Cocky in a Cowboy Hat (Crossroads Book 3)

by Em Petrova

He pulled back sharply. “You’re crying.”

  Embarrassed, she dropped her attention to his hard mouth. “I guess I got overwhelmed during that last orgasm.”

  “Oh baby.” He withdrew from her before pulling her across his chest. She draped herself over him, both breathing hard and in recovery from not only their passionate sex but their entire week of preparations leading up to the wedding, and then the wedding itself.

  His chest heaved under her until his breathing slowed. She had no desire to lift her head from where she nestled over his pec. He reached across his body and stroked her shoulder, arm and down to her hand. For long minutes, he toyed with her fingers, massaging her knuckles in tender circles.

  That was not the act of a man who simply wanted a business deal. Besides, he got nothing from the transaction whatsoever. He knew he wouldn’t even get a woman to wash his dishes.

  So why had he married her? He had nothing to gain and everything to lose.

  She focused on the patter of his fingers as he moved them back up her forearm. Her skin reacted to the touch by pebbling, and he rumbled a noise of pleasure.

  Oh God. He cared for her. More than as friends. She’d been stupid and blind, caught up in the offer of his help and she had to admit, the wedding plans had been fun. From his cousins’ wives helping with decorations, fitting her gown and choosing the catered menu, Liberty had allowed herself to get caught up.

  Worse, she was caught up in Aidan Bellamy.

  Who wouldn’t be? Brielle told her that every single woman in Crossroads waited for a chance with the man, and from what she heard, there were more than a few disgruntled musings about why he was suddenly marrying.

  He pressed his fingertip beneath her chin, tilting her head up. Their eyes met. “Thank you for a great day, Liberty,” he drawled.

  She swallowed hard. Too difficult to separate what she should be feeling from what she was feeling. “It was a wonderful day,” she said sincerely.

  His lips quirked at the corner in that way she loved. “I do feel a little bad about tearing off your thong.”

  She buried her face against his chest, and he vibrated with laughter.

  “Actually, that’s a lie. I don’t feel a bit bad.”

  She raised her head and slapped at him. As their gazes connected, she experienced a flipping in her heart that sent it pattering faster. Uh-oh.

  “Why did you never marry? Was it a challenge to see if you could remain a bachelor?” Her question was something she really wanted answered, but mostly she needed distraction from her emotions.

  He smiled. “Never met anyone I liked.”

  She arched a brow. “I find that hard to believe. You’re handsome and one of the most successful ranchers in the South.”

  “Who cares about either of those things? I wasn’t about to lock myself to a woman I didn’t like.”

  Fair enough. His answer meant that he liked her well enough to go for it. Even though the marriage was a sham of a business deal to protect her assets, she couldn’t help but wonder if that bright gleam in Aidan’s eyes meant more.

  * * * * *

  Liberty stood back and watched as Aidan sliced through the trunk of a tree. He angled the chainsaw blade downward and then pulled the saw free and created another slice like an orange wedge in the trunk.

  She admired his forearms bulging with tendon and muscle as sawdust gathered on the fine hairs there. While their honeymoon lasted only a night because ranch life went on, her body and libido told her otherwise.

  Watching the man clear a part of the land in order to dig a line for a water system turned her on.

  The tree crashed to the ground, and Aidan straightened with a look of satisfaction on his rugged face. He cut the saw, and she removed her protective hearing he insisted she wear.

  He shot her a grin. “One down. Four to go.”

  “Can I give it a try?”

  His brows shot up. “You want to handle the chainsaw?”

  “I’ve handled other things with a lot of power.” She wiggled her brow at him.

  He tugged his hat. “Damn, woman. You mention that and you’ll find yourself flat on your back with your legs in the air for the rest of the afternoon.”

  She didn’t see much wrong with that, but she only twitched her jaw toward the saw. “Let me try.”

  “All right. A quick lesson on safety first.”

  She edged up next to him, shoulder-to-shoulder, and he pointed out the operation of the saw as well as precautions to keep all her fingers.

