Cowboy Double-Decker (7 page)

Not Bryan, of course. God, no! Though the man turned her into a puddle with just his mouth and hands, he was nothing like what she wanted in a husband.

And everything she craved in a lover.

A cowboy with a body built for sex, a voice that likely charmed the panties off far too many women, and a carefree laugh that promised everything would be fine.

Kaela threw on her nightie and slipped into the bathroom. She soaped down her newly awakened, sweat-slicked body as hot water sluiced away the evidence of her passion.

How could she face Bryan in class this morning? She couldn’t blush whenever he looked at her or flush from wanting more and still be taken seriously. No, she must forget about what just happened and concentrate on the reason she’d come all this way. Her career and a new life with her son.

She’d hold her head high and brazen it out. Part of her new life was having the confidence of a strong, intelligent, sexual woman. She faked the first two and she’d fake the last one now. She’d look her classmates in the eye and concentrate on work.

After Bryan’s threatened promise of even hotter sex, work was the only way she’d get through the day. She stepped out of the shower and toweled off. A shiver ran over her when she heard Bryan blowing raspberries on Scotty’s belly.

Was it wicked to imagine that big, tough, cowboy doing the same to her?

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“Don’t you
ever
treat me like that again!”

Bryan blinked at Kaela’s hissed snarl. At the close of Saturday’s class, the others took the elevator to their rooms so the two of them were alone in the stairwell. She whirled around and headed up, stomping and hauling on the rail with her left hand.

He sighed and followed, keeping his hands off the swaying ass at eye level. Waking up to Kaela’s open invitation followed by her eager explosive reaction had set him up for the day. A damn uncomfortable day. Every time he thought about what he’d do tonight he got hard.

He wanted to haul her snug cotton pants down and slide right into her as she stood on the step above him. Not bloody likely with her in a snit.

She was too independent to make a good wife, but that wouldn’t stop her becoming a great lover once she let go of her inhibitions and the crap from her past.

He kept his hands to himself and watched her sweet ass sway up three flights of stairs, not a word spoken. She slid the keycard in the door, shoved it open, and stomped through.

“Treat you like what, Kaela?” he said, shutting the door behind them.

She turned on him like a steer intent on goring his belly.

“At lunch! When you did that…argh!” She threw her hands up as if it should be obvious.

“Oka-ay.” He nodded slowly and leaned his shoulder against the wall. He stuck his hands in his front pockets to stop himself from reaching for her. He’d been doing that all day.

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“Fine!”

She whirled around and stomped into the bedroom. She didn’t slam the door, but a few drawers made the same point.

He might not be married, but he was damn close to it with Candy.

And he knew when a woman said “fine,” especially in that tone of voice, it wasn’t and there’d be hell to pay. Maybe she was as frustrated as he but didn’t know how to handle it. Since this morning was her first experience, she might not know her irritation came from wanting more.

He wanted one hell of a lot more. Stopping himself from taking her all the way that morning should earn him the title of saint. If he wanted to do more than sleep with her tonight, he’d better defuse the situation. He said a silent prayer and followed her into the bedroom.

She bent over the bed folding clothes. Her cotton pants cuddled the bottom he kissed that morning. She dressed in the bathroom, but his practiced eye suggested the lack of panty lines meant she wore a thong. He forced his eyes away from the tempting sight and thought of icebergs. His raging hard-on didn’t soften. It would be a long, hard night—literally—if she didn’t relax enough to do what he hadn’t done for two long months.

“I can’t not do whatever it was I did unless I know what I’m not supposed to do again,” he said, proud he’d gotten it out so calmly.

She whirled around, eyebrows low, clutching her ratty nightgown to her chest like a shield.

“Are you trying to be funny?”

“Nooo,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “I’m trying to find out why you’re like a bear cub who’s just realized that honeycombs have bees.”

She blinked at him.

“Kaela, it would help if you tell me why you’re pissed off.”

“I am not pissed off!”

He waited. One of the first things he learned from Candy was to say as little as possible to a ticked off woman. He didn’t want to say
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something now that would bite him in the ass later. He wanted to nibble hers, so patience now might pay off tonight.

