Double Her Pleasure (9 page)

The significance clicked in his brain. “Yeah,
good call.” He slammed the rest of his coffee and stood, a sense of
urgency pulling at him. “Sorry to bolt like this, but I need to
head to the guard shack.”

“Go.” She stood and shooed him out. “Get this
sorted out for our Miss Megan. We need to keep her safe.”

Twenty minutes later, he pulled up at the
receiving shack, which was more like a small house. Owen Yoder, the
security shift manager, listened to Garret then found the line in
the log book where they’d taken receipt of the flowers from the
Unger’s Groceries truck.

Garret recognized the name from when he was a
kid, but he hadn’t shopped there in years. “Can you pull up the
video?”

Owen sat and tapped at the keyboard until it
brought up the images of the truck pulling in, the gate guard
chatting for a while with the older man in the truck, then taking
the flowers inside the building.

“Yep, that’s old man Unger.” He looked up
Garret. “Do you want to talk to the gate guard?”

“No. Looks like it was a normal delivery.” He
turned to leave, but looked back. “I’m heading to town. Talk to the
guard and let me know right away if he noticed anything
unusual.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Owen?” He took a deep breath, bracing
himself.

“Sir?” The man stood, looking deadly
serious.

“Let’s put everyone on alert. At least until
I can prove that this was nothing.”

“Right away, Mr. McGatlin.”

Garret let the man know where Trey and Megan
were riding and asked him to double the patrols around that area as
well as the ranch house and outbuildings.

Jumping into Trey’s truck, Garret gunned the
engine as he left the ranch and headed down the county road toward
Clear River. The new car smell overwhelmed him so he rolled down
the windows and let the earthy Texas air wash through the cab.
Hanging his arm on the window ledge, he felt like this might be the
right place for him now.

Between Inez’s long, tearful welcome hug, her
famous cooking, and having Megan here, this almost felt like the
time for putting down roots.

Almost.

He still had a lot to accomplish in his
career, but did he need to do it all before he was thirty? Maybe
slowing down would be an easier decision than retiring.

He held up a hand to a passing truck then
grinned. Nowhere in LA did people do that. Of course, LA was the
city of immediacy. If your face wasn’t flashed on TV and in “Coming
Soon” spots before movie showings, you’d get forgotten. Could he
take time off and still come back later? Or would it be the death
of his career?

Slowing to thirty miles an hour, he entered
the town. The place hadn’t changed much since he was a kid. A gas
station/auto repair, two bars, two churches, the feed store, a
restaurant, and a few small shops along the main drag. Back behind
the grain bins where the railroad tracks ran, Unger’s Groceries
stood in sore need of a painting.

He pulled into the lot and spotted the
delivery truck around the side of the building. The same one he’d
seen on the video, with tape holding the side mirror on.

As he pushed open the shop’s door, a bell
rang, and old man Unger shuffled from the back room. Wearing baggy
jeans, a cotton shirt, and a seed cap, he looked the same as he
always had.

“Damned if the Hollywood heartthrob hasn’t
come back to town.” He held out his hand and his wrinkled face
pulled into a grin.

“Mr. Unger.” He took the man’s hand in his.
No one of Garret’s generation and younger called him anything but
that. Garret didn’t even know the man’s first name.

“How long you back for?” He leaned on the
counter.

“Not sure this time, sir, but I’m here in
need of your help.”

“That right?” His face dropped into a
frown.

“You delivered flowers to the Silver Spur
today.”

“I did.” He narrowed his eyes. “Was there a
problem with them?”

Garret shook his head. “No, it’s just that we
need to find out who sent them.”

The man thought for a second, then shuffled
behind the counter. Pulling out a big ledger book, he flipped it
open and ran his finger down the rows of handwriting. “Doesn’t have
a name.” He turned the book toward Garret and pointed to the
notation “S.Spur.” Beside that, it said, “surprise” and had
yesterday’s date.

“This your writing?” Pretty damn flowery for
a crusty old fellow.

“That’s Jenny Ann’s.” His wife.

“Can I talk to her?” Garret glanced toward
the back room.

“She ain’t here right now. But I can call
her...if it’s urgent.”

