One Night With a Cowboy (9 page)

“That’s not it.” In the dim light of the truck, she watched him as he tried to read
the emotions crossing her face. “If you really are okay paying for it, then I’d like
it if we did . . . get a room, I mean.” Her gaze dropped away from his, though why
she was so shy and insecure he had no clue.

Hell, he’d give a lot more than the cost of a hotel room to be with her. Alone, behind
closed doors, and in a cool, comfortable place where they could both stretch out naked
on a nice big bed with lots of room to get creative. That was truly priceless.

The thought had his heart beating faster and the pulse throbbing in his erection.
“Trust me. It’s fine.”

“Okay.” Ducking her head so it didn’t hit the ceiling of the truck, she backed up
and managed to turn herself around and sit facing forward in the passenger seat as
she refastened her jeans.

He took a steadying breath and dashed the sweat from his forehead. Between the heat
of the summer night and the heat between him and Becca, Tuck was even gladder they
were going inside to a nice, air-conditioned hotel room. Getting sweaty with a woman
after some good sex was one thing, but he’d rather not start out that way.

Opening his door, he got out and stood, stretching his back in the process before
he reached behind the seat for his gear bag. Under the guise of getting his payout
envelope, he also grabbed the other necessity he’d need for the night, the condoms
Jace had supplied him with.

As he shoved both into the pockets of his jeans, he spared barely a thought to what
Jace might or might not be doing at the moment with Emma. If Becca wasn’t worried
about her sister, then he wasn’t, either. Jace was a good guy and Tuck knew his friend
could definitely take care of himself, and would take good care of Emma, too.

Jace and Emma were probably at that very moment wondering what he and Becca were doing.
It was a funny thought. There’d likely be an inquisition in the morning, for both
of them.

Lucky for him, tomorrow was hours away. As he walked around the truck to open Becca’s
door for her, he couldn’t care less about the morning. All he had thoughts for was
tonight. And her.

“H
ow many nights?” Fingers poised above the computer keyboard, the front desk clerk
waited for Tucker’s answer.

Meanwhile, Becca stood slightly behind him so the guy behind the counter wouldn’t
be able to see the guilty expression she was sure was evident on her face—not to mention
the flush that was most likely still present from the orgasm she had experienced in
the truck. She glanced one more time over her shoulder to make sure Emma or Jace wasn’t
lurking nearby. She certainly didn’t need her sister or Tucker’s friend standing here
with them while they booked a hotel room for the night so they could have sex.

“Just one.” Good thing Tucker answered because Becca wasn’t sure she would have been
able to get through this whole registering for a hotel room for their one-night stand
process if she’d been in charge of the check-in.

One-night stand . . . Jeez, what the hell was she thinking?

A quick review of her life over the past few months squashed that momentary doubt.
It was about time she enjoyed herself; that’s what she should be thinking. She deserved
a little fun after having worked hard her entire life, both in school and in her career.
Lot of good that did her. It had left her with nothing but a written recommendation
and a severance check from Vassar—small comfort in the line at the unemployment office,
where she’d be if she didn’t ace this interview tomorrow.

Then there was her personal life. She’d devoted years to working on her relationship
with Jerry. All it had left her with was ten extra pounds on her ass and thighs and
scratches in the paint on her door frames from when he’d moved his shit out.

No more. Time for less work and more play, starting tonight. She drew in a deep breath
and prayed they’d get to their room before anyone saw them here.

“I have a room with a king-size bed available. Will that be all right?”

“Perfect.” Tucker shot her a smirk and she felt her cheeks heat.

How many more embarrassing questions could this desk clerk ask? There couldn’t possibly
be any more. He’d pretty much covered everything he could to humiliate her.

Yes, only one night. Yes, the bigger the bed the better. Yes, we’ll be having lots
of sex. Thank you for asking.

“Do you need help with your luggage?”

She nearly choked as the hotel employee managed to come up with one more thing she
hadn’t even considered.

“No, thanks. We’re good.” Cool as a cucumber, as he had been through the entire check-in,
Tucker picked up the pen and signed the paper the clerk had pushed toward him.

“We’re all set then. Check-out is eleven, and elevators are to your right.”

“Great. Thanks.” Tucker slid the signed form back and took the keycard from him. After
slipping the small piece of plastic into his back pocket, he took her hand in his
and turned toward the elevators.

At least that part of the night was over, but even though she couldn’t wait to get
out of sight of the lobby and the front desk, Tucker moved at his usual pace. Something
between an amble and a stroll. It would be very atmospheric in an old Western movie.
Here and now, it made the New Yorker in her cringe as she fought the urge to sprint—or
at least power-walk—to their destination.

