Crimson shades of afternoon turned his golden features to copper as he moved ever so near, lowered his voice to a sinful seduction and said, “Because I knew who you were from the minute you walked in my door this morning.”
She sucked in her breath. The game was up. Her cause lost. Her hopes dashed.
Cursing under his breath, he hauled her over the gearshift, then flicked open her waistband button and pushed up her skirt. Eager to claim him as her own, she wiggled, spreading her bare thighs over his, then worked at his belt and zipper. Her pussy was open, sending off the musky aroma of her need, exposed to him, cool and begging for his touch.
And he didn’t let her go hungry long. His fingers thrust up inside her wet channel with stunning urgency. “You are the one woman I do believe I cannot live without.” He caressed her. “Listen to how you want me. God, I am so blessed.” He pulled out and raised his fingers to his mouth to suck one dry. “You do taste better than honey. Want some of this?”
She bit her lip. She was so needy. Her action her answer, she put her mouth around his fingertips and licked them with delicate whisks of her tongue.
He groaned. “You are killing me, here, darlin’.” He lifted up to let her slide down his jeans, and his cock sprang free. Bright red and dripping cum, his shaft was such a lush enticement, she snuggled closer.
“Got to have you inside me,” she pleaded, one hand aiming his rod toward her oh-so-empty pussy.
“Wait, baby.” He reached down to extract a condom packet from his pocket.
She almost choked on laughter. “You brought one?”
He seemed shocked. “You bet!” He tore it open and rolled it on with a snap. “I am not going anywhere with you without a supply. Damn if one is gonna do the job here, either!”
They both chuckled, until he wound her hair around his fist and pulled her mouth to his. “In bed. Out. Day or night. I want you. In all the ways I can get you.” He kissed her then, in a ravishing assault until her mind melted and her body flooded with need for him. “Come on, sink that hot, pink pussy over me, and let’s get us both feeling better, eh?”
She sank. He rose up. Her head fell back, and he kissed her throat, rocked his hips and seized her with long strokes far up inside her. His power shoved her higher, one palm to the ceiling of the cab, one to his shoulder as he filled her with a keening fury and she rode him hard until he, too, was groaning in happiness.
She fell down to rest her head on his shoulder, caress his jaw and nuzzle his throat in contentment.
He cupped her ass with two large hands and jerked her tight. “You gonna argue with me on this, or are we going to go on from here, seeing if what we have is really real?”
Relieved he wanted her often and wild, overwhelmed he could sweet-talk her to gushing delight, she brushed her lips on his. “Take me back to the B&B,” she instructed. “I think we’re about to send the town of Hayward up in flames.”
“Hell, baby.” He snorted. “They need to get used to that, cuz we’re making love every hour of the day.”
Chapter Four
“And one more thing before I go, Kade.” Sam sounded stern as he stood, ready to leave after their most recent conference on the opening events. “I need to see both of you doing something for me.”
“Sure, Sam.” Kade got to his feet. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s Friday night tonight, and that means there’s a big dance at The Long Horn. And tonight, you both will be there. Together. You hear me? Because from all I hear, you are together.” Sam picked his white Resistol hat from the wall rack and pointed it at Shana. “No problem with that. Not by me. No, sir. But people are beginning to talk, you realize?”
Shana blushed, rose from her chair and brushed her hands down her jeans. To be making love to Kade nearly every night since she’d arrived two weeks ago was one thing, but to think that the people of Hayward knew, despite their efforts to be discreet, was a disaster. Gossip in a small town could kill your reputation before you could sneeze.
“Sam, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Be out and about.” He glanced at Kade who frowned. “I’m not telling you how to live your lives, but if you two don’t get out in public, how do you expect folks are gonna take to this expansion? This rodeo is a business—and you two are having way too much fun.”
Shana felt her cheeks burn.
Kade’s face was a mask of concern.
