His jaw tightened. “Something like that.”
Enough. She had chores to get done.
“You didn’t come all the way out here just to have coffee with me. Why are you here?”
He unfolded from the chair and stood in front of her, hunger in his gaze. She suppressed a shudder as his hands gripped the counter on either side of her, caging her in.
“I want more from you than just coffee, Ainsley, as I made clear last night. You were pretty clear in what you wanted from me, too. And before you go insulting me again, this is about you and me. Nothing else.”
You and me.
Oh, shit. She liked the sound of that a little too much.
“You’re only here because I ditched you.” She palmed his chest as he leaned into her space. His masculine scent filled her nose, made her want to bury her face in his neck and breathe him in.
“Ah.” Clay teased his lips along the line of her jaw. “And I’d still be here if you hadn’t ditched me last night. The difference being we missed the pleasure in the middle.”
Good lord. Her pussy throbbed, begging for the attention he promised. “Don’t blame me if you’re hard up. There were plenty of women waiting to go home with you last night.”
He chuckled against her neck. When had she tilted her head to give him such access?
“And that bothers you.”
Not a question—arrogant ass.
His heated breath caressed her skin. She shivered. “Not at all.” Her fingers dug into his biceps as he found the sensitive spot behind her ear. “I hardly know you. I don’t care who you fuck.”
Yes, she did. It made no sense at all, but she hated the idea of him touching another woman. It was an irrational thought, surely brought on by his talented lips.
“Such a pretty little liar.” He licked the seam of her mouth. “I’ve been up all night thinking about you. Thinking about this.”
You’re not the only one.
His fingers twisted in her hair and tugged her head back. Ainsley gasped and his mouth covered hers. He wasted no time. His tongue slipped past her lips, seeking, demanding. Coffee and sweet mint exploded on her tongue—an intoxicating combination she couldn’t resist.
Desire overwhelmed her senses as he devoured her, exploring her mouth with a thoroughness she’d never experienced before. She met his tongue, matched him lap for lap until her head spun and her body burned with need.
His hands skimmed her body. God, it felt so good to be touched. She didn’t stop him when one hand molded her ass to bring her closer while the other hand snaked under her shirt to caress her spine. She didn’t stop him when he cupped a naked breast. Hot and possessive, he squeezed. He flicked a wicked finger over her sensitive nipple, sending sparks of sensation down to her core.
Ainsley wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to get closer. His mouth broke from hers and worked down her neck, nipping and sucking, causing her pulse to race.
The hand holding her ass slipped lower, cupping her curves with ease. Ainsley’s breath caught. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized how close his fingers were to the wet folds of her sex. Another inch and he’d realize for himself she wasn’t wearing panties under her sleep shorts.
One. Tiny. Inch.
A phone rang, a shrill sound that broke through the lust-fog surrounding her brain. Ainsley jumped, jerking away from him as though they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t.
“Fuck. Ainsley.”
They were both flushed and panting. Clay had a white-knuckled grip on the edge of the counter, as if it were the only thing keeping him from reaching for her again.
“Sorry.” She laughed and clamped a hand over her heaving chest, trying to slow her racing heart. “I didn’t mean to … you should probably get that.” Since her cell phone wasn’t turned on and her house phone never rang, she knew it wasn’t hers.
Ainsley moved to the other side of the table. Space. She needed space to catch her breath. Not an easy thing to do with Clay’s rock hard body sucking up all the oxygen in the room.
The man devastated her senses. One touch and her control had gone out the window, replaced by her body’s demands of more and now.
Clay cursed as he pulled the phone from his pocket. His molten stare fixed on her, he answered. “Yeah?”
He ran a hand through his hair, his palm coming to rest on the back of his neck. “Yeah, I forgot. Sorry.”
Pause. He closed his eyes and his chest rose, as though he purposely sought patience. Or a way to relieve the impressive erection straining against his jeans. Ainsley groaned softly and forced her gaze away from his crotch.
She didn’t care who he was or what name he carried. She wanted to fan the sparks between them until they burned.
