High-Stakes Cowboy (WEST Protection)

by Em Petrova

  “Makes the one you caught look about the size of your dick, Ross.” Silas was always ready with deep strikes against his best friend.

  “Guess you’d know. You stare at it enough.” Ross’s dry humor broke across everyone, and they all laughed just as Maya Ray landed the fish on shore.

  Noah scooped it up and held it out on his palm. Any fish that dwarfed his big hand was a keeper. He extended the fish toward Maya Ray. Beaming, she took it from him.

  “We’d better enter it right away so we can get it back into the water.” She set off toward the table set up for the derby where all the fish were recorded. Noah tagged along behind. When she entered the fish for Team Wynton, he felt a warm twitch in his chest in the area where his heart sat.

  The judge wrote down the information and looked at her with a smile. “You’re leadin’ the pack, Maya Ray. Congrats.”

  “Thanks!” She seemed as enthusiastic about her catch as he or any of his brothers would be. Again, Noah couldn’t help but compare her behavior to Shana’s. He couldn’t get his ex within ten paces of the river, and her hand didn’t seem to be the right size and shape to hold a rod. Touch a fish? Never.

  After Maya Ray released the fish into the river again, she turned, beaming up at him. His stare landed on hers, and then dropped to her lips. Those sweet, plump lips had given him more than one hard-on since he met her, and even made several appearances in his dreams.

  When he lifted his gaze again, he found her staring at his mouth too. A hard jerk of desire hooked his groin, and he dragged in a deep breath to keep himself from lunging at her.

  “I hope you like catfish,” he said.

  She met his eyes. “What?”

  “Team Wynton has our own prize. Biggest catch of the day gets treated to a catfish dinner.”

  “Oh. I love catfish.”

  “Then you’ll love my momma’s even more. She fries up one channel cat every year, and the rest of us get fish sticks.”

  She tossed her head on a laugh. The tinkling sound hit him right below the navel. “I hope I win it then. I’d like to gloat over my catfish while y’all have to eat fish sticks.”

  He couldn’t help but grin at her.

  After a couple more hours, the derby ended, and they all gathered to listen to the winners be announced. When the judge looked straight at Maya Ray, Noah knew she’d be gorging on catfish tonight, and he couldn’t be happier to hear her name as the heaviest and the longest fish.

  She blinked at Noah, eyes round with surprise, and then launched herself into his arms. He ignored the noises his brothers and friend made, because he couldn’t think of anything besides how amazing Maya Ray felt against him.

  * * * * *

  Gramma Wynton was beaming.

  The smile on her face couldn’t get wider, and even her wrinkles wore smiles as she watched Maya Ray practically lick her plate clean of the good catfish, potato salad, cornbread and her special baked beans made with loads of brown sugar.

  “You’re aware that nobody ever smiled at your last girlfriend like that.” Ross, standing with arms folded, couldn’t look more smug.

  Noah wanted to tell him she wasn’t his girlfriend, but he snapped his mouth shut on that tidbit of information. The last thing he needed was more flack from his brothers about how he’d come to know Maya Ray. That party had clearly been legendary, at least among the Wyntons.

  “You’ve definitely upgraded, l’il bro.” Ross gave him an approving glance.

  Noah studied Maya Ray as Gramma Wynton placed a big slice of homemade cherry pie before her. Of course the scoop of vanilla ice cream couldn’t be left out. Maya Ray smiled, thanked her and received a pat on the shoulder from the matriarch.

  “Are you seein’ this?” Boone appeared next to him and Ross.

  Josiah seemed to materialize from the Montana air. “Dude, Gramma Wynton has found a new favorite in the family. A girl who can pack away a dinner like that? She’s getting a good Christmas present this year.”

  Noah internally groaned. He didn’t need the entire family planning out Christmas when Maya Ray probably would be out of his life by the time the holiday rolled around.

  “Much better than that Shana girl,” Josiah said.