When they finally reached the elevators and were out of earshot of the clerk, she
turned to glance at Tucker. “I’m so embarrassed.”

He frowned down at her from beneath his ever-present cowboy hat. The bad-girl side
of her—the one she hadn’t known existed until Emma forced her to go to the rodeo to
look for cowboys in the first place—couldn’t help wondering if Tucker normally took
his hat off to have sex or if he left it on. It was like a fist to the stomach when
she realized she’d know one way or the other very soon. Wow.

“Embarrassed about what?” he asked, knocking the image of him, naked except for his
hat, out of her spinning brain.

“He must know why we’re here. What we’re doing.” Even though there was no one nearby,
Becca kept her voice as low as humanly possible.

“You mean that we’re checking in to have
sex
?” He leaned toward her and hissed the last word in an exaggerated whisper tinged
with a laugh. “Becca, why would he assume that?”

“Because it’s practically the middle of the night.” She opened her eyes wide. Jeez.
It was so obvious.

“So? We could just as easily be two weary travelers looking for a place to rest on
a long journey.” The smirk on Tucker’s face told Becca he was enjoying this a little
too much. She, on the other hand, was not.

She frowned. “We don’t look like travelers. We don’t even have any luggage.”

“You’re so cute being embarrassed. Just because we don’t have luggage.” He smiled
and ran one hand up her arm. “If you want, I can go get my gear bag from the truck
and carry it past the front desk so he thinks it’s our overnight bag.”

“No.” She rolled her eyes at his suggestion. “That won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Because this is Oklahoma, the rodeo state. He’ll probably know it’s full of bull
stuff and think we’re doing kinky things upstairs with it or something.” She felt
the scowl settle on her face at the thought. Best to leave it alone and cut their
losses.

“First of all, Oklahoma is the Sooner State, not the rodeo state. But besides that,
I’m trying to imagine what kind of kinky things we could possibly do with the
bull stuff
in my gear bag.” Tucker raised a brow. “I suppose we could get creative with the
tape I use to wrap my wrist. There is the cowbell hanging on my bull rope . . . Although
unless you’re into some really weird kind of roleplaying, that won’t be of much use.”

He grinned as her cheeks grew hotter. “I know I’m being silly. I felt like he was
watching us and, you know, judging. And I’m babbling again. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Your babbling is adorable. Though I’m definitely looking forward
to keeping your mouth otherwise occupied once we’re in our room.” The elevator door
finally swished open in front of them right as he made the suggestion that set Becca’s
insides fluttering. Acting just as calm and collected as he’d been through this whole
harrowing hotel experience, Tucker nodded to the couple who stepped out.

Men.

With her hand still clasped in his much larger one, he tugged her from the spot on
the carpet she’d become rooted to and they got on the now empty elevator. After the
doors closed they stood for a few seconds, not talking, not moving, Becca feeling
shell-shocked. Eventually, Tucker shot her an amused sideways glance and then reached
across in front of her. With his left hand, he pushed the button for the fifth floor
on the wall panel to her right.

Jeez, she was so flustered she might have stood here waiting to go somewhere for God
only knew how long before she realized she hadn’t pushed the button. She drew in a
deep breath and let it out in a frustrated huff.

As the elevator jolted into action, Tucker gave her fingers a squeeze and turned to
face her. He braced his free arm against the wall over her shoulder. With her hand
still held in his, she was pretty much pinned in. He stood so close, she had to tilt
her head way back to see his face. His blue gaze pinned her just as effectively as
the closeness of his body.

“Becca. Don’t.” His voice was soft and gentle.

She swallowed past the lump in her throat before she dared try to speak. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t be nervous. I only wanna be with you, and even if we spend the rest of the
night doing nothing more than what we already did in the truck, that’ll be all right
with me.”

Her pulse raced at the thought of exactly what they’d done in his truck. More of that
kind of foreplay might just kill her. She hadn’t had an orgasm that hard or one that
lasted that long in . . . forever. Jerry hadn’t been so good in that department. He
was more of a slide in, get finished, and then turn on the television kind of guy.

Meanwhile Tucker had given and not taken a thing for himself, yet he was willing to
be satisfied with that. His offer was too sweet. Men weren’t that selfless. Were they?
If there were men like that, she hadn’t met or dated any—at least not until tonight.

That settled it. She knew Tucker couldn’t be as sweet and selfless as he first appeared.
It was unnatural. He must be hiding something. He was probably a serial killer.

Completely baffled by his offer, she asked, “Really?”

