by Vivian Arend
“Playing.”
The front door opened, and Daniel stuck his head out. “Lunch time.”
The three short people vanished as if they’d never been there. Joel pushed himself off the grass and wiped at his jeans. “You got extra for me?” he called.
Daniel leaned on the doorframe. “Don’t know. You planning on teaching my kids any more bad habits like proposing another ‘who can shove the most hard-boiled eggs in their mouths at one time’ contest?”
“That was Jesse.” Still he couldn’t help but smile as he headed in and patted his brother on the back. “Also, I seem to remember you won.”
“Shh, no getting me in trouble.” Daniel grinned at him. “Good to see you. Got something other than a free lunch on your mind?”
“That transparent?”
They walked toward the kitchen and the noise level rose exponentially.
“You’re always welcome, but there’s not much excitement around here for a single guy, egg-eating contests exempted. Also?” Daniel paused in the doorway and spoke softer. “I saw you last night at Traders. You were distracted. Let me feed you, and once the horde is full we can take them outside and talk.”
Joel nodded, but felt a bit of a fool. “Is Beth around? I kinda have a question for her first.”
Daniel raised a brow. “Sure. You can take lunch into her office.”
He passed over a plate filled with finger foods and pointed down the hall.
“It’s nothing bad,” Joel started, but Daniel waved him down.
“Don’t be stupid. You want to talk to Beth, talk to her. I don’t need to know the details ahead of time. Ass.”
“Daddy. You’re not supposed to call your brother an ass. Mummy said so.” Robbie was all wide-eyed as he worked on the sandwich he held in a two-handed death grip.
“You’re not supposed to call your brothers an ass until they are adults. Then you can pick the best words for the occasion, okay?”
The older two nephews snickered as the littlest one puzzled over that explanation.
Daniel pushed Joel down the hallway. “Go, before you get me in more trouble.”
The continued spirited conversation behind him regarding the use of the words ass, jackass and butt had Joel chuckling by the time he knocked on the office door.
“Yes?”
“Lunch delivery by Six Pack Express.”
The door swung open and his sister-in-law Beth appeared, her dark curls more tousled than usual, as if she’d been dragging a hand through them or something. “Hi, Joel. Good to see you. Again.”
“I know, it’s been less than twenty-four hours. I’m a terrible burden.”
“Oh, stop it, you’re family.” She took the plate from him and returned to her chair, pointing across from her to a recliner tucked into the corner. “Sit. I’m nearly done, to be honest, but sometimes it’s better to stick to the routine so the boys stay on track.”
Joel glanced around, noting the piles of organized paper on the desk and side table. “Marking for school?”
Beth nodded. “And planning. I used to ignore everything until late Sunday night, and dread it all weekend. Daniel finally convinced me it would be better to get the work out of the way, so we have a lazy Saturday breakfast then he and the boys take care of things until I’m done sometime after lunch.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She leaned forward and whispered. “Once? I finished early and read a book for a bit. It was heavenly.”
He loved his nephews but, yeah, a break from their wild energy every now and then could be a good thing. “I won’t say a word.”
She picked up a carrot stick and waved it. “So, what’s up?”
“Since last night?” Holy hell. How to answer that question? The last twelve hours had been mind blowing. “Mostly, I wanted to ask you something as a teacher.”
“Really? Sure.”
“What’s the best way to teach someone something new?”
A laugh burst from her. “Summarize four years of schooling? Nice one, Joel.”
“Okay, maybe not quite that. I mean, I remember how the teachers at college and high school covered stuff, but frankly? Most of it was…” He paused. Boring wasn’t a great word to say to a teacher, was it? Not when he was looking for a favour.
“Dry?” Beth suggested.
He nodded reluctantly. “The only reason some of the information was interesting was that I was interested. The actual way they taught was painful, most of them. I had this awesome teacher back in fourth grade, and I can still tell you the longest rivers in the world according to length, but that’s too far back to remember how he did it.”
“Ahhh, okay. Now I have an idea. Teaching 101. You ready?”
“You want me to take notes?”
Beth shook her head. “I think you’ll get this. Joel, most people have a learning style that works best for them. Some people read for information, some listen, some have to do it. The best teachers use all the methods. The class you remember so well must have hit your style. Boom, you retained it better.”
That kind of made sense. “So some doing, some talking, a mix of stuff. What else?”
She smiled. “Start at the beginning and make sure the basics are there. Even if you don’t remember learning to read, what do you think you learned first?”
“ABCs and basic words.”
“Right, and I teach math, so the kids learn number order, adding, subtracting. Each next step builds on the previous skills.” She took a bite of her sandwich before continuing. “Is this helping?”
God, the ideas racing through his brain. “Yes. Anything more?”
“Last thing that leaps to mind. Celebrate your successes.”
He picked up the pad of stickers from the desktop, the ones with neon stars. “No farm creatures saying ‘Way to Go’? I loved those.”
“I teach high school, but yeah, stickers still go over surprisingly well. But use praise, or even a pat on the back. When you do break something down it’s tempting to rush through the easy steps, but learning often works best when you do a little, celebrate, and then do it all over. Build in the information until it becomes instinctive. Or set a goal reward, like once you learn the times tables you get a new book.”
