Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys

by D'Ann Lindun

  He flinched almost as if he’d taken a blow.

  Better to keep his secrets wrapped up tight.

  Finishing Lily’s field took about two hours and the entire time she slept soundly. Will drove close to her and parked. Dismounting the tractor, he stretched toward the azure sky. He needed to hydrate before he went back to his own field. The water bottle he’d taken with him had been emptied an hour ago.

  There was more with their lunch.

  Stepping quietly, he went to retrieve one. Although he tried not to wake Lily, she stirred, opening her eyes when he rustled the plastic bag.

  Water halfway to his mouth, he stopped and stared. Some strands of hair had come loose from her braid laying across her face. All soft and sleepy, she reminded him of a kitten. A damn sexy kitten.

  Their gazes locked.

  Will lifted his water and drank to hide the sudden rush of heat through his veins.

  Lily blinked. “How long have I been sleeping?”

  He shrugged. “A while.”

  She struggled into a sitting position. “Why did you let me sleep so long? The field—”

  “Is done.” He drank deeply, the cool liquid sliding down his parched throat. “I’m about to head back to mine.”

  Instead of the pleasure he expected, she frowned. “What? I don’t understand.”

  “You were tired. I took care of it.”

  She pushed to her feet and glared at him. “You didn’t have to do that. I carry my own weight. Always.”

  A memory of Amy saying almost identical words rocked him. She’d been furious, too, when he tried to help her with a heavy burden. He swiped at his chin with his wrist. “My mistake.”

  One he wouldn’t make again.

  ~*~

  By the time evening rolled around, Lily felt like a complete ass for the way she’d talked to Will. He’d caught her by surprise and she hadn’t reacted well. An apology was in order. The sun had begun to sink into the western sky, slipping behind the mountains, when he pulled into the driveway. Lily grabbed a six pack of beer from the fridge and headed out to meet him.

  As soon as the tractor engine died, Lily spoke. “Hi.”

  “Hey.” Will swung down.

  He’d spoken to her anyway. A start. She took a fortifying breath. “Thank you for what you did for me today.” She twisted a beer loose from the plastic rings and held it out. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. I don’t know what got into me.”

  He took it with a smile. “Thanks.”

  “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

  “Nothing to forgive.” He popped the top and took a long swallow. “That hits the spot.”

  Lily watched him. He looked exhausted, lines of weariness around his eyes. In addition, his skin blazed bright red with a mean looking sunburn. Guilt as well as remorse gripped her. He shouldn’t have taken on her work as well as her own.

  “You’re burned.”

  Glancing down, he nodded. “A little.”

  “Probably hurts terribly.”

  “Not too bad.” He shrugged. And grimaced.

  Lily thought of the way she once dealt with a sunburn and made a spontaneous decision. “Do you have swim trunks with you?”

  “Yeah.” He looked puzzled.

  “Grab them and meet me here in ten minutes, okay?” Lily handed him the rest of the beer. “I’ll be right back.”

  Before he could ask any more questions, she ran toward her house. Upstairs, she dug through her bottom drawer hoping she still had her old bikini. Dropping her clothes on the floor, she slipped into the bright turquoise suit. Maybe a little smaller in the bottom than the last time she’d worn it, but not bad considering it had been a few years since she’d last had it on. She pulled a T-shirt and pair of jean shorts over the bikini and grabbed a towel from the bathroom rack.

  In the kitchen, she grabbed a package of hotdogs from the fridge, buns from the breadbox and a jar of pickles from the cupboard. Mustard, marshmallows and chips completed the pile. She stuffed it all in a picnic basket and hurried toward the barn.

  Will stood lounging by his truck, holding a towel. He wore a pair of board shorts and athletic shoes with no socks. Not stopping and staring at his rock hard abs took all her effort. Instead, she approached him with a smile.

  “Ready? I have a cure for that sunburn.”

  “Born ready.” His smile made her legs tremble a little.

