“Prego Trail is over a mile away,” Austin grumbled.
Considering his suddenly urgent tone and the steamy lust in the truck, McCall probably shouldn’t have unhooked her seat belt so she could give him some neck kisses. And she used her tongue. That seemed to be the tipping point for Austin because he cursed and pulled to the side of the road. The moment he had his truck in Park, he hauled her to him.
And that’s when the real kissing began.
Mouth-to-mouth. Deep and extremely satisfying. Well, satisfying in that it sent her need level spearing through the roof. Mercy, she wanted him, but this was the kind of heat that could lead to a lot more than making out. That’s why McCall finally leaned back when she had to break for air. Of course, she couldn’t lean far because she was sandwiched between Austin and the steering wheel.
She automatically glanced around. They were alone on the road, and they were far enough from town that anyone driving there wouldn’t be able to see them. That didn’t mean, though, someone couldn’t come driving up.
That only added to the thrill.
Which obviously wasn’t good. She definitely didn’t need for Austin and her to get caught acting like horny teenagers. Or horny adults for that matter.
“We didn’t get to do any of this when we were fake dating,” she reminded him, saying the first thing that popped into her head. Clearly, she should have come up with something a whole lot better.
“We can make up for that, and this time it won’t be fake.” Oh, there was that drawl. The slow husky voice that pulled her right in. Then again, his breathing could pull her in, too.
“The clothes have to stay on,” she reminded him.
Her breath was gusting. Her body on fire. And the only reason she’d said that to him was to force herself to remember that it was one of the rules. Rules that she’d laid out.
Stupid rules.
Really stupid, she decided when Austin went after her neck again. But he didn’t just kiss. No, not Austin. He was obviously a multitasker when it came to this sort of thing. While his mouth was busy on her neck, his hand got plenty busy on the front of her shirt. He touched her breasts, cupping her, swiping his thumb over her very hard, very erect nipple.
“I didn’t check the time to see how we’re doing with our sixty minutes,” she said. The comment was mixed with moans, and lots of rustling-around sounds as McCall wiggled closer to Austin.
Using the F-word, he told her what he thought of their time limit. Or maybe he was telling her what he wanted to do to her. Either way, McCall didn’t protest. She just let him touch and didn’t blink when he ran his hand under her shirt and pushed down the cups of her bra. It wasn’t clothing removal, not really, but it was just as effective. And it whittled down even more of her quickly dwindling willpower.
“We should slow down,” she managed to say despite everything inside her yelling that slow wasn’t the way to go here.
Austin did stop kissing her, but he didn’t move his fingers that were now pinching her nipple. “Sixty minutes,” he said. McCall knew the tone of someone trying to convince themselves that he could get through this.
She nodded. “It’s hard...” Then she had to laugh because there was indeed some hardness going on. His erection was pressed against her thigh. “I mean, in high school it was easier to say we can’t do this.”
“Really?” There was just enough moonlight for her to see the corner of his mouth lift into a smile. “And how easy is it now?”
“Not easy at all,” she admitted. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be really good at sex. You’re certainly a good kisser.” She paused. “I just need you to be sure.”
McCall figured his silence meant he was coming up with a whopper of an argument. One that would toss the rules and get them at least partially naked. But he kissed her again. And slid his hand from her breasts down to her jeans. Not inside them. However, his fingers created some mind-blowing sensations even through the fabric of her jeans and panties.
“I want you to be sure, too,” he drawled.
There might have been clothing barriers between his touching and the center of her body, but it was almost as effective as him being inside her.
Almost.
McCall was certain full-blown sex with Austin would be off the pleasure scale. For now, though, he was doing an amazing job taking her to the point of begging.
“You want about fifty more minutes of this?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure she could take five more seconds without having what she was sure would be an amazing climax, but McCall didn’t like that it would all be one-sided. That’s why she ground herself against his erection. It was incredibly easy to find, and she pushed his hand out of the way to give them both the contact.
This was so high school.
So good, too.
It felt naughty, necessary and incredible all at once. Austin upped that, too, by hooking his arm around her butt and moving her in just the right way. The right pressure. The right place, and just like that, the orgasm was on her before McCall could do anything to stop it.
She heard herself make a gasp of pleasure, and the climax rippled through her. Except it was much more than ripples. It stole her breath. Turned her body limp. And she collapsed against him.
McCall took a moment to come back down so she could do the same to Austin, but when she pushed her hips forward again, he stopped her. The kiss he gave her was different from the other ones. There was no urgency in it. Just a long slow kiss that felt like icing on top of the cake of a climax he’d just given her.
“I want you to be sure, too,” he repeated. Then his gaze connected with hers. “Come and see me tomorrow and let me know what you decide.”
With that shocker barely out of his mouth, Austin moved her off his lap and turned around to take her back home.
* * *
AUSTIN WAS TRYING very hard to focus on work. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t have plenty of that.
As soon as Edith and Howie had picked up the girls for their usual day out with them, Austin had dived right in and done some training with three of the horses. That had taken all of the morning. Then going over the bills and contracts had taken nearly an hour, but he could have done that in half the time if he hadn’t been checking his phone every few minutes to see if McCall had texted him.
