Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 14860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 74(@200wpm)___ 59(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 74(@200wpm)___ 59(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
“What?” I asked, even though I knew what he was referring to. I hadn’t exactly treated him with kindness when I’d seen how ill-equipped he’d been to work with cattle.
“I know Hank convinced you to let me stay on after you saw me tryin’ to work with the cattle. You think I’m useless, just like all the other hands do. I see it every time you look at me… every time you barely look at me. But you know what, Mr. Warner, I’m good with your horses. I make sure they get the same treatment as the men who ride them because they work just as hard. I make sure they don’t get ridden if they’re lame, I stay by their sides all night long if they’re colicky, I don’t let even one flake of moldy hay end up in their stalls—” Mouse paused abruptly to catch his breath before barreling on.
“I’m not sayin’ I’m ungrateful or nothin’ for you keepin’ me on and payin’ me in cash and all that, but I don’t need your pity. I haven’t done anything to earn that!”
I was still reeling from his outburst when Mouse suddenly grabbed the door handle and threw the door open, completely ignoring the rain that was still coming down in endless streams. Instinct was the only thing that still seemed to be working in my brain because I managed to push the console up as I slid across the bench seat and grabbed Mouse’s arm just as his feet hit the running board. I yanked him back into the truck and used my weight to hold him place as I reached out to pull the door closed. It didn’t close completely, so the interior lights remained on.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I snapped even as my brain tried to process everything he’d said.
“Let go!” Mouse yelled.
Our faces were just inches apart and our bodies smashed together as I leaned across his upper body so I could use my arms to cage him in. His soaked clothes quickly dampened my own.
“Enough!” I ordered as Mouse continued to struggle to escape my hold. “Enough,” I repeated more softly as the intimacy of our positions began to sink in. Mouse stopped fighting me but probably only because he was out of breath.
Several long beats of silence followed as we just stared at one another and fought to steady our breathing. I would be eternally grateful for the fact that I hadn’t managed to completely close the passenger door because the interior lighting allowed me to see the moment when that switch inside of him flipped.
When he went from pissed off to confused to surprised and finally to the place I’d been from the moment I’d realized he was the man I’d only ever allowed myself to truly be me with… desperately needy.
There were so many things I needed to say to him, to explain, but having his lush lips so close made it impossible for my mouth to form the words he needed to hear. His breath came out in pants as confusion and lust warred within him.
I knew I needed to back off. I knew I needed to release him and play it off as some simplistic encounter where I’d only wanted to keep him from getting wet or some shit like that.
But I couldn’t do any of that. My body refused to heed the warnings in my head. In the span of three seconds, I reached into my pocket for the little red flower, jammed it into his hand and palmed his cheek before whispering, “I’m sorry, Andrew.”
And then I did the only thing I could do.
I covered his mouth and took what I knew in my heart was and always would be mine.
CHAPTER FOUR
MOUSE
I’d never been great at multitasking but somehow in the handful of seconds between finding half my body pinned beneath my boss’s much heavier body, my brain had managed to settle on a few key things. First off, never, ever, would I have gone off on the man if the circumstances had been normal in any kind of way. There was a reason people called me Mouse. A lot of reasons, actually. But at the forefront was knowing when to keep my mouth shut and doing so even if I didn’t have to.
Something about being trapped in the obscenely expensive truck with the man I’d been obsessed with from the moment I’d stepped onto Warner Ranch had left me in a complete and utter panic. I probably would have made it home safe and sound if the bigger man had done what he’d always done and ignored me. But from the moment he’d saved me from the drunk asshole’s painful grip—and he had saved me—he’d been nothing but nice.
Pity was the only reason I’d been able to come up with as a reason for him to suddenly be kind to me.