The Cowboy Way

by Stevens, Melissa

  "Here, let me see." Mariah set her e-reader aside, unfolded her legs and stood.

  "You know computers?"

  "Doesn't everyone, at least to an extent? I'm no expert, but I can hold my own." She came around to stand beside him and bent over at the waist to get a better look at the screen. "Tell me exactly what you were doing."

  "I'm paying bills. I write a check, then I come over here and input the check, like a register, who, what, and categorize the expense. I was doing that when the whole thing flashed blue then poof, everything was gone."

  "Hmm. Let's try this." She did something on the keyboard and just as quickly as it had disappeared, everything was back.

  Relief washed through him. "You did it! I don't know how but you brought it all back!"

  "I just hit undo." She turned and smiled at him.

  Without thinking about it he closed the distance between them and kissed her. His lips met hers and it was like a spark. Heat spread through him as her mouth opened beneath his and her tongue rubbed against his. He turned the chair toward her as he felt his brain fizzle and short. He wanted to reach for her but something stopped him. Mariah moved closer but stumbled. The kiss broke as he caught her. They stared at each other a moment, their breathing ragged.

  "Wow."

  "I'm sorry."

  They spoke at the same time. Stared at a moment, then laughed.

  "How much more do you have here?"

  He glanced over at the stack of bills. "An hour or so at the rate I'm going."

  "How about you do your part over there," she flicked her hand over toward where he'd been writing checks and getting them ready to go in the mail. "Let me know what to input, and I'll take care of it. We can get this taken care of in no time."

  "Are you sure? You're on vacation, you don't need to help me with this."

  "I'm sure. I offered."

  "Thank you." He sighed, grateful he didn't have to fight with the computer any longer.

  Chapter 28

  Twenty minutes later Levi leaned back in his chair and grinned.

  "That's it. We finished in less than half the time it would have taken me to do it on my own."

  "Already?" She scanned the desktop, realizing the stack he'd been taking bills from was gone. "That's all there was?" That would have taken him an hour? "I have some questions, if you don't mind." There were a lot of things he could do to make this whole process much easier.

  "First, why do you keep a ledger like this?" She pointed to the spreadsheet still on the screen.

  "Because we need a ledger to send to the accountant at the end of the year for taxes. We used to keep ledger books, but the accountant is in Casper, and hard copies have to be delivered to him. Mom started doing it this way, so I've kept it up. Why?"

  "Because there are way easier ways to do it. Why are you still writing and mailing checks?"

  He looked down at the desk size check book open on the desk in front of him.

  "It's what we've always done. I never even thought about changing how I do things."

  "You buy stamps, what every two or three months?" She'd noticed he was pulling stamps off a roll as he'd sealed each check into the envelope to go back. "That's an expense you can totally do away with. Most banks have free online bill pay. You go in and put all your creditors in once, and when you need to make a payment you log into the site, chose the creditor, tell it how much to pay and when to pay it and it's done." She pointed to the computer. "And there's software out there, just for this kind of thing. It checks with the bank and pulls all your transactions, you just have to log in and categorize them, add anything you've done with cash. They even have versions that let you do payroll checks and send out invoices to people who owe you money."

  Levi sighed. "I hate that thing." He gave the laptop dirty looks. "It never does what I want and half the time it loses my work. I don't know if I want to do all that on it. I'm afraid I'd hit the wrong button, something would go ‘zzt’ then the bank would lose everything I've got." He looked up and met her gaze. "I might not have a lot in the bank, but if something happens to it, we're toast."

  She smiled, amused by his certainty he would fry the bank’s system. "You're not going to do that. You don't have that much access on the bank's site. I won't push, but think about it. It would make things so much faster, letting you get back out to what you want to be doing."

  "I'll think about it." He reached over and closed the laptop. "But not right now. I'm done for tonight, and far earlier than I'd hoped. Even before I tackled the bookkeeping it's been a big day, now I just want to relax."

  "Okay, what do you want to do then?"

  "I'm sure we can think of something." His arm came up around her waist, but he didn't hold her tightly.

  She knew she could break away if she wanted. She didn't want. Slowly, as if giving her time to protest or leave he pulled her down until she sat on her lap.

  "Did you feel it too?"

  Mariah stared down at him from inches away.

  "The heat, the spark between us."

  "I—" she stumbled over the words, not sure she wanted to admit how much his kiss had affected her. "I'm not sure, maybe we should try again." She didn't wait for his answer, but instead cupped his cheek with one hand as she pressed her lips against his.

  There it was again. The jolt of fire that spread through her. The deep desire that pooled low in her belly. The instant fading of anything and anyone else in the world. All that mattered, all that existed was the man holding her, the man kissing her.

  Mariah's hand slid down from his cheek, along his neck and down his arm. His hand in hers she guided it to her body.

  "Touch me." Her voice was soft as she broke the kiss to trail kisses along his jaw.

  "Are you sure? I don't want to pressure you."

  "Seems like I'm the one telling you what to do."

