Front Range Cowboys (5 Book Box Set)

by Evie Nichole

  “No!” Maggie practically shouted the word. “Rhonda—the secretary—has plenty of years under her belt as a principal. She’s the one who has been doing most of Witherspoon’s work anyway. At least on the administrative side of things.”

  “Seriously?” Burdette swung around to look at Olivia. “What is wrong with you?”

  “I don’t have to take this!” Olivia flounced out of the office just in time to pass Rhonda, who was stepping inside.

  Rhonda frowned at Olivia’s retreating form. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Just got fired,” Maggie informed her. “And you’re going to take over her job.”

  “Oh. All right, then.” Rhonda waved to the other members of the board. “Then my first order of business is to refer the board to the emailed employment application for Darren Hernandez.”

  “Oh, I got that,” Burdette exclaimed. “You’re talking about the football player who wants to be the gym teacher.”

  “Exactly!” Rhonda nodded emphatically. “He’s very qualified, and he can get his teaching certificate while he is employed here.”

  Beside her, Darren was looking very surprised. “I can?”

  “You already have the degree,” Maggie reminded him. “Which you never actually told me about, you goofball! Your brother told me that.”

  “He did?” Darren stared at Laredo. “I thought you weren’t supportive of my working here.”

  Laredo snorted. “You’re far better at this job than you are at the office.”

  Burdette gave a huge grin and slapped Darren on the back. “My boy says you’re considering starting a football team here at the school.”

  “I think it would be a good idea to have several sports available for both girls and boys.” Darren seemed a little overwhelmed. Maggie slipped her arm into his and gave it a squeeze. Darren covered her hand with his and squeezed back. “Kids who are involved in sports are less likely to be in trouble because they have an outlet for their frustrations.”

  “Great idea!” Sawyer’s mother was already clapping. “But I have to get back to the office. So, let’s just hire this young man and be done with it. Yes?” She glanced around the room, and the other parent board members were nodding emphatically. “Does anyone want to grab lunch before they head back?”

  It was like the party had broken up so suddenly that Maggie couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the people before they bolted and were abruptly gone. Laredo gave her a little wave and then slapped his brother on the shoulder before following the others out of the office.

  Rhonda made a shooing motion toward Maggie and Darren. “If you don’t mind? I have to find someone to answer the phones and then get organized so I’m not a complete failure at being a principal.”

  “You won’t fail,” Maggie told Rhonda confidently. Then she grabbed Darren’s hand and dragged him out the door and down the hall toward her own office.

  “What are you doing?” Darren asked as Maggie closed her door.

  She didn’t answer him. She didn’t really have the words. It was all just so overwhelming right now that she needed one thing and one thing only. She put her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. Inhaling deeply, she snuggled as close as she possibly could.

  “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Darren gently touched her face with his fingertips.

  She closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation of the way he stroked her with such gentleness. Tracing her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, he moved to her eyebrows and then gently brushed her hair behind her ear. He pressed a soft kiss to her temple and then hugged her close.

  It felt so good to be held by him. Darren was unlike anyone else she’d ever met. What you saw was what you got. There were no tricks or double meanings or anything of the sort. He was a good man, and she wanted him in her life permanently.

  “Darren,” she whispered. “I’m so glad you came to pick up Bella the other day. I can’t believe it’s only been a week. It feels like a dozen.”

  “Time seems to speed by when there’s so much drama happening, huh?” He sighed and cupped her chin in order to lift her face away from his chest. “You have been a blessing from the moment I met you. You have changed my life in so many ways you cannot even begin to understand how much it means to me.”

  “You’ve changed my life too.” Maggie wondered if he would ever realize just how much. “I was the woman in the background before you showed up. I just sort of let things happen and tried not to get too involved or ruffle too many feathers. Now I’ve managed to ruffle just about everyone’s feathers, and I’m glad! This school is a better place now because of you.”

