Healing a Cowboy's Heart (Cowboy Dreamin' 2) (8 page)

“I’ll
get her set up.”

“See
you two later.” Joey led the new filly toward the barn.

“How
much
ridin
’ have you done?”

“Some,
but not recently.
I mean I can stay on one and make them
go where I want them to. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means.”

“Most
of our horses are very tame. We have a lot of beginner riders but I don’t want
to give you one who won’t do anything either.”

“Mediocre
then?”

He
chuckled, startling himself and Terri. It had been a long damn time since
anyone made him smile, much less laugh.

“You
have a nice laugh.”

A
sobering thought ripped across his mind. He didn’t have anything to be happy
about. His life sucked right now. Unfortunately, he didn’t see it getting
better anytime soon.

“I
didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You
didn’t. I have a lot on my mind is
all.
” He headed
back into the tack room to grab his saddle while she followed on his heels. Why
in the hell had he agreed to take her out to the property line anyway? The last
thing he needed was to encourage her into thinking he might be okay with this
damned crap with the developers when he wasn’t. “Let’s get this over with.”

“I’m
sure I could get one of your brothers to take me, if you would rather not.”

“I’ll
do it. Besides, I want to keep an eye on you.”

“I’m
not trying to do anything illegal, Jeff. I need to see a few things.”

“We’ve
had this discussion, Terri. I don’t want you on our property. The sooner you
leave the better for everyone, especially me.”

“Why
especially you?”

“I
don’t like you.”

She
stepped forward and ran her fingernail down his chest. “Your problem is I think
you like me a little too much.”

With
her fingers in his fist, he snapped, “No, I don’t.”

“Then
why’d you kiss me?” she asked, glancing up through her lashes with those
incredibly green eyes.

“Hell
if I know, but it won’t happen again.” He started to push past her, but she
stopped him dead in his tracks with her words.

“What
if I want it to?”

A
lump formed in his throat and he swallowed hard to push his words past it. “Well,
it won’t. I don’t need a woman in my life. I don’t need you.”

“Not
even for a little bit of quick fun?”

His
cock hardened behind the fly of his pants at the sultry sound of her whispered
words. His dream came back to haunt him in the flesh as she stood there
promising him sweet release if he’d only give into the desires blazing between
them. “What’d you have in mind?”

“You
seem like you could use a good romp in the hay. I’m just thinking we could help
each other out a little. It’s been a bit for me and from the conversations
around the
ranch,
it sounds like it has for you too.”

“Let’s
get this ride over with.”

“And
then we’ll talk more?”

“Maybe.”

She
smiled with a sexy little tip of her lips that drove desire straight to his
balls.
I’m so fuckin’ screwed.

Chapter
Four

They
rode along with the sun beating down on their shoulders. Sweat trickled down
her back between her shoulder blades. She wiped at the moisture on her forehead
wishing she would have thought to bring water.

Jeff
reached into his saddle bag and brought out a water bottle. He handed it over
as she sighed in relief.

“Thank
you.”

“You’re
welcome, city girl.”

“I’m
not a city girl.”

“Could
have fooled me.
Who rides out here without bringin’
water?”

“I
didn’t think…”

“Yeah,
I know. Good thing I did, huh?”

“Ass-wipe,”
she grumbled under her breath.

“What
did you say?” he asked with a grin.

“Nothing.”
She really did like his smile even though right at the moment she’d like to
wipe it off his lips with her fist or a kiss. She wasn’t sure which one and it
bothered her.

How far it would be until they
reached the property line, she wasn’t sure.

Several
types of plant life made it into jotted notes of her book while the rode along.
Rocks and animal life got noted too. The more information she had, the better
her report to the developers would be. This job meant a lot of money to her
fledgling company so she had to do her best.

“What
are they
plannin
’ on doin’?”

“Dividing
up the property into five acres parcels, building a few houses on them to get
started and then selling off the plots so people can build their own.”

“Wonderful.
Just fuckin’ wonderful,” he snapped.

She
reached over to lay her hand on his arm. For some reason his misery at the
prospects bothered her. “I’m sorry, Jeff. I know you don’t want to be a part of
this, but its progress. You have to look at it in the sense where it’s going to
be good for the community to have the additional population here. It will help
the local stores, restaurants, bars, and your family’s ranch.”

“How
in the hell will it help us?”

“Think
of it this way. People will come to visit family and friends who live in the
new development. If they don’t have a place to stay, they’ll stay at Thunder
Ridge. You have a great set up! You can teach them about
cowboying
and how to live life with the cattle as part of your life verses the citified
people coming out here to mess up the land.”

“Maybe.”

