Her Prada Cowboy: McCulloch County Series #1 (5 page)

“Name’s Noah Cutter.  Best friend to
Jay.”

She nodded and smiled at him.

“Why did you not wake me, Rosa?  Look
at the time already.”

“Jay’s instruction, lovey.  I made you
a light brunch.  You must be thin as a string by now.”

“You are a gem.  I am starving.”

She took a seat and winced when she
lowered herself slowly.  Noah watched her and smiled slowly.  Jay instructing
Rosa to let her sleep, wincing when she sat down.  Unbelievable!  His friend
had a woman in his bed.  By the looks of it, she stayed the night!  This was
very, very interesting.  Everyone knew he never brought a woman home.  He sure
as hell never spent the whole night with one!

“Are you also a rancher, Noah?”

“Yip, Cutter Cove Ranch.  I breed Brahman
cattle, close to Brady.”

Shannon sat up and looked at him,
ignoring Rosa waving her off warningly, already knowing what was on her mind.

“Are you going back there any time
soon?”

“Yeah.  Jay’s apparently workin’ out
on the outer border and will only be back when the sun drops from the sky.  I
just checked in on my way back from Waco.”

“I wonder if I could possible ask for
a lift into Brady?”

“Of course!  It would be my pleasure.”

“I don’t think Jay is gonna like that,
Nonnie.”

Shannon blushed and looked at her
through her eyelashes.

“It is important that I get to Houston
today, Rosa. Noah says he is only going to be back late this afternoon.  I
can’t wait until then.”

“He is gonna fly of his handle and I
will be the one in the way!”

“I’m sorry, Rosa, but I don’t have
another choice.”

“Well then.  Any luggage I can throw
in the truck before we buck off?”

“Yes, in my room.”

She winced just thinking of walking up
the stairs again.  Noah noticed it and chuckled.  Damn his buddy must have had
one hell of a night.  He most definitely envied him. 

This was one Chiquita banana!  Pity he
found her first
.  

On the other hand, he was not
possessive with his floozies and never minded if Noah had them too.  He looked
her over again and shook his head.

This one was different. For one thing
she was here in his house and it was very clear he spent the whole night with
her.  And he was very sure they did not sleep.

“Rosa, just direct me to the room and
I’ll go fetch it so long.”

Rosa mumbled but told him which room. 
He strolled out and disappeared.  Rosa sat down across from her and frowned at
Shannon.

“Nonnie, you don’t know Jay.  He is
gonna freak’n blow his lid.  Rather wait until he is home.”

“Rosa, I am really thankful for
everything you’ve done for me.  Please tell Jay I appreciate him taking me in
for the night, but it is an opportunity to get to Houston in time.”

It is most definitely better for my own
sanity to leave before he is back!

She hugged Rosa who continued to
grumble about Jay and a hissy fit.  She asked Noah to take her directly to the
airport in Brady.

Noah laughed and shook his head.  There
was definitely something going on between his buddy and this lady.  There was a
private airstrip on Jay’s ranch and he had a small jet and helicopter, he could
have taken her to Houston at any time.  She was running away.  No wonder Rosa
was so upset.

“No airports in Brady, I’m afraid. 
But my cousin owns a private airstrip just a slip out of town.  I know he has a
group of tourists he is flyin’ to Houston after lunch.  I’m sure he will have
space for one more.”

“That would be ideal.  Thank you for
giving me a lift.”

“My pleasure.  I just hope I don’t
lose my best buddy in the doin’ of it.”

Shannon blushed and cleared her
throat.

“I …er … think you have the wrong
idea.  We only met yesterday and he knew I was leaving today.”

“If you say so, love.”

He phoned his cousin and he was only
too willing to take her with.  She had to argue with him about charging her,
but he was adamant that he was doing it as a favor to their buddy, Jay.

While waiting for the tourists to
arrive, she quickly phoned the car rental agency to report the breakdown of the
car.  They apologized profusely.  She was embarrassed that she could not give
them directions to the vehicle, but they managed to allocate it using the GPS
chip system in the car.

Shannon only relaxed when they were in
the air.  A heavy sigh escaped her lips.  Her heart was not in agreement with
her mind.  A tight band squeezed around her heart, reminding her of what she had
left behind.  They had a night of blazing sex, but she acknowledged, that there
was a spark between them.   A spark that electrified her heart and soul.  A
spark worth pursuing.

Yeah right.  You live in LA.  Exactly
how is that going to pan out?

Oh, butt out! 

Right girl.  You do remember he is a
Cowboy as well? Not the Corporate, high powered type you prefer.

I said, butt out!

Jarrod
was dead on his feet by the time they got back to the ranch house around five
in the afternoon.  He barely had an hours’ sleep the night before and catching
those stubborn wild stallions, was the last thing he had energy for.  He sighed
and handed Hades’ reins to James and strode to the house.

He found Rosa in the kitchen, mumbling
to herself.  He shook his head.  She was the sweetest woman, but sometimes a
little light headed.  He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and
swallowed down half of it before he turned to Rosa.

She stood watching him with wringing
hands.  His heart contracted.  He knew her well enough to know when something
happened that she knew he would not like.

