Trouble With a Cowboy (11 page)

"Why
not?"

Silence
filled the air for a moment as he had to decide how much he wanted to reveal to
her. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

"I
found out about a week before the wedding, she only wanted my money, not me. I
knew Darla liked pretty things—expensive things, but it didn't really hit me
until I got a phone call from where she'd purchased her wedding dress. They
couldn't quite understand why I adamantly refused to pay the five thousand
dollar outstanding bill."

"Wow,"
she murmured. "It must suck having to worry about those types of women all
the time."

"Yeah,
it does. Your turn."

"Jacie
Margaret Hawkins. Twenty-eight. Been driving eighteen-wheelers for five years
now."

"What
made you want to drive trucks?"

"My
parents and my non-traditional woman personality. I didn't fit into their mold
of what they thought a young woman should be. I wanted independence. You know, no
one telling me what to do. I did two years of college, and it was enough to
make me realize I didn't want to sit behind a desk."

"How
come you never married?"

Her
fingers twirled in the hair on his chest as her warm breath washed over his
skin, leaving behind the need to fuck her again.

"I
haven't found the right guy yet. I need someone who won't try to change me. He
has to be okay with me the way I am. I'm just me. What about you? Where are
your parents? Any siblings?"

"My
parents live in Houston in a small house they've had since before my birth. I
have two siblings. One sister and one brother. Both are married and live near
our parents."

"So
you didn't come from a money background, huh?"

"No.
They had enough for us to live, but not any extra. My dad worked in a factory
until he couldn't anymore. My mom is a housewife. I take care of them now, but
it's not easy. My father resents me giving them money. His retirement and
social security for both of them, won't pay the bills even though I paid off
their house several years ago."

"Money
can make people do things they wouldn't normally do or say things they don't
mean."

"What
a very wise woman, you are." Silence enveloped them for a few moments.
"Do you have siblings?"

"Yeah,
three sisters. Four brothers."

"Big
family. You said you're from Tennessee."

"Yep.
My folks own a place out there, but I have my own small house. I'm not home
much so there's no use having big digs. You know. I park my rig at my parents
when I'm home." A huge yawn opened her mouth. "Wow. I'm sorry. I
didn't realize how tired I am."

"Sleep.
You need your rest," he whispered against her hair while his fingers
danced on her arm.

The
trailer warmed up nicely. Within moments, he heard soft snoring coming from the
woman lying on his chest. He smiled. Normally, he wanted to get far away from
all females after he had sex with them, but Jacie was different. She didn't ask
for anything from him and he knew she never would. The way she'd fought him
over the tires in Littleton, proved her animosity for taking something from
anyone without paying for it. Her independence meant everything to her. Obviously
she wore her pride like a cloak. Her smile warmed his heart. The need he felt
for her scared the shit out of him. Having sex with her felt right and perfect.
He hadn't really thought she would give in so easily, but she had, opening like
a morning glory when the sun warmed its petals. Hell, sex with the same woman more
than once never happen to him very often. He avoided entanglements like the
plague, but here he was, all tangled up with a free thinking, take-no-shit-off-nobody,
quick witted woman who made him think more than twice about her and how
perfectly she fit him.

I need to get those thoughts right
out of my head. The last thing I need is a woman in my life on anything more
than a temporary basis.

The
rounds of events he needed to attend during the rodeo surfaced in his mind. "Mmm.
I do need someone to be the little eye candy on my arm in Vegas for all those
parties and hobnobbing with the PBR bigwigs. Who better than a woman who
doesn't like being arm candy, but who can stop a man in his tracks when she's
all dolled up?"

Chapter Six

The
warmth of the skin beneath her cheek lulled Jacie into a peaceful,
half-dreamlike state. It had been so long since she'd cuddled with a man. It
felt foreign, but nice. The rough pad of his fingers crawled over her arm leaving
goose bumps rose in their wake. Morning daylight peeked through the curtain,
lighting the room slowly.

"You
awake?" he whispered.

"Uh-huh."
She rolled over to stretch her arms above her head. "What time is
it?"

"About
six-thirty."

"We
should get up and get rollin'. If we don't have to stop much today, we can
probably spend the night in Flagstaff." She flipped the comforter off and
squealed when the cold air hit her skin. "Damn, it's cold in here."

Tucker
laughed. "You could have stayed under here with me where it's warm until I
kicked on the heater again. The thermostat is set to go down at midnight to
sixty."

"Well
turn it up. It's freezing in here. My nipples are gonna fall off," she
said rubbing her arms trying to warm them up a little while she looked for her
clothes. The T-shirt she'd worn to bed and her underwear lay in a pile on the
floor near the closet.

"I
doubt it, but it might be interesting to see," he replied with a chuckle.

