by Joanne Rock
For a moment, she took in the sight of him, bare-chested and breathtaking, still just a step over the threshold of the cabin. The dim light from a nearby lamp burnished his skin with a golden glow.
“Come upstairs.” Taking his hand, she pulled him with her to the steps that led to the loft of her small cabin, the area she’d made into her bedroom.
The smooth-planed log stairs led them up over the kitchen to the nook where she’d tucked a full-size bed and a nightstand. There wasn’t room for much else. The scent of pine hung heavy in the air, even with the overhead fan spinning on low.
It was a far cry from the luxurious pool house where he’d taken her the night before. But they stood under the skylight, the white glow of the moon spilling over them. She’d always liked looking up at the stars before she fell asleep at night.
Reaching to pull Xander toward the bed, she noticed him frowning down at the living room from his stance near the heavy wood banister.
“We have bigger cabins around the ranch that are sitting vacant,” he told her as he turned to face her. “I’ll find you one with more room.”
The different worlds that divided them felt very far apart.
“I’m happy here. It’s more than I need.” Living rent-free had helped nudge her closer to her goal of being able to pay for veterinary school.
“You should have a bedroom with four walls.” He looped his arms around her neck, tipping his forehead to hers. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“I don’t need help,” she bristled, tensing. “I prefer to take responsibility for myself.”
His jaw flexed. She could see the shift of shadows on his face, despite the dim lighting. He remained silent.
“Besides,” she continued, needing to be very clear about this, “upgrading my accommodations on-site is the surest way to get everyone gossiping about us. People will say I’m getting preferential treatment, and that wouldn’t be fair.”
Waiting for his answer almost killed her. She didn’t want to argue. Didn’t want to think about all the things that divided them. They were better when they were working together—whether it was to deliver a foal or to make small talk with local ranchers like they did at the gala.
Xander nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.
“All right. We’ll leave it for now,” he conceded, stroking a stray hair from her temple and smoothing it back as they stepped away from the banister and closer to the bed. “I just want you to be comfortable. Happy.”
His touch stirred her, the heat that had been simmering earlier returning quickly. He bent to drop a kiss on her jaw, nibbling his way down her neck in a way that made quivers race up and down her spine. His hands slid beneath the hem of her tank, skimming up her ribs to stroke the undersides of her breasts through the lace of her bra. Desire unfurled and she sucked in a gasp.
“This makes me happy,” she murmured, arching closer. “Your touch.”
He studied her through heavy-lidded eyes, his thumbs stroking back and forth over the taut peaks pebbling against his hand. “In that case, I’ll make sure to provide all the touching you want.”
His voice smoked over her, the promise teasing a shiver from her as they stood together in the white spill of moonlight. Her calves nudged the footboard of her bed as she shifted on her feet.
“I’d like that.” She ran her hands over his shoulders, his skin hot to the touch, the muscles shifting and tensing under her hands, his sensitivity as heightened as her own. “But getting naked will make all this more fun.”
“Is that so?” He lowered one hand to flick open the button on her jeans, his fingers lingering in the square inch of skin he’d uncovered. “It could be rewarding to take our time.”
Pleasure vibrated through her, the heady buzz of it thrumming along her nerve endings.
“No,” she told him firmly, pressing her hips closer, her belly resting against the hard ridge behind his fly. “The best reward is putting an end to this hunger fast. To take the edge off. Afterward, we can discuss the merits of teasing touches.”
“No one said anything about teasing,” he clarified as he peeled her tank top up and off. His gaze roamed over her. “You’re so damned beautiful.”
His words moved her, especially since she knew she was a wreck after their work in the stables. She didn’t have a chance to reply, however, as Xander moved to free the clasp on her bra and tug down the zipper on her jeans. The promise of being naked with him distracted her from everything else. Wriggling her way out of her clothes, she stripped off the rest of her garments while he discarded his denim and boots.
He flipped a foil packet on the pillow before drawing her onto the mattress with him in a tangle of limbs. She slid her arms around his neck, absorbing the sensation of having him next to her. The bristle of his jaw and the texture of the hair on his chest. The impressive muscle underneath it. His lean hips pinning hers while he stroked his way up her thigh.
Their gazes collided and she melted inside at the intensity of his expression. The heat in his gaze. She hooked her calf around his, wanting more. He shifted, his knee pressing hers wider. Her pulse raced.
When he kissed his way down her body, her breath caught. Each twitch of his lips turned her to liquid. She thought she might die of pleasure when, at last, he kissed her intimately. Her senses swam. She gripped the duvet beneath her, a fistful in each hand, as she braced herself for the completion shimmering so very close now.
Then it hit her and she cried out, the rush of fulfillment so strong that it broke over her again and again. Xander coaxed every last spasm from her before he stretched out above her, covering her. He retrieved the condom and rolled it into place while she tried to find her breath again.