Did Garret want to cause a stir? The gossip
spread around this town like a bad stink on a windy day. His gut
told him to stir it up. “Yes, please. It’s urgent.”

The old man moved fast. He grabbed the phone
and made a call.

Garret looked around at the variety of stock.
He and Trey had tried to buy their first pack of cigarettes here
the week Trey got his farm permit. When their dad found out, they
were both grounded and given double chores.

“When did she leave?” Mr. Unger looked out
the window as if he expected his wife to pull up any second. “Okay
Tilly, thanks. Yep. Yep. Talk to you...” He gave Garret a look.
“I’ve got a customer, hun. I’ll talk to you later. Yep. Yep.” He
finally hung up.

“She’s heading back here?”

The old man checked his watch. “Yep. Left
Tilly’s ten minutes ago. She should be here in about ten more.”

“Can you call her on her cell phone?”

Unger’s eyes widened. “Cell phone?” He
laughed. “Son, we got no need for cell phones.” He gestured to the
soda cooler. “Have a coke while we wait for her.”

Garret glanced around, looking for cameras.
“Can we take a look at your security footage from yesterday?”

“Security...” A sound like a half-cough,
half-laugh came from the man’s chest. “This ain’t Los Angeleez,
Garret. This is Clear River. We got no call for security cameras.”
He laughed. “Why, the last time we come even close to needing
security was when you and that cute little girlie you dated your
senior year tried to steal a box of condoms.” His eyes sparkled
with glee.

“Damn. I’d forgotten that.” He huffed out a
breath. Cindy had been the one who’d grabbed the box and run,
despite his wanting to pay for them. But he’d taken the fall for
the theft, and his dad had dished out one hell of a punishment.
“I’m real sorry about that, Mr. Unger.” How was it that this place
made him feel like he was seventeen again?

The man just laughed and walked to the
cooler, pulling out two bottles of soda. “I knew it wasn’t you. It
was that trashy Cindy Lawton what did it. But there was no
convincing your father of that.”

“I think Dad wanted to put a few weeks
between the two of us. And it worked.” Cindy had started dating
another guy within three days. A guy who wasn’t grounded, wasn’t
driven into school and picked up by his mother, and who wasn’t
spending an hour every day helping the Ungers by pulling weeds from
around their store.

A customer came in and Mr. Unger waddled off
to help her.

Should he call Trey now? Let them know what
was going on? Or should he wait until Mrs. Unger gave him a
description? He checked his watch. They’d be at the spot by now;
the bend in the river where both he and Trey had brought girls
since they started talking them into dates.

Garret rubbed the spot between his eyebrows.
Trey and Megan. Alone together. “Fuck.” He knew what they were
doing, and it didn’t make him all that happy. They deserved their
chance, though. He sipped his soda. He’d wait until he had a full
description from Jenny Ann, then call and interrupt whatever the
hell they were doing without him.

****

Megan let Trey help her off the roan mare.
The thatch of trees further along the path hid whatever was ahead
of them.

He pulled her tight against him and held her.
“How do your legs feel?” His skin was as hot as her whole body felt
from the beating sun.

“Sore.” She wiggled. “A little numb.” The
half-hour ride along the river had been beautiful, the path wide
enough for them to ride side by side.

He helped her to a wide old stump. “Set a
minute while I get the horses settled.” Leaning down, he kissed
her, soft and hot on her lips. “Be right back.” His eyes held a
naughty promise.

When he’d let the horses drink and tethered
them in a shady, grassy spot, he strolled toward her. In one hand,
he carried the old military-style backpack he’d brought, and in the
other, a folded blanket.

His big body, hard and powerful, gave her
core a tingle of awareness. She wanted to focus on him for an hour,
just him, learn every inch of him, every taste her tongue could
capture, every smooth plane, every rough corner.

“Sweetheart, when you look at me like that, I
wanna haul you down and love you hard.”

The chill that raced through her had her
nipples tightening and her pussy quivering. “That sounds like
something I might just enjoy.”

After throwing the blanket over his shoulder,
he offered her his hand. “C’mon. You’re really gonna like
this.”

They wandered a path through the trees and
brush and came out of the foliage at the banks of a small lake.
“What is this?” The ground sloped gradually down to the water.

