“What a fine idea. I like the way you think.”
Chapter Six
Nash drove through the town of Sweetridge feeling a sense of home he hadn’t felt in a long time. Everything about the place appealed to him. The warm smiles of the townspeople and their friendliness made him feel not so alone. He didn’t feel like a stranger here.
Maybe it was just his growing relationship with one sexy brunette. Damn if the woman didn’t make him burn. But it was more than that. She was smart and funny and had a natural way with him that made him yearn to learn more. It was just too bad that he’d be moving on soon. For the first time in a while he wished he could just stop all the rodeoing, all the scrounging for every last dollar and stop long enough to make a life.
After he’d collected his saddle, an enormous silver belt buckle and a big, fat check, he’d dropped Scarlet off at her house with the promise of some dancing at the Hot Damn Saloon.
Adrenaline from his wild ride at the rodeo still raged through his blood and he wanted more than anything to bury himself in Scarlet’s sweet, giving body.
He needed more than that though. Lots more. Gripping the steering wheel as he turned down her street, he knew he was in big trouble. Nash glanced into his rear view mirror and noted his hair was still slightly damp from his shower. It would have to do.
Breaking all known speed limits, he’d returned to his room for a quick clean up and change. Donning his nicest boots, jeans, and a dark patterned western shirt, he’d hopped back into his truck to head over to Scarlet’s place for a little celebration.
A little celebration?
Who the hell was he kidding? He wanted more than that. He wanted to take her down on the nearest bed and master her just like he’d mastered Terminator. That’s what he wanted. One another night, a different night, any woman might do but Nash feared that had all changed for him and he knew that from now on when he thought of a woman it would be Scarlet’s face he saw. She’d ruined him for other woman but somehow, Nash didn’t have a problem with that. The girl did it for him.
Blood rushed heavy through his veins and his heartbeat sped as he pulled into Scarlet’s drive and stepped from the truck, the adrenaline high revving him into warp speed. Every nerve in his body twitched as lust whipped through his body like chain lightning. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.
She called out to him just seconds after he rang the doorbell.
“Nash? That you?”
“Yeah,” he replied through the door.
He heard the lock turn and found himself looking into Scarlet’s wide green eyes. “Oh, thank God, it’s you, honey. I’m not even close to being ready.” She stepped back and he walked inside.
A smile twitched at his lips.
Her long black hair was still dripping from her shower and she had an oversized apricot colored towel wrapped around those luscious curves. She was out of breath as if she’d been running a marathon.
“You’re early.”
Unable to resist, he stepped close and wrapped his arms around her. “Looks to me like I’m right on time.”
There was nothing in the world as nice as holding Scarlet in his arms. He buried his nose against her damp shoulder and inhaled the scent of peaches and an underlying hint of pure woman. This woman.
“Nash,” she breathed as her arms swept around his shoulders, holding him close.
Opening his mouth over her flesh, he sipped at her, drank her in, wallowed in the feel of her lush breasts pressed against his chest.
Heat lashed through his blood, his cock thickened and a slow, steady ache began to build behind the fly of his jeans. His hands cruised down and filled themselves with her sweet ass as he walked her back, back, back.
“If I don’t get inside you soon, I’m going to die.”
Scarlet made a purring sound the second he moved her up against the nearest wall. “Bad boy.”
“I can be.”
“I love bad boys.”
“Tell me all about it.” Nash whipped the towel from her body and drank in the sight of her, naked and fresh from her shower. He filled his hands with her breasts and felt hunger roar to life in his belly. “Damn.”
Scarlet’s gasp exploded from her lungs the second he latched on to a sultry little nipple. He brushed it with the tip of his tongue, then drew deep giving the morsel tiny, quick pulls that had her moaning and moving against the wall.
His fingers speared through the damp flesh between her thighs and the feel of her was so sweet and lush, he moaned against her breast. Unable to stop the fire that swept him, he flipped her to face the wall, holding both of her hands high in one of his.
