Colt figured that, when he got back to the ranch, he’d mark the cabin as being paid for the time of her stay, and would cover it himself. It would give him an excuse to come see her, check in on her every night. Who knew? Two weeks with Avery might end up being the getaway from his life that he’d needed all along.
2
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay the night?”
Avery stood in her burgundy plaid robe and the gray hiking boots she had tugged on to follow Colt out into the small barn attached to the cabin. The solitary hickory wood cabin, with its open floorplan much like a studio apartment, had been barren and lonely until his arrival.
Much like her life.
Sunlight had returned now that the storm had blown past. Steam rose from the ground, melting the layer of hail, and turning the air downright muggy. The glowing sun dipped toward the western horizon and would soon slip behind the mountains to usher in night. Avery had always loved the world right after a storm, the way the colors in nature seemed to gleam brighter, fuller, and lusher.
“I have an early start in the morning,” Colt replied, checking his horse over. Just look at him, she thought, all big and rangy in his jeans and gray shirt. The chestnut horse was handsome, too. But the cowboy—his sudden advent into her world—set her entire body aflame. Avery didn’t mind a bit of casual sex now and then. She enjoyed sex. Figured it was a great way to pass the time. And arguing with him in the storm had fired all her cylinders to cataclysmic heights.
And his body… she almost purred. He was tall and broad shouldered, with a full head of sun-streaked dirty blond hair that was weeks past needing a trim. His face had strong lines, with cheeks that were sharp like razor blades. His angular jaw fit and accentuated his tall, lanky frame. His strong jaw was lined with day old stubble, and she shivered in remembrance of how it had felt against her skin.
“I don’t like the look of the mud on the trail. Take it from someone who has hiked the Andes in the rain. There’s nothing quite like sliding two hundred feet in the mud down a trail. And I didn’t have this big handsome guy with me.” She gestured toward the horse. The poor thing could wind up lame, and that would be a damn tragedy. Plus, there was a part of Avery that wasn’t quite ready to have him leave. She was on her own so often, and at times missed having company or people to talk with.
After the ramen and sandwich, he’d taken a shower while his clothes dried in the dryer, and she had doubled checked her equipment to make sure nothing was damaged. But once his clothes were dry, and the storm had abated, he had dressed to check on his horse and prepare to leave. She might have been annoyed by his initial interruption at the start of the storm, but now she just wanted him to stay.
Colt shot her a speculative look with those quixotic eyes of his that reminded her of the slate blue waters off the Alaskan coast.
“We don’t even have to have sex. You can sleep in the bed and I’ll take the couch. That way it will give the ground time to dry before you head out. If you left at first light, it would be better for you both. I know I would feel better not worrying whether you made it or not with the terrain so treacherous.”
“So if I stayed, sex would be off the table?”
Her body quivered. She didn’t want it to be off the table. In fact, she wanted it on the menu as many times as she could get it. That initial encounter had fried all her circuit boards. It left her with a deep abiding desire to extrapolate whether the carnal experience was a one-time only, in the heat of the moment deal, or if it had been that earth shattering and scintillating because the sex had been with him. “Only if you want it to be. I don’t want to step all over your manly ego if you’re a once and done type of guy and all that. Not when you’re being so sweet to cover for me with your boss to make sure I can stay here.”
The stare he blasted her with, infused with enough heat to power a nuclear reactor, called her a fool for even suggesting he wasn’t up to the task. It told her that he could show her a thing or two about stamina and recovery. If she wasn’t worried about potential splinters in her ass, she’d drop her robe and have him take her against the barn room door. That would be a bad idea all round; might make his horse agitated enough that Colt would leave. “I’m a Dominant, Avery. We are well-known for our excesses in the bedroom.”
Lust curled in her belly. Of course. He made more sense to her now. The way he’d fought her in bed. She’d been ready to ride him like a cowgirl, and he’d wrestled control from her until she surrendered to his greater strength. “Do you think it scares me? The kinky aspect of your personality?”
Avery wouldn’t back down from her stance. She wanted him again. She wanted him to stay. And if that meant letting him take charge in bed again—she shivered at the thought of all those hard muscles bending her to his will—he could dominate her all night if that was the case.
Colt studied her. He nodded and turned back to his task. “All right, let me bed this one down for the night. I’ve got more feed in my saddlebag that should get him through the night and morning. Although, I could use more than ramen noodles and a half sandwich.”
“I do have eggs and apples,” she said. His horse tossed his head at the mention of the fruit. She approached the stall gate and the big, beautiful stallion. “You want an apple, big guy?”
The horse nodded his head up and down and stomped his right hoof on the ground.
She laughed at the horse’s antics. “I’ll take that as a yes. Be right back.”
Avery rushed back inside the cabin, excited by the prospect of overnight company. She pressed a hand over her belly at the thought of more sex with the fascinating, sexy cowboy. It had been far too long since she had been with a man. And she couldn’t recall any of her partners ever being as deep-in-the-gut alpha and rough around the edges. Colt was a man’s man, and that was saying something given the men she’d encountered on her treks: the outdoorsmen, the thrill seekers, and the scientists. He outshone them all with his domineering swagger and mouthwatering sex appeal.
Having Colt here was an unpredicted boon on a trip that had started off on the wrong foot. She couldn’t believe that she had lost her wallet… again. Maybe she should purchase a wallet with a cord she could attach to her clothes somehow, like the ones guys wore with a chain connected to their belt. Only, she never wore belts and would likely lose that, too.
Avery withdrew one of the three honeycrisp apples she had in the fridge and halved it for the horse. She figured, they could split one of the apples with the eggs tonight and then give the other to the horse in the morning. Yes, that meant that her food supplies dwindled precariously. But she had a surfeit of ramen noodles and instant coffee to get her by.
She practically skipped back outside and into the barn, pleased as punch that Colt was staying, and looking forward to a potential round two between the sheets with the hunky cowboy. In the barn, Colt was brushing the handsome beast who chowed on a pail filled with grain.
“What’s his name?”
“This here is Tank. Say hello, bud.” He rubbed the horse’s nose.
“You’re a handsome fella, Tank.” She held out the half of the apple. At the offering, he lifted his head from the feed pail and cleanly nipped the fruit from her hand. His pleasure of the treat was evident, but it didn’t take him long to eat the half. He nudged her outstretched hand, indicating he wanted more.