River Road (River's End Series, #4) (7 page)

AJ glanced up and quickly averted his gaze. She wore only a man’s long, white button-up shirt that ended at her mid-thighs. What thighs. Her legs went up to her neck, it seemed. They were longer than his, he was pretty sure. Bare now, her thighs were slim and shapely. Her breasts pushed against the thin, way too thin material. She wore no bra. Just two bright, pointy nipples pushing like fire pokers through the flimsy material. Her blonde hair was tousled all about on top of her head. It made her eyes look as big as an owl’s. He wasn’t usually attracted to women with short hair. But on Kate? Nothing else would work. It so matched her fast and furious personality and the presence she had in every place she went. Confident, bold, and brassy, yet it also highlighted the delicate line of her jaw and small ears.

He scraped harder at the grass, his shovel hitting a large rock and making a loud ding. Predictably, she leaned over the railing to investigate. He didn’t look up to observe her. He didn’t need another look at her naked breasts sheathed in only white gauze, or so it seemed. Sexier than being naked. His body wanted badly to react to her, but he remained bent over, working hard at not reacting. He hefted up the boulder, a round river rock that was embedded in the sandy soil and tossed it off towards the bank, out of the way.

“Oh, good morning, AJ. I didn’t realize you were there. Hard at work again, I see.”

“Morning, ma’am,” he muttered by rote.

“Kate.” Her tone was insistent and quick to correct him.

He nodded, peeking at her face, then looking back down. “Right. Kate.”

“What is it you’re doing there?”

He’d worked around the cabins since they were built. Mowing, weeding, spreading gravel or fixing miscellaneous repairs or hardware. Never once did one guest say hello to him or ask him what he was doing. He’d give her that, she wasn’t snobby.

“Removing grass from the front and back. They’re landscaping this area.”

“They?” she asked skeptically. “Or do you mean you?” She sipped her coffee and leaned against the railing, her elbows and forearms flat while the coffee cup sat between them. At least, the cup covered the gap in her shirt that exposed her flesh. Her cleavage. Her elegant neck and the smooth, rounded white—

He shook his head, riveting his eyes on the dirt he was removing. “I suppose I mean me.”

She was just slightly above his head. Her gaze skimmed over the view. “I’ll give this place kudos; mornings this nice don’t often come to Seattle. Beautiful morning. Is it often this gorgeous?”

He paused to lean against his shovel. “Yeah. Most of the time. Fall is cooler, and in winter, there’s two feet of snow right here, but even then, the sun often shines.”

“You here all year then?”

“Winter? Yup.” The thrill of that knowledge hadn’t ceased to zing through him yet. A permanent address.

“Kate, where the hell is my shirt?”

AJ froze and his entire body paused. She wasn’t alone? Shock must have registered on his face. A man stood in the open back door, wearing black trousers, but no belt and no shirt. For a city guy, he had a pretty good build. AJ frowned, embarrassed that he hadn’t grasped the situation. He thought she was single. Not that it mattered one way or the other to him. He wasn’t even interested in her. No. No way. But he had assumed wrong.

“I’m wearing it, obviously. Don’t get your tighty-whities in a bunch,” Kate grumbled back, glancing toward AJ and rolling her eyes.

“Can I have it? I need to get back now. I have a meeting at three.”

“Well, I
could
return it to you now and possibly give AJ here a thrill, but why don’t you just cool your heels until I finish my coffee? I have to prepare the Langenton campaign anyway. And since it’s my company, and the meeting is on my behalf, if I make you late… who’s going to complain?”

“Kate…” The man’s voice trailed off in frustration. “You don’t always to have to remind me who’s boss, do you?”

“Actually, I do. It’s part of the pleasure I get from it.” She finally moved off the railing, crossing her arms under her breasts. AJ chose to face towards the river because he was getting too much of a thrill from staring at a woman wearing another man’s shirt. The same man who also got a thrill from her. Or at least, AJ had to assume that was so. AJ grabbed the squares of grass and started to walk away to stack them, if only to put more distance from her. “Because let me tell you, the insurance premiums I pay are the totally
un-fun
part of being the boss. Now, Greg… please let me finish my coffee in peace.”

