Trouble With a Cowboy (17 page)

In love? Tucker in love with me?
That would be the day.

"We're
very happy."

"I
can tell," Katrina replied. "Why don't we get you something to drink
from the bar? You look like you could use something fortifying."

Jacie
liked Katrina already. "Thank you. How can you tell?"

"You
look terrified."

"I
haven't had to attend anything on this grand scale since my graduation
ball."
Oh shit.

Katrina
smiled and winked. "I thought you looked like someone of breeding even if
you try to hide it. What is your maiden name?"

"Hawkins."

The
laugh coming from Katrina's mouth sounded lilting and clear. "I thought
you looked familiar. Olivia Hawkins is your sister. Correct?"

"Yeah.
My twin in fact." Katrina continued to giggle. "How do you know
Olivia?"

"Justin
has had business with your parents and I do have to say, they have a very nice
place."

"Thank
you. I'll tell them next time I see them."

"Make
sure you tell Olivia hello for me as well. She's not quite the stuffy sister
your other two are."

Jacie
couldn't help but smile. What Katrina said about Olivia was the complete truth.
Even if her twin wasn't quite the adventurous type Jacie turned out to be, she
still didn't quite fit into the Hawkins’ roll of perfect daughter.

"I
think it's funny you married Tucker."

"Why?"

"Because
he's had such staunch arguments about not getting hooked up with anyone who
could possibly be after his money and here he is, married into one of the
richest families in Tennessee."

She
didn’t realize Tucker had returned to her side until she heard. "Excuse
me? What did you say?"

"I
told Jacie I thought it hilarious because you were so dead set on not marrying
anyone who could be after your money and here you are married into one of the
wealthiest families in Tennessee," Katrina repeated.

Jacie
couldn't blame her. The other woman had no idea Tucker didn't know who her
family was. The grip on her hip tightened and she waited for the explosion to
come.

"If
you will excuse us. I need to ask my
wife
something," he said to Katrina. "We'll be back in a minute." He
guided her away from the crowd and into a corner. "Who is your family,
Jacie?"

She
closed her eyes and sighed. "What does it matter, Tucker. We aren't really
married and have no plans to be."

"Tell
me."

"Carl
and Dorothy Hawkins."

He
raked his fingers through his hair and cussed a blue streak.

"Are
you serious?"

"Yes,"
she whispered, almost afraid of what he would do now that he knew the truth.

"So
all this time, I've been worried you might be after my money when you probably
have more than me in your own bank account, much less whatever mommy and daddy
have. You should have told me you're loaded, Jacie."

"Fuck
you, Tucker. I didn't ask you to drag me into this. What my parents have has
nothing to do with me. I live on the money I have coming in from my job, not
what they have in the bank. Yes, I have a trust fund and it will be mine
someday. I don't care about it. I don't want it." She brushed the tears
now streaking down her cheeks, away with her fingers. "I'm proud of my
small house. I pay my own way without my parents. I asked them for the money
for the tires. They refused saying I had to figure out a way out of the mess I
was in by myself. I didn't ask for your help."

"I'm
sorry."

"It
doesn't matter anymore." She downed the rest of the champagne in her glass
and shoved it into his hands. "You can do this by yourself. You don't need
me and I don't need you. Find some other desperate female to be your arm candy.
I'm done."

Without
another word, she marched across the crowded restaurant and into the lobby of
the hotel. Tonight would be the end of the fairytale life she'd lived during
the last several days with him. When he returned from this business meeting,
she'd find another room somewhere in Vegas, do her rodeo run, and then figure
out how the hell she would get her horse home.

* * * *

"Do
you want to explain what that was all about?" Katrina asked as he returned
to her and Justin's side without Jacie.

"Not
really."

"Come
on, Tucker. Something is going on. Spill it. We're your friends."

"Fine.
Jacie and I aren't really married."

"Okay.
So why did you say you were?" Justin asked, slipping his hand behind his
wife.

"It's
a long story. How about we get this business stuff taken care of, then we'll
get a drink. I'll explain then."

The
next two hours seemed to drag by. He wanted nothing more than to go upstairs
and find Jacie. He needed to talk to her. The future of his heart depended on
it. Why he couldn't let her walk away seemed to be a moot point now.

When
the business meeting finally concluded, he, Justin and Katrina found a table at
the bar. He talked for over an hour, explaining to his friends how he and Jacie
met in Oklahoma and their arrangement while they stayed in Vegas.

"I
had no idea who her parents were until you said something tonight. I cornered
her and asked her about it, but she went on the defensive and stormed
out."

Katrina
shook her head. "What are you going to do now, Tucker? You can't let her
walk out of your life. You're in love with her."

Hearing
someone say the words brought it all home. For some weird reason, he loved
Jacie, but he didn't think she loved him. Jacie didn't want a man in her
life—any man, including him. Yeah, they found happiness in each other's arms each
time they made love, but compatibility outside of the bedroom had to be there
too.

"I
need to talk to her."

"Yes,
you do," Justin said. "Believe me, I've been in your shoes and it's
not a pleasant place to be. Admitting your feelings for her is a start, but you
have to admit them to her and not to us."

"Thanks
you two. I'm glad you found each other," he replied. "I need to get
upstairs. I'll call you later in the week and we'll get together for dinner or
something."

"Sure.
Take care of her, Tucker. She's somethin' special," Katrina added with a
smile.

He
grinned and walked out of the bar.

