by Alison Bliss
The two men exchanged casual glances, but the Indian spoke up first. “She saw me last night.”
Cowboy blinked in surprise, then shook his head. “What the fuck do you mean she saw you? You’re a goddamn tracker, Junior. You’re supposed to be good at this shit.”
Junior? As in the owner of Junior’s Diner?
The man named Junior gave Cowboy a death stare. “She caught me standing on her back porch and fainted. I caught her before she fell and carried her back to bed. You could have warned me she doesn’t sleep.”
“What do you mean she doesn’t sleep?” Cowboy asked him. “Of course she does.”
“Not for more than two hours at a time on any given night.”
Cowboy wore a perturbed expression. “Then what the hell is she doing if she’s not—”
“Stop talking about me as if I’m not standing right here.”
Cowboy’s hard gaze landed on me, but his tone softened. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
I placed the dirty butter knife back on the nearby table. “That’s none of your business. Why are you having me followed by your…er, friend?”
“He’s not following you. He lives about a mile up the road from your house and I asked him to keep an eye on you.”
“Well, you should’ve cleared that with me first.”
“I didn’t want you to worry. I told you I’d handle the situation with the Barlow boys, and that’s what I was doing. You don’t have to lose any sleep over them.”
“Look, I appreciate your concern, but you can’t have someone watching my house and not tell me. This gentleman…Junior, is it? He’s scared the devil out of me twice already.”
With wide eyes, Cowboy tossed Junior a dumbfounded look. “Twice? Christ, Junior. Maybe next time I should get Big Jim’s three-year-old twins to ride their tricycles over to her house and keep an eye out. They’re low enough to the ground that she might not have spotted them,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Some fucking tracker you are.”
Junior’s eyes narrowed and his voice held a menacing tone. “If you want to know what it feels like to be skinned alive, keep talking.”
I shuddered visibly.
“It’s okay, Anna. Junior’s just spouting off. He wouldn’t really do it.”
With a lethal gleam in his eye, the big Indian put his hand directly on his knife at his side and cocked an eyebrow at Cowboy. I don’t know whether Cowboy believed what he said or not, but the color suddenly drained from his face as he gave Junior a weak smile.
Junior wore a stone-cold expression, but it softened as he shifted his gaze onto me. “You didn’t see me twice.”
“Yes, I did. I saw you about a week ago standing at the edge of my property. You were watching me from the tree line.”
“Wasn’t me,” he said, his mouth grim. “Last night was the first time I’d ever dismounted from my horse and approached the house. Had to be someone else.”
Cowboy must’ve believed him because his eyes immediately lit with concern. My heart leaped into my throat and my knees wobbled, but I steadied them. This was not the right time to have a nervous breakdown. Not that there ever was a good time for that.
I glanced around the room, realizing all eyes were on me. Between the threatening notes that had me on edge, the disastrous date gone wrong, and the events of last night’s public embarrassment, I couldn’t take any more. “Cowboy, w-would you please take me home? I think I’ve caused enough of a scene tonight. It’s probably a good idea to—”
“Go back to our house and order pizza,” Emily chimed in. At first, I thought maybe she had something in her eye, but then I realized it was an exaggerated wink. She obviously thought she was somehow helping me out. “We have alcohol,” she whispered. “Lots of it.”
I’d never been much of a drinker, but I was suddenly parched, imagining that this was how it felt to think, “God, I could go for a drink about now.”
Emily stood on the other side of her dining room table, holding up the bottle of white wine. “More?”
“Why not? One more glass won’t hurt.” I pressed my cool hand to my hot cheek and swayed a little in my chair. Nope, I was definitely not hurting…anywhere.
Cowboy grinned. “Darlin’, maybe you should slow down a little.”
“Oh, please!” Emily shrieked. “Since when did you not know how to have fun? Don’t tell me Jake has finally rubbed off on you.”
