Gun Shy

by Diane Saxon

  “Right.” He climbed out of the car and strode through the bullpen with Bill easily matching his pace. When he reached his office, he turned to shut the door, but Bill was there in his face. What was it about a small town that made people believe they had the right to direct his life?

  “I haven’t finished.” Bill flashed him a bad girl smile as she stepped inside and shut the door behind her, crossing her arms over her flat chest.

  He sighed as he watched her and waited.

  “As I said, I like Kate,” she reiterated.

  He gave a slow nod almost as cautious as he’d been with Kate. Although he had no doubt Bill could easily kill him.

  “I don’t want you to hurt her.”

  “Why would I hurt her?”

  “Because your heart won’t get involved, but hers will, and you treat her the way you have been and she won’t have a reputation left either.”

  He curbed the irritation unfurling in his stomach while he paced across the room. He flopped into his chair and slammed his feet up on the desk, crossing his ankles over.

  Rank determination had him staring his best friend down. “She’s a big girl, Bill. She can look out for herself. She knows exactly what she’s doing.” He leaned back in his chair and rocked slightly, a challenge in his narrowed eyes.

  “I think she has a tender heart and I don’t want you to break it. She’s a friend. You can’t just…” She flicked her hand in a delicate manner, contrary to her normal moves. “…go around when you want, you know, something from her.”

  “Uh-huh. Something from her, huh?” It wasn’t the most comfortable conversation he’d had with his cousin. It was almost as bad as his mother speaking to him about condoms when he was fourteen. Uncomfortable but necessary under the circumstances, but he didn’t really see why Bill felt she had to step up to the plate to defend Kate. Kate was perfectly capable of looking after herself. To get Bill off his case, he decided to impart a small bit of information.

  “I asked Kate to my place for dinner.” At Bill’s broad smile, remorse stumbled through his veins and he held up a hand in self-defense. “Whoa, don’t get carried away. It’s nothing serious. Okay?”

  Her head bobbed with enthusiasm, and then she swung around to almost skip across the room before she flung open the door.

  “One more thing…” His voice stilled her hand. “This is my business, I consider it very private and I do not want it discussed with anyone else.” As Bill turned to look over her shoulder at him, he continued. “The only reason I’ve let you in on it is because you like Kate so much, but Bill, you say anything to anyone about this and I will kick your ass. Is that clear?”

  She did what he considered a very girly shoulder jig, another totally out-of-character move, and then slammed out of his office leaving him to debate the wisdom of even opening his mouth.

  He reclined in his chair and tipped his head back, a small smile forming on his lips. He like rumpling Kate up. He was looking forward to doing it again pretty soon.

  Chapter Eleven

  She didn’t need to use the key. He was already out back. He lounged in a deck chair, a bottle of beer dangled from his fingers, and his bare feet were propped on the low rail surrounding the deck, his arms hanging relaxed across the armrests.

  He’d stripped down to a pair of denim shorts and a sleeveless gray vest and was kicked back with his eyes closed. Kate stole a look at the width of those shoulders and the length of those muscular legs, and her mouth simply watered.

  She’d allowed him to do all the chasing so far, but heavens, every female instinct inside her screamed to take him, and take him now. So she did just that. She simply crawled over his prone body and took his mouth with hers, staring with interest into his half asleep, but fully aware eyes as she made her move.

  She lowered her mouth to the pulse in his neck and gently sucked. Stroking her tongue in long soothing licks, she tracked up to his ear.

  “Yum,” she whispered as she nipped his lobe.

  “Yum?”

  “Hmmm, yeah, Sheriff, yum.” She ran her tongue around the shell of his ear, playfully dipped in and then sat back, her loins pressed against his, and gave a smooth little gyration which had a desperate groan rolling from his chest.

  “You taste like sunshine and musk.”

  “Musk?” He sounded offended. “Are you saying I need a shower?”

