Wild Cowboy Nights

by Katee Robert

  “If you apologize, I might actually kick you.”

  That snapped him out of it. As much as he wanted Hope, he had an ulterior motive for pushing her now. All getting distracted by her leg was going to do was fuck up his chance of convincing her to stay, in his house and in his bed. He jerked her to the edge of the counter, spreading her thighs wider. “Don’t scream. You’ll upset Ollie.”

  And then he did what he’d been fantasizing about ever since he walked out of her life. Daniel dipped his head and gave her center one long lick. She tasted better than he remembered, her body already shaking for him, so he used his thumbs to part her folds and licked her again, reacquainting himself with every inch of her.

  “Oh.”

  He looked up her body to find her head thrown back and her chest rising and falling with each harsh breath. “Take off your shirt.”

  Hope wasted no time obeying, dragging the material over her head and tossing it away. And then there was nothing hiding her body from his gaze. He licked her again, savoring the way she shook. A tattoo curling around the bottom of her ribs caught his eye, but he was too distracted to read it.

  He was tired of teasing her. He wanted to feel her orgasm again, to know she was coming apart at the seams because of him. Daniel sucked her clit into his mouth, stroking the sensitive little nub with the flat of his tongue the way she’d always loved. Sure enough, before he had a chance to truly savor her, Hope cried out his name and shuddered, her thighs squeezing his head as she came. He gentled his touches, licks turning to kisses, turning to the slightest brushing of his lips against her. Only when she stopped shaking did he raise his head. “Stay, at least until we figure out what we’re doing.”

  “You are…I don’t even have words to describe what you are.” She blinked and ran a hand over her face. “Is this how every argument is going to go?”

  Hell, yes—at least if he had his way. Daniel dragged his cheek against her thigh. “You kissed me first.”

  “I was just trying to shut you up.”

  He laughed against her skin, not quite willing to let her go yet. “Well, that’s one way to go about it.”

  Her smile died as she pushed him gently back and slid off the counter. “This doesn’t solve anything. You know that, right? You can’t just sex me into submission.” She wrestled her pants back on, and he mourned the loss. Things were so much simpler when they were talking with their bodies instead of their words. No matter which way he lined things up, they were different people than they’d been when they dated. So much had changed since then, the terrain changed until he barely recognized the world around him.

  But he knew her body.

  He’d never stop knowing what made her hot and drove her crazy.

  And he sure as fuck wasn’t above using that to get what he wanted.

  Chapter Eight

  Hope climbed out of Daniel’s truck and looked up and down the street. There were people around, but none of them seemed to be paying too much attention. That wouldn’t last, but at least she had a slight reprieve to catch her breath.

  In theory.

  The truth was she didn’t know what the hell was going on. One minute she’d been independent and asserting her need to create some distance between herself and Daniel, and the next his head had been between her legs. It was never like that with him before. It had been soft and sweet.

  There was nothing soft and sweet about the man coming around the front of the truck to glare at her. He pointed. “I was coming to get your door.”

  “Either develop Superman abilities or come to terms with the fact that I can get my own damn door.” She knew she was being rude, but she didn’t care. She’d spent almost half her life taking care of herself without a man—without him—around, and she wasn’t about to turn into a wilting flower just because he decided to walk back into her life.

  Technically I walked back into his life.

  And seduced him.

  And messed up birth control.

  And got pregnant.

  It was kind of hard to maintain the moral high ground in this situation, but when it came to him sweeping in and taking over her life, it just wasn’t going to happen. The sooner he figured that out, the better.

  To end the conversation, she turned toward the storefront. The place looked exactly like it had when she was in high school. It was crazy. So much had changed—she had changed—and yet Devil’s Falls was practically the same. It made it hard to differentiate between the past and present, too easy to fall back into the old rhythms she and Daniel had had. I can’t. The minute she dropped her guard completely, he was going to have her quitting her job, moving in, and the man would probably go so far as to propose because he thought that it was the right thing to do.

  Once upon a time, she’d wanted to marry Daniel Rodriguez. But not now. Not like this. Not when he was operating under some misguided belief that he was going to do right by her.

  She moved away from him and into the store. The whole point of coming into town was to get some of the stuff she needed for the night—mainly food. She might be leaving in the morning, but she still had to eat in the meantime. She didn’t know how he lived on the grand total of three items in his kitchen, but she wasn’t about to start smearing mayonnaise on saltine crackers.

  Hope froze, her stomach lurching. Mental note—don’t think about gross food combinations if you want to be able to eat breakfast.

  The woman at the counter looked up from the magazine she was idly paging through and gave a shriek fit to wake the dead. “Holy crap, Hope Moore, is that you?”

  It took precious seconds to place the blonde, and by then she had hopped over the counter and was coming at Hope, arms spread for a hug. “Jessica Stroup?”

  “The one and only.” She engulfed Hope in a hug that popped her back. “It’s been a million years! Why on earth are you back in this little shithole?”