“Hey!” Jake said, clearly offended. “I’m lots of fun.” He leaned over the table and snagged Emily’s top with one finger, pulling her to him. Then he took a quick peek down her shirt and grinned. “See? Fun.”
Cowboy stood up fast. “Okay, I think it’s time for us to go and let you two have some alone time.”
“It’s fine,” Emily said, waving off his comment. “Floss is keeping Lily until the morning. I pumped breast milk by the bucketful earlier today just so Lily wouldn’t run out in the middle of the night.”
“Still, it’s your first night alone since you had Lily,” Cowboy said. “I doubt you two want to spend it with us.”
“Hold up,” Jake told him. “I wanted to show you our new bay mare out in the barn real quick. Won’t take but a few minutes.”
“All right.” Cowboy glanced at me. “I’ll be right back to take you home.”
The knot in my throat wouldn’t allow me to answer him, so I just nodded an okay and took a large gulp of my wine.
“Don’t be out there too long, Jake,” Emily said with a quick wink. “Since they’re leaving, I have plans for us…something that might involve pickles.”
Jake gave her a quick kiss on the lips and headed for the door, wearing a huge grin. “I’m feeling a little lazy tonight. Might let you do all the work,” he teased.
Emily smirked at him. “So what else is new?”
Cowboy chuckled as Jake stepped out the door, mumbling under his breath.
I waited until the door shut behind them. “Pickles?”
Emily laughed. “Jake won’t allow me to eat pickles in front of him anymore. My entire pregnancy, he swore I was torturing him.”
Normally, I would’ve blushed and stammered all over myself after a sexual innuendo such as that, but the alcohol in my system lent me some perspective. Instead, I broke into a fit of giggles.
“About time you loosened up,” Emily said, smiling. “Now would you mind telling me what’s going on between you and Cowboy?”
“We’re friends.” My cheeks grew warmer, so I took a sip of my chilled wine.
“Uh-huh. And Jake and I are brother and sister,” she said. “Has he tried to undress you yet?”
Nearly swallowing my tongue, I choked at her bluntness and let out a little cough. “Um, not exactly.” I wasn’t aware that having a conversation with Emily would lead to such an intimate discussion, but maybe it was a good thing. She obviously had more experience with men than I did and could probably give me some fascinating advice on how to handle the situation with Cowboy. “If anything, he pulls back whenever we start to…you know, do stuff.”
Emily’s face warped with genuine confusion. “Really?”
“You seem surprised by that.”
“Well, it is Cowboy we’re talking about. Hmm. Guess that puts a whole new spin on that fireman saying, ‘Find ’em hot, leave ’em wet.’”
We both laughed at that, and the sudden camaraderie put me at ease. Emily was impulsive and wore her blatant sexuality on her sleeve like a badge of honor. No wonder Jake couldn’t keep his hands off her. All the sexual energy buzzing in the air between them after their ten minute round of under-the-table touching hadn’t gone unnoticed.
But I wasn’t Emily, and there was nothing wildly sexual about me. “Most men are simply not attracted to me. Not that I’ve given them much reason to be.”
“What? That’s ridiculous! You’re much hotter than you give yourself credit for.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You have the most amazing blue eyes I’ve ever seen. And look at that gorgeous red hair of yours
. Any woman would kill for that shade of natural red.”
“But I dress like an old maid,” I said, averting my eyes to avoid showing her how embarrassed I truly was.
“Well, Cowboy doesn’t seem to mind.” I glanced back to her and caught an unreadable expression on her face. Then Emily grinned at me. “I think he likes the primness. You could probably curtsy and cause him to ache in places he never knew existed.”
I shrugged lightly. “I don’t know about that.”
“Well, I do. Cowboy is well-known with the ladies for his insatiable desire. If he’s not jumping in the sack with you, especially when you’re offering, then there’s something more going on.”
