Rock Star Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Book 6) (7 page)

Sean was shoveling manure out of a stallion's
stall while the horse was in the field. He glanced at Lucky and said,
"Yeah, I know. What's a rock star doing shoveling shit? Believe me, I ask
myself that question every day."

Lucky sat on his haunches and cocked his head to
the side.

Sean continued, "Hey, boy, only another
week and that cast is coming off. You'll finally be able to run with Sadie and the
other dogs."

A sound at the front of the barn distracted him
and he glanced up. Dirk was waving him over. "Hey, Sean, I got a job for
you and Tessa."

That immediately caught Sean's attention. In the
month since he'd brought Lucky home, she seemed to be avoiding him more than
ever. He set his shovel down and called, "I'm on my way." Lucky's
tail wagged happily as he followed in his brace.

Dirk said, "Tessa's on her way over. I need
you two to ride Sugar and Spice so they get some exercise.

"Sure. No problem. How far do you want us
to ride out?"

"Go as far as the river in the north
pasture. The horses need to trot and maybe gallop a little. Not too much galloping
though."

"Okay, boss."

Dirk squatted and patted Lucky on the head.
"He's looking good, Sean. I think it was a wise choice for you to keep
him."

Sean grinned. "Yeah. We're stuck together
like glue."

Tessa entered the barn not looking happy. Her father
said, "I just gave Sean instructions on how much to exercise the
horses." He walked over to his daughter, gave her a quick hug, and said,
"Thanks, Tessa. Flatfoot has already saddled Sugar and Spice so they're
ready to go. Have fun, you two."

Tessa mumbled something, and the fact that she
obviously didn't want to be anywhere near him, made Sean feel worse than the
crap he'd been shoveling. His mood suddenly turned dark.

He stalked past her and headed for the other
barn. Inside, he grunted a greeting to Flatfoot, hoisted himself into the
saddle, and waited for Tessa to mount Sugar. With neither of them saying a word
to each other, he led the way out of the barn. Flatfoot was left wearing a
quizzical expression and scratching his head.

After they were well into the pasture, he urged
Spice into a trot and Tessa did the same with Sugar. Several minutes later he
slowed the horse and waited for Tessa to come alongside him. "Let me know
when you want to gallop them," he said to her.

She glanced at him and kicked her horse into a
gallop. He watched her for only a second before charging after her. She was an
excellent horsewoman and he admired her skill, as well as her beautiful body.
Then he got mad at her all over again because she was wasting away living like
a hermit and he couldn't sleep for wanting her.

Monica stepped onto the porch behind her husband
and reached to hug him around his waist, laying her head against his back.
"How did you get them to ride out together?" she asked as she watched
Tessa and Sean gallop the horses across the pasture.

Dirk reached and pulled his wife around in front
of him so he could kiss her. After a loud smack, he said, "I made them
exercise the horses."

"Smart move."

"I don't know if it will do any good."

"Oh, I think you might be surprised. Tessa
can hardly keep her eyes off Sean and he's the same with her. One of them is
going to lose control soon."

Dirk chuckled. "Well, I wish they'd hurry
up and get it over with. They're driving me crazy." He sighed. "I
wish she'd open up about that rat, Jared. He sure did a number on her."

Monica laid her head against her husband's
chest. "She's always been sensitive about her weight, and my guess is
Jerky Jared used it against her."

Dirk put his chin on his wife's head. "Her
mother was the same way. It took me a long time to convince her I loved her
just the way she was."

Monica raised her head and lightly kissed her
husband. "I have a feeling Sean can be very persuasive when he finally
decides he's had enough of Tessa's avoidance."

Dirk grinned. "Oh, to be a fly on the
wall."

Monica punched his arm. "Now
that
would be an invasion of privacy."

Dirk gave her a lopsided grin. "Speaking of
privacy, what do you say we lock ourselves away in the bedroom for awhile?"

She tapped her cheek as if considering his
request, and then, purposefully, batted her eyelashes and darted her tongue
across her lips. In one swoop, he lifted her into his arms and carried her into
the house.

By the time they reached the river, Tessa and
Sean had slowed the horses to a walk. She dismounted and stepped to the river's
edge. She wasn't as mad now as she had been when her father told her to ride
out with him. She wondered if her dad had thrust them together on purpose or if
the horses really did need exercise. The quelling of her anger didn't last long,
however, when Sean dismounted and said while standing beside Sugar. "Tessa,
you can gallop, but you can't hide."

"What are you talking about?" she
retorted.

"You know what I'm talking about. You're a
walking zombie living on the fringes of life. You go to work; you stay late;
you come home and eat by yourself in your apartment; you go to bed; and then
you get up and do it all over again. You should be going out with friends,
having fun." Although it pained him to say it, he said, "Meeting
guys, going on dates."

She narrowed her eyes and placed a hand on her
hip. Now he had
really
pissed her off. "You have no right to give
me advice. You haven't lived my nightmare."

"Your nightmare is over, but you keep
resurrecting it. Chock it up to a bad experience and go on. Figure out what you
want and go for it."

"Like you, rock star?"

"Yeah! Like me! At least I'm trying to get
my life on track. I could be lazing on some island, but I'm shoveling shit in
your dad's barn."

"No one's making you stay here. So
leave."

Tessa saw something flicker in his eyes and then
he was slowly walking toward her. She took a step backward. He said softly,
"Are you really that clueless as to why I didn't leave weeks ago? Why I
even came back here in the first place?"

Her chin trembled. "I don't want to
know."

"Tessa, you've pushed me past fucking
caring if you know. You're the reason I came back, the reason I muck the barns.
I've been crazy about you since the first time I laid eyes on you when we decorated
Cecelia's shop for Christmas all those years ago."

