Walk The Line (The Dawson Brothers Book 6)
Author: Parker, Ali
Date: 2019-02-22
Rights: Copyright 2019 Ali Parker. All rights reserved.

Walk The Line

The Dawson Brothers #6

Ali Parker

BrixBaxter Publishing

Contents

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Description

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Epilogue

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Description

A beautiful woman makes everything better.

Including me.

Living on a big ranch with a large family means working during the day and taking on side projects on the weekend.

And it’s my turn to help with the latest one. The house needs updating, and my sister wants an interior designer to help out.

I begrudgingly agree to help until the woman shows up.

Crazily enough, it’s the pretty girl I kissed on the dance floor a few nights before.

The one that slapped me in the face and walked off.

I’ve always loved a good challenge.

Everything about her turns me on. But she’s not interested in bad cowboy types.

And my brothers and I are just that. At least, they are.

A nasty situation turns the pretty girl against me, and there isn’t much I wouldn’t do to get her back.

Time to dust off these boots and walk this line.

This woman is well worth the effort.

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1

Connor Dawson

“I just don’t see the point anymore, other than to have a cold beer and a dance,” I said, as I drove the truck toward the dance hall. Wyatt and Abi were following behind us in Wyatt’s truck, typical of a Saturday night for the Dawson family.

“What do you mean?” Dylan asked, as he sat in the back seat of my double cab pickup truck.

“I mean it’s the same girls all the time. Half of them we’ve already dated, and the other half hate our guts,” I said.

“Well, it’s just about a cold beer and hanging with my brothers for me, I have a woman,” Tanner said, sitting in the passenger seat.

“Yeah, yeah, you ain’t gotta be all arrogant about it,” I said, feeling a little jealous that he had a woman, and a good one at that.

“So what’s wrong with some beers and dancing? We ain’t lookin’ for wives, just some fun. Why are you all serious about this all of a sudden?” Dylan asked.

“I’m not serious about lookin’ for a wife. I’m just saying we should try going into the city or something next time. And meet some new women,” I said, as I pulled the truck into the gravel parking lot of the dance hall.

“The city? Nah, no way. Dawson boys belong in Safety, Texas,” Tanner said.

I put the truck in park as Wyatt’s truck pulled alongside us. The parking lot was already full. Cowboys and cowgirls were all over the lot, even pouring out the doors of the dance hall, and the honky-tonk music was loud.

“Woo-hee! Look at that! It’s gonna be a good night. I can feel it,” Dylan said, getting all anxious in the back seat, the way a dog does when you pull up to the park. I wished I was that excited, but these weekends at the dance hall were turning into the same ol’—same ol’ for me. It was boring and I was craving something new.

“Alright boys, keep it in your pants,” Tanner said, as we got out of the truck. “This means you, Dylan.”

“It’s really happening around here tonight,” Abi said, climbing out of Wyatt’s truck. We all gathered behind our trucks, waiting until everyone was ready.

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be a good honky-tonk band tonight. All the way from Kerrville or something,” Wyatt added.

“Oh, there are my girls. I’ll see y’all later,” Abi said, waving at a group of her friends. “And don’t get into trouble,” she added sternly, before walking away.

“Oh, we never do,” Dylan said. Abi rolled her eyes at his obvious lie, then quickly ran across the lot to a group of girls.

“Alright, who’s buying the first round?” Dylan asked, as we started walking toward the door.

“Not I!” We all spoke at the same time, laughing hysterically.

“Wyatt was dragging there,” I said, punching him in the arm.

“Alright, alright. I got first round then. Oldest to youngest, so Connor you’re buying round number two,” he said.

“Fine then,” I said, suddenly getting energized as we headed to the door. Maybe this night would be fun even if it was the same old routine. This visiting band had everyone really excited, and you could feel it in the energy of the crowd.

We stood in the line at the door. It was moving—slowly—but it was moving. Three guys pushed out of the door from inside, already drunk. I knew who they were. One stumbled into Dylan.

“Whoa there.” Dylan grinned.

“What the hell, Dawson! Watch where you’re going!” Willie said.

“I was just standing here, Willie,” Dylan said, amused.

“Oh, that’s it, huh. It’s never your fault. All you Dawson brothers think you’re untouchable,” Willie said, getting in Dylan’s face.

“What’d you say about my family?” Dylan’s playful grin fell from his face.

“No, Dylan,” I said, putting my hand on his chest and holding him back while Wyatt and Tanner stepped in front of him.

“Now Willie, you’re just drunk, go walk it off. Garrett, Pete—get him on out of here, come on,” Wyatt said, speaking to Willie’s friends.

“Come on Willie, you are drunk,” Garrett said, pushing Willie toward Pete and the parking lot. Together, they walked off out of sight.

“Dylan, you can’t go starting shit with every drunk that bumps into you. Geez,” Tanner said.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I just got heated for a second. I’m good, I’m good,” Dylan said, shaking it off. But I couldn’t blame him. Dylan was twenty-three, and I was a hot head when I was his age. With age came a cooler head, it seemed.

Finally, we stepped to the bar.

“Four Lonestar’s, Bob!” Wyatt shouted at the bartender. Four longneck bottles of beer were placed in front of us. They were nice and cold, perfect for starting the night. We turned our backs to the bar, leaning against it.

In front of us was a wide aisle, where people were walking back and forth. Beyond that were two rows of picnic style tables, and still further was the oval shaped dance floor, currently full of couples doing the two-step. The stage was at the back of the dance floor where the band was playing. I got my foot tappin’ and I was feeling good and excited.

“Connor thinks these cowgirls aren’t worth his time anymore, ‘cause there’s no one new in town,” Dylan said to Wyatt.

“Well, he might be right. Most of these girls already hate us,” Wyatt said with a grin. He tipped his black felt cowboy hat at a woman walking by who immediately narrowed her eyes at him. We all laughed.

“That girl right there. I ain’t ever seen her before!” Dylan said, enthusiastically. “Oh wait, I was with her six months ago. She changed her hair color. Margaret—no, Margo. Shit, I can’t remember.”

I laughed. “What did I tell you? This town is just too damn small.”

Scanning the hall, I was looking for a woman of my taste. Then I saw her.

Across the hall, sitting on top of the table with her feet on the bench was a woman I’d never seen before. Her long blonde hair was platinum, like Marilyn Monroe. It was tucked under a white straw hat. Her blue denim mini-skirt showed her long legs tucked into white cowgirl boots. I could even see those stunning dark green eyes all the way from where I stood. As if she sensed I was looking at her, she turned and locked eyes with me. A smile came across those perfect pink lips showing me her pearly whites. Usually I would raise my beer with a nod, and my best dashing grin, but this woman had me so stunned, I just stood there frozen.

“Who the hell is that?” I asked in shock.

“Who? Where? Where?” Dylan scanned the crowd.

“To the right, sitting on top of the table in the white hat and white boots,” I said.

“Ooh nice. She’s a looker. I ain’t ever seen her before,” Wyatt said.

“Nope, I’ve never seen her in town,” Tanner added.

“Good. A new one, I’m going in,” Dylan said, taking a step. I grabbed his shirt.

“Oh, no you don’t. I saw her first,” I said, pushing him back against the bar.

“Oh come on, you couldn’t close that anyway,” Dylan said.

“You don’t close a woman like that. You romance her,” I said.

“Oh! Romance her!” Wyatt laughed, while they all started to make fun and tease me. I rolled my eyes at them.

“You couldn’t romance a woman like that.” Dylan said, with a twinkle in his eye.

“I bet I can. I bet I can get her to dance with me,” I said.

“Hmm, I’ll take that bet,” Wyatt said.

“Yeah, money on the table. Twenty bucks says you can’t get her to dance with you,” Dylan said.

“I’ll take some of that action,” Tanner replied.

“I’ll throw down another fifty if you kiss her before the end of the night,” Wyatt said.

“A bet? You guys are really going to do this to me, aren’t you?” I asked them.

“Sure are. It’s done,” they all chimed in.

I sighed and looked at the woman. She was now talking to her friends and not looking at me. As I looked around her I noticed just how many other cowboys were staring at her. Shit, I better get moving.

“Alright. I’ll take the bet. It’s on.” Slamming back my beer, I stood straighter and took a deep breath.

“Woo-wee! Now we got something,” Dylan said.

Tanner started massaging my shoulders like I was a boxer he was sending into the ring. “Now, just be honest with her. Women like honesty.”

“Compliment her but don’t let it be fake,” Wyatt said.

“And whatever you do, don’t say nothing about her boobs,” Dylan said. “I learned that one last week. She does have a nice rack though.”

I gave him a look and already didn’t like hearing anyone talk about her like that. I took a deep breath. “Here goes. I’m doing it.”

Slamming my beer onto the bar, I headed in her direction. My brothers slapped me on the back, shouting such embarrassing encouragement I was glad the music was so loud and that she was at the other end of the hall.

She turned and locked eyes with me, seeing that I was headed toward her. Then I felt arms wrap around my waist.

“Connor Dawson!”

I looked down at the petite Maria Sanchez, a girl I dated off and on in high school.

“Maria. Hi, uh—” I said, grabbing at her arms trying to get her off me.

“Where you been, Connor? I haven’t seen you in a while,” she asked. Her arms were like iron grips around me. I looked at the blonde who raised her brows at me, acknowledging what was happening.

“Well—I’ve been working on the ranch and—”

“You owe me a dance, and you should really buy me a beer so we can catch up on old times.”

“Yeah, that sounds—”

“Remember old times, Connor? Remember what we used to do in the back of your truck?”

“I—uh—” I looked back at my brothers. They were laughing their asses off and obviously weren’t coming to help me. I took a deep breath.

“Maria. I have a girlfriend now and you are kind of making me look bad.”

“A girlfriend? Shucks.” She pouted. “Let me know when it doesn’t work out. You’re never with a girl for more than a few months, Connor Dawson.” Laughing, she walked away.

Finally free, I straightened my snap button western shirt and continued my walk toward the gorgeous blonde, though with significantly less confidence than I’d started with. She was now at the table alone, absent the girlfriend that had been at her side. She had her arms crossed across her chest now, as though unamused that I had to push girls off of me on the way.

Finally, I stood in front of her.

“Howdy ma’am. Would you like to dance?”

She looked at me, her eyes studying me up and down, analyzing me.

“I don’t know. Are you a real cowboy?” she asked.

2

Lydia Myers

“Oh come on, it will be fun!” Whitney said, as she poured two glasses of red wine for us.

“No thank you,” I said, as she crossed my kitchen, handing me a glass.

“You’re no fun,” she replied.

“Just because I don’t want to go to a honky-tonk in some small town? No, thank you, I’ve had my fill of country life,” I said, taking a drink. “There’s a reason I moved to the city.”

“It’s only a thirty minute drive. It’s where I grew up and it’s charming. It’s called Safety,” she said.

“You grew up in a town called Safety?” I laughed.

“Just give it a chance. I haven’t been to the dance hall in years, but it used to be fun. There are tons of cowboys. Real men, not like these city men—metrosexuals and all,” she said.

I giggled at her comment. She wasn’t wrong. The men in the city tended to be a little on the soft side. But I didn’t think it was necessary to travel out of the city to flirt with men.

“Let’s just go to the Neon like we always do,” I said.

“The Neon? I’m so sick of that bar. We go there all the time. We need something new. Come on, we usually have to work on the weekends. Let’s make the most of not having a client to deal with this week.”

I sighed. “What would I wear? I have nothing to wear to a honky-tonk.”

“Yes! Come on, we’re going to my place. I have plenty of stuff,” she said, swallowing the rest of her wine and pulling me from my comfortable couch.

Two hours later I was sitting on top of a sticky table drinking beer from a bottle. We had already danced a few times with some random guys. It was fun and I had to admit that Whitney was right about there being plenty of cowboys. Some of them were very cute and looked masculine and tough. It was a nice change of scenery, but I only considered myself a tourist.

“So how can you tell?”

“Tell what?” Whitney asked, sitting next to me.

“Which ones are real cowboys? I mean it takes more than a pair of Wranglers and a cowboy hat doesn’t it? Which ones actually ride horses and work hard on a ranch?” I asked, looking around.

“Well, when I lived here I just knew, because everybody knows everybody in a place like this. Back then I knew who all the ranchers were and all, but now I don’t know. Most of these people are not too familiar to me. It’s been a long time. I guess you could just ask them.”

I laughed. “That’s one way to find out.”

“This beer is going right through me. I need to go to the ladies room and I bet there’s a super long line. Coming?” she asked.

“No, I think I’ll just wait here,” I said. “I’m not one for standing in lines if I don’t have to.”

“Alright, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she said, hopping off the tabletop. I felt exposed wearing her clothes. She had put me in a denim mini-skirt, white boots, and a white hat. I wore a green tank top tucked into the skirt that was so tight it felt like a second skin. Truthfully, it felt a little daring to be dressed like this. I felt a bit like someone else and it was fun, and a little dangerous. I usually wore pencil skirts and blazers at work.

I let my eyes roam around the hall, checking out all the cowboys. Then I saw him. He was staring right at me from across the bar. A tall cowboy in a brown straw hat that looked like it had been beaten up some. Underneath the hat, shaggy brown hair stuck out wildly from the sides. His light green eyes were looking directly at me and I couldn’t help but notice his muscular forearms. One had a couple tattoos on it. He just stood there, staring at me. I smiled, but he didn’t smile back. Around him were guys about his age that looked much like he did, and I wondered if they were related. They must be, I thought.

Then, he started to move in my direction until finally he was standing right in front of me.

“Howdy ma’am. Would you like to dance?” he asked, in his very cute Texas drawl.

I looked him up and down. He was even taller now that he was in front of me, at least 6’2 or 6’3, but was he a cowboy?

“I don’t know. Are you a real cowboy?” I asked.

“Pardon me ma’am?” he asked, sounding confused.

“Are you a real cowboy?”

“Yes’m. I suppose I am,” he said, still unsure.

I laughed. Even if he weren’t a real cowboy, he was cute and a dance wouldn’t hurt.

“Yes, I’ll dance with you, cowboy.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, politely.

I laughed. I’d never been called ma’am before, but it was endearing. He held out his large hand. The moment I placed mine in his, I immediately felt callouses. So yes, he was definitely a cowboy. He helped me down off the table, putting his other hand on my waist. I immediately felt the warm rush of heat move through my body. This cowboy had me feeling a bit flustered already, he was just so damn sexy.

He grinned as he led me out onto the dance floor. That sideways grin was very devious, yet charming. I was intrigued.

Then, with one of his hands on my waist and the other holding my hand, we started to dance. It was a two-step and he was very skilled. He never took those light green eyes off of mine.

“You’re not from around here,” he said.

“No. Not really,” I said.

“No. I definitely would have noticed you before,” he said, flirtatiously.

“Oh, that’s smooth. Is that a line you use on all the girls, cowboy?”

He laughed. “No, I’m being honest with you.”

“Sure you are,” I said.

He sighed. “You—you’re something else.”

I felt his strong hand move on my waist. The grin fell from his face as he locked eyes with me. I felt hot and flushed all over. Suddenly it felt like we were the only two people on the dance floor. He was pulling me in, holding me in his strong arms. Without realizing it my lips parted slightly. His eyes darted to them. Without warning, he kissed me—hard. For a moment, I forgot he was stranger, but just for a moment.

I pushed him away.

Slap! My hand smacked his cheek.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I didn’t give him time to answer. Stomping off the dance floor, I made my way through the crowd. What the hell was that all about? It was one thing to look at me the way he was, but to think he could just kiss me? It was downright rude and he was a pig!

Turning every which way, I finally saw the sign for the ladies room. My lips were still burning from that heated kiss and my waist still felt like his hand was on it. I liked him, but why did he have to go and be such a pig?

“Whitney! There you are,” I said, as she came out of the ladies room.

“Sorry, look at that line!” she said.

“Ugh. You won’t believe what just happened. These men might be real cowboys but they are not gentlemen.”

“Why? What happened?”

“I’m starving. Can we go get something to eat and I’ll tell you all about it,” I said.

“Sure. There’s a late night diner nearby where we can stop,” she said. Whitney grabbed my hand and led me through the massive dance hall. As we were walking, I looked around for the cowboy kissing bandit so I could point him out to Whitney. A part of me hoped that maybe she knew his name, but I didn’t see him at all. I didn’t even see the group of guys he had been standing with.

In the parking lot we got into Whitney’s car and slowly began to pull out. There were people lingering about and chatting all over the place.

“Fight! Fight!” We heard the chant and saw people running off to the side.

“Oh Lord, it looks like there’s a fight somewhere,” Whitney sighed as she slowly drove out of the lot.

“A drunken bar brawl, how cliché,” I said. I looked in the direction of the group that had gathered as Whitney drove us out of the lot. In the dim light I thought I saw the cowboy that I danced with. It was just a moment and I wasn’t sure, but he looked to be the one fighting.

I sighed and shook my head. “Heathens. These cowboys are brash, all of them. At least city guys have manners.”

A few minutes later we were pulling into a diner. The neon sign looked like it had been there since the 1950s, and I even saw a soda bar when we walked inside.

“Two?” the waitress asked.

“Yes please,” Whitney said.

We slid into a booth at the back of the diner as the waitress handed us two menus and walked away.

“Wow, this is a flashback diner for sure,” I said, looking around.

“Yeah, it hasn’t changed one bit. I used to come here and get milkshakes and fries with my sister every Sunday,” Whitney said. “Now, tell me what happened—

“Can I get you started on drinks?” the waitress asked, interrupting.

“Can I get a black coffee and glass of water,” Whitney said.

“I’ll have the same,” I added. She nodded and walked away from the table.

“We’re gonna need that coffee for the ride back and all,” Whitney said, “Now, what went on—”

“This cowboy asked me to dance and I agreed. Once we were out there, it was fun, but then he kissed me out of nowhere!” I said.

“What?! Why?” Whitney said.

“I don’t know. Because he’s a pig, I guess. He kissed me right on the mouth and my mouth was already open a bit. It was too familiar! It wasn’t a kiss on the cheek or anything, it was square on the mouth!”

Her eyes were wide. “That is pretty brash. What did you do?”

“I slapped his face and walked off, of course.”

She burst out laughing. “You didn’t?!”

“Yes, I did.”

“I wished I could have seen that. Damn my bladder for making me miss it. Was he ugly?”

“Well, no. Hardly. But that’s not the point.”

“What did he look like?” she asked.

“Two black coffees and two waters. Take your order?” The waitress placed the drinks on the table.

“Yeah, I’ll have a cheeseburger and an order of cheesy fries,” Whitney said.

“I’ll have the chicken strip basket with fries and gravy,” I said, ordering the Texas staple.

“Alright,” she said, grabbing the menus and leaving us once more.

“So, what did he look like?”

“He was tall, like really tall, and handsome. Typical cowboy look, tattoos on one arm, light green eyes. His smile was that crooked side grin. Sort of mischievous and dashing. Oh, and he kept calling me ma’am, which I thought was funny and—”

“Oh my god, you are smitten!” Whitney said.

“What? No I’m not!”

“Yes, you are! You are describing him like you’re reading some sort of romantic poetry.”

“Am not!”

“Are too! What’s his name?”

“I don’t even know. We didn’t exchange names. He kissed me, but he hadn’t even asked for my name! He’s a pig!” I said.

“That’s it, we need to go back and find him,” she said, excitedly.

“No, we are not. He’s not for me. He’s brash, too young for me, and not my type—not anymore,” I said.

“What is that supposed to mean? And too young? You are twenty-seven!”

“I know, but I’m looking to date a man that already has his shit together, someone in their forties at least. Not some young’un that’s always bar fightin’ and still figuring things out. That is why I date men in the city,” I said.

“Date? You don’t date. You wait.”

“Well, I’m waiting for someone I like to come along.”

“Here we are, ladies. Cheeseburger and cheesy fries, and the chicken strip basket,” the waitress said as she put the food in front of us. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thank you. Gosh Whitney, this looks really good and smells even better. I’m glad we came here,” I said.

“So am I, and I don’t mean the diner. I mean to Safety. I think a little excitement was in order, and getting kissed by a hot cowboy may have been just what you needed,” Whitney said.

I rolled my eyes at her and dug into my food. But deep down inside I knew she was right. I did enjoy that kiss. I was still thinking about it. Dang it.

3

Connor Dawson

I couldn’t get that kiss out of my mind. Who was that woman? I didn’t know what came over me in that moment, but I couldn’t help myself. It was my rogue nature taking over that made me steal that kiss. I regretted it afterward, of course. She slapped me, rightly so, and then moved off the dance floor. The good news was that I won some money from the bet with my brothers for getting her to dance, but I didn’t win Wyatt’s bet for a kiss. Stealing a kiss didn’t count.

Now I went downstairs to get started on the day, but noticed the familiar smell of breakfast cooking was not hitting me as I descended the stairs.

“I don’t smell breakfast. What gives?” I asked, as I walked into the kitchen. Abi was sitting at the table with my father. Both were drinking a cup of coffee and talking about something or other.

“Well, you’re the first one up besides your sister, so get to cookin,” my father said.

“I am?” I looked at the clock, realizing I was a good thirty minutes earlier than my usual time. Damn, I couldn’t sleep, so after tossing and turning all night, I finally just got up.

“Yep you are. Now help me get started,” Abi said, getting up from the table. “Wash and peel some potatoes and I’ll put the biscuits in the oven. Father isn’t listening to me anyway.”

“I’m listening, Abi. I’m just not agreeing with you,” my father said.

“Agreeing with what? What do you want now?” I teased her.

“Oh, hush up. It’s not just for me, it’s for all of us,” Abi said.

“This house was built by your great grandfather and all the things in it have lasted since then,” he said.

“Exactly, it’s all the same, nothing has changed. We need a bit of a makeover,” Abi said.

“These things mean something to this ranch,” my father said.

“I’m not going to throw away anything important, or an heirloom. I’m just talking about some fresh paint. Some new couches maybe, and look at this kitchen, we need a new dishwasher and refrigerator. The washer and dryer in the laundry are just about done. They can only handle so much ranch dirt and grime from all of our clothes,” she said, as she mixed the biscuit batter vigorously.

“A coat of paint? Your brothers can do that,” he said, unfolding his newspaper and bringing it up to his eye line, letting us know he was done talking and just wanted to relax with his paper.

“Your brothers can do what?” Wyatt asked, coming into the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee.

“Paint,” I said.

“Paint what?” Dylan asked, coming into the kitchen.

“The walls,” I said.

“What? That sounds like a project. We’ve already got enough to do around here,” Wyatt said, as he washed his hands to help with breakfast.

“Exactly. That’s why I’m trying to get Father to agree to let me hire a professional to make some updates around the house, like an interior designer,” Abi said.

“Works for me, as long as someone else is doing the work. We’ve all got too much to do already,” Wyatt said.

“I don’t see the point, the place is fine,” our father said.

“I’m with you, Father. Don’t need no one changing things around here,” Dylan said, as he sat down at the table. Bam! He fell to the ground. We all burst out laughing.

“Dang it! What the hell?” Dylan said, getting up.

“That chair has a bad leg. See Father, I told you,” Abi said, making the point despite her laughter.

Our father just groaned and continued reading.

“Now don’t go using the excuse that you’re hurting from that fall to get out of work today, because rest assured, you’re helping me with the cows later,” I said. Pointing the potato peeler at Dylan all the while.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ve been reminding me since Friday,” Dylan said.

Twenty minutes later we were sitting down to potatoes, scrambled eggs with onion and bell peppers, plus biscuits and gravy. Abi was still making her pitch about redoing the house. I was getting my fill of breakfast, preparing for a hard day of work.

“I’m just saying a few things here and there,” Abi said.

“Granddaddy’s clock?” Dylan asked, with a mouthful.

“No. Of course not. Granddaddy’s clock would stay. All the heirlooms would stay. I would be real careful. Just that old couch and lighter paint throughout, some new curtains, things like that,” Abi said.

“She does have a point. Those curtains have been there since the seventies,” Wyatt said.

“Yes, and just think, it could be country modern, still country, but new and fresh,” Abi said, getting excited.

“I actually think that would be a good idea. We do need a few new chairs since these can’t even hold Dylan,” I said, enjoying the opportunity to tease him.

“Nothing can hold me,” Dylan proudly bragged.

I rolled my eyes at him.

“See, Connor knows what I’m talking about,” Abi said.

Our father groaned again. “You’re not touching my office, or the library.”

“Father?”

“Or the bedrooms,” he continued.

“Does that mean—” Abi said.

“All the family heirlooms still need to be on display in that living room and hall like they are, but you can do paint, curtains, couches and new stuff for the kitchen and laundry.”

“Yes!” Abi said.

“And Connor is going to help you with this project,” he continued.

Dylan and Wyatt laughed.

“What? Why me?” I said, shocked.

“Because you agreed with Abi, and you are generally good with budgets. You do well with the feed stock for the animals and all. But Abi here is not so good with budgets, at least when it comes to shopping,” he said.

“Dang it,” I muttered.

“Thank you, Father!” Abi jumped up and gave him a hug.

Dylan and Wyatt were mocking me with their eyes and ridiculous grins. I sighed. How the hell was I going to do something like this? Feed stock was one thing, but this I knew nothing about.

After breakfast we all dispersed around the ranch to go do our various chores. I was in charge of the animals for the most part, along with other responsibilities. Everyone else had assignments as well. I walked out to the stables where Abi was grooming the horses. She took on most of the horse related chores.

“Thanks a lot,” I said, grabbing a saddle off the wall.

“What?” she said.

“You just put me on the house decorating committee, something I’m not at all interested in,” I said, putting the saddle on top of Thunder, the stallion, and buckling it on.

“That doesn’t surprise me. You never want to do anything with me,” she muttered.

“What? That is not true. Where are you getting that from?” I asked.

“From my experience, where do you think? You know the only thing we do together is chores around the house. Make breakfast, ranch duties—that’s it,” she said, sounding angry.

“What, you want me to go get your hair done with you?” I teased her.

“Oh, hush up. You don’t have to turn into a girl to spend time with your sister.”

“Well, you may have to turn into a boy to spend time with me. I’m down to play flag football anytime,” I said, hoping to earn a smile at least.

“Be serious,” she said, putting the saddle on Sunshine.

“I’m doing this damn thing aren’t I? The whole house thing.”

“Only because Father is making you,” she said.

“Yes, that’s true, but he’s not making me race you to the back forty,” I grinned at her.

“You’re on,” she said.

We finished saddling the horses and pulled them out of the stables. I mounted Thunder, already feeling like he was ready to bolt like lightning. He had some pent up energy to get rid of and I was feeling the same way. Ever since I held that platinum blond in my arms and she slapped me across the face, I’d had a fire burning inside of me. It was consuming me, and I couldn’t shake her from my mind.

“No cheating,” Abi said, as she mounted Sunshine.

“I don’t need to cheat. I’m just good,” I said.

“We’ll see about that,” she said. “Hee-yah!”

She pushed Sunshine into a run. I did the same with Thunder. We bolted across the ranch and into the pastures heading for the back forty acres of cornfields. This felt good. I had not done this in a while and it was definitely what I needed. I pushed my straw hat down further onto my head to keep it from flying off. Suddenly Thunder pushed harder and got ahead of Sunshine.

“Yeah! Woohoo!” I shouted, as we got to the first row of the back forty. I pulled on the reins, slowing the big horse down. Abi was right on my heels on Sunshine.

“That was a good run!” she shouted.

“Yeah it was, and I declare myself the official winner,” I said, grinning.

“Yes, you did. You won, fair and square,” she said, rolling her eyes.

We walked the horses back along the pastures, slowly cooling them out. They’d had a good run.

“I think Father wants you,” Abi said. I followed her gaze, and saw Father in the back of a pickup truck, waving.

“How do you know he doesn’t want you, or both of us,” I said.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Let’s go.”

We trotted the horses to the back of the truck. It was parked out on the pasture, near a few bales of hay.

“Abi, why don’t you take Sunshine back to the barn. I need to talk to your brother,” he said.

“Alright Father,” she said. She gave me a smug look, then a cheeky grin—once she was out of Father’s sight.

“Yes sir?” I asked, once Abi was out of earshot.

“I need you to take Dylan under your wing. He’s been better with his responsibilities, but I want him to learn more of the books, not just the physical work of the ranch.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, show him the books for the animal stock trading, the shows, the budget for the feeds—all of it. I want him to know how to do it, start to finish, so maybe in the future he can take some of the load off of you. He’s not a baby anymore and it’s time he learns more about the ranch. He needs to know the books,” he said.

I was already feeling overwhelmed before he told me this. Dylan was not exactly the book type. He was still young and rambunctious, so the thought of trying to get him to sit down for more than an hour when there wasn’t food or beer involved was not something I was looking forward to.

“Alright, Father. I can do that,” I said.

“Good. I’m counting on you, Connor. I’ll show him again in a few months, but I want you to get started on this project with him first. I’m finishing up some cattle transports to Dallas and once that’s done I’ll be able to give Dylan my full attention.”

“Yes sir,” I said.

“That’s all,” he said.

I turned Thunder toward the stables.

“Oh, and Connor—”

“Yes sir?”

“Don’t be hard on your sister with this redecorating business. Just keep her in line with the budget,” he said.

“Yes sir,” I nodded. Then I flipped the reins, letting Thunder move into a trot again. I had a heavy weight on my shoulders, heavier than when I’d started my ride earlier this morning. Not only did I need to help keep Abi within budget with her remodeling project, now I was going to be taking Dylan under my wing, as well. How much could I take on?

4

Lydia Myers

I woke up in a heated state. “Oh my Lord,” I said, opening my eyes. I realized that I’d had a wet dream. It was very vivid and life-like. I was actually sweaty from it, and the moisture between my thighs let me know that I had responded. I was dreaming about the cowboy from the dance hall. Though it had been a long time since I had been with a man.

“Damn it,” I said out loud, annoyed with myself. I kicked my feet over and rolled off the bed. The cold water I splashed on my face in the bathroom helped. Why was I still thinking about him? He was nothing special. I looked at myself in the mirror, “Stop thinking about that brash cowboy, Lydia.”

Two hours later, after breakfast and another pep talk to myself, I was on my way to work at Patton Designs, an interior design company. The company was owned by my boss, Janet Patton. I hoped I’d have a company of my own one day, but that was far into the future.

Pulling into the coffee shop drive-thru, I picked up two cappuccinos before heading in.

“Is that for me?” Whitney asked, as I walked in holding out one of the cups to her.

“Yes.”

“Thank you so much. How was your Sunday day off?” she asked, as I fired up my laptop and started looking through my schedule. Whitney, Janet, and I often brought our laptops out in the lobby reception area and did light duties like checking email or looking through the stock. That was the great thing about laptops, you could take them throughout the office, or even take your work home with you.

“It was good, fairly uneventful,” I said.

“Let me guess, junk food, wine, and a movie.”

I looked up from my laptop at her. She was giving me a look.

“What? Is that bad for a Sunday?”

“Not unless it’s every single Sunday for months. You need to start dating, Lydia. You should be going on Sunday picnics and having movie nights in the arms of a hot man.”

“Spare me the lecture. I haven’t even finished my coffee yet,” I said.

“Well, drink up because the day is already starting,” she whispered. Just then, the front door opened.

“Mr. Walters, good morning,” I said.

In walked a short, skinny man of about forty. He was balding, wore glasses, and his suit wasn’t exactly a good fit. I also noticed that he had some feminine qualities to his demeanor.

“Lydia. Good to see you. I thought I would stop in on my way to work and take care of that last payment,” he said.

“Absolutely, let me pull up your billing file,” I said, moving to my laptop.

Whitney cleared her throat and walked across the room to put away some paint samples, but she was still within earshot. I knew she was doing that on purpose.

“I really love what you did with my office. I can’t thank you enough. It is much lighter and I find I am more productive because of it,” Mr. Walters said.

“Thank you. I’m always glad to hear from a happy customer,” I said. Sliding a sheet of paper in from of him, I pointed to the bottom, “Here is your balance.” He looked it over and took out his checkbook. As he was writing the check he glanced over at Whitney, then back at me.

“I also wanted to ask if you would like to have dinner with me some time,” he said quietly.

I felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. Getting asked out by a man I was not interested in was never fun to deal with.

“That is kind of you, but actually, I have a serious boyfriend,” I lied. Whitney loudly cleared her throat.

“Oh, of course you do. Here you are,” he said, handing me the check. Then he put his card on top of it. “Here is my card in case you break up,” he smiled.

“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, taking the card.

“Well, have a good day ladies,” he said, and walked out.

Whitney came over to me with a big smile on her face.

“Shut it,” I said.

“What? Why did you turn him down? He seemed nice and successful. And older, just like you wanted,” she said.

“All that may be true, but he’s also not my type. He has small hands and he’s very feminine. I don’t like that,” I said.

“Yes, I know. You like a hard man, a real cowboy, just like the one from the dance hall.”

My face turned red.

“Yep, you’re blushing,” she said.

“I am not!”

“Good morning. Meeting in ten,” Janet said, walking in from the back. Whitney and I both grew quiet after affirming the meeting with our boss.

The day went by slowly. Not just because we didn’t have a client that week, but because I couldn’t stop thinking about that mysterious cowboy. It was harder to stay distracted from it because there wasn’t a lot of immediate work keeping the pressure on.

Finally, it was lunchtime.

“Where do you want to go? I’m really hungry,” Whitney asked, as we grabbed our purses from the back room.

“I’m thinking we walk to the pizza joint,” I said.

“Perfect. Pizza by the slice—I’ll just need three slices,” she said.

I laughed and we headed out to the sidewalk in front of our building. It was a nice sunny Texas day and I did enjoy the pedestrian friendly area that we worked in. It was one of the perks of living in the city.

“I think I’m going to go get my nails done this week, wanna come with?” Whitney asked, walking at my side.

“Sure, that sounds like fun. Count me in.”

“Yum, I can already smell that pizza. How lucky are we that we are only two blocks away from it?” she asked.

“Yeah, but my thighs don’t think so,” I said.

“Pizza is worth the calories,” she replied with a laugh.

We walked into the small sidewalk pizza joint where a small line had formed already. The place had a few tables inside and out, but it wasn’t a full on restaurant, it was more of an indoor pizza stand.

“Three slices of basil and tomato, please,” Whitney requested. “And an iced tea.”

“I’ll have two cheese slices and an iced tea,” I said.

Moments later we stood outside around a table that was counter height, with no chairs, eating our greasy meal.

“You know, I still think you should go on a date with Mr. Walters.”

“What? Where is that coming from?” I said, shocked that she was bringing it up again.

“Well, I think it would be good for you. Just go on a date and get out there in the dating world a little bit.”

“No, not with him. He is definitely not my type,” I said, taking a bite.

“I know, but he’s safe at least,” she said, giving me a look.

I put my pizza down and sighed. “You’re not going to bring that up again, are you?”

“I have to. You know that’s why you’re not dating. It’s been a year, Lydia. Not all men are like Tom.”

“You’re making me lose my appetite now,” I said, getting annoyed that she would even say my ex-boyfriend’s name. After everything I had been through with him, I just wanted to forget that he ever existed.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to ruin your lunch. I’m just saying that Mr. Walters, or a guy like him, is safe. Just to help you get back out there and get your feet wet. Someone like that isn’t going to be like Tom, and that’s what you need in order to start dating again.”

I sighed. “I really don’t want to hear it, Whitney.”

“Sorry, but you have to. But now that I’ve said what I needed to say, I’ll stop. Just think about it at least,” she said.

“I’ll think about dating again, but not with Mr. Walters,” I said.

“Good enough for me.”

“Can I eat now?”

“Yes, you may. And slow down, I still have two more slices to get through,” she laughed.

Shaking my head, I wanted to point out that she was behind because she wouldn’t shut up. But, I knew she’d done it from a good place and that she was right. I knew that the reason I hadn’t dated was because of my experience with Tom, but I didn’t want to think about it. I got away from that relationship just in time, but it still haunted me. Deep down I was afraid that I would get close to a man again, only for him to show me his true colors months later. With Tom, those colors were black and blue.

When we got back to the office, I tore up the business card Mr. Walters had left and threw it in the trash. I wasn’t going to go on a date with a man I found repulsive just to get over my past. I was stronger than that.

5

Connor Dawson

“My head is pounding like I have a sledgehammer in there,” Dylan said, coming out to the pens.

“Well yeah, that’s what happens when you stay out late and drink yourself stupid,” I said, looking at him as I nudged a goat from one pen into another.

“I wasn’t that drunk,” he said, putting his hand on his head.

“I found you on the porch in the middle of the night, Dylan. I had to walk you up to your bed.”

“What? Really?” He laughed.

“It ain’t funny, man. You’re really lucky that Father didn’t find you there this morning. Lucky for you I was up.”

“Well, thank you. What were you doing up in the middle of the night, anyway?” he asked.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I said, walking from the goat pens to the sheep.

“Again? I hear you pacing around your room all the time lately. Why is that? Usually you sleep like a log.”

“Yeah, I probably just need to start jogging again and get myself all tired before bed.”

“Sure that’s all it is?” He arched a brow.

“Yes, now help me with this. Keep this gate open while I push the flock through,” I said.

“Alright, alright,” Dylan said, doing what I asked. I stepped into the pen with the flock of sheep and started clapping my hands. “Whoop! Get along now! Whoop!”

They ran toward the gate from one pen into another. Once the last sheep was through, Dylan closed and locked the gate.

“You know, I was your age once and I was always raising hell, too. I get it. But keep it to the weekends, will ya? Not on a Tuesday night like last night. Father really wants you to start understanding the books and it’s a waste for me to teach you while you’re hung over. You won’t retain anything.”

“Yeah, I know. Father won’t put up with me getting shit-faced on a weeknight,” Dylan said with a sigh.

“Or brawling at the dance hall,” I added.

“Hey, Willie asked for it that night. He just kept at it, going on and on,” Dylan said.

“But you didn’t have to punch him,” I said.

“He punched me first!”

“Yeah, I know. I was there, remember?”

“And you joined in, so don’t be lecturing me about fighting.”

“It needs to stop. We already have a reputation in town.”

“You think Father knows about that little brawl the other night?”

“No, I don’t think so. The Sheriff hasn’t showed up either, so let’s hope it stays that way. I think Willie was too drunk to remember anything anyway.”

“That’s a relief.”

“No. It’s lucky, and we can’t try our luck no more. Now, I’m sorry that you are the youngest and all because your older brothers really messed it up for you. Wyatt, Tanner, and I were always getting into fights, so now people expect it from us and won’t put up with it. You’ve inherited that reputation by default. That’s why I’m telling you no more fights. Just cool it from now on. The days when people looked the other way thinking ‘boys will be boys’ are over. We’ve used up all our ‘get away with shit’ cards. Now, if you get into trouble, it’s gonna be for real,” I said, pointing a finger at him.

