Page 30 of The Rancher’s One and Only

Chapter Seven

She woke up the next morning ridiculously excited for the ranch work. It was so interesting, and Jax was just so interesting. Jax Noble.

Before she’d gone to sleep, she looked him up and ended up watching videos of his fights. In spite of the fact that she knew he was fine, because she had seen him in person, unharmed, each video she watched had made her heart leap into her throat.

For a few reasons.

He had a large tattoo on his shoulder that extended down over his pectoral muscle, which she had not seen in her time at the ranch. He also had muscles underneath his shirt that—while reasonable given the work that he did—were actually a lot more intense than she had realized.

She was not one to simply lust after a man because he was built athletically. She was a scientist. The reality was that most of the men in her sphere were a bit weedy. And that was fine with her. But he wasn’t. He was like something else entirely. A wild animal. Not a small rodent. Not something little or inconsequential. He was like a dragon. A dragon in a fantasy novel that could turn into a man. That was her secret shame. That she had—some time ago—branched out in her reading from fantasy to romantasy, and in those books when there was a dragon, he was often the main male lead character, and was gifted with a great many talents that had nothing to do with saving the world and everything to do with how he touched the heroine’s body.

It was research, she told herself, because she did like to know things. And the reality was, she was a virgin, so she didn’t have firsthand knowledge of those sorts of activities. It was a stupid term, in her opinion. There were a lot of things she’d never done, and they didn’t so define her. But being a twenty-eight-year-old virgin did feel a little bit like an insurmountable hurdle sometimes. But she just hadn’t gotten over that time she almost… Well no, she wouldn’t have. That’s the thing. It just felt so thorny and horrible. It had been a window into what a love affair could be. He had been duplicitous, and not anywhere near as lovely as she would’ve hoped. He had been intent on betraying his wife, and then he had been retaliatory and awful when she’d refused him. And she still worried that she’d done something to cause it. The trouble with sex was it was physical. She liked it in theory. In her head. Where there could be fantasies and scenarios that she was in control of. The same as any kind of fantasy scenario, she supposed. She didn’t actually want to fight in a war either, but she enjoyed reading about them in the context of a whole alternative world.

So it seemed—to her—that maybe sex was the same to her as all these things. Something that would only ever be comfortable in her head.

And he was so…physical. He could say whatever he wanted to about how they were similar in that way, but she had seen him fight. It was full contact, no mercy. It was intense in a way nothing she’d ever seen was. The way that he bled and sweated and scrapped his way to victory. And mainly, his body. His body was incredible.

She was sort of bemused that she was very much like other girls in this realm. Why couldn’t she like a more cerebral sort? Except, he did seem cerebral. Maybe in a different way, but what was the point of being with someone who thought about things identically to you? It was more interesting to talk to somebody who was smart about things you had never explored. There were things he could teach her. And she could teach him things.

She swallowed hard at that thought. There were things he could teach her.

Oh no. That was a terrible thought. And now she’d had it. Now that she had the thought, it was going to burrow its way into the center of her brain, and it wasn’t going to leave her alone. She knew herself well enough to know that.

She looked in the mirror, and put her glasses on, staring at her own muddy green eyes for a moment. “Ernestine Martin, you cannot ask that man to teach you how to have sex.”

But there was a steel sort of feeling at the center of her chest, and she worried that now there was no going back. That now she would ask. Oh God. What was she going to ask?

No. She was going to let him teach her about ranching. Ranching. She took a deep breath, and went into her room to choose an outfit for the day. She opted not to wear her digging clothes. They were a lot more UV protective, and good for bending down and doing a lot of physical activity. Today, she chose a light pink T-shirt with soft, thin fabric that said I Feel It in My Bones, and had a picture of a T. rex skull on it. She paired it with a pair of pink-striped linen shorts and almost as soon as she finished getting dressed, there was a knock at her cabin door. She still wasn’t used to the glass walls. It felt strange and voyeuristic to be standing there in a room with a clear view of the outside. She knew that it was entirely mirrored looking in, but still.

That felt slightly wild. Like a wild animal.

Not a gopher.

She parted her lips and looked at her teeth in the mirror just quickly before turning away. Her teeth were a little big. That was undeniable. He did say they were cute. She just had a hard time believing that. Who thought anyone’s teeth were cute?

She scampered out of her bathroom, and to the front door.

She breathed in deep when she saw him there, and she caught the fresh scent of his skin, and of soap that smelled like pine.

It was enough to make her tremble.

Oh, that was sad.

“Good morning,” she said. “I’m very much looking forward to the ranching.”

He looked at her for a long moment, a strange light in his eyes. One she couldn’t readily decode.

“That’s a nice outfit,” he said.

“Oh. Thank you. I get tired of the dig uniform. It’s practical, but a bit bulky.”

“Yeah. I can see that. I mean… Nothing.”

“Oh. So, what are we going to do?”

“Well,” he said slowly. “I thought I would take you on a ride, if you’re interested.”

“A ride?”