The Cowboy's Thirty-Day Fling

by Jenna Jacob

  Allowing anger to override her jealous pride, Brea painted on a tight smile.

  But Sawyer didn’t return her smile. In fact, his lips were pressed in a thin, tight line. Anger etched his face. His expression confused her.

  What was he waiting for?

  Why was he stalling?

  Why wasn’t he hurdling the fence, stripping off his clothes, and racing toward the sex-starved trio?

  An unwelcome flutter of hope broke loose, but Brea swiftly crushed it with her mighty Thor hammer. She wasn’t sure who was more insane, her for letting fantasies of Sawyer fill her head, or him, for thinking he could work his way into her body after he finished with the hot tub trio.

  “Glad you could join us for dinner. Have fun with your friends.”

  Sawyer blinked, then narrowed his eyes with a fierce scowl. “You’re a terrible liar. If you want me to go, just say so.”

  Brea swallowed tightly. “You’re more than welcome to stay. I just assumed you wouldn’t want to keep your ladies waiting.”

  “First of all, they’re not my ladies. Secondly, I didn’t invite them. As far as I’m concerned, they’re trespassing.”

  Of all the things she expected him to say, that certainly wasn’t one of them.

  “You’re turning down the sisters?” Colton chuffed.

  “Why? You want to go over there and join them or something?” Jade snapped, visibly pissed.

  “No!” Colton adamantly shook his head. “Hell no.”

  “Umm-hmm.” Jade pressed her lips in a tight line. “I’m going inside.”

  “I’ll join you,” Brea seconded.

  Sawyer muttered a curse. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Let’s hope you’re longer than that,” Brea tossed over her shoulder.

  “Yeah, or you’re in serious need of Viagra,” Colton snorted.

  “Ha ha. My shit works just fine, thank you very much.”

  “Evidently, if you can satisfy all three of them at the same time,” Jade bit out snidely.

  The second Brea entered the house, her green-eyed monster sank its fat, ugly teeth deep in her flesh as she stormed to the living room and started pacing.

  “If Colton even thinks of joining those three hookers, I’ll kill him!”

  Jade’s unwarranted fears stopped Brea in her tracks. “Get real. He won’t go anywhere near those sleazebags. Colton loves you more than life. He’s not going to let some YouTube video waiting to happen screw that up. He’s been in love with you since Moses was in diapers, and you know it.” Brea sent her friend a pained expression. “Who are those women, anyway?”

  “Their names are Sylvia, Gretchen, and Annette, but everyone in town calls them the linoleum sisters ’cause they’re so easy to lay.” Brea cracked a smile while Jade rolled her eyes. “They’re always scoping out their victims at the Hangover. Those three girls hit on every guy…married, single, they don’t care. As long as he’s got a pulse, can get it up…and keep it up, they’ll fuck him.”

  “Is Sawyer one of their regular victims?”

  Though Brea truly didn’t want to know the answer, the question rolled off her tongue before she could stop it. Jade lowered her lashes and sighed. That was all the answer Brea needed.

  “Maybe they really did stop by to relax in his hot tub.”

  “Then I’m a virgin,” Brea snorted. “Bitch, please.”

  “Okay…okay. Listen, if you and Sawyer ever get between the sheets, you make sure his shit’s wrapped up in latex.”

  Brea scoffed. “Never going to happen. Sawyer isn’t getting near my lady garden.”

  “Maybe not, but he sure wants to.” Jade grinned. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. That boy wants to plow your garden…plow it nice and deep.”

  The thought of taking a number and waiting in line for Sawyer’s cock made Brea’s stomach swirl. But the thought of him being up inside her all nice and deep still sent a wicked thrill rippling through her.

  “I think I need to see a shrink,” she moaned.

  “Aw, boo. Like I said before, you don’t have to move in with a man…just fuck his brains out. Of course, if the man you want is Sawyer, you might need to give him a couple days to recuperate after the sisters get through with him.”

  “I’m the one who needs my brains fucked out…that or a lobotomy. I haven’t gotten laid in forever.”

  “You mean you and Weed didn’t…?”

  “When he lost his job, months ago, he lost all interest in sex, me…everything.”

