A Cowboy's Charm

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “Meaning?”

  Her breathing quickened. “Don’t let something wonderful pass me by.”

  His spirits lifted. “That sounds like good advice.” Maybe, just maybe—

  “Oh, it is, but…” She paused to take a shaky breath. “We need to get something straight.”

  “Okay.” He’d agree to any terms she laid out.

  “I’m not looking for a husband.”

  He nodded. “Understood.”

  “I’m not looking for a live-in boyfriend, either.”

  “Since I already have a place to live, that would be difficult for me to manage, anyway.”

  “I know that, but when the Ouija board—”

  “Even if that thing’s accurate and my favorite place is with you, that doesn’t mean I require your presence to be happy. Apples are my favorite food, but I don’t eat them with every—”

  “Apples? You’re kidding.”

  He shrugged. “What can I say? I grew up in Washington.” He stepped closer. “If you’re worried that I’ll become a pest, don’t be. Not my style.”

  “I know that, too.” She hesitated, her gaze uncertain. “But maybe it’s premature to...”

  “What?”

  She spoke quickly, clearly nervous. “You have a life in Spokane and I have mine here. Just because we enjoy each other’s company doesn’t mean we have to see each other all the time or change our situation.” She swallowed. “Right?”

  “Right. We can just visit.” It made sense. It wasn’t the warm and fuzzy solution where two people settled under the same roof, but that move was easier for twenty-somethings who hadn’t built a life yet.

  Her chest heaved. “Exactly. But we’d have to test it and see, I guess.”

  “Got any ideas about how we could begin testing it?” He moved within a foot of her, near enough that he was in range of her warmth and her womanly scent. His nostrils flared.

  “I suppose that’s obvious.”

  “Is it?” He’d managed to keep his desire in check until now, but he couldn’t guarantee how much longer that would work for him. If she wanted to hold off until tomorrow night, he’d have to head for the cabin immediately and take a cold shower.

  “I mean, we don’t even know if we’re…sexually compatible.”

  “True.” His groin tightened. “And I think there’s only one way to—”

  “Then let’s do this.” She held out her hand. It was shaking.

  He captured that quivering hand and brought it to his lips. “I’d be happier about that invitation if you didn’t look as if you were marching off to have a tooth pulled.”

  Her gaze lifted to his and a pulse beat rapidly in the hollow of her throat. “It’s been a long time.”

  “I know.” And getting longer by the second. He nibbled on her fingers. “But we’ll take it easy. You can direct the—”

  “Dear God, that would be worse.”

  “It would?”

  “Earlier tonight, when everyone was here and you gave me that hot look, I was ready to jump your bones, but now they’re all gone and the moment of truth has arrived…I’m…just kiss me, okay?”

  “That I can do.” He drew her gently into his arms and cradled her cheek in one hand while he held her tight with the other. She gripped the front of his shirt with both hands. She was trembling as he lowered his head and settled his mouth over hers.

  Resisting the urge to hurry, he took his time. He traced the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue and coaxed his way in as she slowly relaxed. Gradually her body molded with his and her mouth offered the warm welcome she’d given him earlier tonight.

  Loosening her grip on his shirt, she slid her hands around his neck and cupped the back of his head. Taking that as a good sign, he deepened the kiss.

  And she caught fire. With a low moan, she pressed her fingertips into his scalp. When she began sucking on his tongue, he knew it was time to move the party.

  Scooping her up in his arms, he started toward the hallway.

  She broke away from his kiss. “Do you know where you’re going?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m taking you to bed.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  This was happening. Kendra held on tight as Quinn’s long strides took him to the end of the hall. She wanted this. She really did. Her panties were damp and her skin tingled, but she wished they could be magically naked and under the covers.

  Quinn didn’t ask for directions, but then the location of the master bedroom wouldn’t be a mystery in a layout like this one. And hers was the only room with a light on.

  She’d turned on a bedside table lamp after she’d freshened up for the party. It provided the subdued illumination Deidre had recommended. But what came next?

  They were both still wearing boots, and all their clothes. Married sex had been so simple—get undressed and climb into…

  Quinn set her gently on the edge of the bed. “Let me get your boots.” He dropped to his knees in front of her.

  She gulped. “Okay.” Her heart was beating so fast that she could barely breathe. What had Deidre told her to do? Look into his eyes.

  But he’d lowered his head while he picked up her foot and tugged off her boot and her sock. He set both aside and repeated the action on her other foot.

  “What about your boots?”

  He glanced up. “Thought I’d take them off, too.”

  “How about now?”

  “I could.” Amusement flashed in his eyes. “Boots are the tricky part, aren’t they?”

  She nodded.

  “Then let’s get the tricky part over with.” He sat beside her and took off both his boots and his socks, leaving his feet bare.

  She stared in fascination. His toes were nicely shaped, the nails neatly trimmed. “There’s something so…intimate about bare feet.”

  Reaching for her hand, he laced his fingers through hers. “I like your feet.”

  She sucked in air. “I like yours, too.”

  “Do you want to sit here for a minute? Catch your breath?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know. This used to be like falling off a log, but after all this time I don’t—”

  “I have an idea.”