  He leaned down and took her lips in a soft kiss. He moved his mouth against hers over and over again. She felt his tongue begging for entry and parted her lips to welcome him inside. Moving her hands to his shoulders, she felt tiny frissons of excitement run throughout her whole body. His kisses were electric. She felt so alive in his arms. It was as though everything in her life had been leading to this moment and this man.

  “I need you so badly, Maggie. I want you in my life”—he paused for a moment—“in our lives forever. Do you know what I’m asking?”

  “Say the words,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Marry me, Maggie. Make me the luckiest cowboy in Colorado.”

  She giggled because she felt as though the whole world was hers for the taking. This was the perfect moment in the perfect day. And forget Colorado, she was the luckiest woman on the planet!

  “Yes!” Maggie said excitedly. “I would be absolutely thrilled to marry you, Darren Hernandez!”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Darren?” Even Jaeger’s whisper sounded groggy at this point.

  Darren wondered if the little boy would ever call him Dad. It was something Darren felt as though he was willing to wait for. “Yes, Jaeger?”

  “I think it’s a good thing when Maggie stays for dinner and plays games with us.” Jaeger seemed to be thinking this through very seriously. “I like Maggie a lot. I think you should wife her.”

  “Wife her?” Darren struggled not to laugh.

  “Yeah. Invite her to stay here with us for good. You know?”

  “We’ll have to talk some more about that, kiddo. But for now, you need sleep.”

  “Okay.” The little baby snores were almost immediate.

  Darren pressed a kiss to his son’s forehead and then tiptoed out of Jaeger’s room. The little boy was already dead to the world. He seemed to be a heavy sleeper, but he had also spent the afternoon playing hard with the kindergarteners at the school. Since Darren was a teacher there now officially, Jaeger could attend at a reduced tuition. All things considered, that was a good thing. Darren might be a Hernandez, but he had no idea how far that was going to go if Joe Hernandez had his way and managed to boot Darren out of the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company.

  Darren shut Jaeger’s door and headed back into the kitchen. He paused in the doorway and could not stop smiling at the scene of domestic bliss. Maggie stood at the sink with her back turned to him and up to her elbows in soapy water.

  Approaching quietly, Darren pressed his front to her back and kissed her neck. She tilted her head to give him better access. He felt her shiver as his lips traveled over her pulse point and back to her ear.

  “You look beautiful,” he whispered.

  She snorted. “Washing dishes? Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Darren put his palms flat on her belly and moved them gently over the top of her shirt. She made a sound of excitement and leaned back into the contact. She let her head loll back against his shoulder, and Darren continued to kiss her neck while his hands played lightly with her stomach.

  Gently tugging her blouse above the waistband of her long skirt, Darren let his hands skate up toward her breasts. He felt the fullness of those wonderfully full globes against his knuckles as he gently kneaded and teased her softness. The tiny noises she made told him that she liked what he was doing. He l
oved how responsive she was. He loved the way that he could tell each and every thing that she liked. There was no guessing with Maggie. It was all out in the open.

  Sliding his hands back down her torso, he let them glide tantalizingly close to her waistband. Finally sliding them underneath, he was greeted with the warmth of the skin just above her mound. Her light floral scent enveloped him. He flexed his fingers against her warm flesh and felt her push herself back as though she were begging for more.

  “Darren,” she whispered. “Please take me to bed. Make me yours. My heart belongs to you. I want you to have all of me.”

  He didn’t have to be asked twice. Darren reached out and shut off the sink. Then he scooped Maggie into his arms. She didn’t weigh much at all. He held her against his chest and took her lips in a deep, drugging kiss. His tongue tangled with hers. The spicy taste of her overwhelmed his senses. He loved the way she buried her hands in his hair. Her nails scored his scalp, and the little pinpricks of pain only made the pleasure that much hotter.

  Moving slowly toward the bedroom, Darren didn’t feel as though he were inclined to hurry. He had all night, and all night was what he intended to use. This woman was not a quickie. She was more. And he wanted this night to be perfect.

