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"I would lose a week of sleep if it meant a chance at a piece of that." She turned to see Charlie gazing at Amber's ample backside as she sashayed away.
"Here, let me wipe the drool off your chin," Colleen said. She reached out with her rag. Charlie laughed and batted her hand away.
"Don't talk about her like that," JT said, clearly not amused.
Charlie's eyes widened. "What, she's hot, and I'm just saying—"
"It's one thing to find a woman attractive, it's another to talk about her like she's a piece of meat."
"Sorry," Charlie finally said.
Just when she thought JT couldn't get any more attractive, he proved chivalry wasn't dead.
By the time JT helped the wranglers unsaddle from the evening ride and close up the tack rooms, it was nearly ten. Given that he had to get up before sunrise to help wrangle in the morning—he hadn't been lying to Amber—the smartest thing to do would be to head straight home, shower, and hit the hay.
As though they had a will of their own, his booted feet had him heading back towards the restaurant. Or, more specifically, the bar within.
He was just going to check on her, make sure she didn't need any help. Maybe stay for a beer before he headed home.
The restaurant was quiet, though there were a dozen or so guests seated at the bar and the surrounding cocktail tables enjoying their nightcaps. He ordered a beer from Colleen and chatted briefly with each of the guests.
But damn if it wasn't hard to focus on the conversation when he kept catching glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye. Tonight, instead of her usual outfit of jeans and a top, she wore a dress. Navy blue with little white flowers, it was sleeveless and fell just to the top of her knees. Nothing especially provocative about it.
And yet from the way he'd been staring at the toned calves and inch of smooth thigh exposed by the dress, she may as well have been dressed like a Victoria's Secret model.
After a while the last of the guests had wandered back to their cabins, and JT told himself he should do the same.
Instead he slid behind the bar next to Colleen, picked up a glass and started to wash it.
"I've got this," she said, lightly elbowing him aside. "You said yourself you need to get up early. You should get to bed."
The thought of his king size bed with Colleen sprawled on top popped into his brain. He barely kept his grip on the glass before it tumbled into the sink.
"I don't mind. I'll sleep in the fall."
The truth was, he would use any and every excuse to get near her and he knew it. But what the hell was he going to do about it?
Nothing, he told himself firmly. Not only has she shown zero interest in you that way, now she works for you. Hitting on her would make you a creep.
He heard her yawn beside him. In spite of the firm talking-to he'd just given himself, the soft, breathy sound conjured images of her lying against his pillow all sleepy and rumpled after a hot, wild night.
A current of heat sizzled through him, settling heavily behind his fly. Who knew a damn yawn could be so hot?
He clenched his jaw as she yawned again, wider this time.
"You know, we have a couple of empty staff cabins if you ever want to stay out here instead of driving home in the dark."
He cursed himself the second the offer came out of his mouth. Because that's just what he needed, was to have Colleen curled up in a bed right up the road from his house.
"I may take you up on that sometime. At this rate I'm afraid I might fall asleep and end up in a ditch," she replied.
The risk was real, even though they were technically next-door neighbors. Once Colleen drove the five miles down the narrow, bumpy ranch driveway to the county road and then the last few miles to her house, it would take her twenty minutes to get home in the pitch black.
"I don't know why I'm so tired," she said. She shook her head and the end of her ponytail bounced along her shoulders. "Between nursing school and working in Billings, I regularly worked twelve-hour shifts several days in a row."
"Everything you've been through, it takes it out of you."
"Yeah, I guess so. I'm not complaining though." She shot him a look from under her dark lashes. "I forgot bartending could be so fun. And the extra money certainly doesn't hurt."
