Cowboy to the Core

by Maisey Yates

  He was so...large and so very...male. And that had never once been something that seemed foreign to her. She’d grown up surrounded by big, masculine men. But Gabe seemed like another species right then. Something she had no experience with, and when he got in closer to her, the proximity made her dizzy.

  “You don’t have a clue what you want, do you?” he pressed, those blue eyes like shards of glass, embedding themselves beneath her skin and making her feel hot all over.

  “That’s bullshit,” she said. “I...I know what I want.”

  “And what is that?”

  “For you to tell Crystal to go away.”

  He arched a brow. “So that you can take her place?”

  A wave of heat rolled over her face. “I don’t know about that part yet,” she snapped.

  “Jamie Dodge, do you not know something?”

  “All right, maybe I don’t know everything. But I know enough to know that whatever I decided to do, it’ll all be fine. I know what I want, in the sense that I know that I want to go pro in the rodeo. I know that I want to get out of here. I don’t want what McKenna and Bea have. I don’t want to sit there and compare wedding rings and whatever. I’d like to live a little, though.”

  “Are you propositioning me?”

  His eyes were intense and blue, and they cut straight through her armor, and there was an answer she wanted to give, but it scared her.

  “I don’t know,” she said, making as good of friends with that word as she could.

  She felt frozen and unsure and she hated it. So very, very much. But she wasn’t brave enough to say anything more.

  “Get back to me when you do.”

  And then Gabe Dalton turned and walked back into the bar, and for the first time in her memory, Jamie Dodge stood frozen, unsure of what she wanted, or how to get it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  GABE WENT BACK into the bar and walked right up to Crystal.

  He’d had every intention of proceeding with his plan when he’d left Jamie standing outside. Never mind that what he had been attempting to do had felt a whole lot like trying to force himself to eat broccoli when what he really wanted was cake.

  And it was a damn thing, because honestly, very few men would look at Crystal and see broccoli. But for some reason, his entire world felt like it was standing on its head and...

  He wasn’t even all that pissed off about it.

  Not like he should be.

  Because Jamie was interesting. She had a passion about her, and it had touched something inside him he hadn’t accessed in years.

  And she’d gone and made him feel. Made him feel things about the ranch, the horses, about the life he’d left all those years before.

  And then she’d done this. Walked up and broken into his routine. And it was a routine, no doubt about it. The same kind he’d performed out on the circuit. Crystal was just his type. Game for a good time and playing a part, just like he was.

  Not Jamie.

  Jamie had walked right up and started talking about taking a horse’s temperature.

  He’d had to take her outside and be real with her, and he couldn’t seem to find his way back into character now.

  He’d...he’d almost kissed Jamie Dodge. And now her face, her mouth, was all he could think about.

  He bit back a curse as he faced Crystal. “I think we both know this isn’t going to work out.”

  Crystal frowned, the expression more of an adorable pout. Of course it was. She was the kind of woman who could make a sulk pretty. Not a boot-stomping terror.

  And yet.

  “Because of that horse girl?”

  “I think so,” he said, knowing his tone sounded about as defeated as he felt.

  She lifted a shoulder. “Everybody has their kinks, I guess,” the woman said, looking him up and down.

  Then she turned and walked away, clearly pissed off. He looked over at the table where Jamie had been with her friends and saw that it was still empty.

  He could still see her standing outside the bar, her arms crossed over her chest, her head bent low.

  And right about then something snapped inside him. Then a fire began to blaze. One that was unlike any he’d felt in far too long. It wasn’t just sex. Not just attraction.

  It was a spark. Interest. Intrigue.

  She made him want.

  It had been a long damn time since he’d wanted.

  It had all started with her. Her and the horses. Her on the ranch.

  Just her.

  Jamie Dodge had brought something to life inside him, and she was the one who had to manage it now.

  And he didn’t think much beyond the next step he took, and he didn’t let himself think beyond the next one, or the next. He threw the door open and went back outside, and Jamie looked up, her ponytail whipping around as she did.

  “What?” she asked.

  He looked up and down the street and saw that it was mostly empty. Then he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her around the corner, pushing her up against the brick wall of the saloon.

  “You sure like coming up to me guns blazing, Jamie Dodge. Just saying whatever it is that’s on your mind. No concern for the fallout of it. Well, all things considered, I’m pretty sick of keeping myself on a leash.”

  He cupped her face, and in the dim light he could see that she was staring up at him, her eyes wide. And then, without letting another breath go by, he dipped his head, and his lips crushed up against Jamie Dodge’s.

  They were soft.

  Good God, she was soft.

  He didn’t know what he had expected.

  Prickles, maybe.

  But no, her lips were the softest, sweetest thing he’d felt in a long time. It was like a flash of light had gone off and erased everything in his brain like all his thoughts had been printed on an old-school film roll.

  There was nothing.

  Nothing beyond the sensation of her skin beneath his fingertips, the feel of her mouth under his. She was frozen beneath his touch, and he shifted, tilting his head to the side and darting his tongue out, flicking it against the seam of her lips.

