Page 37 of Don't Trust the Cowboy

“You, too.”

He takes the hint and kisses me softly again. His lips are so warm and soft, I’m instantly wet. I’ve kissed a man before, but it never felt like that. It’s like warm molten lava is passing through my veins. I want more. I want to stand here all day and kiss him. But it’s neither appropriate nor the time to do that, with a house full of workers outside, and me due to go to school and to work. He kisses me once again and draws in a deep breath, looking like he’s stopping himself from doing more, just like I am. “You better go.” He says, rubbing my waist, making me so damp it tingles.

“I am. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you.”

I can feel him watching me walk to my car, as he makes his way to the side of the house. My car chugs away but the engine finally turns, and I drive to my other job. Books are packed in my backpack in the passenger seat, since I’ve got a late class after work. With just two weeks left of school, I can’t wait for the final days to come. Exams begin next week, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage, since I was living in my car, but now, now that I have a proper home to lay my head at, I’ll be just fine. As I pull up to the office, I see that my boss’s daughter, Tina, is there.

“Hi, Hank.” I say by way of greeting, as I walk in the door.

He sighs. “Hi, Piper.” Tina is standing next to him, looking over his shoulder.

“Hi, Tina.” I say, but her eyes don’t leave the laptop as she returns the sentiment. I’ve always had a bit of a bad vibe from her. Why she doesn’t like me, I don’t know, but whenever she’s in the office, Hank seems to be stressed. I’m not even sure what her function is, but when she’s around, Hank’s blood pressure must go through the roof. His face is always flushed, and today’s Tina encounter is no exception.

“Is everything okay?” I ask.

Tina lifts her head, lifts her laptop, and walks out the door to the bullpen. It’s only a small accounting firm, with just me and another employee. Hank has been running it for fifteen years on his own. When I joined him about a year ago, Tina had just come on board, and Raine had already been here for a while. Raine is very quiet and keeps to herself. She only speaks to me sometimes, when it’s too hot or too cold, and she wants to know if I want the air conditioning up or down. Otherwise, she works in her small office, while I stay in the bullpen, answering the phone and doing my work on the desktop computer there.

Hank rises and closes the door, and then takes his seat, at the same time, gesturing for me to sit at the guest chair in front of his desk. And then he just comes out with it, nearly making me vomit. “We’re going to have to let you go, Piper. I’m sorry.”

He hands me an envelope with a check in it. “That’s two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice, plus your accumulated vacation time.”

I stare at the envelope, in total shock. “Can I ask why?”

He purses his lips. “It’s just an internal decision, Piper.”

Internal, my ass. This is Tina’s doing. “Did I do something wrong?”

He shakes his head no. “It’s nothing personal, Piper.”

Bullshit. “Really. No notice, nothing? And it’s nothing personal?”

All I get is a shrug. “Good luck, Piper.” He says, like I stabbed him in the back a hundred times and only now he has proof. His tone is cold, as if we didn’t have several months working together, bonding together even.

The muscles in my jaw are working. I can feel the bile creep up my throat, and the tears prick the backs of my eyes, but I refuse to let him see me cry. After I swallow down my emotion, I try for a level tone. “Good luck to you, too, Hank.”

I rise and he walks me out the door, meeting Tina’s eyes as he exits the office, like together they’re checking a box, marking the deed done. Tina doesn’t so much as look at me as I walk out the door, and Raine’s office door is closed, which it never is. She’s been primed. “Fuck you all.” I say as I walk out the door, checking the amount that he thinks that I’m worth, as I peek into the envelope. Not enough, evidently, but it looks accurate from my mental calculations. I drive myself to the bank in Dallas, and deposit the check, thinking now I’m that much further away from getting my own place, since I’ve only started with Billy a few days ago, and nobody in their right mind is going to hire me for the spotty hours I worked with Hank. He was very accommodating to say the least.

Class doesn’t start for hours, so I head over to the library, using studying and assignment catch-up as my weapon of distraction. There is no point in getting upset about this now and ruining my mojo for class. I’ve come this far, and I’m not going to give up now. I sit through class, the last one before my final exam, and then I head back to the ranch, giving myself some time to process, now that my responsibilities for the day are essentially over. It’s been hours since I looked at my phone or checked any messages, and when I do, that’s when I start to lose it.

Setting that final thought aside, I park my car, and I see that Billy is still working outside, with what looks like both his brothers. They’re working on the framing for the stable from the look of it. It’s almost up, and Billy has his floodlight on the cab of his truck illuminating the workspace, as it appears some male bonding is going on here. Billy’s got a smile on his face as I walk up to them. “Hey, darlin’. How was your day?”

I lie. “Good. I’m going into exams next week. Can’t wait for it to be over. Looks like you guys worked your tails off here today.”

“We did.” Billy nods, while the boys keep working. He tilts his head. “You look tired.”

“That’s because I am tired.” I admit. Also, I can feel the tears pricking the backs of my eyes, but I mask them with a yawn. “I think I’ll go to bed.”

“Well, sure, darlin’. We won’t be at this much longer. I’ll try not to keep you up.”

I wave. “I’m so tired a bomb could go off and I won’t hear it.”

“Goodnight.” Cassidy and Blair say.

“Goodnight.” I say back, making my way to the house.

But as I walk, I hear the boys muttering something, and then I hear footsteps coming behind me.

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