Rugged and Restless

by Saylor Bliss

Really, the look on his face was comical. Like he couldn’t believe his luck and then suddenly realized he’d left his only condom at home in his other pair of jeans.

  “Relax, Cowboy, I’m not inviting you up to my room.”

  Yet.

  “Okay.” His voice sounded a bit strangled.

  I laughed. “Saturday crowd here’s usually pretty fun. And it’s the first Saturday of the month.”

  He angled a look at me. “What happens the first Saturday of the month?” A slow smile tugged at my lips.

  He’d see… if he showed up.

  Chapter Twelve

  Christine

  Singles night had once been fun. Watching the couples meet, leaving together, and drifting into longer term relationships, had always appealed to my romantic heart.

  But I’d gone and invited Travis, and now I was watching all the predatory single women in the county vying for the seat next to his at the bar. Worse, tending bar meant I was delivering the abundance of drinks the women, who lost at the game of musical barstools, invariably sent his way from across the room.

  What had seemed like an opportunity to poke fun at Travis was backfiring.

  Badly.

  He looked particularly pleased with himself as I slid yet another beer across the bar in his direction. “From the lovely lady on the end,” I said, forcing some brightness into my tone.

  Travis leaned forward and acknowledged the dark-haired woman, who was probably ten years his senior. With each drink, my mood became snippier. Almost as though I might be… jealous. Which, of course, was ridiculous.

  Wasn’t it?

  I barely knew the guy.

  “Can you do me a favor and start serving me just Coke?” He nodded at his glass. “I’d like to be able to drive home in one piece.”

  I bent over the counter and motioned him to come closer. When he leaned forward, the subtle scent of leather and sandalwood tickled my nose. Fighting the urge to grab him by the lapels and pull him even closer, I whispered, “Or maybe you’ll score and you won’t have to drive home at all.”

  A grin flashed. “Offering?”

  I allowed my gaze to wander downward, over the Western-cut shirt, enjoying the way it hugged his wide shoulders and muscular chest. Yum. When I reached the silver belt buckle at his waist, I reversed direction until I met his eyes again. “Nope. Excuse me, I have another customer.”

  Travis merely shrugged, a half-smile playing around his lips as his eyes settled on my mouth. Quickly, before I was tempted to linger, I walked away. My step faltered just a little at what might have been his soft chuckle, but I pressed on.

  Keeping by the beer taps, I watched him from the corner of my eye, as he finished off his drink and said goodbye to the redhead, who had occupied the seat next to him for the past hour. Her hands were all over his arm as she leaned forward, pushing her considerable assets against him, and slid a napkin his way. She said something and shot her killer smile. Then she was gone.

  “You should go on a break, get the seat next to him before it’s occupied again,” Sissy murmured, drawing another mug of beer.

  “He’s not exactly a sad country song when it comes to companionship tonight.” I glowered over my shoulder. “I’ve delivered more drinks to him than the rest of the single men here put together.”

  “But I bet he’d actually drink one from you.” The smug smile on Sissy’s face was bad enough, but when she added a wink, she became Mad Mademoiselle Matchmaker. “He’s been watching you all night.”

  Of that, I had been acutely aware —and it pleased me. I pulled the tap on a house special for my next order and stole another sideways glance, at the man of interest. He’d had a productive afternoon, apparently having visited the barbershop. Gone were the sun-tipped waves that had brushed his collar and made me want to dive my fingers through the spun gold, replaced by close-cropped hair that appeared more of a warm nut brown.

  Wetness trickled over my fingers and I released the tap before too much amber liquid spilled down the overflow. “Damn it,” I whispered, grabbing a rag. With quick strokes, I wiped down the outside of the glass. Keep your mind on your work.

  “Oops, sorry, hon, too late.” Laughing, Sissy elbowed me in the ribs. “Beth just took the open seat.”

  “What?” I whirled. A young, willowy girl tossed her straight, honey-brown hair over her shoulder, laughing at something Travis said. “Guess I’d better take her order.”

