Too Hot To Trot (#3, Cowboy Way)

by Becky McGraw

  She laughed dryly. “Watch what you wish for, cowboy. She was a troublemaking, no-account brat.”

  “So, is Heather Morrison.” Zack added a matching laugh. “I deal pretty well with her wouldn’t you say?”

  “I guess so. But you don’t like her much, right?” she asked softly, looking up at him.

  It was all right there in her big, green eyes. The fear, the self-doubt, the lack of confidence in herself. Everything she hid from the world behind Heather’s hard front.

  This was Haley asking the question, and Zack couldn’t stop the words from rolling off of his tongue. “No, I don’t like her—I love her.” Shock rocked him, a jolt of electricity shot through him to his toes, and he stammered, “I ah—um, well—respect her for surviving alone so long.”

  Heather’s eyes flew to his face, and he felt their heat. Out of the corner of his eye, because he wasn’t about to look at her, he saw the corner of her mouth tick, her lips wobbled, and she smiled. “Oh, my God, if you could see your face right now,” she said with a throaty giggle, which preceded full-blown belly laughter. The sound tickled his insides, and Zack smiled.

  Heather threw her head back against his arm and he flinched as a pain shot up to his shoulder, but laughter bubbled in his gut too. Relief spread through him, and he grinned as he watched her fighting to regain control. When another round started, Zack lost it too, laughter burst from him to mix with hers, and she laughed harder.

  Happy tears made her eyes glisten like emeralds. Zack was determined to do anything he could to make sure that every ounce of moisture that formed there in the future was from happiness. But they had a long row to hoe before they got there, he thought, sobering as they reached the end of the road where he turned left toward her apartment. A very long row.

  Zack pulled up into her empty parking spot in front of the apartment building, and shut off the truck. “Where’s your truck?”

  “I told you I wrecked it. It’s at the police impound yard,” she replied, as he opened the door. Zack hopped down then yanked his t-shirt over the front of his jeans, before he turned to help her down as well as he could.

  “We need to get it out, and get an estimate on how much it’ll take to fix it,” he said shutting the door.

  “I really don’t think it’s fixable. It’s Leon’s problem now, and so is this apartment in a few days.” She stopped on the first tread of the stairway to turn back toward him. “I do need to figure out what I’m going to do with my stuff though.”

  “We can get a moving truck to haul it to the ranch.” Zack stopped at the foot of the stairs to meet her worried eyes. “Why is the truck and the apartment Leon’s problem?”

  “Because it’s all in his name,” she said, turning to walk up the stairs. “I paid him for it out of my tips, but I don’t have the money to fix it, so I’ll just let him worry about it. He has the money if he wants to fix it. I’m sure he’ll just set one of his other girls up here,” she said, and Zack didn’t miss the sadness in her tone.

  He followed her to the door of the apartment and put his hand on her waist, as she opened the door. “Why are you sad?”

  “Because this is my first home. The only one where I didn’t have to worry about stepping over piles of clothes my mother bought, or dirty dishes she didn’t wash.”

  More information about this woman that made his gut churn. He almost didn’t want to hear more. Zack wasn’t sure he could take it and not pull her into his arms and hug her like she should’ve been hugged when she was growing up. She walked over and clicked on the lamp on the end table, which filled the room with a dim yellow glow.

  “Didn’t you have grandparents?” he asked shutting the door. Zack couldn’t imagine having no family support network. “Anyone else who could help you?”

  Heather turned toward him and put her hands on her hips. “My grandmother lived in Texas, but she was older. I’d only seen her once growing up, and then I looked her up when we stopped in Dallas with the rodeo. She was moving into a nursing home and gave me the bed in the spare room. Supposedly, it’s an heirloom she refused to give to my mother.” She shook her head, and smiled fondly. “Tim hauled it around with us forever.”

