Unbridled and Unbroken (2 page)

“If you happen to stop by again, I work the late shift this week until about this same time on Friday morning.” Her coy expression gave him ideas, but just as fast he curtailed his lust.

He and his business partner, Adam Keller, had particular tastes in both women and bed mates. Often they found a way to indulge both while on this annual trip, but more likely than not, this girl wouldn’t want the same experience they had in mind. They loved to share a woman between them, ideally, but often any women they met were only interested in one or the other of them. More was the pity because she was really pretty.

“When do you get off today?”
What on earth made me ask that?

She tilted her head to one side and answered with a shy expression on her lovely face. “I get off in an hour and a half. Why?”

“I don’t usually do this, but would you like to have breakfast with me this morning, Veronica?”

She inhaled a quick, sexy little breath. “How did you know my name?”

Was that the noise she made when she climaxed? His cock stiffened slightly at the idea.

He pointed to her breast where the name was embroidered on her smock jacket. “Your name is stitched on your shirt.”

A glance down and she blushed yet again. She’d had a lovely rose color high in her cheeks since he’d arrived.

“Oh. Right. My name tag. I forgot.” She brushed a slim hand across her chest, touching the gold thread-embossed letters of her name before allowing her arm to drop. He swore his cock reared from just watching that innocent gesture. Jesus.

He’d only been in town for a half a day. They’d come in late last night. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t had a woman in a long time. True, it had been longer than he would have liked, but not long enough to warrant a response like this for a veritable stranger.

“It’s very kind of you, but I don’t think it would be a good idea. Thank you for asking me all the same, though.”

“Tell you what, I’m staying in room seven fourteen at the Redfield hotel if you change your mind.”

Her eyes narrowed as of taking the information as offered, but not truly expecting to use it. Smart girls didn’t show up at the hotel room of strangers.

He was an idiot to expect her to agree to his overture. Smart girls also didn’t take chances wicked nights of pleasure with a man she didn’t know. And especially not with two randy strangers. Adam waited back in the room. Johnny eyed her again with speculation to calculate the likelihood of that possibility.

Nope. She’d never show up to satisfy their lustful urges.

But she sure was pretty.

* * * *

Veronica was very tempted by his offer of not only breakfast, but an open invitation to his room. His hotel room. Her dirty little fantasies would reach epic proportions at just the idea of taking him up on his offer or, better yet, just showing up at his door unannounced.

The flames returned to her face.

Johnny turned slightly to one side as if embarrassed to have propositioned her by inviting her to his room. She wasn’t insulted. Stranger or not, she didn’t get a bad vibe off of him. Still, she wasn’t stupid enough to promise to meet a stranger in his hotel room no matter how handsome he was. And there was no mistaking, how very attractive this cowboy was.

His gaze rested on the ledge of counter on his side of the protective glass. She decided to offer him a caveat so he’d know she wasn’t insulted by his gesture.

“Maybe I’ll run into you at the diner later on this week. It’s called Mary Ann’s.” She focused her attention on making change for his purchase.

She did her best not to allow her fingers to tremble as she slid the coins, bills, receipt and lotto ticket beneath the reinforced glass. The numbers on his lottery ticket caught her attention as the random digits had personal meaning.

Scanning the small paper quickly, she noted that the first two were a four and a thirty, and her birth month and day. The next four digits for his fated lotto numbers corresponded to the address where she used to live. How strange. Sixteen, three, nine and seven. Her pride and joy at purchasing a home paled in comparison to losing it once all her money ran out. Barely able to sell it at a loss before the bank foreclosed, a very large portion of her dwindling savings went to the difference.
 

That house had only been hers before she fell from grace for a mistake she didn’t remember but had paid a steep price for all the same.

It was completely unfair. But when all was said and done, she couldn’t prove she hadn’t done what they’d accused her of. Her passwords had been used to place an ill-fated transfer order from a holding file. It might not ever have been noticed, but an audit followed closely after the transaction.

A surprise audit.

She’d been as astonished as the accountant when they showed her the log with her secret password being used for the illegal purchase. Unfortunately, the date corresponded with the night she’d had that fateful blackout episode during an after-hours party and she honestly didn’t remember what had happened.

Her previously spotless record accorded her the privilege of resignation instead of being fired outright and put in jail. Her immediate supervisor and former mentor, Tom Callen, had had a hand in that benefit. She was lucky that he’d been so supportive during her fall from grace.

Life was often unfair and now she lived in her fantasies.

Headlights from another vehicle pulling into the front lot cut across the inside of the building. Both she and the cowboy turned suddenly at the disruption.

Oh shit. She’d forgotten about Jerry.

He’d moved his crappy white van from the gas pump to a spot in front of the store and was headed inside. Veronica tried to be pleasant to everyone, especially gorgeous cowboys, but it was getting difficult to wait on Jerry. She knew his name because he hit on her every single morning without fail.