  “Wanna take me for a ride in your hot car?” Beth walked her fingers along Travis arm and lowered her voice. “We could go someplace private.”

  “Hello, Roberta, nice to see you.” I smiled, though I wanted to break the girl’s fingers. “Travis, have you met Roberta Higgins?”

  Travis took a closer look at the girl, obviously trying to figure out if he should know her. Beth’s engaging smile outlined her perfectly straight, gleaming white teeth.

  “What can I get you?” I asked. Pacifier? Ride to kindergarten?

  “How about a rum and Coke for us both?” suggested Beth, tilting her face toward Travis.

  “Certainly. Just let me check your ID real quick.”

  The perfect teeth disappeared as Beth’s luscious lips fell into a sexy pout. “Oh, come on, Christine. You know my birthday’s next month.”

  “Ohh…” Heaving a sigh, I performed a mental fist pump as I outwardly feigned regret. “I’m sorry, Beth. I can’t break the law. You know how DC is about those things.”

  The sexy pout turned sullen. “My dad got you to do this, didn’t he?”

  “No, Roberta, it really is the law,” I corrected, cooling my voice as my temper heated. “But your dad would have a lot to say if he knew you were here, wouldn’t he?”

  Looking a little like a deflated balloon, Beth directed a gaze at Travis. “So, do you still want to go for a ride?”

  “I’ll have to take a rain check,” Travis said with an easy smile.

  After subjecting me to a narrow-eyed glare, the delectable —and under aged —Roberta Higgins slid from the barstool and left, her gliding walk leaking youthful sex appeal. Most of the men present watched her exit. But not Travis, I noted with approval.

  Travis

  I chuckled. So Bluebell had been jealous enough to interrupt a potential pickup. Interesting. “She seems like a nice girl.” I shrugged and deepened my cowboy twang. “Pretty lil’ thang. Who’s this father of hers who’d have so much to say?”

  “Bobby Higgins. Brother Bobby Higgins of the New Life Christian Church across the street.”

  I jerked upright and stared in shock. She snickered. “Yeah, you just got hit on by the preacher’s daughter. Care to insert a joke?”

  About to sip my soda, I reversed direction and set the drink down on the bar with a little thud, fairly certain I was about to be struck blind for even looking at the girl. I indicated the glass in front of me. “I think I need something stronger after all.”

  “Don’t forget you still have to get yourself home tonight,” She warns as she walks away. A moment later, she was back with a tall glass of golden liquid, which she placed in front of me without a word and then walked away.

  I sat nursing the beer and wondering how much longer she would let my torment go on. I didn’t want any of the endless parade of single women hitting on me. I was only interested in one sexy single tonight.

  Moments later, I felt movement as someone slid onto the seat next to me and closed my eyes, wondering what the opening line would be this time.

  “Buy you a drink, cowboy?”

  At the sound of the whiskey-honey voice behind me, my eyes flew open. My breathing skidded to a stop, the air backing up in my lungs. My heart bumped hard against my chest wall, pushing a massive amount of adrenaline through my veins.

  When I was capable of movement again, I spun around, half afraid she wouldn’t really be there.

  But she was.

  She leaned toward me, chin propped on the back of one elegant hand, a near-smile tugging her lips. Her ey
es said I was the only other person in the room. I pulled in a slow breath, felt my unsteady world right itself. “Hello, Bluebell.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Travis

  The first gray light of dawn was nudging the night aside when the ‘Vette’s headlights sliced across the bar’s empty parking lot. I’d stayed so late the night before, I’d nearly closed the place. Only the knowledge of our Sunday riding date had motivated me to leave so I could be well rested for our excursion.

  Spending time with Christine was becoming easy, almost second nature. What had begun as heated interest, was rapidly moving to something else. Something I could neither define nor explain. I only knew being around her was comfortable. If I was honest, I had to admit that scared me just a little. What did it say about me that I could so easily move on?

