Crazy Little Thing Called Love (27 page)

He didn’t give her time to answer or argue.
His mouth was on hers then and the light, playful kisses ended and
something dark and heady exploded instead. His tongue traced the
seam of her lips, demanding entry and she gave it to him, clung to
him as he plundered her mouth. He tasted like toothpaste and coffee
and recklessness and she was drunk on him. She was sinking into him
when the sound of a door slamming broke into her thoughts.

“Zachary? Are you here?” A woman’s voice
called loudly.

They broke apart, panting and a little
unsteady. Blue took deep gulping breaths. She couldn’t look up at
him, she knew she shouldn’t but she did it anyway. She felt a
little dizzy already but the look of pure hunger in his green eyes
made her sway from the intensity.

“Zach? Where are you?” The woman’s voice
again and then the sound of footsteps in the hallway.

“Damn it.” He grumbled and scratched his
head, an apologetic look crossed his handsome face and she wasn’t
sure why until the next words came out of his mouth, “That’s my
mother.”

“Oh God…” She’d barely muttered the word when
she saw a small figure stop in the doorway of the bathroom. Well
this was going to be awkward. Awkward and embarrassing.

“Oh… I didn’t know you had company. I’m
sorry. This is terribly embarrassing.” The other woman looked
between them and Blue blushed furiously.

There was no mistaking what they’d just been
doing, what they’d just been about to do. The room practically
sizzled with sexual tension. Zach was standing there looking at her
like he could devour her in one fell swoop and she looked like hell
with her sex hair and lack of makeup in yesterday’s wrinkled
clothes. Clothes, she quickly realized, that didn’t cover much of
anything. Clothes that had been meant for Zach’s eyes only but most
definitely not for his mother.

“If you’d learn to knock it’d be a hell of a
lot less embarrassing for all of us.” Zach muttered and gave her
another apologetic glance.

“Don’t curse Zachary.” The older woman
frowned and then waved away his comment, “Besides, I lived in this
house for nearly forty years. I shouldn’t have to knock.”

“You don’t live here now. So yeah, you
do.”

“Watch your tone.”

Blue bit her lip to stifle a smile. It wasn’t
funny. It was embarrassing. But yeah, it was also kind of funny to
see big, strong Zach get reprimanded and dismissed by the tiny
little brunette with the matching green eyes.

“Well, since my son isn’t going to make the
proper introductions I suppose I’ll do it myself. I’m Zach’s
mother, Reba West.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. West.” Blue fell
back on years of manners, “I’m Blue.”

“Oh dear, don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll feel
better soon.”

“Mom!” Zach groaned.

“Oh stop, I was just teasing, of course I
know who she is.” She grinned as she turned back to Blue, “You look
so much like your mama. She was always the prettiest girl in the
room too.”

“Thank you Mrs. West.” Blue blushed because
she was fully aware there wasn’t a thing pretty about her right
now. Her hair was a mess. What little makeup was left from
yesterday wasn’t nearly enough. Her clothes were wrinkled and a
little bit slutty. This was not the best way to meet the mother of
your friends with benefits guy.

“Please, call me Reba.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“So, what are you kids up to this
morning?”

“That’s it.” Zach groaned and rubbed his
eyes, “I’ve officially entered the tenth circle of hell. Out
mother, now.”

“Why Zach, that’s not…” Reba frowned at him
but the laughter in her eyes made it clear she was enjoying
annoying her oldest son.

“Just go away, please.”

“No, Zach, she should stay. I really have to
get going.” Blue cut in when she saw an opening to get out of the
whole terrible situation. “It was really nice to meet you Mrs.
West, Reba… Zach, I’ll uh… see you later.”

“It was nice seeing you Bluebell.” Reba
smiled as she moved to let Blue pass by.

“Wait just a damn minute…” Zach’s big hand
closed around her wrist, snagging her during her escape attempt.
“Mother, coffee is in the kitchen. Help yourself.”

“I’ll just go get some coffee then.” Reba
smirked as she turned and waked out of the room.

