12-Alarm Cowboys (121 page)

She scrolled again, showing him what kind of promotion she intended to do, how many baking assistants she’d need, and the costs associated with storefront locations. Damn, she had this well thought out.

“This is really impressive,” he said. “When do you meet with the loan officer?”

“I have an appointment Friday at two.”

He eyed the laptop screen. “I probably can’t ask all the thorny questions they will, but would you like to go through your proposal with me? Sort of a dry run?”

She beamed at him, her blue eyes sparkling. “That’s a great idea. Though, could you do me a favor and envision me in a power outfit instead of these sweats?”

He chuckled. “I can do that.”

And the image that came to mind was sexy as hell, right down to the sky-high heels he pictured her wearing. Although he had to admit, any intelligent person would be mesmerized by Skye, even if she was wearing baggy sweats.

*

After the second
time through her proposal, during which she kicked off the leather flip-flops she’d borrowed from Jax’s closet, Skye decided it was probably time to get out of his place and buy some clothes. She loved wearing his stuff, but she needed to replace her wardrobe if she ever hoped to be ready for her meeting at the bank. Since she didn’t know many men who liked shopping, she was surprised when Jax offered to take her to the mall. She fully expected him to hand her the keys to his truck and tell her to have fun.

“I just need to check on the horses before we go,” he said.

Skye waited in the kitchen while Jax changed out his work uniform and into a button-down shirt, a pair of jeans, and cowboy boots. He looked even better in them than she imagined—and she had a pretty vivid imagination.

“What’s in there?” she asked, pointing at the smaller structure that stood halfway between the horse barn and the partially open-sided hay storage unit as they walked across the clearing.

“The tractor and lawn mower, as well as tools and all the other stuff I need to keep this place up and running.”

The moment Jax led her into the big barn, she picked up the rich scent of horses, hay, and manure. It had been a long time since she’d been around the pleasant smells of a ranch and they immediately took her back to her days as a teenager when hanging out with her friends and having a good time was all that mattered to her. It seemed so long ago, she barely remembered that time in her life.

Skye shook off the bad memories and fell into step beside Jax. The inside of the barn was mostly taken up with the horse stalls, but beyond those, there were two store rooms at the far end for riding tact, feed, and other supplies. A set of double doors covered the back wall. All the stalls were empty except for four of them, two on either side of the wide, central corridor.

“Where are all the other horses?” she asked.

“Out in the pasture. My ranch hands come in early and let them out. But these two,” he gestured first to one horse on the left, then one on the right, “have some health issues that I’ve been keeping an eye on, so they have to stay in for a while. The other two are their best friends, so I let them stay in here with them.”

Skye couldn’t help smiling at the thought of horses having best friends. How cute was that? She stepped closer to the first pair of horses he’d mentioned to get a better look. She didn’t see anything wrong with them. Then again, she really didn’t know what she was looking for. While she loved horses, her experience to them was limited to going riding on a friend’s ranch when she was sixteen.

“They’re so beautiful,” she murmured. “Are they going to be okay?”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. Nothing serious.” Jax unlatched the door on the first stall and walked in, attaching a lead line to the big black stallion’s halter and leading him out. “This is Big Joe,” he said, patting the horse affectionately on the shoulder. “He tends to get a little frisky with the mares. Don’t you, boy?” When the horse snorted in answer Jax gave Skye a wry smile. “Big Joe got himself kicked in the leg the other day by a mare who thought he was getting a little too fresh.”

As Jax brought Big Joe out into the main corridor and attached him to an eye hook in the wall, Skye saw the big horseshoe-shaped wound on the upper part of the stallion’s right rear leg. It was scarring over, but still looked painful to her.

Jax filled a plastic bucket with water and added some kind of green goo to it, then gently began to wash Big Joe’s wound.

“This would have healed up two weeks ago, but Joe also likes to roll around in the mud,” he said as he dipped the sponge in the water again. “He just about got the wound infected, too, which is why he’s grounded in his stall now. Another two weeks and he should be fine.”

Skye ran her hand down the horse’s strong neck, feeling a little tug on her heart as she watched Jax carefully tend to Big Joe. It was clear to anyone that he adored these horses, and since she was a huge animal lover herself, that made Jax even more attractive in her opinion.

As he worked, they talked about the time and commitment it took to keep a ranch like his up and running. In addition to taking care of the horses and the small herd of cows he had, he also had to maintain the barns and outbuildings. But even though it seemed like another full-time job in addition to the one he had at the fire department, she could tell from the way he talked about the place that he loved it.

“I think I spent more time here as a kid than I did at home.” He tossed the sponge in the bucket and grabbed a towel from the shelf, then tenderly wiped down Big Joe’s thigh. “I have so many happy memories associated with this place that I knew I could never sell it when my grandparents passed away and left it to me, no matter how much hard work it took to keep it going.”

Jax finished up with Big Joe and led him back into his stall, then moved to the next one. The chestnut mare inside regarded Big Joe for a moment before coming over to greet Jax. “This is Star,” he said as he ran his hand down the horse’s rich, brown coat. “She and Big Joe have this love/hate relationship going on. He loves her, but she hates that he loves all the other mares, too. She’s the one who thumped him in the leg. I think she was probably aiming for his ass.”

Skye laughed as she caressed the mare.

“Here.”

