Amorous Overnight
Page 42
Don’t go there. You don’t fuck the hired hands, remember?
But Joe had been known to once in a great while. It wasn’t a comforting thought.
Her words finally registered and he asked, “You need boots?”
“Yeah, I knocked the corner off a heel this morning. But that’s all right,” she said, keeping her eyes glued the television. “I’ll pick up a pair when we go through Sioux Falls.”
“Okay then—guess we’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, snagging his jacket and cap off the hook by the door.
She didn’t look up. “Have a good time.”
“Will do.”
They were both silent until they got into the truck and then Joe blew out a loud breath. “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”
Brent started up the engine. “Me neither.”
“Shit, why do I feel bad about leaving her there?”
“I don’t know. She seemed glad enough to see us go,” he said with a grin, pulling away from the camper. They could have walked, since the RV park was less than a mile from the bar, but driving everywhere was an ingrained habit. He’d never lived anyplace he didn’t have to drive at least a couple of miles to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor.
“Yeah, but she spends too much time alone.”
“That’s her choice, Joe. She knew when she hired on with a custom farming crew that she’d probably be the only woman.” And he tried to show her as little deference as possible for exactly that reason. If he treated her with kid gloves, she’d probably be uncomfortable and the guys would be resentful.
When she’d reported for work at their North Platte job in September, hiring packet in hand and a laptop and duffel bag slung over her shoulders, he’d just about shit a brick. What the hell was Brenda thinking, sending a woman up here? And why the hell hadn’t she warned him?
Well, the answer to that last one was obvious—he’d have vetoed her choice of hire without even giving AJ Pender a chance and Brenda knew it. It was just asking for trouble to put single women on custom farming crews. Hell, the quarters were tight enough already without tossing a decent-looking female into the mix, especially one who wasn’t related to any of the crew. But if he voiced that opinion in the wrong place, to the wrong person, he’d have the ACLU, the IRS, the SPCA, NASA and every other alphabet soup organization under the sun up his ass—assuming he still had an ass after Mandy and Brenda were through with him.
But instead of sending her off, he’d looked AJ over from her crown of short, pale curls to the toes of her scuffed work boots and asked, “So what does AJ stand for?”
“None of your business,” she replied, radiating tension. “I take it you were expecting a man?”
Wisely, he’d held his tongue and given himself a minute to consider the situation. He’d been happy enough with her qualifications when Brenda emailed him her application, and she had that look about her that always got to him when he was interviewing displaced farmers.
“Yeah, I was,” he finally said. “But I’ll get over it. I hope you weren’t expecting a ladies-only camper.”
“No sir. I expect to be treated just like everyone else.”
He pointed to his pickup. “In that case, you can stow your gear in the backseat for the time being and take over for Seth Dietz running that grain cart.”
He’d planned on AJ bunking in with Seth and his younger brother Tim, but that was when he thought she was probably another young horndog. The only viable option was to put her in with Joe, who made no bones about his preference for lovers who disappeared before the sun came up the next morning. Brent had been prepared for Joe to grumble a little about having to share the bunkroom, but instead he’d just smirked and said, “You’re the boss.” That’s when it had dawned on him that AJ’s presence in their camper protected more than just her.
“Come on.” Joe’s skeptical voice cut into Brent’s musings. “You know she wouldn’t be here if she’d had any other halfway agreeable choice.”
Brent sighed as he pulled into the gravel lot behind the Shady Shanty. Joe was right. AJ didn’t say much, but she shared a little here and there—enough for them to know that her mother had died of cancer when she was in high school and she’d farmed with her daddy until he had a stroke. The man had spent months in the hospital before dying and his land had been sold off to pay the medical bills. Probably all she’d had left was her pride, something most farmers had in spades.
Farming had been a risky proposition since the beginning of time, but it was also rewarding in a way few jobs were these days. It afforded a man—or a woman—the kind of independence that was hard to give up. After running his own custom farming business for so many years, Brent thought he’d probably rather just end it all than spend the rest of his life flipping burgers in some fast food joint, so he’d understood and sympathized with AJ’s desire to join his crew.
Seeing her squared shoulders and the proud set to her chin that first day, he’d known she was fully prepared for him to show her the door. If he’d gone that route, she wouldn’t have cried or thrown a tantrum or threatened him with legal action like a lot of women would have—she’d have given a short nod and headed back down the road with her head held high, then looked for another crew to join.
It was her desperate pride that had finally clinched it for him. He couldn’t turn her away. He’d had to give her a chance to prove herself, and so far, she’d done a damn fine job of it.
Amorous Overnight
Robin L. Rotham
What’s better than one hot alien at your service? Two hot aliens in your bed.
After four months of orbiting Earth in a spaceship bursting with sex-starved aliens, nurse Shelley Bonham will do just about anything to get off. The ship, that is.
Not that the aliens aren’t hot enough to put her hormones on red alert. In fact, the more time she spends with the Garathani leader Cecine and his personal guard Hastion, the more she wants them. Knowing what Cecine and Hastion are doing to each other when nobody’s looking only makes it harder to keep her hands to herself.
But she’s already been betrayed by one alien—her dead douchebag of a husband. Can she trust her future—and her children—to another?
Warning: Contains the usual Robin L. Rotham smorgasbord of m/m/f menage and D/s elements, plus a shipload of alien alphas in outer space.
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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
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Amorous Overnight
Copyright © 2014 by Robin L. Rotham
ISBN: 978-1-61922-175-8
Edited by Heather Osborn
Cover by Angela Waters
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First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: February 2014
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eig
hteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Emilie Overnight
About the Author
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