Cowgirl Fever (Novak Springs Book 1) (12 page)

Her laugher floated through the barn. “You keep doing that, neither one of us is going anywhere. We need to get dressed before we start all over again.”

He lifted his eyebrow up questioning, “And what is wrong with that idea? I definitely have not had enough of you yet.”

“We both have things to do. Let me go so I can get dressed.” She pushed him away from her.

“Fine, if you have to go and ruin a perfectly good moment by putting some clothes on, I suppose I’m gonna have to let you.”

Ginnifer laughed as she walked out of the stall to gather her clothes. She put them all on and turned to look at him finish getting dressed. Damn, he was sexy. Ginnifer didn’t think she would ever get enough of looking at him. It may have been a mistake to have sex with him, but she wasn’t going to let that bother her. For the time being, she was going to enjoy the time she had with him. It was the best damn sex she had ever had in her life.

He turned and found her staring at him. “What are you looking at?”

“Enjoying the view.” She slowly ran her tongue across her lips.

“Now don’t be doing that, or those clothes you insisted on putting back on over that gorgeous body are going to be torn to shreds.”

She wiggled her eyebrows at him and teased, “Promises, promises.”

Dallas sauntered over, reaching for her as he muttered, “Come here.”

Ginnifer scooted out of his reach. “Later, cowboy. I have things to do. You can make me scream again tonight.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Oh me too.” She gave him a naughty smile.

“You sure you want to leave?”

“No. I need to, though. I can’t stay in the barn with you all day.”

“I don’t know about that. It has its appeals.”

“Quit trying to talk me into staying.”

“No, because it’s working. I want you to stay with me.”

“I wish I could. I really do. This has been…fun.”

“Then stay.”

Ginnifer mulled over his words. She would like to stay, but she didn’t think it would be a good idea. He made her feel way too much, and she needed to gain some distance between them. That didn’t mean she couldn’t maintain the playful attitude. It had been amazing.

“No, babe. I’m gonna go. I promise, though, that the wait will be worth it. I’ll see you later.”

She sashayed out of the barn and headed back to her cabin with a huge smile across her face. Yeah, it was definitely the distraction she had been looking for. It had been worth it to seek him out. Ginnifer had doubts she would be seeing much of Tori if she spent her nights in Dallas’s bed. It was a win-win situation. She got hot sex each night and was able to get out of dealing with one of Tori’s hissy fits. Ginnifer couldn’t have asked for a better way to handle her rising stress levels. Dallas had skills she planned on taking every advantage of. The only real problem she could see was that it wasn’t just Tori in the cabin with them anymore. Their new cabin mates were going to be joining them in a short time. They might already have moved into the cabin. Sneaking out to spend time with Dallas would be harder to manage with three sets of eyes watching her every move. She didn’t know why it mattered to her to keep her extracurricular activities secret, but it did. Ginnifer didn’t see any reason to let the world know she was having a sexual relationship with anyone. What happened with her and Dallas was a private matter. She had never been known for her ability to share. Some things were meant to be kept to yourself. How Dallas made her really feel and what she did with him was one of those things. Maybe someday she’d consider telling Tori some of it, but never would she spill all of the details.

Ginnifer wandered into the cabin she shared with her best friend and two new occupants, hoping she would have the room to herself. Luck had never been a friend of hers, and it wouldn’t make any exceptions at this juncture of her life. Once the door opened fully, she saw Tori standing with bare feet in the middle of the room tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for her to come inside. Her hair was in a loose ponytail with strands falling out all over the place in a complete mess. Tori’s face normally had perfectly applied makeup but now had streaks of dirt all over her forehead, nose, and left cheek. Ginnifer stopped abruptly as she got closer to her when a putrid smell reached her nose and she asked, “Good God, what is that horrible scent?”

Tori stopped tapping her foot and crossed her arms across her chest. Her bottom lip popped out as a small sob escaped her mouth. Tears started to fall in earnest when she looked up at Ginnifer. Her whole body started to shake as her misery found a way to release her pent up frustrations. Tori did her best to get words out of her mouth, but with each attempt, gasped for breath. “I hate—himmmm,” she screamed.

Ginnifer stopped short and really looked at Tori. Her clothes were filthy. Her jeans were smeared with…yes, manure. Well that explains the smell… The strap on her white tank top was broken on one side and fell down across her chest. Something or someone had put her through some kind of hell. It made Ginnifer feel kind of guilty for avoiding Tori over the past couple of days.

“Do I want to know what happened to you?” Ginnifer asked wearily.

“That Indiana Jones wannabe lassoed me and pulled me literally into a pile of shit.”

Ginnifer asked with an appalled tone, “Excuse me? Who would do that?”

“After we got invaded by Melody and Shelly, I wanted to escape the cabin ya know, and well, I missed my best friend. So, well I went out looking for you and ran into that jerk, Wes. The more I see him, the less I like him,” Tori explained

“I’m not following you. Why would he make sure you fell into a pile of manure?”

