Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) (30 page)

“One thousand dollars,” Duke
countered with an equally determined gleam.

Unlike Connor’s, she didn’t like
that gleam. After their date, the realtor had called a few times, but she’d
turned him down. Kerri thought he’d gotten the message. Apparently not.

Connor straightened, and his arms
dropped to his sides. “
Five
thousand,” the cowboy said without blinking.

And that’s when her lightheadedness
began.

W
hat is wrong with
these guys?
She glanced from Jordan to Cole to Kade as if their smiling
faces held the answer.

They didn’t.

“Six thousand,” Duke hollered.

The look he gave her sent a chill
down Kerri’s spine.  Okay. This was not good. He looked at her as if she were a
trophy he was competing for instead of a human being. Cripes. She sure hoped
Connor would out do him because she suddenly didn’t want to be alone with Duke.

The dimpled cowboy smiled at her.
“Seven thousand.”

Relief flowed through her, and she
mentally sent him a thank you.

Duke shifted in his seat. “Eight
thousand.”

Kerri automatically looked at
Connor. It was like watching a tennis match. And she felt like the dang yellow ball.
Only in a lilac sundress.

Dimples appeared and Connor touched
his hat and winked at her. “Ten thousand.”

Holy smokes.
Kerri thought
she might faint.

“Well, I’ve got to say, you two are
making my job easier,” the announcer said. “I haven’t had to do anything. In
fact, you two are so fast that no one else has had a chance to bid. Is there
anyone who is willing to go over ten thousand?”

No, because obviously those two
men were nuts
. Her basket and her company were not worth anywhere near that
amount of money. She was only happy the recreation center would reap the
rewards.

When no one else spoke up, the
jolly man turned to Duke.   “How about you?”

Kerri held her breath.
Please
say no…please say no
. His gaze darkened, and he sent Connor a look filled
with so much contempt, a small tremor ran through her body.

“Nope. Too rich for my blood,” Duke
claimed. “I’ll just have to wait for the grand opening.” He smiled, but his
expression said he was not done with her.

Kerri shivered despite the warm
temperature.

“Then I shall proclaim this basket
and lunch with the pretty lady
sold
to the cowboy in…well we all
recognize the cowboy,” the announcer said with a grin. “Connor McCall. He
always donates the best darn bulls for our rodeo. We look forward to the
competition later this afternoon.”

Connor tipped his hat, and Kade
slapped him on the back while Cole, Jordan and both families cheered. Kerri was
still in a daze over the amount of money her basket had pulled in as her lunch
date ambled down the aisle and up onto the stage to pay at the table in the
corner.

“Bless you, young man.” The elderly
lady had a tear in her eye as he handed her a check. “You will be making a lot
of children happy with your donation.”

He tipped his hat and showed the
treasurer his dimple. “It was my pleasure, ma’am.”

Who pays ten thousand dollars
for lunch with their fling?

Was there more going on? Had they
turned a corner when she wasn’t looking?

“I’ll get that.” Connor quickly
seized the basket and blanket and would’ve grabbed the cooler, too, if Kerri hadn’t
beaten him to it.

“You have enough to carry. I can
handle this. It isn’t heavy.”  Kerri glanced up at him and smiled, deciding to
just enjoy the day.

Maybe she was reading more into the
bidding. It was a donation. Heck, the two alphas were just competing. Probably
would’ve tried to outbid one another on old man Foster’s basket.

Okay, no, she’d want that one if it
had his chocolate ice cream.

“All right then, where do you want
to eat?” The dimpled cowboy looked down at her questioningly.

There was nothing extra behind
the bidding
, she kept telling herself. No secret motivation. They were just
friends
—
with benefits
—
who
hadn’t had an hour or two of alone-time together in weeks.

Feeling better, and all sorts of
excited at the prospect of that alone time, she looped her arm through his and
tugged. “Follow me.”

Kerri led them away from the crowd
and into the meadow beyond the parking lot. There were several families and
couples laid out on blankets, and she had to admit, this was a much quieter
spot than at one of the many picnic tables in and about the fair grounds.

