Stony Creek Cowboy [Stony Creek] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Taylor Berke

  “God, I have got to control myself. I haven’t even gotten there and I am lusting over an imaginary muscled man. I wonder if any of the cowboys on the nearby ranches ever come in for physicals.” She laughed. Her thong had taken on a decidedly damp description as her thoughts drifted. It was one of her secret passions. She loved her lingerie. It gave her such a silent thrill to be wearing nothing more than scraps of lace under either her dress clothes or scrubs. She had quite the collection even before Matthew had passed. He really didn’t care one way or another. Sadly. However, she had. Since then, she definitely had shopped out of control. Just a bit.

  “Well, perhaps this new imaginary man will appreciate my taste.” She giggled.

  As Billie drove down the long, winding drive that led to her new house, she couldn’t help but feel excited. The house that came into view was exactly as she had dreamed. The contractor had followed the designs to the letter. It was enchanting. It was her own little hideaway. Sam waited on the front porch of the cottage with a smile.

  “Dr. Rothman, I presume,” he said with a sexy grin.

  “How do you do? I am so thrilled with how the house looks! You have some serious skills, sir.”

  “Let me help you out, Doc, and I can show you around your new home. The moving van was here yesterday, but if anything is not where you want it, I would be happy to rearrange it.”

  His smile was sincere and welcoming as the beautiful day. She could feel herself blushing. He was a tall man with sparkling eyes. Billie wondered if he was an anomaly or if there were more men from Stony Creek like this specimen.

  “Doc, I gotta tell you that you are nothing of what I expected.”

  Huh? What was he expecting? Insecurity ran its undercurrent through her as she wondered what it was he was thinking. “What is wrong?” she asked.

  “Nothing at all, Doc, but I think you are gonna have a whole new clientele once word gets around you are a miss and not a mister. You are gonna have lots of ‘visitors’ once they get a look at you.” Sam laughed.

  “I assure you that I am quite capable of handling the patients that come into my office, Sam. There is very little that scares me unless you grow them differently out here,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “Nope, Doc, you are gonna do just fine. It’s just, well, you are pretty and all. I am not sure it is what people were thinking when they heard a new doc was coming on in. Doc Finnagan is just old. Old and cranky. Your smile is gonna have them lining up around the block.”

  A slow blush crept up her neck as she smiled. “Why don’t we go in and you can dazzle me with your talents firsthand. I cannot wait to see the bathroom!”

  “After you, Doc.” He watched her walk past him and a wicked smirk formed on his face as he couldn’t wait to share his newfound information with the rest of the “crew.” He wondered what kind of havoc a woman like this was going to bring.

  Billie was blown away from the moment she entered her front hallway. It was warm and welcoming with dark-brown wainscoting on the walls and rough-cut stone on the floors. A charming chandelier aged to resemble an old English candelabra hung above. To the left was a huge living room with the soft chocolate leather couches she had sent over, but it was her oversized chair near the fireplace that made her smile. She needed her cozy chair. It had to come with her. The fireplace was beautiful with layers of stacked stone from floor to ceiling just waiting for its first fire. There was a nook for the stacked firewood outside the back door and beautiful picture windows lining the walls. The view was so breathtaking her chest hurt. She couldn’t wait for the first snowfall to sit gazing out that window with a cup of tea.

  She turned her gaze past the man with the perma-grin to her kitchen. It was a sight to behold. It was a cook’s dream with rich wood cabinets, six-burner gas stove, double oven, and sub zero. A sigh escaped her mouth even before she could help it.

  “So far so good, Doc?” Sam asked.

  “Heaven, I have gone to heaven, Sam, and I refuse to allow you to wake me up.” Billie laughed.

  “Upstairs we go, then!”

