Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (20 page)

“I’m too spent. I can’t even get up to clean up.” He laughed.

She reached down for the covers and covered them. He leaned back on the bed and dragged her to him and wrapped an arm around her. With her head on his shoulder they fell asleep.

When they woke up it was still early.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her while stroking her arm up and down slowly.

“Starving.”

“Do you want to get dressed? We’ll go to Luigi’s?”

“No, I want to stay here the rest of the night with you.”

“Me, too. Do you think there is any more of the cake left you were frosting earlier?”

“I happen to know that the whole cake hasn’t been eaten yet,” she said, smiling playfully.

“Yeah? I’ll take a run over to the B&B and bring us a slice.”

“It’s here.”

“What’s here?”

“The cake.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, I made it for you. I was going to bring it over to your house this afternoon.”

“Oh, man,” he said as he threw off the covers from them and got up. “Chocolate cake’s my favorite,” he said, sounding like a little kid, and Annie giggled. He pulled her up out of the bed and crushed her to his chest.

“What are you laughing at?” He grinned, looking down at her.

“You.” And his eyes went wide in mock surprise and she giggled again. Then he crushed his lips to hers.

He threw on his jeans opting to go bare chested and bare footed. She threw on his T-shirt and he playfully refused to give her, her panties. He meant it when he said they were his.

She went to the door of the bedroom, picked up the hem of his T-shirt she was wearing and wiggled her butt, then flew out the door.

He chuckled and ran after her. He caught her by the counter and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, grinding his groin into her backside. After a low growl, he released her and watched her cut the cake as he washed his hands in the sink.

She asked him to pour some milk she had brought over from the inn.

They sat at the bar that separated the kitchen from the living area and ate. She had a small piece, he was working on his second large piece.  Her elbow was on the counter and her head was in her hand as she watched him eat.

“This is so fucking good,” he said to her and she smiled.

She saw a piece of frosting on the side of his mouth and she leaned in to wipe it off with her tongue. He looked to her as the corners of his mouth went up. He devilishly smiled.

“Up,” he said and she stood up next to him. He swiped a finger in the frosting of the leftover cake and while never taking his eyes off her eyes he smeared the frosting on her clit. She gasped, then smiled.

He got up from the bar stool and dropped to his knees. He began to lick the frosting from her clit. He moaned, and the vibration from that moan sent tingles through her. Her legs sagged a bit and she held on to the counter. He continued to eat her as he shoved his finger up her pussy. She was writhing in no time. She came so fast, he had a smug smile on his face while looking up at her.

“Wipe that smile off your face, young man,” she said teasingly.

“I can make you come so fast, huh!” He laughed, sounding all cocky and she gave him a playful slap on his arm. He got up and kissed her hard. She tasted herself, chocolate and his minty clean unique taste on his mouth. She melted into him.

“Back to bed,” he said.

“You’ll get no argument from me,” she replied, and he laughed as she nipped the whiskers starting to form on his face.

Back in bed, he took her again, slow and sweet. They fell asleep entwined in each other’s limbs.

Annie heard a buzzing in the distance and she lazily opened her eyes to see she was alone in bed. She turned around and saw Cord sitting in the chair next to the bed with the lamp light on, watching her. She stretched and said breathily, “There you are. Come back to bed.”

He didn’t move. He just kept staring at her and she noticed he had her phone in his hands absently flipping it over and over. He had a dark expression on his face.             

“Cord, what’s wrong?”

“Why the fuck is Dan texting you, asking if I like the nipple chains?”

“What? Oh... umm… What time is it?”

“One thirty. Why is Dan texting you at one thirty in the morning asking if I like the chains, Annie?”

“Umm, because I took him with me to buy it.”

“Where’d you buy it?”

“The, er, sex shop just outside of Luckenbach,” she said tentatively. Gauging by his reaction, she could tell he wasn’t too pleased.

