“Thanks. I thought she was angry but I didn’t realize she might be scared too.”
“You’re welcome.”
When they arrived in Wheaton Gavin pulled up in front of the ‘general store’ on the main street and turned off the truck. “Do we need to pick something up?” Lillian said.
“Not really. But there’s someone I think you should meet.”
Lillian turned around in her seat and waved at Wendy until she lowered her headphones. “We’re going into the store. Do you want to come?”
Wendy shook her head and disappeared back into the music.
The store was cramped but very tidy. A woman with familiar brown hair and brown eyes was working behind the counter and she smiled at them when they came in. “Gavin! I didn’t expect to see you in town today.”
“I just thought I would swing by on my way out to the ranch.”
“Good, because your father went for lunch with Henry and is late getting back and I need a box from the backroom.”
“I can grab that, what did you need?”
“Granola bars. Oh, and grab me a few flats of cans so I can restock the cooler while I’m at it.”
“Sure thing Mom. You know, you have to stop letting Dad take these long lunches.”
He disappeared between the aisles and left Lillian standing awkwardly at the front of the store.
“I swear I raised him with manners,” the woman said. “I’m Courtney Asher, Gavin’s mom.”
“I’m Lillian Jones, my daughter Wendy is in the truck.”
“Just a head’s up, Lillian, every eligible woman in three counties applied for your job and none of them are happy that they missed the chance to live in the same house as one of the wealthiest, unmarried ranchers in Wheaton. “
“So expect a lot of dirty looks?”
“And expect the rumour mill to run amok.” She hesitated and then added. “There was also some upset over Gavin inheriting the farm so don’t expect anyone else in the family to be too friendly either.”
“Why didn’t his dad inherit the farm.”
“Oh, Andrew was my father, not my father-in-law. I only have sisters so when my husband and I got married I kept my last name. Not very traditional but it meant that the Asher name didn’t die out in these parts. It meant a lot to my father.”
“I see. Well, thanks for the warnings.”
“I hope I’m overreacting.”
Gavin came out with two flats of pop and two square cardboard boxes. The load made his arms bulge in a way that had Lillian trying not to stare. “Is this enough?” he said.
“Yes, you can stop showing off and get these ladies home. I expect they’ll be anxious to unpack. And why don’t the three of you come by for dinner tonight? A break before you have to start slaving away for this oaf.”
Gavin rolled his eyes but said, “It’s up to you, Lillian.”
“You already drove all the way to the city to pick us up, you don’t really need to make another trip …”
Courtney laughed. “No, we live in the guest house on the ranch, it’s just a short walk from the main house. I insist you come by tonight. It will give you some time to get comfortable with the house and the ranch.”
Lillian smiled. “All right then, we’ll come.”
“I’ll see you later Mom.”
“Did you know she’d do that?” Lillian asked as they climbed back into the truck.
“I should have known,” Gavin said. “My mom’s just like that. She likes to feed people. I’m surprised my dad’s not fat yet.”
“She seems very nice.”
“One of the few truly nice people I know,” he said. “And she’s right. Let’s get you two settled in.”
Wendy had a hard time hiding her admiration for the Asher Ranch. There were several other buildings around the yard, barns, a shop, a small house-like building closer to the road, and a few sheds. The house itself wasn’t very tall, just the single story, but it sprawled larger than any house she’d ever seen, and the decks made it look even bigger.
All the fine woodworking details and paintings that had caught Lillian’s eye at the interview caught Wendy’s as well and she found she was lagging behind as Gavin led them through the house and down the back stairs.
“This is your space,” he said. “I almost never entertain so I never use the television down here. There’s two rooms, and the bathroom, I’ll let you decide who sleeps where. Supper will be around seven, if that’s okay?”
“Sure, not a problem. It’ll take us a few days to unpack anyways. Thanks.”
They smiled at each other and Wendy rolled her eyes. While her mom stood and flirted with the boss she went to look behind each of the doors. The first bedroom was all in pinks with flowered wall paper. Wendy made a face and shut the door again. The other bedroom was in yellow. Still not great but at least it doesn’t have flowers all over the walls. She set her box on the bed, a silent claim, and continued her exploring.
The bathroom was larger than the one at the apartment but not ridiculously large like the ones she saw on TV sometimes. Another door revealed a laundry room and another revealed a storage room. She heard someone retreating up the stairs so she rejoined her mother.
“Are you done flirting with him?” Wendy said.
“I wasn’t flirting, I was being nice. He’s my boss, it wouldn’t be professional for me to flirt with him.” Lillian glanced at the stairs again.
“Yeah, okay. I don’t want a new dad.”
“Wendy!”
“Okay, okay.”
“Did you pick a room already?”
Wendy nodded. “I guess he’s bringing all the boxes down.”
“Yes, and you should say thank you. He’s really gone out of his way to get us settled in here, and to make this easy for us.”
“Yeah, he’s a real hero.”
“Wendy.”
She heard the warning in her mom’s voice and sighed. “I’ll be good. Do you think he’ll let me paint the bedroom?”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask but I’m making no promises.”
