Most Obnoxious Cowboy Read online

  “Yes, Dad.”

  “I mean, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But I’m thinking you don’t want Arya to be upset with you anymore, right?”

  “No, I don’t want her to be upset with me. How do you know?”

  “Because I know anytime your mom is upset with me, I do everything I can to get her talking to me again. That’s the way it is when we care about the women in our lives.”

  “She’s not exactly the woman in my life, Dad. She’s—”

  “I know, I know,” he smirked, “she’s your friend.”

  “Dad, please don’t go getting any ideas, and please don’t go telling Mom anything. I don’t want her to think that Arya and I are going to get together and I’m going to be the fourth son that’s getting matched up. You know that is not about to happen.”

  “I know, son.” He looked thoughtful. “Why on earth would Arya choose to be with someone like you?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, offended. “Why wouldn’t she be with someone like me? Why wouldn’t—”

  “What do you care if you don’t want to be with her?”

  “I don’t want to be with her like that, but that doesn’t mean that she should just jump into bed with the first cowboy she meets.”

  “Did I say that she was going to do that?”

  “No, but that’s what you were pretty much saying.”

  “No,” Dad shook his head, “I don’t think I said anything of the sort. But hey, I think dinner’s about ready, so we should go to the kitchen and see if your mom needs any help.”

  “I think I’m going to go and wash up first,” I said.

  My dad gave me a clap on the back. “Okay. And you best ask Arya tonight if she wants to go. Don’t just go assuming in the morning that she doesn’t have plans.”

  “Okay, Dad. I’ll ask her after dinner.”

  “Good, good, good.” He nodded. I hurried to my room and walked into the bathroom so that I could wash off my face and my hands. My dad’s words had made me pause for a few seconds. I hadn’t liked the knowing look in his eyes, and I hadn’t liked the fact that he’d commented on Arya getting a boyfriend. I mean, I knew at some point she’d want to date someone, but that point wasn’t now, was it?

  I leaned against the door and thought for a couple of seconds. Did I care if Arya got a boyfriend? No, of course not. Not if he treated her well.

  But I knew from the way my heart lurched at the thought that that wasn’t exactly true.

  I did not want to see Arya with another man. I mean, I didn’t want her myself, I wasn’t ready to settle down and she had far too many responsibilities for someone like me, but she was cute. More than cute. She was beautiful and sexy. Under other circumstances, I definitely would’ve had her in my bed.

  But she was a guest in my home, and I knew that Mom would absolutely kill me if I even thought about making a play for her.

  Though if Arya wanted me to, I wouldn’t say no.

  Chapter Nine

  Arya

  * * *

  Dinner was fun. I could tell that Amelia loved being around her family. She seemed to light up when she was with her sons, and each one of them looked at her with love and adoration.

  “Aunty Arya, I’m going to help Grandma Amelia do the dishes.” Eloise picked up two dirty glasses from the table. “And then she’s going to read me a story before I have my bath and go to bed.”

  “How’s about you help with the dishes and then have a bath and then Amelia can read to you?”

  “Okay.” She nodded with a small smile. “Did you know that milk comes from cows, Aunty?”

  “I did.” I nodded with a smile. I watched as Chet walked towards us and I could feel my spine stiffening. What did he want?

  “Eloise, did you know that the very best cow milk is mixed with chocolate syrup?” He bent down and grinned at her. “Want some chocolate milk as you do the dishes?”

  “Ooh, yes please.” She jumped up and down. “Can I, please, please?” She looked at me and I nodded. “Yay!” She went running out of the room.

  “Eloise, do not run with glasses or anything else in your hands!” I followed after her. “You can hurt yourself if you trip.”

  “Okay, Aunty Arya.” She gave me an embarrassed smile. “Sorry.”

  “No worries, darling.” I watched as she headed to the kitchen and then turned to Chet. “You really shouldn’t have offered her chocolate milk. What if I didn’t want her having any?”

  “Then you would have said so.” He shrugged. “Is it really a big deal?”

  “It is a big deal to me.”

  “Then my bad.” He gave me an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean to overstep. I should have asked you first.”

  “Yes, you should have.” I tried to look stern, but I couldn’t stop my lips from twitching as he gave me a doleful puppy dog stare. “Enough with that, Chet.”

  “Why? Am I melting your cold, cold heart?”

  “Nope.” I shook my head vehemently. “Never.”

  “So I was hoping to ask you something…” He cleared his throat and all of a sudden his face looked serious.

  “Now you want to ask me something?”

  “It’s not about chocolate milk.”

  “What’s it about?”

  “So, I was thinking…” His voice trailed off and my heart started racing. Was he about to ask me what I thought he was about to ask? Because if he thought he was going to proposition me for sex, I would slap him. I didn’t even care if anyone saw me. I was absolutely fed up with Chet Hamilton.

  “Do you want to explore the ranch with me tomorrow?”

  “What?” I hadn’t expected that.

  “Come with me to the ranch tomorrow.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can make amends for being an idiot asshole.”

