“What’s that?”
“You said you haven’t had sex for months, but how long has it been since you’ve . . . er”—she glanced down at his crotch—“ejaculated?”
He took a bite and almost choked. He swallowed it down with a healthy swig of wine. “You want to know the last time I jacked off? Why do you need to know that?”
“A proper semen analysis requires you to be abstinent for at least three days before a collection.”
He felt his color rising. “I guess that might be a bit of a problem.” A day hadn’t gone by since that kiss in her kitchen that he hadn’t had to take himself in hand.
“All right,” she replied slowly. “Do you think you might be able to . . . er . . . abstain for the next few days?”
“I s’pose I can manage as long as you can keep your hands to yourself,” he teased.
She ignored the bait. “The clinic is over in Ardmore. It’s usually not too hard to get an appointment for labs and specimen collections. Do you think you could go on Wednesday? If we ask them to expedite the lab results, we should have everything back by the time I reach my peak fertility window.”
“Damn,” Zac muttered. “That’s a bit of a problem.”
“Why’s that?” she asked.
“I’m driving to Vegas tomorrow to meet with Ty.”
Her smile faded. “You’re leaving again? But you just got back.”
“I know,” he sighed. “But he’s leaving in a few days on a trip out of the country and I need to set some things straight with him before he goes.”
“What kinda things?” she asked.
He paused. “Delaney kinda things. Although he technically doesn’t have any say over anything that goes on between you and me, I don’t like the idea of doing anything behind his back. He and I need to talk.”
“I see your point,” she said. “This situation could get really awkward.”
“Don’t fret about that. I can handle Ty,” he reassured. “Maybe I can get my testing done first and then leave for Vegas. A coupla days delay won’t matter none as long as I get there before he leaves.”
“When will you be back?” she asked.
“I was originally planning to return by the weekend, but if I have to wait and go to the clinic first, it’ll probably be next Tuesday or Wednesday.” Now that he knew Delaney would be waiting for him, his driving time just got a lot shorter. He’d burn up the highway and go eighteen sleepless hours to get back to her in time.
“But that’s too late!” Delaney lamented. “I’ll miss my entire window.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we don’t do this by next weekend, I won’t have another chance for twenty-eight days.”
“Why’s that? I don’t understand. Back in high school, they scared the bejeesus out of us talking about how easy it is to get pregnant.”
“It only is if the timing is just right, or all wrong,” she said, “depending on how you look at it. A woman’s peak fertility window is based on the five-day lifespan of a man’s sperm and the life span of the egg, which is only twenty-four hours. That means the best chance of getting pregnant is from five days before ovulation through to the day of ovulation. After that, it’s virtually impossible to get pregnant.”
Vegas just became the trip to hell.
Zac rubbed his chin in thought. After today’s act of supreme self-restraint, he didn’t think he could survive another whole month of waiting. “All right then. I guess you’ll just have to go with me.”
“Go with you? To Vegas?”
“Why not?” he asked.
“I can’t just up and leave. I have a ranch to run and cows to breed.”
“I could ask Bart to look after the ranch,” Zac said. “As to the cows”—he shrugged—“I guess you need to think real hard about what’s more important to you.”
Delaney gazed out over the lake. The shadows of the surrounding trees had lengthened, and the ripples in the deep blue waters had taken on hints of orange and pink as the sun dipped in the sky. She’d enjoyed this time with Zac more than anything she could recall in recent memory. He’d surprised her in so many ways. The bull and two heifers he’d bought with her in mind, the dinner, and his even more astonishing act of self-restraint, all revealed a thoughtful and romantic side that she never would have suspected he possessed. He was the first person who’d ever put her needs and desires ahead of his own. She wondered if that would change after they slept together.
“Sun’s getting ready to set. We’d better pack up soon,” Zac remarked, but made no move to do so.
“I wish you weren’t leaving,” she said.
“I wish you’d go with me,” he countered.
“I told you why I can’t.”
“No, you told me why you won’t. There’s a big difference. You could go if you really wanted to.”
“I’m not going to drop everything on a whim, Zac. Yes, I’m eager to start trying for a baby, but one month isn’t going to make a lick of difference . . . unless—” She sat up abruptly. “You are coming back, aren’t you? I know we haven’t consummated it yet, but we do have a deal, right? You aren’t planning to stay in Vegas, are you?”
“I wasn’t planning to stay,” he reassured. “I have every intention of coming back as long as I have something to come back for. Do I, Delaney?” he asked softly.
She gazed up through her lashes. “Do you really have to ask me?”
Once the first frenzy of lust no longer fogged her mind, she’d tried to adopt a businesslike attitude, but she was anything but blasé about sleeping with Zac. He’d already given her a small taste of what was in store—or better said, he’d done the tasting—and he’d promised much more to come. She’d told herself this whole arrangement was only about baby-making, but it was impossible to ignore her heightened sense of anticipation.
All of a sudden the idea of having his baby seemed far too close to taking a dive off a cliff, and every hour spent with him pushed her a little closer to the edge. There was no way in hell she could have sex with him and not become emotionally committed. When he pulled her onto his lap for another long, dizzying kiss, she realized it was a moot point. It was already too late.