“Really.” He let out a short laugh and shook his head. “Of course, there’s no way
in hell I’d say no to doing more. If you’re offering it to me, that is.”

She smiled, relieved at the assurance he was a normal, horny, red-blooded male after
all. “I wouldn’t say no to more, either.”

“That’s really good to hear.” He dropped his hand from where it had been braced against
the wall and rested it on her shoulder.

He leaned low and captured her lips in a kiss she let herself get lost in. Eyes closed,
she felt nothing but the heat of his tongue against hers and cared about nothing except
how temptingly close his pelvis was to hers—until the doors opened again and he took
a step back.

He dragged in a big breath. “We better continue this in private.”

No kidding. There were cameras in the elevator and she and Tucker had probably just
made the late crew’s night with their little show.

They definitely needed to get out of the public areas of the hotel before they made
a complete spectacle of themselves. She couldn’t keep from glancing down at the erection
clearly straining the denim of his jeans. There was no hiding that. Good thing their
floor was deserted when they stepped off the elevator and into the hall lined with
doors.

Behind one of these doors was their room. The one with the king-size bed inside. When
he stopped their progress in front of a door halfway down the hall and reached for
the keycard in his pocket, she knew which. At least it was nowhere near the room she
and Emma had booked. That would be all she needed—her sister hearing her and Tucker
getting busy. If the actions inside the truck were any indication of events to come,
she had a feeling things could get loud. Her heart pounded anew.

He opened the door and reached in to flip on the light switch, illuminating the room
and the giant bed that dominated the space. She pulled her gaze away from the mattress
as he stepped inside and, still being led by his hold on her hand, Becca followed.

Behind them, the spring-loaded door slammed shut with a definite sound of finality.
They were officially alone and she was officially nervous. Her first one-night stand.
Her first sex with a complete stranger. Her first—

“Stop thinking so hard, darlin’. You’ll get wrinkles from all of your frowning.” Tucker
leaned low and hovered just shy of her mouth.

She felt her brow crease further at Tucker’s ability to read her so well even though
they barely knew each other. Not to mention the wrinkle comment. She opened her mouth
but didn’t get any words out before his lips covered hers. Then, all she could do
was sigh as he hoisted her up and braced her back against the wall. She wrapped her
legs around his waist and felt the delicious friction of his erection pressing into
her.

When she tightened her hold with her thighs and he answered with a moan, the kiss
became frenzied. Their tongues tangled as she ground her lower half against him. It
felt so good, she wanted more. As heavy as he was breathing, he’d agree, she was sure.

He pulled back from her mouth just a bit. “How’d you feel about getting rid of some
of these clothes?”

Her muscles clenched in anticipation. Her insides practically cried out to be filled
by him. “How about we get rid of all of them?”

It seemed she’d found her long dormant vixen gene, and Tucker liked it, judging by
the crooked smile bowing his lips at her suggestion. She unwrapped her legs from around
his waist and he set her down as his gaze swept her body. Becca hadn’t had a man look
at her like this in a long time. She liked it. It gave her the confidence she needed
to reach for the hem of her shirt and pull it off.

Thank goodness she’d worn her nice bra and underwear. As conservative as the plain
black lingerie was, at least it wasn’t the granny panties she’d left at home in her
drawer. That might have been a mood killer. Though seeing Tucker’s eyes narrow with
desire as he remained totally focused on her told Becca it would take a lot to squash
the mood right now.

Tucker took off his cowboy hat and laid it on top of the dresser and then crossed
the room to close the curtains. The big question of the night was answered—he did
take off his hat for sex.

He ran one hand over his dark hair, but it was so short it didn’t even look flattened
from the hours spent beneath the hat. She should have expected as much. Tucker was
too perfect to get hat head like an average man. It seemed cowboys were immune to
that. Although, maybe that was why he kept his hair cropped so closely to his head.

While she obsessed over the state of his hair, he had already unhooked his ornate
belt buckle and toed off one boot. She’d just reached for the button on her own jeans
when he pulled his shirt out from where it had been tucked tight inside his pants.
He yanked the two sides apart and the pearl-covered snaps popped as they released
in succession. But it was his sliding the shirt down his arms that showed exactly
how wide his shoulders were in comparison to his narrow waist. Not to mention the
washboard that made up his abs, the sight of which stopped Becca in mid-motion.

Wow. Those were some rippling muscles he’d been hiding beneath his shirt all night.
She’d only seen a man in this good shape on those late-night television ads for home
gyms. Definitely not in real life. Just feet from where she stood. In a hotel room
with a king-size bed.