“Cool. I’m going to hide until supper.”
“As long as you’re unpacking and not just lying on the bed for two hours with your headphones on.”
Wendy grinned at her mom. “I have more space than stuff now, unpacking shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Do you like the house?”
“Yeah. But I still don't want to be here.” She stepped into the yellow bedroom and closed the door.
Chapter 5
The guest house was still larger than Lillian’s apartment had been but Courtney and James were so warm and welcoming that Lillian soon felt right at home. Somehow Courtney had convinced Wendy to take her headphones off and help in the kitchen and when dessert was set on the table Wendy beamed. On the walk back to the ranch house Wendy couldn’t stop talking about all the compliments she’d received and how good the cake had tasted and how easy it was to make.
Lillian tried to listen but she was distracted by the starlight and Gavin walking quietly beside her. This was the closest thing to a date she’d been on since she’d broken up with Wendy’s father eleven years earlier. She’d never even met his parents.
Once inside Wendy went straight downstairs to work on unpacking. Lillian watched her go and then smiled at Gavin. “That was really nice.”
“Yeah, my mom knows how to cook.”
They smiled at each other for a long moment. “Uh, what time did you want breakfast in the morning?” she said.
“Oh, I usually get in from chores around 10:30. It’ll take us a few days to get the hang of this I guess.”
She nodded. He took a step closer to her and almost reached for her hand.
“Lillian, I wanted to thank you for taking this job.”
“Thank me? I should be thanking you. I get to spend the summer with my daughter!”
“And I don’t have to deal with women banging on my door all day with casseroles and cakes.”
“Why was that so bad?”
“Because they all wanted to marry me and I wasn’t interested in even having them in the house as staff.”
“So why did you hire me?”
“Because you were easy to talk to and sounded like you could actually do this job without complaining too much.”
She took a step closer to him. “So I’m allowed to complain a little bit?”
Before he could answer Wendy appeared at the top of the stairs. “Hey Mom! He has cable! Can I watch a movie?”
Lillian blushed, lowered her eyes, and turned away from Gavin. “What’s playing and how long is it? It might be summer vacation but you’re not staying up all night.”
“Aw Mom, come on!”
Lillian disappeared down the hallway and all Gavin could do was stare after her.
Gavin was sitting in his office later that night dealing with the ranch accounts. Adding Lillian’s cellphone and wages had been easy enough but he still went through and double checked all the numbers. And then he triple checked them just to keep his mind busy, because when his mind wandered off on its own it wandered straight to Lillian.
He wasn’t sure that she was beautiful, but she was captivating. Her easy laugh warmed him and relaxed him. He’d found himself staring at her several times during dinner and he hoped she hadn’t noticed. He knew it was wrong because he was her boss now but he was happy she was here, in his house, where he could get to know her and spend time with her.
You want to court her, a voice in his head said. You want to like her, and love her, and sleep with her.
He shook his head, trying to clear the thought, but it had become more persistent over the week while he waited for her to move in. And now, try as he might, he could not get rid of the idea that she could be more than just his house keeper and his body was reacting on its own.
He was used to taking care of his own relief, he hadn’t had a steady girlfriend in almost eight years. Girls were too much trouble and he was just too busy helping his grandfather with the ranch. He was even busier now.
He closed the accounting program and opened his browser, selecting a porn site from his list of regular sites. He flipped through some pictures and watched the start of a few videos but nothing was appealing to him. He sat back and sighed when the mental image of Lillian sprawled on his bed popped into his mind. He was suddenly very hard.
He undid the front of his jeans and took his cock in hand. It wasn’t hard to imagine her firm body naked and soon he was imagining her touching herself, and touching him.
With quick, firm, strokes he pulled and tugged aggressively at his cock until he was groaning. Getting this far was easy, but getting off had become more of a challenge lately. As if responding to the challenge his mental image of Lillian and his fantasy of them together got more graphic. Touching turned to kissing and soon he could clearly see himself in bed with her, spreading her legs wide.
That was enough to push him over the edge and with a grunt he erupted. He was taken by surprise by the suddenness of his climax and wasn’t ready for it so instead of having a handful of tissues ready he was left with a mess to clean up and a burning sense of guilt.
Never again. She’s my housekeeper, it’s not right for me to use her for my own relief, even if it was all in my head. It’s disrespectful.
The first few weeks passed in a blur for Lillian. The house was laid out well and she knew what was behind every door in no time, the light switches were taking longer. There was a lot of give and take in Gavin’s schedule that resulted in a few cold meals and a few late meals but he just laughed each one off and ate whatever she put in front of him.
He had been right, their conversations came easily and often times Wendy would walk in to catch them laughing together as he helped her prepare dinner or as they sat talking over coffee. His chores did keep him out of the house most of the day and her chores kept her busy but Wendy seemed only to come out of her room at those exact moments and it made her angrier.
One day Lillian came downstairs and banged on Wendy’s door. “Hey, come on. You can’t spend your whole summer in that room. We’ve got shopping to do.”
