Damn.
He turned back to the house to go wait for her there, then realized he actually felt more comfortable in the Airstream these days.
Which said a lot, really.
The truth was, if CJ hadn’t agreed to stay the week with him, he’d probably have come up with an excuse to be out of here by now. There were too many memories here, good and bad, and the weight of the past and the part he’d played in it messed with his head.
He made his way to the trailer and sank onto the top step to wait. He’d had plenty of time to formulate an apology and get the words straight in his head before he heard the crunch of gravel underfoot and CJ appeared around the corner of the barn.
“Hey,” she said, plucking a pair of earbuds out of her ears. She seemed…wary, and he hated that he’d made her that way.
“Hey. How was your run?”
“Good. Except I didn’t realize how much of a slope there was on your driveway until I tried to run up it.”
“I’m sorry about before,” he said, not wanting another moment to pass before he put things right between them. “It’s a messed-up situation, but it’s not your fault, and I was an asshole speaking to you like that.”
Her face softened. “I think asshole is a little harsh.”
“I don’t. Come here,” he said, holding out a hand.
She took it, and he used it to draw her onto his lap. To his relief, she came willingly, slipping her arms around his neck.
“I’m all sweaty,” she warned him.
“Exactly the way I like you,” he murmured before kissing her.
She deepened the kiss, making a small approving sound, and the tension across his shoulders eased as he understood they were going to be okay.
Even though he could hold her like this all day and all night, he broke the kiss to execute stage two of his apology.
“You got anything other than jeans in that bag of yours?” he asked.
“One dress—why?”
“Go put it on. I’m taking you somewhere nice for dinner,” he said. “Don’t know if I told you, but I won second prize at a rodeo recently and the money’s burning a hole in my pocket.”
“Is that so?”
“How long will it take you to get ready?”
“Not long. Probably less than you, pretty boy,” she said with a smile.
“Care to put a wager on it?”
She slipped off his lap and stuck out her hand. “First one waiting at the truck gets to be on top.”
He laughed and shook on their deal. “That’s what I call a win-win.”
“Thought you’d like it.”
She seemed to hesitate then, her gaze scanning his face as though she was looking for something.
“What?” he asked, catching her hand again.
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head quickly. “Better get your skates on, cowboy, because you’re going to need to move fast to beat me.”
Slipping past him, she disappeared into the trailer, and seconds later he heard the door to the bathroom sliding shut.
He remained where he was for a moment, the smile slowly fading from his mouth as his thoughts shifted back to the more difficult problem of how to help his stubborn, proud brother.
But CJ was going to win their wager hands down if he didn’t hustle, so he pushed himself to his feet and headed back to the house.
He had three more days before he had to leave for Great Falls. Hopefully something would come to him before then.
*
CJ’s skirt swished around her calves as she rounded the barn and headed for Jesse’s truck. There was no sign of Jesse himself, and a small smile curved her lips when she realized she’d been on the money when she’d predicted it would take him longer to get ready than her.
She leaned against the side of the truck, arms crossed, and waited for him to emerge from the house and register his loss. Twenty-seven years’ experience with three brothers had taught her to take her wins where she could find them, and she was going to enjoy this one.
She deliberately kept her thoughts light as she waited, not allowing herself to dwell on the one thing missing from Jesse’s otherwise perfect apology: an explanation. Sure, he’d referenced the situation being “messed up,” but he hadn’t explained why, and even though she’d waited for more, she’d quickly understood she wasn’t going to get it.
Which was fine. They were lovers, they were becoming friends, but they didn’t owe each other anything. It was what she’d spent the entire five miles of her run telling herself.
And just because it didn’t feel that way didn’t mean it wasn’t true.
Realizing she’d fallen into the trap of thinking about the exact thing she didn’t want to think about, CJ straightened the skirt on her red dress and smoothed a hand over her hair.
You’re here to have fun. Hang on to that.
Jesse was a grown, adult man. He would sort his own life out. He’d been doing it for years before he met her, and no doubt he’d be doing it for years after she’d gone, too.
The sound of the front door opening drew her gaze to the porch and she smiled her cockiest, most challenging smile as Jesse descended the steps.
“Well lookee here, if it ain’t slowpoke Carmody,” she said in her best old-timer accent.
“Before you gloat too much, Casey was in the shower,” he said, his gaze tracking over her body. “You look beautiful.”
“So do you.” He did, too, his dark blue shirt and slim-cut black pants showcasing his lean body to perfection. He’d shaved away this morning’s beard scruff and tamed his dark wavy hair and she was pretty sure she was going to be the envy of every woman in Marietta tonight.
Another reason to concentrate on the here and now, because soon Jesse wouldn’t be hers to claim.
The thought made her smile falter, and she quickly pushed it away.
“Shall we do this, then?” she said.
“Wait a second,” he said, stepping forward to beat her to the door handle.
She gave him an amused look as he opened the car door for her.
“Nice manners, Mr. Carmody.”
