Rugged Cowboy: A Grumpy Sunshine Western Romance

Chapter 9

Viv changed into a one-piece bathing suit, modest by most people’s definition, but it was still revealing enough to be in a hot tub with the boss’s son—nephew? Whatever he was. At best, he was a coworker. At worst, he was a patient. Either way, she was sure there were some kind of client ethical standards or maybe workplace coworker rules she was breaking, but she didn’t really care right now. No one had expressly forbidden workplace romances in her orientation, such as it was. In fact, Greta had met her husband at the Buchanan Ranch, where he worked in the hospitality side. And Janine was dating a cowboy. So obviously it wasn’t an issue, not really. Yet she still had doubts, especially since Wade was a client, too.

But after his massage and his own admission that he had been aroused by her touch, she wasn’t sure she wanted to stay away. She needed to know where this led, and if she had to make the first move, so be it. Granted, they were only going so far. Wade’s body would not be up for much of anything that evening—not for a few days, really. But this jumpstarted the attraction that had been simmering between them, kicking them from the dancing around they’d been doing right into the something-more stage where they could address it directly.

She opened the door to private hot tub room number one and closed it behind her. Wade stood by the side of the tub, the sheet still around his waist, his free hand gripping the handle of the ladder. The guest ranch’s hot tubs were set low in the ground, so guests didn’t climb, into them. It made it easier when guests were sore from riding or other activities, but they had to be careful people didn’t slip and fall in. But if Wade had had to toss a leg over to get in, she didn’t think he would have been able to do it. This was a far better design for him.

“I see you know how to follow directions. I like that in a man.”

He turned and took her in with a single, heated gaze.“When it makes sense. Do you have a lot of trouble with men not listening?”

She shrugged off the robe, leaving her in her one-piece pink suit.“Only all the time, and most often during sex. I’ve considered offering them a map, a GPS, and a manual, but I’m not sure that would help.”

He chuckled.“Then you’ve been with the wrong men.”

She dipped her foot in the water.“We’ll see. I’ll go in first and then you ease your way in. Got it?”

He smirked.“Yes, ma’am.”

She grinned.“I like that. Keep saying that and we’ll be just fine.”

She climbed down the ladder into the warm water, then stepped back. Wade dropped the sheet, the erection he’d told her about still strong and bobbing in front of him. She swallowed hard. Damn, he’d gone completely commando. How had she forgotten that? This was going to be harder than she thought. Pardon the pun.

With the smirk still fixed on his face, he turned and climbed down the ladder, his firm ass flexing as he moved. She resisted the urge to cup a buttock like he had done when he’d boosted her into the saddle the day they had gone riding. Yeah, she had known what he’d done, his hand lingering on her ass. She had felt the imprint of his palm on her ass all day and into the night, had wondered what it would have been like if he had squeezed gently. Now their roles were reversed, and she really wanted to see if his ass was as tight as it appeared.

He paused, his butt eye level. Without turning around, he said, “You can check it out if you want. You can even touch it. I won’t mind.”

Her face heated, and it wasn’t from the warm water. How had he known she was staring at him? He wiggled a little, and she burst out laughing.“Come on, you know you want to.”

“You did not just shake your ass in my face.”

“Why not? You did getting up on Durango.”

“Because I almost fell off the damned horse.” She slapped his ass, seeing the flesh jiggle a bit. That was good. It would really piss her off it didn’t move. She knew she had some extra junk in her trunk and she hated to feel inferior to him in any way.“Get your ass in here so you can rest those muscles, Simba.”

He got all the way in and settled on a seat.“Simba?” He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“You know, from The Lion King? He shook his ass all over the cartoon screen.‘Hakuna Matata’ and all that shit. You’re not as cute as he was.”

He spread his arms out and leveled a heated gaze at her.“I’m not cute. But you want me anyway.”

“I’m not the one who got an erection on my table.”

“Like you said, it’s biology. Besides, I never said I didn’t find you attractive. I do. Attractive, distracting, incredibly sexy. However you want to describe it.”

“Even when I want you to help me find my lost goats?”

He swore under his breath.“Even then. Though I still think you should leave them in their pen and give up this goat yoga bullshit.”

Her smile broadened.“Well, you’ll get to experience it firsthand tomorrow morning. Your next step in therapy is to attend yoga to stretch those muscles. Since I know you won’t stop working, the only yoga session available to you is our early morning session, and it’s with the goats.”

