Page 4 of Faking it with the Cowboy

“It’s not a big deal, or at least it wasn’t until I found out he’s been seeing Tessa from HR.” She sighed. “Now I’ve got to make up some excuse about why I can’t go. Do you think anyone would believe I came down with scarlet fever?”

“You still have feelings for him?” Damn. I didn’t mean to ask, but there it was. My heart thumped like a bass drum while I waited for her to admit it.

“No. That’s just it. I know I’m better off without him.”

Good girl. The tightness in my chest eased. Shouldn’t make any difference to me whether Jericho was seeing someone or not, but I’d gotten attached to her since we reconnected. If she started dating someone, it might mean the end to our conversations, and I didn’t want to give those up. Not when they were the only thing I had to look forward to on a regular basis.

“Why not go to the wedding and show him you can have fun without him?” I suggested. “It’s not like you won’t know anyone there. Didn’t you say the whole office is going?”

“Yeah, but I can’t go now.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t want him to think I was a loser, so I told him I had a date.” Her voice trailed off at the end.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Now I get it. Either way, you’re screwed, honeybee.”

She groaned into the phone. “I don’t know why you keep calling me that.”

“You don’t like it?” I’d come up with the nickname back in high school. We’d gone on a field trip to a nature center and Jericho was fascinated by the bee hives. She’d even set a few up on her grandparents’ farm.

“I don’t know. Just makes me wish I still lived in the country. I don’t think my apartment manager would like it if I tried to set up some hives on the rooftop.”

“Probably not. If it makes you feel any better, I had a weird day at work, too.” I laid back on my bunk and stared at the raw wooden beams that stretched across the ceiling of the bunkhouse.

“What happened? Did one of your co-workers go behind your back and start dating your ex?” she teased.

“The odds of that happening might be higher if I actually had an ex,” I teased back. Jericho knew my dating history, or lack of history. Beyond a few one-night stands, there hadn’t ever been a woman in my life. Love made people stupid. I’d seen it myself and vowed I’d never be weak enough to let another person take control of my heart.

“One of these days, you’re going to meet someone who’ll sweep you off your feet.”

She’d always been more of a romantic. “Isn’t the guy supposed to be the one who does the sweeping?” I asked.

Jericho laughed. “Hey now. That might have been how it worked back in the Dark Ages, but nowadays anyone can do the sweeping.”

“Can we stop talking about something that’s never going to happen and get back to my story?”

“I suppose.”

“Thank you. As I was saying, I had a weird day at work too. I found out the owner of the Iron H is going to pimp out the ranch hands to make a few bucks.” I clenched my jaw, anticipating her outrage.

Something splashed into the water on Jericho’s end. “Oh, crap. I just dropped my glass into the tub.”

“Did it break?”

“No. But now my bubbles are pink, and I’ll probably smell like I dove into a vat of merlot.”

She was killing me with the visuals tonight. I cleared my throat as I chased images out of my head. “You want to call me back?”

“No. Just hold on while I get out of the tub.”

I could hear her pull herself up out of the water. Could picture the bubbles clinging to her skin. My cock twitched, and I adjusted the bulge behind my zipper. Maybe I needed to go into town with the guys one of these nights and try to get laid. It had been a while, which was probably why listening to Jericho get out of the tub gave me a hard-on.

“There. I’ll jump into the shower later and rinse off the wine smell. I don’t want Scott and Tessa to smell it on me tomorrow and think I stayed up all night trying to drown my sorrow in a box of wine.”

“Too bad I’m not there. We could go out and shoot tequila. That would be a hell of a lot more effective if you need to drown your sorrow.”

“I’m not wasting any calories on either one of them. They’re not worth it. Besides, if you were here, there wouldn’t be any sorry to drown because you’d cheer me up, right?”

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