  That made her smile. “I’ll bet you do.”

  “What if we start with you undressing me?”

  Ah. After being plastered against his lovely broad chest and firm abs, she could guess how great he’d look without a shirt. His muscled thighs had stretched the denim of his jeans when he’d crouched beside his motorcycle today. She wouldn’t mind seeing him without his jeans.

  As for what was behind the fly of his jeans…her core ached with longing. After years of deprivation, she wanted a glimpse of that, too. She looked over at him. “I like your idea.”

  “Thought you might.” He let go of her hand. Standing, he faced her, stepped back and spread his arms. “I’m all yours.”

  She shivered with anticipation as she rose slowly to her feet. All that lovely territory, hers to explore. She tapped her finger against her lip. “Where to start, where to start.”

  “I suggest starting at the top and working your way down. If you go straight for the middle…chaos.”

  “There does seem to be a storm brewing in that area.”

  “Don’t make fun.”

  “I’m not.” She held his gaze and heat sluiced through her. That was the look Deidre had been talking about—barely contained, primal need. Need she could satisfy. Wanted to satisfy. “I like storms.”

  “Yeah.” His voice was husky. “Me, too.”

  “Thunder. Lightning.” She closed the distance between them and reached for his wrist to unsnap his cuffs. “Exciting stuff.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He held out his other wrist.

  “Thanks.” She breathed in the scent of soap, a piney aftershave and the musk of desire. She’d been too stressed to take notice before, but now that the focus was on his manly self she could fully appreciate…everything.

  “If th
ere’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”

  “I’ve got this.” She tugged his shirttails from the waistband of his jeans. The blue plaid was faded and wear-softened. “Favorite shirt?”

  “Uh-huh.” His chest heaved.

  She glanced up at him. “Are you okay?”

  “Keeping my hands to myself is tougher than I thought it would be.” He gave her a wry smile.

  “Want to do this yourself?”

  “No. But don’t stop, please.”

  “Okay.” She started working on the snaps. Oh, baby, no t-shirt. Every popped snap revealed more of his extremely touchable pecs that quivered with each ragged breath. But he’d asked her not to stop, so there was no time to admire, let alone touch, that tempting expanse with its sprinkling of chest hair touched with gray.

  She worked faster, finished undoing the snaps and pushed the shirt off his broad shoulders. She had to stand on tiptoe to do it and her mouth accidentally grazed his skin.

  He groaned.

  “Sorry.” But she wasn’t. Her lips tingled from the contact. She wanted to do it again, to rain kisses all over that sculpted, manly chest.

  “Just keep going.”

  She snapped out of her daze. “I should fold up your—”

  “Toss it on the floor.”

  “Right.” Passion simmered in her core. She tackled his belt next and couldn’t seem to manage it, maybe because she was starting to shake. At last she backed away from him. “You’ll have to do it.”

  He gave a quick nod and unbuckled it.

  “The rest, too.” She no longer had the time or patience. A deep, persistent craving had overridden every hesitation.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” Unbuttoning her blouse wasn’t easy, either, but she did it.

  “Are you getting undressed?”

  “Yep.” She stripped off her jeans. She wanted nothing to get in the way. “I want you so much I’m ready to spontaneously combust.” She whipped off her bra and her damp panties.

  He stood very still and fire burned in his gaze. “You’re amazing.”

  “Please get out of your clothes and come to bed.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  She tossed back the covers and climbed in, dazzled by the promise of making love to the man striding toward her.

  Magnificent. Strong, bold, and fully aroused. She opened her arms, and he came straight into them, his sigh rich with pleasure.

  Braced above her, he leaned down and gave her a lingering, open-mouthed kiss. The slight trembling of his body betrayed the effort he was making to hold himself in check. He drew back. “I should probably take it slow this first time.” His voice was tight with strain.

  “Don’t you dare, Quinn Sawyer.”

  “Oh?”

  “I don’t want slow and careful.” She stroked both hands down his muscled back and cupped his tight butt. “And neither do you.”

  “No, but I—”

  “I’ve waited a long time for you. Give me wild and crazy, hot and heavy.”

  “Thank God.” He probed once and hesitated only long enough for his gaze to lock onto hers. Then he sank deep with a groan of happiness.

  She gasped. “Oh, my.”

  “Okay?”

  “More than okay. More than I ever…oh, Quinn.” Words failed her.

  “I knew it.” He eased back and rocked forward again. “I knew we’d be like this.”

  “I…didn’t.” The wonder of it overwhelmed her. “I didn’t know.”

  “And now you do.” He began to stroke. “I believe you requested wild and crazy.”

  Her breath hitched. “I did.”

  “Hot and heavy.”

  “That, too.”

  “Hold on. I’m about to grant that request.” He settled in, his chest brushing the tips of her breasts as he picked up the pace.

  She caught his rhythm, rising to meet each thrust, intensifying the friction deep in her body and across her newly sensitized nipples. His breath roughened as he drove in even faster, rocking the bed until the wood squeaked and the headboard rattled.

  The clench of an impending orgasm brought a cry from her lips. He bore down and she abandoned herself to a blizzard of sensation, spinning in a vortex he created, calling his name over and over.

