Chapter 14
14
EMMA
I laid on a rock, sunning myself. Naked.
Eat your heart out, Lyssa. Turned out, I could do wild and uninhibited, too. At least when I was pretending to be my twin.
Johnny had given me his t-shirt to use as a towel when we climbed out of the pool. Swoon . This guy was a real gentleman. Now we sprawled on a flat boulder at the top of the waterfall, looking down at the pool we’d just made love in.
I was living some kind of crazy fantasy.
“So, I didn’t ask when I whisked you away,” Johnny asked, his voice low and lazy. “How long do we have before I have to bring you back to the ranch? ”
I sat up, my hand flying out to grab my t-shirt to cover up. God, was he trying to get rid of me? I should get out of here.
Johnny pushed my clothes out of my reach. “Whoa, whoa, baby. Where do you think you’re going? That was definitely not a hint. It was the opposite of a hint.”
My face grew warm, and I shifted my gaze to his hand, where he held my clothes out of my reach. I gave an embarrassed laugh, how I jumped to conclusions of not being wanted. Or that maybe he’d changed his mind about me.
“I do still need to connect with Chapman, so I thought I’d take you back when he’s around. But I am in no rush. In fact, I’d be happy if he didn’t come around until next year.” He flashed his sexy lopsided grin at me.
Butterflies took flight in my belly. He was so gorgeous. And swoonworthy. And considerate.
“When do you expect him back?” he asked.
I blinked, too focused on the way his abs were so defined I could climb them. “What? Oh…”
Jeez. When would Chapman be back? Lyssa had made it sound like he almost never came.
“I, um, I’m not sure.”
Johnny studied me. “Should you give him a call and check?”
Crap. Did it sound like I was lying? It was true, I didn’t know, but that was because I was a total fake. So it was still a lie. He’d called me on my fib earlier. He definitely picked up on it every time I tried to be cagey.
I tried to remember what Lyssa had said. She’d seen her boss a couple of weeks ago, and he probably wouldn’t be back for a couple more.
“I think, ah, maybe in a week or two. I can try calling him to find out.” I didn’t know his phone number! I was going to have to fake call. My conscience felt awful doing that to Johnny, but I was really into this lie now.
Johnny flicked his brows. “I get to keep you for a week or two, or do you need to be there to pick up the mail? Can we make it a month?”
I laughed, warmth filling my chest.
“But I would love it if you found out about Chapman. Rob needs me to settle some ranch business with him. And I’d hate for you to lose your job.”
“Have you tried calling?” I asked. I was sure they had his number.
Johnny rubbed his forehead. “Yeah. He hasn’t answered. That’s why I drove all the way over there. I was hoping to get a face-to-face to resolve things. But maybe he’d answer your calls since you’re his employee.”
Resolve things. Huh. I kind of wondered what kind of ranch Lyssa’s boss was actually running over there. There were cattle and wide open spaces, and Lyssa said sometimes cowboys were out there in the barn. Real ranch things were happening there, but it was also all glitz and glamour. I knew from working in Hollywood that a lot of times that could be all show with no actual capital or net worth behind it. No, that place screamed money. The land alone… tens of millions.
“Does he…owe you money or something?” I asked. “Did he steal your cows?”
Johnny picked up his hat and dropped it on his head, like he wanted to cover his eyes. “Yeah, it’s something like that. But it’s Rob’s business, so I can’t really talk about it.”
My smile slipped. Whoops. “Oh. Sorry.”
“No, no, no.” He whipped his hat back off. “Don’t be sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry. Did I sound like an asshole?”
“No.” My heart thudded like we’d just had a fight, except we hadn’t. Something was off, though. I felt it but couldn’t figure out what. Rob owned Wolf Ranch. It was a huge spread in itself. I’d say even more of a working ranch than the Chapman place. He was a busy man, so he sent one of his ranch hands to tackle business.
