Falling For A Cowboy (16 page)

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Authors: Anne Carrole

BOOK: Falling For A Cowboy
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He grabbed her arm
, held it in a gentle grasp
.

Dusty, look at me.

She raised her gaze and met his head on
.
His jaw was clenched, his smile tight
,
as if he
was
wavering
between control and something else.


I desire you
.
Hell, I want you more than any woman I

ve been with
.
And that

s not just talk
.
I don

t understand it
myself
.
This is new to me
.
Because I

m pretty certain one
night isn

t going to do it for me
, either
.

H
is voice had gone soft and h
e took a deep breath
as if he needed to
brac
e
for something
.

That scares me because I
don

t know if I

m ready to offer more
.
And I understand if it

s not enough.

At least he was being honest about not being ready to offer more
.
The rest, she wasn

t buying.

It

s not.

She wrenched her arm free.


Fine
.
But don

t go thinking you

ve nothing to offer a man.

Irritation tinged his words.

You

re smart, funny, sassy
,
and sexy as hell. I can

t look at you and not want you
.
And I sure can

t kiss you and hide the fact. I

m not sure where this
insecurity
of yours
is coming from except that Bradley fellow must have done a number on you.


How do you know about Bradley?

Anger flamed up within her because
she knew the answer as soon as she asked the question
.
Tara
Lynn
had a lot to answer for.


Look, I

m just saying that
I

m attracted to you
. You

ve sure
been keeping me up at night.

He gave her a lopsided grin
.

And I mean that in every sense.

God he was devastatingly attractive
, and so convincing
when he said
lines
like that. But she didn

t believe him
.
Not one word
.
He was a rodeo cowboy, after all.


I

ll get the linens.

Chapter
Six

 

Dusty
wondered if Clay was awake yet as she
tip-toed down the stairs
.
It was almost ten o

clock, meaning she

d missed the Heritage Day parade
.
She hadn

t missed the parade since she could remember
.
Not that the floats and the band were all that much
,
but in
Langley
everyone went to the parade to show their support
.
It was a town thing.

She

d been up most of the night thinking about the hunk of a cowboy sleeping in her
living room
. After checking the clock almost every half-hour she must have finally fallen
a
sleep sometime before dawn and had slept right through
.
By the time she

d showered and put on her make-up, which took an extraordinarily long time that morning, it was well past parade time.

Pausing at
the bottom stair, she peeked
into the living room at
the
bare-chested man lying
under the
pale yellow
blanket covering the sofa bed. He was still asleep
.
Whitey lay next to him, his doggy eyes trained on her, watching.
Even her
dog was turning traitor.

She

d
wondered what Clay looked like in the morning
.
Hell
,
she

d
wondered what he looked like at night, naked
.
That had been
one of
the question
s
costing her sleep
.

She tip-toed over to the sofa, peered down
,
and took a deep breath. Clay laid spread eagle, work-hardened arms flung out across the mattress like some offering to a
g
od
—or goddess
.
His brown hair was tousled and those fringed eyelashes f
eathered
his
high cheek bones.
She took in his
s
traight, sculpted nose
,
firm full lips
,
and
the
dark shadow of hair
that
dusted his strong jaw line.
Her gaze traveled to his chest where
sun-kissed
skin
was
stretched taut
over
muscle. He looked like a
sculptor

s
masterpiece, lean, hard
,
and buff.
Eye
candy to her sweet-starved brain.

She followed the
thin line of dark hair
that ran
down the middle
of his
toned
stomach
.
I
t
disappeared under the
tented
blanket
that covered
the
treasure
trying to
pok
e
through
.
Her hands itched to pick up the edge of the fabric and
discover
that treasure
for herself.

She stepped closer, desire warring with reason
.
Before a winner could be declared, a strong arm encircled her waist and
brought
her tumbling down onto that
firm
abdomen.
She fell with a squeal
as
s
mooth skin and tight muscles greeted her. Whitey scrambled from the bed.


Come here, darling.

Clay
crooned the words as he wrapped both arms tightly around her and pulled her up to him. Before she could think
,
he

d rolled
over
her
.
T
he only things separating them were her denim skirt and the thin cover, now bunched at his hips.


