Wild Card: Boys of Fall (8 page)

It was Glen’s turn to sober up. “Where did that question come from?”

“I told you my number by the creek last fall. Six lovers.”

“I’m not answering that question, Lori.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “For one, I didn’t keep count, and for another, I’m not exactly proud of how many women there have been.”

“Which proves the point I was hoping to make. It’s just sex for you, right?”

Glen didn’t answer.

“I’m not going to think less of you,” she added, hoping he wasn’t misinterpreting her meaning. “It was always just sex for me too. I’ve never had a real boyfriend. I wasn’t in love with the guys I took to bed.”

“Okay,” he answered slowly. He was obviously confused by where she was heading with this conversation. She was sort of sorry she had started it, but now that she’d gone this far, she figured she’d just take it to the end.

“Isn’t this just about sex between us? I don’t mean to sound callous or insensitive, but I’m a Quinn girl, Glen, and you’re only here for a week or two. Seems to me like you’re wasting a lot of time wooing me. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m sort of a sure thing here. I want you. You want
me
. I’m not expecting flowers or chocolates or love songs.”

She thought perhaps her comments would set his mind at ease. Maybe it was the overprotectiveness of the guys working on him, making him feel guilty or something. However, rather than smile and take her up on her offer to get down to business, his expression darkened.

“It’s not just sex.”

His response caught her off guard. “What?”

“You’re right, Lori. I
am
leaving in a couple weeks.” He released a long, frustrated breath. “I can’t tell you why you’re different, but you are. Two weeks is the longest I’ve ever stayed anywhere at one time with the exception of Nashville. And even when I’m there, I’m always working nonstop. I’ve had way too many one-night stands because that’s all there have ever been time for. I don’t want to do that with you. I want to get to know you. I want to watch you ride your horse, go out on a date with you, eat Sunday dinner with your family and then, well…fuck it. I want the damn romance. I’ve never had that. And from the sounds of it, you haven’t either.”

Lorelie didn’t have a clue how to respond. For the first time ever, the woman who was never at a loss for something to say couldn’t form a single word if her life depended on it.

She stared at him, wondering if she’d ever heard anything more wonderful in her life. More romantic. More…just…God. If he put that to music, it would be the most beautiful love song in the world.

She’d started the conversation as much to convince herself as him that she could do this. Do casual. Start the affair with no expectations and end it the same way. He just made damn sure that would never happen.

“Freak you out?” he asked when the silence drifted on too long.

“No,” she whispered.

He grinned, the look so affable and sweet, she had no choice but to return it.

“Because you look completely freaked out.”

“I’m not freaked out.” She wasn’t. She was…what? “I’m sort of touched and amazed and…” He’d laid it all on the line for her, so didn’t she owe him the same?

“And?” he prompted.

“Really happy. Everything you just said made me feel happier than I think I’ve ever been in my life. You should put all that in a song.”

He grinned. “Might just do that. John Denver had ‘Annie’s Song’. I’ll call mine ‘Lori’s Song’.”

“I find it hard to believe you’ve never done romance before. Because you’re really good at it.”

“Pent up for thirty-eight years. Guess I finally found the right outlet.”

She reached up on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek. Then, because she was
that
girl and she could never resist a joke, she took them right out of romance and straight back to raunchy. “Yeah, well, speaking of pent up, I haven’t had sex in well over a year, so while the sweet words are nice and all, I’m going to need you to dig deep to give me a little bit of that bad boy rock star action too.”

“So noted. And not a problem. I’m fairly certain we can reach a compromise where we both get what we want…and need.” He reached around her, cupping her ass to pull her against him. She felt his erection pressing against the denim of his jeans.

He released her too quickly for her tastes and turned back to Penny. Stroking the horse’s nose once more, he said, “When do I get my rodeo?”

Lorelie sucked in a deep breath, hoping to clear some of the horniness away. It didn’t help much.

As she issued instructions, Glen helped her saddle her horse. The man really didn’t have a clue when it came to working on a ranch. Twice, she’d laughingly showed him what she meant when she’d used lingo he didn’t understand.

