Twin Cowboys for Tamara (6 page)
After the anger and hurt came the thoughts of acceptance and reconciliation. He didn’t know where they came from, but he asked Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.
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40
Gigi Moore
himself, why not go along and play the charade? She thought he was someone else. Of course he had contributed to this misconception with the briefest version of his name he could think of off-the-cuff.
He figured he would
be
someone else and they could start off fresh—
just a man and a woman who found each other attractive.
He thought it better this way. She wouldn’t have to suffer under the older nurturer memories that would inevitably slip into her mind when she realized his true identity.
He knew he justified his actions, already prepared for her anger when she figured things out because he knew she would. He couldn’t stay in her company too much longer without letting something slip and give himself away. Granted, they’d known each other a long time ago, but they did share some history. Not to mention they would arrive at the ranch eventually, and once she saw Jax the jig would definitely be up.
“What are you smiling at?”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “I just thought of something funny.”
“Don’t keep it to yourself. I could use a good laugh.”
“Why?”
She turned to him, and he felt her grimace before she asked,
“Why?”
“Why could you use a good laugh?”
“Do I need a reason to want to laugh?”
He shrugged and didn’t know why he wanted to antagonize her except that he enjoyed the glow to her caramel-brown skin when she flushed at his question.
Jess shifted in his seat as he paused at a stop sign and let a couple of elderly women cross the street in front of him. He followed them all the way to the sidewalk, hoped looking at them could get his mind off of the woman beside him who made the critter in his jeans harder than a rock. He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath as if this could help him rein in his lust. It only made things worse, Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.
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Twin Cowboys for Tamara
41
especially with the vision of Tamara standing at the carousel in hip-hugging, painted-on blue jeans, sky-blue, midriff-exposing, baby doll T-shirt beneath a denim jacket rushing across his mind’s eye. Not to mention the spicy-sweet aroma of her wafting throughout the cab of his truck.
Christ, he’d missed her! He missed her smell, the laughs they used to share, the sound of her voice, and her crazy sense of humor. He hadn’t known just how much he missed her until this moment. But could he say any of this without giving himself away? He’d really backed himself into a corner when he hadn’t told her the truth.
It’s not too late.
Jess gritted his teeth against the angel whispering in his ear, preferring to listen to the devil that told him he hadn’t really lied to Tamara, but had just omitted the truth. He had no intention of hurting her, after all. He just wanted to see where his gambit led them.
“Why don’t you want to tell me why you were smiling?” Tamara asked.
Jess opened his eyes and stared through the windshield for a moment, shocked they had covered the twenty-five miles from the airport already. He steered his truck to the next block where he parked in front of Loaded Joe’s or, as the locals called it, Joe’s
.
It proved the perfect social setting-watering hole, a gourmet coffeehouse by day morphing into an energetic cocktail and live entertainment lounge by night. A glance at the digital display on his dashboard clock told him that they arrived right on time to party hard as the morning crowd began shambling out to make room for the evening natives swinging in. A small crowd of twenty- and thirty-somethings already gathered outside on the deck.
Jess turned off the ignition, disengaged his seatbelt and turned to Tamara. “Truthfully?”
“Yes, truthfully.”
“Okay, you asked for it. I tried to be nice and not embarrass you, but since you insist on knowing why I was smil—”
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Gigi Moore
“Just tell me!”
“I remembered the expression on your face when I caught you looking at my butt.”
“I, uh…I wasn’t looking at your butt.”
He just raised a brow and stared at her.
Tamara threw up her hands in surrender. “Okay, I looked at your butt!”
They stared at each other for a long moment before finally bursting out laughing. They laughed so hard and long that by the time they finished, Jess’s stomach muscles ached.
Catching his breath, he watched as Tamara wiped tears from her eyes and grinned at him.
He grinned back, staring into her gently slanted onyx eyes, so dark and shiny that they looked like polished jewels. He reached out to cup her face, moving his thumb in a caressing, circular motion over her high, pronounced cheekbone, transfixed by the softness of her skin, as soft and silky as it looked.
Jess bent his head, tilting it to the left as Tamara leaned forward and tilted her head to the right, meeting his lips and sealing them with hers.
He closed his eyes and groaned deep in his throat at the honeyed taste of her, sliding his hand to the back of her neck to collar her nape and draw her closer. He slid his tongue along the smooth surface of her teeth before dipping into her mouth, first experimentally, then driving his tongue against hers to taste her more fully.
Jess pictured her sitting on one of the comfortable burnt orange and cream sofas inside. He could see her beneath the dim lights of the lounge and amidst the sounds of the live band and DJ Hal warming up. He realized he didn’t want to share her with anyone—not with strangers, not with family, not now, maybe never. He just got used to having her to himself, and he really didn’t even have this, especially not once she found out he’d lied to her.
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Twin Cowboys for Tamara
43
He pulled back, panting as he watched her kiss-swollen, slightly parted lips and closed eyes. Jess cupped her face just as she opened her eyes to look at him.
“Why did you stop?”
“Because I would have had you laid out on the backseat in another minute.”
“Did you hear me complaining?”
“Maybe not yet.”
“Trust me. I’ll let you know if I don’t like what you’re doing to me.”
“I’ll bet you would, Ms. Confident and Sure City Girl.”
“You have something against confident and sure city girls?”
Jess looked at the fist she automatically planted on her hip as she jutted her chin at him and grinned. “Don’t get your feathers all ruffled. I just made an observation. And, for the record, I have nothing against confident and sure city girls.”
