Jarod blinked several times. "Did I hear you right?" "You did. I never said you weren't one hell of a sexy man. I never said there's not a sizzle between us and that every time you touch me I feel like I've been hit with a hot branding iron. What I did say is that I do not intend to do anything about it because I love my life as it is. I can get over this infatuation if I work at it." She shimmied past him.
He leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. Life would never be dull with Daisy. Uncle Emmett had been so right when he said that she was his Mavis. Now he just had to convince her to leave the Honky Tonk and go home with him permanently. He couldn't sneak up on her blind side and he couldn't use persuasion. The only way it would ever work was for her to believe it was her idea.
They went out the kitchen door, across the yard to a multi-vehicle garage beyond the yard fence. He pushed a button at the edge of one door and it rose with a loud creaking noise. Several four wheeled machines were lined up and Jarod rifled through keys hung in a long line inside the garage door and settled on one that had a red fishing bobble hanging from the chain along with the keys.
"Why this one?" Daisy asked as she crawled on the back of the ATV and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Because it's mine," he said.
He drove out of the garage, through the pasture, and down a dirt road to the back of the property. The hot wind whipping her braids and rushing across her face was exhilarating but not as much as hugging up to Jarod's broad muscular back. When he stopped under a tree to look at a herd of cattle, she unwrapped her arms and threw one leg over the seat like it was a saddle. She slid off and checked the area around a pecan tree for poison ivy before she sat down. She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and sat down at the base of the pecan tree, her back against the rough bark.
"So do you run all Angus?" she asked when he removed a notepad from his pocket and started flipping through the pages.
"Mostly. I've got a small herd of Lowline."
"Really? Can I see them? I've read a lot about them but I've never seen anything but pictures. No one down around Mingus is even interested in them. But then Texans wouldn't want a small steak. If it doesn't cover up a good sized platter, it's not a real steak."
"Sure. I keep them back behind the house in a separate pasture."
"Is it true they live totally on the pasture and that saves money, plus the calves are ready for market sooner than Angus?"
"This is my first year to have them but it's lookin' pretty good," he said.
***
He sat down and wrapped a strong arm around her, drawing her close to his side. She looked up to find his eyes locked on her mouth. He bent forward and kissed her eyelids shut then moved down to the sensitive skin under her ear. By the time he reached her mouth it was slightly open in anticipation. His tongue made love to hers until they were both breathless.
"I've wanted to do that all day and couldn't."
"But you said—" she started.
He shut her up with a lingering kiss. When he broke away he said, "I was thinking about in my parents' house with their bedroom right down the hall. I didn't say we wouldn't have it under a shade tree in a pasture."
She pushed out of his arms. "Jarod, I can't do this."
"Why?"
"Because one more minute and I couldn't stop."
"Why would you want to stop?"
"Sex blinds me," she said.
He grinned and made a lunge at her, toppling her over into the green grass. "Then we'll just do it until you can't see in one eye. It's good enough to give up sight in one eye, isn't it?"
She laughed. "That line is old and worn out."
He stretched out on the grass beside her after a quick chaste kiss on the lips. "I've never felt like this before."
"And that line is older than you and me both."
"I'm being honest, Daisy. How about you?"
"You've been engaged three times, Jarod. Don't tell me you've never felt like this."
He crossed his heart with his finger. "Cross my heart. Not even with the girl I took to the senior prom and I was head over heels in love with her."
In love?
Those two words sent cold chills up Daisy's backbone. She wrapped her arms around her bent legs, resting her chin on her knees.
Love?
Chris threw that word around. Then he cheated on her and hit her. She'd heard her mother's husbands and boyfriends use the word like it was magic. Tell her that they loved her and she'd do anything, including ironing their shirts, supporting drinking habits, and paying the rent while they sat in a recliner all day and watched reruns on television.
"You've gone quiet all of a sudden. One minute I'm Satan I look so sexy and the next you aren't even talking."
"Right then I was thinking about what you said. Love is a powerful word."
"Yes, it is and it's a powerful emotion or it wouldn't endure fifty years of marriage or wanting to leave this life to go on to the next to be with your wife like Uncle Emmett did."
Daisy inhaled deeply and asked the question that was on her mind. "Did you ever use it when you didn't mean it?"
"No, I don't think I did. This is a pretty heady conversation for a four wheeler ride to steal a few kisses."
"Then we'll change the subject. Where did you live when you were here? Surely at thirty-five you weren't still in the house with your parents."
He sat up beside her and leaned against the tree. "My house is back across the pasture. If you are going there by car you go out to the road, go one mile north, and catch that section line road back east for two miles and turn back to the south. From here its about fifteen minutes on a four wheeler to my backyard."
