Hot Cowboy Nights (20 page)

Planting her feet on the porch, she inhaled deeply and stopped. This was not Toby’s fault and he deserved an apology. The longest journey she’d ever made in her life was from the front porch, across the yard, and to the big black truck. Toby drew her to him like a magnet with his clear blue eyes.

With her eyes locked with his, she stopped three feet away. “I’m sorry. None of what happened today was your fault. I was upset about my grandmother, and I took it all out on you and that was unfair.”

He opened his arms and she walked into them. “Deke says that a fight doesn’t mean that the relationship is over.”

“I hope not.” She listened to his heartbeat. It represented something steady, true, and dependable.

“Then we are good?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes, we are.”

He ran his knuckles down her jawline and tipped her face up. She barely had time to moisten her lips before his mouth closed over hers. The kiss was different from any they’d shared before. Words could never describe the raw hunger in it. She leaned into it, losing her heart and soul to him.

“After that kiss,” he said when he drew back, “this is about as unromantic as anything can be. But would you like to go with me to do chores and then we could fire up the grill and make some burgers?”

He could have asked her to go face off with the skunk again and she would have agreed. “Yes,” she said. “But I do need to go inside and change clothes.”

“I’ll be waiting on the swing.” He smiled.

That simple smile said they’d taken another baby step in their relationship.

L
izzy stripped out of her Sunday best and tossed it on the rocking chair. She pulled a faded army green tank top from the clean laundry basket and jerked it down over her head. When she opened the closet door to find a pair of faded jeans, she caught sight of her reflection and moaned.

White cotton panties looked downright dowdy.

She opened her underwear drawer to find another dozen pair of soft white hip huggers mixed up with bras and a slip that she hadn’t worn in years. After she’d tossed every one of them out one by one into the clean laundry basket she found one pair of silky bikini panties hiding in the back of the drawer. They were hot pink with black lace trim, and she had no idea how they got there or if they even belonged to her. Maybe Fiona had left them behind when she moved away from Dry Creek and Allie put them there as a joke. It didn’t matter where, what, or who. They were a helluva lot better than white cotton.

It was an important night that warranted something more than plain panties. She’d never had makeup sex before and she wanted it to be special. She removed her underpants and pulled on the sexier ones.

She flipped her hair up into a ponytail and sprayed a bit of perfume on her wrists. Her heart raced as she made her way down the stairs and out onto the porch. What if he wasn’t there? What if he changed his mind? What if that kiss had not affected him like it did her?

Her fears and questions disappeared when he smiled at her from the swing. “You should model for country magazines.”

“You are full of shit, Toby Dawson.”

“Not me, darlin’. I’m speakin’ the pure unadulterated truth here. Put you up next to a brand-new John Deere tractor in an advertisement and I bet the sales for that month would triple. You ready to go check on cows and then do some grillin’?” He settled his hat on his head and crooked his arm.

She slipped hers through it and was only slightly amazed at the quiver in her hormones. It was Toby Dawson, for God’s sake! If she didn’t feel a little something, it would mean she had died and this was a dream.

At dusk they were sitting in two old green folding lawn chairs behind the trailer. Blue had taken up the space between them, content if either or both of them scratched his ears every few minutes.

Toby was in the process of moving the hot dogs and burgers from the grill to a platter when Deke rounded the end of the trailer. He pulled a third chair along behind him, popped it open, and sat down with a sigh.

“We’re okay, Deke,” Toby said.

“I know that. If you weren’t you wouldn’t be sitting here making eyes at each other,” he answered.

“Then what’s your problem?” Toby asked.

“I’ve got the opportunity of a lifetime right in front of me and I can’t do it unless I sell my ranch,” he said. “Don’t suppose you want to buy it do you?”

“No!” Lizzy said so loud that Blue yipped and scampered up under the trailer. “You can’t sell out and move. Allie would be devastated and so would I. You are the pesky brother we never had.”

“I didn’t say anything about leaving. The ranch across the road is going up for sale in sixty days. The one that belongs to my cousin, Lake, and his wife, Gloria. He should have realized that she was a city girl when he married her, but then he never much liked ranchin’, either.” Deke eyed the grill. “I hope you made enough for an extra mouth at the table tonight. I’m hungry.”

“Always,” Toby said. “Keep tellin’ us about this big opportunity.”

