Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1)
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Authors: Mae Martini
Loving You
Copyright © 2012 by Mae Martini
All rights are reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. The names and events are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events are entirely coincidental.
20151216
Warning: With a beautiful City girl and one smoking hot cowboy getting it on, this book is meant for mature audiences only as it includes graphic language and highly erotic subject matter.
Table of Contents
“Calista!” Annie shouted as she jumped out of her rental car with her hands waving in the air. She ran up the stairs of the Bed & Breakfast Calista owned and ran with her mom and brother.
Calista flew down and hugged Annie in a tight embrace.
“You look fantastic!” Annie exclaimed.
“Oh my God? I can’t believe you’re finally here. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
The two hadn’t seen each other since the last day of college four years prior, but always stayed in touch with texting, emailing, and Skyping. They might have been apart all those years, but they were closer than ever.
Joan, Calista’s mom, came out onto the porch and warmly embraced Annie.
“Welcome to the Shady Brook, sweetheart. We’re so happy to have you here.”
“Hello, Joan, it’s so good to see you again. Thank you for having me, and thank you for the opportunity. I’m so excited I can’t wait to get started.”
“Can’t wait to have you start. As much as I enjoy the baking, I’ve been on my own for the past week. You’re a welcomed pleasure.”
“Thank you.”
They broke the embrace and Calista reached for Annie’s hand, all excited to have her best friend there.
“Come on, it’s hot out here and mom prepared a nice lunch for us in the kitchen.”
“Oh, man, I can’t wait, I’m starving,” Annie said.
“Calista said you flew into San Antonio.”
“Yes, From JFK. The drive from San Antonio wasn’t that bad, either.”
“No. It’s quite easy,” Joan said as they walked through the B&B’s living room to the kitchen.
“Wow, what a kitchen,” Annie said as she took in the large gourmet room with the six burner Wolf stove, the Large Sub Zero refrigerator/freezer, and the Wolf wall oven amongst other appliances. Topping it off were the antique white cabinets and beige granite counters.
Annie was ecstatic when Calista called and asked if she could fill in as the resident baker at the B&B while Gretchen, their resident baker, flew back to Germany on a family matter.
She couldn’t wait to start baking there that summer before she had to start her job in Paris, France that September.
They sat around a long island with the same granite that had a small feast of salads and fruits spread out on top, catching up with each other.
After lunch, Calista had brought Annie up to the room she would occupy while living and working there.
She gave her a tour of the house, even running into a couple of guests who were sitting on the back porch sipping iced tea.
On the way to the pool they heard, “Hey, beautiful, when did you get here?”
“Jake, hi, it’s so good to see you,” Annie said to Calista’s brother as they gave each other a warm embrace.
Tall, with short blond hair, blue eyes, and a build that any girl in their right mind would die to just be able to touch, Jake was the brother Annie never had.
She would always be grateful for the first time Calista’s family came up to the college in New Jersey where the girls were roommates and had quickly become friends.
While Joan and David, Calista’s father, who had passed away the second year the girls were in college, went back to their hotel after dinner, the three of them went to a house party on campus.
The house was packed with students who were mostly male as they often tended to be. The music was loud and the liquor was flowing.
People were pushing into each other just to get to the makeshift bar on the second floor.
Jake saw a drunk senior, he assumed, purposely pushing against Annie. His hand had always seemed to land on her breast.
The first and second time she was pushed she just shrugged it off, but the third time, Annie felt his hand linger a little too long to be an accident. She went to shove his hand out of the way, but the guy grabbed her hand and with his other hand, grabbed her long hair and pulled her closer to kiss her.
Jake saw Annie struggle, and he came to her rescue by pulling the guy off of her and ushering her to safety. Then he pulled his sister out of there, and the three of them hopped on a bus and went to the grease trucks for a late night snack. From that point on he had always been as protective of her as his sister.
“I’m taking Annie to Roxy’s tonight, you want to come along?” Calista asked Jake.
“I’ll meet you there. I’m going out to dinner with Jennie first.”
“Ooohh, my brother has a hot date tonight,” Calista teased.