“I really need to go.” Blue tried to get out
of his strong grip when they were alone.

“I’m really sorry about that.” He used his
other hand to tilt her chin up so she had to meet his eyes, “She
does that sometimes, just shows up out of nowhere. I didn’t know
she was coming over. That was awkward and embarrassing, I’m
sorry.”

Some of her anxiety lessened with his obvious
remorse, “Don’t apologize. It’s fine, I just wish I hadn’t met your
mother for the first time looking like slutty sleepover
Barbie.”

“Not slutty.” He shrugged, “Sexy sleepover
Barbie maybe.”

She rolled her eyes, “Same difference.”

“Look on the bright side, you helped me out.
I bet she’ll think twice before barging into my house ever again.”
His arms circled her waist loosely.

“Another benefit of our friendship no doubt.”
She tried to frown at him but he made it really difficult when he
was grinning at her and his green eyes were still brimming with
desire.

“No doubt.” He nodded, “You want to come back
over later?”

“Why? You need some help laying tile in the
other bathroom?”

“Something like that.” His words were husky
and he pressed a light kiss against her mouth that was so sweet she
had to force herself not to melt into him all over again.

“I’ll call you later.” She said her goodbye
and left the house without having to face his mother again.

Meeting his mother was not okay. You didn’t
meet the parents of your friends with benefits guy. And that’s all
Zach was., a very sexy benefit while she was twiddling her thumbs
and her real life was on hold.

She looked at the clock on the dash of the
Audi. It was after seven but her father hadn’t been waking up until
much later in the day, sometimes not until late afternoon. She had
time to run into town and get a latte before she went back to sit
by his side. She’d have taken Zach up on his offer for a cup of
coffee before she left if his mother hadn’t showed up. Her life
just kept right on spiraling no matter what she did it seemed.

It occurred to her while watching an episode
of Family Court later that week that her life really wasn’t so bad.
The couple with the dispute was arguing over who would retain
possession of their mobile home after their divorce was finalized.
He claimed it should be his since he’d bought it before he got
married. She claimed it should be hers as payment for him sleeping
with her sister. It was all very dramatic.

Blue glanced over at where her father was
sleeping. He looked different since she’d come home from Zach’s
that morning but she couldn’t identify what it was. He’d steadily
begun to lose weight now. He was literally fading away in front of
her eyes. But awake he was still loud and stubborn and grouchy.
Asleep he seemed frailer. She half wanted to wake him up just to
let him yell at her so she wouldn’t have to think about him being
weak anymore.

Her cell phone buzzed and she stared at where
it sat the dresser. She continued to carry the phone with her as
usual the past few weeks but it had been wholly unnecessary. Other
than the couple of calls she’d made to the newspaper in Denver she
hadn’t used it at all. It had been so long since she even plugged
it in to charge she was surprised it was turned on. She rose and
went to grab it since it was the first time she’d gotten a message
in days.

She listened to the voicemail and deleted it
with a heavy sigh. It was a marketing call from her long distance
provider. Figured. She didn’t have anyone else that’d be calling
her. She chewed her bottom lip and gave her father a quick glance
to make sure he hadn’t woken up before she gave in to the impulse
to do something stupid.

Busy
? She typed in the one word
question and hit send before she could regret the decision.

Her stomach fluttered with butterflies. Zach.
She didn’t have anybody else to talk to or hang out with. She
didn’t have anybody else to entertain her so she gave in to the
silly urge and told herself it didn’t mean anything that she’d left
him mere hours ago and yet she wanted to see him again already.

They’d spent the last few days together
hanging out, talking, getting naked and then talking some more.
Spending time with him had been great and only reinforced her
belief that she was far too close to falling for the handsome
cowboy so she’d been careful not to spend the night again. Still,
she didn’t think texting would hurt anything. Her phone dinged with
a new message and she flipped it open with a grin.

Who is this
? She read the text and
rolled her eyes. She hadn’t given him her number. He’d never given
her his either but she was wily like that when she wanted to be.
She typed in a new message and ignored the butterflies.