She skimmed her hands over his arms and his chest, finally clutching his shoulders while he edged his way inside her. When they were fully joined, she kissed him deeply, her emotions winding around him along with her arms.
She wanted this moment to last, relishing the feel of him inside her, the tension threading through his muscles as he moved, the way the moonlight played off his skin, casting them in alternating shadows as they moved together in sync. Each thrust stoked the passion higher. Hotter.
He stole her breath away.
And possibly her heart.
She couldn’t gather either of them as the fluttering sensation started in her womb. By the time it burst through her in another delicious spasm, she held him tight.
His shout resonated through her body along with the lush sensations. Once her senses returned and she became aware of her own breathing again, she knew something momentous had happened. Maybe not for Xander. But for her.
She’d known it was a risk to be with him like this again, but she hadn’t realized how quickly she might lose her heart to him. With tenderness welling up in her chest, she feared that was exactly what was happening. She was developing feelings for Xander Currin, a man who refused to fall for anyone since his true love had died.
But then, maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise when she’d swooned over him for months. Was it any wonder that this kind of time with him would make her want him in her life for more than just one night?
Breathe.
Just breathe.
Frankie staved off the chance of hyperventilating, knowing that wouldn’t be a good way to end their night together. Instead, she kissed his bare shoulder and hoped for the best.
“Stay,” she whispered in his ear, not ready for a conversation that might reveal some of what she was feeling. “Sleep.”
She tugged the tangled duvet from where it lay half on the floor, covering their cooling bodies.
Xander kissed her forehead, stroking aside her tumbleweed hair.
“Good night, Frankie.” He tucked her against him, her ear pressed to the steady thrum of his heart.
She wondered, right before she fell asleep,
was he truly saying good-night?
Or had he really meant goodbye?
* * *
Xander had every intention of spending what little remained of the night with Frankie. She didn’t need to work in the morning since she’d spent long hours in the barns while the rest of the ranch slept. He’d thought he would make her breakfast, show her that she didn’t need to worry about morning-after awkwardness between them. He felt certain they could just enjoy what was happening between them without having to look at more than one day at a time.
But his father had texted him in the predawn hours to ask a question about Thistle, the message leading Xander to believe Ryder was wandering around the barns by himself. That alone would have been rare enough. Combined with the fact that he’d reached out to his son, and Xander knew something must be wrong. His father might ask Xander for help with the oil business, but he never inquired much about the ranch. Did his father find the same solace in the barns that Xander did? Concern about his dad was the only reason he left Frankie’s side before the sun rose. It didn’t have a damned thing to do with the heightened intimacy of their night together.
Dressing quietly so as not to wake her, he jammed his phone in his back pocket and left the cabin, heading toward the barns. It was a short walk, and he couldn’t help but think there had to be better accommodations for her on the ranch. He respected her grit and her work ethic for taking on the ranch hand job in the first place, but she’d been on the team for almost a year so she deserved some consideration for her contributions. There were vacant cabins farther from the barns, with more room, but maybe she appreciated the proximity for the extra hours she put in.
He entered the horse barn in the gray light of predawn and found his father sprawled in one of the camp chairs outside the birthing stall.
“Xander.” His father speared his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t expect you to come down here at this hour.”
He sounded surprised.
“And I didn’t expect to hear from you,” Xander returned, stroking the nose of his favorite work horse as he lingered by her stall. “You don’t usually take a personal interest in the livestock.”
His father had worked out of an office for years, more focused on oil than cattle.
“I needed to think about something else for a few days.” Ryder tipped back in the chair, his boots crossed on the hay-strewn floor in front of him. “I figured I’d check on Thistle.”
“She did well, and the foal nursed soon afterward. I told Len to check on them when he gets in.” Still stroking Domino’s nose, Xander didn’t see a need to mention Frankie, not ready to share whatever was happening between them with anyone else.
Just taking her to the gala had been more of a commitment than he’d made to any woman in the last year. Certainly, it was a more public statement than he’d made about anyone else. He guessed she wouldn’t be impressed if he told her that, however.
“The last couple of days have been...frustrating, to say the least.” Ryder shrugged, his wrinkled tee suggesting he’d never gone to sleep the night before. “It’s not every day that a woman walks out on me in public.”
Angela Perry, Xander realized. He’d shoved the incident at the Flood Relief Gala to the back of his mind, but it was clear his father hadn’t. “Have you spoken to her since she left the gala with Sterling?”
“She hasn’t answered my calls or texts.” His father leaned forward again, leaving the camp chair to pace the barn between stalls.
The horses, picking up on his restlessness, stamped their hooves or tossed their heads. Ryder didn’t seem to notice, though, a dark scowl etched in his features. The hint of frustration was unusual for him, since he was far more even-keeled than his longtime enemy, Sterling Perry.
“Her father has a lot of leverage over her,” Xander pointed out, hoping to calm him down. “Not just because she holds the VP job with Perry Holdings. The emotional aspect has to weigh on her, too. Her dad was furious.”
