“It’s early,” Noah complained. “Do we have to go?”
Caroline and Travis exchanged glances, silently acknowledging that Noah had clicked with Amy and the teens of the area.
“Tell you what,” Travis said. “Let’s put the top down on the Rolls and ride over to Tilly’s for a late dessert.”
Tilly’s was the area’s teen hangout, famous for burgers and ice-cream sundaes. In short, the place to be seen, especially in a cool car.
Amy’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?” She looked at Noah. “That’d be so wicked.”
“Really?” When she nodded, Noah shrugged. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s go tell the gang. We’ll meet you at the front door, okay?” Amy grabbed Noah’s hand and dragged him back across the room to where the younger crowd was hanging out.
“Leaving?” Jackie asked, a twinkle in her eye. “Do you want us to take Noah and Amy home?”
“Thanks, Mom, but we’ve got it.”
Caroline pushed her chair back and stood. “I’m ready.” Jackie and Lane stood when she did. “It was an, um, interesting night.”
Jackie laughed and pulled Caroline into an embrace. “That’s one way to look at it.” She passed Caroline off to Lane for a hug as she reached for Travis. “Y’all be careful getting home.”
“Mom,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m not sixteen.”
Jackie kissed his cheek. “You’re still my baby.”
Travis reached for Caroline’s hand. “We’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye,” Caroline said over her shoulder as Travis led her away.
Too many people to count wanted to congratulate them and wish them well as they crossed the room to leave.
“Now what?” she asked.
“I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see your green dress hit the floor.”
She laughed, but her insides melted at his words. Yes. These next four months were going to be hell. How could she leave here with her emotions intact? Men could have great sex without emotional ties. Women struggled with that.
She’d just have to be more like a man.
Friends with benefits, she mentally chanted. Friends with benefits.
The ride to Tilly’s with the top down on the Shadow wrecked her updo hairstyle. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed it, making the style appear more rat’s nest than a fancy creation, but the thick, rich, creamy milkshake made her dishabille worth it. Besides, she wasn’t sure she was ready to head back to Travis’s place. Somehow having sex and sleeping with him in secret was fun and exciting and seemed just a tad bit naughty. Now that everyone believed them to be married, and thus sleeping together as part of the marital relationship, she felt an immense sense of pressure, as though things had changed drastically without warning. Was wife sex different from date sex?
Logically, she realized none of her thoughts made sense, but inside she was on an emotional rollercoaster.
After depositing Amy safely at home, they drove back to Halo M ranch with Noah talking non-stop about the other teens he’d met at the dance. How cool Sam was. How Robin and Steve’s dancing made everybody laugh. How Nita’s date was a dud and she kept trying to ditch him. With each comment, Caroline would laugh or shake her head or give some response to give the indication she was listening, but she wasn’t. She couldn’t think of anything but Travis’s bed and how different everything would be tonight.
Travis eased the Rolls into the garage and shut down the engine.
“You’d better get some sleep,” he said over his shoulder to Noah. “Five a.m. will come early.”
“Tomorrow is Sunday,” Noah said in a protest.
“I know, but ranch work is seven days a week.” He opened his door and exited the car. After hurrying around the hood, he helped Caroline out her door and shoved the seatback forward to give Noah room to get out. “See you in the morning,” he said to Noah.
“This sucks,” Noah said, a snarl working up on his lips.
Travis shrugged. “Sure does. Remember, you have the option to go home. Pat and Leslie would be more than happy to come get you.”
“See you in the morning,” Noah said as he stomped across the garage and into the house. The door banged shut behind him.
Caroline shook her head. “I am really worried about him, Travis. It’s not much longer until I leave and he’ll have to go back to Arkansas. Maybe letting him stay was not the right decision. I mean, it might make it harder on him later.”
They began walking toward the door, Travis’s hand resting at the small of her back. She loved the feel of his broad hand there, warming that spot…as well as the rest of her, if she wanted to be honest.
