Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (27 page)

Cord and Jake got out of the car. They saw a small lamp light on inside the house.

“Stay here,” Cord said, and he proceeded to walk up the path.

Jake was right behind him. Cord rolled his eyes.

The door opened and surprised them. Dan came out of the house with an empty bottle of whiskey. He staggered over to the garbage can, and when he turned to walk back inside, he walked right into Cord.

He didn’t see Jake because Jake stayed in the shadows on purpose. Cord had a better chance if there were no witnesses in case Dan talked. It would be his word against Cord’s.

“Cord, shit, you scared me, man.”

And Cord just let loose. He punched him in the nose and they heard a sickening crack sound. Then Cord hit him with a one, two punch and Dan staggered back. 

“Stop, Cord, I’m sorry, man.”

But Cord didn’t stop there, nor did he say anything. He continued to punch him, in the face, and in the stomach. He turned and dropped and took Dan down with a roundhouse kick.

Dan was out of breath, but he still managed to open his mouth stupidly.

“She wanted it, man, she was begging me. That cock tease was begging me for-”

Cord didn’t let him finish, he punched him in the face and kicked him in the balls and stomach. Cord knew there was no truth to what he said. He knew Annie loved him even though she hadn’t told him yet. She knew he didn’t want her anywhere near Dan, and she knew to stay away from him. There was no question in his mind.

He picked Dan up by the collar of his shirt with his casted arm and punched him in the jaw again, and let him go. He fell back down. Cord followed him.    

Jake stepped in. “Stop, man, he’s out, he’s not moving.”

But Cord didn’t hear him. Rage filled his ears and he continued to punch Dan.

Jake put his hands on Cord’s shoulders to get him to stop. He came up and was ready to swing at Jake and realized it just in time.

Cord stared at Jake as he breathed heavy then he looked to Dan and saw he was out cold. Jake checked to make sure he was still breathing.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said.

Cord just nodded.

The guys walked into the pool house. Cord didn’t say a word. He just walked to the bedroom, shut the door, took off his clothes, and climbed back into bed and pulled Annie, who didn’t wake, on top of him and stroked her skin lightly. He fell asleep about an hour later.

The next morning, Annie awoke first and felt comforted wrapped in Cord’s arms with one of his legs thrown over her. Taking pleasure in studying his face, she traced, in her mind, his sensual lips, his straight aristocratic nose, his long dark eyelashes, and the shading of a beard caused from not shaving. He looked very sexy and ruggedly handsome.

She felt his arm squeeze around her shoulder and looked up to him. He was still asleep. She moved her eyes to the hand that was attached to that arm. It was red and swollen. She gasped and as she was rising, Cord held her down. Her eyes shot to his face and she saw his eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling.

“Cord, what happened to your hand?” she asked.

He turned to look into her eyes. He was stalling because he didn’t want to implicate her in Dan’s beating, but he knew he had to say something.

“Cord?” She asked again, and that time, with more force, she got up from the bed. She ran into the bathroom, got a washcloth, ran cold water on it, and came back to the bed. Sitting down next to him, she picked up his hand and laid the cloth on his knuckles.

Cord chuckled. “Just like old times, huh,” he said.

“What happened?” she asked, not laughing.

“I don’t know.”

She looked at him skeptically.

“I might have punched the wall when I couldn’t find you last night, is all.”

“Oh, Cord, I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, it’s all good. Don’t worry.” And he thought it was all good because he beat the shit out of Dan for her.

They showered and dressed. Calista had thought to bring some clothes to the pool house for Annie. After they stopped in to see Calista and Jake, they set off to Cord’s house where they were going to spend the day horseback riding.

No one had to work that morning. Every year, that day was treated like a holiday due to the big fundraiser the night before. Joan always hired out help and she and Annie prepared extra dishes and desserts during the week.

After stopping at the supermarket to get some food for a picnic lunch, they arrived at Cord’s house. He told her to go on in as he was going to check on Storm and see what Miguel was up to, as Hank was off that day.

Annie opened the door to Cord’s bedroom to deposit her duffle bag of clothes and her jaw dropped. On the floor in front of her was a single line of red rose petals. She followed the line to the bed, and on top of it were hundreds of the same petals.

