Page 7 of Dear Santa, Send Me a Cowboy
A man that looked like him, built like an ox, with hands meant for getting down and dirty, I could only picture him treating my hips with the same intensity as he did his job—whatever that might be. It was clear he engaged in something physically demanding and taxing on the body that required a lot of muscular strength.
And where I’m sure he had his moments when he was soft, though it was hard to picture, I had a feeling deep down, straight to the core of the burly cowboy, there was a sweet, caring side to him that one very special person could bring out.
But when it came to having his hands on my body. My curvy, plump-like hips that had grown fuller over the years, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he wouldn’t handle them like you would fine china. Instead, he’d use the same fervor and passion that he devoted to his labor, on my body.
“You good, darlin’?” he teased with a knowing smirk. My daydream ended abruptly as my face ignited.
Please tell me I wasn’t drooling.
Spinning around to conceal my flushed cheeks, I set my glass down onto the counter, but not before almost knocking over the bottle with my elbow and hitting my shin on the oven.
God, I was such a mess.
“I’m fine,” I spluttered, avoiding eye contact entirely, knowing that if I met his stare, my red cheeks would only worsen.
“Sure about that?”
The arrogance in his tone had me seething. How in the world did sweet old Fred produce such a pompous, crotchety asshole?
“I’ll be even better once you leave.”
Pretending to be busy, I shuffled around with some of my spices that were lined up on the counter and tried my best to ignore his intense presence looming behind me. Nothing was as uncomfortable as giving birth, but this was a close second. It’s been entirely too long since a man has occupied my space and right now, I had no clue how to handle it. Clearly that had to be the case if I was avoiding him like the plague.
“Got a ladder?” He completely ignored what I had grumpily mumbled, causing my eyes to snap to his.
Confusion halted my random shuffling and I found myself facing the cowboy again. “A ladder? What do you need that for?”
Though his expression wasn’t so smug like before, there was something in those fiery eyes that had me sweating.
“Gotta fix those lights you have hangin’ up outside. Half of ’em ain’t even workin’.”
“That’s… that’s completely unnecessary, Lawson. I can fix them when it’s not snowing its ass off outside.” I dropped my hands onto my hips as he clenched his jaw. “It’s not your responsibility, plus I’m sure you have other things you’d rather be doing.”
I could already picture the long list of things this man could be doing, and not one of them involved helping out a single mother. Yet here we were, in another silent standoff because I was too stubborn to let him help me and he was too stubborn to leave.
“I’m already here. Might as well use me, right?”
Use me?
“I don’t need to use you,” I fired back, even though I was currently going over all the ways I’d use him.
His eyes narrowed in annoyance.
“Then at least use my help.”
God, why was he being so persistent about this?
“I don’t need your help.”
And why was I acting like a complete bitch about it?
He didn’t respond right away, instead, he let me squirm under his gaze until he made a low grunt and spun around.
Did he finally take a hint? Was he leaving?
My back straightened and my hands lowered from my hips as a sense of relief but also something like regret struck me. I should be thrilled that he was finally leaving, but the feeling didn’t hit me entirely like I thought it would. I watched somberly as he stomped his way into the living room, but instead of going for the front door, he was headed toward the garage.
What the hell was he doing?
