Was he crazy?
Dade was in his element. He showed no fear, only bravery as he confronted the bull, feeding him what looked like crackers.
Then his pocket was empty.
Her heart fell into her stomach.
Get out of there, Dade! She wanted to yell the words, but she was afraid she’d only make things worse.
Unlike what most men would do in this situation, Dade stayed planted in the dirt, facing the bull like a man with a death wish. Her knees weakened and she leaned against the abrasive wood rail, demanding that she not pass out.
She closed her eyes for a mere second and she opened them. Dade’s gaze was on her. She saw something in his expression—something that dipped into her core, reaching her soul. She knew without a doubt, without any hesitation, he was everything she needed in her life. If he could face the beast without fear, he would be there for her through any turmoil. He was a real cowboy.
And she was falling in love.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
AN HOUR LATER, Dade stepped out of the shower at his cabin and was drying off when he heard a thump from the outer room. Securing the towel at his hips, he stepped out and glanced around the shadows, and that’s when he saw a set of bare legs. His heart picked up in speed, his stomach flipping, as he walked further into the room. Then the hammer of disappointment slammed through him. This wasn’t Felicia.
“Hey, cowboy. I thought I could convince you to break the rules.” Monique was stretched out on his bed, and, thankfully, still dressed.
“What are you doing here?”
She laughed and skimmed her gaze down his chest and steadied her attention where he had the towel knotted right above his still flaccid cock. “I heard what you did with the cow and I must say, I’m very impressed.”
“It was a bull.”
“Oh, same difference.” She shrugged. “Still amazing of you.”
He swallowed and switched on the lamp, giving the shadowed room some much needed light. “It wasn’t a biggie.”
“Modest and gorgeous. A great combination.”
“Any of the hands could have managed what I’d done.”
One corner of her crimson lips dipped and she shrugged. “You could have rescued an ant and I would have been just as captivated.”
Oh brother. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know when a man is only playing hard to get. I like that about you. I like a challenge.” She wagged her brows.
“I’m not playing,” he said.
“You keep acting that way and I’m going to start believing you.”
He was beginning to think she wasn’t hearing a word he said. “That would be a good thing. I already told you, I’m not interested.”
Her bottom lip puckered and she stood, tilting one curvy hip. “No, you said it was against the rules.”
Damn, she was right. He should have made himself clearer. “Even if it wasn’t against the rules, I still wouldn’t be interested.” Her eyes glazed over and he could see that he hurt her feelings. It wasn’t his intention, but she needed to understand where he stood.
She stepped closer, walking her fingers slowly down his chest and pausing at the knot of the towel, licking her lips into a moist pucker that made them look ready for a kiss—just not his. “I understand you have to say that, but I promise I won’t tell a soul. I’m leaving in two days and I have yet to sample a Nirvana cowboy, and you look like the right one. I can show you a good time. There’s this thing I do with my tongue you’ll never forget.” She dipped her fingers inside of the towel and tugged the material free, but he caught it and clutched it against his package.
He opened his mouth, ready to say something, anything, when the door came open. Dayum! Things just got more awkward.
Felicia stood in the doorway, her eyes glittering with question and her lips parted. Shit!
He really wasn’t surprised by the turn of events, because the second Felicia walked onto Nirvana everything had gotten all twilight zone on him. This situation was fitting.
“Who the hell are you?” Monique muttered. “Oh wait, you’re the boss’s sister, right? What the hell are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to Dade, alone,” Felicia took a step into the middle of the room.
“Excuse me?” Monique sputtered, sounded like a cross between a chuckle and a moan.
“You heard me.”
“Let me explain something, honey. I was here first. You can’t just walk in uninvited and demand other people to do your bidding, boss’s sister or not. I paid for my stay and I aim to get my money’s worth.”
Dade stood there, frozen in his spot, still holding the towel pressed against his stomach and thighs. It appeared that neither woman was prepared to leave. He actually didn’t want to see either one at the moment. He wanted them both to go.
Liar. He wanted Felicia to stay, but who did she think she was barging in like this?
“Dade, tell this twit to hit the road. You and I are going to hash out our differences now,” Felicia demanded.
“I think you both should leave. I’m done talking,” he muttered.
Felicia didn’t like his rebuttal one bit. She placed her palms on her hips and her eyes turned dark. “Not your choice, cowboy.”
“Oh, you’re a piece of work.” He chuckled and shook his head.
“Did you hear him, bitch?” Monique hissed. “He wants you to leave.”
“Maybe too much hair color has seeped into your brain, honey, but he wants us both to leave.” Felecia narrowed her gaze on the other woman.
Damn, if this turned into a catfight, Chase would never forgive Dade. “I’m indecent here. Why don’t you both find the door already?”
“Is that really what you want, Dade? Do you want me to leave without talking first?” Felicia’s gaze met his.
Damn, he couldn’t look at her because every nerve ending on his body came alive. “There’s nothing to say.”
“Oh, I have plenty to say.”
“Fine, you have five minutes to speak your peace and then you’re leaving.” He caved—knew he would.
