My laugh came out more disgusted than I had planned. “Oh man. Most of them happened early in my career, like I said. Now, we know how to vet his rejects at the door, but back then a few real problems came through. One guy actually tried to steal stuff from my office. Another made a gigantic order but turned out to be broke, and actually had a mental problem that made him think he was rich.”
He stared at me, eyebrows creeping up again. “Wow. What ended up happening with him?”
“I handled him personally, got in touch with his daughter, and she took him home. Turned out he had caught the bus over from his group home.” I sighed a little. That one had been the only one of the bunch that I didn’t feel good about.
“But anyway,” I went on, “probably the funniest one was a guy who just couldn’t decide on what he wanted. He was trying to advertise computer gaming mods, but he didn’t seem to understand that ‘make it look cool’ is a very broad suggestion, and that we’re not mind readers.”
“What did you end up doing?”
“First I had to realize what I couldn’t do. I couldn’t rip off any of his favorite games for content like he wanted, and I wasn’t about to design a whole game to go with his ad campaign, since that’s not my field. I didn’t want to be part of any giveaways either, certainly not in a bathing suit.” I rolled my eyes when he shot me a look. “No, I’m not kidding.”
“So what finally worked?”
I chewed my lip, remembering. “I called his mom, who was his backer on the ad campaign and had a right to know what was going on. As soon as she found out about the bathing suit comment…the very next day, it was like the guy had vanished off the face of the earth.”
Dallas laughed softly. “You called his mom?”
I shrugged. “I had to start getting creative. He was eating into my time and energy in a way that I won’t allow. Especially not from some stranger who has probably never actually dated a real, unpaid woman in his life.”
He scoffed. “Good point. Kinda wish you had told him that.”
“I did, when Gregory threw him out of the office after his bathing suit comment.” And I hesitated just then. That guy…that creep…was it possible that he was the one behind these crazy attacks on me? He wasn’t a competitor and never would be, but he certainly had a reason to hold a grudge.
But…no. He wasn’t organized or convincing enough by any stretch of the imagination. Not for this. No way.
Which left me back at square one in terms of suspects. Back to letting Gregory do his job while I…waited.
“Damn, that turned a little dark,” I said. “But the point is, I know how to deal with problem clients because I have had practice.”
“Crash course in jackass management?”
“Yep.” I took a pull from my drink.
“You looked pretty troubled there for a while,” he said very gently.
“Mm, yes. I guess I did. Work and my life got…disrupted recently, and that story reminded me of it.” I didn’t want to get into my current problems with Dallas. I was worried about scaring him off.
“Disrupted?” He watched me steadily, expectant as a cat with an empty food bowl.
For a moment, that actually made me hesitate. He was a curious guy, and me, I had some things I wanted to keep away from him right now. How would he feel if he found out I had fled up here because of a crazy guy with a gun, and the movement that had spawned him?
Maybe he wouldn’t be interested anymore.
“Can we save that story for another day?” I asked, still trying to figure out if I should tell him everything or not. I wanted to. I really did. But Gregory was right: Dallas was a near stranger. And besides…what if it really did drive him away? If I was in some potential danger, anyone with me would be too.
He looked at me curiously for a few moments and then nodded. “All right. But I’m gonna circle back around to this conversation again in a few days or so.”
I nodded, sighing, resignation flooding me. He wanted to know. Maybe he even deserved to know. But how much detail I would tell him, I still hadn’t figured out.
Chapter 9
Ruth
The second weekend that we spent together, Dallas took me out to an old swimming hole he knew about. It was a short drive in his enormous truck, which was so well maintained that it shone like new. I wondered why it smelled like it had just rolled off the lot until I saw one of those tree air fresheners clearly labeled “new car smell.” That made me laugh.
“What?” he asked me gently, that little smile still playing on his lips.
“Oh, just wondering why the car smells like new sneakers. Then I saw your air freshener.”
“Oh right.” He chuckled. “The truck’s still pretty new—I bought it when I decided to pull up stakes from the city and move back here. The actual smell’s starting to fade, though, so I bought that thing. Works pretty well.”
I didn’t know why a guy would want his truck to smell like adhesives and outgassing rubber, but I knew that some people, especially really class-conscious people, liked the smell, because it reminded them that they could afford to buy a new replacement even before the smell fully faded. Dallas didn’t strike me as a snob, though.
“So if your pickup smells like sneakers…” I started.
“That’s how you know you’ve arrived, darlin’. I grew up getting driven around by my dad in a pickup that was more rust and Bondo than anything else. Every damn year he would buy as many parts as he could afford and change them out himself, just to keep the thing rattling along for us through another winter.” His smile was broad and honest, even as his words hit me like a slap in the face.
“Oh,” I murmured, suddenly realizing I had no idea at all about what it was like to live like that. I had grown up in a big house with domestic staff, but unhappier than I could have been and constantly preoccupied with my desire to escape to an idealized version of ranch life somewhere outside the city. Meanwhile, Dallas had been struggling along living actual ranch life, with its endless trials and financial problems. “I’m sorry,” I said softly.
