Here Comes Trouble (13 page)

Terri was exhausted, but thought she had a
handle on things now. But she was running late for her mandatory
appearance at the bonfire. The sun was just going down, but the
welcome party was evidently in full force. She could see orange
flames licking toward the sky in the distance.

She was halfway to the big house when she
heard a whining noise behind her and looked back to see Joel coming
toward her in the golf cart. He wasn't smiling, but at least he
could help her get the bags to the house. Terri's knees were about
to give out.

"You should have called on the radio," he told
her shortly, then got out and hefted her bags into the back of the
cart.

"I didn't have my radio with me," she told him
as she sat down in the passenger seat.

"Why not?" he asked, then reminded, "You know
you're supposed to have it with you at all times."

"I forgot it in the aid station when I went to
the store," she admitted.

"Don't forget it again, Terri," he told her
and she saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel.

"Sir, yes sir," she snapped
sharply.

"Don't get shitty, it's for your own good, and
we need to be able to find you if something happens," he said and
huffed out a breath.

"You having a beer tonight?" she asked
hopefully. "You're so uptight you couldn't drag a needle out of
your ass with a tractor...chill out, things are gonna be fine,
Joel."

"Yes, I might have two," he told her with a
glance. "And this thing succeeding is important to me...I'm all in
here, Terri."

She knew that he was all in financially, and
his future depended on making his guests happy, but if he wasn't
happy in the process what good would it do? "As much as you've
micro-managed things, how can it not be successful?" she asked with
sarcasm lacing her tone.

"You think I'm being overbearing?" he asked
seriously and his foot came off of the power button on the floor,
so the cart glided to a stop in front of the house.

"Sir, yes sir," she repeated, but softened her
words with a sassy grin.

"You're late for the bonfire, go get changed
and we'll ride out together," he said and put his arm across the
back of the seat. "Tonight you're gonna see just how laid back I
can be," he promised with a grin.

"You're gonna wait for me?" she
hooted.

Joel sitting out here waiting for her while
his guests were at the bonfire without him made her almost believe
he really was going to chill out. The way he'd been acting the last
few days, he should have been chewing her a new one for being late,
and he sure wouldn't be offering her a ride, much less waiting for
her to get changed.

She gave him a bright smile, then slid out of
the cart and grabbed the bags to lug them inside. He got out and
took them from her then toted them through the house and dropped
them inside her bedroom door, then told her with a grin, "I think
I'll go have a drink now, while you get ready. Since I'm so
uptight."

With a wink that sent little flutters to her
stomach, Joel turned and walked back down the hall. Terri's eyes
couldn't help but latch onto his fine behind so lovingly cupped by
those Wranglers. Her mouth and other body parts watered as she shut
the door and hurried to the bathroom.

When she came back out and walked into the
living room, Joel was slouched on the sofa with one long leg
propped on his other thigh. He had one arm along the back of the
sofa and the other held a hi-ball glass with amber liquid and
ice.

The hot look he gave her made taking extra
time to get ready worth it. A slow sexy smile spread over his face
and he drawled, "I'm not chilled anymore, darlin'...you're making
me sweat."

Pleasure heated her face, but Terri snorted
and told him, "It's the whiskey making you sweat, sugar...let's
go." Friends Terri, she reminded herself but it fell on deaf ears
when he came over to her and hooked his arm with hers, before
leaning down to take a big sniff of her hair.

"Definitely sweating now," he groaned in a
husky whisper then kissed the top of her head. "We better get out
of here, before I say let's forget the fire out there and tend to
the one in here," he said and patted his flat stomach.

Tingles danced through her body and landed
down south with a thud. Yeah they needed to get the hell out of
here fast, or she would be the one begging to stay in. "C'mon
Casanova, let's go tend to your guests."

"Now, who's being uptight, baby?" he said
petulantly, but his feet moved when she pulled him toward the
door.

"Let's get this over with, because I've got to
get home early and go to bed. I have a feeling I'm gonna need every
ounce of energy I can find for tomorrow's riding lessons," she told
him and he laughed as they walked out the door.

By the time Joel pulled the golf cart up by
the fire, it was fully dark, and most of the log seats around the
fire were occupied by guests and the ranch hands. The murmur of
conversation buzzed around the fire, as their guests and others got
to know each other. A quick glance around told her they were all
having a great time.

Terri slid out of the cart and started to go
claim one of the only vacant logs on the far side of the fire, but
before she could Joel was at her side and slid his arm around her
waist possessively. Giving up trying to resist him, she put her arm
around his waist too and leaned into him as he led them to an empty
seat by the fire. He sat down and pulled her down next to him, then
grabbed her hand and threaded his fingers through it. It was
obvious he was staking a claim on her, letting all the cowhands
know that she was with him.

"You hungry?" he asked near her ear and she
nodded. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it sending
tingles up her arm then got up, and asked, "What do you take on
your hotdog?"

"Ketchup and relish," she said looking up at
his handsome face. And a sweet kiss from that sexy mouth of yours,
she added silently. God, she was a goner.

When he walked toward the chuck wagon that
Jarvis had parked away from the fire, Terri sighed then looked into
the fire, with the same kind of heat burning her insides. When Joel
was being an ass, it was easy to resist him, but when he was being
so sweet and considerate it was impossible.

With every kindness he showed her, she lost
another little piece of her heart to him, and that was not a good
thing. Terri needed to back off, keep her distance from him, if she
had any hope of keeping her sanity and resolve.

"Penny for your thoughts, darlin'," a deep
voice said, before Dylan sat beside her on the log and casually put
his arm over her shoulders. Terri shook her shoulders and Dylan's
arm dropped to his side.

