Aidan: Loyal Cowboy: Aidan: Loyal CowboyThe Family Plan

by Cathy McDavid

  Ace gently lowered her onto the blanket. She barely noticed the rough ground beneath them, her attention was focused entirely on them. His smoldering dark eyes, the sharp inhalation of her breath, the small currents of desire zinging through them both as he struggled to restrain his need.

  They’d never come together when he didn’t thrill her, and today was no exception.

  He settled beside her, his hand roaming her body. Every now and then he paused to explore further, trace the slope of her waist, the curve of her hip. She arched, sighed, quaked when his fingers strayed to a particularly sensitive spot.

  Sliding on top of her, he kissed her mouth, her neck, the soft mounds of her breasts spilling out of her bikini top. Inch by tantalizing inch, he worked his way down to her rounded tummy.

  With one swift jerk, he unfastened the top of her pants, exposing more skin and the edge of her sheer panties.

  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his breath warm against her skin. “So perfect.”

  She wriggled when he kissed her navel, then writhed when he traced the outline with his tongue.

  Abruptly, he moved up her body, his lips stopping every few seconds for a taste of her. Reaching her bikini top, he tugged the flimsy fabric aside, then closed his mouth around her nipple.

  Pregnancy had made Flynn’s breasts more sensitive. She raised off the blanket as fire shot through her. Ace helped her out of her bathing suit top, not waiting for her to lie back down before covering her breasts with his hands. She pulled his head down, silently urging him to take her in his mouth again.

  He didn’t stop there. Sliding his hand into the opening of her jeans, he breached her panties and found her damp center. She shifted her hips in response, willing him to soothe the burning ache inside her.

  Thankfully, Ace had always been attuned to her during their lovemaking and very accommodating.

  When she could stand no more, when her need demanded satisfaction, she rolled him over onto his back and straddled his middle.

  “Hey, what’s this?” he asked, his initial shock quickly replaced by a wicked grin.

  “Why should you get all the fun?”

  She ran her open palms over the muscled planes of his chest, combed her fingers through the patch of crinkly chest hair, stroked the smooth expanse of his taut stomach.

  Talk about perfection.

  He reached for her breasts, but she caught his hands and returned them to his sides.

  “Not yet.”

  He groaned with frustration.

  She squirmed down his body, eliciting more groans, until she reached his thighs. Once there, she unsnapped his jeans, exposing him as he had her.

  He was ready for her, his arousal unmistakable.

  She teased him through the fabric of his briefs, and he ground out her name on a ragged breath. Just as her fingers closed around him, he grasped her shoulders and pulled her down on top of him. The next second, he rolled them over so that they faced each other.

  Smiling seductively, she slid her jeans off.

  Ace pinned her beneath him and entered her. Slowly. Deeply. Flynn cried out from the pure joy of it. Each thrust took her to a new place, a new level of awareness.

  Soon, however, she craved more.

  Curling her arms around his neck, she brought his ear to her mouth.

  “Harder,” she whispered. “Faster.”

  “I don’t want to hurt the baby.”

  “You won’t.”

  “Sweetheart, I—”

  She lifted her hips to meet his. “You won’t.”

  Still, he held back, until Flynn reached a hand between their joined bodies. Then he lost control, which had been her plan all along.

  Her climax hit her with sudden and exquisite force, leaving her shaken and weak and utterly sated. Ace cupped her face between his hands. When she would have closed her eyes, he demanded, “Look at me.”

  She complied. With their gazes locked and her mind crying out her love for him, his body shuddered in release. Flynn held him, willing the moment to last and last.

  Stroking his back, she clung to him, the setting sun warming them with the last of its rays. Soon, before she was quite ready, he rolled off and snuggled her close.

  He brushed at her hair. Flynn hated to think what it looked like and laughed with embarrassment.

  “I like it when you do that,” he said, and nuzzled her ear.

  “Laugh?”

  “Yeah, your eyes light up.”

  She tried to hide her face in his neck. He wouldn’t let her and continued to stare at her with such unabashed emotion, she forgot about her embarrassment.

  “That was wonderful.” She skimmed her finger along the stubble on his jaw.

  “Marry me, Flynn.”

  Like that, her complacent mood evaporated.

  “We can be good parents to our child without a marriage license hanging on the wall.”

  “I don’t want you to move.”

  “That’s not a good enough reason.” She sat up, silently scolding herself for not anticipating this. “It’s no reason at all.”

  “You owe it to our child to give us a chance.”

  She saw in his eyes her refusal had struck a nerve.

  Rising to her feet, she tugged on her clothes. If he’d told her he loved her and then proposed, her reaction would be entirely different.

  “We’ve been through this before.”

  He also stood and dressed. “Just because your mother walked out on you and your family doesn’t mean the same thing will happen to us.”

  This time he’d struck a nerve with her.

  Why did he have to go and ruin everything by proposing and then bringing up her mother?

  “I don’t think we should date anymore.”

