Boots and Buckles (9 page)

Her hand stilled and the comb slipped from her fingers, clattering against the tile floor. “Grant?”

“Love the cut, Mona. All us girls need to look our finest for rodeo week at the Ugly Stick. The better we look, the better the men tip.” The woman in the chair winked at Grant. “Don’t mind me, I’m done here.” She dug in her purse, pulled out a wad of bills and laid them on the counter in front of her. “Put me down for six weeks from now, same day, same time.”

“I will,” Mona said, her voice fading off. “Thank you, Libby. See you tonight at the Ugly Stick?”

“Absolutely. We’ll need all the help we can get to handle the rodeo crowd.” Libby nodded at Grant as she passed, her gaze taking him in with one long sweep of her eyes. “Nice. I hope to see you there too.”

Mona frowned. “And what would Mark and Luke think of that comment?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, why don’t you ask them tonight? They promised to be there to help out.” Libby winked at Grant and blew a kiss toward Mona. “See ya tonight, honey.”

The doorbell jangled and Libby disappeared, leaving Grant alone for the first time in three years with the woman he’d dreamed about all that time.

Mona set the hairspray down, retrieved the comb from the floor and grabbed a broom. “You can sit in the other chair while I sweep up this hair.”

Grant set the bag on the counter. “I didn’t come for a haircut, but I’d be glad to pay for it anyway.”

The sweeping stopped and she stood with her hands resting on the top of the broom handle, her face guarded. “Then why did you come?”

“I brought you lunch and wanted a chance to talk to you. To explain.”

She turned away and started sweeping again, only faster this time. “You have nothing to explain. And if you’re not here for a haircut, I’m going out to lunch.”

He reached out and caught her arm. “You don’t have to eat the lunch I brought, but please hear me out.”

“You said it all the last time I heard from you over the phone. What was it you said?” She tipped her head and stared off into the distance. “‘It’s over. We have nothing in common. Don’t wait for me to come back, because I’m not going to.’” She nodded, her bottom lip trembling slightly. “Yeah, that about summed it up.” With a slight jerk, she freed her arm. “I haven’t changed, so what’s the use in dredging up old memories?”

“I was wrong,” he blurted, not exactly the way he’d planned. Mona had every right to be angry with him and he’d expected that. “After we left here, something else came up. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be back and I didn’t want to leave you hanging. It wasn’t fair to you.”

“So you dumped me over the phone to spare my feelings?” She rolled her eyes. “Classy. And so thoughtful.”

Grant scraped the hat off his head. “Look, Mona, not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of you and all I left behind.”

“Funny, I’ve barely thought of you or Dalton in the past three years.”

His lips thinned. “I don’t have anything to do with Dalton anymore. And I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that I left. You deserved better.”

“Yeah, better than a phone call.” She tipped her head back and stared into his face, her eyes suspiciously moist. “So you’ve said your piece and you don’t want a haircut. What’s keeping you?”

“I want a second chance.”

She stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “You want what?”

“A second chance to prove to you that I really do care for you.”

“You cared enough to leave the Ugly Stick Saloon with another woman last night.”

So she
had
noticed. “I did, but I didn’t sleep with her. I wouldn’t when it was you who’s been the only woman on my mind.”

“What happened to your wife?”

He hesitated, the truth too long and complicated. “We divorced soon after we were married. I never loved her.”

Her lips twisted. “Convenient. And it only proves to me you have a problem with commitment.”

“Not with you.” He captured her hand. “Please, give me another chance?”

Anger flared in her blue eyes and she opened her mouth. Then she clamped it shut and closed her eyes.

Grant’s belly knotted. “Should I take your silence as a no?”

“No.”

“No about the silence or no you won’t give me a second chance?”

The tension left her shoulders and she opened her eyes. “Look, it goes against my better judgment, but…”

“You’re giving me a second chance.” He released the breath he’d been holding. “Thank you.”

She pulled her hand free of his and held it up. “I’ll give you a second chance to prove to me you’re not a complete ass. But we’re not picking up where we left off. We’re starting over from scratch.”

His chest swelled and his lips curled upward. “Fair enough. We’ll start over.” He stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Grant Raleigh and you’re the prettiest girl I’ve met. Will you go out with me?”

She took his hand, a frown pulling her brows together. After a moment, her face cleared and she gave a strained laughed. “I can’t believe I’m doing this… Yes.”

He’d gone into his courtship fully expecting Mona to slam the door in his face. He purposely didn’t mention that he knew she’d gone out with Sam, afraid it would cause her more stress in his campaign to win her heart. Hell, Sam had clearly expressed his desire to pursue Mona, and a decent cowboy didn’t horn in on another man’s woman. A knot of guilt tainted his happiness that Mona had relented and was giving him a shot at mending their relationship. Nothing about coming back to Temptation was going to be easy. “Dinner tonight?”

She nodded. “My last appointment is at five and I work at the Ugly Stick from nine until midnight. Can you be here at six?”

“I can and will.” He tipped his head toward the bag with lunch. “In the meantime, I have a lunch prepared and I even brought a blanket to sit on. Would you like to go on a picnic?”

She stepped back. “Don’t push this too fast.”

He held up his hands. “Got it.” Then he glanced at the bag. “Sure hate to waste a good lunch. PJ’s does a good job.”

Mona sniffed the air. “Turkey club?”

“Just the way you like it.”

“Okay,” she said. “But we eat here.”

“Deal. I’ll be right back.” He spun and ran for the door, returning with the blanket and the cooler he’d left in his truck.

“We could eat off one of the manicure tables,” she suggested.

“And miss out on an indoor picnic?” Grant shook his head. He wanted to do this right. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

He whipped the checkered blanket out and let it drift to the floor.

