Luke (Armed and Dangerous Book 2) (22 page)

A sense of belonging—feelings of being wanted and of being home—surged through Trinity when Luke draped his arm around her shoulders as they headed toward the house. The night was still, the gentle lowing of cattle floating from the corrals along with a horse’s whinny in the distance. Her steps slowed when they approached the front porch, and she wished the two of them could just take off and spend time somewhere, anywhere alone.

What would it be like to wake up in Luke’s strong arms? To feel his big body wrapped around hers?

“Sure you don’t want me to go in with you?” The low rumble of Luke’s voice tickled her ear, bringing her back to the moment and to the cowboy at her side.

Trinity shook her head and felt his lips brush over her hair. “I think I’d rather face my sister alone and get it over with.”

He squeezed her tighter to him while they walked up the front porch steps and he said, “No regrets.”

When they came to a stop on the porch, Trinity tilted her head back and smiled up at Luke. “The only regret I have is that we didn’t lock the door.”

“I was too anxious to get inside you.” The corner of his mouth quirked and his words made her knees weak. “And now I can’t wait to get you back into my bed.”

Trinity slid her arms around his neck and reached up to brush her lips along his jaw line. “We didn’t exactly make it into bed, you know.” Smells of their sex and sweat filled her senses, making her ache. Where Luke was concerned she was insatiable.

He gave a soft chuckle as he settled his palms on her hips. “No, we sure didn’t.” Sliding his hands lower, he cupped her ass and squeezed. “But we sure as hell had some fun.”

Trinity purred as Luke pressed his hips against hers and she felt the hard line of his cock. He was just as insatiable as she was. She felt sore and well ridden in all locations, and yet she couldn’t wait to saddle up that cowboy and take him out for another hard ride.

He gave her a soft lingering kiss that left her breathless and wanting more. It took all her strength to force herself to break away from him. “I—I’d better get inside.”

Luke raised his hand to her ear and skimmed his knuckles along the row of gold earrings. “Sure you don’t want me to come?”

Oh, she wanted him all right. And she could think of lots of ways for him to come.

Instead she caught his hand in hers and pressed it close to her cheek. He opened his hand and she turned to press her lips against his palm and flicked her tongue against the callused skin.

Luke’s fingers shot into her hair and he dragged her to him for a bruising kiss. He bit at her lower lip, just hard enough to cause her to cry out in surprise.

“Damn, woman,” he muttered when he finally released her. “I’m tempted to haul you off and have another go.”

Oh, my.

“In fact, I think I know exactly where I’d like to go.” Now the man had the devil in his eyes. “You take me to that spot on the mountains, where you used to spy on your sister. You take me to the cave where you learned about sex, and we’ll see what all you remember.”

Trinity’s knees wobbled as she backed away.

That was just about the most erotic proposal she’d ever had.

Going to have wild sex in that place—

Damn.

It didn’t get any more perfect-fantasy than that.

“I’ll meet you in the barn tomorrow, in front of Dancer’s stall.” She opened the front door with one hand, her eyes still fixed on Luke as she slipped into the house. Just before she shut the door, she gave him a sultry smile and said, “I’ll bring lunch. You bring the condoms.”

Holding her breath, as if that might help her slip inside without being noticed, Trinity shut the door quietly behind her. Yes, she needed to face her sister and get it over with, but first she’d like to shower and change. She smelled like sweat and sex and barn dust, and she knew she looked like hell.

Of course Skylar had just seen her looking a lot wilder.

She released her breath and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
Jeez.
At least when she had spied on Skylar and Zack, they’d never caught her.

Pausing for a moment, she listened for sounds from the kitchen and heard nothing. After she quietly kicked her shoes off at the front door, Trinity walked as silently as possible through the living room. The tile felt cool beneath her sock-covered feet as she stole down the hallway and passed Skylar’s and Zack’s closed bedroom door.

She slipped away into her own bedroom, locked the door behind her, then stripped off her soiled clothing and tossed it all into the hamper in the adjoining bathroom. While she ran the shower until the room filled with steam, memories of her wild evening with Luke continued to scroll through her mind.

Gripes.

