Country Mile: When Opposites Attract Romance (Fanning the Flames Book 1)

by Liz Peters

  Country Mile

  A When Opposites Attract Romance

  Fanning the Flames Series

  Book One

  by Liz Peters

  ©2017 Liz Peters. All rights reserved. The characters in this book are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  WARNING: Contains mature themes and language.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  CHAPTER ONE

  Samantha Crawford blinked in the brilliant sunlight as she got out of the cab that had brought her here from the airport. The senior partners in her law firm had thought this retreat was going to be a great idea, a long weekend away at a ranch in the middle of nowhere, no internet, no phones no distractions. It seemed more like her idea of a nightmare, but if she was going to make partner before the year was out, there was no way she was going to balk against something this pointless.

  Her long dark hair tucked up into a bun at the nape of her neck and the pencil skirt topped with a crisp, carefully buttoned white blouse were out of place against the background that the Flying Eagle Ranch provided. She’d grown up in the city, and Sam was used to walking everywhere she went. She was also used to being no farther than three blocks from a coffee shop at any given moment. This long weekend was going to be more than a challenge.

  She was ill-prepared for the voice that spoke up behind her after she paid the taxi driver and turned to survey the ranch once again. She was even less prepared for the sight of the man that it belonged to. Her eyes moved from his boots up his jeans to the button down plaid shirt that he wore. It did a terrible job at containing all of him or at hiding the tattoos that peeked out around the short sleeves along his biceps and forearms. Sam didn’t think she’d ever seen anyone like that, well, ever. She could feel her heart thud against her chest as her eyes finally latched onto his.

  “Excuse me… uh… ma’am.” She heard the catch in his voice as she turned to face him, but it seemed that he was stifling a laugh. The frown that replaced the slack-jawed expression that had broken out involuntarily across her face was as quick as the hand that went to her hip.

  “Yes? Can I help you?” She tried hard to steel her expression, and bring herself back to her senses. What was she doing getting lost in gawking at some stranger who was obviously doing his best not to laugh at her?

  “Well, ma’am.” He cleared his throat and let an amused grin spread across his face. “I think it’s me that supposed to be helping you. At least if you’re with that group of lawyers that supposed to be arriving today, and it sure looks like you are. Can I take your bags?”

  The ranch hand let his gaze move along her entire frame and Sam felt a slight shudder at the way he looked her body over that she tried to suppress. She could have kicked herself for the way she reacted involuntarily to everything he did. It was like her body was actively working against her. Sam needed to get herself under control. She could face a judge and keep a perfect poker face, bluffing until no one was certain what the truth was. She liked it that way, completely in control. Something about the man in front of her made her feel like she was ready to lose control, to hand it over willingly to a man she’d spoken about five words to.

  “Then I guess you’re supposed to be helping me.” She gestured to the bags that the cab driver had unloaded just before he pulled away. She hadn’t even noticed the car was gone. Sam had been that distracted by the sudden appearance of the ranch hand. She was also tired of calling him the ranch hand in her head. “So, do you have a name or am I just going to wind up calling you Stranger for the next few days?”

  His laugh was deep, bubbling up from his chest and it did something to her. She wanted to make him laugh again. What was even happening to her? Something about all this fresh air must have already driven her insane. She was out of her element and everything about this place was making her lose her mind.

  “Well, I mean, you can call me Stranger if that’s what turns you on, Lady.” He shot her a grin and hoisted her bags onto his shoulders like they didn’t weigh much of anything before turning to walk to the cabins she spotted behind the main ranch house. “But my mother named me Reid, and she’d sure hate to know that no one was using it.”

  Reid, of course, he was named something like that. It was like someone had dreamed up the perfect torture for Sam, and now it was carrying her bags across the yard of the ranch. All that she could do about it was follow behind and stare at the curve of his ass inside the jeans that looked like they’d been painted on him. At least there was no one from the firm around to watch her act like she was a teenager in heat.

  She wasn’t certain if anyone else from the firm was there, but she probably wouldn’t have noticed if they had been. Sam was too busy staring at the man carrying her bags and imagining what was under that button-down shirt. They reached one of the cabins before she was ready for it, and he pulled a key out of his hip pocket to unlock the door, gently dropping the bags on the bed before he turned to her, holding out his hand with the key dangling from it.

  She reached out to take it from him as he jerked his hand away with a devilish grin playing across his features. That grin almost killed her, but the next thing he said pretty much did her in.

  “So, I don’t think it’s fair that you know my name and I don’t know yours. Or should I just call you Legs since you decided to nickname me Stranger?”