“There’s nothing wrong with him that hard work and maturity won’t cure. He’s a teenage boy. We were all surly and rude at that age. Trust me.” The hand on her back slipped around to her waist and he pulled her close. He nuzzled her neck and pressed kisses to that sensitive area behind her ear. “Walking through the garage door,” he sang in a deep voice. “Waitin’ for your green dress to hit the floor.”
Chills wracked her body. She shivered. Maybe wife sex wouldn’t be so bad.
An hour later, a sweaty, sated Caroline lay on her back, her breath and heart racing. Oh man, wife sex turned out to be toe-curling, hair-on-fire orgasmic.
Chapter Seventeen
Even though Noah had been on good behavior since his arrival, Caroline wasn’t fooled. There was no way he could turn from troubled teen into choir boy overnight. Plus, she hadn’t quite forgiven him for driving the old Rolls down from Arkansas.
Leaving Travis to deal with Noah and his possible antics every day wasn’t fair. Travis hadn’t signed on for teenage wrangling with their fake wedding vows. Noah was her responsibility, and that meant she had to make the long drive to Whispering Springs Medical Clinic every morning and back to Halo M ranch every night. To make her hospital rounds before seeing patients in her office required her leaving the ranch by five a.m. and not getting back until seven or later every evening.
And then there was the nightly sex. It wasn’t as though Travis was forcing her to have sex. Heck, it was the sex that had her driving over the speed limit every night to get back. But as the first week of playing wife to Travis, guardian to her brother and doctor for her patients drew to a close, she found herself becoming overly exhausted and cranky.
Compounding her irritability—and adding to an already guilty conscious—were the cards and gifts that found their way to her office, her house and Halo M, all wishing her and Travis years of marital bliss. A couple of male patients—and one female—admitted they’d wanted to ask her out and were now bemoaning their lost opportunity. She made sure to keep an accurate record of the gifts and the givers, fully intending to return each gift with a note of gratitude.
True to her prediction, Noah couldn’t keep up the good conduct beyond the first ten days. After a weekend of being on call and staying in town, Caroline arrived back at Halo M late Monday night. After pulling into the garage, she sat in the Porsche trying to collect enough energy to pull herself out of the car. Finally, she convinced her legs to move, albeit slowly. When she opened the back door and walked in, heated voices echoed down the hall.
“I am so disappointed in you,” Travis said. “One warning wasn’t enough.”
“Dude,” Noah said in a lazy voice. “Chill. It was just a cigarette. Caroline doesn’t need to know.”
Caroline’s heart dropped. She forced herself to quietly close the door—when what she really wanted to do was slam it in frustration—and headed for the voices.
“What’s going on?” she asked, walking into the den.
Noah was slouched on the sofa. Travis was sitting on the coffee table directly in front of her brother, who—at this exact moment—she wanted to string up by his heels.
Noah straightened when he saw her. “Hey, Caroline.” He gave her a broad smile, as though he hadn’t a care in the world.
“Somebody want to tell me what’s goin
g on?” she repeated with a pointed stare at Travis, who responded with a hitched thumb toward Noah.
“Seems Noah thinks it’s cool to smoke. John caught him a day or so ago but let it slide with a warning. Today, I found him with all five of John’s kids behind the hay barn trying to teach Rocky how to blow smoke rings.” He frowned. “Two lit cigarettes in the hands of minors plus the dry grass compounded by the hay-barn location adds up to a huge fire risk. And you know how fast a fire can sweep across the dry fields, not to mention the potential for harm to the cowboys who have to fight that fire or the animals that could be injured.”
Caroline propped both hands on her hips. “I see.” She targeted her glare at Noah. “And what do you have to say?”
He shrugged and slumped on the sofa. “What’s the big deal? I was careful.”
“Sit up,” Travis snapped. “Show your sister respect.”
Noah glared at Travis but straightened.