She gingerly walked in and looked to the side of the bed. There was a silver bucket with water, Annie figured it was full with ice at one point, and a bottle of, she picked it up and read the label, Cristal. On the night stand were two champagne flutes. She turned to the bureau and saw two dozen long stemmed red roses in a clear vase.

She felt movement behind her and picked up her head and looked into the mirror. Cord was leaning against the door jamb striking a sexy pose with the smile to match. He made his way toward her. When he was behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She tilted her head and Cord, who was staring at her through the mirror said, “I did this last night. I used Storm as an excuse to get away. My brother and father put Storm away while I came up here. I didn’t want them to come up because, while I think my father might have called me one, I know Shane definitely would have called me a pussy.” He laughed and she smiled.

She turned around in his arms and kissed him. It was getting heated and he struggled to pull apart. She looked at him quizzically.

“I have the horses all saddled up and ready to go.”

“Oh, okay. Should I put on a bathing suit under my clothes?” She asked as she pulled out her black bikini from her bag.

“Where we’re going is secluded. I was thinking maybe we could skinny dip,” he drawled.

“Hmmmm. Secluded. Skinny dip. Cord McCreedy. Let’s go,” she said as she flung her bikini over her head, grinning. She picked up the cowboy hat he bought her that she left on his chair and placed it on her head.

She smiled as she looked at his questioning gaze. “I’m feeling a Yeehaw! moment coming on,” she said as she walked to the door.

Cord laughed and shook his head as he followed her out. He backtracked and picked up the champagne and then caught up with her.

As Cord had said, they came up to a secluded swimming spot along the river that ran in the back of his house. They dismounted and Cord walked the horses to the water while Annie laid out a blanket.

Cord came back and kneeled on the blanket and reached for the champagne while Annie laid out the cheese, crackers and fruit they bought at the supermarket earlier.

“You look more comfortable riding. How do you feel?”

“I feel more comfortable, more confident. Am I ready for a more advanced horse yet?” she asked eagerly.

“Whoa, there, Cowgirl! Let’s take it slow this time,” he said as he began to pour a glass of champagne.

She giggled as he handed her the flute and then he poured champagne for himself.

They clinked glasses and drank.

They settled in and talked and laughed as they fed each other. Cord filled up their glasses again.

She sat up and leaned against a tree trunk and he lay down with his head in her lap. She lazily ran her fingers through his hair and he loved the way it felt.

“Do you want to talk about last night?” he asked.

“No… you were right. I hate him.” And she left it at that.

He stared up at her as she gazed out at the water. Cord was happy with where he was right at that moment in life. He tried not to ever think about it but sometimes it would creep its way into his thoughts. He swallowed hard as he always did when he thought about the day she would get on that plane and head to Paris and leave him.

She glanced down and saw him swallow as something dark passed in his eyes.

He reached up and she met him by leaning down and he took her lips and they shared a deep, soulful kiss.

They spent most of the afternoon skinny dipping and making love. Annie wasn’t quite sure when exactly it turned from fucking to making love, but she knew that’s what they did and she was so okay with it.

They headed back to the house.

While they were out, she got a text from Calista saying she and Rory were coming over to hang out later, and Cord got a text from Jake saying he and Jennie were going to come over later too.

They groomed the horses and walked to the house just as the black Mercedes pulled up. Jamerson, Lisa’s dad, got out of the car and walked over to them.

“Cord,” he said and he held out a hand. Cord just nodded. Then Jamerson turned to Annie. “Ms. Amanti,” he said with a nod.

Annie gave him a slight nod.

Jamerson turned to Cord. “I would like a word with you, son.”

Cord was going to tell him to fuck off and don’t call me son, but he held his tongue at the squeeze he got from Annie’s hand. Damn, how did she know when he was tense?                                                                     

Annie pulled her hand away from Cord and said to him, “I’m just going to go inside   and-”

“No, please, I’d like you to hear this, too,” Jamerson said.

Annie looked to Cord and after a while he nodded and grasped her hand to pull her close to him then dropped it and put his arm around her shoulders in a protective fashion.

Jamerson looked on with sadness. Sadness at the thought that he would have loved for Cord to be holding his Lisa that way, but that was not going to be happening, at least any time soon, which he reminded himself was why he was there.

