Risk It

by Isabelle Drake

  Feeling the heat of the guy’s stare on her ass, Gwen ducked under a branch and stepped through some leaves, kicking through them until she got back to the trail that led to her car.

  What the heck was that?

  That kiss. Unbelievable. Amazing.

  Gwen considered calling Sabrina to ask if she sounded like herself or like someone who’d been taken over by some kind of alien body snatcher because she sure did not feel like herself. Where was the boring girl who’d just been dumped? That definitely hadn’t been her hanging on to that guy like he was the last man on earth.

  She could still taste his mouth on her lips and smell his body. The path of heat from his hands still blazed across her. If she had the chance, she’d do it all over again. Except that awkward part at the end, when they’d pulled apart and stared at each other while Sookie and her cameraman had walked off.

  Maybe she’d been reading too many romance novels.

  Maybe it was the scent of wood and smoke and sweat making her pulse skitter, turning her into a sex-crazed dominatrix.

  She needed to try it again.

  Chapter Three

  Oh.

  What she needed to do was apologize. He wasn’t one of the three bachelors, so he hadn’t signed on to get treated like a stud for hire.

  How embarrassing though. Maybe she could avoid the whole thing if she didn’t run into him again. He’d sure disappeared quickly enough. But who could blame him? She’d probably shocked him even more than she’d stunned herself.

  About the time she’d retraced her steps back to her car, Jerry Black—the man who owned the place—appeared, wearing the exact same outfit as Connor—boots, jeans, plaid shirt, bandanna and cowboy hat—but he looked like an ad for an old Western movie instead of picture from someone’s ‘Hot Cowboys’ Pinterest page. The matching outfit confirmed what she suspected. Connor worked at the ranch.

  Jerry introduced himself then insisted on helping her unload her car.

  “This all you have?” he asked, holding up her blue carry-on suitcase.

  “I’ll get the rest.” She pulled her garment bag from the back passenger seat.

  He grimaced then chuckled. “For a second there I thought that was one of those bags ladies put dresses in.”

  “It is,” She smiled, pretending that bringing dresses to a dude ranch was completely normal.

  The grimace came back. “Maybe you want to leave that in the car until after I show you around? Maybe you’ll change your mind about wearing them?”

  “Oh no,” she replied, clutching the hangers with a death grip. Four days of publicity was not to be wasted. If things went the way she wanted, that ever present Kevin would get plenty of shots of her looking great in them—dude ranch or not.

  “All right.” He eyed the garment bag. “We’ll go to your cabin first, then I’ll show you around the ranch.”

  As they walked along the trail, he pointed out the different trees and some delicate, white flowers.

  “Flies won’t bother you too much, but the mosquitoes and gnats can be pretty annoying.” Suspicion clouded his gaze as he studied the bag dangling from her shoulder. “Can you wear bug spray when you’re wearin’ one of those things?”

  Gwen flashed him a smile and assured him she could but she had to admit, that wasn’t something she’d thought of. Pictures of her flinching or covered with bug bites would not promote the ‘glamour anywhere’ look she’d decided to go for the weekend.

  True to his word, Jerry took her to her cabin so she could hang the bag, then started talking to her through the screen door, telling her about the ranch, how he’d bought it less than a year ago and had been working on it every minute ever since taking possession.

  “I want them to get a real ranch experience, you know?” He didn’t pause for her to answer. “That’s what the Triple B is all about. As close to the real thing as you can get. Know what I mean?”

  Gwen scanned the room. Yep, she knew what he meant.

  “It’s amazing,” she said, stepping through the screen door. “I feel like a real cowgirl.”

  “Come on. I’ll show you around some.” The frown that had been pulling on Jerry’s mouth had completely vanished. “You think you’re feeling like a cowgirl now, wait until tonight. Connor, our camp cook, makes the best grub in these mountains. I’m hoping tonight will be barbeque. He’s got some secret recipe…” He paused and scanned Gwen’s face. “Don’t you like barbeque? He’ll have some salad too. He knows how you ladies are about the calories.”