"Can I see it?" Daisy asked.
"You sure you want to see it?
"Yes, I do. Is there something there you need to cover up before you let a woman into the house?"
"Hell, no, it's just a house," he said coldly.
"Then why are you getting an attitude with me?"
"Because you said you'd never leave the Honky Tonk, and you can't kiss me because it might lead to something. You sure you want to see my bedroom? You sure you can trust me?"
"Hell no, I'm not sure about anything right now." Exasperation filled her voice.
"Are we fighting?" he asked.
"If we are, I'm winning."
"Well hot damn. Uncle Emmett said that the best part of the day was when he and Aunt Mavis fought and they could make up. So come on over here, sweetheart, and make up with me," he teased.
She flipped around and threw one leg over both of his, sat square in the middle of his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss she planted on his lips shut him up and had him panting in record time. She'd teach him to light a fire and then not put it out.
Jarod groaned. "Be gentle," he teased with another age old line when she slid her hands up under his shirt.
"Not in the grass, cowboy. I don't want a dose of chiggers. I'm only testing the water to see how deep it is." She kissed him again, just as hard, just as lingering, just as passionate.
"One more kiss like that and we'll both drown," he said.
"Then we'd better stop making out, hadn't we?" She rolled to one side and put some distance between them.
"If you say so. Get back on the four wheeler and I'll take you to see where I live. It's not a mansion but I like it," he said.
Twenty minutes later she was staring at a sprawling brick home with a wide front porch. Half a dozen cats lounged in the porch rockers. That many hounds claimed the steps and yard. They all came running when Jarod called to them. Cats around his ankles. Dogs jumping up on him.
Finally, Jarod pushed them away and led her into the house. The door opened into a great room. Living room, dining room, kitchen all in one huge area divided by floor types. Hardwood in the dining room. Neutral colored beige tile in the kitchen and plush light brown carpet in the living area. Leather furniture flanked a natural stone fireplace. Bea
ms supported the wide expansive ceiling. Clean lines with one room flowing into the other. Daisy was instantly in love with the place.
"Bedrooms are down that hall. Four of them and two bathrooms. One in the hall and one in the master bedroom. Utility room is through that door and opens out into the backyard. There's a sink and shower in there so I can clean up before I ever come in the house."
"It's beautiful. I can see where Emmett's house would have suffocated you, though. You aren't a 'stuff' person."
"Takes one to know one," he said. "I've been gone for weeks but there's probably a few Cokes in the refrigerator. Want one?"
She nodded.
He took two out, popped the top on one, and handed it to her. She took a long drink and set it on the cabinet. When she looked up he was right in front of her, his eyes hungrily looking into hers. He bent. She tiptoed.
Ten minutes later they were naked in his big kingsized bed, their clothing strung from the kitchen cabinets and down the hallway.
"Please," she whispered. "Don't make me wait today. I want you now."
"Yes, ma'am," he whispered, his breath cold against her hot body.
He began a long slow rhythm under the cool sheets watching her face and eyes the whole time. He could get lost in those blue eyes and live behind them forever and ever.
"Jarod, I want pure old sex, not love," she whispered seductively in his ear.
"Sure?"
"I'm positive."
"It won't last as long. You deserve the best, sweetheart, not a five-minute romp."
"Please!"
They reached the apex together in less than two minutes.
"I—" he said softly.
She put a finger over his mouth. "Not now. Don't say it now, Jarod. They're just words. I want more than words."
He rolled to one side and drew her close to his side. "You should have more than words, Daisy. You really should have all of it. Promise not to leave me tonight. Let me wake up with you beside me."
"My things are at the other house," she mumbled sleepily.
"I'll call after a while and have Garrett bring them back here."
"But they'll know we are… and Jewel will bring a gun… I swear to God she's more protective than Frankie," she said.
"Who gives a damn? I'm thirty-five and I believe you said something about being twenty-eight. And besides, you just saved her dog and she apologized for being so hateful. Darlin', I believe you've got my whole family in your pocket."
"Okay," she agreed and shut her eyes. Her last thought before she went to sleep was that if she truly was not going to fall in love with Jarod, this had to be the last time she was alone with him.
Every time they were alone they wound up having sex. She couldn't keep that up and watch him leave Texas in a few weeks. It was going to tear her heart out already. And she couldn't go with him… or could she?
Chapter 15
Daisy and Cathy opened the doors at eight o'clock on Monday night just an hour after Jarod dropped Daisy off at the Honky Tonk. Daisy was ready for a few nights of solid dull routine; anything to slow down the speeding emotional train that she'd been riding the past few weeks.
"So tell me what happened. You look tired but happy. Did you like what you saw up there?" Cathy asked as they lined up sterile jars for beer.
