Rodeo Rancher: A Bad Boy Romance

by Lauren Wood

  She followed from behind, until finally she took that educated guess of where he was going to go to next. If it was John, he had a real penchant for anything chocolate. His Achilles heel had always been rocky road ice cream. She remembered having it in their hotel room, feeding it to each other like lovers would after a particularly raunchy and marathon kind of sex.

  “It can’t be him. It’s just not possible that the universe would somehow play into bringing us together after all this time. I don’t believe in fate or destiny and I believe that things happen when they happen. Sometimes you have to take the bull by the horns to make it happen. The guy that has had me twisted up in knots could be mere feet away from me and he doesn’t even know that I’m here.” She moved cautiously and quickly away from him, skirting the entire store from another angle and coming in from the side where the rocky road ice cream was located.

  During her time in security for a mall, she knew that most people wouldn’t look up or wouldn’t look down. With that in mind, she moved to her knees and pushed a few pieces of a display out of her way to give her easier access to see him coming around the corner. She waited with bated breath, consciously aware of the fact that her heart was beating a million miles an hour.

  Her heart leaped with joy and apprehension at seeing his face up close and personal like this. Nina couldn’t stop staring, as John stopped exactly where she expected him to. He rummaged around in the freezer and came out with a look of glee on his face and a box of rocky road in his hands. At first, she thought that it might be a look alike, but now all the pieces had fallen into place.

  John felt that prickling on the back of his neck. He stopped and looked around, but saw nothing that would indicate that somebody was watching him. He’d always followed his instincts in the past, but this was civilian life and he had to put away his training and enjoy his time off for, as long as it was going to be. It must’ve been just his overactive imagination running wild. He thought he saw something moving within the displays up front, but when he came around the corner, there was nobody there, except for a little old lady looking at cat food.

  Nina had no idea why she was being so secretive. What she should’ve done was go straight up to him in and surprise the hell out of him. She hoped that that time together was, as meaningful to him as it was to her. She didn’t want to take the risk, especially if he was involved. She couldn’t get close enough to see if he was wearing a ring on his finger. It was best to stay back and assess the situation before going forward.

  Nina Cameron was not following her own advice. She just finished making mention that guys didn’t take the risk of getting rejected. They would rather stay in the shadows, watching and waiting. It was almost like she was beginning to see the other side of the tracks. This was the way that men felt most of the time, especially if they did not have the charisma or the openness that came from showing their emotions on their sleeves. This was not something that Nina was comfortable with. Essentially, she was stalking and making this man feel like he was about to jump out of his own skin. She already noticed that he had stopped with the ice cream in his hand and was now looking in both directions. It was only fortuitous that she moved out of the way of his line of sight, before he actually was able to pinpoint her location.

  John had always been very astute and his training had come into play when a mugger had decided to see if they could score on those streets of Greece. Instead of getting away with the booty, he was instead confronted with a man that had this look in his eye that you really didn’t want to meet in a dark alley. John was able to sustain from hurting him badly, but he certainly did put the fear of god into him.

  “I know that I’m being foolish. I just can’t seem to take that final leap of faith. I guess I’m going to convince myself that it’s all about timing. It feels like everything has been coming around in a circle, until we finally came to this point. Who knew what I would find in a grocery store?”

  He was not dressed the same with his navy blue uniform. She’d never thought of herself, as one of those girls, but seeing him in that uniform and the way that he looked at her was almost too hard to resist. After a few drinks and some conversation that was lighthearted, they began to see that things were going to lead all the way up to the hotel room. That was the past and this was the present.

  Nina made her way out to her car and she sat in her blue Prius. She was always about saving the planet and did everything she could to limit her carbon footprint. She knew that eventually this world would be turned over to the next generation. She didn’t feel that it was right for them to destroy their legacy, even if it was inadvertent. She didn’t typically enjoy recycling, but it was a necessary evil to keep all of that from going to the graveyard known, as a dump.

  Her hands played drums on the steering wheel, as he came out and went to this black jeep. He was twirling the keys in his hand and she was about to climb out and go up to him, when he suddenly stopped again and abruptly turned in her direction. Thankfully, she was able to dive out of sight and stay there, until she heard the rumbling of the engine of the jeep coming to life.

  She breathed a sigh of relief, getting herself back to a sitting motion, until she heard the knocking on the window and turned to come face to face with John.

  Chapter 3

  John had finally figured out that the person that was watching him was from the car across the way. He had only seen a brief glimpse of some hair flying, as the person behind the wheel ducked down to prevent themselves from been detected. He had snuck up on her, pretending to turn the ignition and then leaving it and moving stealthily across the parking lot towards this person’s window.

  When the female form came back up to survey her surroundings, he got the shock of his life by seeing a woman that he didn’t think that he would ever see again. Nina was the one that had got away. He never meant to make her feel that it was only temporary, but he had made it clear from the very beginning that they were only going to be passing ships in the night.