  “Come on, Flynn.”

  “It feels like you’re trying to ease your guilty conscience. Not…”

  “Not what?”

  “Nothing.”

  If he couldn’t proclaim his love for her after what they’d just shared, she was wasting her time.

  “What do I have to do to prove myself?”

  “I don’t know.” She started shoving items in her tote bag.

  “There has to be something.”

  She said the first idiotic thing that popped into her head. “Call me a hundred times between tonight and tomorrow.”

  “That’s all?”

  “It’s a safe bet. You won’t have the time.”

  “Tell you what.” He thrust his arms into his shirtsleeves. “I call you a hundred times by eight o’clock tomorrow morning, you agree to spend the entire weekend with me, from Friday night to Sunday evening.”

  “I’m scheduled for a half shift on Saturday.”

  “Then, any time you’re not at the clinic.”

  “But you have to work.”

  “Maybe I won’t.”

  “This I have to see.” Flynn was confident she’d be spending the weekend alone.

  She reached for a corner of the blanket, intending to fold it. Suddenly, a muffled trilling came from inside the tote bag. Her cell phone.

  She dug it out, checked the display and gaped at Ace, who held his cell phone to his ear.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” She hit the End button, rejecting the call.

  He grinned. “One down, ninety-nine to go.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  There were days when Flynn felt like a child on a sugar high and could barely sit still. Others, her eyelids drooped and her feet dragged and she stared greedily at people drinking caffeine-infused beverages like a dog waiting for a treat.

  Fortunately, today was the sugar-high kind of day. If not, she wouldn’t be able to handle her and Ace’s upc
oming hike along Bent Arrow Bute.

  She’d actually wanted to go horseback riding, her favorite pastime for beautiful Saturday mornings. Ace naturally nixed the idea, and they’d compromised on hiking.

  He’d loaded their backpacks. His was the heavier one and contained most of their supplies, which, for a day hike, weren’t many. Judging by the weight of her backpack, she was carrying a bag of roasted almonds and a travel-size package of wet wipes.

  The trail Ace had chosen was for novices. Another compromise. Flynn told herself not to argue. It was important to him that he do things for her, watch over her, even though she felt completely capable. What really mattered was they were spending the entire weekend together. No interruptions except for her half shift at the clinic this afternoon.

  He’d won the bet, called her a hundred times before eight in the morning. She’d shut her phone off at ten and woke up eight hours later to fifty-seven missed calls. Had he slept at all?

  As a result, they were hiking this morning and having dinner this evening. Pizza and wings. She’d caved. Tomorrow they were watching NASCAR races on television and grilling burgers.

  Flynn smiled to herself. She’d won the bet, too.

  They were nearing the trailhead where their hike would commence when Ace’s cell phone rang.

  “Hey, Uncle Josh. What’s up?” His expression changed from happy-go-lucky to concerned. “Where are you?” After a brief exchange of information, Ace pulled over and put the truck in park. “Send Beau and the rig with the bulls ahead. I’ll make some calls. See what I can line up. I’ll get back to you shortly.”

  “What’s wrong?” Flynn asked when he’d disconnected.

  “One of the trucks broke down on the way to an amateur rodeo in Bozeman. Uncle Josh thinks the alternator has gone bad. They’re stuck on the side of the highway about twenty-five miles outside of Roundup.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “Uncle Josh called for roadside assistance. The service station is backed up and can’t guarantee a repair truck there for at least three or four hours.”

  “Why so long?”

  “They didn’t say.”

  “Will your uncle make the rodeo in time?”

  “That’s the problem. I’m going to see who’s available to meet with them and swap out trucks. That way, Uncle Josh and Colt can get back on the road. Whoever I get a hold of can wait for the repair truck.”

  Flynn listened as Ace placed call after call to various ranch hands. Everyone was either unable to break away, out riding the range, not answering his call for whatever reason or, like Colt, on route to the rodeo with their uncle Joshua.

  Swearing ripely, Ace tossed his cell phone onto the seat.

  Flynn sensed his next remark and braced herself for a rush of disappointment.

  “I’m sorry.” His tone was contrite. “I’m going to have to rescue them. If I leave now, I can be there in an hour. Less if I drive fast.”

  “Isn’t there someone else you can call? What about your cousins?”

  “Duke’s on duty today and Beau is with Uncle Josh.”

  “No other employees?”

  “It’s the weekend. A lot of them are off.”

  “Would they be willing to work this once?”

  “It’s not right for me to ask them just so I can take the day off.”

  “Why not? You put in more hours than they do.”

  “It’s my ranch, my responsibility, not theirs.”

  “You deserve a day off, too.”

  “Not if it endangers our livestock. Those horses can’t wait on the side of the road long and be in any shape for the rodeo. It’s a one-night event. Tonight. No time for them to recuperate if they’re stressed.”

  Flynn sighed, annoyed at herself as much as anything. “I understand. I’m not intentionally being petty.”

  “And I know you’re disappointed.”

