Cowboy Bold

by Carolyn Brown

  “I can’t imagine you with a woman like that,” she said. “Sounds like a one-sided relationship to me for sure.” She took a deep breath and caught a whiff of what was left of his shaving lotion from that morning.

  “Why are we talkin’ about her anyway? That chapter of my life is finished and done with.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “You want proof?”

  Retta didn’t have time to wipe the sweat from her upper lip before his mouth landed on hers in a kiss that was far hotter than the weather. He flipped the console up and moved closer to her, wrapping her in his arms and deepening each kiss until she was on the verge of begging to get a motel room. When they came up for air, she was panting and blushing so fiery red that she felt blistered.

  He nodded toward the van parked right next to them. “Guess we’ve got an audience.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “That would be the preacher’s wife right next to us with her eyes bugged out and her jaw draggin’ down to her chest,” he said.

  “So? We’re both a good bit over twenty-one and neither of us are married.” She waved at their audience.

  “If that’s what makin’ up is like, maybe we should fight more often,” Cade said as he put the console back down. “Imagine what will happen after a real argument.” He glanced over and waggled his eyebrows at her.

  “What makes you think that will ever happen?”

  “A cowboy can dream, can’t he? And besides I might just start an argument to see where it goes.”

  “Did you start that spat in the store so that—”

  He cupped her chin in his hand and planted a kiss so full of tenderness and passion mixed that it made her head swim. “No, darlin’ Retta, I did not start that fight but I think I did a fine job of finishing it.”

  “That’s pretty cocky,” she whispered.

  “Yep, it is.” He started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The girls and boys both came running out to the truck to help carry food inside when Cade and Retta got home. They were all talking at once about the little donkey and how he was walking all over the corral even if he did still limp a little.

  “And Benjy roped the post twice,” Ivan said.

  “And I beat Kirk,” Faith bragged. “And Little Bit likes me better than him.”

  “You did not,” Kirk protested. “It was a tie and I would’ve got that last throw if you hadn’t poked me with a stick. And Little Bit don’t like you better. Benjy is the one that he really likes best because Benjy found him when he was lost.”

  Cade picked up four heavy bags to carry inside. Justin leaned on a porch post and shook his head at his brother when he passed by him.

  “Mavis is quittin’,” he said.

  “I know,” Cade said.

  “Here, let me take those on inside for you.” Skip took the bags from Cade and held the door for Retta who brought in boxes with the new fishing equipment.

  “What are we goin’ to do?” Justin asked.

  Cade clamped a hand on Justin’s shoulder. “We’ll get through it.”

  “The preacher’s wife called her,” Justin said. “She said that you and Retta were actin’ like teenagers, makin’ out right there in public.”

  “Yep, we were. We had a little spat and then we made up,” Cade said.

  “Mavis thought it was great,” Justin said. “Faith has told the kids that you like Retta so they’re plotting all kinds of things to throw y’all together.”

  “Smart little devils, ain’t they?” Cade opened the screen door and held it for Justin. “We might as well get on in the house. Don’t mind the heat when I’m working but to just stand out here in it when there’s cool air in the house seems kind of crazy.”

  The kids had helped put away the food, except what Mavis and Retta needed for supper, and now they were all asking what they could do to help get it ready to eat. They clustered around Mavis like baby chickens around a mama hen, and she gave each one a job.

  “Sweet tea?” Cade asked.

  Mavis pointed over the tops of Benjy’s and Kirk’s heads. “In the refrigerator. There should be enough for you guys to have a glass and we’ll make more for supper. I want to tell Benjy the news tonight at the supper table so everyone will hear at once.” She turned her finger around to Cade.

  “Sounds great to me.” Cade poured two glasses of tea and started out of the busy kitchen.

  “And Cade,” Mavis said, “next time don’t get caught.”

  Heat filled Retta’s cheeks in a deep blush.

