Page 47 of Risking it for the Cowboy

She closed her eyes, so foreign to feel this kind of care. Muscled arms tensed and brushed against hers with each torque of the wrench, shock waves rushing through her with each press of his body, each inhale of his scent, and soft huff of his breath beside her ear as he craned around her to see. Was he pressing into her a little more? Was she relaxing back on his chest?

“So, why the Louisville Slugger?”

Chapter Fifteen

Charlie whirled around through T.R.’s arms and stared up at him, chest to chest, her rear bracing the counter, her pretty eyes wide.

Bingo. He’d just called out the elephant in the room. She’d had it propped in her room two weeks ago. She’d had a nightmare then too.

His eyes bounced back and forth between hers as he kept twisting the wrench, her caged into his arms, until he’d loosened the faucet and removed it. She’d been prepared to meet someone else on her doorstep, white-faced and fearful.

Just like when she’d kicked him out.

She’d said her ex had frightened her last night, and though he wasn’t sure how, that also seemed just like the morning two weeks ago.

That baseball bat.

The key wedged in her fingers last night.

The wrench raised when she was startled…

That flinch on stage, when he’d snagged her arm.

The begging that he hold her as if he wanted to keep her … she’d only known a husband’s anger in some way. Not a lover’s worshiping.

Was it Jason? Goddamn. He’d always known the guy was a prick, but to think he might be a wife beater on top of it was a new kind of fury, like a match flickering beside a powder keg, resurrecting memories of his worst mistake. His record.

She swiveled back around again, her rear teasing his lap as she did so. He swallowed hard. Because as bad as the timing was, his poor soldier down south had been deprived, missing her.

So, she wasn’t going to answer his question about the bat. An answer in itself.

“Why you fixin’ this sink instead of calling a plumber?”

“It’s one of my duties as the caretaker here. Part of my rental agreement with the university now that I sold the land to their agribusiness, and since pageant queen didn’t exactly prepare me for trade work, hello, YouTube.”

He noticed her phone out, video paused, as the coffee percolated though the filter, filling the kitchen with the rich aroma.

He took the O-ring from her, twirling it around his finger again, then slipping it over the base. She tightened her grip on the counter edge as his lap jostled more against her rear and arms brushed hers, as he reassembled the faucet.

“They paid well for the land, so thankfully, I’ve paid off a debt and Daisy has a college fund now, since Daisy’s daddy never pays child support.”

So, she had used the sale to pay back the scholarship? It must have been humiliating. Divorcing an abusive man should never have been cause for punishment.

“The rest paid for grad school. The caretaker gig keeps my rent affordable. My salary isn’t stellar, but it at least covers Daisy’s basic needs, a retirement account, and my legal fees against my—”

She cut herself off. But damn. Humiliating or not, she’d found a way to squeeze water from every penny. He digested her words, considering her, as he finished replacing the ring and cinching the faucet back on.

*

And then his heat was gone as he pulled away, leaving Charlie cold as she regained her balance from where she’d been leaning, disappointment plummeting when … he dropped down to his knees beside her, braced her thigh with his grip as he leaned under the sink, twisting the valve, and heat exploded up her body.

Her breath hitched as her gaze flashed down to him, and he flashed a fiery smolder up at her, blue eyes riveted to hers as his grip on her thigh burned and he took a deep breath as if breathing in her aura.

“Turn the faucet on.” His smolder darkening as his fingers tightened on her thigh. “See if it leaks outta the slit or not.”

She swallowed hard, rubbing her legs together as his grip on her thigh held firm and a satisfied chuckle escaped him, but ran the water, sputtering to life again, nothing leaking.

He pushed to standing. Slid back up her side, and her cheeks were aflame and hands white knuckling the counter.