“Allows for expansion.”
“Allows me easy access.”
“Wasn’t a factor.” She helped him by wiggling out of her undies and pants.
“Is now.” Sliding his hand between her satiny thighs, he sought the heat he knew would be waiting for him. “Sure enough, lady, you’re wet everywhere.”
She gasped as he began stroking her. During their wild weekend he’d discovered this was the quickest way to give her pleasure so he took the shortcut because he longed to hear her cry of surrender. In seconds she arched off the bed, her eyes dark with passion and his name on her lips.
As she lay dazed and panting in the aftermath of her climax, he pushed away from the bed so he could nudge off his boots and strip off his clothes. He felt as though he’d forgotten something as he helped her out of her shirt and bra and scooted her farther up the mattress. It wasn’t until he leaned over her, his knees nudging her thighs apart and his heart pounding like a drum, that he remembered what it was.
On some level he’d known why this night would be different but the implication hadn’t fully registered until now. As he slowly eased into her warm channel, he closed his eyes and shuddered in anticipation.
She cupped his face in both hands. “What is it? Why are you shaking?”
“You’re pregnant.” He gazed into her flushed face.
“Zeke, you won’t hurt the baby.”
“I know. But I’ve never made love to a woman without a condom. I’m shaking because this feels amazing.”
She stroked his cheekbones with her thumbs. “I predict you’ll like the experience.”
“I predict I’ll love it.” Pulling back, he thrust deep and moaned. “Yes, ma’am, I’m definitely gonna love it.”
Her fingertips pressed into his glutes. “I’m pretty happy about it, too, especially if you’ll move a little.”
Leaning down, he brushed his mouth over hers. “I plan to move a lot.” He initiated a slow rhythm and groaned in delight. “And I thought we had fun in Texas.”
“We did.”
“But this is better. Way better.” He nibbled on her bottom lip. “Thank you, Tess. Thank you for letting me make love to you tonight.” He shifted his angle so he could reach her G spot.
She gulped in air. “You’re very...persuasive.”
“And you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.” He increased the pace. “So proper, so quiet, and underneath that calm-looking exterior you’re a volcano.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Her breathing grew shallow.
“Erupt for me, Tess.” He braced himself on his forearms so he could watch as desire claimed her. Yeah, it hurt his shoulder, but who cared? Her second climax was usually more powerful than her first. “Show me the fire. Show me what you’ve got.”
“Zeke...” She began to pant.
Now it wasn’t just her fingertips pressing into his glutes. He could feel her nails. “That’s it, lady. Go for it.” He moved faster now and the friction was sweet. So sweet. She’d been responsive before, but now he sensed an untapped depth of passion rising within her.
“Zeke!” Her body bowed under him as he plunged into her again and again, coaxing more wild cries from her as she flung herself into the fire. Her energetic release triggered his.
The force of it shot from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, wringing a strangled cry of triumph from him. Gasping, he managed to keep from collapsing onto her as his brain slowly stopped spinning and his surroundings came back into focus.
He looked down to see how she was doing and she was staring right back at him.
Her lips formed the word wow but no sound came out.
He smiled. “You can say that again.”
She mouthed the word again and laughed. “I wonder if pregnant ladies have more fun.”
“Looks like it to me.”
“And I’m starving.”
“I’ll bet you are. I’m hungry and I’m not even the pregnant person in this bed.”
“We can’t eat that meat loaf. No way it finished cooking before the power went out.” She reached up and patted his cheek. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted me to taste it.”
“Yeah, well, given the choice between a perfectly cooked meat loaf dinner and what we just experienced, I can’t get too upset about how the evening turned out.”
“Me, either.”
He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. Then he cocked his head, listening. “Sounds like the rain’s stopped, so here’s an idea. When I found the lantern I also saw the Coleman stove Herb bought for emergencies like this. The meat loaf is done for, but I’ll cut up the potatoes and use the Coleman stove to make country fries and scrambled eggs. Will that work?”
“You’re planning to fire up that stove in the kitchen?”
“Nope. In the yard. You can sit on the porch steps while I impress you with my superior camp stove cooking skills.”
“That sounds fabulous except for the current state of my clothes.”
“I love the current state of your clothes.”
“Wrinkled and wet?”
“Gone.” He flattened his palms on the mattress and pushed back so he could get a better look. His breath hissed as a sharp pain sliced through him.
“Uh-oh.” She frowned. “Your shoulder hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Not much.”
“Stop putting pressure on it and come back down here.”
“I’m fine.” But he lowered himself to his forearms.
“You’d better not have reinjured yourself playing bedroom games, cowboy.”
“I’m sure I didn’t. Sometimes I just move wrong and the pain catches me.”
She sighed. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that when you suggested making love. You picked me up! That was not good.”
“It’s all good.” He placed little kisses on her forehead and her cheeks. “Stop worrying about my shoulder so I can tell you how I plan to keep you naked a little longer.”
