Bought by the Lone Cowboy

by E. Walsh

  “And now, I’m beat, so sleep,” he commanded.

  He leaned against the wall, awkwardly resting his head against the cool metal. He crossed him arms, and his outstretched legs.

  After a few minutes, Danielle heard his heavy breathing. Man, she’d kill to be that easy of a sleeper. Unfortunately, she always had a hard time getting to sleep, even in ideal circumstances, which these hardly were.

  * * *

  Chapter Four

  Sometime later, Logan was jarred awake by the restless body next to him. His wits took a moment to collect, until he remembered where they were and what they were doing. She was shifting. Moving. Adjusting. And whatever the hell she was doing, she was keeping him awake.

  He sighed and grumpily put his hand around her waist. She squeaked at the unexpected touch. Instead of pressing her closer to him, he placed his left hand at the close side of her waist, and circled it with both hands. He lifted her a few inches and dragged her over between his outstretched legs.

  “What—“

  Her screech was interrupted by silence when the back of her came into contact with the front of him. His arms restricted her movement, grasping her on both sides of her waist and pressing her back against him. Reaching up with one hand, he pulled gently on her shoulder until her head was resting against his collarbone. He felt her body stiffen with tension. Oh God, here it came.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Logan?!”

  He sighed. “Just relax. I’m not molesting you. I know it’s shocking, but maybe, just maybe, I care more about my sleep then sexually accosting you right now.”

  Danielle silently peeved. Now every part of their bodies was touching. What had just been a pretty terribly situation was now much, much worse. Her thighs rubbed along his, their calves pressed together. His arms rested lightly at her waist, one of his fingertips resting on the place where her camisole had ridden up and exposed a small strip of skin. She could feel the heat transfer through her.

  She wanted to get up, to hit him, to leave this freaking elevator and all of his male sexuality, but none of it was really possible. He was right, this was a heck of a lot more comfortable than being on the cold floor. Pressed up against him like this was almost scorching. She could feel his heat through the thick wool of her sweater.

  And he smelled really, really good. She couldn’t place it – didn’t know if it was cologne, after shave, or deodorant, but he smelled like heat and power and man. It fit him. She casually breathed in through her nose. She would’ve expected him to smell of latex gloves, and sweat, and throw up. After all, that’s what happened here in their business.

  She wondered if he had showered there, and without realizing it, she asked the question softly.

  She felt his chuckle through her back. “Yeah, my patient Luke had a code blue and when he came to, promptly lost his lunch all over me. Happens a lot here in neurology.”

  She tried to fight back a laugh, but lost. She could picture him standing there, looking like a buff UFC fighter in scrubs, with puke running down the front of his shirt. Her tiny giggles turned into full bodied laughter. She felt him laugh with her after a moment. He had a nice laugh. He didn’t do it enough.

  “You think that’s funny,” he asked, with a disturbingly amused voice. “We’ll see how funny you think it is next time when I call you in for a consult just when he starts looking green again. The kid’s like clockwork now. I got it timed to the minute.”

  She brushed the tears away from her eyes, and laughed once more. “Jokes on you, Belmonte. I’ll just ignore your pages.”

  “No, you won’t,” he said softly. She resisted the urge to turn around. To see what the thoughts running over his face were. He was right; of course, she would never ignore a page from another doctor. To do so would be harming the patient more than anyone else, and the patient always came first in her book. Always.

  They both feel quiet. He felt her relax in his arms, and tilted his head back against the paneled wall. She shifted just once more until her hips were square within his, her legs lining the length of his. He resisted the urge to press a kiss along her exposed neck. Instead he gently squeezed her waist, hoping he could communicate to her that everything would be fine and she could just relax.

  Danielle felt the squeeze and wondered at its reasoning. If he wanted to remind her that he was there, she needed no reminder. She highly doubted she could ever forget the feel of him alongside her. All his sharp edges rubbing against her softer ones. In the end, she ended up just ignoring it, and letting the weight of her body slide against his.

  She snuggled in, warm and heated, and soon felt herself drifting off to sleep.

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  Logan woke up first and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. A quick glance at his watch; it read 4:28 A.M. He could hardly believe they’d been sleeping peacefully for over three hours. At 6 A.M. the day shift workers would start to arrive and maybe someone would realize one of the fucking elevators wasn’t working.

  He looked down at the woman in his arms. She was sleeping peacefully… beautifully… A part of him regretted that they would eventually be rescued. He would never again have the opportunity or the reason to hold her against him like this. She was warm and pliant in his arms, whereas in real life she had to be stern and objective in all things regarding each doctor in the hospital, as did he.

  His gaze drifted over her shoulder and down her chest. From this vantage point, he could see the skin that wasn’t covered by the scarf, peeking out over top of her camisole. He could see the lacey purple edge of her bra and he fought a shudder. He doubted she knew how sexy just that little strip was. She wasn’t the type to work at being attractive. She just was. Everything about her screamed sexy.

  His fingers flexed and he was surprised to feel that sometime in the duration of their nap, their fingers had wound around each other. Her fingers were threaded intimately through his. His thumb rubbed unconsciously over her smooth skin. His thighs twitched from being in one position so long, and he felt her awaken in his arms.