  “Months? Ouch!” Jade wrinkled her nose.

  “But that still doesn’t mean I should fall in bed with Sawyer…even if he wanted me, which he doesn’t. I’m clearly not his type. Besides, I know me. One taste of that man and I’m going to want him all. And let’s face it, he’s definitely not a happily-ever-after kind of guy.”

  “No. He’s not. That’s why he’s safe.” Jade winked.

  The sound of male laughter wafted from the kitchen.

  “Where’s my woman?” Colton’s deep voice reverberated through Brea’s chest like a bass drum.

  “I’m in here, you perv,” Jade hollered back.

  A huge grin spread across his face as he strolled into the living room and wrapped her in his arms. Sawyer stood a few feet back, looking embarrassed and as guilty as Weed had the night of his arrest. For Brea, the flashback was chilling.

  “You love my inner perv, kitten, and we both know it.” Colton chuckled. Jade simply sent him a droll stare. “Let’s go home. You can put on that little pink bikini you keep in the bottom drawer, and we can—”

  “Oh, we’ll go home, all right,” Jade huffed. “And when we get there, I’m tossing you a bottle of lotion and a hand towel so you can knock yourself out.”

  “Oh, I’m going to use the lotion, for sure.” Colton sent her a wicked smile. “Starting at your toes, I’m going to work my way up your body and rub you in all the right places until you’re—”

  “TMI,” Brea interrupted, holding up her hand. “You can stop sharing details now…please.”

  Jade sent her a look of sympathy, while Colton grinned.

  “They don’t have to be the only ones having fun tonight.”

  Brea jumped and yelped as Sawyer’s warm breath and deep voice caressed her ear. She opened her mouth to reply, but Colton quickly cut her off.

  “I’m taking my jealous little hellcat home. Seems I need to prove she’s the only one who pushes my buttons. Thanks for a wonderful dinner, y’all. Next time you two will have to come to our place for barbecue.”

  “That sounds great.” Sawyer smiled, clapping Colton on the back.

  “I’ll call you in the morning,” Jade whispered as she gave Brea a hug.

  “You two kids play nice now.” Colton grinned before closing the door behind him.

  Sawyer

  * * *

  Silence enveloped the room. Brea nervously wrung her hands as Sawyer struggled to explain his uninvited guests. Until the trio had plopped their asses in his hot tub, it had been a perfect evening. He’d been counting the minutes until he could taste Brea’s soft lips and delve into her hot, silky mouth again.

  Now she was clear across the room while he grappled with doing damage control.

  “Would you like another beer?” Brea asked, heading toward the kitchen.

  “That’d be great. Thanks.”

  Following her, he was unsure what to say in order to recapture the light that had gone out in her eyes from dinner. He’d spend all eternity kicking his own ass if he didn’t get to see her pretty caramel pools sparkle again.

  “When would you like to come out and see the camp? I can take you with me in the morning if you’d like.”

  She sat down at the table across from him and took a sip of her soda as if stalling. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea anymore. I mean, you’ll be working and…and I don’t have a car or anything. Besides, Barbara warned me that Ozzie doesn’t like to be alone.”

  “If it wi
ll make you feel better, we can take Ozzie with us. He loves the camp, and the kids love him.”

  Brea sent him a puzzled look. “Ozzie’s been to your place before?”

  “Yep. He’s been coming since he was a pup. Barbara brings him out three times a week when she volunteers.”

  “What does she do there?”

  Though the tension was slowly easing, the expanse of the table separating them was driving him batshit crazy.

  Rising from his chair, Sawyer extended his hand. He’d tried to reassure her with a laid-back smile, but he was holding his breath…waiting, hoping, and praying that Brea would take it. She finally did, but her expression was so guarded Sawyer mentally cursed.

  “I’ll show you.”

  Threading his fingers through hers, he led Brea past the kitchen and into the mudroom. After reluctantly releasing her hand, he flipped on the light, then pulled the door open on the tall cabinets next to the washer and dryer.

