’s what I did. I made order out of chaos. I fixed things. I took control.
Avery, on the other hand, had managed to get under my skin in a matter of only a few minutes. It wasn’t just his cocky attitude, unfortunately, that had gotten to me. Damn it, why did he have to be so good-looking? He was probably the most attractive man I’d ever seen in person. He didn’t fit in with the rest of the men but then again, he seemed to fit in perfectly. He was like a cowboy made up by some Hollywood screenwriter, rugged yet handsome, cocky yet charismatic, the kind of man you loved to hate or maybe hated to love.
Why did he make me feel so confused and discombobulated? I dismissed the man from my mind, or at least my immediate thoughts, as I went about tidying up and getting ready to leave. By four-thirty, I was ready to go and went out to find a truck to take me to town. I stepped more carefully this time as I walked across the dirt lot towards the pickups. I didn’t want to have to clean my shoe again. That was unpleasant to say the least.
Next to the old pickup I’d traveled to the ranch in with Earl was an even older pickup but this one looked shiny and new. It was red and very pretty. I opened the door and sure enough, the keys were in the ignition. I slid into the cab, fired it up and felt the powerful rumble of the engine as it came to life. This truck beat the hell out of that dirty old truck Earl drove. I put the oddly pretty pickup in gear and took off towards McHenry.
The sun rose to my left as I traveled south on the long gravel road and I was amazed at the stark beauty of the landscape as the light crept across it. This place wasn’t anything like home where you could barely see ten feet through the trees and the skies were cloudy more often than they weren’t. The emptiness of the land had a certain beauty but as funny as it seemed, I felt a strange sense of claustrophobia with the sky extending from horizon to horizon.
After about thirty miles, I saw a herd of what I thought were deer at first. As I came upon the animals grazing off the side of the road, they bolted away. They were tan with a white breast and rump, white and black on their faces and the males had black horns. Antelope. I’d seen them before in books. They were pretty and extremely fast. They stopped, mere specks in the distance now, and watched me curiously as I drove past.
As I drove, I zoned out both from lack of sleep and the unchanging landscape. I found myself approaching McHenry before I knew it and I pulled onto the main street and immediately saw the general store. It wasn’t hard to find since the “downtown” consisted of only half a dozen buildings. It was barely seven o’clock when I parked in front of the old building. The building looked to be a hundred years old but well kept. Like a lot of buil
dings in town, it had an old fashioned false front and a wooden covered porch.
I got out of the pickup and walked up to the front door. The sign told me the place didn’t open until eight. Wonderful. Now what was I going to do? I pulled out my phone and found I had signal and even data. Now if I could only find a coffee house to waste some time in. Suddenly, however, the front door of the general store opened up and a young woman peeked out.
“Can I help you?” she asked. She was thin, wore black, thick-framed glasses and her dark hair was cut pixie style. She had tattoos on her arms and across her chest as well as many studs in her ears and one ring through the left side of her lower lip.
“Uh, I hope so. I’m Brenda. Earl from the Vermillion Ranch sent me to get some supplies,” I told her.
“Oh yeah, he said something about hiring a new office manager. I’m Deb,” the girl greeted me as she opened the door. Her lime green bra was barely covered by her yellow tank, one bra strap slipped down her arm. She wore tight jeans and flip-flops. Her fingernails were black but her toenails were painted blue and she had rings on at least half her toes. I thought she looked even more out of place than I did.
“Nice to meet you. Is there someplace I can go until you open?” I asked. Deb frowned.
“No! Come on in. Coffee’s on and I’ve got fresh cinnamon rolls in the oven,” she told me.
“Oh, all right. That’s sounds like heaven,” I replied. Deb smiled and reached out to take my hand and pull me inside. The store was packed to the rafters with just about anything you could imagine. Food, clothes, housewares, you name it. Deb pulled me to the counter in the back and offered me a seat on one of the stools as she went around back and put on an apron.
“Mocha latte OK?” she asked. I didn’t expect that out here.
“Are you serious? Yes, please,” I replied excitedly. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I’d moved to Seattle. Coffee was a part of life there.
“So, where you from?” Deb asked as she went to the honest to goodness espresso machine to make my coffee.
“Seattle. Portland originally. I haven’t had a good coffee since I left,” I told her. Deb looked up from her task and smiled.
“Crescent City here,” she said.
“California?” I asked.
“Yep,” she replied. Crescent City was just south of the border with Oregon and on the coast. It was just like the rest of the Pacific Northwest, foggy, cool and covered in trees.
“Small world,” I told her. Deb finished making my coffee along with another for herself and then leaned on the counter across from me. The cleavage below the tattoos across her chest was deep between her obviously fake and rather large breasts.
“I used to live at the coffee house back home. I had to buy one of these machines for the store. I was going nuts drinking the swill they call coffee around here,” she told me. Deb seemed nice. It was pleasant to talk to someone that actually talked back and I had something in common with.
“This is good,” I told Deb after tasting her brew. That was an understatement, however. “So, how did you end up here?” I asked and Deb looked at the counter. “Sorry, didn’t mean to pry,” I offered.
“No, it’s fine. I’m just never sure how people will react but you’ll probably find out eventually. I left home when I was seventeen and went to L.A. to get into acting. I got an acting job but not the kind of acting I thought,” she said. I didn’t understand and she must’ve seen it in my eyes. “I was a porn actress for a while. Well about eight years. I got into drugs and stuff. I woke up one day knew I didn’t want to do that anymore and moved about as far away from that life as I could,” she admitted.
