Rodeo Rancher

by Lauren Wood

  “Come on Joel. What, are you not going to kiss and tell now? When did that start? We are cousins and you told me about your first kiss, but not about this one?”

  How could he understand that she was different? I would have compared her to Eve, but I knew that I wouldn’t tire of Cameron. I had thought I was in love with Eve and even my wife, but it was nothing to how I felt about Cameron. She was the one and although it was not an easy route, I still believed that and I didn’t want Carlos raining on my parade.

  “I just don’t want to talk about it. She is not like that.”

  Carlos just shook his head and grinned. “From the looks of it last night she was drunk and she was looking at you as if she was going to beg for it right there.”

  The mention of that made my head jerk up. Had he heard her last night? She had begged for it, but if her morning mood was any indication, it was not a real invite, but something else. She didn’t know what she wanted and I was glad that I had waited.

  “I want our first time to be…”

  I couldn’t finish the sentence with him looking at me that way. His face held a smile and his eyes were going to give me grief. I knew what it sounded like, but I had already established that I couldn’t be the new bad boy that I was trying to be, not with Cameron.

  “You have fallen in love again, haven’t you?”

  It was not a question, but an accusation. It was one that I wasn’t going to deny, but to agree would be its own fresh style of hell. Instead, I went into my room and got dressed. I was still walking around in the boxers that I had left the apartment with last night. It did look bad, me like this and her like that and still I was pining for the woman. I still wanted to talk to her about everything, but I had a feeling it was going to be a while for that.

  “I wouldn’t say that Carlos, but I really like her.”

  He put his hands up. “Well I am going to stay away from her. You can count on that. I already have enough to deal with. Eve is a handful and once you fall in love with them, I swear it is worse. The things that I would do for Eve is nuts. I never thought I would love someone the way I do her.”

  “Then why are you here hiding out here?”

  It was Carlos’ turn to look a little strange and uncomfortable. It was like he hadn’t even thought of an answer for that. He didn’t know what he was doing here and I had a feeling that he was running away from all of it. But he had nothing to run from.

  “I’m not hiding out, I just, hell I don’t know. I felt like everything was closing in on me and it finally occurred to me that it is actually happening. She is going to have a baby soon and I am going to be a father. How the hell am I supposed to be a dad?”

  Carlos was a free spirit, more than that he wanted to look at himself as such. It was going to be hard to see things that way, when there would be a baby soon. I started to burst out in laughter when I thought about what he was going to do about his bike. There was no way that he was going to be able to ride it now, not with Eve and the baby.

  “What is so damn funny?”

  I shrugged and smiled some more. I could see it in my head and I don’t know why, but that was the funniest thing that I could think of.

  “Just thinking of you and the new ride you are going to get. I say just go for the mini-van right now.”

  He scowled at me and for a moment I thought he was going to throw a punch. Why he was there was starting to make more sense to me. He was there because he was afraid. Carlos was afraid of the future and I could feel his pain. I was terrified of what was going to come next for me as well. I didn’t have babies to worry about. My worries stemmed from a woman’s ability to change her mind at a drop of a hat. I was worried about Cameron changing her mind and never speaking to me again.

  “I’m not getting rid of my bike. Eve has already brought it up several times.”

  “Why are you really here Carlos? Are you really willing to risk everything you have?”

  My cousin stopped like he was finally seeing it the right way for the first time. Did he really not think of what was going to happen when he went back? It was hard to think of anyone not getting upset and his pregnant wife had more reason than anyone else to get upset if he left her in the night like he said he had.

  “I’m going home Joel.”

  “When?”

  “Is it that bad having me here?”

  “Of course not you idiot. You are family and you are always welcome here, but she is your wife, carrying your child and it is time for you to grow a pair.”

  That got his brain ticking and again there was anger in his eyes. He needed to hear it from someone though, so I wasn’t going to feel bad about it. I would risk a sucker punch if I could help him get it together. He just wasn’t thinking right, that’s all.

  “You are lucky you are family.”

  I shook my head and chuckled as I found something to drink in the fridge. There wasn’t much and I had to settle on some beer that I had a feeling was flat from being in the sun for too long the other day. My suspicions were made fact when I took a taste, my face showing the displeasure. It was horrible, but better than the city’s water that was almost undrinkable.

  “Now that you got me sidetracked, are you going to tell me what is going on with that hot little brunette that I saw last night?”

  The big sigh came from me and I took another drink, finishing the bottle and knowing that I needed another one. I would have gotten it if Carlos wouldn’t have made a remark that grated on my nerves. It was coming, the questions and I wasn’t able to answer them for myself, let alone to him.

  “I don’t know. You know how women are. I don’t know if I am coming or going with her.”

  “Yeah that’s how it felt with Eve. Then we got together and it made me want her more. Now I can’t go that long without her or I don’t feel whole.”

