It was a fucking skunk, just off the deck and in the grass. Less than ten feet from Hailey. I was only a few feet farther away.
“A skunk!” she said, freaking out, backing up slowly, as if seeing a bear or something fierce.
The black and white bugger was just as surprised to see us as we were to see him. I’d never seen one this close to the house before, but Jesus, this was bad. In a way, I’d rather see a bear.
I hopped out of the tub and pulled her into me. “Quiet, we don’t want to get—”
The sentence wasn’t finished before the skunk sprayed. Hailey screamed, I shouted and we both ran away from the animal. It was too late.
We were both swearing, gasping. When I was a kid, one of my grandparents’ dogs got sprayed by a skunk, a direct hit. We weren’t covered, but the smell, fuck. It was in my nostrils, in my mouth. I watched as the skunk ran off, but the damage was done.
Holy. Fuck.
“Don’t go inside!” I shouted, not wanting Hailey to take the stench into the house.
“Cy, we’re naked and wet and we smeeeeeelllll!” she screeched.
At least we’d been in the hot tub long enough so we weren’t cold. But we soon would be.
“Come with me,” I said, taking her hand again and trying not to gag at the stench of us, hoping she really wouldn’t puke, because if she did, I would. I led her around the house—away from the skunk—and to the garage, which wasn’t attached to the house. I opened the side door, which was never locked, and went inside. I found a clean horse blanket and gave it to Hailey.
“Okay, we need to go inside and at least get a phone so we can look up what to use to get rid of the smell.”
She nodded, wild-eyed. Any thoughts of fucking were long gone. From now on, if I needed to will a hard-on away, I’d think of a skunk.
“We might puke, but we’ll get through this. Together.”
With her wrapped in a blanket—one that I’d be sure to throw out once we started getting cleaned up—we headed to the laundry room door. Thank fuck, my grandmother had been smart enough to put an outside entry into the room so that after a long day working the land, my grandfather wouldn’t have to traipse through the house all muddy and smelling like cows with his dirty clothes.
I dashed into the kitchen, grabbed my phone and returned, shutting the door to the laundry room behind me to keep our stench in, then did a search as Hailey tried to scrub her hands and arms with the soap at the utility sink.
“It says to use hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap,” I said, reading the small screen. “I’ve got all that. Thank fuck.”
Hailey looked up at me. Miserable. We smelled so fucking bad. “I’m never going outside again,” she moaned.
As I looked in the under-sink cabinet for the hydrogen peroxide, I had to agree with her. This was not how I’d imagined the two of us getting to know each other. I’d wanted her naked and wet, but not like this.
LUCAS
I pulled up in front of Cy’s house, weary as hell. I smelled, needed a shave and eight hours of sleep in an actual bed. One that had Hailey in it. Naked would be preferable.
But I didn’t see her old SUV. She’d been living with me while being in Cutthroat, and I’d driven by my place first. I’d assumed she’d be here with Cy, but I wasn’t driving back to town now. I’d crash in one of the empty bedrooms here at the ranch.
The group I’d led had been up at dawn to hike out, and by the time everyone had left the warehouse, a successful trip done, it was after ten. Maybe Cy and Hailey had gone out for breakfast, but I couldn’t imagine Cy letting Hailey drive her SUV. As if.
I went inside, paused. All was quiet. I went down the hall to Cy’s room to see if they were sleeping in, but the bed was empty. Where the hell were they? The kitchen window over the sink was open, even though the morning air still had a sharp bite to it. The faint scent of skunk lingered, so I had to wonder if they’d opened it in the middle of the night to get fresh air and forgot about it.
Whatever. I went to the window, closed it.
I trudged to the bathroom Cy used on the main floor, stripped and took a Navy shower, soaped, rinsed and out in two minutes, too tired to stay in longer, even though the hot water felt fabulous.
I grabbed clean boxers from my bag and went upstairs to one of the empty bedrooms. I stopped in my tracks just inside the doorway. Cy and Hailey were in the bed, out cold, the sheets a tangle about them. Hailey’s hair was a wild snarl around her head and she wore one of Cy’s t-shirts. Cy was in boxers.
Why were they up here and not in Cy’s room?
If they were sleeping this late, I had to wonder what they did all night. My dick hardened and tented my boxers. Cy had done Hailey, I knew that. How many times though to make them this worn out was the question. Had they broken his bed?
Lucky fucker.