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“Good enough.” Maybe this was for the best, Devin thought as he bent and took aim to break. He needed to hold on to his resolve not to have anything to do with her, and it would be much easier to accomplish that if he won and she abided by their wager. His gut clutched at that but he refused to acknowledge the odd feeling of dissatisfaction it conjured up as he pulled back and started the game with a clatter of balls spreading out across the table.
Fifteen minutes later, he blew out a frustrated breath as Kelsey sunk yet another ball, increasing her lead by two. There were only four balls remaining and the eight. Unfortunately, she was the high ball after he choked on the eight. She was good, he’d give her that, but he wasn’t above playing dirty to get out of the bind she wrangled him into. There was no way he wanted that small body pressed against him as they rode Thor, or even the responsibility of sticking close to her as she rode Cleo. Cursing Greg, who stood leaning against the wall with a glower on his face this whole time, he strolled behind her as she lined up to sink the ten. Thinking just to distract her enough to screw up her shot, he slipped in a tight squeeze of one buttock without slowing, surprised at the malleable fullness of her cheek. She jumped and missed, but that didn’t seem to bother her since she flipped him a cheeky grin, swaying her hips.
“Feel free to do that again.”
A laugh burst from Greg as he drawled, “Wrong play, partner.”
Turning back to the game, Kelsey didn’t say or do anything to retaliate as he sank two balls, tied up the score then missed the eleven. Desperate to deny her the winning shot, he leaned on his cue stick and tried to catch her off guard and ease his conscience by stating, “It’s nothing personal you know, my reasons for wanting to keep my distance.”
She jerked and glared at him. “I never said it was. Trust me, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want the responsibility of having me around.” As if that statement bothered her more than it did him, she bent and made a clean shot, nicely sinking the last ball and then, without flaw, pocketed the eight.
After deciding it was no fun pursuing or even teasing a man who made it clear he had no interest in having her around, Kelsey pouted and stayed away from both men for the next few days. It wasn’t worth the frustration and hurt to continue flirting and poking at either Greg or Devin when neither shied away from telling her exactly how they felt about her presence. Granted, Greg had been friendly and welcoming, at least ten times more so than Devin, but it wasn’t enough to ease her unhappiness over being here in the first place, or to assuage her hurt feelings. When not working, she found little to occupy her time since nothing about the ranch appealed to her except the owners.
Quit being a wuss and get over it already. Switching gears, she focused on her work and the two new clients her boss had sent her this morning. Along with the fresh breeze wafting in from the open window, the faint echo of lowing cattle, occasional high pitch of a neighing horse and voices of camping guests rousing themselves reached her ears. The sounds were vastly different from the constant busy clatter of her downtown office and loud bustling activity and traffic from the streets of Philly that filtered through the closed windows, but they didn’t bother her as much as earlier in the week. Sometime in the past six days she seemed to have acclimated herself to her surroundings, if not to her hosts. Host, she corrected. As far as she knew, Devin was still none too happy about Greg’s decision to agree to Jordan’s request to offer her a temporary haven while they continued to investigate the man who attacked her.
When her attention wandered to the activities outside for the third time, Kelsey blew out a frustrated breath and pushed away from the desk. Maybe a sandwich and walk would clear her head and help keep her focused when she returned. Padding into the kitchen, she tried not to take the silence of the huge house to heart as she rummaged in the refrigerator for fixings for a sandwich. For four days she had stayed to herself, keeping to her room until she saw through the window both men leaving the house to attend to their agenda for the day. She’d taken advantage of Greg’s offer to raid the kitchen any time she didn’t want the buffet and had gotten by with making sandwiches or eggs once they were gone. Each night, Greg had rapped on her door when he’d come in, asking if she was okay or needed anything before calling out goodnight. Both men seemed content with her staying to herself.
“I don’t care,” she muttered as she slapped together a ham sandwich, grabbed a bottle of water and stepped outside. Settling in a rocker on the porch, she watched guests gather around the largest corral as Devin opened the gate and Greg herded a young calf inside. Eating her sandwich, she watched as Greg loosened a coiled rope, controlling his horse with his heavy thighs and knees. She envied the ease with which he sat the stallion and was surprised by the desire to master the feat of riding that well herself.
