So Tough To Tame

Her phone vibrated just in time, providing a reason to escape. “Excuse me. I’d better get this. It might have something to do with work.”

Before she was out of earshot, she heard Dawn saying, “I just don’t know what happened to her. She had so much promise.”

Charlie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and answered her phone. It was her knight in shining armor, otherwise known as her cousin Nate, calling with exactly the news she needed.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “You really did it? I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Don’t move!”

This time when she turned back to the party, it wasn’t hard to smile. Not at all.

“Sandra!” she called out, hurrying back for one last fake hug. “I have to run, but congratulations again. You’re going to make a great mom.”

She was. Sandra seemed great at everything. Unlike Charlie, she’d actually lived up to her promise.

Before Dawn could ask where she was going, Charlie made her escape and rushed out to the valet to get her car. She pulled away with a groan of relief. Freedom. For a few hours, at least.

When she’d moved back to Jackson, she’d thought reconnecting with old friends would be good for her. After all, she really was trying to get back on the right track. At first, she’d been so beaten up, she’d thought that track had started back with high school and the girl she’d been then. Hardworking, studious and so worried about becoming her mother that she’d never even gone out on a date.

She’d obviously gone wrong somewhere, so why not start where everything had been good?

But she was realizing now that everything hadn’t been good. In fact, she’d spent all of high school scared to be herself.

Muttering a few choice curses, Charlie struggled out of the cardigan, holding the steering wheel with her knees as she yanked off the sweater and tossed it into the backseat.

“Screw this shit,” she said triumphantly as she pulled up to the resort.

Five minutes later she was back in the car in the clothes she’d worn back in Nevada. Tight jeans and heeled boots and a pretty little striped T-shirt.

Today she was going to get her groove back, damn it, and the clothes were only the first tiny step.

Charlie turned on some music and drove into town with the windows down. The breeze was too cold, but she didn’t mind. It was the first time her nipples had been hard in months. She had to take her thrills where she could get them.

When she pulled up to the address Nate had given her, she saw that the apartment building was right next to the Crooked R Saloon. Her cousin greeted her from the sidewalk with a wave.

Thank God for Nate. Charlie had a brother in town, but he never offered any help unless it could benefit him, too. Nate, on the other hand...

Charlie jumped out of her car and threw her arms around his neck to squeeze him tight. “Thank you, thank you!”

“Hey, calm down. It’s no big deal. I’m sorry the place at the resort fell through.”

“Well, you know...” She let him go and crossed her arms to hide the nervous flutter of her hands. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she didn’t know how to explain. “Construction on the hotel is behind schedule. Naturally, the last big push goes into the rooms people are actually paying for. Hopefully my apartment will be ready in a few months.”

“I think Rayleen wants to rent this place out through the winter. Six months, Jenny said.”

“Sure, I understand. Of course. I have no problem with that. It was so great of you to arrange this for me.”

“Walker was actually the one who pulled it off.”

Charlie shook her head in shock. “Walker Pearce?”

“Yeah, you remember him?”

“Of course I remember him! He’s still around?”

“Living right here at the Stud Farm, actually.”

Well, that made sense. Walker had been a hell of a stud in high school. She’d had a serious crush on him, though she’d been careful not to let him know. Half the girls in the school had had a crush on him. Any time she’d tutored him in the library during lunch, girls had made a point of sauntering by like a rotating show of blondes and brunettes and redheads. All the prettiest girls in the school. The cheerleaders and the rodeo queens. And Walker had made a point of smiling at each and every one.

Charlie followed Nate into the apartment building and up the stairs to the second floor. The two-story entryway was clean and bright, sunlight shining through the old farmhouse windows that flanked the front door.

“Here’s your key. You’ll need to go by the saloon to pick up the lease agreement.”

“Cool.”

“Just a warning. If Rayleen Kisler is there, you might want to lay low. You know Rayleen?”

“I know of her.”

“Walker talked her into letting you rent the place, but she’d much rather have had someone...” He stopped at the door to apartment C and shook his head. “Bigger and hairier.”

Charlie grinned. “She hasn’t given up her hobby, then, I guess?”

