Healing a Cowboy's Heart (Cowboy Dreamin' 2) (11 page)

“You
have no idea.” The bed dipped from his weight when he sat next to her. “I
should have listened to my brothers when they tried to tell me she wasn’t good
for me.”

“Hindsight
is twenty-twenty.”

“I
know, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Since we have Ben together, I have to
deal with her for the rest of my life.”

She
stroked her hand down his arm. “I’m sorry.”

“Somehow
I get the feeling you wouldn’t treat anyone badly. You seem like such a nice person.”

Her
nose wrinkled as she scrunched up her face. “I don’t want to be nice. I want to
be sexy, bold, and more woman than you can handle.”

He
laughed. The sound seemed raw and unused even to him. He didn’t know how long
it had been since he’d really laughed out loud. He always seemed to be in a bad
mood except around Ben. Taking out his frustrations on his son wasn’t an option
so he kept his temper in check, but it took its toll.
Maybe I do need more adult company in my life other than my brothers
and my parents.

She
sat forward, running her hand down his chest. “Stay a little while?”

“For
another hour or so.”

“I’m
good with whatever time you can give me.
Really.”

He
slipped beneath the sheet, curled his arm around her shoulder and tugged her in
so her breasts pressed against his side.
Damn,
she’s got fabulous tits.

Her
arm snaked across his stomach to pull him closer to her side. “There. Better.”

“Thanks
for this, Terri.”

“Thanks?”

“Yeah.
I didn’t realize how much I’d been
missin
’
bein
’ with a woman until tonight. You’ve made me feel alive
again, even if it’s only for a little while.”

“You
need contact like this occasionally, Jeff.” Her hand drifted down his abdomen.
“You can’t totally cut yourself off from being with a woman. It’s a fundamental
need for a man.”

He
kissed the top of her head. “Where’d you get so smart?”

“I’m
a college graduate.” A giggle escaped her lips as she brushed them across his
chest. She tongued his right nipple, humming her appreciation when it hardened
beneath her mouth. “I hope you brought more than one condom.”

“I
didn’t want to be presumptuous.”

“Presume
all you want, cowboy. I need some lovin’.”

With
a quick flip, he had her on her back with her hands above her head. “Leave them
there or I’ll tie them.”

Her
eyes dilated. Her lips tilted up in a little smirk.
“Yes,
Sir.”

“Good
girl. I don’t want to have to discipline you.”

“But
what if I want you to? I can be very bad.”

Wow,
he sure hadn’t expected her to get into D/s play, but she jumped right into the
role like she was made for it. “
Spankin’s
can be arrange.”

“Please.”

“When
I say so.”

“Damn.”

Her
breasts tempted him to suck and nip. He wanted to drown in her smell, live in
her eyes, and be a small part of her until their short time ended.

Chapter
Six

The
sun rose outside her cabin, pulling her from one of the best night’s sleep
she’d had in ages. She rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow to look
at the sleeping man beside her.
So much for only a couple of hours.
The tattoo on his back left shoulder blade tempted her to touch
while he lay sprawled on his stomach across her mattress. The dragon with the
wide wingspan looked majestic and proud like the man it marked.

He
wouldn’t be happy about staying the entire night, but she didn’t have the heart
to wake him when he’d dozed off in the wee hours of the morning after they’d
made love for the third time.

The
warmth of the skin beneath the tattoo made her fingertips tingle and her pussy
damp. How could she want him again? He must’ve turned her into some kind of
slut or something if she wanted him again so soon.

“What?”
Jeff shot up in the bed and looked around with a dazed expression. “What time
is it?”

She
glanced at the clock on the nightstand.
“Six-thirty.”

“Shit.
I stayed all night? Why didn’t you wake me?” He jumped out of the bed to grab
his pants. “I need to get home. I need to get out of here before my brothers
see me leavin’ your place.”

“Are
you ashamed to have made love with me?” she asked, sitting up on the bed with
the sheet clutched to her chest.

“No,
darlin’.
Not at all.
I
can’t keep them from fuckin’ around with the guests if I’m doin’ it, now can
I?”

“This
isn’t over is it?”

“Not
by a long shot, but we need to keep it on the down-low. My mother will know
since she stayed with Ben all night. I need to keep the others from findin’
out.”

“How
do you plan to do that when I’m sure someone is probably up already?”

“I
don’t know.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Just pretend nothin’
happened for now.”

“I’m
not going to hide the fact of our sleeping together, Jeff. There’s nothing
wrong with it.”

“I
didn’t say there was.”

She
stood, bringing the sheet with her to hide her nakedness. “You’re confusing me.
You either don’t care if your family knows or you do, which is it?”

“I
don’t want them to know because then all of my brothers will think
it’s
open season on the single, beautiful women on the
ranch.”

“Then
you don’t want them to know.
Fine.
Don’t let the door
hit you on the ass on the way out.”

“But
Terri…”

“Don’t
but Terri me, mister. Get out!”

He
threw his T-shirt over his head before he tugged on his boots.

Pain in the ass man!

When
he pulled open the door, he glanced over his shoulder at her. “And don’t bother
comin’ back, cowboy.”

“You’re
mine.”

“Bullshit,
mister. You can’t have it both ways. Either you want me or you don’t. Either
you do care if your family knows about us or you don’t.”

