Bought by the Lone Cowboy

by E. Walsh

  Now, seven years later, she was on the verge of earning lifetime benefits from the company, and she had been transferred to a nearby city where she could manage a new store that had opened a few years ago.

  She had to admit that, when she first started out in this line of work, she had never intended for it to amount to much of anything.

  Her business degree had served her well, but she always felt like maybe there was something a little more she was missing in her life.

  Until recently, she had told herself she just was not trying hard enough in her work.

  She had convinced herself that her life was lacking something in the realm of her career, and she had even gone so far as to start looking for work somewhere else.

  Unfortunately, times being what they were, she could find nothing as steady as her current job, and so she had given up the hunt shortly after it had begun.

  It was only recently that she had realized what she was missing was not work, but romance instead.

  Trisha’s life had been the usual series of ups and downs, and although there was nothing that stood out particularly in her past memories, she had had one significant romantic relationship that she had never quite gotten over.

  Her lover’s name was Stephanie, and although they had split up during Trisha’s junior year of college, she had never gotten over the loss.

  The two had been dating since they were in high school together, and everyone they knew expected them to get married and live happily ever after.

  Trisha had expected that, too, until she caught Stephanie in bed with a freshman boy the night before their anniversary.

  She had called it quits immediately, refusing to hear any of Stephanie’s half-hearted apologies and poor attempts at explanations.

  She spent the rest of her junior year trying to study hard through the pain of losing such an important part of her life, and she never heard from her ex again.

  Perhaps that was why she had devoted so much of her life to her work at the coffee shop ever since graduating.

  Although Trisha had never stopped to worry about her motives very much when she was younger, as she found herself nearing thirty, she suddenly began to realize that she had wasted far too much of her life on worrying about what had gone on between herself and Stephanie.

  That was old news, now, and she knew she needed to move past it if she ever wanted to have a fulfilling life.

  * * *

  Chapter Two

  In some sort of roundabout way, that was why she decided to use the two weeks’ worth of vacation days she had built up over the course of her employment at the coffee shop, and take off to the beach to catch up on some much-needed rest.

  Secretly, she had hoped that she might meet the woman of her dreams on the beach, even though she knew that kind of chance encounter was the kind of stuff that really only ever happened in the movies.

  Still, she had high hopes as she disembarked from her airplane and made her way to the little beachside cottage she was going to be renting for her two-week vacation.

  The trip had been a long one, and she was looking forward to relaxing on the beach in the little bit of afternoon sunlight she still had to enjoy.

  She had chosen a cottage with excellent reviews online, which was a part of a much larger beach resort.

  The resort had a main hotel building, as well as several smaller standalone rentals like the one Trisha would be staying in for a while.

  Hers was a little one-bedroom suite with a large, luxurious bathroom that was just a few steps away from the ramp that provided access to the beach over the sand dunes.

  As soon as she arrived, she knew she had chosen the right place.

  “Just in time to hit the beach,” she said to herself as she plopped her suitcases down in the little closet inside her bungalow.

  Trisha was not usually the type to rush out and get involved in whatever she could find after a long flight, but this was different.

  She had come to the beach to relax, and she could not remember the last time she had seen the ocean.

  She must have been a child way back when she had last visited the beach, and she could not stand to wait any longer.

  Although she knew she would have very little time to enjoy herself before the sun went down, she nevertheless slipped into her favorite black and pink bikini, threw on her lacy white cover-all, and headed straight for the edge of the ocean in only about twenty minutes’ time.

  The late afternoon beach was more or less empty, save for a few families playing in the waves some distance away, and Trisha was glad she had decided to stop by before going out to dinner.

  Everyone else, it seemed, had already retired for the day, and she was glad for a little peace and quiet surrounded by nature’s white noise.

  Although she had not bothered to bring along any kind of beach chairs or umbrellas for her short afternoon visit, she did bring a towel, and she was quick to sprawl on it in the warm, waning sunlight.

  After the discomfort of a long plane trip, this was a warm welcome to her (and to her skin).

  Just as the sun was beginning to sink a little too low to do its job anymore, Trisha opened her eyes to find that another woman had staked a claim on a beach towel just a few feet away.

  Since there was plenty of open beach available, Trisha could not help but be a little bit irritated.

  She had picked this spot specifically for its seclusion, and she had been enjoying her privacy.

  While it was true that the other woman had not said anything to her, and seemed to be minding her own business, it was a little strange for her to go to so much trouble to sit near the only other person still lying on the beach.

  Trisha lay there a moment longer, watching the other woman. She looked to be considerably older than Trisha, but she was in excellent shape.

  Her tanned skin looked as though she probably laid out in the sun like this often.

  She wore a bright yellow two-piece bathing suit that, while not cut in quite the same revealing way as Trisha’s, was nevertheless not too modest.

  Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she was wearing sunglasses, despite the fact that the sun was setting quickly.