But why was it secret? Or, what was the secret they were keeping? Or was it only me left in the dark? Did it matter? Whatever it was came about before Johnny met me. It really wasn’t any of my business.
“Will you try him for me?” he asked.
I swallowed hard then nodded. Pretending to swipe at my phone for a number, I put it to my ear. After a minute, I put the phone down and said, “No answer. ”
He grinned. “Well, that’s good for me then. I’m keeping you until he gets back,” he told me. “It’s settled.”
I smiled, those nervous twitters flitting about in my chest again. “You’re keeping me?”
He nodded. “Yup. You’re mine. You just don’t know it yet.”
I circled my hand in the air. “I thought this fell under the category of hot date.”
His smile faltered. “Oh yeah. We did say that. Can I change the rules?” He reached for me and was somehow strong enough to pick me up without dragging my ass across the rock to sit on his lap.
“God, you’re strong,” I laughed.
He flexed his biceps for me. “Ranch work.”
Not wanting to touch the conversation about whether this was a hot date or he got to keep me, I redirected the conversation. “So they–Marina and Colton–said you came here when you were just eighteen?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and nibbled on my arm. “That’s true.”
“Why? I mean, how’d you get the job? What made you want to work on a ranch?”
He stiffened slightly. Enough to make me twist in his lap to sit sideways with my arm draped around his broad shoulders, so I could see his face.
“What is it? ”
“I…” He opened his mouth then closed it again. “It’s not a great story, to be honest.”
I drew back. “Oh. Well, um, you don’t have to tell it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–”
“No, no. Don’t be sorry. It’s just…” He swallowed. “I kinda got kicked out of my home.”
My eyes widened.
“I mean, I was an adult and all, so no big deal.”
“Eighteen is hardly an adult,” I rushed in, angry on his behalf. What kind of parents just kicked their kid out at that age? I guessed a lot did, but I found that pretty heartless.
“Why? Did something happen?”
He nodded, face sober. “My sister…got assaulted. And I broke it up. And…” He swallowed, hard.
I held my breath, waiting.
“He’d hurt her, and I was young. I…I got violent.”
“Oh.” It took me a breath to absorb that because I found it hard to reconcile violence with the considerate, attentive guy holding me. But I could see him being protective. He was the hero who hadn’t hesitated to rush in to rescue me from my burnt cookies and a false fire alarm.
“Well, of course you did. It was the heat of the moment.”
Johnny met my gaze. I saw anxiety in his brown eyes– like he was sure I would reject him, too. “I definitely took it too far.”
I held my breath. Did he mean…. too far , too far?
Actually, I didn’t want to know. Whatever happened, it had been traumatic for him and all involved. He must have been scared. The fact that it still messed with him, years later, was telling. I blinked back tears.
He looked alarmed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He gave me a squeeze. “You–you’re sorry? For me?”
“Yes. It sounds like a horrible, no-win situation, and you did what you had to in the moment to make sure your sister was safe. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Johnny dropped his forehead into my shoulder and sighed, like he was overwhelmed by emotion he refused to show.
My heart thudded with his nearness. With his vulnerability and the closeness we’d just forged.
Maybe this was more than a hot date. My fantasy guy just took on three-dimensionality. Depth.
A heart with wounds in it.
He might have seemed absolutely perfect, but he was human, with flaws and insecurities, just like me.
I burrowed my fingers into the hair at the back of his head and massaged. “Well, I’m glad you found this ranch,” I said. “It seems like you’re part of a family here. ”
He lifted his head and nodded, eyes crinkling. “Found family is the very best kind.”
Found family. That’s what I had witnessed in the big ranch kitchen this morning. What I’d been a little envious of. I’d had Lyssa as a constant partner growing up, and we’d even started at the same college before she dropped out to pursue a modeling gig in New York. It hadn’t panned out, but it started her on her years’ long adventures that now had her in Ibiza.
I was used to working collaboratively with people. As a team. That was why movie effects felt like a good fit at first. But it wasn’t a family, not at all. That team was toxic.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text.
