The Color of Forever: Book Two: Forever Cowboys Series (11 page)

Stretching again, she decided to shelve these weighty thoughts for the time being and just luxuriate in the warmth and hypnotic effects of the flames in the fireplace, the latest suspense novel from one of her favorite authors and the freedom from a hectic schedule, even if only temporarily. She was magnifying some of the negatives about her life back in New York. Maybe she should slow down a bit when she got back, but all in all she had been happy. Hadn’t she?

Later than night, after climbing into the old fashioned but comfortable feather bed, her thoughts turned again to Ben Connors. He had a strange effect on her. On one hand she was finely attuned to the sexual tension she experienced in his presence, when every nerve ending in her body responded to his nearness. He turned her on more than any man she had ever met and she felt her body thrumming with electrifying desire every time they touched, even in the most innocent way.

But on the other hand, she experienced a strange feeling of serenity and peace around him. It was a feeling of utter contentment, of belonging, almost as though she had been away on a long journey and had finally found her way home.

There was something so relaxing about Ben that put her at ease in a way she had never experienced with anyone else, even Maeve…. He had a quiet strength and conviction that gave her a feeling of safety when she was with him. Was she doing what she had so often done with other men? Giving him credit for qualities he didn’t possess because she was physically attracted to him?

No, she didn’t think so. After all, look at what had happened with the bear. Ben had calmly and competently done what needed to be done to save her from the consequences of her own foolish actions. No dramatics, no hoopla or beating of his chest to show his machismo. He had just handled the situation, and handled it well, without trying to impress her or play up his bravery.

It was the way he
hadn’t
tried to impress her that had impressed her the most.

A pity she wouldn’t be able to stay here very long, she thought. Samantha had a feeling that Ben Connors was the most interesting and attractive man she had ever encountered. Previously, she had been in a sort of Catch 22 situation when it came to men. If they were nice guys, she didn’t find them sexually attractive.

It was the bad boys who shifted her hormones into overdrive. Samantha wasn’t alone in this. A lot of women found those bad boys irresistible and nice guys boring. Hence the old adage that nice guys finish last. Samantha had heard this all her life and it did seem to carry more than a little weight. She had personally known quite a few genuinely nice guys who lost out to bad boys when it came to competing for women.

What was the allure of bad boys? Samantha wasn’t sure. Maybe it was that edgy, slightly dangerous aura that surrounded them. They were unpredictable, risky, apt to be heart breakers. But they tended to be especially sexy and exciting too, in Samantha’s experience.

Ben was definitely a nice guy but he somehow cranked her hormones into overdrive unlike any of the Mr. Nice Guy types she had dated in the past. Those men had seemed weak and wimpy to her. She hadn’t respected them because of their very niceness. On a logical, rational level she knew this was unreasonable as well as unfair to the men. However, it was the way she was wired and so far she hadn’t been able to do anything about changing.

As she drifted off to sleep, she was drowsily recalling Ben’s red hot body, handsome face and those remarkable, impossible to label one definite color eyes.

Ben’s eyes. Were they blue? Gray? A sort of light hazel? Her last conscious thought was to try and come to a definite conclusion about what color Ben’s eyes were, somehow.

A few days later on another beautiful Spring day, Samantha and Ben were once again riding the winding trail through the forest, on their way to the creek and waterfall he wanted her to see. Surely they wouldn’t run into any bears this time, Samantha told herself. She had packed a picnic lunch for them and was proud of her culinary efforts.

For someone who had struggled with making a grilled cheese sandwich or instant oatmeal, she thought her cold fried chicken, deviled eggs and buttermilk biscuits were pretty good. Thank goodness for the internet! How had people learned to cook before search engines? Cookbooks would have helped, of course, but Samantha felt sure that the videos she watched showing step-by-step instructions on how to cook just about anything under the sun was a huge improvement over traditional cookbooks. Consuelo, Trey and Mari’s housekeeper and cook, was also a goldmine of information and helpful advice.

Dessert was a batch of chocolate cupcakes. She liked chocolate and knew that Ben did as he had scarfed down quite a few of the chocolate chip cookies she had made a couple of weeks ago. Besides, it seemed like she had read somewhere that chocolate was an aphrodisiac. She didn’t need one, but maybe it would help put Ben in the mood.

She had enjoyed making the food for today’s outing. Wouldn’t Maeve be surprised, Samantha thought, smiling. Her older sister was a fantastic cook and had given up on trying to get Sam interested in learning how to whip up tasty things in the kitchen. Samantha made a mental note to call Maeve tonight and bring her up to speed, especially since it was good news.

She had told Maeve about the bear and her sister had been horrified at Samantha’s close brush with death. Maeve had also been duly wowed by Ben’s bravery and cool headed actions that saved the day.

She had asked Samantha if she was falling for this game warden/cowboy who was figuring so prominently in all of her younger sister’s messages, emails and letters. After getting a vehement negative from Samantha, Maeve had still sound skeptical and expressed her suspicions that Samantha might have finally met her Mr. Right.

Scoffing, Samantha had assured Maeve that although she found him sexy and very nice so far, she had no intentions of being buried alive out here in Wyoming, so falling in love with Ben was out of the question.

“Well, if you say so
,” her sister had answered doubtfully.

After following the trail for a little while, Samantha heard the sound of rushing water.

“Do I hear the waterfall?” she called to Ben, raising her voice to get over the waterfall noise.

“Yeah, it’s a big one so it’s pretty noisy,” he called back. “But it’s beautiful.”

