Page 49 of Broken Boundaries

Aspen

My alarm jolts me awake. It takes me a minute to remember why I feel like absolute horse shit, but the night before quickly comes rushing back to me. So many drinks. Dancing. A bath. Brooks.

Oh my god.

I’m really regretting all those drinks right about now. I mean, who goes out drinking until after midnight when they have to work the next morning? Me, I guess. Don’t even get me started on how embarrassing I probably was last night.

I roll out of bed and realize I’m in one of Brooks’s shirts. This is a new one. He must’ve given it to me last night after I got out of his tub.

I may have been completely wasted, but there’s no way I could forget how good he looked last night. Cowboy Brooks is one thing, but relaxed, casual Brooks might be my favorite.

There’s a knock on my door, which forces me to get out of bed faster than I wanted to and makes my head spin. I yank open the door and find Brooks standing there with a bright smile.

“Good mornin’.”

“Is it?” I croak.

He chuckles. I can’t imagine how terrible I must look right now. But I forget all about that when his eyes move down my body and stay focused a moment too long on my bare legs.

“I, uh, wanted to see if you needed the morning off.”

“Absolutely not,” I tell him. “I’m an adult and will have to live with the consequences of my actions.”

“Figured you’d say that, so I brought you coffee and a breakfast burrito.” He hands me a brown bag and a coffee in a to-go mug.

“Did you make this?” I ask, trying not to freak out about the fact that he took the time to make me breakfast and bring it over to me. Do not swoon for this man, Aspen. Do. Not. Swoon.

He shrugs. “Yeah. Figured you’d be hungry and need something to soak up all that alcohol.”

I wince. “Yeah. Sorry about… all that.”

“Don’t be sorry. You needed a night out.”

“I did. It was a lot of fun.”

“Good. I’m glad. Well, I’ll leave you to it. You can take the UTV on the side of the house to get to the lodge this morning. We’ll go get your car this afternoon.” He hands me a set of keys. “See you in a bit.”

“Yeah. Thanks for breakfast and for last night.”

“Anytime.”

He tips his hat in my direction. I never thought that simple move would be so attractive, but the flip of my stomach says otherwise. He turns to walk to his truck, and I take a moment to admire him. His white T-shirt stretches across his broad shoulders, which must be from all the manual labor he does on the ranch. And his jeans fit just right over his ass.

I forget that I’m staring until he looks at me from over his shoulder and smirks.

Caught.

Dammit.

I quickly shut the door in an effort to hide my embarrassment, but I doubt it worked. Why the hell am I so horny, and why is my ex’s dad suddenly the object of all my desires? I almost touched myself in his bathtub last night. Thankfully, I had enough sense to stop. I would’ve had to pack up and move if he’d have caught me doing that.

I quickly get dressed and throw my curls into a bun on top of my head. Then I dig into the breakfast burrito. Everything Brooks has made me has been fantastic, and this is no exception. Is there anything the man isn’t good at?

I wish he weren’t so perfect. It’d make it easier to get over this little infatuation.

The morning goes by quickly, probably because I’m attempting to distract myself from the constant headache that won’t go away. Before I know it, I’ve gone through all of the notes from the night team, answered emails, and prepped check-ins for this afternoon. Pretty productive considering how I feel.

I’m so in the zone that I startle when a plastic bag is set down in front of me.