  Mavis whipped around toward Retta. “And that goes for you too.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

  Faith grinned and winked at Retta, causing high spots of color on her cheeks again. Dammit, what was it with this place? She hadn’t blushed so much since she was in junior high school.

  With lots of help, supper was on the table at exactly six o’clock, and Retta was emotionally and physically drained. She wanted a hot bath, maybe a call to Tina, and a good night’s sleep, in that order. Usually fried chicken was her favorite supper too, but she couldn’t even finish off one drumstick.

  “Boy, your plate looks like a bone yard for dead chickens.” Skip teased Kirk when everyone had pushed back their plates.

  “Chickens have only two legs but Mavis buys extra legs. So did my granny but she is dead now and I will never see her again because that’s what dead means,” Benjy said.

  “I ate eight,” Kirk bragged. “One more than Faith did.”

  “Look at my plate,” Ivan bragged. “I did good. I ate four.”

  “Beat you.” Faith brought two bones from her lap that had been folded into a paper napkin. “Finally, we don’t tie and I ate one more than you.”

  Kirk picked up the last wing on the platter and quickly ate it. “Tie!”

  “Yay for the boys.” Nelson pumped his fist in the air.

  “Who wants ice cream for dessert?” Mavis asked. “There are four flavors or you can make sundaes or banana splits.”

  Eight hands shot up in the air.

  Skip shook his head. “I’ve had enough. But I thought the kids could start making their scrapbooks after supper. Then they’ll be ready to put the pictures in when the guys get them printed. What do you think, Retta?”

  There went the nice long bath, the visit with Tina, and an early night in bed. But this was her job, so Retta nodded. “We can get that bin of construction paper and art supplies out of our bunkhouse after we help Mavis clean up the kitchen.”

  “We already did, and the boys are going to help with cleanup tonight,” Skip said.

  “Do we have to?” Ivan groaned.

  “Yes, you do.” Skip’s tone didn’t leave room for even a little negotiating. “And after we get the scrapbooks made, we’re going to watch a movie together. You get the night off, Miz Retta. I’ll take care of these hooligans.”

  “I owe you,” she said without argument. “Any night you want to have some free time, I’ll take them all.”

  “I’ll hold you to that. Like maybe Friday afternoon and evening both, so me and Mavis can have us a date night?” Skip asked.

  “You got it.” Retta nodded.

  “And I’ve got something to say before y’all all get involved with the scrapbook business,” Mavis said. “This is mainly for Benjy, but we want all of you to know so you won’t worry. Skip and I’ve been in touch with the social worker, and she’s agreed for Benjy to come and live with us when camp is over. How do you feel about that, Benjy?”

  “Oh, man.” Kirk reached around and patted him on the back. “That’s the best news ever.”

  Benjy pushed back his chair and slowly rounded the table. When he reached Mavis, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “I will be a good boy.”

  Uncontrollable tears ran down Retta’s cheeks. Cade turned her face toward him and dabbed them away with a napkin.

  “Did Cade
make you sad?” Faith asked.

  “No, these are happy tears. I’m glad that Benjy is going to have a great home,” Retta answered.

  “Me too,” Faith said.

  Benjy calmly walked back around the table and picked up his plate. “It’s time to clean up so we can work on scrapbooks. We will need paper, glue, and scissors and a ruler to get things right. Justin, you or Levi want to make scrapbooks?”

  “I’ve got work out in the barn,” Levi said in a hurry.

  “And I’ve got to help him,” Justin came in right behind him.

  “Not much into scrapbook making?” Retta swiped the napkin across her cheeks once more and managed a weak smile.

  Levi shook his head emphatically. “Anytime I get around glue and paper, I get it all over me. I’d rather go stack hay or hang out with Little Bit.”

  Justin laughed. “Don’t let him fool you into believing that. He used to eat glue when we were in kindergarten.”

  “Okay, okay.” Levi held up a hand when the kids couldn’t contain their laughter by covering their mouths with their hands. “I really did until I got real sick one night and Mavis told me that it was from glue stickin’ my guts together.”

