So Not a Cowgirl

by Starla Kaye

  But… She glanced in the clock/mirror a final time as he climbed out of his truck. But they would have no future together beyond being lovers. After they’d made love the third time and had lain in his bed snuggled against one another, he’d explained about his failed marriages. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want to go through the trials of trying to please a woman, run the ranch and his foundation again. It was just beyond what he felt he was capable of. Which was incredibly sad…for both of them.

  Drew had been surprised when he’d learned that Tanya had decided to stay in Dodge City, pleased but surprised. He’d expected her to move back to Sacramento. Or at least to move to some other big city. Of course, he’d been elated that she’d turned down a partnership with Peter Townsend. And he’d apologized for acting so harshly that day over two weeks ago. She’d eagerly accepted his apology, but then he’d been slamming into her with enthusiasm when he’d said the words. Hell of a time for that kind of memory! Thinking about her legs wrapped around him, holding him to her as he pounded into her sweet warmth.

  He forced the memory aside and prayed his dick would calm down enough that he could walk into her office without looking the idiot. His damn jeans were getting tight. Focus on the audit. Concentrate on that irritating IRS agent. Yep, those thoughts seemed to be doing the job.

  As he opened the office door, Tanya stood from where she’d been sitting behind an enormous, time-battered oak desk. He glanced around the small space, intrigued by her choice of décor. “I pictured lots of chrome and glass, maybe black and white.”

  She smiled and it made his chest tighten. “That wouldn’t have fit the location. Besides, I’m kind of getting into this Western stuff.” Her smile turned warmer and he began sweating.

  To keep his thoughts from wandering along dangerous lines, he looked around again. But the only thing in the room that really drew his attention was her. He recognized the dress, too. A soft pink, flowy skirt dress with a hemline that teased by stopping just above the knee. Conservative for her. Damn sexy, in his opinion. But then, he decided, she could wear a sack and he’d see it as sexy.

  Sweating even more, he walked over to hand her a bulging file. “Did I mention the agent wants all my supporting documents by the end of the week?” He avoided looking her in the eye. “Or that she is really getting kind of upset with me? We don’t seem to get along very well.”

  Tanya laughed and he glanced up to see the twinkle in her eyes. “Mandy mentioned you said a few things that weren’t exactly tactful.”

  He frowned at the mention of his sister. She’d read him the riot act about treating Tanya so badly, and she’d laid into him about screwing up his situation with the IRS. Unfortunately she’d chosen to go nose-to-nose with him at a bad time. He’d burned her butt for interfering in his life. He was a little disgruntled that he’d done it, but they were okay now. She’d called him last night. He hadn’t apologized for spanking her and she hadn’t expected it.

  “Tact isn’t my best quality.”

  She took the file and he caught a whiff of her soft perfume. It turned him inside out.

  “In case you’re wondering, I want you too.” She danced behind the desk with the file, leaving him gaping after her.

  “Tanya…” He meant to tell her that this wasn’t the kind of discussion they should be having here in her office. He meant to tell her that what they’d done the other night shouldn’t happen again. Instead he stepped around the desk and stopped directly behind her, pulling her back against him so that she could feel exactly what she did to him. “This is wrong.”

  She wiggled against him and he groaned. “Stop that.”

  Looking saucily over her shoulder, she said, “Going to make me behave, cowboy?” She wiggled again, moaning a bit herself.

  “Stop that! You want me to warm your bottom?” He eased back and placed a hand on her buttocks.

  “I was thinking about getting all nice and warm in another way.” She turned in his arms. “But I suppose this really is the wrong place and the wrong time for either sex or a spanking.”

  She said sex so casually, not make love but sex. Was what they’d done just sex to her? Why did that possibility annoy him? He didn’t want a commitment of any kind, and he’d told her that. Casual sex should be just fine. But, damn, it wasn’t! And he didn’t like her thinking that way.