“Oh!” Kelsey sat up as Greg twirled the noosed end of the rope over his head while chasing the calf around until he got close enough to rope him. She groaned around a bite and then gulped a long drink of cold water as her needy body got all pumped up watching his agile leap off Cherokee. He controlled the bawling, none-too-happy calf by maintaining a tight, two-handed grip on the rope that emphasized the strength of his arms and legs. Devin entered to lend him a hand and she tried not to drool at the way their chaps framed their pelvises, the sexy leather wear drawing her eyes to their crotches and butts, depending on which way they turned.
I need to get laid, scratch this itch that started when I was dumb enough to venture out on that balcony and got stirred up from the eyeful I got. Just eyeing her reluctant hosts proved to be enough to keep it going. Padding back inside, she figured her prospects of getting her lust sated were slim to none.
Kelsey worked the rest of the afternoon and then went for a walk after telling Tom where she was headed. She stayed gone a little longer than usual and by the time she came strolling out of the woods, the evening dinner buffet had opened and she saw several people strolling toward the social hall laughing, their faces flushed from whatever activities they’d participated in and enjoyed that day. The appeal of this place still eluded her, and even though she wouldn’t mind hanging out with others tonight, she trotted up the steps to the house to spend another evening feeling sorry for herself. There were times, like this, when her stubbornness irritated even her. Still, if her self-imposed solitude made Greg and Devin feel bad, it might be worth it.
When she wasn’t tired by nine-thirty, she slipped on her silky, comfortable nightshirt, pulled her hair up in a sloppy ponytail, donned her magnetic blue-framed reading glasses and settled in front of the computer to work on her new accounts. Neither client had kept detailed books when they’d started their small business and going through the numbers was proving to be a tedious task.
It was still shy of ten o’clock when Kelsey heard the guys come in, their deep voices drawing goosebumps on her arms and distracting her from the notes she was jotting down. Instead of hearing them say goodnight to each other within a few minutes of entering the house, their low murmurs resonated down the hall from the den. Curiosity as well as annoyance that they seemed content with letting her be, prompted her to check out what was keeping them up later tonight. Slipping her pencil behind her ear, she rose and tiptoed down the hall, pausing around the corner to stay out of sight, but close enough now to listen in on the conversation. Devin’s irritated voice reached her first, his words increasing her interest.
“Won’t Jed be here? And she seems content staying to herself.”
“That’s bothering you, too, isn’t it?” Greg drawled.
“Nope,” he denied so fast Kelsey winced. “It’s what I wanted from the start. I’m glad she reneged on the bet, too.”
“Uh, huh, sure you are. Cut her some slack, Dev. She’s not happy being away from everything she’s known her whole life. I told you, I set her straight on the consequences for pushing us and she’s been fine ever since.”
“You didn’t see her eating the other night,” Devin muttered. Her lips curled at his disgruntled tone. “I bet she’s plotting.”
“And I bet you want her to keep her distance because you’re worried you won’t be able to resist her.”
Greg’s remark perked her up until Devin delivered his succinct reply with a derisive scoff. “There’s not a woman out there I can’t resist.”
“If you say so. Anyway, Jed’s brother fell and he’s already left for the weekend. I said I would stay home. Go on to the club, if you want,” Greg urged.
Club? The word renewed her inquisitiveness in their conversation and she halted in turning to go back to her room to listen further.
“And come home to you brooding because you were stuck babysitting? No thanks. The Barn will be there next week, along with all the willing submissives.”
Kelsey gritted her teeth at the term ‘babysitting’ but her irritation took a backseat to the quick leap in her pulse upon hearing the term ‘submissive’. Were they talking about a kink club, like Dominion? Before she could give in to the temptation to come around the corner and ask them point blank what they meant, Greg sighed and called out in a louder tone, “What are you doing, Kelsey?”
“Eavesdropping,” she answered without hesitation, choosing honesty as she strolled into the den heedless of her skimpy nightshirt until both men’s eyes zeroed in on her bare legs. A thrill whipped through her system as they eyed the outline of her turgid nipples pressing against the silky material. She twiddled her thumbs, standing in indecision as their slow perusal set up a low hum of arousal between her legs. Heat flared in their eyes as they reached her face, making her wonder if those hot looks stemmed from the view her see-through, thigh-skimming sheath offered or if they got off on the disheveled, geeky accountant appearance. She was more than willing to accept either explanation.
“What’s The Barn?” she managed to ask as her toes curled into the thick, braided area rug.
Devin’s dark brows snapped down in a frown. “None of your business. Go to bed.”
That got her dander back up. Placing her fists on her hips, she narrowed her eyes. “I’m not a child to be sent to bed because the grownups have secrets.”
