Must Love Cowboys: This steamy and heart-warming cowboy rom-com is a must-read! (Once Upon A Time In, Carly Bloom [pocket ebook reader .TXT] 📗

of him. His belly was pleasantly full, and all he needed was a shower and then he was going to crawl in bed with Jax Angle.

That sounded wrong. He still couldn’t wait, though.

He closed his laptop and peeled off his shirt. Tomorrow morning would come early. This might be a dude ranch, but it was still a ranch, and Bryce would no doubt have him up at the ass crack of dawn.

He went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, then came back out to grab a fresh pair of underwear while the water heated up. His phone battery was low, so he plugged it into the charger.

Five minutes later he was lathered up. The soap smelled nice. Kind of fancy for a cowboy, but whatever. He ran his head under the spray to rinse the shampoo out of his hair.

The heat eased his sore muscles, and he touched a cheek to each shoulder, loosening up some tightness there. He squeezed the taut ridge extending from his neck. Rubbing your own muscles never felt as good as when someone else did it, but he worked out some knots, anyway.

Alice had melted at his touch when he’d rubbed her neck in the truck. She’d actually moaned, and that’s when he’d known how easy it would be to make her fall apart. And damn, had she fallen apart. He licked his lower lip as if maybe he could still actually taste her . . .

It made him hard.

He rolled his head and dropped his chin to his chest as trails of lather and foam cascaded down his belly and around his cock, which was now throbbing. That sucker was going to need some attention, or he’d never be able to concentrate on his book, much less get any sleep.

He closed his eyes, thinking about Allie walking out of her bedroom in that frilly, sheer get-up. She’d looked so fucking cute. And shy. And then she’d proceeded to spread her legs and brazenly give him an anatomy lesson.

Vulva

Labia

Clitoris

Latin was hot.

He stroked himself, long and slow, because he wanted to drag out the memory. The way she’d dipped her finger into her—

His phone rang from the other room.

He scrunched his eyes shut tighter, determined to ignore it. Whoever it was could leave a message. Unless it was Nonnie. He had assumed the responsibility of keeping an eye on her when his folks moved to the coast. And whenever she tried to leave him a voice mail, she talked before the beep and all he ever heard was okay, bye now, see you then, or, best of all, but don’t worry . . .

Fuck. He turned the water off, and he and his raging boner hopped out of the shower and ran into the other room. He took a running leap for the phone; certain it was going to stop the minute he touched it.

Without really registering who was calling, he hit the slider on the screen.

Alice’s face popped up.

He was on FaceTime.

Beau looked shocked to hear from her. Maybe she shouldn’t have called. “Is this a bad time?”

Beau’s mouth opened and closed. And his eyes were absolutely huge, as if she’d just jumped out from a closet and yelled Boo!

“Um . . .”

There were fumbling sounds, and she got a bit dizzy as Beau moved the phone around. There was a picture on the wall, a desk, the floor . . .

“Beau?”

His face came back into view. “Sorry. I didn’t realize we were on FaceTime until I’d already answered.”

He appeared somewhat calmer, but his eyes glanced around as if he were looking for something. He was shirtless. And wet.

“You caught me getting out of the shower,” he said with a dimpled grin. “Let me grab a towel.”

“I have the worst timing,” she said. “I hope you didn’t get out just for me.”

A mirror came into sight, and for a brief second, Alice caught Beau’s reflection in it. And he wasn’t just shirtless. He was naked.

Her pulse started racing. Part of it was the surprise. But the other part was the sheer perfection of those muscular butt cheeks.

“You have perfect timing,” Beau said, walking into the bedroom. “I’m glad you called.”

Her eyes searched the tiny screen, just in case she’d get another mirror image of Beau’s backside, but no such luck. Beau sat on the bed and smiled, and it set her heart to thumping even more than the sight of his butt cheeks had.

“I can call back if you want to get dressed,” Alice said.

Beau leaned back against the headboard. “Nah. I’m good.”

There was that twinkle. He was torturing her on purpose.

“I have a reason for FaceTiming,” she said, as if he hadn’t just leaned back naked on a bed right in front of her.

“Oh yeah?”

“I want you to see what I’m wearing.” She’d put the yellow dress back on, just so he wouldn’t be shocked by her outfit when it came time for their “date.”

Beau’s smile slipped away. “Is it crotchless?”

Alice rolled her eyes. “No. Hold on. I’ll show you.”

She reversed the image so Beau could see her in the full-length mirror in all her jaundiced, ruffled glory. “What do you think?” She flipped the image back so she could see his face. He was probably laughing—

Nope. Not laughing. “Oh my God, Allie. You look so beautiful.”

Was he joking? Because she looked like a school bus.

“It reminds me of that princess dress you wore to Anna’s Halloween party a few years ago.”

Oh, dear God. She’d gone as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. And he was right. Did Brittany realize that her bridesmaids’ dresses were Disney princess gowns? Also, Beau remembered what she wore to a Halloween party four years ago? They hadn’t spoken. In fact, she hadn’t even known he was there.

“You look pretty,” Beau said. “You always look pretty. Even when you’re wearing a bloodstained dress and yelling at me about noise ordinances.”

“It wasn’t blood. It was Carmen’s energy drink. And you and your lady friend were being totally obnoxious.”

Beau