No doubt she was becoming some kind of sex fiend. That’s all she’d been able to think about from the moment she’d met Luke. Not to mention that tonight she’d gotten off by knowing Skylar had watched them.

Water pelted Trinity’s skin as she climbed into the shower, the warmth chasing away the sweat of exercise and sex. From head to toe her muscles had the pleasant ache of being well used and sweetly tender, all over her body. Even her ass felt different—like she missed Luke’s cock there, too.

The comforting smell of her peach-scented shampoo filled her senses as she squirted a generous dollop into her hand and then washed her hair. When she rinsed it out, streams of lather flowed over her sensitized breasts and nipples, down her flat belly, and over her mound. Traveling over her like Luke’s hands had.

She hadn’t been entirely honest with him about wanting to face Skylar alone. Once she was away from the heat of the moment, away from her need to have him inside and his arms around her, fear had started to replace the desire. She needed space away from him, needed time to think about the future, everything.

What if she was pregnant? She definitely wasn’t ready to be a mother. Luke claimed he wasn’t about to let her go, but was that what she wanted?

He was still a cowboy for goodness sake. What would they do? Live here on her sister’s ranch and raise a passel of kids? Not that he’d asked her to marry him, but what if he did... would she be expected to be a good little ranch wife who cooked dinner for her man?

Okay, so that was a bit stereotypical. Trinity had to smile at her own generalization. She knew plenty of women ranchers, like her own sister, who ran an entire ranch operation on their own, or side by side with their men. Heck, on the other side of the mountain she knew of two women who ran their ranch together, as partners in every way. Renee Duarte and Shannon Hanes had one of the most profitable operations in the county.

Closing her eyes, Trinity turned her face to the water, letting it splash over her forehead and down her face. She’d worked so hard to get to a position like she’d accepted with DropCaps. Four years of busting her ass, working countless hours to rise to the top, and she had the job she wanted now. Her perfect dream job. Staying in Douglas—it would be hard to keep her position, so far away from the main hubs of activity in the company.

She’d already made one monumental decision and had walked away from the caring man she’d dated for the past two years. Tossed that relationship right out the door. She’d left security and her comfortable world and headed straight into the wilds and the unknown.

What, am I insane?

With a groan Trinity opened her eyes, grabbed the luffa sponge and squirted peaches-and-cream-scented shower gel on the pad. As she scrubbed her body, thoughts of Luke tried to push aside her doubts and fears. Memories of how he’d touched her, how he’d filled her.

Was sex enough?

Yet it wasn’t just sex that attracted her to Luke, or the way he looked at her and made her feel as though she was the most important thing in the world to him. Since she’d been at the ranch, she’d taken what opportunities she could to watch him interact with the other ranch hands, observe his leadership and fairness. And even though he’d been mad as hell at the arsonist, she’d seen the concern in his eyes for her the night the barn was set on fire.

But was that enough foundation to begin building a relationship? And was it worth leaving everything that she’d worked so hard for?

No matter how she tried to fight it, though, Trinity knew she was falling in love with one cowboy named Luke Rider. What she was going to do about it...

At this moment she didn’t have a clue.

***

After Luke walked Trinity to the front door of the ranch house, he headed straight to his cabin. If his quarters weren’t so close to the bunkhouse where the half-dozen ranch hands lived, Luke would have hauled Trinity out here with him and kept her all night long.

Course the night wasn’t over yet.

When he faded into the darkness, out of sight from the house, Luke stopped and quickly retrieved the small firearm from the top of his boot. Even though he couldn’t stop thinking about his woman, he wasn’t so far gone that he would fail to ensure his building and surroundings were secure.

With practiced skill he listened for any unusual sounds, but all he heard was the faint creak of his leather chaps and the light brush of his boots over dirt as he continued toward his cabin and up to the front door.

As he checked to make sure his cabin hadn’t been entered since he’d left that morning, an impression in the dirt by his doorstep caught his trained eye. After a quick glance around, his senses on full alert, he examined the print.

Easily about the size of a woman’s booted foot, but a little larger than Trinity’s or Skylar’s, he’d wager. He frowned as he dug his key out of his front pocket and checked the thin strip of paper he’d lodged between the door and the frame, close to the threshold. Still there, so likely no one had been in his place. Who the hell had been snooping around his cabin, and why?

