Riding Tall: Fencing You In Part 15

He looked around for someplace to hide in case Gage had heard the sound and came out to investigate. He hurried to Gage's truck, climbed into the truck bed, and flattened himself.

His heart pounded as he lay against the cool metal, the smell of dirt filling his nostrils and the dust almost making him sneeze. He heard the sound of the front door opening and then boots coming down the porch stairs.

He waited a moment then peered up out of the truck bed and saw Gage's back as he crouched down and examined the ground where Harvey had been standing. At the same time Gage looked as though he was on alert. He was holding a shotgun.

After Gage took a good long look at the ground, he rose from his crouched position. He took slow, deliberate steps as he moved around the house, clearly checking to see if an intruder was there.

Harvey lowered himself back in the truck bed before Gage came back around the house. He waited until he heard the front door close, then waited a little longer before raising his head and looking at the front porch. He saw a movement behind the curtains and knew Gage was watching to see if anyone came out of the shadows. Harvey ducked down again and stayed in the truck bed.

After what had to be an hour or so, Harvey eased out of the back of the truck and hurried to the location where he had parked his own vehicle. He'd parked it away from the main road where it wouldn't be easily seen in the darkness.

The entire trek he plotted the way Gage McBride was going to die.

Chapter 23.

Tess bit her lower lip as she arrived at Gage's ranch Monday morning. She sat in her car, staring at the front door of his home.

Today was her first day working for him after spending the past week wrapping things up at Nectars and the Hummingbird.

Sat.u.r.day night was still vivid in her mind, but once again her belly ached as she was plagued by self-doubt and guilt, too.

It had been long enough since her husband's death that she shouldn't feel guilty being with another man, but for some reason she felt almost as if she was cheating on Steve.

And then there was the fact that Gage wasn't a one-woman man. Maybe he had been once, but the girl he'd loved had hurt him. Badly. Tess didn't know if he could or would leave that pain behind and settle for one woman again.

Could he leave his past behind and settle for Tess? And would that be what it was? Settling?

And she'd gone and agreed to work for him. Was she crazy?

She looked down at her hands that still grasped the steering wheel. Her knuckles had grown white as her grip had tightened, while her mind had turned everything over and over.

A knock at her car window startled her into giving a little yelp. She looked up to see Gage standing beside the car.

He opened the door for her and helped her out. "Everything all right?" He looked concerned.

She took a deep breath and smiled. "Great. Ready for my first day on the job."

He lowered his head and kissed her firmly. Her mind reeled as he deepened the kiss.

When he drew away, she had to take a moment to catch her breath. She shook her head. "No on-the-job hanky-panky between boss and employee."

He grinned. "Is that what this is? Hanky-panky?"

She gave a nod. "Absolutely."

"You'll have a couple of breaks." He gave her a teasing look. "Plenty of time for a few off-the-job activities."

She shook her head. Even with all of her doubts and insecurities, she couldn't help smiling when she was with him.

"Come on in." He nodded toward the house. "We can dig right in."

Tess grabbed her purse and over the shoulder briefcase that she figured she might need for paperwork since she'd be working part-time from home.

As they walked toward his front porch, she looked up at him. "Thank you for this opportunity. It means a lot to be able to spend more time with Jenny."

"No thanks are necessary, Tess." He put his hand on her shoulder as they walked up the porch stairs. "You're doing me a big favor by taking on the position."

She let out a breath. "Now to see if I can do a good job at it."

"You'll do fine." He squeezed her shoulder and when they reached the front door, he held it open for her. "Now stop worrying about it."

"Okay," she said as he closed the door behind them.

They went through the house to his office. "It looks like a tornado went through here," she said as she looked at all of the papers and files piled up on the two desks, nothing looking like it was in any kind of order at all.

He gave her a sheepish expression. "I don't do so well on my own. That's why I needed the position filled."

"It's been a while since I've worked in an office or on computers." She looked at the monitors on each desk. "I hope it's as easy as getting back on a bike."

"No rush," he said. "Take your time getting to know how everything runs in my office and my business."

She nodded. "Where do we start?"

He sat her down behind a computer monitor at one of the desks. The leather chair was comfortable but she had to adjust the position to make the chair higher. Whoever had worked here before her had been much taller than she was. Of course Megan would tease her and say that wasn't hard because everyone was taller than she was. Tess smiled to herself. She didn't mind the teasing.

Gage moved aside stacks of papers and file folders and pulled up a chair beside Tess at the desk. His nearness about sent her brain on short circuit but she forced herself to pay attention as he showed her how to use the software designed especially for businesses like his.

She kept fumbling with the keys on the keyboard and entering the wrong things in the program. When she grew more and more frustrated with herself, he rested his hand on her knee. "You're not going to learn everything in a couple of hours, honey. Just relax and give it some time."

"That's not helping." She looked pointedly at his hand on her knee.

He moved his palm up her thigh and rested it there. "Is that better?"

"Gage." She tried not to react to the thrill it gave her to have his hand on her so intimately. "No hanky-panky while working..."

