“And consequently, I’m pretty sure you got more work done than I did.”
“Really?” That was a gratifying thought.
“Yep, I’d bet on it. I have the feeling you were out to prove something to me today.”
“I thought you were trying to prove something to me!”
“I was, but then you’d do something sexy and I’d forget about my macho image and stop working so I could stare at you.”
“I totally didn’t notice.” No doubt because she’d been determined to show him that she could work rings around any man doing the same job.
“You were pushing pretty hard.”
“We need to get this done.” But that hadn’t been her motivation.
His soft smile told her he knew that. “Let’s make a deal to take it easier tomorrow.”
“That’s a given. It’s the Fourth. We’ll need to quit early so we can get cleaned up for the barbecue.”
“Yeah, right. I forgot.” He glanced at the water jug in her hand and held up his empty one. “Can I have some of that? I’m out.”
“Sure. Let me pour you some.”
“Not necessary.” He set his jug on the wall. “I’ve kissed you, remember?”
As if she’d ever forget. But she’d pushed it to the back of her mind today to make sure she didn’t lag behind. But now that kiss was all she could think about. He walked over, took the jug and tipped it up so he could drink.
Maybe if she hadn’t been dazed by hours of physical labor, she would have maintained her cool. Or not. He’d been staring at her all day so why not return the favor?
He was an arresting sight, and she couldn’t manage to look away. She took it all in—the flutter of his blond lashes as his eyes drifted closed, his full lips circling the mouth of the jug, the tendons tightening on the back of his hand as he grasped the jug and the movement of his tanned throat as he swallowed.
He lowered the jug and glanced at her. His breath caught. “Good God, Phil. Don’t look at me like that unless...”
“Unless what?”
“You want me to show up at your door tonight.”
She held his gaze as her heart thumped in an urgent rhythm. She imagined him at her door, in her house, in her bed. “As it happens, I do want that.”
“You’re absolutely sure.”
“Yes.”
“Then count on it. I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I—”
“Hey, kids!” Herb’s cheerful voice blasted through the mounting tension, scattering it.
He was quite a distance away, and Phil wondered if Rosie had cautioned him to make his presence known well in advance, in case something significant was taking place in the meadow. Turned out it had been.
Damon returned the greeting and stepped away from Phil. “Hey, Dad! Come see the progress we’ve made.”
“Whoa!” Herb came close enough that he didn’t have to shout. “You two accomplished a heck of a lot.”
“Phil gets the credit. The woman’s amazing.”
“I think you’re both amazing.” Herb beamed at them. “Rosie wants to know if you’re ready for some lasagna, so she sent me to check on things.”
Phil made a decision. “You know how I love Rosie’s lasagna, but I’m sweaty and tired. I want to go home, take a cool shower and put on my silk caftan before I even think about food.” She took satisfaction from Damon’s quick gulp when she’d mentioned the silk caftan.
“I completely understand,” Herb said. “Damon, do you want to hit the showers before dinner? There’s time. Lasagna will keep.”
“I definitely need to do that.” Damon flicked a glance at Phil. “Enjoyed working with you today. Looking forward to the next round.”
She smiled at him. “See you then.” Could be tonight, could be at dawn in the morning when she returned to the building site. If Damon wanted to keep their potential rendezvous a secret from Rosie, he wouldn’t have complete freedom of movement.
As she drove away, she realized he didn’t know her address. He could probably get that from...someone. But then she thought of something else. He didn’t have his own transportation. If he wanted to keep his visit on the down-low, he couldn’t borrow Herb and Rosie’s truck, so that left Cade’s. She wasn’t clear on how Cade and Lexi were working out their situation, so his truck might not be available, either.
Damon couldn’t very well walk to her house, although he might be motivated enough to do that. The scenario was fun to contemplate but unlikely to happen. By the time she reached home, she’d decided the chances of seeing Damon tonight were slim to none.
Her routine wouldn’t change much regardless, so she proceeded the way she always did on nights when she’d worked up a sweat doing her job. After a long, cool shower, she smoothed lotion over her tired muscles. Then she slipped into one of her three silk caftans, all in shades of blue and green.
In winter she wore flannel and slippers, but in summer she spent her evenings in caftans—and nothing else. The silk felt sensuous against her skin, especially without underwear.
Her dinner was a salad topped with fresh veggies. She opened a bottle of white wine. As she settled in front of the TV, she remembered to be grateful for the life she’d created even if she didn’t have a special someone sharing it.
Even if Damon showed up, which he probably wouldn’t, he’d only be around for less than a week. Maybe she’d be better off if he didn’t come over tonight, or any night. She talked a good game, but she might not be as happy about the temporary nature of their connection as she’d said.
She wanted to be happy with it. Intellectually, she accepted the idea of taking pleasure where she could find it, specifically when no Mr. Right happened to be on the horizon. A woman had needs.
Logically, if she could release some of the tension from those needs with Mr. Wrong, she wouldn’t be in deprivation mode if she met Mr. Right. She’d also be less likely to mistake Mr. Wrong for Mr. Right. Not everyone was as honest about their intentions as Damon.