“I’ve always wanted that ranch, but my grandparents left that to him and the one I have to me. He’s let it run down in the past five years so I could buy it for what I could get out of mine if I could find a buyer in sixty days,” Deke answered.

“Let’s take this food inside so we don’t have to fight the ants and flies for it.” Toby closed the lid to the grill and picked up the platter. He led the way and Lizzy and Deke followed him.

Lizzy set about getting the rest of the food out of the refrigerator and the cabinets while Toby filled three glasses with ice and sweet tea. “Why would you buy a rundown ranch when yours is in good condition?”

“It’s the place that actually belonged to my grandparents. It’s got more land than mine, and I could run more cattle and I’ve always wanted to have rodeo stock. I could start small with only a few wild bulls and a half dozen good broncs and build up from there. I’m never going to be a world-class rider on either one, but if I had some good stock I could enjoy the rodeos and make some money with it right up until I was too damned old to get around without a walker,” he said.

Toby motioned for Deke to make himself a burger or a hot dog. “I’d love to buy it since it adjoins this ranch, but we’re stretched as thin as we can go. If it was five years down the road, I’d snap it up in a minute.”

“So exactly how big is your spread? I don’t think I ever asked.” Lizzy set about making a hot dog with chili, cheese, mustard, and relish. She would have loved to have a big spoonful of chopped onions on it, but those low-riding bikini underpants reminded her that there could be something special later on that evening. And onions should not be a part of it. Still when Deke spread a full inch-thick layer of onions on his burger, she envied him.

“It’s a section of land. Butts right up to the Lucky Penny, acre for acre. Runs from the road back as far as this place. Guess I’ll fix up a flyer and put it in your store and down at your mama’s place. If it’s meant to be, then it will sell. If not, then someone else will get the one I’ve always wanted.” Deke bit into the burger. “Man, this is good. I’m glad I came over here.”

Lizzy’s mind ran in circles as she ate her hot dog. What with Fiona divorced and barely getting by, maybe she could talk her into moving back to Dry Creek. Fiona could be the one who inherited Audrey’s Place and kept it in the family name. True, Deke’s ranch was not built around the old well, but it already had a house on it and lots of property. If Lizzy couldn’t find time to run cattle, she could lease it back to Deke or even to Toby.

That is the most asinine thing you’ve ever let play out in your head. Think about makeup sex. Think about anything but buying a damn ranch that will make you old before your time. You are a feed store woman, not a ranchin’ woman.

“Hush!” she said.

“Which one of us,” Toby asked.

“She’s fighting with voices in her head. I know these Logan women. I only hope they don’t end up like Granny Irene. So who are you thinkin’ might be interested in my place?” Deke talked between bites.

“I heard that Dora June and Truman’s oldest daughter was hunting a place,” Lizzy answered.

“Hell, no! I wouldn’t put that hussy next to my worst enemy. She’s just like her mama and they’d both be stickin’ their noses in where it don’t belong over here on the Lucky Penny,” Deke said tersely. “It’s damn sure not for sale to them.”

“Bring your flyer into the store tomorrow and we’ll see what happens,” she said.

“Okay.” He sighed.

There was something about a pouting friend, be it male or female, that put Lizzy into her fix-it mode. Middle children were doomed to be blessed with that problem and it couldn’t be helped.

“It’ll sell,” she said.

“From your lips to a buyer’s ears.”

“Trouble is that no one wants to buy something right next to the Lucky Penny, right?” Toby asked.

“There is that and the fact that Dry Creek might have a café and a school and there’s a possibility of a day care place and a beauty shop, but there’s not much more here to draw new folks. Thanks for supper. What time do Allie and Blake get home?”

“Probably in the next thirty minutes. He texted me a little while ago,” Toby answered.

Well, crap! She’d worn those damn uncomfortable silk underpants that kept crawling up her butt all evening for nothing. Allie would want to talk about the trip. Blake would drag Toby off to discuss cows and hay and clearing more land for the cows he’d seen in Muenster. And there would be no makeup sex.

Unless you do some manipulating in a hurry. Surely to God you picked up a few lessons from Mitch in that area.

“I’ve got to get home. I should be there when Mama arrives so she can talk about her trip,” Lizzy said.

