Spurs 'n Surrender (Operation Cowboy Book 2)(31)

Glancing in the mirror, she saw the bite mark Wydell had left on her. Fuck, it was too hot to wear a scarf too.

She stormed out again and grabbed the new pink leather tool pouch she’d picked up in town when she’d hired the contractors. She buckled it so it rode low on her hips, the handle of her hammer dangling on her thigh.

When she returned to the tiny house project, she spotted Garrett first. He greeted her with a grin and an obvious appraisal of her figure.

Wydell came around the corner of his truck. His focus latched onto her. And then his face reddened.

Oh no.

He stuffed something in his own tool pouch and stormed toward her. She braced herself, trying to prepare some witty comebacks before he’d even taunted her. What he said, though, took her by complete surprise.

“Why the hell aren’t you wearing a bra?” His words were low and rough, both with desire and something closer to anger.

Unwilling to say she’d simply forgotten, she shimmied her shoulders, sending her full breasts swaying. “My diamond-studded bra is at the cleaners.” She gave him a sweet smile.

He grunted and spun away from her just as everybody else showed up. Brodie and Danica worked off to the side, talking quietly. Brodie kept asking his wife if she needed a drink of water, and she’d smile and refuse.

Anya found it difficult to look away from their happiness, though she felt like a voyeur. They had a magic she’d never know with Wydell. He was just a stop sign on her way through town. Too bad she couldn’t disobey her instincts and run through it.

Boyd and Garrett took turns showing her how to build certain things and each time, Wydell would glare and practically spit nails. She cheerfully ignored him.

Later she’d need to head into town and do laundry. She wasn’t even wearing panties, because the ones Wydell had sucked her clit through wouldn’t do for a day’s labor. The pleasant chafe of her jeans over her bare pussy reminded her of his touch, though.

When he caught her looking at him, a smug expression crossed his face. She whirled away and took up another task as Brodie called out to the group.

“We’re gonna break for lunch. I’m taking Danica home to eat. We’ll see you guys in an hour or so.” The way Brodie looked at his wife suggested they might be gone for more than an hour.

The pair hopped in their truck and drove out.

“I’ve got an extra sandwich if you’re interested, Anya,” Garrett said.

“I’d like that, thank you.” She followed Garrett to his truck, where he lowered the tailgate and invited her to sit and eat. Boyd drifted over with his own lunch, leaving only Wydell working.

“Hey, Hard Ass, don’t you want to break?” Garrett called.

“I’m good.”

They watched him drive a few nails into a beam with enough force to rattle the whole frame.

“Why do you call him Hard Ass?” she asked, nibbling the edge of a slightly soggy ham sandwich.

“He got the name in boot camp because he never lets up.”

“Yeah, I see that,” she commented.

Boyd looked at her closely. “Don’t mind his moods. He’s struggling, like the rest of us.”

She pressed her lips together. “Because of the friend you lost?”

Boyd nodded. “That and more. All we dreamed about for years was coming home and then when we get here, there’s nothing left. Besides, Wydell has other battles to fight.”

“Like what?” She probably shouldn’t ask, but she really wanted to know what made the man tick.

“His burn, for one. A man doesn’t get an injury like that and not have nightmares. And he was the one to see Matt go down. That haunts him.”

She lowered her sandwich to the paper wrapping, her appetite gone. She watched Wydell attack the tiny house as if he could singlehandedly rebuild the whole town.

The thought that he meant to do exactly that set off a light bulb in her brain. In battle, he had no control. Out here, he probably had less. The people of Los Vista were rolling with the punches. But he didn’t like it one bit. The only place he had control, it seemed, was in bed with her and rebuilding the town.

Something stirred deep in her belly, and it had a lot to do with her epiphany as well as her deep lust for him.

“Thanks for the sandwich.” She hopped off the tailgate and walked toward Wydell. He didn’t look up until he spotted her boots in front of his nose, and then he took his time glancing up the length of her body. Locking on her breasts a little too long. She felt she understood him better now, and that part of his grouchiness was because he wanted control over her—her body, her emotions.

“Your nipples are hard.”

“Hard for you. I’m going home to my air-conditioned trailer for a spell and drink a cold iced tea. And then I’ll be heading to the Kents’ to see how things are going.”

“Hope you put on a bra before you do. Not every man you encounter will be as mannerly as I am.”

A laugh bursting from her, carefree and filled with joy. “If you call picking me up and carrying me into my trailer and ravishing me good manners, I’d hate to see your bad ones.”

His eyes darkened with lust. “Don’t pretend you didn’t want it.”

“Oh, I did. And about the bra…” With a swish of her hips, she turned and walked off, “…we’ll see.”