Shared By the Cowboys by Cassie Cole

13

Rebecca

The barn felt strangely empty after Mason left. Like the big cowboy had filled the room with his commanding presence. I peered through the gap in the barn door and watched him walk back up to the house.

Behind me, Bessie mooed softly to remind me that she was there.

“Sorry, I’ll finish brushing you. I got interrupted, in case you didn’t notice.”

Bessie rubbed her head against me happily as I picked up the brush.

It had been a while since I had a sexual relationship. The past year had been a dry spell for me. I had gotten sick of Tinder, and most of the guys I went out with were intimidated by my status as a big-shot writer. The last guy I dated was terrified that I would write him into one of my books, so he was afraid of being himself around me.

Suffice to say, letting loose with Mason in the barn was immensely satisfying. I was going to sleep well tonight, and not just because I was exhausted from the work I had done all day.

I waited until I was done brushing Bessie, then said goodnight to the cow and exited the barn. Blake was rocking in a chair on the front porch, whittling with a knife. His black cowboy hat was pulled low over his eyes and he didn’t acknowledge me.

“Goodnight,” I said.

He seemed like he was going to ignore me. He just kept whittling away at the block of wood, sending shavings falling to the ground between his legs. I opened the door and began to walk inside.

Finally he reluctantly glanced up at me. “Night,” he grunted.

That’s progress, I thought as I went upstairs.

I brushed my teeth and changed into pajamas, but instead of going to sleep I pulled out my laptop. After the events of the day, both around the ranch and inside the barn, I was feeling inspired. For the next half hour my fingers flew over the keyboard.

A good story was forming in my head, now. I knew how I wanted it to begin, and how it would end. I just needed to fill in everything in between, moving the protagonist from start to finish.

Yet the longer I wrote, the guiltier I felt. I really, really didn’t like using people. And now that Mason and I had slept together, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong. I wasn’t just here to work on the ranch. I was doing research for my book.

I was tempted to tell Mason about it tomorrow, rather than at the end of my three-month contract. Coming clean would ease my conscience. Then I could do my research guilt-free.

But I remembered what Terry, my agent, had told me. If the Cassidy brothers knew I was writing a book that took place on a ranch, they wouldn’t act natural around me. They would be putting on a show. If my book was to be as accurate as possible, I couldn’t let them feel self-conscious about my presence.

Not only that, but what I had thought about earlier in the barn was fresh in my mind. The last few guys I had dated were paranoid that I was writing about them. My knee-jerk reaction was to keep the information to myself, or Mason would start feeling the same way. He had nothing to worry about, because I was only using the ranch as a setting rather than modeling my characters after Mason, Cody, and Blake. But he didn’t know that. And I didn’t want him to worry about it.

That settles it, I thought as I closed my laptop. I’ll wait until the three months is up before telling them.

I wondered if I was making the right decision.

But in the meantime, I was going to have a lot of fun with Mason.

The sky outside my window was still dark when I was awoken by the ear-piercing shriek of a rooster. I rolled over and covered my head with my pillow, but he continued screeching as loud as possible.

“Thanks for the wakeup call, Mister Pam,” I muttered.

I was exhausted as I got out of bed. It had been a long time since I had worked a full day at a ranch, and all of my joints and muscles protested as I got dressed. I knew my body would get used to it after a few days, but for now I needed to take a painkiller.

“What smells so good?” I asked in the kitchen.

Cody opened the fridge and smiled. “Perfect timing, sunshine! We’ve got eggs, pancakes, and sausages. Everything’s already on the table except the OJ.” He waved a carton of orange juice.

Mason was sitting at the dining room table, sliding sausage links onto his plate with a fork. He blinked when he saw me, then broke into a big smile.

“Good morning,” he said in that sexy drawl that made my body quiver.

“Morning yourself. Pass the coffee?”

Instead of handing me the glass coffee carafe, he poured it directly into my mug for me. “Cream and sugar?”

“Lots of cream,” I replied. “The more, the better.”

It was a silly, childish joke to make. I cringed as soon as the words were out of my mouth. But Mason rumbled with laughter while passing the cream saucer across the table.

It was fun to have a secret with Mason. Last night we had hot, sweaty sex in the barn. And nobody knew but us.

I was musing about that when Cody sat down across from me and cheerfully said, “So, you two are shackin’ up, huh?”