  Sawyer withdrew a stack of tiny plastic pots and a bag of potting soil. “You probably didn’t notice, but Barbara has several rows of seedlings growing on the east side of her vegetable beds. They’re pumpkins, well…starter pumpkins, anyway.” He held up the miniature square seedling pots. “She brings these to the camp and the kids decorate the outsides. When they’re done, she gives them each a starter plant from her vegetable bed and teaches them how to care for their pumpkins when they get back home.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Brea smiled brightly. “They get to take back a piece of the ranch with them and watch it grow.”

  He sent her a timid nod. “Sometimes.”

  “Why only sometimes?”

  “A lot of the kids have to go back to the hospital after they leave and can’t take their plants with them.”

  “What happens to their pumpkins?”

  “Well, let’s just say the fall pumpkin harvest is huge.” Sawyer smiled sadly. “We plant the ones left behind. Each one has a stake beside it with the child’s name, and we tend it for them. During the fall festival, the folks in town buy up every one of them. My mom takes a photo of each person who purchases a pumpkin and sends it to the child, or their family, if they’ve passed away.”

  Tears glittered in her eyes and Brea quickly swiped a fat drop as it rolled down her cheek. Sawyer’s heart clutched. Brea’s walls had fallen down, and what lay behind them was as beautifully broken as the scars he hid.

  “Hey.” After brushing away a second tear, he cupped her chin. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  Brea sniffed and sent him a watery smile. “It’s just so sad. Those poor, innocent kids. They’re fighting and I…and I…”

  “You what?”

  “I’ve superglued my ass to the pity pot, whining about all the stupid mistakes I’ve made and cursing my life. While those kids are fighting with all their might for the blessing of living another day. God, I’m nothing but a waste of space.”

  “You’re not a waste of space,” he growled.

  Sawyer desperately wanted Brea to see herself through his eyes. When she wasn’t being combative or hiding behind her walls, she was sassy, snarky, and funny. Her smile outshined the sun. Simply knowing her had him smiling more, laughing more, and wanting a hell of a lot more in life again. But there was so much more he ached to learn, starting with why she’d been in jail. The only crime he could imagine her committing was being too fucking beautiful.

  “Sometimes all we can do is learn from our mistakes and move on.”

  “I’ve definitely learned. That’s why I’m changing my ways…or trying to.”

  “And coming to Haven will help you do that?”

  She scoffed with a shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t have anywhere else to go,”

  His fingers itched to touch her. His arms ached to hold her. “Why don’t we move to the couch and talk?”

  “No.” She stiffened as if he’d asked her to strip and pole dance for him. Not that he opposed the idea, but yeah…the timing was way wrong. “I want to help at the ranch, the way Barbara does. But I’ll need to do some research.”

  Sawyer bit back a curse. Digging into Brea’s past was like climbing a mudslide coming down a mountain. Clearly, she didn’t trust him. But more concerning was the fact she didn’t trust herself.

  Turning, Brea raced from the mudroom. With a heavy sigh, Sawyer paused, then followed her to the living room and watched as she scoured the bookshelves.

  “She’s got to have an instruction manual on gardening somewhere in here. I just know it.”

  “What is it you’re trying to learn? Growing pumpkins is easy.”

  Brea shot him an incredulous stare. “For you maybe. My thumb is so black I can kill plastic plants.”

  Sawyer chuckled and strode toward her. “How do you kill a plastic plant?”

  “I don’t know, it just happens. I buy some pretty silk flowers, arrange them in a vase, and poof…two days later they start sagging like an old woman’s butt.”

  He laughed. “That’s…a visual. Tell you what, you help the kids decorate their pots and plant the seedlings, and I’ll teach them how to feed and water them.”

  “How do I do that…the planting part, I mean?”

  “You are a city girl, aren’t you?”

  “Just because I’m not a poster child for Better Homes and Gardens doesn’t make me a bad person.”

  He wanted to kiss away the sass and negative voices in her head. She’d probably slap that asinine man ban on him, or maybe even slap his face, but Sawyer was through playing it safe. Stepping into her personal space, he slid his hands up the sides of her neck and cupped her cheeks. Brea’s startled inhalation told him she knew his intent. But she didn’t turn away, didn’t stop him. No, the little vixen shocked him by leaning in every so slightly until their breath mingled, damp and hot. Even though the high-voltage current arcing between them was urging him on, Sawyer kept his touch soft and reverent.