  He’d been prepared to marry that Shana girl. Looking at Maya Ray, he started to wonder why. What had he seen in Shana? She had lofty airs about her and didn’t like being around his family. For Noah, nothing was more important. He needed a woman who’d join Team Wynton at the fishing derby—and win two prizes. And who could out-eat any male relation to earn a huge grin of approval from Gramma Wynton.

  Someone like Maya Ray.

  Well, why not Maya Ray? They had enough chemistry to start blazing wildfires. Just because they got their start by sleeping together in rebound at a party their exes were throwing didn’t mean something more couldn’t come out of all this.

  Maya Ray looked up, caught him staring, and he swore her cheeks grew pinker. Hard to tell since she was still burnt to a crisp.

  He pulled away from the porch and crossed to the table of honor set up in the yard. The card table had a lone chair pulled up for the winner of the catfish dinner. Everybody else ate at long tables of plywood stretched between sawhorses and covered in white cloths. The lousy fish sticks didn’t seem so hard to swallow this year for Noah. Watching Maya Ray enjoy her food had been equal to winning the prize himself.

  He grabbed a lawn chair and drew it up to her card table. “Want some company?”

  “Sure.”

  He gave her a crooked smile. “You don’t mind this one bit, do you? Eating alone? Being the center of attention.”

  She paused with her fork loaded with cherry pie and vanilla ice cream in the air. “Are you kidding? For a meal like this? I don’t care who’s staring at me.”

  He grew mesmerized as she slipped the bite into her mouth. A bit of cherry pie filling and ice cream rode along the corner of her lip. He couldn’t look away from it as she chewed and swallowed.

  Without thinking about his action, he swiped his thumb over the goodness and sucked it clean.

  She went dead still.

  He stared back at her unapologetically. Let her deduct what she wanted from the moment. If she wanted to dwell over the fact he’d willingly lick cherries and ice cream off her entire body, then so be it.

  Now he was getting hard again. As if he needed any encouragement.

  He was about to comment on the flavors he’d just shared off her upper lip, when his momma stopped by the table. “How was everything, dear?” she asked Maya Ray.

  She sat back with a groan and rubbed her stomach. “Delicious. I’m stuffed. Best meal I’ve had in months—but don’t tell my momma. Her Sunday dinners are good, but I’ve never had catfish quite that tasty before.”

  His mother beamed, adding another layer to the Wynton family’s approval. “You did get a bad sunburn, didn’t you, dear? Weren’t you wearing a hat out there today?”

  Maya Ray shot him a dirty look.

  “Glad you’re enjoying your prize, Maya Ray. You’re welcome back any time!”

  When his momma walked away, Maya Ray punched him in the arm. “You told me my face looks better!”

  It didn’t. It also didn’t stop her from being the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  Damn, this was getting deep. A week hadn’t even passed since meeting her, and he was supposed to be pining over Shana.

  But why? As his brothers were so eager to remind him, Shana had been all wrong not only for him, but for their family. Thinking now, he wasn’t as much upset about losing her as he was about losing his dream. He thought he had life all worked out. He’d marry, start a family and have traditions of his own.

  “Why are you looking at me that way?” Maya Ray wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin. “Do I have more pie on my face?”

  “If you did, I’d lick it off.” He leaned in and swiped up her cheek with one long flick of his tongue.

  “Ew! Gross!” She scrubbed at his
spit with her napkin while giggles burst out of her.

  “I hope you’ll come back on Friday for the roast chicken dinner and cornhole tournament, Maya Ray,” Gramma Wynton said as she bustled by carrying a platter with the last remaining, cold fish stick.

  “Oh.” Maya Ray looked down as if she didn’t know how to respond to the invitation.

  “Maybe she’s no good at cornhole, Gramma.”

  That snapped Maya Ray’s head up. She took his bait like that fish in the river had gulped down her hand-tied fly. “Yes, I’ll be here. And for your information, I am good at cornhole.”

  He scoffed. “Guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

  A couple of his cousin’s little girls ran up to the table. Six-year-old Jeanette tugged on Maya Ray’s long hair. “You have pretty hair.”