It was true I’d seen oddities in his behavior that didn’t coincide with the rumors I’d heard. But that couldn’t possibly mean anything, could it?
“I don’t know. I think we’re just circling each other, trying to figure out what’s about to happen. I’m not sure how to take things to the next level.”
Emily leaned toward me. “You want to seduce him?”
I felt compelled to answer her honestly, but there’s nothing like being asked a direct question that makes you lose confidence. So I chewed on my lower lip and nodded.
She grinned at that. “Anna, just think of this as sexual warfare. Panties are your weapons.”
“Chalk this up to cluelessness, but how do I go about getting to that part?”
“That’s easy. Just give him a sexy look and you’ll be knocking boots with him in no time. Here, try one on me and I’ll tell you what I think.”
“You want me to—”
“Yep. Give me your sexiest look,” she encouraged. “Then I’ll judge if it will spark his libido.”
“Okay. Um, here goes.” I breathed out a slow breath and relaxed my face. Then I cocked my head to the side, batted my eyelashes, and smiled wide, teeth showing.
It must’ve went horribly wrong because Emily wrinkled her nose and cringed. “Um, yeah, that’s not sexy. Creepy, maybe, but definitely not sexy.”
I covered my mouth and giggled with embarrassment. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“That was obvious by your epic fail of turning me on.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t have turned you on, anyway.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. You are pretty cute.” She leaned closer and toyed with the stem of her wineglass, licking her lips as she lowered her chin and looked up at me beneath her dark lashes.
The sudden change in her demeanor had me stammering. “I…um…”
Emily sat back in her chair and threw her head with a laugh. “I’m just messing with you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I thought you were flirting with me.”
“Exactly,” she muttered, taking a sip of her wine. “You saw how I did that, right? You can totally do it, too. Just practice a little. Then Cowboy won’t know what hit him. He’ll have to be carried out on a stretcher.”
“But what do I do in the meantime?”
“Have another glass of wine for the extra boost of courage and then show him your panties. The rest will fall into place.”
“Are you sure?”
Emily grinned. “As Cowboy would say, ‘God always takes care of helpless creatures.’”
Chapter Fourteen
Cowboy snagged my house keys from my hand and unlocked my front door, pushing it open and stepping aside to let me enter. He followed me inside and shut the door behind us, then tossed the keys on the small entryway table.
To steady myself, I pressed my back against the wall.
Once he turned back to face me, a slow grin lifted his cheeks. He stepped closer, allowing his warm body to lean into me as his firm mouth dropped over mine. His tongue slid along my bottom lip where he then nipped gently. A feverish frenzy coursed through my veins.
My hands moved over his rib cage and onto his back, feeling the hard-packed muscles tighten beneath my fingertips. His hands traveled up my arms to my neck as his knee parted my legs, sliding my skirt up between my thighs. Within seconds, my nails were digging trenches into his shoulder blades.
Moments later, he slowed things down and rationed his touches, then stopped altogether. He backed away slowly. “We should probably dial it down a little before we do something you’ll regret.” Then he plopped down on the sofa and blew out a breath.
A sinking feeling came over me. “Me…or you?”
My remark gave him pause, and his eyes flickered in my direction. “Of course I mean you. Why would I regret it?”
I sat beside him on the couch. “I don’t know. But you seem awfully sure that I would. Maybe you’re the one with the issue.”
“No, of course not.”
“Good.” I leaned closer to him and brushed my lips over his ear, but he only stiffened. “Maybe I should go slip into something a little more comfortable.”
He swallowed hard and pulled at his shirt collar. “Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I’ll wait here.”
I rose and wobbled toward my bedroom, pausing in the doorway to look back at him. He faced away from me and was eyeing a framed art canvas on the wall, as if he wasn’t the least bit concerned with my intentions.
I don’t know what I’d expected. Hell, I thought I knew what he expected, but apparently I was wrong. Or doing something wrong. His preoccupation unnerved me almost as much as what I was about to do. Most men—at least the ones in their right minds—paid attention when a girl said she was going to take off her clothes.
