Chapter 6
Zeb
Iwalked into the main house, needing coffee like it was a drug.
Because at this point, it was going to be.
Last night was a rough sleep. I spent countless hours tossing and turning, unable to get my thoughts to stop steam rolling through my head. I think I finally found sleep around three this morning. And being up at seven was not enough hours.
I grabbed a mug and then the coffee pot, pouring myself a cup, then inhaled the scent, closing my eyes to the delicious smell.
“I’ll take one of those,” someone spoke from behind me.
I nearly groaned because it was the same voice that haunted me over and over last night. Although, she was doing other things with that mouth, and other sounds were coming out.
“Here,” I told her, grabbing her a cup and pouring. “Take anything with it?”
“Usually, yes. Right now, this will be fine.”
I watched as she wrapped her hands around the mug, blew on it lightly, then took a deep sip, sighing as the liquid worked down her throat.
“Late night?”
“Yup. I was working on the blog and the pictures and before I knew it, my phone was saying it was three. Way past my bedtime. And then I had to be up way too early this morning.”
I chuckled before saluting her with my cup, feeling exactly the same.
“I’m curious about something,” I hedged, making her raise her brow in question.
“Which is what?”
“How did you get into photography?”
“I’ve been doing that since I was in middle school, actually.
” She pulled out a seat at the table, and I sat down next to her.
“I saw this magazine ad, best photo won three hundred bucks, and as a kid, that was a lot of money. Second place wasn’t bad either.
I really wanted to enter it but didn’t have any decent cameras.
“So, my mom took me to the goodwill, found something that was okay, and then would take me to the parks where I could capture things. Most of what I had were blurry or horrible shots. But I did have one that was a sunset filtering through the trees. It was beautiful.
“I submitted it and it got third place, which was still twenty-five dollars and my name was mentioned. But it put a love in me to capture moments, and it helped me to train my eye to lead the camera and how to wait for the best shot.”
“That’s awesome. And the blogger is just something you fell into?”
“Yeah. When I got married, my ex-husband didn’t want me to work, but I was so bored at home and taking pictures just wasn’t cutting it. Sure, I had a baby, but I needed something else to do. So, I blogged about my baby girl who was precious. And that took off like crazy.”
“That sounds like fun times.”
“It was. Did you always want to be a counselor?”
I took a sip of my coffee, thinking about it and slowly shook my head.
“No, I can’t say that I did. But I didn’t have the best childhood. However, someone on this ranch pushed my path more on the straight and narrow and from that moment on, I wanted to help kids who were like me.”
“Well, you don’t seem so bad. In fact, around that gruff exterior you put on, I think you might be kind of nice.”
I rolled my eyes at her, but my lips lifted up into a smile, making her laugh and for some damn reason, that sound did a number on me. One I didn’t want to think about or acknowledge, but another part of my body did.
“And I’m not always that way,” I told her.
“I know, Zeb. It’s just city folk.”
I leaned on the table, looking at her, wanting her to see the truth behind what I was about to say.
“Yes and no. I wasn’t fair to you because you set me on edge, Katie. And I shouldn’t have been that way, I’m sorry. Yes, city folk do twist me up, but I knew you weren’t that way. At least when I talked to you. But the guard was up and I couldn’t move past it.”
She swallowed hard, holding my gaze and I couldn’t dare turn away.
“I guess I better get to work,” she finally said, breaking the spell and taking some more sips of her coffee.
“Take that with you, Katie. You can always bring it back. That’s why they make so much, because everyone comes to get some.”
“Thanks. And thanks for the chat.”
She smiled at me and my heart twisted.
Not good.
That night, I laid in my bed, staring at my ceiling, thoughts of an older woman with a killer smile floating through my mind and I couldn’t seem to shut it off.
Her smile and laugh were disarming in a good way. And I wanted to hear more of it.
Which was something new.
It also had my mind turning as to when the last time I had a woman was and realized it had been closer to a year.
Not that I wanted her for a lay.
Or not that I wanted her at all.
“Yeah right,” I snorted, finally tossing the sheet off of me and reaching for my hard dick. If I wanted any sleep tonight, I was going to have to rub this out.
And I couldn’t help but feel bad that it was because of her. I shouldn’t be having lustful thoughts of my parents. Especially one who was older.
But damn, she didn’t look her age.
And again, that smile. The way they made her eyes light up. I so badly wanted to see how else I could make her eyes light up.
With that thought, my hand started stroking faster and moments later, I cried out, her name on my lips.
That was the first time I had ever called someone’s name.
And I knew I was screwed because of it, too.