“Christ, Erin. I said I was sorry. I’ll be there in less than twenty minutes, but y’all go on and eat. Don’t wait on me. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Bye.”
He shoved the phone back into his pocket, his expression a mixture of hunger and apology. “I’m sorry, Ainsley. I’ve gotta go. I’m supposed to meet my family for breakfast.”
Ainsley felt a twinge in her chest. She glanced toward her empty table, wondering what it would be like to have people she loved surrounding it. Call her old-fashioned, but the thought of preparing a meal and taking care of those imaginary people made her happier than she cared to admit.
Clay came to her, his hand sliding up to cradle her face. “Looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer to explore this thing between us.”
“Looks like,” she agreed, suddenly fascinated by the hard line of his jaw. She talked herself out of touching him last night. Who knew when, or if, she’d get the chance to do so again. She traced the curve from his ear to his chin.
“You gonna object if I come back?”
“Nope.” Ainsley continued her exploration. She slid her finger down the line of his throat and followed the edge of his T-shirt from collarbone to collarbone. She’d count the minutes, if he wanted to know the truth.
Clay snagged her wrist, stopping her exploration. He brought her hand to his mouth and he kissed her fingers, one by one.
“Soon, Ainsley.” He nibbled the inside of her wrist, followed by a gentle kiss. “Very soon.”
Not soon enough for her.
Chapter Five
Ainsley didn’t watch Clay leave.
The moment he closed the door, she took the stairs to her bedroom, two at a time. Going through to the adjoining bathroom, she cranked the cold water on the sink and splashed her face.
Her body quivered with unresolved lust. Her neck was red, chafed from the scruff on Clay’s cheeks. Her hands trembled as she ran her fingers through her hair.
Last night, she’d guessed at the intensity of the man. She’d been way off base in her assumptions. Intense didn’t begin to describe that kiss.
Mind-boggling, soul-shattering, life-changing kisses weren’t real. Things like love and forever were foreign concepts—fairy tales she’d read about in books, or dreamed about in the dark of night when her guard was down. Her heart was untried, unused, which, in her mind, made her vulnerable to silly romanticism. So, the man knew how to kiss. Really knew how to kiss. Could probably fuck like a damn champion, too. But that didn’t mean her life was about to change.
Oy.
She wasn’t a virgin—far from it—but Ainsley was beginning to think she didn’t have what it took to handle a cowboy like Clay Mathis.
He’d stood up for her. Stood beside her, his resolve absolute. In that moment, she’d felt safe. Protected. Those feelings were bound to go to her head if she weren’t careful.
She’d have to work extra hard to make sure that didn’t happen.
Ainsley threw on a pair of cut-off shorts and a military-green tank top. She brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back into its customary ponytail. She didn’t know why she kept her hair long when she rarely wore it down. Texas summers were too hot, and it got in the way when she worked. Still, she couldn’t bring her
self to cut the thick mass.
Ready for chores, Ainsley jogged down the stairs. The physical exertion would do wonders for her raging libido. She went to the kitchen to gulp down her now-cold coffee and put her empty mug in the sink to wash later. She spied Clay’s mug, sitting where he’d left it on the table. She touched her lips, resisting the urge to finish his cup as well, just to put her mouth where his had been. She licked over her bottom lip, still swollen from his kiss.
Reality had melted away as he tasted her. Her body had come alive in a flash of fire. She’d combust for sure if he ever got inside her. When he got inside her.
She didn’t doubt his promise to return any more than she doubted what would happen when he did.
Ainsley shoved her feet into her boots, and then she was out the kitchen door for the quarter-mile walk to the stable. After she cleaned the barn and fed the horses, she planned to spend some time in her garden. There should be enough tomatoes to make the spaghetti sauce she’d been perfecting over the last several years, whenever she could get her hands on the fresh ingredients. The yield from the extensive garden she’d planted had been abundant, providing her a wide array of fresh vegetables—coupled with the herbs she’d grown in pots—with which to experiment.
Today, she had the notion to add a little fresh, sweet mint to the mix.