“Alright Father,” he said, with a sarcastic tone.

“Shit, just be glad it’s me, Dylan. Father would be much harder on you if he knew what you’d been up to,” I said.

“What’s he been up to?” Abi asked, coming over.

“The usual—being an idiot,” I said.

“Of course,” she said. “What’s new? You almost done out here?” she asked me.

“Nope, not even close.”

“We haven’t even sat down and talked about redoing the house yet. How can I get started if I don’t know the budget?”

I sighed. “Alright, I’ll get to it this week.”

“We’ll need to go into the city. There ain’t no interior designers in Safety, Texas.”

“The city! What? We ain’t gotta do that. You know how much time that’s gonna take, Abi? I got a lot to do around here.”

“It’s barely over half an hour, so it’s not that far. And it’s our only choice anyway,” she said.

“That’s three hours out of a workday. Do you see any spare time in my day, given my responsibilities around here? I can’t afford that.”

Abi huffed and gave a groan, stomping off.

“You don’t have to be so hard on her,” Dylan said.

“I’m not trying to. I’m just being honest.”

“Well, I have a hunch this may have more to do with her wanting to spend more time with you. So it’s not just that she’s thinking about giving the house a makeover. It’s having a project that you two can do together. Remember, our little sister doesn’t have another sister. The rest of us are always fooling around, rough housing, or hanging out doing guy stuff together. She doesn’t have that. She just wants to be included,” Dylan said.

I looked at him completely confused and wondering where these wise words were coming from. This was not the insight of a twenty-three year old. But he made perfect sense, and it dawned on me that Dylan was right.

“Dang it,” I sighed. “You’re right. I’ll tell her to set up an appointment in the city and we’ll go, just the two of us.”

“Nice,” he smiled. “You gonna pick out some flowery curtains? Lace maybe?” he asked, unable to resist the temptation to needle me.

“Shut up or I’m going to add even more work to your list,” I replied, giving it back.

“No thanks,” he said.

“Well, finish up with these sheep. I gotta go find Abi.” Quickly, I walked away from the pens and headed into the stables. I needed to make this right with Abi.

Barging into the stables, I called out. “Abi?” There was no answer, which was strange since she was usually in there.

Heading back to the house, I was worried, thinking she must really be upset. I walked into the living room to find her sitting on the couch looking around the room.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Just looking around, trying to decide what to change and how to get it done since you’re not going to help me,” she said, crossing her arms.

“I’m sorry about what I said before. I wasn’t being fair. Go ahead and set up an appointment for us in the city with some fancy designer and I’ll drive us there.”

“Really?!” She jumped up.

“Really.”

“Yes!” She exclaimed and gave me a hug. It reminded me of when she was a little girl, always rewarding her brothers with hugs when we let her have extra ice cream.

I smiled. “Get to it.”

“I’m going to go look on my laptop and call around right now!”

“Okay. I’ll go work on a budget for us. I’ll be in the library.”

“Yes!” She whooped as she ran up the stairs to her room.

Just then our father came out of the hallway. He nodded to me and I realized he had been eavesdropping. He approved without a single word, then walked into his office and shut the door. It felt good to have his approval. A son always wanted to make his father proud.

6

Lydia Myers

“Gosh, it’s sure been a slow week, hasn’t it,” Whitney said, sitting in the chair next to me.

“It really has, and it sure makes the time drag by. I’d really rather be busy,” I said, with my hand out on the table. We were sitting side by side across from the nail technicians working on our nails.

We had been at work all day but there wasn’t much to do. Restocking and ordering items and samples was all there was to do. I spent most of the day looking through catalogs of new furniture designs. It was a fairly simple day, but long, so we decided to get our nails done after work.

“We don’t have any clients coming in for the rest of the week. I have one coming next week, but nothing until then,” Whitney said.

“What are you getting at?” I asked, looking over at her.

“I’m just thinking there’s a reason we don’t get a lot of clients at Patton Designs. There are just too many design companies here. There are at least five companies in our part of the city, and that doesn’t even count individual designers working from home.”

“Yeah, you have a point. I think I would do things differently if it were my shop.”

“Yeah, I have those thoughts sometimes myself.”

“What color were you thinking?” the technician asked.

“I think maybe a deep red this time,” I said.

“Alright,” she replied, pulling out a bottle of nail polish and holding it up. I nodded my approval. I usually didn’t get red, but I was feeling a little adventurous. Ever since I got all dressed up and wore Whitney’s cowgirl clothes I’d been feeling a little different. Adventurous might be the right word for it.

“So, what should we do tomorrow? There are no clients lined up, so we’ll probably be done with the day around three or so,” Whitney said.

“I don’t know.”

“We could go shopping. I need a few new dresses,” Whitney said.

“Yeah, we could do that, though I’d prefer to have some work,” I said.

“Of course you would. All work and no play all the time,” she teased me.

“Yeah, well that’s just who I am. I can’t change that.”

“You need to learn to live a little, Lydia. Life will just pass you by if you don’t.”

Ping. Ping. My phone went off, and I pulled one hand away from the nail technician.

“Don’t mess up my work,” she said.

“Don’t worry, it’s just email,” I said. Then touching the screen, I opened up the email. “It’s from Janet.”

“Of course it is. Emails from the boss even after work is kind of her thing,” Whitney said.

“I don’t mind so much. I kind of like working all the time. A busy mind is a good thing,” I said.

“Well, what does it say?”

“Oh yay! I have a meeting tomorrow for a possible new client. Finally,” I said.

“Any details?

“Just that her name is Abigail and she is looking to redo a country style home. Just basic stuff, refreshing her home that hasn’t been updated in years, while keeping it in the country style. That should be interesting.”

“Well, that will definitely be different than the city offices and apartments you’ve been doing,” she said.

“Yeah, I can’t wait. I look forward to the challenge of something new. Janet said she’s going to email me some photos of the house so I can get some ideas flowing.” I took my hand away from the phone and gave it back to the nail technician so she could finish.

After our nails were done we both made our way home. I lived in the same neighborhood as work by design. I liked being close, and it was convenient to go by the office for samples when I needed to, while Whitney lived in the downtown area. She liked to be where the action was and that fit her personality perfectly.

When I got home, I was excited to get right to work so I had a quick grilled chicken salad for dinner while I looked over the photos Janet had sent me. It was a good country house. A standard Victorian with a wraparound porch. Inside, it looked like it hadn’t been updated since the forties, but it looked like there were also a lot of important antiques. I was guessing the client would want to keep at least some of those and I would need to work around them. I pulled out sample fabrics for different curtains I thought would go well and let in a lot of light. I also pulled paint samples as I knew that the rooms would likely need new coats of paint.

I worked late into the night, later than usual, but I was afraid to go to sleep. Every time I went to bed I would dream about that damn cowboy from the dance hall, and I didn’t want to face that again. But I also knew I needed a good night’s sleep so I would be at my best for the meeting, though it wasn’t until four in the afternoon. So, I would just sleep in a bit and go in later, fully prepared for the meeting. I took a hot bath and relaxed, then I went to sleep.

7

Connor Dawson

“Connor, what are you still doing out here? Get your ass inside and take a shower. We need to leave in thirty minutes,” Abi said, coming over to my side as I pitched a forkful of hay into a stable stall. Sunshine was grateful for it and began to eat.

“Alright, alright. I’m going,” I said, putting the pitchfork on the wall.

“Why do I always gotta remind you boys to keep time? I feel like a darn alarm clock sometimes,” Abi muttered to herself, as she walked out of the stable. She was ready to go, wearing a nice dress that she normally wore to church. Her long black hair was in a braid and she wore a white headband.

Pulling off my sweaty t-shirt, I jogged toward the house. I ran inside and got to the bottom of the stairs, where I was met with much fanfare.

“Don’t forget to make yourself all nice and pretty for the interior designer,” Dylan said, as I walked in.

“Yes, she’s probably some old spinster that is going to want to spend a lot of time with you,” Wyatt added.

“Shut up,” I said, running up the stairs as I shook my head. I was usually the one dishing out the shit to them, and I didn’t like being the receiver of it. I was the one to make wisecracks and jokes, but I hadn’t been myself lately. Not since I met that cowgirl at the dancehall.

I jumped in the shower and quickly got washed and dried. I didn’t need to make a fuss over my looks. Throwing on some Wranglers, I grabbed a green snap button shirt and pulled on my boots.

“Connor, hurry up,” Abi shouted up from the bottom of the stairs. “You’re going to make us late.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” I shouted back down at her. Snatching up my white straw cowboy hat, I crammed it on my head and ran down the stairs to the living room.

“Alright, I’m ready!”

Dylan and Wyatt began clapping. “Well, he shore looks all pretty for his big city appointment, doesn’t he now?” Dylan said.

“Yeah, he does. We should squirt him with some of Abi’s perfume,” Wyatt added.

“All right, all right. I get it. This isn’t exactly a tough project, and I’m sure you boys won’t mind pitching in on the rest of my chores,” I said.

“Don’t listen to them. Let’s just get going. I don’t want you to have to drive like a maniac just to get us there. Plus, I don’t want to be all stressed out and mad at you,” Abi said.

“Fine, let’s get going” I said, grabbing the keys to my truck. Dylan and Wyatt began clapping and shouting after us, teasing me as long as they could. I rolled my eyes at them as we walked out onto the porch and down to my truck. Once we were in my truck I looked over at Abi, and saw that she had a big grin on her face. It touched me deep down because I really did like seeing her happy. Seeing her smile like that made taking the teasing worthwhile. I remembered Dylan saying that she just wanted to spend time with me and I was glad we were making this trip. Seeing her so happy at the prospect of spending time with me warmed my heart, plus she didn’t give me near as much shit as my brothers. I was suddenly looking forward to this trip.

“I am so excited about this. Do you think we can stop somewhere in the city and have an early dinner after the meeting? It’s been months since I’ve been in the city,” she said, very excited as I turned my truck around in the driveway and begin to drive out toward the cattle guard.

“Sure, I don’t see why not. I’m always hungry.”

“Great. I’ll pull up the directions to the interior design place,” she said, pulling out her phone.

“Thank you. That will help get us there on time.”

“I’m so glad we’re doing this, Connor. It will be a fun project,” she said.

“Yes, I think so. Just you and me, kid!” I said, smiling at her.

Soon we were on the main road going through town, and in no time had made our way to the interstate that would lead us into the city. It felt good to take to the road. I hadn’t done this in a long time, though I had been telling the guys we should start going out in the city, but they never listened. It was good to relax and put on some miles.

“Hey Connor, I’m worried about Dylan,” Abi said, just out of the blue.

“You are? Why?”

“He’s been very reckless lately. The fight y’all had at the dance hall, everyone’s talking about it. They all say that Dylan started it and that he’s just a hot head.”

“Well, I was there and I can tell you that’s not true. Dylan didn’t start it, Willie did. In fact, he started it before we even went into the dance hall, and Dylan kept his cool. After a few beers, it escalated, as it always does. But you don’t need to worry about him, he’s just going through a phase. We all did when we were that age, you just don’t remember cause you were younger and in high school dealing with high school stuff. You weren’t going to the dance hall with us, so you didn’t see the way the rest of us were.”

“No, but I was there when the sheriff would come to tell Father about your antics. But you’re right, maybe I shouldn’t be worried. There’s just something to his recklessness that seems a little bit dangerous sometimes. I’m glad he’s not the one doing this project with me, because I know I’d end up on my own. He would never stick to it,” she said.

“I don’t like hearing you talk about your brother like that. We’re supposed to be supportive of each other, even though we give each other crap all the time. But I’m glad you told me. Don’t worry about him, I’ll keep an eye on him and set him straight. I already had a talk with him.”

“You did? So you’re worried about him, too. You must be or you wouldn’t have had that talk with him,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess there is some truth to that,” I said.

I knew why she was worried, but I didn’t want to agree with her. I didn’t want her to have to worry about her brother getting in trouble. Not at her age. She already had a lot on her plate. Being the only sister, see had taken on a lot of traditional womanly responsibilities. I didn’t want her to feel like she had to be a mother hen for Dylan, or any of us. Not over something serious. I wanted her to know that I would take care of it and watch over him, so she didn’t have that weight on her shoulders.

We continued driving and Abi turned on some good country music. The Texas landscape rolled out in front of us. Grand fields and the blue sky coming down to touch the green and yellow pastures. I had been wrong to resist doing this project. It was nice to get away and get into the city, even if just for a few hours with Abi. It had been a long time since I’d been in the city as well. We didn‘t go into the city very often, except for business. We were all so busy, we’d forgotten about just going to the city for fun. One of the reasons that I had been urging my brothers to go to a bar in the city with me was to try something new, and hopefully to meet new women in the process.

As we drove, the country landscape began to give way to the city. First, just a few scattered buildings, then more and more, until we were in the city. Our exit came up and we were working our way toward the company. Before I knew it we were pulling into the parking lot of Patton Designs.

“Hello, my name is Abigail. We have an appointment today,” Abi said, after we had walked in the front door. The young woman standing there looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t place her. Still, I felt like I had seen her somewhere before.

“Yes, of course. Come in, Abigail, it’s really nice to meet you. My name is Whitney,” the woman said, looking first at Abigail, and then at me.

“My name is Connor. Abi and I are doing this redecorating project together at our family home,” I said.

“Very pleased to meet you, Connor,” she said with a smile. “You’ll be meeting with Lydia Myers, the designer assigned to your project. If you’ll have a seat here, I’ll head back and get her.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said.

“Thank you,” Abi said.

We both sat down and waited. I looked around the office, thinking it wasn’t so bad. This wasn’t exactly girly, and based on the photos on the wall, they did a lot of corporate work. The pictures revealed newly decorated office spaces, mostly masculine.

“Abigail, so nice to meet you. My name is Lydia Myers,” We heard the voice before we saw the woman coming from the back. Abigail and I both stood up, ready to shake her hand. But as the woman in the smart business suit and black stiletto heels came toward us, she stopped dead in her tracks. So did I. Her dark green eyes grew wide and her mouth parted.

“You?” She asked, looking at me.

I smiled, “Howdy ma’am,” I said.

Standing in front of me was the woman of my dreams, literally. Ever since she had slapped me at the dance hall, I had been having dreams about her. She looked just as beautiful as she did that night, only very different. This time her platinum blond hair was in a bun. Instead of cowboy boots and a blue jean skirt, she wore a dark grey business suit with a pencil skirt and black stiletto heels. She still looked absolutely stunning, and I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

Abi stood there, confused, first looking at me, and then at the woman. She had no idea what was going on. She elbowed me to get my attention. Maybe this would be a very fun project after all.

8

Lydia Myers

“Your clients are here,” Whitney said, coming into my office.

“Thank you, I’ll be right out.”

“The guy is really cute. He’s a very tall cowboy,” Whitney said, giving me a wink.

“I don’t think I need to be flirting with my client’s boyfriend or husband, and neither should you. That would be very disrespectful, no matter how cute he is,” I said.

“Well, see for yourself,” she said, walking out and heading for her office.

Standing up, I went to the mirror on my wall to straighten my hair and make sure I didn’t have lipstick on my teeth. Then I headed out to the front waiting area. The moment I saw who the clients were, I stopped in my tracks and couldn’t contain my shock.

The cowboy that had kissed me at the dance hall—that I couldn’t stop thinking about—was standing right in front of me. How could this be? It was absolutely impossible. All he did was give me that sheepish grin one more time and called me ma’am—just as he did that night.

Finally, I broke out of my frozen state and looked at the woman next to him. She looked young. I smiled at her and could see that she was very confused, as she looked at me and then over at the cowboy. She knew that something was going on but she didn’t know what. I was mortified. Was this his girlfriend? Or even worse, his wife? Had he been such a scoundrel that he had flirted with other women and even kissed one, me? My face turned bright red.

“You two know each other?” she finally asked.

“Oh no, not really,” I said, not knowing quite what to say. I couldn‘t exactly tell his wife—my new client—that her husband had kissed me only a few days before.

“No, we have not been properly introduced. My name is Connor Dawson,” he said, putting his hand out to me. I had no choice but to shake his hand.

“I am Abigail Dawson, and I’m very excited to get started,” the girl said. That was it, they were married, and I was mortified. This wasn’t good, and I was going to have to tell them I couldn’t take them on as clients. I would have to hand them off to Whitney, or they would have to go somewhere else. Janet would not be happy about this, and neither was I.

“So, I have a lot to talk about and to ask you. So are we taking a seat here?” the young woman asked.

“No, sorry about that. Please come back into my office,” I said. I looked at the cowboy, Connor, and he was still giving me that big grin. What a jerk, I thought. He was still being flirtatious, right in front of his wife.

I turned and led them to my office, where I might as well give them the bad news. I couldn’t take them on as clients, but I should at least tell them in the privacy of my office. First, I needed to think of a lie as to why I couldn‘t take them on. Maybe I could give them a few ideas, then tell them Whitney would be the project manager. All of these thoughts were going through my head at the speed of light.

He looked just as cute as I remembered. Whitney was right, a very tall and good-looking cowboy. The green shirt that he wore brought out the color of his light green eyes. His rolled up sleeves showed me his tattoos, and he looked very tough, especially with his white straw cowboy hat. But I couldn’t be thinking about those things, not right now. His wife was right there in front of me, and I was an awful person for even thinking of him as attractive, especially while she was here in the room.

“Please, have a seat,” I said, pointing to two chairs. I walked around to the back and sat behind my desk, not knowing exactly what to say. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Connor still smiling at me.

“Well, why don’t we get started? I’ve seen some photos, but why don’t you tell me what you’re wanting to achieve? Once you tell me what you’re looking for, I can tell you what this company can do and whether we are a good fit for your project,” I said, already prepping them for the fact that I was going to hand them off to a colleague.

“All right, you see our house is very outdated,” she said. “There are a few things I think we can do to update it a bit, but still keep that country charm. Our father is very specific about keeping a few things the same, so we’ll have to work around that.”

“Your father?” I asked, suddenly realizing that I didn’t really know what was going on here. Did she mean her father-in-law, or was it her father? But why wouldn’t she have just said that?

“Yes, he’s allowing me to do this project, but he made my brother come along to keep me on track with the budget and all,” she said. “I should be insulted, I suppose, but that’s kind of how we do things in our family. We work together.”

“Your brother. Oh, I see,” I said, feeling relieved. I looked at Connor, who arched his brow at me. I cleared my throat. “Well alright, we can definitely do some refreshing of your home. As I said, I looked at the photos you provided and already have some ideas going.”

“That is great because we absolutely don’t know what we’re doing at all. I do know that I want to do a new coat of paint in the living room area and the kitchen. New curtains in both rooms, and new modern appliances in the kitchen because most of them have pretty much had it. And another thing I should mention is that Father wants to keep all the heirlooms, and antiques. So we will have to work around that. But we do need a new couch, seating area, and coffee table. Maybe some storage as well, but I still want to keep the country style, but with a modern touch,” Abigail said. I wrote down all that she was saying.

“I hear you loud and clear. It sounds like you are a woman that knows what you want and I like that,” I said. I felt a heavy weight lift from me now that I knew she was his sister, not his wife. So, it wasn’t bad that he still had that damn smile on his face as he looked at me. He wasn’t saying much, though.

“Thank you. I’ve been looking at magazines and brought some photos I tore out if you would like to see them,” she said.

“Sure, that would be very helpful. Thank you for doing your homework,” I said, “as that will save time and help me narrow down what you like.”

She picked up her purse and began to rummage through it, pulling out sheets torn from magazines. I looked over at Connor, who was just looking at me. I was shocked that he had walked into my office of all places, but I wasn’t going to talk about what happened at the dance hall, not while I was in a business meeting.

Connor suddenly spoke up. “So, you will have to come out to the house, won’t you? To get a look at the real thing before we actually start buying things, to take measurements and such.” I looked at him, feeling startled. Of course he was right, I would need to do all those things, but the way he said it made me feel like he was trying to lure me to his home after getting me drunk or something. He still was a scoundrel.

“Yes, I will need to do that, it is all part of the process of my work,” I said, putting emphasis on the word work. I didn’t want him getting the wrong idea and thinking I was going to his house to see him.

“Great, I look forward to it,” he said. For some reason I felt like my clothes had been removed and I was sitting there naked as he looked at me. He had that kind of effect on me and it was making me feel very nervous, and warm. Like the heater had been turned up too high.

“Here they are, I have a few pieces that I like in each one, not that I think we can get those exact pieces, of course, but something like it. And a few colors that I like, too,” Abigail said, showing me the magazine photos.

“These are all great. Thank you for circling the pieces. I can get a proposal ready and a budget, but your brother is right I will need to see the house in person and get some measurements before we can finalize it all. Abigail, I would love for you to show me around and point out what you want replaced. That way I can get the proposal in order. Where is this house, exactly?”

“It’s just thirty miles south of here in Safety. Do you know where that is?” she asked.

“Sure, she does,” Connor said. I looked at him with a nervous smile, not sure how to respond to that.

“Great, so the house is at Dawson Ranch, that’s our ranch, and our family home. I’ll write down the address for you. Do you think you could come out tomorrow? I want to get started as soon as possible,” Abigail said.

“Yes, I actually could come out tomorrow,” I said.

“Good,” Connor said. Again, it made me feel very strange that he was so interested in me coming to his home. In that moment, I thought about the arrogant kiss he had stolen from me.

Trying to put him out of my mind, I spent the next thirty minutes talking with Abigail about the pieces she had picked out and the style she was going for. As we talked, Connor was quiet, but I could feel his eyes on me the whole time, which left me feeling exposed. Finally, I had everything I needed to get started on the project before heading to their home the next day.

“I think you’re going to love the ranch, Lydia. I can’t wait for you to come out tomorrow to figure out the details and help me with this thing. Lord knows that living with my brothers, I don’t get any help with things like this,” she said, as they both stood up. She put her hand out to shake mine, which I did.

“I’m sure I’ll love it, Abigail. Thank you for having me and I look forward to working with you.”

Then, Connor put his hand out. With no way to avoid it, I put my hand in his. I could feel the familiar calluses I’d felt that day at the dance hall. Calluses that had let me know he was a real cowboy. He squeezed my hand in a familiar way and his eyes were locked on mine.

“I’ll let you know what time I can come out tomorrow, after I look at my schedule. I can send you an email, Abigail, if that’s all right,” I said, pulling both my hand and my gaze away.

“Yes, I look forward to it,” Abigail said, and turned to head toward the door. With her back turned, Connor looked at me. He shook his head from side to side as his sister walked out the door to the waiting room.

“Lydia Myers, now I know your name, and I’ll see you out at the ranch tomorrow,” he said, putting his hand on the brim of his hat and pulling it down just a bit. Then he turned and walked out to the waiting room. I followed them, as I did with all my clients.

“Until tomorrow then, thank you,” Abigail said, and headed out the front door, her brother on her heels. I stood there in shock, still trying to grasp what was happening. I watched them both walk out the door, unaware that Whitney was calling my name until I felt her sharp elbow in my side.

“Ow. What was that for?” I said, grabbing my side.

“I had to elbow you because I was calling your name and you didn’t answer,” she said.

“You were? Sorry.”

“It’s the cowboy, isn’t it? I told you he was cute.”

“It‘s not just that, Whitney. You’re not going to believe this, but that is the cowboy that kissed me at the dance hall.”

“Wait. What? You’ve got to be kidding,” she shouted.

“I’m not. As you can see, I’m in shock. How the hell is this happening?”

“And that’s his wife? What a pig.”

“No, it’s his sister. That was a huge relief, and as far as I know he’s not married. I didn’t see a wedding ring on his finger at the dance hall or today. But that girl said they were brother and sister.”

“Well, that is a relief. Isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. I thought I was going to have to tell them to go somewhere else because I couldn’t work with a husband and wife team when the husband was constantly hitting on me. So it’s good that they are siblings,” I said.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant that it’s good that he’s not married—for you.”

“What? No. I wasn’t thinking that.”

“I was. Are you going to do the project?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why I shouldn’t. I’ll just have to put what happened at the dance hall behind us and not bring it up. And neither should you, by the way.”

“Fine. So, are they from Safety? If he was at the dance hall last weekend—”

“Yes, they are. That’s where the house is too, on their ranch.”

“What’s the last name?” she asked.

“Dawson.”

“You’re shittin’ me,” she said.

“No. Why do you say that?”

“Um, the Dawson name—everyone knows the Dawson’s. They are a powerful family. Dawson Ranch is important to the town and is a major agricultural provider. Aside from that, those brothers—”

“What? What about them?”

“They are rambunctious, and have quite the reputation.”

Suddenly, I remembered seeing the brawl in the parking lot of the dance hall as we were leaving. I had thought I’d seen Connor among the jumble of men, but I wasn’t sure. Now it made perfect sense. Two strikes. He was no gentleman, and that was not the kind of man to get involved with. I had learned my lesson about that before. So this would absolutely stay professional.

“A reputation for brawling?” I asked.

“Yep, always in trouble. Even I know that and I’ve been gone from Safety a long time now.”

“That’s good to know.”

“So, when do you see him again?” she said, teasing me.

“I have an appointment tomorrow at their home. I’m not seeing him,” I said, sternly.

“Well, all of those brothers are damn cute. Want me to come out there with you?”

“No. I think I can handle it, and I don’t really need you there flirting with the clients,” I said, walking back toward my office.

“Well, if you change your mind let me know. I’ll be there in a heartbeat,” she said as she winked.

9

Connor Dawson

I couldn’t believe it. What were the chances? Of all the interior design places in the city, I walk into hers. It was unbelievable and had left me feeling very excited.

Sitting across from her in her office was like foreplay for me. Abigail had no idea that I had an interest in this woman, and it was probably better that way. Abigail was very protective of her brothers and who they dated, and thought that every woman was out for the family money. She didn’t trust anyone. She had no idea that I had danced with this woman at the dance hall, or that I’d tried to steal a kiss. So, sitting across from her with this secret was exciting to me. It was new and I was craving something new after having already dated most of the girls in Safety.

This woman had caught my eye immediately at the dance hall, and the thought that I would never see her again had been bothering me. So much that I hadn’t slept much these last few nights. So, being able to see her and get her name was a blessing. But not only did I know who she was now, she was coming here to work with us on the project for a while. It was perfect.

There was a knock at the bathroom door. “What the hell is going on in there, Connor? You‘ve been in there for a good while now?” Dylan was shouting at me through the door.

“I’m taking a shower, dang it. Can’t I take a shower?”

“In the middle of the day? What‘s going on?” The door opened and he walked in. I rolled my eyes, since this was a common occurrence when you lived with this many brothers. We couldn’t always be waiting for each other to get out of the shower. He walked right in and began to piss in the toilet.

“You, taking a shower in the middle of the day? We’re barely sitting down for lunch. We still have a ton of chores to do after we eat, but you already know that. Why are you taking a shower in the middle of the day?”

“Can’t I just take a shower, dang it? It’s damn hot out there. I swear there is no privacy in this house whatsoever.”

“If you say so, but I’m not buying it.” Then he flushed the toilet, and the shower water instantly got hotter, a lot hotter.

“Shit. Dang it, Dylan!” I yelled.

“Ha! Serves you right for lying,” he said, finally leaving.

I was pissed, not just because of the hot water, but because I couldn’t get an ounce of privacy around this house. There was always someone being nosy about everyone else’s business.

Out of the shower, I quickly got dressed. I had to admit I was taking extra care of how I looked today. I went down just in time for lunch as everyone was piling food on their plates; hot sandwiches and potato chips. I grabbed a sandwich and sat down with a glass of iced tea.

“Attention please. I think everyone should know that Connor took a shower in the middle of the day. Now, why go take a shower when you still have a bunch of chores to do out on the ranch? It doesn’t make any sense,” Dylan said loudly to my brother Wyatt.

“Yeah, why take a shower in the middle of the day? We ain’t near done yet?” Wyatt said, giving me a confused look.

“Oh, come on y’all, leave him alone. We have an appointment today with the interior designer. She’s coming to take measurements right after we finish our lunch here, in about twenty minutes. I for one am glad he took a shower, I don’t need him smelling like goats and having my designer wanting to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible,” Abi said.

“Oh, that makes sense now. She must be cute then. Is that it? That’s why you got all dolled up. She’s hot, huh? In that case I should go get dressed as well,” Dylan said, teasing me.

“Don’t get me started,” I said, eating my food.

“Looky here, a car pulled up outside, and a pretty girl just got out,” Wyatt said, standing up and leaning out as though he was looking out of the windows. I quickly jumped up from my chair. She was early, and I didn’t want her to see me stuffing my face.

“Ha-ha, I’m just kidding. There’s no car there, but that goes to show that Dylan is right. It is a pretty girl that you are waiting for,” Wyatt said.

“Jerk,” I said, grabbing Wyatt’s shirt and pulling him toward me.

“That’s enough now. Stop giving your brother a hard time. It’s important that we present ourselves well when people come into our home,” Father said. I let go of Wyatt’s shirt as Father walked into the kitchen. “This is Abigail and Connor’s thing, so the rest of you get back to work after you’re done eating,” Father said. I was glad he was there to force these idiots to leave me alone, but they were right. They already knew what I was up to.

After we were done eating, I went to the mirror, to make sure there wasn’t spinach stuck in my teeth or something. Then I went into the living room to wait, and it was then that I realized that my father and Abi were outside. And Lydia was standing there on the porch with them. I took a deep breath and walked out.

“My daughter here has high praise for your work. She said she was impressed by your portfolio and thinks you can do a good job here,” my father said, shaking her hand.

“Thank you, sir. I am excited to get started and I won’t let you down.”

“And she told you about the family heirlooms and antiques,” my father asked.

“Yes, absolutely. It’s not a problem. We will work together to include them in the design. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a perfect spot for such important pieces.”

“Good, then I’ll leave you with Abigail and Connor, they’re overseeing this project on behalf of the family.” Apparently satisfied, my father walked off the porch and headed toward the barn.

Lydia looked my way, so I nodded my head at her. “Good to see you again, ma’am.”

“It’s Lydia, you can call me Lydia, not ma’am. Please.”

“Alright, Lydia.”

“I’m really anxious to get started. Please come inside,” Abigail said. But before we could even open the door, Dylan and Wyatt were on the porch.

“Say, you look familiar. Weren’t you at the dance hall this past weekend?” Dylan said.

I felt my body grow heated with anger. This was not going to be good.

“Yes Dylan, I think you may be right. This is the woman that danced with Connor this past weekend at the dance hall,” Wyatt said.

“That’s right. She slapped him, as I recall,” Dylan said, as he started laughing. Lydia’s face was turning a bright pink. I needed to somehow stop my idiot brothers from embarrassing her further. Not to mention Abi, who must be mortified as well.

“You two leave Lydia alone, we have work to do. Go back to your work,” I said, opening the door so she could walk in. She immediately stepped inside, but Dylan and Wyatt were not budging as they laughed to each other, mumbling.

“Can you believe this? This is the woman that Connor has to work with, and she already slapped him silly.”

I was incredibly annoyed. But at that moment I looked at Abigail to find her brows furrowed together in anger. She was really pissed off and stomped inside.

Walking over to Dylan and Wyatt, I punched them both in the arm, and whispered. “You idiots. Yes, it’s her, but Abi didn’t know. Plus, you just made Lydia very uncomfortable. Keep a lid on it, will you? We’ll talk about it later.”

Once inside, I found that Abi and Lydia were already taking measurements. I could see Abi giving me a look, and she was not happy. I tried my best to offer my assistance, but both women in the room were incredibly pissed off at me, though for different reasons. I didn’t blame them, they both had a right to be. I needed to fix this and make it right—somehow.

10

Lydia Myers

I had been incredibly nervous the entire drive from the city out to the small Texas town. Several times during the night and this morning I had started to think this was a very big mistake. I’d really thought about handing the project off to Whitney. But just when I would pick up the phone to call and tell her, I would change my mind. I knew that I really wanted to do the job because I hadn’t done a country home project like this before and I really wanted to. It would be a great addition to my portfolio, not to mention that the Dawson’s were apparently a prominent family, so doing their home could only be good for my career. Especially considering that in the future I wanted to open my own business. So I kept the project for myself.

Plus, I really did want to see the tall good-looking cowboy I now knew as Connor again. Yet, on the other hand, I didn’t. It was too nerve-wracking being around him. We already had history between us and it wasn’t exactly a good history. I had slapped him. That was not a good way to start a business relationship. But then again he wasn’t my client at the time, but still it was the elephant in the room. I didn’t know when it was going to be brought up, but knew that it would eventually.

I wondered if Connor told his sister the story on their way home. When responding to my email Abigail was polite, and didn’t say anything to make me think he had. But I could be wrong. Maybe I was just overthinking the whole thing.

When I drove into the small town, I realized just how charming it was. Before, I’d only seen it at night and had only seen the dance hall and the diner, not much else. It was actually a nice medium sized town with lots of businesses, the kind that were owned by families instead of big corporations. I kind of liked that.

Following the directions, I drove out of the town and into the country. It was then that I saw the grand arching gate that said Dawson Ranch on it. I drove over the cattle guard and down the dirt road. I could see the ranch compound at the end of it. The grand Victorian house was beautiful, just like in the picture. But there were several other buildings on the land. There was a very large red barn, a stable building, a bunch of corrals and pens, and a few silos. It was a picture perfect ranch, and it made me ache to not have grown up at such a place.

When I met Mr. Dawson, he was very much what I expected, the grand patriarch of the family. He was a kind gentleman, a true cowboy. And he was relinquishing control and entrusting me with more than I might have expected, putting his house in my hands. I admired that.

When Connor’s brothers came over onto the porch I immediately knew there was going to be trouble and I felt extremely embarrassed. They recognized me as the woman that had slapped their brother. I was just thankful that their father wasn’t on the porch when they said it, but wondered if they would have in his presence. They were being very brash about it and I could feel my face turning bright red as they laughed. I guess Connor had not mentioned that I was the new interior designer, the same woman from the dance hall. I almost wished he had told them and prepared them in advance, rather than having them realize it when they saw my face. But I also noticed that Abigail wasn’t aware that Connor and I had a brief history, and she did not seem pleased.

Now, I was forced to do my work in this strange and awkward situation. Something I’d never had to experience before.

“So, this is the kitchen. This is where I was thinking new appliances, but I’m not sure what color to go with. We’ll need a new refrigerator and new dishwasher for sure. Not sure if we should keep what we already have in this classic white color, but I was thinking brushed stainless steel would be more modern-looking,” Abigail said, leading me into the kitchen.

“Yes, that would look very nice. The white is classic, but as you said it is a little outdated. The brushed stainless steel is also easier to keep clean and doesn’t show dirt and fingerprints the way the white does. Just something to think about there. But what I could do is make up a design with both the white and the stainless steel, that way you can see how they both look,” I said.

“Great, we’ll also need a new table and chairs in this kitchen. This one has seen its day. But we do like a farm table style. So if we could find something like it that is also sturdy and it can stand up to these brothers of mine, we would like to replace it as well.”

“Abigail was also talking about painting this room a different color,” Connor said.

I just looked at him, not really wanting to even acknowledge him. I was still furious over being embarrassed by his brothers, even if it wasn’t his fault. I just nodded my head in agreement.

“Yes, my brother is right. If you have paint samples I would love to go through them and get your ideas on color,” Abigail said.

“Of course,” I said, putting my bag on the kitchen table. I pulled out paint samples and Abigail and I began to put them against the wall, figuring out which colors would go best. But as I was doing it, I could feel Connor’s gaze on me. My body felt warm while he was looking at me. I didn’t know what to do, and couldn’t do anything. A part of me liked that he was checking me out so much, but the professional side of me knew that it shouldn’t be happening.

About an hour later we finished up and I walked out onto the porch.

“Thank you for having me. I will draw up some designs with budgets and have them for you on Monday. You have a very lovely home and ranch here.”

“Thank you,” Abigail said. “I really appreciate you coming out.”

“Well, would you like to see the rest of the place before you go? I can take you around and show you. We have a barn and stables, and more. There’s a lot going on. It would give you more of a feel for the place.

The idea of being led around such a vast ranch by Connor made me panic a little, thinking of all the nooks and crannies where he might try to kiss me. A part of me thought it would be romantic, and I did want it to happen. I yearned for it, in fact. But the more professional part of me knew that I shouldn’t.

“Maybe next time? I would like to see it eventually, but I have to get back to the city. I’ve got a lot of work to do. Thank you again for having me,” I said, shaking Abigail’s hand, and then his. Turning, I quickly walked off the porch toward my car.

I opened my car door, set down my things and was ready to get in.

“Ma’am? I mean Lydia—” I heard Connor say as the jogged over to my side. His sister just stood on the porch staring at us, and didn’t seem happy that he was coming after me.

“Yes, Mr. Dawson? Did you have another question?” I said, trying to remain professional.

“No, not a question. I just wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize for what?”

“About my brothers. They are idiots. They never should have said what they did in front of you like that. It was my fault completely. I should have told them you were coming and who you were—I mean the connection to the dance hall and all. That way they wouldn’t have been surprised when they saw you. I feel like an idiot for letting that happen. It was certainly not my intention, and I’m really sorry,” he said. I could see sincerity in those light green eyes, and he actually looked kind in that moment. He didn’t seem like the brash bar brawler that I had encountered at the dance hall. Maybe there was more to Connor Dawson than I’d been thinking.

“Thank you for apologizing, but it’s not a big deal, really. I already forgot about it. I will talk to y’all about the designs real soon,” I said, getting into my car. He held the door for me and then closed it. It was definitely a gentleman cowboy move that I wasn’t expecting.

I drove away from the ranch, thinking that I’d had no idea how big the family would be when I got there. I knew Whitney had said there were brothers, but I hadn’t put together that the guys he’d been standing with at the dance hall that night were his brothers. It was all becoming clear now. No wonder they had such a big home.

Driving back toward the town, I was feeling good. I was feeling super excited about design work again for the first time in a while. I had been doing the same old city office spaces for men mostly for almost two years straight, but this project was completely different. I felt really alive as I drove away from the ranch and into the small town, deciding I would stop and get a bite to eat at the small diner where Whitney and I had eaten after we left the dance hall that night. I was ready for a milkshake and an order of fries, Whitney’s favorite when she was young. That way I could sit there and go over the notes I had just taken at the Dawson home, and fill in anything I’d forgotten to write down while it was still fresh in my mind. But deep down, I knew that the real reason I was excited about this job, wasn’t because it was new and different than the norm—it was because of Connor Dawson. He had awakened something inside of me, and that actually scared me. I couldn’t wait for Monday to come, and I really did want to see the rest of the ranch. And a strange part of me wanted Connor to show me. I had been in the city so long that I’d forgotten my own roots. I grew up in a small Texas town that was rural like this. I didn’t grow up on a ranch, but I admired the country and all the country activities I did as a child and teenager. It was all coming back to me and it felt comfortable. It felt like home.

