Rocky Mountain Romance (Six Pack Ranch) (25 page)

“She’s gotta go now, Steve,” a female voice said in the background, and the next thing he heard was a click.

He put his phone away, still chuckling to himself.

Chapter Seventeen

“We had another complaint today.”

With one fell swoop, Tom knocked the shine off her day. It was getting to the point she hated to stop in at the clinic at the end of the day.

Things were off and on with the ranchers. It had been three weeks she’d been working on her own, which was long enough for some of them to stop whining and get over it. It was long enough some of them needed to step out of the way when she drove into their yards because she was tempted to run them over.

She hadn’t expected everyone to fall in love with her. There were years of hero worship for Mathis involved—she got that, she really did. The man had done amazing things for so many of the locals; the fact she was a woman wasn’t the biggest complaint. It was the fact she wasn’t Mathis.

And then the
next
complaint was she was a woman.

Doing the job well should have been the most important criteria on everyone’s mind. There could be no questioning her work, so the constant attempts by Tom to undermine her confidence by making comments about how upset and bitter people were? Was getting really old.

Enough. “Write it down and leave it on the desk. I’ll look at it in the morning to see if there’s any merit to it.”

Tom made a rude noise. “That’s not how it works. If someone complains,
you
don’t get to decide whether they’re right or wrong.”

“Actually, in this case I do.” She folded her arms and offered him the most deadly glare in her arsenal. The one that said
don’t fuck with me, I’m on the edge
. “Mathis put me in charge. You know damn well some of these ranchers complain just to hear their own voices. If there’s something seriously wrong, I have no problem trying to make it right. But it’s not worth any more of our time to listen to them whine because they’re upset Mathis isn’t here for the first time in years.”

Please, God, let him drop it.

No such luck. Tom was like a wall of annoying. “What if I happen to think some of them have merit? The complaints, that is?”

Jeez. This got more exciting all the time. “Well, I suppose we can discuss it. But again, Mathis put me in charge of the large-animal work, and you don’t know what I’ve been doing in the field, so you can hardly judge if a complaint has merit or not. Unless you’ve got an issue with something else?”

Her determination to keep him in line seemed to shock him, and he paused.

Only to change topic.

“Yes, I have a complaint. Don’t try to do my job as well as your own,” Tom demanded. “Since it seems obvious you’re not capable of completing the tasks required for the job Mathis gave you, I don’t appreciate you butting in on the clinic work as well. You should focus on your own job and try to at least be semi-competent so that by the time Mathis gets back, he still has a clinic to come back to.”

It was a hard challenge to not sputter in response. Melody took a deep breath and calmed herself best she could before responding. “Okay, tell me. What specifically was the complaint?”

“Number one complaint is you’re late. It’s a huge inconvenience to the ranchers when you’re not there on time.”

Good grief.
The only time she knew for sure she’d been late was that first day with Dalton, and since then there’d been nothing but the usual small delays that were always a part of the routine. “I swear I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Simpson. Called and shared he didn’t plan to pay the vet-visit fee since you put him out so badly. I assured him it wouldn’t happen again.”

Her blood pressure was rising rapidly. Bullshit. “What do you mean you
assured
him? I didn’t do anything wrong. It might’ve taken me an additional ten minutes to get to the barn where he had his horses. He had them in the only barn on the property you can’t get to even with a four-wheel-drive truck, and he didn’t leave me an ATV—I had to wade through a damn stream. Plus, I waited for him for thirty minutes at the main barn before anyone bothered to tell me where he was. I can’t get where I need to go unless I’m told. I’m not a mind reader.”

Tom seemed to change the topic, but it was the same thing all over. “I’d appreciate it if you’d stop implying to the pet owners who use the clinic that I’m incompetent. You keep going on and on about how Mathis left you in charge of the large-animal work. Well, he left me in charge of the small animals, and it’s very difficult to have clients confident with a treatment I suggest when they want to ask
your
opinion to double-check my diagnosis.”

Melody’s jaw must’ve been hanging loose in the wind. Okay, maybe this was the root of the real problem. Tom was pissed that people didn’t know he was in charge in the clinic?

“Who did that to you? That’s not right—and if you have anyone who’s been an issue, let me know and I’ll talk to them.”

He shot her yet another dirty look. “You’re not listening. That’s the biggest trouble in the first place. That, and the way you want to put your stamp of approval on anything I do. “

“I can see a few people whose animals I took care of as soon as I got back might want to speak with me.” Melody was flabbergasted, and for once felt a touch of sympathy for the man. “Honest, Tom. I’m sorry you’ve had to put up with that, and I’ll help however I can, but I guess it’s like me having to deal with some crazy attitudes. We just have to do the best job possible, and in the end, they’ll see we’re competent.”

Tom grunted then turned toward the door.

She attempted one final peace gesture. “Do you need me to—?”

“Nothing. I need nothing from you.” He spoke quietly, the threat of fury in his voice. “I don’t need some half-grown child telling me how to do my job, and I’ll thank you to try and keep your nose out of trouble until Mathis gets back. Rest assured I’m going to make sure he knows exactly how rude and overbearing you are.”