  "I've wanted to do this since I first saw you." His mouth covered hers once more in a fevered kiss filled with need. Levi seemed to lose his reluctance as his hand slid around her up her torso to cup her breast.

  His touch sent swirls of need through her body, Mariah couldn't hold back the soft whimper that escaped her throat. Her fingers curled, digging into the muscles of his shoulders as she tried to pull him closer.

  "Not here." Levi pulled away.

  "What?" Mariah blinked.

  "This isn't the right place." His hands tightened on her. He stood, taking her with him. A wave of panic flashed through her making her wrap her arms around his neck.

  She didn't care where he wanted to go as long as he didn't stop touching her.

  Chapter 29

  Levi couldn't believe his luck. The sweet little Mariah wanted him. She wanted to touch him, she wanted his kiss. It was more than he'd dared to hope for. But this wasn't the right place. Their first time together couldn't be on his desk, he’d love to get here eventually, but the first time should be where they could stretch out, where they'd be comfortable while he showed her just how beautiful she was. They needed a bed.

  He lifted her up, noticing again how small and light she was, and carried her out of the office. As he made his way down the hall to his bedroom he wondered how he'd gotten so lucky. He'd known better than to hit on a guest, then she'd been attacked here, he'd failed to protect her. After that he'd done what he could to help her. He'd meant to only move her into the house for one night, until the men from her company were gone, so she could feel safe, and he could be sure they didn't go back for her once he'd left her alone. He hadn't planned to take her into Hawthorne, nor to introduce her to his family, but she'd fit in as if she'd been part of the family for years, stepping up and doing whatever needed to be done. He was still surprised at how she'd taken to Melody, and Melody to her.

  When he reached his bedroom and the edge of his bed he laid Mariah down on top of the quilt, then stared down at her a moment. Her eyes had dilated until they were big blue circles as she gazed back, waiting. Her lips red and swollen from his kisses made hi
m want to taste her again, but he wouldn't be rushed. He had no way to know how long she might stay so he was going to make the most of the opportunity stretched out in front of him.

  He stepped back and stripped off his shirt before moving over her, loving the way her eyes went even wider as he revealed his chest.

  "This is much better." He lowered his head to hers.

  He gave her a quick hard kiss careful of the bruise, then trailed soft kisses along her jaw until reached the sensitive spot behind her ear. Her scent was intoxicating and he never wanted to let her go. His hands roamed, sliding along her body with varying pressure as she ran her own along his, activating every nerve ending until they were both little more than sensation and need.

  Piece by piece he removed her clothing, paying special attention to every bit of her body as it was revealed, he didn't want to forget an inch. With the last garment, a pair of barely there silk and lace panties, his breath caught as he slipped them off her hips, revealing a treasure he'd never hoped to see, to touch, to taste. He tossed the scrap of cloth aside and put his hands back on her, letting her know with every caress how precious she was to him.

  * * *

  Levi woke early, feeling better than he had in longer than he could remember. He only found it surprising considering how little sleep he'd gotten. The precious girl softly snoring his arms was to thank, or blame, depending on how you looked at it.

  Unable to help himself, he watched her sleep for several minutes. The soft fringe of her lashes against her cheeks made him want to kiss her awake, but he knew she had to be tired, and most likely at least a little sore. Instead, he eased out of bed to keep from waking her, grabbed clothes on his way out and slipped into the front room.

  After dressing, he made a pot of coffee, filled an insulated mug and headed out to the barn. It was early, but Billy should have gotten started by now.

  Sure enough, he stepped into the barn and found Billy busy feeding the horses.

  "How'd it go yesterday?"

  "Sheppard made some noise about their flight not being until Sunday, but I told him you'd already spoken with the sheriff and made sure to remind him of the policies he'd agreed to when he booked, to follow any and all state, local and federal laws, and failure to do so would forfeit any fees or deposits paid as well as terminate his welcome on our property. I suggested he use the trip and that fancy phone of his to either change his flight or make arrangements for somewhere to stay in Casper until then. He didn't have much to say after that."

  "You drop them at the airport?"

  "Yep, as we hit town I asked if they wanted the airport or a hotel, he said airport. He was tight lipped, but didn't argue when I dropped all four of them and their luggage and left."

  "Good." Levi took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "You know, when I put those policies in there, I never thought I'd have to use them. They were legal speak Harmony insisted I add. I thought she was being paranoid, but I'm glad now I added them."

  "Me too. We don't need that kind of thing going on here and it's good to put an end to it right from the start." Billy glanced in the direction of the house. "How's she doing?"

  "Fine. She's got a hell of a bruise on her face and her ankle should be fine in a few days. They scared her more than anything. Not that that excuses them in any way."

  "No, we had to get them out of here, I agree. Is she going back Sunday like they were originally booked or has she changed her plans?"

  "We're not sure yet. We spent most of yesterday at the hospital, we didn't get to that yet."

  "Hospital?"

