Wild Wyoming Nights (18 page)

“They are just jealous because you are the most beautiful woman in this place.”

She giggled. “I might have to keep you around, Cole Wilder. You are great for my ego.”

His face sobered a little before he grinned. “You know, if I didn’t know you were already in love with Chase, I’d be the first one sniffing at your door.”

“Then every woman in here would hate me.” She tossed her hair off her shoulder flippantly.

A playboy grin rippled across his mouth, and his dimples peeked out before he looked over her shoulder and frowned.

“What?” Abby tried to turn to see what he was looking at, but he kept her turned in his direction while they swayed to the music.

“Nothing.” He released her hand, placing it up around his neck as his hands slid down to her hips.

“Cole?”

“Trust me, okay? Just go with it and at least act like you are enjoying what I’m doing.”

“Okay.” He was making her nervous and she knew it showed on her face. His bent his head, and his lips brushed her neck as his hands found her ass cheeks and he slipped his hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

She hissed in his ear, “What are you doing?”

He lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “Chase just walked in. Do you want him to finally admit he wants you?”

A tortured whisper slipped from her lips. “Yes.”

“Then trust me. I know my brother. This will drive him nuts.” She felt uncomfortable with his hands on her ass. It just didn’t feel right, and she almost grabbed his hands to bring them back to her waist. “We are going to turn around so you can see him and he knows it’s you I’m holding. Mask your face, darlin’. If he sees the look you have right now, he’ll never believe this.”

She took a deep breath before she nodded and he turned them so she could see Chase sitting at the bar. The shirt was stretched across the muscles of his back and each one rippled when he moved, almost making her groan out loud.

Their eyes met in the mirrored glass over the bar. Pain reflected brightly in his gaze a moment before he masked it and rage took its place. He swung around on the stool, and drained the beer in his hand. Cole let his lips caress her neck, and she closed her eyes, pretending it was the man across the room.

* * * *

“Looks like your pretty neighbor made her choice between you two, eh?”

Chase shot a look at the man next to him with a scowl. “Mind your own business, Rogers.”

The other man laughed. “What’s the matter, Chase? Jealous?”

“Son of a bitch,” he growled as he watched Cole practically making love to Abby on the dance floor. His hands were in her pockets, caressing her ass, holding her tight against him, his lips moving tenderly over the bite mark on her neck that Bridges had left. God, she was killing him.

He spun back around toward the bar as another beer slid down and stopped in front of him.

“Thought you might need it,” Jackie said with a nod of her head. He had known her since they were in high school together. She was a good friend over the years, but the look she shot him now said she knew what his trouble was, and it started with a capital A.

He grabbed the mug and tipped it back, swallowing almost half in one gulp. It didn’t make him feel any better, and the scene playing out on the dance floor reflected bright and clear in the mirror above the bar.

Swallowing the second half, he whirled around and pushed away from the bar as he headed toward them. He needed to set Abby and Cole straight, once and for all.

Her eyes opened and widened like saucers as he moved toward her. She pushed against Cole’s shoulders, and he loosened his grasp as he stepped back. By the time her gaze returned to his face he’d stopped behind them, and her sensuous voice met his ear as she said, “Fancy seeing you here.”

“I’m cuttin’ in,” he growled.

Frown lines appeared between her eyebrows, and her mouth turned down at the corners, begging for his kiss. “Excuse me?”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him as he repeated, “I’m cuttin’ in.”

Wrapping his hand around her waist, he tugged until her breasts brushed against him. He almost groaned out loud as his hand wandered to the small of her back.

“This caveman behavior is not becoming on you, Chase.”

“What are you doing here with Cole?”

Abby cocked an eyebrow. “None of your business.”

He pulled her closer—close enough his lips were a mere hairsbreadth from hers. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, and his thigh slid between hers. “Have you let him make love to you?”

“N-no,” Abby stammered and color rose on her cheeks.

“Who do you want, Abby?” His lips nibbled the corners of her mouth and her eyes closed. “Who do you really want to make love to you?”

Her rapid breaths fluttered across his cheek. His cock stiffened in his jeans and he rubbed against her.

Damn it! I want her so badly it hurts.

His mouth moved from her lips to her ear and down her neck. She moaned under his assault on her senses, and he smiled against her skin. “Tell me,” he whispered when she shivered.

“
You
, damn it. I want you.”

Her ragged answer satisfied him and he stepped back, letting her go, watching as she almost stumbled.

He turned and left the bar without a backward glance.

When he walked out by his truck, he noticed Christopher’s car sitting nearby with the other man inside. Remembering the mark left on Abby’s neck, anger built in his chest. He stopped next to the car and tapped on the window.

Christopher opened it as Chase stood nearby. “Hey, Chase.”

“Can I talk to you out here, please?”

“Uh. Sure.” Chris opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind him. “How’s the leg? Got the cast off, I see.”

“Fine.” He kept his hands at his sides, clenched into fists, attempting to control his anger.

“Is there something I can do for you?”

“Yeah, stay away from Abby.”

“Pardon?” Christopher’s face took on a look of surprise as Chase faced him.

“You heard me, I’m sure, but I’ll repeat it anyway. Stay away from Abby, and if you ever, and I mean
ever,
hurt her again, you won’t be walking the next day because I’ll break both your legs.”

