Seduce Me, Cowboy. Maisey Yates

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ see them.

      Needed to see them.

      She thought about all those places as she drove along the winding road to Jonathan Bear’s house. She had the vague thought that if she went to London or Paris, if she looked at the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben, structures so old and lasting—structures that had been there for centuries—maybe she would learn something about herself.

      Maybe she would find what she couldn’t identify here. Maybe she would find the cure for the elusive ache in her chest when she saw Ace with Sierra and their kids.

      Would find the freedom to be herself—whoever that might be. To flirt and date, and maybe drink a beer. To escape the confines that so rigidly held her.

      Even driving out of town this morning, instead of to the church, was strange. Usually, she felt as though she were moving through the grooves of a well-worn track. There were certain places she went in town—her parents’ home, the church, the grocery store, The Grind, her brother’s brewery and restaurant, but never his bar—and she rarely deviated from that routine.

      She supposed this drive would become routine soon enough.

      She pulled up to the front of the house, experiencing a sharp sense of déjà vu as she walked up to the front porch to knock again. Except this time her stomach twisted with an even greater sense of trepidation. Not because Jonathan Bear was an unknown, but because she knew a little bit about him now. And what she knew terrified her.

      The door jerked open before she could pound against it. “Just come in next time,” he said.

      “Oh.”

      “During business hours. I was expecting you.”

      “Expecting me to be late?” she asked, holding out his cup of coffee.

      He arched a dark brow. “Maybe.” He tilted his head to the side. “What’s that?”

      “Probably coffee.” She didn’t know why she was being anything other than straightforward and sweet. He’d made it very clear that he had exacting standards. Likely, he wanted his assistant to fulfill his every whim before it even occurred to him, and to do so with a smile. Likely, he didn’t want his assistant to sass him, even lightly.

      Except, something niggled at her, telling her he wouldn’t respect her at all if she acted like a doormat. She was good at reading people. It was a happy side effect of being quiet. Of having few friends, of being an observer. Of spending years behind the church desk, not sure who might walk through the door seeking help. That experience had taught Hayley not only kindness, but also discernment.

      And that was why she chose to follow her instincts with Jonathan.

      “It’s probably coffee?” he asked, taking the cup from her, anyway.

      “Yes,” she returned. “Probably.”

      He turned away from her, heading toward the stairs, but she noticed that he took the lid off the cup and examined the contents. She smiled as she followed him up the stairs to the office.

      The doors were already open, the computer that faced the windows fired up. There were papers everywhere. And pens sat across nearly every surface.

      “Why so many pens?” she asked.

      “If I have to stop and look for one I waste an awful lot of time cussing.”

      “Fair enough.”

      “I have to go outside and take care of the horses, but I want you to go through that stack of invoices and enter all the information into the spreadsheet on the computer. Can you do that?”

      “Spreadsheets are my specialty. You have horses?”

      He nodded. “This is kind of a ranch.”

      “Oh,” she said. “I didn’t realize.”

      “No reason you should.” Then he turned, grabbing a black cowboy hat off a hook and putting it firmly on his head. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. And I’m going to want more coffee. The machine is downstairs in the kitchen. Should be pretty easy. Probably.”

      Then he brushed his fingertips against the brim of his hat, nodding slightly before walking out, leaving her alone.

      When he left, something in her chest loosened, eased. She hadn’t realized just how tense she’d felt in his presence.

      She took a deep breath, sitting down at the desk in front of the computer, eyeing the healthy stack of papers to her left. Then she looked over the monitor to the view below. This wouldn’t be so bad. He wasn’t here looking over her shoulder, barking orders. And really, in terms of work space, this office could hardly be beat.

      Maybe this job wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

      * * *

      By the time Jonathan made a run to town after finishing up with the horses, it was past lunchtime. So he brought food from the Crab Shanty and hoped his new assistant didn’t have a horrible allergy to seafood.

      He probably should have checked. He wasn’t really used to considering other people. And he couldn’t say he was looking forward to getting used to it. But he would rather she didn’t die. At least, not while at work.

      He held tightly to the white bag of food as he made his way to the office. Her back was to the door, her head bent low over a stack of papers, one hand poised on the mouse.

      He set the bag down loudly on the table by the doorway, then deposited his keys there, too. He hung his hat on the hook. “Hungry?”

      Her head popped up, her eyes wide. “Oh, I didn’t hear you come in. You scared me. You should have announced yourself or something.”

      “I just did. I said, ‘hungry?’ I mean, I could have said I’m here, but how is that any different?”

      She shook her head. “I don’t have an answer to that.”

      “Great. I have fish.”

      “What kind?”

      “Fried kind.”

      “I approve.”

      He sighed in mock relief. “Good. Because if you didn’t, I don’t know how I would live with myself. I would have had to eat both of these.” He opened the bag, taking out two cartons and two cans of Coke.

      He sat in the chair in front of the table he used for drawing plans, then held her portion toward her.

      She made a funny face, then accepted the offered lunch. “Is one of the Cokes for me, too?”

      “Sure,” he said, sliding a can at her.

      She blinked, then took the can.

      “What?”

      She shook her head. “Nothing.”

      “You expected me to hand everything to you, didn’t you?”

      She СКАЧАТЬ