Ride Me Cowboy #2 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #2) (4 page)

“Lexi’s not eating?” I asked Lydia as I devoured the
chicken.

“She ate already. She asked me to tell you both
goodnight
. She had a headache so she went to lie down
early.” I looked at my dad. He was looking at me. I wondered if somehow he knew
she was avoiding me.

“Oh, I hope she feels better,” I said.

Lydia smiled and said, “I’m sure she’s just had too
much excitement and change lately. She’ll be as good as new after she gets some
rest.” Dad didn’t say a word about any of that…or anything at all during the
rest of the meal. Every once in a while I’d catch him glaring at me again. He
was kind of starting to piss me off. It was one thing to be ignored – I was
used to that. Even when I was a kid, if he was in one of his moods, he would
act
like
I was invisible. I was brought up mostly by
the ranch hands and yet he wonders why now I’m not quick to seize the
opportunity to be just like him.

When we finished eating, I thanked Lydia for dinner
and went up to my own room. If no one was going to speak to me, I may as well
be alone. I watched television for a while and wondered what Lexi was doing. I
wondered if she was thinking about me. I know that this attraction between her
and I can never go anywhere. We’re not blood relatives, but it’s just too taboo.
knowing
it and accepting it, however, were two
different things. I’d never felt an instant connection to anyone the way I had
to her. Sparks literally danced between us when we were in the same room. Maybe
she had the right idea about avoiding me.

The next day when I got up, I went out to help the
ranch hands feed the horses and medicate the three sick calves we had. There
was also some fences to fix…there was always something that needed doing. By
the time I got back to the house for breakfast, Dad was the only one there.
Lydia had left a plate for me and while I heated it in the microwave, I asked
casually, “So, where’s Lydia this morning?” I purposely didn’t ask about Lexi. He
was always pissed at me about something, so it was hard to tell, but I’m pretty
sure he was suspicious of our night out together.

“She’s out feeding the calves.” That was it, no
unnecessary conversation with the wayward son. I ate my breakfast in silence
and thanked God I had a rodeo I was leaving for on Thursday. It was up north by
Fresno, so it would be an overnighter. At least maybe people would talk to me
there. After breakfast, I went out to saddle up and go fix some of the fences
we hadn’t gotten to the day before. When I went into the barn, I saw Lydia and
Lexi. Lydia was showing her how to mix the powdered formula for the babies. She
didn’t look interested at all until she saw me and then suddenly Lydia seemed
to have her rapt attention. Lydia noticed me and stopped what she was doing to
say hello.

“Good morning, Mark.”

“Good morning, Lydia. Thank you for the breakfast.”

She smiled, it was nice that one person on this
ranch didn’t seem to despise me. “You’re welcome,” she said. Then she looked at
Lexi, obviously wondering why we hadn’t said hello.

“Good morning, Lexi.”

“Morning, Mark.” That was it. She focused her
attention back on the powdered milk and with a curious look, Lydia finally did,
too. I headed out for another lonely day and prayed for the time to pass
quickly until I could get out of here.

I was out near the edge of the property later that
afternoon when I ran into a guy named Bob that works for my dad. We all call
him Cowboy Bob and everyone has since before I was born. He’s an old school
cowboy that was born too late. He should have been out riding the range in the
times of one of Louis
L’Amour’s
novels.

“Hey there, kid! How goes it?”

“Hey, Bob. It’s going,” I said. I had my shirt off,
and I was covered with sweat. I’d been fighting with one stubborn fence post
for half an hour. I was trying to pull it out and replace it with a new one,
but it was being uncooperative.

“We have equipment for that,” he said with a head
motion towards the post I was yanking
on
.

I grinned, embarrassed. “Yeah, I know. I was mostly
just working off some steam.”

“Is it about that girl?”

 
“What girl?”
I asked, trying to keep my face neutral.

He grinned. His teeth were stained yellow from years
of smoking three packs a day.
“The pretty brunette staying up
at the house.”

“She’s my stepsister,” I said.

He laughed and slapped his thigh. “
Don't that
just beat all? You got the
hots
for your stepsister.”

“It’s not like that, Bob.”

He stopped laughing and said, “I’m sorry, son. What
is it like?”

“I just…shit! I guess, yeah, I do have the
hots
for her. Is that really wrong? I mean, it’s not incest
right? We’re not really related.”

“I don’t see
no
harm in
it,” he answered.

“I wish you were my dad, Cowboy Bob.” Bob was one of
the hands that taught me all I needed to know about riding bulls. He traveled
to all of my mutton busting events when I was a kid.

He smiled gently this time and said, “Your Daddy has
always been hard on you. I doubt he won’t find something else to hold against
you, if you leave this alone. If it’s just about a piece of ass son, I say get
it somewhere else because it probably won’t be worth all the trouble…but if you
really like her, don’t let your grouchy old daddy stand in your way.”

