She stepped out of the bathroom, completely unprepared for the sight of her husband in his finery. Stark black suit jacket over a brilliant white tuxedo shirt and tie brought out the color of his blue eyes. The man stole her breath. She thanked her lucky stars and whatever cosmic alignment brought them together in Littleton, Oklahoma even if it could only be for a short time.
"Wow. You clean up pretty nice, Mr. Marshall."
"So do you, Mrs. Marshall."
"You'd better be careful with calling me that. I might get used to it," she quipped, hoping to make light of the nervous flutter in the pit of her stomach.
"I might get used to it too." He held out his arm and said, "Shall we?"
Before she could even think of a reply, he had her out the door and inside the elevator headed downstairs. The room he'd reserved inside the Picasso restaurant gleamed in the subdued light of the restaurant. Crystal stemware, real silverware, gorgeous floral arrangements and beautifully dressed women were everywhere. There must have been at least fifty people in his little party.
"I didn't realize you'd invited so many people, Tucker," she whispered with a nervous twitter to her voice.
"You'll do fine, honey. Relax and stick with me," he replied, placing his palm on her lower back to guide her. "Ah. I see someone I want you to meet. I think you'll get along fabulously."
They walked toward a very handsome couple standing off to the rear part of the room. The man had dressed similar to Tucker with dress jacket, white shirt and black Stetson, but the woman next to him was stunning.
"Justin, it's great to see you. It's been way too long," Tucker said, holding out his hand in greeting.
"Tucker Marshall. You old dog. I haven't seen you since last year." The man's eyes stopped on her and he cocked a questioning eyebrow. "And who might this lovely lady be? You've been holding out on me, Tucker."
She stuck out her hand and said, "Jacie—"
"Marshall," Tucker added. "My wife."
"Your wife? Are you serious? When did this happen and why wasn't I invited to the wedding?" Justin laughed as he pulled her into a hug.
"For the same reason I wasn't invited to yours," Tucker grumbled and turned to the woman. "Hello again, Kat. I'm so glad to see you. Are you keeping this rascal in line?" Tucker replied, kissing the other woman on the cheek and giving her a hug.
"I'm doing my best, Tucker, but you really should have told us you'd gotten married. You know we would have loved to been there," Kat said, and then turned to her. "I'm Katrina Wilder, Justin's wife. It's very nice to meet you, Jacie."
"You too. I'll admit I'm not used to these big business parties."
"Stick with me, honey and we'll kill 'em together. I hate these things too, but Justin insists I accompany him."
"Do you two live here in Vegas?" she asked Katrina.
"Yes. We own a place outside of town."
"We'll be back in a bit, darlin'," Tucker said. "I see some people I need to talk to."
"Of course." Tucker kissed her on the cheek and grabbed Justin around the shoulders to lead him off. The two men had very close to the same coloring. Justin had big brown eyes though, where Tucker had eyes so blue, they could see right through her. Same height and same build. The two of them together would make any woman lose her heart fast.
"How long have you two been married?" Katrina asked as she sipped from the fluted glass in her hand.
"Not long," she replied, watching Tucker walk away and feeling very intimidated.
Katrina touched her arm. "I, for one, am very glad he's found someone. By the way he looks at you, I would say your husband is very much in love with you. I never thought I'd see the day Tucker Marshall fell in love."
In love? Tucker in love with me? That would be the day.
"We're very happy."
"I can tell," Katrina replied. "Why don't we get you something to drink from the bar? You look like you could use something fortifying."
Jacie liked Katrina already. "Thank you. How can you tell?"
"You look terrified."
"I haven't had to attend anything on this grand scale since my graduation ball." Oh shit.
Katrina smiled and winked. "I thought you looked like someone of breeding even if you try to hide it. What is your maiden name?"
"Hawkins."
The laugh coming from Katrina's mouth sounded lilting and clear. "I thought you looked familiar. Olivia Hawkins is your sister. Correct?"
"Yeah. My twin in fact." Katrina continued to giggle. "How do you know Olivia?"
"Justin has had business with your parents and I do have to say, they have a very nice place."
"Thank you. I'll tell them next time I see them."
"Make sure you tell Olivia hello for me as well. She's not quite the stuffy sister your other two are."
Jacie couldn't help but smile. What Katrina said about Olivia was the complete truth. Even if her twin wasn't quite the adventurous type Jacie turned out to be, she still didn't quite fit into the Hawkins’ roll of perfect daughter.
"I think it's funny you married Tucker."
"Why?"
"Because he's had such staunch arguments about not getting hooked up with anyone who could possibly be after his money and here he is, married into one of the richest families in Tennessee."
She didn’t realize Tucker had returned to her side until she heard. "Excuse me? What did you say?"
"I told Jacie I thought it hilarious because you were so dead set on not marrying anyone who could be after your money and here you are married into one of the wealthiest families in Tennessee," Katrina repeated.
Jacie couldn't blame her. The other woman had no idea Tucker didn't know who her family was. The grip on her hip tightened and she waited for the explosion to come.