He glared at her.“The first time a goat takes a shit in my face, I’m gone.”

“Fine. Deal.”

He grunted and rested his head against the back of the tub, then closed his eyes. Viv let her muscles slowly relax, the warm water and massage jets soothing her own tension away. After several minutes, she opened her eyes.

“You never finished telling me how you came to the ranch.”

He sighed. Without opening his eyes, he said, “My parents were killed in a car accident. It was a snowstorm, a bad squall really, that caught them driving home from Boulder. They couldn’t see, nor could anyone else. You don’t pull over in those situations because you’re just as likely to get hit or snow bound in your car. It was a barren stretch of road, but someone was coming the other way and ran into them. The people in both cars were killed. No one knows who crossed the line. Hell, I doubt they could even see where the line was.”

Her heart ached for the boy who lost his parents. She might feel left alone in her family, but she knew they loved her, even if they didn’t understand her.“We have squalls like those in New York. Sudden, fast, terrifying. Do you at least have siblings?”

“No, I was an only child, staying with a babysitter, though I remember arguing that I was too old for a sitter.”

Oh God. So he’d been completely alone. She had an older brother and sister and cousins right next door. She didn’t know what it was like to be alone. Had never been that way until she came to Montana. But she knew if she called, one of them would come immediately, though they might lecture her on being so far away first.

She floated across the tub to sit next to him.“Wade, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

He gave a half shrug.“It’s ancient history. I’ve over it.”

Had he? Does anyone ever really move past something like that? She didn’t want to poke at it though, not today, not after everything he’d already been through.“So your aunt and uncle took you in?”

He laughed, a harsh sound that didn’t have any mirth in it.“Not exactly. My parents didn’t have a will and their parents were also dead. They had no siblings themselves, so there didn’t appear to be anyone to take me in. So, Social Services it was. I had a social worker do a little more digging, though, and she found Aunt Sarah and Uncle Daniel. Uncle Daniel was my father’s cousin, even though I don’t think we’d ever met. I guess she called them and guilted them into taking me.”

Viv drew back, frowning at him.“I highly doubt guilt was involved. I’ve met Sarah and Daniel and they are two of the most welcoming and loving people. I can’t imagine they would have to be forced to take you in.”

He shrugged.“We’ll never know. There was no one else stepping up. Not for someone at my ‘advanced age,’ as the social worker called it.”

Viv stiffened.“She called you that? It’s not like you were eighty years old. You were eight, right? How the hell is that advanced?”

He sighed and opened one eye.“Kids are adoptable at certain ages. Generally younger, when they’re cute and malleable. The older we get, the more baggage we have. A kid who lost his parents and has no one else…well, not the most adoptable. I might have been fostered since I’d never been in trouble, but who knows.”

She was getting pissed. How could anyone tell a kid they were unadoptable? That was basically telling him that he was unwanted and no one should ever hear that.“That social worker should be fired. That was horrible to say to a kid—to anyone, really.”

A ghost of a smile quirked his lips.“Calm down, killer. It all worked out. I got a home and everyone is happy.”

Were they? He still sounded like the situation was a festering wound underneath his steely facade, despite passing it off as no big deal. She had to wonder, but she wasn’t willing to push him, not tonight.

“How did you like living on the ranch?”

He barked a laugh.“It sure was different. I had chores, animals everywhere, along with piles of shit. My parents hadn’t allowed me to have a dog, so I wasn’t used to shit at all. Now I was shoveling out stalls and avoiding cow shit where I walked. I’ll admit, my cousins probably wondered who the fuck I was.”

“Now you’re rolling in it,” she teased.

He opened both eyes and glared at her.“That was mud, not shit. You’re the one who does yoga with goats who crap everywhere.”

She shrugged.“The guests like it. Who am I to quibble?”

“So, why are we talking about the past and shit when I thought we had better things to do?” He shot her a sly glance, and she gave him a considering look.

“I don’t know. You took a pretty big fall today. I don’t want to see you hurt more.”

“A certain part of me might hurt worse if we do nothing.”

“And another part of you might hurt worse if we do something. What a dilemma.” She tapped her chin with her forefinger, pretending to think.

He dropped a hand below the water and fisted his erection, pumping it a couple of times, the water bubbling up at the motion. Her eyes fixated on the action and she licked her dry lips.“Are you sure you should be doing that?”

He let his hand lazily stroke his erection.“Maybe not, but someone needs to. You volunteering?”