I don’t have a thing
against them except when they leave and go back to the city
.
“And, just to add to the record, I’m a city
woman.
”
He nodded and doffed his hat with the appropriate amount of gravity and respect. “Won’t make that mistake again, ma’am.”
She chuckled and elbowed him in the ribs. “You are such a wiseass.”
He laughed, got out of his truck and engaged the automatic locks on the doors once Tamara exited on her side.
It amazed him how easily they had fallen into joking with and teasing each other. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so much with anyone. He thought Jax would be proud of him.
Jax.
What would he do about his brother? He knew Jax would be all over Tamara once they got back to the ranch. His brother wouldn’t be able to help himself. She traveled right up his alley, but then again, anything with breasts and a vagina traveled up his brother’s alley. Jax wouldn’t let a little thing like a nine-year age gap overly concern him Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.
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Gigi Moore
or get in his way of flirting with Tamara. He wasn’t Jess, didn’t have the same sense of propriety or responsibility that prevented Jess from jumping in and out of bed with any available female.
He admitted to himself, however, that he did more than flirt with Tamara. He
wanted
to do much more than flirt with her too. Today’s reunion was eighteen years in the making, something he’d been looking forward to since before she left, since before he knew what flirting entailed. And he wasn’t opposed to jumping into bed with Tamara.
Jess jogged behind her now and caught up with her at the front door to Joe’s. “Allow me.” He reached around her to pull open the door.
Tamara glanced back at him with a smile then stepped through the door.
The interior looked cozy but spacious. Ambient, muted light reflected off of the red walls and rich wood and earth tone furnishings and set an intimate mood. The place suited his frame of mind, intensifying his need to be near Tamara.
Several people already out on the floor danced and several people reclined on the various, overstuffed sofas scattered throughout the floor.
“It feels like I’m in someone’s living room,” Tamara whispered as Jess stood beside her just on the threshold of the main floor.
“Funny you should say that since Joe’s slogan is
Your home away
from home.
” He slid an arm around her waist and drew her farther into the lounge.
She turned to look at him. “Is Joe a real person?”
“Joe is actually Kent Biedel from Seattle.”
“You know him personally?”
“Sure, we go way back,” he teased. “Seriously though, that’s what he envisioned when he created Joe’s—a community meeting place and a hot spot where everybody knows everybody else’s name, kind of like a
Cheers
of the West.”
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Twin Cowboys for Tamara
45
“You’re Joe’s
public relations man?” She grinned and slid her arm around his waist as Jess steered them toward a cluster of couches sandwiched between one of the bars and the pool table.
“I’m just one of many locals who like hanging out here.” Jess guided her to a seat, took off his hat and parked it snug on Tamara’s head. “What do you want from the bar?”
“An apple martini would be great.”
“One apple martini coming up. Hold a seat for me.” Jess headed to the bar a few yards away with a jaunt to his step and the memory of Tamara’s hand on his waist shooting tingles down his spine and hardening his cock. If she could do this to him when they were both fully clothed and in mixed company, he feared what she could do to him when he got her alone and their clothes off.
Several people at the bar ordered drinks from the four bartenders.
Jess positioned himself just to the right side of a young blonde sitting at the middle of the bar. “Excuse me, ma’am.”
The woman turned and gave him a big smile. “Jackson Reynolds!
As I live and breathe.”
Jess winced, hoping Tamara hadn’t heard the blonde’s reaction to seeing him. He glanced over his shoulder to see her lounging comfortably against the sofa, grinning as she took in the sights and sounds around her, sure she couldn’t have heard anything over the booming music. He turned back to the blonde. “Sorry, not Jackson.”
“He mentioned he had a twin, but I didn’t believe there could possibly be two of you.”
“Yep, there are.” Jess waved at the closest bartender to get his attention, and when the young man came over, he ordered Tamara’s apple martini and a beer for himself.
As soon as the bartender went to tend to his order, the blonde turned on her stool and spread her thighs wide to either side of Jess’s hips. She licked her lips then leaned forward to whisper in his ear.
“Prove it to me.”
“Ma’am?”
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Gigi Moore
“Prove to me you’re not Jackson.”
Christ, he would have to bump into one of his brother’s many groupies. It surprised him that she knew his brother had a twin, when she didn’t know Jax’s nickname. Jess surmised Jax had thrown her a bone in the process of letting her down easy to think herself more than a one-night-stand.
Leave it to Jax’s mating habits to come back and bite
him
in the backside.
“Well?” The blonde slid her hand down to his crotch and cupped his already hardening shaft. She raised her eyebrows and licked her lips again as she looked at him, obviously thinking him hard because of her. “Feels like Jackson Reynolds to me.”
“We’re identical.” Jess smoothly moved his hips to get away from her and caught her wrist before she could pursue him.
She raked him with her eyes. “You older or younger?”
“Twenty minutes older,” he automatically responded, though Jax often maintained Jess acted twenty
years
older.
“Hmm, I like older men.”
More like younger men. He’d eat his hat if she proved in her twenties. Jess put her closer to forty, surprised by his brother’s range despite knowing Jax just plain loved women of all walks of life—
older, younger, black, white, and everything beyond and in between.
Blondie must have noticed him looking over his shoulder in Tamara’s direction and frowned when he turned back to her. “So it’s like that, is it?”
Jess frowned now. “Like what?”
“Jungle fever.”
The bartender arrived with his drinks before he could respond and Jess turned from Blondie to pay for them. He left a generous tip on the mahogany bar before turning to make his way back to the sofas where Tamara sat.
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