Double Dippin'

Double Dippin’

All Rights Reserved

Double Dippin’

Copyright
Em Petrova 2014

Kindle Edition

Cover design by Fantasia Frog Designs

Electronic book publication
January 2014

Double
Dippin’

by Em
Petrova

“Good morning, Falls Creek Custom Saddlery. How can I help you?”

“Josephine, is my son around there? I need to talk to him.”

Posy gritted her teeth at the use of her full—and despised—name. The only thing worse than her
mother calling her Josephine was somebody else’s mother calling her that. Her boss’s mother.

“Sure thing. Let me see if I can run him to earth.” Posy
spun her chair away from the desk—and came face-to-face with two long, denim-clad thighs.

Oh Lordy.

The phone almost slipped from her ear as she tried like hell not to notice the cowboy attached to those muscular legs—all five-feet-ten-inches of tanned man with the features of a god and abs she could wash the whole village’s clothes on.

Didn’t her boss know he shouldn’t sneak up on distracted females
like that? She could nearly feel her jaw going slack as she drank in the dark shadow on his angular jaw. He wasn’t wearing his cowboy hat, and his mussed hair begged for her touch.

To cover her reaction, she
thrust the phone at him and mouthed,
your mother.

Alex rolled his eyes and raised the
phone to his ear. Instead of moving a respectable distance away so Posy could get control of her rioting hormones, Alex leaned against the corner of her desk.

She
pushed her chair back a few inches and lowered her gaze in order to study him from beneath her lashes. Since coming to work for the upstart custom saddle business, she’d been tormented on a daily basis. Between the dark, mysterious look in Alex’s eyes and her other boss, Loren’s rugged charms, her panties were in a constant state of moistness.

Her ex had never brought her to this dizzying height of lust. Problem was, she shouldn’t
feel it for her bosses.

Alex stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. “Yeah, ma. I’ll look at the car when I get off work, I promise. No, I can’t do it now. This is my
job
. Just because I own the business doesn’t mean I can slack,” he told her gently.

Posy met his gaze, and he winked.

Oh baby Jesus.

She wasn’t an overly religious person, but whenever her bosses were around, she found herself praying
a lot. They often crowded around her new oak desk and all she wanted was to fall to her knees.

Get hold of yourself.

It was impossible under Alex’s direct stare. His brows were long and dark, the eyes beneath sparkling with the mischief of a naughty schoolboy. He made a few more noises to please his mother then ended the call.

He set the phone on
Posy’s organized desktop and gave her that crooked smile that melted her from the inside out. Like chocolate lying in the palm of his hand.

She squeezed her thighs together, wishing she hadn’t worn a skirt today. The air circulating around her bare thighs teased her, and her p
ussy wanted the same attention.

Alex leaned to the side to catch her gaze more fully. His action brought her attention to other parts of him—dark blue T-shirt straining across defined pecs and the tanned thickness of his throat. A thin gold
chain glittered there, and she knew if she pulled it up, the Lone Star of Texas would dangle from the chain.

“She called
you Josephine, didn’t she?”

Posy collapsed against t
he back of her ergonomic chair. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry.”
His amused expression suggested otherwise. “I’ve told her not to call you Josephine.”

“Me too.
Doesn’t matter that I’ve been Posy since I was eight years old.”

His grin stretched into a full blown event. She suddenly wanted a box of popcorn and
some Snow Caps to sit back and enjoy in style.

“Nope,
doesn’t matter when she’s known you since you dragged a ‘blankie’ around in the mud and had your thumb stuck in your mouth.”

Posy pushed her heavy locks off her shoulders and hoped to look professional despite Alex’s
description of her early years. Their parents were friends, and summers had been filled with picnics and games of tag. Posy had played with Alex her entire life.

Now she wanted to extend their playground to the bedroom.

Tamping down her inappropriate thought, she lifted her pen and poised it over a notepad. “Any supplies you need? I’m going to place an order tomorrow.”

“Oh I don’t know,” he drawled. “Let’s ask Loren.”

No, not Loren. When the muscled cowboy was in the same room with her, she fought to breathe. Broad shoulders, thick thighs. He claimed he’d never been to a gym, but he was cut like he worked out for a living. And his blue eyes…they made her lose every thought in her head.

Before
Alex raised his voice to call for the other half of the Falls Creek Custom Saddlery team, fresh want gripped Posy low in her belly. Then Loren swaggered in, and her mouth turned into a desert.

At least one part of me is dry.

* * * * *

Alex focused on the little morsel in the spinny desk chair and
fought the tightness in his chest. When he and Loren had agreed to bring Posy on as their office administrator, Alex hadn’t realized what a hardship it would be.

Staying
away from her was a daily battle. He wanted to plunge his fingers into the mass of dark hair cascading down her spine.  Sometimes he had to clench his fists to keep from grabbing her tight buns in those sexy skirts she wore. And he stared too long into her dark blue eyes, trying to unravel her secrets.

