Trouble With a Cowboy (7 page)

Not
surprised by the turn of events, but willing to give the guy the benefit of the
doubt, he asked, "He left?"

"Yep.
Got in his truck and took off out here like his tail feathers had caught
fire," the woman answered with a chuckle.

The
men hanging around Tucker laughed and congratulated him on his ride with
several slaps on his back.

Jake
appeared at his side and Jacie stepped away, taking her scent with her.

"I'm
surprised he showed up at all. The dickhead has never been on a bull that I
know of. Why he took your challenge, I don't know."

"He
figured I hadn't either or I’d back down, I imagine."

"Well,
he must not know who you really are then," Jake replied. "When you
told me your name, I knew what he was up against. I've seen you ride before.”

Tucker
glanced to his left and right, but Jacie had disappeared again.
Damn it! Why does she keep taking off?
"Can you make sure the bull gets some hay? I need to track down my driver
since it seems she's vanished."

"If
you mean the pretty young woman, I saw her headed toward the motel,"
another elderly woman said.

 
Tucker took off toward her room at a fast clip.
By the time he reached her door, he’d built up quite a head of steam.

He
rapped on the door right before she jerked it open with a sharp,
"What?"

"What
the hell is wrong with you? You disappeared again without a word."

"Maybe
I didn't want to watch you gloat over your win," she snapped, letting go
of the door. It started to swing close in his face, but he managed to get
inside first.

"I
thought you'd be happy. We can get the tires and get out of here."
Damn, the woman is frustrating even if she's
sexy as hell.
She’d changed into that hot little black tank top
.
The dirty ball cap lay on the bed
along with several other pieces of clothing including the tight jeans and white
tank top she'd worn the day they met. His gaze caught sight of a black lacy
thong laying amongst her other clothing. His mind spun off in one wild, hot and
raunchy scene. He stepped across the small room in three strides. Enough is
enough. He wanted her and he knew she wanted him too. Room temperature hit the
one hundred mark any time they were in close proximity. Now with a bed in the
room, he couldn't think straight, much less breathe right.

With
both hands on her shoulders, he spun her around and dove for her mouth.

* * * *

Before
she could blink, his lips connected with hers.
God, he tastes and smells so good.
The same feelings of desire and
need to get closer that she'd felt the first time he’d kissed her, washed over
her. Never in her life had a man overwhelmed her senses like Tucker.

 
As his tongue swept along her bottom lip, her
desire hitched up a notch. She parted her lips and his tongue slid inside as a
groan rumbled in his throat. Their tongues met, tangled and swept along each
other, tasting, testing, exploring.

She
wrapped her hand in the hair at the nape of his neck, knocking his hat to the
floor, forgotten in the heat of their passion.

His
hands tipped her head to the side to fit their mouths together better. The
hardness of his erection pressed into her abdomen. Her clit throbbed to the
rhythm of her racing heart. Blood rushed in her ears and saliva pooled in her
mouth. His lips left hers to trace a path across her cheek to her ear. Hot
breath singed her skin. The stroke of his tongue to the sensitive spot below
her earlobe had her shivering. Soft moans and intimate whimpers of want and
need left her lips. His palm slipped down her side to cup her breast. Her nipples
tightened into achy nubs, begging for his touch.

"Tucker,"
she whispered.

He
lifted his head to stare at her, his gaze intense. The blue of his eyes seemed
almost swallowed by the black of his pupils. "Tell me you want this."

"God,
yes. I haven't been able to think of anything else since we met."

"I'm
glad I'm not alone."

Her
craving for him spiked hard as he swept his thumb along her bottom lip. "I
love the feel of your skin under my hands."

"Touch
me."

"Oh,
I plan to. Everywhere."

The
snaps on his shirt gave way with little more than a sharp tug. Belt buckle and jeans
disappeared once he’d shucked his boots, but his black boxers did nothing to
hide his impressive length from her gaze.

"Oh
my." She grazed his cock with the tip of her fingernail. A throaty moan came
from deep in his chest.

"Not
fair."

"Mmm?
Why?"

"You
still have too many clothes on."

"Well,
we’ll have to rectify the situation shortly then, huh."

"You
bet, darlin'. I wanna see if the real thing is anything like my
imagination."

Trepidation
raced down her spine with the memory of her ex’s words.
"You don't know how to be a woman, Jacie. You'll never be anything
more than a tomboy trucker who gets her jollies behind the wheel of a big rig. They
say men compensate with big toys. You don't know how to turn a man on."
Tucker obviously thought she was woman enough to satisfy him. Didn't he?

"Hello,
Jacie. Come on back, honey. Don't leave me hangin' here," Tucker said,
skimming his thumb across her nipple even though her shirt kept them from
skin-to-skin contact.

"Sorry."

"Where'd
you go? Your eyes got all glassy. I know it wasn't from my touch."

"Something
someone said to me once just got in the way for a minute. That's all."

"It
must have been unpleasant judging by your frown," he murmured. The
pressure of his hand on her breast never lessened while his thumb continued to
massage her nipple.

"Let's
not talk about it. All right? I need this. I need you," she said against
his mouth.

"My
pleasure, darlin'. I want everythin' from you."

Both
hands grasped the bottom of her shirt to pull it over her head.

"Nice."
He sighed, making her almost believe he liked what he saw.

Two
fingers flicked the clasp of her bra sitting between her breasts and it fell at
their feet.

Shivers
raced down her arms at the heat in his eyes. Her nipples tightened. Her clit
throbbed. Both knees wobbled, almost giving out except for his grip on her
waist.