“Great, fucking great. Did you drive him in my car, too, Annie?” he asked, enraged.

“No. He drove me there Friday night.”

Now she became angry at his accusatory tone. “Why are you reading my texts,” she said as she sat up and wrapped herself with the sheet.

He got up and threw her phone on the bed.

“I heard the phone. I wasn’t sure whose it was. I reached for yours first and I saw Dan’s name.”

“So you read the text?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“What?”

He didn’t answer her, he just looked at her. He was already in his jeans and pulling on his T-shirt.

“Where are you going?”

He just looked at her.

Finally, after a sigh, he said, “I’m going home, Annie. You went to a sex shop with Dan.”

“So?”

“Jesus, Annie, all that guy wants to do is get in your pants and while I’m away you take him to a sex shop... Jesus,” he repeated.

“Would you rather I went in alone!” she yelled at him. “He’s just a friend. We went to Roxy’s after that to hang out and shoot some pool.”

His eyes went wide at that revelation. “Where’s my keys?” he asked, seething.

She got up with the sheet still wrapped around her and stomped to her purse and pulled out his keys. She walked to him and opened her palm, while looking him in the eye. She looked like she was trying not to cry, but he wouldn’t know it because he wouldn’t even look at her, he just scooped up the keys and walked out the bedroom door and ultimately the front door.

Annie went back to the bed and sat there, not understanding what had just happened. About an hour later she took a shower and went to the kitchen of the B&B to start working, even though it was still early.

Joan came down the back stairs that led to the kitchen at the same time Annie’s cell phone chimed, indicating a text message was coming in.

“Good morning, Joan. There’s fresh coffee,” she said then picked up her phone thinking it was Cord. Maybe he was going to apologize or something. 

“Jake?” she said out loud. She looked to Joan and Joan had the worried mom look going on. She flipped it open to read it out loud.

Hey, what happened to Cord? Is he all right?

Sent: Mon. 4:32 AM

By: Jake W.

Joan looked to Annie, who shrugged.

“We had a fight and he left in a huff, but why is he texting Jake about our fight this early in the morning?” Annie asked sounding perplexed.

Joan shrugged, too. “Ask him.”

“Right.”

Hi. We had a fight. He texted you?

Sent: Mon. 4:36 AM

By: Annie             

No, Jimmy Landry did. Said Cord was in an accident. Totaled his car.

Sent: Mon. 4:38 AM

By: Jake W.

When Annie read Jake’s last text, she felt like a five hundred pound weight was dropped on her. Her legs turned to jelly and she had to lean against the counter to steady herself.

“Annie?” Joan asked.

Annie looked to Joan. “Cord was in an accident.” Annie was breathing heavy. “Oh my God, Joan. It must be bad, he totaled his car,” she added as another text came in from Jake.

Cord’s at Hill County Memorial. Jennie and I are packing now and heading back.

Sent: Mon. 4:43 AM

By: Jake W.

“How do I get to Hill County Memorial?” she asked Joan.

“Highway sixteen, straight down. Follow the signs. Take my car, I can handle things here.”

“Thank you, Joan.” Annie hugged her, picked up her purse, and grabbed the keys in the bowl on the counter and went out the door.

Annie walked through the doors of the hospital and saw Deputy Jimmy Landry talking to the woman at the desk. She went up to him.

“Jimmy? Cord, where is he? Is he okay? ” She had a frantic look on her face.

“Hi, Annie. He’s a little banged up. Broke his arm, bruised some ribs, and he has a deep gash over his right eye. It’s swollen shut and turning black and blue. He also has a gash on his right thigh.”

“I need to see him,” she said.

Jimmy knew that she and Cord were seeing each other. He was part of the crew that hung out at Roxy’s.

“He’s on the fourth floor. Room 422. Take the elevator behind you and go on up,” he said without hesitation, to the dismay of the woman at the desk.

Annie didn’t waste time.

“Thank you, Jimmy,” she said as she walked to the elevator.