“I’m not sitting on the porch that way, Zeke. Or naked and wearing your show boots.”
“No, ma’am, you’re not. I’ll get a blanket for you to wrap yourself in while we shake out your clothes and put them on hangers instead of leaving them in a soggy mess.”
“But I probably can’t wear them when I go back to Thunder Mountain.”
He gazed into her eyes. “You could stay.” But he could see from the way she was looking at him that wasn’t an option. “You don’t want to.”
“Not tonight. I’m Rosie’s guest and, besides, it’s...it’s too much, too fast.”
She was probably right, but that didn’t stop him from wishing she’d said yes. “Okay. After dinner I’ll loan you something to wear and we’ll make the drive down the road in tandem. If you can get through in your car, great. If it looks like you’ll get stuck, I’ll take you back to Thunder Mountain.”
“Thank you, Zeke.”
“You’re welcome. Maybe over dinner we can come up with a name for the baby.” He left her warmth reluctantly and climbed out on the far side of the bed to avoid slivers of glass.
“We don’t have to decide that tonight.”
“I know, but it’s fun to talk about.” He turned back to her and almost lost his place in the conversation. Seeing her lying there in the lantern light, all rosy from what they’d done together, gave him a real high. “Don’t get up. Let me bring you the blanket and the boots.”
She propped herself on one elbow and glanced over to where they’d fallen. “I hate that you might have risked hurting your shoulder by picking me up, but... I sort of loved being swept off my feet.”
“That was the idea. Now stay put. I’ll be right back.”
When he returned she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed, fin
ger-combing her hair. If he could make a video of that, he wouldn’t ask for anything more. Well, not true. A video wasn’t much compared to having the actual woman in his bed.
And this wasn’t even his bed. At least the show boots were his contribution. He brought them to her and began gathering up her clothes. They managed to get everything on hangers with several kisses and fondling incidents thrown in.
Finally they made it to the porch, stopping for a towel and the stove along the way. She put down the lantern. “I’ll wipe off the steps while you get the stove ready.”
Although he had the urge to do everything for her, he realized they’d have food sooner if they shared the chores. “Thanks.” He gave her the towel.
“You bet. The pioneer women did their part, and with the power outage I’m feeling sort of pioneer-ish.”
“Ever live in the country?”
“Nope. Even though so much of Wyoming is rural, my parents aren’t outdoorsy.” She finished drying the steps and draped the towel over the railing.
“Then are you okay in the dark if I take the lantern with me to the kitchen?”
“Absolutely. It’s nice out here now that the clouds have cleared away. I’ll look at the stars and listen to the crickets. In fact, would you bring my phone when you come back out? I have a constellation app.”
“Sure.”
“This is a great setup, Zeke. I’m glad you suggested it.”
“Me, too. Be right back.” But as he gathered what he needed in the kitchen, he realized that nothing they were using belonged to him. He’d kept his possessions to a minimum on purpose, and it left him with very little to offer Tess and their child.
He made short work of chopping up the potatoes and whisking the eggs. He stuck a bottle of beer in one back pocket and a bottle of root beer in the other before carrying everything outside. Knowing she was naked under the dark green blanket, he’d have to be careful he didn’t light himself on fire while cooking over the camp stove. He hadn’t worked with one in years.
He handed over her phone and the root beer. After opening his beer and taking a quick swallow, he got to work on dinner.
“You look proficient at that.”
He glanced up and discovered her watching him, the bottle of root beer dangling between her fingers. He would rather be kissing her than stirring eggs, but she needed food more than she needed kisses. “It’s been a while, but it’s coming back to me.” He returned his attention to the stove before she took another sip of her drink. He’d have the urge to lick any stray drops from her mouth and after that, dinner would become a casualty of his lust.
“Is it like riding a bicycle?”
He chuckled. “Sort of. When I lived at Thunder Mountain, Herb would take a few of the guys for camping trips at the far boundary of the ranch. We’d hike out, packing our bedrolls and the food. Herb would drive his truck out there and bring a couple of Coleman stoves.”
“Why didn’t he just let all of you ride out in the back of his truck?”
“He was big on hoofing it every once in a while. Cowboys always prefer to ride a horse or drive a truck, but Herb wanted us to get some experience with plain old walking.”
“He sounds like a great role model. Rosie, too. What a wonderful thing they did, creating a solid foundation for all of you and providing a place to come back to years later.”
“Yes, ma’am.” But he never let nostalgia overtake him. A couple of years ago they’d almost had to sell the ranch. He didn’t count on it being there forever any more than he was foolish enough to assign the labels of Mom and Dad to Rosie and Herb. A mom could leave and a dad could die. He’d vowed never to make himself that vulnerable again.
“Do you walk much now?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“So much for early conditioning.”
“It wasn’t early enough. I was fourteen, too old to convert to such things. Now you take little Abelard. If we encourage him from the get-go, then—”
“This Abelard thing has to stop. I’m bringing up the baby name website right now.”