CHAPTER NINE
“Here you go, Mr. McDaniel.” The nurse handed Zac two plastic containers labeled with his identification number. “This one is for your urine specimen and the other is for your semen. Be sure to give us the urine first,” she continued. “After that, be certain to wash your penis before ejaculation. We don’t want anything to contaminate the specimen.”
Zac glanced around with a wince. She might as well have announced it over a loud speaker. The clinic wasn’t that busy, but it was impossible not to be overheard.
The nurse led him to a sterile-looking examination room complete with white paper table cover. “There’s a private bathroom through that door. The rest of the instructions are right here. I think you’ll find them self-explanatory.” She handed him a printed sheet.
Zac glanced down at the instructions in his hands.
1. Pass urine.
2. Wash hands and penis with soap to reduce the risk of contaminating the specimen.
3. Rinse away the soap.
4. Dry hands and penis with a fresh disposable towel.
5. Ejaculate into a sterile container.
“Any questions?” the nurse asked.
He looked at the tile ceiling and blew out a breath. “Nope. I think I got it. Thanks.” In truth, the instructions were a little vague on what should happen between steps number four and number five.
As if reading his mind, the nurse nodded to a cabinet in the corner with a TV and DVD player. “If you need any . . . er . . . assistance, there are some magazines and DVDs in the top drawer. Take as much time as you need.” She departed with a smile.
Zac stared at the closed door and then glowered at the plastic cups. Since walking into the clinic, he’d been stuck with needles and quizzed about everything from his birthplace to his
bowel movements. Now that it was finally time to give up the goods, he didn’t know if he was up to the task. Jacking off in the shower was one thing, but this?
He opened the drawer the nurse had indicated and discovered a stack of outdated and rumpled Playboy magazines and a few soft porn flicks. He slammed it shut again.
What he needed was proper motivation. Reminding himself of the end goal—Delaney—Zac inhaled a breath that he released on a stream of expletives and took his cups into the restroom. He filled the first cup easily thanks to the coffee he’d consumed on the drive, but the second proved a bigger challenge. Shutting his eyes, he traveled back three days to the lakeside, with Delaney moaning and writhing as he tongued her. He could almost taste her nectar on his lips. That memory alone was enough to get him stiff. He was just about to take himself in hand when his phone buzzed.
Shit. His eyes snapped open. He cursed himself for forgetting to turn it off. He didn’t need distractions right now. He plucked the phone out of his pocket, intent on ignoring the call until noticing Delaney’s number on the screen. “Zac here,” he answered tersely.
“Zac? It’s Delaney.”
“Ah. Can I call you back in a little bit? You kinda caught me at a bad time.” Literally with his pants down.
“Are you still in Oklahoma?” she asked, ignoring his request.
“Yup. I’m at the clinic in Ardmore. I’m leaving for Vegas as soon as I’m done here.”
“Oh, no, you aren’t!” she replied, sounding pissed as hell. “I need you back here right away, Zac.”
His throat tightened. “What the hell’s happened this time?”
“Your damned bull! That’s what’s happened, or should I say happen ing.”
“I’m not following you.”
“Apparently the horny son of a bitch climbed out of his corral and busted through the fence. He’s right now in my pasture breeding my cows!”
“Holy shit.”
“You’d better come get him. Now, Zac.”
Zac shouldered the phone and zipped up his jeans. “I’m almost two hours away. You do understand that by the time I get there the damage is already gonna be done.”
“I don’t care. I need you to fix this. I had a plan,” she replied tearfully. “I handpicked every bull for my cows and invested over ten grand in frozen semen. Now it’s all blown to hell because of your damned rogue bull!”
“How many did he get to?” Zac asked.
“Who knows? I gave them all hormones a few days ago to bring them into season. It’s a bovine buffet out there.”
She was furious for sure, but Zac had to suppress a chuckle. “Hang tight, sweetheart. I’m on my way. We’ll just have to figure something out when I get there.”
Zac placed the two specimen containers into their respective plastic bags and took them back to the nurses’ station. “Only one?” she asked, brows arched in question.
“Yeah,” Zac grunted. “I got interrupted by a phone call. I gotta leave. Is there any chance I can just bring this back?”
“How far away do you live?” she asked.
“’Bout two hours.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. McDaniel. That won’t work. We need it within an hour of emission to get an accurate analysis.”
“This is damned awkward, Miss . . .”
“Wanda,” she supplied. “Don’t be too concerned, Mr. McDaniel.” She offered a reassuring smile. “It’s not at all unusual for men to suffer performance anxiety in this setting.”
“Performance anxiety?” He shook his head with a snort of disgust. “That ain’t it at all. I got no problem getting it up, ma’am. I just got distracted.”
“There’s a simpler way to do this if you want to bring your significant other next time,” she suggested.
“How’s that?” Zac asked.
She opened a drawer and fished out a package with a telltale disc shape. “It’s a collection condom. They’re specially designed for this.” She nodded to a couple who’d just exited the exam room, both looking rumpled and smiling sheepishly. “It usually does the trick.”
