Grumpy Cowboy: A Hot Single Dad, Enemies-to-Lovers Romance Read online

  And the further we get into his recovery, the less I end up doing.

  Now, mostly, I just serve as a spectator. Which, you’d think I’d loathe the idea of it or find the whole thing really boring, but I don’t. This time together has become something I actually look forward to.

  Especially when I walk out of my cabin and find him standing outside his truck waiting for me.

  Dressed in his usual jeans, boots, and T-shirt, Rhett looks like the kind of hot cowboy that Hollywood actors playing roles in Western-themed movies only dream of embodying. His smile consumes his whole mouth, and his blue eyes shine from beneath his cowboy hat.

  Damn, this just might be my favorite part of the day.

  “How’d ya sleep last night?” he asks as he opens the passenger door for me.

  “Pretty good,” I lie. Honestly, I tossed and turned for most of the night, my body feeling more like a live wire every day that I spend in close proximity to this man.

  It’s only been three days since we kissed in his truck. Seventy-two hours since we attempted to lie in my bed together, only to realize that the temptation was too strong for either of us to withstand.

  That night had ended with us eating pancakes until the sun came up and checking on Joey every hour or so.

  We talked and laughed and kissed a few more times, but other than that, we didn’t let anything else happen.

  It honestly would’ve felt wrong if we had. I mean, Joey was sick with a stomach bug, and neither one of us wanted to get so lost in the moment that we wouldn’t have been able to hear her if she needed something, or worse, if she started to get sick again.

  But fuck, I can’t deny that ever since that night, my body has been on constant alert, completely fixated on what it would feel like to be in a bed with Rhett again. Though, this time, you’d definitely want to see him completely sans clothes…

  I hop into the passenger seat, and he shuts my door for me.

  “How about you?” I question as he gets inside the truck and starts the engine. “Did you sleep okay last night?”

  “I’m gonna lie like you and say yes.”

  My mouth falls open. “Who says I was lying?”

  “Darlin’, your body is like an open book,” he says, his eyes flitting over to me in amusement, and then, subtly glancing down at my chest.

  I follow their lead and note that, sure enough, my nipples are so damn hard they could probably cut fucking glass.

  Goodness gracious.

  “Maybe I’m just cold,” I retort, and he chuckles.

  “It’s already eighty fuckin’ degrees out,” he retorts with a sly, knowing grin, and I reach out to slap a hand to his shoulder.

  “Shut up.”

  He laughs some more and puts the truck into reverse to back us up a little before slipping the gear into drive.

  But before he presses the gas, he leans toward me and whispers into my ear, “Just so you know, you’re not the only one feelin’ out of sorts for the last three days.” With one discreet hand, he reaches up to brush his fingers over my tank-top-and-bra-covered nipple. “I can’t stop thinking about the other night.”

  A shaky breath escapes from my lungs.

  “And I’m hoping one day real soon, I’ll get to finish what we started.”

  Oh boy. Me fucking too.

  Eyes back to the road, Rhett presses on the gas and pulls away from my cabin.

  The sun shines in through the window, and I slip on my favorite pair of sunglasses to shield my face from its rays.

  “Did you talk to your dad this morning?” I ask, in the name of changing the subject to something less distracting.

  “He was still asleep when I dropped Joe and Ernie off at their house, but I talked to my mama. She said he’s doing pretty good. Mostly just bitching about his new, salt-restrictive diet.”

  I smile over at him. “So back to his old self, then?”

  “Yep. I’d say so.”

  “I’ll stop by his house this afternoon to do my usual blood pressure check and assessment. Surely he’ll bitch at me about that, too.”

  Rhett smirks and glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “I think it’s safe to say that’s a certainty.”

  “So, what’s on the agenda today?”

  “Your favorite,” he says. “Bull sperm collection.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’m fuckin’ with you,” he retorts, and I shake my head on a giggle. “Though I know you could handle it, no problem, it’s not what needs to be done today. With the rodeo in Kanab coming up in less than a month, the big focus right now is on preppin’ and finishin’ up maintenance work in the barns and stables and doin’ a yearly overhaul on the lodge. We’re the biggest, closest stable to the arena in Kanab, so we get a huge influx of both people and animals when it rolls into town.”

