Page 44 of Jake

“What’s this about food?” Matt asked, rubbing his belly idly.

Heather laughed. Matt wasn’t greedy but she’d never known him to turn down food, no matter how good or bad it might be. Not that the food on the ranch was bad. Despite that it seemed to be the prospects doing all the cooking, she’d found the few meals she’d had here so far to be nothing but good. Was it gourmet restaurant fare? No. But it tasted good and there was more than enough for everyone and that was more than she could say about her own cooking. Sure she could make enough for everyone, but whether they wanted to eat what she’d cooked was a different matter. She could barely boil water without trouble.

Okay, so she might be exaggerating, a bit. She could make a few, simple meals, but nothing like what these guys seemed to be doing and definitely not in the volume or frequency. Mostly she lived on sandwiches, scrambled eggs and fast food. Not that she had much option for fast food out here.

“I’m up for whatever you guys want to do. Dinner sounds good, as always. After that, firepit, games, trailer, I’m up for whatever.” She wasn’t much for video games, but she’d sit and watch while the guys played if that’s what they wanted to do and be happy just to be able to spend time with them.

“Food it is. We’ll figure later out when it gets here.” Aaron motioned for them to leave the barn. Heather led the way, Matt not far behind her. Aaron brought up the rear, turning out the lights and closing the door behind himself.

“I don’t know about you two, but I need to wash up a bit before I eat. If you don’t mind, I’m going to step into the trailer for a few minutes.”

“No problem. I’m going to do the same in the bunkhouse,” Matt said.

Heather headed for the trailer, stepping up inside and heading for the bathroom. As she washed her face, she got a good look at herself and realized she needed more than just her face and hands washed. Her clothes probably had five pounds of dust and dirt on them.

Without thinking much about it she peeled out of her clothes and dropped them into the basket she’d put in the shower for dirty clothes. She would shower in the bunkhouse so she might as well get some use out of the space.

She pulled the band from the end of her braid and was working her fingers through the weaving on her way to the bedroom wearing nothing more than her bra and panties when the door to the trailer opened.

“Who’s there?” she called out, freezing. She wanted to scream because she hadn’t been able to keep her voice from shaking. Her heart thundered in her chest. The pistol Matt had insisted she bring with her was next to the bed. She hadn’t thought she’d need it.

“It’s me, Lynnie,” Aaron’s voice came back.

She leaned back against the door frame, letting her head fall back as she took a deep breath in relief. There were people everywhere. No one was here on the ranch to kidnap her, and she should have known better.

“Are you all right?” The concern in his voice made her open her eyes and turn to look at him, her head still propped against the door.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting anyone, and when you came in, every stupid possibility flashed through my head.” She rolled her eyes at her stupidity, stood, and continued into the bedroom. “It wasn’t pretty. Especially after this morning’s news.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. Either this morning or just now. I didn’t know you were changing, or I would have given you a head’s up that I was coming in.” He glanced down at himself. “I realized how dusty I am and was going to grab a clean shirt.” One corner of his mouth quirked up as his gaze skimmed down her body then back up. “I should have known you’d think of the same thing.”

She closed the distance between them, wanting to feel something good, something to replace the cold flash of panic that lingered in her veins. Without asking, she slid her hands up under the hem of his shirt and shoved it up, sliding her hands along his torso as she did. She wanted a kiss but wanted his dusty shirt out of the way first.

Aaron took the hint, reached behind his head, and tugged the shirt off. He tossed it into the corner he’d been using for his dirty clothes. Heather stepped into his personal space, slid her hands around his waist and stretched up to press her lips against his. His hands came around her body, smoothed down her torso and came to rest for a moment on top of her butt.

She relaxed into him letting his warmth and strength surround her for a moment. Aaron deepened the kiss, his hands smoothing down over her ass, then grabbing and lifting. She wrapped her legs around his waist and lost herself in his touch. How did he seem to know just what she needed?

33

IttookeverythinginJake to break the kiss, but he couldn’t put her down, not yet.

“Lynnie, you make me lose my head.” He placed a soft kiss on the side of her neck then lowered her back to her feet. “Put some clothes on or we’ll miss dinner.”

“I could go for that.”

“I wouldn’t complain, but if we did it, then your cousin would come looking for us. Is that what you want?” If it was, he’d deal with it. Anything to put a smile back on her face. He hadn’t intended to, but when he’d found her leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath, he realized he’d scared her.

Jake wanted to kick himself. He should have known better than to just come in like that, without at least calling out as he stepped inside to let her know it was him. He didn’t know if Iceman would do the same, but he’d stop and talk to him later just to be sure neither of them scared her like that again.

She stared up at him for a moment then shook her head. “We better not. He’ll be gone soon enough, then we’ll have more time.”

Jake wasn’t sure about that. Yeah, they might have a little more once her cousin went home, but then they still had both chapters here, at least for a few more days. And once Tuck and the rest of the Tucson chapter left, it was back to the everyday work of the ranch. She might find she had a lot more time on her own than she really wanted.

Hopefully, they’d be able to put an end to this bullshit with the Wandering Sons and that fucking reward, then as much as he hated to think about it, she could go back to her life. He just wanted enough time to convince her that she could have that life here, with him. She didn’t need to go back to Alabama to go on with her life. But hadn’t she said something about finding work here? Did that mean maybe he could convince her to stick around?

He let her slide down his body, making sure she stayed steady while she got her feet under her, then he leaned down and kissed her lips before standing again.

“Let me grab a shirt.” He glanced down her body, hating to have to let her go. “And you might want to find something to put on too. Then we’ll go eat. Before you know it, it will be bedtime and we’ll be right back here again.” He kissed the tip of her nose before releasing her and going to find himself a shirt.

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