“He’s always been a hothead. With too much damned pride.” Ryder quit pacing to lean against a stall, frowning.
Xander didn’t say anything, hoping his father might reveal something about his long enmity with Sterling. Had Ryder made overtures toward Sterling’s young wife long ago?
But his father pulled his Stetson off a hook near the tack room and set it on his head.
“I should go see Angela in person,” he announced, striding toward the exit.
“The sun isn’t even up yet.” Xander walked outside with him, breathing in the June air that was marginally cooler at this hour. “Are you sure that’s wise?”
“Son...” His father stopped, his voice even more gravelly than normal from lack of sleep. “If I’ve learned one thing about relationships over the years, it’s that you don’t wait for them to fall apart before you pull your head out of the sand.”
Did that mean a man should run headlong into trouble because a woman retreated for a day or two? Perhaps his skepticism showed in his expression, because his father shook his head.
“When it comes to relationship problems, a man’s natural inclination might be to wait and hope things get better. But the women I’ve known tend to view that as a lack of caring.” His father straightened, pulling his truck keys from his pocket. “So if a woman is unhappy with you, you’re better off facing it head-on than finding out afterward that you lost out on something that could have been special.”
Xander mulled that over while the first hints of purple lit the sky in the east. Would Frankie be unhappy with him that he’d left her side? Or would she be relieved that he hadn’t made it awkward for her, something she’d been worried about after their first night together? He honestly didn’t know.
“I still say she’s not going to be thrilled when you knock on her door at dawn.”
“Maybe not.” Ryder tossed his Stetson on the passenger seat before he slid behind the wheel. “But I guarantee you she’ll be glad I cared enough to show up. To try.”
With that, he fired up the engine and took off in a plume of dust, taillights glowing red.
Xander stood in front of the horse barn, halfway between the main ranch house and Frankie’s cabin. The pull of her was so damned strong. He wanted to be with her again. And again. He also wanted to help her get into vet school. Move her into a more comfortable cabin. Keep introducing her to prominent members of the Texas Cattleman’s Club so she had a ready clientele for her practice.
But he knew in his heart that she deserved more than that. She had focused all her love and affection on animals as a kid because her parents hadn’t given her any other viable outlets for friends. Didn’t that say something about her? She’d resented them enough to leave home at eighteen and not look back, so chances were good she was a tough judge of character when someone didn’t live up to her expectations.
Hell yes, she deserved better than what Xander had to give.
In theory, he could go back to her place right now, and maybe she’d never be the wiser that he left. After all, his father certainly had a point that it carried weight in a relationship to show up and make that effort.
But as much as Xander wanted Frankie, he still couldn’t risk the heartbreak that came with a relationship.
Not now. Not ever.
He pivoted toward the main house and headed home.
* * *
Ryder arrived at Angela’s downtown condo after sunrise, the pink-and-orange sky warming the limestone building with the same colors. He parked his truck and took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor after giving his name to the security guard.
He hadn’t warned her he was on the way. No sense giving her a chance to bail. At least she hadn’t refused to see him.
Knocking on her door, he waited for her to answer. A moment later the door swung wide, and Angela greeted him in a fitted navy blue dress with silver buttons up the front. Her hair wa
s still damp from her shower, her face free of any makeup. She looked beautiful, and he wished like hell their evening together had ended differently two nights ago.
The scent of her soap mingled with fragrant coffee brewing from somewhere in her apartment.
“Ryder.” She hesitated only a moment before stepping back and opening the door wide for him. “Come in.”
“I know it’s early.” He stepped inside, wondering if he should have brought something. Flowers, maybe. “But I really wanted to see you.”
He’d never visited her apartment before, but she’d been easy enough to find. She’d referenced her downtown apartment building when she’d been discussing local real estate before she closed the deal for the Houston property that had become the location for the new Texas Cattleman’s Club. He recalled her saying that her twin sister, Melinda, lived in the same condominiums.
“It’s fine.” Angela closed the door behind him and waved him toward the kitchen. “Can I get you some coffee?”
“Sure. Thank you.” He followed her into the open-concept kitchen and living area, where the expansive views of downtown were visible from the huge windows out to the terrace.
“I was going to call you today anyhow.” Barefoot, she padded silently over the hardwood floors to take a second mug from a cupboard. “I just needed a little time yesterday to sort through things in my mind.”
He heard the stilted tone in her voice and knew it didn’t bode well for them. Whatever she needed to “sort through” couldn’t be good. He watched as she poured him a cup of coffee from the elaborate stainless steel machine before topping off her own. She slid the mug and a spoon across the counter toward him as he settled into a spot at the breakfast bar.
“I’m sorry that you were put in an awkward position at the gala.” He peered around her living space, which was as tastefully appointed and restrained as the woman herself.
The gray couches and white accents were broken up by an occasional splash of yellow. There weren’t many photos anywhere, but one silver framed picture held an image of her and Melinda flanking their father.