11

Connor Dawson

I couldn’t get her out of my mind. The day she came to the ranch she looked a lot more casual, she wasn’t in the stiletto heels and pencil skirt. She was dressed in jeans, boots, and had a nice shirt tucked into her jeans. Still, she looked absolutely stunning, with her platinum blonde hair in a high ponytail. She had come dressed to work, so she could squat down and take measurements and do those types of movements. But I was completely mesmerized by her. Monday could not come fast enough for me. I couldn’t wait to see her again. After she left, I let my brothers have it, filling them in on what happened when I saw her for the first time at her office. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I told them, and had threatened to ask her the next time she came over. I knew the project would bring her to the ranch a lot, so I told them what I could in order to save her from more embarrassment. I couldn’t trust them not to say anything to her.

“How in the hell could you not tell us that the interior designer was the woman that slapped you? That’s a big deal!” Tanner said. He had come over from his house just down the road because Dylan had called to tell him what was going on.

“Because I knew this would be the reaction!” I said, getting annoyed. But I went ahead and told them everything, which wasn’t that much.

When they had gotten their fill of gossip, they finally left me alone about it. And I warned them not to tease her when she came around and to just drop the entire dance hall connection as if it had never happened.

But Abigail was another thing entirely. She was really upset with me about it. She saw it as me breaking her trust and that did not sit well with me.

“What the hell, Connor? Why didn’t you just tell me you knew her? I can’t believe you kept it from me? I am your sister. I sat with you both at her office and then on the ride back, and you didn’t say a single thing about it. You kissed this woman, and she slapped you? Do you know how strange that is? But not telling me is the worst. To think if you hadn’t gotten caught, I still wouldn’t know. You never would have said anything, right? I can’t believe I was so excited to work on this project with you. And now I’m left wondering what else I don’t know,” Abigail said, pacing my room back and forth as she really tore into me. Then she went on and gave me a very long lecture about trust.

That was how I spent the entire weekend, fielding questions from my brothers and trying to get Abi off my back. Now that it was Sunday, I was glad for a day of at least some rest. Everyone spent Sunday in a different way and today I was very glad for that. The Dawson family saw Sunday as a half day of rest. Meaning that only the essential chores had to be done. For example, we had the animals to take care of and that meant someone had to feed them. We rotated this responsibility on Sundays, and today was my day to do it. On this day of all days I was happy about it because I needed the work badly. It was a damn good distraction from the one thing that was taking over my mind, Lydia Myers.

Then of course there was the whole mess with my sister. Abi had every right to be angry, but it wasn’t my fault that my romantic interest had crossed over into her interior design project. Sometimes life was just crazy like that. I hadn’t planned to have a random beautiful woman slap me on the dance floor, and then have Abi find her for the remodel project. Shit, that was just the luck of the draw. But I liked to think that fate was steering me toward Lydia, even if it had pissed my sister off.

The one thing that was bothering me now was that I eventually wanted some time alone with Lydia. There were things I wanted to say to her that I couldn’t say in front of everyone. But how could I do that? How could I separate the project she was doing with Abi and I away from my romantic interest in her? It seemed damn near impossible.

“Need help?” Dylan asked, walking toward me.

“Really? It’s not your day to do this. Why aren’t you off swimming or fishing?” I asked him as I poured feed into the trough for the goats. They were crowding around and their calls of excitement grew louder, which made us have to shout to each other just to have a conversation.

“Not feeling up to it. My plan was to be lazy around the house. I was going to sit on the porch, read the paper or drink coffee or maybe some iced tea. But once I started doing it I realized I was pretty bored. I don’t know how father spends all those hours like that. Anyway, I saw you out here, so here I am. You want help or not?”

“Hell yeah, I’ll take that help,” I said, handing him the bucket.

He grinned, “That’s what I thought.”

I grabbed another bucket from inside the shed.

“Let them chickens out to pasture,” I said to him.

“Got it,” he said, opening the chicken pens.

Together we filled the buckets with seed and began to feed the chickens, sprinkling seed all over the grass. We had quite a few chickens and roosters that ran free during the day on the ranch, but at night they slept inside the chicken coop due to predators, including coyotes.

“What’s going on with you?” Dylan asked.

“What? What kind of question is that?”

“I have not heard a single wisecrack or a joke from you all weekend. Yesterday at breakfast, Wyatt said something really stupid and you didn’t even bother to make fun of him. That isn’t like you at all.”

“So? I can’t take time off from clowning around?”

“That’s not like you.”

“Well, what’s up with you? It’s not like you to come out here and do extra work unless you’ve been specifically asked to either, but here you are.”

“I already told you why.”

“Well, if you are really bored we can take a look at the books later. Father is going to be checking up on both of us soon, so it wouldn’t hurt to put more work into it,” I said.

“Fine with me. I want to learn that stuff and I barely understand it, so it would be good to spend some time on it.”

“Really? That’s not the answer I was expecting from you,” I said, arching my brows.

“Yeah, yeah. Well, maybe I‘m not as reckless as y’all think.”

“Come on, help me with the sheep. I want to put them out to graze.”

“I’m on it,” he said.

I was surprised with Dylan. Showing initiative was a little different than what I was used to seeing. Yes, he was a hard worker, our father had instilled a work ethic in all of us. But Dylan typically only did what he was responsible for, not more. Today, he was showing more initiative than I had seen in a long time. It was refreshing and I was admiring my younger brother.

We put the flock of sheep out to pasture. Then we went to go feed the horses. After that we fed the hogs. We made our rounds, and were all done with the outside work for the day except bringing the sheep back in before sundown. Then we went inside to the library to work on the books.

Dylan was taking to the inventory and budgets of the feedstock very well. I was impressed, remembering that it had taken me almost a year to really get it, but he was picking it up fast. The house was quiet as we sat in the library going over the books. Father had gone to see one of his old buddies on a ranch about thirty miles away. Abi was in town with her friends. I didn’t know about Wyatt, but Tanner was at his place with Madison. On Sundays we were each free to do as we pleased all day—except for whoever was feeding the animals.

“So, are you going to ask her out?” Dylan asked, out of nowhere.

“Ask who out?”

“Lydia, the interior designer? Are you going to ask her on a date?”

“What makes you ask me that? Not that it is any of your business, by the way.”

“Oh, come on. We all saw the way you looked at her at the dance hall. You were hypnotized by her from that first moment. The fair Lydia is what has been occupying your mind. I ain‘t stupid, you know.”

“I do want to see her again—alone and not while she’s working on the house. Not with all of you lurking around and watching me. Not ideal.”

“So, call her up and ask her out to dinner.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? You like her, don’t you?”

“Yes, but you’re missing a very important point. She slapped me, remember? I don’t exactly think she is dying to have dinner with me,”

“Right,” Dylan said, through his laughter. “How could I forget that? It makes me laugh just thinking about it.”

“Yeah, just keep laughing.”

“I will.”

“Thanks.”

“But for real, Connor. What are you going to do? You got to do something. You ain’t yourself at all lately, and I know it’s because of this woman.”

“I guess I’m going to have to figure something out. Maybe I’ll go see Lydia tomorrow by myself.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t Abi supposed to go with you?”

“I’ll tell Abi that the meeting was cancelled and scheduled for a different day.”

“Oh no. No way. See, that is a bad idea, Connor. Abi will be really pissed when she finds out, and seeing how she’s already pissed, well, you know.”

“Why would she find out?”

“She will, Connor. Women always do. But in the spirit of watching you get in trouble, I say you should go for it.”

“Thanks for the support,” I said, sarcastically.

“Any time, brother.” He grinned.

After a few more hours of work, we finished the books. Then we went back out onto the ranch to stretch our legs and put the chickens and sheep back in, just as the sun was setting. Once we were done with that, we decided to get started on dinner, since we were still the only ones at home. We didn’t know how many would actually be coming home to eat, but went ahead and started on it anyway.

Dylan got to work chopping onions and garlic while I put the water on to boil for the spaghetti noodles. As we were working, Abi walked in.

“Something smells good in here. I’m so glad you boys got started on dinner. I’ve been out all day and barely had anything for lunch. I’m starving.”

“Well, don’t just sit down, I can use help getting the sauce started and getting the garlic bread ready to put in the oven,” I said, pointing to the bread on the counter.

“All right, put me to work the minute I come in—ain‘t that always the way of it?” She shook her head as she stood at the kitchen sink and washed her hands.

“Yeah, but it looks like it might just be the three of us, so at least it won‘t be too much to make. It’s just spaghetti and meat sauce,” Dylan added.

“Sounds good to me. I want to eat dinner and get up to my bathroom for a nice long bath. What time are we going into the city tomorrow, Connor?”

“Actually, Lydia Myers called earlier and canceled the meeting. She needed more time to pull the project together and is going to get back to us about a later date,” I said.

“Well dang, that’s unfortunate. I was looking forward to getting started right away. But I do have quite a lot of work to do in the stables tomorrow. Plus, I’ve got two saddles and some other tack that need some repair, so I’ll take it all into the saddlery. I don’t know why those dang horses are so hard on things. I need the saddles fixed right away, so tomorrow would be a good day to run it all into town,” she said, putting garlic and butter on the bread.

I could feel Dylan staring at me, judging me. He knew I was lying. It didn’t feel good to lie to my sister, but I knew it was the only way I was going to get to see Lydia alone. Abi would need to forgive me later.

“Well, it may be just as well. That woman is probably mortified after what happened to her here, everyone teasing her and all. We need to give her some space before she comes back to this house. Now, don’t go getting attached to this one, Connor, she’s too much of a girly-girl for this family,” Abi said, putting the bread in the oven.

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. She’s obviously got his number, she slapped him, remember? I saw it myself,” Dylan teased.

“Thanks for reminding me, again. Can we just concentrate on dinner? Abi, we’ll need a few more tomatoes from the garden.”

“And a bell pepper if you can find a good one,” Dylan added.

“On it,” she said, grabbing a colander. She walked out the back door, turning on the back porch light and heading down into the vegetable garden right outside our kitchen.

“So, you’re really going to do it?” Dylan asked quietly.

“Yeah, I think I have to. I owe myself that much. I’ve never met a woman like Lydia before. As you said, she had me hypnotized at the dance hall. I have to see where this could go, and I can only do that without Abi there. Thanks for backing me up there, I won’t forget it.”

“Don’t mention it, but when you get caught I had no idea.”

“What are y’all talking about?” Abi opened the back door and stepped inside.

“Dylan was just saying how he was going to help you with the saddles tomorrow. He’s concerned they’re too heavy for you to lift into the truck.”

“I put them on top of the dang horses nearly every day, but I will take that help, Dylan. Thank you.”

Dylan narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head. I just laughed. It was good payback for what he did in front of Lydia.

“Two tomatoes and one ripe bell pepper, as requested,” Abi said, as she washed the vegetables in the sink.

“Perfect. Chop them up and throw them right in here,” Dylan said, as he stirred the spaghetti sauce in the pan.

Fifteen minutes later, we sat down to dinner, just the three of us. It was kind of nice to have a small family dinner. It was a rare occurrence, since usually we were all together, even on Sundays. But once every few months it seemed to happen that we’d have a Sunday dinner with only a few of us home, and I actually enjoyed it.

12

Lydia Myers

On Monday morning, something strange happened. I tried on several outfits, something I never did. I was always very straightforward with my work wardrobe. This day was different, somehow. I knew I was going to see Connor Dawson and therefore couldn’t decide what to wear. The purple dress was too low cut and he would think I wore it for him, the scoundrel. The blue dress buttoned up too high on the neck, and made me look like the most boring person in the world. Since I had already slapped him on the dance floor, wearing that dress would only confirm that I was uptight. Every outfit felt like it had a message behind it, and the whole thing was driving me crazy. I finally decided on a very basic outfit. I wore a black blazer over a white camisole, a black pencil skirt, black stockings, and black heels. It made me late getting to the office, but at least I was confident in my outfit.

A few minutes before the meeting, I was pacing back and forth. What was happening to me? I pushed my fingers through my hair as I stared at myself in the mirror. I was feeling nervous. I was never nervous before seeing a client, because I was always on top of my game and confident about my work. But this—this was different. Connor Dawson was tall, athletic, a true cowboy, and so damn sexy. I didn’t want to feel so damn girly about seeing him, but I did. It was the first time I had felt that way in a very long time. And it both scared and excited me. I applied a layer of lip-gloss.

“You look nice,” Whitney said.

“Whitney. You scared me. I didn’t see you standing there.”

“That’s because you were too busy getting dolled up,” she said with a wink.

“I’m not getting dolled up,” I put the lip-gloss away and moved to my desk.

“So what’s going on then? Is there something more happening with Connor Dawson than you’re telling me?”

“No. Why would you ask that?” I didn’t make eye contact with her. Instead, I looked through my folder getting the item inventory I had pulled for the meeting.

Whitney continued. “Because you haven’t mentioned the meeting you had at Dawson Ranch, not once. That’s why. Every time we have a client we talk about what their home or office was like, and what we’re going to do to make it better. All of the normal things, yet this time you have not said one word about it. So I don’t think something is up, I know it.”

I sighed. Whitney knew me too well to hide anything from her, but there was nothing to hide. Though I didn’t tell her how mortified I had felt that day when Connor’s brothers brought up the fact that I had slapped him.

“Nothing is up. I’ve just been too busy to talk about the ranch. It’s a big project, two rooms,” I said, trying to cover up my lie.

“Mmm-hmm,” she said.

Clang, clang, the bell on the door sounded, letting us know that someone had just walked in. I looked at the clock.

“Shit, that’s them now. Go on now, and stop bugging me. It’s not professional,” I whispered to her sternly.

With a smirk, she walked out of my office, and to my horror, turned towards the reception area. “Hello Mr. Dawson!” I heard her say cheerfully. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. Damn it, Whitney, I thought. She was fully enjoying getting me all riled up and nervous.

Walking down the hall, I entered the front office. Connor was standing there, alone. He looked just as dashing as ever with a blue and green plaid western shirt that made his eyes stand out. Fitted Wrangler jeans and boots reminded me of his cowboy nature. His hand touched the rim of his cowboy hat, “Ma’am.”

“Lydia. You can call me Lydia.” I couldn’t help the smile on my face. I knew that he was just calling me ma’am to tease me because we had already had that talk.

“Where’s Miss Dawson?” Whitney said, intrusively.

“Oh, she couldn’t come today. It will just be me,” he grinned.

My body flushed with a heat that radiated through me. Whitney turned to me with her back to Connor. Her brow arched as she passed me. “Mmm-hmm,” she mumbled.

“Right this way, Mr. Dawson,” I turned to head toward my office and out of Whitney’s watchful gaze.

“It’s Connor,” he said, following right behind me.

“Right. Of course,” I opened the door to my office. Once he entered, I closed the door.

“So, Abigail couldn’t make it?” I asked, taking a seat behind my desk.

“No. She had to take some saddles to the saddlery. So I came instead. I hope that’s alright.”

“Yes, perfectly fine. Let’s get started.” I opened my folder. “These are the appliances I have for you to choose from. These are brushed stainless steel, and these are standard stainless steel. I think it’s going to go well in the kitchen once it’s painted and we add this backsplash on top of the counters. It’s a white subway tile but will still retain that farm look, just a bit more modern,” I said, showing him the photos.

“I love it. I think I like these better. What did you call that?”

“Brushed stainless steel. I agree with you. It also hides fingerprints so it doesn’t have to be wiped down as often. This new washer and dryer set also cleans itself which I think might be something needed on the ranch,” I said.

“Yes, I agree with that, too,” he said, with that heart-stopping grin.

I was nervous to be sitting there alone with him. I kept thinking about how he’d held me in his arms when we danced. Was he thinking about that too?

The room was quiet and I realized I was just staring at him, that grin had drawn me in. He was just staring at me too. My body was responding to him and I knew I had to pull myself out of this before it got complicated.

I cleared my throat. “So, do you think your sister will like this as well?”

“Yes, I think she will. I know I do. I think anything that cleans itself will be a load off for all of us,” he laughed.

“It must be a lot of fun having such a big family,” I said.

“Yes, it is. Sometimes it’s a pain in my ass, though. There’s not a lot of privacy when you have three brothers and a nosy little sister. But I think of them all as a blessing—most of the time.”

“That’s really great, and the ranch is beautiful. It looks like a lot of work, but I assume it must be worth it?”

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said, getting a far off look in his light green eyes, as though he was thinking about the love he had for the ranch.

“You know, Whitney out there is from Safety. She hasn’t lived there in years, but she used too,” I said.

“You don’t say! That’s great,” he said, enthusiastically. “Say, is that why y’all went to the dance hall that night?” he arched a brow at me.

I felt my face turning pink. “Yes. It was her idea. I really didn’t want to go.”

“Are you glad you did?”

“Sure, I like the town. It’s growing on me. It’s really very charming.”

“Any particular reason?” he asked. I knew what he was getting at, but I couldn’t let him know that I’d been thinking about him nonstop since we had danced that night.

“You know, I haven’t had a chance to apologize. I never should have slapped you like that.”

“That’s alright. I deserved it. I never should have kissed you like that. I just couldn’t help myself. You’re so beautiful.”

His words hit me to the core and I realized I was biting my lower lip as I looked at him. Being called beautiful by this handsome cowboy was definitely having an effect on me. It had made the sexual tension in the room so thick I felt like I could touch it. This wasn’t professional at all. I snapped myself out of it.

“Thank you for the compliment. Now, shall we move on? I have some ideas for the living room as well, though some of these things were items I discussed with Abi.”

“That’s alright, I can have a look at them and let you know what I think and then you can show her when she’s free in a few days.”

“Alright,” but as I answered he surprised me by standing up from the chair. I looked up at him, confused. He was so tall. What was he doing? He grinned and walked behind my desk and stood directly beside me. His large hand stretched out as he rested his palm on my desk and looked over my shoulder at the designs in front of me.

“Oh, I like that. It still looks country and familiar, but modern. What else?”

“I—um—” I was trying to regain my concentration. His masculine scent was enveloping me. I took a deep breath. The heat from his body was reaching me and I thought he was going to put his hand on my back at any moment.

“Well, there’s this. I know it doesn’t look much different than the first one but—”

“No, it does. I see it. You use pale blue here and the other was with pale yellow,” he said, pointing.

“Yes, exactly.”

“I personally like the blue, but I’ll let Abi decide the colors. I like the style of furniture you have here. I think it goes well with the family antiques.”

“Thank you,” I cleared my throat because, to my embarrassment, it was getting raspy and thick with lust. Having him in my office, just he and I, was increasing my excitement by the second. What was he going to do? Was he going to kiss me again? How would I react? Would I push him away again or let him do it? My blood started pumping through my body at a rapid pace.

“Lydia,” his voice was quiet.

“Yes?”

“I really want to ask you something, but I hope it doesn’t offend you.”

Turning from my designs, I looked up at him. He was standing tall and I couldn’t help but notice that sitting in my office chair put me directly in front of his crotch.

“What is it?”

“I would like to know if you would, uh—that is, uh—I would be honored if you would consider letting me take you to dinner. Like a date,” he grinned.

“A date?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, well I usually don’t go on dates with my clients.”

“Then just consider it dinner then. You have to eat. I have to eat. We can eat together, at the same table, can’t we?” He smiled even bigger, if that was possible. Damn, that smile was dashing.

“Yes, I do have to eat.”

“So, would you eat with me?” his brow raised above his light green eyes.

“I suppose so,” I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my lips.

“I have a ton of work to do on the ranch tomorrow, but I could do Wednesday night. I could come into the city and pick you up from your place.”

The thought of him standing at my doorstep made me a little anxious. That would mean that he would have to drop me off and give me a goodnight kiss, and honestly I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stop him if he did. There would be no slapping this time. I would want to ride this cowboy, and ride him hard.

“Um, I have another idea.”

“I’m listening,” he said, as he crossed his strong arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. His sexy tattoos were very visible on his toned forearm. I pulled my gaze away from them.

“I could come out to the ranch tomorrow and help you with your work. I have to take some measurements anyway. Then we could maybe eat after the work was done. I do like that diner in town,” I offered.

His brow pushed forward as though he was shocked. “Help? On the ranch? You?”

“Uh! Yes. Why do you say it like that?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a stiletto and black stockings kind of place,” he said with a laugh.

“I resent that. I didn’t wear my business suit when I came out the first time to take photos and such,” I stood up and put my hands on my hips. Who did he think he was talking too?

“Don’t you have to be here tomorrow?” he asked, looking around the office.

“No. I don’t have clients coming in tomorrow, and besides, your project is so big I’ve devoted most of my time to it anyway,” I said.

“Alright then. Let’s see what you’re made of, Myers.”

“Great. What time do you get started with your work?”

“Seven. And that’s a.m.”

“What?!”

He laughed. “Why don’t you come any time after ten?”

“Good. I don’t want to get stuck in rush hour anyway. I’ll be there at ten.”

I put my hand out to him. He grabbed my hand and shook it, but held on, then our eyes met. The grin on his face fell, and so did mine. We just stood there staring at each other, and I could feel the roughness of his hard-working hand.

“Knock-knock,” Whitney said loudly, and pushed the door open. “Oh sorry!” she looked at us standing close together behind my desk with my hand in his. My mouth fell open.

“Whitney! Uh, Mr. Dawson was just leaving,” I pulled my hand from his and put it on his arm, pushing him toward the door. It did not escape my attention how hard and muscular that arm felt under my hand.

“Okay,” Whitney said smugly as she stepped back out of my office into the hallway, where she stayed.

“So, thank you for taking time to show me the designs, and I will see you again tomorrow,” Connor entered the hallway and headed for the reception area.

“Well, hello there,” Janet said, as she walked in through the front door carrying a box of samples.

“Hello ma’am. Let me help you with that,” Connor grabbed the box from her and set it on the counter. I was both surprised and aroused by his manners. How could this be the same brash cowboy from the dance hall that I saw fighting in the parking lot?

“Thank you, and you are?” Janet had a big flirtatious smile on her face.

“I am Connor Dawson, ma’am,” he tipped his hat.

“Oh, so you’re Mr. Dawson. I’m Janet Patton of Patton Designs. Thank you for using our services. I hope that you are finding them satisfactory so far.”

“Yes ma’am, the best,” he said.

“That is very good to hear. You are in good hands with Lydia.”

“Don’t I know it,” he grinned.

“I bet you do,” Whitney whispered at my side. I elbowed her quickly.

“Well, thank you for coming in today, Mr. Dawson. I’ll be getting back to you on the items we discussed,” I said, using my most professional voice.

With a tip of his hat, he said, “Ladies,” then walked out.

“Well, he’s a tall drink of water,” Janet said, moving to her box and digging through it.

“And I know someone that is thirsty,” Whitney mumbled under her breath. I shot her a dark look that said cool it. She just pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh.

“Help me with these,” Janet said.

“Coming,” we said, and set to work.

I was just glad the encounter with Connor didn’t end with some bigger form of embarrassment.

13

Connor Dawson

The next morning I rolled out of bed feeling damn good. I was going to see Lydia again. Not only was I going to see her, but she offered to spend the day with me, helping with my work on the ranch. For me, that was incredible, even though I didn’t think a girly girl like her could handle more than an hour of ranch work. It didn’t matter though, I just wanted a chance to get to know her.

But as my feet hit the floor I realized something. “Shit,” I said to myself. I ran to my window overlooking the driveway. Abi’s pick-up truck was out there. I hadn’t thought this through. When I was agreeing to having Lydia come out, I wasn’t thinking about Abi at all. My mind had been so focused on Lydia’s lips, her sexy smile, and everything else she had going for her that I hadn’t thought about the corner I had backed myself into by agreeing to her idea of coming to the ranch. With Abi and Lydia together, I was sure to get caught in my lies to both of them. Dang it!

Quickly, I jumped in the shower then made my way down to breakfast. Wyatt was cooking up a large pan of eggs with potatoes. Dylan was making a fresh batch of coffee, and Father was sitting behind his newspaper, as always.

“There you are. Come shred this block of cheese,” Wyatt looked at me.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m on it,” I looked around the kitchen and Abi was nowhere in sight. I leaned back and peeked out the back screen door to see if she was gathering ingredients from the garden. She wasn’t back there. Then I heard her come down the stairs.

“Alright I’m off. I’ll see y’all later!” She grabbed a slice of cheese from the cutting board in front of me and popped it in her mouth.

“Where are you off to?” Dylan asked.

“Tanner’s on his way to pick me up. I’m going with him to look at some horses over in Greenville. He values my opinion,” she said, confidently.

“Well, he should. You’ve got a fine eye for horses, girl,” our father said without putting his paper down.

“Thanks Father,” she said with a smile.

Honk. Honk. Tanner’s horn blared.

“That’s him. Gotta go,” she said.

“Y’all ain’t gonna eat breakfast first?” Wyatt asked.

“Nah, we’re gonna pick up breakfast burritos and coffee on the road. See ya,” she darted out of the kitchen. The slamming of the front door followed.

I exhaled in relief. This was perfect timing and I couldn’t be happier.

“Hurry up with that cheese, would ya? What are you staring at?” Wyatt shouted at me. I had been staring at the wall, holding a block of cheese and the grater in my hand.

“Alright, hold on.” I got to work grating the cheese and passed the cutting board to him. He mixed it in with the eggs and potatoes. Ding! The timer went off. “Biscuits are done!” Dylan shouted.

“I got ‘em,” I said, grabbing the oven mitt and pulling out the biscuits. A few minutes later we sat down to scrambled eggs filled with potatoes, onions, and cheese. Plus biscuits and gravy on the side. Soon, I was making my rounds on the ranch. Since I knew Lydia was coming around ten, I wanted to get the harder stuff out of the way. I worked quickly, and saw Wyatt give me a strange look, probably wondering why I was ripping through my chores like a Texas tornado. Then I remembered how they were the last time when Lydia had showed up without me warning them. They were jerks. Now that it was nearly ten, I knew I better prepare my idiot brothers or they would say something to make a fool of me.

“Dylan!” I shouted, as I walked over to Wyatt. He was fixing the bolt on the small tractor. Dylan was pushing a wheel barrow full of manure from the stable to the gardens.

“What? Can’t you see I’m dealing with some shit!” he shouted back.

I laughed. “Okay, that’s a good one, but put that shit down and get your ass over here!”

“Dang it,” Dylan huffed.

Walking over to Wyatt, I waited for Dylan to jog over.

“What’s going on?” Wyatt turned the wrench on the loose bolt.

“Alright, now listen you two. Lydia Myers is coming over today. I don’t want to hear nothin’ about her slappin’ me or dancin’ with me. No teasing her at all, got it?”

“Ooh, someone’s got a date,” Dylan teased.

“And he’s nervous or he wouldn’t be warning us like this,” Wyatt grinned.

“I mean it, y’all,” I warned.

“When is she coming?” Dylan asked.

“Any minute now.”

“Dang it, Connor. You got a pretty girl comin’ right now when I’m arm deep in shit?” Dylan said.

Wyatt laughed, “That’s alright. She’ll get the real version of Dylan Dawson that way—a little shit.”

“Hush or I’m gonna bring some of that shit over to you,” Dylan teased back.

Just then, Lydia’s car turned down the road. I took a deep breath. Wyatt was right, I was nervous. I hated being nervous. Girls had never made me nervous before. What the hell? “Now listen, I’m gonna show her some things around the ranch, so don’t come nosing about. Then she’s gonna do some work inside the house, too. Keep your mouth shut,” I pointed my finger at Wyatt, and then at Dylan. They both were fighting back laughter. Dang it. I rolled my eyes and walked toward the driveway. It would be a miracle if one of them didn’t try to make an ass of me at some point during the day.

“Mr. Dawson,” Lydia said, getting out of her car as I walked over.

“Connor. It’s Connor,” I replied. I noticed that she was wearing even more casual clothes than the last time she was here. This time she wore lace up boots, jeans, and a tank top. She had a white straw hat in her hands. It wasn’t exactly a cowboy hat, but it was still adorable.

“Right. So Connor, I’m ready to work,” she said as she put her sun hat on.

“I was just about to get started feeding the chickens. Wanna help?” I arched a brow.

“Absolutely. I love chickens,” she said. Her gorgeous smile nearly knocked me on my ass.

“Right this way then.” I held out my hand in the direction of the coops, and we walked side by side. While she was looking around, I was looking at her. Damn she was pretty. Her platinum blonde hair was in a braid down the side and draped over her shoulder. She smelled really good, too.

“Have a nice drive in from the city?” I asked.

“Yes. Actually it felt much shorter than the previous drives. I didn’t even finish my coffee.”

“Well, we have plenty of that here, and water. That’s important too. But I know what you mean about that drive. You know, a lot of people that live in Safety actually work in the city and do that commute twice a day.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. I guess that makes sense though. It’s really just like a suburb outside the city,” she arched her brows.

“Alright, here we are.” I opened the gate to the chicken pens and hooked the wire to keep it open. “Now, these here are free range chickens. As you can see they’re already heading out the gate to the grass patches back here. We just put them back in the pen near sundown and then inside the actual coop overnight.”

“That is very interesting. So, they just stay out here roaming around all day?” she asked.

“Yes. It makes them happy.”

“Freedom does that,” she smiled.

“Now, we’re going to feed them. Pay attention now,” I said playfully, as though I was giving a life lesson. She laughed, and it was music to my ears.

“Just dig a bucket into the feed,” I lifted the box of feed and dipped a small bucket in. She grabbed a small bucket and did the same thing. “Good,” I said as I closed the box. “Then we come out here to the chickens. Now, we can’t just dump a pile of feed, they’ll get too excited and fight each other and then the weaker ones don’t eat. It’s an ugly thing. Trust me, you don’t want to see it.”

“A chicken fight?”

“Yep. Chicken fight—bad,” I joked.

She laughed again and I thought, finally, a woman that gets my humor. I liked making her laugh. “So, what you do is get a handful and then sprinkle it out like this.” I grabbed a handful and sprinkled it all around in different directions as I walked.

“I think I can handle that.” Lydia walked away from me and began to do the same thing on the opposite end, spreading the chickens out.

“Look at that! You’re a natural!”

“Why thank you, Connor.”

When we were done with the chickens I took her to the stables. I had this grand notion of taking her out on a romantic ride.

“Now, the key to saddling a horse is to let the man do all the heavy lifting,” I joked.

“Oh, is that right?” she said, arching a brow.

“Yep. See, I can lift this saddle off the rack easily and put it on Sunshine’s back,” I said, showing off just a little as I lifted the heavy saddle and placed it on the horse.

“Mmm-hmm, what else, Mr. Expert,” she teased.

“Then you have to belt the saddle on the horse gently. I like to whisper to the animal first, and gain its trust, but of course I’ve known this horse for years. Isn’t that right, Sunshine,” I whispered to the horse, scratching her nose. Lydia laughed again. Then she joined me and was scratching Sunshine as well. She seemed to have a way with animals.

After I was done cinching up the saddle, I mounted Sunshine. “Alright now, you. Hop on up. Use the step and get behind me,” I said.

“Together? I don’t get my own horse?” she asked.

“No. I think it best that you ride with me for your first time and all. It’s just safer that way. I want to show you around the ranch,” I said.

“Alright, if you think that’s best,” she said. She stepped on the small step and mounted Sunshine, putting her arms around my waist. I felt the heat of her body on mine. She smelled amazing. My body was responding to her already. I grinned, “Now hold on tight.”

“Yes sir,” she said, leaning in closer as she moved her hands onto my stomach. A small groan escaped my mouth and I really hoped she didn’t hear it.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

I pushed Sunshine into a trot, darting out into the back pasture, just to warm her up. Lydia laughed, and her laugh was infectious. A grin came across my face and she held on tighter. It felt good and I was having a great time with her. But after I slowed Sunshine down a little, I wanted to show her around a bit.

“I’m going to take you over by the silos, which is where we keep the grain.”

“Those are massive. I wasn’t expecting them to be so big this close up.”

“Yeah. That seems to be what catches most people off guard.”

After I showed her around the ranch, I led Sunshine to the back of the house.

“Are you hungry? This is about the time I eat lunch,” I said. “I’ve got some cold sandwiches waiting for us in the fridge.”

“Yes, I could definitely eat. I really worked up an appetite,” she said, climbing down from Sunshine. I climbed down after her and let Sunshine roam free.

“She won’t run off?”

“No. She’s a good horse. She’ll just graze in the back pasture for a while and then make her way to the stables when she’s ready. She’s very smart,” I said.

“That is very cute.”

I led Lydia to the back door and peaked in slowly. No one was in the kitchen. It was fortunate that Dylan and Wyatt were too busy and had already come in to eat on their own earlier in the day. “Come on in.”

“Could I use the bathroom to wash up?”

“Sure. Up the stairs and second door on the right.”

“I’ll be right back.”

I washed up in the kitchen sink which gave me time to get the lunch together that I had made earlier. I grabbed a large tray and put two plates on it with two glasses. I pulled the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge and set it on the tray as well. I completed it with cloth napkins and silverware.

“That’s nice,” she said, coming into the kitchen.

“I thought we could eat on the porch. There’s a nice table out there.”

“Yes, I would like that. What can I help with?” she asked.

I pulled the large container full of sandwiches from the fridge and handed it to her. “You could carry this.”

“No problem.”

I carried the tray out to the porch and set it on the table. We looked out over the ranch as we ate.

“What’s next?” she asked.

I arched my brow at her. “You’re not tired?”

“Heavens no, I’m having so much fun.”

“Alright. You can help me with the goats, sheep, and milking the cows if you like?”

“Yes, I would love to. Do you think I could get my measurements first right after lunch? It will only take me about thirty minutes?”

“Take all the time you need. There’s still plenty of daylight.”

“Did you make these?” She held up her ham, cheese, and avocado sandwich.

“Yes.”

“Really good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, as I smiled at her. She smiled back. We just looked at each other, holding that gaze. I wanted to say a lot of things in that moment. I wanted to say that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I wanted to say again that I was sorry for kissing her on the dance floor and that I was usually a better gentleman than that. I wanted to tell her that I needed to see her every day because she occupied all my thoughts. But I didn’t. I didn’t say any of it. I didn’t want to scare her away. So we just stayed silent, looking at each other. It was only when she pulled her gaze away from mine and looked out over the land that I stopped staring at her. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

After our refreshing break of sandwiches, lemonade, and water—she took her measurements while I put things away then freshened up in the bathroom. Then we were off to work again. The hours working at her side went by in a flash and we laughed a lot.

It was a very long day and I was surprised she was able to keep up the way she did. I wasn’t expecting it at all. She was more than just a girly girl, and I had no idea.

“Now, let’s go over to the barn,” I said, once we were done with the rounds and the sun was starting to approach the horizon. We walked through the large open doors.

“Well howdy, “Dylan said, as he put the shovel in the ground and held onto the handle, looking at us with a big stupid smile. I already knew what was coming. He was going to say something to embarrass me—that’s just what we did to each other.

“Howdy,” Lydia said back.

“You having a good time?” he asked, with grin that implied so much.

“I am. How’s the work coming?” she asked.

“It’s coming along, but I’m starting to get hungry. It’s just about time for dinner. Say, I have an idea, why don’t you join us for dinner?”

I gave him a look. I wasn’t planning on having her stay for dinner. At least not here. I wanted to take her out to dinner, and we were planning to go to the diner. That way, I could have some alone time with her. Sitting around the dinner table with the family was not romantic at all. In fact, it could be disastrous if Abi returned.

“I would love to. Thank you, Dylan,” she said.

She turned to look at me and I immediately turned my frown into a smile. “Great. That would be just great. Should we go wash up?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” she said.

“I’ll see y’all in a little while. I think Wyatt is already in there prepping dinner. Perhaps you all could help him since Lydia is such a good help around the ranch?” Dylan said. I was able to secretly narrow my eyes at him. He just laughed. He was having a good time setting me up for disaster, and I would have to get him back for it later.

“That would be lovely. I never expect a free meal, I like to pull my own weight.”

I smiled at her and led her away from the barn, giving Dylan one last angry look over my shoulder. I only hoped that Tanner had a lot of work with Abi, and that they wouldn’t be home until after Lydia left.

14

Lydia Myers

I was having such a good time at Dawson Ranch. My boss would kill me if she knew what I was up to. It wasn’t professional to spend time with a client like this. But I just couldn’t help myself. This tall cowboy had gotten in my head. I couldn’t get enough of him and I didn’t even feel guilty about fondling him when I was sitting behind him riding the horse. I could feel his strong six-pack abs underneath my fingertips. I made it a point to move my hands up and down more than necessary. It was wrong, but I couldn’t help it.

The ranch was more than I had ever expected. I remembered Whitney telling me that the ranch provided for the whole town one way or another, but seeing it had exceeded my expectations.

After seeing the place, it all made perfect sense. There was a lot of work on both the farm side of things and the ranch side. No wonder these brothers were incredibly fit and rugged, they had grown up doing this every day. There was nothing more attractive to me than a real cowboy.

Now, I sat around the table with these cowboys, about to eat dinner.

“We are glad to have you here with us for a meal, Miss Myers. Just because you are our employee doesn’t mean we can’t be friends,” Connor’s father said.

“Thank you, Mr. Dawson. That means a lot to me. I regard your family as more than just clients as well,” I said.

The sound of the front door slamming made Connor tense up beside me in his seat. I thought it was a strange reaction to have in his own home.

“Something sure smells good,” Abi said, as she walked into the kitchen.

“You are just in time, Abi. I’m just getting the pot roast out of the oven,” Wyatt said, opening the oven door and pulling out the large baking pan. She was right, it did smell really good.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw me. “Oh, hello Lydia. Good to see you.” She walked to the sink and washed her hands, looking confused. I could feel Connor being tense next to me.

“I didn’t know we had an appointment today. I hope you haven’t been waiting for me long,” she dried her hands and sat down at the table. “Since the meeting yesterday was canceled, I guess I didn’t get the message that you were coming today.” She gave Connor a look.

I realized then that Abi had no idea that Connor had come to the meeting by himself the previous day. Obviously, he told her that it was canceled. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind right then and there, but I knew it would only make the situation worse. So I held my tongue.

“I am sorry you didn’t get the message. I’ll make sure you do next time, and send an email directly to you. I have all my files with me today, so I can show you after we eat. I already took the extra measurements I needed to get.”

“I would love to see the designs. I’m really excited to get started on the remodeling,” Abi said.

“Here it is. Don’t touch the pan, it’s very hot.” Wyatt set down the pot roast in the middle of the table and everyone moaned in delight. I myself was very hungry after a hard day working on the ranch.

“That looks wonderful, son,” Mr. Dawson said.