  He straightened, took the picnic basket from her and opened his passenger door. “I gather you’re taking me swimming?”

  She slid onto the pickup seat, and when he climbed behind the wheel, said, “You take it right.”

  Spinning a U-ey in the driveway, he said, “Are we going to Reed Reservoir?”

  “You know it?”

  “Yeah. Used to party out there when I was a kid.”

  “Me, too.” Lily laughed. “Probably a few years before you, though.”

  He glanced at her. “I lived with my grandparents eight years ago when I was seventeen.”

  Letting her mind drift back ten years, Lily knew she had not been hanging out at the lake with her friends. Already her life had been consumed by work. “I think the last time I spent any significant time out there was the summer after graduation just before I got married. Jeff and I used to take the boat once in a while, but we sold it a long time ago.”

  “You got married when you were a teenager?” Will sounded shocked.

  “Yep. Eighteen.” Lily let her memory drift back to that time. Jeff graduated two years ahead of her and he’d been impatient to marry the minute she finished high school. Getting swept up in the excitement of being a bride canceled out any doubts she might have had. College hadn’t interested her; getting married, having a family had been her sole focus. It wasn’t as if she’d made a rotten choice that ruined her future. She and Jeff made a good life together.

  “Have you ever been engaged?”

  “No.” His voice sounded ragged. “Never.”

  She waited, but he didn’t elaborate. Her curiosity ran wild. Hadn’t he loved a high school girlfriend enough to propose? Or loved a girl he’d met overseas? Lily really wanted to know, but refrained from asking. If he wanted to tell her he would.

  She pointed out the turn to the lake. “Go this way.”

  After about a mile down a twisting dirt road they reached the lake. The falling sun’s rays slipped across the calm surface in a desperate attempt to hold onto the day. Pine trees stood like stately guards, silent and serene in the dusky evening.

  Lily pointed to a parking spot. “There’s a little cove down there where we can swim and build a fire to roast hot dogs.”

  “You brought hot dogs?” Will sounded as excited as a little kid.

  “I did.” Lily laughed as the weight of the day slipped from her shoulders. Suddenly it felt good to be alive.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Will gathered an armful of wood as Lily placed their food on the tailgate of the pickup. He’d parked close enough to the fire they could use the tailgate for a table, but not close enough the paint would crinkle.

  He carried the logs to the fire ring, dumped them inside and lit them. “This will be perfect for hotdogs when we get done swimming.”

  “Yes, perfect,” Lily agreed.

  Will turned, stopped and stared. Wow. In jeans and a T-shirt Lily was a pretty woman, but wearing a swimsuit she rivaled any model. She had taken off her T-shirt and shorts, wearing a turquoise bikini, and while not immodest it revealed enough to make his blood run hot. Her breasts filled the top in round, firm mounds that made him ache to taste them. And her legs. Oh, her legs. Non-stop from floor to ceiling, they grabbed his attention and held it.

  Realizing he was staring, Will dragged his gaze away from the stunning woman in front of him and sprinted for the lake. “Race ya to the water.”

  “Wait! No fair!” Lily chased him, laughing.

  When Will hit the cold water, he gasped. The reservoir, fed by snowmelt off the nearby mountains, was free
zing. He dove in and began swimming. The icy water washed over his fried skin, cooling it.

  Behind him Lily splashed into the water. She said a real dirty word that made him grin. He glanced over his right shoulder and saw her swimming toward him. He slowed his pace as she came alongside him.

  “Damn, it’s cold,” he said.

  She nodded. “Keep moving.”

  For half an hour he swam, his strokes fast and furious. Will kept an eye on Lily while he swam, but she seemed fine on her own. She took a more leisurely approach than him sometimes flipping over onto her back to float.

  The snowmelt seeped into Will’s pores, soothing the sun’s damage to his skin. He knew better than to burn like that, but it had felt so good to be alive and doing something he liked that he’d allowed himself to prolong the feeling much too long.