  She gasped, and he took advantage of that, getting entry into that pretty mouth so he could taste her, deep and long, and exactly how he’d been fantasizing about.

  Oh, those fantasies hadn’t been a fully realized scroll of images. No. It had been a feeling.

  An invisible band of tension that had stretched between them in small spaces of time.

  In the leap of panic in his heart when he’d seen her fall from the horse earlier today.

  It had been embedded in all of those things and he hadn’t realized exactly what it meant he wanted until the right moment. And then suddenly, it was like her shock transformed into something else entirely.

  She arched toward him, her breasts pressing against his chest, her hands coming up to his face. She thrust her chin upward, making the kiss harder, deeper. He drove his tongue deep, sliding it against hers, and she made a small sound like a whimpering kitten. The smallest sound he’d ever heard Jamie Dodge make.

  He pulled away from her, nipped her lower lip and then pressed his mouth to hers one more time before releasing his hold.

  She looked dazed. He felt about how she looked.

  “I thought about it,” he said. “And I realized I couldn’t let this one go. I let you criticize my riding, question my authority, but I wasn’t about to let you get away with cock-blocking me, telling me you’re jealous and then telling me you don’t know if you want me. So I figured maybe I’d give you something to think about.”

  * * *

  HE HAD KISSED HER. With his lips. His teeth. His tongue. Kissed her in a way she hadn’t really understood kissing could be done. And by the time she’d fully realized she was being kissed, it was over. And she really didn’
t know what to do, or what to think.

  Gabe was gone, but she hadn’t seen if he’d gone back into the bar, or if he’d left entirely. And she really wasn’t sure exactly what she hoped. If she wanted to push him. If she wanted to see what might happen if she chased him down. If she found him. Or if she wanted to run and hide like the sad, ignorant little virgin she suspected she might be, after all.

  Her lips burned. Her body burned.

  Kissing was not like she’d thought it might be.

  His whiskers had been rough; his hands had probably left bruises behind where he had held her.

  And frankly, she hadn’t understood why a person would want someone else’s tongue in their mouth. No matter how many times people had giggled about French kissing in the halls at school or she’d seen Bea get all dreamy over a passionate kiss from Dane...she just hadn’t understood.

  Not until Gabe.

  And then she had felt...like if he really wanted to consume her that way, he was welcome to do it.

  Her whole body felt overly sensitive, lit up. From the inside out.

  She ached for more. To have Gabe put his hands on her. All over her.

  And actually, that was an exhilarating discovery.

  Kissing hadn’t been at all like she’d thought.

  It was better.

  So much better.

  Yes, it had been proved that she didn’t know everything about sex, but she had to concede now that the idea of it was a hell of a lot more fun than she had imagined it could be.

  She’d often thought of sex from the point of view of men.

  After all, that was what her life was full of. A whole bunch of men.

  And while she knew that a lot of women liked that, a lot of them seemed to not like it so much, and she had always suspected that there was some kind of...trade happening with it. Like they were agreeing to do it just because they wanted the guy around, and maybe they liked the attention. And Jamie had kind of imagined none of that would be a good enough reason for her to get naked with someone.

  But she felt...

  Right.

  Her breasts were heavy, her nipples tingling, and she was wet between her legs.

  She’d never felt this before. Ever.

  She knew what it meant but she’d never experienced it. And she’d never had...had these urges before.

  She had wanted to...to strip his clothes off right then and there. To do things that she had never thought she’d be into at all.

  Her head buzzing with these revelations, Jamie peeled herself off the brick wall and headed toward the saloon on unsteady legs, trying to avoid the uneven patches in the sidewalk and wondering why more drunk girls in heels didn’t fall down out here.

  She pushed the door open and made her way back over to the table. Beatrix and McKenna turned to her with a comic attention, their glittering hands clasped on the table. If they’d had antennae, they would have been standing straight on end.

  “What happened?” McKenna asked, leaning in, her eyes keen with interest.

  “Nothing,” Jamie said, her eyes wide.

  “He dragged you out. Then he came back in, but you didn’t come back in. Then he went out. But you came back in, and he didn’t,” Beatrix said, gesturing toward the door with each out she spoke, and back with each in.

  “Did he not come back in?” Jamie asked, looking around.

  And Crystal was still here.

  Jamie wiggled in her seat, a friction of satisfaction moving through her body.

  “No,” McKenna said, “he didn’t.”

  “Well,” Jamie said, “there’s nothing to tell.”

  “He kissed you,” Beatrix said, her eyes wide, the word injected with shock.

  Jamie’s whole face felt like it had been pressed against a branding iron. “He did not,” she said.

  “You have whisker scratches on your cheek,” Bea said accusingly.

  McKenna nodded sagely. “You do.”

  “Really?” Jamie put her hand on her face. She forgot to be cool about it because the very idea was so...fascinating.

  “Yes,” McKenna said, sagely. “And I’m an expert on that particular subject.”

  Jamie wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure if I hope you mean my brother, or I hope that you don’t.”