  As the intensity of her climax ebbed, he slowed, only to gulp for air and pick up speed. “Again, Kendra. Again!” His hoarse command blended with the frenzied creaks and thumps from the rocking bedframe and the quivering mattress.

  She reveled in the erotic sounds of harsh breathing, moist bodies repeatedly connecting, and the bedframe keeping time with the frantic beat. Coaxed back to the summit, she joyfully surrendered to a second powerful orgasm as he urged her on. The waves rolled over her and she arched into his final deliberate thrust with a jubilant cry.

  He came, then, too, his bellow of satisfaction filling the bedroom with masculine energy. Shuddering in her arms, he gasped out her name. And closed his eyes.

  Stroking his sweaty back, she studied his face at close range. She admired his deep-set eyes and high cheekbones, his strong jaw and perfectly proportioned mouth. He was handsome, no question about that.

  But he had more going for him than pleasing looks. Character was etched into that face. Lines fanning out from the corners of his eyes were the result of hours spent monitoring the ranch and his horses. Grooves in his cheeks testified that he loved to laugh and smile. Twin frown lines sat prominently between his eyebrows. His life had not been worry-free.

  She understood all those lines because she shared them. No wonder they’d been drawn to each other. They’d lived a similar life.

  His eyes fluttered open. “Hey.” His voice was low and intimate. Damn sexy.

  “Hey, yourself.” She smiled. “Thanks for honoring my request.”

  “It was easy. Like falling off a log.”

  “Easy, really?” She massaged his back. “You worked up quite a sweat.”

  “Ask me if I mind. I was in a lather from the moment we came into this room, but I kept telling myself to be careful. Not to rush. To give you time to adjust to being with a man again.”

  “I do believe I’ve adjusted.”

  He grinned. “I’d say so. I nearly got whiplash when you started pulling off your clothes. I figured it would be slow going and then wham, everything changed. What happened, anyway?”

  “The more I saw of your chest, the more I wanted to interact with your naked body. Then I sort of kissed your shoulder while I was taking off your shirt and that started the lust attack.”

  “That was a defining moment for me, too. I almost grabbed you.”

  “That would have been okay.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Keep it in mind for next time.” She moved her hands back to his butt and squeezed. “You can grab me anytime you get the urge.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Anytime?”

  “When we’re alone.”

  “Thought there’d be an addendum to that statement.” His expression grew thoughtful. “I suppose we need to talk about how things will be when we’re around other people.”

  “Do you want to talk about it now?”

  “Not really.”

  “Good. Me, either. It can wait.” She gazed up at him. “What do you want to do?”

  His smile was slow and sensual. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  “So soon? Don’t you need time to—”

  “Yes, ma’am, I surely do. But there are plenty of ways to occupy ourselves until then.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Paradise. Quinn didn’t have a better word to describe lying in bed with Kendra while she allowed him to acquaint himself with the wonders of her body.

  Stretched out on his side and propped on his forearm, he stroked her breasts, cupping first one and teasing the nipple until it sat up and took notice, then switching to the other. “So pretty.”

  “So happy.”

  “Hope so.” He f
licked the one closest to him with his thumb. As it darkened and grew stiff, his cock stirred. Wouldn’t be long, now.

  Her breathing had been relaxed a while ago, but the more he played with her breasts, the quicker her breaths. “I didn’t think they were this sensitive, but tonight…”

  “I woke them up.”

  “Guess so.”

  “Let’s see if they’re really awake.” Moving over her, he leaned down and closed his mouth over that burgundy tip. Now he knew the color as well as the taste, and the feel of the pebbled surface as he rolled it against his tongue.

  She made a sound low in her throat and his cock twitched. As he began to suck, her breathing ramped up a bit more. What a joy to make love to this woman.

  Lifting his mouth away from one moist breast, he settled in to enjoy the other one while sliding his hand between her damp thighs. She gave him access and that gladdened his heart. So easy to slide his fingers into her slick heat and give her pleasure.

  Abandoning her quivering breast, he kissed his way down to her nest of curls and lower, urging her to open for him, breathing in the heady aroma of aroused woman as he slowly, almost casually, took possession of her most secret place.

  And she trusted him enough to be vulnerable, to give in to the response he wrung from her with his mouth, his tongue and the gentle scrape of his teeth. She moaned, she writhed, she whimpered, and at last she came, clutching his head and swearing a blue streak. If he hadn’t been otherwise occupied, he would have laughed.

  She was still quivering from her climax when he slid into position and entered her with one smooth stroke. Spreading his palms on either side of her head, he gazed down at her flushed face and grinned. “You have the mouth of a sailor.”

  She sucked in a breath. “And you have the mouth of a devil. You turned me inside out.”

  “You blistered my ears.”

  “You had it coming. You have a wicked technique, Sawyer.”

  “And you loved every minute of it, McGavin.”

  “I did.”

  He initiated a slow, seductive rhythm. “How’s this working for you?”

  “It’s nice.” She gripped his shoulders. “But I’m tapped out. You won’t get another orgasm from me, if that’s what you’re going for.”