  “That’s impossible. The glue went to your stomach and the acid there would have destroyed it,” Benjy said.

  “It wasn’t true but it sure enough broke him from eating it.” Skip chuckled. “Why don’t you let us take it from here, Retta.”

  “Thank you,” Retta said with a yawn. “You girls bring your scrapbooks home with you so I can see them.”

  Faith and Sasha gave her a thumbs-up sign and went back to eating.

  Gabby whispered, “I’ll make sure everyone remembers. If you’re asleep, we’ll be quiet when we come home.”

  There was that word again—home.

  Retta pushed it to the back of her mind and left the dining room and kitchen to them. Another day, she’d do something with all the kids and give Skip a rest, but that night she was very grateful for a little time to think about those steamy hot kisses in the parking lot.

  She went straight to the bedroom, stripped out of her clothing and padded barefoot and naked to the bathroom. She found the bath salts that Tina had sent her for her last birthday and poured them under the running water and then crawled into the tub, leaned her head back and shut her eyes.

  “Now about those kisses,” she muttered. “They didn’t mean anything, nothing at all. They were just kisses because we each thought the other one was angry and wanted to make it right.”

  Sure they were, Tina’s voice in her head taunted her. Don’t give me that load of bull crap.

  “I’m not having this conversation with you. That’s why I didn’t call you, yet. You always figure out a way to get me to tell you everything and I’ve got to figure this thing out before I talk to you.” She leaned her head back and shut her eyes.

  When she awoke the water was cold and the air conditioner was on, making goose bumps on her arms and neck. She quickly got out of the tub and wrapped up in her white terry-cloth robe. Now she was hungry, so she went to the kitchen, grabbed a bag of chocolate mint cookies and a glass of milk, and carried them to the living room, where she sat down on the sofa and stretched out her legs to the other end.

  She had a mouthful of cookies when the back door to the bunkhouse opened. Figuring it was one of the girls who’d remembered something she wanted for her scrapbook project, she didn’t even get up. But she almost choked when Cade’s deep voice asked, “You decent, Retta?”

  She quickly folded her robe over her naked body and yelled, “I am and I’m in the living area.”

  “I brought contraband. Can I come inside?”

  “What kind of contraband?”

  “Two icy cold beers,” he answered.

  “Then enter, and lock the door behind you so we don’t get caught. We don’t want Mavis mad at us twice in one day.” She giggled.

  His eyebrows shot up when he saw her. “You look like a goddess.”

  Another one of those damned blushes started but she warded it off. “Flattery and a beer. This is a good evening.”

  He put a longneck bottle of Coors into her hand, sat down on the other end of the sofa, and put her feet into his lap. “It’s the truth, not flattery.”

  She took a sip. “I’d forgotten how good a cold beer could be at the end of a day.”

  He picked up her right foot and began to massage it.

  “That’s wonderful. You can have my summer salary if you’ll do that every night from now to the end of the job.”

  He took a long draw of his beer and began to work on the other foot. When he finished, he kissed each toe, then the sole of her foot and made his way to her knee, one slow hot kiss at a time.

  “Tell me to quit,” he said.

  “I can’t. I don’t want to,” she said.

  He opened her robe and the kisses continued up her thigh, across her belly, and she thought she’d die before he ever made it to her lips.

  “Sweet lord,” she muttered when he spent extra time and kisses on her breasts. Then suddenly he was sitting up and she was in his lap. Her robe was open and his big hands were gently rubbing her back as the kisses on her mouth got more and more passionate.

  “Tell me to quit. Tell me we have no business doing this. Tell me now because in ten minutes it’ll be too difficult to stop.” He pushed her dark hair back with his hands and cupped her cheeks, staring into her eyes.

  “This sofa is too short and too narrow for us.” She reached between their bodies to unbuckle his belt.

  He stood up and she wrapped her long legs around his waist. “To the bedroom?” he asked.