Monique’s groan bounced off the walls like a ping pong ball. “What? You’re picking her over me?”
“Are you in high school?” Felicia moaned.
“I get it.” Monique lifted her chin. “You two are an item. Isn’t that against the rules?” she hissed.
“Get lost. I have business with, Dade.” Felicia flipped a thumb toward the open door.
“You’ll both regret this.” Monique stomped to the door, turning, ready to say something, but Felicia pushed the door closed in the woman’s twisted face.
Dade blew a long breath through his tight lips. “Felicia?”
“What?”
“She’s a guest. Probably not the best idea to treat her that way.”
“Are you serious?”
“Just stating the facts.”
“If you’d like, I can get her back in here and you two can do whatever you were doing when I showed up.”
“Which was nothing. I didn’t invite her. She snuck in.” He shook his head. He didn’t need the drama. Considering Felicia had seen it all before, he shook out the towel, laid it over the chair, and grabbed a pair of jeans from the dresser. As he tugged them on, he caught Felicia’s dazzling gaze on him and his cock grew, making it difficult to pull the zipper over the aging bulge.
“Well she certainly believed she had an invitation. She looked like she was ready to lick the eye candy.”
“Amazingly, you believe you have an invitation too.” He sniffed loudly. “What’s wrong with knocking first? Just a simple curtesy.”
“That is so mean. A woman who has had a man’s…” her eyes drifted to his zipper then back up, “jewels in her body should never have to knock when she has something important to say.”
“So, you should be able to do what you want?”
“You did invite me here, Dade. That look you gave me from the bullpen spoke volumes.”
“Imagine that you’d flatter yourself into believing that.” He chuckled.
She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped the toe of her boot on the planked floor. He didn’t want to, shouldn’t want to, but God help him, he lowered his hungry gaze over her. She wore a tight white tank and dark skinny jeans and it was an outfit meant to bring a man to his knees. He wanted to remove every article of clothing with his teeth. Fuck! What was wrong with him? “What you did earlier, with the bull, was stupid.”
“Oh, should I have allowed it to be hurt worse by being shot with a tranq gun?” he snapped. “Or was it stupid because I have a limp?”
She blinked. “Are you going to keep using your injury as a scapegoat to make others feel bad?”
Anger shot down his backbone. “Fuck that! I’ve never once used my wounds to get ahead.” He clenched his teeth.
“You have several times with me. I don’t care about your injuries. The stunt would have been dangerous and stupid for anyone. Chase knew it was time to use the safest route, that’s why he made the decision.”
“I’m not Chase and you have four minutes left.” He sighed. All he wanted was to relax.
“Do you have a death wish?”
He shrugged. “I did what had to be done.”
“You did it to prove yourself to everyone. When do you get that you’re good enough?”
“Bullshit. The bull needed to walk into the chute and it happened. Why am I getting shit from you?”
She tore a hand through her hair, sending wild golden waves around her flushed cheeks. “Because…”
“Because why?” he growled.
“Because I care. That’s why! More than I should, but I do. Seeing your life at risk was horrible. Don’t do that again!” She blew out a long breath. “We could argue all day about this, but that’s not why I came, and considering I’m on a time crunch, I better get to the point.”
“Good idea.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, but you know why I did it. It was for the best.”
“For you, it was.”
“For us, it was!” She lifted her brows high. “I was protecting you, just as you were protecting me when you told my brother that going into town during the storm was your idea.”
What could he say? She had him by the balls. He rubbed his chin, speechless.
“So you’re seeing my point finally?”
“Maybe I do know how to settle this,” he said.
“You do?”
****
Before she could blink, he was dragging her into his arms and his mouth was covering hers in a kiss that was full of desperation. How could she ever resist this delicious temptation of cowboy? Never. Why would she try? She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned closer, inhaling his fresh shower scent that tantalized her senses, reminding her of what they’d shared there earlier.
He pulled back and she looked up into his dazzling gaze that hypnotized her senses. “Dade, you must know what I said isn’t what’s in my heart. Can’t you see what you do to me?”
“I guess it shocked me more than anything, but I do see your point.” He kissed the corner of her lips, her cheek, leaving a trail of kisses to her ear lobe where he gave the flesh a tug with his teeth. A shiver raced through her and she giggled.
She planted her hands flat against his chest, hoping she managed a firm expression. “I need to know. Did anything happen with the wench?”
He laughed. “Monique? Hell no.”
“You didn’t even think about it, even in the tiniest, itsy-bitsy way?”
“Well, maybe.” She pinched him playfully. “But every time I started to allow my mind to head that direction, all I could think about was you, the way your body moved under me. Your sweet whimpers. How you called my name over and over.”
“I would have kicked her ass.”
“You wouldn’t need to.” He swept his tongue along the seam of her lips and the throbbing between her legs took on a heavy beat.
Their tongues met and took on a primitive dance of desire. She accepted him, sampling him, exploring. He pulled back. “All I can think about is getting your beautiful body naked and taking you, making you mine again and again.”
His eyes were like flares as he stared down at her. She’d never been affected by a man as much as she was now. “How does this happen, Dade? How can two people come together like the stars and the sky, easy and so, so right?”