In the bedroom, I stripped off my clothes and changed into a long white satiny nightgown and slipped on a matching silk robe.
“I should get going,” he called out from the living room. “You probably want to get to bed.”
He looked up as I came around the corner, and his mouth dropped open. The robe barely covered my shoulders and I had purposely left it open in the front, allowing the negligee to peek through.
“Funny that you mentioned that,” I stammered, feeling my entire body blush beneath the robe.
Cowboy stood up, but he didn’t come any closer. If anything, he looked like he was about to hightail it for the front door. “Anna, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to proposition me.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“No. I mean, yes.”
The uncertainty in his voice worried me. “Well, which is it?”
Cowboy looked a little lost for words, but finally shook his head. “Yeah, it’s a problem.” Then he muttered a few expletives under his breath before looking back at me. “I can’t…I mean, we can’t…”
“Oh.” Feeling like a presumptuous idiot, I turned away from him and quickly closed my robe, crossing my arms over my chest to keep it in place. What the hell was I thinking? He’d obviously changed his mind about us.
“Anna, wait.” He stepped up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “It’s not what you think.”
“It’s okay,” I said, holding back tears of embarrassment. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. I get it.”
“Do you?” he asked, sounding painfully unsure. “You’ve been drinking and aren’t thinking clearly.”
“I understand the difference between a man who wants me and one who obviously doesn’t.”
“That’s not what I meant, Anna. I was only talking about the alcohol. That’s the reason we can’t do this. When we do, I want you to be sure, and I’m not entirely convinced you are.”
I turned around and looked into his eyes. “You think I’m throwing myself at you because I’m inebriated?”
He grinned. “Even drunk, you can’t stop using big words.”
I dropped my gaze and looked away. “This is embarrassing enough. You don’t have to make fun of me.”
“Darlin’, I’m not poking fun. I think it’s adorable the way you talk.” Using one finger, he lifted my chin. “Look, your first time should be special. Not some post-drinking binge decision.”
I blinked at him
in horror. “What?”
“I don’t mind being your first, Anna. But not like this. I know you’re probably nervous about being with a man, but we don’t have to rush into having sex.”
“You know, you have a really infuriating and insulting concept of me,” I told him, crossing my arms once again.
“Sweetheart, I’m not trying to make you feel bad about being inexperienced. I’m just trying to tell you it’s okay. You don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. It’s not a problem.”
“Apparently, Houston, we do have a problem.” I pursed my mouth, trying to control my temper, then blew out a breath at his puzzled look. “I’m not a virgin.”
The shocked look on his face was almost laughable. And I probably would’ve laughed if it hadn’t been for the annoying way he was staring at me. As if I were tainted or something.
I shook my head with irritation. “Your silence is deafening.”
“I’m just a little…surprised, that’s all.”
And disappointed, perhaps? Was that what he wanted from the beginning? “What does it matter, anyway? It has no bearing on—”
He shoved to his feet and started pacing. “When?”
I gave him an ill look. “It wasn’t recent, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“So this whole time, you’ve been acting innocent and toying with me?”
“Toying with you?” Confusion filled my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Your shyness about being touched, the virginal wardrobe, and the whole insecure schoolgirl routine you put out there. It was all an act?” He paced behind my couch for several beats. “Hell, woman, you might as well have been winking at me in the dark.”
“Well, I’m so sorry if you didn’t see my tramp stamp posted clearly on my back,” I said.
“Jesus Christ, now you have a tattoo?”
Oh God. This was getting ridiculous. I stood and swiveled toward him, blowing out a hard breath. “No, you’re missing the point entirely.”
“Then maybe you better explain it to me.”
“That’s just it, Cowboy. I don’t owe you any sort of explanation just because you assumed I was a virgin. If you wanted to know, then you should’ve asked.”