Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (7 page)

Cord faced Annie, but answered Calista “Nah, I’m gonna head on home,” then more quietly said to Annie, “you okay with that?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“Walk me to my car?”

“Okay.”

Calista heard they were leaving, “Annie, you coming back?”

“No, I think I’m going to head on up to bed.”

Everyone said good night, well, everyone except Lisa.

Still holding hands, when Annie and Cord got to his car, he leaned against it and pulled her in to him. She smiled up at him.

“Frustrated?” he asked.

“Hah! Yes. You?”

“Very.” He chuckled. He hugged her to him and she wrapped her arms around his waist. He breathed in the clean, fresh smell that was her and he started to press her against him and she didn’t hesitate. He loved how responsive she was to him.

“I’d better go,” he said. “As it is I’m gonna have to drive home with a hard-on. It can get painful in these jeans.” He joked.

They slowly let each other go, but he held onto her hand and brought her in for a kiss. It was a quick kiss. Then he let her go and got into his car and started it up. He didn’t shut the door till his window was down.

“You gonna come to my place on Friday for riding lessons?”

“I’d love to as long as you have the time.”

“For you, darlin’, I’ll make the time. Is three, four o’clock good?”

“Yeah, great.”

“Great, Good night, Annie.”

“Good night, Cord,” she said so sweetly and she backed up and turned to go into the house. He watched her go in and drove off.

“Lisa, would you get away from the window and stop spying on them,” Jake said.

****

Annie had just gotten into bed when her phone, she left on the night table, went off. She picked it up and saw she had a text from a number she did not know. When she opened it, she saw.

Hi, darlin’, u in bed yet? Save my # in your phone.

Sent: Wed. 10:45 pm

By: 210- 555-1245

She replied back, laughing to herself.

Who is this?

Sent: Wed. 10:46 pm

By: Annie

A moment later his text came in.

What do you mean who is this? It’s Cord.

Forgot me already, huh?

Sent: Wed. 10:48 pm             
By: Cord

LOL! I knew, and u are soooo unforgettable.

# is stored.

Sent: Wed. 10:50 pm

By: Annie

Soooo unforgettable, huh? I like that.

U in bed? What are u wearing?

Sent: Wed. 10:51 pm

By: Cord

LOL. Yes, in bed and not sexting you, G.N. Cord.

Sent: Wed. 10:52 pm

By: Annie

Aww, too bad, LOL. It could be fun. G.N. Annie

Sent: Wed. 10:53 pm

By: Cord

After about fifteen minutes, Annie sent one more text before going to sleep.

Cord heard the phone and grinned as he looked at the text.

Nothing

Sent: Wed. 11:07 pm

By: Annie

Then he rolled over and fell asleep.

Cord was atop Storm, the black stallion he was training for himself. Storm proved to be a spirited mount, but Cord couldn’t wait to have him trained. He was a beautiful horse with a glossy coat of black all over.

He bought him from a ranch about sixty miles south of his place. No one there was able to even get near the horse. The owner was glad to get rid of him. And here, Cord was making headway. He was on the horse.

Storm bucked wildly. Cord’s old ranch hand, Hank and a younger boy, Miguel, were on either side of the horse, ready in case Cord needed help.

“Sweet pussy!” Hank said loud enough for Cord to hear, and Cord looked to him and lost his concentration. He lost his balance and his ass hit the ground, hard.

“What the fuck, Hank?” he swore as Miguel and Hank moved in to contain Storm.

Hank put a hand out to help Cord up, but he refused the hand, and jumped up, sweeping up his hat that fell off when he hit the ground. He gave Hank a disgusted look then followed Hank’s line of sight.

Walking up to the fence, looking all cool and confident, was Annie. The gentle breeze picked up her long, silky hair. She had a set of shapely, tanned legs on her that just wouldn’t quit. They were exposed because her shorts were kind of, well, short. She wore a white, short sleeve sweater shirt that not only clung to her curves but, though one couldn’t see her belly button, one could see the diamond chain hanging down from there. She had on a low pair of cowboy boots.

Cord told Miguel to take Storm and cool him down and he and Hank walked over to Annie.

As Annie walked over to the fence, she saw Cord fall off the horse, but he picked himself right up so she knew he wasn’t hurt. He and the older gentleman walked over to her.

Holy, is he wearing chaps. Oh man, hot, hot, hot,
she thought.

They were close to each other, yet on opposite sides of the fence.

“Hey, darlin’.” He gave her a dazzling smile. “You find the place all right?”

“Oh, yes. Between your instructions and my GPS, it was real easy.”

