Page 15 of My Cowboy Boss
I pause and look at him, surprised he’s still there.
“Your folks…I don’t understand.”
“To better understand the work you do.”
He sounds like he’s making that up.
He’s looking at me with a gentle expression on his face like he can’t stand that I was crying. But grump that he is, he’s probably uncomfortable with my emotions. I don’t want to tour the ranch. I want to go home and change into my comfortable pajamas. I want to spend time with Aspen and convince myself just because something bad happened in the past doesn’t mean it will again.
“Come on,” he says, raising the office window higher before he walks away.
“The air is running,” I say to his back but he doesn’t slow.
I sigh, save my pitiful progress in the system, and then follow him out.
Outside, the sky is perfectly blue and I take a deep breath of fresh, clean air.
As we walk toward the barn and a brown and white blur streaks past us.
“Oh!” I take a step closer to Flint, stopping myself just in time. I’d almost clutched his muscled forearm. “What was that?”
“Another one of River’s rescue dogs. That one is Bandit. He’ll steal everything that’s not nailed down. I found a pair of mysunglasses, one of my boots and the TV remote half buried in Mom’s flower garden beside the house.”
“Ah, I see. I think River helping animals is sweet,” I say.
“My brother has a good heart.” Flint glances over his shoulder. “Just stay alert for the crow. He likes to sneak up behind people and suddenly caw. The last time he did that to me it was dark out and I spilled my coffee on my jeans. For a second I thought I’d pissed myself.”
I laugh at that.
“He and the rooster don’t get along. They both want to run this place.” Flint grins down at me.
That smile…it does things to my body. I look away.
“You were upset back at the office. Are you okay?” he asks in such a sweet tone that I want to launch myself at him and say I’m not.
“I had a hard day,” I tell him. “I lost my parents as a teenager and today I was reminded of that.”
“Are you all alone then?”
I hesitate but then say, “I have a sister. She’s my best friend and raised me after my parents were gone. We’ve struggled a lot financially and emotionally this past year.” I can’t help the pained laugh that spills from my lips as I try to downplay the depth of the wound I carry. “It’s hard and sometimes I just want someone to hug me.”
Chapter 7
Flint
As we’d walked, Arizona had mentioned how much she and her sister struggled with money and how they’d hurt emotionally. I think about how she’d reacted when her beat up old car wouldn’t start.
Maybe like my family and I are doing, she’s just trying to do the best she can in life. When she says she just wants someone to hug her sometimes, I take a step closer to her.
She doesn’t move away and when I wrap my arms around her, a long sigh escapes her. I tighten my hold. I’m strong and my back is broad. I would make a fine shield for this woman. I could stand in the way and the bad stuff lobbed her direction could hit me instead.
The thought shocks me. I don’t know why it does. I reckon it’s been brewing for a while, these feelings of mine that I didn’t want to poke at and examine. This woman is important to me, and despite what I know now, I think she’s a good person.
I don’t know why she’s lying but I’m willing to trust that there’s a solid reason for her doing so.
As I’m thinking these things my body starts reacting. My cock surges, giving me a hell of a hard on. My length pressesagainst her and she still doesn’t move away. That’s a kind of torture right there. The sweet kind I don’t mind experiencing.
But not here. Not right by the barn where everyone can see us. I’m not ashamed of holding her. Of wanting to kiss her.
