by Tina Leonard
“You ever been to California?” Sloan squinted over at him.
“Nope. And I ain’t going. I don’t like beaches, can’t stand sand getting into everything. I can get dirty right here at home. Palm trees and earthquakes leave me cold, too.” Cody sighed, wiping his face with a rag. “Can’t see any reason to go someplace like that.”
“Where would you go, if you ever took a vacation?”
“Why the hell would I?” Cody couldn’t imagine it. He hadn’t taken a break from the ranch in years.
“Annie and Zach are,” Sloan pointed out.
“Yeah, but they’re looking for some romance before the baby. I don’t need romance.”
“Hmm.” Sloan strode to the back of the barn and looked to make sure the next horse had been readied for insemination. “Romance has its good points. Women have their good points. I just can’t remember any myself.”
“That’s why you and I are friends.” Cody held the horse still while Sloan went to work. “You understand about a man needing his space.”
He heard a grunt. From the other side of the spotted mare, Sloan glanced at Cody. “Seems to me, though, that there’s a difference between space you have to have and space you’re just hanging on to out of habit. I heard you’d been spending plenty of time with that red-haired gal.”
“It’s all business, Sloan. Just like this is business.” Cody slapped at a bothersome horsefly.
“Oh, well. I heard plane fare out to California is high as a cat’s back anyway,” Sloan commiserated.
Cody eyed him sharply. “Montana. Wyoming. If I went on vacation, those would be the places I would choose. Something tells me California is not my cup of joe. But I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m going to the French Riviera one day.” Sloan grinned at him. “I want to sit on the beach and look at the girls without their bikini tops.”
“You’d waste money just to sit around and look at breasts?”
“Damn right.” Sloan stood, too, and thumped Cody on the back. “I like beautiful things. I heard France has got plenty of beautiful things.”
Sloan walked back into the barn to retrieve some equipment, but Cody sank down onto a wood block, keeping his eyes on the mares. Staying in his home was a woman with a set of breasts which were quite attractive. Stormy was built like a man’s dream come true. It made him shift uncomfortably just to think about it. The day was hot, and the sun beamed down on him like yellow fire, and suddenly Cody thought about being with Stormy again. The clinical act he and Sloan were performing on these horses had to be done, but there had been nothing clinical about getting inside Stormy Nixon.
Just when Stormy had become used to Cody’s absence in the house, and finally relaxed enough to enjoy herself, he came back. This was especially annoying, despite the fact that it was his house. She and Mary and Carmen had enjoyed themselves thoroughly the three days Cody had been gone. They’d shopped, they’d stuffed themselves with delicious food, they’d picnicked in a hot field under an ancient live oak tree. Carmen and Mary had treated her like a beloved sister whose visits were cherished. Never in her life had Stormy been so happy.
Then he came back, destroying the girls-only feeling the women had delighted in. Instantly, all the other emotions came flooding back to Stormy, as she met Cody’s dark brown eyes for a fast peek. He was darker from the sun, and looked rough and sexy in worn jeans and a faded western shirt. His jet-black braid enhanced his swarthy features. Stormy swallowed as desire and wistfulness hit her all at once.
“Mary behave for you?” he asked, as she dried dishes in the kitchen.
“We didn’t have any trouble at all. In fact, we girls just kicked up our heels and had a great time.” She wouldn’t look at him, though he picked up a cup towel and started drying alongside her.
“Guess you’ll be glad to get back home tomorrow.”
Home was a small apartment with a huge rent bill every month. Big deal. Stormy shrugged. “I’m happy wherever I am.”
“You don’t have friends or family anxiously waiting for you to get back?”
She laid the towel over her shoulder and shot him a questioning look. “I have a job, and acquaintances. I have a boss who tries to take care of me.”
“No family?”
Stormy turned her back to Cody. “Not in the usual sense. My folks aren’t into family quality time. We don’t see each other much.”
“No boyfriend?”
Slowly, she turned back around. “Why are you asking?”
He loomed large as he stood beside her in the small kitchen. She couldn’t help noticing how wide his shoulders were—those same shoulders she’d clutched in the throes of sexual awakening.
“I don’t know why I’m asking. It’s not any of my business,” he said. “I guess I want to know.”
Her heart skidded inside her chest. He knew she wasn’t serious about anyone if he’d been her only lover. It had to be a male territorial thing on his mind. Either he wanted to know that she had a boyfriend so that he could forget about her more easily—or he wanted to know that she didn’t so that he could satisfy himself that he’d marked her as his appropriately.
“I don’t think it really matters,” she said smoothly, tossing the cup towel onto the drainboard. “I’m going to sit out on the porch with your mother for a while, and then I’m going to bed. I doubt I’ll see you in the morning, as I have a very early flight. However, thank you for your hospitality. I have enjoyed my stay here with your family.”
She neatly sidestepped him and left the kitchen. “Oh, and by the way,” she said, poking her head back into the room just in time to see the struggle on his face, “I talked to Jonathan today. He says he’ll be in contact with you soon about paperwork and details for the movie.”