  “When my uncle taught me to chop wood, he gave me an ax first. Said to keep my free hand behind my back so it’s outta the way. Think about that while using the saw. Never move your hand forward. Never reach toward the wood you’re cutting. Got it?”

  She nodded. He relinquished the saw to her, and she hefted it into her hands. It weighed a lot, but she was strong. She didn’t know if she could make it through the other four trees, but she’d focus on one for now.

  “Go ahead and start it up.” He stood to the side to watch but she saw his body tense, prepared to jump in if needed.

  He seemed to do that a lot, didn’t he? Rescue her.

  The purr of the engine also vibrated through her arms, and she stepped up to the tree. When she set the blade to the trunk she had no idea it would slice through like a hot knife on butter.

  Aidan gestured for her to draw the blade carefully back. She did so, but noted how he poised, ready to prevent catastrophe in the event something happened.

  He pointed to the spot on the trunk to place the next cut. When she created the wedge as he had before, he motioned for her to pause for a moment. He inspected the tree again by tipping his head to look at the top. He’d told her before that she had to figure out which side held the most branches, and therefore carried the majority of the weight, to determine which direction the tree would fall.

  He gave her a nod, stood back and watched her handle it.

  She slicked through the backside, cutting through the wood to meet the wedge she’d already created. Quickly, she withdrew the blade and stepped back. It seemed the tree hovered there for a moment before beginning its slow descent to the earth. It struck with a loud thump.

  Liberty let out a whoop of success. She threw up a palm to high-five Aidan, but the man took a step, pulled the saw from her grip, bent her over his arm and kissed the hell out of her.

  The tang of tree sap mingled with his leather and musk. Coupled with the stubble of his unshaven jaw prickling over her skin, she went from ten to a hundred on the scale of lust.

  She grabbed his shoulders and held on as he plundered through her mouth as if he hadn’t recently mentioned being in a hurry to clear the area for the water line.

  He broke the kiss. Still holding her suspended over the ground, he gazed into her eyes. “Good job.”

  “Thank you.” She was breathless but from more than exhilaration at her success.

  He whipped her upright. “You wanna do the next ones too?”

  Still reeling from that kiss, she nodded. Feeling like a bad-ass bitch, she took the saw again and stepped up to the next tree. Aidan gave her advice on placement of the cuts and stood back to allow her to hold the power in her hands.

  Suddenly, she realized he didn’t shove her down the way her ex did. He built her up, gave her control in so many ways she never knew before.

  And she adored him for it.

  She paused, blinking rapidly as the reality of her situation slammed into her.

  “You all right?” he shouted loud enough for her to hear through her earmuffs.

  She nodded, took a deep breath and got to work. After felling the second tree, her arms shook from holding the heavy saw, so she relinquished it to Aidan. While she watched him take down the next three without so much as a trickle of sweat on his handsome brow, she realized more about the man that she hadn’t noticed before.

  He seemed to enjoy working with her. He liked keeping her at his side. He couldn’t keep his hands off
her and touched her every chance he got, even if it was brushing her hair off her forehead.

  She wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge how much she liked her new husband…but it was sure nice to think about how much he liked her.

  Chapter Ten

  “Looks like rain. Bring a coat,” Aidan said to Liberty as she put on her boots.

  “It hasn’t rained since I’ve been here.”

  “No, but those clouds are threatening to change that.”

  She grabbed her light jean jacket, and he reached out to hold it for her while she slipped her arms into the sleeves. She paused, head turned to look at him. “Thanks,” she said softly.

  He stepped back with a smile. “Ready?”

  “Oh crap. I forgot my shot again. I’ll—”

  “I got it.” He walked through the house to the top of her dresser where she kept her kit and carried it back to her.

  “Thanks, Aidan.”

  “I’m only takin’ care of—” He broke off. He wanted to say what’s mine. They were so newly married and the situation so odd, that saying my wife didn’t seem right either. He settled for, “You.”