"If you will excuse us. I need to ask my wife something," he said to Katrina. "We'll be back in a minute." He guided her away from the crowd and into a corner. "Who is your family, Jacie?"
She closed her eyes and sighed. "What does it matter, Tucker. We aren't really married and have no plans to be."
"Tell me."
"Carl and Dorothy Hawkins."
He raked his fingers through his hair and cussed a blue streak.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes," she whispered, almost afraid of what he would do now that he knew the truth.
"So all this time, I've been worried you might be after my money when you probably have more than me in your own bank account, much less whatever mommy and daddy have. You should have told me you're loaded, Jacie."
"Fuck you, Tucker. I didn't ask you to drag me into this. What my parents have has nothing to do with me. I live on the money I have coming in from my job, not what they have in the bank. Yes, I have a trust fund and it will be mine someday. I don't care about it. I don't want it." She brushed the tears now streaking down her cheeks, away with her fingers. "I'm proud of my small house. I pay my own way without my parents. I asked them for the money for the tires. They refused saying I had to figure out a way out of the mess I was in by myself. I didn't ask for your help."
"I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter anymore." She downed the rest of the champagne in her glass and shoved it into his hands. "You can do this by yourself. You don't need me and I don't need you. Find some other desperate female to be your arm candy. I'm done."
Without another word, she marched across the crowded restaurant and into the lobby of the hotel. Tonight would be the end of the fairytale life she'd lived during the last several days with him. When he returned from this business meeting, she'd find another room somewhere in Vegas, do her rodeo run, and then figure out how the hell she would get her horse home.
* * * *
"Do you want to explain what that was all about?" Katrina asked as he returned to her and Justin's side without Jacie.
"Not really."
"Come on, Tucker. Something is going on. Spill it. We're your friends."
"Fine. Jacie and I aren't really married."
"It's a long story. How about we get this business stuff taken care of, then we'll get a drink. I'll explain then."
The next two hours seemed to drag by. He wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and find Jacie. He needed to talk to her. The future of his heart depended on it. Why he couldn't let her walk away seemed to be a moot point now.
When the business meeting finally concluded, he, Justin and Katrina found a table at the bar. He talked for over an hour, explaining to his friends how he and Jacie met in Oklahoma and their arrangement while they stayed in Vegas.
"I had no idea who her parents were until you said something tonight. I cornered her and asked her about it, but she went on the defensive and stormed out."
Katrina shook her head. "What are you going to do now, Tucker? You can't let her walk out of your life. You're in love with her."
Hearing someone say the words brought it all home. For some weird reason, he loved Jacie, but he didn't think she loved him. Jacie didn't want a man in her life—any man, including him. Yeah, they found happiness in each other's arms each time they made love, but compatibility outside of the bedroom had to be there too.
"I need to talk to her."
"Yes, you do," Justin said. "Believe me, I've been in your shoes and it's not a pleasant place to be. Admitting your feelings for her is a start, but you have to admit them to her and not to us."
"Thanks you two. I'm glad you found each other," he replied. "I need to get upstairs. I'll call you later in the week and we'll get together for dinner or something."
"Sure. Take care of her, Tucker. She's somethin' special," Katrina added with a smile.
He grinned and walked out of the bar.
The door of the hotel room loomed in front of him when he reached their floor. Apprehension slithered down his spine and settled in his gut like a stone. What do I say? How can I explain this to her?
He exhaled on a sigh and slid the key card into the door. The room was bathed in darkness as he walked in. No lights were on and he wondered if she had even returned to the room. He closed the door softly behind him and moved further inside waiting for his eyes to adjust. The sound reaching his ears tore at his heart. Almost intelligible sobs reached his ears from the darkness near the bed.
He jerked off his jacket and tie before he unbuttoned the first couple of buttons on his shirt. The boots came next and his toes thanked him. When he walked around the partition separating him from Jacie, the sight of her curled up on the bed with her face buried in the pillow tore his heart to shreds. The last thing he wanted to do was make her cry.
The bed dipped with his weight as he lay down beside her and her sobs quieted. "Come here, darlin'."
She hesitated a moment, then launched herself into his arms. "I'm sorry, Tucker. I shouldn't have said those things downstairs. I should have been truthful with you since the beginning about my parents. I knew how distrustful you are about women being after your money, I just didn't want you to think it about me."
"I never once thought like that about you, Jacie. I could tell you didn't have the same mentality of someone after money. You didn't want to make the deal I proposed for your tires, but you couldn't see any other way around it. You didn't want to take the clothes I bought. Hell, the prices on the menu made you gasp. How could a woman who is so unselfish be after my money?" He wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks with his thumb. "Don't cry, baby," he whispered kissing her face, then her lips.
"I hope I didn't ruin your business dinner."
"No. Things worked out well. The only thing you did was make me want to throw the whole thing to the wind and come up here to be with you faster, but I had to restrain myself. I had to explain to Justin and Katrina what happened."
"Oh great. They probably think I'm some kind of weirdo or something."
"No they don't. They think I'm a fool for letting you take off like that without stopping you. Do me a favor though?"
"What?"
