DIRTY COWBOY Read online

  3

  Gentry

  I stay in shape because I enjoy working out but being back on the ranch has shown me who’s boss. Doesn’t even compare. My muscles burn and ache, but I keep going because this is my life now.

  “Is it weird being back?” Dawson asks me. Dawson grew up around here too, in fact he was a pretty good friend when I was growing up. I somewhat kept in touch with him over the years but not like I should have. I wipe the sweat from my forehead onto my forearm before looking over at him.

  “It’s a change that’s for sure. Haven’t done this much physical labor in years,” I admit to him.

  “It’s good to have you back. I know your mom is happy.”

  “Yeah, that she is. It’s good to be home.” I go back to loading the two by fours into the back of the truck when I hear a scream. Dawson and I share a glance before we take off running toward the house. The sight I find when we step in the front door amuses me. Placing my hands on my hips, I stare up at Hope Birch standing on my mom’s coffee table while my mom holds a bucket.

  “Do I even want to know what this is?” I ask, glancing between the two of them.

  “Big. Huge. Hairy!” Hope screams, dragging her gaze to mine.

  I chuckle and look to my crotch before dragging my eyes back to hers. “My pants are zipped, sweetheart.”

  “Gentry!” my mom scolds while Dawson laughs. Hope eyes me, her hands on her hips.

  “There’s a tarantula, Gentry.”

  “Call it what you want.” I shrug and reach for my zipper as her eyes widen. Instead of unzipping them like she thinks, I adjust my belt buckle and stroll toward Mom. I grab the bucket out of her hand and turn back toward the table.

  “Where did it go, princess?” I say sarcastically.

  “It’s over there by the bookcase!”

  I follow her pointed finger, moving around the table to find the beast. I bend down, making sure she has a view of my ass when she screams again. It takes literally seconds for her to leap onto my back which causes me to stumble. I catch myself and stand up straighter. Hope has her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms wound tightly around my neck. I reach up and try to loosen the hold when she screams again. My ears ring as I spin around to see Dawson laughing and covering the bucket I dropped.

  “I got it,” he says casually as he heads out the door. Mom laughs and walks away, but Hope is still breathing down my neck.

  “I didn’t know you liked the chokehold. I’ll remember that for future reference.”

  “I do not like the chokehold. I’m scared of spiders, Gentry.”

  “Well, it’s gone now. You can release my throat at any time,” I inform her. Her arms stay locked as she shoves her way up my back. She’s rubbing her body all over my back and all I can think about is how it would feel if she was attached to the front. Her head pops over my shoulder as she glances around.

  “Are you sure it’s gone? What if he missed it? What if it’s still in here just waiting for me to set my feet on the floor?” She is delusional. I bark out a laugh but she just slaps me. “It isn’t funny!”

  “Do you really think that the spider is lying in wait to attack you when I put you down?”

  “You never know! He could be!” Chuckling again, I reach up and pry her fingers from around my neck before slowly lowering her to the floor. When her feet touch the wood, she hops around for a second.

  “I think you’re safe now.” She looks up at me and my chest constricts. God, I knew she was beautiful from the last time I saw her, but up close right now? She’s perfection. She’s everything I wanted and she took away from me.

  “Thanks for coming to save me,” she says softly. I step closer to her, watching her for any kind or reaction that says I might be making a mistake. It takes a minute but I get it. Her hand comes up to my chest, pushing me back a step.

  “That isn’t why I screamed, cowboy.”

  “Is that why you climbed my body?” I cock my head to the side and smirk at her.

  “I was scared, Gentry!” Look at her cheeks turning pink. This is going to be fun having her here.

  “You could get scared and jump on the front.” Her mouth falls open as she looks at me.

  “You men are all the same. Is sex the only thing on your minds?” She huffs, planting her hands on her hips. I just shrug.

  “When a hot little girl with big tits jumps on your body, yeah, we all kind of agree.”

  “There was a spider, Gentry!”