“This
old
man here is my first hand, Hank,” he said, emphasizing old, still smarting from Hank’s proclamation that made him lose his concentration.

Hank was on Cord’s right, and he stuck his left hand out and hit Cord in the gut.

“Oooof,” uttered Cord.

“Howdy, ma’am. A pleasure to meet you,” Hank said as he removed his cowboy hat and bowed his head.

Cord scowled at Hank.

“The pleasure is mine, sir,” she said as she dipped her head and grinned.

“You ready for your lesson?” Cord asked.

“Yes, I’m kind of excited.” She admitted.

“Hank, can you and Miguel get Warlock and Brutus ready to ride? No, Warlock and Ghost,” Cord said. He wanted to get Hank away from there before he wailed on his ass for ogling Annie so blatantly.

Cord jumped the fence and went up to Annie. He gave her a sweet kiss. He was so pleased to see her.

“You have a horse named Brutus?” Annie asked.

“Yeah, he’s a real brute, too,” he replied with a grin.

Annie laughed and Cord thought how sweet she sounded when she laughed.

He walked her over to the gate, and as they were walking over to the center of the corral, Cord started his lesson.

“Always treat a horse with respect. Never abuse a horse, and never let a horse abuse you. Horses are powerful animals, and will try to get away with anything if you let them. Be firm,” he stated as Hank brought out Warlock.

Warlock was a big white stallion with a black mane and black tail. Annie backed up.

“This is Warlock. Don’t be afraid, he’s a pussycat. He’s a gentle giant. Pet him right here.” Cord pet him just below his eyes all the way down to his nose.

She did, tentatively at first. Warlock leaned into her hand and flared his nostrils. Annie quickly removed her hand and backed up a step.

“It’s all good,” Cord said. “He’s getting to know you.”

Miguel then brought out an all white, from mane to tail, horse.

“This is Ghost, he’s Warlock’s son. He, however, is much more spirited. He takes after his mother.”

“His mother is a mudder.” Annie giggled.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Annie shook her head and giggled.

Cord smiled at her playfulness and said, “First, we’ll groom them. You always want to prepare your horse for riding.” He showed her how to brush her horse, then he gave her the brush.

“Always remember, if walking behind the horse, keep a hand on him all the way around so he knows it’s you. He can’t see behind him. He can get spooked and kick out at you. Give it a try.”

Annie nodded in understanding, then placed her hand on Warlock and walked around him. Cord stayed with her. When she got to the tail, she looked up in amazement. “I always thought their tails were soft. His feels so stiff.”

“Yeah, it’s deceiving.”

After they spent a while grooming, Cord saddled up his horse while Miguel saddled hers. She noticed they put blankets on the horses first. He explained it was to make the horse more comfortable under the saddle. He gave her some more instructions about the reins and the bit in Warlock’s mouth.

Cord whispered something into Warlock’s ear and the horse nuzzled Cord’s nose as if acknowledging Cord.

Annie smiled at that interaction. Cord helped Annie up into the saddle. His hand, she noticed, lingered on her thigh and then it slowly moved down her leg. A tingle went through her lower body, at his touch, and her eyes shot to his.

He was watching her as he moved his hand. When he knew he had her good and hot, he lowered his gaze to the stirrup.

“I need to adjust this, your foot should be in about one third the way with toes pointing out and heels down.” He adjusted her stirrup, looked up to her, and he gave her that slow smile she adored. He went to her other side and adjusted her other foot then stepped back to assess.

“How are you feeling up there?”

“Good.”

“Comfortable?”

“Yes. How do I look?”

“Oh, darlin’, you look fine, so fucking fine,” he said as he held her gaze. Was that a blush he saw on her face? Yeah, it definitely was.

The last thing he wanted to do was go horseback riding with her. What he really wanted to do was take her to his bed, get her naked, and play with her.

“He moved closer to Warlock, whispered something in his ear again, then turned and fluidly mounted Ghost.

“What did you tell him?” Annie asked.

He paused and held her gaze before answering. “I told him how jealous I am that you’re on top, riding him instead of me.”

Oh boy,
that’s
so freaking hot,
she thought as she bit her lower lip. Liquid heat pooled between her legs. She fanned her face with her hand. “Geez, this Texas heat is hot.”

“Yep, it sure is.” He laughed. “Come on. Let’s go.” And he led the way with a big grin on his face.

They walked for a while. They slow trotted for a while. That was all Cord would have Annie do her first time out. First, being the first time she properly learned how to ride.

Cord took her to the property adjacent to his where there was a huge field of lavender. The sight and the smell never ceased to amaze him.