Swiftly, she made good her exit. She had to. They’d been heading into dangerous waters. For a moment, it had felt cozy. The two of them, sharing a task and making conversation—but he had run off for three days. His retreat had been okay with her, but she didn’t want him thinking that just because it was her last night in Desperado, he had to be nice to her.
She joined Carmen on the porch, taking a seat on the wooden step and shaking her head at the offer of a cigar. “Where did Mary run off to?”
“She’s in her room talking on the phone to one of her friends. Here lately she’s had more kids calling the house.” Carmen took a long drag. “Guess it didn’t take long for them to find out she had an honest-to-goodness Hollywood person staying with her.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Stormy laughed. “What I like about staying with you is that nobody in your family treats me like that. It’s just a job, you know. Not particularly more glamorous or wonderful than anything else.”
“You meet famous people.” Carmen’s eyes watched her.
“Yes, but famous people are the same as everyone else, basically. It’s just as much fun to meet the folks in Desperado. I’ve had a great time.”
“You are a good girl, Stormy.” Carmen nodded. “You have your head on straight.”
“I hope so.”
They sat comfortably for a long time without saying much. One of the things that made her feel so much a part of the family was that Carmen didn’t seem to think she had to entertain her every moment. If Carmen didn’t have anything to say, she didn’t say it.
“You got your sights set on my boy?”
The question coming out of nowhere startled Stormy. “I’m not sure,” she said softly. “I can’t see any way for it to work out, so I’d have to say no, I don’t.”
“Hmmph.” The cigar tip glowed bright in the darkness. “Don’t reckon I’d be much of a mother-in-law.”
Stormy wanted to say that she suited her, but since it was never going to happen, she didn’t think she should comment on it.
“My son likes you.”
“Oh, no, Carmen. He says I’m too flamboyant to be real.”
The tip of the cigar glowed again. “Cody is not going to fall easy, gi
rl. He had no father growing up, and then he lost his brother. I am old.” She rocked back in the chair. “He appears strong, but he is afraid of losing someone else.”
“Everybody’s afraid of that.” She filled her world with surface interactions because it was all she’d ever known. But deep inside, she didn’t want to be abandoned again.
“Yes. But he is using it as an excuse. You just go on being yourself and you will get him. He wouldn’t be interested in a namby-pamby woman.”
“I don’t know. We battle an awful lot. And I’m leaving tomorrow. I think it’s for the best.”
They were silent for a long time. Stormy could hear night noises in the dark that she never heard in California. Rustling air, a frog somewhere, a cow’s moo in the distance.
“Where are you from, gal?”
“LA.”
“I mean, where are your people from?” Carmen asked.
“Oh. A hippie commune,” Stormy replied, highly embarrassed. How much she’d like to say she came from a small town like Desperado, and a house like this one, with a family who cared about each other!
“Then you will recognize the expression, ‘make love, not war’.” Carmen got up and went inside the house, apparently through dispensing wisdom.
Stormy stared after her, astonished. Make love, not war. Was she actually suggesting Stormy should fall in love with her son? Make love with him? That was not the way into Cody’s heart, as she’d painfully learned after the one afternoon they’d spent together.
Cody came out onto the porch and settled next to her. She could feel warmth radiating from him even as she felt her whole body come alive. A star twinkled brightly in the midnight sky. I want him, she told the heavens.
But she couldn’t have him. “I’ve already shared a cigar with your mom, so I’m going to turn in,” she said, getting up to make her escape just as he’d made his three days ago.
“Don’t leave yet,” he said, reaching to tug lightly on the hem of her denim skirt. “Please.”
She gazed down into his eyes. “Why not?”
“I can’t let you go back to California without knowing that we’ve ended this as good as we possibly can.”
She didn’t want it to end. Cold chills tickled Stormy’s stomach. “I’m fine, Cody. Don’t worry any more about it.”
“I am. I haven’t been fair to you since the beginning. It’s not right to let you leave without telling you the truth.”
Reluctantly, she sat down next to him. “If it will make you feel better.”
He locked his fingers together and stared out into the distance. “I guess you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“You told me I remind you of a soap opera character,” Stormy said mildly, “but I’ve got to tell you, some of your friends have me beat for drama. Pick and Curvy come to mind quite quickly.”
He chuckled. “Well, they do make up their stories as they go along.” For a moment he sat thinking. Then he said, “What I really meant is that I’ve never met a woman like you.”
“I know you’re counting your blessings about that.”
“I don’t know how I feel anymore. When I met you, I got bent out of shape, I’ll admit. As time went on, you unexpectedly slid into my life more and more. I’m a bachelor and want to stay that way.” He shot her a how-are-you-taking-all-this look. “But I can’t deny that I’ll never forget you.”
Stormy’s lips parted. That was the last thing she’d expected Mr. Macho Cowboy to say. “I won’t forget you, either,” she said slowly, deciding to play it careful, “nor any of the rest of your family.”
He shook his head. “No. I mean, you’ve gotten to me in some way I never expected. Don’t get me wrong.” He hesitated for a second. “I still think you’re way out there. I still think you may have some loose wires in your brain. It goes without saying that, for the long haul, you and I definitely would not make it.”
