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Chapter One
I’m locking the door, so you—my lovely friends—are screwed.” An evil laugh ensued as she listened to each lock click into place. Lacey wasn’t staying up any longer waiting for her irresponsible roommates. She’d done it one too many times.
Lacey just couldn’t understand what it was about cowboys that made her friends go off the deep end and land square in the middle of stupidity. First and foremost, they were men. That was pretty much all she needed to know—they were trouble with a capital T and she didn’t need any of it. Mandy and Jenna, her best friends since grade school, were whole-heartedly cowboy crazy. It didn’t help when the Tri-County Rodeo was under way because the guys were literally everywhere—and not just the locals. Seriously, the girls were welcome to have the lot of them.
It was more than a habit lately but whenever they wanted her to go out for a beer, where did they wanna go? The Watering Hole. It was their local hangout, but not for beer, mind you. They went for the testosterone-filled, cowboy-boot-wearing, tight-fitting-blue-jean-butt-clad cowboys. Her friends didn’t understand or they didn’t care. Either way, Lacey wasn’t interested. Been there, done that one time too many.
Sure, she’d dated some cowboys—even slept with a couple against her better judgment. You know, one-night stand and all, but she knew in advance they’d all been the love ‘em and leave ‘em sort. She was probably better off. Who wanted to settle down anyway? She just didn’t have the time.
With her head in a dull haze, her cell resting on her shoulder, she could still hear the conversation going full tilt on the other end without her undivided attention.
“Don’t you think it’s about time you settled down Lacey? You aren’t getting any younger, you know.”
Seriously? This was a heart-to-heart she was so tired of having. “No, Mom. I’m not ready to settle down, thank you. And you make it sound like I’m an old maid already. I’m only twenty-five for Chrissake.” It was a conversation with no real end. Her mom never listened—she only cared about her daughter getting married and having grandbabies. Why didn’t she go bug her brothers? On second thought, they were all probably lost causes.
“Well, I wonder sometimes if you will ever find anyone that can put up with you, you’re just—.”
“Okay, Mom. I’m going to bed.” This part she knew all too well and could repeat with her eyes closed and half asleep she’d heard it so many times. “Tell Daddy I’ll meet him in the barn for morning chores. Good night, love you.”Click.
If Lacey didn’t hang up first, her mom would continue talking and demeaning her whether Lacey listened or not. She plugged her Samsung into the charger and laid it on the bedside table. Her alarm was already set, giving her plenty of time to shower and make the drive out to her parent’s ranch for morning chores. She’d be ahead of the game for once if she could only get comfortable enough to fall asleep before the afore mentioned roommates, Jenna, and Mandy, made it home with whomever they decided to pick up that evening. God she hated Rodeo season.
* * *
Jordon followed silentlybehind his buddies. The whole idea was so stupid; they were drunk off their asses. He just couldn’t figure out why he still cared. They did it to him every time. They couldn’t just go out and socially drink, they had to get drunk and get themselves into dumb situations. If they didn’t always insist on thinking-with-their-dicks instead of their pea-sized brains, he’d feel comfortable staying home and doing his own thing. But instead, he was following the group of four up the sidewalk to the apartment of a couple girls the two had just picked up from the local hangout. He was only staying long enough to make sure they were safely inside before he went back to his own place. He’d waited not-so-patiently while the first girl, Mandy he thought, fidgeted with the keys.
With totally shot nerves, he was ready to take it from her just as she finally got the door open and all four filed inside. One couple went straight for the couch, clothes flying desperately while the other couple headed for the kitchen. Why the hell did he always get himself into these situations? Neither Kaleb nor Mason would remember any of it in the morning but they’d both sure have one hell of a headache. The only reason Jordon felt safe leaving them there was because they had no clue where they were. He’d be back in the morning by the time they woke and wouldn’t remember he’d even gone.
He turned quickly when the other girl blasted the stereo system. Not sure that was a good idea, they lived in an apartment complex and at that hour the neighbors had to be sleeping. When it involved his buddies, there was never a dull moment. In true cowboy form, Mason stood half naked with his cowboy hat on backward, jeans hanging off his hips precariously, and a hairbrush in his hand belting out a Garth Brooks rodeo song. Wishing he’d already escaped, he glanced toward his other friend in time to see an equally scary sight at the kitchen table.
Kaleb was attempting to spread out—in nowhere near a straight line—five shot glasses alongside a large bottle of tequila while Mandy, the first roommate, lay flat in the middle of the table and held a quartered lime between her teeth. She was shaking salt along the line where her shoulders met her neck and had a double tall, thin shot glass full of what he could only assume was tequila, wedged between her barely bra-covered breasts.
“Come on, buddy. Have a drink with us.”
Oh, God. He never should have said yes to this venture. He needed to stop being the designated driver—there were things he just couldn’t un-see. His friends were like bulldogs chasing after a bone. He needed to get the hell out of there—and fast. He had things to do the next day.
“Kaleb, as shit-faced as you are, I think you have things well under control all by yourselves. I’m gonna book before—.”
“What in the hell is going on out here?”
From behind, Jordon heard this amazingly vocal and really pissed off female voice.There’s another roommate?He turned and instantly suffered a searing ache right dead center in his chest.
She was a goddess. A hot goddess. And she looked furious. From what she was wearing, looks like all the commotion in their decent sized living area had awakened her—very possibly from the wrong side of the bed.
He felt compelled to apologize and introduce himself before he bowed out completely. After all, he wasn’t part of the drunken fest. “Hey there,” he spoke carefully, extending his hand. “My name is Jo—.”
“I don’t give two shits who you are, buddy. Seriously, I have no clue why I’m even surprised my roommates are having an orgy at all hours of the morning, or whatever the hell time it is, while I’m trying to sleep. Damn it. I have to be up in a few hours to feed cows.”
Orgy? What the hell gave her that idea? He was still fully clothed. And cows? What did she do for a living?
“And who are you?” Jordon pressed, just in case he was wrong about the third roommate thing.
“Not that it matters, but I’m the only sane roommate here.” Then she turned, presenting him with a cute heart shaped birthmark on her sweet shapely ass. He guessed she probably had no idea she was revealing so much because her night shirt was stuck in the waist band of her thong. The mystery woman stormed back down the hall, slamming what he assumed was her bedroom door.
Funny, but none of the other four people in the room even seemed to notice she had appeared at all.
Shaking his head, he locked the handle of the door and pulled it shut quietly as he left. Almost made him afraid to come back later to pick up his buddies for fear he might have to face her—unless, of course, she was dressed like that again.
Chapter Two
