Tex Times Ten (15 page)

Or he could point out the obvious, that she was safe now and no longer needed him, and therefore he was going to be a gentleman and not make good on the lovemaking issue since…since their marriage would be so abbreviated. It was chivalrous to allow her a way out of her request.

Hmm. “The second option has the feel of honor to it,” he murmured. Last couldn’t say he was being intimacy-stunted if Cissy chose to opt out of the marriage. Drumming his fingers on the rail, Tex decided he would put the question to Cissy at the first opportunity.

It was the gallant thing to do.

“Tex?”

He jumped at the sound of Cissy’s voice. “Whew! I didn’t hear you come up the stairs.”

She patted his arm. “Sorry. I could tell your thoughts were somewhere else.”

Yeah, like on you. “Can’t sleep?”

“Not really. I’m not sure why.”

She laid her head against his shoulder. His heart began beating a frantic tattoo. Cissy felt good to him. Them being together felt right. He thought he felt his scalp break out in hives.

“Come to bed, cowboy,” she whispered.

Yikes! “Uh—”

She stroked the skin just above his shirt collar and just below his hair. The skin betrayed him, jumping.

“Cold?” she asked.

Hot, hot, hot was more the description. Tex cleared his throat. “Cissy, I was thinking that your problem is solved. Well, the Marvella problem, anyway. So there’s really no need for us to continue our marriage of convenience. I know how you feel about marriages of convenience, so valor and decency compel me to allow you to end our bargain.”

“Whatever you say,” she said easily. “But valor and decency compel me to point out that I have no panties on under this nightgown.”

His throat dried out and that traitorous thing in his jeans zapped poker-straight, the way it always seemed to around Cissy. It was like a freaking homing pigeon, and Tex could only be glad of the cover of darkness, or Cissy would know just what she did to him.

She put her hand against him, finding what he wanted so badly to hide. In that split second, he knew that whatever Cissy wanted, Cissy was going to have.

“Come to bed,” she whispered.

He swept her into his arms and carried her down the stairs.

“I should have sent you home with your nieces and nephews,” Tex murmured against Cissy’s hair. “I need distance to resist you.”

“But then your brothers would have known that we were married for appearances,” she pointed out, happy to be in Tex’s arms. “And then you would never convince them that you’re okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Normal.”

“I am normal!”

“Oh, you don’t have to convince me,” Cissy said. “I’ve had you. I know you’re better than normal. In fact, I don’t care whether you’re intimacy-stunted or not.”

He frowned. “You don’t?”

“No. I care about you making love to me again, only this time I want you to stay in the saddle for a
long
time.”

He thought maybe his wildest fantasies were coming true—and at the same time, his worst nightmares. “You might be scaring me.”

“Will I scare you more if I tell you that when we
stopped at the drugstore for necessities, I also picked up condoms?” She licked and then kissed his neck meaningfully.

Kicking open the bedroom door, he said, “I’m encouraged, not scared. I’ll be more encouraged if you tell me you bought the jumbo box.”

She laughed. “I think we’ll have plenty.”

He laid her on the bed, watching her move with an eagle eye. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

“You? How about me? I didn’t think I’d ever break down your walls. For a while, I was beginning to wonder who the virgin was.”

He ripped off his shirt and lost his boots and jeans somewhere on the floor. “I’ll show you virgin,” he said with a growl, moving onto the bed beside her. “What do you mean, break down my walls?”

“I could tell you were battling with your conscience. Right versus wrong. Good versus evil. Take her or not take her. I could tell you were having a herculean struggle with your man issues.”

“Man issues?” He checked out the color of her toenails and decided he would adore pink for the rest of his life. She had delicate, well-shaped feet and ankles.

“The intimacy thing.”

She ran her fingers through his hair, and he knew nothing had ever felt so good as a woman who knew how to scrape her nails gently along a man’s scalp.

“But I knew that in the end, I would have you,” she said.

“And how do you know I was suffering such a division of need versus deed over you?” he asked,
running a light hand up her arm before taking her hand in his to kiss her fingertips.

“You were wearing out the deck up there,” Cissy said with a giggle. “You were right over my room. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! I gave you time to think about it, and then when I realized you might actually manage mind over matter, I decided to bring you over to the dark side.”

He ran a finger along her newly exposed neck. “You did?”

“Yes. It’s working, too. Jellyfish isn’t going to have to replace the deck, after all.”

She giggled again, and that sound alone was enough to give him an instant hard-on. He ran a hand up under her nightgown to give her some of her own medicine and stopped at her hip. “You’re
not
wearing any panties.”

“Well, I was prepared to toss my nightgown into the water if you didn’t agree to get into my bed,” she said. “Knowing the hero you are, I was afraid you’d go into the water to save it. I wanted to keep your attention fully on me.”