  “Doesn’t change the fact that you tried to ride me cowgirl style.” Her cheeks get even redder. If I’d know that it was this easy to get her riled up I would have done it a long time ago.

  Mom told me after the fact that she was coming to stay here but she never told me when she was coming. I wonder why that was? Mom trying to play matchmaker is my guess. Little does she know, Hope isn’t what I want anymore, even if I do still enjoy looking at her. She was what I wanted back then. We were high school sweethearts, if that’s what you want to call us. We were together all the time, but we broke up right at the end of our senior year. It was a stupid fight over nothing really; she believed some nasty rumors that weren’t true. Right after graduation, Hope packed up and hauled ass out of Arizona. She never looked back so neither did I. Now she’s here once again, and I’m honestly not sure how I feel about that. I suppose I could just make her time here a living hell.

  Hope

  Betty passes me the glasses of lemonade she just made and I set them on the counter.

  “I’m so glad you decided to come stay here for a while. It’s nice having you around,” she says softly wiping up any she may have spilled.

  “I appreciate you letting me. I know things haven’t been easy on you lately.”

  “Nonsense. I’m happy to have you here although you haven’t told me what happened.” I take a deep breath and lean my hip against the counter.

  “I was at the office and I had just gotten some amazing news. I wanted to tell Lance,” I start when she stops me.

  “Your boyfriend, right?” I nod.

  “Anyway, I ran down the hall to tell him and I found him having sex with some girl on my desk. Granted he didn’t know it was my office, that is beside the point.”

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry, Hope. Good men are hard to come by these days.”

  “Yeah, I’m figuring that out. I’ll take these out to the guys,” I say nodding toward the drinks.

  Betty smiles, turning to the sink. “They’re out in the south field fixing the fence.”

  I grab the drinks and head out the back door with them in hand not wanting to discuss what happened between me and Lance. Right now it’s easier to just not deal with the betrayal and hurt. Since I made a spur of the moment decision to come here, I obviously had nothing. I stopped off and bought some essentials and some clothes after I arrived in town, not knowing how long I’d be staying. It made sense to run away to here, but I miss the city already. The hot sun beats down on me as I walk through the field toward the south side of the ranch. My skin crawls thinking about all the bugs and animals that are out here. A shiver races through me as I walk farther.

  “City girl walking out in the wild. What happened? The house catch on fire?”

  His voice pulls my attention. I turn my head to see Gentry standing there with sweat trickling down his neck, a white wife beater that’s soaked and his Stetson hat. Damn, he looks good. Boudreaux, his mom’s dog, stands at his side watching me.

  “Your mom asked me to bring you some drinks,” I say, thrusting the glass in his direction. I don’t see Dawson so I can’t give him one, but Gentry struts closer to me, his eyes boring into me. The sparkle in those big blue eyes and the little glint that I see makes my heart beat faster. He takes the glass from my hand, purposely allowing our fingers to touch as he does.

  “Thanks.” I watch him bring the glass to his lips, swallowing as he takes down the lemonade. His throat bobs and I’m drawn to it. You are staring at his throat for God’s sake!


  “What are you doing here, Hope?” he asks passing the glass back to me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Here. At the ranch. Why are you here and not off writing your fancy books?” I narrow my eyes at him wondering why he’s so full of questions now.

  “What do you care?”

  “I don’t. Just curious is all. You were hell bent on getting out of here after high school. Why come back now?” He grabs a towel and pulls his hat off, his shaggy brown hair sticking to his sweat covered head. He runs the towel over his face and head before looking back over at me. I know he still hates me because of the way I left back then. I didn’t see any other way. I couldn’t say goodbye to him. It would have killed me; he just doesn’t need to know that part.

  “If you must know my boyfriend cheated on me.”

  “And?”

  “What do you mean and? And that was enough for me to leave. I don’t need a cheater,” I snap at him. He smirks and moves closer to me. I can’t stand it when he’s this close. I can’t think straight. Something about Gentry just pulls me in and doesn’t want to let go. That could be dangerous.