His abstract plans for teaching Vicki how to love horses suddenly didn’t seem nearly as far-fetched.
Add in the last of Beth’s suggestions and, well hell, they gave him ideas.
Rewards? Setting goals? This could work.
He rose to his feet and came around the desk to hug her. “You’re brilliant. I’m so glad you’re one of us.”
“Glad I could help. And if you need anything while you’re going along with your teaching assignment, whatever it is, let me know.”
She was gloating. He resisted sticking out his tongue. “You’ll find out eventually.”
“Of course I will. Keeping secrets around the Coleman clan? Good luck. And Joel?” She pointed at his face. “You totally have a secret. It’s written all over you.”
“Dammit…”
“Your poker face sucks. Sorry to tell you this, but it’s true.”
“Be nice, or I’ll tell them you’re done for the day.”
She mock-glared. “Out. And not a word.”
He ducked from the room and rejoined the male side of the equation. Through the rough-and-tumble happiness of the next couple hours, he enjoyed the change of pace. Hide and seek with the boys, good-natured teasing with Daniel.
The entire time his brain popped with plans for teaching Vicki all sorts of lessons.
Tired. Scared. Hungry. It was like the most wretched trio of sensations, and all of them had arrived in spades this morning. Awesome way to start the adventure.
Vicki stared at the red barn doors before her and considered making a mad dash home. She could crawl back into bed and pretend none of this had ever happened. That she didn’t have a chance to escape Rocky. That Joel had never touched her hand in such an innocent way, and caused su
ch an erotic response…
And that’s where the damn thing fell apart. She physically ached to experience more, and desire had gotten her tired ass out of bed and brought her back to the ranch only a day after setting up the stupid deal with Joel.
The doors blocking her path were the first challenge. Vicki grabbed the large iron loop attached to the right side and tugged.
Nothing happened.
She pulled harder.
Nothing budged. Not when she put her full weight behind it and leaned back.
“Vicki?”
She jerked upright so fast she had to scramble to find solid footing. Joel stood eight feet to her left, a much smaller man door open at his back.
She smoothed her T-shirt and pretended she’d just been hanging out as she managed to join him without tripping over her still-uncoordinated self. “Hey. How are you today?”
“Great.” There was laughter in his voice. “You ever open a set of barn doors before, darling?”
She refused to apologize for her ignorance. He knew he was getting a raw recruit. She lifted her chin and batted her lashes. “Nope.”
He turned and led her back to the dratted handle she’d been whaling on.
“Man doors open like doors. These? Slide sideways.” He took her hand and placed it back on the handle. “Try again.”
The tug she gave sent the wood flying so hard Joel rushed to catch it.
“Shit, sorry. You got that thing well lubricated.”
Oh. My. God.
Okay, all the dirty images from the past night had to come rushing in right then, didn’t they? It seemed she was not going to be able to win this contest and get anything done the easy way.
Only when she risked a peek upward, he wasn’t leering, just casually closing the doors.
“It’s tough to keep them moving with all the dust around here, but my dad thinks it’s important, in case there’s ever a need to get the animals out quick. So we do regular maintenance on the glide system.”
He wasn’t even joking. And when he guided her toward the man door, his big hand placed against her lower back, Vicki had to make another mental adjustment.
“You’re taking this seriously, aren’t you?” she asked. “This teaching me all about animals and ranching and shit?”
Joel stopped a pace inside the building and nodded. “You have a good reason to want to learn, so we’ll do it right.”
That’s when it struck her. She was inside a goddamn barn. There were horses in this place, and she was about to have to climb on the back of one.
Her stomach clenched. “Oh, shit…”
“You okay?” Joel leaned down and peered at her. “You’re this weird shade of green. Breakfast not agreeing with you?”
“Didn’t eat anything,” she confessed. “I was afraid I’d lose it.”
He swore. “It’s ten o’clock, and you haven’t eaten?”
She wondered at the annoyance in his voice. It was just a meal. “Trust me, it’s not the first time I’ve gone without breakfast. I’ll live.”
He examined her closer, top to bottom, and she tried not to wiggle. His examination wasn’t sexual, but damn if she didn’t want it to be. At least when his gaze was rolling over her, she could put hell horses on the backburner and ignore part of what she was there for.
He finished his nonsexual, but still stimulating perusal by staring at her feet. He shook his head. “You don’t have any cowboy boots, do you?”
She snorted. “Umm, no.”
“Fine. Today you can wear these, but we’ll have to get you some real boots.”
Right. She’d checked before. Not because of the horse thing, but because she liked how they looked. Too expensive for her pocketbook. “I’ll poke around.”
Maybe there would be some used ones at the thrift store. Salvation Army or somewhere.
That’s when she finally registered what he was holding out. “Rubber boots?”
He twisted his feet forward to show off the pair he wore. “The finest bit of footwear on any ranch.”
She eyed the black monstrosities suspiciously. “To ride a horse?”