  “There’s a different kind of bad I want to be with you.”

  When he dipped his chin and brushed his lips to hers, zaps of electricity surged. Brea gripped his biceps and held tight while the air around them crackled and hissed. The strange kinetic draw he felt to her, with her both fascinated and frightened him. It was why he’d sent the women in his hot tub packing. Sure, they’d had some good times, but since tasting Brea, Sawyer’s desire for any other woman had flown out the window. His attraction to her was spellbinding and light-years different from anything he’d ever felt before. Brea was special in ways he couldn’t put into words. There was something about her that made him want to toss caution to the wind, to chance another heartbreak, because he knew how easily he could fall in love with her.

  Deepening the kiss, Sawyer barely held on to his sanity when she opened for him and wrapped her slick tongue around his. It felt as if the heat of a million suns was singeing him alive. Eating at her like a man possessed, he cupped her nape. Brea clutched his shirt, both of them gripping and holding on to one another like an anchor…like salvation.

  He trailed kisses down her neck and along the edge of her jaw, then claimed her lips once more. Each muffled whimper and mewl rolling from her throat made Sawyer’s pulse leap. Losing himself in the warm texture of her mouth, his skin grew tight. Nerve endings pulsed in a raw, primal, and animalistic awakening.

  Doing nothing but letting him kiss her, Brea single-handedly shredded his control.

  Warning bells, buzzers, and foghorns warned he was moving too fast, falling in too deep. But Sawyer ignored them. Racing headlong with reckless abandon, he sank further into the soul-stealing nirvana of her addictive mouth.

  Brea skimmed her fingers up his arms, leaving a trail of liquid fire. His muscles tensed, rippled, and quivered. And when she scraped her fingernails over his scalp, his whole body screamed like a heavy metal band.

  Suddenly, Brea tensed. He knew what was coming…Sawyer could feel the conscious shift taking place inside her as a string of curses erupted in his head. He’d never
taken anything a woman hadn’t willingly given, and he wasn’t about to start now. Easing from Brea’s luscious mouth, he lowered his chin as the sexual energy enveloping them dissipated like a vapor of smoke.

  A part of him wanted to punch a hole in the wall, but he already knew he was going to need that hand later, alone, in his bed.

  Brea panted, her breath short and ragged, while a ghostly dark shadow passed over her eyes. He didn’t need to see the tiny frown settling between her brows to know what was coming. Still, he did his best to prepare himself and clenched his jaw.

  “I-I can’t do this.” Her words raked his flesh like a caress of broken glass.

  Unable to even make it to first base, he couldn’t lift his hands from her body. Studying her red swollen lips, her half-lidded unfocused eyes, he wished he possessed the magic to block the demons of her past and convince her to enjoy the here and now. But the pragmatist inside him knew playtime had come to a screeching halt. A pink hue crawled up her cheeks. The last thing Sawyer wanted was for her to be ashamed of her desires. Flashing her a playful wink and the most dazzling smile he could muster, he brushed one last feathery kiss over her lips.

  “I’ll pick you and Ozzie up at eight in the morning. It’s a ranch, so wear something old you don’t mind getting dirty.”

  His aching cock screamed in rebellion, but Sawyer couldn’t grant it relief. Not yet. Gripping her round, lush ass, he pulled Brea against his pelvis. He wasn’t trying to assuage the pain of his straining cock but to keep her from doubting how much she turned him on.

  Brea’s eyes grew wide at the feel of his erection, and a disgruntled moan seeped from her throat. “I’m sorry. It’s just…”

  Placing a warm finger to her quivering lips, Sawyer shook his head. “No apologies. No regrets.”

  Dragging his thumb over her bottom lip, he drew in a less-than-steady breath and forced himself to take a step back. There was so much more he wanted to say, to do, but he sensed her walls were fragile, paper-thin at best. Sawyer could shred them in an instant, but he didn’t want to be added to her list of assholes. If only to keep her from diving headlong into an ocean of guilt, Sawyer would wait until Brea stopped fighting the unholy attraction between them.