Catching the Cowgirl (Cotton Creek Romance)

by Jennie Marts

  Signaling toward the ranch, she straddled the quad, and Adam climbed back on and settled in behind her. Apparently they were all familiar with this kind of task and didn’t need to do much talking. That and it was hard to hear over the roar of the four-wheelers’ engines.

  The ride back to the ranch wasn’t as urgent, but Skye still drove quickly, and there were enough turns that Adam found himself hanging on to her waist.

  Now that the crisis was over, he had time to savor the ride, enjoying both the view of the mountain landscape and the feel of the cowgirl spooned against him.

  The ride ended much too quickly.

  They parked the quads back in the stable. Skye turned off the engine and yelled her thanks to the rest of the crew, asking Cody to make sure the four-wheelers were gassed up again.

  She smiled at Adam as they climbed off the quad. “You did good out there. I appreciate your help.”

  “I don’t know how much I really helped, but I was glad to do it.” He really had been glad. Besides getting to see and experience another side of ranch life, he got to spend time with Skye, and getting to wrap his arms around her again was an added bonus.

  He liked seeing her in this environment, and surprisingly, he wasn’t ready to go back to his room yet. “Do you need me to come with you and sign that waiver, since I was riding on the four-wheeler? I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

  She leaned her head close to his ear, and the scent of her shampoo swirled in the air as she spoke softly. “You already signed all of the waivers we need when you registered for the camp. I just had a feeling you might not know how to drive one of the quads, and I didn’t want you to be embarrassed.”

  “You felt right.” Wait, that hadn’t come out like he’d intended. Although it was true. “Er, I mean, your feeling about me not knowing how to operate one was correct.” He shook his head. “You know what I mean.”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”

  He started to say something else, but Clint interrupted, calling to Skye from across the stable. “Hey, Skye, can you give me a hand with this?”

  “I’d better go,” she said, offering him an apologetic smile. “But maybe I’ll see you at dinner?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he muttered and waved, but she’d already turned and headed toward Clint.

  …

  Adam let out a groan as he sank onto the bed in his room.

  He’d just come back from that evening’s meal, and he was in carb, and people, overload. The food had been a delicious feast of smoked meats, baked potatoes, and biscuits that had melted in his mouth, and the conversation had been fun, too. Skye had once again sat at their table and had finally drawn the dismal newlywed out of her shell.

  And once again, Adam had mostly listened and tried not to watch Skye’s mouth as she talked.

  He’d actually had a good time talking to Josh about computers and gaming. The guy was smart, and he imagined, despite the fact that they were currently living in his parents’ basement, he’d have a good chance of landing a pretty decent job.

  But after spending the day making small talk and getting dirty—two things he abhorred—he was ready to be back in his room and away from people.

  He might have stuck it out longer, but once he heard that Skye wouldn’t be there, he’d lost interest in the evening’s wagon ride.

  Yesterday his feet had hurt—today everything hurt. He’d used muscles he didn’t even know he had.

  And now his body was achy and tired, but his mind was still going, his thoughts once again saturated with images of the blond cowgirl.

  He took a shower, washing the dust of the ranch off his skin, and changed into shorts and a plain blue T-shirt. Picking up his book, he tried to settle into the story but found he couldn’t focus.

  It had been two days now that he hadn’t had internet service. Apparently it was only available in certain areas of the lodge, and that was spotty at best. The frustration of finding a good spot to hold the signal hadn’t been worth the effort, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been away from cyberspace for so long. He could probably live for weeks without social media, but he felt disconnected from the world and his office without being able to check email and text messages.

  He checked his cell phone. Still no service.

  He tried with his laptop. No luck there, either.

  Skye had said she had internet in her apartment. Maybe she’d let him connect for just a few minutes. Enough time to check his email and touch base with Ryan and Brandon.

  She might have changed her mind and gone to the wagon ride with everyone else, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. Right?

  He stuffed his feet into the old pair of Converse he’d crammed into his bag at the last minute and picked up his laptop.

  The worst that could happen was that she wouldn’t be there.

  Besides, hadn’t he just spent the last two hours convincing himself that she would never be interested in a guy like him?

  Best to just stop things now, stay in his room, get through this week, figure out what he needed to do for the game, and go back to California and forget all about the cute cowgirl.

  Two minutes later, he was knocking on her door.

  His heart was actually hammering in his chest at the hope that she was there.

  What was it about this woman that was turning him into an awkward teenage boy again? He thought he was over those days. He’d grown up. He was an intelligent, successful businessman that had his own company and a healthy stock portfolio. He had completed more than one master’s degree, for frick’s sake.

  He spent plenty of time around beautiful women and didn’t get flustered the way he did within thirty seconds of being in Skye’s company.

  This was ridiculous. She was just a woman. A woman with long blond hair and deep brown eyes—and luscious curves that could make a grown man weep.

  Forget this. He needed to go back to his room—focus on something else. He didn’t need the internet to work. He could go old school—use a pencil and paper and do some sketches and jot down some of his ideas for the new game.

  He turned to go, resolute in his decision, but then he heard the door open. He glanced back, and his breath caught in his throat.