  “And I trust if it’s anything strenuous that you’re planning on wearing your brace and doing the stretches I taught you before you get started?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “What happens if I don’t wear my brace and do the stretches?” A rogue grin stretches across his face as he pulls the truck to a stop just outside of the stables.

  “Trouble happens.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Big fat trouble.”

  “Does this trouble include those glorious tits of yours in my mouth and you riding my cock?”

  His blunt but incredibly dirty question catches me off guard.

  It also turns me the fuck on.

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe you just said that,” I respond, and my mouth is a half gape, half smile. “I kind of feel scandalized.”

  Rhett is completely unfazed. “Well, I did say it, and you still didn’t answer my question, darlin’.”

  “Well, cowboy, no brace and no stretching equals no tits. And no cock-riding.”

  “Did you just say tits and cock, Dr. Leah? Out-fucking-loud?” he retorts. “Now, I feel scandalized.”

  I reach out and playfully shove him in the shoulder. “I thought cowboys were too tough to feel scandalized?”

  “We are,” he answers with a sexy grin. “And don’t you worry, darlin’, I’ll be following doctor’s orders today. If tits and cock-riding are on the table, you say jump and I’ll just ask how high?”

  I snort at that. “If you’re jumping, you better have that damn brace on.”

  “Of course you’d say that.” Rhett laughs, hops out of the truck, and rounds the front to open my door.

  But the instant I’m out of my seat, he shuts the door and gently pushes my back against it.

  He presses his hard, muscular body tight against mine, and then, he shocks the shit out of me by pressing a kiss to my lips.

  I moan at the incredible feel of his warm mouth, and a familiar aching throb makes itself known between my legs.

  Holy hot cowboys. Why does this always feel so good?

  Everything about Rhett screams sex and temptation and orgasms and pleasure.

  I can’t remember a single time in my life when I experienced this kind of desire for a man. It’s an intensity like I’ve never known. Never even knew existed.

  And to think, we haven’t even had sex.

  Good God. What will happen if we do have sex? Spontaneous combustion?

  He groans and slides his fingers into my hair as his tongue begs entrance into my mouth.

  My lips part without hesitation, and the instant he deepens the kiss, it feels like every nerve inside my body, nerves I didn’t even know I had, wakes up and starts begging for more.

  More kissing.

  More touching.

  More everything if it involves him.

  Spontaneous combustion risks be damned. I’ll risk it all!

  But quicker than it started, he pulls away and rests his forehead against mine. “You drive me fuckin’ crazy.”

  A raspy laugh escapes my throat, mingling with my panting breaths. “Yeah, well, you’re the one who started that.”

  �
��I did, and I certainly don’t fuckin’ regret it.” He smirks down at me and reaches up to slide my hair behind my ear. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to stretch out my leg and put my brace on so I can get to work.”

  The man doesn’t waste any time.

  Once he does all the stretches I taught him, he secures his brace over his leg, and I follow his lead over to the other side of the stables where a few of the ranch hands are busy with relocating big barrels of hay and chopping up logs.

  Rhett grabs an ax, and when he starts chopping at a big tree trunk that’s twice my size, I’m shocked to silence over how insanely strong he really is.

  He makes it look so easy.

  Like anyone can just pick up an ax and slice through a log without breaking a sweat.

  He’s like the cowboy version of the Incredible Hulk. Only replace the green with nothing but rippled muscles beneath smooth and tanned skin.

  It’s safe to say I’m starting to understand just how physically capable Rhett Jameson is.

  When I first met him, he was hobbling around on an injured leg.

  But now that he has several weeks of recovery under his belt, his physical prowess and unbelievable strength are proving to be downright mind-blowing.

  It’s also insanely fucking hot.

  Yeah, that too.

