Page 29 of Sheltered by the Lawman

Shit! He was a fucked-up case.

He shut off the light and bounced deeper into the mattress, trying to find his happy spot. Once he found it, he closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come because he was damn tired…but it wasn’t his lucky night.

His mind wandered to the apartment. Was Monica asleep? She’d gone over hours ago, but Kiersten had said that the light was still on. So, was she awake too? Thinking about him?

Cull groaned. He was acting like a teenager. No, she wasn’t thinking of him and he shouldn’t be thinking of her. He bounced to the right and then to the left, and the springs to his bed squeaked loudly. Good thing he never snuck any of his girlfriends into his childhood room. He’d have alerted a five-mile radius to his sexual activity.

The bed was uncomfortable. Too short. Too narrow. And the security light seemed to shine right into his bedroom window.

Growling, he got up, grabbed a blanket from the chair and hung it over the window. That should help!

The room was in complete darkness.

Great! Now maybe he’d get some sleep.

Nope. Wasn’t happening.

He rolled over, clicked on his phone and read the time. 1:10 A.M. He had to be up in less than four hours. What had he locked himself into? Monica wanted to learn the ropes of the ranch and so be it. He’d show her. They could always use another hand.

What had he been thinking? There was no logic with her around. Plain and simple. When she was near he lost oxygen to his brain cells and all the blood rushed to a place on his body that was hard, even now.

The screen to his phone shut off and he was left in the darkness again.

What the hell was his sister thinking?

She wasn’t.

Well, she better stay clear of his friends. There was once upon a time when she’d had a crush on a few of his buddies. He’d once thought she’d be settled down by now, but she’d had a few bad relationships with jerks.

His mind jetted to Monica again.

Oh fuckity fuck!

Tomorrow was going to be a long-ass day. He’d have to make sure he kept a wall erected because if he didn’t, he might convince himself to kiss her. Why did she have to do this to him? He’d never allowed anyone to persuade him against doing his job. After all, he could use one hundred grand more than a kiss.

He couldn’t turn his brain off.

Cull tossed and turned a good two more hours and when his alarm sounded, he begrudgingly dragged his body out of bed, took a cold shower and was out the door with two thermoses of coffee by five. The lights weren’t on in the apartment and he decided he’d give her a few more hours to wake up before he allowed his libido to awaken.

A few minutes later he stomped into the barn and stopped dead still.

Damn! His plan was thwarted.

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