Barreling Through Christmas: (Sweet Western Holiday Romance) (Rodeo Romance Book 4) Read online

  Randi and Paige each picked one up and cuddled it, rubbing their faces against the orange and cream fur.

  “What are their names?” Paige asked, smiling at the young man.

  He grinned and looked up at her from his seat on the porch step. “George One and George Two.”

  Paige frowned and the cowboy laughed. “I’m just funnin’ ya, ma’am. The one you’re holding is Socks and the other one is Boots.”

  “They are adorable,” Paige said, kissing the kitten on the nose then handing it back to the cheeky young man. He took the kitten Randi handed him and smiled as they continued on their way to the house.

  When they arrived earlier, Paige had been too nervous to notice much about the place. She’d spent the night at Dave and Randi’s house and they insisted she go with them to have lunch with friends, refusing to tell her where they were going. Once Paige figured out they were near St. Paul, she knew they were heading to Joyland Acres and insisted they take her back home.

  Dave refused and Randi laughed at her, telling her to stop acting like a ninny. So she’d been forced into going to see Cooper and Nick.

  Not that she minded visiting Nick in the least. Cooper’s grandfather was kind and full of amazing stories. With his white hair and beard, he really did look like a cowboy version of Santa.

  Inspired with a sudden thought, she pulled out her phone and tapped in notes as they walked down the front walk.

  Randi scowled at her, so Paige finished tapping in a few words then stowed her phone back in her coat pocket. She looked up, admiring the scalloped trim on the house, the wide porch with lanterns hanging across the front, and slate lining the steps.

  Back inside, Cooper showed them where they could wash their hands in a bathroom that used a galvanized water tank for a bathtub and two smaller galvanized tubs for double sinks. Reclaimed barn wood served as a shelf above the sink area, and created a towel rack that hung on the wall.

  “Everything here is so full of history and detail,” Randi whispered as she and Paige washed their hands. “A photographer would have a field day here.”

  “I know.” Paige finger-combed her hair in the mirror and contemplated the best way to broach the subject of doing a photo shoot at the ranch for Elliott’s clothing line. The porch on the house to the fences around the pastures would work so well in the advertisements. She’d figure out a way to get Cooper and Nick to agree later.

  Right now, she needed to get through dessert so they could leave before she did something stupid like allow Cooper to kiss her again.

  Every time she thought of the ardent, heated kisses they’d shared Christmas night on Randi’s porch, Paige’s knees felt weak while her lips tingled in the most disconcerting way.

  Under no circumstances would she allow Cooper to kiss her again. When his lips connected with hers, all she could think about was him. Career goals and aspirations disappeared, while the yearning never to leave the circle of Cooper’s arms overrode all her good sense.

  She and Randi joined Cooper and the other men in the kitchen. Nick poured cups of steaming black coffee while the two women cut the cake and placed it on plates along with whipped cream and raspberries.

  “I can feel my arteries clog as I eat this,” Jimmy said, taking another big bite.

  “If I die, a chocolate-induced coma is a good way to go,” Moe said, helping himself to a second slice.

  Cooper held up a bite on his fork and waggled his eyebrows at Paige. “You can cook for me anytime, PP.”

  Randi choked on her bite of cake. Dave patted her back and grinned. “Paige has a limited repertoire of recipes.”

  She glared at her brother-in-law. “I’m more about quality, not quantity.”

  The men all laughed and finished their treat.

  Soon, it was time to leave. Paige kissed Nick’s weathered cheek and thanked him for inviting them.

  “Come anytime, honey. I’m happy to have you here.”

  She nodded and turned to Cooper. He stood with his hands shoved into his pockets, giving her a strange look she couldn’t quite decipher.

  “So, I’ll see you in a few days, at the office,” he said, not making any move toward her.

  “That’s right. I’ll see you then.” She turned back to Nick. “You’re welcome to come, too, if you’d like.”

  “I might just do that, Paige. Happy New Year to you, honey.”

  “And to you, sir.” She hurried down the walk and out to Randi’s car.