She pulled her nightgown off and dropped it to the floor. He’d never seen Cissy Kisserton naked. The sight was enough to bring a grown man to his knees to praise the forces that had created her.

But it was the sudden question in her eyes that charmed him the most. She looked sweet and vulnerable, and he adored her innocence.

“You have my full, complete, total, undivided attention,” he said, almost growling his desire. “And you’re going to have it until the sun rises.”

W
HEN
T
EX AWAKENED
, C
ISSY
was gone. At first that unnerved him, since the night they’d spent together had been so passionate he hadn’t considered getting out of bed unless there was a fire. Instantly, he worried that she might have deserted him, now that she had gotten what she wanted. She could have taken his truck keys and ditched him. She could have gone home to her kids.

Hopping out of bed, he reached for his jeans, fumbling around in the pocket until he found his keys, his wallet and his knife. “Whew,” he said. Then he heard light footsteps above, and he relaxed. She was probably fixing him breakfast.

But just in case she wasn’t, he decided he’d best go check on her. He dressed with lightning, careless speed. It was the first time he’d ever worried about whether or not a woman had enjoyed sex with him, and he really didn’t like feeling insecure.

At the same time, they could now call their bargain square. He should be relieved.

And he would be relieved when he laid eyes on her and made sure she was as happy as she’d sounded all night long. “Cissy!” he hollered, hitting the stairs and then the deck in record time. “Hey—”

She turned from her place at the rail and smiled at him like the sun. She was wearing a yellow halter-back sundress with big orange and black flowers. It blew gently around her knees, fluttering delicately with each puff of wind. And she was barefoot.

He gulped, running a hand through his hair and feeling a bit awkward. She looked sexy as anything he’d ever imagined. He wanted to carry her back downstairs! What was the matter with him? She
would think he was a Neanderthal if he jumped on her. Now that they were even, maybe she didn’t want him anymore. She had specified one night. He took a deep breath and told himself to look only into her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Feeding the fish.” She tossed corn from a bowl into the water. “I plan on feeding you eggs, though.”

He went to stand beside her, acting as if he wanted to look down into the water at the fish, too, but all he really wanted was to stand close to her. “You smell good.”

“Eggs would smell good.”

“Maybe I should shower before breakfast,” he said, realizing her hair smelled good and her body smelled good and even the damn corn in her hands smelled good. He developed an instant erection. “I’ll be right back.”

“What about breakfast?” she called after him.

“I’m not horny!” he yelled back. “I mean, hungry!”

He could not keep getting a stiff one every time he got near her or something bad was going to happen. He’d fall in love. He’d never get any work done. He’d become one of those besotted men that couldn’t stop yapping about helping their wives sort threads for needlework. She’d dislike him because he was going beyond the bounds of their original agreement.

“Cold shower,” he told himself, jumping into the enclosure and letting the spray hit him.

Five minutes later, he was feeling in control of himself. He went back upstairs and joined her at the rail.

She smiled at him, her big aquamarine eyes crinkling at the corners with happiness. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey.” Mentally, he checked his crotch. All good.

“Ready for breakfast?”

He smiled back easily. “I’m really not hungry just yet. And I think I should cook for you. Or do cleanup. Whichever you prefer.”

She tossed the last of the corn into the water and put the bowl on the rail. Her sundress rose lightly with the breeze, teasing her knees. But he was a foot away from her; a great spot to admire and not conquer.

“I’m not wearing any panties,” Cissy said. “Which is what I told you last night, and it seemed to work.”

He was staring at her bare back, realizing how close he was to heaven since she obviously wasn’t wearing a bra, either. His staff of life had noticed how sweet her curves looked in the dress. “Seemed to work?” he repeated dumbly.

“Maybe it falls under your definition of trashy.” She smiled at him. “Or I could undo my halter and see if that works.”

The only way he could cool off now was if he jumped overboard and swam a mile. “Cissy—”

She untied the top of her halter and let it drop to her waist. Her breasts were round and beautiful with perfect nipples. All thoughts of staying away from her fled his mind as he pulled her close to him and took a breast in his mouth. She moaned, holding herself up against him, and he swept a hand underneath the skirt to find nothing but a smooth, round bottom.
She was wet between her legs, and he knew the perfect place to cool off.

Turning her toward the rail, he lifted her skirt, holding her tightly against his chest so that he could caress her breasts. Hungrily, he entered her, needing to be inside her and completely aware that he was starting to lose his mind.

And his heart.

T
WO HOURS LATER
, C
ISSY
awakened from a contented sleep in Tex’s arms. After she’d lured him into making love with her again, they’d collapsed on a lawn chair and fallen asleep together.

It was the closest thing to a real marriage she’d ever experienced. “I never want this to end,” she murmured.

