A few minutes later, after they’d both gotten their breathing back under control, she said the words she’d been putting off. “I need to go.”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“And thus the best time for me to get out undetected.” And if she spent the entire night with Austin, it would feel more like a relationship, which it wasn’t. This was no more than two people satisfying physical needs.
Okay, it was more for her, but she couldn’t say that. He’d freak out, and giving her feelings voice would just make them more real, harder to deal with when Austin put Blue Falls and her in his rearview mirror.
He started to pull her closer, but she eased away.
“As much as I’d like to stay longer, one of us has to stay here and face the locals,” she said. “If Verona hears about this, I will have to become a hermit who never answers the front door.”
She slipped from the bed, and was glad the dim lighting hid how her skin flushed at the idea of him watching her naked body as she retrieved her clothes. She didn’t make eye contact as she dressed, and breathed more easily only when she heard him slip out of the bed and start dressing, as well.
When she had everything back on, she turned and found him fully clothed. “You don’t have to come with me.”
“I’m not letting you walk back to your truck alone.”
“It’s Blue Falls. I’ll be fine.”
“Bad things happen everywhere.” He reached out his hand, making it clear there was no use arguing with him.
She took his hand, wondering if she’d still be thinking about the feel of his fingers entwined with hers years from now.
He checked the hallway and nodded that the coast was clear. She fought the urge to giggle, like she was being naughty and getting away with it.
Then the exterior door started to open, and before she could fully panic, Austin pulled her into the vending area. He ushered her to the opposite side of the ice machine at the far end of the small room, which should hide them from whoever was out there unless they decided they needed a wee-hours bucket of ice.
Ella held her breath as the footsteps grew closer. She glanced up at Austin, which was a mistake. He looked like he was on the verge of cracking up.
“Don’t you dare,” she mouthed silently.
The footsteps stopped nearby. How was she going to explain hiding behind an ice machine?
She bit down on a startled cry when the footsteps came closer. She held her breath and closed her eyes, as if that would make her invisible.
She wanted to scream when the person’s phone rang, and a guy whose voice she blessedly didn’t recognize answered the call.
“Hey, yeah,” he said. “Just got back to the hotel. Got the munchies so I’m standing here staring at a vending machine.”
Ella didn’t hear any sounds of coins clinking as they entered the payment slot or any chips or candy bars thunking into the tray at the bottom of the machine. No, instead she got to hear one side of a conversation that was growing more naughty by the second. Beyond frustrated, she allowed her head to fall forward onto Austin’s chest.
When she felt a silent laugh shaking him, she gave his arm an equally silent swat.
“What are you wearing?” the guy asked whoever was on the other end of the call.
Had he honestly just asked that? She’d never had phone sex, but as she listened to the mystery man while pressed close to Austin’s warm body, she began to understand the appeal. And from the way Austin’s body was reacting, she wasn’t the only one being affected.
When the guy asked his conversation partner to take everything off slowly and give him details, Ella wondered why he didn’t just go to his room. But when Austin’s lips captured the lobe of her ear, she forgot all about phone sex guy and focused entirely on the man with whom she’d been naked only minutes ago.
She barely contained a moan as his teeth replaced his lips and he tugged on her ear, then kissed the same spot. His hands slid up her sides until he was able to caress the sides of her breasts with his thumbs.
What was he trying to do, force her to reveal their hiding spot? She knew she should push away, stop this before it got out of hand, but she didn’t. Everything he did to her felt too good to push away.
Wanting to show Austin that two could play this game, she reached around and grabbed his hips, pressing him closer to her. He growled, loud enough that she froze, afraid he’d given them away. But when she heard the other guy telling his partner to slip her hand into her underwear, she realized that he hadn’t heard anything other than what the woman was whispering into his ear. Well, she had no idea if the other woman was whispering or not, but that’s how she imagined it happening.
With agonizing slowness, Austin brought his hands to the sides of her face and lowered his mouth to hers. She opened for him, kissing him deeply, the conversation going on mere feet from them fading away as she pressed close to Austin. It was as if she were a sponge, soaking in everything about him—his warmth, his hardness, the texture of his tongue against hers, his male scent mingled with her own more feminine one. She was dying of thirst, and he was her endless supply of fresh, delicious water.
Somewhere at the back of her mind, she became aware of the little click of a key card activating a lock. She couldn’t focus on the meaning with all her thoughts tied up in the sensations racing through her body. But then a door slammed across the hall, causing her to jump with a startled sound. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand, but she then realized that the man was no longer speaking.
Austin peeked around the edge of the ice machine. “He’s gone.”
Even knowing they were free to leave, Ella didn’t move for several more seconds. Couldn’t. Honestly, she was surprised her legs were still holding her upright.
Austin planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. “As much as I’d like to continue this, we better go before someone else comes in.”