“I don’t want to come.”
“I don’t want you living in your bedroom. Come on. It’ll get you away from the ranch for a while.” That got Wendy out and soon they were on their way.
Lillian was used to shopping on a very tight budget so this was a new experience for her. She could buy real brand name coffee and more than just ground beef and real, fresh, fruits and vegetables. She was busy trying to decide between a brick of cheese or a bag or pre-shredded cheese when Wendy tugged on her shirt.
“Hey Mom, I think that lady is staring at us.”
Lillian glanced up just as a young blonde woman looked the other way and then hurried down another aisle. Is every woman in this county a size-zero blonde? She looked down at her daughter. “It’s a small town, honey, everyone knows everyone and they don’t know us yet. They’ll probably stare a little until they get used to us being around, or until we’re introduced to them.”
“I don’t like it.”
Lillian looked at the place where the other woman had disappeared and frowned, Courtney’s warning suddenly fresh in her mind. Neither do I kiddo, not one bit.
Up until now Lillian had been very careful about how she thought about Gavin. He was her boss, and maybe he would become a friend, but that was it, there had to be a line there. Sure he was easy to talk to, and yeah, they’d had a lot of moments that had set Lillian’s heart pounding, but she had to stay on her side of the line.
And yet recently he had started appearing in her thoughts when she least expected it and she found herself wondering inappropriate things. Is he a good kisser? He’s a good, kind man; would he be a kind lover too? Does he know his jeans flatter his ass? No matter what she did the thoughts just kept coming.
Wendy was already in bed as Lillian came downstairs after finishing the dishes and pulling out a roast for the next day. She went straight to her room, shut the door, and locked it, something she had never done.
From the bottom of her underwear drawer she pulled out a vibrator. It got little use since she and Wendy had shared a room for years, but tonight she hoped it would ease the tension and put the inappropriate thoughts to rest.
She stripped and crawled into bed, lying on top of the light covers. Long years of living lean and waiting tables had erased all signs of child birth from her body. She had lightly muscled legs and arms and a flat stomach. She always felt her curves were lacking but some smart wardrobe choices made that less noticeable.
She ran her hand down her body, stopping to caress her breast. She took a deep breath to calm herself and tried to put her mind on the path of sexual thoughts.
She imagined someone lying beside her with his hands on her as she touched herself. She turned the vibrator on and pressed it between her legs. The purring noise made her nervous but it sent warm, tingly sensations through her entire body. She took another deep breath and shifted her hips.
Unbidden, the image of Gavin naked from the waist up popped into her mind. In her mind’s eye she saw herself with Gavin. They embraced, just a hug, but she imagined the feel of his muscles beneath her hands and the hug became something more, something intimate. He lifted her chin and kissed her. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, imagining what his lips would feel like. Was he a forceful lover? Or a gentle one? She imagined him running his hands over her and kissing her body.
She groaned. She was getting close to her orgasm now, she could feel it just beyond her reach so she urged her fantasy onwards.
She imagined Gavin coming down here and spreading her legs, touching her, maybe even kissing her, in that dark wet private place. She gasped and moved the vibrator, searching for the perfect spot.
She imagined him taking his cock and pressing it against her. As he pushed into her she felt her body reacting to the fantasy and suddenly she felt a jolt of intense pleasure wash o
ver her. She moved her hips as though she was thrusting back against him. Her orgasm peaked and she gasped. Suddenly holding the vibrator against her clit was just too intense and she dropped it before it made her scream out. She coasted on waves of pleasure and delight.
As the intensity faded she suddenly felt embarrassed. She grabbed the vibrator, shut it off, and took it back to her underwear drawer. I can’t do that again. What if I say or do something that reveals what I was fantasizing about?
After three weeks Gavin was more convinced than ever that hiring Lillian had been a good idea. His only regret was that no matter what he said or did Wendy wasn’t warming up to him at all. He had just lighted on a plan when Wendy and her mother returned from town with the groceries.
He joined them in the kitchen as they were unpacking the food and said, “I’ll be a little late coming in for supper tonight. One of the men had to head home early and I’ll have to groom all the horses by myself today.”
“I didn’t know you had horses too,” Wendy said. She set the tin of coffee on the counter and ignored it. “How many horses do you have?”
“Five. Did you want to come out to the barn and see them?”
He could see her thinking about it and then she glanced at her mom who nodded. “Okay, I’ll come see them.”
The horses were kept near the back of the first barn closest to the pasture gate. They were all brown with assorted patches of white or black making each one distinct. She held up her hand and the one with the white star on its forehead nuzzled her palm with its velvet nose.
“They’re beautiful.”
“They’re my favourite part of running a ranch. A lot of ranchers use ATVs now but I couldn’t sell these beauties. It’s hard to find the time to pay enough attention to them though, even with the extra hands.” He watched her for a moment before saying, “Did you want to learn to ride?”
“Really? I’ve never been on a horse before.”
Nanny for the Rancher Page 7