Once the horse was ready, she held on to the reins as she explained what she was planning to do. “This is going to be the lamest demonstration of team roping ever. I asked Oakley to move one of our steers into the corral this morning. Typically, the steer is released from a chute and given a little bit of a head start. I’m lacking my heeler, so basically all I’m going to do is chase a steer who probably won’t run all that fast and rope him. You’re missing the second part, where the heeler ropes the legs. Unless
you
want to try that part, of course.”

“I’ll be fine…on the other side of the fence.”

Lorelie tsked. “If you’re going to be a ranch hand, you’re going to have to give up this aversion to horses.”

“Pretty sure I can do my duties in that truck we passed on the way over here just as easily.”

Lorelie laughed and didn’t tell him that—for the most part—he was right. “Go on out there and find yourself a spot.”

Lorelie found her rope and made sure everything was adjusted correctly. So much of what she was doing was second nature to her, she couldn’t imagine not knowing anything about horses. Despite his hesitance, she hoped Glen would give her the chance to teach him how to ride while he was here.

When she was ready to go, she led Penny out of the large stall and climbed onto her back. They entered the corral at a slow pace so that Lorelie could figure out her best approach. The steer wouldn’t have too much time to build up speed once she and Penny started.

Checking her grip on her rope, she spurred Penny to run. The steer—startled by the approaching rider and horse—took off. Giving chase, Lorelie lifted her arm, swung the rope and released, delighted when it fell into place, perfectly wrapping the steer’s horns.

Once secure, she leapt off the horse to release the rope and the steer ran to the far end of the corral. That was when she realized Glen was clapping and cheering for her. She climbed back onto Penny and rode over to where he stood by the fence.

“That was great.”

She crooked her finger. “Come here.”

His brows furrowed in confusion, but he climbed the fence anyway, jumping down into the corral.

“Hop on. I’ll give you a ride back to the stable.”

Glen laughed, but took the hand she proffered, straddling the horse behind her. His cock felt even harder and bigger than it had earlier.

A fact she didn’t bother to ignore. “Liked that, did you?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, a little on the high side, so his hands were just touching the underside of her breasts. If she had been sure her dad, Oakley and Joel were out of sight, she would have encouraged him to cup her breasts. That way they’d both benefit—he’d have a way to hold on and she’d have a way to get off.

But she had no idea where anyone else was at the moment. For all she knew, everyone was watching them. In fact, she’d bet twenty bucks that’s exactly why her dad had gone upstairs. To stand at his bedroom window so he had a better view of the corral.

“You are one hell of a sexy cowgirl,” he murmured in her ear as they rode back to the stable. “The way you ride and rope. Jesus. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this turned on.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You think those skills translate to the bedroom?” she teased.

“I fucking hope so.”

They were still laughing when they entered the stable. Lorelie took the saddle off Penny. “I’ve got a surprise for you,” she said when she was finished.

“I like surprises.”

She led him to a ladder that led to the hayloft. Lorelie’d had a one-track mind all morning as she waited for Glen to arrive. Given the fact that his current state matched hers perfectly, she was hoping to entice him to expand on the make-out session they’d started last night by the creek.

He climbed the ladder closely behind her. When they arrived at the top, he chuckled. “Hmmm, I wonder what you could possibly have in mind?”

There was a huge pile of hay against the back wall. She’d thrown a couple of thick, soft blankets on top of it. Next to the makeshift bed were two bottles of Bud Light icing down in a wine bucket.

“I noticed you weren’t much of a wine drinker the other night at Wade’s. Figured you might like beer more.”

“You know, you’re not too shabby when it comes to romance yourself, Ms. Carr.”

She led him to the blankets and they sank down together. Glen twisted the top off one of the bottles and handed it to her before opening the other for himself.

Tapping the bottle against hers, he said, “To trying new things.”

“To new things,” she repeated as they both took a drink.

Glen glanced around the hayloft. “Surprisingly private up here.”