“I like to dust them off occasionally, keep them in working order.”
They joked around all the way into town, where Jesse parked his pickup on First Street and led her into Rocco’s Italian, a cute, cozy place with Tuscan landscapes painted on the walls and red and white checked tablecloths. There were even candles in Chianti bottles on the tables, along with crisp white linen napkins.
“Hope you like Italian,” Jesse said. “Sierra said the food here is good.”
“If this place has Sierra’s seal of approval, I am all in,” CJ said.
He reached across the table and took her hand as they both turned their attention to the menu and CJ felt an odd little pang somewhere in the region of her heart. He’d laid hands on every intimate part of her, but there was something very sweet about the old-fashioned courtliness of the gesture.
“What looks good?” he asked after a beat, and she realized she hadn’t taken in a single word of the menu.
Jesse Carmody in full romance mode was that charming.
“Ummm…I’m aways a sucker for a good spaghetti carbonara,” she said.
“Lasagna for me. How do we feel about garlic bread?” he asked, one eyebrow cocked.
“I am strongly pro, but only if we both eat it.”
“It’s official, you’re the perfect woman.” His eyes were steady on hers and his thumb brushed across her knuckles.
“You’re good at this cozy-dinner-for-two business,” she said.
“Wait till we get to dessert.”
“Really? What’s for dessert?”
“You,” he said, his grin nothing short of wicked.
Her laugh came out too loud and she pressed her fingers to her lips.
“Don’t. I love your laugh,” he said.
“That’s because you’ve never watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby with me,” she said.
“My brother Tyson tells me I sound like an elephant seal when I get going.”
“I love that movie,” he said, looking genuinely delighted they’d found yet another thing in common.
They talked movies and books and high school disasters for the rest of the meal. Jesse made her laugh so many times her stomach ached by the time she’d spooned up the last mouthful of a decadent tiramisu, although that could have been down to all the food she ate, too.
“I’m so full. You’re going to have to roll me out to the car,” she groaned.
“You want to skip coffees and walk a while, see if we can’t work some of that off?”
“Please. I’m actually scared my stomach might explode. Everything was so delicious.”
Jesse settled the bill, then held the door for her to exit.
“There are those manners again,” she said as she brushed past him and out into the street.
“Putting them through their paces tonight, that’s for sure,” he said with a small smile.
He reached for her hand and they walked half a block or so in companionable silence. CJ caught sight of herself in a shop window and realized she was wearing a goofy-looking smile. She tried to school her features, but the smile kept creeping back.
He’d made her feel special tonight, and even though there had been moments when he’d looked at her and she’d known he was thinking about what was going to happen when they got back to the privacy of the Airstream, the sense he was enjoying her, enjoying being with her, had left her feeling more than a little giddy.
As she’d said, he was good at this.
They walked all the way down to Fourth Street before cutting across a block and going back the other way, sometimes talking, sometimes just enjoying the crisp night and the clear sky overhead and the pretty western storefronts.
When they arrived back at Jesse’s pickup he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her body against his.
“How do you feel about going parking?” he asked after pressing a brief kiss to her lips.
She laughed. “Seriously?”
“Hell, yeah. It’s a long drive back out to the ranch, and you look great in that dress.”
“It’s only twenty minutes.”
“Like I said, a long drive.”
“Okay, I’ll go parking with you, Jesse Carmody. But you should know that I’m the type of girl who only goes all the way.”
His smile was slow and appreciative. “Cassidy Jane, you are my kind of woman, head to toe.”
He drove them to a secluded stretch of parkland down near the river and switched off the engine. Then he pushed back his car seat and patted his lap.
“Get your sweet ass over here so I can get my hands on it,” he said.
“I’m guessing the well-behaved part of the evening is over,” she said as she followed orders and scrambled over the center console.
“Don’t worry, it’s still going to be ladies first.”
He cranked the seat back, then pulled her into his lap, her bent legs straddling his. She leaned forward to kiss him, a sensual shiver racing down her spine as his big, rough hands slipped beneath her skirt to glide up the outside of her thighs and curve over her ass.
They fooled around for a long time, teasing each other through their clothes, stretching it out as long as they could. When he finally pushed the bodice of her dress out of the way and pulled one of her nipples into his mouth she almost came, she was so turned on. Then he started to stroke her through her panties and she did come, her head falling back as she gave herself over to pleasure.
“Baby, you are the hottest thing I have ever seen,” Jesse whispered.
He pushed her panties to one side then, quickly rolling on a condom, and she slid down onto him with a grateful, greedy sigh.
“Yes. That feels amazing,” she said.
The world shrank to the slide of his body inside hers, the beautiful friction stroking her closer and closer to a second climax.
“I love being inside you,” he said, his voice rough and low.
“I love having you inside me.”
And then she couldn’t speak, because the pleasure was too intense, and he held her close as they came together, bodies shuddering with release.
She rested her cheek on his shoulder afterward, her eyes closed, savoring the afterglow. His hand landed on the back of her head, warm and steady, and she felt the press of his lips against her temple.