“Don’t thank me, I just put it in the oven. Abi prepped it last night and put it in the fridge. She is the food magician around here.”

“In that case, thank you Abi and Wyatt,” Mr. Dawson joked. We all laughed, and I thought it was strange to see Mr. Dawson being lighthearted. He didn’t exactly look like the type to make a joke, but I guess Connor got it from somewhere.

Wyatt cut the pot roast in the pan. Next, he loaded a plate that was passed to him with pot roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, and green beans, then he handed the plate off and did the same thing with the next plate until everyone around the table had a plate in front of them.

As we ate, I realized just how much I enjoyed being with this family. They were loud, funny, and teased each other with love. Being away from home and my family, it was making me a bit homesick. I could get used to dinners at Dawson Ranch. While Abi and Dylan were fighting about the last piece of pot roast, I turned and looked at Connor. He was smiling at me and there was a sparkle in his eye. I smiled back, and really enjoyed sitting next to him after the day we had shared on the ranch.

“Lydia? What do you have going on Friday? Connor and I are going dove hunting. Would you like to join us?” Dylan asked out of nowhere, catching me completely by surprise.

“I really doubt that a girl like Lydia would want to go shooting, Dylan,” Abi said, in a somewhat rude manner. I didn’t know why it felt like she didn’t like me, but it did.

“Actually, I would love to go,” I said.

“You would?” Connor asked.

“Yes, I would.”

“All right then, come hunting with us. But we do go very, very early. Before the sun is up,” Connor smiled at me.

“I think I can handle an early morning. I haven’t done it in years and it will be good for me,” I said.

I got a glimpse of Abi frowning and realized that she didn’t want me hanging out with her brother. Maybe she thought it was unprofessional of me, and I realized that was probably why Connor had lied to her about coming to the meeting.

“That’s good. See, even Miss Myers knows what a good early rise can do for the body. It’s a good thing to do,” Mr. Dawson said.

I liked hearing him approve. It was nice to have his validation, and when I looked at Connor, he was beaming with pride, as though happy his father approved of me.

After dinner, I sat with Abi at the kitchen table, showing her the designs and having her approve the appliances, paint color, and a few furniture pieces for the living room. She was really into the work and I was glad for it, because I didn’t want her to bring up anything about Connor and I. It was obvious that I wouldn’t like what she’d have to say about it, so I needed to keep it professional when talking with her.

When we were done, I said my goodbyes to the lovely family and Connor walked me to my car. This was my chance to clear things up and try to understand what he was doing.

“You know that I have to ask,” I said.

“I know. Trust me, I didn’t think I was going to get away with it,” he said.

“Then why did you do it? Why did you lie to her and tell her the meeting yesterday was canceled? Lying is not a good thing, Connor. That is your sister.”

“I agree. Honesty is better, but you don’t know my sister.”

“That is not a good excuse, Connor,” I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest and leaning against my car door. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this.

“You aren’t going to let me off that easy, are you?”

“No sir, I am not.”

“The truth is—I just wanted to see you. I wanted to talk to you alone. I knew the only way I could do that was if Abi wasn’t with me. I know it was wrong and I don’t like lying to my sister, if that’s what you think. I did it on the spur of the moment. I regret it, but I don’t regret having that moment with you in your office.” He grinned.

I gasped. He had felt it too, the chemistry between us in my office. I had to admit that I was glad he had come alone too, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. I shouldn’t reward dishonesty.

“I think I should get going. I have the drive back and all,” I said, trying to get away from the new chemistry that was brewing between us. I did want him to kiss me, but not where his family could see and cause problems. I would need to wait, but it would be an excruciating wait.

“Let me get the door for you ma’am,” he said, teasing me because he knew I didn’t like being called ma’am.

“Thank you, sir.” I teased back.

He opened the door and I climbed into my car.

“So, I’ll see you on Friday then,” he asked.

“Yes, you will.”

He smiled and closed my door, then took a few steps back. He just stood there staring at me with that gorgeous sideways grin. His tall body standing there, sturdy as a tree, was a lot to take in. I turned on my car and drove out of the driveway. I sighed, saying, “Lydia, what are you getting yourself into with this cowboy?’

Driving over the cattle guard and onto the main road, I put my phone on speaker and called Whitney.

“Where have you been all day?” she asked.

“You won’t believe it. What are you doing, and do you have wine?”

“I am home doing nothing, and I have two bottles of red.”

“Great, I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“In that case, I’m going to walk to the corner market and buy a cheesecake to await your arrival,” she said.

“This is why we are best friends,” I said, then hung up the phone.

The entire drive back to the city I couldn’t stop thinking about Connor and riding behind him as we toured the ranch on the horse. Something simple had been so romantic and sexy. It was a true cowboy moment, and I knew deep down that I liked it a lot. Not only was it nice to be that close to him and inhale his manly scent, it was also sexy to watch him ride. Doing the hard labor on the ranch with him was like hours of foreplay for me and my body had responded to him. Watching his muscular form pick up a bag of heavy feed and throw it on his shoulder made me want to bite my lip. Damn, he was sexy. I was glad that we hadn’t been alone on the ranch or I would have wanted to make my fantasy of doing it in a pile of hay come true.

I reached out and turned the AC on in my car as I was starting to feel heated just thinking about him. Turning up the music, I tried to get my mind on the song and off of his incredible body.

Then I thought about sitting around the table having dinner with his family. I hated that I’d enjoyed it so much, because it made me a little scared. These were supposed to be my clients, and it was turning into much more than that. Janet couldn’t know about any of this.

The thirty minute drive back to the city felt like it was taking forever. I needed to talk to Whitney as soon as possible. Finally, I found a parking spot on the street in front of her building. I grabbed my bag and got out.

“What kind of cheesecake did you get?” I asked, speaking through the intercom of Whitney’s high-rise apartment building.

She laughed. “I’ll buzz you up. And I got chocolate.”

“That’s what I’m talking about—”

Buzz.

The front door unlocked with a clunking sound. I walked in and made my way up to her apartment.

“What happened? Where have you been?” Whitney looked really confused after she opened the front door and I walked in, all tired and dirty. “You look like you’ve been in a dustbowl.”

“What do you think? Where do you think I’ve been? Cow town,” I said, putting my bag down on the floor and walking over to open the wine. She cut into the cheesecake, putting slices on the plate.

“No! Really? Safety? Connor?” She asked in rapid fire succession, avoiding the real question.

“Yes. I was with him at his ranch. We had a fun and romantic day and I helped out with the chores,” I said, wrinkling my nose and preparing myself to get in trouble.

“Doing chores? That’s romantic for you?” She handed me a plate of cheesecake, shaking her head. I handed her a glass of wine and we walked over to the couch.

“Well, not just chores. We went for a horseback ride, touring the ranch. Um, on the same horse.”

“What? Lydia! Very naughty. What would Janet say?”

“I know. I know. But hey, you’re the one that’s always pushing me to date the clients.”

“That is true. So are you dating Connor Dawson?”

“No, I didn’t say that. I just meant—well—I guess it could go there.”

“That’s great! So, what’s the problem?”

“Didn’t you say that he was rowdy? And I’m sure that I saw him brawling at the dance hall that night. He is fine, a true cowboy, but he also might have a temper that he’s hiding from me.”

“Not this again. I already told you that not all men are like your last boyfriend. You have to let go of that. Yes, it is smart to be cautious, but you can’t let it hold you back from enjoying life.”

“But you’re the one that told me the Dawson brothers are always in trouble,” I said, drinking the wine.

“Yes, I did say that, didn’t I? But, I just meant it in a ‘boys will be boys’ kind of way. Besides, that was a long time ago and Connor is a grown man, I’m sure that he’s not like that anymore.”

“I saw him fighting, at least I think it was him.”

“Right, that was just a few weeks ago. Well, he is your client, so you have to see him anyway. I wouldn’t put too much stress on yourself. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to see him on Friday.”

“Oh, are you having items delivered? Did they approve the designs already? Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, I’m going dove hunting with him and his brother.”

“What?”

15

Connor Dawson

I nearly lost it when Abi walked into the kitchen that night. I didn’t know how to handle it. I wasn’t prepared to have Lydia stay for dinner, but of course Dylan had put his nose in my business. I knew the whole thing was a disaster waiting to happen.

But I wasn’t expecting Lydia to cover for me. When Abi asked why she cancelled the meeting, I knew I was done for and that a big fight was about to explode and ruin dinner, and my chances with Lydia along with it. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Lydia covered for me and that only made me like her more. She was calm and collected in answering Abi, and there was something really nice about having her support me already. I felt guilty that I made her lie for me though. It was not a good way to start dating someone. She called me out on it when I walked her to her car. Lydia was a woman that was not going to take my bullshit, and maybe that was what I needed. Maybe it was what all the Dawson men needed.

Then of course Dylan had to go and be nosy again and ask Lydia to join us to go hunting. I knew that Abi was mad about that invitation, but I wasn’t. I didn’t think Lydia would accept, but I was glad that she did. Now I would be seeing her again.

“Get your ass out of bed,” I kicked Dylan’s leg. He was still asleep.

“What? What time is it? And don’t kick me, you jerk,” he said, in a groggy voice.

“Hey, it’s not light yet, but you need to get up. I’m all ready to go. I’m headed into the city to pick up Lydia. She’s expecting me at five. I’ll meet you out on the land as soon as we get back. Get up. You know it takes you time to eat your breakfast, and you still gotta put the guns in your truck and all.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m up,’ he said.

“Here’s some coffee,” I set a cup of coffee down on his nightstand.

“Wow, thanks. You‘re never nice. You must really like this girl.”

“Yes, I do and I don’t need you messing it up, so don‘t go saying anything stupid when we’re out there.”

“I will try my best not to embarrass you more than three times, but that‘s all I can promise,” he said, chuckling as he combed his fingers through his hair.

“Right. I’ve got to get going. Now get up,” I said, as I left his room.

“I am up, I’m up,” he said.

A few minutes later I was on the road headed toward the city. It was twilight outside but the dawn was about an hour away. I was excited that Lydia was going to join us on the dove hunt. And surprised. She didn‘t seem like the type to go hunting, especially when I thought about her sitting behind her desk in her little black skirt and stilettos. But maybe she was the adventurous type. I was anxious to see how she would handle this. I hadn’t thought about much else for the last two days since she’d left the ranch. Lydia Myers had been occupying my mind more and more.

I pulled into the driveway of a small duplex. So this was her place. It was a small city bungalow type. I turned off my headlights and walked to the door, straightening my hat. I rang the doorbell and waited. I was nervous. No woman had ever made me nervous the way she did.

“Hey Connor,” she said, opening the door.

“Lydia, you look fantastic,” I said, looking at the way she was dressed. She wore an olive green army jacket, perfect for hunting. Her jeans were tucked into tall boots that went up to her knees, perfect for going through tall grass, especially because of the Texas rattlesnakes.

“Thank you, Connor, I’m ready to go.”

“I’m impressed. The sun isn’t even up, and not only are you ready to go but you are accurately dressed for the hunt. My brother wasn’t even up when I left the ranch. I had to wake him.”

“I think there is a lot about me that might surprise you,” she said, walking past me toward my truck. I raised my eyebrows as I watched her perfect ass while she walked away from me. Damn, she was beautiful. I opened the door for her, wanting to please her. She climbed in, and I shut the door and went around. This was going to be interesting.

“Is there a coffee drive thru that will be open somewhere?” I asked.

“Yes. I stop by one every day on my way to work. I’ll show you where it is, and yes it’s open. It’s actually open all night.”

“Twenty-four hours? I like it. The diner in Safety is open 24 hours, too. There’s something about eating breakfast and having coffee at three in the morning at the diner that I like. It’s nice and cozy,” I said.

“Cozy? I didn’t think you tough cowboy types were into cozy,” she said, as I backed out of the driveway.

“I think there is a lot about me that might surprise you,” I said, echoing her words back to her. She laughed, catching the joke. Her laughter was music to my ears.

A few minutes later we had coffee cups in our hands and were driving out of the city.

“So, where exactly are we going, Connor?”

“My family owns a plot of land just east of here. It is about fifty acres or so of natural land and brush. It floods in the rainy season and isn’t good for farming or building, so we keep it for hunting, camping, and just to get away sometimes. There’s a small cabin on the north side, but there are also campsites for pitching tents on the south side. We’re going to the west area where there are lots of mesquite trees, which is where the doves should be around dove season.”

“Your family has land out here? I like that. It must be nice to be able to go camping and not have to deal with parks, rangers, and other campers. I would love to go camping one night and look at the stars and all,” she said.

“You would?”

She laughed. “Just because I’m a city girl now doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the outdoors. I enjoy it immensely.”

“Then I would love to take you camping. Let’s do it sometime soon,” I said, already thinking about cuddling up next to her in front of the fire pit and making love to her inside a tent.

“I would love that.” She turned and gave me a brilliant smile. It had been a long time since I had spent this much time and effort on one woman. I had to admit that I was used to playing the field with more than one woman at a time. This was new territory for me and I realized it was because Lydia was different. There was just something about her that I couldn’t put my finger on. I knew that I was constantly thinking of ways to impress her, and that the moment I saw her at the dance hall was the closest thing I had ever felt to love at first sight in my entire life. If there even was such a thing? Now having her sitting next to me made me feel both nervous and excited at the same time. I felt alive, and I hadn’t even finished my coffee yet.

“This is it. Off to the left,” I said, pointing out the land off the road about twenty minutes later.

“This? It’s beautiful Connor. What I can see of it, anyway,” she said.

We drove down the dirt road that led to the area of the land that we were hunting on. The sun was just starting to peek over the trees and the sky was a brilliant orange. Dylan was sitting on the tailgate of his truck drinking coffee from a thermos. He smiled as we pulled up next to him.

“I guess he got out of bed after all,” Lydia laughed.

“Thank goodness.”

“Y’all ready to get our dinner?” he said, speaking loudly.

“Absolutely,” Lydia said, getting out of the truck before I could answer.

“All right then, let’s get to it. I’ve already been scouting the trees and can hear the doves in that area,” Dylan appointed.

“First I need to show Lydia how to shoot,” I said.

“Oh, I already know how to shoot,” she said.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. Besides, if we start shooting we’ll scare off all the birds. Then what’s the point?” she asked.

“Yeah Connor, what are you thinking?” Dylan teased, by agreeing with her. “If the lady says she can shoot, I believe her.”

“All right, if you say so,” I said, thinking that maybe she was being over-confident. Maybe she had shot a pistol at a firing range once or twice and thought she knew everything there was to know. I would just have to make sure we were really careful when she had the rifle in her hand.

“Y’all ready?” Dylan said a few moments later as we all stood side-by-side with rifles in our hands. “I’m going to fire a warning shot into the tree line, and the doves will fly into the sky.”

“I’m ready,” Lydia said.

“I’m going to let Lydia take this round,” I said.

“One, two, three,” Dylan fired a warning shot.

The birds flew up into the air. Lydia fired several shots and I couldn’t believe my eyes as three birds fell out of the sky. She had them point blank. She stopped and turned to look at me with a big smile on her face.

“Woo-hoo! Look at that, Connor. This pretty little lady is a better shot than you!” Dylan said.

“Yes, she is. That was very impressive,” I said, admiring her. I realized she was right. There was a lot about her that surprised me. I knew then that there was a lot about her I didn’t know and was eager to find out. She was a mystery to me.

We spent the entire morning hunting and having a good time. Lydia continued to be an expert marksman. She took down more birds than Dylan and I combined, and we were both shocked.

Around nine, we sat on the tailgates eating the breakfast burritos I had packed that morning. It was good to sit out in nature and enjoy the moment. I couldn’t take my eyes off the beautiful woman even when I was surrounded by the beauty of nature.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to the ranch. I still have a lot of work to do, even though it will be a late start today,” Dylan said, when we were done eating.

“Make sure to take care of those birds when you get back.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know the drill. Lydia, it was a pleasure. I have never seen a woman shoot like you did this morning,” Dylan said, politely.

“It was fun, Dylan. Thank you for inviting me.”

“Connor, I will see you back at the ranch later, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m going to take Lydia home and then I’ll be on my way.”

Dylan said his goodbyes and then drove off. Lydia and I were close behind, but as soon as we got out to the main road we headed in the direction of the city.

“Are you going to tell me where you learned to shoot like that?” I asked, sitting beside her as I drove.

“Nope.”

“Oh, I see. You want to retain a bit of mystery. I can understand that. All right, keep your secrets, you mysterious beautiful woman.”

She laughed at my joke.

When we pulled up to her house, I walked her to her door. I wished that I had planned a longer day with her, because now that it was time to say goodbye, all I could think about was how much I didn’t want to.

“It was a lot of fun. It’s been a long time since I did something like that. I had a great time,” she said, as she unlocked the front door.

“I am more than happy to have been the one to give you that much fun. You know, Lydia, you are not what I thought you were. You have a lot more cowgirl in you than I expected.”

“Thank you,” she said, looking up at me with those gorgeous eyes. She licked her bottom lip. Was that an invitation? The last time I kissed her, she slapped me. It wasn’t exactly a good idea for me to try to kiss her again. I didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good morning, but the tension growing between us as she looked up at me was growing thicker by the minute. I couldn’t help myself, so I leaned down and kissed her softly.

To my surprise, she didn’t pull away. Or slap me. I kissed her deeper, putting my hands on her back. Her small petite body felt good against me. I wanted more and more of her. Then, to my surprise, I felt her hands move on top of my shoulders, but she didn’t stop there. She pulled me toward her, pulling me inside of her home. This was a pleasant surprise.

My body was already responding to her and I could feel my cock growing hard. Kissing her felt good, it felt right. I closed the front door and she kept pulling me towards her. We kissed greedily, moving toward her couch. She pushed me down on it, and I sat down, completely surprised. She smiled and straddled me, just like a cowgirl. She mounted me and kissed me some more. I was in heaven. This was turning out to be a very eventful morning.

16

Lydia Myers

I straddled him. This was a cowboy that I wanted to ride. My hands pressed against his strong chest, feeling the muscles underneath his western shirt. Muscles that rippled as he moved. Kissing him with deep passion, as though it was pent up between us for weeks, and it had been, on my part anyway. His lips were soft as mine brushed against them. Then he stopped kissing me and looked at me with those light green eyes.

“What?” I asked, surprised.

“I’m just glad you didn’t slap me this time,” he grinned.

I laughed. “I am so embarrassed about that, but I definitely won’t be doing that today.”

“I deserved it. But I just couldn’t help myself. I mean, look at you,” he said, in kind of a moan.

His words turned me on. I liked being viewed as attractive and feminine by this sexy and rugged man. Feelings of arousal pushed through me even more than before, forcing me to press my lips against his once more. Strong masculine hands touched my lower back and I moaned at feeling his strength. He became bold, and as his hands moved down over my bottom. I moved mine up his shoulders. As we kissed, my nipples pressed against the fabric of my shirt, aching to be touched by him.

Connor kissed me harder. His tongue moved gently inside my mouth and I pushed my hands into his soft hair. My body responded with goose bumps as Connor’s hands moved up my back and down again, over and over, as though he couldn’t get enough of me. Rubbing myself against Connor, I could feel his hard cock through his jeans. I moaned as the sensitive part of me pressed against the bulge. I was getting wetter by the second and I wanted him badly.

“Connor, do you have a condom?” I asked, breathless.

“Yes Lydia, I do.”

Connor put his large hands on my waist and lifted me up, turning me. He laid me down on my back on the couch. Lifting himself up onto his knees, he pulled out his wallet and took out a condom.

“Not here,” I stood up and grabbed his hand. He smiled as I led him from the living room to the bedroom.

“You are so beautiful, Lydia,” Connor whispered, as I pulled him along.

“Thank you, Connor.”

As soon as we entered the bedroom he pulled me to him and kissed me firmly. I smiled through the kiss, noting his enthusiasm.

“I just can’t get enough of you,” Connor said, while his large hands moved down my back. He moved forward and I stepped backward with him while we kissed, toward the bed until the back of my legs pressed against it.

Greedily, I pushed my hands into the waistline of his jeans and pulled at his shirt. I wanted to feel his hard stomach. Connor’s hands did the same on my back, pulling my shirt up. Fumbling, we both stopped and smiled at each other. I pulled my own shirt over my head, while he took his off. He sighed as he put his hand on the cleavage peeking out of my bra. Then he kissed my neck, going further down until his lips were on the valley between my breasts. He kissed softly and I pushed my hands into Connor’s hair.

My bra was becoming a nuisance so I unhooked it. He did the rest of the work, taking it off of me. “Damn,” he said, as he looked at my bare breasts. His hands followed his gaze, massaging my nipples. I threw my head back, indulging in the pleasure.

I couldn’t wait any longer. “Take your jeans off, cowboy,” I ordered.

“Yes ma’am,” he said with a grin. I watched as he pulled off his boots, then his jeans and boxers. He stood there, naked and perfect. The ripped and toned features of his body were making me want to drool. Muscular thighs surrounded his large and long cock that was very rigid. I bit my lip as I allowed my gaze to take in his abs and strong arms. He really was a rugged cowboy.

His lip curled up into a sideways grin as he stepped toward me. Connor’s hands moved to my jeans, quickly unbuttoning them. I looked down, watching his strong hands delicately move. As he did so, the back of his hand grazed my stomach, further and further down. A moan escaped my mouth.

Connor grabbed the waistline of my jeans and panties, pushing them down to the floor in one swift move. I put my hand on his shoulder to steady myself as I stepped out of them along with my boots. He moaned as he kissed my thighs, slowly raising himself up. The pent up sexual tension gathering between my thighs couldn’t wait anymore. I turned around and climbed onto the bed on all fours.

“Oh fuck, that’s damn sexy,” he said, watching me. Then I laid down on my back with my knees bent and my feet flat on the bed.

“Come here, cowboy,” I motioned with my finger.

“Yes ma’am,” he said. He picked up his jeans and pulled out the condom. I watched as he tore it open and rolled it onto his hard cock. I could watch him do that over and over, I thought to myself. Connor climbed on top of the bed, positioning his body between my thighs. His lips met mine in a delicious kiss. I loved feeling the heat of his naked skin against mine. He smelled so good, like a man. Every fiber in my body made me feel like this was right. This was what I had needed for so long.

“I want you more than I can tell you Lydia, but I want to make sure that this is what you want,” he said as he looked at me. His light green eyes focused on mine.

“Yes Connor. It’s what I want. I want it—badly.”

The thick tip of his cock pressed against my wet entrance. I couldn’t help but open my thighs wider, beckoning him in deep. I wanted to beg, but there was no way. Not yet.

Connor pushed inside of me, slowly. I moaned and pressed my lips against his strong shoulder.

“Lydia, you feel so good. You are so tight.” His words were thick with lust as he pushed in, inch by inch. The sensation of him filling me was exquisite. I never wanted to let go of him.

Some part of me wanted to be concerned with the idea of letting him have all of me. I didn’t know him that well, but I yearned for more. There was no stopping now. We’d gone too far. And I wanted to go further.

With a deep groan that reverberated through his body, he reached the depths of me. He stayed there for a moment, as though savoring it. Then he moved, gliding himself out of me slowly, then in again. I ran my hands up and down the sides of his tight body as he moved.

“Yes Connor. Oh Connor,” was all that I could say, over and over again. Tiny pulses grew between my thighs as I moved closer and closer to orgasm.

“That’s it, baby. Take what you need from my body.” His voice sent shivers across my exposed skin.

“I’m going to come. Connor, I’m going to come,” I whispered, between biting his shoulder and kissing it.

“Give it all to me.”

That was all I needed. My body tensed and then released. The wave of pleasure tore through me, making me realize that it had been months since I had a man give me this kind of feeling. I groaned in response.

Connor slowed his movements, and covered my mouth with his. My body went limp against the bed. He stopped and just stayed inside as he kissed me. His hand massaged my breast.

Then he started moving again. “Mmm-hmm, now you are so damn wet. Fuck.”

He slid back and forth, over and over. His movements became faster, pumping his hips.

Groaning, he said, “I’m going to come. I can’t hold back.” I held onto him and felt his muscles get tight as his breath fell on me. A sexy moan escaped him and I knew that he had achieved his orgasm. The weight of his body fell on top of me as he allowed himself to relax.

We both lay there, not saying a word. It was pure enjoyment of the afterglow surrounding us. I knew that I had needed that release badly. Connor pulled out and lay beside me on my bed. I was still experiencing the fulfillment of orgasm.

“That was incredible,” he finally said.

I smiled. “Yes, I will have to agree with that.”

“I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Neither was I. You just looked so cute standing there at my door that I couldn’t help myself.”

“Well, I should stand at the door more often,” he said with a smile.

“I guess Dylan will be expecting you at the ranch.”

“I don’t care.”

“Don’t you have a lot of work to do? It’s not the weekend.”

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked at me. “Are you trying to get rid of me already?”

“No, not exactly. It’s just that I have to come out tomorrow to meet with Abi and finalize the order. I’ll feel strange if Dylan realizes that you did more than just drop me off at my house.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, and Dylan does like to talk.”

“Well.” I wrinkled my brows together, silently pleading with him.

“Okay, I’m going. You’re just gonna use me for sex and that’s it. I get it.” He clearly enjoyed teasing me.

“Oh hush.” I playfully patted his chest. He kissed me.

“I’ll see ya tomorrow at the ranch, and not a word of this to anyone.” I gave the stern warning.

“I won’t. I promise,” he said, then kissed me again and rolled out of bed. I watched his perfect body as he got dressed. After he pulled his boots on, he gave me another kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll be thinking about this all day. You know that right?”

“So will I.” I smiled.

“Mm.” He moaned. I watched his cute Wrangler butt walk out of my bedroom. I bit my lip and my face felt hot and flushed. I heard the sound of the front door close, followed by the truck’s engine a few moments later. Only after I was sure he was gone did I let out a little happy squeal. I liked Connor Dawson—a lot.

17

Connor Dawson

Lydia Myers had me spinning. I just couldn’t get her out of my mind. I was completely shocked that she had pulled me into her home the way she did. After she had slapped me at the dance hall, I thought I would never get a real chance to be with her. But I was wrong. She had her own way of thinking, and she was actually a bit naughty. I was thinking I would get a quick make out at best, but she had been feeling the same passion that I had. Now, being inside of her was all that I could think about.

I rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn with a smile on my face. Lydia would be coming out to the ranch to meet with Abi before putting in the final order for the remodel, and I wanted to get a start on my chores so I could spend some time with her. It was Saturday so it would be a light day of feeding the animals and a few chores here and there.

Jumping in the shower before anyone else was awake, I took my time. It was hard to get into one of the bathrooms when everyone was up. Abi had her own bathroom attached to her room since she was the only girl. The rest of us shared one full bathroom upstairs and a half bathroom downstairs. First one in the shower was sure to get a hot one. When I was done I went downstairs and was surprised to see the front door open and just the screen door closed.

“Who’s up?” I heard my father say from the porch. I cracked open the screen door and stuck my head out.

“It’s me, Connor.”

“Oh good. Son, I want to talk to you. I made a pot of coffee already. Grab a cup and come have a seat out here.”

“Yes sir,” I replied, and did as I was told. I assumed he wanted to talk about the progress I was making with Dylan in teaching him the books and all. I stepped out onto the porch with a cup of coffee that had a splash of milk and a sprinkle of sugar. I sat down next to his rocking chair.

“It’s a fine morning,” I said.

“Yes, it is. I like it like this. Quiet. With nothing but the roosters crowing before the day gets started,” he said.

“Yes, I can agree with that.”

“So tell me, how is this remodeling project going? Is Abi staying on budget?

I cleared my throat as I realized that this was not about Dylan. It was about me. “Yes sir, so far. I won’t let her go over. She is meeting with Lydia today to put in the order, and I’ll make sure the order stays within the budget.”

“Good. That is good to hear.”

“Yes sir.”

“And this Lydia, you like her, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do sir,” I took a sip of hot coffee.

“You like her enough to lie to your sister about the meeting being cancelled a few days ago.”

I nearly spit out my coffee. “Um, I was not aware that you knew about that, sir.”

“Yes, I figured it out. Can’t hide anything from me. You were gone that day for a few hours and you came back grinning from ear to ear. Then, when Abi asked Lydia at dinner why she cancelled the meeting, you turned white as a ghost.”

I tried not to laugh, but this was my father, not one of my brothers. “I didn’t realize I was so transparent at dinner. I didn’t like lying to Abi.”

“That’s good. Don’t lie to your sister. Y’all are family, and family needs to support each other and be honest.”

“I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again.”

“Why did you do it in the first place?”

“I needed to see Lydia alone. At the time it seemed like the only way to make that happen, but I know I was wrong.”

“You need to tell Abi the truth, son. She’s going to find out eventually and you don’t want that hanging between you. Do you want to lose your sister’s trust?”

“No sir.”

“Then tell her.”

“Yes sir, I will. I shouldn’t have let it happen in the first place. I’m sorry I let you down, Father. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

“Lydia is not like any woman I’ve ever had feelings for. I let that fog my judgment. Since Abi is dealing with the remodel it was hard to talk to Lydia alone that day.”

“I trust that you’ll find a different way than lying from now on.”

“Yes sir, honesty.”

“Now, bring that pot out here and refill my cup.”

“I’m on it.”

I walked back inside feeling a little deflated. I didn’t want my father to think less of me. The fact that he knew I lied to Abi was not good. Abi was the baby and our only sister. We all had an obligation to protect her and support her, and my father was very stern about that. I had let him down and that made me disappointed in myself. But now that Lydia and I were on good terms, I didn’t need to hide the fact that I was spending time with her anymore.

“Mmm, hot pot of coffee?” Abi said, as she came down the stairs pushing her hair into a ponytail as I carried the pot toward the front door.

“Yeah, grab a cup and come outside.”

“Alright.”

I walked outside and poured coffee in my father’s cup.

“Was that your sister I heard?”

“Yeah, she’s coming out.”

“This is a nice morning,” she stepped out onto the porch and held out her cup to me.

“Yes, it is. I’m glad you’re up cause your brother has something he wants to say.”

“He does?” She took a sip.

I poured more coffee into my cup and put the pot on the table. “Yeah, I do. You’re not going to like this. I lied about that meeting being cancelled at Patton Designs. I went without you.”

She stopped drinking her coffee and looked at me, then Father, then back to me. “Why would you do that? You lied to me?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry. I regret it very much.”

“You said you weren’t going to lie to me. You already lied to me about seeing Lydia at the dance hall, remember?” she said, getting angrier.

“No. I did not lie about that. I just kept it a secret, because it was my secret to keep. That’s personal.”

She huffed. “I don’t believe this. You’re incredible, you know that?”

“Look, I didn’t do it to hurt you or because I didn’t want you at the design meeting. I did it because I really, really, like Lydia and I wanted to speak to her alone. And I know how you feel about all the women that your brothers tend to like.”

“That’s not true!”

I gave her a look.

“Well, maybe just a little.”

“Just give Lydia a chance. I know that you’ll like her as more than just the woman doing our remodeling. She’s great.”

“You really like her, huh?”

“I do.”

“She makes you happy?”

“Yes, so far. It’s still early, but I want to see where it goes. I’ve never liked anyone the way that I like her. She’s coming out later today to finalize the order with you. Just give her a chance?”

Abi sighed. She was quiet as she thought it over. “I’ll give her a chance if you promise not to lie to me like that again?”

“Deal.”

“And if you get in there and make breakfast this morning,” she added.

Our father let out a small laugh.

“Fine. I’ll make breakfast.”

“Well, alright then,” Abi sat down to drink her coffee and propped her feet up on the porch railing.

“Where is everyone?” Dylan said from inside.

We all laughed. I went inside to start on breakfast. I opened the fridge and pulled out a dozen eggs and placed them on the counter. I felt good. I had set things right with Abi and didn’t have that secret looming over my head anymore. Father was right, as he always was. It was better to be honest with Abi. I grabbed the sausage, pancake mix, and chopped vegetables. I was in a good mood so I was going to make a damn good hardy breakfast.

18

Lydia Myers

I couldn’t get Connor out of my mind. After he left my home, I laid in bed remembering having sex with him. I knew that I shouldn’t have been so quick to jump into bed with him, but I could not help myself. I felt a lust for him that I hadn’t felt in a very long time. My body had taken control over my mind. Connor Dawson was a true cowboy and had gotten under my skin. The rest of the afternoon I spent lounging around the house and finalizing the designs for the remodel that I’d need the next day. But I had a hard time getting through work the rest of the day. I wasn’t scheduled to go into the office and I was glad for that. I didn’t want to go in. However, being around the house was a distraction. When I sat on the couch, I thought about straddling Connor and how good it felt to feel his hard cock under me. When I went into my bedroom I thought about him standing there naked. All over my home, Connor was there, in my imagination. It made it hard to get any work done.

I gave myself the rest of the evening off as a treat. I had been up since four that morning anyway. So, I took a long hot bath, ordered Chinese food, and ate it in bed in my pajamas while watching an old movie. I went to bed early with a smile on my face. Connor Dawson had that effect on me.

So, when I woke up early Saturday morning I was in a great mood. Since I wasn’t scheduled to go to the ranch until the late afternoon, I was able to keep my plans to meet Whitney for brunch. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to keep this secret from her.

I put on a bright yellow summer dress with sandals, perfect for brunch, and I put my hair in a high pony tail. I felt like I was glowing. When I left my house I stopped in the doorway and thought about how Connor had kissed me. I was glad that he had, and felt my body flush all over again. “Okay, you’re not going to get anything done if you keep doing this,” I said, pushing myself out of my heated thoughts and making my way to my car.

Driving to Whitney’s side of town, I pulled into the valet stand at the restaurant. Whitney was walking down the sidewalk toward me with a big smile on her face.

“Miss,” the valet said, holding the door open as I got out.

“What is this news you have to tell me?” Whitney asked, coming right up to me.

“I’ll tell you once we are seated. Can we at least get a table first?” I said, not wanting to tell her in front of the valet.

“Fine, let’s get seated. I’m just dying to know. You know you can’t text me ‘I have something to tell you’ without me becoming anxious,” she said.

I laughed. It was true and it was part of why I did it. That and I didn’t want her to cancel brunch for a lazy Saturday in.

A few moments later, we were seated at a table with coffee and water, and had already ordered our brunch.

“Now, are you going to tell me?” she asked.

“Yes, but you have to keep this between us. You can’t go blurting it out in front of Janet by mistake.”

“Is this about Connor?” She had a big smile on her face. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I smiled. I couldn’t help myself.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you slept with him. I can see it all over your face.”

“Lower your voice,” I said, looking around feeling embarrassed.

“Sorry. This is fantastic! Don’t you know what this means? It means that you’ve gotten over your fear. Your last boyfriend really did a number on you, and now you are free of that. Hallelujah!”

“I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I guess you’re right. I do feel a weight lifted off of me.”

“So, how was it?”

“I’m not going to tell you that. I will just say that he is a true cowboy, rugged and strong.”

“I am so jealous. Those Dawson boys have always been very cute.”

“I really do like him, but that scares me as well.”

“Why?”

“Because he is a client. What if this all goes away when the job is done?”

“I wouldn’t think about it like that. Besides, if it does at least you had some fun right? You can’t start things and expect them to be the one you are going to marry, or you’ll never date. Just have fun with it and see where it goes.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I know that I am right,” she said with a big smile. “I am so proud of you. You’ve moved on.”

“Yes, I have taken steps toward being romantic again, but just little by little.”

“You know he’s long gone, Lydia. He’s never going to hurt you again. He moved away from Texas and that part of your life is over. He’s your ex-boyfriend and you never have to think of him again,” she said quietly.

I looked down at the tablecloth. I didn’t know if he would ever truly go away. I always thought that men wanted to hurt me the way he did. It was hard to shake that after what I had been through with him.

“Here we are. One huevos rancheros with potatoes and a side of flour tortillas, and one avocado Denver omelet,” the waitress said, putting our food in front of us.

“Anything else?”

“Could I get more coffee and water please?” I asked, knowing I had a full day ahead of me at Dawson Ranch.

“I’ll have the same,” Whitney said.

“Coming right up,” she said, and walked off.

“I really do love this place. The outdoor garden is amazing and perfect for brunch,” Whitney said, looking around.

“Yes, it’s beautiful and it’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining but it’s not too hot,” I said, looking at the sky.

“Oh my, you really did get laid. Everything is wonderful when you have a lover,” she laughed.

“He’s not my lover,” I whispered.

“Uh-huh. So when do you see him again?” she asked.

“Today.”

She raised her brows at me.

“What?”

“Not your lover but you’re seeing him again today?”

“It’s for the project. I’m putting in the final order today for the appliances and the furniture. So I have to go out there to run it by Connor and Abi before I do.”

“So it’s for work?”

“Exactly. It has nothing to do with what happened between us,” I said, already feeling myself lying. It was such a hypocritical move after giving Connor a big speech about lying and now I was doing the same thing to my best friend.

“Well then should I go with you?”

“No!” I answered abruptly.

She raised her brows at me again. Then we both started laughing.

“I mean, I can handle it,” I said.

“I bet you can. All seven inches of him—no? Six? Six and a half?” she teased.

“Shhh!” I laughed.

“But I am really happy for you and proud of you, Lydia. You need to move on with life. No matter what happens between you and this Connor Dawson, this is a step in the right direction.”

“Thanks. Now should we dig into this before it gets cold,” I said looking down at the delicious food.

“Absolutely. I’m so hungry,” Whitney said, picking up her fork.

“More water and more coffee,” the waitress said appearing with a pitcher of coffee and water. As soon as I saw it I thought about the pitcher of lemonade that Connor had brought out on the porch the day that we had lunch. Damn it. I had it bad.

After brunch and hearing a few more naughty comments from Whitney, I went home to change. I got out of my yellow sundress and put on jeans, boots, and a t-shirt. I put on sunblock and braided my long hair over my shoulder. I grabbed my bag filled with my work and was ready to go.

I grabbed another cup of coffee at the drive thru and then left the city. I really was starting to enjoy the drive to Safety. There was something very relaxing about it.

When I turned down the road to Dawson Ranch I started to get nervous. This was the first time that I was going to see Connor after having sex with him. What if he was cold to me? I really didn’t know him that well and it wouldn’t be the first time a guy I slept with suddenly switched on me. I took a deep breath and gave myself a pep talk. “Don’t think that way, Lydia. Connor isn’t like that.”

I drove over the cattle guard and down the driveway toward the beautiful house with the wrap-around porch. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Connor on top of a black horse galloping across the field. I had to slow down to watch and make sure I didn’t crash into anything. He looked so attractive on top of that stallion. His cowboy hat was snug and low over his eyes and his strong body was leaning over the neck of the horse, keeping his mount in the gallop. I stopped the car and put it in park to watch him. He veered the horse in my direction and I saw a white toothed grin on his tanned face. He was the sexiest cowboy I had ever seen.

