Rodeo King (Dustin Lovers Book 1)

by Chaffin, Char

  Tearing his lips from hers, he ran them down the side of her slender throat, nipping the hot skin, lingering at the curve of shoulder and neck where he knew she was most sensitive. When he bit down, a shudder passed through her body. She untangled the fingers of one hand from his hair and scraped her nails over his chest, to the edge of his jeans, until she reached his button fly. Her palm caged him there, one eager press against the denim covering his hard-on.

  “Christ,” he muttered, moving his hips in time with her strokes. He raised his head until he could engulf her mouth in another exploring kiss. Her breath hitched and the tiny sob she loosed against his tongue belied the way she clutched him tighter. “Rosie . . .”

  “Rosie, what the hell!”

  The words, uttered in an angry male voice, came from behind them and she froze in his arms, pulling her lips from his, uncurling her fingers from his scalp. She snatched her hand from his groin and dropped her face to his shoulder. Through his shirt he could feel the heat of embarrassment that emanated from her cheeks.

  Caleb glanced behind him and cursed under his breath as Mason stomped over.

  “Get away from her, Johnson,” he snarled.

  “I’m not holding on.” Caleb relaxed his arms and let them hang at his sides. The only connection remaining was Rosemary’s leg curled around his hips. Her face was still buried in his neck. “Your sister’s where she wants to be. Take a hike, Carmichael, before I forget we’re friends.”

  “We’re not friends, you son of a bitch. Not any longer.” Mason stepped closer and sent his sister a scathing glare. “Rosie, Carson’s running a fever. Susan called me when she couldn’t get hold of you. I tried calling too, but your phone must be dead.”

  “Oh, Lord.” She slapped her hands on Caleb’s chest and pushed him away. “I forgot to charge it! I’m sorry. How high of a fever? I’m sorry—”

  She stepped around him and plucked her purse off the ground where it had fallen when he’d held her against the wall.

  In that moment, with all of her attention on their son, Caleb knew whatever bond they’d begun forming had cracked. Like hell he’d let go of that bit of reconnection. He swung to face Mason’s ire and stated calmly, “I’ll go with you.”

  “No fucking way,” Mason bit out, surging toward him.

  Rosemary dug her fingers into her brother’s arm and held him back. “I can handle this, Mason. Caleb has a right to see his son—”

  “Why, because he shoved his tongue down your throat and felt you up in a damned alley? You think that means you’re better than any other piece of ass he’s planked from here to Casper?”

  Caleb had heard enough. “Goddamn it, watch your mouth.” He eased Rosemary aside and shot out a hand, fisting Mason’s shirt collar and dragging him to his toes, uncaring that he was choking him. If Mason wanted to throw down with him again, he’d oblige.

  “Caleb, let him go.” Rosemary tugged at his hand.

  Caleb tightened his fingers, wringing a grunt from Mason, before abruptly releasing him. Mason stumbled but managed to stay upright. Fury and something else that Caleb hoped might be shame radiated from him.

  “Call me anything you like, but never speak to your sister that way again, you got me?” Caleb stared him down, until Mason looked away, muttering under his breath.

  Reaching for her hand, Caleb pulled her toward the parking lot. “Let’s go.” He didn’t wait for her acquiescence, but strode to where several cars were parked. “Which one’s yours?”

  “The blue Honda.” She pointed to a little Civic. Now she was the one pulling him. “Hurry, okay? Fevers really scare me.”

  “We’ll take care of him, honey. He’ll be all right,” Caleb assured her.

  As he climbed into the passenger seat and Rosemary gunned the engine, Caleb hoped to hell he wasn’t lying.

  Chapter Six

  Rosemary peeled out of the parking lot like a seasoned Indy 500 driver, which only increased the knots in Caleb’s stomach. Little kids got fevers all the time, right? Following on the heels of that thought was how many years Rosemary had done this all on her own while he’d been out there making a name for himself. The only name that applied now was asshole.

