Page 10 of Rescued By the Mountain Man

Ten minutes later, I was dressed again and inside the front room, ready to start the rest of my work, when I found Warrick there, leaning on the table, his hair wild from being raked through, and he was itching at his beard as if he needed to wash it... or shave it off.

His shirt was rolled up to the elbows, the muscles in his forearm standing in sharp relief. I tried very hard not to stare.

“The bathroom is free,” I said while taking a cup down and making my tea.

Warrick rolled his neck. “Thanks.”

Booting up the laptop, I accessed the spreadsheet and with the files spread out before me, I began to get everything in order, sipping the smooth chamomile brew. Here and there, I’d look up at the door, hearing the pipe go on. Soon enough, wisps of body-wash-scented—and was that Epson salts?—steam drifted out.

I dipped back into the bedroom to get a robe as the front room was getting chilly…and temptation pulled me closer to the bathroom door, which was partially closed. The gentle lap of water drew me closer.

Peering through the crack, I saw Warrick…and damn it, he was gorgeous. He was lying in the large tub, his head pillowed in a corner of the tub aside from the spigot, and from my vantage point, I could see his wet hair pushed back from his chiseled face.

His eyes were closed, his head resting against the back lip of the tub, one sinewy arm draped along its edge. Warrick shifted and I saw the tops of his splayed knees while the muscles of his other arm and shoulder were bunching, flexing as if he was?—

Oh god.

I scurried away, ashamed at my voyeurism—and how tight my nipples were prickling against my cotton PJs.

How could I look him in the eye again knowing how he looked jerking off?

“Rodeo riders, rodeo riders—” I shuffled the papers blindly, almost upsetting my cup, trying to find the paper I was using. Finally grabbing it, I gripped the edge of the table and sucked in a breath. “Jesus, Zoe, calm down. It’s not like you’ve never seen a naked man before.”

Calmed, I set down to work, trying—and failing—not to look at that doorway every two minutes. Had he seen me? Had he noticed my reaction?

I bit my lip and focused on the paper before me, tapping the information into the grid while trying to bury the ripe memory of seeing my new boss pleasure himself.

“Mama always said my nosy ass would get me in trouble,” I muttered, trying not to squirm on the seat and ignore the heat still thrumming through my body.

A hard bang on the door had me jolting again, and I shot a look at the door when someone shouted, “Warrick! Warrick, get out here! It's an emergency; we need you!”

I was frozen in my seat, unsure of what to do.

When I heard scrambling in the bathroom, I lurched from my seat and rushed to the door. Pausing to look through the peephole, I spotted a man, tall, in a dark Stetson, and I dared to turn the knob and pull the door in. “Can I?—”

“Who are you?” the stranger gaped before his eyes traced over me, and he whistled. “Is Warrick?—”

“Frankie!” Warrick called from behind me, and I turned—then felt nailed to the floor.

Clad in just a hastily wrapped towel and dripping water, Warrick stood there, and my gaze ran over him, over the long ridges of lean muscle, his tan skin stretched, well-developed chest muscles dusting of dark hair, the lean rippling of his abdomen, and lower...ah yes.

This man is nearly perfect.

My head snapped away and back to the man at the doorway. “Zara Harrington, Mr. Donovan's new PA.”

“What the hell is going on, Frankie?” Warrick demanded.

“One of the cows is birthing, but the vet is away,” Frankie said. “It’s a breach birth and the guys are freaking out. You’ve got more knowledge on those things than half of us combined. We gotta go!”

Chapter Four

Warrick

It was dawn before I slumped into the chair in the barn, bloody to my elbows, but Opal and her new calf were fine and alive.

The pink-yellow sunlight spilled over the mountaintops while the cool breeze off the forest rivers and streams began to lighten the sky.

“Goddamn,” Frankie leaned against the barn, his amused look indicated to me that I was in for some ribbing. “I have seen two almost unbelievable things in the last ten hours. You with a woman and a breach birth coming good. Of the two, I would say you and the woman are the most shocking.”

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