Rodeo King (Dustin Lovers Book 1) (8 page)

I don’t give a damn at all.
She turned in his arms and met his seeking lips. Against them she moaned,
“Hell, yeah.”

His hand warm on the back of her neck,
Caleb guided Rosemary along the nature path connecting one side of the park to
the other. His thumb stroked gently under her hair, over her ultra-sensitive
nape. She could have easily melted in her boots.

When she swayed slightly, Caleb’s
knowing chuckle stiffened her spine and she flashed him a glance, wavering
between irritation and affection.
Overconfident smartass.

Though she loved being alone with him, a
mother’s natural worry kicked in and she found she couldn’t completely relax.
It wasn’t so much a safety concern. Miranda would care for Carson as one of her
own and Rosemary fully trusted her. It was more than that. Despite their
reconnection the night before and a new understanding growing between them, she
still couldn’t completely trust Caleb to stick around for Carson. That made
every hour with him as part of a family unit precious. Lord knew, she wanted to
trust him. She wasn’t quite there yet.

Then she told herself to stop being an
idiot and just enjoy what she could.

They passed the adult pool area with its
heated Jacuzzi, the water a comfortable temperature year-round. “We should have
brought our swimsuits,” she commented idly.

Caleb snagged one of her hands and swung
it between them, like he used to do years ago. “We can always come back another
day, Rosie.” He tugged her closer and brushed a teasing kiss across her nose.
“Or sneak in after dark and go skinny-dipping.”

“Oh, yes. Great idea especially since
last year they upped the security system with about a hundred extra cameras.”
She gave his shoulder a playful shove. “It’d be all over Youtube.”

“Hey, I’d download it. Late at night
when I’m lonely.” Caleb yanked her up hard against his chest. “Lucky for me,
I’ve got the real thing right here.” In the shade of a cottonwood he sucked
gently at her throat, and everything went right out of her head, wiped clean by
those warm, full lips and tongue stroking fire on her skin.

With a breathy sigh Rosemary tunneled
her fingers through his hair, fisting the heavy strands, encouraging him to
take anything he wanted. On a public path like this, half of Dustin could mosey
on by at any time and gawk at them. She couldn’t bring herself to care.

She pulled until he raised his head
enough that she could kiss him. Then she swallowed his mouth, his tongue, and
the thick groan he uttered as his hands dug under her backside and hoisted her
high, easing her against the cottonwood trunk.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he demanded
hoarsely, and she made her rubbery limbs obey.

Tree bark poked her back, but she barely
acknowledged its scrape. Her head, her heart and soul so full of Caleb, what he
did to her . . . nothing else mattered. And those small remnants of
mistrust—that he’d up and leave when it suited him—shattered under the pure
strength of his body against hers, hot and vital. But she felt the tremor in
his fingers where they gripped her, the shiver that moved up his spine when she
slid her tongue over the firm flesh along his jaw. And she knew what exploded
between them affected him as much as it did her.

“Ah, Rosie . . . I’d give anything to
have you naked right now.” The words burst from his throat, low and rough. His
hips had begun a not-so-subtle thrust against her center, the hard ridge beneath
his button-fly hitting her just right.

Rosemary could almost feel her eyes roll
back in her head. When Caleb propped her on one brawny arm and snaked his free
hand inside her gapping shirt collar, she gnawed her bottom lip, hard. It was
either that, or scream loudly enough to flush birds right out of the cottonwood
branches above.

He flicked open a few buttons, his
fingers shaky, then hissed out a curse when he found bare skin. “God almighty,
baby. How could I not know you’ve been braless all day?” He bent his head and
covered her nipple with hungry lips.

Her lids fluttered shut, then snapped
wide open as she looked around furtively for others on the walking path. Though
she didn’t see anyone, the sane and yet-unscrambled portion of her brain told
her it was just a matter of time before someone caught them doing illicit,
probably illegal acts in public. Still, she couldn’t help but cup his neck and
keep him close as the feel of his mouth and tongue sent her into boneless
submission. And she needed to watch him do it. She had to see.

She shuddered when Caleb met her gaze
with hooded passion, his lips rosy and eager against her pale flesh.