Tessa tried to stop her tears, but she couldn't.

He continued unrelentingly, "You're the
reason Preston and I are always going at it. He feels the same way."

"Please don't say any more," she
begged.

"Tessa, why won't you give me a chance? And
if not me, give Preston a chance. All we want is to make you happy."

She glanced down at herself and sobbed, "Look
at me, Sean, I'm overweight. That's all I ever heard from Jared. Day after day
he ragged on my weight and told me how unappealing I was."

Sean stepped until his body was touching hers
and lifted her head with his finger tips. "I'm going to show you what an
asshole Jared is."

Tessa watched his mouth close in on hers and she
shut her eyes. She'd dreamed of kissing Sean and even if it was a pity kiss,
she wanted it.

His lips captured hers and it was anything but a
pity kiss. Every cell in her body could feel how much he wanted her. His hands
cupped her face and then slid to the back of her neck. He lifted his mouth long
enough to whisper her name and then mated her mouth with his tongue, thrusting
in and out in such a way that she sagged against him. This definitely was
not
a pity kiss.

His hands roamed her back and then slid to her
waist before cupping her butt cheeks and pulling her against his erection.

She couldn't even think; all she could do was
feel. She'd wanted to touch him for so long that her hands moved to his face,
his shoulders, his chest, his waist.

He began walking her backward until she was
against a wide-trunked oak tree and then he was lowering his head to her
breasts. He reached under her T-shirt and put his hands exactly where she
wanted them, and she moaned. He whispered in her ear, "This top has got to
go."

Her body felt on fire and all she could do was
nod. He gripped the edges of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. Rather
than return immediately to her breasts, he placed his mouth in her hair.
"I love your hair, Tessa." He moved his mouth to her dimple. "I
love your dimple, Tessa." He moved his mouth to hers. "I love you,
Tessa."

She arched into him and said, "I'm about to
burn up, Sean." She felt him grin against her mouth and then he said,
"I know exactly what you mean."

Preston drove up to Freckles duplex and hopped
down from his monster truck. He reached for the bag he'd loaded with puppy
formula, vitamins, and a new squeaky toy. Freckles had her front door open
before he shut his truck door. She was holding the puppy he'd hired her to care
for in one arm and feeding him. Preston grinned. "That is one tiny
dog."

"Yep. Biscuit is no bigger than a biscuit.
Are you sure he doesn't have a tapeworm?"

"He doesn't have a tapeworm,
Freckles."

She stepped inside the house and he followed.

She said, "What goodies did you bring
today. You'd think the dog was your kid the way you spoil him."

"Yeah? Well, what about you? Every time I
come over you're coddling him."

"That's what I'm paid to do." As if to
annoy him, she bent and kissed the puppy and cooed a bunch of baby gibberish.

Preston shook his head. He'd never met a woman
with as sharp a wit or as sharp a tongue as Freckles. He set the sack down and
plopped onto the only chair in her small living room.

She set Biscuit in his basket. "Did I
invite you to sit, cowboy?" she snarked.

He studied her expression. "Why do you
dislike cowboys so much?"

She shrugged. "It became a habit when the
last one left me high and dry and penniless in this hick town."

"How many have there been?"

Rather than retort with another snarky remark
like he expected, she grinned and said, "Why, are you interested?"

Preston sucked a breath. The woman was impossible
to best in a conversation. He frowned and glanced away.

"Well, that's really uplifting to a woman's
ego. Are you always this uptight? I've heard rumors that your brother is a
blast to be around. What happened to you? Did you fall on your head when you
were born?"

He looked back at her. "I've got patients
coming in this afternoon. Send me a new bill and I'll pay you in advance
again."

"So, do you have a girlfriend? Or do I just
scare you?"

"I'm not afraid of you."

A grin lit her face. "Then you have a girlfriend?"

"I didn't say that."

She tossed her hands in the air. "If you
don't have a girlfriend, and I don't scare you, and you're not gay, are you
saving yourself for that special little lady?"

Preston felt his ears burn.

Her eyes widened and she whispered loudly,
"You are! You're saving yourself! OMG, I thought guys like you were a
myth, but I'm honest-to-God staring at a freakin' freak of nature." She
didn't laugh. She just stared at him with those jade eyes.

Preston had an inclination to storm out of the
house, but suddenly he was gifted with insight. He stood, adjusted his Stetson,
and said, "Yeah. I'm saving myself for someone. I'm the kind of guy you
always dreamed of, Freckles. Too bad you're not the one for me." He saw
enough of a shocked expression on her face to satisfy his need for revenge. At
least he could walk away with his pride intact. However, when he climbed into
his truck, his satisfaction evaporated like dew on a scorching day.

Freckles blinked back tears. Her smart-ass mouth
had finally come back on her. Her mother had warned her all her life that it
would. In spite of appearances to the contrary, she liked Preston. He was a good
man, caring and honest. And generous. She lifted Biscuit from his basket and
held him to her heart—her broken heart. The way men kept leaving her, she figured
she wasn't worth the spit they used to shine their shoes. She was a loser just
like her mother and just one step away from being a slut. Biscuit whined and
she kissed his cold and wet nose. She whispered to the teeny puppy, "He'll
probably never come back here." She sniffed. "But that's a good
thing. I was starting to like him too much. Besides, he's saving himself for
some woman. I wonder if he already knows her or if she's his dream woman?"
She sighed and absentmindedly stroked Biscuit's fluffy black and brown fur.
"As soon as you're big enough, I should have enough money to move back to
Anaheim." Stretching out on the couch with her puppy on her stomach, she
lifted an arm over her eyes, trying to erase Preston's hurt expression from her
memory banks.