A sleek black quarter horse met her at the paddock gate. Bright, blue eyes followed Ainsley as she climbed up and sat on the fence rail to take the horse’s head into her lap.
“Good morning, Sapphire. How’s my magnificent girl?”
Sapphire nudged Ainsley’s waist, almost toppling her over.
“Hey, now.” Ainsley rubbed between Sapphire’s ears. “You knock me over and I won’t be able to feed you breakfast.”
She urged Sapphire back and whistled for Timber, the chestnut stallion she’d used to teach herself to ride. The old horse had the patience of a saint. He’d stood still for hours as Ainsley worked and reworked the trappings of the saddle until she could do it without the instruction book. Once she’d gained the nerve to climb on the saddle, Timber rewarded her by being docile and not bucking her ass onto the dirt. There wasn’t a lot of need-for-speed on the ranch, but after a few months, Ainsley could trot with the best of them.
Sapphire had more spunk than Ainsley could handle, but she longed to get to the point she could let loose and fly with the mare. For now, one of her few remaining ranch hands exercised the horse on a daily basis.
Ainsley hopped off the fence. She walked to the stable and rolled open the stable door. Walking to the back wall, she flipped on the radio that hung from a hook. The thing only got one station—classic country. The music helped pass the time while she worked. After a month or so, she’d actually learned enough of the songs to sing along.
With her lips still sensitive from Clay’s kiss, she wondered when he’d be back. Today? Tomorrow? Next week?
Not knowing would make her nuts, but she’d be damned if she sat around waiting for him to show up.
Her life wasn’t going to change. Whether or not she added sex to the mix, she still had a ranch to run, a garden to tend, a house to clean. Sex with Clay would serve as a distraction, a well-deserved break from the mess she’d found herself in.
She glanced around the barn. A mess that was now her responsibility to clean up.
Ainsley cranked the music, grabbed a pitchfork, and got to work.
***
Clay parked the truck in front of his parents’ house. He reached over the seat and grabbed the duffle bag he kept on the back seat.
Ranching was a dirty job. Once his day was done, he liked to have the option of putting on clean, dry clothes for the drive home. It meant more laundry for him later, but that didn’t bother him. A few extra loads a week was a small price to pay for the comfort of a dry shirt.
While he was here, he might as well run what he had through the wash. He had a washer and dryer at his place, but his mom had a commercial washing machine she encouraged all her kids to use. Clay suspected it was her way to get them to the house for long periods of time. Not that Clay was far away to begin with.
He’d tried to live away from the ranch once. Got an apartment outside of town when he’d turned twenty-one. A right of passage that came back to bite him in the ass when he figured out he was paying for a place where he barely did more than sleep—and only on the nights when his loud-ass neighbors weren’t either fighting or fucking. After a year of that crap, he gave up his apartment and moved into the fishing cabin his grandfather had built decades ago. The cabin wasn’t fancy, but it was located on Shadow Maverick land and was blessedly quiet. He’d stayed there another year while he saved to buy the trailer he lived in now.
Clay didn’t figure he’d live in the two-bedroom mobile home forever, but it made for a great bachelor pad. It was small enough he could keep it relatively clean, and private enough that his family wasn’t breathing down his neck at every turn.
Clay walked around the side of the house, entering through the mudroom where he dumped the contents of his bag into the washer. With practiced ease, he added soap and color-safe bleach, and punched the appropriate buttons to get the whole thing started.
Breakfast had ramped to full swing by the time Clay walked into the chaos of the kitchen.
“Sorry I’m late,” he offered. The smell of bacon and eggs made Clay’s stomach growl.
“Where’ve you been?” Gavin and Erin asked simultaneously—Gavin from his position at the head of the table, Erin from her position at the industrial-sized cooktop.
Clay shared an eye roll with Paxton, who sat at Gavin’s right. The family joked that Gavin and Erin, twins and the oldest of the siblings, shared a brain. Same with the youngest twins, Jared and Jade. Pax and Clay were stuck in the middle, the “non-twins” as they liked to call themselves.
