“As much as I want to, unless you’ve got a condom in your pocket, we should probably maintain a safe distance.” Rowdy put his hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it. “Oh, fuck it. We can keep the underwear on and see what happens.”
“I’m good with that.” I smiled.
◆◆◆
ROWDY
“Wake up, sleepy head,” I whispered into Sierra’s ear.
She and I had only been asleep for a few hours and I knew she had to be just as exhausted as I was, but we needed to be at Marcus and Reagan’s house in an hour.
Sierra sat up with a jolt and shoved me off the bed.
“Unghh,” I groaned as I tried to take a breath.
“What the fuck?” Sierra’s face popped over the edge of the bed and she stared at me. “I’m so sorry, Rowdy! Oh, my God!”
“Where did that come from?”
“What?” Sierra asked as she jumped off the bed and stood between my legs, holding her hand out as if to help me off the floor.
“That ninja shit. One second, you were dead ass asleep and the next, you did some kung fu shit and knocked me on my ass.”
Sierra shrugged and pulled me to my feet.
“Well, alright then. Dynamite in a small package, check.”
“I usually don’t sleep very soundly, so things don’t really get past me. But I opened my eyes and you were just there.” Sierra shrugged and reached up to run her hands through my hair to check for bumps. “Did I hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” I reached up and took her wrists in my hands. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Sierra blushed. Honest to God blushed. It was the cutest fucking thing I had seen in my life.
“Good morning, handsome.”
I leaned down and kissed her softly, our hands between us.
“Want to hop in the shower while I make coffee? We can swing by your place and get a change of clothes on the way to pick up the girls.”
“Why don’t I make coffee while you shower, then we go to my place and I’ll shower and dress?”
“But if we do that then I won’t get to imagine you naked in my bathroom.”’
“If we get this shit done and figured out, I’m going to be naked in your bathroom every morning.”
“Well, there’s that.” I laughed and kissed her again. “Make the coffee strong. I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night.”
“I’ll do that.” Sierra stood there staring at me, so I finally turned around and walked toward the bathroom. When I turned back to say something, I caught her staring at my butt. Her eyes darted up to my face and she blushed again before she rushed out of the room. “Sorry.”
I took the quickest shower on record and came out of the bathroom to find that Sierra had already made my bed, sorted my laundry into piles, and had a mug of black coffee waiting for me on the nightstand.
Damn, I thought to myself. I could get used to this shit.
◆◆◆
SIERRA
I walked around Rowdy’s house aimlessly, finding out all sorts of information about the man without asking a single question. He only had two day’s worth of laundry in the hamper, meaning he took care of his chores without them piling up. The kitchen was spotless and everything was organized perfectly - even mostly in the same places I would have put things myself if it was my kitchen.
There wasn’t a speck of dust on the furniture or a thing out of place in the house... until I opened the other door in the hallway and found Leia’s bedroom.
It looked like a tornado had come though and wrecked the place leaving clothes strewn everywhere. There were piles of clothes all over the room, barely anything hanging in the closet, and one entire wall was covered in pictures.
There were horses, rock bands, country music stars, and pictures of Rowdy and Leia tacked here and there amid the famous people. Some of the pictures looked like they had been pulled out of travel magazines - I assumed they were places Leia wanted to visit someday.
Piles of papers, stacks of books, and the occasional stuffed animal took up every flat surface in the room and the bookshelves were stuffed full of figurines of horses and other animals that were so perfectly detailed I had to step in and take a closer look at them.
I wasn’t sure where she had collected the figurines, but I could tell at a glance that they were worth a fortune. They were hand-painted, most of them wooden, but some of them made of clay - every single one of them detailed to perfection. As I glanced over the shelves, I saw horses, cows, a few goats, some cats and kittens, a dog or two, and even a polar bear. They went from a little turtle the size of my thumbnail to a peacock with his feathers splayed out that was bigger than my hand.
“Are you ready to go?” I heard Rowdy ask from behind me.
I jumped and spun around as if I had been caught breaking into his safe.
“Sorry!” I sputtered as I tiptoed my way through the mess of the bedroom to get back through the bedroom door. “I was just looking around and saw the figurines on the shelf.”
“Oh, Leia loves those,” Rowdy said. “Her room is a fucking mess, but that’s just not a battle I’m willing to fight. I finally decided that she’s perfect in every other way; being a slob can just be her only flaw.”
I laughed and shook my head, wondering how such a neat freak of a man didn’t go nuts knowing what was just behind that door.
“Where will Lexi sleep?” I asked, looking at the other two doors in the hallway.
“We have a guest bedroom that can turn into hers. My dad stays in there when he comes to visit, but we can move his stuff into my work room.
“Work room?”
“Yeah,” Rowdy pointed to one of
