by Heidi Hormel
He didn’t start the kiss softly. He couldn’t. A storm had started low in his gut. His mouth devoured hers as she opened to him, her fingers finding that magical spot at his nape. He pulled her closer but not close enough. He stood, lifting her easily, and her mouth nuzzled into the space at the top of his open shirt. He had to have her laid out where he could taste and touch. Not his bedroom and not hers. She stilled. He knew that he had to move. He couldn’t let the spell of heat and sex blow away. Not now. He rushed out to the patio and the lounge with its thick cushion. He got her settled with another long kiss, the chair just big enough for the two of them—if they stayed close. He threw his leg over her hip. Through their clothes, her yearning heat warmed him from chest to groin. Closer. He needed to be closer. He didn’t even know he’d said that out loud until Pepper answered, “Yes,” as her hands worked at all his buttons at once.
His own hands yanked at her jeans and her shirt until he met her buttery soft skin. Taste. He had to taste. Half-dressed he slipped from the lounge so he could bury his mouth into the softness of her belly and then upward to her straining breasts. Her hands clutched at the back of his head.
“Arthur John, you are a devil,” she moaned out as she arched under his lips, tongue and teeth.
“Then you’re a witch,” he whispered, laying himself out on top of her so he could return to her sweet carnation mouth. She opened to him, her legs wrapping around him, holding him tight to her so that their bodies aligned. So that there was no question what they each wanted.
Chapter Ten
Pepper’s breath caught again in her throat as AJ’s hands and mouth made love to her. Sweetly, hotly and with expertise. She gasped over and over. Except it wasn’t enough. She wanted them skin to skin, nothing between them.
“Pepper, honey,” he whispered into her ear, his slow Kentucky drawl thick and dark, like molasses and whiskey. “I can’t wait. I need you now, darlin’.”
He didn’t move though and she wanted him to, like she’d never wanted another man. “Why are you talking?”
“I need you to be sure,” he said, hushed and serious. His lips at the lobe of her ear as his words brushed along her face.
“I’m sure. I want you, now, AJ McCreary, and if you don’t—”
He moved enough that together they quickly stripped her of her shirt and pants. He slowed her hands on the clasp of her bra, watching with wide eyes as it came off, while he slid his hands under her panties and pulled down. His fingers drifted over her before he turned away for a condom packet, then he was back to her ready, eager, but so in control she wanted to scream.
“If I do anything you don’t like, you just tell me, ya hear.”
She held his face as he braced himself above her, and she shivered in delight at the moon-silvered strength of him. “I’m a woman, not a girl. I will always tell you what I ‘like.’ Right now, I’d like you to stop stalling.” A devilish smile to match his pirate-dark hair made her vibrate with anticipation. Then she no longer thought but only felt his heat and hers building and building until she cried out.
He whispered in a hoarse voice, “Let’s see if we can’t make you ‘like’ it again.”
* * *
PEPPER COULDN’T READ the stars to know what time it was or how long they’d been spooned together on the narrow lounge. She enjoyed the press of their flesh. Neither of them had said a single word since they’d used the last of AJ’s condoms. Not that he had a huge stack. The haze was lifting, and Pepper’s brain was re-engaging. She refused to regret what she’d done, but she knew it needed to be a one-of.
“Boot!” a crackling, amplified little-girl voice broke the silence. Pepper jerked.
AJ jumped from the lounge, impressively and explosively fast as he went to his jeans. EllaJayne called the name one more time, then silence. He pulled on his clothes. With his back to her, in what Pepper assumed was a gentlemanly way to allow her to dress in privacy, he finally said, “The new baby monitor has an app for my phone.”
“Oh,” Pepper said, looking for her socks, after pulling her top over her head. “That’s convenient.”
“Much better than carrying around the walkie-talkie thingy.”
So this was the way it was going to be. They’d pretend that what had happened hadn’t? “Sounds like she went back to sleep.”
“She does that. She talks a lot. At least she doesn’t go sleep-walking. Had an uncle who did that.”