He
jumped out of the bed and cussed at the cold, making her laugh. The heater
kicked on with a touch of his finger to the thermostat. Clothes flew in several
different directions while he tried to find something to wear.

"How
far is it to go all the way through to Vegas?"

She
slipped her T-shirt over her head. "Sin City is another five hours or so
on the other side of Flag."

"It
would be doable to go clear through then, right?"

"No,
not hauling animals. They have to get out to stretch. There aren't too many
places we can let them out, but we have to. Plus, we'll be hitting weigh
stations and stopping for food. We won't need gas again since we filled up
before, but we might want to top off in Flag. It's best we stop there." As
she wiggled into her underwear, she shot a look at Tucker when she heard a soft
hiss. Lust darkened the ice blue of his eyes and his hands curled into fists at
his sides.

"I'll
bow to your expertise."

The
mirror behind him gave her a clear view of his naked ass while he pulled up his
jeans.
Commando, huh. Mmm…interesting. I
love a cowboy who goes commando.
The reflection also showed her the wicked
grin on her lips and the delicate arch of her eyebrow over her right eye.

Tucker
turned to see what she was looking at and grinned when he noticed the mirror
behind him.

"You
had a nice view, huh?"

"Oh,
yeah. Very nice, but we need to get a move on," she said, changing the
subject. Falling into bed with him could be a real possibility if they didn't
get going.

"Damn
woman. Are you always such a slave driver?"

"Yep,
with a load onboard, I do. Move your ass cowboy or I'm leavin' you
behind," she said, brushing past him as she moved out into the main living
area of the trailer. "There is a God." Coffee had already been
started automatically sometime in the last hour. She found two mugs and poured
some in each as she eyed her cat dozing in the mussed fold-out bed she'd only
used for a short time the night before. While he finished dressing, she put
everything away so she could fold the couch back into a sitting area.

"Cream
and sugar are to your left if you need it," he called from the bedroom.

"How
do you take yours?"

"Black."

"Typical
cowboy," she grumbled under her breath to Macy as she strolled toward her.

"What
did you say?"

"Nothin'."
Coffee had become a staple of her life since she started driving trucks, but
she couldn't handle it black.

"You
are an angel," he said taking the cup from her hand.

"I
didn't make it. You must have already had the coffeepot set up." She
sipped the hot liquid fast so they could get moving.

"It's
on a timer, but you poured it for me." He took two or three sips and
grinned. "Nectar of the gods."

"All
right. Enough dillydallying. We're
burnin
'
daylight." The door popped open with a flick of her wrist as she grabbed
her coat off the rack by the door. "I'll get my mare so I can load her
first. I can back the trailer into the paddock there. We can drive the bull
into the trailer once it's set."

"If
we throw some hay into the rack, he'll go in without any trouble."

"Good.
The easier, the better."

The
front door of Phillip's house opened and he rolled out onto the porch. She
raised her hand to wave, but he ignored her.
I guess I've burned this bridge.
Her mare whinnied from the stall.
"I know you're ready to get out of here, huh, baby girl." The horse
bobbed her head pushing against her shoulder. "Let's blow this popsicle
stand." She flipped the latch on the stall to lead her mare out to the
trailer. Brandy loaded without any trouble, just like Jacie knew she would.
Now, the bull…he could be something totally different. The only bulls she knew
were ornery and difficult to work with, but she had to trust Tucker knew what
he was doing.

Once
she'd loaded Macy and climbed up into the cab of her truck, she started the engine
and slipped it into reverse. The trailer moved right where she wanted the back—exactly
between the fence posts, giving the bull nowhere to go but inside the trailer.
Tucker threw some hay inside the bin and with a clomp of his hooves, the bull
took his spot as Tucker shut the door behind him.

A
few moments later, Tucker climbed into the truck with her.

"Ready?"
she asked.

"Yep.
The sooner we get away from your glowering friend, the better."

"He
wasn't glowering, was he?"

"I'm
sure if he could have caught me, he would have tried to ring my neck for
getting too close to you." Tucker fastened his seatbelt and she popped the
truck into gear. "You never had a relationship with him, did you?"

"No,
but apparently he wanted to. I don't know if you heard our conversation last
night or not, but he thought I wouldn't sleep with him because of his injuries.
He couldn't understand. I'm not in love with him. I don't want anything more
than friendship." She shrugged her shoulders, checked her mirrors and
pulled out onto the highway. "I guess he wants more."

"I'm
sorry if I made things awkward between you two."

"You
didn't. He probably would have come onto me at some other time. I still would
have had to set him straight." She glanced across the cab at him. "No
one has made me feel the things you do when you touch me."
What the hell made me admit something like
that?
"Don't get me wrong, Tucker. I'm sure you've been with tons of
women in the past and I know I'm nothing special, but you sure know how to get
a girl wound up. You sure know your way around a woman's body."