“I have to say I’m enjoying the benefits of baby-sitting this floating pleasure palace,” Tex said.

“It’s a nice honeymoon, even if it’s fake. I’m going to make you breakfast.” She eased off the chair. “I have a new recipe I want you to try. Lie there and don’t get a sunburn.”

“Sunburn isn’t what’s going to kill me.”

She smiled and hurried down into the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, she returned bearing her creation. “Eggs and sausages and biscuits.”

“I’ll take it.”

She watched with pride as he ate it. “All I get is what Helga cooks, or what we sneak. This is the best breakfast I ever had. Thanks, Cissy.”

“You’re welcome. But it’s a bribe.” She winked at him.

“Whatever you want. It’s yours. Especially if you’re cooking dinner.”

“I might. Then again, I might make you do it.”

“Hmm.” He reached for the orange juice she was holding. “On with the bribe.”

“I want to know who tossed Marvella overboard.”

“Oh. You want to play twenty questions.” He nodded. “I can’t tell you. It’s confidential.”

“Why?”

“Because we Jeffersons never rehearse, review or replay an incident.”

“You just let it go.”

He nodded happily. “Yes. Once it’s over, it’s over.”

“All right. Why do you stay at the ranch if your brothers make you so nuts?”

A shrug met that question. “They’re my family and my job is there.”

Same for her, she supposed. “What does Last really want from you? Because I don’t exactly see that you have any more intimacy issues than any other man. And trust me, I saw a lot of men come and go through the Never Lonely salon. They all had some kind of issue.”

“I guess family members bear down on one another about stupid stuff.” He moved the plate to a table and leaned back. “Mason says Last has lollipop-colored vision and he’s probably right. Last wants to bring back what we had growing up. But it’s not coming back, and the more he pushes, and the more Mason pushes at the family, the more it seems to backfire. Look at me. I could be home doing chores, but I’d rather rescue you.”

She smiled. “Only I don’t need rescuing anymore.”

“Maybe not. But you can’t run this big ol’ river yacht by yourself.”

“It’s docked.”

“Still, I wouldn’t leave you out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“You are so gallant.” She allowed her gaze to wander over Tex’s chest and wondered how she could say what she was about to. “Tex, I’m not going to lure you anymore.”

He stared at her. “Why not?”

“It’s not right. I have an unfair advantage.”

His eyes blinked rapidly. “What?”

“Well, you want sex. I give you sex. It’s a bad analogy, but a man’s stomach growls when it gets hungry. I feed you. If I didn’t feed you, you’d go away.”

“No, I’d order pizza.” He frowned. “So you’re saying that if you don’t seduce me, I won’t try to get it on my own, and so I’ll go away.”

“I would have said that if I don’t give you sex, you won’t ever ask for it, and so it’s my fault because I’m playing to your masculine desires.”

“Which I’m ignoring.”

“I think we covered that last night. I wanted one night of real lovemaking. You were going to think of a noble way out of it. I overcame your resistance.”

“Which I appreciate.”

“Yes. But if I continue to do that, I’m manipulating you. I don’t want that.”

He sighed. “Because I’ll never seduce you.”

“Well, you didn’t, even when we were in the barn. If you recall, I came on to you.”

He grinned. “Yes, and I appreciated that as well. I would never have had the presence of mind to consider taking you in a barn.”

“But if you’d known I was a virgin, you wouldn’t have.”

“That’s right. I…would have…passed.”

“You hate admitting that.”

“Yes, I do. Because every man probably has fantasized about a virgin at some time or another. I just wasn’t ready for mine. But I am now.” Reaching over, he pulled her to him, making her straddle him so that she was right over him.

“You’re hard again,” she said, flattered that he could recover so quickly.

“Yes, and if you’re through yakking, you can have me.”

He reached under her dress, touching her in places that made her sigh with longing. “I don’t want you to think I’m only after you for sex,” she said as he undid his jeans. “I am, but I’m not. Does that make sense?”

Pulling a condom from his jeans pocket, he let her help him slide it on. Encircling her waist with his hands, he lifted her, gently positioning her and then sliding her down until he was fully inside her and their bodies were one. “You are after me for sex,” he said as she moaned and closed her eyes, “and I’m tossing
all
your panties into the river.”

They rocked together slowly until they both reached the point of no return. Almost silently, as if the mood was one of shared serenity, they found ful
fillment. Cissy collapsed against Tex and he held her, stroking her back. “I could stay here forever,” she murmured. “I love this riverboat.”

He gave her a light spanking on her bottom. She gently nipped his earlobe. Last was wrong, Cissy realized. Tex was not afraid of intimacy. She was.

She was afraid that he would know her feelings as well as he was beginning to know her body. Tex was not a complicated man. He lived by a certain set of rules that involved honor and decency. They’d made an agreement. He would honor that agreement.