  Better than half of the dates they went on were cut short or interrupted by some emergency call.

  “You can come with me,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows.

  “I have to be at the clinic by two. That’s cutting it kind of close.”

  “Can you trade shifts with someone?”

  “I doubt I’d find someone this late.”

  There were some women who’d leap at the chance to be stuck in a vehicle with a handsome, sexy cowboy for hours on end.

  Not Flynn. It wasn’t that their hiking excursion had been canceled or that she’d miss her shift at the clinic. Rather, it was that Ace had gotten to the point where he assumed she’d go with him and relieve him from the difficult position of having to choose between her and work.

  She was feeling taken for granted.

  Not unlike when she’d been married.

  Of course, someone had to help Ace’s uncle. Those poor horses couldn’t remain in that trailer. And the Harts had a contract with the rodeo promoter that needed to be fulfilled.

  But couldn’t Ace at least contact one or two of those men off work and ask if they’d be willing to drive the truck?

  “It’s okay, just take me home,” she said.

  He stroked her arm. “I’ll make it up to you at dinner tonight.”

  “Call first. I’m sort of tired.”

  “Hey, now, a bet’s a bet,” he added with a mischievous grin.

  “Yeah, it is,” she answered pointedly.

  “Flynn, I don’t—”

  “It’s all right. Really.”

  Ace started the truck, his jaw muscles clenched tightly. He thought she was being churlish, she could tell.

  She considered changing her mind. He couldn’t help that the alternator on his uncle’s truck went bad.

  If only he’d tried a little bit harder to keep his promise, she might feel differently, might have gone with him.

  She still could.

  “This isn’t by choice, you know.”

  “Enough with the apologizing,” she bit out more sharply than necessary, and immediately regretted her outburst. “Work comes first.”

  And it would be the same after the baby was born.

  Flynn watched the passing landscape. Maybe she shouldn’t be so hard on Ace. In truth, if it had been a veterinary emergency interrupting their date, she probably would have gone with him and not minded at all.

  What did that say about her?

  “Let’s skip grilling hamburgers tomorrow and drive into Billings for dinner. Dress up and go some place fancy.”

  He was trying to make amends. She should let him.

  Except part of her wondered if this was how it would always be. Him having an emergency, her feeling hurt and disappointed. Him apologizing and scrambling to appease her.

  The pattern was a familiar one, too similar to what she went through with Paul.

  What if, like her ex-husband had done, Ace stopped trying after a while?

  Not going to happen, not if Flynn could help it. They had a child to consider, a child she was determined would be first on both of their priority lists. To insure that, she’d have to put forth as much effort as Ace.

  “Sure, we can go out to dinner tomorrow. That’ll be nice.”

  He smiled, visibly relaxed. “Good.”

  “On one condition.”

  “Not another hundred phone calls.”

  “You don’t cancel. For any reason. If something comes up, I don’t care what it is, you’ll either have to be creative, more determined than you were today or have a contingency plan in place.”

  “You’re serious.”

  She shrugged. “If you’re not up to the challenge…”

  “I’m up to it,” he scoffed. “Rest assured.”

  When Flynn walked in the kitchen door a short time later, her father was tal
king on the phone. He sent her a what-are-you-doing-home look.

  “Long story,” she mouthed, and headed to her bedroom where she changed out of her too-tight hiking shorts and into the roomiest pajama pants she could find. Pretty quick, she’d have to go shopping for maternity clothes. The prospect raised her spirits.

  A knock sounded on her door. “You decent?”

  “Come on in, Dad.”

  He wore an enormous grin.

  “Did that couple finally make an offer?” She grabbed a ball cap off the bookcase and plunked it on her head, pulling her hair through the hole in the back.

  “No, the real estate agent called yesterday, said they weren’t interested unless I dropped the price some more. A lot more.”

  “Then why are you smiling?”

  “That was the asset manager from the Missoula Cattle Company.”

  Her interest piqued. “The same company leasing the Harts’ land?”

  “Yep. They want to lease my land, too.”

  “All six hundred acres?”

  “Except for the house. They said I can keep it and the barns and a few acres. They’ll even pay for new fences.”

  She stared at him, his words yet to fully register. “We’re not moving?”

  “I am. You can stay here if you change your mind about school. Or, come with me. In that case, I’ll probably rent the house out. With the money the Missoula Cattle Company is willing to pay for leasing rights, I don’t have to worry about selling.”

  “How long is the lease for?”

  “Three years, with an option for three more.” He practically danced with excitement. “It’s an incredible deal.”

  “When do they want to take over?”

  “Soon as I meet with them and sign the contract. This coming week. Though I was thinking I should probably have an attorney review the contract first. Just to be on the safe side.”

  “Good idea.” Flynn sat on the bed, her legs suddenly unable to support her.

  The day had arrived. They were leaving Roundup!

  Or, she could stay here in the house. Close to Ace.

  Choices. Options. She was once again faced with them and not a lot of time to decide.