Page 15 of A Cowboy Of Her Own

“He’s so pretty.”

“Smart too. Border Collies are very intelligent dogs. Devin and Jaxon have his brother and sister. Someone abandoned the mother on their ranch and right after she gave birth, she died. Devin, Jaxon, and the staff at the ranch, took care of the puppies. I would have loved to find out who dumped her. Devin had asked around but to no surprise, no one knew anything.”

“How sad. Do you ever get them all together?”

“Oh yeah, it’s always fun. They can all do tricks. Snowy knows hand signals and can do anything, except act embarrassed like Jaxon’s dog, Jinks, can. Devin’s dog, Dolly, can fetch a beer from the fridge. I’ve never been able to teach Snowy either of those tricks but their dogs can’t do hand signals either, so I have that on them.” He chuckled as he stood and looked at her. “I’m going to bed. We have to get an early start, so I’ll see you in the morning. Should I wake you up or can you set an alarm?”

“Mind waking me? My phone still needs charging since I forgot to charge it. I’m going to bed too. I’m really tired.” She followed him down the hallway. He snapped his fingers and Snowy trotted along behind him. When she reached her door, she opened it. “Goodnight.”

“I’ll wake you. Night,” Roark said as he entered his room with Snowy on his heels, closing the door behind them.

Priscilla entered her room and closed the door. She pulled out a suitcase and started packing some clothes for the trip then she stopped and realized he’d probably laugh his ass off at her for taking a suitcase on a camping trip. What was she supposed to use then?

Sighing, she opened her door, stepped across the hall, and knocked on his door. He opened it almost immediately. Her mouth dropped open and she quickly closed it. He stood there in nothing but jeans that were unzipped and hanging low on his hips. She could almost see where that happy trail led.

“Priscilla?” he snapped at her when she didn’t say anything.

“Oh, uh. I need something to pack clothes in for the trip.” She was sure her face was beet red.Damn this red hair.

“Hold on,” he said and disappeared into the room.

She tried to look inside the room but all she could see was the king-size headboard against one wall. She peered in leaning more than she thought so that when he opened the door, she almost fell into him. He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Did you want to come in and look around?” He smirked.

“Why on earth would I do that?”

He grunted. “Here. Use this duffle bag.”

She took the bag from him and turned away from him. The door closed behind her.Did she want to go in and look around? Pffft. Of course she did!Although,she’d never admit that to him or he’d think she was attracted to him—which she was. It was hard to comprehend how attracted she was to him but afraid to let him know. The man was way out of her league. She had a feeling she’d just disappoint him in the sex department. She liked sex but the few men she’d been with hadn’t exactly rocked her world. Roark Callahan could probably rock her universe.

Returning to her room, she sat on the edge of the bed and toed her shoes off then stood and undressed. After pulling on her lounge pants and a spaghetti strap tank T-shirt, she crawled between the sheets and closed her eyes.

****

Roark clasped his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. He had to be out of his damn mind to take her with him tomorrow. He was sure he’d get more done without her distracting him.Fuck!There was no doubt he wanted her so the best thing to do was stay the hell away from her. He also knew he had to let her follow him around to get her story or she’d lose her job. Earl was a big enough ass to do it too. Roark couldn’t let that happen. If she lost her job because he didn’t want her with him, he’d be the ass.

No matter how much he wanted her, he couldn’t let that happen either. He’d just have to control himself around her.Easier said than done.His damn dick wanted to grow anytime he was around her. When he’d found her sitting on the porch earlier just enjoying the sunset, he’d had to sit down or embarrass himself.Her watching the sunset shouldn’t have turned him on, but it had. The expression on her face had been one of awe at the sight and he’d never seen a woman look more beautiful.

He was no saint when it came to women. He’d always enjoyed as many as he could. Buckle bunnies had always surrounded him at every rodeo. Whether he’d won or lost. They wanted to either celebrate the win with him or console him in a loss. However, he never wanted them when he lost. He wanted to move on from thedisappointment and the best way to do that was to go home and work the ranch. He raised bulls bred for the rodeo and that was how he intended to spend his retirement. They were registered rodeo bulls, and in high demand. Not that he needed the money. His family was beyond rich but he liked making his own money.

Roark rolled to his side and looked toward the window. The moon lit up the yard at the back of the house. He yawned and closed his eyes needing to sleep. Five o’clock was going to come way too soon. Snowy jumped up on the bed and lay by his feet. They both needed to sleep.

The next morning, he rolled out of bed in the dark, dressed, then opened his door and walked across the hall to knock on Priscilla’s door. When there was no answer, he pounded on the door.

“Priscilla? Time to get up,” he called out.

The door creaked opened. She looked at him with a scowl on her beautiful face, her still sleep-filled eyes squinting against the light from his room making him grin.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to see what I do on the ranch.”

“This is ridiculous. Why does it have to start while it’s still dark?”

“Because this is a working ranch, and daylight’s wasting. If you don’t want to go, maybe you should call Earl and tell him why.”

“I’d rather eat dirt.”

Roark laughed. “That unpleasant, huh?”

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