Cowboys-Dont-Dance (6 page)

“I've been thinking, Beau isn’t stupid, Angela. He’s bound to find out. Unless…you plan to keep me your dirty little secret?” Jess couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He wasn’t used to anything this casual—this unpredictable. He’d never known a woman who could bowl him over with just a look. Soon he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of Angela no matter who was in the room. He had to touch her. Feel her heat next to him.

Angela was proving to be a conundrum. She claimed to be inexperienced, but she’d just proved she was a real minx when it came to sex. Excited. Ready to try anything.

She rolled to her side, and leaning on her elbow, stared straight into his eyes.

“No, you’re not going to be my dirty secret. I just think some things aren’t any of my brother’s business.”

Oh shit. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. Jesse hated it when women cried and seeing Angela cry would tear his guts apart.

He had an intense desire to protect her. The primitive caveman side of him was coming to the surface. He never knew what to do or say when he saw tears. One thing for sure, he didn’t have a hanky anywhere on his naked body.

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40

Missy Lyons and Cherie Denis

Most guys would think all his dreams had come true—a woman who wanted to spice up her sex life. Angela begged him to indulge her wildest fantasies with no strings attached, but for him, it guaranteed a broken heart. He was going to have a hard time when Angela called it quits. He wasn’t sure he would be able to stop wanting her.

The way Jesse figured, it would make things easier to get it all out in the open. Stake his claim and be honest with Beau. The intense desire to possess Angela didn't seem to be going away.

He looked at her driven by the one thought.

Mine.
She’s mine.

But if he moved too fast, he’d scare her off. “You think Beau isn’t going to notice when I can’t keep my hands off you at the family barbeque this weekend?”
Not to mention
good ol’ Lydia. Even though
she wasn’t invited, she’ll be hearing stories from everyone there.

At Angela’s blank stare, he continued, “Don’t tell me you forgot you told Mom you’d teach the kids square dancing?”

“Oops!” She giggled. “I forgot. It must be because I can’t get a certain cowboy off my mind.” She looked him up and down and licked her lips. “I keep thinking of the next time I can take him for a ride.”

Her small hand curled around his penis and sweat broke out on Jesse’s forehead. “What do you have in mind?” The sexual dance and the brass pole had been one of the best fantasies he could have thought up.

“I have always wanted to do it in a public place and in the great outdoors to name one thing.”

Jesse was familiar with the adrenaline rush, the thrill of the possibility of getting caught. He got the same rush every time he got on the back of a bull in the rodeo. The ride only lasted eight seconds, but his blood pounded through his body for hours afterward. He was a self-admitted adrenaline junky, living for the thrill. “Well, this cowboy would be mighty glad to oblige, but if we get caught, then Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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Cowboys Don't Dance

41

your secret is out of the bag, brat.” He flicked one of her nipples playfully. “Your big brother will not be able to save you from me once we start.”

“I know. I’m not afraid of Beau.”

“You’re not, huh? Mighty brave of you.”

“Yeah. I’m even pretty sure I can think of a few other places we can fool around.”

His cock was rising at the timbre of her voice. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah. Lots and lots of places. How about the stairs in the big house?”

“I think we could find someplace more comfortable, but you are a wild one, Angie. Where did you get all these crazy ideas? If I didn’t know better, I would swear you’re trying to kill me.”

“You worry too much, Jesse. I won’t let anything happen to you.

Not after the fun we’ve just had. No way.”

* * * *

“What the hell?” Jesse said in response to the gentle knocking coming from the front of the dance studio.

Angela’s eyes widened at the sound of intruders. She hastened to extract herself, fumbling to leave Jesse’s warm embrace. She climbed over the top of him to reach her clothes.

“Hey! Be careful, you could injure something important.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled, “It’s my nine o’clock dance class.”

Angela sprang to her feet and scrambled into her clothes.