  Lily swam close. “I’m getting out before my fingers and toes fall off.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Together, they paddled to the shore.

  The sun had fallen behind the trees, turning the day into evening. The fire had died down to embers so Will tossed another piece of wood onto it before he grabbed his towel. Lily slipped around to the far side of the pickup where she quickly dressed. Will stepped into jeans and a T-shirt he’d brought along and his athletic shoes.

  They met at the tailgate. A few strands of wet hair stuck had come loose from her braid and stuck to her cheek. Will brushed it back. Her face felt like an ice cube. Goosebumps covered her freckled skin.

  “You’re cold. Come closer to the fire.” He tossed on a couple more logs and the flames leapt high.

  She held shaking hands over the heat. “I stayed in too long. It’s a little early in the year for prolonged swims. Come July we can hang out all day.”

  “You should have gotten out sooner,” he chided gently.

  “It felt too good.”

  He went to the backseat of his pickup and retrieved a sleeping bag he kept there for emergencies. Carrying it with him he placed it on the tailgate. “Sit here.”

  Lily sat on the blanket and Will tucked it around her. “Better?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “I don’t want you getting sick.”

  “I’m just a little chilled,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Without analyzing it, he did what he’d been aching for and cupped her face in his hands and placed his lips over hers. With gentle pressure he urged her mouth open. With a little sound of acquiescence, she complied. Darting his tongue in and out of her mouth, Will tasted her until she gasped.

  With his passion rising, he pressed closer. The blanket fell from her shoulders and she lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. Will grasped a handful of her wet hair and tipped her head back. Removing his mouth from hers, he nibbled his way along her neck, sucking a little.

  Lily moaned.

  Will’s cock stood at attention.

  He wanted her bad.

  But not in the back of a pickup like a horny teenager. Reluctantly he released her.

  With wide eyes, she touched her fingertips to her mouth. “Wow.”

  “Is that a good wow?” Will grinned. He knew it had been a good kiss.

  Color flooded her face. “Yeah.”

  To break the tension he picked up the package of wieners and handed it to Lily. “Open these and I’ll find us some roasting sticks.”

  Without waiting for an answer he walked away to a clump of aspens. Taking his pocketknife from his pocket he cut two thin stalks. By the time he had a sharp point whittled onto each his blood had cooled enough he could rejoin Lily without the painful evidence of his desire on display.

  She’d opened the hotdogs and the bag of chips and munched on a handful of them. “I’m starving.”

  He was starving, but not for food.

  He eyed the sleeping bag pooled around her waist. “You warmer now?”

  “Uh-huh.” She ate another chip in an overly casual manner. “Much.”

  Pleased, he reached for the hotdogs and placed one on each stick. He handed one to Lily. “Here you go.”

  She squirmed to the edge of the tailgate and held her stick over the flames. “Yum.”

  “Yeah.” Will hopped up next to her, but left a few inches between them. If he touched her he’d want to kiss her again.

  Instead, he took a big bite of his charred hot dog and chased it with a handful of chips. Lily handed him a beer and opened one for herself. Will drank deeply and sighed. “I’ve missed times like this.”

  “It’s been nice,” Lily agreed.

  He glanced at her. “All of it?”

  Her shy gaze met his. “Yeah.”

  “Good.”

  The last rays of the sun slipped completely behind the mountains, shrouding them in darkness. Only the light from the flames from the dying fire lit them. Somewhere an owl hooted. Lily rustled around in the picnic basket and withdrew a bag of marshmallows. “Dessert?”

  “Absolutely.” Will took two from her and stuck them on his roasting stick. Toasting them lightly brown, he popped one in his mouth.

  Lily’s fell into the fire. “Oh, damn.”

  “Here.” Will removed his remaining marshmallow and held it toward her mouth. After a moment’s hesitation, she opened her lips and took it.

  Watching her delectable mouth nibble the treat threatened to make him hard again. He lay on his sun-baked back and stared at the lavender sky, willing his mind and cock away from Lily and all the things he’d like her to do to him with her lips.