They were both dressed and facing each other. Pepper kept her gaze somewhere over his right shoulder. Even though the now shadowed darkness of the patio wouldn’t have let him see her face, she didn’t want to take the chance, not sure what she feared exactly.
“Somnambulism can be a problem and a sign of sleep apnea or even heart trouble.”
“Huh.”
She interpreted that as a marginally interested noise. He stepped toward the house and froze, going stiff before taking another careful step. “Stop. Did you hurt your back again?” She went to his side, her hand tracing over his lower spine to feel what was going on. He skidded from her touch. “Did that hurt?” What had their... Had they damaged his back somehow?
“I’m fine. I don’t need you poking at me.”
“I could see your back is giving you trouble.” She used her firm clinic voice.
“I’m not a flippin’ patient.” His words came out on a rush of air as his gaze kept steady on her face.
She pulled back immediately. “I’m sorry. I just saw your back hurt and—”
“Jeez. What man wants to...after we...jeez. I’m a g.d. guy. Give me a little dignity, okay? I want you to at least remember what I...jeez.” He rubbed at his neck. “I’d rather face Tornado,” he mumbled.
Lordy be. Men could be so dumb. Or maybe not. Would she want him to treat her like something less than a woman after what they had just done? On impulse she stepped up and pulled his head down for a kiss. His arms wrapped around her, and he stepped into the lip-lock that caused explosions through her body. How could she want more? But she did. That one thought had her pulling away slowly...but still moving away. “I know you’re all man, sweetie.” She gave him what she hoped was a saucy smile. The trembling wasn’t in her lady parts. It was her heart, scaring and exciting her at the same time.
* * *
AJ DIDN’T GRAB Pepper again, even though that was what he wanted to do. Bad idea. The two of them had just had amazing...sex. He had to remember that’s all it was. She’d tried to take his ranch. She’d made it clear she thought rodeo cowboys were only one small step up from puppy kickers. Plus, he had his daughter to think about. He’d be selling out and moving on. California might still work out. He’d always wanted to live where the sun shone every day. Arizona had that, an annoying voice said, and what about asking Pepper if she was interested in paying him to use the property for the garden, once she reimbursed her attorney? That was a pipe dream.
The lingering scent of clove and lemon snapped him from his thoughts. They’d had a damned...moment. Yep. That’s what it was. A little craziness for both of them but no reason to change any plans. He stepped toward the house and stopped as pain shot down into his hip again. Taking a deep breath, he looked into the house. The kitchen was empty. He could get a beer and an aspirin. The two would settle his back and his mind. He had to be up early—as always. He also needed to be using his time and energy on finding a new job. He was already behind on his truck payment and his daughter needed new clothes. She’d outgrown nearly everything she’d had when they’d landed at Santa Faye Ranch more than two months ago.
As he sipped his beer in the bedroom, he ran through what he’d need to do the next day, and it overwhelmed him. He already knew the next evening, Pepper wouldn’t be waiting for him in the garden, ready to talk about their days, figure out their schedules and just hang while they did the relaxing work of caring
for the fields and animals.
Darn it. He knew sex messed things up. Maybe not this time? He snorted. Sex would more than mess it up this time. Pepper wasn’t a buckle bunny or a woman looking for a honky-tonk good time. She was a woman who cared—deeply—and wouldn’t take what they’d done lightly. What he wanted to do again and what he deep-in-his-gut feared would be difficult to forget.
* * *
AJ HATED BEING RIGHT. Their night...not even a night...on the lounge a week ago had messed with whatever had been happening between him and Pepper. If he accidentally brushed up against her now, she jumped away like she’d touched a boiling pot. He hadn’t known how much he’d liked those casual touches and how much he’d miss the evenings in the field together with EllaJayne. It was all wrecked now.