Delaney slammed her cell phone on the counter and threw herself into a chair, where she finally gave in to the fit of angry tears. It was all Zac’s fault. Since that damned cowboy had walked into her life, all of her plans had gone to hell in a handbasket. Nothing was happening the way it was supposed to. First, her baby plans and now her calves. Her only consolation was that it was at least a bucking bull and not one of the longhorns that had busted in and ravished her heifers. Of course the shameless hussies had been perfectly happy to lift their tails and squat.
Her only hope was that they were too early in the cycle for fertilization. As long as Zac removed the bull before he got another go, maybe she could control the damage. She poured a glass of wine and waited for Zac.
Her nerves had begun to settle by the time she poured her second glass.
It would be at least a week before she could do any preg testing on the cows, but it actually wasn’t quite the disaster she’d first thought. The bull had bred her recipient cows but not the egg donor. Thank God, Diamond was still in her own pen and not turned out with the others.
She downed her third glass and then poured another.
She was feeling dangerously mellow by the time Zac pulled into the drive. She met him at the door, opening before he had a chance to knock.
“I’m damned sorry about this, Delaney,” he said. He stood there with hat in hand and apology on his lips. She focused mostly on the lips. She loved the shape of Zac’s mouth and the feel of it even better. “I’m confounded how he got out,” he continued. “It wasn’t negligence, I swear. He’s got an injured hock and I had him in a six-foot pen. It shouldn’t have happened.”
“I’m sorry for lashing out at you on the phone, Zac. I know it wasn’t your fault. These kinda things happen sometimes.”
He looked surprised. “So you’re not all pissed off anymore?”
“I still am,” she confessed with a hiccup. “But maybe not quite as much as before. Did you come to get your bull?”
“Already did,” Zac said. “I called Bart the minute I got off the phone with you. The bull’s already loaded up and on the way home. He didn’t fight us much.”
“I don’t imagine he had the energy,” she said dryly. “All that humping must have worn him out.”
“So he got to all of them?” Zac asked.
“Let’s just say he didn’t overlook any who were willing. I’m very disappointed with the low moral caliber of my cows.”
“Given that breeding is what you bought them for, you should be happy how eagerly they embraced the job,” Zac replied with a twitch of his fascinating mouth.
“But they aren’t supposed to breed indiscriminately. I had the studs all picked out before your cow-seducing Casanova came along.”
Zac cocked a brow. “Maybe they wanted to know the baby daddy instead of some anonymous stranger. Maybe they thought they’d be happier humping than taking a semen injection by syringe.”
“Point taken,” she said softly. “The idea of a syringe isn’t very appealing. Neither is a battery-operated vibrator.”
He cocked a brow. “That’s mighty illuminating.”
Her gaze locked with his, she licked her lips. Would he take it as an invitation?
“Did you get your testing done today?” she asked.
His gaze focused on her mouth and then darted over her left shoulder. “Mostly.”
“Mostly? What do you mean? Is something wrong?”
“I was at the clinic when you called. I had the full physical, the DNA, and the blood work. I even paid extra to get the results expedited.”
“Great,” she said. “When will they have the semen analysis back?”
His color deepened. He shut his eyes and blew out a breath. “I couldn’t give it to them.”
“What do you mean, ‘couldn’t’?”
“Shit, Delaney. The whole thing embarrassed the hell out of me. They gave me
a little container and sent me into a private room to jack off. It was really hard to do that knowing they all knew what I was doing in there. It was damned distracting and then your call came at the worst possible time.”
“Really?”
Zac’s cheekbones went deep bronze as she burst into a full paroxysm of giggles. “What’s so damned funny?”
“You, Zac. I’m just surprised. It never would have occurred to be that you’d have any trouble with that part.”
“Do you think all men can just perform on command like trained animals?”
“I never really thought about it that way. Didn’t they give you anything to . . . er . . . help you out?”
“Yeah,” he snorted. “They had soft porn.”
“And that didn’t . . .”
He glared. “No. It didn’t.”
She gazed up at him, wide-eyed. “Zac, I don’t see how we’re ever going to be able to do this if you’re unable to . . .”
“Told you I was distracted.” He stepped into her space. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’re treadin’ on real dangerous ground right now.”
“What do you mean?” she asked with feigned innocence.
“I’ll tell ya. There’s two things in this world you should never do. The first is pissing on an electric fence and the second is taunting a man about his manhood.”
“It was just a simple question, Zac. No need to get your”—she let her gaze drop to his crotch—“hackles . . . up. I just wonder how we’re going to solve your little problem.”
“It isn’t a problem,” Zac ground through his teeth. “You really wanna know how we’re gonna do this?” Before she understood what he was about, he spun her back to the door, muffling her gasp with his hot, hungry mouth. Bracing his arms on either side of her head, he ravaged her mouth with a deep and demanding kiss. She didn’t know if it was the wine or the kiss, but Delaney suddenly experienced the panicky sensation of a freefall.
She opened her eyes to look into his as Zac brought her hand down between them. He was hot and hard even through the thick layer of denim. “See? I got no problem now. There’s a real simple solution to doing this,” he growled into her ear. “You’re going back with me.”
Beauty and the Bull Rider Page 10