He handed me my pile of clothes, and I pulled it from my jeans pocket. Opened the screen. It was a photo text from Lyssa. For some reason, I didn’t want Johnny to see it. To see her.
Didn't want him to know there was a better twin. Maybe not prettier, since we were identical, but definitely sexier. Lyssa embraced and embodied sexuality.
If he saw Lyssa, I would have to explain that the sister I mentioned was actually my twin. And then the fact that I was playing my twin right now might come out, and this whole fantastical experience would unravel.
I’d been lying to him and still was.
No, I wanted him to keep believing I was Lyssa. The one and only Lyssa who nailed hot cowboys within an hour of meeting them.
Or at least this hot cowboy.
I closed the screen and set it down.
“That wasn’t Chapman, was it?”
Right. He needed information about Chapman. I should probably call Lyssa to find out more for him. I wasn’t ready to tell him my real name, but I could at least try to do the job I was pretending to have. And Johnny had a job, and I was keeping him from his work. If Rob needed to connect with Chapman, then I should try to make that happen.
I shook my head. “No, it was my sister. I should probably call her.” I pushed on his shoulder to try to climb out of his lap, but he was already lifting me by my waist to my feet.
Wow. I could get used to having such a strong guy around.
I could get used to a lot of Johnny’s attributes.
Including that glorious one between his legs.
Ha–now I was being as dirty-minded as my twin.
I dialed Lyssa and walked away to get out of earshot.
“Whasuuuup?” Lyssa called into the phone when she answered. It made me smile. “Did you get my text?”
I reopened the text now that Johnny wasn’t looking over my shoulder. It was of Lyssa, in a black bikini on a yacht, with a very hot middle-aged man beside her .
I put the phone back up to my ear. “Yes. It looks amazing! Are you having a ball?”
“So much fun. The sultan is treating me like a princess. How’s the ranch?”
I bit my lip, then grinned. “Well, actually, I’m not there right now. That’s okay, right? If I left it for a couple of days?” Ms. Responsible kicked in a day late, probably in response to my carefree twin.
“Oh, totally. Chapman doesn’t even need a caretaker. I mean, pffft. Who cares if his mail gets brought in and placed on the kitchen counter everyday?”
Chapman probably did, but Lyssa wasn’t going to overthink that like I would.
“Where are you, Emmie? Please say you didn’t go back to your job.”
“No. I, um. Well, I met this guy.” I lowered my voice.
“What?” Lyssa practically shrieked into the phone. “Good for you! Give me all the deets.”
“He’s a hot cowboy,” I whispered. “He works as a ranch hand a couple of hours from Chapman’s, so that’s where I am now.”
“Are you serious? You’re getting well laid by a hot cowboy? This is the best news ever. I knew you quitting your job and coming to Montana was the best thing you could do!”
“I agree. Right now, Los Angeles and my old job feel like a sickness I’m still getting over. ”
“Well, heal, sis, heal. Ride that hot cowboy until it’s a distant memory!”
I laughed. “I intend to. Speaking of which…I found a box of unopened sex toys under your bed.”
“Oh those? They were sent to me, so I could rep the company but met Ralph, the tennis instructor in Scottsdale. No, maybe it was Andy the ski instructor. I can’t keep them straight. Anyway, have at them!”
She mixed two different men up in her mind. Typical Lyssa.
“Okay, good. Because I brought the box with me.”
“Mmm, enjoy. Ooh–I have to go, the sultan’s calling.”
“Wait, wait, wait! One more thing. When is Chapman coming back? Because my hot cowboy needs to meet with him, and he’s having a hard time getting in touch.”
“I don’t know…I’ll be right there!” she called to her latest lover.
“Wait, but can you find out? It’s important. Call him and let me know, okay?”
“Yep, will do. Have fun with the sex toys! Love you, byeeeee!”
I ended the call and smiled. For once, I was having as much fun–and as much sex–as Lyssa and it felt pretty damn good.