Free Ablaze: Erotic Romance by Morgan Black Page A

Luke, one of the
newest additions to our staff. I was slightly on edge that he was
the one taking me out to the hunting cabin, but I knew that Fred
was too old to make the trip, though he would never admit it.
    I had been watching Luke for the two months
he had been working with us. I hated to admit it, but a small crush
had formed. Luke was tall and robust, and easily filled out our
ranch uniform. I could tell he had done manual labor most of his
life by the state of his muscular build. Whenever we had
encountered one another on the property he would always tip his hat
and say, “Good morning,” or “Good afternoon,” but he never extended
the conversation. Sometimes conversation doesn’t matter,
though.
    Occasionally I would catch him stealing
glances at me while working. Once, when I was brushing down a
horse, he stood by the stall, placing feed in one of the buckets
for an extremely long time. Admittedly, I had taken some extra time
to brush the horse as well, giving him a nice glimpse of my ass in
my riding pants. Luke was gorgeous with gray eyes and shaggy brown
hair, but he was completely off-limits. I was all right with that
as long as I didn’t have to have any direct interaction with him,
but today fate had decided to intervene.
    “ Ahh, miss.” Fred tipped
his head slowly in my direction. “Luke here was just finishing up
with the snowmobile. It appears that one of them is not working.
I’m afraid you’ll have to ride together.”
    I rolled my eyes. I was already annoyed that
I had to have chaperone, but now I had to hug onto Luke the hunk
for next three hours in the freezing cold. “Fred, why don’t I just
go alone?”
    Secretly, I was looking forward to holding
onto Luke for the next several hours, but I couldn’t show that.
    “ Your father has highly
discouraged you from riding by yourself, miss. And you know I have
to agree. These woods can be dangerous at this time of year, you
never know what you’ll come across.”
    I bit the inside of my cheek. I would’ve
fought harder with Fred over this issue, but I knew he wouldn’t
disobey my father even though sometimes I felt like Fred was more
of a father to me than mine really was. Fred and Linda had come
into our lives when my mother got sick, I was around six at the
time. When she passed away only two years later they became
surrogate parents. My father locked himself in his office for over
a year, working on building up the ranch. He had been wildly
successful and we were rich, but with money not with love. Not to
say that my father didn’t love me because I knew in his own way he
did, it was just difficult for him to show it. Fred, on the other
hand, had always been there for me, cheering me on as a child and
supporting from the outside as I became an adult. In his eyes I was
still “Little Miss,” his princess. Linda had kept me fed and warm,
and cleaned my boo-boos as a child. I still felt the need to say
good-bye to her every time I left the house, even if it was just to
go for a ride on one of the horses. They took care of me and my
father provided for me, I was lucky.
    “ Fine,” I finally agreed.
Luke looked up from his work, his gray eyes meeting mine under his
chocolate bangs, a smudge of grease underneath his chin. When our
eyes met there was a magnetism there that neither of us could deny.
I could stare into those gray pools for hours and that worried
me.
    Why did I think Luke was so dreamy when I
was on my way to see Collin?
    Fred broke into my concentration, “The cabin
should be prepared for you, miss. We sent a worker there yesterday
to stock the cabin for the next few days. Now remember, your cell
phone won’t work out there, but there is the landline. The electric
should keep the place nice and toasty for you and your companions.
Is there anything you’ll be needing for your journey?”
    “ No, Fred, thank you. Luke,
are you ready to go?”
    “ Just about. I need to get
my pack, miss.”
    I squinted my eyes at him in