  In his frustration, he shocked them both by spinning her back around. With a quick glance to make sure no one was walking by on the wooden boardwalk outside, he bent her over the desk, lifted her skirt, and smacked her panty-covered bottom. She glowered back at him, red faced, and hissed, “Stop it! Somebody could walk by.”

  He spanked her a dozen times. “You shouldn’t have teased me.”

  Rubbing her bottom, she snapped, “You were the one rubbing that cock against me. You were the one …”

  Drew sucked in a steadying breath and started to pick up his file, but she slapped his hand away. “I don’t think you should…”

  “Of course I should handle this audit business for you! That isn’t the problem here, cowboy.” She raised that sassy chin and pressed, “The problem is that you have an obsession with my body. You either want to drive that hot rod of yours inside me—which I happen to enjoy tremendously. Or you want to plant your hand on my bottom—which I don’t always enjoy.”

  “You deserve more than a man obsessed with your body. And, yes, apparently I am obsessed with it.”

  He strode toward the door, confused and frustrated. “I’m sorry for spanking you.”

  Before he could walk out she stated in obvious irritation, “Just so you know, Drew Weatherford, I’m obsessed with your body, too.”

  Chapter Seven

  “You know, roses might be nice.” Greg walked up next to Drew in the ranch supply store, earning a curious look from another customer.

  Drew set the curry brush he’d been thinking about buying back on the shelf. “What are you talking about? What roses?”

  “Aren’t you taking Tanya out to dinner tonight? Your first real date.”

  Drew was happy to see the other customer walk away. He didn’t like parading his private business in front of others. It was bad enough that Greg had been pestering him with comments and suggestions all morning, ever since Drew had made the mistake of telling his friend about the dinner during their drive into town. First real date. Guess that was right. He and Tanya had been butting heads or kissing and making up for over a month now. She’d worked for him at the ranch and now he was one of the clients in her new accounting practice. From almost her first day at the ranch, they’d been intimate in various ways. ‘Course most of those first moments of intimacy involved his hand landing on her bare butt. Pretty intimate that, just not romantic. But they’d gotten romantic, too, after she’d left the ranch. Well, maybe not so much romantic by some definitions. They’d had quite a few romps in his bed, or her bed, or…

  “Are you listening to me?” Greg sounded annoyed. “This is important. You need to make a good impression.”

  Drew thought he’d been making some pretty damn good impressions as far as Tanya went. At least all her groaning and crying out when they made love seemed to make him think so. Still, they hadn’t actually ever gone out anywhere together. Except that time he took her to the diner, but that really didn’t count. He’d gone into town for business and she’d ridden along with him.

  “I’m not much of a flower man.” He picked up the curry brush again. “Now if she fancied a nice curry brush…”

  “Pitiful. You’re sorry ass pitiful, particularly when it comes to winning the heart of a woman.” Greg shook his head in disgust when Drew glanced at him.

  “Who says I want to win her heart?” Drew’s chest pounded with nerves. He really hadn’t courted his first two wives either. Fact was, he hadn’t been sure how he’d ended up getting married either time. Other than the first marriage was a result of a trip to Las Vegas and a night he couldn’t remember. He’d come home with a wife, a woman h
e barely knew. That lasted about three miserable months. The second marriage happened in much the same way, only he’d gone on a trip to Reno that time. That miserable marriage lasted almost six months. He’d been steering clear of Nevada ever since those disastrous mistakes.

  “Are you willing to let her go then? Let her find that happily-ever-after thing she wants with some other guy?” Greg pressed, obviously not planning on letting the subject drop.

  Drew frowned. The idea of any other man so much as even thinking about taking Tanya out put him in a sour mood. She was his, dammit! They’d been getting along just fine lately. Sure the driving back and forth nearly every night so he could spend some quality time in her bed and then working hard the next day was wearing him down. But why should he mess with something that was working?

  “She’s never mentioned any ‘happily-ever-after thing’ to me. We’re getting along just fine.” He thought they were anyway. Was he wrong? Did she really want more from him? Was that why they were going out to the fancy restaurant tonight? She’d asked him if he’d go and he’d been okay with it, if she made the reservations.

