Faith in the Cowboy (Taming the Cowboy) (5 page)

Wondering who the daring woman in her skin was, she flipped over, presenting her ass to him. She looked over her shoulder as he knelt between her legs, felt the heat of his body along her back as he kissed her between her shoulder blades, following her spine to the small of her back where he lingered with teasing kisses that sent twinges straight to her womb. This time his name was a gasp.

He kept going, down to the curve of her ass, stroking the skin between her ass and thighs with his thumbs, making her so wet, so hungry for him. She curled her fingers into the pillow in front of her. Pleas tumbled from her lips as she held perfectly still, waiting for him to touch her.

Instead, he straightened, and with one long thrust, filled her completely, his groin slapping against her bottom. She grabbed up the pillow again, pressing it to her face to keep from screaming her pleasure as he fucked her, the rhythm winding her up, each stroke hitting all her erogenous zones as if they were connected by one of those Newton cradles, pinging around her body and back again.

Then he pulled out, again. “Your back. I’m close. Jesus. Hurry.”

She did as he asked, parting her legs around him as he found his way back inside her,  his body riding her clit, one arm around her back, the other braced on the mattress. He looked into her eyes as he thrust hard, pushing against her clit, and she came, her vision blurring, her arms clenching around his shoulders, her pussy around his cock as he hammered into her.

His breath caught and he stilled, then came with a groan, his breath gusting over her as he emptied himself inside her.

After a long moment, he drew out of her and flopped on the mattress beside her, looping his arm around her waist and pulling her against his chest.

“By my count, that was three times,” he said after he caught his breath, his voice rough, his fingertips trailing up and down the slope of her breast. “Not record-breaking, but a good start.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “Give me a few minutes, and we can try for three more. God, you felt so good, Teresa. Sexy as hell.”

She should go, should make excuses and go back to the house and put distance between them. She’d gotten what she wanted, and it was incredible. That he was offering her more...the temptation was great.

Why did she need to go in the house anyway? Noah wasn’t her child, his parents were home. He didn’t need her tonight. No one needed her. And West promised her more orgasms. She eased onto her back to look at him, and nodded.

The grin flashed. “Maybe I don’t want to wait.”

He lowered his mouth to her breast, his hand between her legs, stroking her clit in time with his tongue on her nipple. Then he shifted between her legs, parting them over her shoulders, turning his head to kiss his way up her left thigh, the prickle of his stubble delicious, and she was as swollen and wet as if he hadn’t just fucked her.

“I liked it when you sucked me,” he said against her skin, his mouth high on her thigh. “I want to taste you, Teresa.”

Yes, yes, yes,
her body screamed, but all she could do was open her legs wider in invitation.

He situated himself and parted her labia with his fingers, then blew a long breath against her wet flesh. “Damn, girl, you’re wet. I wish I was hard enough to slide back inside you.”

She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to talk dirty. But then he took all power of speech from her when he kissed her clit, a close-mouthed caress, then flicked it with his tongue. Her fingers flexed in the bedding, wadding it as she strained not to push against his mouth, as she fought her desire to hold his head against her.

Teasing her now, he dipped his tongue into her channel, just a little, enough to have her bowing off the bed at the intimacy. She’d never felt anything like it, and wanted more, but didn’t know how to ask, didn’t know how he liked to perform oral sex—God, a stupid, clinical term for something so fucking hot. How he liked to go down, that was better, but it made her think of the other women he’d done this with before.

He did it again, his tongue fluttering a little inside her, and she got wetter, hotter, so desperate to push against him, she held her breath and clenched those sheets.

“Like that?” he asked, his mouth millimeters away from where she needed it.

“Yes!” The word pushed out on her last breath, and he repeated the flutter. And again.

She came, no longer able to control herself, pushing her hips toward him as his mouth played over her pussy, draining every ounce of pleasure.

Then he was over her, and in her, hard and thick, rocking against her in the same rhythm she’d experienced on the horse, but oh, so much, better, her channel clasping his length so that she felt everything, every inch of him, each stroke pressing his weight on her pubic bone. Just when she thought all the pleasure was done, her body fired back up again.

