by Alison Bliss
Bobbie Jo walked over, having left Austin in Ox’s capable hands. “Lord have mercy. Did you see what Cowboy was doing to my child’s head a minute ago?”
“If he does that to Lily, I’m going to sic Jake on him,” Emily said, shaking her head with blatant disapproval. “She can’t even hold her head up on her own yet like Austin can.”
Maybe it was because he’d helped me only moments before, but I felt the need to defend Cowboy, even if I did agree that he was bouncing the baby around a little too much. “I think it’s sweet the way Cowboy is with both of the children.”
“Did I hear my name?” Cowboy hollered from across the yard. I glanced in his direction and he smiled wickedly at me. “Hey there, beautiful. Long time, no see.”
Heat flashed through my entire body, but settled in my cheeks. No one had ever called me that before. Not that it meant much, though, since he called Bobbie Jo the same thing that first night I’d seen him in the library. And probably every other girl he ever crossed paths with.
“God, Cowboy. Do you always have to hit on all of our friends?” Bobbie Jo rolled her eyes. “Ignore him, Anna. He’ll eventually give up.”
“What are you ladies talking about over there?” Cowboy asked.
Emily grinned. “Menstruation.”
A horrified expression crossed his face, then he turned his attention back to the other men, making the three of us laugh.
“Works every time,” Emily said.
“Poor guy’s going to get a complex if you keep doing that to him,” Bobbie Jo told her, still giggling.
“Serves him right,” Emily said, shrugging it off. “We’re never going to have other females to hang out with if he keeps sleeping with all of them and running them off.” She smiled at me. “And I like this one.”
All of them? Blushing, I somehow managed to smile back, though I couldn’t look either of them directly in the eyes. “I, um… Thanks, I like you, too.”
Both girls just stared at me, blinking, until Emily said, “Oh God! Not you, too? Holy hell. Can’t that man keep his dick in his pants for more than two minutes?”
I shook my head, denying the charges. “No, he didn’t… I mean, we didn’t… Oh God.” Embarrassed, I pressed my fist to my lips to stop them from flapping.
Emily huddled closer. “Okay, missy, we want the goods on you and Cowboy.”
“No, we don’t,” Bobbie Jo quickly clarified.
“Okay, she doesn’t. But I do. All the juicy, luscious details about you and the hunky fireman.”
I dropped my hand and shook my head. “There’s nothing to tell, really. He came by my house last Sunday and he sort of…kissed me.” I quickly followed with, “But I haven’t seen him since. Not until today, that is.”
“What? That’s such a jerk move,” Bobbie Jo said. “I should give him a piece of my mind for acting like Jeremy.”
“Oh, no. Please don’t say anything.” My eyes pleaded with her. “I just want to forget the whole thing.”
“Why?”
“Because it was a mistake,” I told her. “One that I won’t be repeating.”
“I’m sorry, Anna. He’s acting like an ass. And I hate to say I told you so, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you. He’s a great guy most of the time, but men like Cowboy and Jeremy are womanizers. Too hot-blooded to commit to a real relationship. It’s that stupid love ’em and leave ’em attitude of theirs.”
“It’s okay,” I said with a shrug. I felt stupid that I even thought for one second Cowboy had been serious about being interested in me. “It’s not like I was expecting anything from him. And to be honest, I’m sure he looks at it the same way I do. We don’t have a thing in common. He’s probably forgotten all about it already,” I said, though Cowboy’s words in the barn still ran through my mind.
Bobbie Jo turned to Emily. “How did you know something happened between them, anyway? You have ESP or something?”
“Beats the shit out of me,” she said with a shrug. “Anna looked guilty so I took a wild guess. After all, it is Cowboy we’re talking about.”
Chapter Nine
Just as we were lining up to fill our plates, a beat-up red Pontiac pulled into the driveway, parking on the concrete slab in front of the main house. The wrinkled old woman behind the wheel had fluffy white hair that made her round head resemble the end of a Q-tip.