“How did she leave?”

“Ehm … by car?”

“Is that a statement or a question,
Rosa?”

“Truck.  She left by truck.”

“She took my truck?”

“No.”

“Rosa!”

“Now don’t blow a hissy fit, Jay. I
warned her!  She said she had no choice.  She had to get to Houston today.”

“Rosa, whose truck did she leave in?”

“Noah’s.”

She blanched when he stiffened.

“She left with Noah?”

“Yeah.”

“How could you let her leave with that
libertine, Rosa?  You know how he is with women!”

Her eyebrows rose sardonically and he
cursed.

“What time did they leave?”

He dug his cell phone out of his
pocket and scrolled down to Noah’s number.  He punched the dial button and
waited.

“Around noon.”

“Buddy!  I checked in this mornin’.”

“Sorry I missed you.”

“Yeah, sure you are. Wanna go belly up
at the bar with Dan and me tonight?”

“Maybe.”

“What’s the kicker, buddy?”

“Where’s she?”

Noah laughed a deep laugh of enjoyment.

“Now that’s a whole 'nuther story. 
Where did you pick her up, Jay?  More importantly, would you mind if I took a
bite out of that sweet ass?”

Jarrod clenched his fists and had Noah
stood in front of him, he would have beaten him to a pulp.

“Buddy?  You there?”

“Only if you want to lose the ability
to ever take a bite out of any sweet ass again!”

“Yip … just as I thought!”

“What are you blabberin’ about?”

“You, my dear Jarrod … nah … I’d
rather sit back and watch.  It would be way more interestin’!”

‘I don’t know what you’re on about. 
Where is she, Noah?”

“Who?”

“Now you are really pissin’ me off!”

“Probably somewhere in Houston.”

“Probably?  How the hell did she get
there?”

“Dan.”

“I’ll see you later at the bar.”

Rosa watched Jarrod with a small smile
on her lips.  Her sweet boy’s stray was the one!

“What’re you smilin’ about, Rosa?”

“Nuttin’.  You’re belly growlin’,
Jay?  Grub’s ready.”

“Yeah … it’s been a lon’ day.”

“You think you have enough energy to mosey
over to Brady and bar hop?”

Jarrod slumped down on one of the
kitchen chairs.   He pulled the band from his hair and ran his hand through the
long tresses.  He re-tied it and drank the rest of the water.

“Yeah … I think I need to get good and
drunk tonight.”

“You do know you hafta start tamin’
those buckwilin' horses in the mornin’?”

“Shoot, you’re right.”

“What about Nonnie?”

Jarrod smiled with a wicked gleam in
his eyes.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Rosa.  She’ll be
back.”

He scrolled to a number on his phone
again and spoke to his cousin, Reed Parker, who was a FBI operative in Dallas. 

“I’m goin’ to take a shower before
dinner, Rosa.  Give me thirty minutes.”

Jarrod walked out on his balcony,
dialing the number his cousin texted him.  He ran his hand through his still
wet hair.

“Hmm … h’lo.”

His dick stood on attention with the
first syllable and he clenched his teeth.

This bloody woman is going to turn me
into her own personal sex slave!

“Running away, doll face?”

“How did you find my number?”

“Oh, I am very resourceful, honey.  So
for future reference, don’t bother running. I will always find you.”

“Why would you want to?”

“You have to ask me that after last
night, doll face?  We’re not done yet, you and I.  Not by a long shot.  See you
soon, honey.”

He
ended the call and walked down to dinner with a wide smile on his face.

Shannon
stared at the phone.  Still not sure if she was still sleeping or if he really
did call.  Moreover, if he really meant what he said.  Her core pulsed in
excitement and she moaned.

How can I want more when I am still
sore and swollen after last night?  How the devil did he find me?

She rolled onto her back and looked at
the time on her phone.  It was just after six and she was starving.  She
dressed quickly and checked with Damien, the colleague she was meeting, if he
was ready for dinner.  They agreed to meet for a quick pre-dinner drink and she
took the elevator down.

Damien was already waiting and as
usual, his heart started beating faster when he noticed her in the doorway. 
She was so beautiful, but for him, totally unattainable.  But a guy could dream
from afar.  As long as she never realized it!

“Hi Damien.  It’s good to see you.”

“You too, Boss.”

“You have to stop calling me that. 
Have you ordered yet?  I am really starving.”

“Yes.  Dry white wine?”

She nodded.  He was happy to have
their drinks taken directly to their table in the dining room.  Once seated, he
looked at her with concern.

“Are you alright?  You seem to be in
pain.”

Shannon blushed, but assured him she
was fine. They ordered their food and she sat back sipping on her wine.

“Did you manage to make all the
changes I emailed to you earlier?”

“Yes and I must say, you really are
brilliant.  You are going to blow them away with that presentation.  We are
definitely signing that contract tomorrow.”

“I’m glad you are so positive, but I
must admit, so am I.  How far are their offices from here?”

“Right around the corner.  Walking
distance in fact.”

“Good.  I would hate to be late or get
lost.  Where are they with our food?”

