Trisha had just drifted off to sleep when Cindy slammed into the room. “Trisha!” Cindy shook the bed. “You awake?”
“No,” Trisha growled, pulling the covers over her head.
Cindy ripped the covers off her. “Ha-ha!”
Prying her eyes open, she glared at Cindy. “I was almost asleep, Cindy. Do you have any idea how long I laid here in pain before I fell asleep?”
“You are never going to believe what happened.” Cindy squealed, shaking the bed.
“You found the love of your life.” Trisha kicked out at her. “And if you shake this bed one more time, I’m going to kick your ass.” Cindy frowned as if hurt by Trisha’s threat.
“How did you know?” Cindy really did look disappointed.
“The only thing that gets you this excited is some hot piece of ass,” Trisha replied with a huge sigh, knowing she wasn’t going to get any sleep until Cindy got this out of her system. “So come on and tell me all about your cowboy in shining chaps.”
Cindy squealed again as she grabbed her nightgown, running to the bathroom talking a mile a minute. “So, after you left tonight, this gorgeous guy came in with a bunch of other cowboys. His name is Sam Burton. He’s been at another ranch helping them out. That’s why he wasn’t here yesterday.”
Trisha yawned. “That’s great, Cindy.”
“But that’s not the best part.” She pranced into the room in her red slinky nightgown. “He asked me out to dinner tomorrow night. Can you believe it? I’m going out with a real cowboy.”
“That’s great, Cindy.” Trisha repeated, her eyes closing. She was so tired. Obviously, Cindy didn’t work hard today, either that or she was superwoman.
“Are you sure you don’t mind? I mean, I did say no men, but he’s so cute.” Cindy started to shake the bed, but stopped when Trisha growled.
“If I say I don’t care, can I go back to sleep?” Trisha moaned when she tried to turn over. The stuff Jake gave her helped some, but damn, her shoulders and neck were on fire.
“Yes,” Cindy said slowly in anticipation.
“I don’t care.” Trisha sighed, ready for Cindy to shut her trap so she could slip into a deep sleep.
“Are you sure?” Cindy said close to her ear.
“Oh, my God!” Trisha turned too quickly causing pain to shoot through her body. “If you don’t go to bed, I swear I’m going to…”
Cindy grabbed her in a tight hug not letting her finish her threat. “You are the best.”
As mad as Cindy could make her, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Get off me, you perv.” Then a noise caught her attention. “What is that?”
“What?” Cindy froze, tilting her head to listen.
Thump, thump, scratch. Thump, thump, scratch.
Both women stared at each other with wide eyes.
“It’s coming from under your bed,” Trisha whispered, rising up on her elbows. The sound started again, the same exact sound. Getting up as quietly as she could, Trisha crawled to the edge of her bed.
Cindy moved to the center away from the noise. “What is it?” Her voice was shaky. When the noise started again, she opened her mouth in a silent scream, only a tiny squeal came out.
“I don’t know. Stay there.” Trisha crept off the edge. On tiptoes, she went to Cindy’s bed and bent over slowly, grabbing the covers. With one last look at Cindy, she lifted the covers and slow as she could peeked under the bed. Trisha screamed.
“Whaaaat?” Cindy screamed right along with her.
Trisha jumped up on the bed and shivered violently. “Eyes!” This time Trisha was the one squealing, but then tried to calm herself. “I don’t know what it is, but it has eyes.”
If the situation hadn’t scared them to death, it would’ve been hilarious. “I knew we needed a phone,” Cindy cried. “That’s why hotels have phones, so you can call the front desk when stuff like this happens.”
When it made a noise again, Trisha knew Cindy was close to having a full-blown panic attack. “I’ll go get help.”
“The hell you will.” Cindy gripped her tighter. “You’re not leaving me here with eyes.”
Trisha tried to pry Cindy’s painful grip off her arms. “Just stay on the bed,” Trisha ordered as she looked around the room for her shorts. Spotting them on the chair, she hoped she could grab them on her way out. “I’ll be right back.”
“Hurry!” Cindy finally let her go.
