Crazy Little Thing Called Love (24 page)

“Yeah I’m building new cabinetry.”

“Have you laid the tile yet?”

“No, I have to get the cabinets in first so
it’ll line up right.”

She didn’t miss the tug of a smile at the
corner of his lips when she said “laid” but she pretended she did.
She shouldn’t have sought him out but the lure of the man had been
impossible to resist. He was so big and dark and in the small
confines of aisle two of the hardware store she could smell the
musk of sweat and hard work on him, wanted to lick it off him like
she’d never wanted anything in her life. She needed to go.

“My mom said she saw you the other day at the
diner.”

“I thought that was her when I stopped by to
get a latte but I wasn’t sure.” She followed him around another
corner instead.

“You remember to compliment her on my eyes?”
He grinned, a flash of white teeth and charm.

“Can’t say that I did.”

“Pity. She’d have been awfully amused I’m
sure.” His big hand slipped into hers, cupping her palm, warm and
rough at the same time as he ducked through a swinging door.

Suddenly the bright overhead lights of the
store were gone, replaced by the dimness of a few stray bulbs. The
room they’d entered was dark and deserted. Aisle upon aisle of
cardboard boxes rose up around them. They were in some sort of back
room and her skin tingled with possibilities.

“Are we supposed to be back here?”

“Sure. I need a part Griff didn’t have out
front.”

He tugged her after him and she went
willingly despite not believing him for a minute. It would be safer
if she kept talking. She just needed a topic that wasn’t the least
bit sexual.

“Your mom was having lunch with someone. It
looked like a date so I didn’t want to interrupt.”

His hand fell away from hers and he frowned,
“Who was she with?”

“I think I heard her call him Frankie.”

The string of curses that filled the back
room would have made a sailor proud. She bit back a smile. She’d
had a feeling he might not be keen on the idea of his mother on a
date.

“You know the guy?”

“He works at the ranch.” He paused, his hands
going to his hips, “Or at least he used to.”

She stifled a laugh, “You can’t fire the guy
for dating your mother.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Has your mom dated a lot since your dad
passed away?”

“Occasionally, but she usually keeps it to
herself. She doesn’t trot them out in front of the whole town and
she definitely doesn’t date guys half her age.”

“Frankie’s half her age?” She perked a
curious eyebrow.

“Try a few years older than me.”

“Wow.” She couldn’t help but laugh that time,
“Your mom is a cougar. Way to go Mrs. West.”

“Don’t start.”

“I’m impressed, that’s all. I hope I have
that kind of game when I’m that age. Hell, I’d like to think I had
that kind of game now.” She snorted.

“Yeah aspiring to cougardom seems like a nice
goal.”

She stuck her tongue out at his sarcasm,
“Beats being a cradle robber.”

“Sounds a lot like the same thing.” He
shrugged one big shoulder and turned to sort through a box on the
shelf.

End of subject. No more talking about his
mother. It was as simple as that. He was a closed book, a book with
a heavy padlock and no key in sight. She should have known better
but she kept pushing anyway.

“How’d your parents meet?”

“Same way most everyone meets around here,
they went to school together.”

“High school sweethearts?”

“No. They never dated in high school, didn’t
get together until a few years after.” He smirked, “Actually, the
way I heard it my dad’s high school sweetheart was Liza Beth
Montgomery.”

She gaped, “What?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard the
stories.”

“A couple, here and there… but I didn’t know
if they were true. Daddy never talks about it.”

“I’m sure.”

“Tell me the story?” She found herself
grabbing his arm. “Please?”

She’d never heard the story of how her
parents got together. She’d never asked her father. Like most
everything else he didn’t like to talk about her mother. She got
the occasional tidbits, like how she’d loved bluebell flowers but
rarely anything insightful. Everything she knew about her mother
came from foggy memories and second-hand accounts from near
strangers. It seemed this was going to be no different.

“Not much to tell really.” He shrugged.

“Zach. Please.” She didn’t let go of his
arm.

He stared down at her like he wasn’t going to
answer for a long second. She held her breath. His eyes moved over
her face before he sighed.