It was why Lorelie had chosen the place for their quiet drink and hopefully more.

There was a railing at the edge made of wide planks. Given their distance from it and the fact they were sitting down, they were completely hidden from anyone below who might venture into the stable. Not that Lorelie was expecting visitors. Her dad, Oakley and Joel should be heading out to the south pasture any minute and Sadie was working at Pitchers for a couple more hours. It was rare to be alone on the ranch, so Lorelie had learned to find quiet hiding places for the times she needed solitude.

The creek was one of those places. This hayloft, another.

They sipped their beers quietly for a few minutes before Glen put his back in the wine bucket. Lorelie followed suit.

And then he was there, kissing her. She’d never had anyone kiss her so passionately, so hungrily. Lorelie wondered if he could feel the same intense need in her kisses.

For a split second, she recalled that he was leaving in a couple weeks. And then, like always, she forced the thought away. She wasn’t about to waste a single second of their time together worrying about that.

Ever since her dad’s heart attack, she’d wallowed waist-deep in anxiety, constantly playing out every horrible ending to that story. She had lost months of her life consumed by the fear of what her future might hold. As such, she hadn’t enjoyed or paid attention to the here and now. So much lost time.

Glen pressed her to her back on the blanket, leaning over her. She wasn’t a short woman by any means, but Glen still made her feel almost delicate. His lips traveled from hers, along her neck, and he drew lines with his tongue on the sensitive skin there.

She’d been a bit chilly before, but between the blanket, the hay and Glen, she suddenly felt warm, feverish even.

Reaching down, Lorelie grasped the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. Glen had risen slightly, giving her room to move. Once she was in just her bra, he didn’t seek to resume his kisses. Instead, he looked his fill. He ran just one finger along the top of her bra, tracing the line against her breasts. It kept moving until he reached her shoulder. When he was there, he slid the strap over, then repeated the action on the other side. He used both hands to draw down the cups of her cotton bra, baring her breast while leaving the thing hooked around her upper torso.

She didn’t speak. Hell, she wasn’t sure she was breathing, when he bent his head lower and sucked one turgid nipple into his mouth. Given the gentleness of his previous touches, she was surprised by the amount of pressure he applied. Sparks flashed along her spine and her pussy constricted, painfully empty.

While she’d adored Glen’s comments about wanting this to be about something more than sex, her body was having a hard time agreeing with that.

Glen turned his head and applied the same pressure to the other nipple as she gripped his hair, tugging it to hold him close. She’d never had so much beautiful attention paid to her breasts. Glen sucked, kissed, licked, nipped, pinched and played with them like he had all the time in the world. She loved every minute of it, even though her body was demanding more. Way more.

After a hundred years, he lifted his head to look at her.

“Please take your shirt off,” she said.

Glen didn’t hesitate. He unbuttoned it, tossing his next to hers.

“Take your pants off,” she added after the first request was granted so easily.

He chuckled. “Nope.”

“You aren’t a very nice man.”

Glen gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I think you’re going to regret those words when you see what comes next.”

She didn’t have time to question him—or even feel the need to—when he reached for the button on her jeans, slipping it free. She held her breath as he slid the zipper south and then she lifted her hips, so he could tug the jeans down.

Glen clearly wasn’t the type to mess around, because the panties went with the denim. She was wearing her damn cowboy boots, but he wasn’t deterred. He pulled one boot off, and then worked that leg of the jeans and panties off as well. She expected him to do the same to the other leg, so she was surprised when he moved back up, covering her with his body. He was shirtless, which gave her hands plenty to enjoy, but still wearing too many clothes below the waist to do her any good. Even though she was way more naked than dressed.

“Your turn?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Just you this time. I’m already going further than I’d intended, but it’s too damn hard to keep my hands off you.”

Glen began kissing her again, not bothering to acknowledge the parts of her he’d just undressed. Lorelie wrapped her ankles around his hips, dragging the half-on/half-off jeans along for the ride, and began to gyrate against his crotch. She hoped the action would stir Glen to, well, action.