Just Her Luck (16 page)

Sawyer choked from somewhere off behind me, and I smiled a little, despite myself, at my bad but very apt pun.

Yeah, stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

"Vieve, please... I need to..." Sawyer pleaded quietly, fingertips brushing my shoulder.

"Nothing serious,
right
, Sawyer?" I took a step towards land, further away from him, shrugging him off, snubbing him, so to speak.

Thatcher frowned at Sawyer, then glanced at me.

I smiled a little and stared at him innocently.

"Care for a swim?" I teased coyly, giving him a hopeful smile, hoping he'd leave what he obviously, from his expression, figured out to himself.

"That depends." He chuckled, taking off his shoes, shocking me when he tossed his shirt on the ground and then casually trudged into the water, roguish grin in place.

Whoops, shit. I was just kidding.

I didn’t think he’d actually take me up on it.

But, good lord, is he worth looking at.

Gah. I just got through dry humping Sawyer and sucking face with the sexy, long haired, coffee brown-eyed blonde, yet Thatcher's smile still makes me feel all funny and awkward inside, kinda giddy, nervous and jittering, deep in my gut.

I must be broken or something...

Maybe I should get that checked out.

I gaped as he waded closer and closer, smooth, golden, sun tanned skin covered in lean muscles, rippling as he went.

He had small, flat little brown circles for nipples and not a chest hair in sight on his beautiful physique.

His amused chuckle brought my feet firmly back onto the ground, head sucked right out of the clouds.

Thatcher was directly in front of me now, bare-chested, nothing on but jeans and a smile on his devastatingly handsome, freshly shaven face when he leaned down close to my ear and whispered into it softly, "That depends,
honey lamb
. Do I get some of what he got?"

Everything in me stiffened and I tensed.

Is he...?

No. He wouldn't… surely he's not that stupid?

Pulling back a little, getting a good glimpse of his face, the glint in his eyes confirmed it.

Well, damn, guess he is.

He won't tell as long as we play his little game, if I'm catching his drift right.

Is that so?
I thought acidly.

Likes to play games, huh? Even the mean ones.

Well, that’s fine. I can too.

Closing the distance, I turned my head and nipped his ear, gripping his sun kissed shoulders when he nuzzled my earlobe, goose flesh breaking out over both of our bodies at the contact.

"You sure you can handle it? I can be kinda...
rough
," I asked throatily, voice just above a whisper, cupping my hands into his hair.

Sawyer made a rude noise in the back of his throat, but I ignored it.

"Mmmm, hmmm," Thatcher murmured gutturally, hands gripping my hips.

"Good," I responded, acting fast, my hand brushing ever so lightly over his cock, "but just remember,
you asked for it
."

He grunted as I roughly handled him.

"Whah...?"

Without any more thought on the matter, I slapped the seam of his pants, releasing my other hand from his neck to push him over when he bent over, shocked, and gripped himself.

"Argh!" he grunted, grimacing.

Leaning in close, I scoffed, hissing into his face and pointing at him warningly as he slumped in the green pond muck, water dripping off my fingertip, "Don't you
ever
try to blackmail me again, Thatcher Harrison! Next time I'll dig your testicles out of you with a rusty spoon!"

Whirling around as best as I could, head held high, I trudged out of the water, thankful when Ephraim held out his hand, a grin from ear to ear on his handsome, lightly bearded face, and he helped me the rest of the way out.

"Thank, you, sir," I clipped primly, not looking back, smiling graciously when he offered me his jacket. "At least one of you has manners!" I sniffed.

Walking over to my things, I picked up my shoes and huffed loudly, making sure Thatcher and Sawyer heard.

Like I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, anger and sarcasm are my weapons of choice.

It’s all I’ve ever known.

It scared me more than I’d like to admit that I’d liked it,
the good bits
, liked them both.

It shouldn’t feel right, right?

The feel of Sawyers lips on mine, Thatcher’s strong hands gripping my hips confidently as he smiled wickedly and leaned down, trying to tease a kiss from me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

No. No. No.

Ephraim slipped his jacket better around my shoulders and jerked his head in the general direction we were supposed to go.

Keeping pace with him, I let him lead me home, trying to put the whole incident,
incidents,
behind me.

"I don't think I'll ever figure you out, Genny," Ephraim chuckled, slinging an arm around my shoulders and plopping his cowboy hat on my head.

I adjusted it comfortably on my noggin and shrugged.

And I don’t think anyone ever will.

Well,
I amended,
except maybe for Ruthie.

"Isn't that half the fun?" I tossed out carelessly, trying to look up at him, getting a deep belly laugh from my lanky companion when I finally managed it and winked.

"I reckon you're right," he agreed.

I nodded in satisfaction. "Damn straight!"

"And don't I know it," he just had to add.

"You should just quit while you’re ahead," I said reasonably, eyeing him dubiously.

"How you figure that?" he asked curiously, blue eyes shining down at me, smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"Well, we've been in each other's company for at least ten minutes now, right?" I peeked up at him again, pulling his jacket around me tighter.

"Uh-huh," he agreed, lips quirking up a little more.

"You're
bound
to insult me if you keep talking, so reason stands you should quit while you’re ahead." I let my voice linger on some of the words, dragging them out dramatically, just for effect.

"Good point." He grunted and shut up immediately.

That had me grinning, and he gave me a long, exaggerated wink.