  His bedroom was at the back of the hallway. He paused just outside Jaeger’s door but heard nothing from the little boy. Maggie’s hands moved from his hair to his neck and his face. She lightly scratched his skin before reaching up and kissing his jawline. She tickled her way from his chin to his ear before lightly nipping his lobe. Each time her lips touched his skin, he felt as though the excitement was almost more than he could stand.

  Darren pushed open his bedroom door with one boot. Stepping into the sparsely furnished space, he gently nudged the door closed behind him. There was no need to wake his son in the next room. Of course, that meant they were going to have to make love quietly too. Darren tried not to be too disappointed. Hearing Maggie whisper his name would be just as incredible as hearing her scream it. He was damn sure of that.

  Setting Maggie on her feet, Darren stepped back a pace in order to pull his shirt off. But when he reached for his pants, Maggie put her hands over his.

  “Let me,” she whispered.

  She knelt before him, and Darren was nearly undone by the sight of her there on the floor. She gazed up at him with such a look of love in her green eyes. Then she carefully unfastened his pants and began to slide them down over his hips. He spread his stance just a little to help her as she pulled his underwear down along with his jeans. His erection bounced against his belly. He could not help but notice the hungry and appreciative way that Maggie looked at him. He felt as though he could take on the world with her here beside him.

  She helped him to take off his boots, and then the pants were quickly tossed aside. Next Maggie put her hand in the center of his chest and gave him a gentle shove toward the bed. He watched her with so much anticipation in his heart that he could barely breathe. He wanted this woman more intensely than he had ever even thought about any of his previous lovers. It was as if there was nobody in his past and no one else in his future. Maggie was it for him.

  Reaching down, she pulled off her blouse and held it in front of her breasts while she gave him a sassy wiggle of her eyebrows. Even that tiny gesture made him so hot for her that he shivered. Then she tossed away the blouse, and he got a good view of her breasts covered only by her soft cotton bra.

  They were utter perfection. She looked at him as she let two fingers run lightly across the creamy tops of her breasts. He felt lightheaded as all the blood in his body rushed toward his groin. He needed her desperately, and the desire was only getting more powerful.

  Maggie unfastened her bra and let the straps slide down her arms before the simple white garment hit the floor. Then she put her fingers in the waistband of her skirt and slid the fullness of it down her legs. Her panties were white to match her bra. The sweet and uncomplicated nature of that simplicity was so appealing to Darren that he could no longer hold back.

  “Come to me, Maggie,” he whispered, holding out his arms.

  She came forward to the bed and climbed up with him. Their skin slid like silk as she laid herself on top of him. She spread her legs and straddled his body as she pressed her breasts to his chest and made love to him with her mouth.

  Their tongues tangled, and he felt the pressure of her groin pressed against his. She was warm and wet. The welcoming feel of her body even as she only slid herself back and forth over the hard ridge of his erection nearly pushed Darren over the edge.

  She put her hands on his chest. He watched her move against him. The beauty of her profile was in the utterly feminine way she moved on top of him. She wiggled, she danced, and finally he felt himself slipping into her depths. The warmth and silky wetness of her most hidden place enveloped him fully. Maggie sat up and arched her back. Her breasts bounced gently as she began to move her hips in pursuit of her fulfillment.

  Darren had never experienced anything like this moment before. He drank in the sight of her strawberry hair falling over one shoulder. It gently followed the contour of her breast and only served to emphasize the beautiful pinkness of her nipples. He put his hands on her waist and urged her to move faster.

  Maggie gasped and whispered his name over and over as she began to ride him with deeper thrusts of her body against his. Darren felt his toes curl as he tried to push his own body up to meet her downward motion. She was so hot and tight all around him. He moved his hand to her face and gently cupped her cheek. This woman was his. She belonged to his heart. This was not just sex. It was more. And when she gently nipped the pad of his finger and stared back down at him, he could have sworn he saw her soul peeking back out at him.

