He’s not what she expects…
Excerpt from The Wannabe Cowboy: The Lost Cause Ranch #1
Zack Baker is desperate. He’s lost his job, his lease and his grant money is almost gone. If he can’t finish his field study and land a tenured job, he’s going to be in deep trouble. By the time he makes his way onto the L/C Ranch, owned by one Ms. Samantha Kenady, he’s more than desperate.
As far as Sam is concerned, it doesn’t matter that Zack Baker has a good smile, drives a crappy truck, or that he’s desperate. No, what matters are the rules, and rule #1 of the Lost Cause Ranch is no men allowed. That rule protects the women she takes in. Along with her Granny and her best friend, a lesbian named Andy Two Bulls, Sam has reformed thirteen women the rest of the world had written off as lost causes. Fourteen, if she counts herself. Sam hides behind her rules to escape a past she can’t forget. She can't have Baker on her land, no matter how much she might like him. No men. That’s the rule.
But when she catches Zack camping on her property, she decides to give him one more chance. And Zack steps up to the plate, fitting into Sam's life—and her bed. But when a prairie fire threatens them all, will Zack stand by her side or will her rules keep her safe?
Excerpt from The Wannabe Cowboy
The smoke was coming from a spot about a thousand yards away. Sam swung off Stitch and got her rifle. Moving silently, she crept through the grass and up over a low rise.
The fresh scent of coffee hit her nose about the same time she saw the tent about fifty feet away, right next to the creek. Campers? This wasn’t a national park. No camping allowed. Or had the tourists not seen the “No Trespassing” signs every fifty feet back on the fence?
A man came out of the tent wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. Plaid, she guessed. He stood up and stretched in the early morning light. His bare chest was right at eye level.
Whoa. Maybe she did need to get out more, because the prospect of a mostly naked man was making her a little lightheaded. It’s not that she didn’t see shirtless men—Heaven kept her all up-to-date on what the latest Hollywood hunks were doing—but this was different. When she saw a hot dude shirtless on the TV, she didn’t think much of it. Now, here, face to face with a real man’s real chest, she felt…funny.
Aware.
She blinked against the brightening light, but the image didn’t change. Broad shoulders led to long arms. His chest was smooth but he had more than enough muscles. The sight of that chest made her own tighten. The legs weren’t bad, either. Not scrawny chicken legs, but not the tree trunks that came on some of the local cowboys. No, he was well-proportioned. Good looking. He was—
Shucking his shorts.
Her mouth dropped open at the sight before her. Whoa.
Good morning, sunshine, was all she could think. Then the guy pivoted. Hell.
Sam flattened herself against the ground. What would he do if he caught her watching? She had no idea what kind of man was squatting on her land. Not a Gunderson, that much she was pretty sure about. Gundersons didn’t make her feel all funny, shorts or no shorts. But that left the field wide open between tree-hugger and psychopath.
She hugged her rifle, waiting. Agonizingly long seconds passed as she wondered whether or not a naked man was about to jump her.
The grass was quiet, but the water started talking to her. She heard the splash of the creek. He was swimming?
She leaned up. He was swimming, all right. She could just see a curved set of cheeks disappear in her creek. He ducked his head under the water and then began to…shampoo? Really?
He was taking a bath at, what? Six in morning? That creek couldn’t be much above sixty-five degrees. She was staring. But he was naked in her water. Staring seemed like an even trade-off.
His back matched his front, strong without being muscle-bound. And she’d already gotten a good look at everything else. A well-built man, no doubt about it.
He started out of the water, and she couldn’t help but look. How cold had that water been?
Cold. But he was still impressive.
She shook her head. She was staring at a naked man, and she hadn’t even had her coffee yet.
He wrapped a towel around his waist, shook the water from his hair, and lifted his face to the sun.
She gaped in silent shock.
Baker. Zack Baker was naked. In her creek. On her land.
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