  He could see that she was visibly distressed, but he felt it only right that he find out why she was following him. There was a part of him that wanted to leave it alone, in case this was her way of finally getting closure. Knocking on the window and seeing her reaction, as her heart almost literally stopped, made him smile.

  Nina rolled down the window and could feel the cool air in the car, except that she was sweating bullets.

  “Nina Cameron, as I live and breathe. I honestly never thought that this day would come. We never exchanged information and for us to end up in the same place is almost unheard of. If you don’t mind me saying, you are looking even more beautiful five years later. You have this raw sexuality and I see that you’ve been hiding it, but I have no idea why. You look amazing and that red dress that night had every guy eating out of the palm of your hand. You thought that I was a pushover and you sidled up to me, precisely because I was playing hard to get. It wasn’t, until I pushed you up against that pool table in back that you finally let all your preconceived notions about seducing a man go flying out the window.”

  ‘John, it’s not fair that you’re here like this. I thought that that was a one time thing. How is it possible that we are here in the exact same place at the exact same time? The odds of that are against us, but here we are. I saw you in the grocery store and I got a brief peek at your face and couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m sorry that I was a coward and tried to get away. I didn’t know what kind of response I was going to get…” She didn’t get a chance to say anything else, as he leaned through the window and cupped his hand behind her neck. He made her lean out the window and they kissed for the first time in five years.

  His tongue was like it had learned new tricks in those five years. Nina was beside herself and at first struggled vainly against his caress, but that didn’t remain for too much longer. That kiss was more than 20 seconds and then when he finally pulled away, she was practically on the Moon.

  “What’s this, Nina?” She heard
the rustling of the bag. It took her a moment to contemplate what he was saying, until the light bulb went off over her head. “Nina, I guess some things never change. You’ve got to come over to my friends barbecue and where this in front of him. He’ll go completely nuts. You know how hard it is to stay with him and his gorgeous wife. I know that she’s off limits, but I can’t help the way that she looks at me. I could definitely use you, as a distraction or maybe a way to make them see that I don’t have any intentions of playing within the home field.”

  “I don’t know if it would be proper of me to impose like that. They don’t know me from Adam and you bringing me to them might seem a little impulsive. I really don’t know what I should say to you right now. If you haven’t guessed it, you’ve always been in my thoughts. There hasn’t been a day that went by that I didn’t think about our time together fondly. I don’t want you to think that I’m some kind of stalker, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve always considered myself to be a woman of virtue and good standing, but with you, I threw caution to the wind and literally threw the glasses in the fireplace.” “I still don’t know how it’s possible that we could be here together, but I think I’m going to take full advantage of it. I really didn’t want anybody to see that little black dress, until I was damn good and ready to wear it out in public.

  “Nina, you are going to this barbecue, whether you like it or not. Don’t make me spank you and put you over my shoulder. People may not look kindly to seeing that kind of public display. I get this feeling like you wouldn’t like it yourself. People that you know might see you differently and that scares you. It shouldn’t, because you should be comfortable in your own skin and not worry about what other people think.”

  John took her hand and helped her from the car. Nina locked the door behind her, leaving behind her vehicle in the parking lot, until such time they were able to come back and retrieve it. She was carrying the little black dress and she knew from just seeing it that he would give anything to see her in it. It was that infatuation and that passing fancy that had taken her quite by surprise.

  “John, I don’t suppose that you’re still in the navy. I know that everything that you do is secretive, but I think that for an old friend and lover that you might be able to give me a little better insight about what your plans are. I hate to be just another passing ship in the night like we were five years ago. Come to think of it, that whole weekend together was one of those times when I let my emotions get the best of me. My desire for you kept us in the hotel room all weekend long. We never came out and only ordered room service when it was absolutely necessary.”

  He was driving, but he couldn’t keep his eyes on the road. They were constantly straying towards those tight jeans. That brief glimpse at the sheer black material of that little black dress in that bag was enough to bring things to a boil and make his cock unfurl and become the waving flag that any man would be proud of. Any woman that would see it would metaphorically salute and of course enjoy some naughty thoughts that were running around in their head.

  He was blessed with 9 inches of solid pipe and when hard, he became quite a sight to behold. His black pants could barely contain the healthy abundance that he was now showing to a woman that had got the necessary reaction from him. He couldn’t help, but to shift nervously in his seat.

  He moved his hands over towards her, but instead of shying away, Nina stayed exactly where she was.

  Nina jerked her knee, feeling slightly uneasy, but also feeling that same excitement that she had when she was in Greece. “I know that we haven’t seen each other in five years, but we can’t just jump back into bed with each other. We need to find out more about each other, before we decide to take things any further. I know that you’re not exactly comfortable with talking about your feelings, John. You show them with actions and that’s more than some men can say. I’m glad that we finally get to do this the right way.”