Tori let out a breath and started to explain what happened to her. “Well it wasn’t exactly a pile. There were a bunch of horses, and they had got done taking a dump— Anyway, we were arguing, and he took the rope he was holding, formed this circle thingy, and started twirling it in the air. Next thing I knew, I landed in the recently excreted horse crap. In my haste, I rolled away, getting it smeared all over, and well, you see how I look.”

Ginnifer just shook her head, trying to wrap her head around Tori’s tale. Something didn’t make sense. Why would Wes do that to Tori? There had to be something she wasn’t telling her. Narrowing her eyes into small slits, she pinned her gaze on Tori and asked, “Exactly what did you do to provoke him?”

“Why do you always assume I did something? I’m innocent, I swear.” She shuffled her feet as she protested Ginnifer’s question. She had a look of guilt all over her dirt-smeared face. Chewing on her bottom lip, Tori mumbled a few words that sounded like, “I may have…”

“Speak louder, Tori, I’m not good at deciphering mumbled words.”

“It wasn’t my fault, Ginny. I don’t get why he’s so sensitive.”

Ginnifer rubbed her temples at the start of a headache forming. Closing her eyes as she tried to rub the pain away, she demanded, “Tell me everything and quit avoiding it.”

Tori sighed and started to peel off her soiled clothes. When her tank top hit the floor she turned her attention toward Ginnifer. “Well I tried to have an honest conversation with him. Okay, I flirted—and he got all grumpy and said something about how I would never change. It confused me. I’ve never met him before and said as much. It escalated from there…”

“I’m still having a hard time following this. Get to the point. What did you do?” Ginnifer asked.

“Well, I insulted him. He pissed me off. In my defense, he said some really mean things to me first. I’m not generally a rude person, you know that.” Tori continued to pace around the cabin as she talked.

“I know. What did he say to get you so rattled?”

Tori stopped and looked at Ginnifer as she began to chew on her bottom lip again. It was a sign of how nervous she was to admit what had happened. It wasn’t usually a problem for them to tell anything to each other. When she finally started to speak, her voice trembled with emotion. “He called me a whore. I know that I’m not innocent, but I’m not a whore. I don’t sleep around nearly as much as people think I do. I just flirt a lot. It would be more accurate to call me a tease, ya know? I play around, but I’m choosy with my lovers.”

Yes, she knew that Tori liked men. Ginnifer was aware of every lover she ever had because there wasn’t much they didn’t share with each other. Even her hitting on Colt Lewis was a scam. Tori could usually tell if a man was interested and took advantage of it. Hitting on Colt promoted the image that she wanted to portray. She wanted people to think she was a man-eater. It helped her further her career if people were half afraid of her or what she might do. If she had read Colt wrong and he took her up on her offer, she would have found a way to extricate herself from the situation. Tori had explained later that she needed to know what his character was like if she was going to work with him. Rumors had already been spreading about him, and she needed to measure them to the man himself. Lucky for him, he passed with flying colors and earned her respect. Tori worked much harder to clear his name because she believed his story. She would still have signed a contract if he fell for her charms, but it would have given her an idea what to expect from him. Ginnifer had only been surprised because Tori generally didn’t hit on her potential clients. It’s usually one of Tori’s unwritten forbidden rules.

“I need to shower. Good God, I reek,” Tori stated as she tossed her jeans on the floor next to her tank top. She was standing in the room in only her bra and panties. Gesturing to the soiled clothes, she looked at Ginnifer and said, “Can you get rid of those? I’m never putting them on again.”

“Absolutely, consider them gone,” Ginnifer reassured her. “Where are our new roommates, anyway?”

“Melody was apparently annoying Shelly, so she stormed out of the cabin almost as soon as she moved in. The yoga instructor stuck around to annoy me. She didn’t seem that rude during the yoga sessions, but let me tell you, she’s a real trip from the one conversation I had with her before I took off. You might be interested to know she seemed awfully curious about you. I don’t know why, but something about you is making her curious.”

“Well I don’t know why, I barely know her. In fact I don’t even really speak to her at yoga. Something about her grates on my nerves.”

“After talking to her, I can see why.”

“Yeah well if she’s going to be so damned curious about me, having her in the cabin is going to get on my nerves even faster. I wish she had been put in a different cabin.”

“Maybe you can talk to Emma and get her to make a switch.”

“No. I mean she probably would, but I don’t want to add to her stress. I will deal with her.”

“It’s up to you.” Tori shrugged her shoulders. “Personally I’d find a way to get rid of her.”

“I know you would. But for now I think you should worry about cleaning yourself up. You kind of stink.”

Tori stuck her tongue out at her. “I know. No need to point out the obvious.”

“That’s what friends are for.” Ginnifer laughed.

Tori started to walk toward the bathroom and turned to her with amusement in her voice, “Oh, and Ginny, one thing before I lose myself inside of a hot steaming shower…”

“What’s that?”

Peeking her head out of the bathroom door briefly, she said with a gamine smile on her face, “You and I are going to have a talk later. You can tell me exactly what you were doing this afternoon to get hay tangled through your hair.”