  Those people under that bridge were her family, Tim was her family for a while. Other than that, she had nobody. “Well, you have the Taylors now, so you have family,” he said gruffly, as he walked over to the sofa. “My Mama will like your spunk” Zack laughed, as he sat down. “I’ll warn you though, she’s got plenty of it too. Between her and Twyla, they made my life hell.”

  But the best hell a man could ask for. Zack loved them both dearly, and would kill anyone who hurt them. Just like he would now for this woman.

  “Come sit down and talk to me,” he said, patting the cushion beside him.

  Even though what he was hearing from her ground up his insides, it seemed like Heather was finally opening up to him. Zack didn’t want her to stop talking and lose that momentum, before he knew the whole story. He had a feeling there was a lot more to come.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m’ not sitting on that sofa, until I take a shower.” Heather shivered with disgust. “Hell, I’m not touching anything.” She’d caught a glimpse of herself in the window outside the apartment, and thought she looked like an escapee from a mental ward. Felt like one right now too. Her insides were raw and bleeding.

  More talking was the last thing she wanted right now. This man knew more about her now than anyone else on earth. Certainly more than she intended to tell him. The strange thing is she trusted him with that information. A man who was about as judgmental as they came, and he was the one she’d spilled her guts to without a thought.

  Zack Taylor had a way of making her want to talk about it. The odd thing was that even with all he knew now, he wasn’t running away, or turning up his nose at her. It seemed it only made him want to get closer to her—to know more.

  But Heather needed some space to get herself together, and in the shape she was right now, the shower was the perfect place for that. She turned toward the hallway, but looked back at him. “I’m taking a shower, but I shouldn’t be too long. Are you hungry?”

  Zack didn’t reply for a second, his eyes raked her to her toes, before gliding back up to meet hers. They sparked with sizzling blue heat, and Heather fought off the liquid sensation that floated through her limbs to settle at the top of her thighs.

  “I’ll fix us something while you’re in the shower,” he offered, and her eyes fell to his right arm which rested listlessly in his lap.

  Damn the man for being stubborn and hurting himself again. And he wanted to lift pots and hurt himself more? Heather didn’t think so. “You forget you have one arm right now?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “I’ll cook for us when I get out of the shower.” She pointed her finger at him. “You call the doctor and get an appointment!”

  The left side of his mouth kicked up exposing a dimple in his cheek she’d never noticed before. Heather’s stomach flipped and she put her hand there.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Zack drawled, tipping his non-existent hat, which she knew was on the dashboard of his truck. “Us one-armed cowboys ain’t worth much, but we are good for a few things…” His eyes dropped to fix on her breasts, and her nipples hardened. “For instance, if you need your back washed, we’re your go-to guys.” He dragged his eyes back to hers, and winked. “You need help with that, you just give me a holler, sweet thing. I’ll be there lickety-split.” He held her eyes as his tongue peeked out to skim his upper lip, and Heather shivered.

  Her lips tingled, wanting to feel that tongue on her mouth again, her body. But he knew that. He was paying her back for calling him helpless. Butthead, she thought, biting back a laugh. The more facets she uncovered to this man, the more she liked him, really liked him. Zack Taylor was not only handsome and sexy as sin, he was snarky and cocky. Her kind of funny.

  He was just so damned good to her most of the time— but too good for her, she reminded hersel
f. They were too different, and the good times had definitely been peppered with some not so good moments. She couldn’t let herself forget those.

  Zack teased her, played with her and obviously wanted her, but she doubted more was something he’d ever want from her. Those words he said to her in the truck had been in jest. They both had a good laugh over them, but the look on his face when they slipped out told her that wasn’t how he intended them. She needed to remember that look too. For times when she got this giddy schoolgirl feeling about him.

  Indulging fantasies that things could be different between them would just create more problems neither of them needed. Heather couldn’t help but want him, but she couldn’t allow herself to love him. Not that she knew what that was anyway. Love had been a rare commodity in her life. But with this man and his ways, she was afraid she could easily find out about it the hard way. “I’ll keep that in mind, cowboy,” Heather replied with a forced laugh as she turned to walk down the hall.