Normally he’d be laughing, watching her wriggle her sexy little butt into her skin-tight leotard, but he was too busy diving for his own clothes. The well-worn blue jeans were tangled with his button-down dress shirt. Shit. Double shit.

The knocking came again, more insistent than before. It sure wasn’t helping him get into his clothes any faster. Frustrated, he cursed aloud. Jesse couldn’t find his socks.

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42

Missy Lyons and Cherie Denis

“Hello?!” A woman’s voice called from the front of the building.

Thank God he had remembered to lock the door or they would have visitors by now.

“I’ll be right there!” Angela answered hastily.

“Not so fast, I’m not dressed yet. Did you see my boots?”

“I have no earthly idea. Just hurry up,” Angela whispered. “I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want anyone to know what we’ve been doing being spread all over town.”

“They’d have to be psychic to figure out what we’ve been up to.”

Jesse chuckled and took his time buttoning his jeans. Still slightly aroused from her teasing and touching he had to be careful not to injure the family jewels.

The more he thought about it, Jesse couldn’t care less if the rest of the town knew how he felt about Angela. It might not be a bad thing.

No hiding his intentions. He could let the world know how he really felt about her. This thing going on between them shouldn't have to be clandestine meetings.

“They don’t know what happened. We could tell them we got too hot dancing and had to take off a few layers.”

Angela smothered a giggle. “They won’t believe it for one minute.”

“Why not?” He played innocent, but he knew better.

She rolled her eyes indignantly. “Like you don’t know.”

He grinned.

She sighed, “They’d take one look at you in your unbuttoned shirt and no socks or boots and figure it out right away. At least button your shirt, please.”

He moved closer until his lips touched her ear. His husky voice sounded raw and needy to his ears, but he couldn't help it. “So let’s give those spinsters something to talk about.”

* * * *

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Cowboys Don't Dance

43

Heat rose to burn her cheeks. Angela didn't want to meet his probing eyes. Her eyes drifted to his bare chest and her insides quivered. She couldn't keep her hands off of him. It was a dangerous game. Every time she touched him a zinging charge ran through her body, curling her toes.

His eyes crinkled, and he made her think of a little boy who’d been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.

“Why do I have to explain it to you? You’re not stupid. Just a little cocky.” Angela sighed. “Let’s not and say we did. You know what it’s like in this town. If my class of gossipy women sees you half dressed, rumors will be spread all over the front page of the evening newspaper. Before you know it, every well-meaning spinster will have us married off by sundown if we’re not careful.”

She turned and hurried to the front door. If she stood staring into his eyes one more moment they’d be naked and back on the floor.

“Fudge,” Angela grumbled when she couldn’t get the key into the deadbolt. The lock gave with a loud click, and three women marched into the dance studio. All three had pink-tinged cheeks. They always came in as a trio, and always flushed with excitement.

Angela wished she could be anywhere but here. The ladies were bound to notice Jesse any minute now. Anticipation grew, and Angela’s heart thumped loudly. Maybe they would be lucky after all, because the women didn’t seem to notice anything amiss.
Thank you,
Jesse
. He must have slipped out the back door.

No such luck. Kathy Watson’s smile turned to a smirk, and her eyes lit up. Damn, Kathy had spied Jesse. Angela crossed her fingers.

Had he had sense enough to button his shirt and get his boots on?

The other two women followed Kathy’s stare, and from the way their cheeks turned from pink to red, Angela knew Jesse hadn’t finished dressing.

Sixty-seven year old Kathy was taking the pole dancing class to keep her Viagra-popping husband happy. Sherrel, the sheriff’s bride, was barely twenty-two-years-old and shy as a new lamb. Poor thing.

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44

Missy Lyons and Cherie Denis

She was taking the class in hopes of losing her inhibitions. So far it hadn’t worked. She still attacked the pole as though it was going to bite her. Angela wondered how the sheriff managed to get Sherrel into bed every night without begging. Seeing Jesse’s broad, naked chest would probably send Sherrel into cardiac arrest.