Sam strolled toward the office door. “Come out. Let them see you. And if they’ll see you together because that’s the way you two want it, fine by me. But for god sakes, press a little flesh, will you? Let ’em get to know you. Talk this up. I can’t do it by myself—and as you might expect, my Willa is not helping your cause any.” He chuckled. “Can you dance, Shana?”
“Yes, sir.” She forced a smile. “Really well.”
“Good. Do it, then. And you, Kade? I know you don’t like to go to The Long Horn, but get over it. Take her dancing and introduce her, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll be there.”
“Good.” Sam adjusted his hat on his head and opened the door. “We’re putting a lot of effort and money into this opening, and I want you two promoting it personally. You can do whatever else you want afterward.”
He grinned at them both, winked and shut the door.
“Oh, my god,” Shana sank into her chair, one hand to her chest. “Were we that obvious?”
Kade blinked then walked around his desk toward hers. When he stood beside her, he reached down and drew her up to him. His hands framed her face as he kissed her lightly, chuckling. “We weren’t thinking, sugar. And my apologies, I should have been. I know this town better, but I cannot get enough of you and damn, if I want to share you. Still orders are orders, and it’s time to go out in the world.”
“And if Willa is bad-mouthing you and me, we have a lot of work to do.”
Kade hugged her. “Nah. We’ll be fine. The men’ll take one close look at you and froth at the mouth. And the women will see you belong to me and not feel threatened. Then we’ll be in. You wait and see.”
* * * *
“I haven’t been two-stepping in ages,” Shana told him as she took his hand to climb down out of his truck. The Long Horn Dance Hall was a classic rough wooden-clad Texas saloon and dance hall. On the hot night air, she heard the strains of a honky-tonk tune from a live country band. She shut her eyes at the sounds of the toe-tapping music and told herself she was going to enjoy it and her social obligations to meet the townspeople. “Lord, I am nervous.”
“Don’t be,” Kade crooned and swept a hand around her waist. “In those jeans, you look good enough to eat, and heaven knows, I’ve got a hankerin’ for that all the time!”
She elbowed him. “Come on, now. You promised to be good tonight. If we have to win friends and influence people, you cannot be complimenting me all the time.”
He stopped and turned her in his arms, his heavily muscled thighs and rigid cock nestled warmly against her torso. “I promise to be good. It’s just damn hard for me to look at you and not want you naked with those pretty legs spread open so I can lick your folds.”
“Kade,” she warned, shivering with his ardor. “Stop, honey, just for a few hours.”
He inhaled, looked up at the night sky. “I’m looking for strength.”
She laughed and grabbed his hand. “Come on. Let’s dance!”
“Hey, Kade,” a burly cowboy in a white shirt and jeans called from across the stone parking lot. “How you doin’, man?” He strode closer with a friend who was as tall and dark as he. “Introduce us.”
“John Dayton, Shana Carpenter.” Kade said the words mechanically then looked at the man’s friend. “And I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”
“Brak Henley,” the other said, tipping his black gambler’s hat at Shana. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He put his hand out to Kade who shook quickly. “Stapleton. Stapleton. Aren’t you the champ bronc buster from a few years back?”
&nb
sp; “I am.”
“You competing? Dayton, here, tells me you have a rodeo doing the season opener soon.”
“No, I don’t ride any longer,” Kade told him.
John Dayton spoke up. “Kade is the town’s rodeo manager.”
“Is that so?” Henley examined him. “Got tired of the circuit, huh?”
“Something like that,” Kade bit off.
“Kade had a bad streak of luck,” Dayton told his buddy. “Bad press.”
Kade nodded. “That, too.”
Shana stiffened.
Kade looked down at her. “Come on, Shana. Let’s go inside. See you both later.”
He steered her toward the front door, but her feet were lead and her heart was in her throat. Did everyone remember what she’d done to him?
“What’s the matter, honey?” He turned when she couldn’t move beyond the front door.