  God, he was cocky. She would have hated that in anyone back at the firm. If one of the guys back there had called her Legs, they would have paid for it, but something about Reid caught her off the normal guard she held up. It could have been those brilliantly colored blue eyes that looked like they were hiding some kind of inside joke that only he knew about. Maybe it was how different his roughly tussled blonde hair was from the lawyers back at the firm. Their hair was always carefully coiffed, not a strand out of place like they were always trying to make an impression. He was making an impression alright, but it wasn’t intentional. At least she didn’t think it was. She was so lost in figuring out why he was taking her off guard, she half forgot to reply.

  “Oh…” Sam cleared her throat, trying to cover up the fact that she’d been distracted. “Samantha. But everyone calls me Sam.” She’d picked the nickname on purpose, it made her sound more masculine to be Sam instead of Samantha, and in a world that was ruled by men, she could use any competitive edge she could get.

  “Well, Samantha, it’s been a pleasure.” It didn’t escape her notice that he’d picked her full name, she just wasn’t sure why, whether he was trying to intimidate her or he just liked the sound of it. She knew she liked the sound of it, though.

  “Pleasure’s been all mine.” She could only return the grin as he reached out and placed the keys in her hand, letting the contact linger longer than absolutely necessary before he let go, leaving the single ring with a single key in her hand.

  “See you around, Legs.” He grinned, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Sam alone to slump onto the bed with an exhausted sigh. This was going to be a long weekend.

  Chapter Two

  Reid Spencer had been working at the Flying Eagle Ranch for the better part of the last five years. Before that he’d been a hand on a few other farms, bouncing back and forth from place to place. This was the longest he’d settled in any one place in his life. He’d been all over the
state, working at one farm or ranch or another, beginning on the one that had belonged to his grandfather back when he was in high school. This had been his life, and it was the thing he was best at.

  He prided himself on knowing two things better than anything else – horses and women. But the set of legs that had climbed out of the back of that taxi this afternoon was something he hadn’t been prepared for in the slightest. Reid had worked this kind of thing before. This ranch was a vacation spot, a place where people came to get an imaginary taste of the life he led every day so that they could go back to their everyday world and feel a little more accomplished or at least a little more superior once things were done. More than one business group had come through here for just the same kind of “team-building” activities that this one was here for. He tolerated them. They were the reason he made a living. But they never contained anything like the creature that he’d shown to cabin C this afternoon.

  Usually, they were full of old, stuffed shirt kind of men, the kind with more money than sense. The occasional woman came through, but they were more of the same, just cut from a little different cloth than the men who walked through here like they owned the place, but overall, they were all just here for the show. There was something different about Samantha, though in his mind Reid was just calling her Legs at this point.

  Legs.

  That was the first part of her he’d seen, but the rest of her lived up to the challenge they’d presented. He’d imagined those legs wrapped around his waist five times before he ever walked over and introduced himself. He’d imagined a whole hell of a lot more before the two them ended up in that cabin together. His brain had played him a little movie of her pinned against the bed, the carpet and the wall wearing nothing but his hat before he managed to walk out of there with at least some of his self-control intact.

  He was certain this was going to be a long, damned weekend. Three days, right? He could make it three days without getting in trouble for banging the guests. At least he hoped he could if his dick decided to mind his head. So far, it wasn’t doing a good job.

  Reid cursed under his breath as he watched a whole convoy of taxis pull up out front of the main ranch house. Legs had been the first to arrive, but the rest of them were hot on her tail. As he watched them get out of the cars and start milling around on the grass, waiting to be shown to their own cabins, he counted all the stereotypes he’d come to know and love from these corporate get-togethers.

  There were the bosses, those whose suits cost more than his yearly income. They walked around like they owned the place no matter where they were. You could tell them by the kiss-ass underlings that buzzed around them like a swarm of horse flies. These guys were the real pains in the asses that he was going to have to deal with for the next few days. At least he could get a few good looks at Samantha in a pair of jeans while the rest of them tried to get in as many brownie points as they could manage with the head honchos over there.

  He got to work, walking these city boys to their cabins and passing over their keys, but he had to admit it hadn’t been half as much fun as dropping Legs off at her room. His eyes kept drifting over to Cabin C, and he let a grin drift over his expression as he wondered what was going on in there since he’d dropped her off.

  That pencil skirt was going to have to go, no matter how good her legs looked in it, so was the white button down. If she was going to get her hands dirty then she wasn’t going to ruin her good clothes. He’d have given a week’s pay just to be around to help her with that process. He groaned, feeling himself hardening against the tight confines of his jeans, and reminded himself to focus on what he was doing for once.