  Gwen realized he was waiting for her to say something. “It isn’t that. I love barbeque, but well, I was wondering, is the camp cook, Connor… Does he have short brown hair?”

  Jerry coughed into his hand and Gwen couldn’t be sure but she thought the man was actually blushing. Surprising, considering the man ran a singles only dude ranch.

  “Yep. That’s him. It seems you two already met, um…from what I heard.” He cleared his throat again and made a point of looking everywhere but at Gwen as he waved her along the path that ran beside the guest cabins. He quickly changed the subject, telling Gwen about the trail ride planned for the next afternoon.

  Judging by the clothes of the ‘hands’ and the décor, real ranch actually meant ‘old West’. It was a bit over the top, but Jerry was so excited by everything it was easy to get caught up in the atmosphere and enjoy it. Gwen listened even as she mentally ran through the schedule Sookie had emailed her last night. Everything was looking great, except the part about her wearing cocktail dresses while eating at picnic tables or even worse, while sitting on the ground.

  “Not your idea of the perfect weekend get-away?”

  It was then that Gwen realized she must have been frowning at the stone-circled cooking area where Jerry had just told her they’d be eating dinner that night. “I’m sorry. Did I have a weird look on my face? I love it, really. It’s very…authentic.”

  “Exactly.” Jerry nodded. “Not like the city. That’s where you’re from, right? DC?”

  “Yep.” He was waiting for more, so she added, “I make dresses—party dresses, cocktail dresses, one-of-a-kind custom gowns.”

  “Hmm.” He rubbed his jaw. “All right then. Guess that explains the bag.”

  “Yep.”

  “You going to wear one of them to dinner?”

  She nodded.

  “Those kinds of dresses are supposed to be sexy, right?

  “That’s the idea.”

  “Ought to be interesting.” He grumbled something she couldn’t hear, but she did see the corners of a smile starting to curve his mouth.

  She put her hand on her hip and gave him a sassy smile. “I suppose interesting would be all right but I was hoping for something more.”

  Jerry grunted, this time letting more of the smile show as he scanned the area. “I guess we could get something more than tree stumps for chairs.”

  She had considered the possibility of snagging the delicate fabric on the wood but the idea of behaving like a diva turned Gwen’s stomach. “Don’t go to any trouble, whatever you have will be perfect.”

  “No trouble at all. Let’s just get you back to your room so you can unpack and take care of those dresses.”

  * * * *

  Every other minute for the past couple hours—the whole time he was chopping, planning and cleaning up—Connor had been thinking about that kiss. He didn’t even bother telling himself he wasn’t going to look for the pic of the two of them. So, at about four-thirty, after he had the strawberries, cheese and summer sausage sliced and stacked in the refrigerator, he went outside, sat on the on the monstrous picnic table he and Jerry had made before the start of the season, and got out his phone.

  The headline Caught Kissing Already shouted out at him. Sookie had gotten the camera angle she wanted, straight from behind Gwen. The only sign of the man kissing her was a pair of hands on her ass and the out-of-focus top of a head. The stirring of arousal didn’t surprise Connor. He’d been simmering
under that sexual heat all afternoon. But the pang of jealousy knowing that she’d soon be kissing those other three guys came as a shock.

  “Good work.”

  Connor looked up to find Jerry coming out of the back door of the cantina. After the man stopped a few feet away and folded his arms across his barrel chest, Connor replied. “Thanks. But if that woman didn’t want the hat in the picture, she should have told me up front.”

  Jerry’s chest shook with laughter as he waved to the stainless steel refrigerator. “I meant the appetizers. Guests will love them as much as the dinner, I’m sure.”

  Connor grunted and looked away. “Right.”

  “You have everything under control?” he asked, letting the double meaning show in his tone.

  “Ha, ha. You should have started a comedy club instead of a ranch.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Still grinning at his own joke, Jerry added, “Another thing. Cover those tree stumps with something.”

