The Camden Cowboy

by Victoria Pade

  “Two days,” she reminded.

  “Two half days—that equals one day.”

  “Still, it’s corrupting me because I’m not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.”

  “Then don’t,” he enticed.

  Lacey laughed. “The training center won’t build itself.”

  Dusk had fallen as they’d talked. On the other side of the creek running below the bridge, music suddenly blared from a loudspeaker, accompanied by a voice that announced, “The Founder’s Day Light Show!”

  Which Lacey thought was good timing, because clearly talking about how the One had turned into the Wrong One for Seth was a subject better left in the dust.

  Except for one more small thing she was curious about.

  As he moved to sit beside her so he could see the fireworks, she swayed in his direction and whispered, “Where is Charlotte now?”

  “Long gone—she left for a bigger and better job with a software company in New Zealand.”

  New Zealand.

  Far, far away, Lacey thought.

  And for some reason that made her particularly happy.

  * * *

  “I can see a clock that’s stopped from here—looks like the power has been out since about half an hour after we left this afternoon,” Seth said, as he unlocked one set of the French doors on the main house. Then he opened them and a gust of hot air flooded out. “Woo! Feels like it, too! It’s a blast furnace in there!”

  They’d both noticed as they’d neared his ranch on the drive home that the streetlights weren’t lit. None of the outdoor lights around the houses, the pool and the garage were on when they drove around to park in front of the garage door that wouldn’t operate without the electric garage door opener. And now it was clear that the houses that were ordinarily air-conditioned had retained the August heat through the entire afternoon and evening.

  Seth took out his cell phone and called the utility company in town. After a few minutes of listening, he reported to Lacey that the power would be out until approximately eleven.

  “Why don’t we open windows to let some of the heat out,” he suggested, “and meet back here to sit by the pool while we wait for the air to come on again? That bottle of wine we started is still pretty full.”

  It was barely ten o’clock, and Lacey knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until the guesthouse was cool again. Not to mention that she wasn’t about to pass up any excuse to extend her time with Seth.

  “No, I guess we shouldn’t let that wine go to waste,” she said by way of agreement.

  Seth smiled at her. “I’ll meet you back here then,” he repeated.

  As Seth went into the main house Lacey rounded the pool and unlocked the door to the swelteringly hot guesthouse.

  She made a quick tour of the place to throw open every window, then took a fast look in the bathroom mirror to see how her appearance had fared through the day.

  There had been a breeze most of the time that had diffused the heat while they were out, so she hadn’t done too badly: her mascara had kept its promise and not smudged or smeared, her blush might have been gone but her cheeks were sun-kissed and now had a healthy, more natural look to them.

  She did brush her hair to make it fluffy and full again, reapply lip gloss and kick off her sandals so she could be in bare feet. But her sundress still looked fresh as a daisy, the fabric was light and filmy, and the halter top with its plunging neckline left her as cool as anything she could change into, so she let the dress stay, too.

  Then she hurried out of the hot house and back into the cooler evening air.

  Seth wasn’t there yet. The clean, clear water of the pool beckoned, so she bunched up the skirt of her dress to hold high on her thighs, sat poolside and dangled her feet into the water.

  “We could swim.”

  The sound of Seth’s voice made her smile. She glanced up to see him coming out of the main house with the wine and two glasses in hand.

  He’d stayed in his jeans and Henley T-shirt but now his feet were bare, too—free of the cowboy boots he’d been wearing before.

  “I thought about swimming,” Lacey admitted. “But I was just feeling too lazy.”

  He’d shaved. She didn’t notice that until he smiled, but he’d grown a bit scruffy as the day and evening had gone on and now that scruff was gone, replaced by smooth, whisker-free skin and the scent of his cologne.

  He joined her after pouring the wine, handed her one of the glasses then sat beside her. Not so his feet could go into the water, though. He sat facing her, his legs crossed, his own wineglass held in both hands.

  “You look a little lazy—I like it,” he said after a sip.

  “Corruption complete?”

  “Are you going back to work tomorrow?” he challenged.

  “Of course.”

  “Then you’re not completely corrupted, are you?”

  Lacey answered that with a smile. “Still, this has been really nice—this whole winding down thing you speak so highly of,” she said, emphasizing the phrase as if it were a foreign concept.

  “And you’re good at it, too. I’m glad to see that—it means there’s hope for you after all.”

  “I’m not sure what there’s hope for, but I wouldn’t want to be considered hopeless,” Lacey said with a laugh after sipping her own wine.

  “Hopeless—like Charlotte, for instance—would have involved you being on the Internet or your phone every minute of these last two days and barely humoring me. But you didn’t do that.”

  “I didn’t think that was part of the deal.”

  “It wasn’t. But that wouldn’t have stopped Charlotte.”

  “Points for me, demerits for her.”

  Seth laughed as he drank more wine. “Nothin’ but demerits for her. But you earned a lot of points,” he said in a voice rife with insinuation.