  “So you admit you’re an asshole?”

  “I kinda have to, don’t I?” He gave me a wry smile, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at him. He was a big old goof, but I couldn’t stay mad at him for long.

  “You owe me big time,” I muttered.

  “I can kiss your feet to make up for it.” He Chipled as I made a face. “How about a massage?”

  “No thanks, Chet.”

  “Or you could give me a massage.”

  “You wish.”

  “I do.” The way the words came out of his mouth made my heart flutter. He tilted his head to the side and gave me a long warm smile. “We could have a contest.”

  “A contest?”

  “We could see who gives the best massages.”

  “Seriously, Chet?”

  “I mean, I know I would win, but you could give it your best shot.”

  “I would totally win.” I poked him in the chest and we both stilled for a few seconds at the physical contact. I quickly removed my hand and we just looked at each other for a few seconds in silence. He took a step towards me and I thought he was going to kiss me. My entire body felt flushed.

  I knew I wouldn’t stop him.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, Arya,” he said softly, his eyes teasing me. “Sweet dreams.”

  “Night, Chet.” I blushed and turned around quickly. “Sweet dreams to you as well.”

  Chapter Ten

  Arya

  * * *

  “It’s so early in the morning,” I said as I met Chet in the kitchen. It was still dark outside and I was yawning.

  “I know, but we’ve got a long day ahead of us.” He handed me a cup of coffee. “Drink this. It will wake you up a little bit.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s coffee.”

  “I know, but did you add any milk or sugar or cinnamon?”

  “Cinnamon?” He looked at me in surprise. “I’ve never heard of adding cinnamon to your cup of coffee.”

  “Someone once told me that’s a trick to lose weight,” I said with a light laugh. “I don’t really know if it’s true, but I always add a little bit, just in c
ase.”

  “You don’t need to lose any weight Arya,” he said.

  I felt my face flush as he looked me over. “I think every woman feels like she could lose a little weight,” I said, not knowing what else to say. “And all these cookies and cakes I’ve been eating recently haven’t been helping.”

  “Oh well, that’s what happens when you live at Horseshoe ranch.” He started to smile then stopped. “I suppose you’re going to tell me that’s why you want to leave. So that my mom doesn’t fatten you up anymore?”

  “Well, I can honestly say that wasn’t one of the reasons why I wanted to find my own place.” I laughed. “I haven’t had such good cooking in a long time.”

  “Speaking of food, I made some sandwiches for us.” He held up a Ziploc bag. “I figured we could eat a little bit later. I know it’s kind of early for breakfast.”

  “Later’s fine,” I agreed. “Never too early for coffee, though.”

  “I have a flask as well.” He held up the flask next to him. “It’s got hot coffee, and I’ve got some containers with milk and some packets of sugar.”

  “Wow. You really thought everything through.”

  “I can’t lie, my mom told me what to do.” He made a face. “That sounds kind of weird, huh?”

  “No. Why do you say that?”

  “I’m a grown man and my mom’s telling me how to prepare for a ride out to the log cabin.”

  “She just loves you, is all. And she wants to make sure you have an enjoyable trip too.”

  “Okay, you ready? You got everything you need?”

  “I do.” I nodded. “So, are we riding?”

  “Oh no. That would be too long a ride. We’re going to take one of the trucks. I have a bunch of tools I have to take with me.”

  “Oh, yeah. You’re redoing the roof or something?”

  “There’re just some patches that I need to take care of. And then they want to do a little bit of a reno in the kitchen, so I’m just going to check it out. See what I need to do. But we’re going to go to the creek first. I thought you might enjoy that. And we’ll have a little picnic.”

  “Don’t tell me. You made lunch for us as well?”

  “No. My mom packed it last night.” He laughed and I joined him. It was funny how comfortable I felt with him, even though I was still quite upset. I had told myself I was going to let it go, though, at least for now. I understood where Chet was coming from, and I did appreciate the fact that he cared about my well-being, even if he had completely overstepped.

  “Eloise still sleeping?” he asked as we walked towards the french doors at the back of the kitchen.

  “Yeah. I think your mom will wake her up around seven or eight and then give her breakfast. It’s really nice having her take care of Eloise. It means so much to me, and Eloise just loves her.”

  “Well, you know my mom looks at Eloise as her first grandchild, right?” His voice was dry. “I mean, good for Mom, I guess.”

  “Do you not want to have kids?” I asked as we walked around the side of the house to the truck.

  He was also good with Eloise and sweet and kind. But the way that he talked made me think that he didn’t want kids, which I thought would be a shame. I rather thought he’d make a good father.

  “I don’t really know. There’s a lot of us Hamilton boys, and well, I feel like there will be a lot of kids coming and I’ll have plenty of nieces and nephews.” He shrugged. “Maybe that will be enough.”

  “So you don’t want to get married either?”

  He Chipled. “What’s with all the questions?”

  “What? I’m just trying to figure you out.”

  “I guess that’s better than you being mad at me.”