***

A beam of sunlight filtered through the
cottonwood leaves and set a fiery glow over Rosemary’s tangled hair. Caleb had
lost track of how many kisses he’d scattered over her bared skin. The urge to
strip her naked and take her against the damned tree grew with each sigh she
uttered in the quiet surrounding this section of the park. And her hands,
Christ . . . what the woman could do to him with those soft, pretty hands
should be outlawed. He leaned in for another kiss, shifting her body even
closer, choking out a growl when her breasts pushed against his tee shirt and
her legs clamped his hips.

“Grandma, cotton candy!” The childish
screech echoed along the path. Breaking their kiss, Caleb looked up and spotted
an elderly couple about seventy-five yards away, meandering slowly, swinging a
little girl between them. Right now they were too far out to see much of
anything. But the park only got more crowded in the afternoon and early evening
when various free concerts started up and a few food booths opened for
business.

He sidled along the tree and held
Rosemary steady as she eased her feet back to the ground. The little wriggling
movements she made along the way just about killed him. Caleb groaned softly
and pressed his forehead to her shoulder. He could feel her shake as she formed
a chuckle.

“It’s not funny.” He discreetly adjusted
himself.

Rosemary shook her head as if to clear
it. “You recall the last time we got rousted from this very park for necking in
public?” She swiftly buttoned up as he shielded her from Grandpa and Grandma’s
steady advance down the path. By the time the old geezers reached the heavier
copse of cottonwoods, she was tucked and smoothed out, leaning against the
trunk, the picture of innocence. Caleb nodded a greeting as the towheaded
little girl—about Carson’s age—dragged her grandparents toward the shack
selling cotton candy.

“She’ll wear them out in no time.” He
snared her wrist and pulled her in for a fast, voracious kiss.

Rosemary came willingly enough but a
touch of hesitancy in her response told him, better than words, their bubble of
intimacy had probably popped for the day. Even so, he had to ask. “You all
right, Rosie?” He brought her hand to his face and held it there, inexplicably
relieved when she stroked him gently.

“I’m good. But I think we should head
back to the carousel and find Carson. It’s getting late and I still have to
figure out dinner and scrub about ten pounds of park crud off our son.” Rising
on tiptoe, she brushed her lips over his cheek.

Caleb cradled her tenderly, thinking
that of all the wonderful events of today, all the laughter and kisses, the
sweetest had to be the words, ‘our son’ coming from those gorgeous lips now
pressed to his cheek. He wondered if she knew how deeply she’d touched his
heart.

He wondered if she knew he’d never let
her go.

They collected a very excited boy on the
short path between the carousel and the picnic area. Carson’s hair stuck up in
wild tufts, his plaid shirt half in, half out of his cargo shorts, clutching a
stuffed alligator almost bigger than him. Mimi and the triplets trailed behind
him, all grinning widely. The boys’ faces were smeared with what looked like
cotton candy and mustard.

“Look, Daddy!” Carson shoved the silly
looking purple gator at Caleb. “Mimi Moo and me won Fred!”

Caleb held the gator up for inspection.
It wore a bright yellow cowboy hat and hot pink hi-top sneakers on each foot.
“This is quite the stylish lizard, huh?” Then he blinked down at his son.
“‘Fred?’”

“Don’t ask,” Mimi snorted. She opened
her arms to Carson. “C’mere, short stack, and give me some sugar.”

Giggling, Carson took a running leap and
hung on Mimi like a little monkey, his arms and legs wound tight. He gave her a
smacking kiss. “Thanks, Aunt Mimi. For helping me win Fred.”

“And?” Rosemary prodded gently.

“And for feeding me, and letting me ride
the camel for like a hundred times.” He laid his head on her shoulder
trustingly. “Can I come see you sometime? And play with the guys?”

She swung him around a few times and got
him squealing. “You betcha, cowboy. Anytime. But make sure it’s okay with your
folks. Don’t just jump a club car and ride those rails to Cheyenne, y’hear?”