I got out of the car and waited.

“Lydia!”

I turned to see Abi coming out of the house toward me and I suddenly felt anxious. I had forgot about the sister that didn’t like me when I was looking at the rugged cowboy galloping toward me. But after all, that was the whole point of being at the ranch, to do my work.

“Abigail, so nice to see you. How are you?” I said, with my biggest smile.

“Call me Abi,” she said, and she smiled as she came toward me. I was so confused. Was this the same girl?

“Alright then, Abi it is.”

“I am so excited to see what we can order. Of course my brother there will be keeping tabs on my budget,” she said, looking toward Connor who was now getting closer.

“I am excited, too. I have everything in my bag. Just let me—” but I couldn’t finish my sentence. As Connor got closer I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He was just so attractive and he brought out this lust in me that I could not contain.

“Lydia?” Abi said.

“Oh, right. Sorry, it’s in my car. I’ll get it right now,” I said. A big smile came across Abi’s face. Was she making fun of me because I was drooling after her brother? I opened the door and pulled out my bag.

“Afternoon ladies,” Connor said, finally arriving on the horse. He didn’t get off his mount, instead he spoke to us from that height.

“Hey,” I said, looking up at him. He was so handsome.

“Connor, we’re going inside to complete the order for the remodel,” Abi grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the house.

“Alright, I’ll come check on you in an hour to go over the budgets,” he said.

“Okay,” I smiled. I was unsure of what to think. I was planning on having at least some private conversation with him, but that wasn’t looking like it would be the case.

He tipped his hat at me again as I walked away.

“I can’t wait to see the appliances,” Abi said, already thinking about the work.

“Yes, I think you’ll really like them.” I turned and looked over my shoulder one last time, looking at the gorgeous cowboy riding away.

Abi and I sat together at the kitchen table working through the order. I liked that she was warming up to me. I wanted her to like me, because I liked Connor. The amount of respect I had for his family was substantial and growing.

“How’s it going in here?” Connor came through the back door.

“So fun! I wish we would have done this a long time ago. Lydia has really great ideas,” Abi had a big smile on her face.

“That’s good to hear. Let’s take a look at that budget,” he washed his hands in the kitchen sink.

Abi leaned back in her chair. She looked at me and then at him. A sly smile came across her face. “Yes, we can talk budgets, but we should also talk dinner.”

“Dinner?” Connor asked taking a seat.

“I think it’s about time you take Lydia out for a nice dinner,” she said.

“Abi—” he said, giving her a look.

“Yep, tomorrow night,” Abi said. I laughed at her audacity to intrude on her brother’s affairs.

He cleared his throat. “I would actually love to take you to dinner tomorrow night. If you’re available?”

“Yes, I would like that.” My face turned a bright red at having this moment in front of his sister.

“Good, that’s settled. Why don’t y’all go over this order and see if it’s in the budget. I’ll be right back,” Abi stood up and walked out the back door.

“That was odd,” I said to Connor.

“Not odd for a Dawson. There is absolutely no privacy in this family.” He winked at me with a smile.

I laughed at the openness of this family, but I was also glad for it because I now had a proper date with Connor.

19

Connor Dawson

“Getting ready for the big date?” Dylan asked, leaning against my door.

“Why didn’t I close my door?”

“It’s good that you didn’t in case you need advice from me. So how are you going to romance her?” he asked, crossing his arms across his chest as though he was an expert.

“Oh, like I would take advice from you? I’m older remember.” I laughed.

Of course, Dylan had no idea that Lydia and I had already become very comfortable, but no one needed to know that.

“Older, but I’m better with the ladies.”

“I’m taking it slow with her. It’s just dinner,” I said, buttoning up my shirt. “I gotta go.”

“Slow is for old people,” he said, after I’d grabbed my wallet and hat on my way out the door.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t wait up,” I said, going down the stairs.

I was glad that Lydia had agreed to a proper date. Truth be told, I actually was a little nervous. I drove out of Safety toward the city to pick her up. This date was a good thing and I was glad that my sister had mentioned it. There was very little that I actually knew about Lydia and that was because most people got to know each other on a first date. We hadn’t gone through the traditional route of getting to know each other, so I was glad to have the chance to do that.

“Hey, you look good cowboy,” she said, answering her front door a few minutes later after I pulled into the driveway.

“You look stunning,” I said, looking at her red dress with the tiny straps on her shoulders.

“It’s a hot night, and very humid,” she said, as she walked out of her home. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Her platinum blond hair was up in a messy bun with tendrils touching her face and neck, and there was a lot of skin showing. The way her hips swayed in that dress was making me aroused.

“I’m suddenly glad for the hot and humid night. Less clothes,” I said, looking at the small dress that she wore with red heels to match. She giggled a little. Opening the door to my truck for her, I got a glimpse of her thigh as she climbed in. Damn, how was I going to get through dinner when I was already so turned on?

“I just have to tell you again how beautiful you look,” I turned on the engine and backed out of the driveway looking at her as I lay my arm on the seat to look over my shoulder.

“Thank you. So where are we going?”

“I did my research and found a restaurant called The Tree Garden,” I said, as I turned to her for her approval.

“Oh, I’ve heard good things about that place. It’s supposed to have a lovely décor,” she smiled.

“Good, I was a little worried about finding a nice place.”

“It sounds good to me.”

I drove across the city to a prominent area. I only wanted the best for her and hoped she would approve.

“I am hungry,” she said, as we pulled up to the valet.

“Me too. Let’s hope they have more than trees,” I quipped. She laughed, and it was a beautiful sound to my ears.

A few minutes later we were walking into the restaurant. “Oh Connor, its lovely,” Lydia said. Looking around the restaurant I saw what she meant.

“Talk about bringing nature inside,” I said.

“It’s a good thing for a humid night like tonight,” she said. “Look at all the beautiful plants and trees. It’s basically a restaurant inside a greenhouse.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it,” I said, as I looked at all the plants. There were trees all along the outer walls, hanging plants from the ceiling, and small plants throughout the space.

“Isn’t ‘Mother Nature’ is a beautiful interior decorator,” Lydia asked, with a big smile on her face. It made me smile to see her that happy and I felt good about picking the restaurant.

“Yes sir?” the host said.

“Reservations for Dawson,” I said.

“Dawson, yes right this way. Our best table,” he said. Lydia raised her eyebrows at me. I smiled, really glad the host had said that out loud. We were led to a corner booth, private and lush with greenery.

“Your waiter will be over shortly,” he said, as he gave us menus and walked away.

“Oh Connor, I love it here. Thank you,” she said.

“Thank you for coming,” I said.

“Hello, can I get you started on drinks?” The waiter appeared placing water in front of us in a large decanter.

“Champagne for two,” I ordered.

“Yes sir,” he nodded and left our table.

“Champagne?”

“Yes. I can only have two glasses since I’m driving, and will have to follow it up with coffee, but I wanted you to enjoy it.”

“Thank you. I love champagne.”

“Good,” I cleared my throat and realized just how nervous I was. It had been a long time since I took a woman out on a classy date. I was used to the dance hall followed by the diner as a date, but I was trying really hard to impress Lydia.

“So, what do you think is good here?” she asked, as she opened her menu.

“That’s a good question. What are you in the mood for?”

“If I told you what I was in the mood for, we would have to leave the restaurant,” she said quietly.

My eyes darted up from the menu at her. She was being flirty and sexy and I liked it. She kept her eyes on the menu, looking innocent, as though she had not said something so naughty.

I cleared my throat, realizing that her words were making me hard. “That’s one hell of a statement ma’am.”

“Here you are, champagne,” the waiter interrupted our tense moment. Lydia restrained her laugh. The waiter poured the champagne in our glasses and set the bottle in a silver ice bucket. “Are you ready to order?”

“Yes. I will have the soup to start, and the filet mignon with baby potatoes and vegetables with butter sauce and saffron rice.”

“Very good ma’am,” he said, and then looked to me. I hadn’t even looked at the menu items, so I said, “I’ll have the same.”

“Very good sir,” the waiter took our menus and left us.

Lydia looked at me and smiled. If she kept up with the flirty chatter, I was going to have a hard cock the whole time and not be able to enjoy a real date with her. So I took matters into my own hands.

“Tell me Lydia, how do you know how to hunt like that? That’s not something a city girl knows. That was some fine shooting.”

“I’m not a city girl.”

“What? What do you mean?”

She laughed. “I never said I was a city girl. You just assumed.”

“Yeah, I guess I did. So does that mean you’re a country girl?”

“Yep. A country girl at heart. I grew up on a small farm—very small compared to Dawson Ranch, but a farm nonetheless.”

“So, you just let me go on like an idiot when I was showing you how to feed the chickens?”

“We actually do have chickens on our farm,” she said with a laugh.

I was shocked by her confession, though I should have known. This was Texas after all and she knew a lot of things most people did not.

“You think you’re so funny don’t ya? Making a fool of me.” I smiled at her.

“It was fun.”

“And you know how to milk cows?”

“Yes, I do. And well, the dove hunting,” she bit her lip.

“Dang—you had me good. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me all this.”

“You never asked. Besides I was having a little fun with it.”

“I bet. You like teasing me, which makes you practically a Dawson, since that’s all my brothers do—tease me.”

“I guess I fit in well at Dawson Ranch then.”

“Yes. Yes you do,” I said, as a flash of her fitting in at my family home made me think of her as my forever woman. It made my entire body go hot. The smile fell from her face as though she was thinking the same thing. We stared at each other as images of a future together flashed in our minds. She shifted in her seat so I broke the silence.

“So, you grew up on a farm and know how to work a farm, but it’s not for you? You chose to work in another field.”

“Yes. I went to school for interior design and got a good job at Patton right after I graduated. I haven’t looked for anything else.”

“And you’re happy there?”

“Yes, it’s a good place to work and I get to work with Whitney, but—”

“But what?”

“I think eventually I would like to open my own place.”

“I can see that. You’re smart, talented—you can do anything.”

“Thank you, Connor.”

Her dark green eyes smoldered with heat as she looked at me and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Lydia Myers was very unique and I didn’t know why she had this hold on me. It was the same feeling I had when I first saw her from across the dance hall. It hadn’t changed one bit.

“Here we are,” the waiter set the steaming hot food down in front of us, breaking the tense chemistry between us.

“Thank you, this smells incredible,” Lydia said.

“Yes, thank you,” I said, ready for him to leave us again.

“Anything else?”

“No, we are all set,” I said anxiously.

“Very good,” he nodded before walking away.

“And tell me about you,” she said, digging into her meal while I picked up my fork and knife. “Did you always know you were going to work the ranch?”

“Yes. My brothers and I were brought up that way. The Dawson Ranch is a family business. Though there was a time I thought I would play pro ball—until I hurt my shoulder.”

“Football? I can see that about you. You definitely have the body for it,” she said quietly. I took a deep breath. Her flirtations were driving me crazy. I smiled at her. She was definitely in the mood. I could hear her message loud and clear. An hour later, she would invite me to satisfy her itch.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said, as I walked her to her front door after driving us back to her place.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you had a good time.”

“I did, except for all this humidity. You know, I think I’m going to have to take another shower.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Want to join me?” she asked, seductively.

“Well, I could never say no to that,” I leaned down and kissed her. The entire night had been nothing but foreplay, and now I couldn’t hold back any longer. She moaned as I kissed her and stepped inside. I followed, closing the door behind me.

Lydia pulled away from the kiss and turned her back to me. “Seems like you could use a cold shower already, cowboy.” As she walked away from me toward the bathroom, she pulled her red dress up and over her head, leaving her heels on.

“Fuck, you are beautiful,” I watched her seductively walk away in red panties, no bra, and red heels. I threw off my cowboy hat and followed her. Game on.

20

Lydia Myers

Having dinner with Connor Dawson was fun and exciting. This cowboy turned me on and I had no doubts about him being a real cowboy anymore. It felt like a lifetime since I had asked him that question at the dance hall. Now he was in my home and I had just invited him in for a shower. That was a far cry from slapping him for stealing a kiss. I was the one that was now being forward, and naughty.

He walked behind me as I walked in my red panties and red heels across my living room toward my bathroom. I ran my fingers through my hair, shaking it loose. He groaned as I looked over my shoulder at him.

“What are you doing to me Lydia?”

“You’re dirty. I’m just trying to clean you up a little.” I teased him as I walked into the bathroom and switched on the light. Connor pressed his chest against my back and put his rugged hands on my breasts. “Mmm.” I moaned, as he pinched my erect nipples.

“You’re so sexy, woman. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he whispered in my ear as he placed light kisses on my shoulder. The warmth coming from his body felt so damn good.

“Let me turn on the shower, at least.” I pushed his hands off of me. He didn’t like that and let out a groan to let me know. I turned the shower on, kicked off my shoes, and turned to him. He bit his lip as he looked at me. “So cowboy, are you going to get in the shower with all those clothes?”

“No ma’am,” he quickly started to fumble with his clothing, eagerly taking it off. I stood there watching him as his strong six-pack abs were exposed as he pulled off his western shirt and threw it on the floor. He kicked off his boots and took off his jeans and socks. The toned muscular body that now stood naked before me could belong to a Greek God, so perfect and ripped. I pushed my fingers into the panty strings on my hips.

“No. Let me,” he said.

I smiled. Connor walked toward me and kneeled down. His fingers slipped into the waistband of my panties. He pulled them down a little and stopped.

“Wait. What is this?” he said, shocked.

“Oh right. Did you not see that before?”

“No. I did not. I didn’t know you had a small butterfly tattoo on your thigh. It’s hot as hell.” He kissed the butterfly that was hidden underneath the straps of my panties. Then he slid them down letting them fall. I picked up my foot and then the other to kick them to the side. Connor grabbed my heel and pulled it off my foot. He kissed the top of it. Then he did the same with the other.

“The water is going to get cold if we don’t hurry up.” I turned away from him and stepped into the shower. He followed me in. The hot water beating on my naked body felt good and sexy. Connor was behind me in the shower and put his hands on my wet body. I lifted my hands and pushed them through my wet hair. Once again he put his hands on my breasts and I moaned at the delicious feeling. I grabbed the soap and turned around to face him. Watching the water drip off his gorgeous body had me completely turned on. I smiled and began to run the soap on his strong chest.

“You have a nice touch, girl.”

“I like touching you, Connor,” I said in return, just as I wrapped my soapy hand around his hard cock. He groaned. I washed his hard staff with the soapy hot water, rubbing him up and down.

“Damn that feels good,” he said. “I can’t take too much of that.” He pulled my hand off of him. “My turn,” he said, grabbing the soap.

“If you insist,” I said.

“Oh I do.”

He rubbed the soap on my chest, up over my shoulders and down over my breasts. This was the best foreplay I had ever experienced. Connor took his time washing every inch of my body. He got down on his knees in front of me. Before I knew it, he had pushed his face against my sweet center. My hand went against the shower wall, holding myself up.

“Oh yes. Yes Connor.” I moaned. His hand picked up my thigh and draped my knee on top of his shoulder. Like this, he had better access. His tongue moved up and down my folds. I moaned and held onto the wall and onto him, steadying myself as the hot water beat down on my exposed skin.

Connor moved his tongue skillfully. I was on the verge. This was incredibly sexy to have this cowboy between my thighs while hot water fell on both of us. I felt the pressure of his tongue as it landed on my clit. “Oh! Oh God!” I shouted as he flicked my clit back and forth with his tongue. The man knew exactly what to do.

“Oh Connor. I’m going to come. I’m going to come.” I moaned loudly. He worked faster and I could not hold out any longer. The pulsing feeling gathering between my thighs was building. I released. My body trembled. The orgasm radiated through me. I threw my head back and let the water fall on my face. Connor still licked me, slower and gently.

“Mmm, you taste so good.” He put my leg down and stood up. Strong arms wrapped around my body, rubbing me up and down. I faced him and smiled. He kissed me. This kiss was directly under the shower and the water bounced off our faces as we kissed. I had never had a sexier experience.

“That was incredible,” I whispered between kisses. I wrapped my hand around his hard cock again, wanting to feel him.

“I need to be inside of you, Lydia.” He moaned, sounding desperate. His hand reached behind me and he turned off the water. “Come on.” He took my hand from his cock and led me out of the shower. He picked up his jeans and pulled a condom out of his pocket and smiled at me. I bit my lip. He took my hand and led me out of the bathroom and to my bedroom.

We were both dripping wet. A puddle was gathering on the wood floors around us as we kissed. Our wet bodies pressed against each other, my breasts pressed against his strong wet chest. “I can’t stop saying it—you are so beautiful,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s something I’d ever get tired of hearing,” I said.

He grinned. That delicious boyish smirk made my knees weak. I turned my back to him and climbed on top of the bed. He let out a sigh as he watched me crawl like a wet animal on the sheets. I lay down on my back with my knees bent, waiting for him.

He tore open the condom with his teeth. I watched as he rolled it onto his hard manhood. Then he climbed on top of the bed, over me. His kiss was deep, exploring my mouth. Water droplets were falling from his wet body onto mine. I rubbed the sides of his body with my hands, feeling every muscle as he moved.

“I want to be inside of you. Are you ready for me?”

“God yes. I want you inside of me,” I whimpered.

The tip of his cock pressed against my opening. I spread my thighs wider, letting him in. He slipped inside of me. We both let out a series of moans and sighs as he entered. He felt so good inside of me. When he entered me I felt like I had been waiting so long to have this feeling again. I did not want it to go away.

“You feel too good, Lydia,” he whispered as he moved in and out of me. I was so wet. I loved feeling his strong body on top of mine. We were entangled in a mess of our wet bodies. Our skin slapped together.

We moved against each other for so long that I lost track of time, until my body convulsed with pleasure. “I’m going to come again. Oh Connor.” I released in pleasure, feeling more alive with him than I had any other time in my life.

“Lydia, fuck. Lydia.” He groaned and I could feel his body tense up on top of me. He moved his cock in and out, going faster and faster. Then he groaned louder. He relaxed, and his body pressed against mine. His head rested on my shoulder. A light kiss grazed my cheek. Together we laid there in ecstasy.

I wrapped my legs around his back, holding onto him.

“I should get going. I really do have to be up early,” he said.

“If you want to stay here, I’ll make sure you get up early enough to get back before you have to start your work day.”

“Really? I’d love to stay here. Of course.”

“Alright then, I’ll set the alarm.”

“Mm, I like the idea of sleeping wrapped around your naked body.”

I laughed. “Yes, but maybe we should dry off first and I can change these wet sheets.”

“Good point.” He chuckled softly before pulling out of me. I loved the sound of it. We got up from the wet bed and together prepared to sleep in each other’s arms.

21

Connor Dawson

The light hit my eyes. I rolled over in bed putting my arms around Lydia, I enjoyed sleeping with her. She felt good next to me, I didn't know where this was going between us, I was extremely happy. I pressed my chest against her back, placing light kisses on her shoulder. She moaned lightly in her sleep. Then it hit me, we had turned the lights off. So why was there light hitting my eyes? I opened my eyes to see that it was the sunlight flooding through the windows.

“Shit. I’m late. I’m really late.” I groaned as I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 9 a.m.

I kissed her one more time on the shoulder and rolled out of bed. My father would be pissed.

“What are you doing?” She asked, in her sleep.

“It’s morning. I’m late.”

“Oh no,” she opened her eyes and sat up. “I don’t know what happened. Why didn’t the alarm go off?” She grabbed it off her nightstand and looked at it.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. But I really got to get out of here. Everyone will have been up for hours by now.”

“Crap. I’m so sorry, Connor.”

“It’s fine.” I sat down on the bed and pulled on my boots. Then I leaned over and gave her a kiss. She smiled at me with that brilliant smile. Damn, I was really falling for this woman. “I’ll see you later today. You made an appointment with Abi right?”

“Yes, at 5 p.m. in my office.”

“Alright then, we’ll see you at your office later.” I kissed her again and headed out of her bedroom and outside to my truck. My father was not going to be happy about this. But I also didn’t like that everyone knew I was at dinner with Lydia last night, because that meant they would know I slept over. I didn’t like them knowing so much about my personal life, but it was impossible to hide these kinds of things when you lived with your family, a very big family.

I drove the thirty minutes back to Safety and back to the ranch. I jumped out of my truck and headed into the house at top speed to change into work clothes.

“You’re late son,” I heard my father say. I stopped in my tracks and turned to see him sitting on a rocking chair in the living room, with the newspaper in his hands.

“Sorry Dad, time got away from me. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not. You know how I feel about tardiness. It’s one thing to be late if you plan it, but being late spontaneously is not good for this ranch. You know that Dylan is out there doing your chores. I would be out there doing them for you but I’m about to get picked up by your uncle to go see about a new stock of cattle.”

“No need to do my chores Dad, I’m sure Dylan has it covered. I’m going up to change and head right out there. I apologize again for being late. I didn’t do it on purpose, it was an accident.”

“All right, I hear you. This isn’t something you do often, so I’ll let it slide this one time. But hurry up and get out there, and make sure he’s doing everything right. Double check his work.”

“Yes sir,” I said, as I ran up the stairs. I changed clothes as quickly as I could. I didn’t like hearing my father disappointed in me. None of us did. It was the worst feeling. We all looked up to him and wanted his approval, we had always thought this way since we were young. When we were younger we would even try to be the one to impress him the most. Growing up this way, it felt awful when we disappointed him. So, I didn’t feel good about myself at the moment. But it was done and there was nothing I could do to change it.

As I got back downstairs, my uncle’s truck was pulling out of the drive way with my father inside. I sighed. At least I wouldn’t have to see the look of disappointment in his eyes again until dinner. But now I had to get to it. I had a lot of work to do and only a few hours to do it in, because later I had to take Abi to the city for the meeting with Lydia.

“There you are. Dang it. I’m out here doing your chores and mine,” Dylan shouted at me as I walked toward him inside the sheep pens.

“Sorry about that, Dylan. But whining and complaining ain’t going to make it better. I’m here now you can go on with your own responsibilities,” I said, taking the pitchfork from him. As I started to pull hay from the hay stack and spread it out in the pen, Dylan just stood there. Staring.

“What? Go. I’m here now,” I said.

A big stupid grin came across his face. “So, how was your date? It must have went pretty well if you’re just getting home.”

“I’m not talking about that with you,” I said, ignoring his statement.

He laughed. “So much for taking it slow. Right?”

“Dylan, if you don’t get out of here I’m going to pitchfork your ass.” I gave him a stern warning.

“Alright, alright, I’m going. I would think you’d be in a better mood after conquering the woman that slapped you at the dance hall,” he said, walking away with a big grin.

“Don’t talk about her like that.”

He laughed as he walked away. “I think someone’s in love.”

I stopped working. Shit was he right? Was I in love with Lydia Myers? My brothers knew me best, just as I knew them. If Dylan was seeing that, then he might be right. A smile came across my face. Was it such a terrible thought? It had been a long time since I liked anyone this deep. This was good.

“Hey. What are you so damn happy about?” Wyatt interrupted my thoughts. I snapped out of it and continued moving the hay.

“Nothing. What’s up, Wyatt?”

“I already checked behind Dylan’s work. He did the chickens, the horses, and prepped the feed stock for the cows, but didn’t get them out to graze yet.”

“Thanks, Wyatt. I appreciate it.”

“All good. Seems like she’s worth it.” He smiled, and then turned. I knew that was his way of telling me that he knew I got laid. My grip tightened on the pitchfork. Damn it, everyone knew, obviously. What else could it mean if you went on a date and didn’t return until the next morning?

“Shit,” I said to myself. That meant that Abi knew, too. She had been growing toward being okay that I was seeing Lydia, but would she be alright knowing this far too personal fact? I wasn’t looking forward to our trip into the city later.

The hard work and my attempt to do it in record time proved to be a good distraction from thinking about the chewing out I was going to get from Abi. Not to mention worrying about how awkward the meeting between the three of us was going to be. The fact that Lydia and I had sex and everybody knew it would be an uninvited elephant in the room. That thought made my stomach turn.

“Lunch is ready!” Abi shouted from the back door of the kitchen.

I waved my hand in acknowledgement, but no way in hell was I going in there when everyone else did. I would wait thirty minutes or so for everyone else to eat, then go in and grab something real quick. There was no way I was going to give them all the chance to embarrass me with questions about why I was late. I knew them too well. I noticed when Dylan and Wyatt made their way to the back door and I kept on working. It wasn’t uncommon for us to take lunch at different times. Stopping in the middle of a task just didn’t make sense at times. You just had to keep going ‘til it was done. Because of this it was rare that we all took lunch together. I kept working.

Half an hour later I grabbed a bowl of cold pasta with cherry tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden and cheese from the local dairy. Carbs were good for keeping you going so this was a typical lunch and one that kept nicely in the fridge. I ate fast, not wanting to stay in the house too long. Fortune was on my side as I didn’t meet up with any of my siblings, and soon was able to go back out to work without any embarrassing questions.

Rushing through my rounds was a game I was playing with myself. Seeing if I could be done with the most important items that couldn’t be put off was a personal challenge.

“I’m going in to get ready!” Abi called to me as she passed the barn door a few hours later.

“Alright! I’ll be right in, too!” I said back. Giving myself time to clean up was a necessity after pushing through the work like I had.

Later, we were in my truck and driving toward the city. I could feel the tension between us because she knew that I hadn’t come home the night before. It was quiet, and not even the radio was on. I looked at the console to make sure the heater wasn’t on because I was getting really hot, like I was sitting in the principal’s office about to get a lecture.

“So, you got lucky last night, huh?” she asked.

“Abi!”

“What? It’s true. You didn’t come home.”

“That’s none of your business,” I said, annoyed.

“It is my business. I like Lydia. She’s growing on me, but you have to be careful with these girls, Connor. Next thing you know, she’ll be at the ranch all the time trying to take over, or she’ll be after one of the other boys, or even turn up pregnant and wind up with your piece of the land—”

“Stop it Abi. I get it. This is the same thing you’ve told all of us, over and over. But she’s not like that. That’s all you need to know,” I said, cutting off her tirade.

“Fine. Just be careful.”

“I am careful.”

We were silent again, and I couldn’t believe the embarrassment of having to talk to my little sister about this.

“So, was it good?”

“Abi!”

She giggled herself into a fit as I just shook my head trying to drive. This meeting was going to be awkward.

22

Lydia Myers

“Two extra-large cappuccinos with whipped cream please.” I ordered coffees at the drive-thru window. I was on my way to work and knew that the sweet caffeine packed treats would be needed.

After picking up the order I drove to Patton Designs and parked in the lot. I could see that Whitney’s car was already there, but thankfully, Janet’s was not.

“Well, I feel like I haven’t seen you in a long time. Where have you been?” Whitney said, as I walked in. I was holding out the cappuccino to her.

“I brought you a treat with extra whipped cream,”

“Uh-huh, is this supposed to butter me up?”

“Yes! I'm sorry, I know I haven’t been in the office a lot, or even around the city.”

“Tell me what’s going on then. Yum, this is really good,” she said, taking a drink and leaving a layer of whipped cream on her upper lip. I smiled.

“Nothing, I’ve just been busy is all.” I took a drink of the hot cappuccino, and she was right—it really was good with the whipped cream and all.

“Busy? Do you mean busy with your client, Mr. Dawson?” She raised her brows up and down comically.

“Well, he is my client and I’m redecorating his home, so I’m supposed to be spending time with him, am I not?”

“Oh, that is such a load of crap. Tell me what’s going on. Details please. Did you sleep with him again?”

“Whitney—”

“That is a yes,”

“What?”

“If the answer was no, you would have just said so. Right? So, how was he the second time? He is pretty hot, I’ll give you that.”

I couldn’t contain my smile, and I felt my face turning bright pink. Quickly, I took a drink using the massive coffee cup to cover my face.

“So, what’s on the books today? How are things going with your client?”

“Oh, switching up the conversation, huh? Don’t think for a minute that I don’t know what you’re doing there. You’ll tell me eventually. But I am happy for you, Lydia. This is a really big step and I’m glad you are putting yourself back out there. Seems to be getting pretty serious.”

“Serious? No it isn’t. We’re just having fun.”

“Yeah, just keep telling yourself that,” she said, as she winked at me.

“Where is Janet? Has she been in the office?” I asked.

“No. I haven’t hardly seen her in a few days, actually. I don’t think she has any clients this month herself.”

“That sounds about right. Sometimes I wonder why I even work here anymore. It was fine in the beginning you know, seeing how it all works and making a name for myself. But why should I give her a cut of what my clients pay me now, it's not like she does any of the work anymore, and she’s not even here half the time.”

“You can always open up your own place if you like. For me, I like this structure. I don't want to be taking care of the books and feeling the pressure and expenses of running a place. So it works out perfectly for me right now,” Whitney said.

“Yes, I suppose there is that. I think I could run the books, eventually. How is your client?”

“Good. I have a few more days on the final touches, just putting in the decorations mostly. All of the major pieces of furniture are already in and the walls have been painted. It’s just an office though, not a big project like yours. Kind of boring, but I’m used to the routine.”

“Speaking of my big project, my clients will be in this afternoon, so don’t be snooping around and making jokes. His sister is coming with him, so don’t be inappropriate.”

Whitney laughed, “When am I ever inappropriate?”

“Uh, pretty much all the time,” I said, teasing her.

“Well, you might be right about that.”

“So, try to keep it to a minimum please,” I said, walking down the hall to my office.

“Yes, Mother. I’ll try. But you better be careful with that Dawson boy. Remember, I told you they have quite a reputation for getting themselves into trouble. I mean, if you’re getting serious and all, that’s something to think about for the future.”

“Yes, Mother. I’ll try,” I said, giving it right back.

Sitting down at my desk, I started to go through my work for the day. But I couldn’t stop thinking about something Whitney had said. The fact that it looked like Connor and I were getting serious. But we weren’t getting serious, were we? Yes, I had slept with him, but it was all in the name of fun and flirtation. I couldn’t get serious with a rugged cowboy like him. Whitney warned me that he was rambunctious, just like his brothers, and that wasn’t the kind of future I wanted. So, I couldn’t get serious with him. We were just having fun. I repeated that last statement in my mind over and over—just having fun. As though I was trying to convince myself.

I worked throughout the day and had a quick lunch with Whitney, grabbing a slice from the pizza joint down the street. It was good to be back into my normal routine, just like she had said. I’d been spending a lot of time in the land of Connor Dawson, and I needed to remember to concentrate on myself as well. It was just hard when he was so handsome, not to mention that cute butt that fit so perfectly in his Wrangler jeans.

Before I knew it, five o’clock had come and I heard the bell on the front door as they walked in. Of course, Whitney just happened to be out front to greet them. I knew she was there in order to give me crap and tease me.

“Hello Dawson’s,” she said, loudly enough that I could hear her from my office. I quickly jumped up from my desk and stood in front of the mirror, giving my appearance one last check and wiping the extra lipstick from the bottom of my lip. Then I headed out front.

“Hello Connor. Hi Abi,” I said, with a big smile.

“Well, hello Lydia,” Abi said, looking at me with a sly smile on her face. I knew what that look meant and my face instantly turned bright pink. I was mortified. She knew that Connor and I had slept together. I looked at him, searching his face for answers, but he just sort of looked away with an awkward smile. Of course she knew, they would all know because they knew we’d gone to dinner the night before, and he didn’t go home until this morning, and late at that. The significance of all that hadn’t hit me until just now, and the way Abi looked at me had me feeling extremely embarrassed. Whitney had a massive smile on her face, so she clearly knew what was going on, as well.

“Why don’t you to come to my office and we can get started,” I said, giving me the chance to turn my back to them and hide my face. I could feel the sweat on my body from feeling so embarrassed.

“I’ll be right out here if you need any help,” Whitney said, a little too loudly.

“Thank you,” I said.

I walked to my office, allowing them to enter first, then made sure to close the door. I didn’t need Whitney making this even worse.

“Please, have a seat. Can I get you anything?”

“No, we’re fine. I’m very excited for this next step. I’ve been asking Father about this for such a long time, I’d given up thinking it would actually happen,” Abi said, as she sat down.

“Yes, we are getting very close to actually putting things in the house. Today, I want to review the paint colors one last time to make sure we have that right. Once we do that, I’ll book the painters to come out and paint at your convenience, though I must warn you it will be disruptive. Everything will need to be moved out of those rooms, of course, just so you know. We don’t want to risk damaging those heirlooms and antiques. I can book a crew to come and do this for you if you prefer,” I said.

“No need to do that. It’s nothing my brothers and I can’t handle, and I’m sure my father wouldn’t want anyone else handling those items anyway,” Connor said, as he sat next to Abi with a smile on his face. I knew he was right. He and his brothers were very strong, and I knew they could easily handle it.

“All right then, I’ll give you fair warning once the painters are booked. Now let’s go over the paint samples that you picked out to begin with and we can make our final decisions,” I said, pulling out the paint sample book and laying it on my desk. I could feel Connor’s eyes on me. He kept staring at me and I knew he was probably thinking about what we’d done the night before. Flashes of it kept distracting me, and I knew it was not very professional, especially in front of his sister. Forcing myself to focus, I drew Abi into a conversation finalizing the color choices.

“Okay, now that we have the paint taken care of, I just want to show you the order request that we did for the furniture. It’s already been submitted, but I wanted to double-check with you, and verify the paint schedule. If everything looks good, I’ll have them schedule delivery and we’ll get it coming for early next week,” I said, showing the order request to both of them.

“Yes, this all looks good to me. Just as we discussed. I absolutely love it, Lydia. You did really good with these designs. It is exactly what I had dreamed of when I wanted to update everything but keep the farm and country look of our heritage. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I know that Father is going to like it too, once he sees it all together,” Abi said.

“Thank you Abi, that means a lot. I have worked hard on this project and there’s still a lot more work to come.”

“I agree with Abi. It looks like home, only fresh and brighter. I like it, too.” Connor gave me a wink. I smiled. He was always able to make me smile, just by looking at me with those gorgeous eyes.

“I have to warn you though, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, once we start clearing the rooms, painting and all. But if everyone will hang in there with me, I promise that you’ll love it when it’s done. I will be there along the way to make sure everything gets done correctly, and that everything ends up in the right place when the furniture delivery happens.”

“Great, so is that it?” Abi asked.

“Yep, that is everything for today. Thank you so much for coming in. I’ll keep you both updated on the painter situation.”

I stood up, officially ending the meeting. They both stood up as well and Abi grabbed her purse, heading toward the door.

“Abi, can you give me a minute and wait in the truck. I’ll be right there,” Connor threw his keys to his sister. She caught them and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t take too long, it’s damn hot out there,” she said. Then, turning to me, she gave me a smile. “Thanks again, Lydia, I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks Abi. There are drinks in the small fridge up front, help yourself,” I said.

“Thank you very much,” she said, and then walked out.

Connor moved quickly and closed the door. I gave him a look.

“It’s wasn’t very nice of you to ask your sister to wait outside in this heat. She could wait in the lobby, you know,” I said.

“Is your boss here?”

“No, why do you ask?” I narrowed my eyes, wondering where his mind was going.

He put his hands on my desk and bounced them up and down, as though testing his weight on them.

“This is a good sturdy desk you have here.”

“Connor Dawson! We will do no such thing. My coworker is here and your sister is outside. This is the middle of my work day, in my office. No! Absolutely not!”

“Well, you can’t blame a cowboy for trying. I mean, look at you. I just can’t get enough of you.”

His words warmed my heart. I liked hearing him talk like that, and it did turn me on. For a moment a quickie seemed reasonable because he was turning me on. Just his presence had that effect on me.

“No, and that is final, you bad cowboy.”

“Well, what are you doing this weekend? The local fair will be going and I’d love for you to come with me? I’ll win you a prize, I promise.” He whispered this, leaning closer toward my face, and then finally planted his lips on mine. His kiss was soft, and lingered. I let out a soft moan.

“Yes, I think I could do that.”

“Great, I can’t wait to see you.”

“Okay, we’ll go to the fair.”

He kissed me again, and then pulled away. He walked out the door and I took a deep breath, pleasantly turned on and feeling like I could use a cold shower.

23

Connor Dawson

It was awkward having to sit there in front of Lydia with Abi at my side, because Abi knew what had happened the night before. But my family would all eventually know anyway. I planned on seeing a lot of Lydia, I couldn’t get enough of her. So, it was just as well they knew and we got that out of the way. It was just very inconvenient and awkward to have them know my business.

Because of that I worked hard all day Tuesday, getting into my work, and really catching up on it. I had to admit that I had been lagging because of the time I’d been devoting to Lydia. So Tuesday was a good day for catching up. It was a hot Texas day and all of us were very hard at work. By the end of the day, I was feeling pretty exhausted.

“You got the line ready for the fair?” Wyatt asked, coming over to the barn.

“You know it. They’re ready,” I said.

“Good, that’s what I like to hear. It will be strange not showing this year,” Wyatt said.

“Yeah, but that’s how Father wants it. It’s good in a way, we can’t keep winning every year with our Brangus cows. They won’t let us win any longer, so it’s good to take a year or two off and keep that mystery alive.”

“Dang. It’s a hot one today. I’m through, y’all about done?” Dylan came over taking the headband off from under his cowboy hat and dunking it in a bucket of water to wipe the sweat off of his neck.

“Yeah, I'm done,” I said.

“I finished, too,” Wyatt said, with a smile. “Tanner headed out already.”

“How about we go get a cold one? We deserve it.”

“Not me. I have to go shower and clean up. I’ve got a hot date,” Wyatt said.

“Who you got a hot date with?” Dylan asked.

“None of your business, that’s who. I’m going in,” Wyatt smiled, and walked toward the house.

“Alright Connor, looks like it’s just you and me. Let’s go get a cold one and play some pool.”

“It’s Tuesday. I don’t think we need to go get drunk on a Tuesday. Save it for the weekend, brother,” I said.

“Oh come on, it’s just one beer, maybe two. Besides, we have the fair this weekend and that’s gonna be all work and no play. Just a couple of beers and one game, just like we always do, what’s the big deal?”

I didn’t want to tell him that I was thinking about Lydia. I wanted her to think of me as a man that had his shit together, not one that was going off and getting drunk at the bars all the time. She already had that sort of image about me, about all of us. But looking at my brother, I couldn’t let him down. He was right that this was something we’d always done at least two or three times during the workweek. There was no harm in having a couple of beers and a game of pool with him.

“All right, let me go wash up and then we can get going.”

“Woohoo! I knew I could count on you brother. I’ll meet you out here in five,” he said, jogging back over to the tractor and pulling the keys out. I went inside and washed up, but didn’t bother changing out of my work clothes. Everyone at the bar showed up in their work clothes around this time, it was the after-work cowboy version of a big city happy hour. Everyone was rough, rugged, and dirty.