  She and Jessica had been on the cheerleading team back in high school, and the other woman had always had big dreams about heading west to L.A. and getting into modeling or acting. She was certainly beautiful enough for it. Hope smiled. “Visiting some old friends.”

  Jessica peered around her, her blue eyes going wide when Daniel pushed through the door. “Old friends indeed. We’re going to have to go share a drink at the Joint and catch up. I know the bar isn’t as fancy as the places you must be used to in Dallas, but it’s what we have up here.” She grinned. “You look a little frazzled, and I know I’m talking a mile a minute, so I’m just going to write down my number and you can give me a call. We don’t have to drink. We can totally go for coffee or something. I’m off at three. Have you heard that Jules Rodriguez opened up a cat café down the street? Strangest concept I ever heard of, but it’s loads of fun to go in there and play with the cats while you chat and drink coffee.”

  “Oh, ah, okay.”

  “I’m doing it again.” She backed toward the counter, still smiling. “Go on and do your shopping. We can talk later.”

  Hope had forgotten how overwhelming Jessica was—but in a good way. It was actually kind of nice to have an interaction in town that wasn’t fraught with undertones. She wasn’t ready to confide about the pregnancy, but a break later today from Daniel’s intense presence would be a good thing. Even though he didn’t say anything, she felt him at her back as she grabbed a cart and headed down the first aisle.

  Glowering.

  It took all of ten feet before her patience ran out. “You have something to say, so say it.”

  He grabbed a can of soup off the shelf, seemingly at random. “I open doors, Hope. It’s what any man worth his salt in the South does. It has nothing to do with what you can or can’t do.” Another can of soup hit the basket of the cart hard enough to bounce.

  So they were back to that. She should have known. Daniel could be like a dog with a bone when something bothered him. S
he took a deep breath and turned to face him. If they were going to fight about every little thing, this would never work.

  If she was going to be honest, her pride was as much to blame as his stubbornness.

  Hope took a deep breath and tried to take the high road. “I get overly defensive. I’m sorry.” She held up her hand. “I can’t promise I won’t snap at you again, but I’ll try to relax about the door stuff.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Just the door stuff?”

  “Yes.” It came out sharper than she intended, but damn, could he give it a rest for a few minutes? She knew he wanted her in his house permanently, just like she knew he might have appeared to drop it, but he was just planning a different method of approach. She was so damn tired, and it was only beginning. Hope turned to the row of cereal boxes in front of her. “Now, I’m starving, and arguing with you is burning more calories than I’m comfortable with. We’ll talk when we get back to your place, and we’ll come up with some sort of game plan.” Staying in Devil’s Falls for the next nine months was out of the question. She could do her job in a limited capacity online, but she really needed to be in the office. If she up and told them she was moving back to a little town no one had ever heard of, she might as well quit on the spot.

  No. Absolutely not. She might have put her life on hold waiting for Daniel when she was eighteen, but she most definitely wasn’t going to do it now because he was determined to pay penance by being with her.

  She deserved better than that.

  Both she and the baby did.

  The look he gave her was downright indulgent. “Fair enough.”

  She hated how suspicious she was of him, but it was hard not to be in their current circumstances. Daniel never gave up a fight unless he chose to walk away, and he hadn’t this time. That meant he was backing off only long enough to find a different approach to get her to do what he wanted.

  They moved through the aisles without speaking, Hope pausing every few feet to consider what she felt like eating and Daniel throwing food into the cart seemingly at random.

  She didn’t know what to make of that, so she focused on what sounded good. It was so strange. She normally loved oatmeal in the morning, but when she picked up her favorite brand, she set it back without tossing it in the cart, that horrible nausea rising again. Instead, she ended up in the produce section, loading up on orange juice, fruit, and cucumbers. Through it all, Daniel shadowed her movements, a giant gray cloud warning of an impending storm.

  Jessica managed to contain herself as they paid, but she slipped Hope her number with a smile. “It really would be nice to catch up.”

  As much as part of her wanted to keep her distance from everything Devil’s Falls related, that goal wasn’t realistic. She was leaving. She had to leave.

  Hope forced a smile. “I’ll call. I promise.” And she would. Even though she and Jessica had lost contact after the accident, they’d been really close in high school. It would be nice to have a friend who knew the whole history, someone she could talk to who would understand why she was hesitating to cut Daniel out of her life, even now, after everything they’d been through. Her friends in Dallas were wonderful, but they would, to a person, tell her to get rid of him.

  He loaded the groceries into the bed of his truck in short, jerky movements that belied the calm expression on his face. In an effort to keep the peace a little while longer, she waited for him to hold the door open for her instead of climbing into the truck like she was perfectly capable of doing. It wasn’t until they were driving back out of town that he spoke. “My parents are going to want to know you’re back.”

  “I’m not back.”

  “Yes, darling, you are. At least for today.” He shot her a look. “You’re just pissed that I pushed too hard about it and you don’t want to give in, despite the fact that it’s what you want. If you go back to Dallas right now, it’s going to be a decision made out of spite.”

  She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest, but only barely. “I think I like you better when you’re being irrational and pushy.”