“
Whatcha need?” Loren asked, sidling up to the desk. The way he hitched his thumb in his jeans pocket sent another kind of awareness through Alex. What no one knew about them was they were more than friends and business partners.

He shifted his weight to his other foot to
ease the sudden tightness in his jeans and glanced at Posy.

She
ran her tongue over her lower lip, and Alex’s jeans grew unbearably snug.

He uncrossed his legs.

“I’m making a supply list. Anything you want on the order besides the usual?”

The
usual meant their weekly shipment of top-of-the-line leather and a few chemicals to treat it.

Loren nudged up the brim of his Stetson
and gave Alex a look indicating he’d noticed his bulge. “Is this the week we’re making that saddle for the rodeo queen? The one with the rhinestones?”

Alex fished around his brain for the details of
their conversation with the rodeo queen and her parents. The sixteen-year-old had grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled curlicues Loren would work into the leather and Alex would then burnish, making the edges smooth and shiny.

But the prissy teen had
also requested her name in rhinestones so they sparkled in the sun as she galloped around the arena wearing her crown.

“Yeah, blue
rhinestones,” Alex said slowly. “Was that right?”

“
Nuh-uh.” Loren shook his head. “She wanted spring green.”

“What the hell is
spring green?” Alex asked.

Posy looked between them, eyebrow raised. “She requested
spring green?”

Alex’s gaze roved over Posy’s face. Her features were delicate, from perfectly upturned nose to the small bow of her mouth.
Her lips were tiny but full, rosebuds set on the canvas of her face like an artist had drawn them there.

In the past two months she’d worked here, Alex had thought of at least a hundred things he wanted to do with her perfect mouth.

Dark need sliced through his groin.

Loren planted a
hand on the desk and leaned over Posy. “Do you have a catalog of rhinestone colors?”

“
Uhh…I think I do.” She touched a fingertip to her damp throat before rifling through her desk drawer. The inside was as tidy as the surface, everything stowed in its place. But Alex loved the personal touches she’d given her small office space.

An antique metal pitcher held a new wildflower bouquet every few days, and she had a framed picture of her family. The photo had been snapped at
one of the last big picnics he’d attended. That day he’d become quite aware of Miss Posy Jenkins stomping around in her dark brown leather boots that molded to her shapely calves.

Between high school and present day she’d dated
one of the biggest assholes in the county. Word was he’d taken her virginity when she was eighteen, and for that alone Alex wanted to kill him.

Plus
the man had dumped Posy a few weeks ago. She’d come into work red-eyed and pale. Since then Alex and Loren had done their best to shower her with attention.

As s
he leafed through several catalog pages, her slender fingers tipped in dark red drew Alex’s focus. Outside of the warehouse serving as their business locale, she was all country. But from day one she’d shown up for work wearing heels and curve-hugging skirts.

Today she wore a short-sleeve silk blouse in a profusion of jewel tones. The hues set off her dark blue eyes, and the top dipped just low enough to afford Alex a peek at her plunging cleavage.

Apparently it attracted Loren as well. He pushed closer until it looked as though his mouth was inches from her ear.

What the hell?

Alex set his teeth together—hard. Was Loren coming on to her? While he shared almost everything in life with Loren, Posy wasn’t one of them. Alex had wanted her for years.

And he
wouldn’t share.

Loren’s lips hovered too
close to her. She must be feeling his hot breath on her face. Too well Alex knew how Loren could undo a person when he was so close. Tension filled every corner of Alex’s body.

He
circled the desk to get a better view. He slid some papers aside to make room to sit at Posy’s right elbow. When he plopped onto the surface, she looked up.

Her cheeks flamed
, and he grinned.

Valentine’s Day was two short days away. M
ore than once he’d thought about buying her a card, but their relationship was strictly professional. Acknowledging an employee on that day seemed like a good way to get himself in trouble.

If he offended her, Falls Creek Custom Saddlery
would be in a world of hurt. She’d taken over everything but working the leather. Alex wouldn’t have the first inkling about how to run the office.

Loren pointed at the same green dot she did, their fingertips touching.

A groan rose in Alex’s throat. He reached between Posy and Loren and stabbed a finger into the page. “Order that.”

Loren straightened, a wrinkle
between his brows as he met Alex’s gaze. Alex stared back.

She belongs to me.

But so did Loren.

Though the absurdity
of his thoughts seeped into his mind, he couldn’t stop his galloping emotions.

Loren
nodded. Tipping his hat low over his eyes again, he muttered, “Sounds good,” and wandered back toward the workroom.

* * * * *

Loren hauled a deep breath of the familiar scents of leather and chemical into his head, but it didn’t wipe out the honey-sweetness of Posy.

Too
bad Alex had all but challenged him to a fist-fight over her. Loren knew that wild look in his lover’s eyes.

Loren stomped around the work
island and picked up a tool. It molded to his hand, but all he could think about was touching Posy.