  Sheesh. Someone get me a fan. A cold washcloth. Something. Because it feels a hell of a lot hotter out here than eighty degrees.

  July 16th, Friday

  Rhett

  At a little after six, I step inside the lodge and find balloons and streamers and family and friends and staff and this weekend’s ranch guests chatting in small groups throughout the space. Along the wall beside the large fireplace sit a few long tables covered with catered food, courtesy of the ranch kitchen crew.

  A big banner reading Happy Birthday, Leah and Joey! hangs proudly across the mantel.

  Everything is ready to go, and for some strange reason, I’m nervous as hell.

  For a man like me, being nervous isn’t really something I waste my time on. Years of riding broncs and putting myself in high-risk situations taught me to push any worry and concern out of my mind and focus on the things I could control.

  But right now, everything that was in my control is done.

  And all I’m left with is unease over Leah’s reaction. I know my Joey will eat up this birthday bash like cake, but Leah? I’m not so sure.

  She has no idea that, with the help of my mama and a few ranch staff, I’ve put together a big surprise joint birthday party for her and Joey.

  No idea that I had Sam and her two closest friends Carla and Taylor fly in for the big night.

  She doesn’t know anything.

  Right now, she’s back at my house, helping Joey put the finalizing touches on her redecorated room—courtesy of all the shit she bought my daughter at Target the day she brought home that little fucker Ernie—and she thinks I’m going to pick the two of them up in about thirty minutes to come eat a quiet birthday dinner at my parents’ house.

  I have no idea what she’s going to think when she steps into this lodge and sees what I’ve done. And the uncertainty of it all, for once, feels all sorts of uncomfortable.

  It’s because you fucking care about her, you dense bastard. A lot.

  “You planned quite the night, son,” my dad remarks, and I look to my right to find him standing beside me with a big-ass grin on his face. I also don’t miss the bottle of beer in his hand.

  “Thanks,” I answer but then glance down at the contraband beverage. “Mama know about that?”

  Ever since he got back home from the hospital, both my mama and Leah have been watching him like a hawk. His medications, his diet, his activity, pretty much everything he does is being scrutinized like it’s an application for a job at a nuclear bomb storage facility.

  “Hell no, she doesn’t know.” He slices his eyes toward me with a knowing stare and points an authoritative finger. “And she don’t need to know. It’s just one beer. It’s not gonna kill me.”

  I let out a quiet wolf whistle and shake my head. “She finds out you’re sneaking booze, and she’s gonna have you sleepin’ outside. Pretty sure Leah will be ridin’ your ass, too.”

  He points the tip of his bottle toward me. “Which is why this stays between me and you. We’ve bonded now, remember?”

  I semi-snort. “I won’t say a fuckin’ thing. But I’d like to suggest you maybe try harder at keeping it under wraps before we both end up buried where nobody’ll ever find us.”

  He lets out a deep sigh. “I swear, I can’t take a shit without Jenny or Leah finding out.” He lowers his voice to a mocking rendition of a woman. “How many loafs did you pinch off today, Tex? Were they hard or soft?” He shakes his head again with a groan. “Jesus.”

  I chuckle at that. “Well, I’d like to show some sympathy, but see, a while back, my daddy hired a doctor to come out to the ranch to ride my ass about my leg. So, I’m sure you can see where I’m torn between feeling bad for ya and wantin’ to celebrate.”

  “Touché, son. Touché.” A hearty laugh pops from his lungs, and he reaches out to wrap a firm arm around my shoulders. “You know, now that I’ve got two women nagging me about my fuckin’ salt intake and blood pressure and the damn heart pills my doctor prescribed, you’d think I’d feel some regret over bringing Leah out to the ranch, but I can’t seem to feel anything but relief that she’s here.”

  I tilt my head to the side.

  “Without her, I’d probably be ten feet in the ground and that fuckin’ leg of yours would be a useless stump of flesh.”

  I smile. “Nah, I’d find somethin’ to do with the leg. Use it to hammer nails or some shit.”

