To Tame A Cowgirl

by Roni Adams

  Sara blew out a breath and gave a reluctant nod. “Yeah, I never felt anything like that.”

  Charli clasped her hands and rubbed them together. “Now we’re getting somewhere. So, you need to follow up on that. You need to do it with Buck and see where the relationship goes after that.”

  “You’re not listening to me. I may have to marry his brother. I can’t do that to Buck—or to Cord.”

  Charli lifted her drink. “You can’t not do it. If you don’t explore this thing with Buck, find out what’s behind it, you’re going to wonder the rest of your life about it. You’ll be married to Cord and wondering what it would have been like to do his brother. You need to at least take that question out of your decision.”

  Sara sipped her beer in thought, then set it down again. “You’re saying I need to sleep with Buck so that if I marry Cord, I’ll know what it was like?”

  Charli put her hand over Sara’s on the table. “If you and Buck have something, don’t you think you owe it to yourself and him to at least explore this and find out—after all these years of friendship? You can’t marry his brother and leave that on the table. You just can’t.”

  “Okay. But, what if it’s fantastic? What then?” Overheated by their conversation, Sara lifted her hair off her neck and leaned back.

  “Then you need to figure out which means more to you, that hunk of a cowboy upstairs or a piece of land.”

  Sara chewed her bottom lip. There’s no way it could be as simple as Charli was making it seem. There were all sorts of repercussions involved. “What if it’s bad? What if it’s awkward?”

  Charli laughed. “Then your choice just became a whole lot easier. You can marry Cord knowing that what you and Buck always had was friendship and nothing more.”

  “I don’t know, Charli. I don’t think I can.”

  “Sara, listen to me.” The redhead looked serious, all laughter out of her eyes. “I know what you’re feeling about the ranch and the Will, trust me I do. If you decide to marry Cord, I would understand exactly why you did it. Women have been doing whatever it takes to hang onto what’s theirs for centuries. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit by and not at least try to convince you to have some fun first.” She grabbed Sara’s hand. “Sara, you owe it to yourself to have some wild nights of toe curling, headboard banging, all night sex. The kind that you can’t get quite enough of—”

  Sara put her hand up. “I got it. I got it.”

  “All I’m saying is that you aren’t the type to pick up a guy and have a one night stand, and you don’t need to. You got the perfect man who only needs you to say the word and he’d be happy to oblige. You can trust him.”

  “Yeah? And what happens after?”

  Charli picked up the shot and looked her in the eye. “That’s not something to think about tonight.”

  Sara tried to picture what would happen if she said half the things to Buck that Charli had just talked about—no good, she couldn’t do it. “There’s only one problem with that little scenario...”

  The waitress interrupted to set two more bottles of beer in front of them. “These are from the gentleman at the far table,” she said with a grin.

  Charli glanced over and Sara turned her head to two more men who lifted their beers in acknowledgement. Once again, Charli wrote a note on the napkin, handed it to the waitress and sent her away.

  “What do you keep writing?”

  Charli smiled and shrugged. “Just a thank you note, that’s all. What were you saying about my idea?”

  “I can’t tell him.”

  “Tell Buck?”

  Sara nodded.

  Charli laughed. “You don’t have to say one word, my friend. All you have to do is let him know you’re interested in exploring the options and, trust me, he’ll take it from there.”

  Sara dropped her chin in her hand. “I can’t. Hell, I don’t know the first thing about seducing a guy. I’m not you, I don’t know how to get men to do whatever I want them to do just by looking at them. Besides, it’s too weird. I mean, I can’t walk up to him and say, ‘Hey, Charli thinks we should do it so what do you say?’”

  Charli lifted her beer and took a long drink. “You know how when you’ve had a few too many, you sort of lose touch with reality, you get looser?”

  Sara nodded. “Yeah, so? You think I should get drunk and jump him?”

  Charli shook her head. “No. I think you should let him think you’ve had more to drink than you have. Let him think your inhibitions have gone away and that’s why you’re coming on to him.”