  As she settled into the backseat, disappointment washed over her that Cooper hadn’t even tried to kiss her.

  Fully realizing the direction of her thoughts, she mentally lectured herself all the way back to Randi and Dave’s house.

  If she didn’t get a handle on her crazy crush on Cooper, things would quickly spin out of control. And Paige always liked to maintain control.

  Chapter Fourteen

  How had things spun so far out of control?

  Paige tamped down the urge to stamp her foot in frustration or scream. Instead, she drew on her professional ability to navigate even the murkiest, most unpleasant situations with a show of outward calm.

  “I really don’t think it’s necessary to take more photos of Mr. James. We have everything we need for the preliminary projects.” She smiled at Elliott Flynn and his creative assistant as they sat near the photographer at Connor Creative’s small studio.

  “If Mr. Flynn wants more photos, then let’s give him more photos,” Joe Connor snapped at Paige.

  Cooper had arrived a few minutes before the time she’d designated for his photo shoot. Nick tagged along with him and took a seat at the back of the studio, watching with an unreadable expression on his face throughout the entire ordeal.

  Paige had given Cooper a pair of Elliott’s jeans and one of the shirts the designer had recently decided had to be part of the line, then showed Cooper to a room where he could change.

  He emerged a short while later in the form-fitting jeans and shirt that stretched across his shoulders and outlined his chiseled chest.

  Paige had swallowed the mint she’d been sucking on, too stunned to even cough as Cooper walked up to her.

  “I think a size bigger might be a good idea for the next go-round,” he said as he pushed at the fabric covering his thighs.

  He was correct, of course, that a bigger size would no doubt be more comfortable for him. However, the visual appeal of seeing his bulging thigh muscles in those jeans caused every female in the office to stop what they were doing just to watch him walk down the hall to the photography studio.

  With her mouth as dry as sawdust, Paige followed Cooper, unable to take her eyes off the sight of his rear end in those jeans. She’d known, from seeing him in his regular jeans, the sight wasn’t for the faint-hearted. But seeing it up close, in person… well, it was enough to completely rattle a girl.

  As soon as Elliott arrived and joined them in the studio, the photographer asked Cooper to stand in any number of poses. A few were front views, although several were from the back.

  Props remained minimal in front of a green screen, allowing manipulation of any number of outdoorsy or western scenes to be added in the background later.

  Paige had glanced up from watching Cooper’s every move to see all the girls hovering in the doorway, ogling the cowboy in front of the camera. She thought about shooing them away, but who was she to judge when she couldn’t keep her eyes off him either.

  The shirt Elliott had sent over perfectly matched Cooper’s eyes, making them seem even brighter and more intense. And that intensity would look amazing in the advertisements.

  Elliott’s assistant, a malicious woman named Sloane who was known for chasing after men half her age, leaned over and whispered something to him while eyeing Cooper like a wolf about to devour a lamb.

  “Paige?” Elliott leaned around the photographer to speak to her.

  “Yes, sir?” she moved to stand next to him.

  “Sloane thinks it would be a good
idea to get a few photos of him without his shirt.”

  “But, sir, aren’t we selling your entire clothing line? Not just the jeans? Don’t you think it would be best to have him wear the shirt?” Paige ignored the glare her employer sent her direction. Joe Conner never considered taking the moral high ground, just what the client wanted.

  Still, Paige didn’t know why she was arguing so hard against something she wouldn’t mind seeing. Nevertheless, she didn’t want a room full of women drooling over Cooper. The thought of any woman seeing him shirtless left her edgy and plagued with a sudden bout of anxiety.

  Sloane whispered something to Elliott and he nodded, then turned back to Paige. “Without his shirt.”

  “Elliott, that wasn’t part of the agreement with Mr. James. I wouldn’t want to…”

  Elliott frowned. “No shirt.”

  Paige nodded and took a deep breath, walking over to where Cooper stood with his hands folded across his chest, awaiting further instruction.

  “What’s up?” Cooper asked as she stepped in front of him.