“It’s
true.”

“I
have to have somethin’ to leave my son when he’s grown.” He shook his head,
glancing at her even though she couldn’t see those arresting gray eyes beneath
his sunglasses. “We won’t sell off any of our property to them. They have to
know that.”

“You’ll
have the land to give Ben. The developers aren’t looking for more at the
moment.” The horse shifted under her as she grabbed the pommel in a death grip.
It really had been a long time since she’d been on a horse, but it came back
like riding a bike.

“Right
now, they ain’t, but what if they do in five years or even ten?”

“If
you aren’t selling, what difference does it make which way they expand?”

“More
and more people tearing up the roads, using up the land,
dammin
’
up the water for their own use.
All of those things
take away from what we’ve built here.”

“You
can’t keep living in the past, Jeff.”

“I
don’t want things to change.”

“Change
is good.”

“Not
always.”

She
continued to mull over what he said. True, change wasn’t always for the best,
but in this case it had to be. Her life and her job depended on it being the
right thing to do.

They
came around a large boulder to see a barbed wire fence stretching far into the
distance in both directions.

“This
is the property line.” He leaned over the pommel of his saddle, resting his
forearms across the padded leather in a relaxed, totally cowboy state. “Do what
you need to do.”

She
swung her leg over the back of the horse and dropped her booted feet into the
loose gravel. She grabbed the binoculars from around her neck and scanned the
area. Several birds flew out of a nearby bush into the afternoon sky. With a
note in her book, she described the birds in as much details as she could.
Their species might be important in the long run.

“I’ll
hold her while you look around,” Jeff said, swinging down from his own horse.
“There’s a small spring over here to the right. I’ll water them.”

“Okay.”
She sighed as she took her pen and paper in her hand to make some notes. After
several minutes, she glanced off to the right where she heard the spring
tinkling down over the rocks. Instead of making the notes she needed to make
and the drawings of the area, she found herself wandering to where Jeff said he
was going.
Surely they had the same rocks
and bushes over there, right?

“Jeff?”

“Over
here.” She followed his voice until she saw him crouched down near a pool.

“How
pretty.”

“It’s
one of the natural springs we have running through our property. This one has a
great little
swimmin
’ area right here.” He pointed to
the two boulders on the other side with a sweep of his hand. “It’s not terribly
deep but you can swim in it. I bet it would feel good right now.”

“Can
we put our feet in?”

“Sure.”

She
giggled as she quickly stripped off her boots and socks before she rolled up
her pant legs. The water felt cold on her feet when she dipped them in, but
after the heat of the day during their ride, it felt like heaven. “Lordy,
that’s great!”

Jeff
took the rock next to her and dipped his feet in too. “We used to come up here
swimmin
’ when we were kids much to my mother’s disappointment.
Came home wet all the time.”

“I
can totally see you and your brothers getting into trouble with your mom. She’s
a strong lady.”

“Yes,
she is. She’s the glue
holdin
’ this whole ranch
together. God forbid somethin’ happen to her, none of us would know what to
do.”

They
sat in silence for several minutes while she contemplated the man near her. He
really didn’t seem so grouchy while he sat with her dipping their feet in the
cool water. She wondered more about him. How had he grown up? He seemed like
such a strong man, but around Ben he buckled under to be the dad the boy needed
in his life. He ran the ranch with an iron fist, but seeing how he handled his
younger brothers, she thought he needed to let up on them some.

“What
are you thinkin’ about?”

“You.”

“Me?
Why me?”

“I’m
wondering about you is all. You’ve had it pretty rough from what I’ve heard.”

“Not
really. I’ve had a great life livin’ out here on the place I grew up. I love
runnin’ the ranch, doin’ the chores, workin’ with the animals. You
know,
ranch stuff.”

“I
can see that.”

“What
do you do when you aren’t out in a place like this? You seem like a city girl
to me.”

“I
live in Houston. I have my own architecture firm.”

“Definitely
a city girl.”
He laughed when she frowned.

“I’m
not either.”

“What
do you call those clothes you were wearin’ yesterday with your fancy boots and
designer jeans?”

“All
right.
I don’t have worn boots like yours or ripped jeans,
but I’m not a city girl like New York or Los Angeles. Houston isn’t the city.”

“Sure
it is.”

“No,
it’s not.” She cupped her hand in the water before she tossed the small trickle
onto him.

“Hey!”
He threw some back at her.

Within
minutes, she stood halfway in the middle of the pond to her waist, soaking wet
while they laughed like children as they splashed each other. Jeff stood at the
edge with the water to his calves, but his jeans and T-shirt were soaked too.
She bit her lip while she stared at the material clinging to his chest. The
muscles rippled beneath the material when he moved.
Damn, he’s got a magnificent chest and abs.

