Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Wylie
Have a good one?
I sound like an awkward schoolboy with a crush.
I ought to have my head examined.
My visceral reaction to Olivia sleeping in Curly’s room instead of mine is shameful.
I lock the door to my room and then unlock it again, leaning against the doorjamb and listening to her shower across the hall.
She should be using my shower.
She should be sleeping in my bed.
But why?
To keep her under my watch and under my protection. Mine alone.
I don’t want her out of my arm’s reach if I can help it.
If I told her the truth, she’d be horrified. I can’t help it; I can’t stand the thought of her working here long enough to get a reference. A reference for what? Some other job? To rent a house? A house where I don’t live, where I can’t look after her?
I sound like a lunatic, but I can’t let her leave. She can’t be out there alone, knowing nothing about the real world.
But after everything she’s been through, she doesn’t need me looking after her. She needs someone like Dani.
That’s why I was so relieved when my ranch hand showed up with those clothes tonight. Dani should be the one to look after Olivia, not me.
Olivia doesn’t need a guy like me ogling her, forcing my will on her, bossing her around.
Olivia needs to be treated with patience and respect, and most of all, understanding and kindness.
How would I react if she was my daughter and she had stumbled into some lonely, lecherous cowboy’s house? I’d be putting him in his place, that’s what.
I know all this, yet as I step into the shower, close my eyes, and let the hot spray wash away the day’s dirt, sweat, aches, and pains, my mind’s eye can only see the memory of how Olivia looks wearing my clothes.
I thought my shirts would be big enough for her to wear as a nightshirt, but the way her breasts were practically popping the buttons…the way her ass stretched those seams.
Groaning, I soap up my hands, then rest my forehead against the tile. There’s only one thing I can do to clear my head and make this ache disappear.