  “Oh, I’m still mad at you,” I assured him, “but I’m getting over it.”

  He walked to the side of the truck and opened the door for me. I looked at him in surprise. “I’m a gentleman, a true gentleman,” he said. “I open the door for ladies.”

  “Well, that’s very nice of you. You’re a dying breed.”

  “I like to think not.” He closed the door behind me. I reached over and unlocked his door and opened it for him.

  “Hey, thanks,” he said as he got into the truck. “That was mighty nice of you.”

  “Someone once told me that guys like it when you open the door for them.”

  “It’s true. It shows that the woman is thoughtful.” He grinned. “So I guess we both have manners.”

  “I guess we do.”

  He started the truck, and we headed down the path behind the ranch.

  “So you didn’t answer my question. Do you want to get married someday?”

  “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It’s not anything I’ve really thought about. I think women are the ones that care about that sort of thing. Men, not so much.”

  “I don’t think that’s true. I think that’s actually quite sexist, Chet.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, I’ve known guys that have talked about getting married and they seem quite excited. I think many men want to get married someday.”

  “I’m sure they do. I can tell you, though, it’s never crossed my mind.”

  “It’s never crossed your mind? You’ve never dated anyone who you thought, wow, I might like to marry her someday?” He looked at me and burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”

  I didn’t understand why he was laughing so hard. Was it really a joke to him that someone would want to get married?

  “I’ve never been in a relationship where I’ve thought I would want to marry the woman someday. So does that make me an asshole?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. I just think that’s really weird. What’s your longest relationship been?

  “Maybe like a year and a half, when I was in college.”

  “Okay. So I guess still pretty young. But you never thought to yourself, maybe one day?”

  “Not really.” He shook his head. “She knew she wanted to move to LA. She wanted to be an actress. I knew I would never live in LA.” He mock-shuddered. “Ugh.”

  “You really don’t like LA, huh?”

  “Can’t stand it. All those people, the traffic, the smog. All anyone cares about is money and fame and looks. No, thank you. Give me Montana any day. I like to look at the sky and the mountains. I like to be able to drive my truck and not worry I’m going to sit in traffic for three hours.” He shook his head. “I’m a small-town man, and I like it that way.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t tell me. You want to be an actress and move to LA too?”

  “No.” I laughed. “I can honestly say that I’ve never wanted to move to LA. I have wanted to be an actress, but that’s when I was young. When everyone wanted to either be an actress or the president.”

  He laughed. “Elementary school, huh?

  “Yeah.”

  “I think every kid wants to be the president when they’re young. And then when they become an adult, the president is the last job you’d ever want.”

  “Well, not for everyone. Not for politicians.”

  “True.”

  “So, Chet?”

  “Yes, Arya?” He snuck a quick look at me and smiled. “What is it?”

  “So you’ve never been in a serious relationship. Is that because you just don’t like relationships, or it just hasn’t worked out that way?”

  He sucked in a breath. “Wow. You are really trying to get to know me, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah. I figured if we’re going to be friends, then, I should know everything about you.”

  “I don’t know if I want you to know everything about me.”

  “And why is that?” I teased him. “You got secrets?”

  “I have many secrets, Arya. There are many things about me that you would not want to know, trust me.”

  “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

  “You’re really pushing this, aren’t you?”

&
nbsp; “I’m curious now. You can’t make a statement like that and think I wouldn’t want to know.”

  “Okay. Well, let’s just say you might not want to know what I was doing last night.”

  “I don’t know. What were you doing last night?”

  “Let’s just say, before I went to bed, I had a little fun.”

  “Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, heat rising to my cheeks. “Wow… You went there.”

  “What? I was just saying. There are some things you might not want to know.”

  “I mean, you’re a man, and I assume that you do that, so it’s not really a shock.”

  “Hmm. Okay. Well, there might be a shocking part to it.” A wicked grin spread across his face.

  “What’s the shocking part?”

  “Well… I don’t think I should tell you. I want us to enjoy the day.”

  “Chet!”

  “What, Arya?”

  “You can’t make a statement like that and not tell me.”

  “Okay. Well, let’s just say that, when I was…” he paused, “pleasuring myself, I had a familiar face in my mind.”

  “You had a… what?”

  “I had a familiar face in my mind.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that. I was pretty sure I knew what he was saying and I was absolutely mortified. Not because I didn’t like the sound of it, but because we were going down a path I wasn’t ready to go down.

  “Okay…” I said quietly. I wasn’t sure what to say next.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t ask me who. But I think you already know, huh?”

  “Chet!” My cheeks felt hot and I was pretty sure they were as bright red as a stop sign.

  “Is the reason you know because you have done the same thing?”

  “What do you mean, I’ve done the same thing?”

  “Have you pleasured yourself thinking about me?”

  “Oh my gosh. Chet, seriously?”

  I reached forward and turned on the radio. Country music blasted, and I sat back and looked out the window. I was even more mortified than before. Not because he’d asked a question, but because it was true. I had pleasured myself, recently, and he had been the face in my mind.