They emerged from the trail into a small clearing. The temperature dropped noticeably which Samantha figured was from the water. As her eyes took in the scene, she gasped in delight.

“Ben, it’s fabulous!”

A wide creek tumbled downward across rocks and ledges of rock that created small waterfalls before picking up speed in its down hill path and emerging into a wide, steep waterfall that showered down in curtains of clear water, ending in a small pool at the bottom.

Samantha surveyed the scene before her and was awed by the natural beauty of this place. The water was crystal clear. She could see the rocky bottom of the pool at the foot of the waterfall and a few small fish that darted around busily, shimmering like quicksilver. The pool was perfectly round as though man-made but far more exquisite than anything man could have built.

Deep green, velvety moss covered the rocks around the perimeter of the pool. The water splished and splashed musically as it fell over the wide rocks that formed the falls. Droplets of clear water sparkled and shined like diamonds in the sunlight that filtered through the tall trees. Samantha was enchanted.

“You see how round it is,” Ben said as she dismounted and tied her horse to a small tree. “The water falling straight down like that over a period of thousands of years carved it into what you see today.” He turned to Sam and smiled.

“You like?”

“I like very much,” she assured him fervently. “It’s like something out of a fairy tale book. Can you swim in it?”

“Sure. Not now though as the water is cold as ice, but later on in the summer it’s a great little swimming hole, cold water and all.”

Samantha could only imagine what a marvelous spot this would be to come and cool off during the heat of the summer. She felt a sharp twinge of sadness that she probably wouldn’t be here by then. Her mind turned to images of herself and Ben, swimming au naturale in this perfect little gem of a pool … frolicking around in the waterfall … climbing out and lying together on the soft moss while the sunshine warmed their bodies.

Then, of course, they would turn the heat up even more by having wild, passionate sex here in this enchanted glade, their skin still slippery and wet. She had a mental picture of Ben’s broad, muscular shoulders and lean stomach as he covered her body with his, the two of them exchanging deep, thrilling kisses … his tongue thrusting hungrily into her open mouth….

A low moan escaped her parted lips as she was caught up in this imaginary scene and she felt little jolts of electricity traveling all the way down to the pulsing core of her femininity.

“Samantha?”

“Sam?”

With a start, Samantha dragged herself out of the lustful daydream and back into the present. She blinked to focus, noticing that Ben was looking at her strangely.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I heard you sort of moaning.”

Samantha felt the rush of heat flood her cheeks as she blushed, embarrassed to have been so vocal with her delicious fantasy. Ben’s puzzled expression deepened.

“Are you sure you’re okay? We can go back if you aren’t feeling well,” he told her.

“Uh, no … no … ” she stammered. “I’m fine, really. Just had a little cramp in my leg. It’s gone now.” She smiled at Ben reassuringly, ashamed of lying to him but what else could she do? Tell him the truth, that she was daydreaming about the two of them having wild monkey sex here this summer?

No, that wasn’t an option. Not right now, anyway. Once they had begun an actual affair she would feel free to share her sexual fantasies with him, but not yet. Honestly, she hoped that wasn’t too far away. She didn’t know how much longer she could restrain herself from jumping his bones!

“Man, I’m hungry,” Ben commented, taking the picnic basket from where it had been resting on his horse’s saddle during their ride and opening it. “What kinds of goodies have you packed for us, Samantha? Not that it much matters,” he went on with a grin, “I’m sure anything you made with your own pretty hands will be delicious.”

Samantha hoped so. She wanted to make a good impression on Ben. Even though her plans for their relationship only included a short term physical affair, it was becoming increasingly important to her to win his approval. She had pondered over this briefly and couldn’t understand why having Ben think highly of her was something she wanted very badly. But she did. It was probably just because she found him so attractive, she decided, dismissing this puzzling state of affairs as a topic she didn’t want to examine too closely.

“I made fried chicken, deviled eggs and buttermilk biscuits,” she told Ben proudly. “And chocolate cupcakes for dessert.”

“Yum! That sounds good!” Ben smiled broadly at her, causing her pulse to race when that captivating dimple of his showed up. “A beautiful woman that cooks, too. You’re a special female, Samantha O’Brien.”

Sam basked in his praise, smiling back. “Well, I must confess that I’m just learning to cook a few things,” she told him. “There just never seems to be much time or even much point in me learning to cook. I eat out almost every night and Maeve feeds me a home cooked meal at least one evening a week. But I’ve discovered that I like to cook. I never thought I would but I do.”

As they tucked into the picnic she had prepared, Samantha was glad to see Ben go back for seconds. Her food must be okay, she told herself happily, or he wouldn’t be enjoying it. Samantha herself ate with a hearty appetite. She had always enjoyed good food and was amazed at how gratifying it was to eat delicious food that you had prepared yourself and to see someone else eating it with gusto, too.

Now that she thought about it, she had never made anything before. Her life was a whirlwind of social activities and work. There had never been the time or inclination to get into crafts or cooking. Samantha had inwardly scoffed at those women who were into the whole basket weaving thing and thought they must be bored out of their skulls to resort to crafting, sewing or cooking to pass the time.

How anyone could find pleasure in those pursuits had mystified her. But she got it now.

Now she understood the attraction of making something with your own hands. It was immensely satisfying. She couldn’t wait to continue her learning experience in the kitchen and decided to make a list of dishes she wanted to learn how to cook. She’d make a grocery list and ride down to town with Marielle the next time she went so she could pick up the things she needed for each recipe.