The drive was quiet, but the silence didn’t feel awkward. Instead, Keira took the time to study his face, the way his hair touched the top of his ears and had a slight curl. The way his muscular shoulders stretched the top of his white shirt out. Her eyes rested on the worn brown leather belt clasped with a huge silver buckle. She found her eyes drawn to his package, and quickly averted them. He had on black shiny cowboy boots and his black cowboy hat rested on the dashboard of the pickup.
He was every inch a modern-day cowboy. She had no doubt that many women would love to get their hands on him, and probably his money, too. She wondered, for a moment, what it would be like, to throw caution to the wind and allow herself to have one, hot, passionate night in his arms. Unsure with how she felt, his next comment startled her out of her racing steamy thoughts.
“You seem so serious over there, what are you thinking about?” Eddie asked, glancing over at her before turning his gaze back to the road in front of him.
“Just that you wear those jeans well.” Keira admitted, with a wry smile, deciding to be semi truthful about her thoughts.
Eddie let out a chuckle, and a lopsided grin appeared on his face. “You clean up pretty well, too. I like the shirt. I can see why you tend to… wear less revealing shirts on a day to day bas. A man wouldn’t get much done if you stayed dressed like that all day.”
Keira blushed, and felt slightly self-conscious, but beautiful at the same time. It didn’t feel dirty, or lascivious, the way he looked at her, rather it made her want him. The hungry look on his face wasn’t geared at her breasts, but rather, her eyes. He made eye contact when he said it and she wanted to kiss him. She felt her lips part slightly and she licked her lips. Groaning inside, she realized she was feeling as giddy as a teenage girl with her first crush.
Slow down girlie, she told herself, chastising herself for allowing her brain to go wild. She tried to think about cold showers, and puppies, and mud, anything to get her mind out of gutter.
Then a mental image of him, all muddy and in half-ripped clothes, beckoning her for a kiss, popped in her head and she nearly facepalmed. That wasn’t the muddy mental image she was going for.
“You okay there?” Eddie asked.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she replied, her voice sounded husky and she could have groaned out loud at the way her body was responding to being within three feet of him. She swore she could feel his body heat radiating from his skin and warming her all the way over on the other side of the truck. His scent filled her nostrils and it’s all she could do to keep from reaching over and ripping his clothes off. “I think I could use a beer. Or two. Maybe three.”
Chuckling Eddie inclined his head, “as you wish m’lady. I think I can accommodate that. The place we’re going has a small dance floor. I hope those shoes don’t hurt your feet.”
Keira hadn’t thought about dancing, but the moment she pictured her body pressed up against his on a dance floor, all thoughts of the conversation she wanted to have about boundaries, flew out of the window into the warm summer night.
Chapter 6
Eddie took a bite of his burger and stared over at Keira. She was beautiful, the entire package, everything about her was perfect. She was a fantasy come true, and he knew he didn’t want to scare her off. She was an open book, when she was displeased, her brow wrinkled up. When she was happy, her eyes lit up, she’d smile, and dimple would appear on her right cheek. He loved seeing her look happy. It made her seem so alive and animated.
“When you’re done with your beer, you want to dance with me?” He asked, as he shoved the last bite of his burger into his mouth. He chewed slowly, and took a sip of his beer, not taking his eyes off of her. He was eager to spend more time with her. Yes, she was beautiful but it was more than that. It was the way she interacted with his niece and nephews. The way they were smiling more now, due to her loving way with them. She treated them so respectfully and had limitless patience. Everything about her appealed to him. The nice breasts definitely didn’t hurt. Thinking about her breasts put a goofy smile on his face and when her brows arched up quizzically at him, he gave a shrug.
“Just thinking about dancing with you,” he told her, mostly truthful. He didn’t want to mention he was thinking about fondling her breasts like a teenage boy.
“A dance it is,” she told him, although she felt a touch shy about pressing up against him. She had never been country dancing before and was worried about stepping on his toes. She was sure he wouldn’t mind, but a sloppy two-step wasn’t the first impression she wanted to leave.
