by Tessa Layne
They stood there until the fire nearly burned itself out, and all that remained were ashes and embers. Cody kicked the coals, spreading them out to cool. For once, the winds were calm, and the recent storms had left the ground damp. He’d come back to check when he made his morning rounds, but felt confident there was no fire danger at the moment. More dangerous, were his feelings for Carolina that stirred just beneath the surface. Seeing her wrecked like this triggered all sorts of protective instincts. Unearthed feelings he wasn’t quite ready to examine.
This time, when he swept her into his arms, she didn’t protest. Although the sobs and incoherent speech about barn doors continued all the way back to the bunkhouse. The door stood wide open, and he slipped through, kicking it shut behind him. First, he carried her to the kitchen, and set her down. “Drink.” He filled a glass of water and held it out. She stared at him cock-eyed. “You’ll thank me tomorrow.” She drained the glass, and he filled it again. “One more.”
When she’d finished the second glass, he led her to the bedroom.
She tilted her head as he toed off his boots and dropped his jeans. “Are you seducing me?”
He let out a dry laugh. “You’ll know it when I do.” He draped his jeans over the back of the chair, next to his shirt.
Her lower lip jutted out. “Oh.”
Cody’s chest pulled tight again, but he averted his eyes. He could take his fill of her beauty another time. When she was sober, and not a train wreck. “Come on.” He pulled back the sheets. “Into bed with you.”
She didn’t move.
“Carolina? You need to sleep, sweetheart.”
“Where are you gonna sleep?”
“Right next to you. I promise you’ll be safe.”
She beamed at him, and practically fell into the bed as she stumbled forward. “I always feel safe with you, Cody,” she mumbled as she settled herself in the crook of his arm, breath soft against his chest. “I think I’m in love with you.”
Something fluttered in his belly, but he clamped it down. “I think you’re drunk and won’t remember this in the morning.”
She continued like she hadn’t heard him. “But you know my love is bad ju-ju. You might end up gay. Or dead. Or worse. What could be worse than dead?” she hiccupped, eyes filling with tears again.
“I can think of a lot of things worse than being dead.”
“What?”
“How about loving someone and never being able to tell them?”
She gave him a sloppy grin. “But I just told you I love you.”
The response was right there, on the tip of his tongue, as natural as breathing. But he hesitated. The only person he remembered telling he loved, was his mother, and that was when he was still a little kid. He loved his brother, his cousins and aunt and uncle, but that was different. They knew it, but didn’t say it. They showed it in their fierce devotion, and the occasional ass-kicking. But this? Even if she was drunk and wouldn’t remember their conversation, was bigger. Scarier. It implied a level of commitment he’d only ever given his profession. But what if he did love her? What would that mean? Ah, hell. He was overthinking this. She probably didn’t even mean it.
He stroked a finger down her nose. “I know, sweetheart, and I love you, too. But you were asking about things being worse than dead. How about only half-living because fear has you by the nuts?”
She giggled. “I don’t have nuts.”
“Okay, how about being too afraid to get back in the saddle again?”
“I’d like to get back in the saddle with you, Cody.” Her voice grew low and seductive, implying all manner of naughty behavior, which at any other time, he’d be more than happy to indulge in.
She walked her fingers up his chest, and he slapped his hand over hers. They were already skating on thin ice. “You need to be able to stand up straight first, sweetheart.”
Chapter Fifteen
Carolina woke up shivering, head spinning like a merry-go-round. Her mouth felt like sawdust. She dimly registered that A) she was naked. B) she wasn’t in her own bed. C) given the light coming through the curtain, she should probably get up and do chores. D) there was a tall glass of water and two ibuprofen on the bedside table. If she could reach that far. She shut her eyes, but thirst won out, and she scooted just enough to reach the glass. She popped the pills and drained the water in six gulps, then fell back on the pillow.
The next time she woke up, sunlight poured in the window. She lay blinking, quickly scanning her body.