If her jaw had been hanging open before, Melody was sure it was now on the floor, along with the rest of her head that had burst free from her shoulders and exploded in response to the unwarranted attack.

Whoever said teenagers were angsty hadn’t seen Tom on a bad day.
Christ
.

She gathered her things and escaped to her house at the back of the yard, wondering what had set Tom off this time that he wasn’t sharing with her. Was it more than the clinic or his bad attitude? Maybe she needed to schedule a sit-down with him, maybe give him some of the large animal jobs…

And then she was mad at herself for trying to figure out a way to placate him because, dammit,
she
wasn’t responsible for making Tom happy. She wasn’t responsible for
anything
but herself and her job, and she was doing a good job. More than that, she’d been building a good life outside of work.

Worse than frustrating, it was infuriating as hell to discover that being tossed a bunch of shitty attitude was enough to make her start going back over the events of the past few days to see where she possibly could have gone wrong.

She hadn’t trusted herself. She’d begun to search through her words and actions to see if there was any truth in what Tom had accused her of.

Agitation flared, and she paced the small kitchen area like her pants were on fire. She grabbed her keys and whistled for Charlie, heading out the door with a cloud of brimstone floating around her head.

She needed to burn off some energy, and she knew exactly where to go.

Steve was sitting on the front porch playing his guitar when Melody’s truck appeared in the distance. The thick line of dust rising behind it warned him she was coming in hot, and he laid his guitar aside and approached the stairs.

The door slammed as she exited the vehicle and stomped toward him, fire in her cheeks that made her whole face come alive.

He hoped whatever had pissed her off wasn’t him. “You okay?”

“Stupid, goddamn bastard, and the whole entire, freaking, insane, judgmental…” She stopped in front of him, passion blazing from her eyes as she jammed her fists against her hips. Her chin lifted high as she stood before him vibrating with energy.

That was part of an answer. “I take it someone pushed the wrong button.”

She caught the front of his shirt and jerked him forward. Well, as much as she could jerk him forward considering he outweighed her by a lot.

“Fuck me,” she demanded.

That was out of the blue. “What the hell?”

She narrowed her eyes as she stepped in close enough they touched, one leg jammed between his so she was riding his thigh. “I am so mad right now I want to shoot something, or punch someone, or just goddamn
rip
something apart with my bare hands. I’m not going to do any of those things, but if I don’t burn up this energy, I’m going to explode.”

“So you want to fuck.” Steve thrust a hand into her hair to tilt her face toward him. “Sounds like you’re using me, sweetheart.”

“You want to argue about fucking me six ways to Sunday? I don’t think so. Consider it an on-the-job perk. You’re my therapist, and I need a really good bitch session.”

She all but jumped up his body, wrapping her legs around his waist and clinging tight as she jammed their mouths together.

Hell, yeah.

He could work with her wild passion, but he had plans. She was on fire? He was going to direct the burn. In the end, both of them would be more satisfied than just falling into bed for a fast fuck to get her mad out. When he finally heard her call out in pleasure later, there would be nothing on her mind except him.

Nothing but
them
.

First he kissed her. He took her lips and accepted her response, and made it all about driving the flame higher. She was like a wild cat, scratching his shoulders with her nails as she nipped at his lip. Thrusting her fingers into his hair and keeping their mouths together.

He worked to slow her, stepping toward the house and spinning them until he could press her to the exterior wall. Trapping her between the solid wood and his body.

Her gasp of pleasure broke through his rising desire. The way she shuddered under his touch as he slipped a hand behind her head and directed her lips to meet his—her response caught his attention like a four-alarm siren.

Steve held her back when she would have rushed forward. Taking her lips for a brief, hard kiss before lowering his mouth to her neck and sucking. Leaving a mark as he rocked against her and let her feel exactly how turned on he was.

She dragged her lips free, words escaping in brief puffs. “You going to fuck me right here?”

“Nope.”

She groaned in protest, squeezing her thighs in an attempt to rub them together. “Damn you.”

“I’ll fuck you,” he promised. “But why rush? I owe you some orgasms.”

Melody fisted her hands in his hair and tugged. “Don’t patronize me, buddy.”

Wow, she really was pissed. He jerked her from the wall and headed for the front door. “You think me offering to make you come is patronizing?”

“Settle down, little woman. It’s all in your head…”

Steve laughed. “It’s all going to be in your pussy. My tongue, my fingers. My cock. I’ll use anything I need to fuck that attitude right out of you.”

She clung to his neck, eyes wide as she stared at him. The edge of her fury was gone, replaced by rising desire. “Do it. Right now,” she ordered.

Funny how she still thought she was the one in charge. “When I’m ready.”

She swore at him. Dirty, filthy words that only made him smile as he carried her down the hall to his bedroom. He held her so she couldn’t escape, and when he reached the door, he jerked to a stop to get her attention.

“You nearly done?”

“Fuck you,” she muttered.

“Ah, no. I don’t think we’re quite there yet.” He pulled her arms from around her neck and threw her toward the bed.

Melody hadn’t finishing bouncing when he landed squarely on top of her. She tried to scramble away, but he was too heavy and he was too sneaky, sliding along her arm until he could wrap his fingers around her wrist.