Five minutes later, they were
sitting on the blanket Connor spread out, and she was busy setting out the
food. Already, her body was heating and tingling in response to his closeness.

“I’m not sure what you want, so I’ll
let you help yourself.”

He nearly choked on the grape he
popped into his mouth. 

“Hey, cowboy, are you alright?”

“Yes,” he said between coughs.

She smiled. “Good, I’d hate for you
to choke on a meal you bought for ten thousand dollars.”

He grinned, and their gazes held
for several beats. She felt as if something needed to be said, or maybe he
could just put his mouth on her. Yeah, she voted for that, and so did her body.
See? It was unanimous. And dangerous.

She cleared her throat and asked
him what he wanted to drink instead.

 “I’ll just have the water for now
and the sangria with my dessert.” Kerri handed him a bottle of spring water before
turning her attention to her own plate of food, and the two of them ate in a
companionable silence. When they finished, they tossed their plates in a small
garbage bag she’d had the sense to bring.

“That was delicious,” he said, gaze
lazy and appraising. “But seeing as you were the cook, I’m not surprised.”

His compliment warmed her whole
being, and the heat in his eyes made her hot. She cleared her throat. “Thank
you. Now, how about dessert?”

“Hmmm. What to have? What to have?”
He grinned and tapped his mouth with his index finger. “I’ll start with you.”

Kerri smiled. “It might be too
public for me to be on the menu.”

Although, that was exactly what she
wanted. Memories of the cowboy devouring her on the island flashed through her
mind. Great. Now she was wet.

His gaze dropped to her chest, and
her nipples tightened under his scrutiny. It’d definitely been too long since
he’d had his hands on her.

When his gaze eventually lifted,
his eyes had darkened to a rich, deep caramel. “But it’s you I want most of
all.”

Air tried to funnel into her lungs,
but clogged in her throat as fierce need and desire rushed at rapid speeds.
“Jeez, Connor,” she said in a hoarse whisper, hand trembling over her thudding
heart. “You make me crazy.”

“Ditto, darlin’.” Eyes smoldering, he
traced a delicious line down to her ankle.

She cleared her dry throat, and
needing something to do, cut him a piece of pie. “There’s nowhere we can go
right now where we won’t be seen, so we’ll just have to save that thought ‘til
later.”

His chin lifted, and a new light
entered his eyes. “Later? You mean you’re not going to leave after your cook
off?”

Kerri’s head snapped in his
direction, and she frowned. “I’m supposed to sing with Jordan and Cole,” she
told him. “Then afterwards, I-I was going to stay…”

Maybe he didn’t want her to. Maybe
he was meeting up with someone. Her back stiffened as thoughts of him with another
woman soured her stomach.

Warm fingers tightened around her
leg. “I’d love for you to stay. I just didn’t think you’d want to.”

Her gaze shot to his face. “Why
ever not?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged and released
her to grab his plate of pie. “Most city girls don’t care for the sounds and
smells the rodeo will bring later.”

This time she reached out to touch
his leg, brushing a thumb over his knee. “I think you know me better than that,
Connor. You know I’m not like most city girls.”

“I’m beginning to see that.”

Holding his gaze, she squeezed his
leg to make sure he knew she was serious. “I’d very much like to stay. In fact,
just try and get rid of me.”

He reached for her hand and smiled.
“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She nodded and watched as his
hand swallowed hers. Delicious warmth flowed through her, quickening her pulse
to an unsteady beat.
You’re in public
, her mind reminded.
Don’t do
anything…stupid.

After a quick shake, she pulled her
hand away and busied herself by pouring them each a serving of sangria. It was
best if she didn’t touch him.

With a hand slightly shaking, she
offered him a glass along with a toast. “Here’s to your generous donation.”
Kerri left out the part about him rescuing her from being alone with Duke. The
realtor was not worth mentioning.

“And to the delicious rewards I’ve
gotten in return.” He grinned, and they clinked glasses before drinking the
tasty mixture.

Connor’s brows rose as he pulled
the glass away from his mouth and gazed at the liquid. “You were right. This is
by far the best tasting sangria I’ve ever had.”