  The stairs were gorgeous with a carved banister and wainscoting up the wall. She was able to get a clear view of the open floor plan of the first floor and paused to appreciate the crown moldings from her vantage point. There were three bedrooms on the second floor. The two guest bedrooms were lovely with all the furniture placed perfectly as she had laid out in her drawings. It was the master bedroom that did her in. She had purchased a carved, dark English oak, king-size canopy bed. It stood in the center of the room amidst a gorgeous combination of caramel walls and white moldings. It gave her decidedly decadent thoughts.

  She held herself together until they hit the master bath. Tears flowed down her face unchecked. Happy or sad tears, she had no idea. It was her dream home and it was time to stop dreaming and now start living.

  “Doc? Are you okay?”

  “Yes, it’s just so much more than even I pictured it to be. I cannot thank you or Phillip enough. You have truly helped make me such an amazing home. Don’t mind the tears. They happen from time to time. A girl thing.”

  “When you get settled in, give me a call and I would love to bring my girlfriend Victoria over. She has been dying to meet you since she found out it was a woman physician we were building for and not another loudmouth, arrogant man, as she put it,” he said with a laugh.

  She would definitely like that. A few new friends to go with a new house and life. Sounded good. “If this is what the house looks like, I cannot imagine how my office turned out. I am excited to see it, too, but will wait until I get myself situated here.”

  As she walked him out, thanking him again, she remembered to ask, “How many neighbors do I have, Sam, by the way? Are there any close by?”

  “Yep, the Powell Ranch is just next door, so to speak. You are going to make quite an…impression”

  “Why is that?”

  “Like I said, Doc, look in the mirror.”

  Chapter Two

  After refusing Sam’s assistance with her luggage and things she didn’t trust to the movers, she turned to her SUV and stared at it with disdain. Could she imagine the suitcases up into the bedroom? It was then she noticed a small piece of shiny metal at the corner of the gutter by the first-floor roof. Finding a ladder left behind by the construction men, she maneuvered it to the edge of the roof. See, I have skills, she thought to herself. Only in Wyoming for a few hours and already I’m getting handier by the minute.

  Billie climbed the ladder to find that she was eight feet off the ground. Not afraid of heights, she tried to convince herself. As she reached up to inspect the shiny object, her foot gave way. She could hear her own screams pierce the quiet of the valley as she hung on for dear life.

  “Oh my god! Help!” So much for her newfound skills.

  * * * *

  Riding along the fence line in the south pasture, Jackson read a cryptic text from Sam.

  You have got to get a load of your new neighbor. I think you guys are going to be good friends. Very good friends. He is just your type.

  “What the hell? I think he has had one too many shots to the head with a two-by-four. He has just earned the beat down he is going to get as soon as I see that idiot.”

  Jackson’s curiosity was now piqued, though. Maybe he would ride over and introduce himself. It got really lonely out there and at least the guy could know he had nice neighbors nearby. As he got within sight of the new house, he saw a woman. Not just a woman but a gorgeous woman maneuvering a ladder against the roof. “What the hell is she doing?”

  Who cared really? She had to be five foot eight and all curves. From this vantage point, he had a healthy view of her posterior and he was appreciating the sight. She wore a light, filmy skirt that fluttered gently in the wind. Why the hell would she be climbing a ladder dressed like that and who the hell was she? Thick auburn hair teased to mid-back and perfect hips teased his senses as she carefully climbed up. He edged Lachlan forward just
as her foot slipped from the rung. Her scream carried on the wind and lunged him into action. She clung to the gutter with one hand as he got to her.

  Oh no, Billie thought as she lost her hold on the gutter and began to hurdle down into…arms? Where the heck did they come from? And who owned the hard chest that she was plastered up against that smelled so darned good? All the questions could be answered in the moment she caught her breath. However, the task of lifting her skirt off her savior’s face seemed like it ought to be first on the list.

  Billie’s heart was beating out of her chest, but now she was unsure of whether it was the fall itself or the handsome face staring amusingly down at her. Gorgeous green eyes smiled into her face and her breath caught again. Dear lord, he was delicious. He had tanned, strong features with a chiseled chin, and his mouth, wow, was there a medical description for the perfection of his lips? In the millisecond it took to observe her view, she began wondering what he could do with those lips. Kiss, I hope he can really kiss with a set like those.

