Heart of Passion: Love Me Right, #2

By Bridgette Tell

A Fiery Computer Analyst.

A Determined Cowboy.

A Week of Pampered Bliss.

Mary-Ann is over men. A year after divorcing her no-good husband, she is ready to start focusing on what she wants. And what she wants is a glass of wine, a hot bubble bath, and to be left alone. Especially by the resident sexy cowboy who seems to pop up everywhere.

Jake doesn't want easy. After a successful run of team-roping with his cousin, he is ready to hang up the saddle. The only problem is, he doesn't know what he wants to do next. He had hoped the Oh So Good Spa would give him the peace and quiet to figure it out. Instead, he's to busy trying to figure out how to get into his sexy neighbor's bubble bath. With her in it, preferably.

There is plenty of tension, a saucy mouthed heroine who thinks she's too broken for love, a cowboy ready to commit to the next adventure, and plenty of steamy pages to keep you turning the page. Welcome to Black Diamond Alberta, where the summers are hot and the cowboys are hotter.

*Warning: Explicit content and a happy ending that will have you burning hot!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bridgette Tell
• Release date: Dec 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781999034511

Book preview

To my brother, who doesn’t understand how a man can love baths and be considered manly. May I just point you in the direction of the guy I love who also happens to love baths...

You know who he is…

CHAPTER 1

Mary Ann

DESPITE IT BEING only two in the afternoon, in the middle of the workweek, my sister’s email kept popping up in my mind.

Urgent!

I shake my head again. No Mary-Ann. Keep your mind on the moment. That’s what the self-healing book I had just started reading last month kept reiterating.

And yet, the subject line to my sister’s email kept teasing me in the corner of my work desktop. It would be so easy to quickly pop it open. I had already finished this week’s assignment—two days early.

Grimacing, I glance at the clock again.

Ah, what the hell. I was single and free and I could do whatever the hell I wanted. My ex be damned.

With that in mind, I take a deep breath, forcing my heart to slow as I click open the waiting email. One last glance around the office confirms that no one is watching. Good.

I scan the email quickly, then gasp. My family meant well. With four sisters and a little brother, I’d never really felt alone. Except for that brief time.

Wincing, I quickly scrub my mind of his face and focus instead on my younger sister’s email.

Kitty was sweet and had just moved in with her boyfriend Matt. He was nice and treated my sister like gold. I didn’t like how quick she had fallen for him, but over the last months of summer, I had to admit that he wasn’t that bad.

The way he watched my sister brought up memories of mom and Dad. Dad always had a twinkle in his eye when he was in the same room as mom.

Holding onto that memory, I quickly forward the email to my personal account and shut everything down. One last glance around the office confirmed no one had noticed. Thank god.

Taking another deep breath, I trudge through the rest of the sunless, air-conditioned afternoon answering HELP emails. Some days I wished I didn’t work in this small cramped building in downtown Edmonton. And then I remind myself to get over it. You have a job, Mary-Ann. You are wanted, Mary-Ann. You are valued, Mary-Ann.

Hours later I blink up at the clock and realize it is already five past five. Blinking again, I stretch my aching arms and back. Sure enough, the office was quiet with the occasional clack of keys breaking the silence.

Yawning, I clean up my desk before heading out the door. The evening sun, still high above me, warms my too cold face. Taking a deep breath of city air, I smile for the first time today. It wasn’t perfect, this life, but it was good enough.

With that, I begin the long walk down the winding city streets, then through the sleepy residential area that sat waiting for its university courses to start up in the coming fall.

Passing by one of the frat houses, I couldn’t help but smile at the big, shiny house. Too many Friday nights had been spent there drinking and dancing and laughing at the boys. I had been so innocent then. Before Aaron.

I shook my head. Damn it, that was at least the second time the rat bastard had popped up in my thoughts today.

There was only one answer to get rid of him.

Smiling, I almost float my way home with contentment.

Tonight definitely called for a bath and a glass of wine.

As I walk up the short sidewalk to my childhood home, I feel a twinge of resentment.

God. At twenty-seven I should have my own house, a job I love, maybe even be dating the eligible men.

Instead, I was back to living at home.

Trying not to think about it, I walk inside and am greeted by the smell of roasting chicken.

Eric turned around from the stove, giving me a nod.

My baby brother is so grown up. Already fifteen. I remembered when he was still a baby, chubby cheeks and bring brown eyes watching me with love.

I’d noticed that recently, the nods and the shrugs. I missed the hugs he used to give so freely. But at fifteen going on thirty, he didn’t have time to give his big sister a hug anymore.

What are we having for supper? I ask as I give him a quick pat on the shoulder, pouring myself a tall glass of Apothic Red.

Roast chicken. Baked potatoes. Gravy. Caesar salad.

Sounds delicious.

He didn’t smile but his eyes lit up. He nodded at the wine before continuing, It’ll be another hour or so.

Giving him a smile and a nod, I ruffle his hair quickly before walking back out of the kitchen. Eric knew me so well.

