Into The Sunset: An Erotic Romance Anthology (4 page)

Rose hugged her mother.

“
So, you’re signing? You’re
investing?”

“
Of course. From the looks of that
cabin, I’d be a fool not to.”

Rose started going through the paperwork and
her eyes glazed over at the legalese. She read the same phrase
three times before turning to her expectant mother. “Ah… No offense
to anyone here, but I’d be a fool to sign this without
understanding what it means either.”

Her mother couldn’t quite keep the indulgent
smile off her face. “You know where the fax machine is.” She had
always praised Rose for her brains.

“
And I’ll need some steaks for
bribes,” Rose said, getting up from the table.

Her mother snorted.

“
I’ll pay for them,” Rose called
over her shoulder. She shut the door before her mother could
lecture her about freezing good meat and the expense of
shipping.

“
I’m getting steak,” Jill said
when Rose called her.

“
Steak and some legal
documents.”

“
I love it. I’ll email you the
translation.”

Jill was on the top of the list of people
she’d miss from Boston. Rose always called her for advice. Jill
allowed her to return the favor, taking Rose to auctions where Rose
helped her make good investments. The bribes they exchanged felt
more like a reason to get together. Jill never learned how to cook
a steak and had no interest in remedying it. And Rose couldn’t
finish a bottle of wine by herself. For the next bribe, Rose could
set up a girl’s vacation and pay for Jill.

“
That was fast,” her mother said.
She was setting a pitcher of milk on the table.

“
Jill approves of steak. I was
thinking about planning a vacation here with friends.”

“
Or maybe you could quit your job
in Boston and move here, and they could come visit.”

Rose opened her mouth to make her customary
protests, but Lily wasn’t going to stop talking to listen to her.
“Look, would it be that bad of an idea to stay down here and keep
an eye on your investment?”

No, it really wasn’t. While this wasn’t the
first time her mother had tried to get her to move back home, this
was the first time she’d had a really good reason.

“
And it’s not like we don’t need
your help around the farm. You know we can always use an extra
hand. Plus, we think about leaving you this place…”

Rose picked up a cookie. “I’ll think about
it.” The chocolate chips were still warm and melted, the buttery
cookie perfectly crisp. It was kind of how Rose thought about her
retirement. Nice, familiar, a reprieve after a life spent bustling
around Boston.

Did she really want a frenetic city
life?

No, but the same time too, she couldn’t think
of giving it up entirely. She hadn’t gotten a Bachelor’s in Fine
Arts thinking about money. Her MA in Art History and Advanced
Certificate in Conservation (with an unofficial minor in Ken
Perenyi) was funded by part-time jobs, scholarships, and money from
back home. Memories of those days spent studying and sweating
filled her with pride. Now she reaped the benefits of her labor,
making good money. Most of the time she didn’t care, but she liked
being able to buy her friends expensive gifts and help out her
parents.

Rex Waits was a problem. The sexy fly in her
ointment, if she wanted a lazy metaphor. And he wasn’t going
anywhere.

Martha pushed the plate of cookies out of
Annabelle Lee’s reach. It was plain to Rose, the little girl
considered this place home.

The knot in her chest did strange
uncomfortable things when she thought of Annabelle Lee losing that.
Focusing her thoughts on the girl’s father wasn’t much better. The
pressure fluttered. Rose took a moment to breathe and sort her
thoughts.

Rex, and his daughter, stayed. She would have
to get over it. She needed to know about the contract and more
about Rex. Would he be okay letting someone else handle the PR
work? Could he continue acting as the foreman?

Rose spent the rest of the day churning over
scenarios in her mind while she kept herself busy. She was on Apple
quite a bit, keeping an eye on the cattle and tracking down a lost
goat. Then she helped tend the horses.

All the while, the same thoughts chased around
in her head: Rex was perfect for the job, except when he flaked.
Why did he flake? Why did he have to look like demin-covered bliss?
Why did he have to smell like every erotic dream she’d ever had?
Why did she keep thinking about his perfect ass? Why did he
flake?

Round and round, up and over, just like a bit
of dust caught in a crack of sunlight in the barn.

Lost in her thoughts, she fell into the rhythm
of making dinner with Martha and her mother. The two older women
exchanged knowing glances, agreeing to leave Rose to her
counsel.

When Martha left to get another jar of
molasses from the cellar, Rose cornered Lily. A deep breath and a
few sentences was all it took to express her doubt in Rex’s role
there. Lily patted her arm and reassured her that Rex was quite
capable, despite his actions earlier.

So, her parents had discussed it and were
presenting a united front. Unsure of whether to be relieved or
worried, she headed out to the garden to pick some peas for
dinner.

She was sitting in the sun shelling peas when
a shadow darkened her seat on the porch. She looked up, blinking,
to find Rex frowning down at her.

“
Sorry,” he said, sidling out of
the sunshine. He looked from the basket to the ground to the
colander. “Ah, mind if I sit down?”

A touch of pity tugged at that knot in her
chest. “Sure.”

His nervous energy redirected itself to his
hands. They sat in silence, Rex crumpling a leaf between his
fingers and Rose busy with her peas. Her curiosity was nibbling
away inside her, but the way Rex was acting, if she started asking
him questions, he’d get spooked.

He took a deep breath and said, “You look like
my ex-wife. I divorced her after she left me for her hairdresser.
She doesn’t care about our daughter.”

“
Oh,” Rose said. Things were
starting to make sense now.

“
Nancy was just my
type.”

Rose tried very hard to keep the smile off her
face, reading between the lines of that statement.

“
Before she left, she made sure
to…to hurt me, humiliate me.” He sat up, rubbing his chin. “I
haven’t really talked about this.”