When they finished their food, Eddie helped her out of her chair and led her to the tiny dance floor. He pressed her body close to his and he could smell her vanilla scent. He sighed and he closed his eyes, almost wanting to take a bite out of her. She smelled so good. Instead, he settled for letting his hips sway against hers and her breasts pressed against his chest as he held her close.
She laid her head on his shoulder and they both felt like everything was just right. Eddie was sure she was the woman for him. Holding her in his arms, he realized it would never get old. He’d always been a precise, decisive decision maker, even when it came to seemingly impulsive decisions. He’d been thinking about her for a while, but at that moment he knew she was ‘it’ for him.
Eddie leaned down when the song ended, and Keira lifted her head. Their eyes met, and before she even had time to register what he was doing, Eddie pressed his lips softly against her own. Kissing her, he could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her arms gripped tightly around him for a moment before she melted against him. Giving in to the situation, Keira closed her eyes and kissed him back.
In that moment, Eddie knew he didn’t want to go back to a reality that didn’t include Keira.
“Keira,” Eddie said, breathing hard, trying to hold himself back.
“What?” She asked him, looking up, her eyes heavy and her lips swollen from the kiss.
“Would you like to go home with me?” He whispered in her ear, and felt her shiver in his arms. He ran his hands down her back, grabbed her ample ass and pulled her close against him. “I don’t know that I should stay in public in this condition. You’ve gotten me all excited.”
Tilting her head back, Keira looked up at him. A conflicted look flashed across her face and Eddie was afraid she was going to tell him no. Then her face relaxed and she smiled at him.
“Yes, let’s go,” she whispered back and allowed him to lead her out of the bar.
They didn’t make it very far. He got her to the parking lot, and pushed her gently against the door of his truck. Leaning his head down, he kissed her, his hands touching her hips and digging his fingers into her curves just enough to make her moan loudly into his mouth.
All rational thought left his head as they passionately embraced against his pickup. It was pitch dark in the dirt parking lot and he was working by feel alone.
He reached down and hiked her skirt up as high as he could get it, then he slid his strong hand up her thighs, finding her panties wet between her legs.
She arched against his hand when he found her swollen, sensitive nub through her panties. Stroking it with his fingers, he broke the kiss to press his lips against her jaw line and work his way down to her neck. As he nibbled against her flesh, his fingers stroked her, faster and faster until she was rotating her hips against his body and hand. Her head was back against the truck window and her breath was coming in soft little gasps as her body quivered in his arms.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered by her ear, nibbling on her earlobe. Pushing her skirt up over her ass, he reached down with one hand and opened his pants. He rubbed himself against her warmth through her panties, groaning as he felt her wetness seeping through the fabric, coating his skin. He shivered against her, knowing he was behaving impulsively. It was not like him to make out with a beautiful woman in a parking lot against his truck, but she brought out a side to him he didn’t even know existed.
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p; She made him want to be wild and take risks, to live out his fantasies. She was everything he ever wanted, and he needed to claim her. Pushing her panties to the side with his fingers he rubbed his cock tip against her warm opening. When she gasped, he didn’t give her a chance to protest, he slammed his mouth over hers in a dominating kiss and thrust into her, in one deep hard slam.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, supporting her weight, and wrapped a leg around his waist to hold him inside of her. He grabbed her ass with both hands, leveraging her a little higher, and fucked her right there in the parking lot, under the stars.
He felt her start to climax around him and it made him groan against her mouth. He tried hard to control his reaction, but feeling her muscles squeeze him hard as she quivered against him, he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. Panting hard, he tried to slow the pace down, but with the gush of her orgasm squirting around his penis, and feeling her entire body shake with the intensity of her climax, he released his seed before he could stop himself.
He ended up pressing her hard against the truck as he caught his balance, trying to keep himself from falling down. His knees were shaking from the tumultuous orgasm he’d just experienced.