  She laughed deep and throaty, tipping her head back and allowing her hips to tilt forward. He raised a hand to take a hold of her, but she grasped him by the wrist and guided it back to the armrest.

  It was her turn to take control. He’d had it far too often. It was time for her to show him how it was done.

  She slipped the bottle from his loose hold and took a small sip of the ice-cold nectar, all the while watching the interest on his face. Instead of returning the beer to him, she considered he would be better off without it and reached out to place it on the wooden block doubling as a table by the side of his chair.

  She smoothed her hands from his wrists to his shoulders, all the time noting the wild glint in his narrowed eyes.

  “Musk is the scent of sex. You can’t shower it away, it’s just there, ingrained in your hormones.” She leaned forward again, felt the vibration of his groan as she cruised her hands across his wide shoulders and started to follow the muscles back down his arms, defining them with her fingers. “It comes out of your skin,” she murmured as she gave another little wriggle against his lap, amused to see his gaze turn dangerous and hot. “And straight to the senses…” She took a bite of his lower lip, sucked it into her mouth, and then gently let go. “…of every female in a five-mile radius.”

  “Five miles, huh?”

  She dipped back in and ravaged his mouth, took it with force and deliberation just because she could. Her nimble tongue darted between his lips to tangle with his tongue until he grabbed her with both hands, one pressing on the back of her head to keep her mouth on his and the other holding her hips still as he arched his own upward to grind himself against her.

  Dizzy with desire she clung to him, molded herself against him as her hands found their way in between their bodies. For a brief moment she fumbled to undo his shorts and then pushed them firmly down to his knees while he raised his hips to accommodate. She laughed with delight when his body went rigid with shock as she grabbed hold of him, hitched her skirt up, and then impaled herself upon him. She’d decided not to allow him the pleasure of ripping another pair of panties and had slipped them off just before she’d climbed from her car.

  They stilled for a moment, staring at each other as he settled in, and her moist warmth closed around him. She arched to take him in deeper, but he grasped her hips, a light of panic in his widened eyes.

  “Condom,” he ground out as she started to move.

  “Hmm?” Hazy with desire, her lips parted as she shuddered with her own need.

  “Condom, Katie.”

  His entire body had stilled, his muscles taut with self-control, while she was hard pushed to stop, panting down at him as she slowly pushed away and removed herself from his body.

  She felt so stupid. She’d come here to seduce him, to show him she could give as good as she got, but she really wasn’t very experienced, and she’d just made a complete fool of herself. He’d had to fight her off.

  Heat rushed into her face as she scrambled off his lap and stood, awkward and fumbling at his side. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, embarrassment clogging her throat while she tugged her skirt back around her legs. “I’m not really very good at this, am I?” She gave him a tight smile as she started to move away, but he was too quick for her and grabbed her wrist, yanking her back down across his chest.

  “We forgot a condom is all.” His accent had thickened to Deep South and his voice had hit rock bottom. “And Katie, you don’t have to be good at this, you just need to be here, honey, because you got me, with every breath you fill your lungs with, you got me.”

  Unable to dec
ide whether she should believe him, Kate froze. If she ran now, he’d think her a coward. He cocked his head to one side while a crooked grin dimpled his cheeks as he waited for her to make a move. Regret stumbled through her. She couldn’t. For one of the only times in her life, she’d made the first move and been shot down in flames. She squinted at him and started to shake her head, her feet still stuck to the floor like glue.

  With a sudden move, Jack stuck his hand in the pocket of his shorts, pulled out a condom, grabbed her by the wrist, and slapped it into her open palm.

  “I was ready, willing, and able, so go ahead and do your thing, babe, I’m going nowhere in a hurry.”

  He lay back in the chair, put his hands behind his head, and gave her a long, lazy smile, as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

  Kate stared down at the condom in her hand and contemplated whether she should run, or take up the challenge and put it on him. She’d never put a condom on a man before. She was a doctor, so sue her, she’d put them on bananas and zucchinis, but never actually some male appendage.