  He was glad when she didn’t say anything, and even more satisfied when she didn’t try to pull away. She could have pretended she was affronted or insulted by his touch, but he respected her so much more than she didn’t try to insinuate it was him that had made the motion. To be honest, he didn’t know who had initiated it. All he cared about was that it had happened.

  “Are you and Sam getting serious?” He had no idea why the question escaped his lips. Instantly, he wanted to call them back. An intimate question like that would no doubt burst the bubble of what was now comfortableness with her.

  She didn’t respond immediately and he tensed in preparation for the answer. Would she tell him to mind his own business? Would she be offended? Or would she tell him that she loved Sam, that she wanted to be with him?

  “We go out a couple times a week. He’s a good man,” she said, almost as if reciting fact.

  He couldn’t disagree. He was sure a man like Sam Purcell would be attractive to someone like her. There were few things more painful in this world than having a child with a terminal disease. To be able to push through that, and still end up with your humanity, was indeed a difficult feat.

  “Good, I’m glad you’re happy.” He tried not to stumble around the words. In a way, he was glad. Just not as glad as he thought he would be.

  She untangled her hands from his, but didn’t pull away farther. “Are you seeing someone?”

  “Nah, I tend to be a lone wolf,” he joked.

  “Seriously.” She said the words quietly, as if she dreaded the answer.

  “I was married right out of high school. Thankfully we didn’t have kids, because we were definitely not meant to be together. She ended up moving out east and devoting herself to her career.”

  “An objective party would tell you that you’re overly-devoted to your career too, Dr. Belmonte.”

  “That’s the pot calling the kettle black,
” he said.

  “I don’t deny it,” she said, looking back at him. “You do.”

  She had a point. He had thought that his ex-wife Jennifer had been too focused on her career. Having a family was not even something she’d discuss, and he had desperately wanted to be a father, even still. Now, marriage and kids just weren’t in the cards.

  “I am dedicated to my career, but family comes first,” he hesitatingly admitted. It was unlike him to talk about things that made him emotional. He waited, hoping she wouldn’t laugh or make fun.

  “That’s admirable,” she said after a moment. “I’m not sure if I’m willing to give it up for family just yet. Since Sam has no urge to pass along his gene again to another son or daughter, luckily, I don’t have to make that decision quite yet.”

  “So it’s that serious?” he asked, hoping he was wrong. “You guys are talking kids?”

  “Oh, God, no. I just mean it’s not something we talk about because we both already know the answer.”

  He shifted his legs, and he felt her reach out to push up off him. He quickly settled, drawing her back down. They still had a couple hours, and he’d be damned if he let her up before it was time. She lay with her hands behind her head and he propped up on one elbow next to her.

  “Let’s play a game,” he said, an idea forming in his head.

  “I think you’re already playing a game,” she said, snuggling against his warmth.

  He smiled. “How about truth or dare?”

  She laughed; a tinkling of bright sound that made him smile like a fool. “Are you serious?!”

  He nodded with a cheeky grin. “Truth. Or. Dare. Unless you’re chicken?”

  He felt her square her shoulders in competition. That was the Danielle he knew. She said, “OK. Truth.”

  He didn’t even have to think about it. “Earlier, when we were in Anna’s room, were you thinking about me?”

  He could almost see the thoughts cross over her face. To tell the whole truth, partial truth, or to deny it completely.

  She ended up going with a simple, “Yes.”

  He admired her for that, knowing that it cost her a little of her pride to admit that she had been thinking about him.

  “Good,” he said arrogantly. Then, “I was thinking about you, too.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “And exactly what were you thinking?”

  His eyebrows shrugged. “I was thinking how you might look with just your lab coat on.”

  She started to admonish him, but then laughed instead when he wiggled his eyebrows. She punched him in the shoulder. “Ugh, you’re such a guy!” Then, she asked, “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth.”

  She thought for a moment. “When did you know you wanted to be a doctor?”

  “My mom had early onset Alzheimer’s,” he said, his face losing its humor. “Have I told you about that?”

  She shook her head. She had never imagined. He seemed so strong and stable; it was hard to picture him taking care of his mom in that condition. She watched sorrow build in his eyes as he told her the story.

  He didn’t intend to, but he ended up talking for a long time. He talked about coming from a broken home with an abusive father and sickly mother. He talked about being poor and never having enough to eat. He talked about his mother’s illness and her wish that he would become a doctor. He talked about his goal of leaving the world a better place than he had found it.

  She fought against the feelings that were arising within her, but she realized that she had been completely wrong about him. What she had thought was arrogance was actually just forced self-confidence. What she thought was his temper was really just him being protective. And what she thought was immaturity was really insecurity at his own failings in his marriage, and his lack of fatherhood.

  When he was done, Logan felt drained. She had only interrupted to ask various medical questions throughout his telling. He knew that she came to the same conclusion, that there was nothing medically different they could’ve done today that would have made a difference in his mom’s early death.

  They sat in an easy silence until he asked, “Truth or Dare?”