"God,
you're beautiful," he whispered as his fingers danced along her ribs.

Her
breath rushed from between her lips in a heavy sigh.
Maybe he does like what he sees.

He
pulled her tight against him. Skin-to-skin, breast to chest, and everything in
between touched, molded, and she felt the rush of desire she couldn't control.
His lips brushed against her shoulder before they worked their way up to her
neck. She tipped her head to the side as a soft whimper escaped her lips when
he nipped at the sensitive skin.

"So
soft."

Good Lord, the man knows how to make
my body sing.
"Please."

"Please
what, darlin'. Tell me what you want.”

"Lick
me. I want your tongue."

"Where?"

"Everywhere
you can reach. Eat me up."

A
soft chuckle left his mouth. His eyes smoldered with his own need. Her knees
hit the bed and then they tumbled backward across the mattress in a tangle of
arms and legs, much to the disgruntlement of her cat.

Meow!

"What
the hell?" Tucker yelled, rolling off her.

"Sorry.
It's my cat," she replied with a giggle. The furious feline beelined for
the bathroom in a flurry of fur and angry yowls. "She'll stay in there now
for a while."

"I
hope so. I really would rather have your fingernails down my spine than
hers."

"Oh,
I like the sound of that." She nipped at his jaw. "Where were
we?"

His
fingers plucked at her belt buckle, unsnapped her jeans, and then skimmed over the
edging of her pink satin thong. "Right about here, I think." He sat
up and grabbed her jeans at her hips. With a gentle tug, he had them down her
legs in nothing flat and piled on the floor. He took a long lustful look at the
scrap of fabric hiding her sex. "Like these things, do you?"

"Yeah.
You?"

"I
love 'em. Nothin' sexier than a woman's ass cheeks." The rough pad of his
tongue slipped from her knee, up her thigh only to stop on the elastic edge of the
small swatch of pink. Her breath hitched in her throat, and a sexy grin spread
across his face. His warm, moist breath skipped over her skin as his nose
brushed against her abdomen. His tongue flicked the dangling belly button ring
at her navel. "Love these too."

He
played for several moments at her belly button, before continuing his journey up
until he reached her nipple. The nub ached for the touch of his mouth. One
quick swipe at the tip and she thought she'd lose it. "Don't tease,
please."

The
soft hum against her flesh sent her desire spiraling out of control. He pulled
her nipple between his lips and sucked
hard.

An
annoying jingle of a cell phone, cut through the whimpers and moans of their
passion. Jacie didn't recognize the ring tone.

"Damn,"
Tucker swore, sitting upright to reach for his pants.

"Ignore
it," she said, smoothing her palm down his back.

"I
wish I could. It's the main phone at my ranch." The phone appeared in his
hand as he tossed the pants to the floor. "If they are calling, it's
trouble." He flipped the top open and said, "Hello?"

The
loss of his body heat and scrape of his hair-roughened skin over hers, brought
reality back into sharp contrast.

What the hell am I doing?
She rolled off the other side of the bed, grabbed her clothes from the floor
without glancing at Tucker and disappeared into the bathroom. The reflection in
the mirror showed a young, fairly attractive woman in her opinion. Her hazel
eyes were bright with sexual arousal, her lips looked more rosy and puffy from
his kisses. Her skin had whisker burn from his cheeks. Over all, she looked like
a woman who should be in there riding that cowboy’s hips like a bucking
bronc
, but she wasn't. She stood in the bathroom in front
of the sink in a cheap motel, second-guessing having sex with one hot cowboy.

Tucker's
voice came through the wooden panel as he knocked softly. "Jacie?"

"Yeah."

"Are
you okay?"

"I'm
fine, but I think you should go."

Uncomfortable
silence met her ear for several moments as she wondered what thoughts might be
running through his mind. Would he go? What did he think of her since she was
pulling the plug on their
sexcapades
?

 
"If you want me to."

"I
think it’s best."

"All
right. I'll go to the shop and find out about the tires."

She
didn't hear anything for long minutes, until the door slamming shut echoed in
the now silent room.

* * * *

After
a long, hot shower, she felt better—more in control. Resolved to keep the
relationship with Tucker strictly business, she pulled on her jeans and a T-shirt,
stomped her feet into her boots and pulled open the door of her room only to come
face to face with the object of her deepest fantasies of late.

"Oh,
hi," Tucker said, dropping his hand back to his side.

"Hi.
Did you find out anything?" she asked, keeping their conversation on
something other than what happened earlier.

"Yeah,
the truck is already done."

"What?
Are you serious?" She gasped, rushing by him to see for herself.

"Yeah,"
he replied, coming up beside her. "When I came out here, the truck was
gone so I walked on over to his shop. He had it inside already and two of the
four tires were already replaced."

"I'm
going to kill him," she growled, stomping toward Kyle's shop until Tucker
grabbed her arm.

"Wait."

"Wait
what? The asshole had a set of tires the whole time! This whole thing between you
and I only took a couple of hours. He had to have started them when he
hightailed it away from the arena." Her breath came out in rasping pants. The
anger rushing through her scared her. She wanted to drop Kyle to his knees more
than anything on earth, but the hold Tucker had on her arm, prevented her.

"It
doesn't make any difference. We've got the tires. We can leave, right now if we
want to."

"I
hate lying, manipulative men. He's at the top of the list right now," she
replied before grinding her teeth together, trying to hold her temper in check.