by Sara Daniel
“Bring it,” he challenged.
Her lips curled, and her approval stirred his cock and heated his blood. “Great, but I can’t bring the stump to you. You have to come to it.”
He grinned, almost not minding that she tracked his progress he approached.
“You can grip the horn of the saddle and push on Georgina’s back to get on the stump. Then you should be high enough to climb on from there,” Rosalind said, holding the horse’s bridle with one hand and stroking the animal’s face with the other.
Her confidence in him inspired him to prove her right. Luke didn’t need to ask if the mare would cooperate. Rosalind’s bond with it would keep it from bolting or turning on him.
In less than two minutes, he sat astride the horse. His wife crooned her praise to Georgina, but her eyes glittered up at him with an admiration he could have gotten lost in. Hell, before things had gone so wrong, he often had.
The return ride to the stables provided a helluva better view than the ride out. He got the pleasure of ogling Rosalind’s firm ass encased in tight denim and her strong, straight back. By the time they entered the corral, he was in dire need of adjusting himself.
A plethora of stools and handles abounded at the stable to make dismounting almost too easy. Rosalind waved away his offer to help with the horses, so he shuffled over to the wall, out of her way, letting her do what she did best. He could have watched her work all day, but how quickly he’d fallen under her spell in the pasture scared the crap out of him. He needed to refocus on his real life.
Two text message notifications blinked at him from his phone. His lawyer delivered the first. Great news. We’ve been contacted by your wife’s lawyers and are negotiating. I expect the details to be hammered out quickly, so we can expedite the agreement through the system.
The man had told Luke exactly what’d he wanted to hear on the plane at the beginning of the day, so why didn’t it feel like great news anymore?
Not wanting to acknowledge the answer to his question, he clicked on the second text. I hope you enjoyed your one-night stand. It’s been a pleasure working with you. –Madame Eve.
Enjoyed. Past tense. What the hell? He clicked reply, and typed, I haven’t had my one-night stand yet. Hell, he hadn’t even gotten into his hotel room yet.
After he shot off the retort, Luke realized Madame probably sent automated messages to all her clients, and his just happened to arrive in his inbox a bit early. The thought of going up to a hotel room to meet someone turned his stomach. He had to contact Madame again and postpone the hookup.
He’d offer to reimburse his date for her trouble. Whoever he’d been matched with would never compare to Rosalind. Going ahead with the date wouldn’t be fair to the other woman, and he couldn’t contemplate touching anyone else.
Before he could formulate the first sentence, another text from Madame Eve lit up the screen. Rosalind Cox wanted exactly what you requested. She didn’t care about your injuries or wealth. She just wanted you. I matched you with her.
Regardless of Alex’s stellar experience with the service, 1Night Stand was a crock of shit. He pounded his thumbs over the screen again. Rosalind’s my wife.
In less than three seconds, another reply arrived. Then your pairing is even more perfect.
He stared at the message. Madame Eve had purposely set him up with Rosalind. Nothing about him running into his wife had been a coincidence after all.
Chapter Seven
“Is everything okay?” Rosalind approached him, concern on her face. She lifted her hand toward his shoulder but dropped it to her side before touching him.
“Yeah. Everything’s great.” He shoved the phone in his back pocket but couldn’t meet her gaze.
She continued to stand in front of him, waiting.
He scrubbed his knuckles over his forehead, unable to imagine how she’d react to the news. Keeping the truth from her, though, would only make the situation worse. “I got a text from Madame Eve. Turns out you were the one-night stand date I traveled all this way for.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip. “Madame Eve’s 1Night Stand service is the same one Javier used when he bought me a one-night stand date after I came to work here. I never planned to use it, but it was easier to go along with him than refuse.”
“You never got a notification of our date?” Luke wanted to be angry but couldn’t work up any steam. Rosalind had been far too shocked by his presence to have had any part in tricking him.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t checked my e-mail in a couple of weeks. I can log in when we head to the business center and see if I missed any messages.”
“A little late now.”
She winced. “So, our quick tumble out in the pasture—that was what you came all this way for?”
“I guess so.” Too bad she’d been resourceful enough find a way to get him back on the horse. They could have been stuck in the field for hours or maybe days, making love until her cousin finally sent a search party out to find them.
Rosalind fidgeted with the brim of her hat, tugging it over her eyes. “You must feel like you wasted a trip. I’m sorry.”
Oh hell. He hadn’t meant to shower her with guilt. Maybe he should have felt that the journey hadn’t been worth it, but he didn’t. Not a bit.
He pried her fingers off her hat and tipped it up so he could look into her eyes again. “I don’t want you to be sorry. This is so unexpected, I don’t know what to think, but I’m not sorry. I didn’t waste a trip. I guess Madame Eve couldn’t find anyone who was a better match for me than you. And if that’s the case, my biggest disappointment is that I don’t want our time to be over yet.”
A brightness flickered in her gaze. “How long are you staying at the resort?”
“Until tomorrow.”
She nodded and inhaled. “Invite me to your hotel room tonight.”
His cock leapt, but, even more troubling, his heart did too. She offered him the opportunity to get the most out of his one-night stand date, and of course he would take it. But he’d never wanted just one night with his wife.