A sheepish smile formed on her lips. Raising a hand to brush the hay out of her hair, she looked over at Tori and muttered, “Uh, well um…”

A smile formed on Tori’s face for the first time since Ginnifer walked into the room. Tori let out a small chuckle as she ducked inside the bathroom. Her voice could be heard as she started to close the bathroom door. “Those words hold promise. Make sure you get back here ASAP so we can discuss their full meaning.” With that she disappeared completely into the bathroom.

Ginnifer heard the shower running as she grabbed Tori’s stinky clothes to dispose of them. Yeah, things would be fine between them. She had no idea why she had been so worried about the status of their friendship. A smile showcasing how happy she was that she and Tori were still best friends spread across her face as she exited the cabin. Ginnifer couldn’t wait to tell her about her afternoon with Dallas. She also needed to get more details on her conversations with their new roommates. Melody had struck her as off from the first day, but she had chalked that up to caffeine withdrawal. It would be interesting to get her take on the situation. What could she have possibly done for the yoga instructor to take such an interest in her? Ginnifer got along with people, but as a rule she didn’t particularly like them. For that reason she didn’t go out of her way to strike up a conversation. Melody’s bubbly personality was off-putting to her. She found her annoying and logic dictated she should do everything possible to avoid her. She sure hoped the woman didn’t become too annoying staying with her in the small cabin.

She couldn’t worry too much about it, though. Ginnifer had other things on her mind. Like what she had planned with Dallas later that night. Maybe Melody wouldn’t be so bad to have around because she’d find a reason to be absent from the cabin as much as possible. Dallas gave her a lot of incentive to disappear.

***

It is amazing how a day could start out mundane and turn into one of the best days ever. That was the thought Dallas had, whistling while he worked. It was an unusual activity for him, so Wes expressed his surprise at not only finding him with a huge grin on his face but also having a happy tune emitting from his vocal chords.

“Yo bro, did hell freeze over or something?” Wes asked.

Dallas continued to grin at him. Nothing could diminish his happiness. Ginnifer’s visit to the barn had brightened his day, and he wasn’t about to let anyone bring him down. Her helping with the foal’s birth had been the turning point in their liaison. Dallas had been engrossed in the chore of feeding the mares in the main horse barn and hadn’t heard Wes walk in. He had finished tossing some hay into the last stalls when Wes spoke. So he stopped and pulled off his work gloves, tossing them on a bench as he spoke, “Not that I’m aware of.”

Wes narrowed his eyes on his brother. Confusion filled his words as he asked, “What do you have to smile about? It’s creeping me out.”

A bark of laughter emerged from deep inside Dallas. It was loud enough to disturb the birds nesting in the rafters of the barn. A few of them flew out of the open door to escape the noise. When he was done laughing, he found Wes looking at him with bafflement. “I’m in a good mood. Leave it at that.”

“Right. Do you honestly believe it’s that easy?”

It was Dallas’s turn to be baffled. What the hell was he talking about? So he came out and asked him, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I know you. Something must have happened. You do not smile. Ever.”

“I asked you to leave it alone, Wes. Don’t ruin the first good day I’ve had in a long time.”

Wes held both hands up and backed away. He nodded at Dallas with agreement. “Fine. I won’t push. So ya know, I’m happy for you, and I can’t wait to meet her.”

“What the fuck are you talking about now?” Dallas demanded.

“Like I said. I know you. Nothing makes you smile on this ranch. It has to be a woman.”

A frown formed on Dallas’s face.
Do I really never smile? What does that say about me?
He brushed those thoughts away as trivial. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, as usual. I don’t have a woman in my life.”

A huge grin came over Wes’s face. “Keep denying it. It’s not going to make it any less true, bro. You’re falling and hard this time.”

Dallas wasn’t going to argue with his brother. Wes had no clue what he was talking about. He was not falling for Ginnifer. They were only having fun with each other. They barely knew each other. A few conversations and one romp of sex did not mean he wanted more from her. She was leaving in a little over a week, and then they would be done. Instead he decided he needed to change the subject, so he looked over at Wes and said, “Why don’t you tell me what happened to you. You’re a mess. I thought you were going to check on the stallion over in the back pasture.”

Wes’s lips pressed together as anger filled his eyes. His forehead crinkled and his eyebrows pressed down with displeasure. He looked over at Dallas and said, “Well yeah, that was the plan, and I did manage to get out there.”

“You make it sound like something went wrong. What could’ve happened while you were checking on a horse?”

“Anything with that damned nuisance currently on the ranch.”

Dallas raised his eyebrow and stated, “Nuisance?”

“Vitoria Miene,” Wes uttered, contempt filling each syllable of her name as he damn near spit it out of his mouth. From his expression, it was clear how much he disliked the woman. Wes had never reacted this strongly to a woman before. Wes got along with everyone, literally. He could walk up and have a conversation about the weather and leave the person with a smile on their face. Wes was capable of making the most depressed person on the planet laugh. There had to be something about Vitoria that disturbed him for him to have that strong of a reaction to her. Dallas had no idea exactly what those feelings were, but he would bet Novak Springs it didn’t start out as hatred.