“I’m going to wait over at the house for Blake and Allie,” Deke said. “Maybe Blake has a friend down in Muenster who’s interested in starting small and building up.”

“I don’t think so, but you can wait. I’ll take Lizzy home and be back after a while,” Toby said.

Like a gentleman, Toby walked her to the door.

Like a descendent of a hooker, Lizzy took his hand after the good night kiss and led him straight up the stairs.

“I thought your mother was coming home soon,” he whispered.

“I didn’t say that. I said I should be here when she arrives, but their flight doesn’t get in until after eleven tonight and then it will be another couple of hours before they get home. I won’t see her until breakfast.” She smiled over her shoulder at him. “But I will listen to her talk about her trip then, and all day tomorrow she will pop in and out of the store and tell me tidbits.”

“You are a player,” he said, and grinned.

She swung open her bedroom door and led him inside. “I do not pretend that I’m a neat person, but this room is probably at its best right now.”

“I’m not here to pass judgment on your housekeeping.” He turned her slowly and placed her arms around his neck. “I’ve heard that makeup sex is pretty awesome.”

“I wouldn’t know from experience but I’ve heard the same thing.” She tiptoed and kissed him. Sparks flashed around the room, bouncing off the walls and landing on the floor, reminding her of Fourth of July fireworks. When she broke the kiss she was already breathless.

“Really, no makeup sex in your history book?” He backed her up several feet, sat down in the rocking chair, and pulled her onto his lap.

The next kiss was even hotter. Maybe it was because he ran his hands up under her tank top. Skin on skin. Blistering steam. Melting hormones whining for more. Mind-blowing kisses.

“No makeup sex in my history book,” she muttered. “Yours?”

He bent his head to nuzzle the inside of her neck. “Not a single time. If you don’t get involved, you don’t break up.”

Lord, why had no one ever kissed her on that sensitive part of her neck before? Every nerve in her body was singing in anticipation. Every hormone was gearing up for one hot cowboy night.

“How is it that you never fought with Mitch?” he asked.

She didn’t want to talk about Mitch, think about him, or hear his name. Not when Toby had unfastened her bra and now had one of her breasts cupped in his hand.

“We never fought. I let him have his way every time,” she groaned. “God, Toby, I don’t want to talk about him when every inch of my body is crying your name.”

“Want to talk about Laney or Lisa or the girl at the café?” he asked.

“Hush!” She pulled his T-shirt up over his head and ran her fingers through the soft hair on his chest. “I could sleep on this every night for the rest of my life.”

“I could let you.” He stood up.

She wrapped her legs around his body and he carried her to the bed, but she wiggled out of his embrace before he could put her head on the pillow. In an instant she’d shimmied out of all her clothes and stood before him wearing nothing but her brightest smile.

“I liked the white panties better,” he said.

“Oh?” she asked.

“They are you. Those aren’t.” He pointed at the bikini underwear on the floor. “Don’t be something you aren’t.”

“You, either,” she answered.

He shucked out of his jeans and boots, leaving them in the same pile as her things. “Which means?”

“You are more than a one-night-stand cowboy.”

He smiled as he picked up her naked body and fell onto the bed with her in his arms. “You really see that in me?”

“That and so much more,” she said breathlessly as she pulled his face to hers.

She could feel the steel hard erection against her belly as his hands explored her body, and his lips scarcely finished a kiss before another began. Every nerve in her body stood at attention, ready to be touched, to be satisfied, to feel his hands touching and exploring. Her fingertips were so sensitive that every part of his body she touched sent shock waves through her own nervous system.

Did he get the same thing when he touched her? Was that what made his blue eyes go all dreamy and soft?

The questions faded quickly because she couldn’t think of anything but touching him more, feeling his muscles ripple and then tense at her touch, his erection throb against her bare skin as he ached to be inside her.

“Please take me,” she begged. “I’m going to explode any minute.”

She wrapped her legs around him as he kissed her one more time, and then with a firm thrust they began to rock in unison. When they reached the very top of the climax together, she couldn’t even say his name because she had no more breath in her lungs.

“Oh. My. God,” he murmured as it all ended in a crescendo complete with beautiful sparks and all the bells and whistles of fantastic makeup sex.

Five full minutes later he propped up on an elbow and kissed the tip of her nose. “Can we fight again tomorrow?”

She smiled up at him. “I was thinking of starting an argument right now.”