Page 53 of Smokin' Situation

Losing myself in the feeling of her body, I groaned against the soft, sweaty skin of her neck, plunging in all the way before I lost myself, emptying myself inside her warm, supple body.

“If that was loving me,” she breathed, pushing the sweaty hair off my forehead. “Then next time, maybe you need to hate me a little.”

I laughed, enjoying the way she giggled along with me. “Not sure that’s possible, but I can give it my best shot.”

“But right now you need to take me to bed,” she yawned, bracing her palms on the counter behind her.

Tracing the back of one knuckle across her breast, I leaned in to kiss her softly before I pulled away.

Leaning down to pull off my boots, I left them with the pile of clothes on the kitchen floor with my socks, jeans and underwear.

Scooping up Rhey’s warm, pliant, naked body, I kept her close as I navigated the path through the dimly lit cabin to my bed. Depositing her on the soft cotton, I smiled, climbing in behind her before I pulled the sheets over our sated bodies.

This was what I’d been missing. A connection with a woman that seemed more than just superficial. The ability to curl myself around someone I’d just shared something intense with and interlace our fingers on her stomach without it feeling forced. Without having to ask, I knew she’d be here when I woke up, ready to face whatever tomorrow threw at us.

I knew we still had so many unspoken things between us, but the more time we spent together, the more I craved it. Then there was the not so inconsequential task of figuring out the details around where she’d be living long term, but I wasn’t going anywhere, and I hoped she wouldn’t either.

“See you in the morning, sweetheart,” I whispered, kissing her shoulder and enjoying the way she wiggled her hips to get closer to me.

This living arrangement might be temporary in her eyes, but I was going to put up a fight to convince her she belonged here with me.

It might have been crazy fast and a bit reckless, but what hadn’t been with us at this point?

Maybe we all needed a bit of recklessness in our lives. Rhey was my little bit of chaos. And I’d never regret her.

Annie

Beingattheranchwith Tripp made it hard to believe that I’d ever spent my life anywhere else—with anyone else. It was peaceful in a way that I didn’t know I needed.

When we woke up to a beautiful blue sky, it finally felt like the chaos of the past few days was finally behind us. The smoke wasn’t entirely gone, but the haze had lifted enough so that it was easier to stay outside for longer periods of time.

I still had a few more days until I needed to return to reality—aka my job at the bar—and I was determined to focus on the uninterrupted time with him. Even if I was currently cleaning stalls in the barn and up to my elbows in horseshit.

“You sure you don’t want a job?” Marty teased, watching me attempt to smoothly maneuver a wheelbarrow down the aisle between the rows of stalls, while simultaneously trying to hold my breath. He and the rest of the ranch hands may have been nose blind to horse manure, but I was not. That shit—literally—was pungent and huge. “You’re only at the bar during the evenings. I could use a few extra hands around here once the season picks back up. And from what I remember, you used to be pretty good in a saddle.”

“It’s been years since I rode, and I think I prefer the animals I serve to be of the party variety—not the shits bigger than my fist variety.”

He laughed, and I smiled at the sound because I was sure everyone in town had aged significantly in the last four days and neededto be reminded that while some of us may have lost everything, we still had each other. And ridiculous poop jokes.

“Let’s hope you don’t know the bathroom habits of the people you serve at the bar,” he teased, shouldering me out of the way to take the wheelbarrow. It was the latest load I’d helped Tripp cart out of the horse stalls and felt like the millionth trip I’d made down this aisle with a pile of crap.

“You wouldn’t believe half the things I’ve seen. Drunk people definitely have the ability to revert to their nasty baser selves.”

The horses were still being temporarily housed at the fairgrounds. So, the ranch staff not supervising them there were trying to get the barn back into shape for when they were ready to come home. While the lodge was currently deserted, Marty had told us that the next week was a full house after the fourth.

We’d all been a little worried that the fire would scare away the tourists for the rest of the summer, but once they’d let people with upcoming reservations know things were under control, very few of them had canceled their trips. And any remaining openings had already been filled. Tripp and Marty were supposed to go on a ride of the western edge of the ranch later in the week to assess the trails for damage, but a majority of the ranch was intact, including the cabins to the north we’d taken overnight refuge in.

Tripp was anxious to get Phi back to the ranch. He’d spent ten minutes on the phone with the equine vet this morning asking all kinds of questions. The smoke inhalation during the fire didn’t seem to have done any permanent damage to her lungs. She’d just have to spend the next month taking it easy in the barn to recover as a precaution.

I still had a bit of a cough when I spent too much time outside, and Reese had tried to get me to come get checked out at the hospital, but I felt fine otherwise. At least my lungs did. Other parts of me were a bit tender from repetitive use, but I didn’t regret how they’d gotten that way for a damn minute.

“Well, if you change your mind, the barn door will always be open to you. Although I’m sure I can wear you down if you’re living on the property.”

“I, uh…” my voice trailed off, unsure if he was upset because my room at the lodge had been unoccupied the last few nights in favor of the cabin in the woods behind it.

“I hear my new manager got a mattress delivered last week, hope he bought a good one,” Marty teased, bouncing his eyebrows. “You know, since none of the ones in the lodge have been used recently. When I came looking for you during breakfast, Charley told me the room she put you up in was suspiciously empty this morning.”

“Oh my God, Dad, leave her alone!” I hadn’t even realized Charley was at the ranch today, but I appreciated her coming to my rescue, because while I’d known Marty since I was a kid, I wasn’t exactly keen on sharing mattress assessments with him. “She can stay wherever she wants, and it’s none of your damn business.”

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