  A shooting star rocketed across the sky.

  “Make a wish, Will…”

  As clearly as if she laid there beside him, Amy’s voice played in his head. He closed his eyes to fight against the unwelcome memory. But Amy’s ghost was strong, forcing him to remember.

  They’d met outside, stopping to steal a forbidden kiss when she’d noticed the flaming star blasting across the desert sky.

  “Make a wish, Will…”

  “It’s your star not mine…”

  With a laugh, she tipped her head back, closed her eyes and whispered something.

  He never got the chance to ask her what she’d asked for because she died shortly after that night.

  “Will? Will?”

  Gradually he realized Lily was calling him. “Sorry. I drifted away there for a minute.”

  “What took you so far away?”

  He shrugged. “Just how the stars look the same no matter where you are in the world.”

  “I wouldn’t know.” She sounded sad.

  Will turned his head and looked at her. “Scout’s honor.”

  “I trust you,” she said simply.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her she shouldn’t, but something made him not say the words. The way Lily looked at him with her big fawn-colored eyes filled with faith in him was something he loathed to lose.

  He sat up. “It’s getting late. Are you ready to head in?”

  “Yes.” Lily slid out of the quilt and began gathering leftovers.

  “Thank you for tonight,” Will said.

  Her smile lit up her face. “You’re welcome.”

  ~*~

  Lily looked out of the passenger window, her thoughts on the evening. How had she let fun slip out of her life? Long before Jeff got sick she’d turned into a boring woman with no interests and no life to speak of.

  A short trip to the lake had rejuvenated her. Reminded her she still had a lot of living left to do.

  Or maybe it had been the kiss that brought it home.

  The kiss.

  She refrained from touching her lips again, but couldn’t help replaying Will’s lips on hers. Why had he done it? Why had she let him?

  Polly’s words rang in her head: Have some fun. Take a chance.

  Stealing a glance at Will, Lily wondered if she could let go and have a fling with someone ten years her junior?

  No, her heart said, I cannot.

  Not a quick love affair that would leave
her more alone that she was now. Maybe if Will planned to stick around. But he didn’t have those ideas and she doubted he would.

  Right now he was footloose and fancy free, which she doubted he planned to change any time soon.

  Not that she blamed him.

  Her wet hair, pressed between her back and the pickup seat, became uncomfortable. Lily leaned forward and pulled her braid over her shoulder to let it loose. With her fingers, she untangled her damp hair and fluffed it in an attempt to dry her long locks.

  Feeling Will’s gaze on her she looked up and met his eyes. Something unidentifiable flashed in them, then vanished. Had she seen desire? Her stomach flipped over backwards. Damn. Resisting this man was going to be tough.

  But necessary.

  After they arrived at the farm, Will carried the picnic basket into the house. Together, they put the leftovers in the fridge. Finally there was nothing to do but say goodnight.

  “I had a great time,” Lily said.

  “Me, too,” Will said. “Thanks.”

  “My pleasure.” Lily moved toward the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Will left with a wave over his shoulder. “Night.”

  Lily closed the door behind him and leaned against the door. She smiled. The trip to the lake had been for Will’s poor sunburned back, but she had gotten as much or more out of it as he did.

  She took a quick shower, wrapped her hair in a towel, picked up the phone to call Polly.

  After a few rings, her friend answered. “Hello?”

  “Polly? It’s Lil.”

  “Hey. Everything okay?’ Polly’s voice filled with concern. And why not? How many times had they exchanged phone calls, their anguish spilling over the line as they comforted one another?

  “I’m fine. Actually, I’ve been thinking about us getting together. Having a girls’ night out. What do you think?”

  “Sounds great! When?”

  “Friday?”

  “I’m in.” Polly sounded delighted. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Dinner? Dancing maybe?” An image of being in Will’s arms flashed in Lily’s head and she blinked the thought away. The whole idea was to get away from him, maybe meet someone more appropriate for her.