“I’m going to take you like this.”
“Yes.”
“Right now.”
“Uh-huh. Do it.”
Hungrily he studied the smooth expanse of her naked back, the curvy backside, the dimples peeking at the top of her hips. He wanted all of her. Brushing her hair over her shoulders, he sank his teeth gently into her shoulder, felt her arch, heard her quick intake of breath. His hands were hard against the soft flesh of her back. “God, I love your backside, darlin’.” He punctuated the comment with a firm squeeze. His fingers dipped lower to spear through the petals of her sex.
She was wet. Very wet.
It was enough to send him over the edge of a very sharp cliff. With a muttered curse, he unzipped and plucked a tiny packet from his pocket. Good to go.
He brushed her ass with the head of his erection and let go of her hands. When she started to move them, he stopped her.
“Don’t. Don’t move.”
Scarlet stilled until he reached around to take her breasts in his hands. His fingers flexed and she made a tiny whimpering sound. “These are so pretty, honey,” he whispered against the back of her neck. “But so is the rest of you. Everything about you is beautiful. Hold still for me now.”
Releasing her breasts, he trailed his fingers over every womanly curve, past her ribs and over her belly. Dipping into the wet cavern of heat between her thighs, he heard her soft groan of pleasure. Her hips moved like a slow song against his touch.
He wanted more.
Cursing, he grabbed her hips and buried himself deep inside her giving warmth. Damn! Soft and hot, pulsing like an electrical current, her body clenched and released, milking and squeezing.
“Christ!” Nash’s head snapped back. His teeth clenched as he plunged, slow and steady, filling every space inside her. He rested a broad palm low on her belly, flicked the tiny pearl of her sex, pressed it. “Yeah, honey, like that,” he gritted out as she moved against him, with him, drawing him in.
She was close. Oh, yeah, he knew she was. Scarlet stiffened. Knowing what she needed, he squeezed the firm little bud between his thumb and index finger until cried out as she tumbled over the edge, her silken flesh pulsing around him.
“Scarlet, Scarlet.” Nash breathed her name against her bare shoulder as emotion curled tight in his chest.
What would he do without her?
Unable to halt the demands of his body, Nash plunged deep, thrusting hard as he buried himself repeatedly into her body. His balls drew up stiff against his body, as a sizzle ran wicked fingers over his spine and across his scalp. The powerful orgasm swamped him and he could do nothing but wrap her close and lose himself in her heat.
Breathing hard, Nash withdrew from Scarlet’s body and turned her around. Without hesitation, he took her mouth in a long, deep kiss. “You’re sweet. So sweet,” he whispered against her lips. He nipped the lush bottom one and looked into her eyes.
Tears filled them making her eyes seem even greener. They drifted down her cheeks and his heart clenched at the sight.
“Ah, honey.” He caught a tear on his thumb. “Don’t cry.”
Nash’s arms went around her and she made a little sniffing sound against his chest before drawing back to look at him.
“I don’t want—”
He placed a finger on her lips to stop her words
. “I know. Don’t say it, Scarlet. We’re going to have some fun tonight. That’s the bottom line. We can’t predict the future, sweetheart, and I’m not about to try.”
He picked up the towel that lay crumpled at his feet and pressed it into her hands.
Her eyes flashed green fire but he didn’t want to fight with her. Their time together was coming to an end. It was killing him. He brushed his thumb high over her cheekbone and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “We’ll talk about this later. Right now, I just need you to get your pretty self dressed and ready to go. I promised you a hot night and that’s what you’re going to get.”
Clumsily, she wrapped the towel around her body, refusing to look him in the eye. He could see the fine trembling that shook her and right then he felt like crying too.
She left and a few minutes later, he heard the sound of her hair dryer blasting. Rubbing his eyes, Nash wandered over to the couch and sprawled there, leaning his head back against the fabric.
How could love hit him so quick and hard? This kind of shit was impossible, wasn’t it?