However, a single grenade had taught him he didn’t get to have everything he wanted. Rosalind had carved out a life on the ranch. His life remained on the East Coast. Plus, his leg needed more surgery.
Nothing had changed since he’d left her. He couldn’t offer her the happily-ever-after fairy tale they thought they were living after they’d said their vows.
Rosalind could read the misgivings on Luke’s face, but he met her gaze and said dutifully, “Will you spend the night with me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” She winked and brushed her lips over his cheek. Whatever it cost her, she’d give him a light and easy, no-strings good time. She wouldn’t ruin it with tears and emotion. Luke wanted a one-night stand, not a wife. And for one night, she’d be exactly that.
She tucked her hand around the crook of his elbow and led him out of the stable. In silence, they continued across the resort grounds to the hotel building.
“I still need to pick up the key to my room.” He turned toward the check-in desk.
Across the lobby, Javier’s wife Caroline—president of operations of the resort—motioned to her.
“Take your time. I need to talk to someone.” Rosalind brushed her fingers over his bicep and then self-consciously walked toward the beautiful blonde who looked like she belonged on Rodeo Drive, not in the middle of rodeo country.
“I’ve been talking with Javier,” Caroline began. “He’s worried about the documents you’ve been asked to sign. Our legal department is looking them over for you, so, for your own protection, don’t sign anything until they’ve finished their review.”
Rosalind glanced toward the front desk where Luke already had his key card in hand. “I appreciate the concern and the trouble you’ve gone to for me, but I don’t need your lawyers to make him bleed a bunch of money for me. I just want to give Luke what he wants, so he can have the life he wants.”<
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Caroline followed her gaze. “He’s the one, huh?”
He’d been The One since the moment he’d approached her, laughing that he was her roadside-assistance knight in non-shining, camouflage armor. Until he’d been injured overseas, he’d loved playing hero for whatever everyday rescue she’d required, but afterward, he’d rejected all labels that pegged him as her personal hero. However, he’d given her one more night. She would treasure the precious hours and minutes together before he left her for good.
He approached and pressed a key into her palm. “Room 503. Join me whenever you’re ready.”
“I was born ready,” she quipped.
He tipped her hat to the side and sauntered toward the elevator without looking back.
As soon as he disappeared inside, she returned her attention to Caroline, but left her hat at the odd angle. The other woman watched her far too closely.
“Luke’s not going to take advantage of me, either physically or in what he’s asking me to sign,” Rosalind assured her.
“All the same, the legal department wants to meet with you as soon as possible, so they can better understand your interests and help you get what you want.”
“I appreciate the effort everyone’s going to on my behalf, but it’s not necessary. The only thing I’d like returned to me is my heart, and your lawyers can’t draw up a contract to make that happen.”
Caroline’s expression softened, and she placed a manicured hand on Rosalind’s arm. “You’re part of the Alvarado family. Our legal counsel may not be able to give you what you want, but Javier and I will always be here for you, no matter what.”
Tears filled Rosalind’s eyes, and she hugged the woman who’d become both sister and friend to her, despite their opposite fashions and interests. “Thank you. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Truly. I’ll meet with the lawyers as soon as Luke checks out tomorrow.”
“And you’ll have dinner with Javier and me tomorrow evening,” Caroline decreed.
She nodded, welcoming all the family and support she could get. Although Luke would soon be gone from her life, he’d still be fresh in her heart and would remain there forever.
After she left the lobby, Rosalind stopped in the restroom to wipe all traces of despair from her face. With a wide smile fixed in place, she entered Luke’s room and secured the door behind her. Although the room appeared empty, she spotted a box of condoms on the nightstand and a light shining from under the bathroom door.
Perfect.
Her smile became genuine, and she stripped off her clothes. Naked, she adjusted the cowboy hat on her head and approached the bed. After tossing aside the sheets, she sat with her back against the wall, knees raised and legs spread.
“Hey, you sexy Marine,” she called. “I hear you’re looking for a good time tonight, and that’s exactly what I’m here for.”
No strings. Nothing to make him feel guilty for leaving her in the morning.
Thank goodness Luke’s heart had been given a clean bill of health at his last checkup. If it had been in anything less than top condition, he would have gone into cardiac arrest when he stepped out of the bathroom. His number-one fantasy lounged on his bed with a come-hither smile, a cowboy hat, and nothing else.
Holding his gaze, she trailed her hand down her chest, over her slightly rounded stomach, and into her pussy.
“Oh God, Rosie.” His cock strained, trying to drive its way out of his jeans and into her. He ached to lick her sweetness from her fingers. He wanted to devour her.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t make his legs move toward her. Not because of all the things wrong with his crap leg, but because he feared the fantasy would dissolve if he moved closer. A Marine didn’t show fear, but, for a moment, it paralyzed him.
Still staring at him, she lifted her hand and licked each digit. Then she tipped her hat just low enough to break eye contact with him and dropped her feet off the mattress. Standing on the carpet, she sauntered toward him, hips and breasts swaying. “You didn’t invite me to your room so you could stand all the way over here by your lonesome, did you?”