  After considering the other woman for a while, Trisha sat up, and the woman was startled out of her silence. She looked over and smiled at Trisha. “I thought you might have fallen asleep over here,” she said.

  “I was close to it,” said Trisha.

  She eyed the woman carefully. She seemed to have no ill intentions, but nevertheless, it was pretty strange for her to still be sitting this close without any kind of explanation.

  “I’ve been staying here for a couple of days, myself,” said the woman. “The longer I stay here, the more I come to appreciate the late afternoon. It’s nice to be out here without too many other people, isn’t it?”

  Trisha rolled her eyes, and the woman took no notice. “Yeah, I was enjoying the peace and quiet myself,” she said, and hoped that her pointed words would not go unheeded.

  The woman laughed quietly. “Until I interrupted you, right?”

  Trisha gave her a curious look. So, the woman was completely aware of what she was doing, and yet, she still did it anyway.

  Trisha might have been happier just believing that this strange older woman just had no concept of personal space, but it seemed that her strange behavior was premeditated.

  Scowling, she said, “You could say that. Any reason why you decided to sit so close to me when you have all this wide open beach available?”

  She had not intended for her words to sound quite as biting as they did, but she could not help it.

  Her vacation was already a lot more stressful than she had hoped for, and she wanted answers.

  “There is a reason, actually,” the woman said. She nodded to a group of young men who had been loitering around for the past twenty minutes or so. “Those three have been giving me the creeps for the past couple of days. They stand around and ogle women,
and I’m not convinced they wouldn’t try something if they noticed you over here by yourself. Of course, I can’t go around accusing people of being perverts just because I get a bad vibe from them, so I figured the next best thing was to come and sit with you.”

  So that was it. Trisha felt more than a little embarrassed that she had jumped to such conclusions about this woman being strange, when she was really just trying to look out for a stranger.

  Still, she was not totally convinced. “I appreciate the concern, but how am I supposed to know you’re not the pervert?”

  She asked it in a way that seemed lighthearted, but she more or less meant it.

  The woman chuckled. “I’m glad to hear you’re not that trusting, honestly. In today’s world, it’s important to be careful. But I promise, I’m here to keep you from being messed with by those men. That’s why I sat a little distance away, so you could still have your privacy. Though I admit I’m sorry if it upset you anyway.”

  “I’m less upset now that I know what you were thinking.” Trisha looked at the men in question as well. They did not seem harmful, but of course, she had no way of telling.

  If they had been behaving in a questionable way for the past couple of days, this other woman probably had more to be concerned about than she did.

  “They’re not staying in the same cottages, are they?”

  “They’re staying next door,” said the woman. “I’m in the hotel with the cottages, myself. It’s a nice place. I wish I’d splurged for one of the bungalows, though.”

  Trisha looked out at the horizon, where the sun was finally beginning to sink into the ocean. It was getting dark, and the beach was becoming increasingly more deserted.

  She was ready to call it a night, so she stood up and gathered her beach towel, shaking the sand out of it. “Well, thanks for your help,” she said. “I didn’t catch your name?”

  “It’s Yvonne,” said the woman. She, too, stood up and began to gather her things. “Mind if I walk back with you?”

  “Sure,” Trisha said. She still was not quite sure how she felt about this woman, but she was not rude enough to just walk away without her when they were both headed in the same direction.

  They walked in relative silence together until they soon reached Trisha’s bungalow. “This is my stop,” she said.

  “Join me for drinks later?” Yvonne said. She was grinning, but blushing, and Trisha wondered how much nerve it had taken for her to ask someone so much younger for what was most definitely a date. She could not help but be a little bit impressed by the woman’s bold nature.

  “Why not?” she said with a shrug. The day could not get any stranger than it already had. Now that she knew a little bit more about Yvonne and what kind of a person she was, Trisha felt less nervous around her. She still regarded the woman as peculiar, but she was not about to say no to some friendly company on her first night at the beach.

  Yvonne waved as she headed back toward the hotel’s main building. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours, then! There’s a great place down the beach. We can walk!”

  Trisha nodded her agreement and went inside to change clothes and get washed up.

  * * *

  Chapter Three

  Trisha’s stomach was growling and dinner was still a few hours away. She ordered a small pizza to munch on as she got ready for her late night partying, and brewed some bland in-room coffee to help keep her going.

  She had not expected to go out partying her very first night on the beach, but then again, she had wanted a chance to loosen up.

  It was more than a little out of place for her to find that chance in an older woman, however.

  Still, she could not say that she minded very much. If the woman was flirting with her, she could definitely see the night progressing to something more exciting.

  On the other hand, if Yvonne was just looking for some company, Trisha could do that, too. It was really a win-win situation.

  She chose one of the nicest dresses she had brought along to the beach in the hopes that she could make a good second impression on Yvonne.

  Meeting the woman in a bikini had been a little bit less than desirable, but now she had a chance to look a bit more put-together than she had on the late afternoon beach.

