Cowgirl, Unexpectedly. Vicki Tharp

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СКАЧАТЬ on his bunk, Hank sat beside me and placed a pink plastic bottle on the table. On the label was a cartoon monkey with his shorts pulled down exposing a painful, red monkey butt. “What’s this?”

      “Jenna wanted me to give this to you. For your saddle rub. She said she can’t watch you walk around like your jeans are made of razor wire anymore.”

      “Thank God” was all I could say as I set the medicated powder back down.

      Hank leaned down for a closer inspection of my side, then whistled softly. “Pretty impressive. More shades of purple than a little girl’s wardrobe.”

      “You should see the knot and bruise from where I landed on that rock.” I realized my mistake as soon as the words left my mouth.

      He tipped his chin up, indicating for me to stand and show him. I rolled my eyes, but stood up anyway and tugged the waistband of my boxer shorts low enough to show the hard knot and purple-black bruising, but not so low I was indecent.

      “Hurt?” he asked in all innocence, knowing full well it did.

      I sat back down and dabbed more hydrogen peroxide onto a couple of cotton balls. “Like a bitch.”

      “Maybe you should sit out a day or so. Dale would understand.”

      “I’ll survive. It’s a long way from my heart. Besides, I don’t see you lying around on your bunk with your bum leg raised while the guys are out working all day.”

      He sat back, ran a hand absently down the leg in question, and regarded me. I wasn’t sure if he was more surprised I’d noticed how much the leg bothered him or that I’d called him on it. Then a smile curved up one side of his lips. “Like you said, it’s a long way from the heart.”

      I couldn’t help but smile back. There was something sexy and admirable about a man who did his work without complaint despite a painful injury. As I twisted my body to apply the disinfectant, Hank snagged my wrist. If he felt my pulse spike and thrum beneath his fingertips, he didn’t let on.

      With his other hand, he removed the cotton balls from my fingers and then lightly cleaned my wound. I grunted at the sting, tapping the table with the heel of my hand, but he didn’t pay me any heed. He let go of my wrist so he could ease down the waistband of my shorts and underwear, exposing my hip, half my butt cheek, and my raw skin. I glanced at his face to see if this affected him in any way. He was focused, but only on the job at hand. I chuckled softly as he released my waistband and tossed the used cotton balls into the nearby garbage can.

      “What’s so funny?”

      “You,” I said. “I know I’m not all that, but with my waistband that low there wasn’t much left to the imagination, and yet you acted like you’d popped the hood on your truck to check for an oil leak.”

      His laugh was hearty and warm, and heat pricked in my chest. He placed his hand behind my neck and stroked the side of my jaw with his thumb. I knew what was coming even before his eyes drifted to my mouth. I watched as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine, gentle, but not tentative. He lingered, then leaned back before I had the chance to kiss him back. “If that”—he dropped his eyes to my side to indicate what that was and raised them back to mine— “was what greeted me every time I popped a hood, I would’ve become a mechanic.”

      He stood then and headed for the bathroom without a backward glance. I smiled to myself at his cheesiness as I used a non-stick pad to cover the part of my scrape beneath the waistband and let the rest of the wound get air. Hopefully by morning, it will scab over enough so that I won’t need to bandage it at all.

      After cleaning up my mess, I turned all the lights off except for the one over the kitchen sink, pulled the curtain, and crawled into bed. Hank emerged from his shower, switching off the light on his way by. His wet towel thumped against the floor and then came the soft scuffle of sheets as he slid into bed. Naked. Again.

      I tried very hard not to think about that. Then the kiss popped into my head instead. To say that I craved touch now, after my time on the road, would be a misstatement, much the same way saying I hadn’t enjoyed the warm touch of his lips on mine would be a lie.

      “So I guess this means you like me,” I stated.

      He chuckled softly. “You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

      “I never saw the point in that.”

      “What’s not to like?”

      Besides my aggressive tendencies, especially when surprised, my preference to be alone, and oh yeah, my previous relationship track record that my boyfriend didn’t survive? Besides all that, I’m a real catch.

      I also wasn’t one to share, if it ever came to that. “What about Jenna?”

      He took in a breath as if he were going to reply, then stopped himself. After a long moment, he said, “This has nothing to do with Jenna.”

      “What is she to you?”

      “That’s something you’ll need to ask her.” His voice had dropped to a whisper as if it hurt to say it any louder. Clearing his throat, he said, “Go to bed, Army.”

      Army. Why did he keep calling me that? I mulled the word around in my mind. He had yet to call me Mac like the others. It was always Parish or Army. If anyone else had called me Army, I’d have decked them, but for unknown reasons, I liked the way it sounded coming from his mouth.

      “Marines,” I mumbled more to myself than to him.

      His breathing had grown slow and even. “What?” His voice was thick and I was surprised he was awake enough to hear.

      “Marines,” I stated louder. “I was in the Marines.”

      He huffed out a laugh. “Why am I not surprised?”

      * * * *

      I had stall duty the next morning. After cleaning the first stall, I’d tossed the oilskin coat Lottie had given me to wear in place of my leather jacket over a bale of hay. By the time I’d finished the second one, I was down to a T-shirt despite the fact the sun wasn’t above the horizon and I could still see my breath.

      Then Jenna and Quinn came tumbling in the rear sliding doors of the barn, laughing and giggling. From where I was digging the manure out of the corner of the stall, I couldn’t see them, but there was no mistaking who it was. Before I could call out to let them know I was there, the laughter stopped and the stall wall beside me shook slightly when someone bumped against it. A puff of dust rained down from the cracks between the horizontal boards and I stifled a sneeze.

      They started kissing, and immediately the image of Hank and his lips on mine came to mind. He’d said he was interested. I didn’t have a clue as to what I wanted or expected from him. I didn’t want a relationship, I didn’t even know if I wanted a friendship, but something about him captivated me.

      The kissing started to get a little steamy on the other side of the wall and I wondered if maybe Hank was right about the kids not needing too much privacy. Besides, standing still in the stall, I was rapidly cooling off. I was about to make a noise, clear my throat or scuff the manure fork against the wall to let them know they weren’t alone before things got too hot and heavy, but Hank beat me to it.

      I СКАЧАТЬ