She groaned and moved into him, this pace easy, sexy as sin, especially when he kissed her, filling her with her own flavor. She’d never—she tried to turn away, but he insisted, and she found it intoxicating, flicking her tongue at the corners of his mouth to capture it all. He groaned against her lips, cupped her hips in his hands and thrust faster.

This time when she flew apart, he followed her.

Teresa crept into the house the following morning, feeling at once relaxed and tired. West’s quest to give her pleasure had not allowed for much sleeping. Leaving his bed this morning had been hard. When she’d slipped out of bed and he’d given her that sexy sleepy smile and held out his hand to her, she’d almost given in. She hadn’t wanted to tell him, hadn’t wanted to seem old-fashioned after what they did last night, that she wanted to get to church. She’d already asked Grace to borrow her car, so she just needed to shower and grab the keys.

She thought about West’s tiny shower, and what it would be like to shower in it with him.

Ridiculous. She couldn’t allow herself romantic thoughts. This was just sex, just amazing, amazing sex.

Yeah, she might not be in the best state of mind to go to church.

She was walking out of the bathroom, dressed but with her hair hanging wet, when she heard the click of a door down the hall. Hoping it was Noah, who she could divert with the mention of church—he’d gone with her once and been miserable—she pasted a smile on her face and turned.

Grace wrapped her robe around her and motioned Teresa toward the kitchen.

“You’re up early,” Teresa said, glancing at the clock over the sink.

“Yeah, well, you’re getting in early.”

Teresa winced, hoping her friend hadn’t noticed that. “Is it okay if I borrow your car for church?”

“I already told you that you could.” She turned to make coffee. “Were you with West?”

Teresa’s face flamed. “I don’t—I never do anything like that.”

“I know. I’m worried about you for that reason. West isn’t going to be sticking around.”

“That’s why he’s safe.”

Grace’s eyebrows went up. “Is that what you want? You don’t want a future?”

“Of course I want a future, but right now a man can’t play into that. My priority is getting Emily back. Once she’s home with me, I can think about maybe falling in love again, getting married.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Teresa lifted her eyes to Grace’s. “You think he’ll hurt me? He treats me so good. My radar has gotten pretty good about these things.” Now. After Miguel.

Grace waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t mean that he’ll hurt you, just that opening up to him, and then him leaving, it’s going to be hard. And you’re—you’re already going through so much.”

“I’ll be fine,” Teresa assured her. “I won’t get too attached. Now, I’ve got to get to church.”

But when she walked out the front door, Grace’s keys in hand, she looked toward the RV and battled a fierce longing to return and climb back into that bed.

*****

Dinner that night was a little more awkward than she expected. Everyone but Noah knew what she and West had done last night, and tension around the table was high.   

West was oblivious as he passed the corn on the cob Liam had made on the grill to Teresa. “Did you have a good day?” he asked, his voice a low rumble that hit her square in the solar plexus.

She hadn’t seen him all day, and had trouble meeting his gaze now. “I did.”

Although at church, she hadn’t been able to keep her thoughts on the service. She should go to confession after fantasizing about him. Then she’d come home and busied herself preparing for school tomorrow, though she had sneaked a few looks out at the barn where he worked with Liam and Luke, and tried to find an excuse to go down there.

She hadn’t thought of one.

“I hate that patio,” Liam said as he speared a burger and set the platter down in the center of the table. “I think once the barn’s done, we need a deck.”

“Liam,” Grace protested softly.

“What? We have a beautiful view out there. We’ll put a rail so the kids can’t tumble off. But I need a better place for my grill, and if we have a deck, we could eat out there, too. And since I currently have free labor,” He swept his hand to include Luke and West. “May as well take advantage of it.”

Luke grunted. “Not this weekend,” he said.

West leaned closer to Teresa. “Liam, Luke and I are heading to a rodeo Saturday night, a little one, just to the south of town. Will you come?”