Just two days ago he’d waited for her to get off work and pulled out of the parking lot behind her. It had frightened her enough that she hadn’t gone home but instead drove to a busy coffee shop.

As humiliating as it was to go anywhere in her work uniform, she’d been grateful for the bustle of the patrons as she sat inside and watched that very same van cruise past at least four times. She’d lingered over a cinnamon roll for a good half an hour before feeling safe enough to go on home.

Jerry the Creep emerged from his vehicle, adjusting his ball cap then his jean-clad crotch and she cringed inside.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny asked and glanced out the front window at Jerry.

“Can you hold on for a second?” She’d been admiring his body ever since he had come into the store. Right now the best part of the to-die-for cowboy was his height and those nice wide shoulders. He was a pretty big guy. He turned back, a questioning look on his face and she said quietly, “Could you do me a huge favor and stay just another minute?”

“That guy a problem for you?”

Veronica released a grateful sigh at his quick assessment of her problem. “Yes. He’s been giving me a hard time. Even with this glass between us, he frankly scares me about half to death.”

“I’d be happy to stay a minute and chat.”

Veronica relaxed a notch. “Thank you so much.”

Her gorgeous cowboy collected his coins and slipped the change in his front pocket. She stared at the front of his jeans for way too long wondering at what glorious pleasure awaited behind his zipper. The bills and receipt he slid into his wallet and the lotto ticket he picked up last and shoved in his back pocket along with his billfold. Only the two coffee cups remained.

Bending forward, he placed his elbows on the counter. “What if we pretend I’m your new boyfriend? Maybe then he’d leave you alone for good.”

His charming grin distracted her so much she barely heard Jerry come in the front door. “That would be great,” she whispered.

“What’s your favorite breakfast at Mary Ann’s?” he asked.

Veronica smiled. “I love the buttermilk pancakes there.” That was the God’s honest truth. “Best I’ve ever tasted.”

“Excellent. I love pancakes.” He winked at her. “So is that what you’ll be ordering when we go to breakfast there together undercover as a couple?”

She laughed and stared at his beautiful aqua eyes. She loved playacting with him. “Absolutely.”

Jerry walked all around the store as they flirted and chatted. She almost forgot he was there. Almost. He approached the counter, likely to ask some inane question like he always did, and the cowboy said, “I really enjoy having breakfast with you, honey.”

“So do I,” she answered wishing they really went on imaginary morning dates together as a couple.”

Johnny suddenly leaned in so close, he practically kissed the plexiglass. “Honestly, the best part of my day is waking up next to you. I love knowing we’ll be sharing our first meal together every morning. Knowing you’re all mine doesn’t hurt either.”

Veronica was so stunned by his very realistic sounding heartfelt declaration, she didn’t have a ready response. Her mouth dropped open, but no sound came out.

Johnny winked once.

Playacting. It was just his way of helping her get rid of her pesky stalker.

Say something flirty.

“I...really like...being all yours.” She managed to stutter knowing she’d never win an award for her lame acting skills. Fortunately, a glance at Jerry and she knew she wasn’t the only one convinced over Johnny’s acting abilities.

“Will you stop by my place after you get off work so that we can,” he paused for a breathless moment as a number of activities crossed her mind, “chat some more about our future?”

“I’d love to.”

Jerry listened in to their conversation with rabid interest. When she finally tore her gaze from her cowboy hero, Jerry stared at her with accusation in his eyes. His gaze then strayed to Johnny. The cowboy returned his stare and straightened to his full height and he was a head taller than Jerry. Without saying a word, Jerry adjusted the ball cap on his head again, threw a dollar on the counter and stalked out to his van. Thank heavens he was gone.

Once the van disappeared from view, the cowboy leaned in and said, “Now that I’m your new boyfriend and everything, maybe I’ll see you around this week. If you’d like, we can go out and have a real breakfast together.”

Will I wake up next to you, too?

Veronica’s heart sped up at the idea. “Maybe so. I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks again for staying behind to protect me. You were very convincing. I’ll likely never see him again.”

“No problem.” His grin almost gave her an orgasm on the spot. “Have a great day,” he with a wave. He picked up the coffee cups and moved toward the door.

“You too,” she said in a breathless whisper

He pushed one of the doors open with an elbow, turned and walked out into the pre-dawn light. She watched his perfect ass with every step he took all the way out the door. Which was how she saw what happened.

The lotto ticket he’d purchased for his friend fluttered from his back pocket to the floor just as the door swooped shut. The blast of air from the door closing sent the small square paper rolling towards her. She banged her palm on the glass trying to get his attention, but he quickly slipped into his vehicle and drove away before she could unlock herself from the prison behind the protected glass cage of her desolate employment.

She rescued the ticket from beneath the rack holding a large assortment of candy bars, gum and mints and watched his tail lights head in the direction of the hotel where he’d told her he was staying.

Fingering the stiff corner of the lotto ticket, Veronica wondered if she should go after him once her shift had ended to ensure he got the final item of his purchase.