“I,” she swallowed and lowered her voice, “I’m just very upset at you.”

“Got it,” he said, nodding. “Upset, not pissed off.” He waited a beat. “Why?”

“Because you did that…” She shook her head and flapped her right hand as she searched for words. “That macho caveman thing at lunch. That’s why!”

She pushed past, careful not to touch him. The bathroom door locked with a snap. Bryan thought back. Gary had spoken to him when the lunch break started so he was late leaving for the dining room. When he got there, Kaela, the lone female, had a man sitting on either side of her. He merely stood behind her chair, resting both hands on the back of it, until the short dude from Texas decided it would be a good idea to move over one seat. He hadn’t even encouraged him by kicking the chair leg.

“Kaela,” he called through the door. “Are you talking about me sitting beside you at lunch?”

“Hallelujah! The man can think!”

He heard the toilet flush, the sink run. She opened the door and barreled past him into the bedroom. This time her bottom brushed the front of his jeans. He hissed at the jolt.

“You,” she whirled to point a finger at him like a Colt pistol, “had to do the caveman thing. Now everyone knows there’s something between us!”

“Caveman?”

She inhaled and he automatically checked out the action. The thin bra under her T-shirt didn’t hide the nipples staring at him. She was riled up, all right. Candy got that way, too. He and Adam knew it meant it was time to take her down a few pegs. She was begging to be spanked when she acted all uppity, even though she wouldn’t admit it to save her life.

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He wasn’t ready to spank Kaela yet, especially when the babysitter was due to arrive with Scotty any minute, but he couldn’t help stoking her up for later.

“Sweetling,” he drawled. “I was just marking my territory. When I go ‘caveman’ on you, you’ll know.”

“Don’t bother because I’m not interested!”

Bryan set his palms gently on either side of her face and dropped his lips. He slid them across hers. After a moment, she responded. He pressed softly, encouraging her. He heard a soft moan. When she opened to him, he slid his tongue under her sensitive top lip, grazing the front of her teeth.

He kept up the kiss and dropped one hand to her breast, lightly brushing his knuckles against her nipple. She thrust herself into his hand so he dropped the other to cup her bottom. When she wriggled, he slid both hands under her bottom curves and pressed her against his hard erection. He ran long fingers up the seam of her cotton pants, tracing her thong line.

Her hiss and the way she clenched his fingertips between her ass cheeks didn’t match her words.

“If you’re not interested, darlin’, why are you wrapped around me?”

Her half-lidded eyes opened wide. She growled and shoved him away with both hands, panting hard.

“I didn’t ask you to kiss me.”

“When I did you upped the ante.”

“I did no such thing.”

She was having a hissy fit, just like Candy used to do when she first joined them and didn’t allow herself to be real. Wanting to enjoy her body, but thinking she shouldn’t.

“You can pretend all you like, darlin’, but your body’s begging me to throw you over my shoulder, head back to my cave, and take you again and again until you
know
you’re mine.”

She glared at him, mouth open, nostrils flaring. Her small but
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gorgeous boobs rose and fell as she panted, nipples reaching for him.

Oh, yeah. She wanted him all right. But she’d learned that good girls don’t enjoy it or some other crap. Without a fancy dinner and roses followed by a ring on her finger, sex was a no-no. Pizza and a beer followed by his fingers making her come wasn’t good enough. If he could just get her to shut off her damn brain!

“We’re back!”

Kaela’s eyes widened at the knock. She pulled away and dashed into the bedroom. The cheery voice had to belong to the babysitter.

He grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom and stuck it in his belt like an apron. He opened the door with a smile appropriate for a teenage girl.

“Oh, wow,” said the slender teen. Eyes wide, she stared up at him from her five-foot-one height. “You’re the biker cowboy.”

“Something like that. You must be Miss Patricia.”

“Da!” Scotty launched himself out of Patricia’s arms and into his.

He automatically caught the bundle, grinning in response to the one on the kid’s face.

“Um.” Patricia bit her lip. “I wanted to tell Kaela about Scotty’s day.”