A few minutes later, Dylan and I were in my truck headed to our local dive bar. It was good to be out with my brother, it had been a while since we had done anything together. Lydia had been occupying my mind and my time, and I realized that I’d been neglecting my brothers. Even more so, because I’d been spending time with Abi on the remodel project.

“I can’t wait to sling back a cold one. Are you ready to lose a game of pool?”

“Care to put some money on that?” I teased him back.

“Oh, now you’re talking, big brother. I've got a twenty that says I win the first two rounds,” he said.

“I’ll take that wager little brother,” I said, with a grin.

We laughed, and I even started to drive just a little bit recklessly in the spirit of brotherhood and fun. We were on an isolated dirt road, of course, but I was just having a good time. Something told me that Dylan really needed it.

We pulled into the local dive and walked in. It was half full of guys that were there after putting in a hard day on the ranch, farm, construction, or you name it. We were all there to relax.

“Two beers,” I said to the bartender.

“And two shots of tequila,” Dylan added.

I looked at him. “Tequila? That’s a little strong for a Tuesday afternoon, don’t you think?”

“Nah. Come on, it will even the playing field when we get on that pool table.”

“None for me, thanks. I don’t want to wake up with a hangover. Not having to put in another day like today.

“Here you are. Two Lone Stars and two shots of tequila,” the bartender pushed the drinks in front of us.

“That’s fine, I’ll take yours.” Dylan tipped back one shot of tequila, followed by mine as well. I handed the bartender twenty bucks with a nod, then shook my head at Dylan as I grabbed my beer and took a drink.

“You are going to be feeling that in the morning, little brother,” I said.

“No, I ain’t. I ain’t an old man like you. I’ll be just fine.” Clapping his hands, he rubbed them together, then grabbed his beer and took a swig.

“Maybe you’re right,” I said, turning my barstool around to face the room. There was a group of guys playing darts, and one group playing pool, but there was an empty pool table. The tables around the bar were only a quarter full. I liked it like this, not too busy, but enough people to make you feel like you weren’t drinking alone.

“That table is empty, should we grab it? It won’t be empty for long the more people get off work,” I said, pointing at the pool table.

“Yeah, go ahead and grab it,” Dylan said, as he tilted his beer back, chugging it. He slammed it down on the table, empty. “Bartender, another beer.”

I gave him a quizzical look.

“What? I was thirsty. Go grab that table before someone else does,” he said. I shook my head at him and walked over and put a couple of dollars down on the green felt, holding the table for us while I picked out a pool stick. Dylan walked over with his brand new beer and picked out a stick as well.

“You go ahead and break, I’ll give you a head start that way. Remember, we’ve got a twenty on it,” he said.

“I remember.” I racked the balls and pulled our money off the green felt, putting it on the side of the table along the border rim. I hit the cue ball and got a few stripes in. The game was on.

“That’s a lucky break. Boy, you sure are getting lucky a lot lately. Aren’t you, Connor?” He teased me while I continued to play. I didn’t get the next ball in.

“Watch your mouth, little brother.” I narrowed my eyes at him as he set up his shot and knocked in one ball after another. It was turning into a good game.

He laughed. “I do like her. She fits right in, so don’t screw it up.”

“I’m trying not to. She’s coming to the fair this weekend, so try not to embarrass me, or her, with all this teasing. I’m a grown man you know,” I said, taking my shot.

We teased each other like this throughout the entire first game. Dylan won, but I think it was because I was distracted by the fact that he kept going back to the bar for another beer, and then another. I was only on my second beer and I wasn’t really interested in having a third. I was starting to lose count of his beers, plus the two shots of tequila he’d had. I wasn’t even sure that he hadn’t gotten another shot when he was at the bar, while I was busy setting up the next game. But his eyes were glazing over, meaning he’d had quite a bit to drink.

We played our second game, but halfway through I realized it was time to go.

“Why don’t we go ahead and call it a game and get home. We’re going to be late for dinner anyway,” I said.

“What? But we’re only halfway through! Looks like you’re winning, too, so who will win the twenty spot? That will be a tie, so we gotta play through this one, and then play a third to break the tie.”

“Why don’t you listen to your older brother, little Dylan, and get home,” a voice interrupted, coming over. “We’re waiting for this table anyway.”

I looked over to see Matthew Dean standing there. This was not good. Matthew and Dylan went to high school together, and they used to be friends. But then there was an issue with a girl. Dylan stole Matthew’s girl as I’d heard it, and they had been enemies ever since.

“Why don't you shut your pie hole, Matthew?” Dylan said, getting in his face. Crap, this wasn’t good. Dylan was drunk and heated.

“Is that a threat, Dawson?” Matthew pushed Dylan, and Dylan immediately pushed him back. I got between them.

“Whoa, whoa. That’s enough, both of you. Dylan, we’re getting out of here.” I grabbed Dylan’s arm, and had to stand in front of him with my chest against his pushing him back while he shouted at Matthew. “Don’t think I won’t remember this!”

Finally, I pushed him out the door and into the sunlight. “Why didn’t you let me take him out? He’s always starting shit with me and you know it. Always,” Dylan shouted.

“Get in the truck now,” I said, as I opened the door and shoved him in. I had to be quick about getting in, starting the truck and getting out of there. Dylan sat in the passenger seat in a heated rage. This was a familiar scene to me. It wasn’t too long ago that Tanner had done the same to me, and I realized just how much I had grown. But that had been different, a lot different because that was about family honor. This was just Dylan itching to get into a fight. I could smell it on him. He wanted to fight just to let off steam, with no good reason behind it. But he was too drunk for me to take him to The Heights to cool off, the way that Tanner had done with me. No, drunk as he was, he might drown.

“We’re going home. Damn it, Dylan, it’s only Tuesday and this ain’t the dance hall. You’ve had way too much to drink. This always happens when you drink too much. You can’t hold your temper.”

“He started it. You make it sound like I was looking for a fight. I wasn’t,” he said, leaning his head back against the seat and closing his eyes. Yep, he was drunk alright.

“What’s going on with you?” I asked.

“I just feel—restless. The ranch. What’s the point? We all know it’s going to go to Wyatt. Then he’ll get married and have kids and kick us out. What’s the point of all of it, working it? Where do I fit in?” he asked. His words were drifting in and out in a drunken stupor. It was then that I realized what was going on. He was having a bit of an identity crisis because he was getting older. He didn’t know where he fit in as the younger brother, and neither did I.

“We can talk about that when you’re sober,” I said.

But I didn’t drive straight home. I drove around for a while, letting him sleep it off some. It gave me time to think, too. I didn’t really know where I fit in at Dawson Ranch either, but I thought it was too early to think of such things. I just assumed we all would always be living there, but I knew deep down it wasn’t possible.

24

Lydia Myers

I really liked Connor, and I was looking forward to the fair. It would be good to spend some time together doing something that wasn’t about the remodel, or about being in my bed. I didn’t know much about him, but I did like him a lot.

My day had been spent working on the project. I was excited because I got a good quote and my favorite painting team to do the job at Dawson Ranch.

Picking up the phone, I called Abi. I’d wanted to use this as an excuse to call Connor, but after he had lied to Abi about the meeting, I had promised to contact her directly with information on the project.

“Hey Abi, its Lydia.”

“Hey Lydia, how are you?”

“Good, I hope you are well. I’m just calling with the information about the job. I was able to get the painting contractor I wanted, and they are available to come out on Friday like we talked about, if that still works for you. That means you’d have to have everything out of the rooms Thursday night or early Friday morning. What do you think?”

“Yes, go ahead and book them. As long as they arrive after 9 a.m. we’ll be ready for them. It would work out perfect because we’ll be gone to the fair most of the weekend, and can leave the windows open so everything can dry and air out. It’s perfect timing really. I’ll run it by my father and the boys at dinner, but go ahead and book them and I’ll let you know if there are any problems. If you don’t hear from me then we’re good to go,” she said.

“Great, I’m going to call them now and book them to arrive after 9 a.m. which means they’d probably get there at 9:30. I’ll send you an email with a confirmation on the time.”

“Sounds good. I’m really excited to see this all come together. Thank you, Lydia.” Then she hung up the phone.

I’d had to fight the urge to ask her about Connor, which made me feel silly, like a schoolgirl with a crush or infatuation.

“It’s almost two, are we ever going to get lunch?” Whitney peeked her head into my office.

“It is? Crap, it is. The time got away from me. Absolutely, I’m starving.” Standing up, I grabbed my bag.

“Want to just walk to our pizza joint?” she asked.

“Absolutely.”

We locked up the office because Janet wasn’t there, not a big surprise. Walking out onto the sidewalk, I looked up at the sky. It was a nice, but cloudy day, hiding the sun just enough to make it not too hot. There were a lot of pedestrians walking up and down the wide sidewalks.

“If you ever decide to own your own design company, make sure that the office is more than two blocks from pizza. This is going to be my downfall while working at Patton Designs,” Whitney said.

“Yes, I probably need it to be near a salad bar,” I laughed. Walking to the pizza joint with Whitney for lunch was definitely a highlight of my work day.

“So, I got an email from my last client right before we walked out of the office. He asked me out to dinner,” Whitney said.

“What? Really? Did you reply?” I smiled at her.

“Not yet. I don’t know, he’s not my type at all. Look, there’s no line going out the door,” she said, as we walked up to the door.

“I guess that’s one of the advantages of going to lunch late,” I said.

“Three slices of basil and tomato and an iced tea,” Whitney said, sticking with her usual.

“Two cheese slices and an iced tea for me.” I also had my usual order and handed him my credit card.

“I’ll get it next time,” she said.

“So what if he’s not your type. Sometimes good things can come out of dating someone that isn’t your type at all,” I said.

“Are you talking about you? Like you dating a rugged cowboy instead of a career-centered city guy?” she asked.

“Here you are, ladies,” the worker said, as he put our order on the counter. We thanked him and walked outside to our usual spot, a counter height table with no chairs. We stood around it and dug into our lunch.

“Yes, I am referring to my experience with Connor. He’s not the usual type I would date, that’s for sure, but I’m sure having tons of fun.”

“Are you just having fun? Or is it a little more serious?”

“No, it’s just fun. Who knows, I might end up with that career obsessed city guy after all, but right now I’m having fun spending time with someone that isn’t my usual type. That’s my point. I'm just saying think about it before you write off his invitation completely. Oh, and Whitney? I’m just giving you the same advice you gave me a while back when a client asked me out.”

“Yes, I remember. You have me there.”

“Yes I do. So, how is that basil and tomato today?”

“Extra greasy, want a bite?”

“If you insist,” I said.

I took a bite of her basil and tomato slice, it was delicious.

“I should start getting this from now on, instead of plain cheese.”

“Yeah, look at you, you’ve been very adventurous lately. First, a rugged cowboy, and now you want toppings on your pizza. You’re becoming a crazy woman!”

“Funny. But I guess I have been coming out of my shell a little. It feels kind of good after everything I went through. Guess I just needed some time.”

“Yes, that’s true, but do be careful with Connor. I told you those Dawson boys have a reputation, and you don't want to get mixed up in trouble or find yourself having to bail him out of jail. That is definitely not you, no matter how adventurous you become,” she said.

“Everything has been fine so far. I think whatever they did when they were younger is what we all did when we were that age. We all got into trouble.”

“That’s true, but I think these Dawson boys might be a little bit rougher. There’s a story that says they stole a fellow rancher’s boat and wrecked it, racing it down the white water rapids or something like that. I can’t remember.”

“That’s actually kind of funny,” I said.

“Yes, you may be right, it could have just been boys being boys when they were younger. I just want you to be careful because I only want the best for you,” she said.

“I know you do and I love you for it. Now, what do you think about sharing a slice of cheesecake?” I asked.

“Dessert? Wow, you really are going crazy,” she laughed. “Let’s do it. I’ll go get it before you change your mind.”

She finished her last bite of pizza and ran inside to grab our dessert. I did take her words seriously and I knew that the Dawson boys were rough cowboys that weren’t opposed to the occasional bar fight, I’d even seen that with my own eyes once. But I didn’t think that was all there was to them, it couldn’t be. But somewhere deep down inside, I knew she had a point. She did know of the Dawson family from when she was younger, and I had only known them for a very short time. I couldn’t exactly compare my short lived experience against her knowledge gained from growing up in Safety.

We ate the rich dessert and then walked back to the office to find the front door was unlocked. I looked at Whitney, she shrugged her shoulders and together, we walked in.

“There are my employees. It is 2:45, where were you?” Janet said, as we walked in. I was relieved that it was just her and there wasn’t someone else there or that we had forgotten to lock the door.

“We took a late lunch. We both had a lot of work to do this morning,” I said.

“Well, that is good to know, but while you were out there were two messages on the voicemail, two different people looking for interior designers, and we missed those calls. I want you each to call one of them back and try to book them, if they haven’t found someone else already, that is.”

“Yes, of course,” we both said. We could tell she was irritated, but as soon as Janet turned her back from us, Whitney rolled her eyes. I smiled, thinking how much I’d like to point out to Janet that had she been there at her own business she could have received those phone calls herself. But I knew there was no point in doing that.

I went straight back to work and was glad for the distraction. My mind was always thinking about Connor, especially because I’d been working on the Dawson Ranch remodel almost all day for the last few days. Having a new client coming up would help get my mind off of him.

Quickly, I called one of the potential customers back. It was the same type of thing that we’d been booking—remodeling the interior of a business office. We had word-of-mouth working for us, and I guess that was good. But I wasn’t looking forward to having to do the same exact thing again. Remodeling the interior of a business office was starting to get old. But I booked the client anyway to make Janet happy, and it was also good for me to have another project to work on when I finished the Dawson job.

25

Connor Dawson

I was working hard at the ranch, trying to keep my mind off of Lydia. It seemed like a smile always appeared on my face when I thought about her. She was beautiful, intelligent, fun, and just downright perfect. But she did take up a lot of space in my mind and I needed to concentrate on work. Besides, I was going to see her over the weekend, and I needed to give time to my family.

“Turn that engine off,” my father hollered, as he came up to me. I cut the engine of the small tractor. I had a small trailer attached and had been moving animal feed across the ranch to the pens at the edge.

“What’s going on Father?” I asked.

“I just checked in with your brother, making sure everyone is on top of their duties for the fair. Wyatt gave me his check list, and he’s ready.”

“Yes, I’m ready too. I’ve got the feed here to take with us. I could leave tomorrow if we had to, that’s how ready I am.” I smiled at him.

“That’s good to hear. I’m going to go check in with Dylan and Abi, but Abi told me that we’ll be moving furniture in the morning. For the paint job and all,” he said.

“Yes, that’s true. It’s getting closer to getting done. It will be good to have a fresh coat of paint on those walls,” I said.

“Yeah, I suppose, but for me it’s like painting over memories. I’ll have to make sure to sit and have a scotch in the living room tonight then before everything changes,” he said.

“That’s a good idea. But don’t worry, Father. I’ve seen the designs and it’s still going to look like home, just a little bit different. I promise you that.”

“Good. This ranch has been in the family for generations and I like it to seem that way when someone walks in the door. I’m real proud of this place,” he said, looking off into the distance out at the land. It reminded me of something Dylan had said.

“Yes, we are all proud. I think Dylan might be feeling the thought of the generations lately. I think it’s really bothering him down to his core because he doesn’t quite know where he belongs. We know you haven’t exactly said it in words, but he said the ranch is going to Wyatt, and because of that he doesn’t know what to do with himself.”

“He said that to you?”

“Yes. He was drunk and confused when he said it, but that’s typically when the truth comes out, isn’t it?”

“Yes, that is usually the case. Don’t you worry about it. I’ll talk to Dylan when the time is right. Now, get going and finish your work,” he said, and then turned and walked off. I’d hit a nerve, but I knew my father had it handled.

At the end of the day, my brothers and I moved the furniture out of the living room and kitchen into the library, office, and hallway. Basically, anywhere that we could fit it we would put it. The areas were ready for the painters to come the next day. I went and showered before dinner, but when I came out and back to my room, I had a pleasant surprise—I’d missed a call from Lydia.

I smiled. She was thinking about me just as much as I was thinking about her.

Picking up the phone, I called her back.

“Sorry I missed your call,” I said.

“Connor, do you think you can come to the office? There is something I need to show you,” she said.

“Sure, when? Tomorrow?”

“Can you come now? I’m still here?”

“Sure, I just got out of the shower so I’ll just need to get ready. I can be there in about forty-five minutes? Are you sure you’ll still be there? Isn’t the office closed?”

“Yes, I’ll still be here. The business will be officially closed, but I have the keys. Just call me when you get here so I can let you in,” she said.

“Alright, is everything okay?”

“Sort of. You’ll see when you get here.”

“Okay, I’ll be headed that way soon. See you in a bit.” I hung up the phone and got dressed quickly. I knew that everyone else was still cleaning up after the day, so I would have to sneak out. I could already smell dinner cooking. I put on my clothes and boots quickly and grabbed my hat. Then I went down the stairs as quietly as I could. Peeking into the kitchen, Wyatt was the only one in there.

“I won’t be home for dinner. I’ll see you later,” I said quickly, as I made my way to the front door.

“What? Where are you—” he asked, but I didn’t stick around to answer, or even hear the rest of the question. I just kept going and hopped in my truck, only feeling good when I had crossed over the cattle guard. That was a close one. I didn’t want to have to explain to everyone that I was going to go see Lydia again. They each seemed to have their opinion on the matter and I didn’t want to deal with it, not today anyway.

I drove through town and got on the highway, making my way to the city. The commute had started to feel shorter and shorter the more I did it. Lydia seemed closer than ever, and I was glad for it. I smiled as I turned onto the off-ramp that led me into the city near her office.

Pulling into the parking lot, I quickly checked myself in the mirror. I was feeling really good already, and the thought of seeing Lydia made me happy every time. That was definitely a good thing and something I wasn’t used to experiencing with any of the other girls I had dated before her. They weren’t special the way she was.

I got out of my truck and called to let her know I was there while I walked to the front door. It opened immediately and she looked incredibly beautiful in a green dress, one that matched her eyes. I felt my body responding to her already, and she hadn’t even touched me yet.

“Conner, thanks for coming. I’m really upset,” she gave me a hug.

“Upset? Why? What is it?” I didn’t like her to be upset. I only wanted her to be happy, and I wanted to be there to fix things for her anytime that I could.

“It’s a huge mess,” she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the building. She closed and locked the front door.

“What is a mess? I don’t understand. What is going on?”

“Come look at this,” she said, walking over to the counter. On the counter were two lamps. I looked at them, she looked at them. I was quiet and didn’t know what the big deal was.

“You’re going to have to explain this to me, Lydia. Why are we looking at these two lamps?”

“Don’t you see? These are the lamps I ordered for your living room. They came today and they’re the wrong color,” she said, with a frown on her face.

“Oh right, the lamps.” I stared at them for a long time. The fact was, I didn’t remember what color they were even supposed to be. Abi had paid more attention to that sort of thing.

“I’m so upset. If I send them back for the right color I don’t think they’ll come in time with the rest of the furniture. It might be up to a week later,” she said, pacing back and forth.

I put my hand on my chin, looking at the lamps. “These look like fine lamps. What color were they supposed to be again?”

“Eggshell. These aren’t eggshell, they’re white,” she said, pointing at them.

I looked at the lamps. They looked white to me, but eggs were white, at least store bought eggs. I looked at her, completely confused.

“Okay, eggshell. These aren’t eggshell?”

“No, eggshell is a deeper richer color, not this gleaming white.” She held up a square of an off-white color against the lamps. “What should I do? I don’t want to fail your family. This is a disaster,” she said.

I tried to restrain my smile, because I didn’t see the difference between this eggshell color and white.

“You didn’t fail my family. Mistakes happen, this is not your fault. It was the store. Just exchange them, I think we can go a week without the lamps. Or just use these. I’m sorry, but I can’t really tell the difference between the two colors anyway. It looks the same to me and these would work just fine with what you designed. But if it’s going to bother you that much then send them back and bring them to the ranch when the right ones come in,” I said, putting my hands on her arms and rubbing them up and down, trying to calm her.

“Yes, I suppose. It’s just that I am a perfectionist. I like to do things right the first time, that’s just the way I am,” she said, looking up at me with those big beautiful eyes and trembling lips.

“Yes, I know that feeling. I’m very hard on myself as well. But take a breath and calm yourself down. I don’t like to see you stressed like this over something that can be fixed. You’ll figure it out, I know you will,” I said.

She took a deep breath, starting to calm down a little. “Yes, you’re right. I was just getting frustrated and upset. This is my first project on a house like yours and I wanted everything to be perfect.”

“Everything is perfect. You’ll see,” I said. I looked down into her dark green eyes, like a deep pool. She was so beautiful, I just couldn’t resist. Leaning down, I kissed her and she moaned, putting her arms around my neck.

“Do you feel a little better now?” I whispered.

“Yes, though I feel a bit silly for calling you to come all the way out here for something that seems so trivial now,” she whispered between kisses.

“I’m always more than happy to make the drive just to see you, no matter what the reason is. I’m so glad you called me.”

“Me too.”

“Besides, now we can see just how strong your desk is,” I said.

She stopped kissing me and her eyes grew wide. “What?”

“You heard me.” I grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway to her office.

“Connor, we can’t do that.”

“Why not? Is Whitney here?” I opened the door to her office.

“No.”

“Is your boss here?”

“No. She’s hardly every here anymore.”

“Then I don’t see why I can’t have you right now. I can’t wait any longer, Lydia. Look at you, look what you do to me.” Grabbing her hand, I put it on top of my jeans on my hard cock. She moaned.

“Well, when you put it that way.”

“Yes, it is that way.” I put my hands on her waist and picked her up, dropping her down on her desk.

“We really shouldn’t. It’s so bad.” She moaned as I kissed her neck.

“That’s what makes it so hot. I’ve thought about nothing else but taking you on this desk since that very first meeting in here. Remember that?” I asked, while I kissed her.

“Yes, I remember. How could I forget? I was so shocked to see you walk in here after the dance hall. I wanted you then, too,” she whispered.

“You did? I thought you hated me,” I said, pulling back to look into her eyes.

“Well, maybe just a little, but I also found you irresistible. I thought about you a lot after the dance hall.”

“Me too. I couldn’t get you out of my mind. You are really special to me, Lydia,” I said, as I kissed her again.

“Oh Connor.”

Damn. I wanted this woman every day of my life.

26

Lydia Myers

I was so upset when the lamps came in wrong. I’d wanted everything to be perfect for the Dawson Ranch project. Not only was this a big project for me, but I also wanted the family to think well of me. I didn’t want anything to be wrong. So when I realized the lamps were wrong I was sick and immediately called Connor. I don’t know why I responded that way, but I did. But when he came in, he immediately took away my anger and frustration. He was able to make things right with just a few words. Then I even felt silly for making such a big deal out of it. Of course I could fix it, but the lamps would be coming in later and not delivered with the rest of the furniture. I always liked to deliver the finished product all at once and felt badly, but he made me feel better about not being perfect all the time.

Of course, once he calmed me down, he turned me on. He was able to do that very easily as well. I was so attracted to him to begin with, and the fact that he had calmed me down only turned me on more. I felt safe in his arms, he just had that effect on me. He was able to quiet me down, make me feel protected, and very, very sexy.

I sat on my desk, fulfilling the fantasy he had mentioned a while back. I had been thinking about it too, but never thought about actually doing it. Such a thing was completely out of character for me.

Whitney was right, I’d officially crossed over into wild. Maybe I was that way all along, but had retreated into my shell after my last boyfriend. Connor was bringing me out of it, and the fact that he was between my thighs as I sat on my desk was proof of this.

“I can’t wait to taste you again,” he said, as he dropped to his knees. I inhaled a sharp breath of air as he pushed my panties to the side of my sweet center. He didn’t take them off, he just pushed them over, exposing my slit. His tongue moved directly to me and showed off a little with his talent.

“Oh Connor. Yes, mmm don’t stop,” I said, as I put my palms on my desk and leaned back a little.

I draped my knee over his shoulder, still fully clothed in my strappy green heels and green dress. It felt naughty this way. We were in fact, stealing a quickie in my office. Even though the front door was locked, I knew that at any moment Janet or Whitney could come in, because they both had keys and coming in after-hours was a normal thing for all of us.

“Wet my tongue, sweetness,” he whispered in a throaty voice.

“I love it when you kiss me there. I’m so close already,” I said, panting softly. The air in the room felt thick and unyielding.

“Already? Fuck, you’re making me so hard,” he said. His tongue moved over my clit. I screamed out in pleasure.

He moaned as he flicked his tongue back and forth on my clit, and that vibration put me over the top. My whole body was filled with adrenaline at the idea of getting caught. I was trembling with delight.

“I’m coming.” I moaned through the tension in my throat. I pulled my legs up around his face and tremored in my ecstasy.

Connor licked me once more before glancing up and smiling. “I love hearing you in pleasure.”

He stood up and unzipped his jeans, his eyes locked on mine. The man couldn’t have been sexier.

“Do you have a condom?” I asked, praying he did.

“Of course I do.” He pulled a condom out of his wallet and placed it on my desk on top of my papers. I smiled. How naughty were we? He pushed his jeans and boxers down to his thighs, exposing his thick, rock-hard cock.

“First things first,” he said, as he reached under my dress and grabbed my panties. I lifted myself up as he pulled them off of me and down to my heels before they fell to the floor. He moaned, and looking at me half naked which made me smile. I grabbed the condom and opened it, then rolled it onto his shaft.

Connor sucked in a sharp breath of air. “Fuck, that feels good. You’re going to make me come just with your touch.”

I smiled and leaned back on my palms again. He grabbed his dick and pressed it against my soft center. Every cell in my body came to life.

Putting my arms around his neck, he held onto my hips. Then he moved faster and harder. Soon, he was pounding me on my desk. My body pooled with wetness over and over until I felt it slip down the curve of my ass to the desk below. I’d never been more turned on.

“Don’t stop. So good,” I mumbled. “I’m so close—again.”

“Yes. I want you to. Come on me, baby,” he barked out, his command as sexy as hell.

He fucked me harder and harder. My desk was shaking underneath me and I could hear the sounds of my pens and office supplies rattling.

“I’m coming. I’m coming.” I could barely get the words out as my body tremored in pleasure.

“Fuck. Me too. Fuck, that feels so good.” He groaned and I could feel his back tensing up as he let go. He released in a long hard orgasm. We stayed locked together, softly moaning as we enjoyed the last pulsing of our pleasure. A moment later, he slid out of me. I put my legs down and remained seated on my desk.

“That was wild,” he said, as he smiled at me.

“Yes, it was. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

“Again?” He laughed. “How did you go from, ‘no, I couldn’t possibly’ to ‘let’s do it again’ so quickly?”

The ridiculous voices he used as he said it were hysterical and I got a good case of the giggles. Once under control, I replied, “I guess you converted me.” Then realized I could never tell anyone the story behind the good laugh I’d just enjoyed.

We took a few minutes to compose ourselves again. I pulled my panties back on and straightened up my disheveled desk.

“So, are we still going to the fair this weekend?” I asked him, enjoying my elated state.

“Yes, of course we are. I cannot wait to show you around. I’m looking forward to riding some carnival rides with you as well. It will be a proper date and I’ll make sure you have a good time.”

“Well, I do love a good county fair. It’s been a while though. I don’t think I’ve been to one since I was seventeen or so. I did love it when I was younger.”

“It is one of my favorite things about Safety, Texas. I can’t wait to share it with you.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek and I ran my hand through his hair. I was falling for this cowboy, falling hard, and realized I was a complete hypocrite for telling Whitney that this was just for fun and nothing serious. At this moment, I wanted it to be serious. I wanted him by my side for a long time to come, and that scared me.

27

Connor Dawson

I was excited about the fair, but I was even more excited about seeing Lydia. I couldn’t wait to show her around the fairgrounds and get on some carnival rides with her. For some reason I wanted to show her a really good time, always. She made me happy and I wanted to make her happy in return.

Dylan, Wyatt, and I were loading two horses and a small pony into the trailers. It was very early in the morning, but we had already had breakfast and once I finished my rounds to feed the animals, we were almost set to go.

“Well, he has been spending a lot of time in the city, I think it might be getting serious,” Dylan said to Wyatt. We had been talking about my absence from the ranch lately, not my favorite topic.

“It must be if he is willing to make the drive,” Wyatt said.

“Oh, it’s not so bad. It seems to get shorter and shorter every time. Besides, Lydia comes here as well, and makes the drive herself. She’s driving down here today as a matter of fact. She should be showing up any minute,” I said, looking toward the road.

“Go on, get up there,” Wyatt gave the horse a smack on the ass to get it moving up the ramp into the trailer. “I’m happy for you brother. I do have to say this is more attention than you’ve given a woman in a long time. I’m not used to it.”

“Yeah, he won’t even grab a beer with me,” Dylan said.

“Yeah, well after last time, I think maybe we should keep the beer and pool to the pool table we have in the barn. No one’s going to piss you off in there and you won’t be starting a fight,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Wyatt said, looking first at me and then Dylan. Dylan gave me a look.

“Oh, nothing brother. Connor is just exaggerating,” Dylan said, covering his tracks.

“Sure, I’m positive that is the case,” Wyatt said, speaking in a way that told Dylan he was busted.

“Hey Connor, lock up this trailer. I’m going to double check the hitch,” Wyatt said.

“Got it,” I said, making sure the horses were in a good spot, and then I closed the gate of the trailer and locked it.

“Speaking of your lover,” Dylan said, looking toward the road. I followed his gaze and saw that Lydia was driving over the cattle guard in her car. A big smile crossed my face.

“Oh man, look at that smile. You’ve got it bad, brother,” Dylan said, patting my shoulder. Then he walked off to join Wyatt as I walked toward the driveway.

“Good morning, ma’am,” I said, teasing her with a tip of my hat. She opened the door. Seeing her always took my breath away, but today she was wearing tight jeans, boots, and a tank top tucked into those jeans that left very little to the imagination. A small feeling of jealousy came over me as I thought about all the guys that would be looking at her at the fair. Her platinum blonde hair was in a high ponytail.

“Good morning, cowboy,” she said, with a smile.

“I’m glad you’re here. I’m really excited to go to the fair with you. Are you?”

“Are you kidding? Of course I am! But I also want to check on that paint job from yesterday. Think I can have a look?”

“Yes, of course. Let’s go inside. Abi said they did a great job and the color was exactly what you two had discussed.”

“Oh, that is good to hear. I’m very glad and can’t wait to see it.”

I walked her inside the house. The living room was bare, we had moved all of the furniture into the other rooms, even taking the curtains down so that the painters could come in and paint the day before.

“Oh lovely. It is perfect. It is the exact shade that I ordered. They did a really good job too, they use the new spraying techniques, not the rollers. This way it goes on smooth and even, without leaving any streaks. It’s more professional this way,” she said, walking around and looking up and down at the walls. I liked watching her work in her element. It was very sexy.

“What about the kitchen?” she said, walking in there. “Oh, it’s perfect, too. I was so nervous. I’m glad that at least this is right.” She was very excited, and her face was radiant. “This is all perfect. They are a really good paint team, not messy at all. Look, they didn’t get any on the borders or the windowsills. A very clean job.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less, working for you,” I said.

“Thank you, Connor. That was very nice of you to say,” she said, coming toward me. I looked around and saw we were alone so I quickly stole a kiss.

“Conner, we are in your home!”

“What? I can’t kiss my girl in my home?”

“Your girl? Am I your girl?”

“I like to think of it that way.”

“I thought I heard voices in here! Hey Lydia, good to see you again,” Abi said, coming into the kitchen with a bag in her hand.

“Abi, hello. It’s good to see you, how are you doing?”

“I’m good, always last minute with this stuff, it seems. Just running through here getting my stuff together before we go to the fair. Hey, great work on the paint job. It looks exactly how we planned. I really can’t wait to see it when everything comes together. I got to run on through though,” Abi said, going out the back door.

“Thanks, Abi,” Lydia shouted behind her.

I looked at her and smiled. “Ready to get going?”

“Yes, I’m very excited about the fair.”

I stole one more kiss. She gave me a look. Then we walked out toward the truck to talk to Wyatt and Dylan.

“Father already made his way over there. Dylan, are you riding with me?” Wyatt asked.

“You know it.”

“Me too,” Abi said, coming over.

“All right then, we're leaving in five, I just need to lock up the house,” Wyatt said, moving away from the truck.

“And you are riding with me, sweet lady,” I said to Lydia. I pulled my keys out of my jeans and led her over to my truck. I opened the door for her and she climbed inside.

“Thank you. You know, it seemed like your family members were giving me odd looks,” she said.

“You mean kind of a stupid grin?” I raised my brows at her.

“Yeah. Like they know that we are—”

“Doing it? Getting dirty? Doing the nasty?” I joked.

“Connor! This is serious. It’s embarrassing,” she said.

“I’m sorry darling, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Of course they know, but not because I told them. They just figured it out. You know, like I go out on a date with you and then don’t come home until the next morning and all,” I said.

“Yeah, I suppose that would do it. It’s just a little embarrassing.”

“You’ll get used to it. I did.”

Honk.

I looked up to see Wyatt backing up the truck with the trailer. “Alright then, it looks like we’re ready to go.”

A few minutes later, we were all driving out of Dawson Ranch, and I was behind Wyatt and the trailer. This was standard if we had more than one vehicle going, someone always watched the trailer, just in case.

“So the fair is in town?”

“Well, it’s actually on the outskirts of town. We’ll drive through town and about five miles east to the fairgrounds.”

“That’s fantastic. I can’t wait to see it. I can smell the cotton candy already,” she said.

“Oh, are you a cotton candy girl?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then I will have to get some for you. But just so you know, the Dawson brothers do work this fair, and that’s why we are hauling the horses. So, we’ll have to have our fun when I’m not working my shift,” I said.

“Working? What exactly will you be doing?”

“You’ll see,” I smiled.

“Well, that is very mysterious, Mr. Dawson,” she teased.

“I am a man of mystery,” I said, smiling at the joke. She laughed and again the sound was music to my ears. I never wanted this woman to be angry with me. I only wanted to make her laugh and give her pleasure.

Our trucks drove through town, and then east out toward the fairgrounds. It was a nice drive into the country.

“Look, there it is! I can see the Ferris wheel already!” Lydia sounded very excited. Like her inner child was coming out or something. I enjoyed seeing her so happy.

“Yep, we can get on it if you like, very first thing,” I said.

“I would love that. I want to get on everything, though. I love the spinning baskets. Oh and the haunted houses, and the one with the mirrors everywhere. Oh this is going to be so much fun!”

“Everything? Even the ones that spin really fast? Can your stomach handle it?”

“Absolutely. How about you, mister tough cowboy?”

“You know it. I’m used to riding rough horses remember? Looks like we are going to have a lot of fun.”

We drove through the back entrance, and then parked. Wyatt parked his truck near the corrals.

“We’ve got to unload the horses first off,” I said to Lydia.

“All right,” she said, opening the door and stepping out.

I walked over to the trailer with Lydia at my side. Abi walked over to Lydia and started talking about the remodel project while my brothers and I unloaded the horses and the pony. We led them over to the corral, and said hello to the operators.

“Welcome Dawson’s. We are very excited to have your help.”

“We wouldn't miss it,” Wyatt said. “We’ve got the horses. These are our calmest ones and will do well for this purpose. We also brought their feed.”

“Great. Go ahead and put them in this corral right here. We’ve got fresh hay and all.”

“Great. Let’s do it. Dylan, Connor!” Wyatt called.

A few moments later we had saddles on the horses and the pony inside the corral. It was then that Lydia saw the sign on the fence.

“Kiddie Rides. This is part of the petting zoo and kiddie park?” she asked me.

“Yes, it is. We always provide some horses for the kids to ride, and this is our work.”

“That is adorable, and not what I was expecting from the legendary Dawson brothers,” she raised her brow at me.

“We are tough on the outside but have soft hearts on the inside. Anything for the kids.”

“This is wonderful. I didn’t know your family was so involved with the community,” she said.

“We try. It just comes with owning the ranch, and we are more than happy to participate. Looks like I have the first shift. Mind sitting around here for a while with me?”

“I wouldn’t miss it, Mr. Connor Dawson. But can I help?” Then she planted a kiss on my cheek. I smiled at her. She was getting more comfortable with me in public and around my family, even though my brothers and Abi had already wandered off.

“Yes, you can help. I would love that. Team work,” I said to her.

“Alright, what can I do?”

“Well, you can shovel the horse shit that the horses make out here,” I laughed.

“Connor!” she said, slapping my shoulder.

“I’m kidding. See that trough. Can you run the water until it’s full?”

“Yes. Now that I can do.” She gave me another kiss and walked to the fence line to fill the water for the horses. Now, I saw it on her. I saw the farm girl inside of her coming out. She knew what she was doing and I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen it before. I had let the business suit and stiletto heels fool me. Though when I saw her for the first time at the dance hall she was in a cowgirl outfit, and she did know how to do the two-step. I should have known. She was pure country.

By now, the fair was getting into full swing. More and more children were coming to ride the horses and the pony. I had some help from the operator in charge of that specific corral and Lydia was helping out when I needed her. But when she wasn’t, she was sitting on the fence watching, and teasing me. I was having such a good time. Having her there was good, it felt right and comfortable. I could see us doing this together every year. That was not something I’d ever thought of when dating a woman before. Thinking about working the fair next year with Lydia, knowing I would still want her there at my side was a strange feeling.

“All right, I’m here for my shift,” Wyatt said, coming over an hour and a half later. “You two go have some fun.”

“All right. I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” I told him.

“No rush, go have some fun.”

“We will.” Putting my hands on Lydia’s waist, I lifted her off of the fence and sat her on her feet directly in front of me. She was just a few inches away and I wanted to kiss her so badly, but considering we were in the kiddie park, it wouldn’t have been appropriate.

“Ready to go ride that Ferris wheel?”

“Yes, but we have to get some cotton candy first. The smell has been driving me crazy.” She looped her arm in mine and together we walked out of the kiddie park and out onto the fairgrounds.

“It is so lively. Look, every person has a smile on their face and is having a good time. I absolutely love it here,” she said, looking around with her green eyes wide with excitement.

“Yes, there is much more of the fair to see, too. There’s the livestock show in the back. We usually show, but this year we aren’t going to, and probably not next year either. The year after that we’ll put some of our livestock again. Father wants it that way.”

“Well, honestly I’m glad you’re not showing because I get you all to myself.”

“I’m glad too. Now let’s get you that cotton candy,” I said, pulling her toward the food section of the fairgrounds. This was turning out to be a very good day at the fair.