“Nope. She still likes to ogle. But she made an exception for you. Although there’s another woman living in the apartment below yours. Merry Kade. So it was a damn miracle that Walker managed to get you in here.”

“I’ll have to find a way to thank him.”

“Won’t be hard. He lives right there.” Nate tilted his head toward the apartment on the other side of the small upstairs landing.

She shot a surprised look at the other door before unlocking her own. Walker lived right there? That would be interesting. Or just irritating, if the parade of beautiful women was still marching after all these years. Maybe she could sit on the landing with a book and wave to each one. Recapture some of the fun of her youth.

Charlie let herself into the apartment and took in the simple white walls and the gorgeous shine on the wood floors. It was nothing like her studio at the resort. There were no fancy appliances in the kitchen or stained timber details. There was no hand-hewn rock fireplace. It was modest and empty and it was private.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ve got a few things in storage. I’ll pull them out as soon as I’ve signed the lease.”

“Let me know,” Nate said. “I’ll help you move what you need.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Come on. I know you’re a kick-ass security specialist, but you’re not that strong.”

She punched him solidly on the shoulder, but he didn’t even wince. Yeah, she wasn’t that strong. Or kick-ass. Her specialty was really observation. Surveillance. Intelligence. Or it had been. Before.

Feeling her smile go stiff and strange, Charlie turned away from her cousin, pretending to check out the apartment a little more closely. “Okay, I’ll call you when I need a hand.”

“Perfect. You’ve got the key. Don’t forget to go see Jenny for the lease.”

“Oh, the new girlfriend, huh?”

Her cousin’s cheeks actually went a little pink. “Not so new, actually. We’ve been together since February.”

Charlie grinned. “Wow. Your mother must be over the moon. I can’t wait to meet this woman.”

“Want to come over to the saloon with me right now?”

Aw, he was so cute. It must be nice to be one of those people who believed in love. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you there.”

As soon as Nate left, Charlie let her smile vanish and moved purposefully through the apartment. Though their entrances were separated by the landing, she noticed that she and Walker would be sharing a wall along the living room, bathroom and bedroom. She hoped the walls were thick. The Walker she’d known hadn’t looked like a boy who’d inspired silence in the bedroom.

Chuckling at the thought, Charlie checked off a mental list of things she’d need to make this place comfortable. Her boots knocked against the wood floors and echoed off the ceiling, reminding her of exactly how empty the rooms were.

Her studio at the resort was fully furnished, so everything except her clothing and some knickknacks was in storage, but she had plenty of nice furniture from her old place in Tahoe. Some of it she could even move without help. She could rent a truck and have all her kitchen stuff by tonight, plus a table and chairs. Her lamps. Maybe even her bed. Hell, she’d sleep on the floor if she couldn’t move the bed. The resort was unbearable. Just the idea of spending another night there made her break out in goose bumps.

Bad enough she had to work in that place. Bad enough that she couldn’t quit.

Charlie shut off the lights she’d turned on and locked the apartment behind her. She wanted to get this part over with. Lying to her cousin made her stomach hurt, but she didn’t have any choice. She wasn’t going to admit another defeat. There’d been so many this year.

Charlie blinked back the tears of frustration that sprang to her eyes. The worst was behind her. There was no question of that.

All those years of living in Vegas and Tahoe, those years of building a career and a reputation, and it was all trashed, but it was going to be different now. She wasn’t going backward. Not back to who she’d been in Tahoe, and not back to high school, either. No, she was going forward.

Charlie walked down the stairs of the Stud Farm, opened the front door and pasted a big smile on her face. If she wanted to be a new woman, it was time for the debut.

CHAPTER TWO

“I HATE HER,” Rayleen groused to no one in particular from her corner table. Somehow, Walker knew he was the one being addressed.

He looked to Jenny, who rolled her eyes. “Charlie was in to sign the lease today,” she explained.

Rayleen huffed. “She came in wearing skinny jeans and a big ol’ shit-eating grin. I thought you said she was a nice girl, Walker.”

“What?” he asked in honest confusion. “Nice girls don’t wear skinny jeans?” In his opinion, the very nicest girls graced the world with skinny jeans. Tight denim was a gift to all.

“No, they do not. And they certainly don’t walk in here like they own the place.”