AJ kept walking, but he heard their muttering before the back door slammed shut. He wondered what man would so easily leave a half-naked woman on the porch because she ordered him to? AJ would…

Do nothing
. He’d do nothing, because she was a guest, and she had a boyfriend, and Jack said not to mingle with the guests, and because AJ couldn’t remember the last woman he’d been with. So he’d do nothing. Besides, he didn’t really want to do anything anyway.

When he went back to the grass patch, Kate was again leaning over the railing. “So, AJ, what do you all do around here for some fun?”

He squinted up towards her. Why the hell would she ask him? Like anything about him seemed fun? Digging up grass wasn’t exactly the ideal pursuit of any party animal.

“Uh, I ride horses. Quads. Target practice. The rodeo. I guess, that kind of stuff.”

“I have to say I haven’t done any of that except ride the horses and you know how well I’m
not
at that.” She flashed a quick, easy grin at herself and he almost forgot about the see-through top when her dazzling white teeth shone in a full, huge, wonderful smile. “But target practice? Like what?”

“Shooting guns. Clay pigeons. Or a box sitting on a fence post, whatever.”

“Do you have a gun?”

“Uh.” He scratched his head. She sounded shocked. It raised the hair off her head, she was so shocked by his proclamation. “Yeah… not so unusual. I hunt quail, grouse, some duck and pheasant. So I have a couple of shotguns, sure.”

“Hunting. Guns. Dear God, it’s for real then? I see this stuff advertised by outfitters and the like. But here you are, living it.”

He shifted his weight on his feet, feeling somehow more uneducated and stupid than he usually did.

“Do you think you could show me sometime?”

“Show you what?”

“Let me try shooting one of your guns at a target. I’ve never even been that close to one. My parents were both avid anti-gun activists. So I have this unreasonable fear of them… but also a morbid curiosity. So... would you?”

“Would I…” He nearly scratched his head some more from not believing she was serious.

“Show me how to shoot a gun.”

“Um, I really can’t. Jack doesn’t like us, you know, fraternizing with the resort guests.”

“Jack doesn’t what?”

He could feel the heat of a blush climbing up his neck. Did he use the wrong word? Fraternizing was right, wasn’t it? But it was not like he could be sure. It wouldn’t be the first time his ignorance embarrassed him, but with someone like Kate? He kicked the dirt near his toe. “You know, hanging around them. Separation between staff and guests. It’s one of his rules.”

“What about the horse rides?”

“That’s different, that’s work.”

She scowled at him. “That is freaking ridiculous. I’ve never heard of anything so insane. What a damn tyrant. Like adults can’t decide who they want to be around? Yet you’re fully allowed to dig around the cabins we’re in, just not fucking allowed to fraternize with us?”

Okay, maybe fraternize was the correct word. But why the hell was she so inflamed? He backed up a step, having no idea what to do with her. She had a lot of personality, and got riled up like a freaking machine gun. “Again, yeah. That’s my job. So, I’ll ah, just get back to it here.”

She took her coffee and threw out a third of the cup in a splash over the railing. It landed in the freshly dug dirt. “That’s really insulting, AJ. Aren’t you insulted?”

Was she still going on about Jack’s rule? He had no idea what the damn deal was.

“No. He’s running a business. I respect that.”

“Well,
I
don’t have to.” She suddenly spun around and away she stomped. He stared at the slammed shut door, wondering if she was mad at him.

****

Kate dressed quickly in one of her new ranch outfits. Shorts again, her boots, and a t-shirt. She marveled that she had never dressed that way before. T-shirts did great things for her chest. She rushed into the little check-in office. The wild-looking tomboy girl was manning the front desk again. Jocelyn.

“Can I rent a quad?”

Jocelyn glanced up at her snarled question. Kate didn’t like being told what to do, but especially at a place where she was staying. And by her own brother, no less. “We require a small deposit. You’ll get half of it back as long as you return the vehicle undamaged. You have to sign some paperwork for insurance reasons and take a quick tutorial, which I can gladly give you.”

