“Let me help.”
She shook her head quickly. “No, I didn’t mean… I’m not telling you this because… Please don’t think…”
“You know what I think?” he whispered. “Maybe the food can wait a little longer.”
“I like the way you think,” she murmured as his mouth closed over hers.
After another round of lovemaking and breakfast on the hilltop, Jess found herself standing outside a dusty sheep pen alongside other guests at the ranch while Mac walked the outer edge with a rope, teaching all the onlookers how to make a lasso. As she watched him loop the rope, a shiver moved through her, her thoughts traveling back to earlier that morning. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was the same rope he’d used to tie her up.
As she reminisced about all the naughty things he and Blake had done to her, he proceeded to spin the rope in the air, enthralling the crowd with his cowboy tricks as the sheep grazed at the far end of the pen. A noise sounded from behind her, and she looked over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of Jag, his powerful legs wrapped around a huge black stallion. Behind him, she spotted Alix, one of the other girls who boarded the small plane with her and Julia, and a few other ranch guests. Jess could only assume Jag’s afternoon chore was to give horseback riding lessons. Even though she’d never been on a horse, she’d love to try it out. Perhaps she’d ask Mac to give her a private lesson later on in the week.
She turned her attention back to Mac. As she watched him look over the crowd, it became glaringly apparent that people were drawn to him because of his honesty, openness, and enthusiastic personality. Even though he was currently putting on a show, he seemed genuine, like he really cared about the people under his charge. His sincerity came out in his actions, the way he spoke and the way he listened. Her thoughts turned to her business, and she knew she could definitely learn a thing or two about engaging clients enough to come back to the studio simply from watching him. But their time was ending soon…
Beside her, the two women who’d been with Blake earlier started giggling and talking quietly about Mac as he walked around the roping pen to showcase his lasso skills. Jess tried to concentrate, but the women beside her continued to chat quietly, making remarks about Mac’s hard body and how they’d like to be the ones roped and tied by the sexy ranch owner.
A knot tightened in Jess’s stomach, and she felt an unwise pang of jealousy. She and Mac might have been indulging in each other sexually, but the vivacious women in the short shorts and low-cut halter-tops were probably the types he’d usually gone for in the past. He’d said he kept up with her, but she’d seen him in some of the newspapers and on television at various charity events. He always had a supermodel-pretty woman on his arm. A wild guy like him could resist that kind of temptation for only so long. And when he did, she’d be a thing of the past. She swallowed the knot in her throat and reminded herself that she didn’t want more, anyway.
Keep telling yourself that; you might believe it in a year or so. No. The last thing she wanted was to end up alone and lonely like her mother. This week was simply about freeing herself sexually.
I’ve certainly done that.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Mac asked for a volunteer. The women beside her both started jumping up and down. Jess worked to shrink back into the crowd, but Mac would have none of that. He pointed to her, and before she knew what was happening, Blake had her by the elbow and was guiding her inside the pen.
His smile was slow. “Looks like it’s your lucky day.”
Butterflies swarmed in her stomach, but the second she looked into Mac’s eyes and he gave her a warm, reassuring smile, she found herself relaxing.
Despite that, she whispered, “You’re so going to pay for this.”
He grinned and exchanged a private look with her. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
Returning to professional mode, he said in a sexy twang, “Okay, darlin’, you take the rope in your hand, swing ever so easy like this, then release it.” He tossed the rope, and it slipped around the neck of a sheep. He walked toward the animal, gathering the rope in a loop. He released it from the sheep’s neck and said, “And before you know it, you’ll be roping yourself some cattle.”
Jess planted her feet in the dirt and followed his instruction, twirling the rope in the air, but when she let it go, it fell short of her target, catching nothing but a circle of dry soil. With stubborn determination, she tried again…and then again, dragging the rope through the dirt and soiling her hands and clothes as she collected it to try yet again. On her fifth turn, Mac tucked in behind her. He pressed his hard body to hers, making any sort of concentration impossible.
“Like this, darlin’,” he murmured into her ear as he closed his hand over hers, showing her how to hold the rope. Was it actually necessary that he spoon up to her like this? She didn’t think so. Well, two could play that game. She wiggled her ass, a slight movement that only he’d be able to detect, and a low growl crawled out of his throat.
“Cut it out,” he warned.
“Or what?”
Before he could answer, Blake called out to the crowd, inviting everyone into the pen to try their hands at roping. Mac inched back, and when the two girls who were whispering about him earlier stepped up and asked for his help, he turned his attention to them. She pushed down another twinge of jealousy. This was part of his chores. And she had no ownership of him.
Jess took that time to slip from the arena, leaving him to his duties. As he entertained guests and worked to make their ranch experiences memorable, she remembered what Mac had said about extreme situations. As she mulled that over, thinking about the extreme measures he’d taken with her, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was still taking them with other guests. If Blake asked Mac to participate in something like they did on the mountain, would he? Oh boy, she was in trouble, because she didn’t like how that made her feel.
Mac cast her a questioning glance; she smiled and made a motion indicating she was going for a drink, a half truth. While she was thirsty, what she really needed was a moment of reprieve to get herself together and tamp down the jealousy eating at her. She needed to put some distance between them, think about what was happening to her, what she was feeling.
Deciding to go on a self-directed tour, she walked around the saloon, enjoying a moment of quiet as she strolled past the pool toward the lake at the far end of the ranch. She took a moment of reflection, working to get her head on straight where Mac was concerned. She made her way inside the saloon and ordered an iced tea. Taking a seat by the window, she sipped on it and watched Mac twirl and toss a rope off in the distance. Laughter rose from the corral as Blake worked his magic, amusing the crowd. Jess’s thoughts drifted back to what happened among the three of them earlier that morning and how the two gorgeous men had thoroughly entertained her.
But that’s all it was—entertainment.
She sat there for a long time thinking, and eventually the door swung open again, but she didn’t need to turn to know it was Mac. Sexual energy arced between them like a pair of Tesla coils, alerting her to his presence long before she saw him. Her heart thundered, her body warming all over as he stepped up to her.
The sexy grin he gave her when his eyes latched onto hers made her forget everything except this man and his ability to turn her inside out with a smile.
Her glance moved over his clothes, which were also soiled from grass and dirt, and he reached out and brushed his thumb over her cheek, his look playful, sexy.
“Hey, cowgirl,” he murmured, his slow, lazy grin like a seductive caress. “Why don’t you help me rustle up a bar of soap?”
She tamped down her emotions and gave herself a hard lecture, reminding herself this was temporary. Right now was the time to make the most of every second she had left here, not dwell on how it was going to end.