“Welcome to our booming metropolis,” Griff declared, pointing to the snow covered sign.
“Dubois city limit. Population one thousand fifty three,” Cassidy read aloud. “Is this really the whole town?’ she asked as they drove down the main street lined with false front buildings and old time hitching posts. “It looks just like a western movie set.”
“It does at that, Griff said. “And we like to keep it that way because it draws the tourists. You hungry?” he asked.
“Actually yes.”
“Then we’ll stop. There are several good places here. Just diner food, but it’s decent.”
“Diner food sounds great. I was afraid I’d be eating out of cans until you showed up.”
“Jackson has plenty of delivery options,” he countered, as he pulled in front of the Cowboy Cafe and parked the truck.
“Even on Christmas Day?” she asked.
“You got me there,” he replied, adding with a grin. “You just might have been stuck with Peking Duck.”
She chuckled at his reference to A Christmas Story. “Should you call your family?” she asked. “It’s getting late. They might be worried, given the bad weather.”
“You’re probably right,” he agreed. “I’ll text Denise that we’re running late.” He sent the text and then pocketed the phone. A moment later he opened her door to help her out of the truck. Their eyes met as he lifted her down. Once more she got a whiff of his unique and intoxicating musky, woodsy scent, so much more appealing than any designer inspired cologne. She breathed it in, wishing she could bottle it.
Griff held the door as they entered the cafe, a rustic log cabin with about a dozen scattered tables covered with red checkered cloths. He followed her inside and turned her around to face him as he gently brushed the snowflakes from her hair. It was a thoughtful gesture that she was coming to realize was just part of his nature. Griff took care of the people who mattered to him. Although their acquaintance had been short, she had no doubt he’d taken her under his protective wing...and it was a really nice place to be, especially after having always come in second to Doug’s wants and needs.
“We’ll take that table over there,” he said, pointing to a spot close to the blazing hearth. He pulled out her chair and helped her out of her coat.
A middle-aged waitress appeared almost instantly, a pot of coffee in hand. “Looks like we’re in for some real weather. How’re you doing’, Griff?”
“I’m great. How ’bout you Emma?”
“Can’t complain. Can I warm you up with some coffee?”
“I’d love some,” Cassidy said.
“Know what you’re havin’?” Emma asked.
“What are the specials?” Griff asked.
“We got a Buffalo Gal burger tonight. That’s a half pound bison patty with bacon and cheddar. It comes with chili cheddar fries for $9.99. We’ve also got the Wyoming Wild platter. That’s spicy elk and smoked bison sausage served with grilled onions and peppers. That comes with the veggie of the day and cowboy potatoes for $12.99.”
“Need a menu?” the waitress asked Cassidy.
“Are you kidding?” Cassidy laughed. “I’ve never tried bison before but you had me at bacon. I’ll have the Buffalo Gal burger.”
“And I’ll take the Wyoming Wild platter with the cowboy potatoes,” Griff said. “You really do have a thing for pork, don’t you?” he remarked with a slow head shake after Emma left to fill the order.
Cassidy grinned. “My grandparents raised hogs. For the record, Texas may have the best brisket, but no one beats the Carolina’s for pork barbecue. Sadly, for the past eight years, bacon and sausage have been completely restricted from my diet.”
“I don’t get it.” He frowned. “Was it a religious thing?”
“Lord no!” She laughed. “A low cholesterol thing. Doug insisted on it. I chose to believe he just wanted us to be healthy. Maybe that was true, but he also controlled almost everything I did.”
“Sounds despotic to me.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “But it took me a long time to see it that way. I was young and very impressionable when we met. I really looked up to him. It was almost hero worship. Do you eat here often?” she asked, eager to change the subject.
“Yeah. I guess you could call me a regular. I usually come for breakfast though. I stop in after making my weekly run to the ranching co-op. Best breakfast around.”
They continued with small talk until the food arrived. Hands down, the burger was the best she’d ever had. Griff watched with an amused look as she squirted a big blob of ketchup on her chili cheese fries. “You want some?” She pushed her plate towards him.
“No thanks. I can’t eat anything that looks like that.”
‘Whadaya mean?”
“It’s really messy.”
“Oh?” She arched her brows and leaned toward him, elbows propped on the table. “You don’t like to get messy, Griff?”
“I like messy all right, sweetheart.” He reached out with his thumb and wiped a smear of ketchup from the corner of her mouth, but rather than using a napkin, he licked it off while giving her a slow smoldering look. “Just not on my plate.”
Cassidy stared back at him for a long, breathless moment. She’d been attracted to him from the very start, but with that single gesture he’d taken their playful innuendo to a whole different level. She knew it would be dangerous as hell, but she couldn’t resist firing back. “I’m a very messy girl, Griff. I love to get dirty.” With her gaze locked on his she slowly licked the ketchup off the length of her next fry before popping it into her mouth.
“You’re killing me.” He shifted in his seat on a muffled groan. “How can you expect me to act like a gentleman if you tease me like that?”
“But you started it.”
“Maybe so, but now you’ve got me wanting like hell to finish it.”