Looking around Scarlet’s beautiful house, Nash absorbed the bolt of longing that crashed through his body. Deep inside, he knew there was a part of him that would always be that sad little boy who’d lost his mother and his home in the blink of an eye. Want and need rumbled through him as frustration shook him to the core.
This house, this town was what Scarlet needed. She didn’t need a man with no roots to take on for the long haul. In a year or so, he might have the money he needed to build his ranch and start a family but the day wasn’t here yet and he damn sure wasn’t going to insist Scarlet wait for him.
Nope. This was it. Just tonight. But damn, he wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
****
From the parking lot of the Hot Damn, they walked through a sea of cowboy Cadillacs assaulted by the sounds of music and noise coming from inside the place. Then the blast of noise increased as they stepped through the doors. Scarlet looked over her shoulder, smiling. “It’ll be wild tonight. It always is after the rodeo finale. Glad I wore my dancin’ boots.”
Was it his imagination or did her smile seem a little forced? If so, he knew exactly how she felt. Part of him wanted to bawl like a baby. This was their last night together and the reality of it hovered over his head like a dark cloud.
Nash tipped his hat to a big burly man who sat in a booth at one side of the entrance and pulled out his wallet to pay the cover charge.
“Hey, there, Barney,” Scarlet said reaching through the window to pat the man’s hand. “How’s Cathy?”
“Doing good these days, little missy,” Barney said, his voice gravelly. “She’s home with the grandbabies tonight while the young folks scoot a boot.”
“Oh, are Owen and Alisha here tonight?”
“Yeah, they just got here but I reckon they’re on the floor about now. You know how they like to dance. Kind of like you.”
Nash tucked his wallet back in his hip pocket and settled a hand on Scarlet’s lower back as they stepped into the dimly lit, crowded bar. “You know everybody, don’t you?”
“Yep. Love them all, too. Known Barney and his wife, my whole life. Same with most of the locals here tonight.”
Suddenly, he stopped right there in the doorway and turned to her. She probably thought he was nuts but he had to know. He focused on her. “You could never leave here, could you?”
Scarlet frowned. “Leave Sweetridge?”
“Yeah.” Nash forced himself to stop gritting his back teeth.
A strange look crossed her face. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “It would depend on why or who I was leaving for, I guess.”
He expelled a breath. God, he was a dumbass. Why would a smart, beautiful woman like her even think of leaving her home town and everyone she knew for a rambling cowboy like him? It was beyond selfish of him to even think about something like that.
He turned back toward the crowd and settled his hand at Scarlet’s back again but she put her hand out to stop him. “Nash? What…?”
“Never mind. Just never mind. Come on, darlin’. Let’s find us a table.”
Back in a far corner, they were lucky enough to find an unoccupied spot and sat to watch the dancers. A Rascal Flats song pumped from the sound system as couples two-stepped across the floor. Overhead lights threw down shimmering colors of blue, green, red and white.
Nash waved or tipped his hat to other rodeo cowboys who were out celebrating the outcome of the day’s events. “Hey, there’s Shorty.”
“Really? Where?”
He pointed to his very tall friend, pleasantly surprised to see him boot scooting with the little barrel rider from Tulsa. “That’s Amy Sue Shoemaker, a barrel racer. Shorty’s been sweet on her for a long time.”
Scarlet smiled then glanced up as a harried looking waitress walked up to take their order.
“Beer? Or something else?” he asked.
“Margarita on the rocks. Heavy on the salt.”
Nash ordered a long neck and settled back. “Are your friends here tonight?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been scanning the crowd but I don’t see them yet. Bet they’re here somewhere.”
Nash saw her blink then glanced over and saw Scarlet’s former fiancé, the shithead, strutting toward the dance floor with the redhead from Mossy Creek. “Do you want to leave?”
She shook her head. “No. Seeing him with her doesn’t bother me. Actually, it only bothered me once and that was when I popped in unannounced and saw his bare butt glowing in the dark while he cheated on me with that redhead.”