  I was halfway across the parking lot when my steps faltered. Silhouetted by the bar’s exterior lighting, an ethereal angel emerged from the brilliance to join me in darkness. The image was oddly as disturbing as it was exciting. Shaking my head against the rush of baffling emotion, I crossed the distance between us to relieve her of the heavy pack she carried.

  “What’s in here?” I tested the weight.

  “Lunch, a few essentials, my camera. Why? Is it too heavy for you?” She reached for it, but I jerked the pack up, out of her reach, and she lost her balance. She saved herself from falling with a hand on my left hip. I sucked in a huge gulp of air.

  She snatches her hand back. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

  “No.” I bit the word off, gritting my teeth against my exquisite excitement at her touch.

  I stepped to the back of my car, concentrating on cramming the overloaded pack into a trunk barely large enough to hold the spare tire. I had no intention of starting our day together with my obvious state of arousal between us. Only when control returned did I glance her way.

  And immediately realized my mistake.

  It wasn’t the sexy singer from Friday evening staring back at me, nor the provocative bartender from the night before. In the predawn light, her face was soft, tender. Her incredible eyes wide, a sense of sweetness surrounded her, bringing visions of carousels and cotton candy to my mind. A smile played around full lips I already knew were soft and welcoming. But it was the morning wind lifting a tendril of dark hair escaping her ponytail that did me in.

  I wanted to see the rest of her hair blowing in the morning breeze. I wanted to touch it, run my hands through it. Control yourself, man. You barely know her.

  “Aw, hell,” I muttered, tossing my inner caution aside. I settled my hands on her upper arms and dragged her up against me. Even as I registered that she came into my embrace willingly, I figured I’d probably regret giving in to my impulse.

  But time enough for regrets later. I’d learned the hard way sometimes waiting held no reward.

  With my knuckles, I grazed her cheeks on the way to my goal. As I combed my fingers through her silky hair, it sprang free from the elastic band and tumbled about her shoulders like a cloud, embracing me with the subtle sweet scent of her shampoo. Burying my head in that cloud, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply.

  Christine

  “Oh!” I giggled. “You’re energetic this morning.” I should push off, keep him at arm’s length the way I normally did with interested men. Intending to do just that, I drew back and lifted my gaze.

  The deep vulnerability reflected in his green eyes stalled my heart and held my breath in my throat. “I…”

  Time seemed to freeze, suspending us in a single moment. When he moved, it came like the swooping of an eagle. One minute, he was meeting my stare; the next his lips crushed mine. Heat rose between us, swirled around us. This was no chaste good-morning kiss. This one packed the heat and promise of the rising sun. When he drifted back, I followed him, driven by the need to satisfy the deep hunger he’d awakened.

  In a clever dance of kissing and caressing, pushing and leaning, we moved into and around each other. I found myself pressed against the trunk of his fast, sexy car, while his fast, sexy hands found their way to the edges of my oversized man’s Western shirt. He parted the garment and the heat from his palms branded me through the tank shirt beneath.

  I locked my hands behind his neck and held on, moaning deep in my throat. With a feral growl, Travis lifted me and set me atop the trunk. He leaned against me, his mouth burning electrifying kisses along my throat. My heart settled into a heavy, rhythmic beat, a primitive drum pushing heat through my system, stealing my ability to draw regular breaths.

  Travis

  Even through two layers of clothing, the sizzle emanating from Christine slammed into me. Driven by need, I fumbled at the hem of her shirt. My fingers encountered soft, warm skin just as she settled herself more intimately into the embrace.

  I could have her on the trunk of my car, surrounded by the crisp early morning air. She was as eager and excited as I was, and we could finish things right there where I’d started them, in front of her bar.

  Across the street from the New Life Christian Church.

  Where, in mere hours, Brother Bobby Higgins would be preaching his sermon to his conservative congregation.

  One of Christine’s hands lingered at my waist, her fingers making tiny movements. Remaining upright became difficult.

  “You know, I have a room upstairs,” she murmured against my throat.