I

ve missed you.

He feather
ed
little kisses along her neck
.
Waves of delicious tingles rolled through her.

She didn

t try to resist. A long firm length prodded her thighs
.
Unless he

d taken a hammer to bed with him last night, the man was hard and ready
.
The wetness between her legs said she was too.

But this was insane
.


Clay, don

t
,

s
he managed to eke out between signals from her body telling her to let it ride.
Fortunately
, her brain was on duty this morning.

Like she had thrown a switch, he released her and rolled
o
nto his back
, pulling the covers along with him
.
He covered his eyes with the back of a hand
.


I know you want it, Dusty
.
Why won

t you let me give it to you?

Frustration
edg
ed
his
words.

H
e was right
.
She did want it
.

I don

t know.

It was the only answer she could give
.
Something was preventing her from answering the call of every part of her body.


I

d make it good for you, honey.


Clay, it

s not that.

He sat up in one fluid motion,
the blanket barely covering his lap.

What is it then?

She shrugged.
She was struggling to attach a name to it
,
too.
But i
f the guy didn

t get some clothes on, there might be no need for this conversation.

He bunched the edge of the cover in his hand.

I

ve told you I

d like to see where this goes.

He stared at her, his big blue eyes making her
pulse jump
.


It

s me
.
I

ve things to work out, Clay
.
Maybe it

s too soon.

He took a deep breath and with a growl,
threw the cover back and
rose out of the bed
.
H
is
erection
st
u
ck out
, long
and thick
,
and aimed at her
.
She gasped
and shut her eyes
,
but the sight of him in all his glory
was
one she

d never forget
.
The man was magnificent
.


I

m taking a shower,

he said
. She heard the sounds of
feet slapping against wood
.

A cold shower.

She shouldn

t have
peek
ed as he took the stairs two at a time
,
but she couldn

t help herself
.
He looked like a wild animal as he
climbed
, his
heavy shaft
waving from the motion
.
Heaven help her. They

d never fit together.

 

* * *

 

Why hadn

t Dusty fallen into his bed like every other woman? He must have done something wrong.

He let the water from the shower spray over him
.
Warm
water, cleansing water.
The flowered shower curtain fluttered from the pelting of the drops
.
He lathered
the
soap and began to scrub.

He tried to clear his mind, but Dusty wouldn

t let him
.
He saw her image, sitting on his lap, her core nestled against his hard
length
, her nipples erect
,
pushing through the thin fabric of her top
,
and her thighs squeezing his hips. Her kisses had branded him like a hot iron
.
And then she

d jumped off of him as if
she

d
gotten burned
.
T
his morning she

d said no outright
.
Stopped him cold when he

d had an erection that was close to painful.

What the hell was he going to do? He wanted her,
and
not just physically
.
H
e wanted more
with
her
. H
e wanted to be closer to her, share her secrets,
soothe
her fears. He

d felt a connection with her, a bond
.
Hell, he

d never confessed to anyone that he spoke to his father
.
But with her it
had
seemed natural, safe.

Y
et
with the
situation being what it was, how could he offer more
?
Until he raised the stud fee, he was in no condition to get serious about a woman. Hell, he

d never
even
thought about getting serious
.
It had seemed
there

d always be time
.
He was only twenty-seven
.

Who was he kidding?
He was
n

t
exactly a young cub anymore.
He had
friends
younger than him who were
on their second kid.
So why
should settling
down seem such a distant prospect and the stud fees such a formidable obstacle?

He didn

t know if she was the one
.
He

d never even asked
that
question before
.
H
e sure wanted to find out
.
Except
that
she

d made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him
.
Jesse had been so right
.
Dusty
was the kind of girl you married
.
The kind you courted
.
The kind you brought home to your mother
.
That Bradley must have been an idiot. And thank God for that.

Somehow, he had to get
her to take a chance and see where
things between them went
.
If it took several more trips to
Langley
in order to convince her, he

d make them
.
B
ecause this could go all the way
.
S
he could be the one
.
He

d find out, no question about that.
He

d never gone after
something he wanted and come up empty
.
And in the most important issue of his whole life, the woman he might
actually
marry
,
he had
no intention of setting a new precedent.

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