  This was that moment. The perfect moment that happened only between a man and woman when the emotion between them was tangled up in the physical fulfillment. Darren pushed harder and heard her gasp. The little noises she made drove him insane with need to feel her climax. Everything below his waist was taut. He was so close. Soon he would have no choice but to let go. His peak would overtake him, and he would be helpless to hold it off.

  He put his hands on her hips once again. He held her down against him as she rolled her hips with each movement of her body. He felt the powerful tightening of her inner thighs. His thumbs gently spread her sex. He helped her to find a new angle. And then almost before he could process the growing intensity of their coupling, he felt something inside her melt around him.

  “Darren!” she moaned.

  Nothing had ever been better than that moment. She cried out just as he poured everything he had inside her warm, welcoming body. He thrust hard and felt as though he would give her everything he had and more. She pushed back, grinding against him and digging her nails into his chest as she sought to find something to hold onto in this passionate storm.

  Maggie collapsed onto Darren’s chest and lay there with her cheek pressed to his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he marveled at the depth of feeling he had for this woman. It was enough just to hold her here in his arms. He did not want to let go. She was everything he ever could have wanted or needed, but it was because of who she was as a person and nothing more.

  “That was amazing,” Maggie whispered. “Is it always like that?” Then she suddenly giggled. “I mean, is making love to a cowboy always this much fun?”

  “Darlin’,” he said in an exaggerated drawl. “You rode this cowboy until he couldn’t go one mile more. He’s all tuckered out and will need at least two or three hours of snuggle time before he’s ready to rodeo again.”

  “Okay, now you just sound silly.” She propped her chin on his chest and stared down at him. “I love you, you know. Even if you are—what did Witherspoon say—a dirty rancher?”

  Darren snorted. “I haven’t been a real cowboy in years. But I will tell you that you can take the man off the horse, but you can’t take the cowboy out of the man. It’s the way we’re ra
ised and the way we think.”

  “Even Laredo,” she murmured. “You’re all just different.”

  “Different,” he agreed. Then he gently tapped the end of her nose. “You’re different too, Maggie Brown. And that’s why I love you so much.”

  “Different is all fine and dandy, Darren Hernandez,” Maggie said slowly. “But you need to mend fences with your family.”

  “Are we attempting to use up every ranch reference in the book?” Darren sighed. It was a lot easier to tease and have fun and poke at things than to imagine what it would be like to actually have to reconcile with his family.

  “I know your father made you very angry that day at the office.” Maggie paused, and he could almost see her weighing things in that practical and very fair way she had about her. “I don’t pretend to know how that felt or what it meant. But I do know that if I’m going to marry into your family, I really need to meet them.”

  “That is a tall order.”

  “A tall glass of tea?” she quipped.

  He groaned. “No. With my family, it will be a tall bottle of some kind of alcohol. No telling what. I’m sure.”

  “Come on, Darren. Please?”

  “Fine. There is a birthday party for one of the old society ladies in a few days. We’ll hire a babysitter for Jaeger, and then we’ll go play meet the family.” He felt a little pouty. How silly was he going to be about this anyway? “Does that work for you?”

  “Yes!”

  Maggie’s face lit up. Damn, that woman was beautiful. When she smiled at him, he forgot what it was he was angry about. Or mad. Or sad. Or pretty much he just forgot how to think. Then she wiggled her way up his chest in order to kiss him on the lips. The way she used her tongue and her mouth made Darren pretty sure that he wasn’t going to need an hour or two after all. A minute might be plenty.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  Maggie picked a piece of imaginary lint off of her dress. Talk about mining the back of a closet looking for the perfect outfit. She hadn’t worn this dress since the dinner where the parents, teachers, and school board members had welcomed her officially as the new guidance counselor. Maggie had been so worried about meeting a bunch of high society parents that she had emptied her savings account on the slinky black dress in the hopes of fitting in.