She swallowed hard. Over the past weeks, how many times had she wanted to come clean and tell him? When he kissed her in the office? When he took her clothes off with reverent care and they made love standing up against the file cabinets? When he put his cock inside her in the hot tub at the B&B and just held. When he laid her down in his bed or hers and caressed her nipples and filled her pussy with his sweet, hard cock. When he probed her ass and said, “We’ll stretch you a little more again tomorrow, baby, then I’ll fuck you hard there. Promise, darlin’. Come along now and let me kiss your lovely mouth again.”
“Come along now, darlin’,” he crooned against her ear. “We’re good here, and you need to meet these people.”
She looked up at his strong handsome face. “I want you to kiss me.”
“Aw, Shana, you know if I do that, we’re goin’ home to make love.” He gave her a lop-sided grin. “I’ll lay you in my bed good and proper after we shake a few hands.”
What choice did she have? Tell him and lose him. Not tell him and take the chance he could ever forgive her. And as for caring for her, forever. Ah. Foolishness.
“You feeling okay, honey?”
She nodded, setting fear aside. “Let’s go.”
Kade headed them straight for the long bar, where the Friday night crowd was a mix of couples and singles on the make. Some were red-faced, from alcohol or dancing, and most all were boisterous and jovial.
“Hey, Kade! Shana!” A tall dark figure, hoisting a beer bottle, cut through the crowd, and Shana recognized Troy Mallard, the owner of the B&B where Shana lived.
“Oh, shit,” Kade winced. “He’s drinking.”
“That’s not good?” she asked Kade.
“Never.”
“Why?” she wanted to know but Kade had no time to answer as Troy appeared before them. And she could see what Kade meant because Troy’s brown eyes were bloodshot, half closed and his smile, beautiful as it might have been, wobbled. “Hello, Troy.”
“Glad to see you brought her around, Kade.” Troy ogled Shana’s breasts in the white shirt. “We need to see pretty ladies here.”
Kade pursed his mouth. “Yeah, well, we have got to do our public duty here, Troy.” He took Shana’s arm. “Let’s get you a drink, honey, then we can go around and say hello to folks.” He ordered a beer for Shana and a non-alcoholic beer for himself.
“Still drinking that panther piss?” Troy taunted Kade.
Shana, who had never seen her uncle drink and praised him for it, glanced up at Kade who flexed his jaw, fighting anger.
“I’m good with this, Troy.” Kade stepped further down the bar and pulled Shana with him.
“Sure you are.” Troy followed them. “Where you goin’? You could stay here and talk to me for awhile, Kade.” He pulled himself up to his full six-foot-plus height in challenge.
But Kade still topped him in inches and sobriety. “Another time, Troy. We’ve got work to do.”
“Is that what you’ve been doin’?”
The words were a taunt at the least and a slur at the most.
Kade swung to face the other man. “Don’t do this, man. Do not say another word.”
“Why? You want to make sure she doesn’t hear what a pussy you can be?”
Kade leaned over. “That is enough, Troy. Did you come with anyone? Jack or Paul Dobson?” He was looking over the top of the crowd.
“No, I came alone. So what’re you gonna do about it, huh, Kade boy? Can’t even stand here and talk to me. That’s cuz you rodeo boys think I’m a nobody. A cripple.”
Kade considered Troy with warm compassion. “Stop this. You know I think nothing of the sort. And you shouldn’t be drinking.”
“Oh, yeah, sure, sure. How about if I take over for you, you teetotaler, and show Miz Shana here a good time? We know she likes to fuck.”
Over the noise of the crowd and the music, those around them heard the last word and paused, looked at Troy, glanced at Kade and moved away. Shana stared at Troy, stunned that this kind man could be so insulting.
Kade, his face blazing red, murmured his excuses to her and took Troy’s arm. “Come with me.”
“No!” He ripped away from Kade’s hold. “I want to dance with her. You gonna stop me?” He whirled and clamped an arm around Shana’s waist.
His strength caught her off-guard. “Troy, stop!” She put a hand to his chest. “I thought we were friends.”
“Yeah,” he got in close to whisper in her ear, “so you gonna give me a little dance and a kiss and a piece of what you’re giving to Kade?”