  “Are you all right, ma’am? Did you hurt yourself?”

  She couldn’t bring herself to answer. Her mouth felt like it was watering. He had caught her in such a fashion that one hand was on her left butt cheek and the right, dear lord, was cupped around the side of her breast. Her hands were resting on strongly muscled biceps, and she couldn’t stop herself from gently squeezing her fingers, just to check if he were real. Perhaps she had hit her head and he was a hallucination? Her insides quivered as she processed that he was real, saved her life, and was holding her intimately. Somehow a potted plant to say thank you seemed inadequate, Billie thought, laughing silently to herself.

  “Ma’am? Should I call the doctor?”

  It was that comment that shook her out of her hormonal coma.

  “No, no. I am just fine. Thank you, thank you so much, Mister, um, Mister…”

  “Powell, Jackson Powell, ma’am, at your service.” He chuckled. It was at that moment he realized where his hands lay. With almost a painful intensity, his groin tightened as he felt himself rapidly harden. He gently tried to shift his hands, but it was no use. When was the last time he had such an instantaneous reaction to a woman? Well, he was holding one of the most perfect breasts and asses to his knowledge, but it was her breathless gaze that was drinking him in. He felt himself start to lean down to caress her lips with his when he got some control back.

  What the hell was he doing? He didn’t even know who she was.

  Her gentle laugh made his cock press against the zipper of his Wranglers with a painful intention. She wasn’t afraid. She didn’t look like the type of woman used to hard work, but instead, rather gentle in nature. She should have been the kind that would be shaken after a fall like that, but no. She just laughed. Intrigued, he had to ask, “Who are you, beautiful?”

  “Oh, please excuse me. Mr. Powell, I am Billie Rothman. Your new neighbor. It is a pleasure to meet you.” No kidding. If he didn’t move those hands soon, there was going to be a seriously pleasurable way she could think of to say “thank you” and “hello” all in one.

  Still having not adjusted his hold, Jackson tried to process that information. “I am sorry, but I thought our new neighbor was Bill.”

  With a smile, Billie answered, “It is. Billie, the girl version. Thank you for the offer of a doctor, but that’s me, too!” She said that with such enthusiasm it was hard for Jackson not to smile back. Unconsciously, he stroked his thumb over the nipple jutting through her top. At her shudder, it was her turn to catch her breath as an electric bolt went straight through her body, ending in her clit.

  Jackson’s heated gaze met hers again. Deep breaths, man, deep breaths. He walked Lachlan over to her porch and swung her body so he held her up against his strong chest. As he slid from the horse, he gave her a gentle smile.

  Her body was no longer her own. It couldn’t and wouldn’t stop reacting to this man.

  Once on two feet, Jackson said, “Here we are. You okay to stand, Billie?”

  Stand, why the hell would she want to ever stand on her own again? Nope, she wanted to stay right where was, if he was giving her the choice. However, somewhere she heard her voice say, “Yes, I think so.” She slid down the front of his body, feeling every muscle and bulge. Holy Hannah was there a bulge. They sure didn’t sell anything like that in New York, and in her profession, she should know.

  Stepping away from Jackson, she tried to get herself together.

  “Not the most dignified way of introducing myself but hardly regrettable,” Billie said as she smiled up at him.

  He felt his knees weaken. What the hell was wrong with him? He usually could control his lust, but this woman was different, definitely different.

  Maybe he had caught more than just his neighbor, because he knew she was going to be his.

  * * * *

  “Come on in, Jackson. I am just getting used to walking in myself.” She laughed. Her body, still heated from their contact, kept her aware of his presence. “So this is the inside. We watched the progress as Phillip and Sam built the place, but wow, this is incredible.” He walked over to the kitchen and looked around admiringly.

  “Do you cook, Jackson?”