  “What do you need, Hope?” The way he says my name, the way it falls from his lips sending a tingle down my spine.

  “I need space. I need to think and refocus on my life.” My voice doesn’t come out nearly as firmly as I wanted it to, but then again, Gentry Weston has always had that effect on me.

  “So you didn’t love him?” he asks leaning against the back of the truck and staring at me.

  “I…I don’t know to be honest. I thought I did. We were together a long time, but when I saw what he did, it didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I was just pissed at the betrayal. Does that make sense?”

  “If it didn’t hurt, you wouldn’t be here, Hope. Don’t let a man have the final say on your life.”

  I snort a laugh, my hand coming to cover my mouth.

  “You don’t have to worry about that. All of you men are nothing but cheaters. I’ve learned that much along my way in life,” I inform him.

  “All of us men, huh? That’s a little stereotypical don’t you think?”

  “No. Every guy I dated cheated on me at some point.”

  “You’re kidding me? Have they looked at you?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask with my hands planted on my hips.

  “You’re one of the sexiest women I know, Hope. It must be your immaculate attitude that sends them running for the hills,” he says with a smile.

  “What is wrong with my attitude?” Damn, he just keeps going and going with his smart mouth.

  Shoving off the truck, he stalks closer to me. Reaching up, he pulls one of my curly tendrils in between his fingers and my heart just about explodes from my chest.

  “You think you’re better than everyone else. Just because you went to California and you write all your little books doesn’t mean you aren’t the same little girl who used to make mud pies and piss in the creek.” He flicks my hair like it personally offended him and walks back to the fence. I watch him pick up the hammer and his hat and get back to work before I stomp over there.

  “That wasn’t fair!”

  “Life’s not fair,” he grumbles as he hammers another nail into the wood. Being the brat that I am, I stomp over and grab it from his hand before bending to pick up a nail.

  “I can do other things,” I say more to myself than to him. I want to prove him wrong although I don’t know why I even care. Maybe I still care what he thinks about me. Who am I kidding? Of course I do, I’ve never stopped. Holding the nail up, I glance over at Gentry as he watches me with a raised eyebrow. Screw him. I can do this. It’s not that hard. Just hit the nail and that’s it. I raise the hammer and bring it down, hitting the nail on the head. I hammer until it’s all the way in.

  “Nice,” Gentry says in a condescending tone. Jerk.

  “Proved you wrong,” I retort.

  “You put one nail in a fence, Hope. That hardly counts for anything.”

  “I can do it again!” Grabbing another nail I hold it to the wood and bring the hammer down. This time I miss. Instead of hitting the nail, I just put all my weight behind the hammer to smash my finger. I scream in pain, dropping the hammer to the ground as Gentry chuckles.

  “Sure proved me wrong there. Maybe I could offer you a bigger head to hit.” When I look over at him, his eyes are traveling the length of my body again. I roll my eyes wondering if that’s the only thing he has in his head.

  “You are awfully cocky, do you know that?”

  “I know what I have to offer. There’s a difference.”

  “Which is what? What is it you have to offer?”

  He looks at me like I’m joking around, but I’m serious. I want to know what it is he thinks he has that no other man does. Gentry stands, holding his hand out to me. I slowly slip my hurt one into his.

  “A lot actually,” he says bending my finger and looking it over. “I’m hot as hell. I mean, look at me.”

  “Conceded,” I mumble, causing him to laugh.

  “I have a good heart. I would give the right woman the world if she’d let me. When I love someone, it’s all I do. I can’t give part of myself; I have to give it all.” His words wash over me and tugs at my heart. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I haven’t found it yet, not since him in high school.

  I pull my hand away from him and say, “I think I’m fine now.”

  “Oh, you are fine. You just need to get a little dirty.” I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes once more.

  “Sexual innuendo doesn’t work all the time with all women, did you know that?” Gentry laughs and reaches up, brushing a stray hair behind my ear. My breath catches in my throat, tingles race over my skin. Why does he affect me like this?

