Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Miranda
Daydreaming
All morning, she kept smelling her own hair because somehow it smelled like the stranger she’d spent last night with.
Maybe it was from the hours of rolling around in his bed or falling asleep on his chest. Even now, if she closed her eyes, she could imagine the sound of his heartbeat under her and the feel of his hands along her skin.
Smiling, she shook off the memories of him underneath her because daydreaming wasn’t going to pay the bills, and she had a lot of work to do.
Running a ranch with ten horses on her own wasn’t easy.
Which was only part of the reason she’d left the hotel at the crack of dawn to get home.
She also hadn’t wanted any awkward conversation to ruin the memory of what he’d given her.
The most pleasure she’d ever experienced.
She couldn’t even muster up the guilt of not telling him she’d been a virgin, because she hadn’t wanted to risk him rejecting her.
And she didn’t regret that decision one bit.
If she was going to be stuck in this town the rest of her life, at least she’d have the memory of the time she was careless and free.
She used to think she was saving herself for true love, but she knew better now.
So, she’d given away the last part of her she’d saved for someone she didn’t even believe existed anymore.
“Hey, Andy, I thought you might need a little extra pick-me-up this morning,” her best friend’s sing-songy voice called from the front of the barn.
She stopped in her tracks, wondering how Shelby could possibly know what she’d done. “Why would you say that?”
“Oh no reason, but Wes said he saw your truck parked in town overnight, so we figured it must have broken down, or you stopped into Hooligans for a few bourbons and caught a ride home.” Shelby walked down the center of the dust-covered barn and handed Miranda a large, iced pumpkin-spiced latte.
It didn’t matter it was summer—it was her favorite coffee all year long.
“Oh thanks. It was a two-bourbon night. But I don’t think I like being that predictable.” She tilted her cup to cheers Shelby’s coffee and grinned.
“Well, you could always switch to tequila, but they say that makes people take their clothes off.”
Miranda sputtered, trying not to spit out the sip she’d just taken.
“Why are you acting so weird, and what is on your neck?” Shelby reached up to pull back Miranda’s flannel off her neck. She always wore one in the barn, or the hay would make her skin itchy.
“Uh.”
“Miranda Sutton, is that a hickey?”
She froze for a beat and then blurted out, “I had sex for the first time last night with some cowboy, fitness model god, and it was insanely amazing.”
Shelby stood with her mouth wide open and didn’t blink for at least a full minute.
“But we’re not going to make a big deal about it, because I’m twenty-seven, and I made a big-girl decision, and I don’t regret it. I mean, I am a little mad that you didn’t explain to me accurately just how good it can be.”
“What?” Shelby finally said.
“Sex—I didn’t know it was like that. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have waited so long—in fact I know I wouldn’t have.
But then again, I’ve never actually met a man built like this guy.
He was lean but also literally every inch of him was like it was carved from stone.
And his hands were huge. His mouth was…” She stopped. “What?”
“I just can’t believe what I’m hearing. All this time you waited, and then you went for it, and who is this guy?”
“Do you want to know the craziest part? I don’t know. I mean I ran into him the other morning when I left the library, then he just randomly showed up in the bar yesterday. He defended me when Johnny tried to disrespect me.”
“He did?”
“Ya, it was really hot. So, I kissed him.”
“And then?” Shelby sat slowly on a bale of hay with her eyes open wide, waiting to hear what had happened next.
“And he was a good kisser, so then I decided… you know, why not. I bought a few condoms from the machine in the ladies’ room and then went back to his hotel with him.”
“And you don’t know his name? What he does? Nothing?”
“I mean I know he’s a sex rock star, with ripped muscles.”
“Will you see him again?”
“I don’t think so. He said he was just passing through on some business.” She sat next to her friend and wondered if she was disappointed or relieved.
They were both quiet for a few minutes. “Don’t tell anyone—okay?” she finally said.
Shelby wrapped her arm around Andy—a nickname only her family and closest friends used. “I would never share your secrets with anyone. Just promise me one thing. Next time you go back to some hot guy’s hotel room, can you text me so I know where to go looking for you, just in case.”
“Deal. So, in another twenty-seven years when I find another Greek god to give myself to, I’ll for sure let you know ahead of time.”
Then they both fell into a fit of laughter.
After a few more questions Shelby helped with her morning chores before Miranda got to work on training her younger horses on jumps.
If she was going to get this horse-breeding business to work, she had to prove her ranch could produce the most beautiful beasts, capable of becoming racing, jumping, or show ponies.
She’d spent the last two years, since her father died, building up her stock and was finally ready to take a few of her horses to an auction later this month.
There was so much riding on this to include the ranch, she didn’t have time to think much more about her sexy stranger or where he’d come from.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t always hold a special place in her memory.