When the doors opened on the fourth floor, Annie stepped out and followed the signs to 422. She pushed through a door and was inside a sitting room. There was a row of couches and end tables along two walls and another set of doors just ahead. She proceeded to walk through the room to get to the other doors when she saw Cord’s mother. She was talking to Lisa.
Shit, shit, shit,
Annie thought.

“You, you are not welcomed here. Just go home,” Lisa said when she spotted Annie, and Annie was taken aback.

“I’d like to see Cord,” she said, ignoring Lisa, and directing her request to Evelyn.

“No, I don’t want you anywhere near my son. You need to leave.”

“Excuse me? I really would like to see him, please.”

“You were supposed to be driving that car. You should be in there, not Cord. You were supposed to drive to his house. It’s all your fault!” Lisa said, shouting at her.

Annie took a step back.
Oh no, she’s right. That should be me. I was supposed to drive to his house.
She took another step back. What she really wanted to do was run away from these two women, but she had to find out all she could about Cord.

“All right, I’ll leave, but can you please tell me how Cord is? Please, Evelyn?” she pleaded.

Lisa took Evelyn’s hand and answered for her, “No.” They turned and walked toward the doors leading to the patient rooms.

Stunned, Annie walked dejectedly to Joan’s car. She sat in the driver’s seat and began to cry. She had to see him. It was her fault he was in there. She needed to apologize to him, even if he never wanted to see her again. She pulled out her phone and sent him a text message.

At the hospital. Your mom won’t let me see you. Please call me.

Sent: Mon. 5:35 AM

By: Annie

Annie waited five minutes, which seemed like five hours, and still Cord didn’t reply. She tried again.

Cord, please call me, I need to talk to you.

Hope you are ok.

Sent: Mon. 5:40 AM

By: Annie

Still, she waited. To pass the time, she played their fight over again in her head and wished it had gone another way. She looked at the dashboard watch. Six minutes passed and still no text from Cord.

Okay, I get it. You don’t want to talk to me. Last text, then I won’t bother you anymore. I just want to say I’m really sorry about fighting with you. Hope you recover quickly. Be well, and take care of yourself.

Love Annie

Sent: Mon. 5:50 AM

By: Annie

She paused. She hit send and sighed. She never felt worse in her life. The tears just started flowing again and her whole body trembled. About twenty minutes later she started the car and drove back to the B&B.

Annie went through the motions at work. She worked overtime making individual tarts and a chocolate mousse cake.

Joan told her to take off, but there was nowhere she had to be and she didn’t want to be alone with herself lest her thoughts turn to Cord.

It broke her heart that they ended things that way, and she couldn’t see for herself that he was all right, but it was out of her control.

In two short months she would be leaving for Paris and would be able to move on with her life. But until then, her thoughts would always be of Cord, and she was afraid to admit that once she moved to Paris, she still wouldn’t be able to get him off her mind.

****

“Dad, make her stop. She’s fussing over me like I’m a kid, for crying out loud,” Cord said as his mother fluffed the pillows behind his head.

It felt good to be home and in his own bed. He had to put up a fight to get his parents to agree to let him stay in his own home rather than with them which is what his mom wanted. He would have felt smothered, had he done that. He just wanted to be alone. To think, to wallow in his own misery, to try to figure out what went wrong with Annie. He couldn’t stop thinking about their fight, then the accident. Ugh! His Camaro was totaled.

“Let her have this. Your mama lives to fuss over her kids, Cord. You know that,” Cal said, laughing and shaking his head.

The door bell rang. “See, who will answer the door when we’re not here, Cord? You really need to be home with us,” his mom said.

“This is my home, mom, and if I can’t get to the door then I don’t answer it,” Cord said as his father left the room to answer the door.

A few moments later his father came back into Cord’s bedroom with Jimmy Landry.

“Cord, man, how you feeling?”