“Wow! I’d never have guessed that. If I hadn’t got a scholarship to UW, who knows what I would have done to get away from home? My dad was never there and mom...well, my mom’s kind of a loser. She’s on welfare, food stamps, drinks way too much. I might have done the same thing, well, maybe not,” I said looking down at my body.
“Oh, you’d be surprised how many guys get off on curvy girls like you. A lot!” she told me and winked at me.
“Can you send a few my way?” I asked playfully. We both laughed.
“Thanks for not judging. So, how did you end up here in the sprawling metropolis of McHenry?” she asked. I told her my story. Getting laid off three years ago and struggling to find work ever since. I told her about losing out on the opportunity at Harper Fixtures and Lighting and how the head of Human Resources hooked me up with Earl. Then I admitted I might have made a mistake and informed Deb of my plans to work long enough to save some money and leave.
“I don’t blame you,” she said and then added, “It can get pretty boring here but I’ve had enough of big cities and the fast lane, you know. Boring is good sometimes, especially when you’re easily tempted.”
“Well, you’ve got it better than me. I’m stuck seventy miles from the middle of nowhere with a bunch of cowboys and one of them...,” I said and Deb began nodding.
“Avery?” she asked.
“Yeah, you know him?” I wondered but it seemed she did by the look on her face.
“He’s a cocky S.O.B. but he’s awfully pretty,” she told me.
“Yeah, he is. But he’s an ass,” I told her echoing the words I’d left him with the previous evening.
“Avery and the rest of the cowboys and ranch hands around here are like that. They spend too much time with other men. They’re all a little wild but they’re not bad once you get to know them...if you just expect them to act like a twelve year old,” Deb told me.
“Maybe. I don’t know,” I replied. Deb laughed softly.
“So, what do you need?” Deb asked changing the subject and thankfully so. I didn’t want to dwell on Avery. My mixed feelings for the man were confusing to me. Maybe it was the fact I found him so attractive that made his roguish behavior so infuriating. Maybe I should just stop thinking about him.
“I have a list I made,” I told her. That was part of my morning, distilling the men’s requests into a list of ingredients and adding to that all the stuff I thought I’d need for the office. I gave the list to Deb and she looked it over.
“I probably have most of this, the food anyway. You can order the rest from Amazon and have it shipped here,” Deb told me.
“They won’t deliver to the ranch?” I asked.
“Yeah, UPS delivers out there but then you won’t have an excuse to come into town and get coffee,” she told me.
“Good point,” I replied. I felt like I’d just made a friend. I had the feeling I’d need one. “What about the internet?” I asked.
“There’s a satellite provider that will install internet out there. That’s what I have. I’d use the cellular data but it’s pretty slow,” she informed me. Deb grabbed her coffee and walked around the counter. Deb and I went about filling my order and she made more coffee when we were done and served up some of her yummy cinnamon rolls. She had to attend to some customers now and then but I filled the list on my own as she did. It took nearly three hours to fill the order and then order the rest online, including a new laptop, router and printer for the office. I charged all of it to the ranch’s account.
“That’s a lot of money,” I said once Deb had added it all up.
“Yeah, but the ranch is good for it. Better yet, I know you’ll actually pay on time,” Deb said and I assumed that Earl, and maybe Juan before him, weren’t completely on top of things.
“I will, you can count on it,” I assured Deb. When we were finished, she made us deli sandwiches and served up some of her homemade potato salad.
“My God, this is so good,” I told her.
“Thanks! I found a little niche out here. I’m Wal-Mart, Starbucks and a diner all in one,” she said.
“So you get a lot of business?” I asked.
“Yeah, not all the ranches are so far off and I’m the only game in town,” she said. Then I remembered the other reason I was here.
“I almost forgot. I
need some clothes. I brought skirts and heels and stuff like this,” I told Deb indicating the same outfit I wore the night before. “I thought I’d be in a real office and things would be more...,” I told her but wasn’t sure what I expected.
“Civilized?” Deb offered.
“Yeah, I guess. Can you help?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ve got just the stuff for you,” she told me. Deb showed me jeans and blouses, boots and even hats. She assured me I’d want a hat with my complexion once summer came. I grabbed enough new clothes to get me through for a while including a western skirt and blouse set along with some fancy boots.
“I hope you take Visa,” I told her when we were done.
“Don’t worry about it. You can pay me when you get paid. Besides, the food and coffee is on me,” Deb assured me.
“I can’t,” I said but Deb frowned.
“You can and you will. It’s the least I can do after that order. Clancy has been ordering white bread and cheap tuna by the crate,” Deb said and I laughed.
“Yeah, I had that for dinner last night,” I told her and winced dramatically. Deb laughed and I joined her. “We’d better get the pickup loaded so I can head back and get to work. I’m not eating tuna fish again and something tells me the kitchen needs a good scrubbing,” I told her. Deb nodded knowingly. What women considered clean and what men did were two different things. I bet cowboys were even worse. We both gathered armfuls of stuff and headed to the truck.
“Avery let you borrow his truck?” Deb asked as we loaded the bed, a bit surprised.
“Huh?” I wondered.
“He didn’t, did he?” Deb said pursing her lips.
“This is Avery’s truck?” I asked. She nodded. “I was wondering why this one was so nice. Oh my God. He’s probably losing his mind,” I said. Deb smiled and then started laughing. I couldn’t help joining her. It was kind of funny.
“I wish I could go with you to see his reaction when you show up with the back of his baby loaded with groceries,” Deb told me through her laughter.
Big Girls & Bad Boys: 8 Scorching Hot BBW Alpha Male Romance Novellas Box Set Page 51
