by Vivian Arend
She took a long drink and waited for Vicki to spit out whatever else she was dying to ask. That she still had something on her mind was written all over her.
Sure enough. “You going out with Travis again?”
Ashley nodded. “He’s sexy and fun, and most of the time he gets my kinks, so that’s good.”
“You got a lot of them? Kinks, I mean.” Vicki wasn’t shy anymore, leaning her elbows on the table. “You’re not like anyone I know in Rocky.”
“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”
“Oh, trust me, it’s good,” Vicki assured her. “You don’t seem to have a lot of the small-town biases I’ve seen my entire life. Where did you grow up?”
“If you think it was the big bad city, you’ll be disappointed. I grew up in smaller towns than you. Well, usually outside small towns. We had a bit of a commune thing happening. Artists, growers. Back-to-the-earth folk. We traveled from one place to the next for most of my childhood.”
“Really? That’s kind of cool.”
Ashley shrugged. “I learned a lot about accepting all kinds of people. And the fact my dad is good friends with my mom and her girlfriend kind of sums up most of the sexual norms I grew up around.”
Vicki paused. “Your mom had a lover while your dad was around?”
“Actually, Mom and Tina have been together for years.” Ashley cleaned the rest of her plate before finishing her answer. “Mom wanted a kid, and Dad didn’t mind being a dad, and they all liked each other enough they figured they could deal with each other during the process. So—Dad stepped in and helped them out, and they had me. Over the years, all three of them chipped in to raise me best they could. It worked out okay.”
The other woman was shaking her head. “You’re right. Not at all like what I had growing up.”
“It was normal to me. I like that I’m okay with being with whoever—sex is fun, and if it feels good, I don’t see a reason to not. I mean,” she reassured Vicki again, “I don’t cross the lines in relationships, so don’t worry about me trying to seduce you or something.”
“Thanks for that.” Vicki tossed her a grin. “Your family sounds like fun.”
“Pretty much, except I wish they hadn’t bounced around so often. We were as bad as those military families you hear about. No home base—always on the move.”
“But Travis said you’re hoping to settle in Rocky?”
“God, yes, I want that so bad. Somewhere to unpack my things and not have to pack them up ever again if I don’t feel like it.”
“I hear you. Joel and I are going to stick around—once I’m done this cooking job for the summer.” Vicki gave a sheepish laugh. “It’s weird to think I tried so hard to get away from Rocky, and now that I’m gone, all I do is wish I were back.”
“It’s because you’ve got Joel,” Ashley pointed out. “He’s the one who makes it home, right?”
Vicki nodded.
Ashley rose to her feet and gathered her dirty dishes. “Thanks for the late lunch. Can I help with anything?”
Vicki shook her head. “Got everything ready for dinner. What about you?”
“This afternoon I’m breaking out the paints and doing some actual art.”
“Sounds exciting, if you know how to draw a straight line, which I don’t.” Vicki winked. “Have fun. If you get distracted again, I’ll save you some supper.”
“Thanks.”
The younger woman paused in the middle of stirring something in the massive pot, offering a smile. “I hope you do find a place in Rocky. I’d like to get to know you better.”
The rush of happiness that struck nearly made Ashley giddy. “I’d like that as well.”
Out of consideration, she gave Vicki a smile instead of a hug then slipped back outside. Her projects called, but there was a hint of something warm inside. A tiny feeling of putting down roots.
It felt pretty damn good.
Cassidy stepped into the shadows by the cookhouse as Ashley passed, her face shining with happiness. He didn’t usually eavesdrop, even though he seemed to be doing a lot of it lately. But once the girls had begun talking he’d remained frozen in one spot, unable to walk away.
Their conversation explained a lot, from Vicki’s earlier reaction to some of the questions Cassidy had about Ashley.
Explained more about Travis’s torturous offers.
Since they’d gotten back from the embarrassing overnight at Second Camp, Cassidy had done everything he could to avoid the other man. He’d done all the paperwork possible, but mostly spent way more time caring for the horses than was needed.
The camp was slowly taking shape around them. Travis had turned out to be a good overseer. Cassidy had to admit Travis’s work ethic was one of the best he’d seen. His push to get the job done motivated the younger hands, and yet the whole group seemed to be having fun.
The enjoyment of working in the beautiful mountain setting was made that much better by things going well, if not for the frustration that rode Cassidy.
The desire and the need he felt would kick him in the guts at the strangest moments. Coming across Travis pulling bales, biceps fully flexed as he manhandled the weight to the ground. Rounding a corner and discovering Ashley with her face turned to the sunshine, body looking all soft and warm as she relaxed on a pile of building supplies.
And that was the hell of it. One side or the other, he was tempted. He was getting damn tired of jacking off in the shower.
But if that was what he had to do the entire goddamn summer, then he’d do it. Travis thought he was stubborn? Cassidy could be just as pig-headed.
He had reason to hold out.
After the crew knocked off for the day and headed to the cookhouse for dinner, Cassidy once again found his feet leading him to the shower house for a little relief.