He wrapped his hand around hers and guided her toward the corridor once again. This time, no one was in sight. All Ella heard was the muted rumble of a man’s voice in one of the rooms, and she wondered if phone sex guy had retreated to his bed to continue his hot-and-bothered conversation.
No, she couldn’t think about that, or anything she and Austin had shared tonight, or she’d be dragging him back to his room with no regard for her dwindling chances of getting away unseen.
Though she still wasn’t totally in the clear, she breathed easier once they were outside and walking down the sidewalk that led through the park. Even though they didn’t speak, it didn’t feel tense or awkward between them. She found that odd considering what had just happened. Of course, that might very well change in the morning, but for now it felt really nice to be walking through the night with him. When they reached her truck and she opened the door, he pushed her gently back against the edge of the seat and captured her mouth, kissing her as though he couldn’t get enough of her. That was an intoxicating thought, one she understood fully because she could have easily stayed in that bed with Austin until he had to go back to Dallas. She promised herself that even if tonight was it, she wasn’t going to regret one moment.
She resisted the completely wanton urge to pull him into the truck and make love to him again right there on Main Street. Damn, the man made her crazy.
Austin pulled away slightly but didn’t release her. “See you in the morning?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice or what she might say.
He smiled. “Well, get going. Verona may have a network of nocturnal spies.”
“I’d almost laugh at that as ridiculous, but it strangely wouldn’t surprise me.”
He gave her another quick kiss. “Be careful.”
She relived her night with Austin on her drive home, remembering the slightly rough texture of his touch, the taste of str
awberries mingling with that of all man, the very male scent of him that still accompanied her, clinging to her skin. She halfway hated to wash it away, but she headed for the shower when she walked into the house. She doubted she could sleep anymore tonight, so after the shower she went to work on finishing the tractor wheel table.
The sound of the night insects and the relative coolness of the air, the coolest it got during the summer in Texas, kept her company as she painted the stripped metal wheel and the metal legs a bright red.
While she waited for the paint to dry, she wandered through the piles of stuff she’d already brought home from the ranch and stored in the small shed. She ran her fingertips along the surface of the old sewing machine and got an idea. He’d told her about his grandfather’s love of old John Wayne movies, a love they’d shared. She could work with that.
Austin might say he wanted to keep nothing, but she didn’t believe it. She’d seen how he’d warmed up to the ranch, slipping back into the person he’d once been there, at least the part of him that had been happy outside on the land. He still didn’t come into the house, but she wondered if she might be able to change that with some time.
But she didn’t have enough time. Unless...
The new idea that had sprung to life in her mind continued to build through the rest of the night as she stripped the old stain and touches of rust off the sewing machine. Excited about her idea to repurpose the machine, she didn’t want to leave the work in progress when daylight started showing on the eastern horizon. But she still had lots to do at the ranch, even if Austin agreed with what she was going to propose.
She stopped by the bakery for breakfast, and thankfully Keri wasn’t working. This morning the early shift was being handled by her sister-in-law Josephina. So Ella was able to get out with her apple Danish and large coffee without the inevitable questions that would no doubt be making the rounds around town.
When she reached the ranch, she was surprised to see Austin already there up on a ladder painting the side of the house. An intense flutter of nervousness filled her stomach, and she gripped the steering wheel tighter. Yeah, facing him in the light of day was going to be so awkward, especially after she’d climbed atop him and had her way. Her face grew hot. Where had she gotten the nerve to do that?
After parking and turning off the truck, she sat for a few moments, trying to bring her nerves under control. When she finally stepped out of the truck, she smiled as if they hadn’t been naked and sliding against each other only hours before.
“You’re tempting fate with that ladder,” she called out.
“I don’t know. Feeling pretty lucky this morning.”
The wicked smile he gave her had absolutely nothing to do with ladders or paint. It made her want him all over again.
Attempting to not look like she was retreating inside, that’s exactly what she did. Instead of working, however, she sank onto one of the kitchen chairs and started flipping through the family photos she’d been stacking there over the past several days while she ate her breakfast, drank her coffee and rehearsed what she wanted to say to him. Once she had finished eating, she took a deep breath and walked back outside. She nearly collided with Austin as she stepped out the front door.
“Good morning,” he said, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
She didn’t even attempt to resist and kissed him back. But somewhere in the midst of the mush he was making of her brain, she remembered why she’d come outside.
“I’d like to talk to you about something.”
She saw the barrier go up in his expression. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it’s not bad. And it has nothing to do with last night.”
Or did it?
She mentally shook her head. “I have an idea I’d like to float. I know you’re set on selling this place, but I wondered if you’d perhaps consider renting it instead, to me. I need more space, and I think it’s obvious I need more time to get through everything.
Austin removed his hat and ran his hand back through his hair. “I don’t know.”
