Texas at Dusk

by Delores Fossen

  Ro blinked. “Naughty pictures?” she asked.

  “Some people would see them that way.” Actually, many people would, especially Ro’s clients.

  “I see,” Ro said on a heavy sigh. She downed more of the lemonade as if it were a shot of liquor and then stayed quiet for a long time. “Come with me,” she insisted. “I need to show you something.”

  When she started to lead him out of the sunroom, he nearly mentioned the ghosts. Not because he was especially concerned about that but because he didn’t want Ro getting a glimpse of Nova while she was snooping. But thankfully there was no sign of either Nova or ghosts when Ro and he went into what appeared to be her home office.

  Like the rest of the house, the room was sprawling with a large antique-looking desk. However, it was the framed pictures on the walls that captured Ryland’s attention. Some were ads with babies and smiling families, but others were of Nova, Ro and Barry. Those were smiling shots, too, and they covered the gambit from fancy party events to more casual ones.

  “Nova’s work,” Ro said, motioning toward the ads. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”

  He didn’t know diddly about photography, but yeah, they looked pretty amazing to him. Ryland could practically see Nova behind the camera, clicking off the shots until she’d gotten just the one she wanted.

  “Nova always did want to be a photographer,” he muttered.

  “And she’s now a successful one,” Ro assured him. Then she pointed toward several of the group pictures of Nova, Barry and her. “Barry’s in love with Nova. Anyone can see that, and love doesn’t always make you act responsibly.”

  Ryland frowned. Barry sure seemed to have stars in his eyes over Nova, but he wasn’t about to let Ro just blow off her son’s stupid behavior. “Barry’s an adult, and he’s using those photos to hurt Nova. Nova’s afraid if he leaks the rest of them, that you’ll fire her.”

  Now Ro’s eyes widened. “Just how bad are the pictures?”

  “They’re photoshopped,” Ryland reminded her. “Barry messed with them to make them look even worse than they actually were.”

  She opened her mouth, and Ryland figured the woman was about to claim that Barry wouldn’t do that, but she sighed instead. “Why don’t you check on Nova?” Ro’s voice was quiet now. “This has to be so upsetting for her. See if you can soothe her some.”

  Ryland considered drilling home his point that Ro needed to rein in her son, but maybe it was best to give her some time for this to all sink in. Plus, he did want to check on Nova. He doubted she needed soothing, but she might want some help looking for copies of those photos.

  Since he couldn’t very well ask where Barry’s bedroom and office were, Ryland just headed in the direction where Nova had gone after she left the sunroom. He meandered past room after room and down a long corridor before he finally spotted her. She was in a doorway, looking at a picture she was holding.

  “I found them,” Nova announced in a whisper when she saw him. “Barry had them in his nightstand drawer.”

  Ryland was thankful Barry hadn’t found a more original hiding place. He went closer and saw that Nova had two pictures—the most naked ones of the bunch—and she was looking at the shot of them body to body.

  “You always did have an amazing butt,” she murmured.

  While Ryland knew that was a compliment, he didn’t exactly thank her. That was because his attention was now on Nova’s body—which he’d always considered damn amazing as well. The photo shouldn’t have given him a tug of lust, especially considering that Barry had been responsible for printing these out. However, any thoughts and irritation about Barry sort of flew out of his mind when he looked at Nova’s face.

  She was relieved. That was the first thing he noticed, but it, too, got overshadowed by what else he saw there. Apparently, she had gotten her own nudge of lust.

  “Has it occurred to you that we shouldn’t be looking at each other like this?” he asked.

  Nova nodded without hesitation. “I think it’s just the thrill of ex-sex. You know, forbidden fruit.”

  Maybe, but if that was it, you’d think common sense would kick in and also remind them that they still had the same problems that had broken them up a decade ago. And that forbidden sex could cause even more problems than regular sex. But then, common sense definitely wasn’t getting a say in this.

  “We’ll need to hide them to get them out,” Nova said, and with her eyes fixed to his, she unbuttoned his shirt and shoved the pictures inside.

  Of course, that meant she also touched his bare chest, and his body took that as the start of foreplay. Apparently, hers did, too, because she didn’t take her hands off him even after she rebuttoned his shirt. Nope. Nova leaned in, her mouth aimed right at his. She wasn’t moving fast enough for him, though, because Ryland slung his arm around her and yanked her to him.

  And the kissing began.

  Since it started out as hot and deep, there weren’t many places for it to go. That meant there was more touching. Since her fingers had lit little fires on his chest, Ryland thought turnabout was fair play, so he slid his hand between them to her breasts.

  A whole firestorm of memories came right at him. He’d touched her this way plenty of times, but it suddenly felt as if this had never happened before. That it had never felt this good. That she’d never been this responsive, making a needy, breathy sigh that hit against his mouth when she pulled back from the kiss.

  It turned out that the pulling back was just because she needed air. As soon as Nova gulped in some, she started right up again. She kissed, touched and added a new dimension to this personal torture by sliding the front of her against the front of him. Ryland helped her with that by catching onto her butt and angling her center to his quickly forming erection.