With one last look around her bed, Trisha leaped off, grabbed her shorts and ran out of the cabin. If her mind hadn’t been preoccupied with saving Cindy, she would have been impressed at being able to pull on her shorts as she ran; and run she did. Not being able to see very well in the dark, she had no clue where she was going, but she did hear music in the distance. Heading that way, she found a cabin like theirs, but much bigger.
Sliding to a stop in front of the door, she banged on it. When no one answered right away, she banged again as she tried to catch her breath. God, her feet were killing her. Lifting her hand, the door opened before she could start banging again.
Hank stood in the open doorway. “Trisha!” He looked confused until he registered the panicked look on her face. “What happened?”
“Something’s in our cabin,” Trisha began to explain, spotting Jake coming up behind Hank.
“Are you okay, Trisha?” Jake hurried to the door.
Standing in the open doorway, Trisha couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was shirtless and his jeans were tight and snug in all the right places. One part of her brain told her to talk, yet the other part told her to keep looking. Holy hell, the man was gorgeous. Suddenly, a mental picture of Cindy standing on her bed freaking out snapped her out of her lustful thoughts.
“Something’s in our cabin,” Trisha repeated, prying her eyes off Jake. “Cindy’s trapped on the bed.”
“Grab the shotgun,” he told Hank as he took off running out the door.
Fear for Cindy gave Trisha’s feet wings because she was keeping up with Jake, well almost. Reaching the cabin, Jake stopped at the door.
“Cindy, are you okay?” Jake stopped Trisha from going any further.
“I am now.” Cindy hadn’t moved from the spot where Trisha had left her. She stood in the middle of the bed in her sexy nightie.
“Did you see it?” Jake glanced back at Trisha.
Trisha shook her head. “The only thing I saw was two glowing eyes.”
“Glowing?” Cindy squealed, looking toward her bed in horror. “You never said they were glowing, you just said eyes. Dammit, Trisha, that’s important information.”
Hank ran up with shotgun in hand. “What is it?”
“Not sure.” Jake walked further into the room. “Did you grab a flashlight?”
“Yeah.” Hank handed it to him. Glancing toward Cindy for the first time, Hank did a double take then glanced behind him. “Ah, ma’am, you might want to cover up with something because more help is on the way.”
“Be careful,” Trisha whispered to Jake who was on his way toward the bed, but first, he grabbed what looked like a robe and flung it toward Cindy.
Thump, thump, scratch.
“That’s it!” Both Cindy and Trisha yelled and pointed to the bed.
Jake looked back at Hank and nodded. Hank headed into the room lifting the shotgun. “Go ahead, boss. I got you covered.”
Feeling a presence behind her, she turned to find Jeb, other workers and guests standing in the door of their cabin and looking in windows.
“Trisha, get outside,” Jake ordered in all his shirtless glory.
Although his alpha protectiveness was a turn on, she looked to Cindy who was staring at her with scared pleading eyes. “Not until Cindy’s out.”
“If given the chance, whatever is under that bed is going to head straight for that doorway, which you’re standing in.” Jake was poised to raise the covers on the bed.
“Then I’ll move,” Trisha said with more bravado than she felt.
“Will you please hurry?” Cindy cried.
Taking one last glance at Trisha, Jake slowly lifted the cover and peeked under the bed. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He chuckled, reaching under the bed.
“What in the hell are you laughing at?” Cindy cringed, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
Standing straight, Jake held something small and furry in his arms. “This is your fearsome creature.”
“What the hell is it?” Cindy wasn’t even close to relaxing yet.
“Baby raccoon.” Hank laughed, getting a closer look.
“And this is what he was after.” Jake held up an empty torn bag of M&Ms.
Trisha slapped her hand over her mouth, hysterical laughter stuck in the back of her throat. All that commotion for a furry little raccoon that looked scared to death. Getting herself under control, she held her hands out. “Can I hold him?” Jake gently placed the little guy in her hands. “Ah, he’s so cute.”
Their cabin was suddenly overflowing with people. “What the hell is going on?” Tim demanded as he elbowed his way into the small room with Sam Burton hot on his heels.