"I think it's time for a break." He took her hand and brought her to her feet before leading her out of his office. "We'll go to the break room."

She raised an eyebrow then shook her head as he led her into his bedroom.

"Gage-" she started but he cupped the back of her head and captured her mouth hard with his own.

With a soft moan she leaned into him as he kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her close to him, a hard ridge between them.

She pulled away and looked up into his eyes, feeling almost dizzy. "The boss isn't supposed to have an erection when he's with his a.s.sistant."

"Who says?" he murmured before taking possession of her lips again.

This time when she drew away she shook her head. "Was this your break room with your previous a.s.sistant?"

At that he laughed. "Mary doesn't do men."

Tess raised an eyebrow.

"Meaning she's a lesbian." He smiled. "Best a.s.sistant ever, and she had to go off and marry her girlfriend and move."

Tess shook her head. "And now you're stuck with me."

He caught her face in his hands. "I'm happily stuck with you."

"We'll see about that." She looked at her watch. "Break time is over."

He brought her to him again and cupped her a.s.s. "I'm the boss."

She placed her palms on his hard chest. "We're going to treat this like I'm a real employee and not your-your-"

"Girlfriend?" he finished.

She felt her face warm. "I don't know what we are."

"I'll tell you what we are." He rocked her back and forth. "We're a couple. You're my woman and I'm your man."

Her face heated even more. "That's awfully presumptuous of you."

He shrugged. "That's how it is. No sense in denying it."

She stepped away from him. "We'd better get to my training."

"If you're that fired up to get back to work, I guess this will have to wait." He smiled and tweaked one of her short curls.

She nodded. "When I'm on the job-"

"No hanky-panky." He gave a solemn nod but had a hint of a grin and a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Got it."

They went back to work, but his constant nearness made it difficult to concentrate most of the time. His cell phone rang periodically, either employees or customers calling throughout the day. She tried to figure things out on her own when he was busy, but she was having a hard time of it.

"It's a lot to get used to all at once," he said as she frowned in frustration. "Don't expect to learn everything in a few hours on your first day."

It was more than that, though. It was the fact that she'd been away from office work for so long that she felt inadequate. She didn't know if he was humoring her or he was serious. He was right, though. She was probably being too hard on herself.

His cell phone rang once again. This time he frowned as he listened. "I'll be there in thirty," he said. When he disconnected the call he looked at Tess apologetically. "One of my guys had a problem come up and I've got to get out there."

She nodded. "I'd better get home and relieve Mrs. Webb and see my daughter." She glanced at the laptop beside the desktop computer. He'd shown her how the program worked on both and how to sync the data wirelessly. "Do you mind if I take that home and mess around with the software? I'd like to become more familiar with it."

"Sure." He gave her a firm kiss. "Just don't spend too much time with it. You'll have time for that on the job."

"Okay." She slipped the laptop into her shoulder briefcase and grabbed her purse. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Yep," he said. "If that works for you."

She straightened. "I'll be here."

"Good." He kissed her again. "I'll walk you out to your car."

When they reached her car he gave her another kiss, longer and slower this time. The kind of kiss that made it hard to breathe.

"You'd better go." She gestured toward his work truck out by his shop. "You have your emergency."

"And you need to get home to Jenny." He rubbed her shoulder with his palm. He was always touching her, unnerving her. "Once you get everything down, you can work part-time from home and be with your daughter."

That brought a smile to her face as she tilted her head to look up at him. "Thank you again for that. It means so much to be able to spend more time with her and to be there for her whenever she needs me. Not working all kinds of crazy hours at a bar. I just hope I can do this job justice."

"Stop worrying," he told her again. He gave her another kiss and then shut the car door behind her after she climbed in.

She gave him a little wave and she felt his gaze on her as she drove away. She glanced over her shoulder once and saw that he was still watching her.

With a shake of her head she blew out her breath. Her emotions were mixed, all jumbled. Guilt, fear, l.u.s.t, frustration...and something more. Something she wasn't ready to face at all.

Chapter 24.

It was late by the time Gage returned to his ranch. It had been a h.e.l.l of a long late afternoon and evening, after leaving Tess behind.

The woman was right. It wasn't going to be easy to be around her and concentrate on work and not on her hot little body and her s.e.xy smile. Not to mention her warm and generous personality and everything else that attracted him to her.

d.a.m.n, but the woman had him feeling crazy. Crazy for her.

As he pulled onto the dirt road leading to his house, he felt something off. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't place what it was. It was more of a feeling than anything else.

His headlights flashed on the front windows of his house as he pulled his truck up and parked. When he killed the engine the truck lights shut off and there was nothing but darkness. Clouds covered the moon and stars.

He climbed out of his truck, shut the door behind him, and held his keys in his hand. He stepped forward and came to a stop. A bad feeling churned his gut. He listened but heard nothing.

After a moment he continued on to his house. He used his keys to open the front door and stepped inside. When he flipped on the light, shock and anger slammed into his chest as if he'd run full force into a brick wall.