Cowboy Heat (21 page)

“No, please.” He reached toward her and set his hand, palm-down, on the bar. “I apologize. That was uncalled for.”

She wanted to take his hand, wanted to touch him…but that was just crazy. How could her heart go out to someone that
quickly? “All right, cowboy.” She hung her purse on the back of the stool to her left, the one closest to his, and slid onto it, hauling her beer and coaster with her. “We’ve got…” She looked at the clock. “Three hours and forty-five minutes to have a nice, quiet talk. Since we’re both evidently in need of someone to unload onto, and we’re already in
this deep
, I think we should just go for it.”

He lifted a brow. “You do, huh?”

“I do.” She settled in. “And I’ll start.” She told him about her ex-fiancé and her broken wedding plans. She admitted she’d snuck out of Denver that morning and told everyone she was going to visit a friend who’d just had a baby.

He told the sad story of his wife of three years becoming ill and dying within months. When he talked about the last couple of years of his life, she had to wipe away a few tears. She could tell he was lonely. He never mentioned how he came by the scars.

They sipped beer and talked about the plans and dreams that had fallen apart, and the futures that looked too daunting to give any solace.

Layne’s strategy to get shit-faced drunk didn’t interest her anymore as they nursed their beers and later snacked on a couple of Ben’s burger baskets.

Fifteen minutes before the band was supposed to start, the musicians came in and set up their instruments. She glanced around. More than half the booths were filled, waitresses carried drinks and food, and Ben had a woman helping him behind the bar. When had all this happened? She glanced at Kyle.

He blinked as he looked around. Evidently, they’d been deep in their own little world, and had filtered out everything else. “Be right back.” He headed to the men’s room.

She watched him this time: his slim hips, long legs and
V
-shaped
torso were everything she’d expected in a real cowboy.

“Can I buy you a beer?” A young man, dressed for a Saturday night at a honky-tonk, squeezed in between her bar stool and the empty one next to her.

“No, thank you. I’m leaving in a few minutes.” She turned away.

“My buddies and I were hoping you’d stay.” He gestured to a pack of five guys all staring at her like she was fresh meat. “Dance with us.”

“No. Thank you.” She used her firm voice, the one that always sent guys fleeing.

“Okay, but when you get tired of that old butt face cowboy, we’ll be waitin’ for you.”

“What?” Her blood pressure spiked. “You know…” She turned to face him. “It’s bullshit like that that makes me hate pretty boys like you.” And he was pretty. “That cowboy is the nicest man I’ve met in a hell of a long time, and for you to judge him on his skin instead of his soul is narrow-minded and ignorant.”

Pretty Boy looked up, over her head, and with a sinking sensation in her gut, she knew Kyle was back.

The kid’s cheeks flamed red and he walked away.

She turned to the cowboy.

He stood next to his bar stool. “You don’t need to fight my battles.”

He spoke softly, but she knew he was angry, his bright blue eyes had darkened. Damn, she’d insulted him again. How could she tell him she was fighting her own battles, too? She’d always been the pretty one, the one men asked to dance first, never her girlfriends. Marshall, the jackass, had always commented on how lovely she was, never how smart or funny or interesting.

She’d had enough of acting like an idiot. As Ben walked by,
she gestured to him. “Can you call me a taxi?” She didn’t want to walk in the rain, and who knew what that pack of pretty boys was capable of.

“Okay. You’re a taxi.” He grinned but shook his head. “We’ve got nothing like that out here, but…”

“I’ll drive you.” Kyle’s voice sounded too quiet.

Ben nodded. “I can vouch for him. You’ll be safe with him.”

She risked a glance at the cowboy.

He seemed to have drawn back into his quiet zone. Pulling out his wallet, he settled up for all their drinks.

She didn’t dare insult his manhood again by offering to pay her share, so she worked at finishing her last beer.

“All right, cowboys and cowgirls!” The band member’s voice came through the sound system. “We’re Lone Trail, and we’re glad to be here tonight.” A smattering of applause and the sound of guitars tuning filled the room. “We’ve got some special occasions tonight.” He held up a piece of paper. “It’s Flo Bauman’s fiftieth birthday today. Where’s Flo?”

Shouts from the far end of the bar revealed where her party was going strong.

“Okay, and we’ve got Layne’s bachelorette party. Where’s Layne and the girls?”

Silence.

Layne looked at Kyle. His eyes were wide and staring right at her. She grimaced. “So…now might be a good time to leave, don’t you think?”

His lips twitched in a partial smile as he came around the corner of the bar, holding out his hand.

She placed hers in his and the zing of awareness rattled her. She stood and found herself almost a foot shorter than the cowboy.

He placed his hand on her lower back and guided her toward
the door. His height and the sure way he led her caused her heartbeat to rev. As they passed the pretty boys, she could almost smell the testosterone wafting off Kyle, as if he was marking what was his.

The thought of being
his
made her core jitter with delight. His hand on her back warmed her through her whole body. The rain had slowed, and as he helped her up into his truck, his hands lingered on her just long enough to make her crazy for more of the cowboy.

He slid into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition. “Your bachelorette party, huh?”

“I must have forgotten to tell you that part.” She’d intentionally left it out of her story. “Guess it makes me look kind of…” She stared out the side window. “Pathetic.” Driving all this way for a canceled party. Pathetically crazy.

“Hey.” His voice came out stern.

She turned to look at him.

“I’d say you were brave to do this. Seeking closure, right?” He got the truck moving toward the motel and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I’m impressed. You’ve got a lot more going for you than your looks.”

She sucked in a breath. He was pretty damn amazing. Every instinct told her she could trust him, and every intuition said she shouldn’t let him slip away.