  “It seems Mr. Flynn, mostly his assistant, thinks it would be beneficial to capture a few images of you without a shirt on,” she said in a whisper.

  Cooper laughed. “Seriously? You want me to go all beefcake on you? Why, Miss Porter, what kind of a naughty business are you running here? I’m pretty sure I didn’t sign on for that sort of thing.”

  Paige blushed four different shades of red. “I’m not running any sort of business, Cooper. I’m merely following orders. I realize we didn’t include an agreement about posing without your shirt in the contract, so if you want to refuse, you certainly have that right and I won’t argue.”

  Cooper studied her for the length of several heartbeats. With a wink, he yanked the tails of the shirt from his jeans and gave the front of it a tug.

  Snaps popped open and a collective gasp of appreciation sounded from the women gathered in the back of the room. Paige could feel the heat from the studio lights reflecting off the exposed, tanned skin of Cooper’s chest. She stepped back, afraid if she didn’t she’d reach out and trace one of those impressive muscles.

  “Don’t move!” the photographer shouted, scrambling to capture Cooper. He snapped a series of photos before asking Cooper to remove his shirt in slow motion.

  Paige chewed on her fingernail while her stomach churned. She wasn’t sure if the dizziness about to cause her to faint was from her rigid posture, the fact Cooper was on display in front of the entire office like a rare hunk of mouth-watering meat, or the sight of his bared chest as the photographer posed him in a way that emphasized his already swoon-worthy muscles.

  Unable to remain standing, she quietly moved to a seat near the door, listening to the whispers of admiration from her coworkers.

  “Good grief, Paige! Wherever you found him, I hope there are more just like that.” One young woman pointed as Cooper flexed his biceps.

  The receptionist fanned a stack of papers in front of her face. “Talk about smokin’ hot. I think I need to return all my Christmas presents and send Santa a request for a cowboy.”

  Paige tried not to glower at them as they continued with their comments. Unable to listen to more of their commentary, she walked over to where Nick watched his grandson.

  “I’m sorry about all this, Nick. I didn’t know Mr. Flynn would want so many photos.”

  Nick chuckled. “Aw, it’s okay, Paige. If Cooper didn’t want to do it, he wouldn’t have agreed. Besides, there isn’t a whole lot that embarrasses that boy.”

  She nodded. “Thank you for being understanding, sir.”

  “Don’t give it another thought, honey.”

  Paige smiled at him and then watched as the photographer motioned to Cooper that he was finished.

  “Thank you all for your help,” Paige said, striding back to Cooper.

  Elliott had beaten her to him, pumping the cowboy’s hand with a big smile on his face. “You’re going to do great things for my clothing line, Mr. James. Thank you for agreeing to represent it.”

  Cooper nodded and slipped the shirt back on, although he didn’t bother to snap it closed. “My pleasure, Mr. Flynn. No one has said what the name of the clothing line is, though. I’m kind of curious about it.”

  Elliott glanced at Paige and raised an eyebrow in question.

  “Lasso Eight,” she said, having no idea where the name came from as it rolled off her lips.

  “Lasso Eight,” Elliott repeated, testing it out. “I like it.”

  “Me, too,” Cooper grinned. “Nice work, PP.” He held out his hand and gave her a high-five.

  She returned it and noticed Sloane ogling Cooper’s chest. The desire to poke the woman in her unnaturally green eyes made her tightly clasp the clipboard in her hands.

  “So what’s next?” Cooper asked Paige.

  “We’ll create a series of advertisements from the images today and release them in test markets to gauge reaction to the line. If it’s as positive as we anticipate, we’ll move ahead with our plans for the full campaign,” she explained. She turned her focus from Cooper to Elliott. “I know we haven’t discussed this at great length, but Mr. James and the other models I’ve contracted will be in the area around the Fourth of July. I propose taking advantage of their time in town to do all the photography and shoot the videos then.”

  “That works for me. I’ll be available early in the week, before the rodeo begins,” Cooper said, rolling up his shirtsleeves out of habit.