“I don’t want Friday to be the end of us,” he said quietly, his words rumbling through his chest to hers. “I know that wasn’t the deal, that this was only supposed to be fun, but this isn’t just about sex for me, CJ. Not anymore.”
“Me, either,” she said, even though she’d barely even admitted it to herself yet.
She lifted her head and they looked into each other’s eyes. Then he smiled and reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“Guess that means I can stop freaking out about losing you at the end of the week.”
She cocked her head slightly. “You were not freaking out.”
“Practically wetting my pants,” he said.
“I thought that was my job,” she said.
His laugh was loud in the small space, and he pulled her down to kiss her. “It’s my job to make you wet,” he growled against her mouth.
The distant sound of a train horn made her start then and he laughed again.
“Panic much?” he said as she dismounted inelegantly, almost falling back into the passenger seat.
“I don’t want to be booked for indecent exposure, or whatever they book you for when you get caught having public sex.”
“If getting lucky is a crime, I am happy to do the time,” he said.
Which made her laugh, and she was still laughing when he started the car and pulled back onto the road.
She wasn’t stupid enough to think that trying to make a go of it with Jesse would be a walk in the park, but no one had ever set her on fire the way he did, or understood her so easily. And it hadn’t been lost on her that he was that rare thing, a man who wasn’t threatened by a successful woman.
Not that he was perfect—the man clearly had issues with opening up—but she wanted more of what they had together. Much more.
Glancing at his profile, she experienced another heart-region pang, an ache that only intensified when he reached across to capture her hand.
It might not have been a great day, but it had been a perfect night.
And with luck there would be many more to come.
*
Jesse had the worst night’s sleep on record. After the discussion he’d had with CJ, he should have slept like a baby, but instead he’d been unable to stop his brain fixating on the issue of Jed and the ranch.
By six thirty he’d been staring at the ceiling for half the night, CJ sleeping beside him. He’d been going over and over the idea that had come to him in the small hours. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something.
Moving carefully so as not to disturb CJ, he shifted to the edge of the bed. He pulled on last night’s clothes as quietly as he could, then padded outside in his bare feet before stuffing his feet into his boots.
It was cold enough to turn his breath to mist and he rubbed his arms as he crossed to the house to grab his coat. Traffic was light on the way into Marietta and he had no trouble getting a parking spot at Big Z’s. The guys on the front desk were all busy when he arrived so he decided to collect the fencing supplies he needed before trying again. When he returned, the tall, skinny guy who’d served his brother yesterday was free. Jesse checked his name tag before stepping up to the counter.
“Hey, Ken, I’m Jesse Carmody, Jed’s brother,” he said, offering the other man his hand.
“Jesse. Pleased to meet you. How can I help you?” Ken said, his tone professionally welcoming.
“I’ll grab some more fencing mesh and rebar, but Jed also sent me in to pay off the ranch credit account. You able to help me out with that?”
&n
bsp; Ken looked surprised. “He wants to pay it all off?”
“Figured we might as well knock it on the head,” Jesse said easily.
“Not a problem. Give me a sec to print off the latest statement so you can check it out first,” Ken said.
The other man’s surprise that he’d be paying off the entire balance gave Jesse an inkling of what to expect when he looked at the statement, but he still blinked with shock when he saw the total. Jed owed nearly ten thousand, most of it in feed costs. He searched for the interest rate and felt his eyebrows rise at the far from competitive figure. Jed was crazy paying these prices when he could have gotten much cheaper money by refinancing the mortgage. That was the way their father had always paid for winter feed, paying the mortgage back down again when the cattle went to market.
Jesse stared at the account, trying to understand. Then it occurred to him that maybe Jed hadn’t had the option of borrowing more money from the bank.
Jesus. If that was the case, then the ranch was in big trouble.
“Everything look good?” Ken asked, and Jesse realized he’d been waiting for him to pull out his checkbook.
“Yep, all good,” Jesse said.
Paying the account down would put a dent in his savings, but most of it was money he’d saved from his quarterly payments. Seemed only right to tip it back into the ranch if it was in trouble.
And his gut was telling him it was.
Ken added the new fencing supplies onto the total and Jesse wrote out the check and handed it over.
“Tell Jed we appreciate the business, as always. And apologize to him for yesterday. I can only do what the computer tells me it’s okay to do,” the other man said with an embarrassed shrug.
Clearly it had been an uncomfortable conversation between him and Jed yesterday.
“Will do,” Jesse said.
He nodded goodbye then headed out to the yard to load up his truck.
If he and Jed had been different kinds of brothers, he’d have cornered Jed and demanded he tell him what was going on. He couldn’t do that, though, so this was the next best thing. He’d bought enough wire and rebar to finish upgrading the main fence, which should protect their feed supplies for the coming winter. He knew Jed wouldn’t be happy about Jesse covering the cost, but he figured his brother was smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The Cowboy Meets His Match Page 21