“Want me to kick his glow-in-the-dark ass for you?”
Scarlet batted her lashes. “Oh, Naaaash, would you?” She patted her pale pink shirt right over the vicinity of her heart. “I think I loooove you.”
Although she spoke the words teasingly, Nash sucked in his breath at the sweet sound of them but he was saved from responding when the waitress delivered their drinks. He took a long pull of his beer and leaned back to look at the jackass. “I hate pricks like that. Seriously. What kind of man could be so deceitful?”
“A deceitful man.”
He set his beer on the table and stood to hold out his hand. “Come on. Forget about him and dance with me.”
Nash couldn’t keep his hands off her and knowing he’d probably never see her again after tonight had a desperate kind of longing squeezing at his throat. It went against everything in his nature to feel this way but, hell, she felt so good against him. Falling asleep in her bed last night, holding her until dawn had been the best experience in the world.
A slow ballad had just started when he drew her to the dance floor and straight into his arms. Her breasts settled against his chest as if they were an extension of himself. She belonged here against him, snuggled in close. Her scent was fresh, her body warm as she swayed with him to a Carrie Underwood song. Bending his head, he rested his cheek at the side of her softer-than-sin hair.
Scarlet moved closer, cuddling in and Nash watched the play of light on her face when she finally looked up at him.
That look threatened to knock him to his knees. No, she wasn’t hiding a thing from him right now and he recognized the longing expression on her face. Unable to stop himself, he kissed her. A little hum of pleasure met his lips and he took the kiss deeper.
Everyone could be watching them and hell, they probably were, but he didn’t care. Keeping one arm around her body and the other cupping her cheek, he swept his tongue into the sweet warmth of her mouth and felt her shift against him as the song continued.
A fast beat separated them as a new song started to play. Scarlet laughed as he swept her up in the heady beat. They twirled and spun, toed and dipped. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this was a woman who loved to dance and she put everything into it.
Yeah, the lady had some moves and he planned to enjoy every one of them tonight. Just thinking about everything he wanted to do, every way he wanted
to touch her, elevated the rhythm of his heartbeat. Lust, and something sweeter, made his pulse race, his blood run hot.
Another slow song had him pulling her close again, right where he wanted her. She sighed against his chest.
“Nash,” she breathed.
“Look at me, darlin’.” Scarlet lifted her head, her eyes shining, tears swimming close to the surface. “Don’t think about it.”
“I can’t help it. There’s no time.”
He brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers and felt her shiver. “There’s now. Let’s make the most of it.” With a low groan he took her lips as the crowd on the dance floor swayed around them.
A male voice made him break the kiss, look up. “Hey, buddy, what are you trying to prove, huh?”
It was the shithead.
Yeah, the creep looked him up and down with a nasty smirk and Nash stiffened. “What’s it to you, Mister?”
“Nash, please.”
He looked into Scarlet’s panic-stricken eyes and forced himself to settle down. It wasn’t in him to embarrass the lady in front of the entire town.
The woman from Mossy Creek looked none too pleased with her brand new fiancé’s actions and her mouth turned down into a pout. “Hey, Cole, come on, honey. She ain’t nothing to you.”
Nash watched Cole’s eyes flick over Scarlet as if to dismiss her and Nash saw red. “Son of a bitch!”
“No. Nash, no. It’s okay.”
Looking down at Scarlet, Nash felt his anger mount at the tears that floated in her eyes. Even in the dim light, he could see she’d gone white.
What was it that really bothered her? Was it the thought of his leaving tomorrow or was it something else. Maybe she still had feelings for her former fiancé and seeing him flaunt another woman in her face was tearing her up. She’d planned to marry the man. She’d loved him or at least, thought she had.
Damn. He needed to get her out of here before he indulged his temper and knocked the shithead into the dirt. The idea of this creep hurting Scarlet’s feelings threatened to send him over the edge. “Forget him.”
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