“This is a backwater of the river.” He
gestured to the trees behind them. “In the spring, we’d be standing
in knee-deep water right here.”

Between where she stood and the lake, about
ten feet of soft-looking sand beckoned her. “Is the water
cold?”

He took her hand and led her toward the lake.
“Nope. It stays warm all summer long.” He dropped the backpack and
spread the blanket. “Strip. Let’s swim first.” He tossed his hat on
the blanket.

“Strip?” Megan glanced around. While this
side of the lake was surrounded by trees, the other side, where the
river ran, was wide open spaces. “What if someone comes by? Your
ranch hands, or—”

“They know not to come by here when I’ve got
a woma...” He clamped his lips shut and looked away.

“Uh huh.” Setting her fists on her hips, she
smiled and stomped over to him. “This is where you bring all the
ladies you want to seduce, right?” Had he brought his sexy lawyer
here? Toe to toe with him, she tipped her head to meet his gaze.
“Don’t try to deny it.”

He blushed slightly and shrugged. “I won’t
deny it, sweetheart.” In one lightning-fast move, he picked her up
and deposited her on the blanket. Standing over her, he grabbed her
ankle and tugged off her boot. “But I will say, I can’t remember a
single one of them right now.” He pulled off her other boot.

“Sweet talker.” Unzipping her jeans, she
wiggled out of them at the same time he toed off his boots.

“Them panties off, too.” His eyes blazed as
he looked his fill of her.

She slowly peeled them down her legs, giving
him her naughtiest stare. “You get naked too, cowboy.”

Megan lay on the blanket looking up at Trey.
Above him, the clear blue sky shone almost the exact color of his
eyes.

Reaching one hand over his shoulder and
behind his back, he tugged off his t-shirt and threw it, then
started on his belt buckle.

Still wearing her shirts, Megan crawled
across the blanket toward him on her hands and knees, keeping every
movement as sexy as possible. “Need some help?” When she reached
him, she slid her hands up his long legs and glanced up at him,
inches away from his zipper.

“Yeah, you can help, sweetheart.” He held his
hands away from his buckle and looked at her like he could devour
her whole. His eyes turned dark blue and his lids dropped, his
breathing coming fast.

As she popped the button on his jeans, he
helped her out of her shirt, pulled her tank top up and off, then
unfastened her bra and slid the straps down her shoulders.

Easing the zipper on his jeans down, she
stared at the magnificent erection pushing its way out of his red
briefs.

“Red, huh?” She licked her lips as she tugged
his jeans past his knees. She leaned in and kissed the spot on the
fabric where his slit leaked a circle of pre-cum.

“Uh uh.” He grasped her arms and tugged her
up, kicking off his jeans and shucking his underwear, then pulling
her bra off her. “I have today planned out. And it doesn’t include
my coming in your mouth with embarrassing speed.”

He had it planned out? He must have been
looking forward to this for a while. “Okay. I’ll keep my tongue to
myself until told otherwise.”

Taking her hand, he led her toward the lake.
“First, we swim.” He looked at her with a lusty glance. “Then I’ll
figure out a use for your tongue.”

She followed him until he stepped into the
clear water. Bracing herself for a cold shock, she dipped her foot
in a couple inches. Tepid water sluiced between her toes.

“You didn’t believe me when I said it wasn’t
cold, huh?” He tugged her forward with him. “Some years, when
there’s no rain, it completely disappears.”

The sandy bottom tickled her feet as they
walked toward the middle. “That must put a kink in your love life.”
She gave him a saucy smile.

“Nope.” He smirked. “Got that big pool behind
the house.”

She laughed and bent, cupping water and
splashing his perfect chest. “I don’t want to hear about it.”

Reaching down with two hands, he cupped them
full of water. “That’s how you want to play?”

Her body, hot from the ride and from the
desire racing through her, would probably turn the water to steam
upon contact.

She stood her ground. “You wouldn’t
dare!”

The challenge must have been too much for an
alpha male like him, and with a groan, he lunged at her, scooped
her up, and ran deeper into the water, leaping forward and turning
so he went under first, pulling her down with him.