“I’m sorry to surprise you like this.”
He had to look away lest she see how completely not a problem it was. “No. It’s okay.”
And it was. He’d missed her while they had been on the outs. Missed her and thought of what it’d been like to kiss her, and wondered what he’d do if he had the opportunity to kiss her again. He couldn’t believe how badly he wanted to do that.
“I have to put Teddy away.” He unclipped his horse. “The pens are over here. Walk with me?”
Natalie followed as he headed to the back of the rodeo grounds. The crowd roared. Colt figured they must be just about done with barrel racing by now. “Couldn’t be a better night for a rodeo.”
The weather. Great. Could he sound any more shallow?
“I know. I brought a jacket, but once we landed I realized I didn’t need it.”
They passed a group of bull riders heading to the announcer’s stand on the far side of the rodeo grounds. Must be the ones Rand and Natalie had met on the way in.
“Are they riding tonight?” she asked.
“Nah. They’re probably in slack or in the main performance tomorrow. But I bet they rode earlier.”
Above them insects buzzed around the lights. The crowd cheered again. A helicopter droned in the distance. Typical sounds of a late-night rodeo, yet it all felt different with Natalie by his side.
“You mean they’ve already competed today? As in somewhere else?”
He patted Teddy’s neck as he walked alongside her. “Probably flew in from out of state. Happens all the time. Especially when a lot of money is on the line. The Redding Rodeo is one of the richest in the nation.”
They’d reached the pen he used for Teddy. The horse was quietly standing in a corner, seemingly oblivious to the cowboy that rode by, the sound of livestock in the distance and the regular cries of the crowd. They must be on bull riding by now, judging by the sound of the bulls braying their displeasure.
“Throw him a flake of that hay there, would you?”
Natalie did as he asked. He tried not to notice how the jeans she wore hugged her bottom. It was that kiss. That damn kiss they’d shared. It had changed everything, left him wanting more, left him wanting her.
“You know, I bought Playboy not far from here,” she said as she threw the hay.
“Yeah?”
“Right down the freeway, in Red Bluff.”
That’s right. Jillian had told him. She’d bought him at a famous local auction, the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale.
“Speaking of Playboy, I have a question for you.” He turned to face her, resting an arm on the top rail of the pipe panel. “I thought you might want to ride him in a competition in a couple months.”
“Excuse me?”
She clearly hadn’t understood him, or maybe she hadn’t heard him properly. He went on, “It’s nothing big, just a local reining show. I thought it might help for you to have a goal.”
“You’re kidding.”
Her blue eyes went wide. She was like a deer that sensed something in the woods.
“You’ll do fine.”
“You mean you actually want me to ride?”
“Of course.”
“But I’m not ready.”
“Not now, but you will be.”
She clearly didn’t think so.
“It’s okay.” He had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her. “We have some time. And when the event rolls around, I’ll be there with you.”
Her eyes scanned his, first one and then the other. “But the other reason I came here tonight was to tell you face to face...” He saw her take a deep breath. “I’ve decided to do things your way. I’m going to train horses full time. From the ground. No more riding. Not now, at least, and maybe not ever.”
He couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d told him she’d decided to run for president.
“Don’t look at me like that.” She lifted her chin. “I’m okay with it. Really.”
He didn’t know what to say. He’d never had someone, especially a female someone, consider his opinion and then make such a life-changing choice based on his words. It made his world shift. Made him feel off balance. Made him want to pull her toward him...again.
She added, “I was hoping you’d want to keep riding Playboy, you know, until I’m back on my feet. Provided you have time, of course.”
Why was he so poleaxed? “Of course.”
It was the relief, he admitted. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss her senseless and tell her she’d made the right decision. Except he couldn’t. They didn’t have a relationship like that. It was for that reason, and that reason only, that he said what he really didn’t want to say.
“I think you should keep riding.” The words stuck in his throat, but he spat them out anyway. “I don’t think you should give up.”
Her mouth opened, but she didn’t seem to know what to say. Whatever words she might have formed were interrupted by the sound of her cellphone chiming. It wasn’t a call, though. A text, Colt realized when she glanced at the screen, pressed a button and then read.
“You’re not going to believe this,” she said.
When she met his gaze again, he could see surprise mixed with amusement and something else.
“I’ve been ditched.”
“Ditched?”
She nodded, a smile alighting on her face. “By Randy.” She tucked her phone back into her pocket. “It looks like my friend has taken a shining to your friend. They’re driving up to Lake Shasta and apparently we’re not invited.”
Chapter Fifteen
She couldn’t believe it. Actually, she could. Natalie’d had a feeling about Sam and Randy. He might be a big-time actor now, but she knew the kind of women he liked, and Sam was right up his alley. Gorgeous. Outgoing. Just a little bit crazy. Okay, maybe a lot crazy hanging off the side of a horse the way she did.
“So you’re just supposed to wait here for them to return?” Colt asked.
“Yup.”