  She’d just enjoy Zack Taylor as long as she had him in her life, and when he left, he wouldn’t have her heart in his back pocket. She’d let him help her as much as he wanted to help her in the meantime. Lord knew she needed his help right now, and that was something very hard for her to admit. Heather was not used to relying on a man, on anyone other than herself. This was the first time, and she couldn’t say she didn’t like having someone else in her corner. Having him in her corner. She wasn’t putting any special meaning on him wanting to help her though. He was doing it, because that’s just the kind of man he was—a good man. But she wasn’t counting on him being there tomorrow.

  Blowing out a breath, Heather walked into the bathroom and shut the door. It took an hour for her to finally feel clean again. To wash off all the nastiness of the last week both from her mind and her body. It was still there, in the back of her mind, but at least right now Heather felt like she could deal with it.

  Somewhere in her almost hour-long shower she’d found temporary peace again. She couldn’t help but think that’s because of the man who was sitting on the sofa when she walked back into the living room. Before she even reached the sofa, he turned to look at her which surprised her. Zack stopped chewing the pizza he’d evidently ordered and his eyes turned to liquid blue heat. She could definitely get used to him looking at her like that, she thought smiling, her body melting under the intensity in his stare.

  “Pizza?” she asked with a grin as she walked around to pick up a thick slice from the open box.

  Zack swallowed, but his eyes never left her, as he set his pizza slice down in the box. He brushed the crumbs from his hands then wiggled his left index finger at her. “Another thing one-armed cowboys are good at is using the phone to cook dinner.”

  “Did the one-armed cowboy use that talented finger to call the doctor’s office too?” Heather asked with a laugh sitting down beside him.

  “Tomorrow morning at ten,” he replied, wiping his mouth.

  Heather didn’t nibble her slice, she took a huge bite from the end and barely chewed it before she swallowed. Her stomach felt like she’d slit her throat. She was that damned hungry.

  “I hope you ordered two of these,” she said, moaning as she took another bite. Leaning over him, Heather picked up his half-full beer bottle and took a long draw to wash down the pizza. With a satisfied sigh, she wiped her mouth with her wrist then set the bottle down beside the box.

  “You keep making those sounds and I’m going straight to dessert,” Zack growled, his eyes burning the side of her face. “I have a hankering for strawberry cotton candy.”

  His gravelly tone worked along every nerve ending to settle at the top of her thighs and throb there. To get anywhere near clean, Heather had used every ounce of her shower gel and shampoo, so she knew it must be pretty potent. Very potent, if he smelled her before he saw her earlier, which is what she’d just figured out.

  I kissed you because that cotton candy scent of your bath gel drives me insane.

  It looked to Heather like that bath gel was working its magic again, and she couldn’t say she was sorry. She was fully on board with dessert, but she was too damned hungry to skip dinner. She stopped with the pizza slice at her lips to cut her eyes at him. “Save that thought, cowboy, because I plan on finishing dinner first.”

  The corner of Zack’s mouth kicked up, he sucked in a deep breath, and grabbed for his pizza slice, but laid it down to pick up the remote instead. “Then I’m gonna need a distraction,” he said as he turned the TV on and flipped to a cop show.

  Heather’s last bite of pizza hit her stomach like a brick. “I don’t want to see another cop as long as I live,” she said, picking up the beer to take another swallow. “Find something else.” She watched him scroll through another few channels, before stopping at a news channel, and she groaned. “That’s almost worse.”

  He turned frustrated eyes her way, holding out the remote. “You pick then.”

  Heather took the remote and flipped until she saw a sappy chick-flick that was sure to cool his jets. Setting the remote down, she chose another slice of pizza and took a large bite. To her surprise, Zack scooted left, nearer to her on the sofa, and put his arm over her shoulders. He propped his bare feet on the table and settled in to watch the movie. It made Heather edgy that it felt so damned right. Zack being here, his arm around her protectively. His heat and mere presence making her feel safe…loved. Loveable.

