Page 29 of My Cowboy Temptation

Which really leaves only one other possibility.

After all, it’s Thursday morning, which means we only have four more nights before I head to London for upwards of a year or longer.

At least, that was the plan.

Only, now that I’ve seen what my life could be like here in Montana—a life where my days are spent with a paintbrush or a pencil between my fingers as I create beauty and stories that have been in my mind seemingly forever and my nights are spent with an incredibly virile cowboy between my thighs—I no longer know whether the plan is what I want.

I love the art I’m creating, and I love—yes, love, even if secretly—that man in there who is as tortured at the thought of my leaving as I am. And with my developing relationship with Natasha Stokes, who has taken an interest in me and my work and seems to genuinely want to help me, I can see a different future, one that might even be better.

Sure, London is a great path for a burgeoning artist, but it’s just one path. This new fledgling plan, this new life that I’m starting to see bloom in my mind, feels far more exciting.

I think it’s time I share it with Brody.

Slipping from the room, I push the bathroom door open and stare at Brody’s profile as the water rains down on him. Hmm. Maybe I can wait to share this news with him a few minutes longer.

Shutting the door, I go to him, pull open the shower curtain, and climb into the tub before shutting it closed. Brody tilts his head and squints his eyes to see me as the shampoo suds wash down his face and drip off his beard. “Morning, brat.”

“Good morning,” I say and drop to my knees and without any fanfare, take him into my mouth.

I wouldn’t say that I’ve reached porn star status, but my blowjobs have definitely come along these past few days. I’ve learned just the right way to suck his beautiful cock, twirling my tongue around the head as he grunts in ecstasy, and when to increase the pressure and speed with my hand as I stroke him until he’s thrusting forward into my mouth, ready to explode.

As I anticipate, he pulls away before he can climax, and he lifts me to my feet, propping one of my legs up on the edge of the tub before he kneels down. He sucks and licks at my pussy with such intensity that I’m tugging at his hair, trying to bring him closer into me before I shatter and collapse against him. A second later, he’s turned me around just as a blast of liquid heat hits my ass and drips down between my legs.

Both of us sated, he grabs a loofah and drops some body wash on it before cleaning me up. “I wish I could make breakfast for you, but I’ve got to meet the boys out on the ridge first thing,” he says, turning off the water and reaching for the towel that he gently uses to wipe me dry before turning to himself.

“That’s okay. I probably will crawl back into bed and sleep a little longer anyway. Someone kept me up pretty late last night.”

I follow him back to his room and sit on the bed, watching as he goes to his dresser to fish out some fresh clothes and starts to get dressed. “Actually, before you take off, I wanted to talk to you about a decision I’ve made. About London.”

He’s buttoning his shirt, but at my words, he pauses and turns to face me. “What about London?”

“I’m not going. I’m staying here. With you.”

He continues to button his shirt as he mulls over my words. “That’s a bad idea, Cal. You can’t walk away from this opportunity. You told me so yourself. It will open up doors to you in the art world, give you a chance to network, hone your skills, maybe learn something new from this De Longer guy.”

I’m not hurt or annoyed by his response; it’s pretty much as I expected. Because after all this time with Brody, I know that his feelings for me are close to as deep as mine for him. He would only want the best for me.

Or what he thinks is the best for me based on what I might have said before.

“I said it might do all of that,” I say, carefully choosing my words. But it also might be mind-numbingly boring as I make his coffee and fill in some of the work on his paintings like I’m following a paint-by-number kit. I glance down to the quilt on his bed, my fingers playing with the knot tied at one corner as I work up the courage to say what I need to say. “I’m going to be honest. The past few days spent at the cabin, I think I’ve created some of my best work. Work that can only get better as I embrace my history, my background, and everything I have here in Montana. Including you.”

He’s not looking at me and instead tucks in his shirt before he comes to sit on the corner of the bed next to me as he pulls on his boots. I wait as he shoves each foot in, his face not giving anything away.

When he stands up, my stomach twists as I see the distance on his face. “Cal. This thing between us has been great. Incredible even. But it’s just a moment in time. It’s not forever. You and I went into this knowing that. There’s no future for us.”

“Why?” I ask, my throat closing off at the end.

“You know why. I work for your dad. I owe everything I have to your dad and his dad before him. There’s no way he’s going to ever approve or condone my fucking his daughter. At most he’ll fire me and send us both away, hoping that by cutting you off that you’ll see the light.”

I grasp my hands together, squeezing them as I sense I’m about to lose something, and I have only a narrow amount of time to change that trajectory. “I don’t think it would come to that, Brody. My dad loves me, and he loves you too. But even if it did… we’d be okay. I’d be okay. I don’t need my dad’s money to survive. I can take care of myself.”

He laughs, and I try not to feel like it’s a smack in the face. “You? When was the last time you even paid your own rent? Paid your own car payment? Or paid your credit card bills? It’s not your fault, Cal. It’s how you were raised. There was no reason for you to have to do any of those things for yourself.” He grows more serious, his hands rubbing through his beard. “The truth is, we both need your dad’s approval to keep everything we have. And he’s never going to give it when he finds out about us. It’s why it would be best that he never knows. Just like we agreed when we started this. You and I were always going to be temporary until you got the call and left for London. Then you were going to move on with your life. We were going to both move on with our lives.”

“I know what we said when we started this thing, but that was before I knew how wonderful this could be. How wonderful my life could be with you in it. My dad loves me, and he wouldn’t stand in the way of my happiness. Not if he understood what we’ve come to mean to each other. We can make him understand this isn’t just about fucking. This is about so much more.” At least it is for me.

He doesn’t respond immediately, and I feel this aching in my chest that’s making it hard to breathe. “Cal. You’re just a kid. In time you’ll see that it was always about fucking.”

I flinch at the cruelty of his words.

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