Travis heard Brady's startled gasp match his own as they both looked in the direction she indicated. In front of him were two of the biggest damn dogs he'd ever seen. Tall, black and built like a duel set of linebackers the dogs stood in what appeared to be a relaxed stance, but the double sets of pearly whites making an appearance stated otherwise. Long, glistening fangs and low, rumbling growls made Travis stagger back a few steps.
"Careful boss, there's another set of trouble right behind us." Brady warned in a whisper. He looked over his shoulder only to be greeted with a carbon copy of the menace that was in front. Four mammoth Great Danes surrounded Brady, himself and their mounts. Travis would have pissed his pants if he wasn't using the fluid to sweat bullets at the moment.
"Now, move nice and slow. If you get back up on your horse, I promise I won't let them make kibble out of your manly bits," the rooftop pixy chuckled.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Travis said, feeling like an idiot as he slowly and not so gracefully made his way back to his mount and threw a leg over. He breathed a sigh of relief when his ass was safely back in the saddle and looking down at the still rumbling pack of great beasties.
"Actually, it was rather enjoyable." She giggled. "But, I assure you, they are very gentle."
Travis snorted. "They don't look fucking gentle."
"Well, if you hadn't come into the yard guns blazing and braying like a drunken donkey, you would have seen a different side of them. It's not my fault you didn't take the time to get properly introduced," she stated in her dogs defense.
Travis noticed all four dogs had taken a seat and were currently looking up at their mistress in total devotion. One of them even had a large pink tongue unfurled.
"Introduced?" Travis asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh-huh." She shifted around and sat with her legs dangling down off the porch. "See, most people actually do this thing where they get acquainted with each other. You know, exchanging of names and usually pleasantries." She smiled down at them. "It's called being polite."
"Who are you, little Miss Manners?" Travis snapped. He was fully aware his behavior was less than perfect, but he didn't need his ears boxed by the likes of her.
She sighed. "But I guess you'd rather follow the caveman path of beating your chest and making threatening gestures. So it's not my fault, nor is it the dogs fault, if all your Neanderthal ways evoke unfriendly attitudes in return."
Brady let out a howl of laughter. "Sorry ma'am, but the boss is a little short in the socializing department," he managed to tell her between spasms of laughter. Soon, the tantalizing tormentor joined in with Brady's contagious chortles which earned them both glares from Travis.
"If you are through?" he said on a snarl. When they both settled down he turned his blazing gaze to the woman.
Since he'd encountered the little spitfire, he felt like he'd been on an emotional rollercoaster. Rocketing up steep inclines of such pure lust and desire, he was positive his zipper and dick would fuse together, only to fly down in barely controlled fits of rage which made him want to throttle the vixen.
The thought of having his hands on her made his emotional grid start chugging right back up to another match of wrestle mania in his pants and the ride would starts all over again. Well, he decided he wanted of this crazy coaster of torture and the best way to douse his over-heated hormones was to find out she was a thief. That would certainly cool his jets.
"I would like to know why you have my cows in your pen," he stated through gritted teeth. "Please," he added reluctantly.
"Nope," she shook her head.
"No? No, what? No, you aren't going to tell me why my cows are in your pen?"
"Oh, I'll tell you why your cows are in my pen," she sweetly drawled, swinging her legs back and forth.
Travis waited, but she sat there smiling down at him swaying her legs to rhythm only she could hear as if she hadn't a care in the world. Anger flashed through him.
"How about you fucking tell me now?" His eyes bored into hers.
She tilted her head to one side. "Are you always this rude?"
Travis caught the slight head bob Brady threw her way and for some reason that pissed him off even more. "Yes, and sometimes sweetheart, I'm worse." He glared at both of them.
"Very well... we'll do things your way then." She straightened up and thumped her chest with her fist. "My name Harley!" she bellowed. "Me own this land! Who be you?"
Brady must have caught wind of his impending wrath and jumped in to draw her attention.
"I'm Brady, ma'am." He eagerly swiped his hat off and ran a hand threw his unruly blond hair. "Brady Kirk, very pleased to meet you." He blushed from the roots of his scalp all the way down to the tips of his work boots. Travis could tell by his goofy grin he was trying desperately to keep from busting out laughing.