“Are you okay?” Sam rushed to Cindy helping her off the bed.
“I’m fine.” Cindy glanced at Tim before looking at Sam. “Just a little shaky.” Sam wrapped an arm around her.
Trisha noticed Cindy seemed uncomfortable with Sam’s arm around her because she kept looking at Tim. Interesting. Turning her focus back on their little visitor, she laughed. “You sure looked scarier under the bed, little guy.”
“You’re lucky it wasn’t the mother,” Jake replied, his eyes leaving the raccoon to stare at her.
“Why’s that?” Cindy pulled away from Sam to walk closer to Trisha so she could get a better look.
“The mommas are bigger and meaner,” Jeb spoke up. “Had one tear up my dog.”
“Well, at least you had a raccoon in your room,” one of the other guests added. “We had a bat.”
“I hope to God you said cat.” Cindy shivered, pulling her robe tighter.
“No.” The man shook his head. “It was a bat. A big old—”
“Okay! Okay, we get the picture,” Cindy stopped him. “How are these things getting in the cabins?”
“Oh, they have their ways.” Jeb chuckled. “Now, this little guy was probably hungry and came prowling around. They love sweets so them M&Ms was a nice little treat.”
“Sorry, Trish.” Cindy moved to grab Trisha’s stash of M&Ms. “These have to go.”
“I don’t think so.” Trisha grabbed them right out of Cindy’s hand.
“You mean to tell me that you’ll chance another encounter with one of those things by keeping your munchies in here?” Cindy eyed the raccoon warily as she made a swipe at the bag.
“Don’t mess with the M&Ms, Cin.” Trisha acted like she was going to sic the raccoon on her.
“Got a thing for M&Ms, do you?” Jake smiled, watching her closely, a grin tipping his lips.
“A big thing, obviously.” Cindy eyed the little raccoon. “She always has a bag with her.”
Feeling uncomfortably warm under Jake’s gaze, Trisha wished to hell he’d put a shirt on. “What are we going to do with this little guy?”
“Take him away from the buildings and let him go.” When he saw the worried look on her face, he chuckled. “He’ll find his way home.”
“Can I do it?” She moved away from the door to let a few people out. He nodded and she handed him the raccoon. “Here, hold Bandit so I can get my shoes.”
“Oh, Lord, she went and named him.” Cindy rolled her eyes.
Trisha ignored her burning feet to find her shoes. Jake quickly handed the animal to Tim.
“Are you hurt?” He watched her limp around the room searching.
“No,” Trisha lied. Finding her shoes, she sat on the end of her bed to put them on. Her lie was revealed when she hissed trying to put them on.
“Yes, you are.” Jake knelt, picking up her foot and giving it a hard look before turning the hard look on her. “Tim, take the raccoon. Hank, run up to the main house and get the first-aid kit.”
“I’m fine.” Trisha frowned, pulling her foot away.
“No, you’re not.” Jake grabbed it back. “You’re bleeding.”
Cindy bent over looking at her foot. “You ran out barefoot?”
“You’re lucky I grabbed my shorts.” Trisha snorted once again pulling her foot away from Jake.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Sam cocked an eyebrow staring at Trisha’s long legs.
Jake stood quickly, rounding on Sam. He towered over him a good three inches. “I suggest you find something to do that doesn’t involve being here.” Jake glared down at Sam and for the second time that day, he wanted to smash one of his employees.
“Hey, calm down.” Sam held his hands up wearing a cocky grin.
Jake didn’t say a word, his stance and stare said it all. Finally, Sam took the hint and walked outside.
“Cindy, get me a wet wash cloth, please,” Jake said, his focus back on Trisha.
“I can clean my own feet,” Trisha grumbled, getting up from the bed and hobbling to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her, she sat on the toilet and lifted one foot up so she could look at it. There was a quick knock before the door opened. Jake filled the small bathroom.
“Sit on the edge of the tub and hang your feet over.” He sat a first-aid kit on the counter.
Trisha did as she was told, but grumbled some more. “Do you always boss everyone around?”
“Yes.”
“And does everyone do what you tell them?” She hissed when her cuts made contact with the warm water.