  “Sexual frustration will make you think all sex talk is wrong when it isn’t, Hope.”

  “Are you insinuating that I’m sexually frustrated?” I squeal. Gentry shrugs. Let’s not pretend that you have had sex or even gotten yourself off since you’ve been here, Hope. “I am not sexually frustrated!”

  “Could have fooled me,” he says, nodding toward my chest. I look down and find my nipples like hard little pebbles poking through my shirt. Quickly, I reach up and cross my arms over my chest while he chuckles.

  “That is not funny.”

  “It’s not cold out, Hope.”

  “Just…just shut up, Gentry Weston! I can have casual sex if I wanted to.” No, I couldn’t, but he doesn’t need to know that.

  “Oh yeah? Why haven’t you then?”

  “In case you must know, I have had a lot of research to do for an article and that alone leaves little time for me to pick a suitable one-night stand.”

  “You can’t do it. Just admit it, not everyone can just have sex and not become attached. There’s no shame in that.” Why is he doing this to me?

  “I can!” I protest. “In fact, Dawson is taking me out tonight. I might just get some from him! Aren’t you Dawson?” I call out to him as soon as I see him. He looks confused, his gaze jumping between Gentry and me.

  “What am I doing?” he asks as he strolls over. He isn’t bad looking. He isn’t Gentry but then again not many men are.

  “You’re taking me out tonight.”

  “I am?” He looks confused.

  “Let me ask you something, Dawson. You good with casual sex?” My mouth nearly hits the ground when Gentry asks him that. Dawson’s cheeks turn red and it isn’t from the sun.

  “I think its fine every now and then for some people, but I’m not sure about doing it.”

  “Ugh!” I growl as I turn on my heel and head back toward the house. I can hear Gentry laughing the whole way too. I can’t believe he would embarrass me like that in front of Dawson. Oh who am I kidding? Yes, I can. That man has no filter. I stomp through the field until I slip and fall to my ass. I’m about to curse when I look down to see what I slipped in.

  “Ahhhh,”
I scream loudly enough for the guys to hear me. They stroll over not in a hurry until they see what happened. In fact, Boudreaux got here before they did, a lot of good that floppy eared dog is doing.

  “Steaming pile, huh?” Gentry says crossing his arms over his chest and smiling at me. I flip him off and shove myself up before I stomp away with the dog that probably left that pile follows me when I see a goat lying on its side.

  “Oh my God! Gentry! The goats dead!” I scream dropping to my knees next to it. I reach over and run my hand along its fur when he walks up.

  “You killed my goat?” I look up at him in shock. Like I would ever hurt an animal!

  “No! It fell over! Oh my God, Gentry did my screaming terrify it?” I can feel the tears prickling the back of my eyes as I look back down at the poor thing. I can’t believe I did that. What kind of person does that make me?

  “Yeah, you did. Scared it to death, Hope. Now what am I supposed to do? How am I going to tell mom the goat’s dead?” His hands land on his hips as a soft sob escapes me. I killed the goat. I am an animal murderer. I can’t believe this. What have I done?

  “Gentry, I’m so sorry. How do you even scare a goat to death? I didn’t think that was even possible! I’m such a bad person.”

  “She’s not dead, Hope,” he adds.

  “She’s lying there!”

  “Hope, she’s not dead.” Just as he says it again the goat stands up.

  “Holy hell! What kind of sick prank is this? Gentry! That thing was dead! I saw it lying there!” Okay, I’m in complete freak out mode. That goat was not moving at all! It looked dead. Maybe it wasn’t. Why wasn’t it moving?

  “They’re called fainting goats. You scared her, she fainted. She’s fine. Look,” he says pointing to where the goat is currently nibbling on some grass. I can’t believe it. A fainting goat? Who knew that was a thing?

  “There’s a funny story about her.”

  “Your goat?” I ask scrunching up my nose. Who has a funny story about goats?