  His words surprised me, but it wasn’t the way he said it or the melancholy tone of his voice, it was the emotions that he was sharing. Carlos wasn’t that type and to see him in such a way, it told me what I had known all this time. He was in love with her and I was in love with Cameron. There was no way out of it. I was head over heels in love with her and I was just as lost as he had been with Eve.

  “That is how I feel about Cameron. I don’t know why, but that little witch is all I can think about.”

  He nodded his head like he understood and I guess in a way that he did. We had both been caught up and while I wasn’t sure if she was ready for what came next, unlike Carlos, I was ready for it. It is what I had wanted for a very long time.

  “So why are you down here and not up there?”

  “She told me to go home, so I did.”

  Carlos just smiled. “That means that you are getting to her. You will hear from her again, you just have to wait a little while longer.”

  I wasn’t ready to hear his opinion. I had a feeling that if I did things the way that Carlos did in the past, I would never see Cameron again. She was not into bad boys, especially after the little fight I was in with Stephen. Cameron had not liked that at all, so I wasn’t really willing to hear Carlos out on that. Not when I knew that he was so wrong. He had changed up everything when he got with Eve. He seemed to forget that, but I wasn’t going to.

  “I want to call her right now.”

  “Don’t do it Joel. You need to give her time to realize what you two have.”

  I still wasn’t sure if that was the best advice that I could get, but it made sense. She was more than clear on how I felt about her, so it was going to be up to her what happened next. That was the part that I hated the most about everything, but it was the reality. I had done all that I could and now the ball was in her court.

  “I think that is the first time that you have made sense when it comes to women.”

  “Don’t give me that. You had a lot of fun doing it my way for a while.”

  I nodded my head and told him that I did. I had gone a little out there when I realized that I wasn’t going to get E
ve. Then there was the divorce and after that, everything was a little crazy. But I wasn’t happy. The women and the booze were just a way to forget about it all. I didn’t want to numb it all anymore. I was ready to try again, something I never really thought I would want to do.

  “It looks like you need some sleep.”

  “Yeah, it was hard to sleep next to her all night. I don’t think I slept more than a few minutes.”

  That got Carlos laughing again and I was already irritated with the way everything was going. I hated that he was the right one and it drove me crazy what he was right about. I didn’t have much patience and I had even less when it came to Cameron.

  Chapter 14

  Cameron

  I kept looking at the phone like it was going to come out of my hand. That was how much attention I was paying to it, but there was a reason. I had spent most of the day feeling sorry for myself and nursing a hangover that didn’t seem to want to quit. It was too much to deal with as far as I was concerned and I was finding it harder than ever to cope. I hadn’t been without a job since I moved to the city and the anxiety of it was immense.

  I wasn’t looking at the phone because of work though, I was thinking about calling someone about the heat. I wanted to call Joel and have him come over and fix the air conditioner that hadn’t worked all summer. I had done all I could to deal with it and to put it off, but it was time.

  The reason that I was so nervous was because I knew what was going to happen when he got here. It wasn’t a plan per say in my head, but it was definitely clear to me what it was that I needed. I needed him in a way that I had refused so many times before. I needed him on top of me, inside of me, anything to numb it all for a time. Falling for Joel was not something that I ever wanted to do, but it was done and now I had to deal with the feelings that I had for him. No matter how impossible of a feat it seemed.

  Why was it so hard to just push the button? He was here not even a couple of hours ago, so why was it so hard to just call him and ask him over? I had a legitimate excuse, so I could back out of it at any time if I wanted to.

  Pushing the button, I held my breath and waited for him to answer. After the first couple of rings, I almost hung up, but I knew that my number was going to show up on his caller ID. I didn’t want to seem like I was nervous or anything like that. Even though I was full of nerves, I didn’t want him to know the truth.

  “Hello?”

  His voice was sleepy and I looked at the clock. Why was he sleeping at this time of the day?

  “Hi, Joel?”

  “Yeah?”

  “This is Cameron…”

  “Cameron?”

  The voice perked up and I smiled to myself. At least he wanted to hear from me if nothing else.

  “Yeah, sorry to bother you if you were sleeping...”

  “No, really it is fine. I shouldn’t be sleeping this late anyways. What can I do for you?”

  “Well, um, my air conditioner has been out for a while.”

  “I know. I don’t know how you are sleeping up there in that heat.”

  “I am really not. It is really hot all of the time and even though I have tried to open windows, it just doesn’t seem to help. There hasn’t been much of a breeze lately.”

  “So you want me to come fix it?”

  He sounded disappointed like I was calling for something else and the realization that I was calling for that didn’t seem to make him happy.

  “Yeah, whenever you have time. There is no rush of course. I know you have been busy lately, so I just wanted to get on the list.”

  “Are you working today?”

  The question had me frowning and I didn’t want to think about it. I was supposed to be at work now, but I didn’t have a job anymore.

  “Nope, no work for me today.”

  “Right, sorry I forgot.”

  I didn’t remember telling him, but I had a way of letting it all out when I was drinking and I was just going to blame it on that. I had said some things that I shouldn’t have and I knew that I was going to regret more of them.