  “Enough points to buy a road?”

  “Next week—we’re not talking about that until you’ve given me the whole weekend. And there’s two hours to go on that.”

  “I just have to fill two hours and then it’s back to business?” she asked with some insinuation of her own, even though she wasn’t sure where it had come from or what she was insinuating.

  “Yep, two hours. Have anything in mind?”

  She had something in mind instantly.

  For Lacey, what had ignited between them at the end of the previous evening had been simmering just below the surface ever since. So certainly now, in the quiet of the night, sitting beside the pool with nothing but moonlight and the glimmer of stars reflected in the water, it didn’t take more than insinuation for thoughts of kissing, of touching, of making love to spring back to life.

  But she wasn’t going to say that outright.

  “Do you have anything in mind?” she countered, knowing she shouldn’t bait him and yet suddenly also knowing exactly how she wanted this night, this weekend, this down time to end. Exactly what would be the perfect finish…

  “Wasn’t me who stopped things last night,” Seth said. “Seems like it shouldn’t be me who starts them up again.”

  But he did dip forward to kiss the very tip of her shoulder and while that seemed innocent, it was still enough to get things rolling for Lacey.

  Why had she stopped them the night before? she asked herself.

  Because she’d thought that if she hadn’t stopped, she would have risked everything.

  But now, in the peace and calm of the evening, after two days of relaxing and recharging, she wondered what was really at risk. Would she not go back to work tomorrow morning if she had this night with Seth? she reasoned. Would she not build the training facility?

  Of course she would go back to work; of course she would build the center. One night wouldn’t—couldn
’t—change that.

  So there wasn’t really anything at risk.

  Last night had just been jitters, she thought. And tonight she wasn’t feeling jittery. She was still feeling the way she had been when she’d put on that dress this morning—feminine and free to do as she pleased.

  “Too hot inside,” she said in a seductress’s voice.

  “Nice out here, though,” he answered quietly.

  “Where anyone could see?”

  “There’s not another soul for miles.” He kissed her shoulder again, moving up an inch nearer to her neck and lingering a bit longer. “But it’s up to you.”

  Lacey could feel her nipples tightening against the soft drape of the dress. And almost on its own, her free hand rose to the first button of his Henley shirt and unfastened it.

  Seth looked down at her hand and as he got the message she was sending, he smiled again. “You sure?”

  Lacey undid the second button and made him laugh.

  “Hang on,” he said, getting to his feet in one lithe movement and disappearing into the main house.

  Nothing about him had changed when he returned scant minutes later. Lacey had taken her feet from the water to place them flat on the poolside tile and pulled the skirt of her dress over her upraised knees.

  “If you went in to turn on a video camera this is a no-go,” she warned.

  He laughed as he sat back down. “Protection,” he said simply. “Unless you’re against it.”

  “No, protection is good,” she said.

  And so was the first meeting of his mouth and hers when he leaned forward to kiss her. Very good.

  He stretched out his legs on either side of her, took her by the ankles and pulled her toward him, draping her thighs over his. He let his forearms rest on his calves as he continued kissing her.

  They were off to a slow start, which was just the way it seemed like things should be. Lacey’s eyes closed so she could drift completely into the simple joy of that kiss.

  In no hurry at all, his lips parted; he waited for hers to catch up. Then his tongue, tempting and sweet, brought mischief into the game, turning the kiss playful and coy.

  As their heads tilted, the kiss inched its way toward intensity. Seth raised the back of his hand to her cheek, smoothing her hair away from her face, then he rested that hand along the side of her neck.

  And yet the leisurely pace didn’t matter. Anticipation mounted in Lacey anyway, and she was again very aware of her breasts, her nipples, striving for his attention.

  She unfastened the remaining three buttons of his shirt. And with that done, it seemed silly to leave it on, so she found the hem and rolled it up his broad back to pull over his head and off during a split-second break from that kiss.

  She tossed his shirt aside and ran her flattened palms from his sides to his washboard belly, up to impeccable pectorals, across to biceps built from hard ranch work, and up and over massive shoulders to that back that was cut and carved and gave her a wealth of hills and valleys to explore.

  Just the feel of him was enough to light sparks in her blood. He was honed and taut, silky-smooth and strong.

  And he liked what she was doing to him. She knew because his mouth was open even wider over hers, their kisses becoming deeper and deeper with every slide of her hands, his tongue more assertive and demanding.

  His hands came away from her face, from her neck. He bracketed her hips, pulling her closer—not quite against him, not quite into the very V of his legs, but near to it. And when he’d finished with that he reached around her neck to the bow that kept the halter dress in place and slowly untied it.

  Lacey’s dress slipped down to form mere clouds of fabric dangling from pebbled nipples, and she felt the breath of evening air tickle the very top curves of her areolas.

  Seth began a trail of kisses down her neck and along her collarbone to the hollow in front of her shoulder. From there the trail led farther south until it was his lips only faintly, lightly kissing that upper shadow of nipple.

