Page 2 of Gifting the Cowboy
two
Rex
“Whoa, be careful whereyou throw that shit.” My brother Rhett ducks his head as the straw with horseshit flies over him.
“Sorry. Guess I must have been thinking about my house or something.” Or something is more accurate. I can’t get Brynnlee out of my mind.
We’ve been living together for just over a month, and during that time, we’ve settled into a comfortable routine, taking turns making breakfast and dinner—the two meals we share each day. It’s almost as if we are a real couple— the only thing missing is touching, kissing, and of course, sex. Just the thought of her curves makes my body react. The last thing I need is to get an erection in front of my brother while we're mucking out the horse stalls.
“Would that something else be Brynnlee?” Rhett stops shoveling hay, sets his shovel against the wall, and takes off his cowboy hat to wipe the sweat from his brow with his arm.
Working up a sweat with manual labor is exactly what I need to distract myself from my sexy roommate. Unfortunately, it’s not working today. As much as I want to tell my brother about my feelings for Brynnlee, I decide not to. If Brynnlee doesn’t return my feelings, it would be awkward since Rhett’s fiancée is Brynnlee’s best friend. I don’t want them to have to choose sides if things go wrong, especially not before their wedding in a few weeks.
“Brynnlee’s sweet and all, but she’s not really my type.” I lower my head, focusing on the hay and horseshit on my shovel, debating whether I should actually aim for my brother this time.
“Hmm, not your type, you say.” His poorly veiled innuendo has me wanting to smash something—preferably his face.
“Just drop it, Rhett. Brynnlee is my roommate and nothing more.” Not yet, at least. It’s becoming harder each day to ignore my feelings for her.
“All right. If you say so.” He picks up his shovel and begins scooping hay, but knowing my brother, he’s not ready to drop the subject. "So," he starts, confirming my suspicions. “Aspen has been trying to get all the single guys in town to sign up for her mail-order bride dating service. She asked Charlotte if you would be interested in signing up since you’re single.”
“Please don’t tell me you did what I think you did.” The last thing I need is for Brynnlee to think I’m interested in dating someone else.
“I mean, you are single, aren’t you?” He shrugs, but it’s that little smirk on his face he’s trying to hide that gives him away.
“What did you sign me up for?” I grind my teeth, fighting the urge to make Charlotte a widow before they even get married.
“It’s like a Christmas gift giving tree, but instead of choosing a kid’s info from the tree to give a gift to, you pick your potential mates' info and go out on dates and stuff.”
That’s it, I’m going to be an only child after I kill Rhett for interfering in my life. But instead of choking him like I want to, I take a deep breath and, more calmly than I thought possible, I ask him why he did it. “Why would you do that? You know I’m not ready to settle down—my house isn’t even ready to move into yet.”
But it is ready—it’s been ready for over two weeks. What isn’t ready is me. I’m not ready to move out of Brynnlee’s apartment and away from her. I’ve had to pay my guys extra to putter around the house and look busy so that Rhett doesn’t get suspicious.
“About that, it seems to be taking longer than expected for them to finish your new house.”
Ignoring him, I refuse to take the bait and switch topics. “Do you really want to worry about my house when you have a wedding to plan?” Plan might be a bit of a stretch since both he and Charlotte have been MIA when it comes to their wedding details.
“About that. Charlotte and I were supposed to have cake testing at Brynnlee’s tonight, but I have something special planned for Charlotte, so we won’t be able to attend.” Right, he has something special planned, spending the night wrapped in each other’s arms, acting like the rest of the world doesn’t exist—exactly what I want to do with Brynnlee. Unfortunately, the timing isn’t right.
“Fine, but I hope you both like carrot cake as your wedding cake.”
“You wouldn’t dare. You know I hate carrots.” His scrunched-up face would usually make me laugh if I weren’t still upset about him signing me up for the dating Christmas tree.
“We’ll see.” My threat falls on deaf ears as Charlotte strolls into the barn looking like the cat that stole the cream.
“Hey, Rex,” Charlotte says before being wrapped up in Rhett’s arms for a long kiss. I lose track of which Mississippi I’m on when they finally break apart, both panting hard like a couple of teenagers in the backseat of a car.
“Charlotte.” I tip my cowboy hat. “What brings you here this time of day?” I ask while making small talk. Usually, Charlotte works the closing shift because she and Rhett can’t seem to get out of bed early enough to work the early shift.
“I swapped with Icelyn. She’s spending the night with Granger and wants to come in late tomorrow.”
Great, another horny baker in this town. I wonder if there’s something in the water at the bakery making them act this way—all but my Brynnlee.
“Does that mean you have to go into work early tomorrow?" The sad puppy dog look on Rhett’s face is almost too much to watch. At Charlotte’s nod, his pout deepens.
Unable to watch this trainwreck any longer, I dismiss Rhett for the day. “Get out of here, both of you. I’ll finish up in here.”
“Are you sure?” His eyes light up the same way they did on Christmas morning. Only I think the present Charlotte wants to give him is better than anything he's ever received on Christmas morning.