Still naked. Still in…Cody’s bed?
She sat bolt up, then immediately flopped back as an ice pick stabbed behind her right eye. She glanced at the bedside table. The water had been replenished. Slowly, this time, she propped herself up and drained the glass, then peeked at the clock. Ten-thirty.
She lay back, drawing a hand over her face, desperately trying to piece together the events that led to her being naked in Cody’s bed. The last thing she remembered clearly was putting on the expensive silk undergarments she’d purchased for her wedding to Michael. She’d spent something like half a paycheck on them. And the shoes. She’d put on the shoes and the dress, and emptied the garment bags onto her bed. She’d piled everything into the front of her skirt, grabbed matches and the whiskey bottle Jamey had sent her home with, and marched downstairs and out to the watering hole.
Why not the barnyard?
Because she’d have awakened her parents. And she’d wanted to do this on her own. Alone. Away from the oppressive sympathy of her sisters and parents. She’d used the whiskey to start the fire, but at some point had started drinking it right from the bottle. She remembered throwing her ring into the fire first. And talking to Michael.
Except, it was Cody’s face who kept showing up. Cody’s strong arms wrapped around her. Cody telling her he loved her. But that must be her twisted up drunken imaginings, because they didn’t love each other. They’d barely talked since she’d made such a fool of herself. Yet, somehow, she was here. In his bed. Naked, and growing more aware of the soft sheets against her skin by the second.
“Hangover breakfast?” Cody appeared in the doorway, hair damp at his collar, shirt open, and holding a plate of food she could smell from across the room.
Her stomach growled loudly.
Cody quirked a smile. “Guess you’re hungry?”
Carolina tucked the sheets under her armpits and propped herself against the wall. “So, umm… how’d I end up here?”
His mouth twitched, eyes sparkling. “Having trouble remembering a few things?” He came and sat on the edge of the bed, handing her the plate piled high with potatoes, onions, bacon and sausage, and a fried egg.
She dove into the plate like she hadn’t eaten in days. “Ohmygodyoumadethis?” she said with a groan, shoving in another bite of the salty, starchy goodness.
Cody stood and disappeared, returning a minute later with a steaming cup of coffee. “Here. You’ll want this, too.”
Black coffee never tasted so heavenly.
Cody took the empty plate from her lap and placed it on the chair, returning to sit on the edge of the bed, facing her. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stared at her seriously. “We didn’t kiss, and we didn’t have sex.”
“So…” Lordy, would she ever not embarrass herself in front of Cody? First a botched come-on, now she was naked in his bed with no recollection of how she got there. “What happened to my underwear?”
His eyes lit. “Burned. Quite spectacularly.”
She sucked in a breath, shut her eyes, and nodded, chest burning. “I think I owe you an apology.”
“No need. Do you feel any better? Aside from your head?”
“Weirdly, yes.” She searched his face, looking for a clue as to what she might have said last night.
“I promise, no one but the moon and I know about last night. Your dad raised an eyebrow at the ash pile, but that was all.” He stroked a finger down her cheek. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
>
The movement sent goosebumps rippling across her flesh. Suddenly, she was aware the only thing between them was a sheet and a blanket. “Cody, I-”
He held up a finger. “I do have one question. You kept going on about a barn door?”
A barn door? She buried her head in her hands with a groan. “Oh, no. I was talking about that?”
“I don’t follow.”
“The wedding shower for Emma and Millie was yesterday, and someone handed me a fortune cookie that said a horse couldn’t leave a barn through two doors.”
He burst out laughing. A low rasp that turned her insides to jelly. “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
She started to laugh too. It began as a giggle in her belly, then floated upward, coming out in peals. She laughed so hard her sides ached. Tears leaked out her eyes. “I have no idea. But I guess I did last night,” she said, still gasping for air and wiping her eyes.