He draped his towel on one of the wall hooks and cranked on a jet of water, stepping under the stream before it had a chance to warm. The rush of ice on his skin jolted his heart and picked up his breathing, but a cold shower wasn’t going to be enough. Not today. Cassidy lathered his hands and stroked his torso as steam began to rise.
He’d barely wrapped a hand around his cock when the door opened, a creak of hinges warning he wasn’t alone anymore. He muffled his curses and faced the wall, reluctant to stop even now.
A loud crash rang out followed by a not very quiet feminine voice. “Fucking hell. Ouch.”
Drat. “Ashley?”
“Oops, sorry. Didn’t know you were in here.”
Cassidy resisted banging his head on the wall in frustration. That was it—he was moving finish the ladies’ shower house up the list to the next day’s chores. “Maybe you can come back after dinner for your shower.”
Another crash. “Shit. Damn toes. Well, Cassidy, I would, but that might be awkward. I won’t be long, never mind me.”
A bucket rolled past the open door of his shower enclosure followed by more curses, and Cassidy couldn’t stand it anymore. “Ashley, what are you doing?”
He stuck his head around the corner and froze.
Ashley was completely naked. She was also covered from head to toe with all the colours of the rainbow. A thin layer of paint turned her body into a canvas, every curve fully defined in living Technicolor. “Holy shit.”
She glanced up as she toed off her sandals. “See, I can’t wait.”
Cassidy should have looked away, but he couldn’t. Not only were the colours mesmerizing, her body had him trapped.
Full, high breasts, curving waist. Her hair poofed from the top of her head like some seventies disco diva, probably knotted up there in an attempt to keep the long blonde strands clean. She hadn’t succeeded—the hanging tail ends of her ponytail were frosted blue and gold.
All of her made his mouth water, and the hard-on he’d been about to deal with simply got harder. “Jeez.”
She glanced down at herself. “Fun, hey?”
He pretended they weren’t holding this conversation while
naked, him halfway hidden around the corner to keep his fully erect cock out of sight. “You look as if you were rolling in paint.”
A full grin burst out. “I was. I dropped canvas in the backfield, then did a few rolls over the fabric. That’s the first step for this project. I have to go back out once I’m clean to hang it to dry, then—”
“You need to wash that off,” he interrupted, because standing and talking while she was naked— God.
“Right.” She winked then vanished into the first open stall. Cassidy gasped in a couple breaths to stop the spinning in his brain.
He must have done something truly shitty to be tormented like this—he had no idea what, but he’d get down on his knees and say a thousand apologies to whatever gods necessary to make the punishment stop.
Another curse. “Fuck. Cassidy, can you come turn on the water for me? Stupid tap is too tight, and my fingers are slippery with paint.”
The gods of karma tossed his apology back in his face.
What could he do? “Sure. Just…one minute.”
He wrapped his towel around his waist and knotted it tight. For all the good it did as a barrier between them—didn’t hide his dick or how turned on he was one bit.
She stepped aside as he leaned past her. The tap took a definite hard touch to get it started, and he was doused in cold water before he could step back. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” She ignored him and stepped under the spray. Eyes closed, she tilted her head and let the water pour down her torso.
He was a bastard, but he didn’t leave. Not for a moment. He had to stay for long enough to watch her slide her hands over her curves, blues and reds mixing together and turning the swirling water at her feet purple.
She twisted, reaching around her torso and scrubbing her shoulder blades and back the best she could. Cassidy stared at the line of paint that remained between her shoulders, extending down her back where she couldn’t reach.
Maybe the shower nozzle would scrub it from her skin. Maybe she’d use a towel.
Maybe he should put his feet to good use and run as fast as he could before he stepped back into her personal space and proceeded to clean every inch of her body with his hands and fingers then followed up all over again with his tongue.
Ashley ignored him as she twisted her long, sleek back and curvy ass toward him. He clutched the edge of the shower stall to keep vertical as she bent to scrub her calves and feet.
Dammit, he was going to hell for what he wanted to do. For watching the trickle of brilliant orange paint shimmer over her ass cheeks and between them.
He stumbled back to his shower, grabbed hold of the showerhead and flipped the temperature down as low as possible.
The fact he still had a towel around his waist only registered when the thing got soaked enough to fall to the ground. His cock sprang free, barely affected by the shockingly cold water pouring over him.
“Cassidy? Can I get your help again for a minute?”
He breathed out slowly and hoped his vocal cords would work. “What?”
“I should have thought about this sooner, but…”
She was outside his stall. His head snapped up, and he stared at the wall intently, as if keeping his backside toward her would hide anything.
“I can’t reach my back. Can you wash it for me?”
He was a grown man. A naked woman wanted him to wash her back? Surely he had the balls to handle that without giving in to the urge to press her to the wall and drive his cock into her body.
She picked up the towel from the ground and thrust her hand past his waist. “Use this. I’ll find you a dry one. Please?”
It was the only answer he could give her. “Sure.”
He stepped aside and she paced forward, shrieking to a stop as the cold water hit her skin.
“You trying to save on the heating bill?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Sure—cold, not modesty got her to cover herself. That’s when he noticed her gaze had dropped. “How can you have a hard-on with the water like ice?” she asked.