28

Lydia Myers

I was having the best time and being at a county fair was the most romantic date possible. Being there with an attractive cowboy only made it that much better. I was surprised to see how well Connor worked with children. Watching him pick up kids and put them on the horses and pony, then lead them around was very sweet. It made me like him that much more, and I was aware of how hard I was falling for him. It was a confusing place to be. But I was trying not to think about that and just enjoy the moment, and have a good time. The fair only came around once a year and I wanted to enjoy every second of being with him.

We walked side-by-side through the fairgrounds. Suddenly Connor grabbed my hand. I looked at him.

“Is that alright, ma’am?”

“Yes, I suppose so. Everyone in your family knows already, so we might as well let the whole town know,” I said, smiling. I squeezed his hand back. Holding hands in public was such a basic thing, but for us I knew that it meant a lot more. It meant that we were making this just for fun and casual relationship between us, a bit more serious. It felt silly to think but that’s what it truly was.

“Oh, here we are. You smell that?” he asked, as we turned the corner into the food area of the park.

“Yes! Cotton candy here I come,” I said.

“Yes, let’s get you that cotton candy ma’am,” he said. “One cotton candy for the lady, please.”

“Coming right up.”

Connor paid for my cotton candy, and handed it to me. It was pink and it smelled wonderful. I pulled a piece off and stuck it in my mouth. The sweet and gooey mess evaporated into delicious sugar. “Mmm, so good.” I pulled off another piece and fed it to him. He smiled and took it from my hand into his mouth.

“Yum, that is good. Come on, let’s walk around a little,” he said.

We walked around eating the cotton candy. The fairgrounds were large and impressive. I loved that it was in a big field, feeling grass and dirt under my feet instead of the asphalt or cement the way that these things were in the city. We continued walking down the food area, I knew I wanted to get something more substantial later. There was a chili cook-off going on, lots of brisket barbecue, hamburgers, and tacos. Everything you could possibly want in Texas. I smiled, enjoying how happy everyone was as they walked around. They all had giant grins on their faces.

“This is the way to the rides. What do you think you want to get on the first?”

“I think we should start slow, how about the Ferris wheel? That way we can sit up there and see everything?”

“Sounds good to me. I’m game for anything you want,” Connor said, turning to look at me. There was that sparkle in his eye, the sparkle that said he wanted to take care of me. I was more than happy to let him.

We walked over to a ticket counter. “Two unlimited wristbands, please,” Connor said, handing the guy behind the counter some money.

“Sure thing,” he said.

“What is this?” I asked Connor as he wrapped a fluorescent green paper wristband around my wrist.

“This way we can get on all the rides as many times as we want. We won’t have to come back here and buy tickets for every single ride.”

“Oh, that is smart. I like that idea. You know, in that case I want to get on everything, again and again,” I smiled.

“We can ride to your heart’s delight, Lydia,” he said, handing me his wristband. I put it on his wrist, securing it. Then he quickly stole a kiss, pecking me on the cheek. He grabbed my hand and led me off quickly toward the Ferris wheel. I had to kind of jog to keep up.

“Hold on, let me throw this away,” I said, looking at the empty paper cone where the cotton candy used to be. I tossed it in the trash can. Soon we were sitting in the Ferris wheel chair with a bar across us. The ride started and we slowly lifted into the air. The air felt good. It was starting to cool down a bit. It wasn’t so hot like the days we had been having. It was perfect.

“Look at us, Lydia. We’re on top of the world,” he said, playfully.

“Yes, we are,” I said, as he put his arm around my back. This felt like a good proper date and it made me feel like I was in high school again at the homecoming fair and carnival. It felt really good, like a life without a care in the world. I was hooked.

The view from the Ferris wheel was beautiful. We could see the entire fairgrounds all around us, and in the distance we could see the horizon and clouds, a beautiful Texas sky.

“Now, this is a moment, isn’t it?” Conner said, looking at me.

“Yes it is, but that is a very cheesy thing to say.” I teased him.

“See, that is what you do to me. You turn me into a cheesy man,” he said, as he leaned over and kissed me. I kissed him back enjoying the moment. It was wonderful.

After the Ferris wheel, we went on my favorite ride, the spinning baskets. Connor looked like he was going to puke, which only made me laugh harder as the baskets spun around with us inside.

Then we got on a ride known as the hammer, then another that shot us straight up into the air. Next, we did something else that I absolutely loved, walking through the small haunted house.

“All right, should I go first?” Connor said, as we stood at the entrance of the haunted house facade. It was painted with green and black paint, and ghoulish ghosts were painted on the exterior facade as well.

“Are you scared? Do you want me to go first?” I laughed at him.

He straightened his back, and put his chin in the air. “No, I got this. Give me your hand.” He was being silly, pretending to be scared just to make it that much more fun, and I was all about that. I was enjoying his demeanor and playfulness.

He pulled me inside, into the dark. It was pitch black until my eyes adjusted to the light. Suddenly a man in a mask jumped out of the wall and screamed. I screamed and held onto Connor, until the man went back behind the wall. We both laughed and kept on going. We walked into a long corridor, very dark. Connor stopped and pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply. I put my hands on his strong chest, feeling his hard muscles. We stopped kissing when we heard a noise behind us, it was the next group of people coming in. We both laughed and kept on walking. It was a very short maze of horrors, not too scary so it was suitable for children, but we made the most of it and pretended to be as scared as possible. Before long we were pushed out into the sunlight. We couldn’t stop laughing, and it was almost uncontrollable. I was having such a good time.

“Oh, look at that. A dove hunt,” Connor said, pointing at the carnival games out in front of us. He grabbed my hand and led me over to a shooting range game. There were cardboard doves going back and forth behind the attendant.

“I'm going to win you a prize, so get ready to pick out which one you want,” Connor said, as he slapped money down on the counter for the attendant. Then, he picked up a toy rifle and aimed at the doves. He shot and hit two.

“You have to hit four in order to win a prize,” the attendant said.

“Let me try,” I said, grabbing the gun from him. Connor sighed playfully.

“All right.”

I took the toy rifle in my hand and began to shoot. I hit every single one. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the attendant’s mouth fall open.

Connor was shouting, “Woohoo! That’s my girl.”

“I have never seen shooting like that. Take your pick, Missy. You’ve earned one of the big ones,” the attendant said.

“Thank you. Hmmm, I think I’ll take the pony,” I said, pointing to a pink pony.

“Here you are,” he said, as he handed it to me.

“Well, that was emasculating. Next time, you will win me a prize,” Connor joked. I laughed and laughed.

“I'm sorry, I’m not trying to damage your manhood. It’s not my fault that I’m a good shot. But speaking of shots, do you think we can get a drink? Like take a break with a cold beer, maybe?” I raised a brow.

“Sure, we can do that. The pavilion has bands playing and a bar set up. The sun is starting to set, too. I think it’s a good time to take in a beer and a two-step dance,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me in the direction of the pavilion. “As long as you don’t slap me this time.”

I laughed, “I’m still really sorry about that. And I do owe you a proper dance, don’t I?”

“Yes ma’am, I would think that you do.” He cleared his throat, obviously distracted by the thought.

I smiled, completely content in this moment. We were having such a good time together and I really could see us doing this every single year. I wanted my future to include this cowboy at my side. As we walked, some commotion reached our ears.

“Take that back, Matthew. Damn it.”

“Shit,” Connor said, stopping in his tracks. I looked at him, feeling confused.

“What?”

“Stay here,” he said, walking really fast as he left my side and went to where a set of RV’s lined up against each other. Like hell was I going to stay put. I could hear the raised voices a lot clearer, and I knew there was a fight going on. I was on his heels, following him.

He rounded the corner into the alley that the trailers had created. Dylan was punching another guy about his size and age. I put my hands on my mouth.

“Dylan, stop,” Connor shouted. “Damn it!”

But Dylan didn’t stop. The other guy started to fight back and they rolled on the ground. Connor was trying to grab Dylan, but couldn’t get a hold of him. I just stood there, holding a pink pony. What could I do? I was no help at all.

Finally, Connor got his arms around Dylan, and just then two men appeared behind the other guy and pulled him away as well.

“Calm down, both of you!” the two guys said.

“Dylan, we’re getting out of here. You know better than this! Matthew, I apologize,” Connor said, pulling Dylan away and toward me. I walked backwards, following Connor’s lead. He grabbed Dylan and threw him against the front grill of the RV, putting his hand on Dylan’s chest and holding him there.

“What did I tell you about fighting? This is not the place. You are too old for this crap!”

“You know Matthew,” Dylan said. “This is his fault. He was talking shit again. How many times can I let him get away with that?” It was then that I realized he was slurring his words.

“Fuck! You’re drunk, and it’s not even sunset yet, Dylan. This is what happens when you get drunk, you can’t hold your fist at your sides. I’m going to take you home before the police show up.”

“I'll come with you,” I said.

“No, I don’t want you to have to see this, Lydia. Go back to the kiddie park and get a ride with Abi and Wyatt back to your car. I’ve got to handle this, I’m so sorry,” Connor said.

I looked at Dylan, looked back at Connor, then nodded my head. “All right, I’ll go with Abi and Wyatt. Do what you have to do.”

“I’ll come over to your place tomorrow,” he said.

Connor grabbed Dylan’s arm, yanking it and pulling him through the back of the fairgrounds toward his truck. I was sad to see him go. I knew that he had to handle this family business, but why did it have to interrupt the best date I’d ever been on? Was this what dating Connor Dawson was going to be like? What if I was married to him? Would this be the way of things all the time? Whitney had warned me, but I didn’t take her warning seriously. Now it had ruined a perfectly good day at the fair. How many things would get ruined in the future?

29

Connor Dawson

I woke up Sunday morning still feeling anger. I had been pissed off about the fair and my little brother, the feisty headed fighter who had ruined my date with Lydia. We had been having a really good time, and were about to switch from daytime fair activities to nighttime activities such as two-step dancing and drinking. I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms and have a proper dance that didn’t end with her slapping me. But that was all ruined the moment I heard my brother’s voice shouting. I knew what was happening before I even saw him. Dylan and Matthew had always had a beef between them and every time they got together it ended up in a fight. It didn’t help that my brother was quick to punch instead of use words. I understood this because I was the same way when I was his age. I couldn’t be a hypocrite about it, but I didn’t want him to ruin his life by getting in serious trouble with the law by fighting in public spaces.

I pushed my hand through my hair and put my cowboy hat on as I walked down the stairs. I could hear voices coming from the front porch so I peeked out the open door, where my father was talking to the sheriff. This wasn’t good.

I stepped out onto the porch. “Father—”

“Connor, go get Dylan. I think he’s in the barn.”

“Yes sir.”

I quickly walked off the porch, already knowing what this was about. Someone obviously told on Dylan and he was in trouble. Entering the large door of the barn, I was growing angrier by the minute.

“Dylan! Where are you? Get your ass down here!”

“It’s for me isn’t it?”

I looked up to see him in the loft of the barn. He had been watching the whole thing from the large barn loft window.”

“Yep. Father’s calling you. I’m sure the sheriff is here to talk to you,” I said.

“Is he taking me in?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go find out.”

“Fuck! This is bullshit, Connor, and you know it.” He descended the ladder.

“Just keep your cool. Fighting with the sheriff ain’t gonna do no good. I only want to hear ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’ out of your mouth, you understand?”

“Yes sir,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Together we went toward the house and climbed onto the porch. Dylan hung his head low, looking guilty as ever.

“Father. Sheriff,” he said.

“Dylan, I’ve got to have a word with you, son.”

“Yes, Sheriff?”

“Matthew Dean has filed a report against you for assault. I’ve got to take you down to the station.”

“Sheriff, I was there. I saw the whole thing. Dylan was acting in self-defense,” I said, immediately lying to the sheriff.

“That may be the case, Connor, but Matthew says Dylan threw the first punch,” the sheriff said.

“I understand, Sheriff. I’ve got nothing to hide. If you need me to come down to the station, I’ll come,” Dylan said.

My father spoke. “Sheriff, let me drive my son in my truck. We’ll be right behind you. I just don’t want him sitting in your backseat going through town. People talk. Can you allow me this courtesy?”

Dylan immediately looked at my father, as did I. I could tell my father’s pride was hurt, he was disappointed in his sons. I didn’t like seeing that, and Dylan looked like he was ready to melt into a puddle on the floor.

“Alright, Dawson. You can drive him. Let’s head on out,” the Sheriff said, stepping off the porch.

My father gave Dylan a look, and my brother could only look at the floor. Together they walked to my father’s truck and drove off.

“Fuck,” I said, going inside and slamming the door.

Abi was just coming down the stairs, yawning and still in her pajamas. It was Sunday after all.

“What are you so grumpy about already? How can you be pissed at this hour?” she said.

“The sheriff was just here. He made Dylan go down to the station. Father drove him,” I said, going into the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of black coffee.

“What?”

“It’s true. They just left,”

“Is this about the thing with Matthew?”

“You know about that? How did you know?” I asked, wondering if Lydia had told her when Abi gave her a ride back to her car.

“All my girlfriends were talking about it at the dance at the fair last night. It’s a small town after all,” she said, grabbing a mug and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Terrific,” I said, opening the fridge and getting out the eggs. I needed a distraction.

Together, Abi and I made a simple breakfast. When Wyatt came down we informed him what was going on. He was incredibly pissed off. We all sat there feeling tense and waiting for Father to return as we ate a vegetable egg scramble, baked sweet potatoes, and toast.

“I guess we all went through a phase like this when we were younger,” Wyatt said.

“That’s true, but we didn’t get caught. Sure, we got into fights, but it wasn’t in public places. Most of the time anyway. Dylan can’t control that temper of his and there’s a lot more brewing inside of him. He needs to come to terms with that before he can set it all aside.”

“What does that mean? What aren’t you saying?”

“Yeah, what's going on?” Abi said.

“Look, I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Father said he was going to handle it, but he obviously hasn’t. Dylan has been feeling really lost and for some reason has been thinking about the future. Since you’re the oldest, he thinks the entirety of Dawson Ranch will go to you and you’ll eventually turn him out and he’ll have nothing. It seems like he’s basically having an identity crisis or something.”

“What the hell? Why am I getting the ranch? Where did that come from?” Wyatt said.

“Because usually the oldest son gets the land,” Abi said, crossing her arms. “Dylan and I both get the short end of the stick, me especially because I’m a girl.”

“That is the old tradition, sure, but Father has never told me anything about me getting the ranch. Truth be told I’m not sure I’d want it. It comes with a lot of responsibility. I’m here working my ass off every day as it is. I love the ranch but sometimes I want to get out there and do other things. The point is, Father hasn’t told anyone who this ranch is going to, and why would it only have to be one of us? He could split it up, there's a lot of acreage here. There’s enough to build another house, maybe even two. Look at Tanner, he’s just down the road, maybe Father will give the ranch to him. Nobody knows and Dylan shouldn’t even be worried about it.”

“I know that. But he is and it’s making him about half crazy,” I said.

Everyone was quiet. Then we heard Father’s truck coming down the driveway. We all jumped up from our seats and hurried out onto the front porch. Father sat in his truck for a moment with the engine shut off. We all looked at each other knowing this was serious.

“No Dylan,” I said.

“Shit,” Wyatt said.

“What does that mean?” Abi asked.

Finally, Father opened the door and climbed out of his truck. He walked slowly toward us and up onto the porch.

“The Sheriff is making your brother spend a night in jail for his offense. Then it will be cleared.”

“What? That’s not fair. Matthew is the one that started it. He’s the one that should be in jail,” I said.

“It doesn't matter. It’s done,” he said, walking to the front door. He looked defeated.

“Connor, Wyatt, I want you both to go pick him up in the morning. Give him a talking-to, I talked to him on the way into town, but I don’t think it helped. He needs his brothers.”

“Yes Father,” Wyatt and I said, in unison.

“And one of you better call Tanner before he hears it from someone else.”

He looked at us and then walked inside. The three of us exchanged looks, not knowing what to say. This wasn’t the first time the Dawson brothers had gotten into trouble, but for some reason this seemed more serious. It was becoming a problem.

“Come on, we got to get busy and feed the animals. Abi, make sure Father eats a little something if you can,” Wyatt said, taking control of the situation.

“Yeah, I will,” she said and headed inside.

Wyatt tapped me on the shoulder and walked off the porch headed to the animal pens. There wasn’t much work that had to be done on Sundays, except making sure the animals ate. I had planned on going to see Lydia. Shit—Lydia.

“I’ll be right there, Wyatt,” I said.

Taking out my phone, I sent her a text.

Hey darling, I won’t be able to make it out to your place today, lots of work here. I’ll call you soon.

I sent the message knowing I was needed here in this time of crisis. Wyatt and I needed to talk and we would need to get Dylan in the morning. I needed to stay in Safety today, tonight, and tomorrow.

30

Lydia Myers

I received a text message from Connor early Sunday morning, letting me know that he wouldn’t be coming to my home after all. I responded with understanding, but I did want to know more. Did this have anything to do with what had happened at the fair the night before, with Dylan? I had a feeling the family was probably dealing with it, but I wasn’t going to pry, so I waited.

Wanting to keep busy, I made myself a large breakfast of potatoes, eggs, and toast with berry preserves. I took a long shower and then looked over some of my work emails briefly. I was trying not to work on Sundays if I could help it, but it was a good distraction from thinking about Connor. He was pretty much all I thought about these days.

Later in the morning, Connor called me. My face lit up with a smile and I got butterflies in my stomach the moment I saw his name appear on my phone.

“Hey,” I said to him, answering the phone.

“Hey you. How is my beautiful lady today?”

“Oh, you know, just having a lazy Sunday. I was thinking of maybe having a late lunch with Whitney if she’s up for it. What’s going on?”

“I was just calling to let you know what happened and why I can’t come out to your place today. I don’t want you to think I’m flaking out on you, because I’m not. It’s this thing with Dylan.”

“I wondered. Is everything alright?”

“No. The Sheriff showed up this morning. The guy he got into the fight with pressed charges on him. For assault. So Dylan has to stay the night in jail, and Father wants me and Wyatt to pick him up in the morning. So I got to stay out here in Safety.”

“Jail? That is very serious,” I said, as my heart fell to my stomach. This wasn’t just boys being boys, and being rambunctious. This involved the law, and it caused me to wonder just how many times the Dawson brothers had been in jail. Had Connor been in jail? There was definitely a violent streak to them and that worried me.

“Yes, it is serious. It sounds like he’s just in overnight, but still, I’ve got to be here to deal with it. I just wanted to let you know, and didn’t want you to think it was because I didn’t want to see you, because I do. I always want to,” he said.

“I understand. Your family needs you right now, so that is right where you should be. I’ll be seeing you soon,” I said.

“All right, I’ve got to go talk to my brother. I’ll see you on Tuesday, right?”

“Yes, that is when the furniture will be delivered and I’ll be there to put it in place. So, I’ll see you then for sure,” I said.

“I’m looking forward to it. You go have yourself a great time at your girl’s lunch with Whitney. I’ll talk to you soon, bye.” He hung up the phone.

Hanging up, I didn’t quite know how I felt about this. It was definitely news that I needed to process. But I didn’t want to be inside my head too much. I picked up the phone and sent a message to Whitney.

Lunch today?

I held the phone in my hand, walking back and forth waiting for her to respond. I needed my friend right now. A few minutes later she sent a message.

Sure. How about I pick you up in an hour? Out running errands now.

Perfect! I’ll be ready.

I put the phone down and poured myself another cup of coffee, then I went upstairs to get dressed. I took my time, even putting on some light makeup. I changed in and out of several dresses before picking one. I basically didn’t want to think about the situation with Connor so I distracted myself by taking time to put my long hair into a French braid and picking the right outfit.

An hour later, Whitney honked in my driveway. I grabbed my bag and went out to meet her.

“Hey, you look really pretty,” she said.

“I was bored. So where are we going?”

“What do you feel like?”

“Honestly, I feel like something simple, like diner food. Cheeseburger and milkshake, that sort of thing.”

“I know exactly where to go,” she said, as she put the car in reverse and backed out of my driveway.

A few minutes later, we were sitting in a booth at a diner. Through the big windows you could see the massive highway bridges crisscrossing each other. Large trucks were in the parking lot, the big eighteen-wheelers. Whitney and I sat across from each other with two large bacon cheeseburgers, sharing the massive order of fries in a basket between our plates, and two chocolate milkshakes.

“This is exactly what I was thinking,” I said, as I bit into the juicy burger.

“I love this place, a proper greasy diner,” she said. “So, how were things at the fair? I haven’t been since I was in Middle School. But I always had fun. I should go next year,” she said, stuffing fries into her mouth.

“It was so much fun. Honestly, I could go every year as well. We got on all the rides, I won a prize from the carnival games. Oh, and I watched Connor run the horse and pony rides in the kiddie park. His family provided the horses, then he helped the kids ride them.”

“Oh, I know that look. You see a tough cowboy doing anything adorable like that and it just melts your heart.”

“Yes, it did. It was a really fun day, but it didn't end well,” I said.

“What? What did he do? I’ll have to hurt him if he did anything to you,” she said, putting her hamburger down on her plate, surprised and ready for action.

“No, he didn’t do anything to me. His younger brother, Dylan, got in trouble. He got into a fist fight with another guy his age. Connor had to pull him off of the guy and take him home. His brother was drunk, and it wasn’t a good scene.”

“Well, I told you about them. Those boys were like that. Always looking for a fight, and always in trouble. Yeah, it’s attractive at first, the bad boy, the bad cowboy and all, but it can get tiring, especially when you are older.”

She picked up her milkshake and put the straw in her mouth. I almost didn’t want to tell her the rest. I just looked at her and she put her glass down, knowing there was more just by looking at me.

“What Lydia? What else?”

“Connor called me today. We were supposed to hang out, he was supposed to come over but he can’t. Dylan got picked up for assault and he’s in jail, for the night I guess.”

“No!”

“Yep, Conner has to go get him out in the morning.”

“That’s awful, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“I know. You told me all this before.”

“Is this the life that you want, Lydia? I know you said you were just having fun with this cowboy, but it seems to have gotten a bit more serious than that. At first I was really happy for you, because you’re dating again and you need that after everything you went through. You needed to break out of your shell. But do you want a life that includes your boyfriend having to get his brothers from jail? Or even himself being in jail because he got mixed up in a fight that his brother started? It’s something to think about.” Apparently finished, she dipped a French fry in the ketchup and popped it into her mouth.

“Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that. I thought this was just the Dawson brothers being young and rambunctious, but Dylan isn’t that young anymore, and Connor definitely isn’t. I don’t disagree, it really is something to think about.”

“Well, if you’re thinking of calling it off, it’s better to do that sooner than later, before you’re completely in love with that cowboy and wind up with a broken heart.” She took a big bite of her burger.

What she didn’t know was that I was already in love.

I took a bite of my burger, just so that I could lower my eyes and cover my face with it. If she saw the look on my face right now she would know that I was completely in love with Connor Dawson. But she was right, did I really want to have jail visits be a part of my life? Being called in the middle of the night to get him out of jail wasn’t what I had pictured for myself.

31

Connor Dawson

“I’m just saying that since we were all like this at his age, what can we possibly tell him?” Tanner spoke firmly as he sat in the back seat of Wyatt’s truck as the three of us drove to the county courthouse, the location of the Sheriff’s Office, and the county jail.

“Same thing you told me when I started a fight at the dive bar,” I said. “It's time to grow up.”

“That’s true. Dylan will grow out of this,” Wyatt said, as he drove.

“I have no doubt about that. But what worries me is that he might end up hurting someone, and hurting himself by winding up in jail for longer than just a night. That could happen before he grows out of it,” I said.

“In that case, this talk may or may not help him. We can’t really know, can we?” Tanner asked. He had insisted on coming with us the moment he heard what was going on. I was more than glad to have both him and Wyatt there to help deal with the situation. We all had gotten into trouble like this, but we usually didn’t get caught. We had stayed out of the public eye, and we knew when to quit. That was the big difference.

We pulled into the courthouse lot and parked.

“Ready?” Wyatt asked.

“Nope,” I said, opening the door and getting out.

We walked into the Sheriff’s Office together. Wyatt stepped up to handle the paperwork. The sheriff came out to talk to us.

“What’s going to happen to my brother?” I asked.

“Well, since we can’t prove who started what, the charges are being dropped. Your brother is not going to press charges against Matthew, and Matthew can’t prove that Dylan threw the first punch. Both of them are dinged up, and both have busted knuckles, so we know they were both wanting to fight. I could have sent this on to the District Attorney, but instead, I chose to hold your brother here in the jail for twenty-four hours to get his attention, and drop the charges as I said. But you all need to hear this. Dylan Dawson just got his last break from me. I can’t continue to look the other way, I can’t excuse his behavior out of deference to your father. Somebody is going to get hurt if this doesn’t stop. Keep him in check.”

I held out my hand for the man to shake. “Thank you, Sheriff. We’ll be sure to set him straight.”

“Thank you, Sheriff,” my brothers both said.

A few minutes later Dylan was coming out from the back carrying a brown paper bag full of his personal belongings. He had a stupid grin on his face, but the moment he saw the angry looks on the faces of his brothers, the smile faded. No one said anything as we walked him to the truck and climbed in.

As we drove away, none of us said much, but you could feel the tension simmering between the four of us.

“Did the Sheriff tell you? I’m not going to get in trouble. The charges were dropped. Seems like that idiot Matthew came to his senses. You all have nothing to worry about, I got away clean and free,” he said.

“You call a night in jail getting away with it?” Tanner said.

“No, but it wasn’t so bad. The food was decent even,”

We all looked at each other and Wyatt turned down a different road. Dylan looked around, “This ain’t the way home. Where we going?”

“The Heights,” Wyatt said.

“Damn right. Let’s go swimming and I can wash this jail stench off of me. I like this, the Dawson Brothers all together for some fun again. It’s been too long,” Dylan said with a smile and slapped his hand on the dashboard with excitement. I don’t think he had any idea of what he was in for.

Wyatt pulled into the dirt road that led to the swimming quarry known as The Heights. He turned off his truck and we all got out. I grabbed Dylan by the shirt and pushed him against the truck.

“What the hell?” he said, turning around looking confused.

“Shut up, Dylan. We’re not here to swim and we damn sure didn’t all get together to take you out for a good time!” Wyatt said, getting right in his face.

“What the hell is this?” he asked.

“It’s time we taught you a lesson,” Tanner said. All three of us stood in front of him with our arms crossed. Dylan looked down at the ground. Now he knew what was going on.

“We’re sick of your shit, Dylan. It’s time to grow up. Look at you, having to have your brothers come pick you up from jail? Does that make you feel good, like a tough old cowboy?” Wyatt asked.

“No, it doesn’t,” he responded.

“Good. I want you to remember this moment. The next time you get mad, the next time you get drunk and want to fight. I want you to think about us all standing here damn disappointed in you. I want you to think about how Father looked asking if he could drive you in so you didn’t have to ride with the sheriff like a damn criminal,” I said to him.

“What are y’all doing to me? I’m haven’t done a damn thing the rest of y’all didn’t do yourselves. I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Dylan said in disbelief.

“That may be true, but it doesn’t make it right. We grew out of it, and it is time for you to do the same,” I said.

“So you’re all ganging up on me for doing the same shit you did when you were my age. What a bunch of hypocrites, all of you,” he said.

“We might have done the same, but we didn’t get caught. You’re getting way too much attention from the sheriff. That night in jail was a break by the way. Do you know that? What if next time you get sent to jail for real, for months or even a year? Is that what you want?” Wyatt said.

“No. Of course it’s not what I want. Sometimes I just get so pissed off, and you know that fucking Matthew and I have history.” Dylan crossed his arms.

“Yes, we know that. We’ve all seen it. But next time you’re going to have to bite your tongue before somebody really gets hurt. And come on, this isn’t just about Matthew,” I said.

“Yeah, we all know. Connor told us,” Tanner said.

“What?” Dylan said, with restrained anger.

“This is about the ranch. You’re pissed off because you don’t know what to do with your life or something? Dylan, the ranch hasn’t been promised to me. Father hasn’t promised it to anyone, and that is the truth,” Wyatt said.

“Oh, come on, it’ll go to you because you’re the oldest. Where does that leave me? What the hell am I supposed to do with my life?” Dylan shouted. The truth was finally coming out.

“Father could split the ranch between us for all we know. What if he ends up giving you the back forty, or the pastures? Then this whole tirade of yours would be for nothing. Don’t you see that?” I said. “You’re pissed off over something that hasn’t even happened.”

“Yeah, and we’re all in the same boat, Dylan. None of us know what’s going to happen, but that’s not how this family works. We stick together, and we work that ranch hard. No matter what happens, it’s going to benefit the whole family, not just one of us,” Tanner said.

“Your way of thinking doesn’t hold up, anyway. Say that Father did give me the ranch, the whole damn thing. You think I wouldn’t give you a piece of it to build a house, grow some crops and have a farm if you wanted to? I would give it to you in a heartbeat, any of you. It’s the Dawson Ranch, and it’s big enough to split between all of us, including Abi. You’re so worried about yourself, you didn’t give a thought to her, did you, or the rest of us. There is no need to worry about this Dylan. You are just letting that fester and it is erupting like a damn volcano the minute you start drinking. You need to let it go,” Wyatt said.

“I know. Okay, I know. I’m sorry,” Dylan said, sincerely. It was the first time he was sincere with his answers.

“The family doesn’t need this stuff anymore. How long before that behavior—from all of us—turns our business bad? No one will want to do business with guys that are brawling all the time. It’s selfish of us to be that way,” I said.

“I didn’t think of it like that. I thought my fightin’ was only hurtin’ myself,” Dylan said.

“No. It affects all of us,” Tanner said.

“Shit,” Dylan said, kicking the dirt with his boot.

We all stood there in quiet contemplation. We were waiting for all of this to sink in. We should have had this talk with him a long time ago, I thought. He was our little brother after all and he had been feeling lost. I should have gathered Tanner and Wyatt together that day I’d heard Dylan confess it when he was drunk. Maybe this whole jail thing could have been avoided. A little brother needed his older brothers.

Dylan looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. Finally, he had something to say, “Thank you brothers, for bringing me here. It’s good just to have it out in the open, and for y’all to know what I’ve been thinking and what’s been bothering me. Just hearing y’all tell me that it’s going to be all right, that we’ll always stick together and take care of each other is a load off my shoulders. A load I didn’t know I’d been carrying, but it’s been blowing up into fights every chance I got. I can see that now. It won’t happen again, I can promise you that.”

I looked at him and put my hand on his shoulder. Then looked to Wyatt and Tanner.

“All right then, we hear you. We’re not judging you, Dylan, we’ve all been like you to some degree. But the whole sheriff thing, it’s too much. We’re here for you no matter what, but we want you to think about what you are doing and how it affects the family. I sincerely believe that you’re going to stop and try to keep that temper in check,” Wyatt said, putting his hand on his other shoulder.

“Thanks, man. Thanks for believing in me,” he said.

“All right, bring it in,” Tanner said. We all laughed and fell into a group hug. I knew that this was good. This was different and I could feel a weight lifted off my shoulders as well.

“You know what, since we are here and the sun is already blazing,” Wyatt said, pulling out of the hug. We all looked at each other and big smiles broke out across our faces.

“Last one in has to shovel the shit out of the stables!” I shouted, and ran toward the quarry.

“Woohoo!” We all shouted as we ran down the trail to the granite rocks.

We all stripped off every bit of clothing and I jumped in first. I didn’t see which brother was in last, but it didn’t matter. The Dawson brothers were together. We had each other’s backs and we were enjoying a nice skinny dip after a difficult argument. It’s just how we did things.

32

Lydia Myers

I’d been doing a lot of thinking about the situation with Connor. I didn’t want to become someone that was visiting a boyfriend, or even a husband, in jail. That was not for me. I didn’t want my future to involve my significant other having to go bail his brother out of jail either. These thoughts had been going through my mind for a while, and therefore I was extremely anxious as I sat in my office. I was gathering my materials, and was supposed to go to the Dawson Ranch at noon to oversee the delivery of the furniture and get it placed into the correct areas. This was always my favorite part of a job, making all my work come together. I had been especially excited about this one, but now I didn’t know if I even really wanted to go.

“Hey, what time are you leaving to head to Safety?” Whitney asked, as she came into my office.

“I’m supposed to be there at noon, so not for a few hours,” I said.

She looked at my face and sensed that something was wrong. Right away, she came into my office and closed the door, then sat down on the chair in front of my desk.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“I’m just not feeling good about going out there. You know, with all the family drama and everything that they have going on. I’m thinking that maybe I should start separating myself from Connor, and the family. I just don't know. I do want to keep seeing him, but then I don’t. I just need more time to think about it,” I said.

“So, you’re not going to go out there?”

“Would you mind going for me? I could show you where everything needs to go. It’s really simple because it’s mostly a lot of big pieces. I have the layout and everything.”

“Are you sure? You’ve been so excited about this job.”

“I still am. I’m excited about the project, but I made the mistake of mixing pleasure and business, and now I'm paying for it. I just need a little more time. I could just make an excuse, like I’m not feeling well and don’t want to get anyone sick. It wouldn’t be a big deal, I don’t think.”

“All right, but I do think you should go. I’m not going to force you, though. I don’t have anything going on today anyway. Show me the design,” she said.

“Really? Thank you, Whitney. Thank you so much. I owe you big time.”

“Yes, you do,” she said, then winked at me.

I pulled out the designs and began to go through the living room placement with her, including the heirlooms and antiques. Then I went through the kitchen design, which wasn’t that hard since for the most part it was just curtains and decor things since the appliances had already been delivered and installed.

We sat in my office for two hours, drinking coffee and going over the plans. I gave her the contact information for the furniture delivery, which was a company that we used often, so she knew them already. When we were done, I felt relieved. I hadn’t talked to Connor since the Sunday phone call, and I wasn’t sure that I was really ready to. I didn’t think badly of him for not speaking to me since that day, I knew he was dealing with a lot and it had given me time to think. It was easier to think when he wasn’t in front of me, because when he was in front of me I was distracted by his good looks. And my extreme lust for him always pushed logic right out of my mind.

“Are you sure about this?” Whitney asked, looking at me.

“Yes, I am. I’ll go in and tell Janet that you are overseeing the placement, and I’ll make sure you get a cut of the fee. Thank you for doing this. Things are just a bit sticky right now,” I said.

“I can only imagine. I’m more than happy to do this for you in order to give you some space and time to think, away from Dawson Ranch. I’m here for you no matter what, you know that,” she said.

Standing up, I gave her a big hug. “Yes, I do know that. Thank you, Whitney.”

“Look at the time, I’d better get going,” she said, looking at the clock on the wall.

“Yes, it is a drive. Please give them my apologies and let them know that I wasn’t feeling well.”

“I’ll cover for you, don’t worry.”

She grabbed the designs off my desk and went to her office to gather her stuff. I sat down and pulled out my phone. I thought about texting Connor to let him know, but I knew that he’d immediately call and question me, and I wasn’t ready to deal with that just yet. He was expecting me and it didn’t feel good to not show up. But I needed some time.

A few minutes later Whitney waved goodbye and walked out of the building. I sat there realizing that I needed to make a decision about what I was going to do. I wanted to continue dating Connor, I really did. But I also didn’t want this kind of drama in my life, and I knew that cutting it off now would be better than later. But the problem was I was completely in love with him.

“I’m here! What’s going on?” I heard Janet shout as she walked in the front door. She did this often when she arrived in the office just to let us know she was there.

I took a deep breath and stood up from my desk. I would have to go to explain all of this to her, and that wasn’t going to be fun. I walked out of my office into the front room where she was putting samples away.

“Hey Janet.”

“Lydia, what’s new? Where’s Whitney?”

“She’s not here. She’s doing a client placement.”

“Oh good.”

“Actually, she’s doing it for me. I had her finish up the Dawson placement because I’m not feeling so well. I was actually just about to go home. I’ll make sure she gets a cut of my fee for taking over for me,” I said.

“Oh no. What’s wrong?”

“I think I have a fever coming on,” I said. “I’m really not well. I reviewed everything with Whitney though, and she knows the placement well.”

“Oh, that’s not good. You get yourself home so you don’t get us sick too. Take care of yourself,” she said, quickly walking away from me and into her office.

“Okay,” I said. I rolled my eyes and walked back to my office to gather my things. A few minutes later I was headed home.

It was true that I didn’t feel well, but it was a headache caused by everything that was happening, rather than a fever. But it was best that I went home anyway. I needed to have some alone time. I needed to figure out what I was going to do, and how I truly felt about things.

When I got home, I took a hot bath to calm my nerves, then poured a glass of red wine. When I was done I took a step that had been on my mind for a while. I started looking at commercial spaces for rent around the city. I wasn’t actually going to start my own business, but I wanted to see what was out there in case it was a possibility. But I found that when I was looking at the spaces for rent, it made me happy. It gave me something to look forward to, something that would be all mine. I was so into my search that I had completely forgot that I’d left my phone in my purse, and went to bed without even looking at it.

33

Connor Dawson

The talk with Dylan seemed to have helped already. He seemed lighter and happier around the ranch the rest of the day after we’d gotten back yesterday morning. It was good to see a smile on his face for a change, and even our father seemed to notice the difference and approved.

I was especially glad for it, because now I could focus on Lydia again. It had only been a few days since I had seen her, and I’d already missed her terribly. But today was the day she would show up with the furniture and get it all placed in the living room. I was very excited to see her again. She wasn’t scheduled to arrive until noon, but that didn’t stop me from looking toward the road every second.

“You get the water in the troughs?” Wyatt asked, coming over to my side as I let the chickens out of the coop.

“Yep. All good. I fixed the leak in the horse trough, too,” I said.

“Good. Dylan’s out in the barn today, shoveling shit. It’s his punishment from Father. He’s on shit duty for a month,” Wyatt laughed.

I started laughing hard. “That will teach him. It’s a shitty job.”

“Oh, now that’s original, Connor,” Wyatt said.

“Hey, I’m an original man.”

He grabbed a handful of chicken feed and threw it at me. I just laughed. I had a feeling that things were going to be back to normal around here and once all the furniture was back in the living room, it would really feel normal again.

“I’m gonna head out to the silos. Call me if you need me, there’s no way I’d hear you shouting,” he said, holding up his phone.

“Yeah, I got it,” I said.

I let the chickens out into the pasture while I held the bucket of feed. It reminded me of the time I showed Lydia how to do this, then later found out that she’d been playing me the whole time. She had let me feel like I was really teaching her something new, but actually she had grown up on a farm herself. I laughed to myself thinking about the fool I’d been. It was a good joke though.

When I was done with the chickens, I fed the goats, the horses, and the sheep, making my regular rounds. Feeding the animals was the first thing I did in the morning. Just then I heard a muttering in the distance, and turned to see Dylan pushing a wheelbarrow full of shit across the ranch. I started laughing. It was a hilarious sight. I grabbed my coffee thermos and climbed up the fence and sat down for a recharge moment. I unscrewed the red cap and poured a small cup of the steaming liquid and then set the thermos down on the fence post.