“Damn straight. What could I say, I’m a catch, and adorable, too.” He looked at Annie and gave her a cocky grin.
“Asshole.” Annie giggled.
Jake shrugged with a smile. “I’ve been called worse,” he said.
They all laughed.
He walked backwards, toward the main house, and sang “If you’re sexy and you know…,” while wiggling his body.
The girls laughed their asses off.
Jake could have had a thing for Annie. She was tall and lean with long light brown hair and natural light blonde highlights. She had gold eyes with green specks in them and a blue ring around the iris’ that Jake thought were the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen. Her lips were full and soft. He knew that because, on one such visit to his sister’s college, he tried hooking up with her and when they kissed, she tasted sweet but it felt wrong on both their accounts. He had already thought of her as a little sister and she thought of him as a big brother so it never went further than that kiss.
After unpacking a few things, Annie rummaged through her drawers and closet for something to wear. She settled on a new pair of brown and blue cowboy boots,
hey, when in Rome,
a cute little denim skirt, and a blue, body hugging, tank top. She left her hair down even though it was stifling in Texas in the summer time, and met up with Calista in the large parlor of the B&B.
“You look so cute in that outfit,” Annie said to Calista. “I especially love the cowboy hat, I have to get one.”
“Thanks. It’s a Stetson,” Calista replied, “And we’ll shop for one for you tomorrow.”
Along with the cowboy hat, Calista wore a pair of beige short shorts and a pink spaghetti strap blouse with, of course, cowboy boots.
Annie had always thought Calista was so pretty. She had long blonde hair, big blue eyes, and she was, in her opinion, the perfect height at five feet, six inches, and thin. She looked great in anything she wore.
Roxy’s was jumping. Brooks and Dunn had been playing on the juke, and couples were on the dance floor.
They had to squeeze their way to the bar which wasn’t that bad because all the cowboy hats made room for them while checking them out.
Calista ordered a beer and Annie ordered a cosmopolitan; she never did acquire the taste for beer.
They made their way to a small and tall cocktail table and put their drinks down. Annie was amazed at all the cowboy hats in the place,
yes, definitely getting one,
she thought as she looked around.
When she turned back to Calista, she found a tall, handsome cowboy talking with her. It was Rory, Calista’s boyfriend. Calista knew him a long time as he and Jake were good friends from when they were young.
They’d been dating for three years. Annie had never met him in person, but she spoke with him through Skype and the phone at times when Calista and she would talk.
“You look more beautiful in person, darlin’,” Rory said in a slow southern drawl.
“Thank you, right back at ya, cowboy,” Annie said as they hugged.
Rory was about six feet with broad shoulders. He had short black hair and brown eyes, and he sported a sexy five o’clock shadow.
“Can I get you ladies a drink?” he asked.
They both declined as they were still nursing their first round.
They talked for a while. He asked Annie how her flight was, and Annie told them her doubts about moving away from the States.
“Excuse us,” Rory said to Annie as he pulled Calista to the dance floor when ‘Cowboys and Angels’ started playing on the juke.
Annie smiled and nodded.
All alone at the table, Annie scanned the place. There were columns that divided that room with another room where a billiards table was in use. One of the guys waiting his turn, and with a pool cue in one hand, and a beer in his other, caught her eye. He tipped his beer to her and took a drink.
Annie felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned back to the table to see Jake there, with Jennie, no doubt, and another couple. Jake made the introductions.
Jennie, who looked to be no more than twenty-one, Annie found out later was twenty-four, was average height and had short shiny black hair. Next was Lisa, she looked about Annie’s age. She was a little taller than Jennie, with wavy blonde hair that came down to her shoulders, and way too much makeup on in Annie’s opinion. Annie Liked the natural look,
to each her own.
Her rather large boobs were popping out of her too tight halter top, making them the first thing you notice about her. Tight was not a good look on her.
She barely acknowledged Annie during the intros.
Whatever.
When Jake introduced Annie to the guy next to Lisa, she did a double take. His name was Cord. Cord McCreedy. Annie heard the name before. Jake had mentioned him a time or two over the years.
