“I’ve never tried any of August’s wine,” he said, looking at her.
“Maybe I’ll pour you some before they close up.”
He leaned forward, as if adjusting something in her hair. “Or I could lick it off.”
She smiled. He’d seemed tense last night, and had been quiet this morning. Withdrawn. Terse with August. But Diego’s excitement seemed to be contagious, and Axel had lightened up. She didn’t know what had brought about the change, but she’d take it.
She was getting tired of holding back her feelings.
But she wasn’t ready to try to sprint for any finish line, either.
Caution, she told herself. But that went against her nature. She’d always set goals and raced for them, flying past obstacles in her path. This hesitant Cruz was not who she was.
They ordered and while they waited for the food, Cruz ducked into one of the porta-potties and quickly wiggled into her dress, stuffing her jeans and T-shirt into her leather tote. She washed her hands and arms, hoping to clean off some of the wine residue and rejoined Axel and Diego.
They ate on the grass behind the makeshift dance floor in front of the stage. A bluegrass band was already into their opening set and from the instruments already set up in the back, the country western band was going to be big and rocking. She loved music. And she really loved dancing. She hoped she could get in at least one dance before she had to help Catalina pack up the wine and take Diego home.
She dug into her steak and baked potato enthusiastically. She’d skipped lunch and the food was delicious. Cruz found herself relaxing against Axel, taking in the town’s beauty as the sun set. “This is amazing,” she said. “I’ve had such a fun day. I love this place.”
She’d nearly said ‘I love you.’
A frisson of panic shot through her, but she pushed it aside. Today had been so special. It was something she’d always dreamed of—belonging somewhere, with someone.
“I love it too.” His eyes met hers.
“Hey, boss.” Devin was there. “I was going to head home early tonight. Ben’s going to help pack up the wine. I thought, if the monkey wanted, he could help me check the horses for the night and we could get a roping lesson in and maybe a movie.”
Devin spoke quickly, as if he was reading from a script. He didn’t look at her once.
“Devin, it’s a Saturday night,” she said. “Don’t you want to find a pretty girl and ask her to dance?” She looked around, as if there would be a line of them just waiting for him.
“No, ma’am. I mean Cruz, ma’am. I’m on duty later to make sure everything’s okay for the night, and well, I thought I might as well have company. The flat screen at the big house is bigger than the one in the bunkhouse. So I thought I could get this guy in bed after a movie, if you want to stay.”
She looked at Axel and then at Devin.
“What a kind offer?” she said slowly.
Devin smiled and then he looked at Axel and sobered. “Happy to have the help and the company,” Devin said. “I have two younger brothers myself and miss them.”
“Oh.” Cruz softened a little. Maybe Axel hadn’t put him up to it. “Diego, do you want to head back to the ranch with Devin? You could practice roping and maybe watch a movie, if you’d like.”
Diego was already scrambling to his feet, folding his empty plate in half to throw it away. “Can we stop by and get a slice of pie first? Maybe two slices?”
“One,” Cruz said.
“Of course. We can’t miss pie.” Devin fist-bumped Diego.
“Bye, Axel. See you tomorrow.” Diego threw himself at Axel who caught him. He wrapped his arms around Axel and buried his face in his neck. “Thank you for the animals you won me at the darts game and for making Bear all better.”
The lump in Cruz’s throat nearly choked her.
She’d never seen Diego hug anybody but her and Shell. But she’d never seen him body-slam anyone else like that. Those were reserved for her. Now she felt torn. She wanted that for him so badly. But had Axel really changed his mind about kids? Could she trust him? Could she trust them together?
He hugged Diego back, and kissed the top of his head.
“Your prizes are in my truck. I’ll tuck them in with you and Bear tonight when I get home, okay?”
“Bear is dry enough to come home,” he told her. Then he peeled himself off Cruz, who felt a little stricken that she’d almost forgotten about Bear, who’d experienced two car washes and had then been pressure washed up at the winery. He’d been scrubbed by hand and then dried out in a room with a dehumidifier for a week. She hadn’t seen the results. She hadn’t even asked.
Diego hugged her. “Love you, Mom. Bear loves you, too.”
“I love you back.” She felt even more choked up. She should have cleaned up Bear. But it seemed like it was a team approach, and that made her happy, but also a little scared. What if she couldn’t get a job in Last Stand?
Devin walked off with Diego who was trying to walk like a cowboy beside Devin. It was cute and bittersweet.
“He’s gonna be a heartbreaker, someday.”
“Nah. He’s a good kid. Loyal. Hardworking. Wants to learn. Too trusting. I’m more worried about his heart,” she said.
There was probably a message in there for her, too, since she seemed far too susceptible to a certain cowboy.
“I feel set up though,” she added. “Did you plan that?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to have some time with you alone.”
“Why didn’t you just come out and ask? Be straightforward instead of stealthy?”
Something flashed across his face. She could swear it looked like guilt and she narrowed her eyes. “Just ask me next time. No tricks. My dad was always springing surprises—” she made air quotes “—on me. And they were awful. I’d rather just have honesty, even if it hurts.”