  She accepted the kit and set it on the foyer bench. He watched her fill the syringe, pull up her shirt and pinch the skin to inject herself with the medication. He watched her do all this.

  “Usually you give yourself shots in the thigh.” He’d seen some of the marks.

  “Yes, but sometimes I’m in a hurry and I don’t want to pull down my pants.”

  He cocked an interested brow. With a shake of her head at his expression, she placed her supplies back into the plastic box. “I’m ready. You promised me coffee on the way.”

  “Yup. We’ll stop outside Crossroads at a diner and grab some breakfast before we look at the tractor for sale.”

  As soon as they stepped foot outside, the clouds broke loose. Heavy rain washed down in a cascade of wind and fat drops. He grabbed Liberty’s hand and they ran to the truck. After he whipped her inside, he ran around to his own side, holding his hat in place. He landed in the driver seat and shook off the water like a wet dog.

  Liberty threw out an arm to block herself and cried out. “You’re getting me wetter!”

  Their stares connected and five full heartbeats passed. Her eyes hooded. “If you want to buy that tractor, you’d better not think about it.” Her tone was far too breathless for her short sprint through the rain.

  His cock stirred behind his fly at the insinuation. “Think about what?”

  She opened her eyes wider. “You know what!”

  With a chuckle, he started the engine. They got on the road headed out of Crossroads and toward the diner as promised.

  He settled a hand on her thigh. “I’m glad you’re coming with me on this road trip. When I went for Diva, all I could think about was having you with me,” he referred to the horse he’d recently added and she named appropriately. The mare had shown her true colors in no time, giving both of them no doubt as to how highly she thought of herself.

  She looked at him hard. “Really?”

  He nodded and squeezed her leg. Giving a happy sigh, she set her hand over his and strummed his knuckles with her fingers. Warmth spread through him as they drove through the rain they needed so much, talking about nothing and everything. Even if the breakfast was awful, the company would be good. And if he came home without a tractor, he still knew it would be a good day.

  This might be why men chose to give up their bachelor days to find a good woman.

  * * * * *

  “Woooooooo!” Kaoz, with Brielle on the back of his four wheeler, zoomed by Aidan and Liberty’s four-wheeler, close enough that Aidan caught the wind off him a second before mud splashed up over all four of them.

  Brielle squealed first, and Liberty followed. Mud hit Aidan square in the chest and some splattered on his jaw. Laughing, he glanced back at Liberty to see she was in the same shape.

  “Get him!” Liberty called out, thrusting her arm toward Kaoz.

  With a hoot, Aidan gassed the machine, thrusting them forward through the muddy tracks. He raced after Kaoz, while Liberty clung to his waist. They approached a rise that had a drop.

  “Hold on!”

  “Aidan!” She squeezed the air from him as she locked her arms hard around his waist. They crested—then hit the ground a few feet down. He didn’t let up in his chase, though, and sped after Kaoz as he took off down the makeshift track in the back field of the Bellamy.

  “You’re crazy!” Liberty cried out.

  He only laughed. Cort zigzagged through the field with Joss, splashing mud all over her for the fun of it, and by the time they finished for the evening, their clothes would be stiff with mud.

  Good—he could peel Liberty’s off her and have a go at her curves that had been driving him nuts since their ride to purchase the tractor.

  When they got near Kaoz, his cousin looked over at him, a laugh on his face. But not for long, because Aidan skidded to a stop, shooting mud over his cousin.

  Liberty pinched his side. “Brielle took most of that!”

  “Sorry, Brielle!” he called, zooming away before his cousin could seek revenge.

  He selected a path that would lead them around to the river. When he slowed, Liberty twisted to see the view. He pulled to a stop near the covered dock leading out to the water. The Bellamy edged up to the river, and the waterfront property meant a lot of happy summers spent playing here as kids.

  He let the engine of the four-wheeler idle so he could talk to Liberty.

  “This is great!” Her excited tone brought a smile to his lips.

  “Want to walk out on the dock?”

  “No way.”