Maureen Appleton was at least forty, divorced and lonely. She was taking the class to become a new woman. She planned to take a cruise and find a husband, or as she’d confided to Angela, a lover.

Angela silently wished her luck. If Maureen didn’t lighten up, she'd scare more men away than she'd get. Years of being married to a Marine had made Maureen one tough mama. There weren't many men who would find the snake tattoo on her upper arm all that attractive and her 'biker chick' attitude didn't help either.

Angela put a hand to her mouth to cover a giggle. The sight of Jesse seemed to have turned Maureen’s knees to mush. Kathy threw an arm around Maureen before she hit the ground. “Take it easy, gal.

No sense getting all hot and bothered over Jesse. He’s taken.”

Maureen took a deep breath and straightened up.

Angela couldn’t believe it. Maureen was a woman, after all, and she wasn’t immune to Jesse’s good looks.

Jesse’s presence seemed to take up the entire room, and for the first time since the women started taking lessons, they were silent—a first for the gaggle of cackling hens.

There's nothing like a half-dressed cowboy in a Stetson to put a kibosh on a conversation. Angela couldn’t blame the women. Jesse in an unbuttoned shirt was yummy, but naked he was a wondrous sight to behold. No matter how many times she'd seen him naked, the moment he stripped for her, the beauty of his body took her breath away and she became speechless with desire.

Now his presence held the same magnetic draw for all the women in the room.

Is he for real?

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Cowboys Don't Dance

45

Oh yeah. Every delicious inch of his hard, hot, silky body is very real. She could personally testify to the fact because she’d enjoyed every part of him. From the moment he dropped his jeans, Angela couldn’t remember saying much other than to beg him to make love to her, hoping he would never stop.

And boy, can he follow orders.
He’d made love to her until she felt as limp as a baby doll. She thought she’d never have another orgasm as wonderful as the first. Then, surprise, she’d had three more right in a row.

The silence unnerved Angela, making her anxious to break it.

“Y’all know Jesse Burke.”

Ever the gentleman, Jesse tipped his hat in acknowledgement.

“Ladies.” Funny how he’d remembered his hat and gotten his boots on, but hadn’t had time to close his shirt. What a devil. He was temptation in a chambray shirt and jeans worn white in all the right places.

The women broke out in a nervous tittering of giggles.

“I do, but I don't believe I've ever seen so much of him." Kathy had let go of Maureen and moved to stand next to Jesse. “I don’t know about you, but it's a side of Jesse I wouldn’t mind seeing more of.” She pinched his bottom, and Jesse’s eyebrows shot skyward.

“Kathy!” Angela’s face burned. She grabbed Jesse by the arm and pulled him out of Kathy’s reach. “Jesse was just leaving. Weren’t you, Jesse?”

He nodded. “Guess so.”

“How right you are.” Angela tugged him closer to the door. “Go get ready for your class, ladies. I’ll see Jesse out and be right with you.”

“I’m sorry, Jesse,” Angela said when the women moved out of earshot. “Sometimes I wonder if Mrs. Watson isn’t the one taking Viagra and not her husband.”

Jesse grinned. “Now, there’s a thought.”

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46

Missy Lyons and Cherie Denis

Angela mulled his suggestion over before answering. “I hope I’ll be as frisky as her when I get to be her age.”

“Mmm. I’d love to see you misbehave some time again soon.”

“Why wait? You can see how wild I can get this Saturday.” She ran her hands over the wide expanse of his chest. She didn’t want to give the girls anything to talk about but couldn’t resist touching him one last time. “Now, get out of here before the ladies get out of hand.

I can’t vouch for your safety if they get a hold of you.”

“I wouldn’t worry none, honey. You already wrung me dry with your tight—”

Angela clamped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t you dare.”

“Okay, I won’t, but you get the idea. I only want one woman getting it on with me.” Jesse swooped down, and stole a brief kiss.

His lips brushed lightly over her cheek, and before she could recover her equilibrium, the door closed behind him.