it?” She looked up, undaunted by his dark, menacing expression. “We want you to be Mr. October.”
* * *
HE STARED IN stunned silence, and then laughed. “Who put you up to this? Charlie?”
“Um, no one. I’m really here on behalf of The Worthington Group.”
“I should’ve known right off.” Tanner shook his head, taking in her shapely calves and slim ankles. “You have too nice a body to wear that frumpy outfit.”
Her eyebrows arched with just the right amount of indignation. She was good. “This is an Armani suit.”
His birthday was in four weeks. Charlie always got the day right but not the month. Usually they just had a drink, but Charlie was probably trying to make a point that it was time for Tanner to follow him into retirement. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the bathroom doorjamb. “Go ahead. Skip to the part where you pull your hair loose and take off your clothes.”
She blinked, glanced at his chest, then let her head fall back, her lips slowly forming a smile as she stared at the ceiling. “This is just perfect,” she murmured to herself, then brought her head up. “I don’t know anyone named Charlie and I’m not a stripper.”
He kind of hoped that wasn’t true. It wasn’t only her pretty blue eyes that had stirred his interest. She had nice legs and breasts. He hadn’t seen her backside without the jacket yet, but he doubted he’d be disappointed.
“I won’t tell Charlie I guessed early. You go on and do your little act, darlin’. I promise I’ll enjoy it just as much as if it had been a surprise,” he said, extending a hand to help her off the couch.
She swatted him away. “You jackass. I am not a stripper.”
“I never said you were. I forget what they call people like you.”
“Pissed off.” She reached into that gigantic purse of hers and he expected music to start playing. Instead, she yanked out her wallet, then leaned back and studied him. “Are you putting me on? You can’t really think—” She sighed and flipped open the brown leather billfold. “Here.”
He took it, saw she had an Oklahoma driver’s license and hadn’t lied about her name. Before handing it back to her, he noticed that she was twenty-eight. “Well, damn, I was real fond of the stripper idea.”
“Now, will you put some clothes on so we can finish our conversation?”
He could feel the dust in his hair and the grit clinging to the back of his neck. “After I take my shower.”
She glanced at her watch, something she did a lot. Obviously she had somewhere else to be, which suited him fine if she was gonna keep harping on that men’s fragrance bullshit. “All right,” she said, “but you’ll need to hurry.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.” He grabbed a towel off the shelf, then paused at the bathroom door. “You’re still welcome to join me.”
She rolled her eyes then started messing with her phone.
Grinning, Tanner ducked his head and entered the tiny bathroom. He’d had the trailer for going on ten years now, and sure, he would’ve preferred a bigger shower. And the bed was barely long enough. Some of the guys had teased him about holding on to the fifth wheel instead of getting something bigger and newer, especially after his two-year winning streak. Nah, he and Betsy had done just fine. She’d never given him a lick of trouble and she’d already outlasted two trucks. But then he’d never been the type who had to have the newest and brightest toy. New gadgets just made his head hurt.
Waiting for the water to warm up, he hung his towel, made sure he had enough shampoo and peeled off his underwear. He stuck his head out. She was still busy with her phone, texting, by the looks of it. Her hair wasn’t as tidy as before. Long loose curls fell around her face. The late sun came through the open window and picked up the shiny gold highlights.
She moved and the sunlight hit her face, glistening off her pale peach lips. His body’s reaction shouldn’t have surprised him. She was much prettier than he’d first thought. And his cock was definitely interested.
“Hey, Lexy.” He waited until she looked up. “I’ll leave the door open in case you change your mind.”
She ran a quick gaze over what she could see of his chest. “Yeah...thanks.” She smiled. “Not going to happen.”
Chuckling, he left the door partially open just to be ornery, then slipped under the spray. The warm water felt good on his tired muscles. He’d ridden in this annual rodeo every June for five years now and liked this particular trailer park. Not just for the convenient location but because of the water pressure. Pretty sad when he stopped to think about it. At the end of the day, a man ought to have more than a great shower to look forward to.
Man, he could probably write a travel guide to the best and worst parks from Montana down to the Tex/Mex border. Although except for a handful, they blurred together. It sure was gonna be weird when he finally quit and put down roots. Wherever that ended up being. At least he’d finally narrowed it down to a choice between two places.
Quickly he shampooed his hair, soaped up, then rinsed off. Ordinarily, he liked to spend a good fifteen minutes under the warm spray, but his thoughts had strayed back to Lexy. If she wasn’t here for some birthday bump and grind, he had to believe she was here on Worthington business just like she claimed. Which meant she probably wasn’t fooling about the calendar.
Shit.
That would be the damn day he’d stoop so low.
Kind of a shame that he had to get rid of her, but so be it. He reached for the faucet, twisted wrong and aggravated his strained shoulder muscle. He let out a loud groan before he could stop himself.
“Are you all right?”
Ignoring her, Tanner gingerly grabbed the towel from the hook and stepped out of the stall. He dried his face first. Then lowered the towel and saw her standing in the doorway, staring.
4
“OH.” LEXY DID an abrupt about-face. Lightheaded from lack of food, she flattened her hand against the wall. What on earth had she been thinking? People tended not to shower with their clothes on. Of course he was naked.
“You’re not gonna faint, are you?”
She heard the laugh in his voice. It didn’t help alleviate her embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I heard you groan and I thought maybe you were—” Oh, God, what if he hadn’t groaned. What if he’d been...moaning? “I don’t know what I thought,” she murmured, wishing she could disappear.
“It’s okay. No harm done. You can turn around now.”
“Are you dressed?”
“Sort of.”
Her cheeks were burning. She still felt a little woozy. The last thing she’d eaten were the early-morning cheese crackers at the Will Rogers Airport.
“I’m assuming you’ve seen a naked man before.”
“No. Never.” She pushed away from the wall and turned around. “I’m single.”
Tanner wore a grin on his face and a towel wrapped around his hips. That was it. “You’re pretty good,” he said. “Remind me not to invite you to a poker game.”
“I’m not lying. Where I come from lots of women and men take purity pledges. We’re saving ourselves for marriage.” She kept her eyes level with his, as if she couldn’t bear to look down at all his nakedness. She threw in a bit of lower-lip nibbling. The drama classes she’d taken to spite her father seemed to have paid off.
Tanner’s wavering smile and uncertain frown gave her some satisfaction. “I’ve got to get to my clothes,” he said, motioning that she needed to move.
“Yes,