He could have implied that he’d stick around if things worked out between them. A lesser man might have. She clicked off the TV show when she realized she’d lost the thread of the story. A little instrumental music suited her mood better tonight.
Humming with the music, she cleaned up her dinner dishes and poured herself a little more wine. Now that she’d sorted through her thoughts about Damon, she really, really wanted to see him tonight. But since he could be stuck at the ranch without wheels, she might just have to go to him.
Sex in a bunk bed wasn’t as appealing as sex in a king-size sleigh bed, but it was better than nothing. She looked at her half-full glass of wine. She shouldn’t have any more if she intended to drive back out to the ranch.
All right, she’d do it. She’d take the side road down to his cabin so nobody would see her arrive. He might still be up at the house with Rosie and Herb, but that was okay. She’d let herself in. The cabins were hardly ever locked.
She debated whether to get dressed, but the idea of greeting him in this very feminine caftan had been part of her mental image all along. She hated to give that up. Finally, she shoved her feet into flip-flops and grabbed her purse.
She was halfway out the door when she turned back. What a bummer if she went to all this trouble and he didn’t have condoms. But she did. At one time she’d thought sex would actually happen in her sleigh bed so she’d bought a box. Never been opened.
It wouldn’t fit in her purse, so she carried it out to her truck and tossed it on the passenger seat. If he had them, she wouldn’t even mention these. She’d just bring them home.
Driving her truck in her caftan and no underwear felt daring, the kind of move she’d envision with a man like Damon. And being daring felt wonderful. She was so glad she’d changed her Fourth of July plans. Originally she’d intended to take the time off and go down to Cheyenne to see her dad and her stepmother, but then this project had come along and she’d canceled. She’d go another weekend.
/> Before her dad had started dating about six or seven years ago, Fourth of July had been a big deal for them. Her dad would always research the most spectacular displays within driving distance, and they’d pick one and be right there in the thick of the crowd. But then he’d met Edie, and things had changed.
Phil was happy for him, really happy. He’d waited until she was an adult before looking for a second wife, and he’d found a great one. Phil thought the world of Edie, but she didn’t want to live in their house and be a fifth wheel. Moving to Sheridan and opening her own business had been the best thing for everyone.
If she’d stayed in Cheyenne, she certainly wouldn’t be tooling down a country road in a silk caftan with no underwear on. But she wasn’t in Cheyenne. She was driving toward Thunder Mountain Ranch to seduce a very hot guy, which called for some music. Punching the button on the radio, she lucked out with a tune she knew, so she belted out the lyrics.
She was in the middle of the chorus and moving with the beat, when her truck’s headlights caught the glow of a pair of eyes at about deer height. At the same moment another set of headlights topped the rise coming toward her in the opposite lane.
Instinct took over as she wrenched the wheel to the right, and the truck veered off the pavement. She slammed on the brakes, but not soon enough to stop the truck’s forward momentum. With a sense of inevitability, she felt the tires sink into the mud at the edge of the road.
She sat there gasping for breath as the deer she’d missed bounded across the beam of her headlights and off into the darkness. “You’re welcome! Send somebody back here with a tow truck, okay?” She’d killed the motor with that stunt, so she started it again and put the truck in Reverse.
As she’d expected, the tires spun uselessly in the mud. Growing up around construction workers, she’d learned an entire vocabulary of swearwords. She used them all as she pounded on the steering wheel in frustration.
Getting stuck in the mud wasn’t the end of the world. She had a phone and could call for help...except she wasn’t exactly dressed for a tow. Why in hell had she thought that was such a terrific idea?
She had a couple of friends with trucks, but they’d left town for the weekend. That meant calling in the professionals. Maybe they wouldn’t notice how she was dressed. Yeah, right.
Before she could dig out her phone, someone knocked on her window. She jerked against the shoulder harness so hard she’d probably left a bruise, which wouldn’t matter if she was about to be robbed, killed and left in a shallow grave.
Holding her breath, she turned toward the window. Damon. Damon? She lowered the window.
“Are you okay?” He sounded worried.
She appreciated that more than she could say. “I’m fine. Disgusted, but fine.”
“She’s fine!” Damon called out.
Cade’s voice came through the darkness. “Good to know. I won’t call anybody, then. I can haul her out.” He started backing his truck into position.
So she was saved, sort of. “What are you and Cade doing here?”
“He was giving me a ride to your house on his way to Lexi’s.” He shoved back his old straw cowboy hat. “What are you doing here? I thought we had a date.”
“We did! We do! But I realized you didn’t have any way to get to my house, so I decided to drive out here and surprise you.”
“You surprised me, all right. Cade’s pretty damned surprised, too. But I’m glad you’re okay and you didn’t hit that deer.”
“You and me both.” If only she’d stayed put, damn it. She should have figured out that Cade would be coming into town to see Lexi and could give Damon a ride.
A chain clanked and Damon glanced behind him before turning to her again. “Listen, how about you climb out and I’ll take the wheel?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Come on, Phil. I know you’re extremely capable, but you just had a bad scare. It’s probably better if you let me drive.”
She leaned closer to him. Sound carried and she didn’t want Cade to hear this. “I can’t get out,” she said in an undertone.