  Tex guffaws, reaching out to grab me by the shoulder and give me a playful shake, and then, suddenly, turns serious. “Okay, then. So, you’d find a use for the leg. But if not for her, me and you wouldn’t have gotten a second chance at being the real father and son we both deserve.”

  His words nearly take me back a step.

  “I’m proud of you, boy,” he continues and squeezes my shoulder. “Hell, I’ve always been proud of ya. I know there’s a lot of times we haven’t seen eye to eye, but I want you to know I’ve always been proud of ya. And sometimes it might’ve felt like I was too hard on ya, but it was only because I knew what you were capable of. Knew the man you were. Knew the things you could achieve. And all I really wanted to do was be the father you deserved. The man you could look up to and be proud of as well.”

  “You are that man,” I respond, meeting my father’s soft gaze. “You’ve always been that man to me. Even when we weren’t seein’ eye to eye.”

  Tex Jameson might be a stubborn son of a bitch, and more than a few times, I’ve felt like strangling him with my bare hands, but he’s always been a man who’s lived his life to love, support, and provide for his family.

  Sure, I might not always agree with him, but that doesn’t mean that his intentions are wrong.

  Deep down, I’m pretty sure I’ve always known that.

  He pulls me into a gruff hug and smacks a hand to my back a few times. “Love ya, Rhett.”

  “Love you too.”

  Once he releases me, he glances around the room, probably to make sure my mama is nowhere to be found, and takes a hearty drink of his beer. “All right, now that we got all that emotional shit out of the way, how about you go get the girls so we can really start celebratin’?”

  I grin. “Yes, sir.”

  Tex finishes off his beer, discreetly tosses it into a nearby recycling bin and hollers toward Tiny, “You got the fire pit started out back yet?”

  Tiny’s eyes go wide, and my dad sighs.

  “Fuckin’ hell, Tiny. What’re ya waitin’ on? A fuckin’ invitation? Get out there and get it going before the girls get here,” he commands, and Tiny scurries off with his tail between his legs.

  The whole scene makes me chuckle.

  Tex Jameson will never los
e his firm edge. Even after the moments where he gets all fucking soft and tells me he loves me.

  And I can’t deny that’s something I’ll always admire.

  He never minces words, never says shit he doesn’t mean, and that’s why when he lets his guard down and expresses emotions, you know it’s not bullshit. If anything, when it comes to a guy like my daddy, it only makes those rare moments with him even more meaningful.

  Once I offer a quick hello to Leah’s brother Sam and check in with my mama that everything is set to go, I head out of the lodge and in the direction of the truck.

  It’s time to celebrate Joey and Leah.

  The instant I step into my house, I spot Ernie sound asleep in his crate in the living room and my ears are hit with the sounds of chatter and giggles. I’m already smiling as I walk down the hallway to Joey’s room.

  I pause just outside the threshold and take in the view that is Leah hanging a painting—a pretty pastel picture of a sunset—on the wall above Joey’s bed, while my daughter smiles and giggles and dances around like a giddy little girl as she looks around her room.

  Once Leah adjusts the painting, she steps back. “All right, Joey, what do you think? Did we achieve your design goal?”

  Joey holds both of her arms out wide and spins around. “Yes! This is the perfect room for a cowgirl like me!”

  Leah laughs, and Joey rushes over to her to wrap her arms around Leah’s waist.

  “Thank you so much for helpin’ me, Leah.”

  Leah grins down at my daughter and hugs her right back. “You are very welcome, sweetheart.”

  The whole scene is beautiful, but it’s kind of heartbreaking at the same time.

  Besides my mama, Leah is the closest my daughter has ever had to a mother figure in her life. And it is really sad that her own mama can’t realize how special this little girl really is. How it’s a fucking honor to get to spend time with her, to watch her grow up.

  I don’t even know if Leah realizes how much of an impact she has on Joey. It’s like it just comes naturally to her.

  “Oh my gosh, Leah! I have the best idea everrrr!” Joey exclaims. “We should redecorate the whole house like this!”