by Becky McGraw
Katie inhaled deeply taking in the smell of fresh cut hay, and wildflowers, then looked up at the afternoon sun and said, “Gosh, it’s beautiful out here, makes me want to lay down and take a nap,” she said with a wide yawn.
“Help yourself, there’s plenty of good napping places out here, my favorite is down by the creek in the west pasture. You’re welcome to take one of our horses out there…just watch out for snakes. It’s getting cooler, so they’re not as bad, but this year has been awful,” Cassie told her with a shiver, then smiled and walked across the pasture toward the house.
Katie shivered too, because she wasn’t fond of creepy crawlies either. She might be a country girl, but she’d never lived on a farm, or been around snakes. Except for the time she spent at the Rockin’ D with Dixie and Tommy, she’d never really had a home base, for long anyway. Growing up, Uncle Jerry had a house near Henrietta, but they’d only stay there during the school year. He hired a lady to stay with them, when he had to travel during the school year. When the last bell rang for the year though, they were on the road again with the rodeo. Uncle Jerry had always made sure they were well taken care of, and she missed him terribly.
Standing up, Katie brushed off her behind then walked back toward the barn where her rig was parked. She unhitched it, and drove the truck up by the house and parked, then wrangled one of her suitcases from the bed, to get a change of clothes and her work boots.
What she had on was nice, and worked for riding her bike, but didn’t work so well for traversing the uneven ground of a farm. After zipping her suitcase back up, she shut the tailgate then walked up on the porch and knocked on the door. It was slowly opened and in the doorway stood handsome Luke Matthews with a chunky dark haired baby in his arms and a bottle in his hand.
“This must be Bella,” Katie said with a big grin and patted her behind.
“Yep, sure is,” he said with a goofy grin and then gave Katie a once over then whistled, before he said, “Wow, sugar, you sure look different.”
“Yeah, hair dye accident,” she said with a self-conscious chuckle. The blond hair definitely was a bad idea, she decided.
“Holy shit, is that a tattoo?” he asked and leaned down to inspect the she-devil’s tail that curled over the waistband of her shorts.
She felt blood rush to her face and she stammered, “Tattoo gun accident?”
His grin broadened and he snorted, “That dog won’t hunt sugar, but I’ll give you a pass. Too much tequila?”
She looked left and right then winked and whispered, “Yep…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
They chuckled then he led her inside and to the kitchen, where Karlie and Cassie were chopping vegetables. He smiled lovingly at Cassie, then took a chair a good ways away from them and put the bottle back in Bella’s full little lips. She sucked it looking up at her daddy adoringly, then put her hand on his chest. Katie’s heart twisted and jealousy surged through her. She wanted a man like that…one that loved her and their children with all his heart.
Dixie came up beside her and tugged her belt loop, then asked hesitantly, “Wanna help me walk Sarge and Snuggles?”
“You bet I do…let me go change real quick,” she said then looked at Cassie with a raised brow.
“There’s a room down the hall there, she pointed, “You can change in there.”
“Thanks,” she told her with a grin, then looked down at Dixie again, “You get ‘em ready and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Yep, I’ll be by the door waiting,” Dixie told her in her little singsong voice and headed to round up the dogs.
Katie walked down the hall where Cassie had pointed then looked from room to room until she located the bedroom. She went inside and shut the door then stripped out of the high heel boots that were killing her feet now. After she pulled off the ripped up shorts, red halter and fishnet hose, she stood there for a minute just enjoying being out of the getup for a minute. When she put on put on her soft worn cutoffs, sleeveless shirt and work boots that felt like slippers on her feet they were so broken in, she sighed in relief, then stuffed the other clothes in her backpack.
Heading back down the hall, Katie ran into her by the front door with the dogs already on leashes. “Hey, Chickadee, you ready?” she asked and took Sarge’s leash from her.
Dixie smiled up at her, the first genuinely nice smile she’d ever given Katie, and answered politely, “Yes, ma’am…we’re ready to go.”
“You get some treats? We can teach them some tricks,” Katie suggested.
Dixie sucked in a breath and asked in awe, “Really?”
“Yeah, Sarge probably already knows them, but we could use him to teach Snuggles, and we need treats,” Katie told her patiently.
Dixie handed her Snuggles leash then ran toward the kitchen. Don’t run in the house, Katie wanted to yell, but refrained, because she was determined not to give Dixie any more reason to think she was mean.
A minute later the little blond bundle of energy ran back into the foyer with a box of dog biscuits in her hand and a huge grin on her face. She held the box up to Katie proudly and told her, “Got ‘em!”