“The big deal is, outside the risks to the ranch and the animals, smoking will kill you. It smells bad. It rots your lungs. And it’ll take years off your life. I hate to say this, but I bet Mamie would still be with us if she hadn’t been a smoker all those years.” She walked over and sat beside him on the couch. “She didn’t know better when she started smoking. Today, we do. It’s not cool no matter what you might read or see on television.” She put her arm around him. “I love you, Noah. I want years and years with you. Someday, you’ll get married and have kids, and I want you to be there with them for years and years. What you do today matters. Do you understand?”
Noah’s shoulder sagged. “Yes, but Travis’s punishment is stupid.”
Caroline looked at Travis still sitting on the coffee table. “Stupid? What horrible punishment did you dream up?”
A twitch at the corner of his mouth made her believe he was fighting a smile. Good. He obviously came up with something suitable.
“He’s making me clean the barn stalls all by myself for an entire week,” Noah said. “None of the Webster kids can help and that’s not fair. Rocky was smoking too.”
She nodded. “I see. All by yourself, huh?”
“Right.” Noah’s voice held a tone of victory, as though he’d made his point that the punishment did not fit the crime.
She pulled Noah to her and hugged him. “Well, if it were up to me, you’d be mucking the stalls solo for a month and washing every horse in the barn until their hair gleamed. Plus, you’d have no television, cell phone or internet for at least a couple of weeks. So you’d better take what Travis offered.”
Noah pulled away. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not,” she said with a slow shake of her head. “I’d do anything to make you live longer and healthier, whether you liked it or not…well, short of serving liver every night.”
He grimaced at the mention of liver.
“Here’s the deal. What Travis says goes. Period. No argument. No whining.”
Noah released a long-suffering sigh. “Fine.”
“You have homework?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Then get at it. One of us will call you when dinner is on the table.”
Noah stood and left, his pace slow and dragged out.
The minute he was out of hearing range, Caroline sighed. “I am so sorry, Travis. I know you didn’t agree to parent a headstrong teenage boy.”
Travis dropped onto the sofa beside her. “We both knew it was only a matter of time before he messed up. To be honest, I think he was surprised neither of us suggested he go back to Arkansas.”
“You think he’s testing us?”
Travis draped his arm behind her on the back of the sofa. “Maybe. Who knows. The poor kid’s world has been torn apart. I kind of feel for him.”
She leaned against his shoulder. “Still, this is asking a lot.”
“Let me just say that you were great with him.”
His words lightened her mood. Her heart leapt at his praise. “Really?”
“Really. You would have been a wonderful mother. I think it sucks that the doctor couldn’t do more for you years ago to give you a chance to have a baby.”
“Thanks. It means a lot to have you say that.”
“Funny how things work out. You thought you’d never be a mother, and I gave up on having children when Susan died, and yet here we are. Parenting a teenage boy.”
“And doing a damn fine job,” she said with a joyless laugh. She stood. “I need to go wash the day off me. What’s for dinner?”
“Henree left a salad in the refrigerator and a chicken casserole that needs to go in the oven for forty-five minutes. Why don’t you go get your shower and I’ll put the casserole in the oven.”
“Sounds wonderful. Thanks.” She took a couple of steps toward the master suite and turned back. “I hope you’re wrong about having children. When I’m gone and all this is behind you, I hope you find a woman who can give you the children you deserve. You would be a wonderful father.”
She hurried from the room so he wouldn’t see the tears filling her eyes. He did deserve that and so much more. Just another reason she needed to keep her feelings in check and never let him know. When she finished her contract and moved on, she’d pray for the right woman to come into his life.
She stripped off her clothes and stepped into Travis’s luxurious master bathroom. Without a doubt, come January in Montana, she would miss his huge shower with its multiple showerheads. When she leaned around the glass wall to turn on the water, a large, rough, warm hand caressed her left butt cheek.
Smiling, she looked over her shoulder into Travis’s crystal-blue eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be putting the casserole in the oven?”