“Yeah, sorry about that, son,” he said out loud to the face in the mirror as he shaved. Baby Girl yelled for Boot from the floor of the bathroom. He’d had to give up on her car seat as a corral. She’d figured out the extra tie he’d put over the buckle she’d Houdini-ed her way out of when he’d been under the hood on that first day in Angel Crossing. He tried to keep her in his peripheral vision because she’d figure out the bathroom lock soon enough, then she’d roam freely. She made a pitiful cry for Butch again. Another five minutes and she could be reunited with the useless dog. Yesterday while AJ had been moving the Beauties, Butch had raced through the herd, scattering them. Two hours later, AJ had finished rounding them up—with Butch locked away in the house. Good thing the llamas and alpacas had a weakness for black licorice.
Now, his daughter happily played with her toes, then picked up Oggie, talking to the flattened toy. “What am I going to do?” he asked her. She stopped chattering and held out the dog to him. A big compliment. “Thank you, honey. You keep Oggie.” When had he gotten so soft that tears sprang into his eyes because his daughter offered him her darned toy?
Since he was facing the fact he might just have to leave her.
He’d looked everywhere for work. Everywhere that paid a decent wage with decent hours. Then, of course, the rodeo had come a-callin’. One stock contractor he’d worked for was looking for a replacement wrangler and was willing to pay top dollar. It meant AJ would need to hit the road. It would mean...what? Could he take Baby Girl? Yeah, right. Exactly how would that work? He could leave her here, couldn’t he? EllaJayne liked the Bourne women much better than she did him most days. After all, he was the one who made her go to b-e-d.
Leaving Baby Girl wasn’t forever, not like her mama had. It was just until he could get caught up on the truck payments and other bills. Until the ranch was his. Bobby Ames kept saying it wouldn’t be much longer, but that man’s idea of long and AJ’s weren’t exactly the same.
“I’m going to have to do it, EllaJayne. I’ll miss you,” he choked out. He stared at his face in the mirror again, hardening everything like he did before a ride. He wouldn’t think about the possible pain. He’d focus on what he had to do to make it through the next eight seconds. He’d track Pepper down and sweet-talk her into listening to his plan. If that didn’t work, could he ask Faye to convince Pepper to care for the little girl with Grammy Marie’s help? Faye more often than not acted like a flake but she was more together than her gypsy skirts and herbal remedies had led him and everyone else to believe. He’d begun to understand what Gene had seen in the woman, and how she’d helped raise a daughter like Pepper. The two of them were caregivers, just from different roads.
As he’d hoped...sort of...Pepper was in the kitchen finishing up her breakfast when he and EllaJayne were done with their morning bathroom routine. Now what should he do?
“Good morning, EllaJayne. How is Oggie today?” Pepper asked his daughter. The girl squealed in delight.
“I need to talk with you,” AJ said. Pepper’s eyes widened, before shifting to the doorway. “It won’t take long.”
She looked down at his daughter who had raced over to sit at her feet, talking again with Oggie. “She needs her breakfast.”
“I can take care of that while we talk.” He went to the fridge, stopping to get himself a cup of coffee. He needed the shot of caffeine. He plopped his daughter down in her chair.
“Here’s the thing,” he said as he helped her spoon yogurt into her mouth. “I’ve been looking for work.”
Pepper nodded, standing as far away from him as the kitchen would allow. Dang. She looked cute in her oversize shirt and ratty shorts that she’d obviously slept in. He didn’t want to think about her, warm and soft in the morning light in a big bed with nothing on but—“There isn’t anything around here. I’ve looked.”
“I thought Danny had leads for you. I can try again with people I know.”
He started on his daughter’s cereal, focusing on each spoonful. “I’ve run out of time and my old boss called. I’m going back on the road with the rodeo. For two months, maybe a little longer. I’ll make more there than I could anywhere here.”
“What are you thinking? You have a daughter.”
“I know I have a daughter. That’s why I’m doing this.”
“You’ll drag her with you and leave her with strangers?” Pepper turned away.
“I’m not—” He cleared his throat. How could he leave his daughter if he couldn’t even say the words? He would because without the work, neither of them would be okay. “That’s why I needed to speak with you. I’m hoping I can count on you...and Faye to look after EllaJayne.”