“Come on in, Miss Patricia.” He backed away from the door to give her space. He turned his back to the girl and laid Scotty’s belly along his forearm. Making a loud airplane noise, he flew Scotty to the lounge. “Kaela’s in the bedroom. She’ll be out in a sec.”

The girl stepped just inside and let the door close, but not latch.

She looked ready to bolt at the least chance of him attacking. Why did females think the worst of big guys, yet let short slimeballs walk all over them?

“It’s just Patricia.” She shrugged as if she didn’t matter. “No

‘miss’ or anything.”

He reduced the threat by lying on the floor in the lounge area. He growled like a bear, making Scotty laugh and crawl on him. Luckily Bryan caught an errant foot before it hit anything majorly important.

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He learned that trick early, thanks to Evie.

“My ma taught me to treat ladies with respect,” he said from the floor. “So you’re Miss Patricia to me.”

The girl smiled shyly, let the door latch, and shuffled down the short corridor.

“My mom said bikers are dangerous.” She looked down, smiling in response to Scotty’s laughs. “Too bad you’re with Kaela. You’re a lot nicer than my mom’s boyfriends.”

There wasn’t anything Bryan could say in answer, so he held Scotty around the chest and did reverse push-ups with him. Fast, so the boy’s arms and legs trailed after his body. They both laughed.

“Wow, you’ve got huge muscles.”

Bryan heard the bedroom door open. Kaela stepped out in jeans and a thick sweater.

“Hi, Patricia.” She turned her head, the smile gone. “What are you doing with Scotty?”

“Teaching him caveman stuff. Like how to impress a girl by showing off his muscles.” He used a deep, gruff voice, which made Scotty laugh. Patricia did, too, but Kaela didn’t crack a smile. Scotty, spotting his mom, reached for her. Bryan let her take the boy out of his arms. They felt suddenly empty. He could be at home right now, playing with Evie like this.

“Don’t worry about Mr. Raman, Patricia. Though he looks and acts like a Neanderthal, he’s a gentleman. Though it does seem hard to believe sometimes.”

“Dang, woman! Is that a compliment or an insult?”

Patricia looked from one to the other and bit her lip, eyes bright.

Bryan winked at her, and she covered her grin with her hand.

“I’ll grab a shower while you ladies talk.”

He rolled to his feet in one quick movement. Kaela, though she tried to hide it, looked just as impressed as the teenager. He stopped in the bedroom to pull a fresh shirt and jeans out of a drawer and disappeared into the bathroom. He’d give Kaela time to calm down.

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Then he’d rev her up again.

* * * *

With the hotel jammed and all the local fast food places full on a Saturday night, Bryan said he’d ride into the next town to pick up supper. Scotty watched bug-eyed from the playpen as Bryan strapped on worn black leather chaps over his jeans and chunky motorcycle boots. She had to admit she checked him out, as well. He winked and offered to let her zip up his chaps from ankle to upper thigh, but she kept her hands to herself. She swallowed, her mouth dry. Now, if he wore nothing but chaps she’d show him how quick her fingers were.

He escorted them downstairs to show his bike to Scotty. She carried his helmet and thick gloves. At twelve months, Scotty was no lightweight, yet Bryan carried him in one arm as if he weighed nothing. She let them get ahead so she could check out his butt, but his long Harley jacket covered too much.

The sea of people in the lobby parted for him as if he were a pirate ship riding the high seas. Sinister and sexy in black leather and denim, six-foot-four in boots, he oozed wild danger. The chattering boy he carried increased his attractiveness.

He waited for her at the door, rested his hand on her back, and ushered her through. She knew he did it to put his mark on her. She didn’t mind this time because it also put
her
mark on
him
. No way would those women in the lobby, hungry for more than dinner, mess with him when she was around. For once
she
had the cute guy and she’d enjoy every moment. She followed him to the parking lot and stopped dead when he pulled the cover off his bike.

“Harley-Davidson Street Glide,” said Bryan. “Almost eight feet of black and silver power.”

It revived Kaela’s teenage dreams of being whisked away by a leather-clad dude with a heart of gold and a bank account to match.