She gasped and shrank backward. Someone stopped her from falling with hands to her shoulders.
Kade came up behind Troy and picked him up from under his armpits. “Enough. Let’s go.”
Troy whirled, his fist aiming for Kade’s jaw but connecting to his chest with a thud that made Troy howl in pain. Kade just whirled him about and frog-marched him toward the door.
John Dayton was right behind them. “I’ll take him home, Kade.”
Horrified, Shana stood there as Kade handed Troy over to John and strode back to her.
“Thanks, Brak,” he told the man who still stood behind her and held her steady. “I’m good now.”
“No problem, man.” Brak stepped around to look at Shana who had walked into Kade’s arms. “Troy’s a good guy, just broken up from the war. He and I were in the same unit.”
“He was a great guy,” Kade declared. “He could be again if he’d learn to accept what he’s gotta do to outgun that head injury.”
“I hear you,” Brak agreed with a nod. “But he’s depressed about the death of one of our guys, friend of ours killed with the same IED that wounded him. Drinking doesn’t help the depression.”
“Right you are,” Kade said and stuck out his hand to Brak. “Thanks for helping.”
“You bet.” He smiled and turned away.
The band that had stopped in the midst of the fracas stirred to life again.
“Are you okay?” Kade pushed curls from her cheek as they stood at the bar and drank their beers.
“Fine.”
“He insulted you.”
“He’s got a disability. I understand. It’s not like,” she looked away then up at Kade, “not like he’s an alcoholic. He drinks to forget. All those men over there have such a tough time coming back home and re-entering society.”
“And head injuries are the craziest things to understand. Even those of us who have one don’t always know when we’re going to get a little nuts.”
“But you do,” she said with certainty. “I’ve watched you. You try not to get angry.” The anger that I wrote about with such carelessness. “How did you learn that restraint?”
He made patterns on the bar with the condensation from his beer bottle. “Long process. Behavior mod. Going to doctors—shrinks, really—and learning what makes me craziest most often.”
“And what is that?”
“People who insult me. Makes me see red.”
She felt as if she’d driven a stake into her own heart. I insulted you. I hurt you.
&nbs
p; “I had to learn to stay cool. Not let them get to me.”
“And one way is to stay away from alcohol?”
“Definitely. The docs say it changes the brain chemistry. I know they’re right. After three years dry, I can’t say as I miss the taste. And when I see someone like Troy, who might have a chance at a decent life if he gave it up, I am never sorry I won’t take up the habit.”
The fiddler began and pretty soon, the strains of a line dance filled the hall.
“Come on, darlin’. Don’t look sad. We’re here to have a good time and meet the ones who are going to buy tickets by the truckloads.”
He grinned so broadly, she had to smile back even if her heart was broken for what she’d done to him.
“Let’s dance.” He held her close a minute. “Then I want to take you home with me and make love to you until the sun comes up.”
She laughed her way through the line dance and waltzed around the sawdust-covered floors to a few standard favorites. Kade, whom she expected might not be comfortable on the floor, was graceful and commanding. “I’ve never known a man who can dance so well.”
“You can thank my momma,” he told her as he led her into a turn. “And you?”
“My uncle.” She grinned. “He said it is the mark of a Texas lady or a Texas gentleman that they dance well. And you, my dear, are the most charming gentleman.” She leaned close so that he could hear her as they turned again. “In my bed, out of it, anywhere, Kade.”
His green eyes darkened to a wicked hue. “Compliment me all the time, and we won’t be winning friends and influencing people too long here,” he said, paraphrasing what she’d told him earlier.
“But I—” Love you. She froze with the realization. I can’t say that to you ever. Not unless I have the courage to tell you everything.
But I don’t have the courage. Hating herself, she deliberately squinted past the dance floor lights toward the tables. “Who else do we need to shake hands with?”
He named three people. “One owns a big ranch, the other, the oil drilling company, and the third one is the head of the county chamber of commerce.”
“Hurry, let’s say hello now.”
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