“Look after her? She’s not a puppy. Plus, we’re talking months. I know I’ve dropped her off at Grammy Marie’s but that’s not the same as being solely responsible...that’s a lot to ask.”
“I know it is, but it’s temporary, and I’ll get home as often as I can. We should be in Vegas or nearby for part of the time.”
“You’re telling me there’s nothing that you could find—”
“It’s not just the wrangling, though that pays well. My boss said he’d stake me for rides. If I end up in the money, I’ll be back sooner, rather than later.”
“What?” she shouted. “You’re going to crawl onto the back of a bull with your...knowing that your daughter... No. I won’t do it.”
“What do you mean no?” What had he seen before she turned from him again? Fear? Anger?
“I would think even your addled brains could figure that out. N-O. I’m not doing it.”
“Peep?” EllaJayne asked in a quavering voice, reaching out her hands.
Pepper dashed across the kitchen and snatched up his daughter, obviously forgetting for a moment about the belt that held the little girl in place. AJ fumbled with the buckle along with Pepper’s hands. She was close enough for him to see the fear in her usually warm brown gaze.
“It’ll be fine,” he said gently, like he would to a skittish horse. “It’s what I’ve done for most of my life.”
“And look what it’s done to you? Your back? Your hip? Do you want to be in a wheelchair? Do you want to have surgery after surgery?” She had Baby Girl in her arms now and buried her face in that sweet baby-smelling spot in the crook of EllaJayne’s neck.
“First, that ain’t happenin’,” he said with the bravado he needed to get through the next few months. “Second, it won’t be for long.”
“As your...your medical professional, I’m saying you’re not fit.”
“I can give you money to care for EllaJayne. I wouldn’t expect you to do it for free. You could use the money for the garden.” His hope had been she’d offer to watch the little girl and not expect cash, but if he had to pay for her as well as Grammy Marie, he would. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it could work until the ranch was his.
“What’s wrong?” Faye asked, startling him. AJ hadn’t heard her come into the kitchen, his focus on Pepper.
Pepper answered for him. “He’s being a cowboy. He wants to go back to the rode
o and expects us to be good little women and watch his child.”
“Oh,” Faye said. “He’s a Taurus.”
As usual, exactly what Faye meant eluded him, but he thought she was supporting his decision. “I can’t find work locally and I’ve got bills.” That really was it in a nutshell. “I might even have a chance at a few purses. It wouldn’t be for long. I told Pepper I’d get back here as often as I can.”
“And you need us to watch out for the precious little one? Of course we will. That’s what we do for family.”
“Family?” Pepper spat out. “He’s not family. He’s the kind of cowboy Daddy Gene—”
“That’s not true,” Faye said. “Gene loved Arthur John. Why else would he leave him the ranch? Although maybe he had a bigger plan in mind, but that’s not for now. We have a chance to have this wonderful soul all to ourselves. What a great time we’ll have. Arthur John has to do this.”
“Thanks, Faye.” He still needed Pepper to agree. He trusted her—when had that happened? Over the two months they’d been here, it had crept up on him. Or maybe it was that night on the lounge? How could he not trust a woman he’d been...well, been with. “Pepper, what do you say? It’ll be best for everyone.”
“Except you,” she muttered and glared at Faye and him.
“Outside,” Faye said, pushing them out the back door and onto the patio. “I’ll get EllaJayne ready for her glorious day.”
The snick of the lock on the back door worried AJ but not as much as what Pepper wanted to do to his plan.
“I’m a PA. I know what you’ve done to your body and what more rides could do to it.”
She’d come out swinging. He would’ve admired that tenacity if it hadn’t been aimed at him. “It’s my body and my decision.”
“I’m your doctor.”
“You’re not and even if you were, I’d still be going out. I’ve got bills and—” He wouldn’t go into the pile of debts he had, having to do with his own misspent youth, paying off EllaJayne’s kin. And of course there was his truck and care for Benny back in Kentucky.