  Sara waved a dismissive hand in front of her. “That won’t work. Buck would never take advantage of me if I was drunk, he wouldn’t feel right.”

  “That’s true. He’s got those gentleman values. You’ll just have to get past that.”

  “Get past that? How am I supposed get past that.”

  Charli rested her chin on her hands. “Use what God gave you, honey. There’s not a man alive who won’t cave eventually no matter what his values.”

  Sara’s head spun with images. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t go up and basically attack her best friend, seduce him and then make love with him. Her stomach dipped and her breasts tingled just thinking about it. If the kiss they’d shared was any indication, she had no doubt it would be amazing, better than amazing. But was it right? Wasn’t she half considering marrying his brother?

  “Stop thinking about Cord.” Charli snapped as if she’d read her mind. “This has nothing to do with that. You’ll cross that bridge when you come to it. Tonight is all about you and Buck and seeing where that leads.”

  Excitement coursed through her and she sat up straighter. Charli was right. Most women had numerous sexual partners before they got married. Surely, she owed it to herself to at least have one good night of fun before she made the biggest decision of her life. And if she was finally going to do it, who better than her best friend—especially when that particular best friend had been invading every one of her dreams ever since the kiss. A sudden image of herself naked and pressed up against Buck, legs entwined and his large hands touching her made her pulse race.

  Charli pushed the untouched shot of whiskey in her direction. “For courage.”

  Sara made a face but picked it up. Maybe having Buck think she’d drank so much her inhibitions were all gone wouldn’t be so hard if she had another shot.

  By the time she’d reached the floor of their hotel suite, she wasn’t sure all the whiskey in Texas could give her enough courage to seduce her buddy.

  Chapter Nine

  Buck slouched on the couch in the small sitting room. Remote in hand, he aimlessly flipped channels. Why was he so concerned about the fact that it was past three in the morning and Sara wasn’t back yet? He’d never waited up for her before. Of course, usually she was with him. The fact that she was with the wild Charli Boyd gave him some concern, but Sara wasn’t the kind to let Charli lead her into any kind of trouble. Were they still at the after-party? Did they go somewhere else?

  He should just go to bed. Sara was a big girl, and if she needed him, she’d call.

  Suddenly he heard a key card at the door. His heart raced, she was back. Not that he’d been worried. Not really. He frowned when several seconds went by and the door hadn’t opened. He pushed himself off the couch and marched across. One yank on the door and Sara stumbled headfirst into the room. If he hadn’t caught her by her shoulders, she’d have fallen on her face.

  The distinct smell of beer and whiskey wafted up. “Whoa,” he complained. “What the heck have you been drinking?” She even smelled a bit like Charli’s perfume. He dropped his hands from her shoulders. What had those two been up to?

  She looked up from beneath her lashes. “You know Charli, she’s a whiskey girl.” She sang the last words, laughing in delight.

  Buck shut and locked the door. “Yeah she is, but you’re not.” He turned as she wobbled on her high heels.

  She teetered again and gr
abbed his arm. “Oops. I didn’t drink any tequila,” she giggled, sounding proud of herself.

  “You better sit down.” He none-too-gently guided her to the couch and pushed her down.

  “Whoops!” She hit the cushions a bit hard.

  Buck shook his head. “You are going to be one hurting little girl in the morning.” And miserable—just what he wanted on their last two days of the trip. He knelt down on one knee and picked up her sandal-clad foot.

  She giggled again when he tried to unhook the strap.

  “Hold still.”

  “It tickles,” she protested and tried to pull her foot out of his hold.

  “If I don’t get your shoes off, I can’t get you to bed.” Buck purposely held her foot still and unhooked the buckle. He set the one foot down and picked up the other.

  “Are you going to take me to bed?” she asked in a low, husky voice.