  He got lost in the work until the last of the group arrived and checked in, glancing over at Samantha’s cabin before he set about his real work for the day. He had a lot more to do than just make sure the guests were settled in. There were fences to fix, horses to feed, cows to move from one pasture to another, and he was sure that the owner would find more for him to do before the day was over. The work never ended around here, but he enjoyed it. It kept his mind off getting into trouble today at least because if that pair of legs was anything, it was trouble.

  Besides, Colton was waiting for him in the stables to start off their list of things to get done for the morning before the team building activities started. They had to get the real work around here done before the stiffs started their fake work to get their company’s money’s worth for the weekend, and the sun was quickly climbing in the sky.

  He shot one last longing glance back at Cabin C and shook his head to clear it of the visions of those legs before he went about what he was paid to do.

  Three days…

  Chapter Three

  Sam hadn’t wasted any time in peeling out of the clothes she’d traveled here in and putting on something more sensible for the situation. She wasn’t even certain why she’d worn an outfit that was more appropriate for a conference room than a ranch or traveling, but it probably had something to do with the fact that all the senior partners were on the same flight she’d been on. They were all going to be here this weekend, too, but everyone was expected to dress the part for the next few days. The memo that had gone out from Mr. Anderson’s secretary had listed out an appropriate wardrobe, and she’d packed it all. She was certain all the other attorneys vying for a junior partner spot had done the exact same thing, but Sam was determined to make herself stand out.

  It didn’t help that she was the only woman here, the only woman who’d gotten high enough in Anderson, Ingersoll, and Swift to even be in the running for a junior partner spot, as a matter of fact. It had been a hard road to get here, and Sam felt like she’d had to fight for every inch she gained. She intended to use this weekend to her best advantage. The senior partners were here to get to know all of them a little better and see which of them were junior partner material. Sam had to grab every opportunity she could.

  Then why was her mind still drifting to the ranch hand who had greeted her this afternoon?

  Her logical mind told her it was just because it had been too long since she’d been out on a date, much less had sex. Her body had responded out of instinct. At least that’s what she was trying to convince herself. For some reason, she wasn’t finding herself very convincing right now.

  After she’d stripped down to her underwear and bra, she sat on the bed, thinking about how rough Reid’s hand had been against her own when he handed her the key, rough and warm. He worked with them for a living, that much was obvious. It wasn’t like the men she ran into every day who had skin as soft as hers. This guy was rough and tumble, and physical. He was probably good with those hands. Very good.

  Sam caught her lip between her teeth, biting down on it gently before she stopped herself and gathered the hair that cascaded down her back into a ponytail. She’d pulled it down when she was changing clothes, but it was only going to get in the way later. She needed to get back to business, grabbing her jeans from the bedside table and pulling them on, quickly followed by a sensible shirt she’d stolen from the last boyfriend she’d managed to keep long enough to have some of his clothes at her place.

  That had been months ago, thirteen months to be precise. John was another attorney at the firm, and she’d thought that having that much in common was going to be a good thing. All she’d learned from that was that she’d thought wrong. Dating another attorney was like working 24 hours a day. All he wanted to do was talk shop. Sam loved her job. That was enough to keep them dating for three and a half months, but after that, it was all downhill, until the day she told him she was calling it quits. It didn’t help that he’d been offered a job at a rival firm at just about the same time. The pressure was on at work to drop him for being a traitor, and it was easy enough to cave into it when her heart wasn’t in the relationship, to begin with.

  Since then, Sam had been pretty much alone. Her friends had tried setting her up with one guy or another for a while, but when one after the other just d
idn’t work out, they gave up. It didn’t matter anyway. She was too focused on her career to give any of them a fair shot whether they deserved it or not.

  Buttoning the last few buttons of the red flannel shirt, Sam went to roll up the sleeves until they rested at a comfortable place on her forearms. According to the schedule that had been left in the folder on the dresser in her room, she was supposed to report to the main ranch house for lunch in about fifteen minutes instead of sitting here and fantasize about the staff for the next hour or so. Then the rest of their day was going to get started. First a meeting with the senior partners and on to the team building activities. Not exactly her idea of a good time, but she was here to work.

  Walking out of the cabin and into the yard, she couldn’t help but to scan the area and check for Reid, though he was nowhere to be seen. She frowned, chastising herself internally for doing anything other than working and headed in to see what lunch held in store.

  “Miss Crawford.” She was greeted by a familiar voice as she walked into the large wooden building, and she automatically put on her work smile as she recognized Mr. Ingersoll.

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Ingersoll. It’s so good to see you outside of work.” Sam held out her hand for the customary handshake and proceeded to fall into the pattern of work conversation that happened whenever a co-worker was in the room. It was a reflex at this point, something she could turn on and off at the drop of a hat.