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Janice's face flushed a deep crimson as she hastily covered herself with her hands, frantically searching for something to shield her exposed body.
Rusty looked about for a towel, but couldn’t find one, so he quickly unbuttoned his plaid shirt and passed it over the screen to Janice.
Hastily, she put it on and buttoned it up then came out of the cubicle. The shirt came down past her thighs, and truth be told, she looked damn gorgeous in it. She used to wear his shirts around the house when they were dating, and he always found it inexplicably sexy.
Now, Rusty's gaze lingered on the curves of her silhouette, and he couldn't help but notice how attractive she still was after all these years. He felt a pang of guilt for intruding on her privacy, but still, he had to get to the bottom of this.
“So?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
Janice wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes darting around the room as if seeking an escape route. "I needed a place to stay," she whispered, swallowing hard. "Just for a little while. I didn’t know you were here, Rusty. Do you . . . do you live here . . . with a Little?"
Rusty gritted his teeth together. “I live here, yes,” he said, purposefully not replying to the second part of Janice’s question. “I work as a horse wrangler here on the ranch.”
“I see,” said Janice, her eyes full of so much sadness it was almost unbearable. “Well, Rusty, I’m not sure what to do right now because you . . . weren’t part of my plan.”
Rusty arched an eyebrow. “What was your plan?”
“I was just hiding out in here for the night. This morning, I need to go and see Chuck. When I saw this little washroom, I thought it might be sensible to freshen up first.”
Rusty frowned, trying to process the information as he rubbed the back of his neck. Janice’s presence brought up a whirlwind of emotions he'd buried for years. He should have been furious at her sudden reappearance, but instead, he found himself concerned about what had driven her here. Chuck had said he turned her away. What trouble could be so bad that would lead her to go against the Ranch owner's wishes.
"I don't understand," he said, his voice softening despite his best efforts. "Why are you here? Why didn't you go to your father? Or anyone else?"
Tears threatened to spill from Janice's eyes, and she shook her head, unable to meet his gaze. "I can't go to my father, Rusty. I just can't. And I don't have anyone else. Or anywhere else."
Rusty exhaled slowly. His gut churned—it had been so long since he'd seen her, but his protective instincts were so strong he couldn't ignore them. Still, he knew he should keep his distance. Janice was clearly not happy to see him. "Alright," he said reluctantly. "I’ll take you to Chuck. But he won’t be happy aboutwhat you did. Sabotaging the ranch's fence ain't the best way to make a good first impression."
Janice nodded, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "I know," she whispered, finally looking up at him with tearful eyes. "I didn't want to. I just had no choice." She pursed her lips. "Thank you, Rusty." She took a step toward him, reaching out as if to hug him.
Immediately, he became overpowered with the smell of her. Rainwater and hay and earth, but on top of that, there was an even stronger smell. A smell that was all Janice. She smelled of sunshine and wildflowers mixed with just a hint of her favorite lavender perfume.
The moment he smelled it, memories overwhelmed him. Memories of moonlit rides through the fields, of whispered promises under the stars, and of a love that had once burned bright between them. He remembered the scent of her hair as she rested against his chest after a long day on the ranch, and the shape of her body as they made love. The curve of her bottom as he spanked her, and the soft moans she'd made as he mastered her again and again.
Rusty stepped back, not letting Janice hug him, then clenched his jaw.
“Right,” he said. “Let’s go see Chuck. Grab your things.” He paused, looking down at the blood on the floor of the shower. “Janice, are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Janice’s lips trembled for a moment, but she quickly tried to mask her emotion. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just a little scratch.”
Rusty frowned. “All that blood for a scratch?”
Janice shrugged. “Looks worse than it is.”
“Show me,” Rusty instructed her.
Janice shook her head.
Knowing that he had no right to pry, Rusty said, “Alright. We’ll get you checked out by the medic after we’ve been to see Chuck, okay?”
“Okay,” said Janice, her emerald eyes blinking at him, momentarily distracting him with their dangerous beauty.
She went off to get her backpack, which she’d hidden under a pile of hay, and Rusty tried his very, very best not to check her out as she walked across the barn in his shirt.
They walked across the ranch grounds toward the main house. Rusty noticed that Janice walked slightly hunched, with a faint limp in her step, likely from the discomfort of sleeping on the barn floor.
Janice wasn’t his responsibility, but since Rusty had been the one to find her, and since they used to date one another, he felt somehow like hewasin charge of her safety.
Don’t get too close, he reminded himself.You need to make sure Chuck says no to letting her stay.
