To Kiss a Cowgirl

by Jeannie Watt

  Jolie got out of the truck without a word and went back to unload her mare. She released the horse into the pasture, where it loped off to meet her equine buddies.

  From the fenced yard, booming barks reverberated, making Jolie smile ruefully as she returned to where Dylan was waiting for her, coiling and recoiling the lead rope as she walked. She laid it on the hood of her truck and continued on to where Dylan stood near the gate post.

  “Good thing I don’t have close neighbors,” she said.

  “Yeah.” He looked down at her, once again hooking his thumbs in his belt loops.

  Jolie took a step forward and covered his hands with her own, holding them as she rose up on her toes and kissed him.

  “Thanks for coming with me.”

  “What happened to being non-kissing friends?” he asked. Having his hands held down was making him hard.

  “I guess I’m not totally against kissing.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “I guess we have this time right now and I’m afraid that when you go back to Washington, I’m going to regret not taking advantage of it.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Are you going to keep talking?”

  “Just making sure it won’t get awkward again.”

  She nipped his lower lip and there was no more getting hard. He was hard. Rock-hard, ready to go.

  He unhooked his thumbs from his belt loops and pushed his hands into her hair, holding her as he answered the nip with a crushing kiss that had them clinging to one another. There were no more questions. No need for answers.

  When he lifted his head, Jolie eased herself out of his embrace and reached for his hand. Linking their fingers together, she led the way across the driveway. And, Dylan imagined, paradise.

  Gus ambushed them at the gate then followed them into the house, making it impossible to do what Dylan wanted to do, which was to back Jolie against the front door and start a long, slow exploration of her mouth and then start peeling her out of those rodeo clothes.

  Jolie greeted the dog that bounded around her, rubbed his fuzzy head, then opened the door and allowed him to gallop out into the yard. He turned, seemingly perplexed that she hadn’t followed him, and she closed the door then leaned against it.

  Her hair was ruffled, lips swollen and the look in her eyes as she regarded him made Dylan wonder what had taken them so long to get to this point. They’d both known they were heading here and it suddenly seemed as if they’d wasted a whole lot of time jockeying for position.

  “Now,” Jolie said from where she stood with her hands behind her, leaning against the door. “Where were we?”

  Dylan took a slow step forward, carefully placed a palm against the door on either side of her face and leaned close. “I think I was about to do this,” he said, brushing his lips over hers in a light kiss. Her eyes drifted shut and he kissed her again, their tongues meeting this time, touching lightly, teasing, before the serious kissing began.

  Jolie finally gave a small moan before pulling her mouth away and gesturing toward the staircase with a quick motion of her head.

  Dylan did not need a second invitation. He took her by the hand and led the way upstairs. As she passed the thermostat, Jolie cranked it on, saying something about not freezing. Dylan saw no way that freezing was anywhere near possible.

  She opened a door and led him into a darkened room, stopping close to the bed. She glanced around her as if looking for something. When she met his perplexed gaze she said, “I’m looking for my boot jack. I’m pretty much stuck in these pants until I get my boots off.”

  “We can’t have that,” he said.

  “This is the way life is,” she said. “Never a bootjack when you need one.” She sat on the bed and held up her foot. “Please?”

  “If it’ll help get those pants off.” Dylan took the foot she offered him and rather expertly pulled off the boot then gestured for the other. Jolie complied and after removing the second boot, he peeled off her socks, running his hands over her bare feet in soft caresses only to have her pull them away.

  “I’m ticklish,” she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

  “Good information to have,” Dylan said. “What else don’t I know about you?”

  She leaned back on her elbows, looking up at him. “That I want you naked?”

  “I’d almost guessed that one,” he said as he started unbuttoning his shirt.

  She got to her feet and covered his hands with her own. “Let me.”

  He dropped his hands to his sides and watched as she unfastened the buttons one after another. Then, smart girl that she was, she lifted each wrist and released the cuffs. Slowly she pushed the shirt off his shoulders, allowing it to fall into a heap on the floor behind him, before skimming her hands over his chest, down his sides. A faint smile curved her lips as she touched him, giving him the feeling that she’d thought about this before, about touching him, making love to him.

  She curled her fingers inside the waistband of his jeans, her eyes meeting his in a serious way and he could see that she was feeling as impatient as he was. They’d talk and play and laugh later. Right now he needed her. Needed to feel her underneath him, needed to feel her respond, and convince him that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He took hold of the edges of her shirt and pulled, unsnapping the pearl fasteners in a series of quick pops.

  “Your pants,” she muttered as she fumbled with his belt. He helped her out and the next thing he knew his pants were being pushed down over his hips and he was in her hand. He closed his eyes as her palm grazed the length of him then her fingers circled him and squeezed. He stepped back, needing her to be as naked as he was.

  Jolie understood and unsnapped her bra, tossing it aside. Her jeans followed and Dylan stepped in to slowly peel down her panties, caressing her as he did so.

  Jolie gasped through her teeth, her eyes shutting as his fingers stroked her damp core. “More,” she murmured, once again taking hold of him, caressing him, and he returned the favor.