She'd promised Joel she'd keep her distance
from the ranch hands, and she didn't intend on going back on that.
Joel had kept his hands to himself, like he'd promised, even though
she was wishing more and more every day that he
wouldn't.

"Oh, they're not worth that much," she replied
with a nervous chuckle. She wished Dylan would get up, because if
Joel saw him he was going to think the worst. Terri put her hand on
the log and was about to stand when Joel rounded the fire with two
hotdog buns and skewers with weenies in his hands. A bag of
marshmallows was tucked under his arm, and he had two longnecks
between his long fingers. His eyebrows crashed over his blue eyes
and thunderclouds gathered there. He had stopped when he saw Dylan
sitting there, but now he stomped the rest of the way to them and
stood glaring down at her.

"Here are your hot dogs...I'm sure Dylan will
eat the other one," he said in a quiet lethal voice then sat the
food at her feet, and grabbed one of the beers. When he stood back
up, he spun on his heel and walked swiftly away from the fire into
the darkness.

"Dammit!" Terri cursed and grabbed the other
beer then stood. "Joel, wait!" she yelled after him then ran the
direction he'd gone. He was halfway to the tree line when she
finally caught up to him, and she was huffing for air.

"Joel, stop!" she demanded
breathlessly.

She thought he stopped, but she couldn't see
him all that well in the darkness. The moon was just a sliver in
the sky, and they were well outside of the reach of the fire's
glow.

"I didn't invite Dylan over there, and was
getting up to find another seat when you came back. If you'd quit
flying off the handle, I would have told him to get lost," she said
with frustration.

"We had a deal, Terri," he said in a thick
voice.

"To hell with the deal, Joel. I need you to
kiss me," she told him then felt around until she touched his
shoulder.

"I can't..." he said with a moan. "I won't be
able to stop there, sugar."

"I'll stop you...please," she whispered, not
able to believe she was begging a man for a kiss. "There are too
many people around for it to go beyond that anyway," she
reasoned.

Suddenly, she was pulled against a hard body
and a hot mouth claimed hers in a kiss that curled her toes in her
boots. Her fingers loosened on her beer and it thunked when it hit
the ground. She slid her hand up Joel's chest blindly, then wrapped
her arms around his neck and leaned into his body. They fit
perfectly together and his firmly muscled chest felt like heaven
against her breasts.

Terri remembered licking that fabulous chest
the night they'd made love a year ago, licking his whole delicious
body. God, what she wouldn't give to do that again, she thought as
his erection pressed into her just where she needed it to be. But
she knew she couldn't and keep her peace of mind. Joel didn't want
a relationship, and she wasn't going to settle for less.

She moaned when his tongue brushed hers
intimately and he deepened the kiss. But she could enjoy the guilty
pleasure of releasing some of the pent up sexual frustration she'd
been bottling up. A shudder passed through her body when he put his
hands on her and pulled her tighter against him. Terri ground her
hips against his and gasped as electric pleasure shot from her core
upward.

With a groan, he released her and stepped back
and Terri staggered sucking in air to try and even out her
breathing. "You were gonna stop me huh?" he accused in a pained
voice.

"It's my fault, I'm sorry..." she told him
breathlessly. "I just needed...something." Terri needed more than a
kiss, but she couldn't go there with Joel. Kissing him, begging him
to kiss her was a mistake, and it wasn't fair to him.

"I need something too, but it's not just a
kiss, baby. I can't just kiss you, but you put a quietus on
anything beyond that, so no more kissing," he told her.

"I know...I'm sorry for asking. That wasn't
fair," she said sadly. "Let's just go back to the fire and eat,
then head back to the house. I'm tired."

He huffed out a breath then finally said,
"Yeah, me too." Joel slipped his arm around her waist to walk her
back to the fire which surprised her. She thought he'd be mad at
her, but it looked like he wasn't.

When they got back, he sat down on the log and
picked up one of the weenie skewers and handed it to her. They
talked and laughed with the hands and guests, and one of the guys
pulled out a beat up box guitar and they sang campfire songs, drank
beer and roasted marshmallows until late.

When she finally yawned and leaned her head on
Joel's shoulder then nodded off, he put his arm around her and
leaned down to whisper, "Time for bed sleeping beauty," in that
sexy voice that set her nerve endings on fire, then kissed her
hair. He stood and took her hand to help her up, then he took her
back to the house in the golf cart and they went down the hall to
their separate bedrooms.

Terri didn't know about Joel, but even though
she was dog tired, she didn't think she'd be sleeping
tonight.

***

It had been three days since their guests
arrived, and Joel was feeling a little better. So far, the ground
hadn't opened up and swallowed him, and the heavens were still in
tact. The apocalyptic event he'd been expecting, hadn't
materialized. Thank, God.

His guests were having fun, and they hadn't
gotten hurt. The cowhands had been friendly and helpful, and they
all seemed to get along well.

Judge Perry, and his attorney friend and soon
to be judge, Cal Williams, and their law clerks, Kent and Michael,
were having a blast, if the huge smiles on their faces were any
indication. Terri not so much. Last night when she'd staggered back
through the house to her bedroom after Rocky had put her through
the paces all day, Joel had almost stopped her to
apologize.

He knew he had been an ass springing the
cattle drive on her like he had, but he'd only decided at the last
minute it would be a good idea if she went along. Just in case. She
needed to learn to ride anyway, and now was as good a time as
any.

Besides, he liked talking to her. For some
reason her straight shooter attitude and no holds barred way with
him made him calmer. He needed calm right now. She wouldn't have
anything else to do back here at the ranch while they were gone
anyway.