Once in the bathroom, I set my glass down and open up my special drawer. The scent of eucalyptus, mint, roses, and lavender hit me all at once. My eyes almost water as my heart already slows down to a calm steady beat.

Yes, a bath.

I rummage through the Lush bath bombs until I find the big heart in the back. I had been saving this one for a special night.

Glancing at my phone, beside my glass of wine, I shrug. What the hell, tonight is a special night.

Making sure to adjust the taps, I start the water before running to my room to grab my silky nightgown and big fluffy bathrobe.

Hot pink.

I’d never pick such a bright colour for myself, but my youngest sister Saphine had gifted it to me last year. She had gotten a hell of deal on it because she did some modeling for the company.

I rush back to the bathroom in time to turn off the taps. Running my fingers through the water, I sigh at the biting heat, just this side of scalding.

Perfect.

I drop the heart into the water, watching in fascination as it fizzed and melted, sparkles and pink bubbling and shimmering, until the whole thing exploded into a pocket full of rose petals.

Giggling, I quickly strip, grabbing my wine and phone. I set the wine in the little cup holder, from my other sister Julia who was happily married with the third baby on the way.

Easing back into the water, I feel all the tension drain out of me.

Yyeeesssss.

For minutes—or hours?—I just lay there and melt.

To soon, the words from Kitty pop in my head.

Blinking, I grab my phone and glance at the email again, still not believing the words.

Hey sis! I seen this pop up in my Facebook and thought of you. It sounds like a lot of fun. No pressure. Love Kitty.

Beneath the words were a picture and a link. The picture is what had gotten my heart beating a little faster.

Oh So Good Spa presents their first ever Single’s Spa retreat. Must be 18 or older.

Following the title was a picture of a half naked girl dancing and some golden boy pulling her into a sauna. The girl looked at the camera, her eyes at half-mast. She looked hot, and happy and carefree.

The image was a tease.

Was I really so helpless that my own sister—my twenty-two year old sister!—thought I needed help to date?

Grimacing, I set the phone aside and take a big swig of wine. I didn’t need her help to find a guy. More because I didn’t want a man.

My heart twitched at that small lie.

Staring down at my pale limbs, rose petals floating around, my heart longed for something.

It had been two years since Aaron and I had separated. A little over six months since the divorce was finalized. And yet, it still felt to soon to consider dating a man.

With another swig of wine, I grab the phone again but this time I hit the link. After a few minutes of scrolling through their website, I have to admit, it’s tempting.

Very tempting.

Two weeks of living in a cute cabin out near the mountains. Hot tubs. Massages. Manicures. Pedicures A personal chef on site.

Biting down hard on my lip until I taste blood, I stare sightlessly down at the water.

On the one hand, if I go, I get two weeks of pampering while being surrounded by other singles.

On the other hand, I’d have to talk to men. And what if they are all a bunch of fresh-faced twenty-year-old’s? I wrinkle my nose at the thought.

Then another thought worms into my brain.

What if I’m the only divorced woman there?

I mean, who in their right mind would want to date a twenty-seven, already divorced woman, who hated where she worked?

And yet…

And yet, the idea of a no-pressure, two weeks to flirt and feel sexy and young again was so tempting. I had let Aaron crush my soul for five years, driving all the fun and happiness out of my body and mind.

I mean, I use to be the girl that took her top off and danced on the table at the bar!

And now? Now, I couldn’t even look a man in the eye without breaking out in shivers of fear.

Ugh.

I open the kindle app on my phone and decide to just read for a bit. I didn’t need to answer the email right away.

To soon, the water is cold and I pull my shrivelled body out, shivering. Lathering myself in some British Rose Body Butter, I dress quickly in my nightie and bathrobe.

A knock at the door stops me in the middle of braiding my long tresses.

Mary-Ann?

I’ll be right down, I call back. Eric stomps back downstairs.

With my hair back, I glance at the mirror.

Mud brown eyes. Almost black hair. A few freckles sprinkled across my nose and cheeks.

Yet, if I look deeper, I see the dark bags under the eyes, the indent between my eyebrows, the lines fanning out from my eyes.

Soon I will be thirty. No career. No place of my own. No sex life.

Nibbling at my lips, I know this wasn’t what I wanted from life. This wasn’t how I had imagined being almost thirty would be like.

Be in the moment.

That’s what the book kept preaching.

I glance back down at my phone and make a split second decision. Pulling up the link, I enter my info and hit send before I can talk myself out of it.

There.

This time when I look into the mirror, I see a bit of that familiar fire from my long ago teenage year’s sparking in my eyes.

October couldn’t come fast enough.

CHAPTER 2

Jake

THE HOT SEPTEMBER sun beat down on us as me and Gentry rode along the fence line. Just another five miles of fence to check. My old mare, Nina, walks slowly, letting Gentry’s smaller mare keep up with us.

Why didn’t we do this in June? I call out to my cousin, though we were more like brothers, having grown up together and all.