  Ryland felt his body clench, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before the really stupid thoughts came. Like they could just duck into a room and get naked. Then have sex. Right now.

  It was hard to stop those searing thoughts because so many times kisses and touches had led to just that. It was a muscle memory that his body wasn’t going to let him forget.

  “Someone’s coming,” Nova said.

  Already? Ryland nearly asked, but then he realized Nova wasn’t talking about sex. Someone was indeed coming up the hall, and it wasn’t a ghost. It was Ro.

  “Oh, sorry to interrupt,” the woman said.

  Thankfully, Nova moved in front of him, shielding that bulge in his jeans. Still, Ro would have had to be blind not to have seen what was going on.

  “Uh, I was just soothing Nova,” Ryland volunteered, causing Nova to give him a puzzled look from over her shoulder.

  “Good.” Ro gave them a thin smile. “I’ll speak to Barry,” she added, “but in the meantime, it looks as if you two could use some private time.”

  Yeah, they could, and that was why Ryland didn’t say the polite thing to Ro and ask her to stay. Instead, he was relieved when the woman walked away, and he didn’t waste any time turning Nova around to face him.

  “Come back to my place,” Ryland insisted, “and let’s finish this.”

  Nova took him by the hand and hurried toward the front door. “Absolutely.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  NOVA WISHED THEY could teleport back to his ranch. It was less than an hour from the Waterman estate, but it might as well have been light-years away. Her body was on fire and wanted more.

  More that Ryland certainly could give her.

  She was positive of that because he’d taken care of this fire too many times to count. It didn’t matter that it had been a decade since their last encounter. Nova knew they could land in bed and burn off some of this blistering insanity. And then maybe they could think straight enough to realize...

  Well, she didn’t know what they would realize, but at least their bodies wouldn’t be raging like this.<
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  Wrapped in each other’s arms and still kissing, they’d practically stumbled out of Ro’s house, somehow making it to Ryland’s truck, but they’d had to put the stops on making out so they could safely get back to Coldwater. They had agreed that they wanted sex and not a trip to the ER.

  Still, the drive was dragging on and on, and the only entertainment Nova had was looking at the copies of the pictures she’d gotten from Barry’s room. They were hardly going to cool her down, but she figured at this point, nothing would ease the heat except sex with Ryland.

  Nova rethought that when Ryland’s phone rang and she saw his mother’s name, Helen Ross, on the Bluetooth monitor on his dash. They groaned in unison, and he let the call go to voice mail, only to have his mom ring him right back.

  “This conversation won’t last more than five minutes,” Ryland told Nova, and she calculated that was about the time they had left to get to his house.

  “Ryland,” his mom said the moment he hit the answer button on his steering wheel. “Is there really a picture of you in just your tighty-whities?”

  He groaned again. Apparently, news of the picture had made it back to her. “No. But there is one of me in my boxers. It was an old photo that Nova took of me way back when.”

  “A sex picture?” Helen asked after a short pause.

  Ryland dragged in a weary breath before he answered. “No, but if someone sends you a copy, I’d appreciate it if you just burn it.”

  “I will, but I don’t think Silla Sweeny’s going to do that. I walked by her car at the diner, and I saw she had one on the front seat. Is she the one who’s sending out copies?”

  For the third time in this short conversation, Ryland repeated his “no” answer. “It’s just some guy who wants to cause trouble for Nova and me.”

  “Barry Waterman,” his mother quickly supplied. “He’s staying in room 101 at the Lightning Bug Inn.”

  Ryland didn’t groan that time, but he did huff and roll his eyes. “You obviously know all about this.”

  “I guess. Mostly. I’ve heard some things. Like that maybe you’re getting back with Nova. I’ve got no objections to that,” Helen added before he could speak. “Just remember to guard your heart this go-around. It took you a long time to get over her last time.”

  And there it was—what Ryland and she should have been considering instead of hurrying toward a bed. He had been hurt. So had she.

  Well, heck.

  That meant they would need to hash this out, and here she was still burning for him. Still wanting him.

  Ryland was showing some frustration, too, by the time he pulled to a stop in front of his house. He ended the call with his mom, grumbled out some profanity, and after he got out, he slammed his truck door as if it were responsible for the sudden downturn in his mood.

  He opened the passenger-side door for her, and in the same motion, Ryland took the picture from her, crumpled it into a ball and hurled it like a baseball at his fence. It smacked into the wood and thudded to the ground.

  Nova wished she had some way to deal with her anger. Here, all those kisses and touches had worked her up into a frenzy, and now instead of sex, there’d be yet another round of conversation about Barry and his antics. That would likely be followed by more talk as to why Ryland and she should keep their hands and mouths off each other.

  But she was wrong about that.

  Apparently, Ryland didn’t have any plans for conversation or keeping his mouth off her. That was because the moment they stepped inside, he kissed her. It came as such a surprise—a very welcome one—that Nova made a sharp gasp that got trapped between their lips. She soon followed it up with a moan of throaty pleasure.

  Emphasis on the pleasure.

  Because that was exactly what Ryland was giving her. He kissed her, instantly deepening it and pressing himself to her. That rocketed the heat right back to where it’d been when they’d kissed at Ro’s.