“It’s not like you to miss a meal,” Erin added as she filled a large bowl with scrambled eggs.
“Doesn’t look like I missed anything.” Mounds of food covered the island.
Erin snorted. “You missed the two skillets of scrambled eggs and three stacks of pancakes Trevor finished off with Jared, Jade, and Amber.”
Clay looked around the kitchen. Other than Gavin, Erin, and Pax—Gavin’s bride-to-be, Lauren, and Pax’s girlfriend, Reese, were the only other people there. “Where are they?”
Pax answered. “Jade is saddling Diablo for the first time. She insisted Gavin and I stay away. Said we made her nervous or some shit.”
“And I said she couldn’t do it without one of us.” Gavin picked up the story. “So she asked Trevor, probably just to spite us.”
Erin set the fresh bowl of eggs next to platters filled with pancakes, bacon, sausage, and fried potatoes on the enormous center island. “My husband is more than capable of playing watchdog. That man grew up on a horse, as you well know. If Jade needs help, he’ll have her back. Y’all are just pissed she’s not the little girl who worshiped you anymore. Come eat.”
Clay knew Jade could handle herself, but damn if his boots weren’t itching to make tracks to get out there. Just in case. Knowing Trevor and Jared were on hand was the only thing keeping him rooted in place.
Jade and Erin had decided a year ago to put their equine knowledge to use, and had begun the business of rehabilitating injured and abused horses. Even at Jade’s tender age of seventeen, there wasn’t much she couldn’t do when it came to horses. The girl had a gift. But… “You let Amber go out there?” Didn’t seem to be the best decision to let his two-year-old niece around an unpredictable situation.
It was Erin’s turn to roll her eyes. “Her daddy wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Jared promised to keep her back from the training pen. He’ll put her on his shoulders to watch from a distance. If he doesn’t, Trevor will kick his ass. Then I’ll finish off whatever’s left.”
“Hey, since you’re here.” Reese spoke up, drawing Clay’s attention to the table where she sat. She moved her oversized day-p
lanner out of the way as Pax placed a full plate of food in front of her. “You’ve missed your suit fitting twice now. If you miss it again, I might have to kill you.” She looked at Pax with wide eyes. “Thank you, baby, but do you think I’m going to eat all of this?”
Pax’s grin was a sight to behold. It had been far too long since Clay had seen his brother smile that way. After Pax’s ex-wife cheating on him, and their subsequent divorce, Clay had worried Pax would grow old as a bitter and lonely man. Had been well on his way, too, until Reese showed up. About damn time Pax found some happiness.
“Eat what you want, sweets.” Pax bent to peck her cheek. Reese blushed. “I’ll eat the rest.”
“You’ll have to stand in line for the killing, Reese. I get first dibs on Clay’s hide.” Lauren chimed in as she filled a plate. “If I didn’t think you’d draw all the attention, I’d make you wear your damn boxer shorts to the wedding. You’re stressing me out, Clay.”
“Who says I wear boxers?” Clay teased.
Gavin’s head lifted from the document he’d been studying, glancing first at Lauren, then at Clay as his fiancée’s words registered.
“Get your ass in gear and get fitted this week,” Gavin said. “It’s not as if we’ve asked you to give up a kidney. Lauren has enough to worry about without you not doing something as simple as making sure your suit fits for the wedding.”
“I’ve been kinda busy taking care of the cattle.” A weak defense, but it was the only one he had. Plus, it was the truth. With Gavin busy working to add land to their holdings, and Pax looking for a new house while trying to sell his old one, Clay had to pick up more than his share of the slack. He hadn’t intentionally missed those appointments.
“I didn’t have any trouble getting there,” Pax said.
Clay tossed him a look that promised retribution. So much for having his back. Dipshit. “Since Reese is the wedding planner, I’d say you had ample motivation.”
“I’ll motivate you,” Gavin warned.
Normally, Clay would take the bait, dare Gavin to try it. Make some snide remark about his brother getting soft from his years spent in the big city, working for corporate America.
Cowboy Redeemed Page 4
