Monty wasn’t one to play games. He preferred a straightforward approach to life. His animal side was the one who could be a chaos-causer. Only it wasn’t his otter side who’d gotten naked all those months ago and…
He bit his lower lip and toed off his cowboy boots, looking for a distraction. With each passing day they spent on the ranch, in the confines of the tiny cabin, it got harder to ignore the attraction. He’d known, when he’d opened the door to Rue, that he was inviting trouble in. It hadn’t stopped him. He could have blamed the cocktails he’d drunk, or the sex club where he had found it entertaining and gotten horny. But Monty didn’t lie like that.
He’d found himself attracted to Rue, and initially he had no issue managing it. Drinkwater had changed that when he’d seen Rue’s very unanticipated vulnerable side. Then, Rue had shown up at his apartment wearing a devastated look, and Monty’s resolve to keep his distance had crumbled.
But the next morning, Rue had run, quite literally, out of his apartment and refused to talk about the unmistakable intimacy between them. Monty hadn’t imagined it, he’d felt the connection, so had his animal side. He refused to believe that Rue was so dense he had missed it. And his avoidance of any personal conversation since suggested he was hiding from what they’d done. Monty had no issue with regrets, if that was what Rue felt, just fucking alpha up and say so.
Dirty and aching in places Monty hadn’t thought possible, he wasn’t in the mood for whatever this was, which Rue avoided. With the growing sexual tension buzzing intensely in the room, Monty was having to act oblivious.
This is what happens when adults don’t talk to each other.
Don’t act like the sensible one,Monty argued back with his animal side.I have tried to talk to Rue, but it’s like speaking to a brick wall.
“You can use the shower first,” Rue rasped, not looking in Monty’s direction, which was an achievement given how close they were to each other. Monty could feel the warmth radiating from Rue. The guy was a heat factory, a delightful smelling one even after spending hours cleaning out horse shit.
Was it the best thing to be thinking about how good Rue smelled? Absolutely not. Did that stop Monty?
“Fine,” Monty replied moodily, peeling off his sweat-drenched shirt to drop it at his boots. Next, his hands went to the belt buckle at his waist, uncaring that he was stripping in front of Rue. It wasn’t like he’d not seen him naked before, and Monty wasn’t shy.
Not overtly muscly, his lithe frame had gotten a solid workout the last few days. He was feeling a little buffer. His cum gutters were definitely more defined. Despite that, Monty had always thought his best asset was his eyes. The blue was so pale it appeared colorless, except for the dark ring of black that encasedthe outer rim. Add in the inky black eyelashes, and the final result was a rather sultry look.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Rue hissed.
Monty bit back his initial response of“showing you what you’re missing”and instead shifted his attention to Rue with a fake smirk. Was that alarm that Monty could see in his gray eyes?
Rue wore a scary snarl on his full lips that, somewhat perversely, gave Monty the stomach flutters.
“What does it look like?” he quipped back instead, finding no amusement in the situation as he continued to shuck off his jeans. “It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked.”
He was more than a little fed up with what wasn’t happening between them.
Rue’s violent coughing gave Monty no satisfaction.
He stood and, without preamble, shoved down his boxer briefs.Take that, you damn prude.He didn’t say it. It was childish, and he wasn’t sinking to Rue’s level, he just wasn’t.
“You’re playing with fire,” Rue snarled, his whole body so still he appeared to be made of rock. Whatever training the man had in the army, he put it to good use. For such a big person, he could be light on his feet and blend with his environment. It was a knack that Monty envied when Rue caught him unaware.
“I don’t see how? You don’t want more than what went down in my apartment. Or that’s the only assumption I can come to when you treat me like a leper and refuse to discuss what happened likeadults, after you ran away.I can accept that you don’t want more. It happens, but why should I feel embarrassed now about my nakedness when you’ve seen everything I have to offer?” Monty waited a beat to see if Rue would talk to him.
When he met Rue’s impenetrable stare, Monty shook his head and stomped past him, realizing the discussion was a waste of breath when it would once more remain one-sided.
Rue was…
Monty threw up his arms inside the bathroom, then kicked the door closed. He blew out a breath and shut his eyes, rubbing at his temples to rid himself of the pounding that came from his frustration. It had been months, and yes, Monty continued to harbor an attraction to Rue. Oh, he’d tried to push past it, and to an extent it had worked. He’d even gone on a few dates and had sex—once. Then he’d recall Rue’s large, work-roughened hands dragging down his thighs, stroking his cock, his gaze warm with affection, and Monty was right back to questioning what made Rue put so much distance between them.
Rue’s brothers were clearly not worried about being intimate with their PAs, so Monty couldn’t see what the issue was.
Stop persecuting yourself!Berating himself as he got in the shower, he came to a decision. He would get laidtonightbecause enough was enough. The last few days proved one thing: Monty should cut loose any attachment he had to Rue and have fun—in town with the cowboys!
Yes, siree. Tonight, he was goingto get laidand move on with his life.
Determination made him pay extra attention as he washed. He primped and groomed his body until he was happy, using all the hot water. Dried and with a towel around his slim hips, Monty sailed out of the steamy bathroom, not once looking at Rue.
He heard movement behind him as he went through the clothing options he’d brought with him. The door snapping shut behind him added to his conviction. He dressed with purpose, grabbed his wallet and headed out of the cabin to go in search of the other PAs, who were finding out how they were getting to town.
Monty couldn’t recall if Cassidy, or Cass as he liked to be called, one of the ranch hands they’d spent time with, was taking some of them in his truck. They’d yet to go into town to Ranch-Down, the bar that Cass had mentioned once or twice when he’d talked about what there was to offer locally.
“There you are,” Wilder called from his porch as Monty walked down the steps, squinting in the low-lying sun. “I thought you’d changed your mind ‘bout coming.”
