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“Eyes up, Shorty. Or you’ll get more of a show than you bargained for.”
My gaze makes a swift trip back up to his face. His mouth is twisted in a grimace and his eyebrow arched.
He’s not happy I was looking…whatever. “Don’t look so scared. I pinky promise not to molest you.”
His eyes widen while his lips thin. “You know what, it’s still early. I’m gonna get a workout in. I’ll be back later.”
A workout? At 9 p.m.?
He doesn’t even wait for me to respond. He grabs his clothes in a hurry, and a moment later he’s gone. I know I don’t have a ton of experience with men but this can’t be normal behavior. This has got to be far from normal behavior.
The next morning I wake up to an empty bed and Mr. Wylder brewing a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen. He informs me that Dane and Levi went off to “fix fencin’” and won’t be back until late afternoon.
Dane left a note telling me to use his office if I needed to get work done and I took him up on his offer. They returned around six. I made dinner. We ate. And shortly afterward Dane was snoring on the couch.
“I don’t know. He’s acting so weird and skittish around me. I have no idea what happened but something did.” I switch the cell to my other shoulder and continue filing my nails.
“Hmm,” Del returns.
“That’s it? In your infinite wisdom on men, that’s all you have for me?”
“Is he sneaking out without you? You know––to hook up? Maybe it’s guilt. The broodmare’s at home while he kicks up his studly heels. Because if that’s the case I hope he chokes on it.”
The thought alone makes my stomach drop and my chest ache.
“I don’t think so. He’s usually so tired after working on the ranch all day he can barely get a word out at dinner and this is a man that never shuts up.”
“I’m going to need more info to solve this puzzle. Do some recon and get back to me.”
“Del…”
“Yeah.”
“What if he’s having second thoughts?” I murmur, voicing my biggest fear.
“He’s not. And if he is then we’re better off without him. Better to find out now than later.”
“We?”
“We all have your back. Al, me, your mom––even Tina and Will. You know that.”
She’s right. She’s absolutely right. I know that. I really do. It’s just that I was starting to really like having Dane around. He made me see things differently.
Dane
Two full days of ranch work and my body feels worse than it did when I was playing. I never hurt this much, not even by the time playoffs rolled around. Fact: ranch life is hard. All the more reason to convince my father to sell it. Not to mention how I’ve been working out lately. Brutal. But it’s either that or walk around pissed off all day with a hard-on.
Next to me Levi whistles along with the radio while we slowly drive the fence line. It’s already the end of September and still hotter than Hades in summer.
“When are you gonna tell the old man? Or do I have to do it?” Wiping my brow with the hem of my shirt, I turn and await Levi’s response. He makes a face and grips the steering wheel tighter.
“Can’t tell him now that he ain’t feeling good. Might set his recovery back.”
“He’s fine and you ain’t getting any younger. You intend to tell him you want to move to Nashville when you’re old as dirt?”
“I know,” he grunts, pissed at the situation if I’m reading him right. We both spot a hole along the barbwire fence and Levi parks the old Chevy pickup, the one my mother used to drive if I recall correctly. I hate this truck.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You ain’t foolin’ me, Dane. You’re so gone over that woman she’s making you crazy. Tell her and get it over with.”
Levi grabs the tools from the back of the pickup while I put on my hat and suede gloves. “I am not gone over no one. I do not get gone.”
Levi chuckles. “I don’t know why you fight it. She’s a good one. Shit, if I were you, I’d be jumpin’ through hoops to show her how I feel. Maybe then you can get laid and put us all out of our misery.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I throw my hat at him and he catches it. Smiling, he throws it back. Then he hands me the new wire and pliers and we get to work.
“It means you’ve been acting like a first-class asshole since you got here and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
His words give me pause. I have been a touch irritable lately. With the situation being what it is, untenable as fuck. She doesn’t wanna have anything to do with me, other than what we agreed upon, and I can’t stop thinking about her in every conceivable way…and in every conceivable position.