“Rayleen,” Jenny sighed. “Charlie was perfectly kind. You just didn’t like that she didn’t take your bait.”

“What bait?” the old lady snapped.

“Oh, I don’t know. What about when you said you’d prefer a Charlie that damn well fit his name, and she just winked and said she’d take a cowboy over her own self any day, too?”

“Impertinent.”

“Kind of like you?” Jenny said.

Walker tipped up his hat. “I like a lively lady myself. Why else would I be hanging out in your saloon all the time, Rayleen?”

“Maybe because it’s right next door to your place and you don’t have a damn job!”

“Hey, now. I’m picking up work and I’ve got plenty lined up for roundup.”

Rayleen dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “You’re the one who got me into this. I’m not speaking to you.”

“Are you just trying to get me to turn around so you can look at my behind, Miss Rayleen?”

“That’s a perfect idea. Gives me a nice view and I don’t have to talk to your lying self. Go on. Turn around now.”

“Only ’cause you asked nice.” He turned his back on her and raised his eyebrows to Jenny, who leaned closer.

“Charlie was great. Rayleen just wanted her to be intimidated, and Charlie met every one of her barbs with a smile and a wink. Sort of like you. Only without the big cowboy part.”

“Which big cowboy part?” Walker asked.

“You’re awful.”

“Come on, now. That’s not what you’ve heard.”

Jenny threw her head back and laughed. “You really are incorrigible, Walker.”

“That I’ll admit to. Is Charlie all settled in? I haven’t seen her yet.”

“Nate gave her the key a couple of hours ago, and she took the lease to read over. Which Rayleen also didn’t like. She likes you cowboys who just sign the thing without even glancing at it.”

“We are adventurers at heart.”

“Or romantic fools.”

“That, too.”

She winked. “Want a beer?”

“No, I was just checking in on the new tenant. I heard about some winter work up near Yellowstone, so I’m gonna head up there and check it out. I’m fine through fall, but I’m hoping to find enough work to get me through to spring.”

“You’ll find something, Walker. People like your face.”

“Ha. That they do.” People did like his face, thank God. It was one of the few things he had going for him. Otherwise, he was just another cowboy among thousands. A good one, granted. Good with his hands. Good with horses. Willing to endure heat and cold and snow and rain, not to mention low pay and physically punishing work for fifty years, give or take a dozen.

But people liked his face, so he’d been able to get jobs at dude ranches, which offered work that paid a little more and hurt a little less, as long as you didn’t mind working with tourists. He didn’t. But this damn sure wasn’t dude ranch season.

He tipped his hat. “I’ll see you later, Jenny. Have a good day, Miss Rayleen.”

Rayleen shooed him away without looking up.

She’d get over it, and Charlie had a place to stay. His good deed was done, and he was wrapped up in his own troubles before he even stepped outside.

Finding work wasn’t really a problem. He’d already gotten plenty of jobs at an old dude ranch he’d worked for years before, and they’d likely hire him on permanently in the spring. He had enough savings to get through winter. Things should be fine.

But if stories were circulating about him and the boss’s wife... Shit. He’d really fucked up. Every boss had a wife. And none of them wanted their women sleeping with the hired hands.

Still, something more than that was tugging at his brain. Maybe—

His thoughts were sliced in two when he glanced up and saw a woman struggling to get a big round table up the front steps of the Stud Farm.

“Charlie?” he called, rushing forward to take the table from her hands.

She looked up, her brown hair sliding over her shoulders as she turned. Her light gray eyes went wide. “Oh, my God! Walker, is that you behind that beard?”

“It’s me,” he said with a grin that widened the longer he looked down at her. She was still damn cute. Actually, she’d gone from cute to pretty at some point in the past ten years. “It’s good to see you, Charlie. Can I take this somewhere for you?” He lifted the table a few inches.

She shot his hands a look of irritation. “I can’t believe you can just tote that thing around like it’s nothing. I had to roll it like a barrel just to get it across the lawn.”

“I see that.” He plucked a few clumps of dirt and grass off the table and lifted it up to his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll take it upstairs.”

“Thanks.”

“After you,” he insisted. She held the door open for him, then started up the stairs to the landing above.