  “Well, he’s the only beard that’s going to give me a rash for the rest of my life. I should think that you would wish us well.”

  “I do.” She blinked.

  “I want kiss details,” McKenna said.

  Jamie’s whole body felt like it had been dipped in hot wax. She burned. All the way down through her skin. “I...I can’t... I don’t...”

  “How long was it?” Bea asked.

  “The kiss or...or... I didn’t take his clothes off.”

  McKenna howled. “How long was the kiss? Was there tongue?”

  “Long enough and...and yes,” Jamie said, her cheeks burning. “Don’t say anything. To Wyatt.”

  McKenna winced. “I’ll tell Grant not to say anything. But I don’t keep things from Grant.”

  Jamie pulled a face. “But I’m his sister. You’re really going to tell him that I kissed some guy outside a bar?”

  “Do you think it will bother him?” McKenna asked.

  “I don’t know. I think, of any of them, Grant would be the most reasonable.” She thought of her brother, of his life and his experiences. “Yes, Grant would definitely be the closest thing that I would have to an ally. But mostly, it was a kiss. And it doesn’t need to be a thing. I mean...Gabe is my boss...”

  McKenna shrugged. “Grant was my boss. Things happen.”

  “You and Grant are not me and Gabe. Gabe and I are not...” She squinted. “Relationship people.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Bea asked, her tone soft and careful. She had that look in her eye like she often got when she was looking at wounded animals.

  “I am sure,” Jamie said. “Anyway, Beatrix.” She very carefully enunciated Bea’s full name. “You sat in this very bar and told me all about how fun sex with Dane was. Now you’re being prudish about me?”

  “How did we get from a kiss to sex?” Bea asked.

  Well, they hadn’t. But that was the next step on this particular path. It would have to be, really. Otherwise, it would always feel like a loose end.

  “I would think you’d know all about how a kiss goes to sex,” she said. “I thought I was the one who didn’t know anything.”

  “Someone has to worry about you, Jamie,” Bea said. “You think you’re bulletproof, and I’d rather you didn’t go testing that.”

  “I just want...the fun thing you were talking about. I like him. I think he’s hot. Why shouldn’t I do it? Anyway, he’s the last man on earth I’d ever want to...end up with. I’m very realistic about cowboys.”

  Bea laughed hollowly. “The problem, Jamie, which I learned, is that what starts as fun can turn into other things. And that’s the real problem.”

  Jamie took a breath. She could see she wasn’t going to convince Bea unless Bea knew Jamie had a plan. “I want to go compete in the rodeo. I have some work to do before I can get myself into competition shape, but that’s what I want to do. I’m not even close to wanting to settle down. I doubt I ever will. So...”

  McKenna shrugged. “Well, why not? Have some fun.”

  Jamie gestured wildly toward McKenna. “See? Fun.”

  “Yes. You know, you’ve been telling us both for ages that you know all about rodeo cowboys. And you’re a rodeo cowgirl anyway, so you don’t want a relationship. You know that he doesn’t. He’s a good-looking guy.”

  Jamie couldn’t say she was thrilled to be in this conversation. She didn’t want her feelings for Gabe talked about like it was simple and easy. And this was way too public.

  But that just made her feel c
ontrary. Because she had been annoyed when they’d all been talking about something she hadn’t had access to. And now that she had some, it felt too personal to have a conversation about it all.

  And that was just one kiss.

  “I kissed him. That’s it. I don’t know if it will be anything more.” But the thought of it not being made her feel hollow and sad.

  “Okay,” McKenna said, shrugging. “I don’t need to know if you had a fight. I need to know what spurred the kiss!”

  “I might have made commentary on...that woman.”

  “Jamie,” Bea said. “Are you jealous?”

  Jamie felt magnified all of a sudden. Like she’d grown large in her seat. “I was a little. But I got better. I am better.”

  “Crushes are a whole thing. Especially when you’re working with a good-looking guy,” McKenna said. “I promise I’m not being ironic or anything. Not referring to me and Grant. I’m serious. Sometimes you have moments of insanity, but then you pull it together.”

  “Well, and sometimes crushes are serious,” Bea said, looking even more worried now.

  “You really are just talking about yourself,” McKenna said.

  “Thank you,” Jamie said crisply. “But I can handle it. I can handle Gabe Dalton. It’s not a big deal. But I would like to talk about something else now. Anything else.”

  “Well, Bea and I can talk about wedding plans.”

  Jamie treated them to an overly fake smile. “Okay, maybe not anything else.”

  Beatrix smiled happily and started plaintively discussing Dane’s objections to trying to train Evan the raccoon to be a ring bearer.

  And Jamie was completely fine with the long, ludicrous story, because she loved that about Beatrix.

  And she gave her a chance to take a breath.

  To clear her head and decide what she was going to do next.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  AFTER ANOTHER HOUR Jamie drove Bea and McKenna back to their respective homes. She dropped Beatrix at Grassroots Winery, where she lived with Dane, and then headed toward Get Out of Dodge, where both Jamie and McKenna lived.