He smiles over at me with a lazy grin, before turning back to the triple barbwire fence I’d helped my uncle put up back in high school.

Shit, that was over a decade ago.

Cause some smart ass thought we could pick up an extra fifty grand at the rodeo.

Well, we did, I said with a grin. And it had been a record of a summer, too. Right up until Gentry caught his leg funny when he jumped down on a calf, and had dislocated his knee.

Glancing over at Gentry, I check his bad leg out. Surprisingly, he still wore the brace. Probably because Hannah, his wife, chewed a strip off of him last week when she had seen him riding without it.

Whoa! Gentry calls out.

I pull Nina back, and she stops with a snort. Patting her neck as I hop off, the old girl rolled her eyes at me before nuzzling the bare ground for a few sweet pieces of grass.

Coming over to stand beside my cousin, I grab the loose wire on one side as he grabs the other. Cutting through it, he quickly shortens the one piece. I hand him a bit of smooth wire as he bends his side into circle. I bend mine as well as he threads the smooth wire in between. With a hammer, he pulls it around, tighter and tighter until the wire almost sings.

Before I can turn back to Nina, Gentry braces a hand on my shoulder.

I look up into his bright, laughing blue eyes, not shocked to see that serious glint in them. I take in a deep breath, knowing the words that were about to come but still wishing for another year.

Me and the missus have been talking.

Yeah? I stare past his shoulder, out at the rolling hills, dark green with evergreens and the occasional splash of lighter green.

It’s been a good run, Jake. Never thought we would win ourselves a belt. The corners of my mouth pull up at the memory of last November. Yeah, that had been a good one. But Emma is running around now and Lea will be in preschool in another year already. I don’t want to miss my kids growing up.

I turn and look Gentry in the eye, memories of my own father bubbling up.

I want my kids to grow up knowing their daddy.

My own father couldn’t be bothered, always chasing after the next buckle. The next prize money.

Yeah I know Gentry.

We both nod, there wasn’t anything else to say. We’d been team roping since I was fourteen and he was thirteen. We could read each other’s bodies, each other’s minds with barely a glance.

Almost two decades of rodeoing behind us, it was still bittersweet knowing that chapter had closed on our lives. I’d felt it getting closer when Gentry married Hannah a few years back. The last couple of summers had been hard on him. And with the knee this June, yeah, can’t say I’m shocked.

Disappointed in not ending on higher note.

But I’d get over it.

Letting go of my shoulder, he hops onto his own horse, continuing down the fence line. I follow a step behind, lost in a cloud of longing and disappointment.

I’d always been a cowboy since I was a kid. I knew this was the life for me. But now? With my cousin moving on, and the rodeo lights no longer as appealing as when I’d been seventeen and full of piss and vinegar, I didn’t know who I was anymore. 

The afternoon dragged on into the evening.

Slam.

The mosquito door shook behind me as I push further into my cabin. Leaving my cowboy boots on, I walk over to my fridge and grab a six pack of Coors. My cell phone rests on the counter from this morning.

I keep forgetting the damn thing.

Ever since I updated to one of those smart phones, I couldn’t put it on my holster anymore. And I hated having the damn thing in my pockets.

Glancing around the stone counters, full of pots and dishes, I grimace. One of these days, when I’m not so bone tired, I’d clean this place up. At least I didn’t have to worry about any company coming over, as I usually just went over to the big ranch house where my uncle and cousin lived.

I grab my phone and walk out the back door onto my large porch. Freckles glances up at me from his dog bed before falling back asleep.

Lazy mutt, I grumble.

He just lifts an eye at me, not even wagging his tail. Hard to believe the old dog was already ten years old. Shit, time flew by.

Wiping a hand down my scratchy cheek, I glare out at the rolling hills and the winding river on the edge of my property.

Cracking the first beer, I take a swig before pulling out my phone. I answered a couple a texts from some of my old rodeo buddies about some leatherwork. Something I’d picked up over the years, doing leatherwork for others. I had always been meticulous about my own saddle and reins, and recently I’d expanded and picked up the occasional project for fun. It was hard to find time between the rodeo circuit and ranching with my uncle at Two Pines Pastures. But once winter rolled over the mountains and blanketed the fields with a foot and a half snow, I suddenly had too much time on my hands.

Except next year, I wouldn’t have the rodeo anymore. 

Shit.

Scrubbing a hand over my face again, I adjust my hat and lean back in the porch swing I’d built when I’d first finished building this deck.

I didn’t want to admit to my cousin that I needed the prize money from the rodeos.

Hell, if it hadn’t been for the sponsorship and the occasional prize purse, I’d never have been able to afford this small quarter section when I was only twenty-three.

Over the years I’d put my money into buying supplies as I slowly built my cabin and workshop the way I wanted it.

But now that I was thirty and the place was done, it still felt like something was missing.

Without that extra cash flow from the circuit, I’d have to extend my mortgage. The ranch hadn’t paid well, not that I’d minded. I’d always