  Connor lifted an eyebrow. “The stumps by the fire pit?”

  “Yeah. Not all of them. Just the ones you have set up for Gwen and her date.”

  “And what would you like me to cover them with?” He smirked. “Spun gold?”

  “Nah. Some cloth napkins ought to do the trick.”

  “Shall I tie them down? Silk ribbon?”

  “Or twine,” he replied. “Whatever works for you.” Then he strolled off, whistling one of his cowboy songs.

  Seconds after the sound faded, the soft pad of footsteps made Connor look up from the picture on his phone. He’d just been trying to decide whether to save the image he looked up to see the real thing standing right in front of him.

  “Hi,” she said with a small wave of her hand.

  He nodded then immediately wished he’d said something because the awkward silence was terrible.

  Finally, she spoke. “I wanted to apologize for my… For…that…um…”

  Connor’s finger hovered over the tiny screen. “Apologize?”

  “For the, um…” She looked at his mouth.

  He covered the phone with his hand and slid it into his pocket. “Thanks but there’s no need. I know you only did it because you had to.”

  “That’s part of it.” Her gaze skimmed over him, making him tense. She was probably used to businessmen with monogrammed, custom-made shirts that were pressed to perfection.

  Well, he was a different kind of guy altogether. He lifted an eyebrow, stared straight at her and waited. When she finally pulled her gaze away from his arms to look him in his face, her eyes held a strange mixture of embarrassment and curiosity. It was then that he noticed she’d cleaned up a bit. The wild tangles were gone from her hair and a sparkle of glitter flashed above her eyes.

  “I didn’t have to…” She glanced at his mouth, causing him to do the same to her, watching her twist her freshly glossed lips right before blurting out, “I'm sorry I dominated you.”

  A raspy noise rose up from deep in his chest. It was a mixture of astonishment, confusion and lust. By the time the sound came out, it sounded like a cough. Once he was able to speak, he managed to say one word, “Dominate?”

  “Yeah.” She shrugged lightly. “You know.”

  “Let’s make one thing clear. You did not dominate me. We kissed—twice. No big deal.”

  The flicker of a smile moved across her mouth. “So all girls take control of you that way?”

  “You did not take control of me.”

  She bristled, straightening her back and lifting her chin. “Um…yeah, I did.”

  Connor swung his leg over the bench and stood. “Want proof?”

  She took a step to the side. “I don’t need proof.”

  He moved forward, pulling in a deep breath of perfume-scented air.

  She propped herself casually on the end of the picnic table. The quiver in her lips told him the relaxed pose was a ploy. “I didn’t mean to do it. I—”

  Instead of doing the gentlemanly thing of waiting to listen to her apology he didn’t want to hear, he took another step closer and pressed his mouth across her still-moving lips. Using his height to his advantage, he tilted his head and steadily kissed her until she let her lips drift apart.

  Intentionally leaving his hands at his sides, he deepened the kiss by sliding his tongue across her lips then gradually into the welcoming warmth of her mouth.

  Once she was panting and tense, he lifted his mouth. “What do you say now? That proof enough for you?”

  What was it about this guy? Gwen seriously wanted to kiss that smug smile off his mouth.

  “No. That doesn’t prove anything.”

  He kissed her again.

  Not ready to admit defeat, she clung to Connor, flattening her breasts against the hard plane of his chest and returning his demanding kiss with soft sweeps of her tongue. The heat from his hands had already traveled through her, warming her pussy, making her wet.

  When he moved to stand between her legs and put his hands on her thighs, the rough calluses made her shiver. Inch by inch he dragged his palms across her skin, so gradually that the anticipation to find out how far up he’d go made her heart pound.

  He paused and lifted his mouth.

  Gwen felt the soft whisper of her own breath as it passed across her lips. She soaked in the dark, needy expression in his eyes, loving the way he looked at her as though she was the sexiest woman he’d ever kissed. No man had ever looked at her that way, had ever made her crazy with lust or quiver with need, yet she had no answer for him. She was afraid to say the wrong thing. Or was she was afraid she’d stop fussing about proper behavior and worrying about what ifs, and tell him what she wanted him to do—shove her skirt up and fuck her right there on the picnic table?

