Rules of Protection (Tangled in Texas) (Volume 1) by Alison Bliss

Author:Alison Bliss [Bliss, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: witness protection, Romance, country life, Alison Bliss, romantic comedy, adventure, ranch, romance series, bird farm, backwoods, fish out of water, contemporary romance, forced proximity, FBI, Texas, Entangled Edge
ISBN: 9781500885717
Amazon: 1500885711
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2014-08-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

I wanted to kick myself.

Why did I have to fall asleep? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. God, I’m an idiot. Apparently, Jake was too, since he didn’t bother waking me. He must’ve snuggled around me and went off to dreamland himself.

He lay next to me, breathing deeply, all warm and hard. Yep, definitely hard. As easy as it would be to turn in his arms and wake him, I knew Hank would interrupt us soon. That alone made the option unappealing.

With the barbecue this afternoon, it would be a busy morning, though technically, I didn’t have anything to do. No one trusted me to handle anything on my own. I guess I’d follow the boys around and try to help with what I could. It embarrassed me that nobody had any faith in me and spoke volumes as to what kind of character they thought I had.

I wanted to show some usefulness but couldn’t think of anything to do offhand. Then the idiot rooster started crowing, which gave me an idea. What the hell, it was worth a shot.

Jake didn’t feel me leave the bed. I threw on some clothes and quietly scuttled out the door. The sun had barely risen, but I figured Floss was already awake and brewing the coffee. Hank would be up, too, but he was probably still in the bathroom—his early morning ritual.

Close to the barn, something round and dark blocked my path. At first glance, it resembled a pile of horse manure. As I got closer, I realized it was alive and moving. A splotchy black snake with reddish-brown swirls coiled itself into a tight ball, daring me to come closer. I couldn’t tell how long it was, but it had the impressive thickness of a banana. I stayed back, sniffing the air, but didn’t smell watermelon like Jake had said. Maybe I wasn’t close enough, but I wasn’t about to get any closer. Either this snake was unscented, or it was of the scratch-and-sniff variety.

My instincts told me to ask for help, but I didn’t want any of them to think I couldn’t handle the situation on my own. Sure, I could. I just didn’t necessarily want to. But running to Jake would be the spider-in-the-bathroom incident all over again. He would roll his eyes at me and consider me pathetic.

Nope. I refused to get his help this time. I wanted to prove to him—and myself—I was capable of handling this.

Keeping my eye on the snake, I maneuvered around it at a safe distance and grabbed a shovel from the barn. I distinctly remembered hearing Judd say if you cut off a snake’s head it would die. Carefully, I kept my feet and butt pushed back, leaned over, and with a hard jab, I chopped off the snake’s head.

Then I ran.

Holy shit! It didn’t work at all. The fucking snake was still moving. My God, how is it still alive without its head attached? Snakes must be similar to cockroaches, which can live for days without their heads.

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