She hadn’t.
He tried, and failed, not to read too much into that. After all, it was only early afternoon, and maybe she was using the time she needed to think about what’d happened in his truck.
I want you to be sure, too.
Yep, that’s what he’d told her, all right, and it’d been the right thing to say. At the moment, though, with his body in knots and his mind on McCall, he was wishing he hadn’t offered her an out. He didn’t want McCall taking an out. He wanted her in his bed. Or in his truck. Hell, he just wanted her.
Cursing himself and his honorable streak, Austin signed the contract that’d taken him way too long to read and process. Callen Laramie, a cattleman in nearby Wrangler’s Creek, wanted to lease one of Austin’s pastures that he wasn’t currently using. Callen wanted to bring in some quarter horses for the rest of the summer and into the fall. It’d give Austin some solid revenue for his ranch along with establishing business ties with Callen. Signing the contract was a no-brainer, but it had apparently taken Austin’s brain longer than usual to figure that out.
Austin scanned the signed contract, fired it off to Callen’s office and then he practically jumped up from the desk when he heard some movement in the front of the house.
“I’m heading out now,” Sharla Beech called out to him. Not McCall but rather the housekeeper he had come in once a week. “You’ve got company,” she added. “Someone just pulled up.”
Finally. That was Austin’s first thought, but he tried to tamp down everything he was feeling so he could go to the fron
t door. Then he had to tamp down some serious cursing when he saw his visitor. Again, it wasn’t McCall.
It was Cody Joe.
Austin couldn’t say that Cody Joe was the absolute last person on earth he wanted to see, but he was in the top five. His father, serial killers, door-to-door salesmen and his in-laws topped that list.
“Hey, Austin,” the man greeted. He smiled as if there was something to smile about. “How’s that pony?”
Austin skipped the niceties and went with a snarled question. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in rehab or something?”
“Was in rehab,” Cody Joe corrected, walking toward the porch where Austin was standing. “I got switched to being an outpatient so I can finish up my counseling.”
Austin didn’t know how long inpatient treatment was supposed to last for a sex addiction, but it didn’t seem as if Cody Joe had been there nearly long enough. Plus, Cody Joe still had that cocky-assed smile, the kind that made Austin think that he believed therapy was all a joke, anyway.
“So, how’s the pony?” Cody Joe repeated. “What’d your kids name him?”
Austin had no intention of explaining that the girls hadn’t actually agreed on that, and the Shetland was being called Rose-Poopy Head. So, he went with a repeat of his own question. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I was wondering if McCall was around so I could talk to her about, um, some things,” Cody Joe went on. “I was just at her gran’s place, and she said she thought McCall was coming over to see you.”
“She’s not here.” But maybe that meant she was heading to his place. If so, seeing Cody Joe wouldn’t make her visit pleasant. At least, Austin didn’t think it would. McCall had seemed awfully pissed off at Cody Joe for costing her foundation donors.
“Any idea where I can find her?” Cody Joe pressed. “It’s real important that I talk to her.”
Austin shook his head, and even though Cody Joe came up on the porch, Austin didn’t invite him in.
Cody Joe sighed and pulled off his hat so he could rake his hand through his hair. “I really messed up with her, and I need to fix things.” He looked Austin straight in the eyes. “Can you help me fix things?”
Austin wasn’t sure whether to groan or huff so he did both. “How or why would you think I’d do that?”
Cody Joe didn’t seem offended by the question or Austin’s growled tone. “Because you’re McCall’s friend.”
That was the lamest excuse in the history of lame excuses. “Yeah, she’s my friend, and I don’t want her hurt.” Hell, that’s what last night was all about—not hurting McCall—and he damn sure didn’t want this idiot stepping in to do more damage.
Of course, Austin might not have a say in that.
He’d given McCall some thinking time, and she just might use that time to decide that she didn’t want him any more than she wanted Cody Joe.
“I don’t want her hurt, either,” Cody Joe went on. He paused. “Say, do you think you can help me get back together with McCall?”
Good grief. Austin groaned again, huffed and moaned. “Every level of hell would freeze first before I even considered doing something like that.”
Now, Cody Joe seemed offended. His shoulders went back. His forehead bunched up, and Austin would have made a significant bet that Cody Joe was about to launch into all the reasons why that’d be a good idea.
Really stupid reasons, no doubt.
But there wasn’t time for arguing his really stupid points because at that exact moment McCall drove up.
Despite Cody Joe’s presence, Austin was both happy and relieved to see her. He couldn’t say the same for McCall, though. She practically skidded to a stop when her attention landed on Cody Joe, and then she stormed out of her car.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, aiming her narrowed gaze at Cody Joe.
“I was hoping Austin would help me get you back.” Either Cody Joe was an idiot or... Yeah, an idiot, all right, because he went to McCall with outstretched arms as if ready to hug her.
“Get back with me?” she said, batting his hands away. “There’s no chance of that, and you shouldn’t have come here to pester Austin.”