A sinister smile rippled across the other man’s mouth. “Trust me. She likes it rough. Try tying her up. She really squirmed with that. Got her nice and hot, let me tell you.”

Chase saw red. Thoughts of this animal putting his hands on the woman he wanted made bile rise in his throat and anger build in his chest like nothing he’d ever felt before. He pulled back his fist and hit Christopher square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Chase stood over him while Christopher lay sprawled on his butt, massaging the bruise already rising on his face.

“Last warning, Bridges, don’t go near her again.”

He stomped back to his truck, slid inside and slammed the door, as he gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles, and growled in frustration.

Hell! First I have to watch Cole while he practically made love to her on the dance floor, then to run into the man who attempted to mark her as his own. I should have just killed them both and been done with it.

Stomping on the gas, he sprayed enough gravel behind the truck to pepper the paint on the nearby vehicles when he tore out of the parking lot.
 

Chapter Thirteen

The warm air hit her face when Abby opened the door. Spring had arrived in Laramie, or early spring, anyway. It was still cold at night, but the days had begun to warm up.

She had an errand to run today. Picking up a stallion from one of the neighboring ranches was her first priority, and then she could think of other things, like Chase. Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep her thoughts off of him for very long, and he was avoiding her,
again
. After the scene at the bar, he obviously didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore. If he had asked her to go home with him, she would gladly have at that point. His lips, his touch, everything about him had her body on high alert, and she’d given into those feelings that night, wanting him with everything inside of her, but he walked away. That hurt. She thought he wanted her as much as she wanted him, but when he left her standing on the dance floor at the bar, she got angry.

Two weeks after their encounter, she decided to approach him about a horse she wanted to look at. She wanted his advice on a stallion she was contemplating purchasing to start her breeding program and drove over to his place to ask him to go with her. He brushed her off just like he always did these days.

Her thoughts drifted back to their conversation in his barn a few months ago. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“I suppose.” He didn’t even turn around, just continued to brush the mare under his hand. The virile, sexy as hell cowboy she remembered from their first encounter stood proudly in front of her, and this persona played havoc with her libido.

Good lord, I want him,
she thought as she shifted her stance, trying to relieve the insistent pressure between her thighs.

“I want to look at a stallion at a place over in Laramie County. Will you go with me?”

“I can’t, Abby. I’ve got too much to do around here. Why don’t you take Cole?”

Her frustrated exhale did nothing to help her mood or his dismissal.

I don’t want to take Cole, you jackass! I want you.

“You’re the expert. I wanted your opinion.”

“He knows a good stallion, too.” He continued to brush the horse, not looking at her at all.

“Never mind, Chase.” She turned to leave, her shoulders sagging in defeat.

“Abby.” Their eyes locked in silent battle, but she didn’t want to try to interpret the look in his gaze. She shook her head as she walked back to her truck and drove home.

She was so upset she threw herself across her bed and cried.

Why is he being so pig-headed?

Her heart clenched in her chest as her focus returned to the bright, sunlit yard. Their paths hadn’t crossed since, and she missed him terribly. The shared kisses and the memory of him making love to her on the table just made her want him more, but she finally came to terms with the fact that he obviously didn’t want her like she wanted him.

She saw Cole on several occasions, but Chase avoided any contact with her. His brother had become a welcome port in the stormy existence of her life, trying his best to help her forget Josh and move on. Cole’s attempts at matchmaking between her and Chase started to grate on her nerves, but his brother managed to sidestep any and all efforts.

Damn it! I just need to forget him.

Agitated with herself for thinking about the stubborn man, she checked the trailer hitched to her truck before climbing into the cab, starting it and pulling out onto the highway. Some of the snow melted off in the daytime warmer temperatures, but snow was stilled piled fairly high on the sides of the road. It would take her about an hour to get to the other ranch. She decided to relax by flipping on the radio and trying to get her mind off the ruggedly gorgeous cowboy who made her heart sing but didn’t want anything to do with her.

As she pulled into the ranch where she had an appointment to pick up the horse she had bought, she found a familiar truck parked nearby.
 

What the hell is he doing here?

She sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead to relieve the tension building.

I really don’t need this right now.

* * * *

Chase stood next to Bud and watched her pull in.

I guess I just enjoy torturing myself. Why else would I be here, knowing she was coming this morning to pick up the horse?

He spoke to his good friend a week or so ago, and Bud mentioned a lady from his neck of the woods picking up a stallion today. He wasn’t even positive it was Abby, but he had a good hunch when Cole mentioned her running an errand into Laramie County.

“There she is.”

His eyes followed as she pulled in, parked her rig and stepped out. The familiar roar of desire hit him like a ton of bricks when she sauntered toward them with a sassy sway of her hips.

“Chase? What are you doing here?” she asked as she shaded her eyes from the sun.

“I came by to visit Bud.”

“You just happened to be in the neighborhood?” Her eyebrow rose in question as a smirk rippled across her pouty lips.

Shit, she’s beautiful and I’m so busted!

“Yeah—something like that.” He could tell by the doubt in her eyes that she knew exactly what he was up to. Wanting to see her again was driving him insane, but he didn’t want to just go by her house. That would have been too obvious.

That’s pretty dumb. She’s obviously figured out that I didn’t drive into the next county over for nothing.

“Okay.” Her gaze shifted to the man next to him. “Mr. Olsen, it’s nice to see you again.”