  He was sure they were both going to come in a matter of minutes. There was nothing wrong with that, but he wanted to be inside her. Did. Not. Want. To. Wait.

  When he pulled his hand away from her hot center, Jolie’s eyes came open, a frown pulling her eyebrows together. “Condom,” he murmured against her mouth before turning to find his jeans and dig his wallet out.

  Jolie took the package from him, tore it open and slowly, slowly rolled it over his erection. And then she lay back on the bed, pulling Dylan down with her, kissing him long and deep as he pressed against her, gasping against his mouth as he eased inside.

  And after that all he was aware of was how perfect and wet and tight she was. How he wasn’t going to be satisfied doing this just once. Or twice. How her clever hands kept sending him closer to the brink. And when she suddenly arched against him and he felt her throb around him, seeming to pull him even more deeply inside her, it was too much. He lost control, even though he’d wanted to last so much longer.

  Collapsing against her, he let out a long, long breath, closing his eyes as she brought a hand up to stroke his damp skin. He rolled off her, tucked her against him and fell sound asleep.

  * * *

  DAYLIGHT WAS FILTERING in through the sheer curtains when Dylan opened his eyes. His arm was draped over Jolie, so he pulled her closer, drawing the length of her soft body close to his before loosely closing a hand over her breast. She made a small sound and moved against him, making him swell against her backside. She turned in his arms, a soft smile curving her lips as she nestled against him.

  “Raccoon eyes?” she asked, blinking at him.

  He fought a smile as he rubbed a thumb under the faint shadow under her eyes. “Nothing to speak of.”

  She rolled onto her
back and stared up at the ceiling.

  “Regrets?”

  “None.” But she didn’t look at him, which made him wonder. He brushed his hand across her flat belly and she rolled her head to meet his eyes. “Honest. It’s just that...well... I didn’t expect last night to rock my world as hard as it did.”

  He felt his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Same here.”

  He felt warm. Good. And...satisfied to be there with her. As if she’d been the piece missing from his life. He’d never felt that way about Lindsey. He’d loved her and they’d been good together in the beginning, but he’d never had this feeling of oneness before.

  Jolie turned toward him to form herself against him. “Is Mike going to wonder where you are?”

  “Probably not.” His grandfather was no fool.

  “Should we think about getting to work?” she asked, a lazy note in her voice.

  Dylan brought his forehead down to touch hers. “We could. Or we could be a little late.”

  “I’m shocked to hear my boss talking that way.”

  “Yeah?” He murmured close to her ear and then told her exactly why they were going to be late. Her eyes widened and a wicked smile curved her lips as she reached down to circle him with her fingers.

  “You’re on.”

  * * *

  THE NEXT TWO days in the store were interesting to say the least—especially when Dylan suggested that they make use of her box of leftover lingerie party stock.

  Oh, yeah...interesting. Jolie couldn’t think of another time in her life when she’d spent so much time anticipating. They had a couple weeks left together and she was going to enjoy every minute of it, even if part of her was shouting out a warning that she and Dylan needed to talk. Needed to make certain they were on the same page. The this-is-fun-for-now page.

  After her startling realization the first time they’d made love, she refused to allow herself to think along those lines. Yes, she felt for him deeply, but this was no different from any other of her relationships. They’d continue as they were until he left and then that would be that. She wasn’t going to Washington and he’d made it very clear to her during their late-night talk that he had some issues to settle there. He had to return. They would part sharing special memories.

  And she was beginning to think that the day of parting needed to come soon, because for the first time ever, she had a feeling it was not going to be easy. That it might even be a touch painful.

  But better to suffer a little pain now than a lot of pain later.

  She refused to think of sleeping with Dylan, of sharing herself with him, as a mistake. Sex with Dylan was one of the most powerful experiences of her life. She was going to ignore the little voice murmuring to her that it was too powerful...to the point of being dangerous.

  * * *

  AFTER MAKING HIS motel reservations for his next trip to Lanesburg, Dylan hung up the phone and was struck by a hard question. Why? Why was he pursuing this plan so doggedly?

  Yes, he’d like to make detective. But did he want to live in Lanesburg? Was showing Pat that he wasn’t about to back down or disappear with his tail between his legs worth screwing up the rest of his life?

  Because what did he have there and what did he have here?

  When placed side by side, there wasn’t much of a question as to what he had where. On the Lanesburg side he had retirement credit and a job at a desk. The potential of making detective and one hell of a lot of stress until he did. On the Montana side, he had his grandfather and Jolie. No job. No place to live, but that was easily solved...once he got a job.

  Once planted, the thought refused to die. Why go back to a life he wasn’t certain he even wanted when he could build a new one here—in the place where he was born? His dad had wanted him to leave. To not be one of the guys who never saw any part of the world except for their small corner of Montana. But he had seen the world. Experienced life in a big way. Now he was ready to come back home.

  Half an hour later he picked up the phone and called Jess Moody from the warehouse.

  “If that position is still open, I’d like to apply.”

  “It closes day after tomorrow,” Jess said. “Only a one-week posting.”

  “Look... I’m still kind of debating, but I want to keep my options open.”