  Her fingers were suddenly in his hair, sending tiny sparks to course down his spine. His temperature rose several degrees and he had to remind himself she didn’t know what she was saying. “Cut it out,” he ordered and jerked his head away from her roaming hands.

  “You have nice hair,” she said, but obediently sat back against the couch again.

  He absently massaged her bare foot. “Where’d you two go anyway?”

  Sara reached up, lifted her heavy hair off her neck and closed her eyes as if she was tired. Her breasts caught his attention as they rose with her actions. The deep cleavage revealed the swells, including a peek at a satiny, nude-colored bra.

  “We went to Toby’s bus and hung out with his band for a few hours.”

  Her foot shifted and slid down his inner thigh. He tried to ignore it. She didn’t know she was that close to touching him. He kept his eyes on her face. Her toes wiggled against him again and he caught his breath. She had no clue what she was doing. She was drunk. He had to ignore her foot.

  She opened her eyes and grinned. “It was a blast. We were the only ones allowed there. We sang and laughed and then sang some more. Toby tells the funniest jokes.”

  She dropped her arms and her foot moved to rest directly on the zipper of his jeans. Buck jerked and brushed her foot down at the same time. Great, now he was hard.

  He stood up. “Come on, it’s late,” he urged, hoping he could just get her to her room and leave her there. After that little incident, there was no way he was strong enough to help her get undressed tonight; she’d have to sleep in what she was wearing. Her own fault.

  “Do you remember that night of the poker game?” she asked.

  Buck frowned. They’d agreed not to talk about that night anymore. Where was this question going? “What about it?”

  She shrugged and held his gaze. “I keep thinking about it.”

  “Why?” He sank back down to the couch next to her.

  She twisted around until she was so close he could feel the heat from her body. Her gaze fell to his mouth.

  “I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.”

  Buck’s heart skipped several beats. She had too much to drink and her mouth was running on overtime like it always did when she drank. Then again, maybe this was a good thing. If he was lucky, before she passed out, he could get some answers—like whether or not she really did regret it, or if it was only his imagination that she’d been as into it as he had. And he wouldn’t feel one bit guilty about it either; after all, she brought it up, and she was stupid enough to chase her beer with whiskey.

  He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face. Deliberately keeping his voice soft and coaxing, he asked, “Did you like it?”

  She gazed up from under her dark lashes. His heart squeezed at her slow nod. “Did you?”

  “You have no idea how much I liked it.”

  He caressed her cheek and she closed her eyes, rubbing her skin against his palm. Her lips were wet and red and he brushed his thumb across them. Her mouth slipped open and her tongue licked his thumb. His breath caught and hung as she opened her green eyes.

  When she leaned in towards him, he hesitated only a second before cupping her face in his hands and touching his lips to hers. He kissed her gently, a simple kiss, nothing more. A good night kiss, that was all. Then he’d help her to her room.

  But when her tongue traced tentatively over the seam of his lips, he didn’t hesitate this time and tipped his head, opening his mouth over hers. Sara’s hands slid across his shoulders and hooked around his neck. Her breasts pressed into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her to bring her even closer as their tongues danced together. His groin tightened as his pulse skyrocketed.

  No matter what she’d been drinking, she didn’t taste like a bar room. The faint trace of whiskey on her breath wasn’t at all unpleasant and, even if it had been, at that moment he wouldn’t have stopped. He’d wanted to kiss her again for so long and had thought of little else since that night.

  Her whimpers of pleasure were intoxicating as all hell when her tongue stroked his, tasting him, tempting him. As he stroked her back, her silky blouse came loose from her jeans. He pressed her against his chest and reveled in her breasts coming into full contact with his chest.

  Sara buried her fingers in his hair, and then she drew her hands down until she cradled his face. She left a trail of fire wherever she touched.

  This is wrong. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. He had to stop.

  And he would, in a minute. Just a kiss or two and then he’d stop and make her go to her room. He would never take advantage of any woman who was under the influence. The fact that this was Sara made it even more wrong and he’d never cross that line again—but a few kisses weren’t quite the same...just a few more minutes and then I’ll stop.