“Is that all it takes to get you worked up, Griff?” she asked.
“It’s been a real long time.”
Emma returned with the check in one hand and the coffee pot in the other. “Refill for the road?” she asked.
“No thanks, Emma,” Griff replied tersely, not taking his eyes off Cassidy.
“I’m good too,” Cassidy echoed, dropping her gaze to her coffee cup under Griff’s intense stare.
Emma placed the tab in front of Griff. “Then I’ll just take this whenever you’re ready.”
Griff slouched back in his chair, still eyeing Cassidy levelly. He said nothing for a long time and then abruptly rose, fished some bills out of his wallet, and slapped them down on the table. “We’ll finish this in private. Let’s go.”
The moment she stood, she felt his hand on the small of her back. Tension resonated through her body as his deep voice murmured low in her ear. “You got a reprieve, but don’t think we’re done talking about this.”
Her nerves remained on edge as he helped her back into the truck. The space between them pulsed in a palpable current of tension as he joined her inside. For several painful heartbeats Griff sat in complete silence. “So what’s it gonna be?” he finally asked. “I need to know where this is headed.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m talking about you and me, Cassidy. This has gone way beyond friendly flirting. I don’t go for these kind of games.”
“I’m sorry, Griff, about running hot and cold. I didn’t mean to lead you on. I’m just really confused about what I’m feeling right now. I’m incredibly attracted to you, but I just don’t know if I’m ready for this. I don’t do hookups. It’s not who I am.” But it was becoming harder to remember that every time he looked at her.
“I don’t do hookups either,” he said flatly. “But that’s not what this is about.”
“How can it be anything else when we’ve only known each other a couple of days?”
“It’s not the amount of time that counts,” he said. “It’s the situation. This is different. We’re not just random strangers.”
She looked up, searching his face, and licking lips that suddenly felt dry. “I feel that way too,” she said softly. “That this is different.”
He tossed his hat in the back and clawed a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what you want, Cassidy. Do you still want to come with me to the ranch or do you want me to take you back to Jackson?”
“Take me back?” she repeated in surprise. “Why?”
“I figured you might be needing some space.”
“Is that what you want?” she asked.
“No.” He inhaled and released his breath on a long sigh. “But I think this is going to be all kinds of awkward now, so the choice is yours.”
“No, Griff. I don’t want to go back.” It was time to set things straight. Griff had been nothing but forthright and deserved the same from her. “The truth is...” She took a fortifying breath and whispered, “I want you too.”
His pupils flared. He leaned over the center console, cupped the back of her head and drew her to him. She shut her eyes on the lightly abrading sensation of his beard bristle brushing against her face, before his mouth closed over hers. The kiss began softly but swiftly increased in intensity as their lips melded. His big, calloused hands held her face as his hot tongue traced the seam of her lips, demanding entrance. She parted, moaning into his mouth at the first electrifying touch of his tongue. The slick slide of their tangling tongues sent wild tremors along every nerve. Holding nothing back, she threw her arms around his neck and flung herself headlong into the drugging sensation of Griff’s hungry mouth. His kiss awakened desires that had been dormant for far too long. A raw and raging need to touch him clawed at her insides. She reached under his jacket, groping blindly at his shirt in a fevered frenzy to feel the heat of his naked skin beneath her fingers.
He grabbed her hands and disengaged from the kiss with a groan. His breathing was ragged and his eyes were dilated, almost black. “As much as it pains me, we need to put the brakes on. We can’t do this parked in the middle of Main Street.”
“How far to your ranch?” she asked, breathlessly.
“Eight miles,” he replied. “It’s usually less than a fifteen minute drive but it’ll probably take half an hour or more in this mess. I’d be burning rubber to get there if we weren’t in the middle of a damned blizzard.” Griff started the engine, mumbling under his breath. “This is going to be the longest fucking drive of my life.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE NEXT twenty minutes were excruciating as Griff forced himself to keep his hands on the wheel, and off the woman beside him, especially when she slid closer, resting her head on his shoulder. His body tensed when her hand softly landed on his upper thigh. He slanted her a warning look. “Go any higher and you’re likely to land us in a ditch. I’m only keeping it together by a thread.” He was already aroused enough. He released one hand from the wheel to give hers a squeeze and then moved it to a safer place, closer to his knee. “If you make another move like that they’re going to find this truck buried in a snowbank with our bodies joined together and frozen stiff.”
“You’re really that distracted?” she asked with a teasing laugh.
“Told you it’s been a long time,” he answered gruffly.
“Here it is,” Griff announced as he pulled the truck through the huge gate that marked the entrance to Stone’s Creek Ranch. It had stopped snowing, but a heavy blanket of it covered the landscape to the distant horizon where bright white met inky black sky. He drove past a sprawling two story log home to a small cluster of rustic cabins, until the truck was buried almost to the bumper in snow. He parked in front of the first one, which had light glowing through the window, and a thin billow of smoke spiraling from the chimney.
“This is my place,” he said.
“You live in a guest cabin?” she asked.