“I thought you might like it.”

“I do, and I have to admit, I am
dying to try your champagne soaked strawberries.”

His gaze lowered to her mouth, and
she had all she could do not to lick her lips. They tingled as if touched.

Sexy bugger.

She set her glass aside and offered
the plate of fruit to him. Holding her gaze, he took a strawberry and bit into
it.

Kerri knew the instant his taste
buds registered the culmination of berry and bubbly by the slight narrowing of
his eyes. Brows raised, she waited for his response.

“Mmm.” He smiled his approval. “Who
would have thought?”

“You need to broaden your horizon,
cowboy.” Grinning, she placed the plate back down and was about to grab one for
herself when he pushed her hand away.

“Allow me.” Leaning close, he
lifted the strawberry to her lips.

A tremor hiccupped through her
pulse on contact, and she didn’t know what she savored more, the sweet taste of
one of her favorite decadent desserts or the feel of his fingers touching the
inside of her lips as she bit into the strawberry.

Her senses were in an uproar, and
she could feel the invisible pull of attraction and unspoken command of desire
as she lifted her gaze to his. God, it was so easy to get caught up in the
moment, to give in to the unbridled feelings the cowboy brought out in her.

From somewhere deep inside, she
knew she should stop. This was Connor, and he played in the major leagues while
she was still dabbling in the minors, building up her confidence and working on
her pitches. 

But all thoughts of pulling away
disappeared along with her surroundings as Connor’s fingers left her lips to
gently trace a path to her chin.

“I’ve got to have a taste,” he murmured.

His touch was feather light, the
complete opposite of her pulse. And slowly, very slowly he brought his face
within inches of hers.

“Tasting’s good.” She expelled a
breath and he captured it as his mouth came down on hers.

Awareness shot out in all
directions, and Connor groaned as she ran one hand up his back and the other
around his neck bringing him closer. He deepened the kiss, and her moan caught
in her throat when his tongue entered her mouth as he pressed her back on the
blanket.

Apparently, they weren’t going to
worry about being seen.

The urge to touch places and do
things to him was as strong as it was confusing. This one kiss had filled her
with more passion than she had ever known. In fact, Kerri never thought in a
million years she was capable of such a thing. Instant burn. Instant longing.

Though Lance was the only other man
she’d ever made love to, Kerri had had several boyfriends throughout her life
and had shared a lot of embraces, but none had even come close to bringing her
to this body-shaking, inferno state.

Every kiss she shared with Connor
awoke something in her more and more. She was beginning to realize her body
only had this reaction to Connor, and it flourished under his touch.

It was overwhelming, and she was
still unsure if she was happy with that revelation. She didn’t like the thought
of this cowboy having so much power over her, but it became irrelevant when he ended
the kiss, and she stared up into his dazed eyes.

They appeared just as mystified,
just as…sunk.

“Sorry, darlin’.” With a long
finger, he pushed the hair off her temple and continued in a rough voice, “I
didn’t mean to get so carried away. I can’t seem to help myself around you.”

The confusion muddying his brown
eyes confirmed the sincerity she heard in his words. Kerri reached up to trace
the hard line of his jaw.

“It’s alright. That same wave was
carrying me, too.”

“Yeah?” His gaze twinkled as it
traveled down to her mouth again.

Taking a deep breath, she ignored
her hammering heart and gently pushed him back so she could sit up. “Oh no,
cowboy, if we do that again, I’ll probably miss the chili cook-off, and I don’t
want to disappoint Emma. She deliberately abstained from the event so I would
enter, and I can’t
not
show up.”

He sighed. “You’re right. I seem to
lose all track of time when I kiss you.” He grinned as he helped her up, but
didn’t let go of her hand.

She answered his grin with one of
her own, then reluctantly pulled her hand from his. “Guess we’d better clean
up.”

Within minutes, everything was packed,
the blanket was folded and Connor took her hand again. Connecting with him felt
right. It felt…good. She allowed herself to enjoy the warmth and tingling
sensations that spread throughout her body.
Yeah, really good.