  “Can we braid it?” Gwen jumped up and down, her own braids bouncing.

  Maya Ray looked to Noah. “Only if he gets his braided too.”

  The girls giggled. “He doesn’t have enough hair for braids!” Jeanette cried out.

  Maya Ray pretended to contemplate him. “That’s true. But I do have a tube of strawberry lip gloss you girls could put on him.”

  Their eyes flew open wide at the suggestion. “Yes! C’mon, Cousin Noah.” Gwen grabbed his hand and tugged until he stood and followed her to the porch, where both girls pressed him down on a step. Maya Ray provided the lip gloss she promised. As soon as Jeanette smeared it over his bottom lip, he almost groaned at the taste.

  He never noticed before, but Maya Ray tasted like strawberries. Now with the flavor filling his head, he wanted to taste it on her. To get her naked and stretched out on his bed, where he could lick her every inch. Or get her a little tipsy like that first night and have his way with her again and again, with neither of them thinking of what they were to each other or that horrible deal they made to torment their exes.

  He didn’t want more bargains that would end up hurting her or both of them. He had to figure out how to back out of their deal and start fresh with her. But how? She planned to cheer him on during the rodeo in order to tick off her ex, and Noah didn’t want her doing it for Jake anymore. He wanted her cheering him on because she liked him.

  He had until Saturday night to find a way to change the foundation of their entire relationship. He didn’t give a damn anymore about Jake or Shana. Let them have each other. As far as he was concerned, Jake was the dumbest guy on Earth for giving up such an amazing woman.

  Noah planned to fight for her himself.

  Chapter Six

  As Maya Ray entered the coffeeshop and spotted the black Stetson, she didn’t even think about pretend-smiling—she just did.

  Noah saw her and stood from the booth where he sat waiting for her and his long legs carried him to her. He didn’t hesitate to grab her hand and thread their fingers and then led her to the counter to buy her a coffee.

  With her hand in his warm grip, she chanced a look around. When Noah called her to tell her to meet him at the coffeeshop, she assumed he saw their exes in there. But glancing along each wall and every table in between, she didn’t see them.

  “What will you have?” he asked her.

  “A mocha cappuccino please,” she told the clerk.

  A minute of looking later, she was certain their exes weren’t in the shop. Had they already left?

  If so, what reason would Noah have for holding her hand?

  Shooting a glance at his profile, she fought down the butterflies practicing takeoff in her stomach. One or two divebombed south too, leaving flutterings much lower in her body.

  With the tray in one hand, Noah carried it to the booth he’d vacated when she entered. He placed the tray on the table and they both slid in across from each other.

  “Did they leave?” she asked him, looking around again in case she’d missed them.

  “Oh. Yes. Right after I invited you over. Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry at all as he raised his black coffee to his lips with a warm smile over the rim for her.

  What was going on between them? She really needed to figure this out once and for all. She’d met with him several times outside of their deal. He held her hand when they didn’t need to put on an act.

  She stared at his ruggedly handsome face and felt her heart pick up the pace. Could he want to see her because he liked her? Had she agreed to attend his family’s traditional dinner and cornhole tournament tonight because she liked him too?

  To cover her confusion, she sipped her cappuccino. The sweetness gave her a head rush. Or maybe that was the way Noah looked at her, as if he had some secret he’d yet to share.

  “Did they look for me when you saw them?” she asked him.

  “What?” That cute crinkle appeared in one brow.

  “Jake and Shana. They had to have seen you too. Were they looking for me?”

  “Couldn’t tell ya what they were doing.” Why did his lips shift into that annoyed twist?

  “What are you doing in town today? I figured you’d have plenty to keep you busy on the ranch.”

  He set down his mug. “Ross needed me to pick up some things. He’s been too busy organizing the security for the rodeo and running it for the fair.”

  “And you’re helping on rodeo day too. How will that work? I thought you mentioned you’re entered for amateur bronc riding.”

  “That’s right.” He cut a smile her way, and she sucked in sharply at the flash of his dimple. “One of my brothers will take a shift for me while I compete.”