Sometime while they’d been talking the rodeo had ended, but the arena lights were still on, illuminating the edge of the river near where Colt’s trailer sat. He’d parked along a road near the south shore of the Sacramento River that bordered one side of the rodeo grounds. It was the same spot he always chose when he came to this particular venue, he’d told her, explaining how he could tie his horses to one side of his living quarters trailer and then set up camp on the other. It gave him a view of the river and privacy. He’d set up some chairs beneath a pull-out awning. Natalie had to admit—it was quite a view. If she didn’t know better she’d swear they were in the middle of nowhere instead of deep in the heart of a city.
“Has he done this to you before?”
She thought back through her friendship with Randy. “We’ve always been friends, but we’ve never hung out like that. You know. We’d see each other at parties when we were younger. Then go to the movies when we were older. When he moved to Hollywood he would call. We’d have coffee every once in a while, maybe go to dinner, but that’s it.”
They were sitting on the folding chairs. Colt had offered her a beer and she’d accepted. It was the fruity, tangy kind of beer and she loved its lemony taste. No plain malt liquor for him.
“Rude,” she heard him mutter.
Yeah. Kind of. Maybe. On the flight north she’d confessed everything to Randy. She’d surprised herself because she’d never been the type to share her deep dark feelings with members of the opposite sex, but Randy had been kind, had encouraged her to make a play for Colt. As she sucked down a sip of beer she wondered if she should, if maybe this was Randy’s way of helping things along.
Colt, however, seemed perturbed “Did they say when they’d be back?”
“It’s the weekend. I don’t think either of us had any plans.”
“I’m going to call Sam again.”
He’d tried that earlier with no results. The same thing happened now. She watched him tuck the phone b
ack in his pocket with an oath of frustration.
“If I didn’t know better I’d think you were mad about having to spend time with me.”
His looked up at her sharply. “That’s not it.”
The unspoken question hung in the air. Then what is it? Why was he so riled up?
“I just think it’s wrong for him to abandon you like this.”
She set down her beer on the cooler that he’d used as a coffee table and said, “Colt, if you’re thinking I’m upset because Randy went off with another woman, I told you earlier, there’s nothing like that between us”
He had been thinking that. She could tell. He might be wearing his cowboy hat, and it might be darker on this side of the trailer than the other, but the ambient light from inside the living quarters cast a glow over his face, and she could tell he was angry.
“You want to know how much of an item we’re not?” She got up from her chair. “He told me I should jump you.”
She saw him straighten sharply. The sip of beer he’d just taken got caught in his throat and he coughed to clear it out.
“At the time I thought he meant in the future, but I’m thinking he meant tonight.”
“Natalie—”
“No.” She leaned down and rested a finger against his warm lips. “Don’t say anything.” She replaced her finger with her lips, but only for a second. “You’ll ruin it.”
He opened his mouth, ostensibly to say the opposite, but she cut him off by plunking herself down on his lap. For a split second he resisted, but then he pulled her to him and she realized she’d gotten it all wrong. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her. He’d been fighting himself over wanting her too much. His mouth opened beneath hers, the taste of him both bitter and sweet—like the beer they’d been drinking. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her even closer, leaning her over his arm and kissing her in a way that made everything inside her leap to life.
Dear Lord.
She’d known it would be good when he finally let himself go, but even she’d underestimated just how good. He growled deep in his throat and she knew she’d won. When they came up for air, they were both gasping. He shifted. She slipped off his lap and gently pulled him up out of his chair.
He stood still, resisting. She reached up on tiptoe and kissed the side of his neck. She could feel his pulse beneath her lips, and when she opened them, tasted him. Salt and sweet.
He groaned.
She traced a path to his ear with her tongue. He jerked her toward his trailer.
He’d left a light on near the leather couch on the opposite wall from where they stood, and she headed right toward the bed. She took his hand and led him there because he still seemed torn. She refused to give up, and began to undress near the foot of the bed, Colt watching. Her shirt came off easily until the hem got on caught her hair. She flicked her head, trying to get it out of her eyes, causing a dizzy spell that made her reach out and steady herself. She slipped off her boots next, then her jeans, her movements growing more hurried because she fretted that with every passing second he might change his mind. When it came time to remove her underwear and bra, however, she hesitated.
His eyes had gone dark beneath his cowboy hat.
Goosebumps formed along her skin, but not from cold, from excitement. She liked having him watch her. For the first time in her life she was grateful that she liked to wear pretty underwear, in this case matching maroon panties and a bra. She hooked a finger though the lace edge of her panties and slowly began to tug them off.
He didn’t move, but it didn’t matter because she could sense the tension in him. His gaze became liquid fire as he watched her drag the silk down her legs. By the time she finished, her own sexual tension had escalated to the point where her hands shook.
She slipped her shoulder straps off, her gaze never leaving his, first one, then the other. Her fingers grazed her breasts as she slid down the fabric. Her whole body quickened from the touch, nipples growing hard, though from the pressure of him watching her or from her own excitement she didn’t know. One breast sprang free and then the other and she saw him curl his fingers into fists as she unhooked her bra.
“Come here, Colt.”