  She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been as intimate with a man. She’d had sex, but she realized she’d never truly made love. In the way she wanted to with Jack. Giving everything, taking everything.

  She allowed her gaze to cruise over Jack’s handsome features. His crooked smile was in place, but he contemplated her with attentive stillness.

  She opened the packet with her teeth, delighting in the rush of breath she heard as he sucked air into his lungs when she leaned closer. Fascinated by the twitch and pulse of him, Kate watched the strain of muscles on his forearms as he held on to the armrests of the chair until his veins nearly burst out of his skin.

  Captivated with the control over his apparent desperation, she slowed. She reigned in her own eagerness. She was a surgeon—control was in her nature, in her blood. Without so much as a tremor of her fingers, she slipped the condom in one smooth move along the length of him. It may only have been bananas and zucchinis, but she had practiced. A lot. Who’d have known her practice would pay off?

  She leaned over him, hands resting on the wooden arms of the chair, not touching him at all until her lips met his in a tentative exploration.

  His hot tremor should have been warning enough, but she still squeaked with surprise as he reared up and grabbed an armful of her, hauling her on top of him to plunge himself deep inside, his hips raising to meet hers.

  Before she could draw a breath, he froze. His dark, molten gaze met hers.

  “I believe we were here.”

  She laughed as she pushed herself upright on him. She could see the strain in his face and realized she was the one who had put the strain there. Not because he thought she was no good, but because he hadn’t been able to wait until he was inside her. So she rocked experimentally, glided on him and made a humming sound in the back of her throat as she watched the muscles in his neck tauten and strain.

  “I do believe you’re right,” she teased with a low gurgle of laughter as she delighted in the flex of his jaw while he waited for her to continue. His pretense of patience almost at an end made her wonder how much longer she could make him wait.

  One more look at him, and she knew she couldn’t, understood she could no longer hold off her own desires as she reached forward to scrape a long lazy trail with her fingernail to the neckline of his vest. It appeared clothes always got in the way. She gave a sly rotation of her hips and pinged the seam on his tank.

  “You want to take that off, so I can touch your skin?”

  Before she could draw her next breath, Jack lurched forward, dragging the vest over his head with one hand while he kept a firm hold on her hips with his other.

  The motion plunged him deep, and there was no more time to think of holding back as he wrapped both arms around her, clasped her to his chest, and let the rhythm take them.

  ∙•∙

  Wrapped in each other’s arms, they reclined on his creaky old chair while the sun lowered to the horizon. It turned the ranch a fiery orange with flames of gold and burnished red that streaked across the sky and shot toward heaven.

  He shifted her in his arms so she faced the setting sun, her fine skin a radiant glow in the soft light.

  “Over there,” he pointed to the right, almost on the horizon, to what had become long purple shadows. “That’s my brother’s place. He owns all this land, including the stables out back here.” He swept his arm out to indicate the vastness of his brother’s land, as far as the eye could see.

  “Do you have any land of your own?” The lazy circles she stroked on his arm distracted him for a long moment, her soft response to his gentle kiss a diversion.

  “Sure, but not much, I think there’s roughly twenty acres I have wrapped around the house. I don’t need any more. It’s not what I wanted out of life. I wanted to uphold the law, be a sheriff, but I was born and raised on a ranch so I enjoy living a solitary life.” She shuffled her head on his shoulder, but said nothing. “My brother, Sam, he’s a rancher. Breeds quarter horses, they’re performance horses. You know, they use them on ranches, farming, riding schools, and such. Good solid quality.” He nodded with pleasure and tipped her head up to plant a kiss on her lips again, taking time out to taste the sweet nectar of her mouth.

  A quiet lethargy stole over him as he gazed out at the final battle of night against day. The sun dipped below the horizon to leave gnarled fingers of navy and amethyst to snake over the land and swallow it up in a velvet black curtain.

  It would have been nice to have stayed there for the rest of the night, but tiny goosebumps speckled over Kate’s skin as he smoothed a rough hand over her shoulder and rubbed warmth back into her.