His bright, green eyes were hypnotic. He was tall, Annie guessed around six feet, two inches judging by her five feet, seven inch height.
She quickly scanned his body and deduced by his muscled forearms and the way the short sleeves of his tight shirt defined his biceps that he was ripped underneath it. Yep, tight looked good on him. Like Rory, he, too, had broad shoulders along with a tapered waist.
She wanted to see his hair, but his hat covered it, yet there was no denying she liked the cowboy look on him.
“Stetson?” she asked, eyeing his hat.
“Yes,” Cord said and smiled a brilliant white smile at her as he tipped his hat up.
“Got to get me one,” she said smiling back.
Cord stuck his hand out to shake Annie’s hand, and as they touched, they looked into each other’s eyes a bit longer than, well, than what Lisa would have liked.
Lisa turned Cord around to face her and planted a kiss on his lips.
Okay, easy girl, I get it, he’s yours,
Annie thought, and she quickly turned to Jake before she could see Cord push Lisa away and wipe his mouth with a disgusted look on his face.
“Where’s Calista?” Jake asked over the loud music.
“On the dance floor with Rory,” Annie shouted.
Jake nodded.
Jennie turned to talk to Jake, and Annie watched Calista and Rory line dance.
Cord, Annie noticed, had been watching her. She looked at Lisa and saw that she was trying to get Cord’s attention. Finally Lisa put her hand up to his face and turned it forcefully. He recoiled and gave her another disgusted look. That time, Annie saw it.
“Oohh, come on, Lisa, I love this song, let’s dance,” Jennie said when ‘Beers Ago’ by Toby Keith, started playing on the juke box.
Lisa didn’t budge. She just stared at Annie.
At first Annie pretended not to notice, but then she met Lisa’s eyes and twisted her mouth in a smirk, and shrugged her shoulders then turned to Jake to talk with him. Jake smiled at that exchange. From Annie’s peripheral vision, she thought she saw Cord smile, too.
“Go on, Lisa, dance with Jennie,” Cord said.
Annie wasn’t sure what Cord said to Lisa after that, but she finally went to dance.
A server came around and Cord stopped her. He ordered beers for him and Jake and motioned to Annie’s drink. “Another for the lady.”
The server nodded and went to the bar to fill the order.
Another drink later and Annie was dancing in place to the music. Rory came over and begged her to dance with Calista because he needed a break, and Annie happily met Calista and the other girls on the dance floor.
Annie danced, shimmied and rocked. Hands in the air and booty swinging, she lost herself in the music. Not lost, though, was Cord. He could not take his eyes off of her.
While the guys were talking and drinking, Cord hardly heard what they were talking about. Though Jake and Rory looked to be in deep conversation, they, too, never took their eyes off Annie, nor did they take their eyes off Calista, Jennie, or Lisa. It was too crowded in there, and too many cowboys were watching the girls. Some even moved up to them and danced with them. When the girls had enough, they would turn toward each other and dance until that guy took the hint and left.
One big, stocky guy wasn’t having any of it. He wouldn’t leave them alone.
Cord nudged Rory and nodded toward the girls.
Rory turned to Jake to alert him, but he was already eyeing the scene.
Cord looked around and saw another guy just standing around the dancing girls. The guy was leering at Annie. When he reached out to pinch her ass, the boys were in motion.
Just as he pinched, Annie turned around to smack him in the face. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him while grinning, sinisterly, showing a broken tooth in the front of his mouth.
Annie saw a fist land on the guy’s cheek. The guy was stunned and dropped her arm to raise a fist to start swinging.
Cord was quicker than him and landed another blow to the guy’s face, and he fell backwards.
The other guy saw Rory coming at him and tried to get a punch in, but Rory ducked and came up swinging, landing blows to the guy’s stomach and nose.
The dance floor cleared. Rory yelled to Jake, “Get the girls out of here!”
Jake ushered them out of the club and they walked to their cars. Cord and Rory ran toward them and they all jumped into the cars. Jake, Calista, Rory, and Annie went in Calista’s car and Cord, Lisa and Jennie went in Cord’s truck.