  “I understand. You know I’m going to put in a word for you, though.”

  Dylan smiled a little. “I appreciate that.”

  Feeling ridiculously optimistic, Dylan went into the store to find Jolie selling a piece of silver to an elderly lady. She smiled at Dylan with such warmth and promise that his heart stuttered a little.

  Yeah. He was definitely applying for that job.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  EARLY FRIDAY MORNING while waiting for a delivery driver to finish paperwork, Dylan got a call from the Eagle Valley Sheriff’s Office offering him an interview on the following Monday—three days before his board oral exam.

  He accepted the interview, then dropped his phone into his pocket and stood regarding the truck just outside the bay door. He hadn’t told Mike about the possibility of staying in Montana because he knew how much his granddad wanted him to stay. No sense getting the guy’s hopes up. He hadn’t told Jolie, either, for the same reason. He liked to have everything in place before proceeding forward. The last thing he wanted to do was to raise hopes only to disappoint those close to him.

  The driver approached and held out his clipboard. Dylan signed and the guy headed back to his truck. Once he pulled away, Marcel trotted out from under a pallet and went straight to his empty food bowl, giving Dylan a hey-stupid-my-bowl-is-empty look.

  “You’re supposed to catch your supper,” Dylan muttered. The cat skittered away as he approached, but didn’t disappear as he used to. Jolie was right—a hungry cat was a friendly cat, and once Marcel figured out that Dylan also knew how to fill a food bowl, he’d started hanging around out in the open more often. The previous afternoon he’d found Marcel sleeping on the seat of the forklift and discovered that there was something satisfying about the standoffish cat coming to trust him in his own distant way. Trust was not something Dylan took lightly.

  Mike hadn’t come to the store that morning, which left Dylan and Jolie to deal with more customers than usual. He was beginning to think Jolie’s theory was correct; that people rushed in to buy feed just before account billings went out. But business had picked up in other ways, so he wasn’t complaining. And because Mike wasn’t there to BS, his cronies didn’t hang around drinking coffee for as long, but there were still plenty of people to fill the store.

  By the end of the day Jolie pronounced it the best day they’d had since she’s come on board and Dylan suggested a night out to celebrate. “Let’s pretend you didn’t call off the bet.”

  “I have a night out tonight,” she reminded him dryly. “McElroy’s?”

  “I was thinking next Sunday, when you don’t have a rodeo interfering with my plans. Dinner out. Someplace with cloth napkins.” The only places they’d been to had been the café and McElroy’s. Their time together had been a study in informality, but Dylan had a hankering to see Jolie dressed up, smiling at him over a glass of wine.

  She considered his offer for a moment, leaning on the counter, chin in her palm, green eyes dancing. “Cloth napkins, you say. Hard to pass that up.”

  He grinned at her. “I hear they’re real nice.”

  She smiled back. “I’d love to.”

  He put his hand over hers and leaned in to kiss her just as the bell jangled.

  “Hey now. None of that,” Morley called across the store.

  Dylan stepped back. “Caught me,” he said, wondering how long until Mike was notified of what Morley had witnessed.

  Jolie came around the counter. “Do you have a list for me?”<
br />
  Morley pulled a paper out of his pocket and Dylan felt warmth spread through him as he watched her squint to decipher Lillian Ames’s faint handwriting.

  Soon after Morley left they closed the store and he went home with Jolie to help her feed, then drove her to the bar. There was only one car in the lot—Jim’s.

  Dylan swung the truck close to the side door. “Looks to be a slow start to the evening.”

  “You should come in for a while,” Jolie said as she gathered her purse and jacket.

  “Tempting.”

  She leaned across the truck toward him, lifted her eyebrows suggestively. “That’s me. Ever the temptress.”

  He closed the distance between them, gave her a quick kiss. “Let’s go, temptress.”

  She laughed and got out of the truck, leading the way through the side door. Jim appeared mildly surprised to see Dylan tagging along behind his server. “Expecting trouble from Maddox and Company tonight?” he asked Jolie.

  “I’m buying my boss a drink,” she replied lightly.

  “Why, thank you,” Jim said with exaggerated politeness.

  “My bosses,” she corrected.

  Jim’s questioning gaze connected with Dylan’s. “Do you ever really feel like her boss?”

  Dylan shook his head. “Never have. Probably never will.”

  Jim gave a commiserating nod and lifted a bottle of Knob Creek. Dylan nodded and Jim poured two fingers and passed it to him. Then he shot seltzer into two glasses, passed one to Jolie and lifted the other himself. “To quiet Fridays—may they be few and far between.”

  Jolie touched her glass to Dylan’s, a smile lighting her eyes, making him wonder for the umpteenth time why he hadn’t fallen for her long ago. He needed to make up for lost time and, if things worked out the way he hoped, he’d have an opportunity to do that.

  Patrons trickled in and Jolie went to work, while Dylan hung at the bar, talking to Jim between customers. Bartenders and cops had a lot in common, as in they both dealt with a clientele that wasn’t always on its best behavior. Jolie seemed to enjoy their swapping of war stories and added a few of her own when she wasn’t busy.