Kyle pulled up in front of room seven, jumped out, and helped her down from the high seat. He walked her to her door, opened it and flipped the switch to turn on the lamp. He leaned in and glanced around her room to make sure it was safe.

“Can I pay you for the ride?” They stood outside under the overhang as rain formed a wall, sealing them alone together.

He looked down at her, his gorgeous eyes narrowing with a
sexy look. He took her wrist and tugged her close. “Yeah, you can.”

Oh hell, yes! She wanted this cowboy, every perfectly macho inch of him. Wrapping her hand around the nape of his neck, she pressed her breasts to his chest and went up on tiptoes.

He groaned and lowered his lips to hers.

Her skin flushed hot, her heart thudded, and between her legs, her pussy tingled and ached.

His kiss took everything she had, his tongue feasting on her, tasting and teasing.

The earth moved, but wait—it was him walking her backward into her room. The door slammed and he pressed her back against it.

His steaming-hot body flattened against her front as the door cooled her back. His kiss slowed while he sucked her tongue into his mouth, encouraging her to explore and sample him. Beer and spices from the burger, and a male taste all his own combined on her tongue. She ran her tongue over his lip, loving the texture of his scar.

He ground the rise in his jeans into her mound, hot and hungry.

She needed to be closer. Grabbing the front of his shirt, she pulled and buttons popped.

He tossed his hat, ripped away the rest of his shirt, then went for her T-shirt, ripping it down the front.

Animal instinct arose in her and her hips bucked forward, demanding his intrusion into her, his hard cock into her wet slit. He ripped the front of her bra in two, mumbling, “I’ll pay for it.” Her breasts spilled out and her puckered nipples prickled in the cool air, then warmed as his gaze locked on them.

“I don’t give a damn about my clothes.” She reached for his belt.

Taking her nipple into his mouth, the heat, combined with incredibly talented sucking, blasted shivers to her core, tingling through her channel, slicking her pussy.

When he moved to her other nipple, she cried his name. Oh god, she didn’t even know his last name. She didn’t even know if she cared. She finally got his belt unbuckled, his zipper down, and she slid her hand into his underwear, into the heat surrounding his cock. Hard and thick, his staff pulsed against her palm. Her mouth watered and her cunt convulsed.

He tore open a condom packet with his teeth. “Jesus, Layne, I’ve got to have you now.” His eyes burned dark and feral. “I need to be inside you, but I promise I’ve got slow lovin’ for you, too.” His breath panted from his chest. “It just can’t be slow right now.”

His words, his intense stare sent shimmies of desire racing through her. “Take me, cowboy, hard and fast.”

Her words sent him wild. He had her jeans and underwear off her in seconds, got himself naked and the condom on even quicker, and his hands grabbed her ass and lifted her higher.

Oh fuck, he was going to do her right here, right against the motel door. Her body quivered with delight. She lifted her legs as he jerked his hips and the thick head of his cock pressed against her pussy.

He shook his head. “Layne, what is it about you that makes me crazy for you?”

“What?” Her mind wouldn’t process as she clung to his shoulders and moved her hips forward to take him inside her slit.

He thrust upward, into her, filling her.

“Ahh.” The slick, sweet stretching ache of his big cock taking her, shoving ball-deep inside her, ran blazing shivers up her spine.

Using his hands to guide her hips, he drove into her, a rolling
motion that ground him against her, tweaking her clit with each pump. He kissed her neck, sucking and nibbling. Her nipples grated against his curly chest hair. Every touch of his body on hers sizzled like a live wire, sending her closer to climax.

This cowboy was all man, rough, rugged, taking what he wanted, but giving her more ecstasy than she’d ever known.

“Aw lady, you feel so fucking good.” He sucked her earlobe and bit, turning the darkness behind her eyelids into white flashes.

Her hands ran over his shoulders and back. Big muscles flexed as he took his pleasure, filling her with mind-numbing heat. She thrust her fingers into his brown hair and pulled his head back to look at him in the dim lamplight. “You are too goddamn sexy.” She meant it, she felt it, soul deep. “Now make me come, cowboy, make me scream.”

His lips curled back from gritted teeth and his hips double-timed, pistoning his cock into her slick pussy, hitting her deep. “Whatever you want, Layne. Anything I’ve got.”

The motion turned her nipples into firecrackers that sparked through her bloodstream. The drilling of his cock shot ripples of delight up her back. With a bone-rattling shake, she broke free, dove backward over a cliff, and cried out his name. Tumbling through sensations, her skin burned and her core contracted achingly tight around his pumping cock.

He shouted and grunted as his body tensed and the thrusts of his staff in her pussy became erratic and wild.

She clung to him as her mind spun in freefall through currents of ecstasy that took her breath from her.

As his movements slowed, she drifted back toward awareness, her head resting on his shoulder. His lips pressed kisses along her neck and his heart thudded hard and fast against her chest.

She breathed deep, smelling sex and sweat and the fresh-air scent of his skin. “That was a religious experience, cowboy.”

He chuckled. “Lady, you made me believe again.” His words came out quiet but packed a charge. She knew he had to be referring to her comment, but could he also be talking about a relationship? About…love?

The word ricocheted around inside her brain. She could easily see herself giving him a chance.

He stepped back, holding her tightly, and walked to the bed. Setting her carefully on the comforter, he leaned over her and kissed her quickly. “Be right back.” He walked into the bathroom.

She watched him, searching for the words to ask him if they could do this again someday. Maybe meet back here, or in Denver, or halfway between. She wasn’t ready to say good bye, but what was he thinking?

He came out of the bathroom and lay next to her, turning her on her side to spoon behind her.

She snuggled in, but then her heart lurched. Was this a way for him to hide his scars?

“What you said back at the bar.” His voice rumbled from his chest. “To that kid. That meant a lot to me. I’ve looked like this since I was a kid. Women don’t…”