“No need to be sorry. We were happy enough—just broke. I’m glad to be doing a little better than that now.” The gentle wistfulness in his smile put me at ease. “Kinda wish they could see me, now that I’m back in business as a rancher. Dad never thought that city life was for me. Guess he was right.”
The gravel road turned into a dirt road that was muddy and full of small stones. We bounced along, chatting, though now and again I nearly bit my tongue in the process. Everything smelled like mud and growing things and the baking-bread scent of the fields.
“You’ll like the lake,” he told me, changing the subject. “It’s beautiful, hardly anyone comes up to use it, and there are fewer mosquitoes.”
“It sounds beautiful,” I oofed out as we went over another bump.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He gave me a rueful smile and focused back on driving. “We’ll be there soon.”
As it turned out, “there” was a sheltered lake deep in a wooded hollow, its waters staying cool and dust-free in the protection of the overhanging branches. Some leaves did float on the water, and I could hear the crunk of frogs.
“Oh my God,” I said as I walked stiffly away from the car. “This place is amazing.”
“You think so?” He flashed a grin. “I’m glad. This was my special fishing spot when I was a kid.” His smile dimmed slightly. “That was before I knew they were all tadpoles and minnows, nothing worth eating. But it was fun coming down anyway.”
I was in shorts over my bathing suit. I had settled on a slightly more modest one-piece as a start, to help calm my self-consciousness. I took off my flip-flops and waded in up to knee depth, testing the water.
The frogs went quiet enough that I could hear the faint hum of insects. There were mosquitoes here, but the water was neither warm nor full of minerals, so they were far thinner here than I had worried about. I trusted Dallas, but anyone could make a mistake, and after the
damn mosquitoes…
The cool water felt wonderful after the long, bouncy trip over. But as I waded out further, I felt something swim against my leg briefly. “Oh no! You sure there aren’t fish in here?”
He kicked off his shoes and waded in with me, looking around. “Holy hell, that’s trout. Someone must have released them here!” He grinned brightly. “In a couple days we should come back with fishing poles. I can show you how to cast.” He was like a kid at Christmas over the fish, maybe even a little too excited.
“Okay, sure,” I replied as I inched deeper and deeper into the water. “That sounds great.”
We spent the afternoon like that, laughing and chatting, swimming, chasing frogs and splashing each other like kids. I couldn’t remember the last time I had enjoyed myself quite so much. I knew Gregory would have a few things to say about my staying away from the ranch this long, but he seemed to be relaxing into the idea that I was actually getting pretty serious about Dallas.
I woke up thinking of him. Now and again, I woke up reaching for him, because I had dreamed he was curled up next to me, asleep. And when I was with him, like now, the air seemed softer. The heat, less oppressive. The colors of the world, brighter.
Finally, we took a break for our lakeside picnic, feasting on cold fried chicken, watermelon, and corn.
“Damn, that always hits the spot when I’ve been swimming,” Dallas growled with satisfaction after taking a huge bite from a chicken breast. “Makes me hungrier than lifting weights.”
I looked him over, wondering when he had time or energy to build his body with anything but hard ranch chores. “You lift weights as well?”
“Yeah, helps keep my back from going out.” He shrugged, not seeming to find my question strange.
“I get it. I do a little myself. I should probably see about getting in more swimming.” Maybe I could put in a pool at the new place. Money wasn’t a problem for me, I just rarely had any time to enjoy it.
Once we had plowed through our meal and were nibbling on the remnants, I squared my shoulders and made a decision. “Hey, Dallas, you know that stuff I really didn’t want to talk about the other day?”
He nodded slowly. “Oh yeah, I’m not forgetting anytime soon. You looked really troubled when it got brought up.” He shot me a concerned look, and my heart melted.
I ran my hand back over my hair, realizing absently that I had picked the gesture up from him. “It’s a troubling subject. I was kind of worried that it would end up killing the mood or worse, driving you away.”
“Honey, you’d need a team of horses to do that at this point,” he reassured, and I blushed and smiled and couldn’t look at him for a moment, I was so flustered. How did he always seem to know exactly what to say?
“Okay, you know that big guy that came with me? Nearly seven feet tall, red hair?”
“Yeah. I thought he was your big brother or something. He looked at me like he wanted to make sure my intentions were, uh, honorable.” His grin flashed again.
“That’s Gregory, and he’s actually my head security guy. He’s here for my safety. Because…” I hesitated. How was I supposed to put all of this?
“Because?” he prompted me gently.
“I’m not here on a working vacation for weeks while I change houses because I want to be, even as amazing as it has all been so far. I’m here because someone stirred up a bunch of people against me, and they’ve been doing more than just harass me.”
Once the door was open to that conversation, I found it all spilling out, while he watched me with growing horror.
“It all started happening after I gave this big industry speech about opportunities for women in advertising. It was harmless, you know, simply acknowledging that the glass ceiling still exists and has to be fought, how we’re falling behind international firms with more progressive policies…things like that. I had no idea how anyone could take offense at that.”