  He nudged her cheek with his nose, kissed her jaw then moved to lick the whorl of her ear. The breath she tried to pull in caught in her throat and her chest heaved with the effort to release it.

  “Does this mean you accept my apology?” she asked.

  Some of the lust faded from his eyes and all Gwen could think about was finding a way to bring it back.

  “It means I’ve proven the apology unnecessary.” He grabbed her waist, lifted her off the table then set her on the ground. “You better go get ready for…whatever it is that Sookie has planned.”

  Gwen’s legs were still shaky but she forced them to move. “She didn’t really tell me what to expect.”

  “One guy each night. Isn’t that the set up?”

  “Yeah. But I don’t know any more than that.”

  “Probably isn’t any more to know.” He took a few more steps away then turned toward the back door of the cantina. “I better get back to work.”

  Without giving her another look, he went inside.

  * * * *

  The next hour passed in a nervous blur. Sookie had arrived at Gwen’s cabin door exactly at six-thirty, as indicated on the schedule. After surprising Gwen with a compliment on the red halter-style dress she’d picked for the welcome event, she’d insisted Gwen pose by the door so Kevin could get some still shots.

  Once he’d left to get some stills of the guys, Sookie sat on the couch covered in horse-patterned fabric and described the evening. “Everyone here will be at the welcome event, even the regular guests. It’ll look more exciting that way. You know, if there are a lot of people? Connor, the cook? You know…the guy you made out with? Well, he’s set up a table for two near that campfire. That’s where you and Tommy will have dinner tonight after the welcome event. Got it? Any questions?”

  Yeah. How am I supposed to pay attention to any of the other guys when that too-hot-for-my-own-good cook is hanging around?

  * * * *

  By the time Gwen and Sookie reached the bottom of the hill that led up to the campfire, Gwen was a nervous wreck.

  The crowd milling around the top of the hill was broken into small groups—and everyone was wearing jeans or shorts. When she’d arrived, the three male contestants had been so deep
in conversation that Sookie had shouted at them to get them to break it up.

  “We need to film it again, Kevin. Back it up. Hello, everyone! Let’s do this.”

  The guys—a classic nerdy looking one with a cute smile and a surprisingly killer body, a typical DC type in khaki shorts and a polo and what must have been the wild card—a guy with shoulder length dreads—reluctantly pulled themselves apart and followed Sookie’s directions to stand apart and assume a pose they thought reflected their personality. The result was a confusing combination of folded arms, cocked heads and varying degrees of interest.

  Right as Gwen was entering the campsite—again, Connor appeared. Jerry strolled behind him, grinning and calling out a boisterous hello. Sookie chased them both backward, out of view of the camera. Gwen had to retrace her steps back down the path so she could walk up into the camera’s shot all over again.

  If Connor hadn’t been there, Gwen might’ve been okay. But with his gaze fixed on her, her legs got more wobbly with each step. Somehow she arrived back at the campsite, Sookie had gotten what she needed and Connor had turned his back on all of them and had started stabbing the fire with a metal stick.

  The three guys—after a quick hello in her direction—had gone back to talking and Gwen ended up standing there alone, watching Connor until Jerry came over.

  “It’s a pretty dress.”

  She glanced down at the simple red cap-sleeved one she picked. “Not too much?”

  “Nah. I have to admit I was wrong. That dress is exactly what this place needs. In fact, you might even want to try something more…” He gestured to the guys, still deep in conversation.

  She shrugged, letting him know she wasn’t bothered by their lack of interest. “Sookie already posted some pics of me in it by the cabin door.”

  “Nice promo for both of us,” he said with a grin.

  Obviously Jerry was more business savvy than she’d realized. Thinking of the bright blue halter dress she had for tomorrow, she nodded as her gaze followed each of Connor’s movements as he laid a metal rack over the glowing coals.