Page 15 of The Cowboy Contract
Beverly didn’t laugh at the joke either. All her focus stayed right on Leland’s face. “Then why in the heck did Paige act so freaking weird?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there.” He was still in bed, dreaming about rubbing himself against?—
Fuck.
There was possibly a slight chance—microscopic really—that maybe his dream hadn’t happened entirely in his head. It was possible—however slightly—that there could have been some blending of his dreamed behavior and his actual behavior.
And that was real fucking bad.
“I gotta go to work.” Leland leaned in to give his sister a kiss on the cheek, offering Will a little squeeze as he did. Then he rubbed one palm against Rosemary’s head, mussing her already wild hair. “I’ll call you later.” He grabbed his keys, pausing to shove his feet into his boots at the door as he turned. “And you might want to rinse your bathtub out before use it.”
A look of horror passed over his sister’s features, but he wasn’t lingering to explain. She could think whatever she wanted at this point. It didn’t matter.
All that mattered was his unconscious brain might have royally fucked him over. Along with his very conscious dick.
Hustling to his truck, Leland piled in, brain chewing on the events of the morning as he rushed home to get ready for work.
After parking his truck, he rushed inside, peeling off his clothes as he went. When he reached his second-floor bedroom, the whole pile went into the hamper as he passed it on his way to the shower. Standing under the hot spray, he tried to find somescrap of a memory. Some hint that might confirm why Paige left. If he were braver, he’d call her and see how she was doing.
But he was a chickenshit when it came to her. In so many fucking ways. Always had been. That’s how he ended up in this predicament in the first place.
Paige had always been out of his league. She was the prettiest girl in school. Captain of every sport she played. Graduated as valedictorian. She was funny and hardworking and kind.
She’d paid attention to him even when he was a chubby, pimple-faced kid who didn’t have a clue how to wrangle someone like her.
That’s why, even now—many years and a decent amount of experience later—he still fell back into his old ways when it came to her. For the longest time, he thought someone else would step in and take the place she held in his life. Make him realize what he felt for her was infatuation, not love.
It never happened. Every relationship he’d ever tried to have only confirmed what he was coming close to being forced to admit.
Paige was it for him. Always had been. And now his misbehaving cock might have gone and fucked it all up.
Even now, the damn thing wouldn’t act right. The bastard still stood at full mast, not getting the memo that he was at the top of the shit list.
And because he was also clearly a piece of shit, Leland palmed a pile of shower gel and gripped the unrelenting asshole tight. Bracing one hand against the shower wall, he dropped his head forward, letting the water wash over his neck and down his back,hoping it would rinse away at least a little of the shame as he fucked his fist to thoughts of fucking Paige.
He knew her so well he could imagine everything about it. The smell of her skin. The expressions on her face. The sound of her voice as he showed her just how good they could be together.
It was a ritual he practiced more often than he would ever admit. And just like every other time, it was the exact same mental image that sent him over the edge.
A vision of Paige’s soft body under his. Naked. Sated. Well-loved and thoroughly claimed.
By him.
7
Paige
PAIGE WINCED AT the sound of breaking glass. It wasn’t even six and she already had a mess to clean up.
Only this time, she was the one who created it.
“Oh my gosh.” Delores, the bartender scheduled to work alongside her tonight, stared down at the mess spilled across Paige’s boots. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Lie. She was not okay. Not by a long shot. “It just slipped.”
That part was true. The whiskey rocks had slipped right out of her hand. It happened the second she looked up and saw Leland walking through the door in all his uniformed glory.
It was a regular occurrence. One she was normally quite capable of handling. But tonight, the sight of him was a reminder of the shameful way she’d acted the last time they were together. How she was all hot and bothered and considering rubbing herself all over his unsuspecting morning boner.