  Skye was standing there, wearing a snug white tank top and a pair of cut-off shorts, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and her feet bare. Her legs were tanned and impossibly long, and her toes were painted a shimmery shade of pink.

  She looked like an angel.

  “Adam?”

  He realized he was staring at her legs, entranced by the shapeliness of her calves, and he shook his head as if to clear his muddled brain. He offered her a sheepish grin. “Sorry, I’m not used to seeing you in shorts. You look amazing. Er…I mean, you look nice. Well, more than nice…I mean…” He clamped his lips together.

  The grin on Skye’s face widened. “Thanks. I think. Is there something I can do for you?”

  Heat sprang to his neck as her question brought to mind several ideas, but somehow he doubted she meant those kinds of things. “Um…yeah. I was just wondering if…you said you had internet service in your apartment… I was hoping I might be able to plug in. Just to check my email and take care of a few things.” Geez.

  It had to be the shorts that were throwing him. Or the tank top and the way it hugged her breasts, the fabric just thin enough to show the outline of the lacy white bra she wore beneath it.

  “Sure. Come on in.” She held the door open, and he stepped into the room.

  The apartment was surprisingly spacious with a large open living space on one side and a small kitchen on the other. A huge butcher block island separated the two spaces. An office and a bathroom were visible off the living room, and a short hallway led to what he assumed were bedrooms.

  Skye’s bedroom. He swallowed.

  “My office is in here.” She led him across the room and through a set of French doors, into a spacious study. Book shelves filled one wall, and a large desk fil
led the other. Stacks of books, some double-stacked, were crammed into one of the shelves, taking up every available space.

  The other shelves were neatly organized with files and bins precisely labeled with information to run the ranch. He liked that she was both orderly with her business and cluttered with her leisure. Although his hands itched to reorganize her reading material into at least alphabetical order, if not by genre.

  “This is really nice,” he said, then his eye caught sight of her home computer. “Holy shit. Is that your PC?”

  She frowned. “That’s my computer, yes. Why? What’s wrong with it?”

  “Nothing was wrong with it, at least not when it came out. This thing is a dinosaur. And look how huge the hard drive is. How do you accomplish anything on this beast? Do you even have wifi, or is this still connected to dial-up?”

  She planted her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Do you want to use the internet or not?”

  “Yes. Sorry. I do.”

  “Then I would suggest you quit making fun of Bess.”

  “Bess?”

  She patted the top of the ancient computer. “That’s what I call her. This old gal and I have been through a lot together.”

  “Like the eighties?” He held up his hands at the glare she gave him. “Okay, sorry. Nice to meet you, Bess. I’ve got a sassy spitfire for a grandmother, so I am partial to little old ladies. I’ll be kind now.”

  “That’s better.” She pulled out the desk chair, and he sat down and pulled out his laptop.

  “I’ll just plug in to your Ethernet cord,” he said, pushing her keyboard back to make room for his computer.

  A stack of envelopes slid from underneath the keyboard, spilling across the desk and onto the floor. “Shit. I’m sorry.” He reached for the envelopes, noting that several were stamped with red “Past Due” notices.

  Skye scrambled to collect the envelopes, pulling open the desk drawer and shoving them inside. “Don’t worry about it. I should have cleaned this up earlier.”

  He could tell by the way her cheeks tinged with pink and the flustered tone of her voice that she was obviously embarrassed that he’d seen them.

  Cody was right. It seemed the place was in a bit of financial trouble. Or if all of those bills were past due, more than just a bit. No wonder she was so concerned about the cows getting out this afternoon.

  Reaching under the desk, he found the Ethernet cable and feigned concentration on getting it connected to his laptop. “I really appreciate you letting me use your internet. I’m going crazy not being able to check my email. I didn’t realize how connected to my gadgets I was until I couldn’t use them for a few days.”

  “Yeah, it’s amazing how addicted we get to our technology. But it’s also kind of freeing just to turn them off and enjoy life.”

  “Yeah, but my idea of enjoying life is having eight solid, interruption-free hours to focus on work. Or maybe four hours to do nothing except immerse myself in a video game. Or a whole weekend to organize my office.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Those are your best ways to enjoy life? What about getting outside, spending some time in nature?”

  “In my book, nature is overrated.”

  “What? You live in one of the most beautiful states in the country. You have mountains and beaches. Do you live anywhere near the ocean?”

  He nodded. “I’m actually just a few blocks from the beach. I can see the ocean from my living room window.”

  She sighed. “That sounds wonderful. Surely, you must take a lot of walks on the beach, or spend some time swimming in the ocean.”

  “Surely not. I’m not a fan of sand in my shorts, or between my toes, or in any of the other cracks and crevices that sand seems to find when you spend time on the beach. I do enjoy opening the window and listening to the ocean, though. If that counts for anything.”

  “It sounds to me like you are missing out. Didn’t you spend a lot of time outside when you were a kid? Did your family ever go on vacation to national parks?”

  “No. My mom was usually at work, so I was left to take care of my little brother. We were latchkey kids and Mom worried about us, so we went straight home after school and stayed inside until she got home from work.”

