Page 25 of Embracing Hope

“Just another asshole throwing his testosterone around.” There was no love lost between Dex and Hope. She’d once thought he was a good guy and treated his family like they were gold until he allowed the booze to flip a switch inside his head and heart. She pushed any thought of the man aside because the scene across the room gained her attention.

Tessa Taylor had her talon-like claws on Isaac's shoulder, which didn’t settle well with Hope. She wasn’t jealous, maybe a little territorial, but she wondered what the chick was up to. Last Hope heard the twenty-something redhead had broken up with her long-term boyfriend. They’d dated since high school, but from Hope's angle, it appeared Tessa was on the prowl.

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Isaac eased back into the chair, which barely accommodated his size, and looked up at the woman, who had her hand planted on his shoulder.

“Hello, handsome,” the redhead practically cooed the greeting.

“Tessa, you’re looking mighty fine this evening,” Billy gave her a once over.

Her cheeks turned rosy, nearly the same color as her hair. “Thank you, Billy. Who’s your friend?” She locked eyes with Isaac.

“Isaac,” he introduced himself.

“Tessa.” She was pretty and had a nice smile, yet Isaac didn’t feel a thing. The feisty woman sitting at the bar staring in his direction had him right where she wanted him. “I haven’t seen you around before. Are you working at Sagebrush Rose?”

“Nah, I’m only visiting.”

She leaned in closer, exposing a good deal of the cleavage uplifted by the red bra that was earning its keep. Something told him this was her signature move to gain the attention of the opposite sex. While the rest of the crew seemed to stare in unabashed admiration, Isaac decided he’d better nip the flirtation in the bud because the narrowed gaze he was receiving from Hope warned him that she would take care of it if he didn’t, which he found funny.

“I love this song.” Tessa lifted one arm high above her head, rolling her fingers through the air while groping the bottle's long neck. She swayed her hips seductively to the heavy beat of the song.

“Me too,” Billy piped in like a teenage boy caught in the girl’s locker room.

“How about it, cowboy? Want to dance?” Tessa speared Issac with her gold-flecked eyes.

“I’ve never been much into dancing. I’ve always had two left feet.”

Her plush bottom lip puckered. “I’m a good teacher.”

“I’m sure you are. How about I buy you a drink instead? To make up for the fact that I can’t dance worth a lick. What are you drinking?” He craned his neck to look at the label.

“What a gentleman.” She lifted the bottle and drained it dry, then licked her lips.

Issac wasn’t sure she needed another one, but he did offer. He gestured to the server to bring another round for him, the crew, and Tessa.

Billy offered to give her that dance she craved, and she reluctantly agreed.

That gave Isaac an unhindered view of Hope, who no longer was watching him.

Damn, the woman was an enigma. One minute, she was flirting with him relentlessly, and the next, she treated him like week-old bread. At first, he’d told the crew that he had no interest in a night of drinking until Miss Sass came along and sashayed her bottom like a pendulum in his direction. She’d known exactly what she did to him and too bad he wasn’t immune. After the first night together, he’d been neck deep, and now, after getting to know her better, he was drowning. And he wasn’t mad.

He half listened to the crew discussing a local strip club and possibly going there later. Isaac liked the hands well enough, but he also was sick and tired of sleeping in the bunkhouse. It wasn’t that he thought he was too good to stay there, but he didn’t like waking up from a dream of Hope to see Billy’s hairy ass uncovered in the next bed over. That almost made it impossible to enjoy the idea of holding Hope.

The boys seemed to cut up a lot more when the boss wasn’t around, and lately, Sam Rose seemed to play the disappearing act, which made Isaac wonder why the man wasn’t taking the merger more seriously. Was there something he was hiding? The rumor was that the boss would be gone for a few days. Isaac had been lucky enough to chain Sam down for half a day to discuss some of the concerns for merging, and although he’d seemed on point and knowledgeable, he looked a bit ragged.

Adjusting himself in the uncomfortable seat, he turned his attention back to the beautiful blonde haunting him every waking hour. She played with one of her curls, which he noticed she did often. Maybe a nervous habit? Although she seemed relaxed sitting on the bar stool laughing with her friend. Her legs were crossed, and the deep slit of the dress was open, revealing the length of her long-tanned leg. Undoubtedly, every man there had noticed.

Isaac had noticed how the crew took notice any time she came around. The boys were respectful because they knew their places, but they’d learned the art of subtle glances that wouldn’t earn them walking papers from the boss. None of them had been indecent regarding Hope because that was where Isaac would draw the line. Although he couldn’t call her his girlfriend, he’d been invested in her lately. The crew also realized that Isaac, although sleeping in the bunkhouse, wasn’t one of them.

He watched as a tall, burly cowboy approached her, and she offered him a smile in greeting. Isaac wasn’t a jealous man, but he wished that sweet grin was directed in his direction. She lowered her hand from her hair and laid it in her lap, and he dropped his gaze there, watching her fingers play with the fabric of her skirt. She shifted her legs, and the slit revealed her firm thigh before she tugged the material back into place.

His zipper stretched with a need he’d practically lived with since he’d met her.

The need almost consumed him.

There was just something about her that triggered Isaac’s every hankering. She wasn’t flirting with the man who beamed at her like his smile was plastered to his whiskered face, but she had a natural appeal that made her sexy. A glow that drew people in. And the cowboy she was talking to ate up her attention like a pig to slop. When she laid her hand on the man’s wrist, Isaac downed his beer, which only scraped off a layer of his tension.

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