The
door of the hotel room loomed in front of him when he reached their floor.
Apprehension slithered down his spine and settled in his gut like a stone.
What do I say? How can I explain this to
her?

He
exhaled on a sigh and slid the key card into the door. The room was bathed in
darkness as he walked in. No lights were on and he wondered if she had even
returned to the room. He closed the door softly behind him and moved further
inside waiting for his eyes to adjust. The sound reaching his ears tore at his
heart. Almost intelligible sobs reached his ears from the darkness near the
bed.

He
jerked off his jacket and tie before he unbuttoned the first couple of buttons
on his shirt. The boots came next and his toes thanked him. When he walked
around the partition separating him from Jacie, the sight of her curled up on
the bed with her face buried in the pillow tore his heart to shreds. The last
thing he wanted to do was make her cry.

The
bed dipped with his weight as he lay down beside her and her sobs quieted.
"Come here, darlin'."

She
hesitated a moment, then launched herself into his arms. "I'm sorry,
Tucker. I shouldn't have said those things downstairs. I should have been
truthful with you since the beginning about my parents. I knew how distrustful
you are about women being after your money, I just didn't want you to think it
about me."

"I
never once thought like that about you, Jacie. I could tell you didn't have the
same mentality of someone after money. You didn't want to make the deal I
proposed for your tires, but you couldn't see any other way around it. You
didn't want to take the clothes I bought. Hell, the prices on the menu made you
gasp. How could a woman who is so unselfish be after my money?" He wiped
the remaining tears from her cheeks with his thumb. "Don't cry, baby,"
he whispered kissing her face, then her lips.

"I
hope I didn't ruin your business dinner."

"No.
Things worked out well. The only thing you did was make me want to throw the
whole thing to the wind and come up here to be with you faster, but I had to
restrain myself. I had to explain to Justin and Katrina what happened."

"Oh
great. They probably think I'm some kind of weirdo or something."

"No
they don't. They think I'm a fool for letting you take off like that without
stopping you. Do me a favor though?"

"What?"

"While
we're here, we need to communicate. If you don't keep things from me and I
don't keep things from you, we shouldn't have this problem with information
coming out in the open when we don't want it to."

She
nodded and laid her head on his chest. "You should get out of these
clothes," she whispered, working the remaining buttons loose from their
holes.

"Mmm.
Should I now?"

"Yes."
The warmth of her palm sliding across the exposed skin of his abdomen shot
straight to his cock.

"Jacie,
I want to make love to you."

"Good.
I want that too," she replied, her fingers working at his belt.

"But
I care whether it feels like make-up sex to you."

"What's
wrong with make-up sex?"

The
low growl coming from his throat sounded raw. "Nothin'."

"Besides,
we have to be a couple to have make-up sex. Does this mean we're a couple?"

"For
as long as you want us to be." He wasn't quite sure why he admitted that
to her, but he did without any qualms or hesitation. He meant every word.
Damn the darkness.
He wished he could
see the look in her eyes with his admission.

Before
he could do anything else, her lips danced over the skin across his chest and
abdomen. Her tongue licked a trail from nipple to nipple, first licking then
nibbling one and then the other. God, she could set him on fire with hardly
anything at all. He had never been with a woman who could crank him up this
fast, but Jacie could.

He
groaned when her breasts brushed over his cock. She hadn't changed herself. The
dress she'd worn downstairs to dinner still clung to her every curve and he
wanted nothing more than to see her strip it off, one piece at a time.

"Darlin'."

"Mmm,"
she hummed against his flesh.

"I
want you to do something for me."

She
lifted her head, but didn't ask what.

"Stand
in front of the window over there and strip for me. Real slow."

Even
with darkness surrounding them, he could see the wicked grin on her lips as she
stood up on the side of the bed and moved toward the end. With the sparkling
lights of Vegas behind her, she turned her back to him as she slowly slid the
zipper down. A quick peek over her shoulder with her hair falling around the
side of her face and he was caught, hook line and sinker. The damned zipper
went past the curve of her ass. Low and behold, one of her sexy thongs exposed
her butt cheeks. "God, I love your choice of underwear." Off-white
and lacy peeked out from between the folds of her gown.

She
turned toward him to let the spaghetti straps slide off her shoulders, but held
the front of the dress to her breasts. Her wet, pink tongue slipped out from
between her lips and slid along the curve of her pouty mouth. One side of the
dress dipped, exposing her satin bra, but he wanted more. He wanted everything.
Every inch of her skin needed to be shown to him.

The
other side of the dress fell as she dropped it to the floor at her feet.
Standing in front of the window outlined by the lights behind her, she looked
like a goddess—lightly tanned skin and gorgeous curves all for him. She reached
behind her and unsnapped her bra. It too, fell at her feet, revealing the
glorious curve of her breasts. The dusky pink aureoles and taut nipples tempted
him beyond sanity. He loved her breasts. The thumbs of both hands hooked the
edges of her underwear and slowly peeled them down her thighs.

"Tell
me what you want, Tucker?"

"You,"
he growled, springing from the mattress and scooping her up in his arms.

He
unceremoniously dumped her in the middle of the bed, and divested himself of
his clothes in short order, throwing his shirt one direction and his pants in
the other while she giggled at him.

"Where
did you put those handcuffs?"

She
reached over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and dangled them from her
fingertips. "These?"

In
seconds, he was beside her and snatching the handcuffs from her hand. He
captured her mouth in a soul-searing kiss while he snapped one of the rings
around her left wrist.