  Greg rolled his eyes. “You really are as dumb as dirt sometimes, just like Mandy says.”

  “We’ve got an agreement,” Drew stated stubbornly. Didn’t they?

  “Uh-huh.” Then Greg all but knocked him on his ass. “Did you know that Peter fellow has been calling her? Evidently he’s still trying to convince her to go into a partnership with him. Annie told me about it at breakfast the other day.”

  “So that’s where the idea of giving her roses came from.” Drew remembered how she’d chopped up the last dozen roses in her garbage disposal. “I think chocolates might be better.”

  “You’re not so dumb after all. All women like chocolates.” He looked thoughtful a second. “I think some kind of flowers would still be a good idea. She likes flowers, told me so once.”

  Suddenly the dining out thing had gotten complicated. He’d already had to take his best jacket into the cleaners, although he hadn’t really minded. He was all right with trying to look his best for Tanya. But getting flowers and candy seemed like an awful lot of effort.

  Tanya had a headache. A big one, all because of Drew Weatherford. She had closed her office for the day and planned to spend the time getting ready for their date tonight. She didn’t know why she was looking at this date as something extra special. There was absolutely no logic to it. But she was.

  Standing in her newest black lace Victoria’s Secret knock-him-dead bra and panties set, she scowled at the disaster in her bedroom. She had been through her entire closet. Twice. All of her wardrobe—at least the dresses and skirt sets—lie tossed haphazardly across her bed. Nothing. She had nothing right to wear tonight.

  “Now that’s exactly the kind of outfit I like,” Drew said huskily from behind her.

  She spun around, blushing from head to foot. She’d expected Mandy to walk back into the bedroom after having gone to make coffee in the kitchen. “What are you doing here?” She felt ridiculously exposed, and turned on at the same time.

  Mandy stormed up behind her brother and pulled him back out of the room by gripping his belt. “You are not supposed to be here until seven.” She waved her arm with the watch on it in his face. “It’s not even two.”

  “I can tell the damn time.” His gaze darted from his angry sister straight back to Tanya.

  She’d gotten past the “turned on” issue, now she was upset with him. She’d wanted to spend the day getting all prettied up for him. She wanted this night to be something extra special. But he was looking at her like he always did: in pure lust. He probably wasn’t even seeing this beautiful VS set she’d bought just for him.

  “Forget it, cowboy. It’s not happening,” Tanya said, narrowing her eyes. “Go away.”

  He edged around Mandy, never easily swayed from a decision he’d made. “I thought since I was in town already… Well, we could spend a little time together before I head back to the ranch. You know, something nice and close and very personal.”

  Mandy barreled around in front of him and shoved him in the stomach with both hands. “I soooo don’t want to hear about this ‘very personal’ thing. You’re my brother. You don’t talk about S-E-X in front of me; you don’t even hint about it. Especially not with my best friend. Ooooooo.”

  “So leave.” He swatted her hands away.

  Tanya snatched up a robe from the end of the bed and wrapped it around her. Then she bee-lined across the room. “If you ever want to…” She hesitated and looked at Mandy. “Want to you know what, then you’ll leave. Right now.”

  Over the last couple of weeks she’d come to know that when he wanted sex, he wanted sex. Usually she was all too happy to go along with whatever he had in mind. And he had that determined look now. But this time she wasn’t in the mood to drop everything and go for it.

  “I said no. N-O. Not now.”

  He looked as if he couldn’t believe she’d turned him down, probably because she never had before. He was spoiled. His jaw tightened before he said, “If I go now maybe I won’t come back later. Going all the way back to the ranch and then coming all the way back in later… well, it’s a lot of bother.”

  All the air seemed to leave her body. When she managed another breath, it was filled with anger. “Tell me you didn’t just say a lot of bother!”

  Mandy eased away from her brother, shaking her head in amazement. “Oh, you’re soooo dead.”