Unsure of what to say, Rose touched his
shoulder.

He relaxed. “Today, you crying, it just
reminded me of her leaving. That’s why I…”

Rose sighed in relief.

“
What?” He twitched under her
hand.

Oh Christ, he was pouring his
heart out to her and she was just sitting there.
“Thank you for telling me this. To be honest, I
was worried, given the fact that we’re going to be investing in
this place together.”

“
I didn’t scare you off then?” He
turned to look at her, a glimmer in his eyes and a smile on his
lips.

Rose’s chest gave a sluggish lurch and
something unraveled as she stared into his open face. She had to
look away. “No.” Her phone chirped: Jill’s special ringtone. She’d
gone through the contract.

“
Do you need to get that?” he
asked.

“
Yeah,” she said, wanting him away
from her.

Rex held out his hand, and she shook it. His
palm was warm and rough and the part of her brain she couldn’t
control was wondering about what it would feel like for him to keep
touching her, to trail his fingers up her arm, to her shoulder, her
neck. With a flush of heat, she realized he might be thinking about
the same thing. She was his type after all.

* * *

Rex wished he knew the name of whoever had
messaged Rose. He’d like to send him or her something nice:
Flowers, a fruit basket, cigars, some token of appreciation for the
pretext of getting out of there.

He still had to digest most of his
conversation with Tad, where the only explanation he had offered
for his behavior was that Rose was the spitting image of Nancy.
There had been more said, including a request to clear the air with
Rose, which he’d done.

And then he’d stared into her eyes like a
moon-struck fool. What had he been thinking? God, how he wanted to
press his lips against hers. That’s what. He had to stop himself
from fantasizing about it. Rose had been warm and friendly and
sympathetic. Now that she understood, she would probably invest.
Things were looking good.

At dinner, Rex did his best not to
notice
how
good
things were looking. Rose smiled like her heart was twenty times
lighter. She loved her family and the Crown of Thorns Ranch. Now
that she knew everything was okay, she could relax. You could see
it in the way she leaned her elbows on the table, hear it in her
laugh. Her eyes caught his and her cheeks flushed red.

He felt the heat too. The wound Nancy left was
raw, but after talking about it, he knew he’d get over it. He also
knew it would be harder to fight his attraction to Rose. She’d been
glorious, sitting in the sun, her strong hands only stilling in
their work to comfort him.

It was what he’d wanted his marriage to be. A
steady woman to love at his side. Not perfect—Rex wasn’t a fool—but
close enough. After fights they’d make up, and when words failed, a
gentle touch would suffice.

Lily slapped some mashed potatoes down on his
plate and he jumped.

Was it possible, even though he was a bit of
an emotional mess, that Rose felt something too? She snuck a glance
at him and he looked down at his food.

Annie elbowed him in the ribs. His daughter
was good at that, bothering him when he spaced out.

He focused on his meal, afraid that everything
was written on his face. If he kept up like this, he’d be having
another awkward conversation with Rose. One where he blushed a lot
and mumbled. Tad would probably want in on the action.

The barbecue lurched in his stomach. He had
the sinking feeling the battle was already half lost. Annie poured
him a glass of milk. He drank it and excused himself from the
table. Rose looked up from her plate, a worried frown on her
face.

“
Dad’s stomach just bothers him
sometimes,” Annie told her as he left the room.

He was going to buy Annie that cowboy hat
she’d been pestering him for. She’d covered his second, no third,
emergency retreat of the day with the grace of someone three times
her age.

Rex paced around his room until his stomach
settled. He needed a shower. The hot water soothed the tension from
his neck and shoulders.

It had been a long day. Tad had demanded Rex
be willing hire someone to take on the PR work if he couldn’t
handle it. He had readily agreed.

He was relieved that, after running out
earlier, that was the only concession his boss wanted. After all,
Rose hadn’t signed anything yet.

Rose.

It was out of the frying pan and into the fire
for him. His hostility had been a wall around his heart, and still,
he’d been peeking over it, marveling at the beautiful woman who’d
flown down from Boston and into his life. Now, he didn’t even have
that solid stone protecting him, just the knowledge that one didn’t
mix business and pleasure, to which part of him argued that while
he did want to pleasure Rose, he wanted much much more from
her.

Annie was flopped on the couch, half-asleep in
front of some cartoons when he got out of the shower. He prodded
her to brush her teeth and change into her pajamas before he tucked
her into bed. She gave him a big sleepy smile and said, “I love
you, Daddy,” when he kissed her goodnight.

“
Love you too.”

He’d just settled on the couch with a
paperback when a soft knock sounded on his door. Rose was there, a
sheath of papers in one hand, two beers in the other. When her
mouth dropped open, he realized he was only wearing
sweatpants.

“
Ah… If this is a bad time…” Her
cheeks blazed red as she stared at the floor.

“
No, it’s fine. Please, sit down.
I’ll just go grab a shirt.” His hands were shaking as he opened his
drawer.

Rose was in his quarters, on his couch. She
was waiting for him.

He shook his head. If he didn’t get control of
his thoughts, he’d have to put on a different pair of pants, as
sweatpants were not known for their discretion—at least when it
came to revealing a man’s state of arousal. Just to be safe, he put
on a pair of briefs.

By the look Rose gave him when he returned,
he’d taken too long. The papers were spread out on the coffee
table, the beers open and waiting for them.

“
So, my lawyer friend back in
Boston looked over the contract for me and she says she wants to
marry you.”

Rex made a choking noise. Rose handed him a
beer.

“
If the business fails, the
financial liability will go to you and me, leaving a portion of
money aside for my parents’ retirement.” She smiled at him. Her
brown eyes were so warm. He could her gaze like sunshine, all over
his skin, on his chest.