As Carson’s eyes got big at the mention
of stowing away on a train, Rosemary groaned. “Oh, jeez. Don’t give him any
ideas.” She knelt and scooped Mimi’s herd into a communal snuggle, laughing as
they peppered her cheeks with sticky kisses.

Carson wriggled from Mimi’s arms and ran
to Caleb. “Can we ride the rails, Daddy? Like a hobo?”

Caleb coughed out a chuckle. “What do
you know about hobos?” He grabbed for his adorable boy, deftly flipping him
upside down, then shared a knowing look with Rosemary. “You buy the tickets,
we’ll ride in style all the way to Cheyenne, deal?”

“Okay!” Carson flapped his arms like a
bird. “Can you carry me this way?” His voice sounded garbled from the rush of
blood to his face.

Caleb swung him right side up and
planted him firmly on the ground. “No can do, tough guy. Not upside down. But
you can piggy.” He knelt and thumbed toward his back. “Hop on.”

Carson didn’t need to be invited twice.
He clambered up and clung. Caleb handed Fred to Rosemary, then slipped his
hands under Carson’s legs to stabilize him, while Rosemary used Fred’s
sneaker-covered paw to wave goodbye at Mimi and the boys.

Heading for the parking lot, Caleb
bounced Carson with every other stride as Rosemary waltzed in circles with Fred
in her arms. Their son giggled all the way to the car, the best sound in the
world.

***

“I’m in the mood to cook,” Rosemary
announced, as Caleb pulled up to one of a handful of traffic lights in Dustin.
“Maybe fried chicken and cheesy mashed potatoes. What do you think? You guys
hungry for real food?”

In the back seat, Carson immediately
started jumping up and down. “Yeah, yeah! Chicken and po!”

“Sit still, buddy,” Caleb warned. “And
put your seat belt back on, okay? Don’t want you flying out the window.”

“Aww, gee.” But he did as he was told,
sitting quietly. Caleb gave him a commiserating grin toward the rearview
mirror, understanding how hard it was for a kid to sit still.

When Rosemary hooked her hand over his
thigh, he turned the grin into a comical leer and murmured, “I could go for
chicken. Maybe a breast.”

“Shh, jeez.” She pinched him in a tender
spot, then rubbed it in apology. “We’ll have to stop by Safeway. My supplies
are pathetically low. You remember where it is? On Sprig, near the bakery.”

“Yep. Hasn’t been a whole lot of changes
in Dustin, you know.” Caleb made the turn onto Sprig Street, then dropped a
hand from the steering wheel to cover her fingers and hike them higher on his
thigh. “Only the important stuff changed and for the better,” he stressed.

“Whatever do you mean, Mr. Johnson?” She
wore a demure expression but her cheeks had flushed.

He slowed down to enter the Safeway
parking lot and whipped into a slot next to a cart return. Killing the engine,
Caleb leaned in and pressed a kiss to her mouth, warm and soft under his lips.
Before Carson could start squirming impatiently, he murmured, “All you’ve given
me, that’s the most important change of all.” He cupped her chin tenderly.
“Carson. A chance to prove myself to you.” His voice dropped to a rasp. “Your
love.”

She swallowed convulsively. “Caleb—”

“Mommy, let’s go!” Carson hollered from
the rear.

Caleb shuddered out a sigh as he pulled
away. “You heard the peanut gallery back there. Let’s go chase down a chicken.”

Inside, Rosemary consulted the shopping
list she’d slapped together before they left Hawthorn. Caleb tossed Carson in a
cart and wheeled him up and down the aisles, making silly engine noises to the
delight of their son. Each item on the list was passed off to Carson who
carefully laid them in the cart, then did his best to keep his feet from
squashing anything. In between grocery placement, Carson kept up a chattering
commentary ranging from multiple corn dogs at Sonic to how many times he rode
the carousel without throwing up.

Caleb made appropriate noises of
approval while Rosemary muttered, “If he doesn’t puke in the middle of the
night we’ll all be lucky.”

“Well, if he does, I’ll clean it up.”
Caleb ran caressing fingers under her hair and enjoyed the shiver that swept
over her from his touch.

Her eyes met his, soft amber, tinged
with a promise. “Let’s get the rest and go home. I’m hungry.”