Bob and I talked a while longer, but when he rode
away, those words were ringing in my head. Maybe I was just going about this
wrong. Maybe I should start out by being her friend and that way I could be around
her, which is what I really want. I would get a chance to feel things out then,
too, and see if it looked like she really wanted something more to happen
between us. If not, I gained a friend. If so…Bob was right, it wasn’t my
father’s decision to make.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

LEXI

I watched Mom mix the powder with the water and I
heard her talking, but I wasn’t really processing what she was saying. The
little calves were cute, but I would have preferred seeing them on the
screensaver on my computer
over
real life. This barn
smelled like wet hay and sweaty horses and to make matters worse, it reminded
me of the barn where Mark and I had spent the night. No matter what I did, I
couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Just about the time I had that thought, he came into
the barn. I tried not to look at him, but God it was hard. If I wasn’t supposed
to be so attracted to him, he shouldn’t be so damned good looking. Those blue
eyes, the way the black hair curls up around the edges of that old hat he wears,
the way his hard muscle ripples underneath his shirt…Damn, I
salivate
just thinking about it and here he is again, in the flesh. I acted like what
Mom was telling me was the most interesting thing in the world until she
noticed him. Still, when they had their little friendly exchange, I tried to
act removed from it, but I saw the look on Mom’s face. She was getting the
feeling something was going on. Mark must have noticed it, too. We exchanged
“Good mornings” and I focused back on Mom and he went to get his horse. I kept
him in my peripheral vision until he finally left the barn. It just didn’t seem
fair. It was like sitting a steak down in front of a lion and telling him not
to eat it. The more I looked at Mark, the hungrier I got.

Mark didn’t come back to the house at lunch time and
Rob was gone into town, so Mom and I fixed a sandwich and we ate out on the
back patio. It looked out over the rolling hills where the cattle grazed and
the pens of wild horses were. Mom told me how Mark went every year to a “round
up” in Montana where you were allowed to buy a certain number of wild Mustangs.
She went on about how he loved them and how good he was at taking care of them.
I listened, but I didn’t say anything until she finally said, “
Lexi,
did something happen between you and Mark?”

I tried to look innocent as I said, “No, what do you
mean?”

“I’ve just noticed that the two of you barely speak
and when you’re in the same room it seems like there’s a lot of tension.” Mom’s
not stupid. I should have known she would pick up on it. Now, what to tell her
about it…

“No. Nothing happened. I just don’t really know him,
Mom. We don’t have a lot in common.”

“Hmm, well honey, you might be surprised. I mean
could you have imagined me in a barn feeding calves a year ago?”

“Not in a million years,” I told her with a smile.
“I’ll try and get to know him better.” I was lying. I already knew him much
better than I should. But it made her feel better and she dropped it.

“You’re not seeing anyone these days?”

Nope, that’s why I’m free to have sex in the barn
with my stepbrother.
“No, not since Peter.”

“Was he the accountant?”

“No, that was Michael. Peter was the cosmetics
company executive.”

“Oh that’s right. You didn’t like him?”

I smiled. “I liked him fine, but it was just going
nowhere and we both agreed we were holding each other back.”

“I bet you’ll miss those make-up deals he used to
get for you. I remember those.”

I laughed. “Yes, I will miss that. I got to try a
lot of the products before they even came out on the market.”

The rest of our day went like that, just catching
up. It was nice. I’d missed her and talking to her about what was going on in
my life. I wished that I could talk to her about Mark. I’m sure that she would
have some wise words for me…if it
was
about anyone
other than her stepson.

I made it through another day somehow, following Mom
around and when the duties got too smelly or dirty for me, finding something to
do in the house. I spent a lot of time on Facebook and Instagram…I was bored
out of my mind but looking forward to having dinner with Samantha soon. She had
to take a look at her schedule and get back to me. She was doing summer school
this year to get ahead on her credits. I admire her for knowing exactly what
she wants to do. She wanted to become a nurse and work with kids. Lucky for her
– and the kids I suppose, she was a really patient girl.

Mom had
came
and got me when
it was time to feed the calves again that evening. I guess they had to be fed
often, like babies. This time she wanted me to do it. I did my best to recall
everything she’d said this morning, although I wasn’t listening to a lot of it.
She guided me along though, and before I knew it, I was feeding a tan calf with
huge brown eyes that were trained on me the whole time. In spite of myself, I
got a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. I thought about them not having a mother and
that reminded me of Mark. It seems everything reminded me of him these days.

“What happened to their mother?” I asked my mom.
There were three of them that we were bottle feeding. They were so tiny and
cute. Another way I surprised myself. I’d never considered barn animals to be
cute in the least.

“A coyote got them, we think. Somehow something got
into the pen one night and got all three of them. Thank goodness the babies
were in the barn. Poor Mark was the one that found them. The poor thing was
sick over it.”

“Oh, poor things,” I said of the babies. I saw Mom
smile out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t get that smug look. I’m acclimating
so I can spend more time with you, but this still isn’t my thing.”

She laughed. “That’s okay. Just the fact that you’re
here and you’re willing to do these things with me for now makes me happy.”

“I’m glad. I want you to be happy. I have to say
though; I am surprised that you’re so happy here. It’s so different from your
former life.”

She smiled. “Former life makes me sound like I’m in
witness protection or something.” With a nervous laugh she said, “Different is
not always bad, honey.”

I thought about how “different” it was to have the
hots
for your stepbrother. Sometimes different is bad…I
begged off dinner again that night, making Mom suspicious once more, I’m sure.
I just don’t think I can sit across from him and make casual conversation
without Mom and Rob being able to pick up on the fact that something is not
right. I feel such a strong pull towards him. It’s like gravity – like nothing
I’ve ever experienced before. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to keep
hiding it.

I had just gotten out of the shower
and was dressed in a tank top and shorts.
I brushed out
my hair and was about to sit back down in front of the laptop for my nightly
Facebook session when there was a knock on my door. Thinking it was
Mom,
I pulled it open and was surprised to find Mark
standing there. He let his eyes roam from my head to my toes and back up again.
They left a trail of heat on my body, and I was afraid that I was blushing.

“Hi,” he said when he made it back up to my eyes.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Can we talk?”