Close Enough to Touch (Jackson Hole 1)

“You can check me over later. Be thorough, all right?”

“You wish.”

“Oh, you’ve got that right, Miss Grace.”

She laughed, and her body relaxed a tiny bit more. Maybe if he could get her to melt into him, she’d relax in other ways, as well. Maybe she’d tell him something about herself. Anything. Though if he couldn’t get her to melt after two orgasms, the girl might be made of steel.

“I should go,” she murmured, but she didn’t move. If she didn’t want to leave, he’d give her every reason to stay.

He smoothed his thumb along her ribs. “Tell me about your new job,” he said, hoping he’d picked the right topic. It’d been a long time since he’d held a woman like this. Even longer since it had felt so natural. Strange that it was with someone who represented everything he’d run from.

“I’m working with a photographer named Eve Hill. I hoped she’d hire me to do makeup, you know? But she needed more help than that, so I’m working more hours than I expected, and trying out new things.” She flashed a smile over her bare shoulder. “Clearly.”

Clearly? Did she mean him? He pressed his mouth to her shoulder blade, amazed that her skin could be so soft when she did everything she could to make herself look hard.

“I didn’t think I’d be so good at it, but it’s working out. Thanks to you.”

“Me?” he asked. “Are we talking about your job now? Or sex? Because yeah, you were damn good at that, but…”

She snorted. “The job, obviously.”

“I’m not following you.”

“The ranch!”

He’d just been putting his mouth to her skin again, but he froze at her words. “What do you mean ‘the ranch’?” The warm press of her skin suddenly felt claustrophobic.

“Easy Creek! Obviously I couldn’t have found that site for Eve unless you’d taken me there. Turned out it was perfect.”

Shock washed through him like water through a sieve. “You did that?”

“Did what?”

“You brought those people to Easy Creek?”

“Yes! Apparently there was a location scout in town until last month. He went out of business, so Eve has been taking up the slack. Yesterday, when they described the kind of place they were looking for, I knew the ranch was perfect. So, thank you.”

“Thank you?” He pushed up, trying to get away from her.

“Hey!” she protested when he nearly knocked her off the couch.

He finally managed to get to his feet and stalked away. “Are you kidding me?”

“What’s wrong?”

He turned to see her standing next to the couch, arms shielding her breasts, expression wary at his sudden change of mood.

“What’s wrong?” he repeated. “How could you have done that to me? That’s my place of work, it’s not some scenic stop on a damn tour, Grace.”

Her jaw fell.

“I can’t believe you,” he said, but then he laughed. “Actually, I can. I don’t know why I’d find it hard to believe that a girl like you would think it meant nothing to bring fifty assholes out to my ranch and let them run wild.”

“A girl like me? Are you kidding me? What the hell does that mean?”

“It means you’re one of them. It’s so obvious. I should’ve known better than to think anything different. Jesus, I delivered Easy Creek to you with a goddamn bow!”

Grace stalked toward the door, brushing past him with a glare. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m not it. You’re way out of line.”