“Yeah. I love the kids, but I also cherish peace and quiet and a degree of privacy. Kaden has become my shadow since his dad’s been gone. I can’t even take a sh—bathroom break,” he corrected, “without him stalking me.”
She laughed. “I can only imagine how that must be.” Her brows suddenly merged in a frown. “Wait a minute. This is not how you proposed this invitation to me. You said I’d have my own cabin. You never said anything about staying with you.”
Shit. What a dumbass he was! It never occurred to him how this would look to her.
“I know how it appears, but please don’t jump to conclusions,” he said. “It was easier to let you have my place than to try to get another cabin ready on such short notice. If it sets you at ease, I was not planning to stay with you. I was going to crash up at the house for the next couple of nights. If that’s what you want, I’ll grab my stuff.”
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not what I want. I’m fine now that you explained. I just didn’t like the idea that you’d taken me for granted.”
He shook his head with a soft laugh. “Believe me when I tell you I would never take a woman like you for granted.” It was the truth. She was everything he found desirable in a woman—smart, sexy, impulsive, and funny. She was also soft, sweet, vulnerable, and almost completely unaware of how gorgeous she was. He was attracted in a way he’d never experienced with any other woman. He wanted her, but it went much deeper than that.
“Now that we got that settled. Wanna go inside?” he asked. She suddenly looked tense, and far too much like a skittish filly ready to bolt. Had she changed her mind? “Second thoughts?” he asked.
“No.” She offered up a weak smile. “Just jitters. It’s been a long time for me too. “Probably over a year and a half.”
“But I thought you’d only divorced ten months ago.”
“Yes,” she said. “But the romance ended well before that. By the end, we’d both lost interest in intimacy.”
“What a fucking fool he was not to appreciate you.” He couldn’t understand how any sane man would ever have let her go.
“It was as much my fault as his,” she said. “Relationships are a two way street.”
“Did you refuse him?” he asked.
“No,” she sighed. “I never exactly refused, but I stopped trying. When his hours got longer he didn’t seem interested. I didn’t like feeling as if I pressured him for sex.”
“Wait a minute.” He shook his head with a scowl. “Are you saying you were the one to initiate it?”
“More often than not,” she said.
What a dick. What man wouldn’t want to have this incredible woman in his bed every night?
“No wonder you left him.”
“It wasn’t only about sex, Griff... or lack of it.”
“Maybe not, but if he was really doing right by you... or maybe I should say doing you right, you would’ve felt more appreciated. Hell, if he’d applied himself properly to making you feel loved, you wouldn’t have had the strength to dial a lawyer.”
She responded with a dry laugh. “I doubt he would have had to put that much effort into it. I’m not that hard to please.”
That remark said a lot. “Aren’t you?” he asked. “Or have you just learned to settle for whatever you can get?”
“What do you mean?”
“Given the selfish prick you were married to...I just gotta wonder....”
“Are you asking if he satisfied me?”
“Did he?” Griff asked. “Did he give you everything you wanted?”
Her cheeks colored. “I don’t really see how that’s any of your business.”
Her reaction told him everything he needed to know. “You’re wrong there, sweetheart. I’m about to make it my business. Matter-of- fact, I plan to spend the next few hours in single-minded dedication to it.” He was almost salivating to get his hands and mouth on her luscious naked body. The thought of it filled his mind with erotic visions of her splayed out on her back with her mile long legs hugging his flanks, of him taking her on all fours and watching himself pump in and out of her...
“Hours?” she asked.
“It’s cold out here.” He nodded to the cabin. “Ready to go in?”
“Griff? What about the morning?” she asked.
“What about it?”
“When you don’t show up at the house. Won’t they wonder about you and me?”
“They can wonder all they like,” he said. “I think Denise already suspects something, but I promise there won’t be any embarrassing questions. You don’t have to meet them if you don’t want to.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just don’t want it to be awkward. I don’t want to give them a bad impression of me.”
“I’ll take care of it, Cassidy. Please trust me. I want to take care of you.” His warm lips brushed over hers, sealing his promise with a kiss.
***
I want to take care of you. Her throat tightened as Griff’s softly spoken words echoed in her mind. It felt like he’d answered her deepest need—to be cared for and cherished, for once in her life to have someone who put her needs and desires first.
She glanced down with a frown when he opened the passenger door for her. The snow was halfway to his kness and she wore only one boot. Before she could even ask him, Griff lifted her into his arms. Instead of protesting as she had the first time he carried her, she threw hers around his neck, clinging tightly to his big, strong body. Still holding her, Griff fumbled to unlock the door with a mumbled curse.
“You can put me down if you like,” she suggested. They were under the shelter of the porch where she didn’t have to worry about the snow.
“I like you just where you are,” he answered. Pressing her back against the door, he gave her a kiss that left her reeling. The door finally gave, with the assistance of his booted foot. He stomped the snow from his boots and entered the single room cabin, setting her down on the bed that occupied one wall. “Are you warm enough?” he asked.
A Cowboy's Midnight Kiss (Romancing the Stones) Page 6