  Paige wondered how he made even something as simple as that seem incredibly provocative. Most likely, her imagination ran wild with her. “Perfect. I, um… I meant to speak to you about this earlier, but would it be possible to shoot everything at your ranch? The setting would be perfect for the image we’re trying to capture.”

  Cooper shrugged indifferently. “I don’t mind as long as Gramps doesn’t care.” He looked over to where his grandfather waited and motioned for him to come forward.

  “What do you need, Coop?” Nick asked as he sauntered up to them.

  “Paige wants to stage a photo shoot at the ranch right before the Fourth of July rodeo. Will that work for you?”

  Nick smiled. “Sure. That sounds like fun. Do you need us to have anything special ready?”

  Paige shook her head. “No, sir. We’ll bring in any additional props we might need. We’ll most likely be there two full days, but we want to make sure it won’t be a problem for you.”

  “No, honey, it’ll be fine,” Nick said, assuring the group.

  “Great. We’ll get everything scheduled for then.” Paige took a deep, calming breath as Sloane wrapped her arm around Cooper’s and practically glued herself to his side as he left the room to change.

  Paige thought her head might explode while her pulse pounded in fury at the sight of Cooper leaning over to whisper something to Sloane. The woman tossed her long black hair over her shoulder and laughed.

  “Amazon-sized hussy,” Paige muttered under her breath as she watched the long-legged woman disappear down the hall with Cooper.

  “What was that, Paige?” Elliott asked, staring at her.

  ‘It’s amazing how well everything is falling into place, isn’t it, sir?”

  Elliott beamed. “It is. I can hardly wait until next December when the line debuts. Cooper is the perfect representative for Lasso Eight western clothing for men. My, but that has a nice ring to it. Where did you come up with such a great name, Paige?”

  “Oh, it just sort of came to me,” Paige said, smiling at Elliott. “Will you plan to be at the photo shoot this summer?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Elliott air-kissed her cheek, nodded to Joe Connor, and gave Nick’s hand a hearty shake before leaving.

  “Are you gonna let that fancy-pants cougar sink her claws into my boy?” Nick asked as Paige walked him back to the front office waiting area.

  She snapped her head around and glared at him. He chuckled and offered her a teasing sm
ile. “How is Dexter? Did he have a Happy New Year?”

  Unsettled by the older man’s abrupt change of subject, Paige nodded her head. “He spent it with his parents. They live about an hour from here.”

  “I see. Well, honey, I hope you’ll come out and visit sometime before the photo shoot. In fact, I think it does Cooper good to…”

  Both of them watched in stunned surprise as Cooper stepped into the hall with Sloane pressed against him from lip to knee.

  Paige thought she might combust from the anger surging through her. She spun away and gave the older man a curt nod. “Thank you, Nick, but I don’t believe I’ll be making any visits out that way any time soon. Take care of yourself.”

  Before he could say anything, she marched to her office and shut the door with a thud. If Cooper were fickle enough to fall for Sloane, then she wouldn’t waste another moment on him. He deserved whatever he was going to get from the devious woman.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I can do this. I can do this. I can do this,” Paige chanted as she turned off the highway onto the road that led to Joyland Acres.

  She’d be staying at the ranch for the next four days, even though her brain practically screamed what a horrible idea it was. For the purposes of ensuring the shoot ran smoothly, she accepted Nick’s invitation to stay there instead of running back and forth to her apartment or even making the drive from Dave and Randi’s home.

  Paige and the photographer would both arrive early to determine the best place for shots, test the lighting, and get everything in order beforehand. She opted to come this evening and get settled in, then be prepared to jump into work when the photographer arrived.

  Randi had promised to hang out during the photo shoot, but until then, Paige was on her own.

  Hopefully, Cooper wouldn’t be there until late the next day.

  She hadn’t spoken a word to him since she caught him kissing that detestable Sloane back in January.

  He’d called and texted her multiple times in the weeks that followed, but she’d responded with cool, professional politeness.