“I did,” he said, wrapping an arm around her nude waist and pulling her against his fully clothed body.
The erotic sensation of her naked flesh against his rough jeans and cotton shirt made her knees weak and quaking. Her sex grew warm and swollen with desire.
“But I got lonely all by myself in the kitchen,” he continued. “Then I remembered seeing a spot on your neck that needed some attention, so here I am.”
“A spot on my neck?”
“Yeah. Right here.” He pressed his lips against the skin beneath her right ear and nibbled at the skin. “And maybe here too,” he said, his lips tickling as they moved against her skin.
She arched her neck to the side to give him better access as he nibbled his way down to where her neck joined her shoulder.
“Hmm. Maybe there’s a spot a little lower that was covered by my blouse.”
His lips moved into a smile against her shoulder. “I think that what you need is a good overall body inspection…in the shower.” He released his hold on her, stepped back and stripped out of his clothes with efficient moves.
Within seconds, her eyes feasted on his taut skin, the ripple of his abdomen, the jut of his erect penis from his groin. She smiled and licked her lips. “Yeah. I think you’re right. A full body inspection is just what I need.”
His responding grin was just wicked enough to send her heart on a jog and her insides melting. Grabbing her hand, he walked around the glass brick shower wall and pulled her into the shower behind him. Hot water from the multiple jet streams sluiced down her back. She sighed, enjoying the heat at her back and the luscious sight of Travis’s nude body in front of her.
As she ran the palm of her hand down his body, her arousal soared as she traced the peaks and valleys of his firm muscles. His erection grew longer and thicker as her hand neared. She gently dragged a fingernail down the engorged vein protruding along the side. He hissed and captured her hand.
“Easy,” he said.
She grinned. “Trust me. I’m a doctor,” she said as she wrapped her fingers around his swollen cock. The girth was wide enough that the tips of her fingers didn’t come close to touching. She slid her hold down his penis and back up before rubbing her thumb across the head.
Travis pulled her against him. Her sti
ff nipples raked through his coarse chest hair. He palmed one breast, massaged it and lowered his head to take her erect nipple between his lips. He licked the shower water off the end and sucked hard on her flesh, pulling a large portion of her breast into his mouth. Her sex tingled, demanding relief. She tried to squeeze her legs together but he jammed a thigh between them and pressed hard against her clit. She ground against his thick, muscular thigh trying, and failing, to find release.
“I’m trying to go slow,” he gasped. “But I’m failing. Maybe next time, okay?”
She dropped her head back and laughed softly. “I’m dying here. Slow is overrated sometimes.”
He glided his big hands down her thighs and then around to cup the backs of her legs. His biceps bulged as he lifted her off the tiled shower floor. Turning, he braced her against the wet wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist and adjusted herself until her sex was poised over the head of his straining penis. When he didn’t immediately enter, she dug her heels into his ass.
“Move it, cowboy,” she said with a smirk.
His mouth spread into a wicked grin. With a hard thrust, he drove deep. She gasped at the sudden intrusion and stretching of her vaginal walls. He pulled back slowly, allowing her to feel each inch of him leaving before thrusting again. The slow withdrawals were killing her, driving her wild, pumping her arousal to a new zenith. The hard pounding of each plunge pushed her against the tile, pushed her response up another degree.
The building tension was almost intolerable. She bit his shoulder, ran her tongue across the mark she’d left and up his neck. She showered kisses behind his ears, over his cheeks, across his lips. Finally, the pressure was too much and it erupted. She cried out his name and shook in his arms. Two hard thrusts and he ground himself against her as he filled her with hot ejaculate.
His breaths came in pants. Dropping his head against her shoulder, he blew hot air down her chest. He stayed that way for a couple of minutes before lifting his head to stare into her eyes. Their gazes held.
Tell me you love me, Caroline thought. Tell me you want me in your life Ask me to stay.
“I love…” he gasped out.
Texas Tango: Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 2 Page 23