But as she wrenched herself from the sedan, I mentally corrected myself. Actually, more like a cotton ball. There was nothing stick-like about the elderly woman’s body. The white cotton sundress clung to her thick waist and the short sleeves showed all the slack, loose skin on the underside of her flabby arms.
No one, except for Floss, made any attempt to greet her. In fact, everyone was suddenly occupied or quiet and facing the opposite direction with stiff spines and breath-held lungs. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but I thought I’d better follow suit and busy myself, as well.
I wasn’t paying attention when I reached for a foam plate and accidentally bumped fingers with Cowboy. As our eyes met, I pulled my hand back quickly. “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”
“No, ma’am,” he said, offering me the plate in his hand. “Ladies first.” Then he stood there, staring at me in silence as he waited for me to take it.
I accepted the plate and nodded a thank you, then moved over to the food table, where I added a small piece of brisket and topped it with some red-eye gravy that I’d helped Floss make earlier.
When I turned, Cowboy was back at my side, standing so close that his arm bumped mine. “I didn’t mean to touch you,” he said in a low voice.
“That’s okay. I’ll just move over a little.”
“No,” he said, frowning. “That’s not what I meant.” He set his empty plate down on the table and turned to face me as I reached for a yeast roll. “I’m talking about last weekend. I didn’t mean to kiss you.”
Flustered, I jumped as if he’d shot me, missed the rolls, and ended up raking the back of my fingers across the barbecued ribs instead. Damn it. Awkwardly, I balanced my plate in one hand while holding up two sticky fingers coated in a sweet-smelling dark red glop.
“That night, I didn’t come to your house with any intention of putting my hands on you. Or my mouth. It just…sort of happened.”
A shiver ran through me as the blood hummed in my veins. The memory of his hard body pressed against mine played over in my mind, tampering with my sanity. My teeth bit into my bottom lip, pulling it into my mouth as he had done that night, and I swore I could almost still taste him.
“I don’t think this is an appropriate time to talk about that…um, incident.” I glanced around for a napkin.
“How about later, then? I could always swing by your place and—”
“No! I mean…I can’t. I’ll be busy later.”
“Doing what?” he asked, his brow lifted with curiosity.
“I don’t know…just stuff.” Like trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me.
“If you’re upset because I avoided you all week, I was only trying to wrap my head around what’s going on between us. We should talk about it. About us.”
I continued my perusal of a napkin, while ignoring the fluttering in my chest. “There’s really nothing to talk about, Cowboy. It happened and it’s over. Let’s just forget the whole thing.”
“What if I don’t want to forget it?”
“People don’t always get what they want,” I told him, just as I spotted the pile of paper napkins someone had placed at the end of the table on the other side of Cowboy. I nodded to them, silently asking him to hand me one.
He looked at the napkins and back to my fingers. Grasping my hand, he gave me a sexy little grin and said, “I always get what I want.” Then he slid my fingers into his warm mouth. I tried to pull back, but he held me firm while sucking and licking the barbecue sauce off. Heat traveled from my cheeks into places lower in my body.
The suction of his mouth coupled with the erotic tongue action he
performed on my fingers nearly had my knees buckling in bliss. Good Lord, the effect this man had on me. I whimpered softly.
When he was done, he kissed my knuckles lightly, gave me a quick wink, and said, “Enjoyed that, did ya? Next time we’ll try whipped cream…and a different body part.”
I quivered from head to toe, but didn’t have time to speak.
The old woman who’d arrived moments before stepped up beside him and slapped him in the back of the head. “Behave yourself, you horn-dog. There’ll be no hanky-panky at the dinner table, ya hear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cowboy said, rubbing where she whacked him.
“Now, stop playing around, loverboy, and introduce me to my newest granddaughter.”
Smiling, I looked around, but didn’t see anyone near us. When I glanced back at her, I realized she was talking about me. I shook my head insistently and set my plate down on the edge of the picnic table. “Oh, no. You’re mistaken. I’m not Cowboy’s girlfriend.”
“Horsefeathers! I saw how you two were fiddlefarting around over here and canoodling over the string beans while the rest of us starve to death.”