  The big cowboy might be highly skilled at running a ranch to keep it in the black and starting a complicated foundation for abused horses, but his skills at dealing with women were beyond pitiful. He didn’t even appear to comprehend what an enormous mistake he’d made.

  “What’re you so upset about? I just wanted to…“ He had the audacity to wink at her and grin.

  Tanya bristled. “I know what you wanted to do.”

  “Okay then, we’re on the same page.” He attempted to push Mandy out of the room.

  Mandy dug her heels in. “Dumb as dirt. Maybe dumber.”

  He just wasn’t grasping in any way that the conversation now was past the sex issue. She was more concerned with the “bother” matter. Evidently she’d been blinded by her own enjoyment of making love with him to have seen the real issues between them. She’d almost convinced herself that she didn’t need to get married to have a contented life, because he’d repeated those words almost like a mantra. She’d told herself that she didn’t really want children of her own some day, because he didn’t have time in his life for kids. All of the decisions she’d made lately—other than about her business—had been colored by what he wanted.

  It was like a part of her brain suddenly came back to life. She decided right then and there that whatever they’d had was done with. She wanted more than just great sex. She’d really thought that with the way he’d been spending more and more time with her, asking for her opinions on things… She’d thought with a little push like a romantic meal out together that he might reconsider that no-commitment stand he’d taken. Not going to happen.

  She nudged Mandy out of the way and began pushing him back out of the bedroom. “We’re not on the same page. And you don’t have to bother coming back later.” She shoved him again, ignoring his frown. “You don’t have to bother coming back, ever.”

  “Now, Tanya…”

  He nearly stumbled when she shoved him again. “You know what else, Mister Weatherford, you’re fired as my client.”

  He stood there in clear shock as she turned on her heel, stormed back to the bedroom, pushed Mandy out, and slammed the door. She flicked the lock on the door and felt tears burn her eyes. Men! She was soooo done with them.

  Heart breaking, she heard Drew growl, “What did I do?”

  Mandy tore into him then, listing from A-Z the reasons he was a complete idiot. Tanya had to give her friend credit for coming up with a lot of really good reasons. Yet she fought down the urge to go out and defend the man who
was obviously listening to it all without saying a word. But he deserved the ripping. Not that it would matter. They were a done deal.

  Drew turned down Tanya’s street at six forty-five. His truck smelled like a flower shop. While he’d wallowed in pity at the ranch after spilling his gut to Greg, his friend had gone into town and filled his truck cab with what appeared to be every kind of floral bouquet the shop must have had in stock. He didn’t even know what half the flowers were. But he sure hoped Tanya liked them.

  He had never felt so nervous in his life. This could be one monstrous mistake, one serious ego-crushing moment. What if she didn’t even answer her door? She hadn’t answered any of his phone calls. He’d spoken to Mandy, though. It took some convincing, but she’d agreed to make some excuse for leaving tonight. Not that she really was leaving Dodge City, but she’d at least stay in a hotel for the night.

  Pulling up in front of Tanya’s small house, he sucked in a few steadying breaths. How could a man shove his foot in his mouth so far? He wasn’t normally so dense. Well, maybe when it came to dealing with women he was. But he hadn’t meant that she wasn’t worth his time, worth spending hours on the road just to be with her. He’d just been missing her, and when he got that desperate for her evidently he couldn’t think straight. She might have given up on him—them—but he hadn’t. No, he’d finally realized that not a damn thing in his life mattered more to him than Tanya.

  He shoved open the cab door, grabbed the biggest box of chocolates he’d been able to find and one of the bouquets. Armed with what he hoped might at least get her to listen to him, he strode up her sidewalk. The words he’d been practicing over and over since he’d left the ranch played again through his mind. With his boot on the first porch step, he muttered, “Don’t screw this up.”

  Tanya peaked around the curtain of the front window and her heart raced. He looked spit-polished from his shiny dress boots to his freshly shaved face and best Stetson. And he looked scared to death. Until that second she hadn’t been sure she would even open the door.