Daisy bit back a giggle because the visual she got about liking what she saw involved bedsheets tangled around Jarod's legs the previous afternoon. And yes, ma'am, she most certainly did like it.
"It's a ranch. They're all about the same," she said.
"Yeah, right. You got laid. It's written all over your face."
"Cathy!"
"Well, you did and you are happy and that scares the shit out of me. What will I do if you go runnin' off to be a rancher's wife? God, girl, you've drooled over ranches and animals your whole life. Now throw something sexy as Jarod into the mix and I'm liable to be out in the cold."
"I doubt that. What's your portfolio worth these days?"
Cathy smiled.
"And you can always find a job."
Cathy whined, "But I love what I'm doing now."
"Well, you don't have to worry about anything. Jarod's nephew is coming to run the ranch and Jarod is going home to his own place. This was never a permanent thing for him. I'll probably never see him again.
"And how does that make you feel?" Cathy asked.
"Sad as hell. He is sexy!" Daisy attempted a laugh but it was weak.
Merle was waiting on the porch when Daisy turned on the flashing neon Honky Tonk lights and opened the doors. She marched into the joint, laid her fancy cue stick case on top of the bar, hopped up on a stool, and ordered a shot of Jack Daniels, neat with a Coke chaser. Her black hair had been freshly done and her nails were blood red. She wore a solid red shirt with turquoise roses on the back yoke that matched the pearl snaps. Her jeans were creased and her turquoise boots shined. She threw back the whiskey with the finesse of an old barmaid in a spaghetti Western movie. She didn't even blink when she took a sip of the icy Coke.
"It's damn quiet in here," she grumbled.
"What's on your mind, Merle? Something upsetting you?" Daisy asked.
"We need music. Hell's bells, we can get quiet in a funeral home. We come in here for noise. Can't expect me to keep the boys drinkin' beer if you don't provide the music so I can hustle them for a game of pool. When they lose they drink. It's a circle that all comes back to the music," Merle said shortly.
Daisy handed Cathy a fistful of coins. "Go make Merle happy," she said and turned back to Merle. "You got anything in mind? Jones, Strait, Shelton, or Trett?"
"Not the old stuff. Put that new one on even if it is Monday," Merle said. "And pour me one more shot. I need it."
"Did someone die?" Daisy asked.
"Be easier if they did," she said.
Joe Bob and Billy Bob lumbered through the door, their boots sounding like firecrackers on the wooden floor in the quietness.
"What's it going to be?" Cathy hollered from the jukebox.
"Anything to pep me up. Joe Bob, you ready to lose?" Merle asked.
"Not tonight. I ain't touchin' a cue stick tonight. I came in here to dance," he said.
Merle threw back the second shot and frowned. "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."
The music started with Mary Chapin Carpenter singing "Passionate Kisses."
Merle sipped at the Coke and said, "I love this old bar. I loved Ruby and I even love you, Daisy. I love Joe Bob even if he isn't coordinated enough to shoot decent pool. I love Mac even though he's married and thirty years younger than me."
Daisy picked up Merle's case and moved it to the end of the bar. "Okay, talk to me. Cathy can mind the bar."
Merle carried her Coke to the end stool. "I've got this niece who just got a degree in petroleum geology. I put a word in with Amos for her and be damned if he didn't hire her."
"That's good, isn't it?"
"Sure, but I didn't figure on what would be coming next. She's movin' in with me," Merle said with a long face.
"That a problem? I bet she could find a house to rent if you don't want her to live with you."
"Hell yes and hell no. It's a problem because I've lived by myself since me and Ruby came here back in the sixties. I don't know what to do with a twenty-threeyear-old girl. And hell no she can't rent a house because it's a waste of money, and besides, my house is huge and there's plenty of room. On top of all that she's the one who's always thought I hung the moon. I've enjoyed living on her pedestal but hell, I never thought I'd be expected to live with her."
"What's the real problem here, Merle?" Daisy asked. "Spit it out."
"Promise you won't laugh at me," Merle said.
"Promise."
"She's better than I am at pool."
"Oh, my!" Daisy exclaimed.
"Now you see. I've been the queen here at the Honky Tonk for more than forty years and I'm not ready to give up my crown. You know damn well she's
going to come in here because this is where the pool tables are. She'll get tired of playing me in the game room at my house so there it is," Merle said.
"When she moving in?"
"Christmas. Starts to work for Amos the day after New Year's."
"What's her job?"
"He's settin' up an office in Mingus for the new wells he's drilling up north of town. She's some kind of wizard when it comes to telling folks where to drill. She'll be runnin' the field for him. It ain't easy gettin' old, Daisy," Merle said.
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