*
Her words echoed in his head as he led her out for their first dance. Honesty. He was honest. He thought of himself as dead-straight honest. Trustworthy. But he hadn’t been. Not with her. It didn’t sit right with him that he hadn’t been straightforward with her about places she could rent instead of coming to the ranch.
He’d acted impulsively. Almost incomprehensively. It had been almost instinctual to take her home to the ranch with him. Especially since the more he learned about her seven years without him, the need to protect her grew.
But it was more than that. Way more than that.
Would she be able to see beyond what essentially was a trick and forgive him? Or would he lose her all over again?
“What’s wrong?” She placed her hands on his shoulders and dipped her hip. “Did you forget how to dance?”
“It’s been a while,” he admitted.
“What? I don’t believe you. You were always the dancer at the after-rodeo parties.”
“That’s because I was dancing with you,” he said.
“You don’t like to dance?” She nearly stumbled but he had her waist and swung her around. She recovered.
“I love to dance with you.”
How could he not? Her breasts were pressed against his chest, as her body moved in time with his. She looked at him like he was the only man there. Dancing with her and making love with her had made him feel so connected, so attuned to another person… When she’d left, he’d felt almost adrift for a long time. He hadn’t noticed at first. He’d been hurt and stunned. But he’d just drifted further and further away from people.
Her fingers played in his hair and she smiled. Chatted. Flirted. If he’d had a better night, he didn’t remember it.
“I love your dress,” he told her.
“It’s new,” she admitted. “I haven’t bought anything new for a long time, but I saw it and thought that it would go perfectly with the boots. So I splurged a little.”
“It suits you.”
He’d love it even better lying on the floor once he took her to bed
. If she’d let him take her to bed.
A slow song came on and he pulled her more tightly into his embrace. He craved the contact with her, but it caused the same problem he’d always had with her. That part of him interrupting.
Her face was nuzzled in the crook of her neck. Her breath was warm on his skin and she laughed a little.
“I love slow dancing with you best of all, Axel.”
“Best? Of everything.”
“Hmmmm.” She pulled away from him, her eyes glinting with mischief. “I’m not sure what else you think I should compare this to…” She pretended to think. “Maybe you’ll need to show me what you mean…later.”
He loved her. He’d never told her. He should have, but the words had just bottled up in his chest. She’d said it to him once, the first time they’d made love. But he’d thought they were just words women said, but didn’t mean. After all, he’d been her first. And she’d never said them again.
If she’d meant them, she wouldn’t have left.
“Thinking again, Cowboy.”
“Always. Too much.”
“I like that about you. The broody ‘I’m so smart and sexy’ attitude you exude. I took it as a personal challenge to get you out of your head.”
“And I took it as a personal challenge to get you out of something else,” he said, testing her reaction.
“Now that’s honesty.”
Cruz leaned her head back and laughed. And he found himself joining in…and then kissing the long, slim column of her neck. She sighed—the whispery one that had a thread of sound that always jacked him up. He wanted to go home, wanted to be alone with her. He wanted to have all night. He wanted…her.
“Cruz…” He ached for her physically but also, for so much more.
They danced. Cruz knew a lot of the cover songs and she hummed or sang softly in his ear. He’d always loved her voice. The band played some originals as well. He looked at the people moving around him. This was his town. His people. It hadn’t felt like that in a long time.
He knew he needed to tell Cruz that he’d thwarted her attempts to find a short-term rental. At the time, he’d felt like he was helping, keeping her safe, but he knew he’d been selfish. It was time to come clean. But not here. Not even tonight. He wanted tonight. Needed it.
And he wanted to explain himself to her before he tossed his hat in the ring, so to speak, for her to pick up or leave.
She wouldn’t like it.
She especially wouldn’t like that he’d wanted to protect her. He understood that now more than ever before.
But he’d done what he’d done, and he couldn’t go back.
Cruz danced two more slow dances with him. He breathed her in until he felt like she was in his blood and her body was imprinted on his bones.
Then the band took a break.
“Ready to go home?” she asked, her eyes dark and mysterious.
He nodded.
“Then let’s go by the wine tent. I’ll pour you a taste of the Viognier or Petit Syrah, if there’s any open. Those were my favorite. Catalina makes Pinot Noir, but she says that grape won’t grow here. She still takes care of some grapes in Oregon.”
The wine tent and wines held no appeal for him, but making Cruz happy was everything to him right now. Besides, he didn’t want August to try to load up all the wine with his injuries, and he knew his brother would.
Catalina sat on one of the wine barrels that they’d used to showcase the different wines, cross-legged. She had a full glass of something red.
“Any left for a thirsty woman?” Cruz greeted her.
Catalina held out a bottle.
“That’s the spirit.” Cruz laughed. She grabbed a clean plastic cup. “The winery and tasting room will have glasses but plastic is more convenient for these big events.” Cruz poured a generous glass.
“I’ll show you what I learned,” she told him. She ran through the tasting steps and the notes that Catalina had taught her this morning. “Ta da!” She took a sip of wine, after sniffing it, then swished it around in her mouth and swallowed.
“Your turn.”