“What are you thinkin’ about?”
I stop cuttin’ and ripping out wire to see Levi wearing a smirk. “Nothin’. Take care of your own damn business, or I’ll take care of it for you.”
He smiles wider, starts whistling a tune. The whistling turns to singing.
I stop what I’m doing to listen. Dang, my brother sure can sing. “What song is that?”
“Passenger,” he tells me before he starts up again. “Only know you've been high when you're feeling low. Only hate the road when you’re missing home. Only know you love her when you let her go.”
Levi grins. I shake my head and flip him the bird.
“And you let her go.”
Chapter Eighteen
Stella
By day three of waiting for Dane and Levi to return from “fixin’ fencin’” or feeding the stock or whatever it is they do to get filthy and sweaty, I’m ready for a change of pace––or to start consuming large quantities of liquor. Either will do.
I wasn’t cut out to sit around, twiddling my thumbs. I’ve made good use of Dane’s laptop. However, as far away from the office as I am, there’s only so much work I can get done. Ira’s been incredibly understanding as usual. Even Missy is getting tired of my visits.
Mr. Wylder, relegated to porch ornament status because of the heart attack, is getting antsy too. Both of us being workaholics, we’ve found comfort in that shared misery.
It’s six by the time we watch the two men approaching. Dane’s shirt is hanging open and sweat covers his bare chest…and he’s wearing a straw cowboy hat.
With that loose-limbed walk, eyes hidden under the hat, he reminds me of a stripper. The good kind. Not the kind that Tina had at her bachelorette party. I could barely watch those guys. Apologies, but having a stranger gyrate his sweaty balls in my face while wearing a teal-colored satin thong is not my idea of sexy. This guy however…this one I watch with bated breath.
Do I focus on admiring his glistening chest, or the ab muscles that look carved with a chisel, or maybe the strip of hair peeking out over his low-slung jeans? So much to choose from.
The temperature of my body rises the closer he gets. I brush the bead of sweat off my forehead with the back of my wrist like I’m starring in my own private ranch version of Gone With The Wind.
I’m about to spontaneously combust and the man isn’t even standing within reach. What would happen if he actually touched me? At this rate, I’d probably drop dead.
This can’t be happening. Not with this man. Not when I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to avoid this trap. My mind keeps screaming, Forbidden! Forbidden! Back away from the beefcake! while the rest of me strongly disagrees.
We need space––lots of it. “Anybody feel like going out tonight?” I have no clue where that came from but suddenly determine it’s a brilliant idea.
“Yeah, sure,” Levi answers while Dane says, “Hell no.”
I’m relieved to hear Dane say no. That part of me that’s getting hot and bothered over him is growing bolder, more demanding every minute I spend in his presence.
“You don’t mind taking me along with you, Levi?”
Levi’s smile is immediate and a tad overenthused
. “Taking out a pretty lady? No, I definitely do not mind.”
Frowning at Levi, Dane scratches the back of his neck. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? In your condition?”
“My condition? Last time I checked pregnancy wasn’t contagious. And if I don’t get out I’m going to go stir crazy. Your dad goes to sleep early and you’re always working out––”
Every day since he’s moved into my room, a strange new routine has begun. He works all day, takes a shower, and we eat dinner. Then, when I’m getting ready for bed, he goes to the home gym and works out.
Sometime around midnight, I hear him come in while I pretend to be asleep. I’m a notoriously light sleeper; no way am I not noticing a two-hundred-and-thirty-pound giant creeping into my bed, no matter how big the bed is.
At first he stays mostly on his side. Then, little by little, he creeps closer and closer until his body is curved around mine, barely any air between us, while I continue to pretend to be asleep.
The funny thing is, he actually believes I can sleep through the bed dipping, the scorching heat emanating from his body burning my back, his dick––which is always hard–– brushing against my ass.
He thinks I’m sleeping through that? He could wake me from life support with that.
