Page 13 of Dear Santa, Send Me a Cowboy
And I hated it.
I hated how my body responded whenever he spoke. How his low, gravelly voice made my thighs twitch and tingle as if they needed to find relief, and I hated how the only place they wanted to go was around his face.
The cold weather was clearly messing with my head. That could be the only logical explanation as to why I was salivating in the mouth for this man. He was too bossy. Too arrogant and blunt for my liking, but of course that didn’t mean shit to my body.
I wanted him badly, and it annoyed me to no end.
So what was I doing to counteract my feelings? Climbing a tall-as-fuck ladder in the blistering cold just so I could aggravate the hell out of him and prove that I was in fact self-sufficient.
With one steady foot in front of the other, I gradually climbed the rest of the way up the ladder until I finally made it up to the top. It was dark and unbelievably cold, but there was no way I was going to give up that easily. Any second now I’d be in for a scolding.
A “get the fuck down” or a “women don’t belong on ladders.”
And then right on time, with the hard stomping of boots and heavy breathing that resembled a bull, I knew he had found me.
“What in the fuck are you doing, Diana?” His growl vibrated its way up through my snow pants and collided with my core.
God, there was something about pissing him off that turned me on severely.
“Uh, waiting for you to come back so I can fix these lights?” I responded in a “duh, what else would I be doing?” kind of response.
Cautiously, I peered over my shoulder to gauge his reaction, and what I found was more than just a mad cowboy.
He definitely looked furious but more than that, he looked worried.
With his hands resting on his hips and those busy brows drawn inward, I unveiled a side of him that I had yet to see.
“Absolutely not. No fuckin’ way.” He shook his head firmly as a few other muttered curse words flew out.
With an amused smile, I went to turn myself even more to get a better view of him but as I did so, he slammed both palms onto the sides of the ladder and held on with a death grip.
“Jesus Christ, woman! Don’t fuckin’ move like that!” he shouted frantically, my playfulness fizzling and in its place, regret had taken over.
Panic-stricken eyes met mine and I knew in that moment I had gone too far. I had no business being on the very top of a ladder, let alone at night when it was snowing, but my stubbornness had gotten the best of me.
Then with a sigh, I went to climb down but a distraught shout stopped me.
“Hold on!” Lawson boomed, causing me to freeze completely.
What now?
“Fuck, Diana.” He exhaled on a long, drawn-out breath. “Don’t move so goddamn fast like that. Just… Fuck!” he swore, and when I should have felt guilt, I only felt the most aroused I had ever felt in my life. “Lawson, I’ve climbed up and down a ladder plenty of times in my life, I won’t slip and fall. Just relax and tell me what I need to do.”
What I need to do to calm you down more.
“Go slow,” he grounded out. “And for the love of god, hold on tight.”
“Obviously,” I muttered under my breath, and instantly I wished I could have taken it back.
I was a goddamn brat and if Lawson didn’t know it yet, he knew now.
With the wind picking up and the glacial-like temperature dropping, I knew I had to hurry before both of us ended up with frostbite. I could feel Lawson's gaze boring into my backside, making things much more difficult to concentrate, especially when he began to praise me with each downward climb I took.
“Good girl,” He commended.
Another step.
“Perfect. You’re doin’ damn good, Diana.”