As if on cue, the waiter arrived with
their food.  Shannon ate with gusto. She excused herself directly after their
meal, still needing to do some work on her presentation.

“Did you email me the amended
presentation already?”

“Yip, this afternoon.”

“Thanks.  I’ll meet you here for
breakfast at eight.  Sleep tight.”

“You too, Boss.”

Shannon just shook her head and walked
away.  She undressed and showered, wrapping a large towel around her.  She
powered up her laptop and sat on the bed to quickly add the additional two
slides she wanted to end with.

It was nearly eleven by the time she
switched off her laptop and put it away.  She unwrapped the towel from around
her and slipped under the sheet.  Sighing, she wiggled to find her comfort
spot.  Her cell phone rang and she frowned, not recognizing the number.

“Shannon Davis.”

“So formal, doll face.  Is there
someone with you?”

“Jay … I didn’t expect you to call
again.”

“You should have, honey.  I do not
take lightly to you runnin’ away from me.”

“I … did not run away.”

“Really?  Did you say goodbye, doll
face?”

“I left a message with Rosa.”

“I’m afraid that was not good enough …
What are you doin’?”

“I’m in bed.”

Jarrod gripped the phone harder.

“What are you wearin’?”

“Jay …”

“Tell me.”

“Nothing.”

“You’re … naked?”

“Yes.”

He was silent for so long, Shannon
wondered if they got cut off.

“I can be there in forty five minutes,
doll face.”

“What do you mean, forty five
minutes?”

“I have a chopper.”

“You … you … you have a chopper?”

“Yeah.”

“You … mean to say you could have
brought me to Houston the same day my car broke down?”

“I guess I could have.”

“You guess … you bloody guess!”

“I was busy, doll face.  I can’t just
drop everything and run around to Houston.”

“You are nothing but a … a womanizer! 
A libertine! Do me a favor and … and … go and jump off a cliff!”

“Now don’t twist your knickers in a
knot, doll face.  I had a …”

“Ooeefff!”

Shannon ended the call and in
frustration picked up the receiver of the phone on the bedside table and
slammed it down a few times.  It was the one negative aspect of a cell phone. 
You could not slam it down in someone’s ear.

Her phone beeped and she opened the
text message.

We’re not done yet, doll face.  Not
for a very,
v
ery long time to come!  Save my
number
,
honey
.
You are going to need it soon.

“Yes
… the day that pigs can fly!”

“I do apologize for the delay, Miss
Davis.  Mr. Parker has unfortunately been delayed and cannot be here.  He will
be joinin’ us via Skype. Please follow me.  We will set everythin’ up in Mr. 
Parker’s boardroom.  He has a direct link to that room.”

In the end they had to wait another
thirty minutes before the big flat screen television on the wall flickered on
and he joined the meeting.  He was sitting behind a desk with his back to the
window.  The sharp sunlight darkened his shape and only his silhouette was
visible.  The only thing Shannon could establish about Mr. Parker was that he
was tall with broad shoulders.  His voice  was raspy when he spoke, but the
line had a lot of static and was not very clear.

“My apologies for keepin’ you.  I had
a … crisis to sort out first.  Miss Davis, Mr. Stuart, thank you for takin’ the
time to come all the way to Houston to do the presentation.”

“It is our privilege to be here.  I do
hope your crisis have been resolved?”

“Not quite, it will take another few
hours, but sometimes it is a price a person is willin’ to pay.  Chris, please
send me a link to the presentation, and then you can begin, Miss Davis.”

Chris, the Operations Director, leaned
over Shannon’s shoulder to send the link to Jarrod and he clenched his teeth. 
He needed to have a serious chat with that wayward cousin of his!  Mr. Parker
confirmed that he had a shared view and Shannon rose to start the presentation.

She started with a very brief
background of the Company and her and her teams’ ability to make a success of
the project.  The presentation was thirty minutes long and quite detailed. 
They were briefed in full as the expectation was to be presented with the PR
project plan and what the expected outcome was going to be.

Chris had a number of questions
throughout the presentation which she handled very efficiently.  She even had
analysis and statistics on hand that she shared with them.  Mr. Parker was
quiet and she noticed he drank quite a lot of water during
the
presentation.

“We are taking a holistic approach
with our proposal.  We wish to reach a wider sphere of architectural groups, rather
than only the main groups.  I did a cost study and a time period profit
analysis, should the small to medium sized companies be interested in investing
in the specialized Architectural Software.”

“How do you propose the small to
medium sized companies pay for the product, Miss Davis?  It is highly
specialized and required high level networks and hardware.”  The till now,
quiet, Mr. Parker questioned.

“True, but there are sectors of the
program that could be segregated for the smaller companies.  If you are
prepared to tweak it very slightly.  It would allow them to stay abreast with
the development in the Architectural industry. You, would be seen as the trendsetter
for future generations.  More so, your Company would be revered as the one that
drives the development of all Architects across the Globe, not just the major
ad principle groups.”

“It has merit.”

“To make it exciting to the smaller
groups, we could offer a design competition using those sectors of the program.
The winner … receives the full package with hardware as prize.”