He was going to die. “Turn around,” he ordered gruffly.
He twisted the temperature gauge, grabbed the soap and put the towel to her skin. He could be done in under a minute.
She rocked on her feet. “You’re going to push me over,” she complained before grabbing the top of the stall, bracing her legs open. “There. Do your worst.”
Naked.
Spread-eagle in his shower.
So close his hip grazed hers as he tried to soften his touch and still scrub the paint off.
While he worked, his brain went in dangerous directions. Went instead to wrapping one arm around her torso, fingers sliding up to clasp a breast in his hand. The other hand trailing between her ass cheeks and delving between her thighs to cup her pussy. He could drag a fingertip through her soft folds and make sure she was clean there as well.
Paint.
Scrub. Off. Paint.
Cassidy damn near held his breath until there were spots floating in front of his eyes, but he got her back clean without succumbing to temptation.
“Done.” The word rasped over vocal cords gone tight.
She let go of the wall and twisted, naked breasts with taut nipples skimming the back of his knuckles where he clutched the towel in both hands. “Thanks, Cassidy.”
She leaned in and kissed him—quick, like a rush of wind—then stepped away, ass cheeks swaying as he leaned out the stall door and watched her go.
A happy hum rose as she picked up her towel and rubbed herself dry, and he rocked back on his heels. His shoulders slammed into the shower stall as he reeled from the overdose of lust roaring through him.
When he’d spotted Travis’s name in the email, he’d known he was in for a rough ride. No way had he imagined that he’d be just as tortured by an artsy blonde who didn’t seem to have any sexual boundaries.
He wasn’t sure he’d survive the summer.
Chapter Ten
For days Travis had ignored his building need, though the irritable sensation kept him on edge. Pretending it wasn’t there seemed his only option until it morphed into a constant rub against his nerve endings.
“Get off the railing,” he snapped at Ashley when she accidentally leaned on the post he was trying to attach more firmly. “Go take pictures somewhere else. You need to be underfoot the entire fucking time? I can’t wipe my ass without you there.”
She stood and adjusted her camera bag over her shoulder, chin rising. “That’s it. That’s the third time you’ve been a jerk in the last fifteen minutes, so fuck you. When Vicki gets back, I’ll tell her to order you some prune juice to help get that stick out of your ass.”
She gave him the finger, which made him laugh until he realized she had listened to his bitching and was walking away. The soft sound of her singing vanished as she disappeared behind the cookhouse, no doubt headed to her van to turn some of the photos she’d taken of him into twisted freak-show monsters.
He clutched his hammer harder and fought the urge to hurl it into the distance.
The past twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind as the first set of customers arrived for their May long-weekend excursion. Travis had worked with the crew to greet the party of ten. The hands stowed gear into saddlebags as each camper got paired with a horse before finally heading up the hill to get established at Second Camp. Ted and Vicki were already there preparing a “cowpoke lunch”.
The season had officially begun.
Travis had elected to stay behind. There was enough work to do at Base Camp, and there was no reason to babysit James and Dani. Ashley said she needed electricity to work on some projects, so she wasn’t interested in accompanying the first group.
And Cassidy…
Travis stared across the paddock at the man currying down the couple horses left behind. Like him, Cassidy had offered confidence in the guides’ abilities and insisted he was needed at base.
Indecision rocked Travis. Did he
ask? If he asked, what did he say?
For the two weeks since he and Ashley had arrived, there’d been nothing but tension between him and Cassidy—a lot of it caused by Travis’s own stupidity. Even with all the teasing on his part, Cassidy had remained steadfastly silent.
Maybe Ashley saw something different, but as far as Travis was concerned, Cassidy thought he was trouble and nothing more.
Trouble or not, Travis needed help.
He laid the tools in the shed and calmed himself best he could. He’d ask it simple-like. Straight up. Find out what Cassidy thought would help. He’d avoid begging or pushing for anything but help with his one urgent, and getting more urgent, need.
It took a bit of time to gather his courage—and how fucked up was that considering he used to step into the boxing ring with little thought for anything but meeting the pain? Finally ready, he headed to the barn.
Cassidy walked out the door the moment Travis stepped in, and they collided, Cassidy clutching his shoulders to stay balanced.
A wave of something other than desire for pain broke in momentarily, and Travis fisted the front of Cassidy’s shirt.
“Travis, what the—?”
Like a wild beast, Travis moved. He pressed Cassidy to the wall and took his lips. Aggressive and hot. Rough and dirty. Thrust his tongue into Cassidy’s mouth as he pulsed his hips forward and ground their groins together.
For one second Cassidy had his hands on Travis’s shoulders. For one second it felt as if Cassidy held him tight, groaning in pleasure through the wildness of the assault.
Then he smashed his hands against Travis’s chest and shoved him away.
“Goddamn it, no.” Cassidy shouted the words, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.
Travis reeled, dragging a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I didn’t mean—I’m sorry. I wanted to ask you—”
“No.” Another shout. Cassidy lifted his fists. “Keep. Away. From me. You got it? I don’t want you, and I don’t want this.”
He stormed from the barn, slamming the door behind him.