  “Gosh, I think I spent more time outdoors as a kid than I did inside. We went out as soon as we finished breakfast and only came back in to eat and sleep. I love the outdoors.”

  He shrugged. “I love working.”

  “Sorry. You said you needed to check your email, and here I’m keeping you. I’ll let you get to it.”

  Crap. That’s not what he’d meant. He loved talking to her. He could spend all night listening to her voice, to the slight country cadence she had when she spoke. “I wasn’t hinting for you to leave.”

  She smiled, offering him a way out of his embarrassment. “It’s okay. I’ve got some stuff to do anyway.”

  “Is that why you aren’t on the wagon ride? I wasn’t sure if you’d even be here. I figured you’d be down rolling along the trail, drinking cocoa, sitting on hay bales, and having straw poke you in the ass.”

  Seriously? Now he was thinking about her ass.

  “You do know that’s one of our most requested excursions. Most people love going on a hayride. They pay good money to spill hot cocoa on themselves and for that straw to poke them in the butt. And also to take a ride under the stars and to sing along to old country songs with the wagon master.”

  With Captain Cowboy.

  Her voice held a dreamy tone as she described the scene, but it all sounded like a nightmare to him—the bugs, the dust, the forced proximity to a bunch of strangers whose shoulders and thighs would inevitably end up pressed against his. No thank you.

  He probably shouldn’t express those feeling to her. It didn’t sound like she shared his viewpoint on the experience.

  “So why aren’t you out there joining in on the sing-along fun?”

  “I felt like I needed a little space tonight. And I think Cody did, too. I don’t know if you noticed, but he seems a little interested in one of our guests. What’s her name? Hannah? Katy? Something?”

  “Haylee, I think.”

  “That’s right. Wait, how did you remember that?”

  “Cody may have mentioned something about her. But you didn’t hear that from me. You know, Guy Code and all that.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I thought. So I figured I’d let Cody have some time on his own tonight, and I would get a little time alone, too. I’m trying to let go a little, you know, give him more space and trust him more.”

  “Sounds smart. How you holding up with that idea?”

  She blew out her breath. “I’m okay. I know he’s getting older, and I have to let him have some freedom. It’s just hard to let go. So, in order to distract myself from thinking about the fact that my son is growing up, I’ve made big plans for tonight involving a chick flick and some homemade chocolate chip cookies.”

  “Sorry that I messed that up.”

  “You didn’t mess anything up.” She gave him a shy smile. “I’m glad you’re here. You’re a good distraction, too. And you’re welcome to join me for the movie and cookies.”

  Join her for a chick flick? He liked chick flicks about as much as he liked getting poked in the eye with a stick. “Yeah, sure. That sounds fun.”

  A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and he loved it. He would sit through any number of romantic comedy viewing hours to earn that grin.

  An insistent beeping sounded from the next room.

  “That’s the timer for the cookies. You want one?”

  “Yes, please.” He wanted one of everything she had to offer.

  “Okay. I’ll let you work and bring you some in a bit.”

  “Sounds good.” Although the idea of him getting any work done at all with the scent of her skin lingering in the air and the sound of her puttering in the kitchen was pretty laughable. He couldn’t concentrate on anything but her.

/>   Opening his laptop, he pulled up his email and quickly scanned through the list of recent messages. Everyone at the company knew that he, Brandon, and Ryan were scheduled to be out this week, so his inbox was moderately small.

  He did have a couple of messages from the guys filling him in on the troubles in London. Apparently the new release had surpassed their expectations, and the sheer volume of gamers downloading it had indeed crashed the server. They assured him they were working on a fix and were still hoping to join him later in the week.

  He shot off a quick response filling them in on the last few days and giving them a quick summary of Cody’s thoughts on the game.

  Looking around at the outdated equipment, he also sent a quick email to his assistant, hitting send before he could change his mind. Then he closed his laptop and wandered back into the living room.

  Skye was standing at the sink, washing the cookie sheets, and he could hear her softly singing as her foot tapped along to the tune obviously running through her head.

  He was mesmerized by the soft bounce of her hips and couldn’t tear his eyes from the place where the faded fringe of her shorts barely concealed the bottom of her butt.

  She turned and caught him staring. Of course.

  He held up a hand, offering her a small wave. “Hi.”

  Wow. His brilliant conversational skills at work again.

  “Hi. You ready for a cookie?”

  He nodded, his mouth watering at the smell of vanilla and chocolate in the air.

  She motioned to the living room. “Have a seat. I’ll bring some over. You want milk to go with them?”

  “Sure.”

  Okay. This was different. Most of the women he dated were into fine wine and expensive entrees at fancy restaurants. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d shared milk and cookies with someone.

  He actually loved the idea.

  Sinking onto the sofa, he spied Cody’s gaming system, and an idea formed in his head.

  Skye set a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk on the coffee table.

  “So, I just had a thought,” he said, then picked up a warm cookie and took a bite. The flavors of chocolate, butter, and sugar melted on his tongue, and he closed his eyes to savor the taste. “Holy shit. This is delicious. This just might be one of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted.”