A sea of purple seemed to stretch for miles. With the backdrop of a clear blue sky, Annie was awestruck.

“Breathtaking,” she whispered.

“I especially like where sky meets lavender. It’s so vivid,” replied Cord. “It’s one of my favorite spots on my property.”

“Oh, yeah, I can see why.” Annie had never witnessed anything like it before. They paused to admire the view a little longer then he slowly walked them to the river on his property.

“It’s a tributary of the Pedernales River, which is a tributary of the Colorado River,” he explained to her.

“We’ll stop here a while. Let the horses drink some water and rest.” Cord dismounted just as gracefully as he mounted.

“Stay there, I’ll come get you.”

He reached up and placed his hands on her waist and slowly slid her down against his body.

Annie was so excited being that close to him, she forgot to breathe.

He was ready to claim her lips with his, but Warlock stuck his nose between them.

“Shit, I think Warlock is jealous of me now.” He chuckled. He released Annie and gave her instructions on how to lead a horse to water.

“Har, har, har…” she laughed.

Cord shook his head and laughed. “You’re funny.”

Once the horses were drinking, Cord walked Annie over to a tree. He sat on the ground with his legs open, resting his back against the tree trunk. He reached for Annie’s hand and brought her down in front of him, her back to his front.

He wrapped his arms around her waist as he brought his face to her neck. She even tilted her head to the other side to give him easy access. He inhaled her sweet, clean scent before gently taking her hair and moving it to the side to plant small kisses on her neck.

Annie felt butterflies in her stomach. She moaned softly.

“Why do you smell so good?” Cord whispered before he turned her head to him and claimed her lips with his. It didn’t even start out slow and soft. It was an all out assault and she matched it with her own.

His hand started to roam her body. He cupped her breast and felt for her nipple. Yep, he was able to get it hard and himself hard in the process.

With his other hand, Cord stroked her belly chain, then he tugged on it.

“Ouch!” Annie cried.

“Oh, that hurts?”

“Ah, yeah. When you do that, it does.”

“Smartass,” he said. Then he moved his other hand swiftly under her shirt and bra and squeezed her nipple a little hard then gently massaged it.

“Hey! Oohhh,” She felt a line of pleasure shoot from her nipple to that very private place between her legs.

“Did that hurt?” He asked.

“Yes, um, no. At first, but...” she said breathlessly.

“Yeah, but.” He chuckled, and switched to lightly rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger as he took her mouth again.

He pulled her against him so her backside rubbed up against his dick. They both moaned, kissing and breathing heavy.

They heard, who Cord knew was Ghost, whine. They broke apart and he jumped up taking Annie with him. They looked around to see what caused Ghost to react. Cord pointed across the river. There was a small herd of deer. They had stopped to drink from the river. He pointed out the babies with the white spots on them. There were three of them. In all, there were about twelve deer. Some stopped to stare at Cord and Annie while others kept right on drinking.

“Don’t guess you see much of them either, living in Brooklyn, do you?” Cord asked.

“Nope, not live ones anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes, around deer season, you will occasionally see a car pass by with a dead deer on top.”

Cord looked at her incredulously.

She burst out laughing. “Well, you asked.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Come on, let’s get back, Miguel and Hank will be leaving for the day and I want them to help groom the horses.”             

“Wait, didn’t we do that before we drove them here?”

“Drove them? Annie... babe, we don’t drive horses, we ride them.” He grinned.

“Oh, right.” She giggled nervously. “Rode them.” She turned beet red, and looked down at her feet.

“You’re cute when you blush.”

she watched the corners of his mouth go up and those gorgeous laugh lines appeared.

He started to explain that you groom a horse before and after a ride, but he burst out laughing as he watched her trying to get up on Warlock. Every time she tried to get her foot in the stirrup, Warlock would move and she would hop along on her other foot.

“A little help here,” she said grinning, when she heard him laugh.

He couldn’t help himself. “Oh, city slicker,” he said, laughing and shaking his head. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. Then instead of mounting Ghost, he grabbed his reins and flung himself behind Annie on Warlock and took Warlock’s reins.

Her body went stiff at first, but at one point, she was not sure when, she found herself leaning against him, marveling at his muscular forearms that were brushing up against her arms, and the long tapered fingers so expertly handling the reins.

After riding a bit, feeling his dick hard against her backside from all the riding, he put both reins in one hand and moved one hand over her belly and slowly made his way to the very core of her, rubbing her through her shorts. Her legs went weak as she felt a puddle form in her panties. She breathed heavy as she threw her head back to rest on Cord’s chest, and Cord asked her, “Are you wet?” in a seductive whisper against her ear that made her shudder in delight.