How many women do you have keeping you
busy these days
?

It only took ten seconds for her phone to
beep. She grinned. She really liked his promptness.

Two
.

Her mouth fell open and she had to swallow a
growl. That son of a bitch. What a jerk. Seriously? Two? Was he
seeing somebody else?

They hadn’t really talked about anything like
that but she’d assumed he wasn’t sleeping with other women. His
words on the highway came back to her then. You know what they say
about making assumptions. Damn him! And she’d actually started to
like the guy. She was trying to think of the proper way to tell him
to go fuck himself when her phone buzzed again and she opened
another text message.

My mom’s keeping me busy right now
baby-doll but she says to tell you hi
.

Ah hell, she rolled her eyes and took a deep
breath. He was messing with her. She knew it and she couldn’t help
but smile anyway. Yeah, she liked him too much probably if she
could see the humor in that and she liked him way too much if she
didn’t mind that his mother obviously still knew they were seeing
one another. Her phone beeped again.

What are you wearing
?

She laughed out loud this time and then
glanced at her father to make sure he was still asleep. He hadn’t
moved. She quickly typed a new message and hit send before she
could second guess herself.

What do you want me to be wearing
? It
took five seconds to get a response.
Those hot pink fuck-me
heels… and one of my shirts
.

Oh. That was hot. She wiggled a little bit in
her chair. He had a thing for her shoes. She had a thing for his
shirts. It was a hell of a combination.

That can probably be arranged
.

Her phone beeped a second later.
See you
tonight
?

Yes
.

She couldn’t stop smiling now if she’d wanted
to, which she didn’t. Her friend with benefits was sexting her. She
had plans for the night now. She didn’t have to pretend she wanted
to do anything other than crawl back into his lap and forget
everything else but how good he made her feel. Her phone beeped
again.

Good. I intend to spank you for giving me
a hard-on in the presence of my mother. Payback’s a bitch
baby-doll
.

She laughed out loud again. He had that
effect on her. Despite everything else, he always made her
smile.

You started it
.

“What in the hell’s so funny?” The stern
voice nearly made her jump out of her chair.

She looked up to see her father was awake.
His dark eyes were on her, watching carefully, just as judgmental
as always. Her heart pounded out of rhythm for a minute and she
clutched her chest.

“Jesus Daddy, you scared me.” She sighed, “I
thought you were asleep.”

“I was until somebody kept giggling like a
little girl and woke me up.” He frowned at her.

Her phone buzzed and she looked at it out of
pure habit.
I’ll finish it too. See you tonight
. She hastily
typed in a quick later and then turned the phone off.

“Sorry.” She apologized as she moved closer
to her father’s bed, “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m dying.” He scowled, “What’re you
still doing here?”

He asked her the same question every single
day in one way or another. And every single day she told him she
was looking after him. He always scowled and changed the subject.
Today, she wasn’t in the mood to keep playing games so she steeled
all of her resolve and stared him down.

“I’m spending some time with my dying father.
Is that okay with you?”

His eyes narrowed and his scowl deepened. She
couldn’t remember the last time she’d back-talked him and that’s
exactly what she’d just done. He looked as surprised by it as she
did.

“No, no it’s not.” He sighed and the little
girl that loved her daddy more than anything in the world broke
into a million tiny pieces. “You shouldn’t be here. I didn’t want
you here.”

There it was. Spoken aloud for the first
time. He didn’t want her by his side. She looked down at the floor
and took deep breathes, trying to steady her breathing in the hopes
she’d be able to hold back the tears.

“You never wanted this life Bluebell and I
never wanted it for you. I wanted you to have better, to live your
own life on your own terms. I never wanted you to be stuck here in
this town like I was.”

She looked up. Those were the most words he’d
spoken to her in months, possibly years. And he’d said a mouthful.
She wondered if her ears were playing tricks on her.

“You love this town. You love the ranch.”

“No sweet girl, your mama loved this town.
She loved this ranch. And I loved her.”