  “You guys are close, huh?”

  He nodded. “Family means a lot to me. I guess the other day I realized how Shana never really fit in.”

  She gaped at him. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” He picked up his mug in an offhanded manner that said he wasn’t fussed by the epiphany.

  “And you’re…okay with it all?”

  He shrugged, which showcased his hunky, broad shoulders made for gripping. “Don’t have much choice, since she’s with your ex.” He threw her an easy grin in total opposition to his words.

  She sipped her warm drink, mind pattering through what she’d learned from their conversation. He seemed to be getting over his ex very quickly, and she had to acknowledge the fact that she’d relaxed the instant she learned Jake wasn’t in the coffeeshop.

  How to tell him she didn’t want to act anymore, though? What if he wanted to keep up the ruse?

  “Well, I’d better head back to the ranch.” His statement made her look up.

  “You finished your coffee?”

  “Yes. I can sit with you while you finish if you’d like.”

  “No. No, that’s okay.” Having a bit of time to herself might be best.

  He stood and took a step to her bench. Then he braced a big hand on the table, leaned over and pecked her on the forehead, between her brows. “See ya tonight. Dinner’s at six.”

  With a lungful of his masculine scent, and reeling from the warm press of a kiss he didn’t need to give her in order to show off for someone else, she could only nod in a dazed way.

  He walked out of the coffeeshop, leaving her to mull things over.

  What the heck just happened?

  * * * * *

  “Whooooeee!” The collective cheer of the Wynton men went up as Noah sank the third beanbag in a row into the wooden cutout.

  He doffed his hat and tossed it into the air, did a three-sixty and bobbed his head so the Stetson landed back on his head when it came down.

  “Beat that, ladies.” He dropped a wink right at Maya Ray.

  Between the trick he’d just performed with his hat, his ass in those tight Wranglers and the deep dimple flashing her way, she couldn’t remember what a beanbag was let alone how to throw one.

  She lined up with the cornhole game, with his momma, two Wynton sisters, cousins and aunts to take their turn against the boys.

  “Do us proud, Maya Ray,” his momma called out.

  She threw Noah a glance from the corner of her eye, awar
e of his hot stare locked on every twitch of her pinky finger. She cupped the beanbag. Held it up to aim. She swung her arm back and released on the forward motion.

  The bag sailed through the air, hit the wood and slid off the side, away from the hole.

  Every single onlooker groaned at her miss.

  “It’s all right, Maya Ray. You’ve got two more beanbags,” his momma encouraged.

  Her second and third try missed as well. The fourth landed with a fat plop on the wood and didn’t even skid close to the hole.

  “Ohhh! You were robbed!” Gramma Wynton’s exclamation had the family in stitches of laughter, and Maya Ray plastered her hand over her face and peeked through her fingers at Noah.

  His broad grin and the twinkle in his eyes did something to her insides—leaving her feeling hot and tight—and like slipping off with him and having her way with him.

  She dropped her hand. That thought had nothing to do with their deal—it was all her. A hundred percent her libido talking and the attraction between them making her think crazy things.

  When he started toward her, her insides gave a shiver and a bellyflop at the same time. Noah stepped up in front of her, grinning down into her eyes. “Better luck next time, sweet thing.”

  Her jaw dropped. He’d called her that the night they met. The night they did crazy-hot things after sneaking into a guest room.

  The night they fell into each other’s arms for their own reasons.

  She wanted to be his next big mistake again.

  But what if this time it wasn’t a mistake? What if they’d already made them with their exes and this time around…

  She halted that train of thought. A relationship couldn’t be built on a rebound, revenge or anything in between.

  Looking back at Noah, she wondered if it could be built on friendship, camaraderie, things in common…traditions.

  And delicious passes of his tongue across hers.

  She bit down on her lower lip. “I embarrassed myself with those throws.”

  He tipped his head, reminding her of how he ducked it to kiss her so many times. “Don’t worry—my momma’s a champ. She’ll carry the team.”