He didn’t move, but she had never been more sexually aroused in her life, just from his stare. She knew he felt it, too, just as she knew that deep inside he waged a war, a battle to maintain his distance, to keep her at arm’s length. It was safer that way for him.
She closed the distance between them. Heat radiated off his body like a piece of metal warmed by the sun. She placed a hand against his middle.
He gasped.
One minute she stood, the next she was down on the bed, and he was covering her and kissing her and she gasped in shock and then pleasure.
Oh, dear heaven.
He lay on top of her, his tongue slipping into her mouth in the same way she wanted him to slip inside her. Her body jerked. She kissed him back. Ran her tongue along his lips, wrapped her legs around his hips, thrust her own hips upward.
He moved. A single swipe of his thighs against her own, and it nearly undid her. Pleasure burst through her center. She moved, too, and he reciprocated as he went on kissing her. Somewhere along the way he’d lost his hat. She’d lost her mind. He kept moving against her, kissing her, and she knew if he didn’t stop she’d find her release. She didn’t want that yet. She wanted him.
Her hands found the buttons of his shirt.
“No.”
She froze. No?
Her fingers clasped a button. He reared back. His eyes had gone hard. “I said no.”
He has scars. Physical and emotional ones.
She heard Claire’s voice in her mind and knew why he didn’t want Natalie to see him. It made her eyes fill with tears, made her lift a hand to the side of his face.
I love him.
No, she told herself. She couldn’t. She didn’t know him well enough. But as she stared into his eyes, something inside her shifted and then lurched, tumbling and falling. For a moment she grew dizzy. Poor man. Poor, dear, kind-hearted, damaged man.
“Okay,” she said softly, her hand sliding behind his neck and drawing him down again.
He’d withdrawn into himself again. She had to nip his lips to bring him back and then he began to move again. She let him. This time she gave herself to the pleasure until just before her climax. Then her hands moved to the waistband of his jeans.
He froze. She rested a hand against the side of his cheek. He dropped his head to her shoulder.
“It’s been a long time,” he admitted.
“I know.”
He drew back, looked into her eyes. “There are things in my past.”
Her thumb moved back and forth on his cheek, enjoying the feel of his razor stubble. “Can’t we forget about the past tonight? Can’t we both just enjoy each other? Maybe deal with the rest of it later?”
He held her gaze and she saw so many emotions flit through his eyes—desire, sadness, confusion, maybe even...hope.
She clung to that hope, reached up and kissed him again. She felt him move, felt his hand slip between her legs and she knew she was lost. He kissed her again and she felt him down there and couldn’t hold back. The first wave of pleasure struck so hard she gasped. The second wave hit and she cried out. The third thrust her over the edge until all she saw were stars.
He held her. Her breathing returned to normal. Somehow he’d shifted her so that she laid half on top of him, although she couldn’t recall him doing it. She could feel his heart beating beneath her ear, so proud and strong.
“How long has it been?” she asked.
“Long enough.”
“Is it because of the scars? Do you not want me to see them?” She leaned back to search his face. His eyes had widened a bit at the mention of the scars, but he didn’t seem upset.
“No,” he said. “It’s not that.”
He must have spotted her confusion because he shifted away from her. She found herself s
itting next to him. She grabbed a blanket and covered herself with it. She’d grown cold.
“Your childhood couldn’t have been easy,” she heard herself say.
“My childhood was nothing compared to what I saw overseas.” His brown gaze had turned troubled. “I stopped feeling sorry for myself when I saw what other kids went through over there.”
“Oh, Colt.” She laid a hand on his thigh. That was the hidden pain in his eyes. It didn’t come from his abusive father or the loss of his brother-in-law. It came from seeing things no one should have to see. “You’re the most remarkable man I’ve ever met.”
The final piece of her heart slipped away and became his. She reached up, kissed him again. He resisted, but only for a second, then pulled her toward him.
Her cellphone rang. She ignored it.
His mouth opened, their tongues entwined. She began to unbutton his shirt and this time, he let her, thank you, Lord, he let her. Her stupid phone finally stopped, but just as quickly started back up. She didn’t care. She felt buoyed with confidence, with a deep-rooted knowledge that this was meant to be. Her rodeo hero would finally be hers.
The phone went quiet, then began to ring again.
They both froze. With an oath of frustration, Colt moved her away from him, reached for her jeans and pulled the phone from her pocket.
“It’s Randy,” he said after glancing at the screen.
So it was. She bit back her own oath. “Hey, Randy.”
There was a pause, and then the sound of Randy’s clearly amused voice as he said, “Just so you know, Sam and I got back a little while ago. I sent you a text, but you never responded, and from the sound of things in there, I know why.”
She never knew cheeks could burn so instantly. “What is it?” Colt asked.
She hung up the phone and tried to hide her embarrassment, but she would bet Colt saw it anyway.
“They’re outside.”
Chapter Sixteen
Natalie got dressed quickly, quietly, Colt watching her the entire time. Though there was only the one light on, he could still see the stain of red on her cheeks, knew by the way she kept glancing toward the door that she’d become hyperaware of the two people on the other side.
Her Rodeo Hero (Cowboys in Uniform) Page 13
