Crazy Little Thing Called Love (29 page)

Okay, that’s not what he’d been expecting to
come out of her mouth. He ran a hand through his hair and frowned,
“You want to talk about sex at a time like this?”

She wrapped her arms around her middle as if
she could keep herself from falling apart and nodded, “I can’t talk
about my daddy yet. I just can’t.” She took a deep breath, let it
out, “If I start crying I don’t think I’ll ever stop so please,
please just talk to me.”

“Bluebell, I…” He started but she cut him
off.

“I know you don’t like conversation, that
isn’t what this is with us. I know it but I need to talk about
something, anything so please, we can talk about football or cattle
or cars or sex. Anything but my daddy.”

Damn. His words were coming back to bite him
in the ass in a big way now. He’d meant it when he told her he
didn’t do conversation but that had never applied to Bluebell.
Hell, none of the rules applied with her. He liked talking to her
and not just the dirty talk or the sexting. Still, he had no idea
what to say now so he scratched his head and finally shrugged.

“I’m not sleeping with anybody but you.” He
did a mental recap and smiled softly, “I’m not having sex with
anybody else either.”

Was it really just a few days ago he’d woken
up to find her in his bed? It felt like it had been weeks ago,
months even. She hadn’t snuck out on him and for the first time in
as long as he could remember he hadn’t woken up alone. He’d liked
seeing her in the first light of morning, liked it so much it’d
scared him. It scared him even more that the past few days waking
up without her had felt so awful.

“Oh…” She dropped her chin to her chest and
scraped at the label on the water bottle with a pink manicured
nail, “That’s good to know I guess.”

“So you haven’t been knocking boots with any
of the cowboys that keep hitting on you then?” He managed a smile
despite the fact the idea alone made his temper scratch to the
surface.

“How’d you know about that?”

Because she was Bluebell. She was gorgeous
and funny and sweet. Of course other men had noticed her, how could
they not? He knew for a fact Riley had been interested and then
there were the cowboys from the Roadhouse. He’d really like to deck
Austin Evans for having the nerve to pick her up that time but he
wouldn’t. It wasn’t his business, she was right about that
much.

“In a town this size, word gets around.”

“True. I’m surprised nobody’s picked up on
the fact we’re sleeping together. I figured it’d be all over town
by now.” She almost smiled, “You must be pretty good at keeping
secrets.”

He frowned, hard, “What’s that mean?”

“Nothing, just figured who you slept with
would get around and I’d have a dozen angry exes to contend with by
now.”

“I don’t have exes. You know that.” He
shrugged, “And I don’t hook up with women from Fate so even if I
did you wouldn’t have had to worry.”

She tilted her head and looked at him for a
long minute. She looked thoughtful, like she was trying to figure
something out. He fidgeted uncomfortably. He didn’t like the idea
of being under a microscope. He wasn’t sure what she’d find but it
wouldn’t be good. He was surprised again when she blinked and the
look was gone.

“I’ve never slept with anyone from Fate
either.”

He hadn’t said he’d never slept with anyone
from town but he let that go. It had been a long time. Besides, he
was more interested in her stories than reliving his. And, he had
to admit, she kept surprising him.

“Never?”

“No. I didn’t have sex for the first time
until I was in college.”

“Who was he?”

“Duck Tucker.” She nearly smiled again, the
corner of her mouth twitched and then it fell back down, like she’d
forgotten her father had died for a split second and then the pain
came rushing back in.

He tried to keep the mood light, “You lost
your virginity to a guy named Duck?”

“It wasn’t his real name. Doug Tucker, he
went by Duck though so yeah, I guess.” She shrugged.

“Was he your boyfriend?”

“Yeah, for a whole year. He was the kind of
guy mama’s everyone love. He was pure Texan. He won the football
game against Oklahoma and I gave him my heart and my virginity
too.”

Well that was an interesting way to put it.
He found himself studying her and trying to figure out what went on
in that pretty head of hers. Finally he sighed, “You slept with him
because he won a football game?”