“Oh, the paperwork. I sure as hell hope you learned your lesson. I can’t imagine how Jack Rydell had your ass over that.”

Jocelyn’s head tilted. “Well, no. He just reminded me to double check next time.”

“What’s with all the work going on around my cabin?”

“Oh, that’s because of Erin and Allison. They want to fancy up the place. Jack’s complaining, but it will be nice. I hope you weren’t disturbed.”

“By AJ? The man’s a damn shadow. Ghost. Snake. I don’t know. Whatever moves around without making a peep or complaining or even voicing basic human rights,” she grumbled. Kate was offended on his behalf by her brother’s tyrannical actions. First taking over for Erin as if she were a damn idiot, and then insisting AJ couldn’t even talk to guests?

“Oh, AJ. He is quiet.”

“Don’t tell me half the old married women here aren’t out on their porches drooling over him,” she muttered, scowling at the image. She’d seen some women in their retirement years. She just bet they all enjoyed a nice fantasy of eye candy in the quiet, hardworking ranch hand.

“Well, don’t we all?”

“Do you have something going on with him?” The thought made Kate resist glaring at Jocelyn as if she had any business to ask, let alone care if they did.

Jocelyn dropped her head, shrugging her shoulders as she let out a little, embarrassed laugh. “Well, not from lack of trying. But he nearly pats me on the head and tells me to run along. He says he’s far too old for me, but I don’t care…”

“How old are you?” Kate studied the girl. She was all tattooed and pierced, so it was hard to tell. She might have been older than Kate first thought.

“Twenty-one. AJ’s thirty or something. So I guess he’s old. But old like that…”

AJ’s esteem just shot up. He turned this hot little girl down? Yes, Jocelyn was hot in a wild, rebellious, crazy way. A way AJ had turned down! Good man.

“Well, I hope you didn’t get into any trouble because of me. And I’ll plan on that quad around two, okay?”

“It’ll be pretty hot then. You going alone?”

“No. I’m going to find someone here to go with me. But let me guess, it can’t be AJ, right? Because Jack forbids it?”

Jocelyn’s smile was quick before it disappeared. “True. But in all fairness, it’s the same no fraternizing rule for all the employees, not just AJ, from me to all the ranch hands. Have you seen the other workers? AJ is just the tip of the iceberg. It would be one hook-up after another if too many women mingled with the guys who work here.”

“Well, it still seems impossible that someone can insist on that.” Kate turned and left the office, determined that stupid Jack’s rules wouldn’t hamper her sudden inclination to enjoy one AJ Reed.

No matter who told her not to. Because the first thing her brother would learn about Kate was, she did not tolerate anyone telling her what to do.

Kate wandered around the beach and the ranch until finally she found Erin working with a horse in the circular arena. She leaned on the gates and watched for a good hour or so after Erin walked over to chit-chat and gave her permission to stay. Snapping up the opportunity to try grilling Erin again, she didn’t find out anything more of great interest.

Kate mentioned the rented four-wheeler and hinted that she needed someone to go with her. Erin claimed she only rode on the backs of them, but promised she’d find someone. Kate crossed her fingers, hoping she’d suggest AJ. It was so foreign to Kate to pussyfoot around a guy like him. She didn’t play games, or send others to do her work, or hope the guy would be here or there. She just usually went out with the guy. She asked him for a date or if he wanted to sleep with her. That was usually her way. Never just flirting and being subtle or hoping.

But scoping her brother’s ranch and doing reconnaissance came before the hot ranch hand with whom she’d like to pass her time.

She caught glimpses of Shane walking into the main house. He waved at her, and later, another man passed her who was heading towards one of the outbuildings. He was cute too, but didn’t quite hold her attention the same way that AJ did.

Finally, Erin came over to the fence. They chatted about the ranch. Kate got an earful about the history. For over a hundred years, the Rydells had been there, and the damn river was even named after one of their ancestors, Clint Rydell. She learned how Erin came to the ranch and found the four brothers living together, alone, while raising Jack’s two sons.