  They tore through town before turning onto Smithy Road, which led to an older section of Dustin. Screeching down Benson Drive, she barely brought the car to a complete stop before she flung her door open and raced toward the front porch of a small, older two-story house.

  Caleb steeled himself to meet his kid for real this time. He grabbed the keys she’d left in the ignition and followed Rosemary up the porch stairs and into the house. Despite his worry, he took note of the place where she and her son—no, their son—lived. The interior of the house was as tidy as the outside. From what he could sense, Rosemary’s presence was in every corner of the cozy rooms.

  Is this what our home would have looked like if I’d stuck around long enough to find out I was going to be a father?

  There was no doubt in his mind he would have married Rosemary. Even if Mason hadn’t been standing behind him with a shotgun. But a little voice in the back of his head told him he’d have grown to resent her. Back in the day, his only focus was the rodeo, and how big a name he could make for himself. Looking back now at his wins and losses, and his resultant injury, it all seemed so childish.

  Rosemary’s boots beat a cadence as she hurried up the carpeted stairs, then made an abrupt turn into an open bedroom door. Without waiting for an invitation he followed her.

  The wail of a crying child and a woman’s low, soothing voice greeted him. Carson slumped on the bed, bent over, and from where Caleb stood the kid’s breathing was not sounding good. Rosemary sat alongside the boy and touched his forehead. She gasped and looked at Susan, pacing near the window. “He’s so hot.”

  “I gave him some children’s fever reducer a little while ago, but it didn’t seem to work,” Susan stopped pacing and shot Caleb a don’t-mess-with-my-best-friend glare. “And his breathing is pretty bad.”

  Caleb felt like a third wheel here. Rosemary and Susan had probably been through something like this before. Totally clueless on how things worked with kids, fevers, and breathing problems, all he could think of was how they needed to get him to an emergency room. Carson’s lips were blue as he struggled to take in air. The worry Caleb felt kicked any residual buzz from his brain, instantly alert as he studied his son’s flushed cheeks.

  After years of watching medical emergencies from stomped-on cowboys along the circuit, his normal decisive attitude took over. He strode to the bed, scooped Carson up, blankets and all, and headed for the door. “Hang on, buddy,” he said, as the boy laid his head on his chest.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Rosemary yelled as she ran after him. “Put my son down.”

  Pausing, he said quietly, “I’m taking our son to the emergency room.”

  Susan flanked his other side, tugging on Caleb’s arm. “You have no right.”

  “Get out of my way. I have every right.” He nudged Susan aside and cast a glance over his shoulder to a stunned Rosemary. “Let’s go.”

  Either his growl or her motherly instinct kicked in because she quickly grabbed a furry stuffed animal from the boy’s bed, and raced behind him.

  “Rosemary, you can’t let him do this,” Susan shouted from the top of the stairs as Caleb shifted Carson to open the front door.

  “He’s right, Susan. Carson needs help.” Rosemary followed him out into the dark night.

  She climbed into the passenger seat and held her arms out to Caleb. He placed Carson on her lap and strode to the other side. “Is the hospital still on Baker and Montrose?”

  “Yeah.” Her voice had gone thick with emotion.

  Caleb glanced briefly at Carson. “Has he had breathing problems before?”

  “Not like this. Only the usual colds and some allergies, but this is bad. He started coughing yesterday morning but I thought it was just a summer cold.” Rosemary chewed her plump
lips, where only about ten minutes ago he’d been happily nibbling. He shook his head to clear it from those thoughts. Right now they had to get Carson taken care of.

  Caleb reached out and touched her hand. “It will be all right. The doctors will fix him right up.”

  ***

  Why did his assurance calm her down? Caleb knew nothing about children, fevers, or anything else that she’d lived with—alone—all these years. But seeing his determined face as he whipped around cars on their race to the hospital did just that. It had always been Mason who’d stepped in to take on the role of daddy when she’d needed him to. Now she had to deal with Carson’s actual father. But for how long?

  She hugged her son’s overly-warm body closer and looked out the window at the stores and houses as they whizzed by. It was best not to get used to Caleb being here. Sure, he was taking charge now, and acted the part of the doting father, but her heart told her he’d up and leave as soon as whatever it was that brought him back here was fixed.