A
cocky grin spread across his lips as she rolled her eyes. Their conversation
lulled for a few minutes and to fill the empty space, she started some music.
The CB to her right crackled with conversation between truckers. She could see
Tucker concentrating on what they talked about like he wanted to figure out the
lingo.

"I
should make you a list of all of the jargon so you can figure out the
conversation."

"It
would be helpful, yes, but it's interesting to listen to anyway."

"Would
you rather I turn the music off?"

"No,
but thank you. I can still hear what they are saying even if I don't understand
a word."

Even
so, she turned her tunes down a little.

They
stopped twice—once to let the animals out to stretch in Santa Rosa, New Mexico and
once in Holbrook, Arizona for something to eat at a truck stop diner.

If
the showers had been private, she would have invited him in. Taking a shower
with him sounded intriguing.
Maybe in
Vegas before we split up.
The thought of climbing into her truck without a
shower, didn't appeal to her at all. Her hair felt matted and greasy and even
though she'd put on deodorant after she got in the truck, she still needed a
nice hot shower. His trailer was luxurious, but the showers in those things
left something to be desired. Room for two didn't come into play.

He
must have remembered to keep his mouth shut about her driving because never
once did he say anything. Not even when some small foreign made sports car cut
her off and she cussed like a sailor while she blew her horn at the jerk. She
laughed a couple of times while they listened to the talk over her CB and she
had to explain what they were saying.

One
CB'er
mentioned a crack 'em up several miles ahead as
a string of cuss words spilled from her mouth, Tucker asked what they meant.

"An
accident. Not a good thing. We're on a tight schedule to make Flag
tonight."

"Is
there any way around it?"

She
shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. Interstate forty doesn't have a lot of
side roads truckers can use. I hope it's not too bad."

Five
miles up, the freeway came to a complete and utter stop.

"Shit.
I was afraid of this," she grumbled. She put the truck in park and shut
the engine off.

"Shouldn't
you leave it idling?"

"No.
Saves gas if it looks like we are gonna be here a while. Right now, I'd say
we'll be in this spot for some time."

Talk
came over the CB again giving information on the accident. Sure enough, the
interstate had been closed completely going westbound, by an overturned semi.
The load the trucker was carrying consisted of chickens. Lots and lots of
chickens. There were chickens everywhere. Along the side of the road, in the
corn field across the small highway, running down the center median and
standing on cars still sitting on the highway. The chuckle on her lips couldn't
be contained as it burst into a full-blown, gut-rolling laugh. Tucker couldn't
help but join her. His deep chuckle and gorgeous smile made her shiver. Small
crows-feet appeared next to his expressive eyes with his smile, but the heat in
his gaze when it stopped on her, left her breathless.

"We
could be here awhile. I'm going to let Brandy out of the trailer for a minute,
but I would suggest leavin' the bull right where he is. I don't want to have to
fight with him to get him back in," she said, popping her door open.
"Care to join me?"

"Sure,"
he replied as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

She
moved around to the side of the trailer facing the shoulder of the road and opened
the door. Jacie scrambled inside to release the lead rope so her mare could step
out. Immediately, Brandy started munching away at the tall grass.

The
bull snorted and pawed on the inside of the trailer.

"What's
his problem?" she asked.

"I
don't think he likes your mare being out and he's stuck in there, but I agree
with your reasoning." He must have seen the look of shock on her face
because he asked, "What?"

"I'm
surprised you agree with me."

"Why?
You seem to be an intelligent woman and you know this road. Why wouldn't I take
your advice?"

"Because
men don't do that. They have to do this macho thing to make sure the women know
they are in charge."

He
stepped closer as his sharp, tangy cologne
met
her nose. Blue eyes the color of a Montana sky on a clear summer day trapped hers,
pulling her in.

"I'm
not into the macho thing, Jacie. If a woman makes a plausible point, then I'm
game. Believe it or not, darlin', you're in charge of this trip, not me."

The
stop in Flagstaff couldn't come too soon. Every passing glance, every brush of
his fingers and every comment made that could have had a double meaning, did in
her mind. Thoughts of getting him between the sheets again took priority. The
way he made her feel haywired her brain cells and sent need rushing through her
with more regularity than the second hand moving on her watch.

The
honk of the big rig behind her brought her attention around. The driver whirled
his hand around in a circle indicating they would be moving shortly.

"Looks
like they got it cleared faster than I thought. I'm looking forward to
Flagstaff tonight."

One
finger trailed down her cheek and a I-plan-to-rock-your-world smile, spread
across his face. "Me, too," he replied.

Moments
later, they had her mare loaded again and were inside the cab. Traffic crept
slowly over the next two miles until they cleared the accident.

"How
far behind schedule are we?" Tucker asked, his eyes now hidden behind his
sunglasses even though the sun had started to slide down behind the hills.

"Not
too bad. About an hour is all."