Jax handed her a nugget-shaped treat for her to give Star, then offered one to Big Joe before walked over to the stalls across from her. Skye’s hand stilled on the mare’s neck, her eyes going wide as he opened the gate and led out a dappled gray mare. The horse’s belly was absolutely huge.

“Don’t tell me this is one of Big Joe’s conquests!” she said.

Jax chuckled as he snapped the horse into the same eyehook Big Joe had been attached to. “No. Lulu’s heart belongs to Ghost.” He motioned toward the regal looking white stallion in the stall beside the pregnant mare. “But she’s getting close to giving birth, so I’ve been keeping her inside.”

Skye slowly moved closer, not wanting to spook Lulu as Jax examined the horse. She smiled as he murmured soft words of assurance to the mare.

“You were absolutely born to do this, weren’t you?” she said.

Jax’s mouth edged up. “Probably.”

“If you love ranching so much, why become a firefighter? It has to be difficult to do both jobs,” she observed.

He caressed Lulu’s nose with a shrug. “I’d just run the ranch if I could, but I need a steady paycheck to help me cover the cost of this place. I enjoy being a firefighter, too, so it works out well.”

Skye took one of the grooming brushes off the shelf and gently ran it down Lulu’s back. Even though she hadn’t been around horses in over a decade, the move came naturally, reminding her again how much she’d missed home.

She glanced at Jax. “How did you go from working on oil rigs to becoming a firefighter anyway?”

“I came back to Dallas when my grandparents passed away to find out that they’d left me the ranch. I think it was their way of getting me to come back home and settle down,” he said, glancing at her over Lulu’s back. “It worked, too, much to my mom and dad’s delight. I didn’t have the heart to go back to working on oil rigs and let someone else run the place. That said, I also knew I could never afford to keep it without a steady job. That’s when Dane mentioned the fire department was looking for people. I gave it a shot and never looked back.” He shrugged. “Like I said—I enjoy the work, I’m good at it, and it gives me a chance to work with Dane, who, when he’s not being a butthead, is my best friend.”

Taking Lulu’s lead line, he walked her back over to her stall, then gave her some extra hay to munch before securing the latch on the door.

Skye wandered over to Ghost’s stall to give him a pat on the neck. Up close, he was even more magnificent. “It’s been so long since I’ve been around horses that I forgot how amazing they are.”

Jax came to stand beside her. “You want to go for a ride before we hit the mall?”

Skye’s first instinct was to say yes, but she quickly caught herself. She hadn’t ridden on a horse in a long time and wasn’t sure she was confident enough to jump on one just like that.

“That’s no problem,” Jax said when she told him as much. “We can ride together.”

As in her sitting in front of him with his arms around her? What woman could pass up an offer like that?

She smiled. “Okay. If you’re sure you don’t mind.”

But Jax was already leading Ghost out of his stall and saddling him up with smooth, experienced hands. When he was done, he turned and held out his hand.

“Ladies first.”

Pulse skipping a little, Skye kicked off her flip-flops and took his hand, letting him help her up into the saddle. Jax swung up effortlessly behind her, then took the reins and gently nudged the big horse in the ribs. A moment later, they were trotting out of the bar and into the pasture.

She hadn’t ever ridden with a guy like this, but she had to admit that sharing a saddle with him was very sexy. She loved leaning back against the solid wall of muscle that was his chest and the way his strong arms wrapped around her so he could hold the reins, but she loved the way her ass snuggled up against his blue-jean-covered hard-on even more. And there was no mistaking that he was at least semi-erect. She bounced up and down against his shaft with every trot. Between his cock rubbing against her butt and the saddle horn pressing against her pussy, she had to catch her lip between her teeth to stifle a moan.

Then there was the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and while she wasn’t well-endowed compared to a supermodel, there was some serious jiggling going on which made her breasts practically bounce against his biceps. Her nipples tingled so much, it was all she could do not to give them a squeeze.

Luckily, Jax kept up a nonstop commentary as they rode, pointing out different projects he was working on and naming the other horses in the pasture that lifted their heads to watch them pass by. It didn’t stop her from getting excited, especially when he leaned forward and put his mouth close to her ear when he talked or flexed his muscled thighs against hers as he guided Ghost where he wanted him to go, but at least she had something to focus on other than how wet her panties were getting. She was definitely going to have to wash his workout pants before she gave them back to him.

By the time he guided Ghost back into the barn and helped her out of the saddle, her knees were so weak from being aroused, she had to hold on to a stall door as Jax fed and brushed down the stallion. If their ride had lasted any longer, she probably would have orgasmed right there in Jax’s lap. And likely would have fallen off, too. As if coming from a horseback ride wouldn’t have been embarrassing enough.

Star and Lulu gave her knowing looks. Like they were saying, “
A good ride will do that every time
.”

Jax closed the door on Ghost’s stall, then turned to look at her. “You ready to go?”

More like ready to come
, Skye thought. But she probably shouldn’t say that out loud. So instead, she smiled and nodded, falling into step beside him as they left the barn.

Thank God Jax didn’t realize how turned on she was. That would have been beyond mortifying. She seriously needed to get a grip on herself, and fast. Jax was her brother’s friend—and hers. Plus, he was helping her out of a bad situation. She didn’t need to complicate things by fantasizing about him like she was some kind of sex crazed nymphomaniac—even if the sight of him did make her melt.

‡