Her face heated as all eyes turned to her. “I see Emily on Saturdays.”

“I know, but you’re done by three, and the rodeo doesn’t start until seven.” He leaned a little closer. “I’d like you to see what I do.”

The idea of seeing him in action thrilled her, but the thrill was tempered by panic. She cast a desperate glance at Grace. Teresa was determined not to get involved, but she hadn’t expected West to become invested. How was she going to prevent that? Maybe they needed to have a talk, after dinner, away from all the ears perked in their direction.

Would she even be able to go to his RV tonight without everyone knowing?

“We’ll see,” she murmured.

“It’ll be fun, and a good way to unwind.”

She hated that he knew she’d need to unwind after visiting her daughter.

“I’ll think about it,” she promised, though she knew she’d talk herself out of it before Saturday.

After dinner, she helped clean up in the kitchen, her shoulders tense as she waited for Kennedy to ask about West. She wished she was alone with Grace, that she could talk to her about West’s expectations. She knew he was the one she should address, but had no idea how to go about that.

“You should go to the rodeo,” Kennedy said. “Have you ever been to one?”

Teresa shook her head. “I never was much into the country scene growing up.”

Kennedy laughed. “I was surrounded by it. My dad. Luke and Liam. I tried to get away, and here I am right back in it.”

Teresa frowned. “You don’t like it?”

“It’s terrifying and it’s thrilling. At least Luke isn’t in as much danger as Liam and West, though he does throw himself out of his saddle nightly. And West doesn’t have to worry about finishing in the money.”

Teresa stared. The woman was talking another language. “What?”

“He’s a paramedic. The rodeo pays him to be there.”

“He’s a paramedic?” Teresa felt like an idiot, for not understanding what Kennedy was talking about, for not knowing that about the man she’d spent the night with.

“A lot of the rodeo clowns are,” Grace said. “Though not a lot of them call themselves rodeo clowns anymore. They call themselves bull fighters. But yeah, they’re first responders in case a cowboy gets gored or trampled.”

“West only rodeos part time,” Kennedy said. “He’s a paramedic in San Antonio the rest of the time.”

“What is it about firefighters being hot?” Grace said with a sigh.

So he lived in San Antonio. See, even if she gave in to her emotions, she couldn’t have a future with him. She couldn’t leave her daughter behind.

*****

West turned his beer around and around in his hand as he sat on the patio with Luke and Liam, watching Noah charge up the ladder of the playscape Liam had built. He was eager to get Teresa alone again, but the way she’d acted at dinner, distant, reluctant, set his nerves on edge. He got that she didn’t often spend the night with a man, but he hadn’t thought she’d shut him out. She’d been on his mind all day. He’d wanted to touch her, remind her of how he’d made her feel, how he wanted to whisper dirty things in her ear to make her blush, but she hadn’t let him get close enough.

She was shy, he understood that. And private. So he’d attribute her mood to that instead of rejection.

The women walked out on the patio, then. He rose to give his seat to Kennedy. She took it with a smile and edged closer to Luke, while West debated whether to go inside for a couple more chairs. Instead, he sat on the edge of the patio, close to the playscape.

Instead of joining him, Teresa walked out to the playscape and started talking to Noah.

Okay, West was starting to take this personally. He watched her with the boy, more relaxed than he’d seen her all day. She stood behind Noah to push him on the swing. West rose, retrieved a couple of beers from the cooler and walked over, twisting the top off.

“What time do you need to leave for work in the morning?” he asked, handing her the open beer.

She took it with a smile between pushes. “Are you sure? Grace can take me, and I can find a ride home.”

He leaned against a wooden brace. “I don’t mind. Doesn’t Grace have to work tomorrow night?”

“She does.”

“So you don’t want her to have to get up early. What time?”

“I usually leave here around six fifteen to get there by seven.”

He straightened, blinking. “In the morning?”

“School starts at seven thirty and I have cafeteria duty.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I have to watch the kids who get there early. It means I get to leave as soon as my students are picked up, though.”

“I’ve never gotten up that early.”