In next week’s course, she’d create the least expensive, most efficient green plan ever. The course leader would post it on his web site for ranchers and potential employers to see. She’d get a wonderful job offer out here in the West, far from Freddie and bad memories.
Yes, it was past time to create some good ones, like with that blond hunk, all naked and wet. She almost dropped her towel when Bryan bent over to put Scotty in his playpen. She’d always had a thing about cowboys and chaps, the way they outlined a snug butt.
What hid in the front of his jeans was extra.
She shook her head. “It must be painful to be a guy sometimes,”
she said to an oblivious Scotty.
Bryan looked rough and tough yet had held her son gently. That meant he could take care of himself and those he loved. She shook the thought away with a toss of drying curls. Rough, tough cowboys weren’t potential husband and father material. She didn’t want or need a bully in her life again.
She’d grown up watching Aunt Delia’s fear and pain. Trapped in a marriage to a brute, so cowed she believed it was all her fault.
Unable to escape because the man controlled her strings as if she were a mindless puppet.
But she was not her aunt. She had education, experience, and would do anything to give Scotty the loving home she lost when her parents died. If she could last until her April birthday, she’d be okay.
Finally getting control of her modest inheritance would give her a touch of freedom. She and Scotty would still be alone against the world, but they’d have a tiny home of their own that no one could Cowboy Double-Decker
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take away. A few hot and sexy memories to fill her long, lonely nights would be nice, though.
She wrapped the diaper tight and stuck it in a plastic bag for disposal. “That Bryan guy acts like he might already be a daddy.” She chattered to Scotty to keep him from squirming. “Maybe he has a nice, quiet wifey waiting at home for him. Someone to warm his slippers by the fire and wait on him hand and foot.”
Scotty watched her, again chewing his finger.
“Ha! Even if he was rich and single, there’s no way I would do that for a man!” She wrapped Scotty in her towel and sat on the bed with him in her lap.
“You, my son, need a bath. As soon as Mr. Studly gets out of the tub, you’re going in.”
She fluffed her thin curls, encouraging them to dry. She’d use gel later to get them under control. Control was everything. Scotty struggled, flailing and complaining.
“I can’t put you down, sugarpie. That little hose of yours might erupt, and I can’t afford to pay damages.”
She imagined Bryan wearing only black leather chaps, plunging deep and hard, pounding into her from behind. A flash of lust surged from her belly, erupting past erect nipples to heat her face. Dang!
How would she get through the weekend if her body demanded hot sex whenever she thought of the man?
She turned Scotty around to face her and stood up, hugging him to her chest. Bad mistake. He grabbed her hair again with both chubby fists, chortling.
She paced back and forth, gently encouraging Scotty to let go. Her bare thighs chafed against each other with every step. What this man did to her! Hard nipples, swollen breasts, and wet panties. For the first time in her life, she was turned on, by a guy built like those in her nightmares!
No man should have this much power over her. It must be exhaustion from the last few weeks. A few nights of good sleep and 22
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she’d be fine. Bryan would take the couch and she’d get the king-size bed. She was sure he was the type to sleep naked. She clenched her internal muscles to halt the itchy ache, but it only made it worse.
How the heck was she going to survive being near him this weekend and concentrate on her course?
She stopped short and gulped. He’d better be staying just for the weekend. She was signed up for the two-day intensive workshop on
“green” uses