"Howdy Brady, nice to meet you." She gave him a fabulous smile which Travis noticed lit up her whole face. As he watched Brady melt into his saddle from her million watt sparkler, he felt the sudden urge to smash his fist into his face. "But you can drop the ma'am," she grimaced. "Just Harley will do." She looked over at him and Travis was momentarily lost in the dazzle. "And you are?"
"The man whose cows you have stolen." Travis recovered enough to reply with an ornery smirk. If she wanted to play games he was all in. He saw a flicker of annoyance blaze into a bonfire of pure temper and those beautiful eyes of hers narrowed.
"Stolen? I didn't steal anything!"
"Stolen too harsh a word for you, baby?" Travis enjoyed watching her eyes grow wide. "How about looted, robbed, pinched, kidnapped or shanghaied? Pick either one, sunshine. They all work for me and will end with you two stepping in the pokey."
"Why you...," Harley's words stalled in her throat. Of all the nerve of this Neanderthal of a cowboy! She wanted to smack the smirk right off his handsome face. She was so angry she could literally spit, and would too if he was a bit closer! "You asshole!" she finally managed to yell.
"That's Mr. Asshole to you darling." The cowboy tipped his hat and gave her a slow easy grin.
Brady cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Adonis turned his head towards him. Brady pointed to the dogs that were now back in full guard mode at the raised voices. One of them broke from the pack and moved slowly forward with hackles raised, teeth bared and growling loud enough to rival thunder. The sight of her pets wiped all the humor off the cowboy's face in a hurry and Harley gloated for a moment, until she noticed his hand inching towards his pistol.
"Don't even think about it!" Harley warned, jumping back to her feet. "The rest of them will kill you before you even finish firing and if they didn't, I sure as hell will!" She turned to the dog easing his way towards the infuriating cowboy. "King, standby!"
At her command the behemoth instantly sat on his haunches and glared up at Adonis, lips still pulled back in a wicked snarl. "I don't know who you think you are, but you are no longer welcome here. Get off my property now or I am going to call the sheriff and have you hauled off, Mr. Asshole." Harley's growl matched the dogs.
"By all means sunshine, call the sheriff. It'll save me from having to call Ethan myself." The cowboy eased himself back in the saddle, crossed his arms and tossed a leg over the horn giving the impression of a man who had all the time in the world. One who had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
"Stop calling me that! I am not your sunshine or am I your baby." Harley's temper flared again, and she struggled to wrestle the evil little demon inside of her who wanted his handsome head on a silver platter.
It seemed the more annoyed she became, the more he enjoyed goading her and the very last thing she wanted to do was give him anything he enjoyed! Well, that wasn't entirely true. There were plenty of things she wanted him to enjoy, namely her, but at the moment all she wanted was to get the Adonis off her property.
Because, despite the fact he irritated her to no end, that little grin of his was still making her heart do flip flops. Taking a few cleansing breaths, she began a different tact and sent her naughty demon into the corner for a much needed time-out. "Listen, I don't know how your cows got here. All I know is they showed up the other morning and made breakfast out of my geraniums."
"They ate your flowers?" Brady asked sending his boss a questioning look.
"I don't see any flowers," Adonis said in a huff as he uncrossed his arms and made a mockery out of looking around.
"That's because your cows ate them!" she yelled as she stomped her foot in frustration.
Oh my God...did I just seriously stomp my foot, thought Harley, completely baffled by her childish behavior. Taking another desperate inhale of air, she tried to calm her more than frazzled nerve endings.
"Yes, they did eat my flowers," she said, happy for once since this conversation began, her voice sounded relatively calm. She looked over at the still lounging cowboy when a thought suddenly struck her. "You owe me seventy bucks worth of flowers, plus feed."
That got his attention. She grinned as her Adonis bolted upright so quickly he damn near unseated himself from the saddle. Well, at least he lost the smug look and didn't look so damn comfy anymore.
"You expect me to reimburse you for stealing my cows?"
Harley sighed. "Listen cowboy, I. Did. Not. Steal. Your. Cows. They came here of their own free will and now that I know you better, I can see why. If I belonged to you, I would be looking for an escape too."
If you belonged to me baby, you wouldn't be out of bed long enough to think about escape, thought Travis. The image of Harley naked with her long raven hair spread out around her, made his cock come to full attention. He gritted his teeth against his aching balls which were so full of lust; he thought his pants might burst open at the seams. He mentally slapped himself upside the head for even letting the image wander into his gray matter.
