A Cowboy For Christmas (12 page)

Let me touch you.
He felt like a boy on a cliff, staring at the deep
water below.
Jump, and it’ll be
over.
But he didn’t move yet.

“
Want help cleaning up this
mess?” She glanced around, a hand on her neck again.

“
I didn’t get you alone to
clean.” He pulled her into an embrace without thinking or
questioning it. “I’ve wanted to kiss your neck all
night.”

His mouth made her moan,
and she leaned her head back. Brent trailed his mouth up to her ear
and his hands slid into her hair. The clip holding her hair up
popped.

She didn’t care.
Kiss me!

With one hand, he brushed
her hair over her shoulder and slid his hand down the silky length
of it. Since their bodies were pressed together, he felt her body
heat through her clothing. It made him want to feel that heat skin
to skin.

They mirrored smiles at
each other when her head tilted back to look at him. Heaven help
him, he couldn’t hold back with her.

“
Missy . . . if you don’t
want to kiss me, you’d better run now.”

“
No way. I’m staying.” Her
brown eyes held desire, not fear. He saw the cloudy look in her
eyes, and brought his mouth down on hers. Soft, warm, and ready. To
gain her trust, he kept the contact light at first. But she parted
her lips in an invitation.

He felt like he took flight
as she melted into him, molded every inch of her to his body.
Clinging to him, she welcomed his advance, meeting his tongue.
Urgency to devour her overwhelmed him.

Her sweet kiss turned
passionate. She tilted her head, wrapped her arms tighter around
his neck, and kissed him with the same wildness he felt.

He deepened the kiss when
she moaned, but then she hesitated. Pulling back, he saw her open
her eyes to meet his gaze. She looked both amazed and
puzzled.

Murmuring, he asked,
“Friends can kiss once in a while, can’t they?”

“
I’ll allow it today.” She
looked at his lips and leaned forward. Without looking away from
his mouth, she ran a finger across his top lip, then
bottom.

He imagined pushing her
back on the couch and kissing her breathless. But he needed her
trust.

“
I love your mouth.” His
words came out a whisper.

Suddenly her mouth landed
on his, her body against him. She shocked the socks off him by
slipping her hands under his shirt and spreading her fingers across
his stomach.

She chewed on his bottom
lip to drive him crazy. The kiss deepened.

She pulled him with her and
fell back on the couch. “Touch me.”

Had she somehow seen his
fantasy in his eyes?

“
Are you sure?” He didn’t
plan on pushing things. She didn’t answer, just grabbed his hand
and pulled it against her. So she wasn’t an uptight city girl, but
an adventurous siren.

Had she ever seemed like a
city girl? A loud knock sounded at the door, causing him to
pause.

She clung to him, shaking
her head. “Don’t answer it.”

What could be so important?
He hadn’t felt an earthquake. He didn’t smell smoke.

For the life of him, he
couldn’t pull away from her. The knock got louder, then Dale called
his name.

“
Damn it all!” Brent jumped
up to answer the door, saying over his shoulder, “He’ll walk right
in here if we don’t answer.”

He threw open the door to
scowl at Dale. “Is something on fire?”

Dale looked baffled. “You
better get out here, the stable roof’s leaking. We’ve got a muddy
mess in there and some unhappy horses.”

Dale left before Brent
could grab his coat. Missy rushed to come with him.

“
Listen, you don’t need to
be out in the cold and wet.” He didn’t think she’d know how to help
anyway.

Her dark gaze held his,
looking determined as heck to go with him.

“
Fine, I don’t have time to
argue.” He turned toward the door, and she followed him into the
dark night. The rain fell slow enough to look like snow, but it
wasn’t cold enough for that.

After several steps, he
thought about how he’d spoken to her. Looking over, however, she
didn’t look angry. “Listen, getting interrupted like that . . . it,
uh, it doesn’t feel so great. Sorry I snapped at you.”

The corners of her mouth
rounded in a smile. “Forgiven. I’m not too thrilled, either. That’s
why I didn’t want to sit there by myself.”

Really? He wanted to tease
her, but they were close to the stables.

Dale placed a ladder
against the side, with the tools close by.

“
I’ll hold, you go up
first,” Brent directed Dale. Missy stepped back as Dale climbed.
Brent turned to her when Dale reached the roof. Her head went back
to look up, and she looked scared.

He chucked the rolled-up
tarp up and made sure Dale caught it, then he picked up the toolbox
to take up with him.

“
Hold the ladder for me?”
Judging from the look on her face, she didn’t like heights. He
wasn’t about to ask her to come up.

“
Okay, go.”

He didn’t rush since the
ladder was wet, and he had to perch the box on a rung, take a step,
and then move the toolbox. He reached the roof and looked down
through the darkness.

“
I’ll go take care of the
horses,” she called and disappeared in two seconds flat. He’d have
to laugh about it later, when the horses were dry.

The lone flashlight he’d
thought to bring didn’t do much in the way of lighting. Dale used
his own flashlight to light his workspace. With the rain and tilted
roof, it wasn’t a fun job, but they got it done.

“
Missy!” He had to bellow
her name out since she was still inside. She ran out and understood
he wanted her to hold the ladder. Once they were both on the ground
again, he said, “Let’s survey the damage.”

With only five boarder
horses, their total came to fifteen, and Missy had moved them so
every horse was in a dry stall.

“
I wonder why a little
water set them off.” Dale rubbed his beard.

Brent shrugged since there
wasn’t any way to tell, but he noticed Missy had gotten the horses
into dry blankets for the night.