  “It’s a hell of a lot easier to say no to me when I am.” He sounded too freaking cheerful for her blood pressure. How was he acting so calm when their entire lives had gone topsy-turvy? Unless this is what he wanted all along…

  She shut that thought down real fast. This was an accident as a result of two consenting adults. She was as much to blame for the error in judgment as he was. Lord, she should be happy that he wasn’t freaking out and blaming her and acting like this was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. “Daniel…”

  He reached over and took her hand, the shock of his skin against hers stealing her breath. “We’ll figure this out. I know it’s not how you had your life planned out, but this is where we’re at. It’s not going to be easy, but what about life is?”

  Too reasonable. Something is up.

  She extracted her hand, because she couldn’t quite think straight when he was touching her, and turned to look out the window. All the words coming out of his mouth were right, but there was something off about the delivery. It was like he knew the steps to go through but he didn’t really believe that it would be that easy any more than she did. “I don’t…I don’t trust you anymore.” It hurt to say that aloud, but it was necessary. Everything had changed, and that lack of trust was the most damning part. Hope took a deep breath. “I’m not staying. End of story. So whatever you’re planning, knock it off.”

  “What makes you think I’m planning anything?”

  Because he was too calm, too settled, when a few short hours ago he’d been totally and completely out of control. That switch didn’t flip without a good reason, and she hadn’t agreed to anything he wanted. Not really. She was leaving and that was that, and the fact he was so calm about it didn’t sit well with her.

  It all added up to trouble.

  Even if she didn’t know the specifics, she was smart enough to see which way the wind was blowing.

  Chapter Nine

  Daniel spent the next hour walking on eggshells. He knew he’d pushed Hope too hard that morning, and he was determined to figure out a better way to convince her that staying with him was the only option. Every single thing he said was the wrong thing, and he didn’t know how to fix that. All he knew was that if Hope left in a couple days, she wouldn’t be back.

  So he gave them both a break and went outside to let Ollie run for a bit. The pup was in her element, running circles around him and then darting off to chase phantom animals, racing back and then starting the whole process over again. She, at least, didn’t plan on leaving him the first chance she got.

  Ollie barked again, wondering why he’d stopped playing, and he crouched down to ruffle her ears. He’d never considered himself underhanded before now, but he’d do worse than mess with Hope’s car to get her to sit still long enough for him to find the right words to get her to stay.

  Can’t convince her from out here. He pushed to his feet and headed for the door, Ollie on his heels. Daniel opened the door—and then stopped when he heard humming deeper in the house. He sat down on the mudroom bench long enough to yank off his boots and then went in search of her. The living room was empty, but he found her in the kitchen, her phone set up to play some funky music he’d never heard before, her hips shaking as she moved around the stove, dumping ingredients into a casserole dish.

  This could have been my life.

  It still could be.

  Without thinking, he crossed the distance between them and slid his arms around her waist. She went still as he rested his chin on the top of her head. “Damn, darling. I missed you.”

  “Danny—”

  He turned her in his arms and framed her face with his hands. “We talk too much.” And they never solved a damn thing doing it. Then he kissed her.

  She went soft against him, her hands sli
ding down his chest to grab his hips and pull him closer. That was all the invitation he needed to tip her head back and deepen the kiss. Shit might be fucked up beyond all reason when it came to them, but at least they still matched up here.

  Today she wore those damn yoga pants again. It didn’t matter to him that he could see the ridges of her scar beneath the thin fabric, because they gave him a heavenly view of her ass whenever she turned around. And the stretchy fabric was more tease than barrier. He reached between them, rubbing the heel of his hand over her clit. “What do you say?”

  She blinked at him, her brown eyes hazy with lust. “What?”

  “This thing.” He kept rubbing her, shifting so he could press a knuckle on either side of her clit, stroking up and down slowly. “I want inside you, darling. I want it so bad, it’s been driving me fucking crazy.” Her breath hitched, and he pressed his advantage. “You want it, too. You’re so wet, I can feel it.”

  “I…” She bit her lip. “It’s a mistake.”

  “Probably.” Definitely. “But what’s the worst that could happen?”

  Her smile was bittersweet. “It’s already happened.”

  Part of him hated that she thought getting pregnant was the worst thing that could happen, but now wasn’t the time to start fighting about it. He’d have to show her that this was a second chance in disguise—a way to make things right once and for all—and the only way to get her to sit still long enough was an orgasm-induced coma.

  It doesn’t hurt that you’ve been in a permanent state of blue balls since you saw her last.

  No, it didn’t hurt one bit. Everything else might have changed, but he wanted Hope more than he wanted his next breath.

  He slipped his hand into her pants, resuming the motion that had her quivering in his arms. “Might as well take advantage of me, then.”

  “Take advantage of you?” Her voice was a little breathy, but she managed to keep it together. Mostly.

  “Mmm.” He skimmed off her shirt, dropping it next to them and cupping her breasts. “Fuck. When I fill you with my cock, I want you naked. I want to see these beautiful breasts bouncing with every stroke.”