He
returned to her side, wrapped his hand in her hair and slammed his mouth
against hers. The kiss took her breath away, leaving her shaking and warm when
he stepped back.

“This
isn’t over by a long shot, woman. I’ll be back.”

He
shut the door quietly behind him, leaving her standing in the middle of the
room with the sheet clutched to her chest and her head spinning from his kiss.
She wiped at her mouth trying to erase the kiss, knowing full well she’d feel
it for a long time to come.

“The
gall of that man!”

Her
cell phone rang on the nightstand bringing her out of her wandering thoughts of
the disturbing cowboy who’d just left. “Hello?”

“Hi
Terri.
It’s Bob Cole.”

“Hi,
Mr. Cole.
How are you?”

“I’m
fine. I’m just checking in with you to see how the information gathering is
going.”

“Great.
I should have all the information you all need by the end of next week.”

“Hmm.
The end of next week?”

“Yes,
sir.”

“We
need it sooner, Terri. We want to break ground on the new development by the
beginning of next month. I need the information by the end of this week.”

“But
it’s already Wednesday. I can’t have it done before Friday.”

“The
contract depends on it being done before the end of this week.”

She
exhaled on a rush. “I’ll do my best, sir, but I’m not promising everything by
Friday.”

“You’ll
have to or we’ll have someone else finish the job. We like you, Terri, but we
hired you to do a job and we expect it done satisfactorily on our time frame or
no deal.”

“But
sir…”

“It’s
imperative we have the information. We hear some of the townspeople aren’t
happy about us coming in there so we need to get ground broke before they can
organize a formal petition to stop us.”

“I
hadn’t heard anything of the sort and I’m staying on one of the ranches out
here to gather the details you need.”

“Which
ranch?”

“Thunder
Ridge.”

“Really.
Interesting.
One of their family members is rallying
the townspeople to fight us on this. A,” she heard paper shuffle before he came
back, “Jeffery Young.”

“Jeff?”

“You
know him personally?”

Yeah, you could say a little
personally.
“Sort of.
I’ve
met him.”

“What
a great thing! Get close to him, Terri. We’ll give you the extra time you need
if you can find out a weakness with this guy. Something has to rub him the
wrong way so we can stop his petition with the courts. The last thing we want
is for him to manage to convince someone we are doing something wrong.”

“You
aren’t, right? Everything is on the up and up?”

“Of
course, it is Terri. We aren’t doing anything illegal. Everything is above
board.”

She
sighed. How in the hell would she be able to see Jeff and spy on him or give
them something they could use against him?
“Fine.
I’ll
do what I can, but I can’t promise anything.”

“I’m
sure you’ll be able to find out something. He’s got to have a weakness.”

Yeah, his family.

“Remember,
Terri. This could mean a lot of money for your business. The reputation of being
involved in this project alone will help you become one of the big leaguers in
Houston.”

“I’ll
remember, Mr. Cole.” The clock read seven. It would be breakfast soon. “I have
to go. It’s breakfast time.”

“I’ll
call you again in a couple of days. You’ll have the full two weeks you need so
long as you help us with this little problem.”

“I
understand.”

“Good.
Talk to you soon.”

“Bye.”
She flipped the phone shut with a decisive click. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Jeff already didn’t trust a lot of people. If he found out she tricked him into
divulging information to help his enemies, he would shut her out completely.
“What to do. What to do.” She tapped the phone against her lips. “Well, first I
need a shower. I certainly can’t go to breakfast looking like I just crawled
out of bed.” She glanced at her reflection in the mirror over the dresser. Well
loved. Those were the words she’d use to describe her look. Her lips were
slightly puffy from Jeff’s passionate kiss before he
left,
her hair curled around her head in a wild disarray and her neck showed signs of
whisker burn. She smiled. The look did wonders for her self-esteem.
A drop dead gorgeous cowboy fucked me five
ways to Sunday. And I liked it!

‘Mine.’
The growl of his words came back to make her blush. Did he really think of her
as belonging to him? How should she feel about it? The thought brought goose
bumps to her flesh. The sparkle in her eyes wasn’t there before either.
Apparently, I really like the idea.

With
a smile on her lips, she grabbed clean clothes so she could take a nice shower
before the breakfast bell clanged calling the guests to the main lodge. The non-descriptive
bathroom in the guest cabins didn’t have anything to write home about, but they
were functional all the same. The white walls, white tile, white tub and white
shower curtain left something to be desired. She leaned over the tub to turn on
the water and let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead.

* * * *

Jeff
had just returned from his cabin with Ben in tow as they were getting ready for
the breakfast bell to be rung soon.

The
blood curdling scream coming from Terri’s cabin sent chills down his back.
“Come on, Ben. Let’s see what’s up.” The next scream brought him up on the
porch at a dead run with Ben on his hip. “Terri?”

She
screamed again.

“Terri,
open the door.”

“Jeff?”

“Open
the door.”

“It’s
open. Get in here!”

“What
is it? What’s wrong?”

“There’s
a big hairy bug in the tub.”

“A
what?”

“A
big hairy bug.
Get it out!”

He
almost burst out laughing when he found her standing on the toilet lid with the
sheet wrapped around her. “Ben. Stay out here by the bed. Okay, buddy?”