Their gazes tangled, and the air between them charged. Cody’s eyes turned molten. It was like flipping a switch. Every cell in her body electrified, filled with wanton craving. She wanted his hands on her, his mouth on her with a fierceness that stopped her breath.
Carolina sat forward, letting the sheet fall to her waist. In the same movement, she grabbed the open edge of his shirt and pulled, leaning in to take his mouth. With a groan, he opened to her tongue, giving back with long, slow strokes of his own. His hand fisted in her hair, pulling just enough to send tingles of pleasure across her scalp. “I want you, Cody,” she uttered as he drew his mouth down the column of her neck. “You’re all I think about.”
“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, Caro.” He lifted his head to stare at her, eyes hungry and hot. For a sickening moment, she thought he was going to reject her again. Give her the you’re too good for me speech. But he continued. “You’re funny and smart and sexy. And you have the most beautiful eyes.”
Her heart yo-yoed.
“And I don’t want to hurt you.”
She placed her fingers on his mouth. “You won’t. I want this. I want you. No one else.” Not Michael, or some fantasy she’d cooked up in her imagination. Just Cody.
He opened his mouth, drawing in her first two fingers, alternately licking then sucking them, before releasing them with a nip. A flood of arousal washed through her, pulling her nipples into tight peaks. He kissed her again, this time taking control of the kiss, devouring every inch of her mouth until she clung to him, not knowing which way was up.
They were breathing hard when they separated, and Cody touched his forehead to hers. “I don’t have condoms down here.”
“Don’t care.” It might be totally reckless, but this was Cody. She trusted him completely. And if she was taking the plunge with him, she wanted nothing between them. “I haven’t had sex since… well, you know.” She half expected grief to overwhelm her, but it didn’t. That part of her life was truly over. There might be moments when she still mourned, but she could move on with a clear conscience.
Cody stroked her cheek. “I know. I got tested right before my accident. I’m clean.” He kissed her again, gently. “I want this to be good for you, sweetheart. I want you to tell me what you like. Do anything you like. Understand?”
She nodded, heart picking up speed as she pushed his shirt from his shoulders and traced his scar with her tongue. She wanted him to know she loved those scars, that they were a sign of his strength, and what better way than to show him?
Chapter Sixteen
It should have been a turn-off, Carolina lavishing kisses on his scars. Instead, it was the most erotic, vulnerable thing he’d experienced. Her silent way of praising him. He held still as she kissed the marks that were still red. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he gently pushed her back on the bed and stood, slowly unbuckling then dropping his pants, boxer briefs and all. His cock, full and achy, jutted out proudly, and he resisted the urge to pose as her eyes grew round with admiration.
She drew a finger down his solid length, letting out a quiet oooh as she did so. His cock twitched at her touch, and she stroked him again, more firmly this time, sending dots to his eyes. “I won’t last long if you keep that up,” he gritted, to which she gave him a wicked smile, and stroked him again.
But he was having none of it. He stepped forward, pulling the sheets off her and exposing her lush curves. She dropped back to her elbows, giving him a saucy pinup girl pose. But she didn’t quite pull it off, because her eyes went dark with arousal and her tongue darted out to slick her lips.
Fuck, she was gorgeous.
He drank her in, imprinting the vision of her on his sheets, plump and ready, into his mind. On his deathbed, he’d remember her like this. “Where do you want me to start?” He said, emotion getting the better of him and making his voice rough.
She licked her lips again, then slowly dropped her knees, baring her slick pink pussy through a thatch of neatly trimmed curls. Her eyes were like flames, and his skin burned under her slow perusal of him. His balls ached for release when she met his eyes again and spoke, seductively, but with a note of command.
“Lick me.”
Like no was even an option. In this moment he was a slave to her pleasure. But he didn’t start where she wanted. He’d get to that, but he was going to draw this out for both of them until they couldn’t take it anymore. He bent over her, bracing his arms above her shoulders, then only with his tongue, traced the column of her neck to her collarbone, and then down the valley between her plush mounds. She arched into him, silently asking for more.