  “That’s softer than the floor.” She nibbled on his ear.

  Just a summer fling, that’s all this is. And when it’s done I’ll wave good-bye and only remember him when I see a sexy cowboy in boots and a hat.

  He laid her on the bed, robe gaping open, and quickly undressed without taking his eyes from hers. “You are stunning, Retta.”

  “You are all muscle and…” Her breath caught in her chest.

  “I’ve ached for you,” he said as he entered her and they began to work together with a perfect rhythm.

  He certainly was not a novice at the game. Bringing her right up to the edge of a climax until she panted so hard that she could scarcely breathe and then slowing down, kissing her neck, her ears, her eyelids all the while.

  “Tell me what you like.” His warm breath caressed her ear as he shifted from low into high gear again.

  “Everything. Don’t stop any of it.” She swung her legs up to wrap around his body.

  “Protection?” He groaned suddenly. “I forgot about that.”

  “I’m on the pill,” she told him.

  “Thank God.”

  She dug her fingernails into his back and put a huge hickey on his neck as she reached the clouds of the most amazing climax she’d ever experienced.

  “Sweet Jesus,” she gasped.

  “Feel the need to pray? That’s a first.” Cade rolled to the side but kept her in his arms. Somehow the robe was now on the floor and they were both slick with sweat. The air conditioner kicked on and a steady stream of cold air flowed down onto their bodies.

  “I’m hot and cold at the same time.” Retta felt as if she were floating above her body, that things that amazing didn’t happen to her and she wanted to spend the rest of her life in the bedroom with Cade Maguire. Something this emotional could never be just a summer fling.

  “That was…no words.” He panted.

  “I know.” She cuddled up closer to his side.

  How was she ever going to wave good-bye without regrets after what she’d just experienced?

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next morning should have been awkward, and it might have been, if there hadn’t been eight excited children bouncing around, all eager to get a paintbrush in their hands. The noise level as they all sat down to breakfast would have put a busy airport to
shame. Then suddenly it was so quiet that they could’ve heard a kitten breathing in the other room as Skip said grace.

  While Retta’s head was bowed and her eyes were closed, Cade’s hand closed over hers under the table and squeezed gently. She opened one eyelid and he mouthed, Amazing.

  “Amen!” Skip said.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Hungry are you?” Levi asked.

  “I am and I’m grateful to be sitting here at this table with this awesome bunch of kids and family this morning. Now let’s eat so we can go spruce up the cabin,” Retta said.

  “Amen to that,” Skip agreed.

  Cade squeezed her hand one more time and then picked up a basket of biscuits and passed them to her. “Are you going with us, Mavis?”

  She shook her head. “Wild horses couldn’t drag me out there. If there’s a single leaf of poison ivy anywhere within ten miles, I’ll be broken out so bad I’d have to leave the ranch for a week.”

  “Oh, no!” Gabby’s hands flew to her cheeks. “That would be awful.”

  “Besides the social worker is comin’ by this mornin’ with some paperwork that Skip and I need to look over so that Benjy can come and live with us,” Mavis told them. “I’ve put a bunch of raggedy shirts in a basket. Each of you put one on over your clothes so you don’t get paint all over you.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Benjy nodded. “I’m glad that I get to live with you and Skip, so why am I sad—” He stopped and covered his face with his hands.

  Levi put his fork down and patted the boy on the shoulder. “It’s okay, little man. It takes a long time to get over losing someone that you love.”

  “But cowboys don’t cry, and someday I will be a cowboy and work on a ranch,” Benjy muttered and then straightened his back.

  Justin clamped a hand on Benjy’s shoulder. “It’s okay to be sad sometimes. We all know you’ll miss her.”

  Cade’s hand rested on Retta’s knee under the table. When she looked up at him, his slight smile and the kindness in his blue eyes said volumes—he understood that Benjy’s sadness went even deeper for her as she tried to get closure for her dad’s death.