  “We’re not going to talk about this,” he grumbled.

  No way was Nova going to argue with that. Not that she could have said anything after Ryland’s tongue went in her mouth. Not a bad place for it, she decided, since he didn’t appear to want further conversation, either.

  Without breaking the kiss, he scooped her up. She hooked her arms around his neck, aligning their middles in exactly the way she wanted them aligned. Minus the clothes, of course. They were definitely getting in the way, but at least her dress had ridden up enough so that her panties were touching the front of his jeans. Ryland was hard, hot and ready, which in turn made her soft, hot and ready.

  She was about to tell him to move this along, but he started walking, no doubt heading for the bedroom. Since his hands were occupied, Nova got them started on getting them naked, and she fumbled around to unbutton his shirt. Not an easy task, what with his mouth singeing her and the hungry anticipation of getting him in bed.

  Maybe that hunger was too much for Ryland, though, because there was a low, husky rumbling in his throat when her fingers landed on his bare chest. He stopped in the hall and pressed her back to the wall.

  “Here,” he insisted. “Now.”

  Again, no argument from her, and it didn’t matter that there were logistics problems with having vertical sex. The temp was hot enough inside her that she would have agreed to anything. That only intensified when he caught the top of her panties, and pinning her against the wall, he shimmied them off her. He didn’t stop there. He shucked off her dress. Her bra, too. And even with the vertical challenges, he soon had her butt-naked.

  But that wasn’t the best part. That happened when he lowered his clever mouth to her breasts and kissed them. Yes, that stirred more heat, and she amended her “best part” label when he took her nipple into his mouth.

  Oh, he was so good at that. Always had been, and he hadn’t lost one bit of his touch. Maybe it had even improved, and Nova would give that some thought once her mind cleared. For now, though, she only wanted him to satisfy this pressure-cooker need he was fueling.

  With his mouth still torturing her nipple, he slid his hand between them, his fingers dipping right into her. She cursed him. Her eyes crossed. And she revised her “best part” label once again. His hands were just as clever as his fingers, and this was the winner.

  The insanity came, the need spiraling until Nova would have taken the climax right then, right there just so she could find release. But through the primal haze, a thought came. She didn’t want to do this alone. She wanted Ryland inside her, and that meant there was still the issue of nakedness. She was, but he darn sure wasn’t.

  Nova pushed his hand away just seconds before he sent her to that blinding, mindless peak, and she went after his belt. Of course, he had a big rodeo buckle. One that he’d won, and while she knew it was the equivalent of a trophy, right now it was in the way. Cursing it, cursing him, she finally got it opened and she unzipped him.

  The primal haze insisted that she should just get on with the climax, but Nova staved that off a moment so she could touch Ryland when she freed him from his boxers. Just as he’d tortured her, she ran her fingers down the long length of him and then would have almost certainly caught onto his hips to ram him inside her if he hadn’t spoken.

  “Condom,” he snarled, and he started his own round of fumbling to get out his wallet. More cursing and fumbling followed while he located the condom.

  Nova could have sworn that it took several eternities for Ryland to get the darn thing on, but the moment he did, he didn’t waste any more time. He pushed into her, and Nova practically exploded with pleasure.

  This was the new “best part” for her.

  They had always fit, as if their bodies had been designed just for each other. That hadn’t changed. He knew every inch of her, and he used his own inches to exploit the heck out of that. He thrust, touched and kissed. A triple whammy of an assault that left
her searing and soaring.

  He was so good at this.

  So good that Nova knew it wouldn’t last. The need was much too big for staying power, and while she would have liked to have savored this a bit, she wasn’t able to stop herself from peaking, then shattering. But, oh, what a shattering it was. A head-to-toe release with some especially memorable sensations where Ryland and she were joined.

  As he made that final push into her, Nova knew that this was hands down the “best part” winner.

  * * *

  HE’D TAKEN NOVA against the blasted wall. Ryland wasn’t opposed to wall sex or any other kind for that matter when it came to Nova. But he wished he’d given her something more than a crazy, frantic coupling against the mist-green paint of his hall.

  Ryland kissed her, slowly this time. That was the advantage of having a sated body. Well, sated for the moment, anyway. Slow and easy stood a chance of happening now that they weren’t fiery hot.

  “I’ll be right back,” he told her.

  Ryland eased her to a standing position and headed into his room. He scowled at the bed he passed on the way to the bathroom, where he cleaned up. He didn’t take long, especially after he remembered that he hadn’t told Nova where the other bathroom was. She probably wanted to freshen up, too. But when Ryland went back into the hall, he hoped that she wouldn’t want to do that.

  That was because she was still naked.

  Well, almost. She did have on her panties, but his attention latched onto the naked parts of her and led him right back to her like a moth to a flame. He kissed her again, not quite so slowly this time, and fondled her breasts—which were amazing. Actually, amazing applied to the rest of her as well.

  “I’m glad you didn’t want to talk,” she murmured against his mouth.

  Nova was smiling when she said that, and while Ryland would have liked to taste that smile with some more kisses, her comment was a reminder that they should have talked. The only reason they hadn’t was because wall sex had become so damn irresistible.