He shook his head. “You’re not riding today.”
“Oh, thank God.”
The words burst free about the time his laughter surrounded her, and he led her back to a bench, squatting to pull off her runners. He held the floppy tops of the rubber boots open. “Nope, you don’t have to worry about the big smelly beasts for today. So relax, and enjoy your lesson, okay?”
Now she wished she’d eaten breakfast.
It was more than a little distracting to have him kneeling in front of her. Another opportunity to have their heads at about the same height. He was this enormous mass of a man, and the stroke of his hand over her sole as he straightened her damn sock shouldn’t have felt so good. The way the back of his knuckles rubbed her calf as he held the boot steady and she pushed her foot in was downright sinful.
She leaned forward on the second boot, her hand on his shoulder for balance, close enough his scent surrounded her.
Wow. Putting on rubber boots with Joel Coleman was making her motor run. Was she pathetic or what?
But stupid? She didn’t want to be that. So instead of kicking herself in the ass for being a little too fast off the starting gate with her hormones, she decided to enjoy it. He smelt good as she took a deep breath, the scent of soap fading, the masculine aroma of a man who’d been moving all morning rising. He hadn’t reached the sweaty stage yet, just smelt like Joel.
She resisted licking his neck. That was good.
Joel broke the easy silence between them. “Ready for your first lesson?”
“If there’s no actual riding involved, I’m as ready as I can get.”
“You’ll be happy to know there’s no actual horses involved either.” Joel stood and held out his hand.
No horses? She was nearly distracted enough by his words to miss that first second of slipping her hand into his.
Nearly, but not quite. She’d spent too much time last night fantasizing about his hands to ignore it entirely. Her fingers vanished into his hand as he curled tight around hers and tugged her down the hall. “We’re gonna start at the beginning. Welcome to day one.”
He stopped beside a boxlike space, one of about ten in a row. Each had a gate at the front made of wooden slats, openings between them. Wood shavings littered the floor and off to one side was an unmistakable pile of crap that stank to high heaven.
Joel let her fingers go to grab something leaning up against the next gate.
The pleased expression on his face when he turned back was the only thing that stopped her from kicking him into tomorrow. Especially when he held out the mystery object—a shovel—and announced, “Lesson one. Cleaning stalls.”
Chapter Seven
Maybe he should have worn a cup. The flash of rage in her eyes shocked him with its intensity.
Then, in the next breath, all was calm. She stared at the floor, her shoulders shaking slightly. “I’ll shovel shit forever to avoid the actual horses.”
Joel grabbed his own shovel. “Well, it might not be the method they’d use at some fancy training school, but you said to teach you what I know. I’ve hung out in these barns since I was little, following my dad and brothers. Taking care of the animals and doing chores. I didn’t start with the big smelly beasts.”
She lifted her head and smiled as she clung to the shovel handle, using it to hold herself vertical. “You gonna call them that all the time now, just to tease me?”
He grinned his answer. “For the next while we’ll take it easy. You got until May to get ready, so there’s no rush, right?”
She eyed the line of stalls warily. “I’m gonna be working full time. I can’t be over here doing your chores every spare moment I get.”
“No, you’re not. ’Cause you and me are also going on the town. Plus spending other time together.” Her pulse quickened—he saw it in the curve of where her neck and shoulder met. Hell
yeah, his body tightened as he considered what was coming in the days ahead. “You’re going to get used to the animals slowly, and every time you accomplish the next task, you get a reward.”
His sister-in-law had been right. Everyone liked an incentive, and by the way her eyes lit up, it seemed Vicki was no different.
“What kind of things you got in mind?”
“We’ll make some of them up as we go along. Today? You get this task done and I’ll give you a surprise.”
“You’re not even going to tell me what it is?” Her lower lip was out, and it was so damn adorable he nearly reconsidered.
“I can tell you you’ll like it.” He hoped she’d like it. This part of the planning was worse than figuring out what lesson to give her with the horses.
He wanted to lift her to the top of the railing and consume her like a feast. Kiss her until she gasped for air, hold her squirming self to his body and let her rub all over until his cock gave up aching.
Going slow was necessary for dealing with the horses, but hell if going slow sexually wasn’t going to kill him.
Her nose wrinkled. “Okay, teach me, but don’t try to tell me this doesn’t stink.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Joel showed her where to find the latch to open the gate. He moved a wheelbarrow into position. “Just think. When you go home after a long day of work, wouldn’t it be nice to have a clean bed and a cool drink waiting for you?”
“You got French-maid fantasies. Nice.”
He laughed. “While you’re missing the French-maid costume, you do get to make beds.”
He showed her how to clean the mess into the wheelbarrow, then he pushed it outside for her the first time.
“Oh, man.” Vicki fanned a hand in front of her face.
“Come on.” He left the full barrow for a moment and walked her around to the garden side of the manure pile. “This part doesn’t smell as much. It’s wonderful compost now that it’s aged. We turn it over in the fall and by the spring it’ll be ready to be worked into the garden.”
Vicki raised a brow before a full-fledged snicker broke free.