“The way I heard it, your mom and my dad had
been together all throughout high school. There was talk of
combining the ranches once they were married. Everybody thought
they’d end up together.”

“What happened?”

“Life? Love? Who knows really, Lyle Carter
went to work at the Oaks and she dumped my dad. The next week she
was dating yours. They never spoke again. End of story.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” She shook her
head.

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t make sense for her to
choose my dad if you look anything like yours.” She managed a small
smile.

He chuckled, “She could have had anybody she
wanted. To hear this town tell it Liza Beth Montgomery was the
prettiest girl in town. She was head cheerleader, sang in the
church choir and looked like an angel.”

“Yeah. That’s sounds like mama.” Her chest
tightened and she stared at her feet.

“You’re a lot like her.” A big hand tilted
her chin back up so she had to look into his handsome face
again.

“No.” She shook her head, “I’m not.”

“You really need to learn to take a
compliment baby-doll.” Zach frowned.

“You really need to keep your promise not to
lie to a girl.” She shot back.

“Damn you’re frustrating.”

His green eyes had gone dark around the edges
and she shivered in her skin. Heat lit up her veins when he looked
at her like that. No, scratch that, heat lit up her veins just
being in his presence. But him, looking at her like he wanted to
devour her, was too much. How they’d gone from talking about their
parents to this she’d never know but she wasn’t about to question
it. This was why she’d sought him out and there was no use denying
it.

“You should definitely stop talking to me
then.”

“Oh I intend to.”

His mouth was on hers before she could even
suck in a breath of air. It was a surprisingly soft kiss, lips
meeting and massaging in slow eroticism His big hands wrapped
around her waist, pulled her tight against his chest. His pelvis
ground against her stomach, his erection pressing hard as he ground
into her.

Her hands found the hem of his shirt and slid
beneath to touch the warm, hard ridges of his abdomen below. He was
so masculine, so big and strong. He was just what she needed.

“I’m probably smelly from working all day.”
He grinned against her lips. “Sorry.”

“I don’t mind.” She trailed her lips along
the rough five o’clock shadow on his jaw. “Really.”

His chuckle was low and dark near her ear,
“As much as I want to fuck you in a semi-public place, anyone could
walk back here and catch us. You weren’t too fond of that idea a
few weeks ago.”

She had to smile at his thoughtfulness. As
much as he might want to think he was a bad guy he really wasn’t.
He had issues to be sure but who didn’t? She was a little drunk on
him, not falling for him drunk but wanting him and not caring about
much else than the feel of his skin against hers drunk for
sure.

“Zach, I’ve had a rough couple of days and I
really want to use you to forget about my problems.” She pulled
back to look up at those soft green eyes, “Do you mind if I use
you?”

He lowered his forehead against hers, “Not at
all.”

“Good.” She breathed in his distinctly male
scent, “Do you want me?”

“Like crazy.”

“Then stop talking and take me, right here,
right now.”

He kissed her then and she melted into a
puddle under his skillful touch. Lust pooled low in her belly and
she opened her mouth to take his tongue inside her. She wanted way
more than just his tongue inside her but she’d take this for now.
He was so good at this. She kissed him back, desperate to forget
her problems for just a little while, desperate for a distraction,
desperate for him.

He could touch her and make her forget
everything else. He filled her body, filled the lonely parts that
ached deep down inside. She needed him more than common sense
should have let her. She wasn’t allowed to need him.

Wanting him was one thing, wanting his touch
and his taste and his big hands on her but needing him wasn’t
practical. That’s not what this was. She knew it and she didn’t
care, not right now, not when he was the only thing that made her
feel alive.

He pushed her dress up and his hands slipped
beneath to caress her ass at the same time his mouth rained down
her neck. He nipped and sucked and teased and her head fell back on
a moan as he pushed the straps of her sundress down and exposed her
naked breasts. His mouth was on her, driving her crazy as he sucked
her nipples and ground his erection against her stomach.

