Page 7 of Backup Cowboy
Caspian
It’s just a short walk to the water. My family’s acreage edges right up to the riverfront, with trees on either side of the property masking neighboring homes.
My grandparents bought this place in retirement as a way for the family to experience the Hill Country, which is so different from West Texas. We’re all from Midland, which is on the vast plain with a dry, desert climate. It’s sunny and hot most of the time, and the people are friendly. Same for the Hill Country, but it’s more humid than Midland, which took some getting used to. Living amongst the trees and hills make up for it.
They named the place Camp Stillwater because it sits on the banks of the Blue Canyon River. Although it’s deep in many places, it’s more shallow in Cobalt County. I tried to get my ex-wife, Jade, to swim and float with us, but she never did. She just sat inside my grandparents’ house, playing on her phone the entire time we visited them, and then later insisted I didn’t pay enough attention to her. She eventually quit coming.
I knew we didn’t have much in common, but I thought love would fix it. Turns out, love is a verb, and Jade didn’t know how to act it out.
On clear nights like tonight, the moonlight and stars reflect off the water, illuminating the few homes on the opposite bank. Alex stops in two steps, though, leaning down and slowly unzipping one of her thigh-high boots. It’s like the boots were made for her, letting just enough thigh skin peek out. She bends over, her short skirt barely skimming her round ass, and I can’t help but emit a low groan at the image.
She tosses a look over her shoulder and slows down, taking her sweet time, revealing a sexy as hell thigh-high sheer stocking topped by a lace band.
Keep it up, pretty thing, and I won’t be able to stay away.
I scrub a hand over my chin as she rolls the stocking toward her ankle, her smooth thighs thick and enticing. Fuck. Me.
“Alex.”
She looks back at me, biting her full bottom lip. “Yes?” She’s still bent over, her hands sliding the stocking off her foot.
“I need you to stop.”
“I’m taking them off because my heels will sink into the ground.” She balances on the grass with one cute bare foot. “Also can’t walk in my stockings now, can I?”
I crouch down beside Alex, eye-level to where she’s bent over, my voice low. “I need you to stop unzipping your boots like that.”
She blinks innocently, and our eyes lock just like the first time I saw her.
I hum so low it’s practically a growl. “I’m attracted to you Alex. Plain and simple. And I want nothing more than to take you to bed. So if you keep removing your boots like a wanton temptress, I’m going to offer to help you.”
She swallows and removes her boot and stocking quickly before standing back up. “Mixing work with pleasure is probablya bad idea.” She swirls her long hair into a knot that somehow secures itself. “It’s not something I do.”
Smart woman. I can fix a stuck valve, manage 500 head of cattle, but reading what a woman needs? Failed that test once already.
She starts toward the water and turns around to walk backwards. “But for the record, I wouldn’t have minded the offer.”
Innocent my ass.
The blue sky’s clear as glass, and the sun’s working overtime as I step out of my work UTV. I snag my hat off the seat, placing it on my head to keep the sun off my neck. It’s not even ten yet, but the morning’s been busy and hot.
At dawn, I herded cattle with Eli and some other wranglers’ cattle from the east pasture to avoid them wandering near the artists’ practice sessions. During rounds, I discovered several stuck float valves in one of the the cattle trough watering systems and had to fix those.
Now, I’m meeting Nash and the record people at The Boot Roost, our name for the artists’ compound. This is my official transfer of duty to festival-only, which is stressful and relieving at the same time. I don’t have to straddle both jobs, so that’s good, but my job at Echo Ridge is being split up among other ranch hands, which is stressful. I don’t like anyone doing my job but me.
For some reason, Zane and Nash have given me a lot of responsibility, so I intend to deliver more than what they’re counting on.
Two ranch UTVs approach, and my stomach drops like I’m on a damn roller coaster. What the hell? I’m not a frickin’ teenager. I’m a grown man, for gawd’s sake. Alexandra is off-limits. She works with my boss.
That’s why I shut it down last night. We ended up having a great conversation that felt so relaxed and natural. She told me about growing up in L.A. while I told her about Midland. Our childhoods weren’t that different. We both worked in high school and went into those fields. We both have siblings and a strong connection to family. Her parents divorced when she was in elementary school, but they bought houses in the same neighborhood and co-parented well.
But knowing that the curvy temptress is into me the way I’m into her brings new feelings to the surface. No woman has broken through my thick wall since my divorce. Sure, I have the occasional hookup, but I’m not interested in anything real, even in the short term. I’m not built for relationships, and I don’t want to lead anyone on.
Why is it, then, that Alexandra Tate has me second-guessing my convictions?
Fuck if I know because when Alex hops out of the UTV, everything I know about life disappears and is replaced by pure lust.
I mentally recite work tasks to distract myself from the way her form-fitting denim skirt hugs her dangerous curves or how her loose blouse doesn’t hide the swell of her breasts.