  She hadn’t missed his slight limp and occasional wince when he moved. He’d obviously decided to take a little time off to recover from an injury. But why here? His parents had left town years ago. Did he choose Dustin because of me? She snorted. Even she wasn’t stupid enough to believe that.

  The car came to a screeching halt outside Emergency. She’d managed to unfasten her seatbelt about a second before Caleb wrenched her door open. He gently took Carson from her arms, then rushed toward the entrance, leaving her gaping after them.

  “Wait!” She scrambled to catch up as they all reached the reception desk.

  “What have we here?” The night duty nurse looked over the top of her computer monitor as the emergency doors slid closed with a whoosh.

  “My son has a high fever and he’s having a lot of trouble breathing,” Rosemary said.

  “All right. Follow me and we’ll get him checked out.” The nurse led them to an empty bed and pulled up the safety rails. “Please lay him down there,” she instructed Caleb.

  “Mommy.” Carson stretched out his hand. Rosemary placed her palm on his forehead, Still so hot. She looked down at his frightened little face and her stomach did a whirl.

  “Sir, if you’ll come with me, you can give me the boy’s insurance information and whatever else we need.”

  “Rosie,” Caleb said, “maybe you should do that.”

  “No. I’m staying here with Carson.” She gripped his little fingers as if to anchor herself from being dragged from the room.

  He sighed. “I don’t know the information she’s going to ask.”

  “Ma’am.” The nurse regarded her with sympathy. “Let his daddy stay with him. It’ll only take a few minutes to get the paperwork filled out.”

  His daddy. Had Carson heard her? She glanced down at her son, who was having trouble taking a breath. God, I hope not.

  Rosemary had to beat down the desire to lash out at the nurse as she followed her to the reception desk. She and Carson had always done just fine on their own. Fighting off tears, she fished around in her purse for her insurance card. Carson belonged to only her. How could she share him now?

  “The little guy sure looks like his daddy.”

  Gritting her teeth, Rosemary handed the card over. The low-pitched tones of Caleb’s soothing voice carried into the hallway. What was he saying to her son?

  After signing numerous forms she returned to Carson’s bedside just as another nurse entered. “We have a little bit of a breathing problem, young man?” The middle-aged woman smiled at Carson as she took his pulse, then swiped his forehead with a thermometer. She moved to the computer and entered information. The night nurse came back into the room with a plastic bracelet that she fastened to Carson’s wrist.

  “How bad is his temperature?” Rosemary tried to look over the attending nurse’s shoulder at the computer screen, but couldn’t see the numbers.

  “It’s slightly over one hundred and two.”

  Fear gripped her stomach. “That’s dangerous, isn’t it?”

  The nurse approached the side of Carson’s bed and put a blood pressure cuff on him. “Children tend to have higher fevers than adults. It’s not unusual.”

  All this time Caleb had been hovering on the other side of Carson’s bed, his face creased with worry. Now he moved to stand beside her, slipping his arm around her shoulders. She allowed herself to relax into his strength, the warmth of his body easing her chills, before remembering were she was at and who she was with.

  She glanced sideways at Caleb. “You don’t have to stay. Though I do appreciate the help.”

  A stubborn expression formed on his handsome face. “Aside from the fact I have no car, I plan to stay right here until I know what our boy’s problem is.”

  Rosemary fought to keep her cool. Lord, the man had her twisted in knots and he’d only been back in town for a couple of days.

  “Mommy, my chest hurts.”

  She slid out from under Caleb’s arm and stepped to the bed to sit alongside her son. “I know, sweetheart. That’s why we’re here. The doctor will come in and make you feel all better.”

  This was certainly not the time or place to resurrect the feelings of abandonment she’d suffered when the doctor confirmed her pregnancy and she had no idea where Caleb was.

  Carson nodded as another bout of coughing overtook him. His face turned red and he gagged for a minute before leaning back against the pillow, looking so small and vulnerable in the baggy hospital gown.