  The feeling was powerful, and it caused her breasts to heave forward, sending one side of her dress to fall completely away.

  It was that exposed breast that Seth covered with a big, warm hand before he recaptured her mouth with an all-new fervor in a kiss that was hungry and demanding.

  What had come alive in Lacey the previous evening was nothing compared to what was awakening now. Every nerve ending seemed on the surface of her skin, feeding sensations like tinder to the flames beginning to burn inside of her.

  She answered his kiss with an urgency of her own as her hands coursed across his back, his shoulders, his chest and belly all over again.

  And when she reached the waistband of his jeans she didn’t even pause before she unfastened the button and unzipped the zipper, freeing his own burgeoning desire.

  With his arms around her, Seth eased her back on the tile and stretched out next to her.

  The other side of her dress came away with that movement. Again he broke the kiss and dropped his head to the other breast.

  He drew her into his hot, moist mouth. Lacey’s spine arched in response as his tongue flicked the crystallized crest, circled and taunted it, idolized and adored it, and worked her into a frenzy of need greater than she was sure she could bear.

  He rolled them both to their sides, then reached around to unzip her dress, finally ridding her of it. This left her in only lace bikini panties. He abandoned her for a moment to shed his jeans and whatever else he had on underneath them.

  Her quick glimpse of him through the French doors Saturday night had not prepared her for the pure masculine beauty of his naked body in all its glory, and seeing it now lit even more flames inside of her.

  Magnificent and all man—he was lean and tight and rippling with muscle—and once he’d removed her panties and quickly sheathed himself, she was only too happy to be able to greet naked flesh with naked flesh when he came to her again.

  Their mouths met once more, as Seth retook her breasts with big, adept hands.

  Lacey took something of his, too, reaching low and discovering just what a frenzy she could raise in him, as well.

  A gravelly rumble of a groan sounded from his throat and he once again moved his mouth to her breast. Tongue and teeth did a delightful torment of her nipple, and his hand slid down her stomach and between her legs.

  Her breath caught at that first touch, at the fabulous fingers that brought her close enough to the brink to make her nearly beg him for more.

  And that was when he part-rolled, part-eased them both into the pool, into the shallow end where the water was as warm as a bath.

  But swimming was not what he had in mind.

  Before Lacey could say anything, his mouth was over hers again and with her back against the smooth tiles of the pool’s sidewall, he brought her legs up to wrap them around his hips and entered her in one sublime slide that fitted them together as if that was how they were meant to be.

  A small sneak preview of a climax rippled through Lacey at just that moment. Her head arched backward as a gust of breath was stolen from her.

  Then he moved deeper into her and showed her that there was so much more to come.

  Lacey held on as he pressed fully, completely, into her, as he pulled slightly out again. In and out. Again. And again, until together they devised a rhythm of meeting and parting, of flowing with the movement they were creating in the water, rising and falling with it, striving, striving, striving for that ultimate of peaks.

  The climax that broke over the two of them at the same time had them holding tight to each other as he embedded himself so deeply within her that Lacey felt as if he truly was a part of her core, of her being, sealing them together with wave after wave of an ecstasy so divine she lost herself to it, in it.

  Ti
ny sounds emitted from her throat, and she could do nothing but cling to him until little by little the pure glory of it ebbed, slowly, slowly draining her until she wilted against him and trusted that he would brace and support her there while he, too, came down from that pillar of pleasure.

  Lacey’s head fell to his chest. His face dropped to her hair. And she could feel his breath hot and heavy there as they stayed wrapped in the pure afterglow, his strong arms around her, keeping her braced as the surface of the water calmed to glass again.

  “It never—ever—occurred to me that this might be the way I got into this pool for the first time,” she whispered when she’d gathered her wits.

  Seth laughed a raspy, ragged laugh. “Kinda nice, though, wasn’t it?”

  So much more than kinda nice…

  “I’m not complaining,” she assured him, tightening her legs around him and getting a tiny aftershock that reminded her just how nice it had been.

  “How ’bout hurtin’—you aren’t doing any of that, either, are you?”

  “I’m definitely feeling no pain,” she answered with a smile.

  He lifted her then and came away from her, repositioning them so he could scoop her into his arms and carry her to the stairs at the corner of the pool.

  Climbing the steps, he took her to one of the oversized loungers and laid her there. Then he joined her and pulled her to lie conformed to his side where the heat of his body, of his arms around her, chased away the slight chill of the night air on her bare, wet skin.

  “Still no lights, so it’s probably too hot to go inside,” he said, sounding weighted and weary. “Guess we’ll have to stay out here… Maybe take another dip in the pool in a little while…”

  Lacey laughed, but she didn’t contradict him. It was just too wonderful to be there with him, like that, under the canopy of stars.

  And the possibility of doing again what they’d just done was not something she could deny herself. Not when nothing had ever felt as good or as right as that had.

  And not when there wasn’t a single other thought in her head but being with this man….