Walker followed right behind, noticing that she was obviously still an athlete. Still slim and tight and strong. But not quite as slim as she’d been in high school. No, now there were hips. And an ass. And black leather boots that hugged her calves. And most of all, there were those awesome skinny jeans showing off all the changes.

Yeah, Charlie was obviously just as nice as she’d always been. But maybe sweeter than ever before.

He glanced at his apartment door as he passed.

She was certainly much closer.

Shit. Maybe this good deed wouldn’t go unpunished, after all.

* * *

“SWEET MOTHER OF everything hot,” Charlie muttered under her breath as she watched Walker Pearce’s biceps flex and bunch as he maneuvered her pine table through the doorway of her apartment. He wore a beat-up gray T-shirt with a Stetson logo on it, tight jeans, ancient boots and a black cowboy hat that threw a shadow over his blue eyes. But that was fine. She didn’t need to see his smiling eyes right now. She was too busy taking in his body.

His shoulders hadn’t been that wide in high school. His arms hadn’t been so thick. And he hadn’t been quite that tall. Jesus, he must be six-four now.

All in all, he looked like a dangerous, forbidden, older-brother version of the Walker she’d once had a crush on. Every butterfly she’d ever felt for him swarmed back to life in an instant, only now their restless wings brushed more sensitive areas. There was no reason for her stomach to feel nervous. After all, that wasn’t the part of her body she wanted Walker to touch.

He set the table down close to the breakfast bar in the kitchen. “Is this good?”

“Oh, that’s definitely good.” She glanced at his left hand to be sure there was no ring. Not that she could imagine Walker married. He’d be a terrible husband. Carefree and aimless and throwing off pheromonal invitations to every ovary in town.

She was still trying to take all of him in when his chest suddenly filled her vision and he swept her up into a hug. “How the hell are you, Charlie?”

He squeezed her so tight the air rushed out of her lungs. When he set her back down, she inhaled nothing but the scent of him. Leather and hay and clean sky and something so deliciously spicy that her mouth watered.

“You look good,” he said, holding her at arm’s length and giving her a once-over. “City life has been good to you.”

She wanted to say something witty. Something sexy. But for the first time in a decade she was that high school girl again, too shy and uncertain to flirt with Walker Pearce. “Thanks.”

“What else can I do for you, darlin’? You got a bed?”

“What?” Her cheeks flamed as if her body didn’t want him to know what she’d been thinking. Stupid, brainless body. “A bed?” Yes, please, a bed!

“Surely you didn’t haul a mattress up by yourself?”

“Oh, a bed!” She laughed nervously while her brain screamed for this retro Charlie to get her shit together. You are not a sixteen-year-old virgin. You are an experienced woman who likes sex. Lots of sex.

Retro Charlie won out with a tiny giggle. “Thanks, Walker. It’s down in the rental truck. I’ll help.”

“Nah, you stay here and start unpacking those boxes. I’ll have your bed set up in no time.”

This was her chance. Crack a joke about hanging around after to test it out. Not that she’d jump into bed with him within minutes of their reunion, but just to let him know it might be a possibility. Just to plant the seed. But no. In the end, she only watched his ass as he walked away. It was a good ass. Strong. Muscular.

Ah. This was just like high school. Always watching him from afar even when he was so close.

“Shit,” she muttered, kicking the box closest to her foot. When she heard the rattle of dishes, she winced and told herself to cut it out. This wasn’t high school, and she’d lived a lot since then. Walker Pearce was no longer too much man for her. And hell, if he was, that’d be her dream come true. A big ol’ cowboy to ride into the sunset. But only into the sunset. Best to keep the mornings a clean slate, especially with a roving boy like Walker.

Cheered by the thought, Charlie picked up the box she’d kicked and hauled it onto the kitchen counter. When she pried open the flaps and saw the familiar bright yellow of her dinner plates, a weight lifted from her shoulders as if a vulture had just left its vigil. She’d barely moved in and this place already felt more like home than the resort had after three weeks.