Flustered, I tried to explain. “We weren’t…ah, I mean, I wasn’t…”
The old woman scoffed and pointed her finger straight into my face. Somehow it seemed deadlier than a loaded shotgun. “Young lady, you mean to tell me you let any Romeo with a wandering eye play coochie-coo with you?”
Great. What was I supposed to say to that? Speechless, I looked to Cowboy for help.
Thankfully, the lady turned her attention on him as well. “You trying to pull a fast one on me, boy?”
Cowboy chuckled, then put his hand on the old woman’s shoulder. “Aw, settle down, Momma Belle. This is Anna. My girlfriend.” My eyes widened, but Cowboy just kept on grinning. “She’s just a big tease.”
Why, that little… My eyes narrowed. “No, I’m not!”
Momma Belle cast a glance my way. Crap.
I didn’t see any other way around it but to play along. If I told her Cowboy and I weren’t dating, she would think I was a hussy. Then again, wasn’t that the kind of woman he normally dated?
I mentally sighed. Oh, jeez. “Momma Belle, of course I’m his girlfriend. I don’t play…um, coochie-coo with any man without the promise of a commitment. I guess I thought you’d see right through such a silly notion.” My eyes cut to Cowboy to make sure he got the message loud and clear, then glanced back to Momma Belle. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, extending my hand.
But the old lady frowned at me. “Girl, do I need to break a switch off one of these oak trees and strap your legs good? You almost gave me a heart attack. Fossils my age don’t have strong tickers, you know?”
Oh God. The woman had heart problems? “I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Can I get you anything? Maybe some water or something.”
“Bless your heart, child, but I’m okay. Just need to sit down and rest my achy joints. When my dadgum arthritis starts acting up like it is, there’s only one remedy that works.” Momma Belle directed one gnarled finger toward her car. “If you’d be so kind, it’s in a medicine bottle inside my purse on the floorboard.”
I nodded and patted her on the hand. “Of course, I’ll get it for you.”
I started toward her car, but didn’t get halfway there when Cowboy caught up to me and yanked me to a dead stop in between two vehicles. “Tell her you couldn’t find it.”
“What?”
“Don’t take Momma Belle her purse. In fact, toss it in the bushes and tell her she must’ve left it at home.”
I gawked at him. “Why would I do that to that poor, sweet woman?”
“Poor, sweet woman?” Cowboy made a strangled sound of disgust with his throat. “That woman has the fangs of a rattler. If you let her, she’s going to sink them right into that pretty little neck of yours.”
Obviously, he was overreacting, so I rolled my eyes at him and continued to the car. I opened the passenger door on the red Pontiac and leaned in to lift the heavy black tote from the floorboard. As I straightened and turned, I bumped right into Cowboy, who was blocking my path.
He held his ground and frowned at me. “I’m serious, Anna. Don’t take her that bag.”
“Why are you being like this about a little old lady who needs her medicine? I know you can be arrogant and self-centered at times, but I never realized you were such an ass.”
His eyes narrowed as he snatched Momma Belle’s purse from my hands and rifled through it with a mad flourish. Clearly, he was searching for something in particular, but having a hard time finding it with all the junk stuffed inside. This lady was worse than Mary Poppins.
“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just go through her personal belongings like that. It’s an invasion of her privacy.”
“Here, hold this,” Cowboy said as he passed something to me.
My eyes widened as I stared stupidly at the small metal object in my hand. “I-is this a gun?”
“No, it’s a bingo dauber that happens to resemble a small caliber weapon.” Cowboy stopped rooting through the bag and glared at me. “Of course it’s a goddamn gun.” He shook his head and continued his search.
Okay, so maybe it was a dumb question. “Why is your grandma carrying a gun?” I asked him.
“That insane woman is not my grandma. If she were, I’d shoot myself with her…bingo dauber.”
I gaped at him, appalled by his lack of sympathy and his cold-hearted behavior toward an elderly woman with health problems. “Jesus, what is wrong with you? You’re being so…callous and insensitive.”