This was almost too much for her. She’d known this man, intimately, for less than a week, and she wanted him to claim her, make her his, heart and soul. A part of her was screaming “Yes,” but another part of her worried that she could be moving as thoughtlessly as a forest fire, taking down everything in its path.
His lips were on her again in a passionate fervor that she wanted, craved, then it turned gentle, tender. He slid his hand in her hair, tangling his fingers in the mass, and he used the strands like the strings of a puppeteer, guiding her where he wanted her and she didn’t resist. She parted her lips, welcoming him. He moaned deep in his throat, sending vibrations through her chest, puckering her nipples into beads of sensitivity. The muscles in her stomach tightened and spasms drove deep into her core, making her pussy moist and ready. She stood on tiptoe, wanting to be closer, loving the warmth of his body seeping through the material of her clothes.
Exploring, she suckled his bottom lip gently into her mouth, nibbling. He groaned again and played her veins like a violin. He placed his palms on both sides of her face and plunged his tongue deep into her mouth, sliding it in and out, a promise of what he’d do later with his cock. Their breaths mingled—ragged and deep. She smoothed her hands down his shoulders, down his thick arms back up to grasp the back of his neck. She couldn’t get enough, couldn’t touch all of him at once like she wanted. It was almost a crazed feeling, an out of control desire. It was an astonishing feeling.
His hands slid down her back, stroking her backbone until he reached her bottom and he palmed her flesh, squeezing the muscle, kneading it with strong fingers. At the same time, he nibbled her neck, licking and gently sucking. “Oh. My. That’s so good.” The combination of him stroking her ass and licking her neck seemed to send waves of heat from several parts of her body, currents meeting and sending tiny explosions into her bloodstream. She felt him smile against her skin.
“Your ass is amazing,” he muttered against her neck. He pulled her tighter against his body and she felt the strong length of him, felt his erection against her stomach. She ran her hands over his hips and around to his bottom.
“Yours is pretty amazing too, cowboy.”
He pulled back, only slightly, his eyes ablaze.
She wanted him more than she ever had before. The moment was amazing with their arms around each other, intimate and heart wrenching. She smoothed her fingers along his spine, swirling them along each vertebra, feeling the coiled muscle and thick lines. He still watched her, expecting and mesmerizing as she dipped her fingers into the waist of his jeans.
He reached around, grabbed her other hand and brought it up to plant a quick kiss on each of her knuckles. She smiled. Then he suckled one digit into his mouth, sliding it deeper and the slight massaging feel of his tongue made her pussy throb in rhythm. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his as he watched her with such a rawness that she couldn’t come to grips with. She’d never had a man look at her with complete desire, such heavy deep passion. She wanted to be looked at with such emotion every day of her life…
What the hell…?
She took a step back, wrapping her brain around the heaviness of her thoughts.
“Felicia?”
“Dade…”
“Have you changed your mind?”
She gave her head a quick shake. “No, not at all.”
He cupped her face, held it within inches of his own and he didn’t make a move, just held her close. “Listen, sweetheart, I want you. You’re a beautiful, smart, sweet woman, and sexy as hell. I don
’t want to move too fast, take things too fast, it just seems we’re being dragged through a foreign universe.”
She closed her eyes for a second and inhaled sharply. When she opened them, she knew then that she could tell him anything. “I was just caught up in the magic of the moment. These feelings.”
“It is pretty damn mystical, huh?”
He slid his fingertips down her cheek, along her bottom lip. There was a raging tug of war between her mind and her heart. It wasn’t logical to think she was falling in love with him, not this soon. Not possible. And yet, her heart screamed a gamut of emotions, all pointing toward her love for this man—a forever man that was solid and true. He was only supposed to be her discreet cowboy for a good time and somehow he’d dug a path straight into her soul. He monopolized her cosmos. He intoxicated her with his closeness. She became drunk on his touch, his scent, his feel. And she never wanted the emotions to end. Never wanted to face a day without knowing she could see him, be near him, love him with all of her heart. There, in that moment, she gave herself to her future with Dade.
She took his hand and led him toward the bed. There, she laid down and he beside her, covering her body with his. He kissed each side of her mouth, his eyes connecting with hers, their breaths mingling—giving life to one another.
His body felt so good—felt so right. His long muscular length seemed perfect against her softer curves. They were perfect together. How could it get any better?
His knees slid between her legs, parting her thighs, and she could feel the impressive length of his erection against her burning thighs.
She pressed her hands against his warm skin, caressing his abs, upward to his flat, tanned nipples, giving them a flick with her short nails. She rubbed his ribs, smooth and taut. He kissed her, making her crazy with his tongue as he ran his palm down her hip, over her jeaned thigh. Then his touch came at her breast and, because that wasn’t enough for either of them, he slid his hand up underneath the material and pressed one mound into his palm. Her nipples beaded and chafed, and she arched against him, sending him a silent message. Her nipples strained against the lace of her thin bra, wanting more, wanting his mouth.
The Discreet Cowboy (Cowboys of Nirvana Book 6) Page 14