"Umm...boss? There's also the section of fence we saw down on our way up here, remember? Ten to one says they just pushed it down when they heard the other animals and activity here," Brady interjected.
So encumbered with the thought of Harley's luscious naked body, Travis was having trouble wrapping his mind around anything else. "So...you didn't steal my cows?" He realized too late he'd spoken his thoughts out loud and his little sunshine whooped and clapped her hands in glee.
"Bingo! Give that man a cigar, he finally got it!" She started to do a little jig on top of the roof in celebration. "That had to be almost painful for you, wasn't?"
Travis sighed and lowered his head, shaking it from side to side. This woman, this little terror on two legs, possessed the implausible ability to make him a complete and utter idiot and sent his hormones in a tail spin all at the same time. Where most people wouldn't dare stand up to him or offend him for that matter, this diminutive sex kitten bowled him over, taking pleasure at insulting him. She was a far cry from the women he usually spent time with.
He never really did the traditional long-term dating. Dating insinuated a certain amount of caring to be involved, and though he longed to love someone, he had yet to meet a woman he wanted to spend enough time with to develop a deeper relationship.
But this girl, this girl was dangerous. She set off every alarm he owned, both in his head and in his britches. Where the hell did she come from anyway and why was she even here? And why in the world do I have this perverse attraction to her? Travis glanced back up on the roof and momentarily bathed in the glow of her smile. It then occurred to him that she was still up there.
"Why are you on the roof?" he asked.
"I was checking for leaks before the rain came. This house is pretty old, but seems to be in great shape. I looked at the shingles and other than a few loose ones, I think it will be okay," she laughed. "I might be out of some geraniums, but at least I don't have to buy a new roof."
The charming tinkle of her laugh softly cascaded around him and wrapped him in its warmth. He loved the sound of her laugh, her voice, the sparkle of her eyes....Whoa cowboy! Love? He liked the sound, only LIKED.
Shaking his head to remove the cobwebs, Travis looked up at the crystal, clear blue sky. Other than a slight breeze, it was actually a very pleasant, warm day for late spring in Montana. He'd lived here his whole life and could smell and feel storms in his bones. Right now his body was telling him, well...his body was telling him all sorts of things he would like to do with little Miss Harley, but his mind wondered if she was a bit cracked.
It's not every day a man got insulted from a beautiful woman up on a roof. Maybe she was unstable and just wandered onto this place. Other than Jake and himself, very few people even knew he used this property from time to time. For everyone else, they thought the Stewart place to be abandoned; especially now word of Jake's death had circulated around. Maybe she just wandered onto the property thinking it was vacant. Travis's stomach plummeted unexpectedly at the thought.
"It's not going to rain. The sky is as clear as a whistle," Brady spoke up with a snort. He glanced over at his boss. "City slickers, they just keeping coming don't they?"
"I beg your pardon! I am NOT a city slicker. I grew up on ranches. I cut my teeth in on rawhide practically," Harley sniffed in defiance.
Damn, she was sick to death of chauvinistic mentalities of cowboys. All her life she had to run faster, work harder, push herself beyond most and prove she was better just because she was a girl. It was part of the reason she moved out here to begin with. She wanted a fresh start out of the spotlight, sequins and hotheaded male egos of the rodeo world.
After her accident at the World Championship, Harley longed for a chance to do her first love, which was to breed and train top reining horses. All those years of living out of a horse trailer finally brought her here. The rodeo had been good to her, and because of her desire to be the best, it had been very good to her, but this felt like home.
"So, darling," she dragged out the word, "if I say it's going to rain, you'd better grab a freaking umbrella, start singing and tap dancing like Gene Kelly!" Her words sounded harsher than she intended, but oh well. It's not like they didn't have it coming.
Both cowboys snickered. Men! You can't live with them and it was still illegal to shoot them, Harley thought to herself.
I wanted to take this time to thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this installment of When Roses Collide, and that you'll consider giving it a vote. I can't tell you how much your support means to me and how much it motivates me to keep going.
If you find any errors along the way, don't be afraid to point them out and I always enjoy any recommendations or critiques you may have. As always, I will try and update once a week, but if you don't see an update here, check out my other story Bending Steele. Thanks again!