“Oh, that’s rich. Especially coming from the woman who won’t go on a date with me all because she’s heard a few bullshit rumors.” Before I could respond to that, he found what he was looking for. “Aha!” He held up a small mason jar of clear liquid. “This is what Momma Belle calls her ‘medicine.’”
I sighed with irritation. “Moonshine?”
Cowboy shook his head at me. “You know, for someone who is supposed to be so smart, you sure ask a lot of stupid-ass questions.”
My eyes narrowed. “Okay, that’s it! I’ve had enough of you and your demeaning insults.” I yanked the purse from him and then snagged the jar from his hand, shoving it back inside the large bag. “If that old lady wants to drink moonshine, then that’s her business, not yours.”
“That insane woman has no business drinking—”
“That’s enough,” I said, huffing at him. “Since I don’t see you over there wrestling the beer out of Hank’s hand, I can only assume you’re saying that because she’s a woman…you…you…chauvinistic pig!”
“Oh, don’t give me that women’s lib crap. You know that’s not what I meant.”
Crap? Really?
“You know what? There’s something seriously wrong with you.” I blew out an irritated breath as I shifted the heavy bag onto my shoulder. “I can’t speak for other women, but I, for one, am not amused by your ludicrous behavior, no matter how ridiculously charming you may be.”
His lips settled into a wide grin.
I crossed my arms, not sure what to make of his expression. “Why are you smiling?”
He raised one brow. “Charming, huh?”
“Oh, good Lord. That’s all you got out of this entire conversation?”
“So how ridiculously charming do you think I am?” he asked as he moved closer, his proximity suffocating me.
Oh, great. I hadn’t meant to encourage him. “I…I don’t.” I shook my head vigorously as heat spread throughout my cheeks. “That wasn’t what I meant. I was just trying to explain how ridiculous you’re acting.”
Cowboy chuckled softly and touched my cheek. “Did you know that your ears and neck turn red when you blush? You keep looking so sweet and adorable, I might have to kiss you again.”
A tingle ran through me straight down to my nether regions, but I held my composure and placed my hands on my hips to show my exasperation. “You’ll do
no such thing.” The wicked little smirk he wore had me worried, though.
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, stepping forward until his body brushed lightly against mine. “You sure about that?”
“Y-yes,” I said, trying to sound convincing. “Because not only are there other people around…” I glanced around, realizing that the vehicles blocked their view of us. Damn it. “But because you’re a gentleman.”
He lifted a hand and curled it around the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him as his mouth opened and his breath touched my lips. In that second, my heart raced and my mind drew a blank.
Then I remembered what I was saying. “And I…I’m asking you…to keep your hands to…yourself.” There. I said it.
“Darlin’,” he drawled with a sly grin. “There’s only one problem with that theory of yours.”
“What’s that?” I breathed out, desperately trying to maintain my composure.
“I never claimed to be a gentleman.” Then he covered my mouth with his.
The moment his warm lips fastened over mine, my hands flew to his chest. I meant to push him away, I really did, but just couldn’t bring myself to actually do it.
His tongue flicked out, running teasingly across my bottom lip, then slowly worked its way into my mouth. The moment his tongue touched mine, an electrical current ran straight down my center, and my knees buckled. I sagged against him like a limp ragdoll, boneless and lacking all mental capabilities.
Never breaking contact with my mouth, Cowboy’s strong fingers slid over my ass, gripped it and lifted me back up, and steadied me against his strong frame. He nibbled at my bottom lip, sucked it into his mouth a little ways, then released it with a sharp nip that sent my nerves skittering throughout my body.
Although I didn’t want him to stop, I needed him to. I couldn’t breathe. My mind swam ferociously through a riptide of emotions that threatened to pull me under. Like I was choking on his overpowering testosterone and drowning in his masculinity. Overwhelmed by his very male essence, a shiver ran through me.
As our kiss came to a frustratingly slow end, I made the unfortunate mistake of sighing into his mouth, obliging him with the sound of my satisfaction. I felt him smirk against my lips.