"While we're here, we need to communicate. If you don't keep things from me and I don't keep things from you, we shouldn't have this problem with information coming out in the open when we don't want it to."
She nodded and laid her head on his chest. "You should get out of these clothes," she whispered, working the remaining buttons loose from their holes.
"Mmm. Should I now?"
"Yes." The warmth of her palm sliding across the exposed skin of his abdomen shot straight to his cock.
"Jacie, I want to make love to you."
"Good. I want that too," she replied, her fingers working at his belt.
"But I care whether it feels like make-up sex to you."
"What's wrong with make-up sex?"
The low growl coming from his throat sounded raw. "Nothin'."
"Besides, we have to be a couple to have make-up sex. Does this mean we're a couple?"
"For as long as you want us to be." He wasn't quite sure why he admitted that to her, but he did without any qualms or hesitation. He meant every word. Damn the darkness. He wished he could see the look in her eyes with his admission.
Before he could do anything else, her lips danced over the skin across his chest and abdomen. Her tongue licked a trail from nipple to nipple, first licking then nibbling one and then the other. God, she could set him on fire with hardly anything at all. He had never been with a woman who could crank him up this fast, but Jacie could.
He groaned when her breasts brushed over his cock. She hadn't changed herself. The dress she'd worn downstairs to dinner still clung to her every curve and he wanted nothing more than to see her strip it off, one piece at a time.
"Darlin'."
"Mmm," she hummed against his flesh.
"I want you to do something for me."
She lifted her head, but didn't ask what.
"Stand in front of the window over there and strip for me. Real slow."
Even with darkness surrounding them, he could see the wicked grin on her lips as she stood up on the side of the bed and moved toward the end. With the sparkling lights of Vegas behind her, she turned her back to him as she slowly slid the zipper down. A quick peek over her shoulder with her hair falling around the side of her face and he was caught, hook line and sinker. The damned zipper went past the curve of her ass. Low and behold, one of her sexy thongs exposed her butt cheeks. "God, I love your choice of underwear." Off-white and lacy peeked out from between the folds of her gown.
She turned toward him to let the spaghetti straps slide off her shoulders, but held the front of the dress to her breasts. Her wet, pink tongue slipped out from between her lips and slid along the curve of her pouty mouth. One side of the dress dipped, exposing her satin bra, but he wanted more. He wanted everything. Every inch of her skin needed to be shown to him.
The other side of the dress fell as she dropped it to the floor at her feet. Standing in front of the window outlined by the lights behind her, she looked like a goddess—lightly tanned skin and gorgeous curves all for him. She reached behind her and unsnapped her bra. It too, fell at her feet, revealing the glorious curve of her breasts. The dusky pink aureoles and taut nipples tempted him beyond sanity. He loved her breasts. The thumbs of both hands hooked the edges of her underwear and slowly peeled them down her thighs.
"Tell me what you want, Tucker?"
"You," he growled, springing from the mattress and scooping her up in his arms.
He unceremoniously dumped her in the middle of the bed, and divested himself of his clothes in short order, throwing his shirt one direction and his pants in the other while she giggled at him.
"Where did you put those handcuffs?"
She reached over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and dangled them from her fingertips. "These?"
In seconds, he was beside her and snatching the handcuffs from her hand. He captured her mouth in a soul-searing kiss while he snapped one of the rings around her l
eft wrist.
"Mmm. What do you have in mind?"
"I'm going to lick you from one end to the other," he said, wrapping the chain between the cuffs through the headboard before he snapped the other link around her right wrist. "And then I'm going to make you come so hard, you see stars."
Her breath came out in small pants of air. He knew she was so turned on by their game, she could hardly stand it. Her nipples stood tight and proud, quivering for this mouth and would be willing to bet if he touched her between her legs, she would be wet. One swipe of his tongue over her left nipple brought a moan from her lips. He blew a puff of warm air over the tip that had her whimpering her need. When he pulled it between his lips and sucked, her hips came off the bed as her legs parted. He rasped his palm over the other breast and he pinched her nipple between his fingers. He skimmed his hand down over her abdomen, stopping for a moment to play with her bellybutton ring before he moved on down between her legs. Her whimpers grew as one of his fingers glanced over her clit.
"Tucker, please."
"Oh, we're just gettin' started, darlin'."
He followed the path of his hand with his tongue until he settled between her legs. He brought one leg up, nipping at the skin of her ankle. He slid his tongue up the inside of her leg and stopped to lick behind her knee. He glanced at the pink of her pussy and could see her juices glistened on the lips. The need to dive in a eat her up screamed in his brain, but he fought it off. His soft bites to the inside of her thighs brought more moans from her as she clanked the cuffs against the metal of the headboard. As he got closer to her center, the scent of her arousal drove him crazy. The need to taste her had him on edge, but he wanted to make this special for her. He groaned and moved past her pussy to nip at the inside of her other thigh.
"You're killing me," she growled.
"But what a way to die," he murmured against her skin.
"Please."
"Tell me what you want."
"I want." She licked her lips and closed her eyes. "I want you to lick my clit and make me come."
"Anything your heart desires, darlin'."
Trouble With a Cowboy Page 15