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I clo my feet had been in theled " was placed on the foot of the bed and almost meticulously centered The reminder that Jesse had been insideonto that bedWell, it did things to my stomach and my body that no red-blooded cowboy should do to my stomach and body

Jesse had just been in here

That explained why the room still smelled like him Kind of soapy, kind of earthy, and kind of like so fauely so

Musky? Leathery? I couldn’t quite pinpoint it

What the

What the hell was I doing? Conteuy I’d just ned sucker a few ti couldn’t do the job of reht have to soak in a tub for a while because there was no way, in, I headed over to the simple wood dresser across from the bed I slid open the first couple of drawers to confir up an ar it into the top drawer I repeated the process untilwas empty and the top four draere filled to capacity I hadthe bottoot to my art supplies I stacked my box of charcoal on top of my sketchbook and centered the complete What next?

I stared at the double-sized bed for a htstand: dark cherry wood, a sin However, what covered the bed was anything but sihtest, most colorful quilts in existence blanketed the reen squares, soed in color from chocolate brown to scarlet to pale yellow From the looks of it, the quilt had been washed hundreds of ti and obvious wear to the fabric, it was pristine There were no rips or dangling threads

Great I was ad an ancient quilt

Yet another What thee around the drawers before I could wrestle out a pair ofthe bedroo toward the bathroom It was across from Clementine’s bedroo in a fauessed everyone was probably about to sit down for dinner A fa: sit-down dinners complete with conversation and home-cooked food

Once I’d tucked myself away inside the bathroom, I cranked on the tub faucet and tested the water In an old house like theirs, I expected the water to take a half hour to get hot, but it ar, I du out in a basket beside the claw-foot tub, made sure there was an available and clean towel nearby, and eased hts of a J na with the rest of any and all thoughts of everything else

I don’t kno long I was passed out in the tub, but it was long enough for the water to get chilly I had to blink a few times to clear my head before I remembered where I was and whose bathtub I was in

Just when I re into a popsicle in their claw-foot tub, I heard footsteps down the hall They got closer and had the distinct tap-clack sound of a pair of boots At Willow Springs Ranch, it could only mean cowboy boots

I sucked in a breath, afraid to make a sound I didn’t need to see the owner of those boots tap-clacking closer to knoore them I couldfeel hith as the rest ofpeers: I was certifiable

I didn’t have a chance to wonder at howboots caoddamned bathroom door I was nakd in a tub behind

What should I do? Yell at hiet lost? Leap out and cinch that towel around me as fast as I could? Make an appointist to havesolutions, especially the last gem, but what did I do instead?

I scooted down in the tub, claood ten seconds of cowering inside a cold bath not even daring to take a breath, the boot steps restarted down the rest of the hall, down the stairs, and who knows from there

"Real s the drain release lever withto do? Break down the door, tear off his clothes, and make hot, passionate cowboy love to you?"

After verbally flogging ed into my old sweats and warned h and rugged types, that if she didn’t behave, I’d medicate her into obedience

I stalled for a fewthe doorknob open I scanned the hall, up and doice before literally tip-toeing down the hall Despite it being al from the first floor

I didn’t notice the plate sealed up with plastic wrap until I was a few steps from my bedrooratin potatoes, green beans, and a dinner roll, complete with a knife and fork on top of the plastic wrap Resting on top of the silveras a folded piece of paper