He gathered what remained of his wits. “Of course not. I was just enjoying the view.”
“Good. I have some close-ups to show you, too.”
His brain cell deserted him again, but his cock nodded its eagerness.
Rosalind sashayed behind him. Grazing his back, she slid his shirt up and over his head. After tossing it aside, she brushed her lips between his shoulder blades and encircled him with her arms, gliding her palms over his chest, her breasts pressing against his back.
The sweetness surrounding him teased him with so many possibilities, yet didn’t allow him to act on any of them. Needing to act and explore the body she’d so willingly bared for him, he reached around and palmed her ass. Before he could enjoy the delightful curve of it, his leg wobbled.
Taking a step forward, he caught his balance but propelled out of her embrace. Shit. He’d hoped to avoid such a pathetic move. Slowly, he turned toward her, unable to dodge her reaction. “If my leg wouldn’t give out, I’d take you against the wall over and over while you screamed for more.”
Her neutral expression didn’t waver. “Good thing your leg isn’t cooperating because I have other plans for you tonight.”
He blinked. Neither desire nor disappointment for the fantasy he could never fulfill flared in her eyes. Instead, she jiggled her assets and stalked him, backing him toward the bed. She had plans for him? He’d taken the lead in the vast majority of their past sexual encounters and had assumed he would again.
Just before he bumped the edge of the bed, Rosalind grasped the waistband of his jeans and tugged his pelvis toward her. Her knuckles teased his navel while she worked his button free and lowered his zipper.
“How far are you planning to take this seduction?” he asked while he could still manage to push words through his lips.
“All the way.” She stroked her palm over the bulge in his briefs. “You got a problem with that?”
“Hell, no.” Not as long as she kept up the barrage of attention on his greedy sex organ.
“Good.” She dropped his jeans down his hips then followed them with his briefs. His cock sprang free, and she rubbed a palm across the head.
Pleasure and need swamped him. Hissing, he eased into a sitting position on the bed before he fell. Rosalind leaned over him, trailing kisses down the length of his shaft.
Wanting to pleasure her, too, but lacking the discipline to shift away from her heavenly mouth, he circled his palm around her breast and teased the nipple with his thumb.
To his disappointment, she abandoned his cock and knelt, giving her full attention to working his jeans farther down his hips. “Can I take your prosthetic off, or do you want to unfasten it, so we can get you out of these jeans?”
Detaching the device from his knee was the most expedient way to get out of his clothes, but no one saw him without his prosthetic except his doctor, and occasionally his physical therapist. He wouldn’t return to being the helpless man who needed his wife to attach his limb and dress him. “No. Nothing comes off. The jeans are low enough for everything we want to do.”
Rosalind released him and stood, fisting her hands on her hips and pursing her lips. “No way am I spending the entire night with a man who won’t make the effort to take his pants off to be with me. I’m not having a half-assed one-night stand, Luke. I want you as naked as I am.”
Chapter Eight
Having accepted her as his date, Luke shuddered at the possibility she might bail on him. But remove the prosthetic—no. He would not compromise on that point. He refused to showcase the reminder of exactly how much he lacked being a full man. Rosalind deserved a whole man at her side.
“I’ll take off my shoes and then I’ll be able to get my jeans off.” Normally, he never removed the shoe from his prosthetic foot. Removing the appendage, as she’d suggested, proved much easier. But even though his hip hurt like hell wh
en he leaned from the waist, and his physical therapist warned him against such action, he reached down to begin.
Rosalind knelt again and brushed his hands away. After removing the shoe and sock from his right foot, she worked the much-tighter shoe loose from the prosthetic foot.
Back rigid, he gritted his teeth and stared across the room. Her actions didn’t hurt—he couldn’t feel a thing—but he hated that he needed her help. He would not be relationship dead weight, forcing her to take care of both his needs and her own.
Finally, she wrenched the shoe free then kissed the top of first his prosthetic foot, then his right foot. “Now we can strip those jeans off.”
The fabric peeled off his right leg, but, on the left side, the cuff tangled around the junction of the leg’s metal pylon and the foot appendage. More humiliation, damn it. He could have avoided it all by simply wearing shorts or lying naked in bed with the sheet covering his lower half when she walked in. Better yet, he should have convinced her that even if his pants hung around his knees all night, nothing about the pleasure he planned to bring to her would be half-assed.
“You know, you can have such a thing as a ‘too authentic’ prosthetic. No one needs to keep the problem of pants tangling around their ankle if they no longer have said ankle,” she teased, straightening the denim and casting it away.
Although he appreciated her attempt to lessen his humiliation, it arrived too late. His cock had softened to half-mast, and he simply wanted her to leave before he became even more pathetic in her eyes. “I appreciate your patience, but this isn’t going to work.”
“Why not? All your important parts worked fine earlier.” She tossed his briefs aside then slid her hands up his legs, one hand caressing the metal pole on his left side, and the other, his right calf. She paused just below the knee on his left leg. “Is the stump still tender?”
“Not usually.” Not as long he didn’t overdo it during the day and took the prosthetic off at night. He didn’t intend to follow either guideline.