  “Where the hell is the doctor?” Caleb growled, and began to pace around the bed.

  Rosemary pushed the hair back from Carson’s forehead, her heart speeding up when she felt the heat coming from his body. Yes, where the hell was the doctor?

  After about ten minutes of Carson coughing, Caleb pacing, and Rosemary ready to pull her hair out, the doctor knocked softly on the door and pushed it open.

  “Good evening.” He stuck his hand out to Caleb. “I’m Dr. Vine.” He nodded in Rosemary’s direction. “I understand we have a sick little boy here.”

  “He started coming down with a cold a couple of days ago, but tonight his coughing got much worse and he has a pretty high fever.” Rosemary pushed aside her anxiety and strove to respond as calmly as possible.

  “Well, let’s take a listen.” The doctor moved to Carson’s side and placed a stethoscope against his chest. From the wince he made, the instrument must have been cold. Dr. Vine frowned and moved the stethoscope to Carson’s back.

  “Pneumonia,” he pronounced, after a few more checks.

  “Pneumonia!” She and Caleb said at the same time.

  “Yes, sir. This little guy has pneumonia.”

  Rosemary burst into tears. What kind of a mother was she that her son developed pneumonia and she thought it was only a cold?

  Carson coughed, his small body jerking from the strain. Caleb moved to her side and once again slipped his arms around her. “It’ll be all right.”

  “Now, now, mother. These things happen. Kids can go from being fine to very sick in no time. Remember, when we adults are sick, we start to think about taking care of the problem right away. A child usually ignores any symptoms until he’s flat on his back.”

  “So what needs to be done?” Caleb asked, worry evident in his voice.

  “Given his fever and his age, I’m going to admit him.”

  Helpless fear made her tremble. I hate falling apart like this. Especially in front of Caleb. She’d handled all of Carson’s illnesses and other mishaps on her own, no problem. Now she was acting like a sobbing teenager in a bad movie.

  She pulled away and wiped her cheeks. “I want to spend the night here with him.”

  “That should be no problem. I’ll have him transferred to Pediatrics and you can work that out with the nurses.”

  The doctor looked briefly at Caleb before he turned to the computer and began typing furiously. “It might be a problem if you both want to stay.”

  “It’ll just be
me,” Rosemary replied.

  Dr. Vine merely gave a quick nod and continued entering information. Rosemary raised her chin and regarded Caleb. “I’m going to run home and pick up a few things. I can drop you off wherever you’re staying.”

  Caleb tensed. Rosemary waited for him to disagree with her, but then he gave a curt nod. “All right. I’m at the Bronco Inn. Unit Fourteen.”

  “That studio Nash rents by the week?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s a decent room.” Feeling more in control of herself now, she sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Carson’s cheek. “Mommy’s going home to get a few things so I can stay overnight with you.”

  “Don’t leave.” Two tears tracked down his sweet face as he gripped her hand.

  “I won’t be gone long, promise.” She leaned in and kissed his forehead.

  “No.” Carson peeked at Caleb from under lowered lashes. “Can’t the man go and get your things?”

  “He doesn’t know what to get, or where to find things, honey. Suppose I call Aunt Susie to bring what I need?”

  After another lengthy bout of coughing, Carson nodded and collapsed against the pillow.

  “I’m going to have the nurse give him a breathing treatment before he goes upstairs.” Apparently having finished what he needed to do on the computer, Dr. Vine opened the door and was gone in a flash.

  “I don’t like that doctor.” Caleb frowned at the door as it swung shut. “He spent more time on the computer than he did looking at Carson.”

  “I have to agree with you there.” She pulled her phone from her pocket. “Carson, I’m going to step outside and call Aunt Susie to bring my things. But I’ll be right back, and I’ll only be on the other side of the door, okay?”

  She elbowed Caleb. “Would you mind joining me?”

  He blinked, but nodded. “Sure.”

  Once they were far enough away from the door that Carson wouldn’t be able to hear them, she came to an abrupt halt and turned. “What did you say to Carson while I was at the reception desk?”