She loved the way he touched her, loved the
way he kissed her. She wasn’t stupid enough to love him but she
loved the way he made her feel. Sexy, wanted, needed, he could do
that to her and the power behind those feelings nearly made her
come before he ever drove inside her. In a haze and rush, he
unzipped his jeans and sheathed himself. She had no idea where the
condom had come from and when he lifted her up in one smooth move
to drive inside and fill her up she didn’t care.

Her back against the wall, her legs wrapped
around his waist, she gasped his name as he pumped into her. The
look of pure lust in his eyes had her panting. He held her tight,
his big hands gripping her thighs, holding her steady for his rapid
thrusts. He stroked all the best parts of her with every movement
and it took every ounce of control she could squeeze to strangle a
cry of absolute bliss.

A big, overpowering orgasm worked its way
under her skin and exploded in a ball of fire. It rained down on
her, scorching her body and torching her soul. It burned her down
and destroyed her and when it was over all that was left was the
feeling of pleasure and the smile on her face.

The overhead fan whirled in a lazy circle,
sending fresh air down to cool the hot touch of skin against skin.
Zach found himself stroking Bluebell’s bare hip, wrapping his arms
around her and hauling her back against his side when she tried to
slip out of his bed. She was tangled in his sheets and his bed had
never looked so good. He didn’t want her to leave just yet.

“Aren’t you tired?” Her sweet giggle against
his chest made him grin.

“Nope.”

“You are insatiable.”

“Yep.” He kissed the top of her head as she
snuggled into him.

He couldn’t get enough of her even after
their marathon afternoon of sex. The fact that he’d screwed her
standing up in the back of Griff’s Hardware store had been crazy
but it still hadn’t been enough. He’d insisted she come back to the
ranch with him where he’d had her again in his newly restored
shower to wash off the sweat of a long days work and their
semi-public sex. After, she’d offered to make him dinner and he
hadn’t been able to think of a reason she shouldn’t stay.

Maybe he’d have been able to if she hadn’t
been wearing nothing but her panties and one of his ratty old
t-shirts. She made his shirts look good. She looked sexy in her
dresses but he liked her better in his clothes.

“I once cooked dinner for Stephen Jones.”
She’d said while she pulled a pan from the cabinet over the top of
the stove.

“Who?”

“Stephen Jones, Jerry Jones’ son.” She rolled
her eyes at him like he was an idiot.

He was certain he was. He couldn’t pay
attention to what she was talking about when she was prancing
around his kitchen in hot pink panties. If she was clothed he might
have been able to pay attention to the story about how Stephen
Jones had come to be in her apartment. But she wasn’t.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know who Stephen
Jones is.” She looked up at him and sighed, “COO of the Cowboys,
son of Jerry. You do know of Jerry Jones right?”

“Of course I know who Jerry Jones is.” He
scratched his head and tried to pay attention to her lips instead
of her ass.

“Good. I was afraid I’d have to revoke your
Texas citizenship if you didn’t.” She grinned and kept on chatting
about the loser boyfriend that’d worked in the Cowboys office and
was friends with the billionaire’s son.

He gave up pretending to listen when she bent
over the fridge and his shirt slid up her thighs, giving him a nice
view of the smooth pink lace covering her other smooth pink parts.
Bluebell was damn pretty all over. She had long legs, smooth curves
and perky breasts and she wasn’t shy about getting naked like some
women. He liked that about her.

He liked that she was just crazy enough to
tell him she wanted to use him and then ask him to screw her in the
back room of a hardware store too. He liked that she was honest
about what she did and didn’t want. He liked that she’d sought him
out in the hardware store because he hadn’t for one second bought
her line about checking on an order for the Montgomery Oaks ranch.
He liked that she’d come to him too because odds were if she hadn’t
he’d have been the one to hunt her down sooner or later.

He liked a lot of things about Bluebell. He
liked that she didn’t sugarcoat her difficult relationship with her
father. He liked that she stayed by the old man’s side despite it.
He liked that she could still laugh even in the face of a tough
situation like that, even if she’d been laughing at his expense.
Shockingly he even liked that she talked all the time, never
letting silence go on too long whether he was paying attention or
not.