Katie smiled then handed her Snuggles leash and opened the front door. Once they got to the pasture, and both dogs did their business, she unclipped the leash from Sarge’s collar and told him to sit, while pointing at his rear end. The slack-jawed bulldog immediately planted his butt in the grass and watched her. She took the box of treats from Dixie and pulled one out then said, “Good dog, Good Sarge,” and patted his head then gave him the biscuit. His tongue flopped side to side in his mouth and he slobbered as he chewed it.
Katie cringed then looked over at Dixie who was watching her intently. Snuggles was rolling in the grass, and chewing on her boot, then flopped around like a fish with all his puppy energy. Breaking one of the treats she handed a piece to Dixie and said, “You try it with Snuggles…it might take a few tries for him to get it.”
Dixie swallowed then leaned down and unclipped the leash. When she stood back up, Snuggles was dancing around in front of her. She pointed toward his rear end and said ‘Sit, Snuggles,” mildly and he just looked at her with curious puppy dog eyes.
“Say it a little more firmly, and point your finger at his butt,” Katie suggested.
“Sit, Snuggles!” Dixie said sternly, then pointed, and the little puppy got it and sat down briefly, before he bounced back up and looked up at her expectantly, with his tail wagging his whole back end.
“Don’t give him the treat until he sits and stays down for a minute,” Katie told her.
“Sit, Snuggles!” Dixie repeated then he sat again and looked up at her. She smiled, then leaned down and gave him the biscuit and patted his head, “Good, puppy…good.” She turned to Katie with a huge smile and danced a little jig, “I did it!”
“You sure did,” Katie told her, “Good job, honey…now let’s try to make them stay.”
“Okay, what do we do?” Dixie asked excitedly.
“Do the sit command again, then say ‘stay’ the same way and turn your back and walk away…watch,” she said and demonstrated with Sarge, who already knew what he was doing.” Snuggles watched them and Katie did it again, so he’d get the idea. “Okay, now you try it with Snuggles.”
The sit command worked with Snuggles, but he wanted to follow Dixie like a little duck behind its mama, when she tried to walk away. She got frustrated and huffed, “He won’t do it.”
“You have to have patience, Dix…try it again,” Katie told her with a smile. After the third try, he finally made the connection, and she beamed up at Katie.
“Good job, sweetie. That’s enough for today, we’ll do some more tomorrow,” she told her and ruffled her hair. “Now, let’s go eat…hopefully Karlie and Cassie, between them can manage to cook something without burning it,” she laughed, then told Dixie, “My sister isn’t a great cook.”
“Yeah, she made me a grilled cheese when she was at the ranch, and it was pre
tty bad,” Dixie told her with a rueful smile, then added, “But she managed peanut butter and jelly okay.”
Katie snorted, then put her arm around Dixie’s shoulders, as they walked the dogs back to the house. When they got inside, the tantalizing smell of rich tomato sauce wafted to her in the foyer. She took a big sniff and her stomach rumbled, “I think we’re in luck, kid,” she said with a chuckle, and unclipped both leashes and put them on the table in the hall.
“Yeah, that smells pretty good…spaghetti?” Dixie guessed.
“Sure smells like it to me,” Katie said then dropped took Dixie’s hand and walked with her to the kitchen. When they got through the entrance, she stopped short when she saw Tommy Tucker sitting at the table slathering garlic butter on opened loaves of Italian bread.
“Daddy!” Dixie squealed and ran over to throwing her arms around his neck. He hugged her, but his eyes never left Katie’s.
He was tense, and his eyes were wary, but hopeful too. He swallowed a couple of times then he said, “Katie…”
“Tommy,” she said then walked into the kitchen and over to the breakfast bar. “You guys need any help?”
“Nah, we’ve got it under control,” Cassie told her and looked up from the big pot of sauce on the stove, which she was stirring with a huge wooden spoon. “Get yourself a glass of wine from the fridge, and relax,” she said.
Wine sounded like a great idea to Katie, but she knew it was going to take a lot more than that to relax her, with Tommy Tucker here. If she’d know he was going to be here for supper, she’d have delayed her arrival until later tonight, or tomorrow.
Bending over, Katie reached into the fridge and grabbed the bottle of chardonnay, then removed the cork and filled the glass she’d set on the counter, then said to no one in particular, “Since ya’ll don’t need help, I think I’m going to take my wine out on the porch, if that’s okay?”
Tommy’s heated eyes had been following her around the room, and it was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She needed some space from the handsome cowboy to get herself under control.
“Sure, that’s fine, I’ll call you when everything is ready,” Cassie told her with a soft smile.