“I... er, wanted to apologize to you, to both of you.” He looked to Annie then back to Cord, “For the things Lisa’s done.”

Cord and Annie looked to each other.

“Her actions are reprehensible and I shall look to address them properly with her. I ask that you both reconsider pressing charges against her. It has not been easy on her or me since my Lillian passed away, you know,” he said, referring to his wife, Lisa’s mother.

Cord laughed sardonically inside, he knew, firsthand, how it felt losing a loved one, but he wouldn’t and couldn’t use that as an excuse to hurt others.

Annie was just about to say something and Cord squeezed her shoulders and she stayed quiet.

Then Jamerson pulled something out of his pocket.

“I found this in Lisa’s room when I searched it to see if I could find clues into her behavior. It has your name on it,” Jamerson said to Annie.

“My iPod,” she said, “It was her. She ransacked my room, didn’t she?”

Cord pulled her even tighter to him so that her front turned and faced the side of his body and his arm came down to the middle of her back.

“Mr. Jamerson, you need to leave now,” Cord said. “You have nerve coming here asking us not to press charges with all that Lisa has done to Annie.”

“Please think about it for Lisa’s sake. Our families go back, way back, Cord,” he pleaded as he looked from Cord to Annie then back to Cord again.

Cord turned himself and Annie and walked up the stairs and went inside leaving Jamerson looking down trodden.

“You okay, Annie?” Cord asked her once they were inside. He held her waist with the hand with the cast on it and held her face in his other hand to search her eyes.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. I’m going to go up and take a shower, if it’s okay?”

“Want company?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrow.

She giggled. “Don’t be mad, I kind of want some space right now.”

“Not mad, babe. Go enjoy your shower. I have some things to do down here anyway,” he said, and she leaned up and kissed him.

“Thank you,” she said.

It was a warm night and the gang was in Cord’s back yard, even Shane was there.

Cord had a beautiful expansive paved patio in two layers. One layer had a barbeque and a table and chair set and the other section had a fireplace, which Cord lit for ambiance, and an outdoor seating area. There were a few torches lit and the tables had citronella candles burning on them.

Annie cuddled against Cord on one end of the oversized cushioned couch. Rory and Calista were on the other side, sitting in the mirror image of Cord and Annie.

Jennie half sat on Jake’s lap with her legs crossed over Jake’s thighs on a large matching cushiony chair. Shane was on the other chair that completed the set.

They talked about the fundraiser the night before and Shane reported that they broke a record and raised a lot of money for the vets.

The talk turned to pro bull riding when Jimmy Landry strolled in. He wasn’t in uniform so Cord told him to help himself to a beer and to pull up a chair.

“You guys hear what happened to Dan?” Jimmy asked everyone, but his gaze was on Cord.

“No, what happened?” Calista asked as Cord and Jake made eye contact with each other when Jimmy looked Calista’s way.

“He got the shit beat out of him last night.”

“What?” Jennie said as Calista and Annie looked at him with wide eyes.

“Holy!” Someone said.

“Do you know what happened?” Jake asked.

“Just that he walked into the ER early this morning with a busted nose, broken ribs and black and blues all over his face and torso.”

“Oh my God,” Calista said. “Did he say what happened?”

“He said he couldn’t remember, but I think he does and doesn’t want to say,” Jimmy said.

Clearly he was fishing for information they may have, but no one talked. No one said anything about Dan attacking Annie, either.

“He was pretty drunk last night. Maybe he fell or something,” Jake said.

“Yeah. Maybe,” Jimmy said. He finished his beer and rose.

“Well, I just wanted to stop by and tell you about Dan, seeing how close you all are. I gotta get home. Amber was expecting me about an hour ago. She’s gonna be pissed.”

“Thanks for stopping by, man,” Cord said and everyone said goodnight to him.

“What do you think happened?” Shane asked no one in particular.

“Just what Jake said. He probably fell, maybe down a flight of stairs or something. He was really drunk last night,” Rory said.

All agreed, even Annie who was looking up watching Cord. She reached for his hand that had the swollen knuckles and lightly pressed her thumb over it as she watched it. She looked back up to him in question and he started to feel self conscious.

He removed his hand and put his arm around her and tenderly brought his nose to hers and nuzzled.

“You smell so good,” he said and kissed her lips. Naturally she melted into him and forgot all else.