  Her husky invitation would have fueled many a teenage boy’s dreams. But I wasn’t a teenager. Hadn’t been for many years. Sanity and reason filtered to the front of my rutting brain. With no small sense of reluctance, I pulled back and stood with my hands braced on either side of her on the trunk of my car. What was I doing? I’d known this woman for a handful of days —less than that. I stared down at her face, struggling for the right words.

  Eyes heavy with unsatisfied desire, she gazed back, her lips drawn up in silent question. She snuggled closer, tearing a moan from my lips. I stepped away and pulled a hand across my jaw. It was on me to stop the madness.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this.” I tried to breathe but found myself inhaling huge gulps of air that smelled of her, of us. I was an adult, capable of self-control. But my hands trembled as I straightened her blouse, covering the parts of her I wasn’t finished touching. “We should stick with the plan for the ride to the high country.”

  I allowed myself one last caress of her cheek before I angled away from her and adjusted my own clothing.

  Christine

  “Oh.” Heat rose from my neck and swamped my face. I moved my jaw, willing my tongue to work. “Sure. Okay.” It took effort to stand on rubberized legs when I slid off the car. I tried to fasten the buttons of my shirt with fingers that didn’t want to work.

  Fear kept me from looking at him. Surely my emotions were parading naked across my face. What might he see in my eyes? What might I not see in his? So I studied the gravel at my feet and waited.

  Travis took hold of my hands, squeezing lightly until I looked up at him. “Make no mistake, Bluebell.” His Wyoming accent wound through a voice thick with the need reflected in his gaze. “This ain’t finished by a long way. But if I make love to you, it won’t be with my car parked in front of your bar, and the majority of churchgoing folk in Pine Haven noticing when they descend on that parking lot over there for their Sunday morning worship.”

  It was impossible to look away so I simply drowned in delightful desire, tingling in all the right places with his words. His voice held promise, and I shivered with anticipation. Something else was happening, something that went beyond physical. On one hand it felt nice. On the other, it terrified me.

  A slow smile formed as I assigned a mental picture to his words. “Poor Brother Bobby has a hard enough time seeing most of his congregation parked here Saturday nights.” I straightened my outer shirt with a little wiggle. “But it would be fun to see the flustered looks, especially from some of the women who wanted your attention last night.” I sent him a pla
yful little wink. “Don’tcha think?” Then I sauntered along the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and climbed in.

  Travis

  I stared at Christine’s delicious rear view until it touched down on the seat. Umm.

  “Washington, Adams, Jefferson,” I whispered. Surely naming the presidents would dispel the heat. Not working so far. “Madison… Madison…” I frowned. Who came next? I’d known them all in order once. Committed it to memory in elementary school. How had I forgotten such a simple fact?

  Christine.

  That woman could make a man forget a lot of things. Maybe even my own name. She’d addled my brain with a wink.

  Huffing out the lingering warmth burning through my system in a long slow breath, I mostly staggered to the driver’s door and tumbled into the seat.

  The key was inches away from my hand but instead of reaching for it, I laid my hand on top of her knee. The move seemed more intimate than the moment we’d just shared, and Christine’s muscles trembled beneath my touch.

  “Just so we’re clear on one thing, Bluebell. Right now, I don’t care what any woman in the world thinks except you.” As if to make me a liar, another woman’s loving words floated to the surface, and I faltered. No, I’d deal with her later. I’d waited. She had not. A gentle mental nudge eased her back where she usually hovered, not quite out of mind but definitely out of sight. I shook my head, as much to dislodge her from the moment as to make my point to Christine. “But I do know firsthand what talk in a small town can do to a person.”

  “Yeah, about that,” she drawled, and an unrepentant smile twisted her lips. “The gossip boat sailed inside the first year I was here, right after I brought live entertainment to Valentine’s. All that gossip did was increase business. They can’t hurt me unless I let them.”

  “Some would try,” I said evenly. “I’ve been gone a while but some things —some people —don’t change.” I squeezed her knee lightly until she met my look. The effort of reining in my desire tightened my voice. “I do want you, Christine. More than I’ve wanted anyone in my life.”