Between the two of them they set out food and Grant reached into the cooler for two bottles of light beer.

They sat and he opened the bottles, handing one to her. “To second chances.”

She clinked her bottle against his and they drank. Then she held up her beer. “To knowing what we
really
want.”

An image of Sam’s excited face flashing through his thoughts, Grant hesitated before tapping his drink against Mona’s. “To knowing what we really want.”

Chapter Seven

Mona sat on the checkered blanket, having forced down half a sandwich, while staring across the array of food and napkins at Grant. After three long years in which she’d sworn off men, one of the guys who’d turned her against relationships was sitting across from her, wanting a second chance.

A second chance for what? Breaking her heart again? Mona had almost showed him the door. But that spark of fire and longing that had initially attracted her to Grant was still there, and stronger than ever. A shiver rippled across her skin, her body completely aware of his sitting so close.

Grant was a handsome cowboy. Strong, confident and a winner on the rodeo circuit. If he was telling the truth and had realized his mistake, Mona could possibly have him back.

Three years of heartache was a long time. What if during that three years she’d changed so much Grant was no longer the man for her? Sure, he was sexy and exciting, but was he the kind of man she wanted in a real, long-lasting relationship?

And what about Sam? There was a man with fresh new possibilities.

A knot of guilt formed in her belly. She’d slept with Sam last night
knowing
he was Grant’s new partner. How would Grant feel about that? Mona tipped the beer bottle up and swallowed the rest in one long gulping chug.

Grant’s eyes widened. “Okay. I did bring more.” He reached into the cooler and uncapped another, handing it to her as she set the empty to the side.

The alcohol took the edge off her anger and nervousness over being with Grant again. She lay on her side, propping her head in her hand. “So, Grant, how’s the rodeo going? What are you participating in this time?”

He dropped to his side, facing her. “Team ropin’ and bronc ridin’.”

“Why the new partner?”

Grant glanced at the beer bottle in his hand. “Dalton and I had a parting of the ways a few years back.”

After running into Dalton at the Ugly Stick, she could understand. Dalton had always been the rowdier extrovert, while Grant had been the serious one. Three years ago, the combination of their personalities had swept her off her feet. She couldn’t believe how lucky she’d been to land not one, but two gorgeous men. It had been too good to be true and she should have seen it coming. These men were on the road more months out of the year than at home. Getting involved with them had been a mistake.

Before her mother’s untimely death, she’d taught Mona two things: learn from your mistakes and tigers couldn’t change their stripes. So why was she jumping back into a relationship with a man who’d left her and what made her think this time would be better with Grant?

She shoved her misgivings aside and asked, “Things working out with your new team ropin’ partner?”

Grant’s lips tightened. “Yeah.”

Ha! She’d hit a nerve. He must have seen her dancing with Sam the night before, and he might have been at his trailer when Sam returned that morning. She couldn’t picture Sam as the type of man who’d kiss and tell. But then he
was
a rodeo cowboy. Who knew the extent of what ropin’ partners shared over breakfast or a beer?

Mona tossed her long hair back over her shoulder, deciding to get things out in the open. “I slept with him last night.” Nothing like addressing the elephant in the room. Having lost this man once, she figured if he walked out of her shop never to return, what would be different today from yesterday? She had nothing to lose. If he couldn’t handle the fact she’d slept with his partner now, they wouldn’t have a chance. They’d dance all around it and let it gnaw at their insides.

The muscle in the side of his jaw twitched and his full, kissable lips pressed so tightly they almost disappeared. He nodded. “Question is, did you sleep with him to get back at me?”

She swished the beer in the bottle, studying it instead of Grant’s intense expression, and fell back on what Bunny had said earlier. “Well, now, that’s my business. I’m a female, single and over twenty-one. I can sleep with whomever I want.”

Grant set his bottle to the side, shoved the food out of the way and slid closer to her, all in a few swift movements.

Her heart hammering against her ribs, Mona couldn’t look away from him. Hell, his lips were only inches from hers. Heat rippled across her body in waves, swirling like a funnel cloud to the center of her being—her throbbing, aching core. A wash of fluid warmed her pussy, and she shifted on the blanket, wondering if he could smell her musk.

Grant raised his hand to cup her face, his thumb brushing over her cheek and down to scrape across her lips. “Do his kisses leave you craving more?”

“I believe they could,” Mona whispered against Grant’s lips.

His hand slipped behind her neck and drew her closer until his mouth hovered over hers. He dipped in to claim her lips in a searing kiss that made her forget Sam, forget the three long years between them and forget where she was.

When he allowed her to breathe again, he asked, “Do his hands skimming across your naked body make you burn inside?”

“Umm, you bet.” Mona trailed her fingers over Grant’s shirt, found the top button and loosened it.

His hand slipped beneath her stretchy shirt, grazing her skin, rising to cup one full, rounded breast.

Her nipples peaked, pressing against the lace of her bra.

Grant pushed the bra upward, exposing her nipple to his rough hand. “Does he make you so crazy with passion you beg for more?”

“Oh yes, please. More.” She pushed him onto his back and ripped through the buttons on his shirt. “All those thick, hard muscles make me want to climb on and ride him like a buckin’ friggin’ bronc.”

Grant’s hands cupped the backs of her thighs and followed the curve of her buttocks up beneath her skirt to her panties. Then he slid beneath the elastic and poked a finger into her tight, round anus, the pressure making her body ignite all over.

A moan rose from her throat and she ground her pussy against the ridge of his fly, fumbling beneath her to release the remaining shirt buttons, shoving it open to expose his chest. Then she grabbed for his belt buckle. “It was like an eight-second ride—surprising, exciting and much too short.” She snagged the tab on his zipper and yanked it down, his cock springing free of the constraints. “So we did it again. Does that bother you?”