“Why not? Did you jam your knee or something?”
“No. I’m wearing a thin silk caftan and I don’t have anything on underneath it. I’m not sure if the material is see-through. I never tested it.”
His eyes widened and he swallowed. “Okay. You stay right there. Leave the window down so we can communicate.”
“I will.”
“Nothing underneath?”
“That was part of the surprise.”
He took a deep breath. “Lady, you certainly know how to plan a surprise.”
“Getting stuck in the mud wasn’t supposed to be part of it.”
He grinned. “No, but it sure makes the evening more interesting.”
“Did you think it would be dull?”
His gaze roamed over what he could see of the caftan and his voice dropped to a husky murmur. “Nothing could be dull with you around, Philomena.”
And just like that, the entire episode became so worth it.
5
NO UNDERWEAR. God help him.
“Damon?” Cade finished hooking the chain to the undercarriage of Phil’s truck and stood to face him. “Hey, buddy, she’s okay, right? You look a little shell-shocked.”
“She’s fine.” Damon scrubbed a hand over his face in an attempt to get the image of her naked body out of his head so he could help with the rescue operation.
“I was going to suggest you take the wheel, but you look pretty shook up.”
“She wants to do it.”
“Okay, then. You stand here and let me know when I’ve got her clear.”
“Sure.” Damon wasn’t about to explain the situation. If Phil had planned to visit his cabin in a caftan and nothing else, he was the only one who needed to know.
Thinking about it would be a bad idea right now, though. He needed to concentrate on getting her out of the mud so they could move on to...other activities. And he couldn’t think about those, either.
Truck tires and mud. That was all that should occupy his mind. Except he’d always thought mud was kind of sexy. Some exclusive spas in California encouraged clients to roll around in the stuff. Doing it alone had no appeal, but if he could roll in the mud with a naked Philomena Turner...
“Damon! Is she out yet?”
With a guilty start, he realized the chain was taut, and Cade’s truck was straining, but there wasn’t much progress. “Give it more gas!”
Phil must have thought he was talking to her because she gunned the motor. The tires spun and in two seconds he was coated with mud. Or at least, the front of him was.
“Hold it!” He staggered back and pulled his bandanna from his hip pocket. Taking off his hat, which miraculously hadn’t caught much of the stuff, he wiped his face as he approached the driver’s side of Phil’s truck. Mud wasn’t so damned sexy, after all.
She sucked in a breath. “You meant that for Cade. Oh, God, I’m sorry.”
“I should’ve said his name. My mistake. And I shouldn’t have been so close.”
“But if I’d used my head, I would have realized you were talking to him and not me. Now you’re covered in mud.”
He smiled. “I’ll wash.”
“I’ll clean you up when we get to my house. I promise.”
“Are you saying you’ll attend to it personally?” The mud itself might not be sexy, but getting rid of it could be.
“Absolutely.” She sounded a little out of breath. “It’s the least I can do.”
“You guys finished with your gab fest?” Cade sounded as if he’d run out of patience.
Damon wasn’t surprised. While he was standing here mesmerized by the thought of Phil naked under that silk number, Cade only cared about hauling Phil’s truck out of this ditch so he could get on over to see Lexi. “We’re ready when you are!”
“Then here goes!” Cade gradually bore down on the gas pedal and his truck inched forward, draggin
g Phil’s out of the mud with a giant sucking sound. All four tires were now on the pavement, although the truck would need a wash as much as Damon did.
“She’s clear!” Damon called out.
“What a pain for you guys.” Phil sighed.
Damon’s chest tightened in sympathy. This episode had embarrassed her. He wanted his bold, confident Philomena back. “Just sit tight and wait for me. After I help Cade stow the chain I’ll be back. Do you have a blanket for the seat? I don’t want to get it all muddy.”
“I have one.”
“Great. See you in a minute.” He jogged to the back of the truck where Cade was already unhooking the chain.
Cade glanced up and started to laugh. “I had a feeling that’s what had happened when you yelled.”
“She thought I was talking to her when I called for more gas.”
“Easy mistake to make.”
“Partly my fault.” He helped Cade stow the chain in the back of his pickup. “Thanks for pulling her out, bro.”
“You’re welcome, but I would have done it for anyone who ran into a ditch trying to avoid a deer.” He gazed at Damon. “Was she coming to pay you a visit?”
“Yeah.”
“But why? I thought she was expecting you at her place.”
Damon explained Phil’s decision, and Cade whistled.
“Damn. You’ve known her what, a little over twenty-four hours? That’s fast work, even for a guy like you.”
“I know. But we emailed for a couple of weeks before I showed up. We got to know each other.”
“But you thought she was a man named Phil, not a woman named Philomena, so I don’t think all those emails count.”
“Sure they do. They might even count double.”
Cade studied him without saying anything.
That made Damon figure he had more explaining to do. “We talked about the job. I never talk to a woman about the job. Do you see what I’m saying?”
“I’m beginning to, but I’m a little confused. According to what you said before, this is supposed to be all about sex. What you’re describing to me is sort of like...like bonding. Like what goes on between Lexi and me.”
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