“I’ve noticed a difference in Dylan already. He really needed some tough love, and I’m glad you guys gave it to him. It’d really done wonders,” Abi said, as she came to my side while I sat on the fence of the sheep pen. We were both watching Dylan push that wheelbarrow.

“Yeah, sometimes we need that. Tanner has definitely done that with me before when I was being an ass,” I said.

“That’s just what we do, we look out for each other,” she said.

“So true, little sister,” I said with a smile.

“Do you know that Father is making him shovel shit for a month?” she asked.

I laughed. “Yeah, Wyatt told me. I’ve never heard anything funnier.”

“Abi!” our father hollered, sticking his head out the back door.

“Yeah, Father?” Abi shouted, walking toward him.

“I’m going into town!”

“Alright!” She waved.

“Keep an eye on Dylan. Don’t let him get out of his work!” he shouted.

“I’m on it!” I shouted back.

Father popped back into the house as Abi walked back toward me and grabbed the thermos from the fence post, taking a drink of the hot coffee.

“I’m going to take the horses out tomorrow for a hard ride if you want to come along,” she said.

“Maybe. Or maybe Dylan needs that. To give him a break from the shit detail, you know?”

“Oh, we’re going to have fun with his shitty job aren’t we?”

“It will never get old,” I said.

“What about Lydia? Has this whole thing with Dylan ruined things with her?” She asked the question out of nowhere and it startled me a bit.

“Shit, I hope not. But I don’t really know. Guess we’ll find out today, when she comes out to direct the placement of the furniture and all. But don’t be poking around and sticking your nose in it,” I said, pointing a finger at her.

“I’ll try not to. But remember, this is my project, so I kind of have to be there to make sure everything goes the way we had planned.”

“Right. There is that,” I said.

The sound of Father’s truck engine roaring to life caught our attention. We watched as his truck turned around and headed down the driveway and over the cattle guard.

“You know, I think Father was really hurt about Dylan spending the night in jail. That’s never happened before. Yes, you all have been in trouble, but it’s always been warnings and citations to pay off, not a night in jail. I think it shook him to his core,” Abi said, peering after his truck.

“Dylan’s damn lucky the sheriff went that route, instead of sending the case to the D.A.’s office. No telling what might have happened if that had been the case. Father is right to be upset, and I think we all had the same feelings about it. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel if it was my kid. I think Father is feeling his age a bit, too. He’s tired and doesn’t have the energy to put up with our crap anymore,” I said, drinking the hot black coffee.

“Hey, I’m young and I don’t have the energy to put up with the bogus shit y’all come up with either,” she said with a laugh.

“Can’t argue that,” I said, with a smirk on my face.

“What time is it anyway? The furniture truck is supposed to be here at noon, right?” Abi asked, looking a little excited, though she tried not to show it.

“Yep, it’s ten till,” I said, looking at my watch.

“Oh look, is that them?” She started pointing down the road.

There was a large delivery truck coming down the road, followed by a car I hadn’t seen before. I furrowed my eyebrows together.

“Yeah, that must be it.”

We walked to the front porch together, ready to greet them.

I watched as the furniture truck pulled up close to the house. The black car parked in the driveway. The door opened and Whitney got out. Lydia was not with her.

Abi looked at me quizzically and shook her head, then walked out towards the car. Feeling confused, I followed.

“Hey, good to see both of you again. I’ll be handling the placement today, but don’t worry about a thing. I know where everything goes and have the designs right here,” Whitney said.

“Where is Lydia?” I asked.

“Oh, she wasn’t feeling well. She thought she was coming down with something, so she asked me to step in.”

Immediately, I knew she was lying. I could tell by the look on her face and think Abi could too. She cleared her throat and smiled at Whitney. “That’s fine. Come on inside and we can go over the plans,” she said, pulling her to the porch. I knew Abi could sense that I was getting upset.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the furniture truck as the men got out and began to unload from the back. This was not good. Lydia hadn’t bothered to text me or even call to say she wasn’t coming. This was a drastic change of plans, and I knew it was because of the incident with my brother. Turning toward the barn, I angrily stomped my way out there.

Dylan was in there, still shoveling shit into the wheelbarrow. He was focused on his work and hardly even noticed that I’d walked in.

“Dylan!”

He turned and stopped working. Pulling the handkerchief from his neck, he wiped at his face.

“Hey Connor, what’s up?”

“This is all your fault. A perfect example of how your selfish bullshit makes trouble for the rest of us.”

“Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about, Connor?”

“Lydia was supposed to come out today to finish off the remodel, the biggest day of the job, and she sent her co-worker out instead. Why do you think that is?”

“How would I know? Maybe she got sick or something.”

“No way. She would have called me if that was the reason. She would have let me know with a text or a phone call, we are close like that. But since the fair she’s been distant, and now didn’t show up today without a word.”

“Aw fuck. Connor, I’m sorry. Wait? She already knows I was in jail?”

“Yes, she knows. I was supposed to spend the day with her after I interrupted our date at the fair, breaking up the fight and hauling your sorry butt home. So, I was going to go to her place and spend the whole day with her, but instead I was here dealing with the mess you created. So I had to tell her. I wasn’t going to lie. She deserves better than that.” I paced back and forth, feeling the anger boiling within me.

“All right Connor. I’ll make this right. I’ll fix it.”

“It might be too late for that. The damage is already done.” Turning on my heel, I walked out of there.

“Connor wait!” he shouted after me. “I’m sorry!”

But I wasn’t going to stay and listen. I had other things to do. I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and called Lydia. There was no answer. “Dang it.” I sent her a text.

Hey, call me when you get a chance.

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I wasn’t going to give up so easily. There was no way I was going to give her up without a fight, and I needed to know what was going on. She was obviously ignoring me. I walked toward the house and entered the kitchen through the back door. I could hear Abi and Whitney speaking in the living room. When I walked in, Whitney stopped in her tracks.

“Is she really sick?”

“Connor—yes, she is—”

“Then I’m going to her place.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Whitney said.

“Why? I just called her and she didn’t answer. I sent her a text and she hasn’t responded. Is she avoiding me?”

Whitney sighed. “Look, I can’t talk about this. It’s not my business. I just know that she needs some space. When she’s ready to talk to you, she will.”

I huffed. That wasn’t a good enough answer for me. “I’m going into the city.”

“Connor! Don’t. You heard Whitney. Give Lydia some space,” Abi said.

“You’ll only make her angry if you show up like that,” Whitney said.

“Fine,” I said, and marched out of the house to continue my work. I was pissed. But I didn’t want to make it worse and have Lydia get even more upset. Whitney was her best friend and knew her well. I would have to heed her advice.

34

Lydia Myers

I woke up very late. After having a hot bath and spending a long time on the computer looking at office space rental possibilities, I had fallen asleep. Without setting an alarm. I opened my eyes and suddenly realized how much sunlight was pouring into my bedroom.

Looking at the clock, I was horrified. “Crap, it’s ten.” I rolled out of bed. Reaching for my phone on the nightstand, I realized that it wasn’t there.

“Where’s my phone,” I said, fumbling around and wiping the sleep from my eyes.

Then I remembered that I’d never taken it out of my purse. I went to the living room and opened my bag. My phone had both missed phone calls and text messages. Two of the missed calls were from Connor and I knew that he must be worried. Then there was a text from him asking me to give him a call.

I sighed. I felt bad that he had been trying to get a hold of me. There was one text from Whitney as well. The placement went well. I’ll tell you all about it when I come into the office. I have a client in the morning.

Putting my phone on the kitchen counter, I made myself some coffee. I needed to go into work and find out what happened from Whitney. Then I would need to call Connor. I wanted to respond to him now, but I didn’t know what to say just yet. I didn’t know how I felt about the whole situation. I knew I owed him a response, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Looking at my phone again, I picked it up. I was being silly. This was Connor. I had shared my body with him. I should be able to talk to him about anything, right? But what if he was mad that I didn’t show up at the ranch and that I’d ignored his calls. I put the phone down. I needed to think about this.

Pulling the eggs out of the refrigerator, I put some bread in the toaster. I would feel better after I’d eaten some breakfast.

On the way to work I picked up another coffee with whipped cream at the drive-thru place. I didn’t get one for Whitney because she wouldn’t be at the office until later.

I went to work filled with anxiety, wondering what she would say. I hadn’t spoken to her either and really wanted to know what had happened at the ranch. She was out seeing a client this morning, so she wouldn’t be coming into the office until after lunch, and I was forcing myself to not call to ask her because I wanted to see the look on her face when she told me. You could tell a lot by someone’s expression, and I always knew when she was lying. So, it would just have to wait.

But waiting was excruciating. I decided I would continue looking online for commercial spaces to rent. It was one thing that could hold my attention and made me feel better. Like I had something to look forward to. The idea of starting my own design business was beginning to feel like it could be a reality. But the rent on commercial spaces in the city was quite high.

One hour later I was standing in my office, pacing back and forth. The anxiety was getting to me. “Screw it, I’m going to call her to find out,” I said out loud. Just then I heard the front bell go off. I was the only one at work since Janet had not arrived yet and Whitney was out. I put on a smile and walked out to greet the customer, but really hoped it was Whitney arriving early. Turns out it was neither.

“Dylan? What are you doing here?” I was shocked.

“Lydia. Oh good. I’m so glad you’re here. Can we talk?”

“Sure. Is everything all right?” I asked, immediately scared that something had happened to Connor. I was feeling terrible for not returning his calls or message. If something had happened to him I would never forgive myself for ignoring him. It was in this moment that I realized I wasn’t prepared to live without him.

“Sort of. Do you have a minute?”

“Yes. Come on back into my office,” I said. He followed me to the back and I closed the door.

“What is it? Is Connor alright?”

“Yes and no. He’s alright physically. Nothing has happened to him or anything like that. But he is devastated, and sad. A shell of a man, really. When you didn’t come yesterday—”

“Oh, I see.”

“Look Lydia, this is my fault. I know it is. You’re scared of getting involved with him because our family reputation of being wild and crazy. But I promise you the Dawson boys do grow up and change. Connor ain’t like me. He’s grown and has sense. Me, I just needed a little time, but I’m learning and working some things out that were on my mind. I don’t plan on being in jail again I’ll tell you that. But please don’t take it out on my brother. This is not who we are. The Dawson’s are good people,” he pleaded. “We are a good family.”

“Well, you guys certainly don’t have a lot of privacy,” I said, feeling embarrassed that Dylan knew so much, and I wondered exactly what Whitney had said to Connor.

“No, there ain’t a lot of that in the family,” he said.

“I can see that.”

“Connor is a good guy. He has a good heart. Maybe he used to be a little hot headed like me when he was younger, but we all grow out of it. I’m just about getting there myself.”

“Really?”

“Yes. My brothers were so pissed at me they gave me a good talking to and let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. Connor was especially hard on me. I know he only wants me to shape up and all, and I will.”

“He does seem like a good man.”

“He is! I mean, you are right. Just give him another chance, Lydia. I couldn’t stand to be the reason you don’t want to see him. I couldn’t live with myself. See, the thing is, you make him happy. We’ve all noticed the difference in him. He is pure sunshine when you’re around.”

I laughed. “He makes me happy, too.”

“Will you consider giving him another chance? What are you doing tonight? Can you meet him for dinner?”

“Does he know that you came here?”

“God no, he would kill me if he knew. This is all on me. I came here on my own, trying to fix something that I screwed up for my brother. Will you please come to dinner tonight?”

I sighed. I didn’t know what to say.

35

Connor Dawson

I still hadn’t heard from Lydia, and I was constantly looking at my phone. I didn’t want to annoy her, and push her even further away from me. I was giving her space just as Whitney had suggested. But how long was I going to have to wait?

Driving the tractor through the back forty acres, I was trying to keep myself busy, trying to keep my hands occupied so I wouldn't call her. Then I felt my phone vibrating. I quickly pushed the tractor into park and turned the engine off. I pulled out my phone, hoping that it was her. It was not. It was Dylan.

“What’s up?”

“Meet me for dinner at the diner, okay?”

“What? Why?”

“I need to talk to you, it’s really important. Can you meet me there in two hours?”

“I have a lot of work to do, Dylan. Can’t you just come home and have dinner here?” I wasn’t exactly feeling up to giving Dylan what he wanted. I was still pissed off at him.

“Connor, this is important. Just trust me,” he said.

“Fine. I'll be there in two hours, but you’re buying.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said, and hung up the phone.

Starting up the tractor, I began to drive it back toward the house. I would need to finish up a few things before I jumped in the shower and got dressed to meet him. I could go for a burger, though. I didn’t have the slightest idea what Dylan wanted to talk to me about. I hadn’t talked to him since the day before, when I was so pissed at him about Lydia.

Driving the tractor into the barn, I turned it off, putting the keys on the hook that hung from the wall. I went inside, took a quick shower and got dressed. I checked my phone, still nothing from Lydia. I decided I would give it until morning, and if I hadn’t heard from her I was going into the city to see her, whether she wanted me to or not. I wasn’t going to give up on this easily. Being away from her only made me realize just how much I liked her—even loved her. It was hard to admit, but it was true.

Two hours later, I walked into the diner. I looked around to see Dylan sitting in a booth. I walked over and slid in across from him.

“All right, I’m here. What’s the big deal?”

“I wanted to make things right,” he said.

“You wanted to make things right by having dinner with me?”

“No. You aren’t having dinner with me.” He stood up and I looked at him, completely confused. He smiled, then started walking away toward the door.

“Dylan? What are you talking about? Dylan?” I called out to him but he just kept walking. He walked right out the door, but held it open. And Lydia walked in. She was like a breath of fresh air. Somehow I’d forgotten how absolutely stunning she was. Every time I saw her was like a jolt to my heart. Dylan looked at me and smiled one last time, then nodded. Then he closed the door and walked away. That clever little brother. This was a pleasant surprise.

“Hi,” Lydia said, standing next to the table.

“Hi. Sit down,” I said, giving her a smile. “I had no idea you would be here, this is a nice surprise.”

“Yes, your brother came to talk to me. He set this dinner up.”

“I’ll have to thank him. I’ve called you, texted you. I didn’t know what to think when you didn’t come to the house yesterday and then I couldn’t get ahold of you. Tell me what’s going on, Lydia. It’s me, Connor. You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”

“I know. I’m so sorry. The truth is I got a little freaked out. With the fighting, and all of that.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that. There is a lot more to the Dawson brothers than all of that. Yes, we get a little heated sometimes, but we’re working on it. Growing out of it, one by one. I hope you believe me when I say that,” I said.

“Connor, it’s more than that. There’s a reason I am so against the fighting. I had a boyfriend once. He seemed alright in the beginning, but then he became violent. He was abusive.”

Anger started to rise up in me at the thought of anyone hurting my Lydia. “He hurt you? Who is he?”

“Nobody. He is in my past and he’ll never touch me again. But that is why I’m cautious now. I don’t want to be involved with anyone that is at all violent, because of my past with him.”

“I would never hurt you or any other woman. Or an innocent man for that matter. That is not who I am. Trust me, any fight that I have ever been in, the guy deserved it. But that has nothing to do with being abusive, I’m not like that. Not at all. I hope you can see that in me. I’m sorry you had to go through that with your ex-boyfriend. But know that you would never go through that with me. I only want to protect you and keep you safe.”

“I know that. I can see that in you, Connor. You have a good heart. I’m sorry that I got scared off and freaked out. I just really didn’t know what to think. Getting in trouble with the police and all—that’s not something I want in my life.”

“I don’t want that in my life either, and rest assured, we’ve all made that very clear to my little brother. I can’t promise you that things will change overnight, but they will change. It’s going to be up to you, I don’t want to force or pressure you to do anything that you don’t want to. But for me, I want to keep seeing you. I want to see where this goes between us because I can’t stop thinking about you.”

She smiled and reached for my hand across the table. “I guess we could start with dinner at the diner.”

“I would like that.”

“What will you have?” the waitress came over to us.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger, fries, and a strawberry milkshake,” Lydia said.

“I’ll have the same,” I said.

“Alright, coming right up.” She took the menus from us and walked away.

“So you’re not sick?” I asked, Lydia.

“No, I’m not. I made Whitney lie about it. I’m sorry,” I said.

“That’s alright. As long as you’re telling me the truth now.”

“I am. And I will in the future,” she said.

“The future? I like the sound of that,” I smiled.

“So Abi must be pissed at me for not showing up yesterday,” she said.

“Nah, she understands. In fact she’s the one that was worried from the beginning that this whole thing with Dylan might put you off,” I said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, and she was right. Women’s intuition I think,” I said.

“Maybe. It was wrong of me, though. I can see that now,” she said.

“I only want you to be happy, Lydia.” I squeezed her hand.

“I am,” she smiled that gorgeous smile. Her green eyes were beautiful and radiant. I knew that I loved her. Being with her knowing she was going to give us another chance brought a calm and peaceful feeling over me.

“Here you are, two milkshakes, and your food will be right out.” The waitress slid two large glasses in front of us.

“Thank you.”

“Mm, it’s delicious,” Lydia said.

“Yes. They have really good food here. The cook is awesome, you’ll see,” I said.

A few minutes later, we were eating cheeseburgers and fries with our milkshakes. We talked about the remodel of the living room and kitchen, and I told her how well it turned out. Our conversation was light and didn’t have anything to do with fighting, police, or making decisions on our relationship. We were just enjoying each other’s company. For me, I was very glad to be with her. Dylan really did come through for me. He fixed it. I’d been worried that it might not be possible.

“Hey, did you know there are no interior designers in the town of Safety?” she said.

“Yeah, I do know that, because my sister and I were looking for one and had to go to the city to find one.”

“Do you think the town could use one?”

“Yeah, I think so. Are you thinking about it?” I raised my eyebrow at her, feeling excited that she might move to town.

“I don’t know. I haven’t made any decisions. All I know is that I have been thinking about starting my own design business for a while. But when I looked into renting commercial space in the city, the rents were very high. But in this town, they’re affordable.”

“I’m liking the sound of this.”

“I’m just speaking hypothetically at this point, so don’t get your hopes up just yet,” she teased me.

“Noted ma’am,” I said with a wink.

We both laughed and finished eating our meal. I was feeling so much better, like a weight had been lifted off of me. I had missed this woman something fierce, and now that she was with me, I was so relieved.

“This diner is open twenty-four hours right?” she asked, as I paid for the check.

“Yes. Why?”

“I was thinking maybe I could leave my car in the lot and you could give me a ride home?” She raised her brow and I knew what she meant.

“Yes, I think your car would be perfectly safe here,” I said, getting excited that she had brought up the idea.

“Good,” she stood up and held out her hand to me. Getting up, I placed my hand in hers and we walked out together. I placed a light kiss on her cheek, not able to wait any longer.

When we got to my truck, I couldn’t hold back. I pressed her against the door and kissed her with passion and longing. I had nearly convinced myself that I would never hold her again, and now I couldn’t wait to touch her and kiss her. She moaned in my mouth as we kissed and I was already getting aroused.

“Connor, I think we should get in the truck, don’t you?” she whispered between kisses.

“Yes, good point,” I said, as I stopped kissing her, then opened the door so she could climb in. Damn, she was beautiful.

The drive to the city seemed longer than ever. It never took this long, I thought, as I was anxiously waiting for the exit to come up that would lead us to her place.

“I’m glad to know that you’re not really sick,” I said.

“I shouldn’t have made Whitney tell you that.”

“Did she tell you she had to talk me out of coming to your house at that very moment?”

“Yes, but not until today. I didn’t talk to her until after lunch and she told me you were ready to burst out of your home and come after me.” She was smiling broadly.

“Damn straight,” I said.

“That’s very romantic,” she said.

“I’m glad you think so. Look, the exit. It’s about time,” I said, feeling extremely frustrated.

She giggled that contagious laugh of hers and it made my heart sing.

Moments later, we were in her house, kissing and touching. It felt like a year since I’d been inside her and I wasn’t going to wait any longer.

36

Lydia Myers

I was really glad I had decided to show up to the diner after Dylan had asked me to. The truth was that I was completely head over heels in love with this tough cowboy. I couldn’t get him off my mind, even though I thought I could. The last few days without seeing him had been really hard, so I knew I had to make a decision. But when Whitney told me just how much he’d wanted to see me when he thought I was sick, I knew that I needed to see him. I needed to talk to him and it needed to be in person. So I went to the diner and surprised him.

Now that we had cleared the air, I felt more confident that the feisty reputation attributed to the Dawson brothers would not negatively affect my life. So I let go of all my inhibitions. I wasn’t going to let anxiety rule my actions. I gave in to him, and to my desires.

He kissed me passionately in my living room after the ride home from the diner had been such torture. I wanted him badly. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, Lydia. I was so scared. I thought I wouldn’t ever see you again and I couldn’t handle that,” he whispered, between kissing my mouth and my neck. We were fumbling all over the living room as we backed up to my couch. I sat down. He kissed me and laid on top of me between my thighs, while hiking up my skirt.

“Damn, you are so beautiful, Lydia. I can’t get enough of you.” He kissed down my shoulder, pushing off the strap of my dress. I moaned at hearing his words. He kissed down my arm and onto the top of my hand, lightly kissing me there. Then his lips moved over my breast, kissing the fabric on top of them. He was slow and lingering with his kisses. I was so aroused and turned on, and I was in love.

I wanted to shout it out loud, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if he felt the same way. So, I just let him kiss me over and over. Then he moved further down over my belly and down my thighs, until he was between them. He slowly peeled off my panties, kissing the flesh that had just been touched by the fabric as though he removing a shield from me. Then he threw my panties onto the ground.

“Mm, I want you so badly, but I want to please you first. I want you to feel complete pleasure,” he said, as he pushed his face between my thighs and onto my sweet center. He placed soft kisses there as I threw my head back and moaned. I was filled with love and light as he pleased me. His tongue moved up and down between my folds, making me wetter and hotter. I could feel the heartbeat pulsing gathering there. I was ready to explode. His tongue moved up higher, on top of my clitoris. He pressed and flicked it.

“I love that you do this for me,” I whispered, as I pushed my hands into his thick hair. He groaned and moved his tongue faster.

Then I released into ecstasy as electricity spread across my center. The rush moved through me in a tremble of warmth. I laid back on the couch, numb and melting into the cushions as the waves rocked me. Connor stood up and started to unbuckle his belt.

“Do you have a condom?” I asked.

He reached into his pockets. He pulled out his wallet and looked. “Shit. No. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“Well, I knew I was going to see you,” I said, standing up. I grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom. I opened the drawer and tossed a box at him.

“A whole box? You plan on really wearing me out don’t you?” He raised a brow at me.

“I hope so.” I kissed him.

“I’m okay with that,” he said, as he slipped off the straps of my dress and let it fall to the floor. I wasn’t wearing a bra and just stood there in my heels and nothing else.

“You are beautiful, Lydia. I don’t deserve you,” he whispered, as he looked at me. I smiled at him. I unsnapped the button snaps of his western shirt and pulled it off of him. I looked at his hard six-pack abs and toned chest. I ran my hands up and down over it as I sighed. “You are beautiful too, cowboy.”

He smiled. “You are driving me crazy.”

“Good.”

I moved my hands down his jeans and over his hard cock. He sucked in a sharp breath of air. I couldn’t take it anymore either. I finished working his belt and unzipped his jeans. He kicked off his boots and pushed out of his jeans and boxers. I backed up to the bed and laid down on my side. I watched his perfect naked form walk to me. His staff was hard and rigid, ready for me. He grabbed a condom from the box and slipped it on. I loved watching him do this. It only turned me on even more.

Connor laid down behind me, spooning me. I could feel his cock pressing against my thigh. He placed soft kisses on my neck while his hand cupped and massaged my breasts. Feeling his strong chest and stomach against my back made me feel safe and protected. His lips grazing against my neck and shoulder gave me goosebumps. The pinching feeling he was giving me on my hard nipples made me moan.

Then he slipped his hard dick inside of my wet center. He was still spooning me and entering me from behind. I lifted my leg resting it on his. He moved his cock in slowly, I was so wet. His strong callused hands pressed against my breasts. I was deeply in love with this cowboy.

He pushed himself deep inside of me and then out again. His movements were slow and came with kisses on my neck.

“Connor, that feels so good.” I couldn’t keep from moaning.

“You feel good. You’re so small and petite.”

His body formed against mine, as though we fit together and were made for each other. I could feel the delicious sensation of his hard manhood in and out of me. I was still in a sensitive state and I could hardly handle it any longer.

“I’m going to come, Connor. I’m going to—” but I couldn’t finish. I bit down on his tattooed forearm that was wrapped around me. The convulsions over took me as I trembled into release. Connor moaned as he listened to me and felt my body tremor.

His movement slowed, but only for a while. Then he started again. He moved faster and faster, his skin slapping against mine. He was dipping his cock in and out of me. I was in such a state I could barely hold myself together as I melted into the bed and laid on my side.

“Mm, I’m going to come, Lydia. Damn, this is what you do to me. Fuck,” he said. I felt his arm tighten around me. He held me hard against him. He moved faster and faster and then he grunted and groaned as he released. He moved slowly.

Then he stopped and left himself inside of me as he moaned and kissed my neck. I rubbed his tattooed forearm with my hand, savoring everything about this moment. I closed my eyes, enjoying the pleasure moving through me.

“Don’t go to sleep. That was just the first round,” he whispered.

“Really? Okay then,” I opened my eyes, playfully teasing him. I turned my head over my shoulder. His lips pressed against mine. He was still inside of me and pressed against my back while he kissed me. I thought I could stay like this forever. There was a sense of safety in being shielded by this strong cowboy with his body wrapped around mine. I loved it. Craved it.

After a few moments, we laid down next to each other. I turned to look at him, this strong cowboy. I laid my head on his hard chiseled chest, feeling safe and protected. It was a good feeling, very comfortable. I knew that this was where I belonged, in the arms of this real cowboy. Nothing was going to change that for me again.

“Lydia,” he sighed my name.

“Yes, Connor.”

“I love you. I’m in love with you,” he said.

I lifted my head and looked at those green eyes. A big smile came across his face. “Really. I do,” he said.

“I do too. I love you, Connor.”

“Come here.” He pulled me against his chest again and kissed the top of my head. I was smiling from ear to ear. I loved him and he loved me. I felt like I was high in the clouds. This was the start of a new beginning and there was no other place that I wanted to be than wrapped in the arms of this cowboy.

37

Connor Dawson

The last few weeks had been incredible. Everything was perfect. Lydia and I were getting along better than ever, we were in love. I had no problem saying that out loud to her or to anyone else. I was completely hers. Things with the family had been a lot better, too. That talk we’d had with Dylan had made us closer than ever. It was a talk that needed to happen, and I had noticed a change in him these past few weeks. He hadn’t asked me to join him at the dive bar for a drink at all over the past few weeks. Instead, he was happy to get a six-pack, put it in a bucket of ice, and play pool in the barn with his brothers and Abi. It was more fun anyway, because we could cut up and be silly. He would only drink one or two beers and call it a day. He was really taking charge of his life again. Lydia even joined us now and again for a round of pool and beers in the barn. She fit right in with the Dawson clan and I was glad about that. We made a promise to talk about things out in the open so that we didn’t have a misunderstanding or not know where each other stood. It was a learning experience for me because I had never been in love like this. She was everything.

Dylan and I were back to work on the books, and I had been very impressed by how much he had learned. My father was impressed, too. Soon Dylan would be able to take over that responsibility from me and I was more than happy to give it to him. I think it also gave him a sense of purpose, made him feel like he was more involved in the farm and ranch then just manual labor. I could tell that he took pride in this work and he was good at it. This was what he needed. He had been doing well learning the books all along, but it wasn’t until Father told him that he eventually wanted him to take over the books that he really got into the work. It made me smile to see my little brother so happy. He was still on shit duty, but only for a few more days. He had really learned his lesson, and I was glad that I wasn’t the one in trouble. I’d had shit duty myself once in high school when I got into serious trouble. It was not a fun chore when it was all yours, day after day.

“Hey, the girls wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready,” Dylan said, coming over to me in the barn. I had been rolling hay with the pitchfork.

“Then I guess we better go wash up, little brother,” I said, putting the tool away. Then I grabbed him by the head and ran my fist back and forth across his hair. I knew that he hated this. I had been doing it to him since we were very little.

“Watch the hair,” he said.

I just laughed at him and let him go. “You always gotta do that to me, Connor. I ain’t ten years old anymore.”

I smiled. I could still see him as a ten year old sometimes. Together we walked to the back door of the kitchen. “How much shit you get into today?” I asked.

“Oh ha-ha. You guys with the shit jokes every day,” he said, annoyed.

“Oh, and do you find that shitty?” I joked, elbowing him in the side.

“Stop. I can’t take it anymore.”

I laughed and laughed. Abi, Wyatt, Tanner and I had been pounding him with shit jokes since he started on the job and we weren’t likely to stop any time soon. We walked in through the back door.

“It smells absolutely amazing,” Dylan said.

“What is that incredible smell?” I asked.

“It’s garlic bread,” Lydia said. She gave me a big smile. She was helping Abi prepare dinner in the kitchen.

“Well, it smells wonderful,” I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Then I moved to the sink to wash my hands.

“That’s because Lydia is a wonderful cook. She has taught me a few things already,” Abi said, with a bright smile.

“I’m glad to hear it,” I said.

I loved seeing Lydia there in the house. This looked right. It looked comfortable and this was what I wanted to see more often. It made me happy.

“Hey, why isn't the table set?” Dylan said, looking at the kitchen table.

“Because we’re eating in the dining room tonight. We need the extra chairs and room,” Abi said.

“Why? Who else is coming?” Dylan asked.

“Tanner and Madison are going to be here any minute,” Abi said.

“Yes, so if you guys don't mind setting the dining table,” Lydia said, looking at me.

“Yes ma’am, we’re on it. Just let us run upstairs and change out of our work clothes. We’ll be right back,” I said, grabbing Dylan. Since we were eating in the dining room, Father wouldn’t want us in our work clothes.

“Yeah, Dylan’s clothes are shitty!” Lydia shouted. I laughed so hard.

“No! Come on, not you too, Lydia. Dang it,” Dylan said.

“Sorry, can’t help it!” she shouted at us.

“That’s my girl!” I shouted.

“Even the girlfriends are giving me shit,” Dylan muttered.

Dylan and I started climbing up the stairs to change. Wyatt was on his way down, already dressed for dinner.

“Well, if you’re already dressed then you can set the table!” Dylan shouted at him, giving him shit.

“Yeah, yeah.” Wyatt said. “You ain’t gotta give me shit.”

“Oh! Burn!” Abi shouted from the kitchen.

Wyatt laughed.

“Maybe you should jump in the shower,” I said to Dylan when we got to the top of the stairs.

“Yes, I’m taking a quick shower. Get off my ass!”

I laughed. Things were pretty much back to normal at Dawson Ranch. Except that it looked different on the inside, and felt a little different as well. Things were lighter, and everyone seemed happy, even Dylan. He hopped in the shower and I took off my work clothes and cleaned up at the sink.

“Lydia’s getting in on the game, too. Shit, she fits right in.” Dylan said from the shower.

“Yes, she does. She’s incredible. Now hurry up,” I wrapped a towel around my waist, then giggling to myself, I flushed the toilet and ran out.

“Damn it, Connor! Ouch! Hot!” Dylan shouted as I ran out the door in my towel. I just couldn’t stop laughing. I went into my room and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a western shirt. I pulled on my nice boots, not my work boots.

Fifteen minutes later, we were all standing around the dining table, the entire Dawson family, including Tanner and Madison. Lydia was at my side, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She looked just as beautiful as ever.

Father spoke up, “I am glad to have the whole family here for dinner. We don’t get to have dinners like this very often with everyone so busy and in and out of this house. But I just want to give a big thanks to Lydia, for helping us freshen up our home. Lydia, I’m sure you heard from everyone that I was against remodeling these rooms, but Abi convinced me. And I have to say you did a fine job keeping it looking like my home, only new, fresh and better. We all thank you.”

“Thank you Mr. Dawson, that means a lot to me,” she said.

“Thank you, Lydia,” everyone said.

“Especially for the new washer and dryer, Lord knows we needed that,” Abi said. “And you did a great job on the rooms. It is so beautiful but still home,” Abi said, smiling at Lydia. Lydia was beaming. I knew that it meant a lot to her that Abi had warmed up to her in such a way. Now they got along just fine. I was glad for it, too.

“Now, let’s dig in and eat this fine meal that Lydia and Abi prepared for us,” my father said, looking down at the Italian style meal. There was pesto rigatoni, caprese salad, thinly sliced steak in an olive sauce, and garlic bread.

“Yes, let’s do it.”

“Pass the dish.”

Everyone was talking over everyone else as the room grew louder. This was a Dawson family dinner. Everyone was cuttin’ up. Making fun in a good way, and being happy as we filled our bellies after a hard day of labor on the ranch.

I looked at Lydia and smiled, so happy that she was a vital part of this family now. I wanted her at my side, and not just for dinner. She smiled back at me and her dark green eyes sparkled as she passed me the large bowl of pasta. I winked at her and served myself a heaping helping.

“So Lydia, Connor tells us that you are looking for a space to rent to start your own business,” my brother Tanner said to her.

“Yes, I’m looking at spaces. I think I found an affordable one that is halfway between here and the city. It is not far from the highway, but not right on it. It’s a good location because I could have clients here in Safety, and some in the city as well. Then I would have an easy commute to both of them, and to my home as well,” she said. “It’s also a lot more affordable than a commercial space in the city.”

“That is very smart, and will double your clients. She’s a sharp one, Connor,” my father said, with a wink.

“Don’t I know it! She’s a hell of a lot smarter than me,” I said. Everyone laughed—and agreed. “Yep, you got that right, Connor.”

“Oh, hush up y’all,” I said, teasing them back. The dinner was full and rowdy, just the way we liked it.

After dinner, we all went to the dance hall. It had been a very long time since we had been there, since the first time that I had met Lydia. We walked in and took seats at a long table. We were all there, even Father. The whole family was together.

“You know, I think you owe me a dance ma’am. The last time I asked you to dance we didn’t finish,” I said to Lydia.

A big smile came across her face. “Yes, I think you are right about that.”

I stood up and held out my hand to her. “Would you like to two-step with me?”

“I don’t know. Are you a real cowboy?”

I smiled. “Damn straight I’m a real cowboy.”

“In that case, I would love to.”

She put her hand in mine and I led her out onto the dance floor. I put my arms around her, remembering just how nervous I was the very first time I danced with her. I was practically a trembling fool because I had never seen anyone so beautiful.

“Lydia, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met.”

“Thank you. Does that mean you are going to try to kiss me?”

“No, absolutely not. I learned my lesson the first time. If I try to kiss you while we’re dancing, you’ll slap me, I know it.”

She laughed her beautiful laugh. “I promise I won’t this time.”

“I don’t know. You could be playing a trick on me, a very cruel trick.”

“I wouldn’t dare. You’re a tough cowboy after all.”

I looked at her gorgeous lips, then leaned down and kissed her lightly. She kissed me back, and moaned just a little. Then I stopped kissing her and continued dancing.

“See, no slap.”

“I am so glad for it. But I’m also glad you slapped me the first time. If you think about it, it was a hell of a stormy start to an extremely passionate relationship. I think it’s fitting in a way.”

“Yes, I think so too. Now, let’s finish this dance that we started a long time ago.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I spun us around on the dance floor. We danced to the entire song, and the next. We were having a good time. Dylan was out on the floor dancing with Abi, and he wasn’t the slightest bit drunk. We were all having a good time, the Dawson family out for a night on the town. It was a perfect evening. Nothing could make me happier.

Epilogue

Lydia Myers

3 months later

“Yes, Mr. Phillips. I am very excited to work on your project. I think I know the exact look that you’re going for,” I said to the man sitting across my desk at my new business, Designs by Lydia.

“This is a photo of my house. It’s a craftsman style house right by the college. I have seen the work you’ve have done at the Dawson Ranch and I would like something similar.”

“That is not a problem. We will find the perfect look for your home.”

“I look forward to your designs. Thank you for your time today.”

“Thank you. I’ll be in touch,” I said, as I stood up and shook his hand. He was now a new client. I walked him out to the front door where Connor was standing there waiting for me.

“Hello Mr. Dawson. Good to see you.”

“Mr. Phillips, good day.” Connor tipped his hat as the man walked out.

“I didn’t know you were coming by today,” I said, giving him a kiss.

“When doesn’t he come by?” Whitney said, coming out of her office.

I laughed. “That’s true.”

“I thought you ladies might like lunch,” he said, pointing to the counter. There was a pizza box.

“I thought I smelled pizza,” Whitney said.

“You shouldn’t have,” I said.

“It’s true. The reason we are all the way out here is because our last work place was two blocks from pizza. It was a problem,” Whitney said, sitting down at the counter.

“Then I am doubly glad to be able to bring pizza to you. I can’t stay, I’m on my way to my uncle’s ranch,” Connor said.

“All right, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye Connor, thanks for the pizza,” Whitney said. “He’s a keeper, Lydia. He brings you pizza.”

I grabbed two glasses and poured water for both of us, then sat down next to her.

“Yes, pizza is the way to my heart,” I said, grabbing a slice.

“I am real proud of you, Lydia. You said you wanted to open this place, and you did. Thanks for inviting me to work with you. I couldn’t last a day under Janet without you. Working with you was what made it fun,” she said.

“I agree with that. I wouldn’t want to be here all alone, either. That’s not fun at all,”

“And, I haven’t been asked to do a single gentleman’s office space so far. I’m excited about that.”

“How is the restaurant design coming?”

“Really great. I’ve always wanted to do a restaurant. It is challenging. New and fresh. Exactly what I needed.”

“I’m glad that you’re enjoying it and I know you’ll do a fantastic job.”

“Thank you.”

We ate our lunch, and talked about how challenging and crazy the last three months had been. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I was glad that I had taken the leap to open my own place, and Connor was a big part of that. He encouraged me to do it, and so did Whitney. It wasn’t until I had other people believing that I could do it that I started to believe it myself.

Now I had my own interior design company. And a cowboy that I was completely in love with. Everything in my life was absolutely wonderful, and it was all because I had learned to take chances. It was because I had learned to step outside of walking the line too straight, and allowed myself to be just a little reckless. It was because I had come out of my shell. Because of that, I had everything I’d ever wanted. The future was looking very country, lovely, and fantastic.

The End

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About the Author

Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green stockings for her.

She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and types of writing.

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The Parker’s Wicked Playground

Walk The Line

The Dawson Brothers #6

Copyright © 2018 by Ali Parker

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.

First Edition.

Editor: Lori Hawkins

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