  “Nina, I don’t know why you are saying this. What makes you think that I’m even interested in ending anything between the two of us? I think that we were explosive together and given enough time, I’m sure that we could become that couple that everybody is jealous of.”

  “He has me at a disadvantage. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to say something like that. In my defense, I thought that what we had done had finished things once and for all. I knew when I got on that plane going back home that it didn’t end for me, but I figured that it had for him.”

  “I just thought that I was one of the many notches on your bed post. I accepted that, but it didn’t mean that I had to like it. I told you then and I’ll tell you now, that I don’t want to know about your past dalliances. A man like you can’t possibly keep it in your pants for five years and I wouldn’t expect you to. Then again, you can say the same thing for me. It’s not like I’ve been pining over you and waiting for that day to finally come around. I certainly didn’t think that my knight in shining armor would show up out of nowhere.” What he didn’t know was that Nina did feel that way. It was the only thing that was driving her to keep men at a distance, because she thought in the back of her head that this day would come.

  “Nina, I can’t speak for you, but for me that weekend was more than I got from any other woman and that includes my girl. She could be very cold and not exactly pleasing to be around. We broke up the week after we had our little thing. I told her all of it, but I certainly didn’t expect her to become vindictive. She tried to take me for everything I was worth, but I had a good lawyer and was able to paint her, as a woman that was scorned. We may have promised to marry, but we never actually got around to doing it. It was one of those things that hung in the air and over time, we had forgotten the fact that the rings on our fingers were not considered legal in the eyes of the lord or in the courts for that matter.”

  “John, what exactly have you got me into with this barbecue? You say that you want to make your friend jealous and keep his wife from getting her hooks into you. I think that is only part of the reason why you want to bring me along. I think the real reason is because you want me and you don’t know how to say that without sending mix signals in front of others. You don’t have to worry about that with me. I want you and even if we can’t have more than just this weekend together, then that would be more than enough.” Nina would give anything to be in his arms again and feel the heat of his body up against her. Now that day had arrived and she just didn’t know how to conduct herself.

  Chapter 4

  They arrived at their final destination and it was one of those places that probably could’ve taken up space in any home remodeling magazine. Nina stepped out of the jeep, hearing the door clang against the metal exterior, as she closed it. She was completely flabbergasted, unable to speak, because this was the place that she had fantasized about becoming her own. It was a T frame with double doors and a wraparound deck on the bottom and at the top where the two bedrooms were probably located.

  John grabbed her and pushed her up against the side of the house. He placed his knee in between her legs and made an effort to rub her in just the right way. “I really missed you, Nina. You have no idea how much. I’ve been trying to recreate that night with very little success.”

  Nina felt like there was something missing and now that that piece was back in her life, she didn’t know how to let it go. She let him play her like a Stradivarius, using her body to emit certain noises that would attract those that were in the near vicinity.

  “I want you to take off those jeans and that blouse and put on that little black dress. I don’t think that you’re, as shy as you let on, Nina. Take it off right here and show me that you are the kind of girl that I’m looking for. Give me an indication that life with us would never be boring. I can’t stand women that get complacent and show their false façade, before lowering the boom and showing who they really are. I think that you’re above that, or least I hope you are.” He watched with his eyes wide open, as she began to undo her blous
e.

  Nina stared at him the entire time, licking her lips and watching his eyes become lust filled. “John, I don’t remember you being such a forceful tease. I’m not saying that I’m not enjoying it, because I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t. I think that weekend you changed me. You opened me up to new and more interesting experiences. Those sexual flavors were just waiting for me to dive in and try every one of them. I can honestly say that I haven’t done much in these five years. I guess I’ve been waiting for the right guy to come along to take me out of my comfort zone.” “I can’t possibly tell him that I’ve been living for that moment that he would somehow materialize. It could have a detrimental effect on the relationship that is building out of pure lust and desire for one another. I’m just going to have to play casual and see how things go from here. Oh god…I wonder if he knows just how close I am to having my first moment of complete and utter enjoyment?”

  “Nina, I want to see you in nothing, but that bra and panties, standing right here in front of me. I want you to be in a vulnerable position with the possibility that somebody is going to come around that corner and catch us in the act. Tell me you want that to.” He waited, but there was no need for her to answer, as she was showing him just how right this moment really was. She easily slipped out of her jeans, letting them fall at her ankles, until he was cupping her mound and touching the wetness that was now seeping through the material. Don’t put on that little black dress. I want you to stand here and be at my mercy.” John moved his hand to that swatch of fabric that was preventing him from seeing her in all her nakedness. He easily pushed that aside and his eyes could now see the product of his desire. Those pink lips looked like they were ready to be fucked. He thought like any other man in this situation that this would be the perfect time and the perfect place.