CHAPTER FOUR
Katie hurried from the kitchen and quickly made her way out to the porch swing. She huffed out a breath then sat on the porch swing and started a steady rhythm with her foot. The sun was setting and the air had cooled, so it was a perfect time to sit out here alone and think. By the time she half-emptied her wine glass, her nerves had settled a little. They edged back up though, when the front door opened and closed softly, and looked up to see Tommy standing there.
His eyes were shuttered, and his jaw clenched when he asked, “Can I sit with you for a minute?” It was like he expected her to turn him down, but he was asking anyway.
Since the wine had loosened her up a little, and her anger from earlier today had dissipated some, Katie thought she’d surprise him, and said, “Sure, sit if you want,” then put her boot down to stop the swing.
His eyebrows raised, and his jaw relaxed a little, then he walked in his loose-limbed way and sat down beside her, then leaned back and pushed with his feet. He had a glass of wine in his hand too.
“Thanks…” he said with a soft smile, and the rumble of his deep voice vibrated inside her head and floated along her nerve endings.
“It’s not my house, you can sit anywhere you like,” she told him shortly, then took another swig of her wine, determined not to look at him. She knew if she did, she’d want to kiss him, then if she kissed him…enough of that, she thought and emptied her glass.
“Thank you for spending time with Dixie…for talking to her,” he said then took a sip of his wine too.
“No problem, we worked things out…” she told him, watching the sun set behind the trees, looking like a big melted orange popsicle.
He huffed out a frustrated breath, then said, “She told me she lied…that surprised me.”
“Shouldn’t surprise you, she’s a good kid, she just needs a little guidance,” Katie told him then looked his way against her will. His hazel eyes were almost emerald in the waning light, and they were fixed on her. She swallowed and looked away quickly.
He reached over and grabbed the hand she had resting on her thigh, and laced his fingers through hers. “Kate, look at me…” he said in a low sensual tone.
“I can’t, Tommy…I need to go inside,” she said in a choked voice, and pulled her hand from his, then went to stand up. With a yank he had her in his lap, and his arms were around her. He rubbed his nose in her hair and she heard him inhale deeply.
“My god, you smell so damned good, I just want to lick you everywhere…I want you so fucking bad, I hurt with it,” he admitted in a low, gravelly voice full of need.
“But you can’t…or won’t,” she said in a soft whisper, and turned her face toward him.
Tommy groaned and told her, “But I want to…so damned bad,” then his lips brushed hers softly a few times, before he closed his mouth over hers in a scorching kiss. Even though her brain told her to get up and remove herself from this situation, her body wouldn’t let her. Instead, she scooted up in his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him with the pent up passion, she’d been holding inside for months, giving him a taste of how good things could be, if he’d just let go.
His hand moved up her side to just below her breast and he cupped her, then ran a thumb over her nipple and she moaned into his mouth. Her breathing was short and shallow and her heart rose and dove in her chest like a car on a roller coaster. Electric sparks of desire zinged along her spine down to her center, as he pushed his tongue into her mouth and teased and tempted hers to play.
She nibbled his lower lip and he groaned then pulled her tighter to him. She felt his steely erection pressing into her hip, and she wanted nothing more than to straddle him and try to find some relief from the buzzing at the apex of her thighs. He ran his thumb over her nipple again, and she couldn’t bear it anymore, “Tommy…please,” she whispered in a desperate voice.
He pulled back then put his forehead to hers, his breathing more unsteady than her own. “I’m staying at the bed and breakfast outside of town…Dixie is staying with your sister,” his voice was low and needy. “We can’t let anyone know though,” he told her with a moan, and shut his eyes.
“I’ll tell Karlie I’m staying here, then come out there. If I ride my bike, nobody will know,” she assured him, with hope blossoming in her chest. It was finally going to happen, she was going to make love with him.
“No! I don’t want you on that bike, it’s dangerous…especially at night,” he told her and his eyes glittered with fear.
She snorted, then told him, “Well I’m sure not going to walk, and they’ll know if my truck is gone all night…I’ll ride my bike, I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“You weren’t careful earlier today, you about wiped out coming into that trailer park,” he said seriously. “My heart almost stopped.”
She put her hand on his cheek and ordered, “Stop worrying, I’ll be fine…and you better not change your mind…”
“Not a chance, sweetheart…I need you too badly,” he said then kissed her again tenderly.
Katie slid off his lap and stood, then squeezed his hand, “Good…I’ll see you tonight then, as soon as I can get away. Now, I’m starved, let’s go eat,” she said with a wide smile.
He walked up to her in the darkness and pulled her to him, then rubbed his hips against hers. Katie moaned and slid her arms around his waist and tiptoed to put another kiss on his lips. “You feel so damned good, sugar…I don’t know if I can wait,” she whispered over his lips, then licked them, and kissed each corner of his mouth.