Money Shot (11 page)

Chapter Three

Grace

Back inside the bathroom, with the door firmly closed and braced with the towel holder the brother I’d kissed had mentioned, I gave myself over to the panic.

What in the hell had I been thinking throwing myself into his arms like that?

Ok yes, I thought the cowboy was sexy as hell when we were all in the stable. So sexy that during my hot shower I may have entertained some very naughty and dirty thoughts about said cowboy, but that was all they were.

Just because I may have let my fingers wander a bit while I showered does not mean that a kiss like that ever should have happened.

Holy hell! Maybe he heard me? Since the door doesn’t like to stay closed on its own account, maybe I had been a little, umm, louder in my, umm, imaginings than I’d meant to be?

Maybe he heard me taking matters into my own hands inside the shower, from the hallway? Could that be why he paused outside in the hall?

Once I got out of the shower and was drying off and noticed that the bathroom door was ajar I peeked outside, never expecting to literally run into who I thought was the cause of all my shower fantasies.

Mmmm, my mind drifted back, replaying those hot, steamy fantasies in my head once again.

I’d imagined him and me in one of those horse stalls, alone, together, giving new meaning to the term ‘rolling in the hay.’

I’d imagined way more than just kissing him, I’d imagined him taking me right there in that stall. Well, minus my dad and the birthing horse mess.

It was so hot that my shower took longer than I planned, but the orgasm as I touched myself, imagining his cock, was, well, it was sexy as all hell.

What was I supposed to think when I found him just outside the open door, right after I’d used him in my fantasy in the shower?

I didn’t even know his name when I was thinking about him like that! It was hot, too, not knowing.

What if I was louder in there than I thought I was? I was trying to be quiet, but the roar of the shower could have tricked me. What if he’d known what I was imagining in there?

I can’t believe that I hugged him. I threw myself into his arms! I never do that! I’m practical, not reactionary. I see how things look on paper first.

I know I found him attractive in the barn, but just because he was a fantasy come to life doesn’t mean that I should throw myself at him.

And then he kissed me!

Who does that?

His kiss was amazing
, I thought, playing it back in my mind. My gaze was lost somewhere in the mirror as I was supposed to be getting dressed and making myself presentable again.

Seems I’ve been doing quite the opposite of things I was supposed to be doing today.

My mind drifted back again to the kiss.

I’ve kissed a few guys, but nothing in my life had prepared me to be kissed like he kissed me.

His arms were so big, they wrapped around me holding me so tight. I wanted to bite his biceps, and biting biceps is never a thought I’d ever had about anyone before today.

And oh, his chest was so solid.

I wanted to yank up his shirt and lick every curve of his chest, concentrating on his nipples.

I wondered what his nipples would feel like under my tongue.

Would he moan if I sucked them? What would he do if I bit one?

And speaking of solid, his cock was so hard!

I could feel him through his jeans and through my towel.

Holy shit, was I really only wearing a towel?

A new wave of embarrassment washed over me.

Like all of that wasn’t bad enough,
I thought.

I mean, I heard his words, something about how we’d never met, but they didn’t sink in.

But then he did kiss me, I argued with myself. It couldn’t have been all a fantasy on my part if he kissed me.

And that cock against my stomach! I’d wanted to do more, oh so much more!

And then my dad showed up.

I wanted to fall into a crack and die, but part of me wanted to take him down there with me so we could continue what we started.

But then, to add insult to injury, besides my dad catching me making out with who I thought was the sexy cowboy from the barn, it turns out that it wasn’t him!

So who in the hell was I making out with?

And the highly intelligent thing I said, “There’s two of you?”

Brilliant, Grace. Fucking brilliant, as usual.

I could tell from the look on dad’s face that he was pissed. I mean I get it, how unprofessional is it to make out with a ranch hand in the hallway?

Probably not nearly as unprofessional as making out with a total stranger in the hallway instead, since it turns out that I wasn’t even making out with the ranch hand that I thought I was making out with.