  Levi filled Billy in on the day before, at least as far as Harmony and the baby, Billy didn't need to know that even now Mariah was asleep in Levi's bed.

  Together they finished caring for the horses, Tyler showed up and Levi set the two of them up with what needed to get done for the day. He stopped by the dining hall to check in with Lewis. Levi needed Lewis to double check his menus, inventory and what needed to be ordered, because despite this clusterfuck, they had more guests coming in Sunday and they needed to be ready. When he was finished in the kitchen, he went back to the house. Mariah would be up soon. He needed to fix her something to eat and he had something he wanted to talk to her about.

  Chapter 30

  "Say that again?" Mariah stood in the kitchen staring at Levi, barley able to keep her mouth hanging open in shock. She'd woken alone in his bed, that hadn't surprised her because she knew he got up early. There was a lot of work to be done on a ranch and he didn't keep a big crew around, which meant he did a good share of the work himself. She'd seen evidence of what that kind of work did to a body the night before. And she had no complaints.

  "I want you to stay."

  "And do what? Keep your bed warm?" Anger started to fill her, one night and he wanted to keep her here, just to warm his bed.

  "No, actually." His voice was surprisingly calm in the face of the rage coursing through her. "I thought you could take over the bookkeeping here. I'd pay you room and board and a small wage to start with. I'd love if you'd look over the guest services part of the ranch, see what we can do to improve that, market it better, that kind of thing. Neither of those are full time jobs, so I thought you might pick up other clients in town. You said you're in marketing, well, there are several places here who could use someone with your knowledge." He looked up from the skillet where he had eggs cooking. "I'd like to keep seeing you, you've come to mean a lot to me, especially for such a short time, but that's not where this came from."

  Her face heated and Mariah realized she'd jumped to conclusions, assuming the worst of him when he'd shown her nothing but kindness, well and how he could make her body sing, but she didn't think that mattered here.

  "I'm sorry." She stumbled over the words and wanted to run back in the bedroom and hide. But what good would that do? It was his bedroom. She took a breath and let it out in a rush while she watched him cook. Could she stay? Would it possibly work? Did she really not have to go back to work for Sheppard? Hope rushed through her. But what would people say? "I— I don't know if it's a good idea. You don't know much about me, what if I steal you blind?"

  "I'd have to have something worth stealing first." He gave her a cheeky grin then sobered. "No, seriously though. You showed me last night that not only can you do the book keeping, but you know how to improve the system. Far better than I do." He plated the eggs, added some bacon and slid the plate across the counter until it rested in front of her. "I'm not pushing for an answer, not right away. But think about it."

  "All right." She looked down at the plate then across at him. "Where's yours?"

  "Lewis fed me when I stopped in to check with him."

  She froze. "So you did this, cooked all this, just for me?" Something in her melted. Other than her mother, no one had ever cooked for her before, well, other than people who were being paid to cook.

  "Yeah," he shrugged, "I wanted to talk to you and you needed to eat, it made sense." He motioned for her to eat. "Just to give you a few things to think about. The books here take me about twenty hours a month, if I add in all the ordering and that kind of thing, basically all the office work, it doubles. I figure you can do it in half that, or less." He came around the bar and sat beside her, leaning over to bump her shoulder with his. "You won't have to fight with that infernal machine every step of the way and I have no doubt you'll figure out ways to make things run easier, like having the bank send checks instead of writing them all by hand."

  "But what about my apartment? My things?"

  "We go to LA, pack up what you want to keep and bring it back, what you don't want to keep, can be sold or donated." He shrugged again, as if it really were that easy.

  She was quiet for a few minutes, thinking while she ate, not really tasting the food, though she knew from the day before he made a good breakfast.

  "What if I want to do more?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "What if I want input in ranch business?"
>
  "That will depend on what it is. I can't imagine you'd have much to say about managing the cattle or the land, so it would probably have to do with the guest program. I admit, I'm just getting started there. I'm sure I have a lot to learn. I will promise not to dismiss any suggestion, no matter if it's guest or ranch related, without due consideration and discussion."

  She fell silent again as she finished eating and pushed the plate away.

  "I don't know. In some ways it feels like going from the skillet into the fire. Granted, I don't want to go back to Sheppard Entertainment and this is a great way not to, but what if it doesn't work out between us? What if we decide while the sex is great, we just can't live with each other?"

  "Then I give you the old foreman's cabin. You can live there for free as long as you work for me."

  "It sounds too simple, too easy."

  "You've only known me a couple days. I can be a pain in the ass and I'll admit, I'm a slave driver as a boss. I insist that every job get finished and done right."

  "Would your employees say the same?"

  "Probably, but you'd have to ask them."

  She tilted her head and watched him for several seconds. "Would you have any problem if I hunted them down and did just that?"

  "I'd prefer you wait."

  "Until you can talk to them and tell them what to say?" She knew she wasn't being fair, but she'd thought Mr. Sheppard was a decent man until he and two others had cornered her. Now she wasn't taking any chances.