Resting his forehead against hers, he knew they’d need to talk about what they had just done. They’d been careless, neither of them had stopped in the middle of it to ask about birth control.
“That was… incredible,” Keira whispered to him. She reached and shimmied her skirt down.
“Let me get you back home,” he told her, putting himself back into his pants and zipping up his jeans. He opened his mouth to say something about what they just did, but instead, leaned down and kissed her. Right then, he didn’t want to spoil the moment, and it was too late to take it back.
“Thank you for tonight, even if it doesn’t happen again, I’m glad we did this,” she told him, putting her hand on his arm.
Eddie tilted his head, confused by her words, but let it go. He was trying to figure out how to tell her he didn’t want just a one night stand. That he wanted this to turn into something more meaningful.
He opened the truck door for Keira to jump up into the cab and then he jogged around and jumped up into the driver’s seat. When she’d buckled her gray seatbelt, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards the ranch.
He turned up the country station and neither of them said anything the whole ride back to the ranch.
Chapter 7
Keira had been intentionally avoiding Eddie. She wouldn’t let herself be alone with him, and she felt a little guilty about evading him. She’d never had such an intense sexual experience in her life, and she didn’t want to ruin it by having to have a serious, grown up talk about the whole thing.
She knew running away wasn’t the answer. But for now, she was pretending like it didn’t happen. She didn’t want to have the talk with him, about it just being a one-time thing. It was just an itch she had explored and needed to scratch, and now she needed to focus on her job and avoid any emotional entanglements.
She knew it was a wise decision not to get involved with her boss, but she was struggling to find a way to set boundaries on their relationship. When she dreamed of him, which was often, she would touch herself, thinking about him. She wanted him, she knew she could fall for him easily if she allowed herself.
“Kiera?” A young voice caught her attention.
“Yes?” She turned and saw Ellie standing there, a concerned expression on her face.
“Aiden is stuck!” Ellie said, her eyes frantic.
“Stuck? Stuck where?” Keira asked as she jogged to the front door and shoved her feet into her rubber boots.
“In the hay loft! He climbed up there and kicked the heavy ladder down. I couldn’t get it back up to help him get down.” Ellie cried. “Justin just laughed when I asked for his help. He told me that Aiden would need to learn, and that sitting up there would teach him a lesson.”
“Okay, we can go get him down,” Keira said, sighing in relief that it wasn’t something life threatening. The boy was always getting himself in trouble in one way or another.
As they walked outside, Eddie pulled up in the truck. He hopped out and greeted them.
“Where are you girls headed in such a big hurry?” He asked casually.
“Aiden’s trapped in the hay loft in the barn,” Keira told him matter of factly.
Eddie sighed and gave a quick shake of his head. “That figures. How many time has he been asked to stay out of the barn? I guess it was too much to think he’d follow those directions.”
Ellie looked up at the sky, a guilty look flashed on her face. It was gone almost as quickly as it came, but Keira saw it.
“Why did Aiden go into the barn?” Keira asked Ellie.
“I might have dared him too,” Ellie said, looking guiltier than she had a moment before. “There were some kittens up there, and I’m scared of heights. I wanted him to get me one.”
“Kittens.” Eddie said, and then laughed. “You know, if you want to see some kittens, I’d be more than happy to help you see them.”
“You weren’t home,” Ellie pointed out.
“No, but if you’d have waited, I’d have been more than happy to help you see them. Next time, just ask me or Keira and don’t get your brother to do things you’re not willing to do yourself. If you wouldn’t do it, he probably shouldn’t be doing it either.” Eddie advised her.
“Well… sorry.” She said, not sounding very sorry at all.
“Come on, let’s get your brother down,” Eddie told her and followed her and Keira into the barn.
When they got there, Aiden was sitting with his feet dangling over the side. He was plucking at the cast on his arm, looking bored.