“Seemed like as good a reason as any.” She
shrugged, “Who was your first?”

“Peggy Sutton.”

Her eyes went wide, “Peggy Sutton? You mean
Peggy Sutton of the three divorces and many last names?”

“It was before all that.” He chuckled, “I was
sixteen and she was my girlfriend for two whole months before she
let me in her panties.”

“Damn, she’s a stronger woman than me.” She
harrumphed, “I let you in my panties the second time I ever saw
you.”

He smiled despite himself at the memory. It
hadn’t exactly been the second time but it had been close and it
had still been hell on him waiting that long. He’d wanted her the
minute she stepped out of that Audi on the side of the highway.
He’d wanted her when he saw Riley flirting with her at the bar that
same night. He’d wanted her so much he’d have taken her in the
church parking lot if she’d have let him. He still kind of wished
she had.

“She was your girlfriend huh?” Her voice
broke into his very vivid memories of that night.

“Yeah.”

“So you haven’t always been this way.” Her
eyes narrowed.

He shrugged.

“Did you love her?”

“No.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Sure, dozens of times, usually lasts
straight through until morning.” He grinned.

She rolled her eyes, “That’s not love.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” He turned the tables,
“What about you? Ever get that serious with anybody, been engaged,
married?”

“No.” She shook her head and peeled the label
off the water bottle, “I’ve had a couple of relationships that
lasted longer than a few months but none of them healthy.”

“Healthy?” That was too interesting not to
delve further.

“I apparently have a thing for emotionally
unavailable men. I try to make them love me. It’s a daddy issue
thing.”

“Did some guy tell you that?” He raised a
curious eyebrow.

“Yeah, a guy with a PDH in psychology. Real
smartass that it took him those extra years of college to figure
that one out. Crap advice if you ask me.”

“Did the guy give you any decent advice? Like
how to avoid men like that maybe?”

“Sure.”

“Did it work?”

She rolled her eyes again, “The fact that I
am in any way involved with you seems like a resounding no.”

Ouch. That one hit a little close to home for
his liking. Still, she was probably right and she was obviously
hurting so he tried not to take it personally. He was what he was.
He couldn’t change the facts.

“So why are you emotionally unavailable?”

He frowned. He was willing to talk. He was
willing to distract her. But he had his limits. Talking about his
emotions was definitely a limit. He liked her, wanted to be there
for her, but he wasn’t going to let her go climbing into his head.
No way, not ever.

“I was born a man. Venus and Mars and all
that bullshit probably.” He shrugged. “We about done with the
talking portion of this evening baby-doll?”

Her head tilted and her lips pursed. It was a
dickhead thing to do. He knew it and he did it anyways. She wanted
a distraction and he didn’t want to talk about himself so he did
what he always did. He offered sex as an alternative.

“Yeah.” She finally nodded.

“Good, come give me some sugar.” He pulled
her into his lap and breathed a sigh of relief. Distraction was a
good idea. They both just needed a distraction.

He realized his mistake the minute she did
exactly what he asked. She slid from her chair and straddled him.
Her arms wound around his neck and he could feel her heat through
her jeans as she pressed tight against him and his cock stirred to
life like it always did when she touched him. Her breasts flattened
against his chest and her mouth settled over his, soft and warm and
he knew. He knew then that he was in over his head.

He didn’t do relationships. He didn’t do
dinner. He didn’t do conversations. He didn’t do being needed but
Bluebell needed him and he wanted to be there for her more than was
practical or logical or reasonable. He wanted to fix this for her.
He wanted to make it okay.

“Zach, please.” She broke the kiss and
shifted against his groin at the same time, “I want…”

“I know baby. I know.” He brushed her hair
back, knowing what she wanted without another word.

She wanted a distraction. She didn’t want to
think. She didn’t want to feel. That’s why she’d come to him. He
was what she needed and he’d happily give himself to her, to help
take away her pain for just a little while. He’d deal with the
repercussions later, right now, she was begging for him and he
really liked it when she begged.