  He twisted to look at her. “Why not? You afraid of water?”

  “I’m afraid of you pushing me into the water. I don’t want to be soaking wet and chafe the rest of the evening.”

  They shared a laugh. “All right, another day.”

  “It really is beautiful here.”

  He nodded.

  At that moment the other two four-wheelers holding his cousins and their wives drove up on either side of theirs. Cort raised his chin toward the covered dock. “Thinkin’ about a barbecue soon.”

  “Hell yeah,” Kaoz chimed in.

  “Bring your bathing suit next time, Liberty,” Joss called over from her perch behind Cort. They’d been taking the easiest routes with no bumps to make it easier on the pregnant woman, and they’d avoided most of the mud Kaoz and Aidan wore.

  “I will!”

  He loved seeing her letting loose like this. He’d never seen her so at ease and wearing a constant smile and hoped he didn’t spot those creases of worry on her forehead ever again.

  Soon she wouldn’t have anything to stress over. He had an appointment in the morning with his lawyer, and he’d end her ordeal with her ex picking her pockets clean once and for all.

  Kaoz took off first, and the others followed, playing cat and mouse on the trail back, racing to see who would reach the ranch first. Cort won, but he always did know his father’s land better and took all the easy shortcuts.

  After they hosed off the playthings and parked them in the big garage, they followed their noses to the bunkhouse, where a ranch hand for the Bellamy had the grill going with hamburgers.

  “Got enough for us?” Cort asked.

  Theo waved toward the bunkhouse. “Grab the package outta the fridge, and I’ll cook more up.”

  Cort went to fetch the burgers, and the rest of them grabbed benches, lawn chairs and a few stumps into a grouping on the lawn. Aidan kept Liberty near, and she sat chatting with Joss and Brielle. With his woman tucked against his side, Aidan couldn’t think of a better end to the day than this kind of fun.

  “Heard you got the tractor,” Cort said.

  “We did, this morning.”

  “That’s real good. Nice price, I hope.”

  “Aidan swindled them down five hundred dollars more,” Liberty told them.

&n
bsp; “Aidan can charm a snake out of its scales,” Kaoz drawled. “Get your trees cut?”

  “No, but Liberty did.”

  She looked over at the sound of her name.

  “Well, you’re a true Bellamy now, aren’t you? Clearing timber to make way for that water line.”

  Her smile remained on her face, but Aidan noted how her body stiffened. His brows pinched as he watched her face. She spoke to the others about using the chainsaw, but that glow she’d worn moments ago didn’t return. What could have set her off? He could only guess it was Kaoz’s offhanded remark.

  You’re a true Bellamy now.

  After that, she wasn’t as talkative and didn’t smile as much. They ate their burgers and soon took their leave, since everyone had an early start the next day, and Joss said she had a doctor’s appointment for a pregnancy checkup.

  As they walked to Aidan’s truck, he reached out and grabbed Liberty’s hand. She let him hold it, and he threaded their fingers. “A fun evening.”

  “It was,” she said.

  He stopped and spun her into his arms. Tipping her face up to him, he studied her eyes and the small freckles of mud she hadn’t managed to wipe off. “What’s bugging you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “That isn’t true. I know you, and you clammed up after Kaoz called you a Bellamy.”

  She dropped her gaze to his chest. “Well, I’m not really, am I? I mean…”

  He took her by the fingers and rubbed his thumb over her rings. “You did choose to take my name. And I’m pretty sure this makes you one.”

  She lowered her head to his chest and hugged him in return. “It’s all so strange. Do you think the others suspect anything about our…arrangement?”

  “No.” He rested his chin on top of her head, glaring out at the land as if daring any man who would challenge his position right now. No matter what happened with the lawyer or the problems with Liberty’s ex, he wouldn’t be able to walk away from her easily.

  “You know,” he said softly, “I was so proud of you cutting those trees yesterday, and I never thought it’d be fun to buy a tractor.”

  She met his stare. “I had fun too. And I was proud of myself for using the chainsaw.”