Cody Joe sighed. “You’re still mad at me,” he muttered, taking stating the obvious to a whole new level.
“Yes, I am,” McCall verified. “And I’m especially not happy about you trying to drag Austin into this.”
“Well, your granny said you might be here with him so it’s obvious he’s your friend.” Cody Joe stopped, his gaze suddenly whipping between the two of them. Then he huffed and put his hands on his hips. “Say, there’s not something going on between you two, is there?”
Obviously, there were a few brain cells in Cody Joe’s head, after all, but Austin didn’t respond. He just waited for McCall to take the lead on this.
“My relationship with Austin is none of your business,” she snapped.
Even though this wasn’t anything to celebrate, Austin had to fight back a smile. A relationship sounded like a good start to him and was a hell of a lot better than McCall and him just being friends.
“Of course it’s my business,” Cody Joe argued. “You’re my business. I care about you, McCall.”
She didn’t exactly roll her eyes, but it was close. “I suspect you care more about how your mother’s reacting to all of this. I can’t imagine that Alisha is happy about how things turned out.”
“She’s not.” Cody Joe lowered his head, shook it. “But my mom’s not the only reason I want you back. We were good together, McCall. We belong together.”
This time she did fully roll her eyes, and Austin could see that she was having a battle between reason and a temper tantrum. Even though it wouldn’t accomplish anything, he was rooting for the temper to win out. This cocky ass needed to be taken down a few notches.
“No, we don’t belong together,” McCall assured him. Her words were low and had just a you’re treading in shark-infested water warning to them. “You publicly embarrassed not only me but also the foundation. I might be able to forgive you for the first but not the second. And even if I did forgive you,” she quickly added, “I wouldn’t be getting back together with you.”
“But, McCall—” That was as far as Cody Joe got because she cut him off with a nasty glare.
“You’re leaving,” she told him. “And I’ll begin the paperwork to sever ties with you on the foundation.”
For a couple of moments, Cody Joe just looked dazed as if McCall had slugged him with her fist and not just her words. “You can’t,” he eked out.
“Oh, yes, I can.” No eke for McCall. Her voice was steady and firm. “And don’t bring up how much this will disappoint your mother. I know it will, but after what you did, I don’t think she’ll blame me.”
Austin could almost hear her adding an “I hope not, anyway” to that.
Cody Joe stared at her for a long time. “You’d really do this? Miss Watermelon meant nothing to me.”
McCall sighed. “That’s the problem with you, Cody Joe. It meant nothing, and yet it blew up in our faces. Because of that meant nothing stunt, the foundation lost thousands of dollars in donations.”
Cody Joe opened his mouth, closed it. Then, by degrees, his stare turned to a glare. Obviously, it was sinking in that he’d just screwed up by screwing around.
“Ditching me won’t help with those foundation donations,” he snapped. “And it won’t help with my mother.”
“No,” McCall admitted. Now, there was an even deeper sigh and resignation in her voice. “But as far as I’m concerned, a clean break is the only way to go. I’ll get that paperwork started first thing in the morning.”
That definitely didn’t help with Cody Joe’s glare, and he turned it on Austin. “You need to talk some sense into her.”
“McCall sounds p
retty sensible to me.” Austin went to stand beside her for some moral support.
Cody Joe made a few flustered sounds that were part snarl, part growl. He glanced around as if looking for something, anything, that would help his current lousy situation before his attention slowly came back to them.
“Peekaboo,” Cody Joe spat out like profanity. His eyes flared when he looked at McCall. “Does your boyfriend here know about that?”
“I do,” Austin volunteered. He was doing some glaring of his own now because he was dead certain he knew where this was going.
Apparently, so did McCall because she shook her head and muttered a barely audible, “No.”
“Yeah,” Cody Joe said with what Austin could only describe as a thoroughly pissed-off smile. “Ditch me and everybody for miles around will know the secret you’ve been trying to keep.” Sneering now, he leaned in. “Just how many donations will you lose when folks hear you own a strip club, huh?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MCCALL WATCHED CODY JOE storm away and back to his truck. He didn’t wait around for her to respond to his question, but she knew the answer.
Just how many donations will you lose when folks hear you own a strip club?
Plenty. That’s how many donations she’d lose, and she had the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“Wait up,” Austin called out to Cody Joe, and he hurried after him.
McCall seriously doubted that Austin had a civil conversation in mind. Not with the anger practically coming off him in waves. Nope. This could lead to some shouts, maybe even some punches, and it wouldn’t resolve anything. However, it could make things worse not just for her but for all three of them. Trying to deal with Cody Joe right now would be like pouring kerosene on an already blazing fire.
“No,” McCall told Austin, and she ended up running after him.
Austin made it to Cody Joe ahead of her, and he caught on to Cody Joe’s arm, whirling him back around to face them. Cody Joe must have taken the move as a threat because he tried to connect his right fist with Austin’s jaw. Austin dodged it and muscled Cody Joe against his truck.
Chasing Trouble in Texas Page 14