“I’m driving.”
“A sip won’t hurt.”
Catalina glared at him. “Seriously, you’re going to be a hard-ass about everything? Men. Cowboys are the worst.” She pushed off of the wine barrel. “I’m going to start loading up,” she said, pulling a folding dolly with wheels out from under the table.
Axel grabbed a box to help.
“Don’t bother,” she growled.
Cruz looked from him to Catalina, a little concerned, but Axel was used to Catalina’s short fuse and protectiveness of August. But he knew she was going to get hurt. Again. His brother was a bad bet.
Hell, he was probably a bad bet.
He ignored Catalina’s protests and wheeled the dolly of wine to his truck, then came back for Cruz. She was talking softly to Catalina. Draining her wine, she turned around and kissed him. Then she stepped away from him and smiled. “There’s more than one way to taste your brother’s wine.”
“We can try that again,” he said. “Anytime.”
“I’ll think about it.”
*
They held hands on the way back to the truck and on the drive home.
“Why don’t you like wine? Or is it just your brother’s wine?” she asked as he helped her into his truck.
He was so close. She let herself touch him.
“I don’t like wine. And I don’t like the fact that my brother is playing around with his inheritance, turning our cattle ranch into a tourist attraction where people are going to stumble around, posting drunk selfies of themselves with a longhorn, until someone ends up with a horn up their ass.”
He closed the door and loped around the front of the truck.
Wow. Cruz processed all he’d said. He climbed in and buckled, waiting while she did the same and then he started the truck.
“Somehow, I don’t think this is all about wine,” she mused.
He sighed.
“It’s not. Instead of finishing college, my brother started brewing beer in his dorm room and turned it into a brand. Now he’s making wine. We have a lot of…well, let’s just say, ‘dependency’ in our family tree. My grandfather started drinking when his wife left him. My uncle died in a bar brawl. My dad hit the bottle the same as his old man did when my mom died. So, no. I’m not really happy at his choice of careers.”
Cruz didn’t know what to say to that. She hadn’t even seen August drink anything. But Axel was vibrating with tension. She reached out and put her hand on his thigh. After a beat of silence, he covered her hand. She flipped her palm so their fingers linked.
“I would have worried about my little brother if I’d had the chance, too,” she said.
His fingers tightened on hers and he put the truck in drive.
They were silent until he pulled up to the gates of the ranch.
“Sorry,” he said. “I let my anger…and my worry—” he hesitated as if tasting the words “—ruin the evening.”
“No, you didn’t.” She leaned over so she could kiss his cheek. “I had a fabulous day and a beautiful evening. Never think you have to hide your feelings from me Axel. I don’t just want to see you when everything is going well.”
He seemed surprised by that.
“Did you think that before?” she asked. “That I only wanted you when you were winning, when you were up?”
He pushed the remote for the gates, and sat waiting while they opened.
“You definitely wanted me when I was up.”
“Why are you making this about sex? Sex has nothing to do with it.”
“Really?” he challenged.
The gates swung wide open.
“Really.” She was adamant.
He drove through and up the drive a little, stopping the truck. He turned to face her, unbuckling her and himself.
“Sure about that?”
It was a warning. Challenge accepted.
/> “Yes.”
And then he kissed her, and Cruz had never wanted anything more in her life. Eating dinner with him tonight, dancing with him, feeling his body move against hers, his lips covering hers and his tongue plundering…it had been the stuff of fantasy. And then his hands were in her hair, the intricate updo she’d followed an online tutorial to achieve was freed and she heard pins scatter in his truck.
She scooted over the console, and Axel pushed his seat back and she was straddling his lap, their hands and their mouths never breaking contact.
She could feel his heart slamming against hers.
“Axel…” She had his shirt unsnapped and sighed when her hands touched flesh.
He reclined his seat so she could angle herself lower on his body. He kissed her so deeply, she felt almost as if they were drinking from each other. And she only wanted more.
“I need to get closer,” she demanded, tugging at his clothing. His hands were hard brands on her hips, and her dress was hiked up to her hips, but he made no move to tug off her panties or help her get his jeans lower.
“Cruz,” he said. “Cruz.”
She could barely hear him over the blood thundering in her ears.
“Cruz, baby.”
“Mmmmmmmm,” she murmured against his chest, her tongue tasting him, while she stroked her hands down his body.
“Cruz, we have to stop.”
She lifted her head, shocked by the urgency in his voice.
And then a strong beam of light hit the car, accompanied by a blast of a horn.
Chapter Ten
“Ouch!” Cruz jumped and hit her head on the top of the truck.
Axel held her tight to his chest, his hand in her hair.
“Are you okay?”
“I think I had a heart attack but other than that, I’m good.” She got off his lap and stared out the back window.
“It must be August and Catalina.”
The horn blasted again. Cruz laughed and Axel cursed.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Let’s get you dressed first,” she said, buttoning his shirt up quickly, her fingers clumsy, shaking from an awkward combination of adrenaline and laughter.
Once Axel’s shirt was back in place, she wiggled her dress down and tried to roll back into her seat.
A Son for the Texas Cowboy Page 13