“
We’ll take care of this,”
Brent told Dale. “You can head on home.”

Dale nodded to them on his
way out. Missy had been quiet and he turned to her now. “You have a
way with them, you know. They’re settled down like nothing bothered
them.”

She didn’t answer, and he
knew she was thinking over what had happened between them in his
house. The woman sure did like to think things over.

“
Warm enough?” His coat had
gotten soaked through while he hammered the tarp down.

“
I’m good. We’ll be done
soon anyway.” She started back to the wet stalls. “This isn’t so
bad. It’ll dry now that new water isn’t dripping in.”

“
Let’s head out, then.” He
waited for her to turn around and look at him, but she didn’t. She
started for the door.

Curious reaction. “Would
you like to come back to my place?”

Now she turned. “I . . .
I’m not sure.”

He didn’t plan to push
things, not when she looked worried about something. “Okay, I’ll
walk you home.”

At his words, her shoulders
relaxed and she tried to smile. His instinct had been on, but what
scared her? He put an arm around her on the way, and was grateful
she leaned into him, accepting his comfort.

They hurried through the
rain. Not that they could get any wetter.

At her door, he asked, “How
about you and I go out tomorrow night?”

She didn’t hesitate on that
one. “Sure.”

Maybe she just needed to
take it slow. Now under her porch roof, he rubbed her wet hair. He
pulled her chin up and sank his mouth onto hers, finding her lips
as cold as his own. He kept the kiss light and added another to her
forehead before sending her inside.

Once her door was shut, he
headed home, not caring about the cold drizzle coming down or the
stable roof.

* * * *

Missy stood facing her
bathroom mirror when she heard Brent’s truck. No time to change her
clothes again. Still nervous about taking this step, she didn’t
wait for him to knock, but grabbed her jacket and purse and walked
outside to meet him on the porch.

Memory flashes from the
night before hit her, once again sending desire through her. She’d
kissed him until she couldn’t think.

He stepped out of the
truck, looking dangerous in his tan cowboy hat, a crisp dress
shirt, and his long legs in new jeans. Dangerous to her hormones,
that was. He looked so good she ignored the flowers.

He checked her out, up and
down. Then again. “Guess you’re ready.”

He looked dumbfounded, but
she didn’t find it as funny. Another time, maybe, but now she just
liked knowing she did that to him.

She met his gaze. “I heard
you coming and didn’t want to wait inside.” She took the flowers he
handed her, brought the red roses to her nose, but she wasn’t
expecting them to smell so rich, deep, and somehow of love. “Come
in and I’ll put them in water.”

She turned and took them
with her, letting him follow.
Like the
view from back there?
He seemed so
entranced by her. She was aware she had some curves, but his
adoring eyes, and hands, took her unprepared.

She arranged them without
making a fuss so they could go. He’d stayed by the counter while
she poured water and set the vase down. But she smelled his
cologne, felt his presence.

She looked up. He watched
her, too, his lips parted and his eyes aglow with something like
sentiment or reverence. Whatever it was, it stopped her from moving
or breathing for a full minute.

He swallowed and she shook
herself. So that was what it felt like when the world stopped. She
took his hand for the short walk outside into the chilly night to
the truck. It was still running, so the inside was warm.

“
How did today go?” It’d
been the first thought and she needed something to stop her
escalating emotions. How could he get her so worked up?

“
We got the roof done.” He
looked over to answer, and she was pretty sure he looked down to
her breasts and then to her legs.

She smoothed her hands down
her skirt, glad she’d worn the short skirt, even if it was winter.
“That’s good.”

“
Nervous?”

“
We’re being honest about
it?” She didn’t want to answer, but that answered for her. Could he
be nervous, too? With his calm exterior, she had no way to tell.
Even when he took on jumpy horses or tall ladders, he didn’t look
nervous.

He turned on the radio to a
country station. There were a lot of things she could discuss with
him, but the lack of conversation felt nice for now. Maybe he
already understood she was thankful when he backed off the night
before. She’d been so ready until she had time to think about
it.

It wasn’t that she needed
time. She just liked to think things over. And she had. Quite a
lot.

He pulled into the
restaurant parking lot and turned off the engine.

“
I get to open your door
for you.” He jumped out and came around. She’d never seen the point
in that type of thing, but she had to admit she liked it when he
offered his hand. “Did I tell you how beautiful you
look?”

“
Thanks.” She linked her
arm though his. “I thought you might appreciate something besides
Wranglers.”

“
Now, you can’t knock
Wranglers. Especially if you could see your cute little butt in
them.” He gave it a pat before grabbing the restaurant door. The
unexpected touch left her skin tingling. Inside, they were seated
right away despite the dinner crowd.

She studied her menu, but
noted he studied her curves. She’d worn a burgundy top with lace at
the neckline. It swooped down lower than her work shirts. Combined
with the skirt, it seemed to get his attention.

“
Our waiter is coming.” She
set her menu aside. “Did you decide?”

“
Oh, yeah, I know what I
want.” The pure appreciation in his eyes let her know it,
too.

She tried not to blush as
the waiter approached their table. Brent turned and ordered,
knowing what he wanted though he hadn’t looked at the menu. It
sounded so good, she ordered it as well. Alone again, they both
smiled, staring.

“
I take it you don’t offer
trail rides in the winter.” She decided to talk about the ranch, a
safe subject.

“
Not yet. There’s several
stables along the coast that do, and they’re much bigger. We take
their overflow in peak season.”

“
Do you plan to expand?”
She’d controlled the urge to ask this kind of question before, in
case it brought back the tension.