"Ephraim?" I laughed when he actually stopped talking.

He shrugged.

"'E'?" I giggled when he sucked his lips into his mouth, baby blues twinkling at me mischievously.

Silent, he shook his head and mimed zipping his lips.

I threw my hands up. "I was just kidding!"

Still wasn’t’ budging.

Giving up, I elbowed him, but he dodged at the last minute, putting his arm back over my shoulder and humming steadily under his breath instead of talking.

"It's weird when you don't talk," I commented into the silence when we'd walked a ways.

He grinned, but didn't respond, only shrugging as he hummed anyway.

It sounded like a country song I'd heard from somewhere before, but I couldn't quite place it.

Five more minutes passed.

"Ephraim!" I exclaimed, cracking, exasperated with him when mum was still the word.

I didn’t expect him to take it so seriously!

"I really had you goin' there, didn't I?" he teased suddenly, guffawing at me outright.

"See," I said sadly, pulling away from him and shaking my head in dismay, "You just had to go and ruin it by talking."

I sighed heavily and gave him a hang dog look, lip trembling a little.

"Aw, Genny, I didn't..."

"Ha ha! I win!" I crowed, dropping my act, running as I took off for the house.

"Hey! That's a dirty trick!"

"Look at me, 'E', I'm covered in pond muck," I held my arms up as I ran, "guess I'm just a dirty, dirty girl!"

I could hear him bark out a laugh as he trailed behind me.

"You're too short to out run me and you know it, Genny Ferguson!" he called as he raced after me.

"I'm an ornery, stubborn Ferguson, cowboy! And true as that may be, I can still sure as shit try!"

****

Surprisingly enough, I almost beat Ephraim back to the house, skidding to a halt when I almost collided right into the now dry mud encrusted Reeve.

Reeve grabbed my shoulders, holding me in a bruising grip when I would have moved away, almost cutting off the circulation as he scowled down at me.

"Going somewhere, gremlin?" he asked quietly, voice laced with menace.

"Uhm... yes?" I said nervously, pretending he wasn't giving me a death stare or pinching the shit outta my upper arms.

"I can't believe you kept ahead of me that long!" Ephraim grinned at me, slapping Reeve on the back when he caught up. "Did ya see that, Reeve?" he continued, "girl has long legs on her for a shorty."

"I told you, you shoulda just quit while you were ahead." Growling at the unintended insult, I glared at him.

You don’t tell someone who’s short they’re short!

He makes it sound like I’m stubby.

Reeve eyed Ephraim's hat on my head and his jacket draped over my shoulders, my body soaked to the bone with green pond scum.

He raised an eyebrow at Ephraim, his hands still clamped down on me, unforgiving in his grip, no matter how hard I jerked and squirmed in his hold.

Hands are like damn vice grips!

"What have you two been up to?" Reeve asked quietly, a wealth of condemnation in his voice, and it wasn't directed at 'E'.

"Swimming," I cut in before anyone could say anything.

It was sort of true, so it isn't a lie so much as an omission.

Sorta.

"Where?" Reeve asked doubtfully, eyeing me interestedly.

He took one whiff of me and released me immediately, grimacing as he wiped his hands off on his shirtfront.

"In the pond?" he muttered incredulously, eyeing the green muck hanging off of me.

"Yes, and now I need to go bleach myself, so if you'll excuse me..."

"Hello, Miss Genevieve, fancy seein' you here," came a very familiar voice.

My head whipped around.

"Uncle Ten?" I watched as Calvin's uncle rounded the truck
- the truck recently parked in front of the house instead of near the tack room-
with now empty crates in the back, his big frame lumbering towards us.

Recovering from my shock, I grinned up at him.

And I do mean up!

Good lord! The man is taller than Ephraim!

"How's my little buddy?" I asked, waving at him, not willing to shake his hand all covered in filth like I am.

He didn't take offense, just gave me a slow, appraising look.

"He's doin' just fine. Thank you for askin'. What's got you all gussied up in pond greenery today?" he inquired politely with an impish smile playing at his lips, grey eyes smiling down at me.

"She says
swimmin
'," Ephraim put in, his tone saying exactly what he thought about that, "but it didn't really
look
like swimmin' from where I was standin'."

Reeve narrowed his eyes at me, making them look beady and rat-like as he fixated on me, much to my further discomfort and chagrin.

I turned pink under their combined scrutiny, feeling a bit flabbergasted, flustered almost.

Technically, I didn't do anything wrong!

So why do I feel like it when Reeve stares at me like that?

"If you ask me, it looked like Sawyer was tryin' to..."

"Ephraim!" I shouted desperately, gut checking him when he would have spilled the beans.

He grunted and bent over to clutch his stomach.

"What was that for?" he groaned, giving me a stunned look.

I let out a horrible, tittering laugh. "Uhm, it slipped?"

His response was just more groaning.

"What about Sawyer?" Reeve rumbled out.

"Oh, would you look at the time! Don't you guys need to get ready to leave or something? Gee, I really need to get out of these wet clothes!" I babbled, edging surreptitiously away from Reeve.

He caught on and gripped my shirt.

"Why the rush?" Reeve smirked, Ten eyeing us questioningly the whole time.

"Uh... lady stuff?" I tried.

Ten blanched at that.

Heh. Heh.

Some men are such weenies about those kinds of things.

Mention a period, the dreaded 'lady stuff', and they go running for the hills.