She’d been thrilled with the gorgeous studio apartment set aside for her. It wasn’t normal procedure, but Charlie hadn’t questioned her good luck. She’d just figured that being friends with Dawn, the executive manager of the resort and the wife of the owner, had come with its own perks. Dawn had explained that they wanted a permanent security presence at the resort and left it at that.

The offer had been a relief. Now Charlie realized that beautiful apartment had been nothing more than a cage.

Charlie unwrapped her yellow plates and put them precisely in the middle of the lowest shelf next to the stove. “Perfect.” When her brain reminded her she had to be back at the resort by 8:00 a.m., she frowned and dug back into the box. It was just a job.

At the sound of boots on the stairs, she looked up to see Walker heading toward her door, her bed frame under one arm and her headboard slung over his other shoulder. He eased his haul through her doorway, then headed for the bedroom.

Her own personal mover.

She followed him in to watch as he propped the slatted wood headboard against the wall, and then she reached to help with the first part of the frame as he fitted it to the wood. “You don’t have to do this, Walker. I can take care of the bed.”

“You’ve been living in Nevada too long if you think a nice Wyoming boy is going to let a woman haul furniture on her own.”

She grinned. “I guess you’re right. I’ll have to get used to Wyoming again. More chivalry, less gambling and legalized prostitution.”

“There are subtle differences, but they’re there if you look.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’ll put away my poker chips and platform heels and try to fit in.”

He winked as he crossed to the other side of the bed and fit a new frame piece onto that side. “There’s no need for anything that drastic, darlin’. Just be yourself. Let it all hang out.”

She snorted at his ridiculous flirting, just as she always had. There was no way to take it seriously. He flirted with everyone, young and old. She’d always been smart enough to see that. But she was finally ready to flirt back.

“You have any beer in the fridge next door, Walker? There’s no need for this to be all work and no fun.”

He didn’t seem to notice her inviting smile. “Oh, I’ve always got beer, but I’ve got to head up toward Yellowstone for a couple of hours. I’ll grab a couple bottles for you if you want, though.”

“No, I’m good. If you need to get going, you should go. I’m fine.”

“Girl, didn’t you hear what I said about us nice Wyoming boys? I’ll have the rest of your bed up here in five minutes.”

Girl. Just like in high school. Charlie drew herself up, a tingle of anticipation zinging down her spine and tightening her nipples. She wasn’t a girl anymore. And she wasn’t his pal or his tutor or his favorite tomboy track star. He couldn’t see that yet, but he would.

She’d always liked a challenge. “Then go get my bed, Wyoming boy. I’ll buy you a beer tonight at the Crooked R if I see you around.”

“That’s a deal.” He stepped past her, then surprised her by reaching out to ruffle her hair as he passed.

He ruffled her hair.

Unbelievable. That decided it. This boy was going down. Hard. And frequently, if she had anything to say about it. She was finally going to get a taste of Walker Pearce. And from what she’d heard, he’d taste damn good.

She hadn’t gotten laid in months, and working at a resort that hadn’t even opened yet hadn’t exposed her to many opportunities. But opportunity had knocked now. And it lived right next door.

CHAPTER THREE

THERE’D BEEN NO room for Walker at the inn. Literally. All the bunks at the Blue Sleigh Inn and Ranch were full for the winter, which wasn’t much of a surprise. Most of the cowboys who worked there during the summer stayed on, and there wasn’t nearly as much work during the winter. But he’d been invited to stop by again in the spring, for what that was worth.

Muttering a curse, he stepped out of his truck into the icy night. The sun had set two hours ago, and he was already dead tired, stressed from dodging migrating elk on the highway and trying too hard to read the face of that ranch manager. She’d seemed sincere. She hadn’t sneered at him. She hadn’t flirted, either, or dropped any hints about rumors she’d heard. He was being paranoid, probably, thinking the word was out that he couldn’t be trusted.

At least tonight he was too damn tired to lie in bed worrying about it. He wasn’t cut out for this crap. His life was simple. He took care of horses. He taught folks how to ride. He roped and herded and branded cattle. It wasn’t that hard and he wasn’t that deep. Anxiety was for city folks and people a lot smarter than he was. He just wanted to work and hang with friends and occasionally have a little fun with a hot woman. Clearly, he should’ve been more careful about mixing all those up at the same time.