  She grabbed hold of the black material of his T-shirt and yanked until it came loose from his pants, then shoved her hands underneath. Buck shuddered when her palms made contact with his skin and her short nails brushed his nipples.

  Her mouth never stopped working its magic on his and he could hardly breathe. There was no hesitation on her part at all. Almost as if she’d been kissing him for years.

  His hands spanned her waist, fingers spread wide until they brushed the bottom edge of her bra. Sara instantly moaned and arched her back, thrusting her breasts towards his seeking hands.

  Buck froze. He shouldn’t. Kissing her was one thing, going to the next level was bad...right? She’d be so mad at him in the morning. Her hand reached between them and splayed across the bulging fly of his pants. Oh hell, screw it. Let her be mad. She started this. She was just lucky that he was who he was, and could trust that he wouldn’t go too far.

  He cupped her breast in his palm. She trembled and tore her mouth from his. But when he thought she’d jerk away, she kissed his neck instead, nibbling the soft spot near his collarbone. The hand she had under his shirt slid to his belly.

  Her breast was full in his hand and he pebbled the nipple even more, pulling on it through the material of her bra before lifting the cup that held his treasure to release it into his hand.

  “Hhmm,” she murmured and kissed her way back up his face to capture his mouth again. Sara pushed gently until he was half lying back against the cushions and straddled him.

  Uh-oh. No matter how great this felt to have her in his lap they were reaching dangerous territory. He had to stop no matter what.

  Buck released her breast and took his hand out from under her blouse. Pulling back slightly, he stared down into green eyes, glazed and full of hunger. Her hands settled flat on his chest as her own chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath.

  “Honey, come on, let’s get you to bed,” he urged and drew several long, steadying breaths.

  Her hands slid down to land on his fly. “Come with me,” she invited softly, holding his gaze.

  She popped open the snap on his jeans and Buck slapped his hand over hers. “Oh no, that would not be a good idea. You’ve had way too much to drink tonight and have no idea what you’re
doing.”

  Sara moved her hands away but, when he thought she’d let it go, began to unbutton her blouse instead. “I did have a lot to drink tonight, but I’m not drunk,” she said.

  It didn’t escape him that she tossed his words back—the same ones he’d said to her the night behind the barn. What game was she playing? Was this some weird revenge? Trying to see how far he’d go?

  “I’m afraid you really are, green eyes. Come on, I can taste it on you.” He patted her thigh trying to ignore the way temptation of her bared shoulders.

  Damn she was gorgeous. He couldn’t help but stare at the full swell of breasts barely covered in the sheer satin bra. Her fingers moved to the snap in between.

  He swallowed hard, prayed for strength, and reached out to grab her hand before she could go any further. “You might be mad at me tonight, but tomorrow you’re going to be very happy that I’m not doing this.”

  Music from the TV drifted around them and she began to move her shoulders in time to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ballad.

  She smiled. “Buck, I’m twenty five years old. I know exactly what I’m doing. Are you going to chicken out on me?”

  She brushed his hands away and popped the snap of her bra. Her breasts spilled out and he shut his eyes. He couldn’t take much more of this. “Sara, I don’t know what this is about. Maybe I’m convenient or something, I don’t know, but we’re not doing this.”

  “Do you know how many guys tried to hit on Charli and me tonight?”

  His eyes flew open and he wished they hadn’t. Red, round, hard nipples stood out against pale breasts...and they were the most beautiful mounds he’d ever seen in his life. He wanted nothing more than to bring one to his mouth and suckle.

  “Of...of course they h-hit on you,” he stuttered. “The two of you were the sexiest women in Houston tonight.”

  Sara’s hands pushed his shirt up to caress his belly. His hand shook as he involuntarily reached for her breast and weighed the sweet mass in his palm.

  She shuddered. “Who was sexier? Me or Charli?”