“I wouldn’t expect any sort of special treatment. I’d pay a fair rent if I can afford what you settle on.”
He took a few steps away and looked down the driveway. “I hadn’t planned on keeping an obligation here.”
Pain jabbed Ella in the chest. She knew he wasn’t talking about her, at least not specifically, but it hurt nonetheless. He’d said he wanted the ranch out of his life, but she’d thought she’d witnessed his attitude changing over the past several days. Maybe she’d seen only what she wanted to.
This had nothing to do with how she felt about Austin, though. Even if she never saw him again, she loved the idea of possibly renting this place. The view alone was more inspiring than her current one of the industrial park. Plus the storage and work space would be like a decade of Christmases rolled into one gift.
“If you’re worried about having to constantly fix things, I can manage that on my own.”
He shifted his gaze to her. The look on his face was filled with conflict and indecision. “I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise right now.”
She nodded, not willing to speak past the lump forming in her throat. The feeling of losing not only Austin but this place and all it could be to her and her business threatened to swamp Ella.
“I better get back to work,” he said.
“Yeah, me, too.” But as she watched him walk down the steps, all she wanted to do was cry.
* * *
AUSTIN WENT THROUGH the motions of painting the house, but his mind was definitely on the woman who was back to loading her truck as quickly as her legs would carry her. He could tell by her movements she was upset but trying not to show it. Trying, but failing.
Even knowing that, he couldn’t just agree to her request. Keeping this place...he wasn’t sure that a clean cut wasn’t the best thing. If he still owned it, would it feel like he couldn’t move on? That he’d be responsible for coming back here on occasion to check on things?
Would that be a bad thing? He’d lain awake a long time after walking Ella back to her truck following their amazing night together. He’d already been thinking about it happening again. But if he was going to break all ties, maybe it should just be one and done.
That sounded so cold, like she’d been nothing but a one-night stand. And that wasn’t what she was, though he was having a difficult time finding the right description.
What he did know was that he hated that he’d upset her. And even if it would make leaving and severing all ties harder, he was going to put a smile back on her face.
When he finished painting the eastern side of the house, he climbed down the ladder and moved it to the back. Then he walked to the outside spigot and washed his hands. The next time she walked out of the house, he was standing at the top of the stairs holding one of the strawberry tarts he’d thankfully had enough sense to put in his hotel room’s fridge the night before and kept chilled in a cooler since coming back to the ranch this morning.
“What’s that for? It’s not lunchtime.”
“It’s a peace offering.”
“No need for that.”
He pushed away from the porch support he’d been leaning against and moved closer to her. She held a crate of dishes from the kitchen like a protective barrier.
“I’m sorry I upset you earlier. You caught me by surprise, and it’s a big decision. One I’d not even considered before.”
“I understand you need to think about it. That’s fine.”
“Then why are you mad at me?”
She let out a slow breath. “I’m not. Just a lot on my mind.”
He didn’t think she was telling the truth, at least not the whole of it. But he let it go. All he wanted was to get back on her good side.
&
nbsp; “How about I trade you? Delicious strawberry tart for that crate.”
She hesitated, but her taste buds won out. “Don’t drop it. I’ve got some great ideas for how to use those plates.”
He looked down into the crate and recognized the white plates bordered by little blue flowers. “Gran got those at the grocery store, saved up stamps or something. I was so little I barely remember it. I do remember she brought them home one at a time.”
The look on her face told him she was on the verge of asking if he wanted to keep the dishes.
“I don’t need them. I get takeout a lot, so even the few dishes I have don’t get used that often.”
Though he didn’t go into the house, he helped her finish loading her truck. When she turned around after shoving a final box in the bed of the truck, she bumped right into him. Austin took full advantage and wrapped his arms around her.
“We should go somewhere tonight we don’t have to worry about anyone who knows us seeing and spreading gossip all over town.”
She shook her head. “I don’t have time. If I can’t rent this place, I need every minute I can get to clear out everything here.”
“What if I give you more time? I don’t have to be here for you to be able to work.”
“But you wanted to list the place before you left.”
“I can postpone that a bit.” One night with her and already he was changing his plans. That was either really good or really bad. He wasn’t sure which.
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding conflicted.
Time for some persuading. He pulled her closer and lowered his mouth to hers, capturing it in a hungry kiss he’d been dying to give her all day.
“That is so much nicer than arm twisting,” she said when they finally remembered to breathe.
Austin laughed. She made it so easy to do. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to care for her too much.
Chapter Eleven
After how their first date had gone, Ella was surprised by how nervous she was as she waited for Austin to pick her up. She was actually ready early enough that she had plenty of time to pace the floor. If she didn’t stop soon, she was either going to have blisters on her feet or wear a trench in the floor, or possibly both.
Home on the Ranch Page 13