“Yes,” he again replied, focused on her feet.
He may be focused on her feet, but Trisha was focused on his smell, which was amazing, as well as the hard line of his muscles as they flexed while he worked on her feet. She finally snapped out of wanting to jump on him when he grabbed the Peroxide.
“This is going to sting.” His voice was deep and surrounded her completely in the small bathroom.
Yeah, no shit. She didn’t want to cry like a baby in front of him and she knew this was going to hurt badly. “I really don’t think I need any of that.” She lifted her feet out of the water, wiggling them back and forth. “They feel better already.”
Jake knelt on the bathroom floor next to her and looked her straight in the eyes, even with her perched on the bathtub. Without taking his eyes off her, he reached over, turned the water off, which brought his face closer to hers. She could see every golden speck in his dark brown eyes. Her head tilted without help from her brain; it just happened. His gaze broke, dropping to her lips. All the noises from outside the closed bathroom door, to the pain in her feet, were all forgotten when his lips met hers.
She had been kissed before, many times, but this was different. Jake McCabe could kiss like no other man had ever kissed her. The curl of her toes didn’t even hurt her injured feet, but it oddly made them cold. As the kiss deepened, her brain registered a dull stinging in her feet, but she ignored it as her arms went around his neck. The sound of a plastic bottle dropping against the porcelain barely fazed her as his arms wrapped around her, bringing her closer.
Pulling away from him to catch her breath was not easy. Both of them were breathing hard, his rough hands on her bare legs actually felt natural, as if they belonged there. Prying her eyes from his, she looked into the bathtub at the empty Peroxide bottle.
“Did you do that just to put Peroxide on my feet?” she whispered, glancing back at him.
“What Peroxide?” His grin tilted to one side in a sexy smile as he moved in for more.
A loud bang hit the bathroom door. “Shit,” Cindy said from the other side. “Who locked the damn door?”
Shocked, Trisha watched his grin grow as he winked at her. “Do you think she’ll go away?” he asked, hopefully. Trisha laughed with a shake of her head. With a sigh, he turned without getting up and unlocked the door. Cindy stood on the other side holding two cell phones.
“Haven’t you checked your phone since we’ve been here?” Cindy frowned, holding it up.
“No.” Trisha let Jake help her stand and step out of the tub.
“Well, you have over a hundred missed calls and tons of text messages.” Cindy ignored Trisha’s ‘shut up’ look. “And now he’s calling me.” She held up her phone.
“Who?” Jake stood, moving out of Trisha’s way.
“Her ex.” Cindy hissed when her phone began ringing again. “He must have received the restraining order and is pissed.”
Trisha was glad that everyone had left, except for Hank who was gathering the flashlight and shotgun. She snatched her phone out of Cindy’s hand. Glancing down at the display, she cursed even as her stomach tightened in the familiar knot of dread. She knew once the restraining order was issued, all hell would break loose, that was why Cindy got her out of Cincinnati.
“Why did you get a restraining order against this guy?” Jake asked, his voice no longer friendly. “Did he hit you?” With that question, his voice became deadly.
“Yeah, he did and—” Cindy started.
“Cindy!” Trisha glared at her, and then looked at Jake and Hank who both looked pissed. “Only once. That’s when I left him. When he wouldn’t leave me alone, I filed the restraining order.”
“What’s his name?” Jake asked. His eyes narrowed as his shoulders flexed.
“Why?” Trisha looked confused.
“As I’m kicking someone’s ass, I’d like to know the man’s name,” Jake sneered. “Makes it more personal.”
“I don’t think you’ll get a chance to do that.” Trisha grinned at the thought of Doug getting his ass kicked by Jake. “Even though he has his connections, we’ll be back home before he finds out where we are, and hopefully, he’ll have calmed down.”
“I hope he does come here.” Hank nodded, his smile sinister. “We have something called Texas Justice against bastards like him. We don’t tolerate women being hit by men.”
Jake nodded in agreement as he headed for the door, but stopped, cupping her chin and lifting her face to his. “Especially you,” he whispered for her ears only.