  “Let’s put these steaks on to grill and I’ll get you a drink. I haven’t even offered you one yet, you taking advantage of me an’ all. I have a white wine chilling in the refrigerator. It’s from a local vineyard. I hope you’ll like it. As you can probably tell, I prefer beer myself.” He stood and drew her into his arms to plant another kiss on her, this time on the end of her pretty little nose.

  “I can’t drink, I’m driving.” A glimmer of disappointment threaded through him. “One glass of wine and I’m afraid I’ll be asleep. It’s been a long day. But I’m ravenous, so a steak would be great.”

  With a bright smile, she stroked a finger across his furrowed forehead and wiped away his frown before she stepped out of his arms. He was hungry too, hungry to get her back beneath him. As she turned away, he whipped her back in again and turned her face to his, sinking in for another longer, deeper kiss. He should have had enough of her, but letting her go simply wasn’t an option.

  “Katie, stay tonight.” The words spilled out of his mouth before he could bite his own tongue, but he waited to hear what she would say. He’d never had any woman stay the night at his place, partly because it had been a building zone for so long and partly because it had given him an excuse to keep his freedom.

  “It’s probably not a good idea.” She stroked her thumb across his lower lip and made his senses fly once more.

  “It’s a great idea.” He knew in his heart what he was doing was irreversible, but he couldn’t help himself. “Look, Katie.” He touched her cheek with his forefinger and doused the quiver of panic. “I know I’m not good with this kind of thing.” He had to make it clear, but he didn’t want to chase her away. He needed her, but he’d set his own boundaries long ago and he was unwilling to be moved on them. She’d already bumped them harder than anyone else. “I’ve said I won’t be tied to one woman.” She shifted, a quick shaft of pain streaked through her eyes as she tried to turn away, but he brought her face back around to his, his fingers encircling her chin. “We can both be honest about this.” He owed her that much. “This thing we have. It’s not going to go away. I made a mistake when I said I didn’t want a relationship. It looks like we have one whether we want it or not.”

  “Well, that’s flattering.” The sour twist of her lip
s coaxed an apologetic shrug from him, but he smoothed a hand down the length of her silky plait and prayed she didn’t decide to walk away.

  “You’re here for another few months and I’d like to keep seeing you.” She opened her mouth, but before she could deny him, he jumped back in. “I promise while we’re together, I won’t look at another woman.” Unable to keep his hands from her, he stroked the wayward wisps of hair back from her forehead and wondered when he could untie the plait and watch the fall of silk against her skin. He trailed the back of his knuckles along her cheek.

  “And when I leave?”

  The pale glitter of her eyes in the darkness made him wonder what the hell he had to do to keep her. It would be ugly if he begged. He’d never had to, but he was halfway there.

  Fear tripped his pulse, but he forced a smile and a careless shrug. “We’d have an Atlantic divide, and I don’t fly. Under no circumstances would you ever get me on a plane. Those damn things crash and burn.”

  An easy smile curved her lips while a sly glint crept into her eyes.

  “You’re afraid of flying.”

  “Not as such.”

  “What do you mean, not as such?”

  “I can’t say I’m afraid, if I’ve never flown. Never had the incentive to.”

  “Ha!” She curled her hand into a fist and punched him in the shoulder, her knuckles going deep. Impressive for such a delicate woman. “You’re scared. Scared of getting on a plane.”

  He was scared of far more than that, and his biggest fear lay in the answer she’d yet to give.

  “So.” He nudged her. “Do we have a deal?”

  Just when he thought she was about to pull away, she raised her hand to push her braid over her shoulder. He should have asked her when it was light—he could barely make out her features, never mind read her expression.

  “Okay. You feed me, I’ll have one small glass of wine, and let’s see how it goes.” She stepped from the circle of his arms and called over her shoulder as she disappeared into the house, “I’m just going to freshen up.”