He kissed her again, kept it slow when she
tried to speed it up. She rolled her hips into him again and he
used his hands to hold her steady. He’d give her what she wanted,
what she needed, but he wasn’t going to rush it this time. They’d
rushed too many times before, this time he was going to do it
right. This time he was going to savor her.

Her hands went to the button on his jeans and
he pulled away, “No. Not here.”

“Please.” She pouted and he brushed a light
kiss against her pretty lips.

“You drive me crazy Bluebell.” He admitted
even as he picked her up and stood from the chair and she wrapped
against him even tighter. “Remember when you went exploring and I
was a good boy and let you?” She whimpered against his neck and he
would have smiled if he wasn’t already so close to losing control.
“It’s my turn. Remember what I said about payback?”

He carried her to his bedroom and let her
slip back to the floor at the edge of his bed just as he had that
first night. She released his neck and a second later her tank top
was coming over her head and dropping to the floor behind him. She
was wearing a black lace bra he didn’t remember ever seeing before,
not that he’d really noticed her underwear. Underwear was fine on
most women, with Bluebell he’d always been too rushed to see what
was beneath it.

He liked her idea though so he shucked his
t-shirt as well. He toed off his boots and then he dealt with his
jeans. The next time he looked up not thirty seconds could have
passed but she was standing before him in nothing but the black bra
and a matching set of barely there panties. Her fingers found the
edges against her hips but he put his hands against hers and held
them in place.

“Wait.”

“What? Why?” She looked up at him, blinked in
confusion.

“Because we’re doing this my way and I want
to take those off.”

Her brow furrowed. He thought she might argue
with him at first but he met her gaze and she released her hold on
the panties. She didn’t exactly look happy about it but she’d given
in to him. He grinned what he knew was an arrogant grin and ignored
her for a half second to finish stripping out of his own
clothes.

When he looked up and her big blue eyes had
dilated with need his growl was nearly feral. He liked the way she
looked at him. Liked the way her eyes drank him in like he was the
best thing she’d ever seen. Fully aware of the way she’d touched
him that first night he walked straight into her, let his chest
brush hers and nipped at her neck.

She whimpered and he smiled against her skin.
He traced the long expanse of bare skin between her earlobe and the
top of her bra. He listened to the way her breathing hitched when
he hit a spot he’d learned she liked. He liked the way her skin
pebbled under his hands and mouth.

He explored her body just as she’d explored
his that first night she’d come home with him. He licked and
circled and teased. He ran his big hands up and down her sides. He
traced from left to right between her hipbones just above the black
lace of her panties. Her breathing became erratic but she let him
play, let him explore and arched into him.

“You’re so soft. I’ve never touched anything
so soft baby-doll.” He used his hands to turn her to face the bed
and pressed his erection against the curve of her ass as his hands
cupped her hips and his mouth explored the tender flesh behind her
ear.

“Zach, please…” She inhaled sharply and
pressed herself back against him to get more.

He thought about ripping off her panties and
sliding into her right then and there but he didn’t. He told
himself he was taking it slow this time for her. She needed this
but she didn’t need to be ravaged. She needed to be adored.

So he went slow. He sucked her neck. He
massaged her breasts. He listened to her every breathy moan and
felt every twist of her hips as she tried to get more from him. He
took his time and didn’t push her panties down until he couldn’t
stand another second. He took her bra off and turned her back to
face him.

The look of her, standing naked in front of
him so openly, took his breath away. God she was pretty. Full
breasts hung heavy with desire, her stomach was smooth down to the
apex of her legs. She was a natural blonde, a fact he’d discovered
weeks ago but that still amazed him every time. She was
perfect.

He backed her up to the edge of his bed and
then eased her down, lifting her up higher so he had a better view.
He pressed her legs wide apart and she moaned a throaty sound that
made him even harder. He loved the sounds she made when he touched
her. He loved that she was comfortable enough with him that she
laid her legs wide open to his view. She was pink and slick and
wet.