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“Hop on.” He hooked a thumb at the space behind him, the sour expression on his face not at all welcoming.
Aww, he wanted to cuddle. Not.
“Cameron, next time, get us the horses. It must be better than this.” I tossed my leg over the ATV while pointing at Jethro with as much good humor as I could muster.
“Deal,” she shouted back.
Our gazes met, and for a moment, we shared a silly smile and a laugh. In my chest, that dangerous thing fluttered again. Sharing a private joke with her was almost as good as riding behind her. No, it wasn’t. But I would survive the ride being slammed up against a big sweaty dude by remembering how good she felt in my arms on the way up the hill.
With no mishaps, we made it to the bottom. Cameron kept the dead ATV on the trail and under control. I wouldn’t have wanted the job on the unfamiliar machine.
As soon as we pulled to a stop in the storage building, I dismounted, patted Jethro on the back, and told him thanks for the help. The younger man wasn’t interested in my words; he only had eyes for Cameron. But judging by how studiously she ignored him, he was out of luck.
“Cami, can I talk to you?” Jethro shouldered past me and over to her.
I stayed back, sure that I didn’t want to get involved. Mostly because of my lingering desire to punch Jethro in his handsome face.
She shook her head, a cell phone already pressed to her ear. “Is this Melody? Great. We need to talk about the ATV at your river house listing.”
Cameron walked past me and Jethro and out of the building. Her eyes didn’t even flick in our direction.
“Poor Melody,” I said to Jethro with a twist of my lips. I couldn’t hear well enough to understand what Cameron was saying, but her tone said she was annoyed.
“I need to talk to Cami. Think I should wait?” Jethro hitched up his belt, the black sidearm glinting in the sunlight as we stepped out of the workshop in Cameron’s wake. The phone pressed to her ear, she paced near the house, her strides fast and jerky.
“There is still a large portion of the property left for us to tour. It could be a while.” I made it sound like we’d be there for the rest of the day.
He dithered for a few moments and winced visibly when Cameron’s voice rose to a distinctly pissed-off tone. Ultimately, with my encouragement and her melodramatics, he loaded up the department ATV and got going because he was still on duty. I waved goodbye to the deputy before Cameron got off the phone.
“So how long were you actually on the phone with Melody, and how long were you talking to an empty line?” I asked Cameron as we stood shoulder to shoulder in the drive, watching Jethro’s vehicle disappear out the gate.
She blinked at me, eyes wide and full of faux innocence. “Whatever did you mean?” Her eyelashes fluttered comically.
“No way you bitched at some woman for almost twenty minutes. You are way too nice.”
“Think Jethro bought it?” She bit her lip and tilted her head.
“Yeah, but he wanted me to let you know he’d be in touch.”
“That man can’t take a hint.” She added a groan of pure annoyance.
“He is your biggest fan. Told me he is dying to watch you on TV.” I bumped my shoulder with hers.
“Don’t.” She held up a hand. “Jethro was an error.”
“He is ready to fall to his knees and worship you.” I raised an eyebrow, lacing my words with all the double entendre I could manage.
Her face turned a color I didn’t know human skin could. Beet red wasn’t a strong enough color; maybe fire engine or radioactive strawberry. And her hand covered her mouth as she shook her head.
“Oh. My. God. Deputy Thor was bad in bed, wasn’t he?” Inside, I did a victory dance that would have put that Lord of the Dance guy to shame. Figuratively, my toes tapped, and my heart sang an Irish jig. I no longer wished to punch Jethro; his fate was already sealed. I didn’t try to rationalize my elation; it was a fact like the sun shining or the tides changing.
Even a man with my kind of money didn’t recover from being shit in the sack. Not today, when every other magazine at the checkout counter told you ten foolproof ways to bring your partner to mind-blowing orgasm. Jethro might be pretty, but pretty is as pretty does.
“I didn’t say that. We had zero chemistry. He’s like my little brother or something.” She didn’t have to say it; the smirk on her full and delicious lips implied the ineptitude.
“He was, though, wasn’t he? Young, dumb, and if God is fair, under-endowed.” There is something to be said for age and experience.
Good sex was about reading a woman’s nonverbal clues and following her lead. Nothing about Jethro showed him to be that perceptive. He couldn’t tell that Cameron wasn’t into him. Gauging a woman’s pleasure was a far more subtle thing.