And the sexy cowboy from the stall, the one I
thought
I was making out with, what did they call him? Scott?

I remembered the anger it seemed like he was trying not to show, warring with the shock, and what else did I see on his face? Was he turned on? AND angry? I wondered if he knew that I thought it was him when I was kissing his brother.

And his twin? What must he think of me?

Wait, me? At least I knew who I thought I was kissing. Who the hell did he think I was, then? Do strangers routinely shower in this house? Does he often kiss them?

To him I was some almost naked, strange woman. I could have been anyone! And yet he kissed me anyway.

What the hell?

This is why jumping in with both feet is overrated. This is exactly why I should look before I leap, otherwise leave it to me to get the hots for one hot, sexy ranch hand, and end up getting caught by him, and my dad, kissing a perfect stranger because I thought he was someone else.

Could this get any worse?

I managed to get dressed and sneak out of the huge ranch house without running into anyone, and ducked into dad’s traveling vet-mobile without kissing any other strange men, or running into any other paper doll cut-outs of the original sexy cowboy, whose chiseled abs and bitable biceps had turned my head to begin with, only to be told by my dad that I had to go back there the very next day.

“Wait, I have to go back there? I can’t go back there!”

“You have to. I have a surgery scheduled tomorrow on one of Anderson’s cows. The mare here birthing early changed things up. The colt and mom both looked fine. Tomorrow morning just make sure they stayed that way overnight, and try not to kiss anyone.”

“Dad!”

“Are you going to tell Jake about this?”

Oh! He didn’t know that Jake and I broke up. I hadn’t told him. I only got in yesterday, and today was an emergency call. I never had time to fill him in.

Great, so not only does my dad think I’m an unprofessional slut, but he probably also thinks that I’m a cheating, unprofessional slut. Perfect.

“I don’t need to tell Jake anything. We broke up. Look, I’m sorry, OK. I didn’t mean to kiss anyone, it just kind of happened. I was excited about the mare, and I thought he was the same cowboy from the barn. I was just trying to show him how grateful I was for helping me... Dad!”

I knew the look he shot me and felt the need to address it before he teased me about it.

“No, that isn’t normally how I show gratitude, stop looking at me like that. It just happened! I know it was highly unprofessional, and it won’t happen again. OK? Can we please leave it at that?”

Bright and early the next morning I found myself sitting in my truck outside the gates of the barn, sipping my coffee and trying to get up the nerve to let myself in.

What if Scott was in there? Or his brother? How would I even know the difference?

I’d avoided the main house altogether this morning, assuming the ranch’s owners already knew I was coming and didn’t need a grand announcement of me ringing their bell this early. More than likely they were out here somewhere on the property already, since ranching had a tendency to not be a nine to five type job, but I avoided the main house anyway.

I’d parked the truck in the same general spot dad had yesterday, and eyed the barn door in the quiet moments after shutting the truck down.

The sun was barely up, but dad said this needed to be done early, since he wanted my help during the Anderson’s cow’s surgery, so I was here, braving coming back, while he set up there and got started.

Now or never
, I told myself, somehow thinking the words would give me a boost up and out of the truck and into the barn to check on the mare and her newborn foal.

Wait, why was I nervous anyhow?

I hadn’t done anything wrong. Not really.

It was the brother, what did Scott call him? Adam. This was all Adam’s fault. He’s the one who took advantage of a misunderstanding and kissed a stranger wrapped in a towel, not me.

I should be pissed, not embarrassed. And I certainly should not have spent way too much time in the wee hours of last night running that kiss over and over in my mind.

And I definitely should not have let my imagination wander further, nor should I have pleasured myself in the dark, under the covers, wondering if Scott kissed as well as his brother Adam did. Or if Adam looked as sexy as Scott had, without his shirt on, out here in this very barn that I was already supposed to be inside of, checking on a mare and her foal.

Right.

I shook off all the memories and late night imaginings, and took a hearty draw on my coffee before finally climbing out of the truck and aiming my boots for the inside of said barn.