He’d give it to her. He’d give her everything she wanted this morning.
He teased the underside of her creamy breast, taking his time to learn every dimple, and register every gasp, returning to the sensitive spots again and again until she writhed beneath his mouth. She cried out loudly when he finally took a rosy taut peak into his mouth, a shudder wracking her body.
He responded in kind, a noise of pure satisfaction coming from his throat while he worked her over until sweat beaded across her chest, and she clutched his hair, pulling shamelessly. Only then, did he slide his tongue down her belly, kissing the soft swell until he reached her mound. Cody glanced up, eyes locking with hers.
“You’re so gorgeous.”
Her hair tumbled behind her in thick tangled waves, utterly touchable. Her skin, flushed rosy from arousal and his mouth, practically glowed. But it was her eyes, glazed with unabashed lust, that took his breath away, every cell in his body going tight.
The scent of her arousal rose like perfume. A sweet, spicy combination that coiled his desire more tightly. He dropped his head, still holding her gaze. And licked exactly where she’d asked, a slow swipe. Her mouth changed to a perfect ‘oh’, eyes blazing as he repeated the motion. She bowed off the bed with a low moan, eyes still locked with his. He took a deeper pull, and she shattered with a cry, hips bucking, body shaking, and still, he licked - just as she asked - as she rode the waves of her orgasm to completion.
Only when she was spent, did he climb over her, pausing with his cock at her entrance. His legs shook from the effort of holding back. The urge to claim her raced through him with powerful intensity. “Look at me, Carolina,” he rasped.
Her eyes, still glazed over from the intensity of her orgasm, raised to meet his.
“Are you sure? Tell me you want this.”
She answered by slipping a hand between them and fisting his cock. His vision spotted as she guided him in, encasing him in her tight, wet, heat. “I want you, Cody,” she whispered. “To fuck me.”
“Like this?” he asked, pulling almost all the way out, then slamming home, balls deep.
“Yes,” she cried with a gasp. “I can feel you all the way inside me.”
“Look at me,” he urged, his voice no longer his own. “I want you to look at me when you come.” Their talk was winding him up faster than a tornado could spin up in spring. “Show me how gorgeous you are when you let go.”
Her hands were everywhere, his face, his shoulders, gripping his ass, as they moved together, closer and closer to the edge as her moans increased in intensity. Then she gasped, going still, staring straight into his soul, eyes wild. She seized around his cock as her orgasm shook them both. He let go with a shout of his own, driving into her, releasing himself deep in the heart of her. The intensity of it so strong, all he saw was blinding white light, followed by blackness as he collapsed onto her.
They lay spent from a second round of vigorous lovemaking, limbs entwined. It had to be close to lunchtime, yet the only hunger in Cody’s belly was for her. It was like once the floodgates were opened, neither of them could get enough of the other. In spite of the exhaustion he knew would catch up to them, he felt invigorated, more alive than he’d felt in months.
But something still ate at him, and he rolled onto his side, playing with a strand of her hair. “So tell me about Greg?”
She propped herself on an elbow and cocked her chin, a hint of a smile showing at the corner of her mouth. “Well, Greg is a colleague… But I think you know that.”
With a groan, he pulled her on top of him, settling between her thighs. “You think you’re being funny?” He traced her spine, enjoying the goosebumps that spread across her chest, and pulled her nipples tight.
Her eyes crinkled. “I know I’m funny.” Her voice trailed off in a gasp as he flicked both her nipples with his thumbs. She dropped her head and nipped his collarbone, licking the tiny bite mark after. “You have nothing to be jealous of,” she whispered into his ear with a giggle, before pushing herself up to stare down at him.
“Oh, I’m not jealous.” He ran his tongue down the valley between her breasts.
“Deny if you want, but I can tell. You get all puffed up and prickly the second you walk into the clinic. Every. Time.” She emphasized the last words with a roll of her hips.