  Don’t let yourself get used to this. This isn’t real, it’s just temporary. The odds are you’re going to jail soon and he’s going back to his ranch to marry Dale Evans, or June Cleaver. You are not either of those women.

  A few minutes later, his deep voice rumbled, surprising her. “I talked to Rex too. He said you should have a job to show the court you’re stable now, just in case he can’t get the charges dropped. Since my arm is fucked up again, I’ll need a nurse.” Her eyes flew up to his, and Zack smiled down at her. “My mom is also leaving to go back to Arizona soon, so after that I’ll need a cook and housekeeper. That’s the job you’ll list.”

  Frustration surged through her. This man was planning her whole life, without even consulting her. Not that she had a better plan, but still. “You have all the answers don’t you? You didn’t even ask if I wanted the job.”

  “It’ll sound better than you working at a strip club,” he countered frowning.

  Heather’s pizza turned to sawdust in her mouth. She sat forward on the edge of the sofa to throw the half-eaten slice into the box, then turned toward him. “I’m not a stripper. I have never taken my clothes off, and unless I’m close to living under that bridge again, I won’t.”

  She pushed up to stand, but he grabbed her wrist. “Stay,” he said gruffly. “I’m sorry, and I will never call you a stripper again. I promise.”

  Heather met his serious eyes, and huffed a breath. This argument between them was getting damned old. The words tried to stick in her dry throat, but she forced them out. “Don’t, because, if you do, before I go back to that ranch with you, I’ll turn myself back in and have them release that bond, which I didn’t ask you to put up for me. If this is the kind of abuse I have to take from you as repayment, I don’t want it.”

  Zack’s hand tightened on her wrist, his throat worked a few times as he swallowed. “I’m sorry, angel. I promise I won’t say it again. Please just sit back down and let’s watch the movie and relax.” He huffed a breath. “It’s been a damned long day.”

  The longest day of her life.

  Heather thought about it, before she sat back down beside him. Zack put his arm around her stiff shoulders, and scooted a little closer to her. His quick squeeze loosened them a bit, but not enough. That warm, fuzzy feeling she’d had when she got out of the shower was gone now.

  The truth was that Zack Taylor might like her, want her, but he would never respect her, even if he never called her a stripper again. He would never truly understand her, because this man had never walked a mile in her boots. That though
t not only made her sad, it dragged up all the feelings of worthlessness she’d fought for too long now. Since she was a scared fifteen-year-old, on her own with no idea how she would survive.

  Zack’s woodsy cologne cut through the cotton candy cloud surrounding her when he scooted even closer to her, squeezing her body against the armrest of the sofa. “Get on my lap…I want to hold you,” he said, and his sexy, deep voice melted the ice inside her.

  The resulting flood of emotion flowed up to her eyes to pool there, and Heather fought the tears for all she was worth, as she lifted to let him scoot under her. His left arm closed around her, and his right rested near her knees. He kissed the side of her hair, and squeezed her shoulders then shifted her to look down into her eyes. His gaze glided down to her mouth, and hers dropped to his to watch him say, “You are the strongest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. I need your help, angel. Would you please come with me to the ranch and help me?”

  The moisture in her eyes flowed through her body in a hot delicious wave. “Yes,” she whispered around the knot in her throat.

  His head drifted toward her and his mouth met hers to make a slow, slick pass over her lips, then another. Heather’s whole body melted against him and she mewled, as her hand drifted to cup his scrubby cheek to hold her mouth to his. Zack groaned, his tongue split the seam of her lips and he shoved his hand into her hair to grip her skull.

  Tilting her head back, Heather opened for him, invited him inside, their tongues mated, danced and moisture pooled between her legs. She knew if he had two good arms, he’d be there using the other to make her come. She needed to come, to feel alive. To know that she wanted to live, have hope that things would get better for her. This man could give her the faith she wanted to have, that he expected her to have.