  She donned the ankle-length pink cotton dress with spaghetti straps and pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail.

  She still looked every bit a beach-goer, but at least, she thought, she could do her makeup and come across as a little more stylish.

  When she headed outside to meet Yvonne two hours later, she found that Yvonne was dressed to impress, too.

  The older woman wore a strapless white dress that fell just to her knees and clung to every curve of her body perfectly.

  Paired with some flat sandals for beachside walking, her outfit made her look like a vacation queen, and Trisha caught herself glancing more than once at Yvonne’s elegant figure.

  “Ready to go?” Yvonne asked, and Trisha nodded.

  The two walked together to the beach bar, which was surprisingly quiet for such a warm and seasonable night.

  Most of the crowd, Trisha was glad to see, fell around her own age, and there were not too many young college kids partying at this particular bar.

  Like most beachside bars, it was decorated in an overdone nautical theme and served a ton of expensive, fruity beverages made with lots of rum, but Trisha did not mind. She liked this kind of silly, campy atmosphere, and she did not bother to hide it as she ordered some sort of banana chocolate alcoholic drink.

  “You like that kind of stuff?” Yvonne asked before ordering a glass of wine for herself.

  Trisha grinned. “I can’t help it. I came here to have a good time and get away from normal life for a while. I just want to live it up, and if that includes having something called a “Funky Monkey” then who am I to say no?”

  Yvonne laughed, and Trisha was sure that the older woman brushed her hand against her leg on purpose as she moved to tuck a piece of stray hair behind her ear. “I like your spirit. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out drinking with someone so much younger than I am.”

  “I can’t say I’ve ever gone drinking with an older woman, myself,” said Trisha. “Are you sure you only want wine? That’s so boring, isn’t it?”

  “When you get to be forty-one, you’ll probably want wine, too.” Yvonne shrugged. “But who knows? The night’s still young. Maybe there’s some fruity rum in my future, too.”

  “I truly hope so,” said Trisha, pretending to be very serious. She could not keep a straight face and burst into a quiet giggle at her own attempt at joking around. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m just a little high on vacation, I guess.”

  The two drinks arrived, and Yvonne picked up her wine, swirling it in her glass for a moment before taking a sip.

  She raised her eyebrows in quiet appreciation of its flavor, and watched as Trisha tried her own drink. “How is it?”

  “Incredibly sweet,” Trisha said, puckering her lips in an attempt to get her taste buds to process the flavor. “Like soda or candy with alcohol in it. Yikes,” she added with a laugh.

  Yvonne grabbed the drink away from her and took a sip as well, before Trisha could stop her.

  “Oh, wow,” she said, and pushed the glass back toward the younger woman. “That is truly vile.”

  The two continued to laugh and chat well into the night, as the bartender brought more and more drinks.

  They worked their way through the bar’s list of beach cocktails and moderately priced wine, and although Trisha felt a little warm and giggly from one too many drinks, she was happy that she managed to keep herself from going too overboard.

  Finally, after a couple of hours, she said, “I think it’s time I headed back to the bungalow.”

  “Mind if I go with you?” said Yvonne. It was a loaded question, and Trisha knew it, but she did not really mind.

  The two had hit it off well over the course of the evening, an
d she had to admit the older woman was very attractive.

  The longer they had sat together, laughing and sipping at their drinks, the more Trisha began to realize just how good-looking her new companion really was.

  Yvonne was a powerful woman with the body and style to match her personality, and she carried herself gracefully in everything she did.

  Although she looked her age, she wore it well, and there was still quite a lot of youth and vitality about her, despite what she said.

  She was nothing like the women Trisha worked with in the coffee shop, or even the ones that came in every day for their favorite complicated espresso drink.

  She was something different, and something special, and Trisha was happy to agree to let her walk back to the bungalow with her.

  * * *

  Chapter Four

  They had barely made it back to the hotel property before Yvonne grabbed Trisha and kissed her, rough and quick, on the ramp leading over the sand dunes.

  The kiss was over almost as quickly as it had begun, but it left Trisha feeling lightheaded in a much nicer way than her fruity rum drinks had.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” said Yvonne. “I just don’t have a lot of time left on my vacation, and I’d like to speed this along if possible.”

  Trisha laughed. “A few hours ago, you were just introducing yourself to me on the beach, and now you want to make out. I think you’ve gone way beyond speeding things along.”

  “Short vacation,” Yvonne said with a shrug, and she slinked an arm around Trisha’s waist. “Anyway, if you’re not into it, I can back off.”

  Trisha grinned. When she set out for a little rest and relaxation on the beach, she had definitely not expected to run into a scenario quite like this one.

  Even though she had made plans to hit up the local bars and try to flirt her way around town, she knew she was rusty.

  She had never expected the first night on the beach to go like this, but she could not complain.

  She had wanted a change of scenery and a little spice in her otherwise boring, work-centered life.