“Good, man. What’s up?" He didn’t want to say he felt like shit and was in pain because his mother would start in again about him going to her house to recoup.

Jimmy looked to Evelyn. “Evelyn.” He nodded. She nodded back.

“Cord, could I have a word with you?”

By the way Jimmy was looking around, he got the feeling that Jimmy didn’t want to talk in front of his parents.

“Mom, dad, can you go down to the kitchen and make me something to eat?”

They didn’t want to leave, but Cal, ever intuitive, knew Cord wanted to talk with Jimmy alone so he ushered Evelyn out of the room and closed the door. Cord looked to Jimmy.

“Man, McCreedy, you look like you were in a fight, for Christ’s sake.”

“Yeah, with a semi and it won.” He laughed sarcastically and then winced in pain.

Jimmy chuckled. Then he grew serious, “Cord, earlier you said you lost your brakes.”

“Yeah.”

“The investigation turned up evidence that your brake line was cut.”

“What?” Cord asked, bewildered.

“Yeah. So I have to ask you, do you know anyone who would want to hurt you?”

“No.”

Then Jimmy took something out of his pocket.

“Here. I found your phone on the floor of the car. If the investigators saw it first, they would have had to keep it,” he said, handing Cord the phone. “You didn’t get this from me.”

“Thanks, man, I appreciate it,” Cord said as he looked at the display and it indicated messages.

“I have to get back to work. I just wanted to stop by to tell you about the brakes and give you your phone back. If you can think of anyone who might want to hurt you, let me know, okay?”

“Yeah, I will… and Jimmy?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t mention this to my parents. At least not yet. No need to make them worry.”

“Sure, man. Feel better, Cord. I expect you to buy me a beer at Roxy’s this Friday.”

Cord nodded with a smile and Jimmy left.

Cord scrolled through his messages. There was one from Jake asking if he was all right, Jimmy texted him about the accident.

There was one from Annie. She was at the hospital early that morning. Judging by the time, it was soon after the accident.
She was there, Aw geez, mom.
There was another one from her asking him to call her. Then he read the third message from her. It sounded final. She wasn’t going to bother him anymore?
What the fuck did that mean.
He threw the phone down on the bed and winced at the pain in his chest that small movement caused. He picked up the phone and called Annie. She didn’t answer. He left a voice mail for her to call him. He waited a few minutes and then texted her.

I’m home, call me. We need to talk.

Sent: Mon. 3:12 PM

By: Cord

Still nothing from her, he texted Calista.

Hi. Tell Annie to call me.

Sent: Mon. 3:20 pm

By: Cord

Not home yet. You call her.

Sent: Mon. 3:22 pm

By: C.

Once again, he threw the phone and winced at the pain it caused.

When his mother brought up a sandwich for him, he frowned at her.

“Annie was at the hospital this morning. Why didn’t you let her in to see me? You know I was asking for her.”

“Cord, honey, don’t be mad. You were in a lot of pain. I thought it best if you didn’t see anyone yet.”

“Mom, you let Lisa in. Why not Annie? I’d rather have seen Annie,” he said crossly.

“Oh, now, how can I turn away that sweet girl? Here, eat.”

Cord gave up. He wasn’t hungry, but he was so angry with his mom that he curtly asked her to leave, feigning tiredness. He’d deal with her another time in regards to Annie.

His parents left and he called Jake.

“Where are you?”

“On my way to see you.”

“Okay.”

Cord slowly got out of bed and he agonizingly put on a pair of sweat pants. He already had a tank undershirt on.

There was a knock on her door. “Come in C. It’s open.”

The door opened and Annie gasped in surprised to see Cord standing there.

She was in the middle of the bed with her back against the headboard and her knees up with her arms around them. There were tissues by her feet and her eyes were red.

She quickly swiped her thumbs under her eyes to wipe the tears and snatched up the tissues and placed them on the night table by the bed. She jumped up off the bed, flew to him, and hugged him a little too hard, and he winced.