  “Well that is not what I was calling about Joel. I just wanted to see if you could fix that air conditioner when you have time.”

  “I can be over there in five minutes.”

  That wasn’t what I had expected. I had expected a time and date, later than today where I could be more prepared. I didn’t feel prepared at all at the moment and there was a big part of me that wanted to say no. But I was in it now and after I was the one that had called, I didn’t know how I was supposed to be able to back out now.

  “No, I don’t want to rush you. Please take your time, really there is no rush.”

  As soon as I said it, I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to go with what it was that I wanted. While I wanted some time to get myself together, Joel promised that he would be there in five minutes. I agreed because I didn’t see a way not to and looked down after the phone clicked that he had hung up. I looked a mess and I needed to take a shower real quick. I could still smell rum on me from the night before. This was not how I wanted him to see me and I was sure that there was going to be a moment that I would want to look proper.

  I couldn’t decide what to do, so I unlocked the door and turned the shower on. I knew that he was going to be up here soon, so I told myself that I was just going to rinse off. I needed it and I needed to wake up, so it seemed like I could bang them both out at the same time. I just didn’t know that he wouldn’t even take five minutes.

  As I was getting into the bathroom, I heard Joel at the door. I had already gotten undressed and I wrapped a towel around me to go answer the door. I was feeling far more nervous than I should have been. He wasn’t just there to fix my air conditioner. I needed him to help fix other aspects of me and one of them immediately called out to him as I opened the front door.

  “Hey.” His eyes ran up my body and I looked away so that I wouldn’t have to see the need on his face. It was hard to ignore and I liked the fact that he liked what he was seeing. It was going to make seducing him a lot easier.

  “Come on in Joel. I need to go jump in the shower. The air conditioner is in my bedroom. I don’t know why it won’t work, but if you could take a look, I would really appreciate it.”

  I asked him if he had a tool bag because I wasn’t into fixing things. I might have had a hammer somewhere, but I wouldn’t even promise that.

  “I just want to take a look at it and once I know what it is I will need, I will go down and get it. You just take your shower Cameron and I will take care of everything else.”

  I had a feeling that he was more than capable of giving me everything that I needed. I wasn’t even thinking about the temperature anymore, even though it was starting to get noticeably hotter in the room. I knew that it was because of the way Joel was eyeing me. I made my way to the bathroom just to shield myself from his view. It was mighty hard to ignore the way he made me feel inside, my heart skipping a bit every few minutes.

  The water to the shower was hot and had steamed the room up. It was almost to the point that I couldn’t see that far ahead of me, but it was how I liked it. It made me feel a little more mysterious as well, as I couldn’t even see my own reflection in the mirror. The bathroom was just how I wanted it and in my fantasies, Joel would come in and come up behind me. I waited for a few heartbeats, hoping that was what would happen, but I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t. I gave a lot of conflicting signals and I would have been confused if I were him. Hell, I didn’t even know what I wanted in truth. I knew I wanted Joel, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it.

  When I got out, my skin was pink and damp from the shower. I stepped out in the hallway to hear where Joel was. He was in the bedroom and I had forgotten my clothes in there. It was going to seem strange to go in there, especially after I had hoped that he would walk in so many times while I was in the shower. If he wasn’t going to play along, I guess I was going to have to help him get the picture. I was new to the seduction
game, but I wanted to try for Joel. He brought out a whole other side to me that I wanted to explore further.

  “Sorry Cameron, I will get out of here.”

  “No, it’s okay. I just need to find something to wear.”

  I could barely look at him, afraid that he would find me silly, but I wanted to see if what I wanted from him was the same as what he wanted from me.

  “It looks like you need another air conditioner. I will have to order one, but I think that there is one downstairs in the basement that I can put in for now.”

  He was getting ready to leave and I asked him when he was going to be back. Joel glanced back and then stopped. I was still wearing my towel. I had forgotten that and his eyes took me in enough that I was feeling heat from his dark eyes.

  “Was there anything else that you needed Cameron?”

  It was the question that he asked me in my fantasy. I wanted to do what I had imagined I would do next, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I wanted to be bold and to show him that I wasn’t afraid of what was going to happen next, but I was frozen in place.

  “Cameron, are you okay?”

  I nodded my head that I was fine. I might have a heart attack at any minute, but I was fine, really I was.

  “Yeah, I just… I don’t know.”

  “Whatever it is that you want, all you have to do is ask.”

  It didn’t feel that easy and if it was so hard to breathe, I didn’t think that talking was going to be a possibility.

  Chapter 15

  Joel

  Cameron had this look in her eyes that drove me wild. She was standing in her towel, with it pulled up tight against her. I wanted to grab the fabric and rip it off of her, seeing finally what was underneath it. That was all I could think about and when I moved towards her, it was more my subconscious, then me actually walking towards her. I set the wires down that I had picked up behind the air conditioner and stopped in front of her.

  “Tell me what it is that you want Cameron. I am here for all of your needs, not just the mechanical ones.”