  She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Dare.”

  He shouldn’t have been surprised by the answer. She had certainly dared him in normal life every day that they worked together.

  A million things ran through his head. How many times had he thought of daring her to do something over the course of the last few years? But now, when the moment was upon him, how would he narrow it down to just one thing? And something that wouldn’t make her shut down or embarrassed?

  He could ask her to remove some clothes, but what if someone decided now was a good time to fix the elevator? Or what if she refused? Then they’d just sit in silence for the duration of the time. No, definitely better to go with something that she could neither refuse nor be overly shocked by.

  “Kiss me.” He heard the words come out of his mouth, and was not surprised by them. After all, it’s what he’d been wanting her to do for the past couple years, and more so in the past couple of hours.

  Without a word, she rolled on top of him. His breath left him in a whoosh as her body connected solidly with his rising erection. Suddenly, her heat was pressed intimately against his own in a way that left him breathless and incredibly aroused. He looked into her eyes and saw that her pupils were dilated and her face flushed. She was as affected as he was. Her face was only inches away from his. His hands drifted to the outside of her thighs and he heard her quick intake of breath as his hands clasped her soft legs. Not able to resist, he made sure that his thumbs rested along the inside of her thigh, close but not touching her intimately.

  While his hands secured her position, she was able to free her hands and she placed them on either side of his neck. He felt her nails trace a light pattern on his muscles there, watching her eyes drift down to where her fingertips played. He fought the urge to kiss her as he watched the arousal dance in her eyes. Instead, his eyes drifted closed and he just enjoyed her light touch.

  Her eyes were on his, staring intently. He saw her pink tongue slip out to lick her bottom lip and he nearly groaned in anticipation. Did she know what she did to him?

  He felt her hands tug gently on his hair, and that was his only warning before she lowered her lips to his. Her lips were as full and soft as he had imagined. What he had not imagined was the spark of intense attraction that spiraled through him. This was not just any kiss. It was one of those kisses that belonged in the movies. What started as a soft kiss quickly turned heated and passionate. His hand stole around the back of her head, pressing her even closer to him.

  She moaned as his tongue traced a line on her moist bottom lip. She retorted with a quick nibble on his lower lip, and it was his time to groan. His left hand drew up her body, caressing her thigh first, then her waist, up to ribcage, and finally to cup her breast. She broke away from the kiss with a shocked gasp that turned to a moan as his fingertips caressed her rigid nipple through the softness of her camisole.

  He desperately wanted to taste her, but didn’t want to break away to unclothe her. Instead, he let his fingers caress her the way that he wanted his mouth to. They teased, pulled, and rubbed until she was panting and her fingers had a death grip in his hair. He slid his hand below her camisole and she moaned at the skin to skin contact.

  Unable to keep his mouth off her, he started to press open-mouthed kisses against her neck and the crease where her shoulder met her neck. She tilted her head back to give him further access. He trailed his mouth down her throat and collarbone until he could kiss the tops of her globes. His tongue slid further down yet until he could lick her swollen nipples. He felt her fingers clench even tighter in his hair and welcomed the sweet pain.

  When he bit down gently, she let out a soft scream and her eyes locked on his once again. He saw the flash of turquoise fire just before her mouth dropped against his once more. They began a battle of heated passion until
both of them were aching and aroused. Her hand dropped to his waistband, and then underneath the fabric to caress his stiff cock. Her eyes flew up to his when she felt the length of him against her palm. He had a surge of male satisfaction at her surprise.

  Then all thoughts of ego fled as she exposed him and began a rhythm of pumps and pulls that had him straining for release. Each time she brought him closer until he was terrifyingly close to begging.

  When he’d had enough of her playing, he yanked her against him and stood in one fluid motion. She let out a gasp when her feet left the ground. He spun her until her back was against the wall, held in place by his body, hands, and the cool metal of the elevator behind her. Her legs swung around him, locking in place just above his rear. Both of them were heaving with exertion, passion, and release that was just slightly held in check.

  He took a few seconds to look over her face. Her eyes were half-closed in pleasure, her cheeks pink and flushed, her skin gleaming. He knew he had never seen her more beautiful and the thought of what he was about to do brought his already erect member to an aching stand.

  He braced her weight with his right hand, and let his left hand unbutton her jeans. He thumbed the lacy purple fabric before sliding underneath it to caress her smooth heat. Her body started to writhe and twitch in his arms and he knew that she was close. He started to rub circles against her heated flesh. She began to moan, begging for release, until he wedged a long finger up inside her. Instantly she clasped around him and started to milk his finger. He trailed a wet pattern down her neck to suck on her nipple while she exploded around him.

  He rubbed and teased her until she started to wilt in his arms. Unwilling to let her loose just yet, he pressed a soft, wet kiss against her mouth. Minutes later, she was grinding against him with enthusiasm once again. When he tried to push aside the fabric of her jeans, she let out a frustrated growl and hopped out of his embrace. She tore off her jeans and sweater while he ripped off his scrubs until he was clad only in black boxer briefs. He noticed her admiring glance seconds before she jumped back in his arms, locking her legs around his torso again.