Into The Sunset: An Erotic Romance Anthology Read Online Free

we’re
in a good location. All we needed was some money and a man with
experience in this type of thing.” Tad gestured to Rex and he
nodded.
    “ It looks like it came out of a
Western,” she said.
    “ We got the lumber for the siding
secondhand. It gives it a nice weathered look. We saved money where
we could while keeping in mind that we’re aiming for a high-end
market.” Rex felt more comfortable now, talking about business. He
launched into his spiel about starting small so as to make it more
exclusive, but going big when it came to the services they offered.
He was rattling off numbers when he reached up to help her down
from her saddle.
    It hit him: A soft floral scent, warm skin
under worn flannel. A woman, in his arms. A big curvy woman with
soft brown eyes looking straight into his.
    “ Ah…” he trailed off. His gaze
slid to her lips, a shade of pink he actually liked.
    “ You were saying why you think two
hundred thousand should get us started,” she said, moving away from
him.
    He stared at her while she hitched her horse
to the wooden post outside.
    “ Where are we getting the rest of
the money? I could have brought it with me,” she said.
    Rex cleared his throat and his mind. Thank God
Rose was too distracted by business to notice him flaking
out.
    “ Me. I’m investing the other half
of the money.” And he wasn’t losing his head over some hot-shot art
whatever that moved up to Boston to work at some fancy museum. He
tried to put some force into the conviction, but a part of him
knew, even before he’d met her, when she’d just been a
two-dimensional picture on the wall, he’d been thinking about her.
And thinking about a woman was step one in falling for
her.
    He walked to the cabin, drew a keycard from
his wallet, and stood aside so she could see, just like a fancy
hotel, the rustic-looking cabin had an electric lock. It was a
sample on loan from the company, but still, the little things
mattered. “Your family retains full ownership of the property. The
business is divided fifty, McGovern and Rex. We already formed the
LLC.”
    Rose walked into the cabin and stopped. He was
probably becoming inured to the awful decor, but every time Rex saw
it, he disliked it a little less. There was a kitchenette to the
side, complete with a little stove and oven. Rex thought they’d
offer in-cabin cooking classes for the women while their men worked
on the ranch. Or vice-versa, he didn’t really care. The bed was
portioned off by a set of plain canvas screens, and there was a
couch and two oversized chairs arranged around a flat-screen
TV.
    The horse skull Lily hung on the pale
terra-cotta wall tied the room together with a Zen-like simplicity.
The cholla stump set on the coffee table and the succulent garden
growing in a hypertufa planter were two other details that caught
his eye. Simple, but elegant, a combination that always implied
expensive.
    “ Not including the appliances, we
got this place furnished and decorated for about ten thousand, and
most of that went to the bed and chairs. Lily and Peggy put
everything together. But you know how smart those two are.” Rex
turned to Rose, expecting a complement, or a shrewd question, but
not tears. Her face was red, and tears streamed down her
cheeks.
    The same black dread slapped him, just as it
had when Nancy had been screaming and carrying-on.
    He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t handle her
crying. A foul stinking beast had seized him on the inside and
twisted—because that’s what Nancy’s betrayal had felt
like.
    He opened his mouth to speak, but low in his
throat, he could feel the start of something else, something he
couldn’t let out.
    Rex Waits, for the first time in his life, did
not calmly walk away from something too big for him to handle. He
did not stomp off in a temper. No, Rex Waits ran. He ran
quickly.
    Nero whickered at him and laid his ears back,
but didn’t protest to being unhitched and mounted.
    After that, Rex pointed