“But they did,” he replied, his voice going grim. “I get it. Some guys are just that weak. They can’t handle the idea of having to compete not just with other guys, but with women. They want the playing field tilted in their goddamned favor every time.”
His open disdain for these men sent a fresh trickle of warmth through me. “Yeah, so anyway, my secretary suggested this place, since she knows I’ve low-key always wanted to be a rancher.”
“Well, I’m glad she did, or I wouldn’t have met you.” He reached over and toyed gently with a few strands of my hair, and then laid a hand on my shoulder. My skin prickled delightfully under his touch. “I’m just real, real sorry about the circumstances.”
“Me too.”
“You know, it’s ironic,” he said as he cracked open another beer. “Your dream your whole life was always to get out of the big city. I ended up spending a lot of my life dreaming of getting in. I wanted fame and fortune.” His roll of the eyes told me in one gesture about how well that had gone.
“If my life is anything to go by, fame and fortune themselves aren’t enough to make anyone happy. They come with their own sort of problems—like people trying to shoot you because you dared to speak up for women. Or the possibility of a competitor being behind this whole damned mess.”
He gave me a shocked look. “You think that?”
“Not me so much as Gregory. But he’s rarely wrong about this kind of thing. I just don’t know what whoever it was thought that they could accomplish by enlisting his little woman-hating army of unfuckable guys.” I rubbed my face as he burst out laughing.
“Holy shit, I love how you put that. But you really think that someone in the business did this to you?”
I nodded. “The idea makes sense to me. But what I don’t get is their expected outcome.” I nibbled on a piece of chicken, trying to figure out if I was still hungry or if it was just that tasty. “Whatever it is, I’m going to make sure they don’t get it. And I’m certainly going to make sure I can get back to the city and my office without being in danger.”
“Good plan.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “You want to get in any more swimming before we head back to the ranch?”
“No, thank you. I’ll cramp this soon after a meal. I know myself.” Way too well. This heat would have me tied in knots if I overexerted.
“Okay, sweetheart, let’s forget that part. Do you feel safer here now than you would be back home?” His gaze searched my face, that faintly worried expression still lingering on his own.
“Yes,” I said after a few moments of thinking about it. “I feel safer on the ranch. And I sure feel safer around you.”
That got me his full-bloom grin again, and he slung an arm around me. “Good. Because I want you to feel safe. I want you to trust me. And I want you to feel like you can tell me anything, too.”
“I do,” I murmured, squeezing his hand. “I trust you. I just don’t want you thinking that being with me is going to buy you some kind of ongoing trouble.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Oh, no, no. I shovel cow poop every damn morning; don’t think I’m the squeamish type, okay?”
I smiled. “Okay.”
We lingered as the sun set, watching the sunlight go from blue to gold to bronze to pink-orange slowly over time, until finally a deep, rich blue covered the sky. I heard night birds start calling out deep in the patch of trees. I saw bats come out and start chasing unseen mosquitoes and desperately fluttering moths.
I couldn’t stop smiling.
“You’re going to spoil me, Dallas,” I said quietly, watching the stars come out around the silhouette of his face.
“I aim to,” he said softly.
I turned to look at him, at his face shadowed on one side and lined with light on the other. His smile was so tender that it sent a shiver through me.
“You’re really growing on me,” I admitted breathlessly. “But…you know I’m going back to the city in a few weeks, right?”
“I can drive. You can fly. We could manage.” His voice was so warm, so reasonab
le. I wanted to believe every single word that came out of his mouth.
“That’s…certainly food for thought,” I murmured. Then he was leaning toward me, and before I could even speak further, he was quieting me with a kiss.
His lips were warm and smooth, and slid along mine searchingly before deepening as he slid an arm around me. My thighs squeezed together hard and I let out a small whimper. My heart banged away in my ears as he kept on, and on, and on, slow and tender, until he finally backed off and let me catch a trembling breath.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he muttered. And for a moment, he looked almost troubled.
“Something wrong?” I asked at once, baffled. He had kissed me, after all. Did my breath smell or something?
His smile bloomed again, flashing in the dark. “Nah,” he purred. “Something’s right.”
Then he kissed me again, and that small worry vanished in a flood of heat.
Oh, God. I had never been kissed like this before. “Swept away” barely covered it. I trembled in his arms, digging my fingers into the fabric of his shirt and hanging on while I returned the kiss passionately.
When he finally let me go, I stood there gasping for air, lips still tingling and my heart banging in my ears.
“Wow,” I murmured and had to blink several times to clear my head.
“Been a while since anyone kissed you, huh?” he asked me gently.
“Been forever since someone kissed me like that,” I clarified breathlessly. I didn’t want him to know just how lacking in thrills my love life had been up until he had walked into it. But I still had to admit just how good it felt.
“Well, get used to it,” he said, his voice husky, rubbing the tip of my nose with his. I giggled, and he grinned. “Because I aim to kiss you a whole lot more.”
But then he looked around and let out a sigh. “But for now, we should probably pack up and all. I can hear the damn mosquitoes gathering.”
Chapter 10
Taming The Cowboy (She's in Charge Book 4) Page 6