“There you are Ellie!” He said, brightening up when he saw them. “Good, you can get me down now.”
“Aiden, we are going to have a serious talk about safety, again,” Eddie warned him as he picked up the very heavy ladder that had fallen in the dirt of the barn. “The bolts on this ladder need to be replaced, I warned you not to climb it until we had time to fix it. You’re lucky it didn’t fall with you on it, you already have a broken arm, do you want to break a leg, too?”
“No,” Aiden said, solemnly. “I promise to stay out of the barn… for a while.”
Eddie muttered under his breath and shook his head, he knew that was the best he was going to get out of Aiden.
“Let me help you,” he told Aiden and reached up to steady the boy as he climbed down with one arm.
“Keira, is it lunch time?” Aiden asked when he hopped off the last rung. He switched gears so fast it made her head spin.
“Sure, we can get some lunch, but only if you promise to stop putting yourself into harm’s way, especially while you have that cast on your arm,” Keira said, giving him a stern look.
“Okay, okay, I get the picture. I will stay out of the barn. I don’t want to hear both of you lecture me for hours about it. I’ll be good,” he told them, and ran out of the barn before they could react.
Eddie let out a laugh, “goodness, that boy is a trouble maker.”
“A smart troublemaker,” Keira agreed with him.
Ellie shifted nervously from foot to foot as she stood with them, “can I go have lunch?”
“Only if you promise not to get your brother to climb with a broken arm to look at kitties,” Keira said, raising her brows in an expectant look.
“Yes ma’am, I promise,” Ellie swore, her eyes wide.
“Yeah, okay, go have lunch,” Keira told her, and watched her take off running after her brother.
“Keira,” Eddie said, grabbing her arm when she turned to leave after the two younger children. “You have to stop ignoring me.”
“I’m not ignoring you,” Keira started to say, but knew that was a lie. She averted her gaze, feeling guilty about it.
“We need to talk,” he told her and pushed her until her back hit the stall door in the bar
n. His lips were a fraction of an inch from her own, his hot breath on her skin, making her meet his gaze subconsciously.
“We are talking,” she told him, her voice coming out a lot huskier than she’d intended.
“No, I’m talking and you’re trying to run away,” his eyebrows knitted up and he gave her a pointed look.
“I’m not running away, I’m just trying to set some space and boundaries between us. I don’t want to screw up this situation. Sexual chemistry and attraction doesn’t mean we need to act on it,” she told him, truthfully, and blunter than she’d intended.
“For me, I’ve always had and kept self-restraint at the top of my priority list. When it comes to you, I don’t want to have any of it. I want you. I’m not going to let you ignore me. Keira, I think we could have something incredible if you’d stop running like a scared rabbit.” Eddie told her, his head giving a small shake as he ended his sentence.
“If I promise to think about it, will you let me go?” Keira asked him.
“For today? Yes. But, by the end of the month, I want an hour of your time, after the kids are in bed. A real conversation. Talking, and hashing out whatever this is between us. I’ll give you some space and plenty of time to think about it, but you can’t keep avoiding me forever,” Eddie kissed her, his hands clasping each side of her head against the barn wall. His tongue thrust between her lips and claimed her mouth. He pressed his body against hers, just enough so she could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
She felt her knees go weak and before she realized what she was doing, she’d wrapped her arms around his neck and was kissing him back like a wanton hussy. She moaned into his mouth as her eyes shut and she realized that she didn’t want to let go.
She was falling for this man, and she still had a nagging feeling it was a bad idea. The kids needed her and she needed the job. Getting involved with her boss would not be a good idea or work out long term, and she didn’t want him to fire her to see if they could have a relationship. Also, the idea of him hiring someone else had her feeling extremely jealous. She wanted her cake and to eat it, too. And it wasn’t just about the money. The job paid fine, but the man she was falling for was generous and kind. He would fight for his family and he wasn’t afraid of facing hard times with a positive and hopeful attitude.
Nanny for the Rancher Page 3