Her response tickled him. He’d used the placeholder name on purpose to get a reaction and then he’d added another layer of connection by saying “if we encourage him.” She hadn’t bristled. She could have missed the implication, or she could be getting used to the idea that both of them would be involved.
Maybe he didn’t have much in the way of worldly possessions and maybe he’d have to continue traveling because he liked twirling ropes for a living. But he could still be a strong presence in his son’s life if he convinced Tess he could make a valuable contribution.
This morning he’d been afraid that was impossible. Tonight he’d opened a crack in the wall she’d built around herself and the baby. He’d work on making it wider.
Chapter Twelve
Now that Zeke had shifted her focus to naming the baby, Tess was ready to get it settled. “You know what? Let’s move past the A names. I’m not feeling the A thing.”
“Because nothing can top Abelard.” Zeke crouched next to the camp stove and stirred the eggs.
She appreciated having a man cook for her, especially one who looked so great doing it. “So true. I’m not feeling the B names, either, Maybe C.”
“Clint?”
“Sounds like a cowboy. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.”
He looked up and grinned. “Glad to hear it. But I don’t see him as a Clint.”
“Me, either. Don’t see anything else in the C category. Moving on.” She didn’t come up with another possibility until she was going through H. “What about Heath?”
“Not bad.”
She laid her phone in her lap. “Yes, but do you like it?”
“You know, I do.” He paused, as if rolling it around in his mind. “I like it a lot.”
A shiver of excitement zipped up her spine. That was usually an indication that she’d struck pay dirt, no matter what the brainstorming was about. “I mean, it works, doesn’t it? He might turn out to be a cowboy or he might become a pilot or maybe a diplomat. The name would fit anywhere he ends up.”
“You should see your face.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s so full of happiness that I swear it’s giving off light.” He smiled. “And now you’re blushing, so the light’s sort of pinkish.”
She was a little embarrassed, but pleased by his description. “I’m very happy talking about him and I haven’t been able to until now because I felt you should be the first to hear the news.”
“And now I understand the sacrifice you’ve made to keep the secret. Thank you, Tess. That’s a gift, knowing I was the first person to find out.”
“Well, you are, except for the nurse practitioner.”
He waved a hand. “Doesn’t count. I’m sure you have friends in Casper you wanted to tell, but you didn’t. I can see why you’re putting off saying anything to your folks, but when you got to Thunder Mountain you could have told Rosie. It’s kind of amazing that you didn’t. Rosie has a way of getting people to open up.”
“I didn’t come right out and say it, but I’m sure it was written all over my face, like now. She knew.”
“Probably, but the point is, you didn’t blurt it out. You waited until I showed up. Was that really only last night that you drove to the ranch?”
“Yes, last night. And I can smell something burning.”
“Damn!” He pulled both skillets off the two-burner stove. “I forgot what I was doing.”
“But we named the baby.”
“We sure did, and it’s a great name. He’ll need a middle name, too, but let’s wait on that, let the first name settle in.”
“I’m fine with that. The first name’s the most important, anyway.”
�
��And there’s no nickname for Heath. It is what it is. I like that.” He dished the unburned eggs and potatoes onto one plate and scraped the charred part onto another.
“Me, too.” She could guess which plate was his. “Listen, just do half and half. Give me some of the burned stuff.”
“No, ma’am.” He handed her the plate she’d expected, picked up the other one and his beer and joined her on the steps. “We had to skip the meat loaf and I just remembered that I didn’t make the salad, either. The least I can do is give you the unburned part of what’s left of our dinner. Now dig in. I know you’re hungry.”
“Thank you. I am.” She started eating. “Tastes great, but I wouldn’t have minded eating some of the burned food. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it. I burn stuff, too.”
“I would have minded. You’re my guest.”
“For what it’s worth, I feel very well taken care of.”
“I hope so. Rosie will have my hide if I don’t treat you right.”
As Tess continued to eat, she thought about Rosie’s excitement over another grandchild. “Do you think she’ll like the name Heath?”
“Are you kidding? We could name him anything, including Abelard, and she wouldn’t care. She says that decision is completely up to the parents.”
“That’s refreshing. Some grandparents want a say in the baby’s name.”
“Will your parents?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised, but his name’s Heath, and that’s final. Before I leave, we can pick a middle name, too. I hadn’t thought about naming him before I told them I was pregnant, but if it’s a done deal, so much the better. That said, I hope Rosie likes what we picked.”
“She’ll love it. Mostly she wants a chance to hug babies and spoil ’em rotten. She goes bananas over Sophie.” He finished the last of his food and put his plate beside him on the steps. “Speaking of Sophie, I should get my phone from the kitchen and text Damon and Phil about the window.”
“I guess you’d better. Do you think they’ll want to do anything about it tonight?”
“I doubt it. I’ll explain that we weatherproofed it as best we could.” He looked up at the sky. “Sky’s clear, so it seems silly for them to come over and shore things up any more than we’ve done.”
Say Yes to the Cowboy Page 10