He
quickly flung off his hat and rushed into the water as she squealed and tried
to get away. “No! Wait,” she shouted right before he pushed her under. She came
up sputtering with her hair partially in her face. “You’ve done it now,
cowboy.”

“Come
after me, babe! You don’t have what it takes.”

“Oh
no?”
She rushed him, jumping full into his chest and
taking them both down into the water. They broke the surface together laughing
while she clung to his shoulders. A moment later, she realized how close their
mouths were as she looked up into his gray eyes that turned to molten silver
with lust.

His
cock hard between their straining bodies kicked up her desire to raging. She
could feel every inch of him against her stomach. Water clung to his lashes,
making them looked like diamonds in the sunlight. The man was beautiful.

Silence
stretched between them. She wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to feel his
mouth against her again, feel the heat raging between them. “Kiss me.”

“I
shouldn’t.”

“But
you want to.”

“Yeah,
I do.”

“Then
do it.” She sucked in a ragged breath, blowing it out on a sigh. “Afraid?”

He
dragged her closer still. “I’m not afraid of you.”

The
hard plains of his chest brushed against her peaked nipples. Her whole body
ached from wanting to be closer, needing to be closer. “You’re afraid of what
you want to do to me. You think because we’re supposed to be enemies, you
shouldn’t want to fuck me.”

“I
don’t want to fuck you.”

She
tossed back her hair and laughed. “Have you got
a salami
in your pocket then?”

“Fine,”
he growled. “I want to fuck you until the sun drops in the western sky. I want
to bury myself in your sweet heat and let you scald me until this need for you
burns out like a blue flame.”

“Then
do it cowboy. Right here, right now.”

He
picked her up by the waist and she wrapped her legs around his middle. She
wanted this, needed this more than her next breath. Ever since she’d first run
into this tortured, lonely man, she’d wanted to hold him, comfort him and fuck
him into tomorrow.

The
fine gravel lining the edges of the pond bit into her back when he laid her
down. His fingers made quick work of the front of her shirt, parting it to
reveal her water soaked bra to his gaze. “Beautiful.”

He
took her nipple into his mouth, sucking it through the sheer fabric of her bra.
Her whole body hummed as he bit the flesh.
“Ah, God.”
Within
seconds, he had her bra open and her breasts revealed to his scorching gaze.

The
warmth of the sun quickly dried the water on her skin as he peeled open her
jeans. The wet fabric clung to her, making it difficult for him to work his
hand into the parted material. A brush of his fingers over her throbbing nub
shot her straight into mega arousal. “Please, Jeff.”

“You’re
so slick.”

“I
want you inside me.” He worked his fingers into her grasping pussy while his
thumb worked her clit.

“I
want you to come for me.”

“Now?
But…”

“You
can do it. I feel your body vibrating around my fingers.”

He
stroked her clit quickly. Her body shot straight through the buildup to orgasm
in seconds flat. Her scream of his name bounced off the rocks around them,
drifting off on the wind as she slowly came back down, blinking in surprise at
the intensity of her orgasm.

“You’re
beautiful when you come.”

“Thanks.”
She frowned. “I think.”

“Jeff?”
someone shouted from their left.

“Oh
hell!”
Terri quickly scrambled out from under him, trying
desperately to right her clothing.

“Stay
where you are, Jackson.”

“I
ain’t movin’. I’ll stay right here and enjoy the scenery.”

The
sound came from the rocks not very far away. “He can’t see me, can he?” she
asked, putting the finishing touches on her clothing.
Shit. His brother probably heard me scream out my orgasm. How
embarrassing.

“I’m
not sure where he’s sittin’, but I doubt he missed your scream.”

“Thanks,
Jeff.”

“You’re
welcome, darlin’.”

He
grinned like a Cheshire cat, the jerk. At least his brother didn’t catch them
in the middle of having sex.
He probably
would have if he’d waited a few more minutes to make his presence known.

“What
are you doin’ out here, Jackson?”

“Lookin’
for you.
Joey said you were comin’ out here to
the property line. I came to tell you the feed store brought the load.”

“You
couldn’t have waited until I got back?”

“You’re
always
bitchin
’ when we don’t tell you the load is
here.”

Jeff
didn’t respond to that.

“Took
a swim, did ya?”

“Give
the lady some privacy, will ya?”

“I
ain’t lookin’. I heard the
splashin
’ from a mile
away.”

Which means he heard me
scream.
Just fucking great.
“Jackson, you
can come down now.”