After he’d done a quick sweep of the apartment and locked the door, Luke yanked his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed his partner.

“Rios,” the man answered after one ring.

“Denver here.” Luke ambled into the kitchenette as he spoke. “I’m going on a field trip tomorrow. It’s mostly personal—for pleasure—but there’s a cave I want to check out in the mountains behind the Flying M.”

“Yeah?” Rios said over the whinny of a horse. The man must be doing some fieldwork.

With his free hand, Luke yanked open the fridge and grabbed the carton of milk. “Got a gut feeling we’re getting close to something again. Maybe right on top of it.”

“Yeah, well, we’re definitely on top of something with your friend Gina Garcia. Get with me tomorrow, so we can go over everything that’s come in. And watch your ass, Denver.”

As Luke popped his phone shut, he slammed the carton onto the counter and let the fridge close.

Gina Garcia came out of the darkness behind the refrigerator door like a blond avenging angel, only she wasn’t carrying a flaming sword. She had a Ruger SR9, 9 millimeter, and she had it gripped in both hands, aimed like she knew how to use it.

Luke let go of the carton on the counter and raised his arms enough to show her he wasn’t carrying. He was pissed as hell that she got the drop on him just like her brother. Only, Gina Garcia and her pistol looked a lot more serious about causing him pain than Brad Taylor had been.

“I thought my brother asked you to stop digging around in my life, Luke Denver.” The sarcasm in Gina’s tone was unmistakable, and the pistol in her grip didn’t so much as wobble. “I should have known you’re law enforcement. What are you? Fibbie? ICE?”

Luke kept his arms up. She’d heard him talking to Rios. No reason to bullshit now. “DEA.”

Gina’s expression stayed flat and deadly. “It’s all the same to me. You and your partner made inquiries about my past.”

Luke leaned against the counter slowly, careful not to give the woman any reason to pull that oh-so-sensitive trigger. “How do you know that?”

“Because a friend called me to give me fair warning.” Her green eyes went from furious to something like tired. “Cruz Rios got the scoop on me—and I’m figuring you’ll meet with him tomorrow to find out the juicy details. Want to know what you’ll learn?”

Luke didn’t say a word.

Gina was about to tell him what she wanted him to know, and as long as she kept talking, he kept breathing. Sometimes, the little victories mattered the most.

“You’re gonna find out that I was young and stupid and impressed with bad boys, so I married one.” Her accent got a little rougher, a little more northeast as she went. “I hooked up with a man who killed people for money, only I didn’t find that out until Lola’s sixth birthday. I barely got out of New York City alive, and now, thanks to you, the fucker I ran away from has a pretty good idea where I am—and worse, where Lola is. I should shoot you for that. I should shoot you right between the eyes.”

Luke couldn’t argue that point with her, if what she said was true. “All we did was check around under your real identity.”

“You sent an inquiry that went to New York and then to New Jersey where I’m from. When it hit Jersey, the FBI field office handled it as a favor.” Gina sounded sure of her information, and that tiredness he had sensed in her eyes, came through in her tone, too. “Because all inquiries involving my name get routed there. Want to guess why?”

A sinking feeling made Luke lower his arms, but not too much. “Your ex is FBI, and he has a trap and tracer on your name?”

Gina’s laugh made his heart hurt. No humor in it. Only animals in pain made that kind of sound.

“My ex is James Scorcise,” she said. “He’s a made man in the Cordano crime syndicate, and yeah, he’s FBI. The mob infiltrates you assholes just like you infiltrate them—so now maybe you’re getting it. I’ve got nobody to protect me, and you just fucked up any chance I had at some peace in this place.”

“Let me get you and Lola out of town. At least let me give you some contacts to help you before you blow my head off.” He felt like shit over this. He really did. “Can’t say as I’d blame you for it, and I mean that.”

Gina started to cry—not sobbing or sniffling. Just angry, frightened tears, sliding down her cheeks as her grip on her gun seemed to become surer. “I don’t want your contacts, and I don’t want to shoot you any more than my brother did. I just want you to understand—things aren’t always what they seem.”