  “Well, I hardly think my grilled cheese would do this space justice,” he said with a laugh. “My skills are severely limited, having what my brothers and I call bacheloritis. It is a serious disease affecting only the single males of a species.”

  “So there are more of you?” Good god. How do the women around here function? “How many?” she heard herself ask.

  “Well, there is my middle brother, Benny, and my younger brother, Troy. You’ll like them. They are always getting broken or hurt. They can pay your mortgage for months,” he joked. “Rugged Hill Ranch is also home to my Aunt Florence and cousins Brody and Cole.”

  “So you all live with your folks, then? It would explain your lack of cooking skills.”

  “Hell no, they all have trailers around the property, except Brody and me. We both have small houses on the ranch. Our lack of ability is just a god-given gift. Please say you aren’t one of those females who needs to prove that she can work like a man but has no need for other talents, like…”

  “Like?” she questioned back.

  Multiple salacious images quickly filtered through Jackson’s mind, most of which involved her naked, seeing the soft skin he briefly got to hold. His cock yet again hardened at his thoughts, and he turned and shifted as he answered, hoping she hadn’t noticed. He did want to be a gentleman, at first.

  “Cooking, Billie, you are leading me on with this kitchen here. What can you do in this kitchen? I did save you and all.”

  “Well, I guess I am going to have to lose my virginity then.”

  He quickly turned with fire in his eyes. “What did you say?”

  “My new kitchen. Steer me to the nearest market and let me cook you dinner. I would love the company and cannot think of a better way to spend my first evening here.”

  He rubbed his hand over his face as he fought to ignore his body’s needs. “What time?” he managed to gruffly ask.

  “Seven okay with you?”

  “Seven it is.” Jackson had a suspicion this was going to be a very interesting dinner.

  Chapter Three

  It had to be going without female companionship for too long. Yeah, that must be it, Jackson thought. On the ride back to the south pasture, he kept replaying the events of the last hour. The feel of her skin, the softness of her breast and the light, musky perfume Dr. Rothman wore. For the third time, he shifted in the saddle. His groin was hard and throbbing. It made for a difficult ride. He wanted another type of ride. His thoughts spiraled out of control with images of her riding him, sweaty thighs rubbing his hips, her head thrown back, eyes closed and uneven breathing… Enough. Jackson started counting the white pine trees, number of cows with white spots, and even the small wild thicket that grew along the paths. He would do anything to stop thinking of his new
gorgeous neighbor. Inherently he knew he had affected her as she had clung to him. It was definitely going to be one of the most exciting first dates he had ever had. Hell, he reminded himself, it wasn’t a date. It was just a neighborly dinner. He didn’t need a woman in his life. He definitely wasn’t good at relationships but couldn’t deny his immediate need to take a taste. Maybe he should bring some of the boys over to keep him from touching her. Heck no. Then they would get a look at her and all hell would break loose. He never wanted to get in a scuffle with his brothers or cousin over a woman. This one may be worth it, though, he thought. Damn, she even made him salivate.

  “Hello, earth to Jack. Are you drunk, asshole?” yelled a familiar voice. Jackson looked up to see Troy’s best friend, Hunter Lane, riding up. Hunter owned the Green River Ranch, whose borders ran up the west side of their property. At thirty-two, he was a quiet but very good friend. Hunter was the kind of man who observed everything and figured out what was going on in a situation very quickly. It probably had to do with being a Navy Seal. Jackson remembered him being a slim, lanky kid but after he got injured and came home, he began to do some serious weightlifting as part of his rehab. The man in front of him bore little resemblance to the kid he once was. It was still Hunter on the inside as he was still a grouch.

  “Did you get bigger since I last saw you? Shit, you are gonna have to buy some new shirts, man. You are starting to look like Fabio.” With his blond hair and blue eyes boring a hole into Jackson, the start of a grin crossed his face.

  “You think?” was all Hunter replied. He was always a man of few words and liked to communicate with the bare minimum, an occasional grunt. “You daydreaming or something?”