That hurt. Stormy lowered her lashes to hide the pain she knew would show in her eyes. “I didn’t come out here with manhunting on my mind.”
“I know that,” he said huskily. “What I’m trying to say, and not doing it very well, is that something happened between us that neither of us was looking for. Maybe didn’t even want. But it happened, and it kind of pushed me off my boots. Woman, you’ve made me crazy.”
She raised her eyes to meet his. “You’ve made me crazy, too,” she whispered.
“I think I’m kinda glad about that.”
And before either of them could think it through, their lips met, touching off desire that rivaled those earthquakes in California.
“I can’t help wanting you,” he groaned. He didn’t know how else to put it, but he hoped she wouldn’t take his meaning wrong.
“I feel the same.”
Her lips were soft and sweet under his, and Cody thought he just might explode. She snuggled up to his chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around her, and sighed with what sounded like passion. Gosh, he hoped that was what had her sighing. He didn’t want to be the only one way out on this limb.
“I tried too hard to stay away from you,” he murmured in her hair.
“Cody, shh. Don’t say another word. Just love me,” Stormy told him.
The lights were all off inside the house. They were safe to step inside and give release to what they both wanted. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes.” Her eyes glimmered in the darkness. “Hurry.”
They sneaked inside the house quietly, making certain the screen door didn’t slam. Gently, he took her by the hand into his bedroom and closed the door behind them.
“So this is your cave,” she said.
“Yeah.” He drew her to him for a long kiss.
Her fingers went to the buttons on his shirt. He tensed as she undid them, and moved his shirt away from his chest. Her lips touched him here, and there, and she touched him in his heart. He edged her over to the bed and leaned her back into it.
“I like taking off your clothes.” He pulled off her blouse, and then her denim skirt, revealing panties and a sweet pink bra—and adorably puckered nipples. “I like everything about your body.”
She giggled, and he heard the nervousness. Forcibly, he recalled that she had been a virgin, and that he’d been none too gentle with her. No wonder she sounded nervous. This time, he would go slowly.
She worked his shirt off, and then his jeans. His boxers followed that. She stared at his naked thighs, mesmerized by the large, hard muscles. Jet hair sprinkled along the ridges, emphasizing his strength.
“What are you staring at?” he asked huskily.
He startled Stormy into speaking the truth. “I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you are. You are like a finely carved master statue.”
He didn’t move, his body struck into instant awareness. “You are a strange woman.”
She nodded slowly, her eyes caught on his. “You are a crazy man.”
Crazy for her. He rolled, catching her underneath him. “So crazy to want you as bad as I do.”
Stormy could feel Cody’s readiness at the inside of her thighs. “Come on,” she said softly.
“I have to get some protection.”
“No,” she pleaded, holding him to her. “Don’t leave me now.”
He fought with the desire to do as she asked. “I have to,” he said, kissing her on the tip of her nose as he reached to the nightstand. “If I got you pregnant, we would have an ugly baby.”
She laughed, even as he struggled with the foil packet. “Is that one as old as the other one you had?”
“Damn it, yes. It’s from the same box. If you were staying longer, I’d make a trip to the store, but as it is, we’ll just have to hope this one stays together, too.”
He was beside her again quickly. Before he touched her again, he stared down into her eyes. “I’ll be gentle this time.”
“I know you will.” It was the last worry on her mind. His fingers were stroking her, teasing her to
wild readiness, and she wanted him like nothing else. “Cody?”
“Yes?” He waited, not wanting to push her if she had reservations.
“Ugly because of you—or me?”
“You.” He buried himself inside her, nuzzling his face in her burgundy hair with a feeling of relief that was almost painful. She had started to giggle at his answer, but the sound ended on a gasp of pleasure at his entry. “The townspeople might throw rocks at it,” he murmured.
She beat on his back, wrapping her legs around him tightly. “Cody Aguillar, you’re a chicken.”
He lifted his head. “I haven’t been accused of that before.”
“Everyone is too afraid of you to say it.”
Inside her he moved faster, craving the feel of her body against his. “But not you.” He took her lips with his, tasting her, holding her close so that he felt her orgasm building and felt her surprised squeal against his mouth. “You’re not afraid of me,” he whispered harshly, reeling as his own release came upon him like strong waves. He fell into her waiting arms.
I’m afraid of you.
They went to sleep, still intertwined. Some time in the night, Stormy had to get up. As gently as possible, she moved the big rancher off of her and grabbed a tissue to clean herself with. Her lips parted in dismay.
This condom had not passed the test of time.
Chapter Thirteen
Three months later—October
“What will it hurt you to go back?” Sun Nixon arranged several pots of herbs on a shelf, barely sparing a glance for her daughter. “A job is a job. You like traveling. Go.”
Stormy pursed her lips. It would hurt her to go to Desperado. There were reasons it was best she stay in California.
“I don’t seem to crave traveling as much anymore.” Stormy walked through the small greenhouse. “I want to settle down, get a more stable job.”
This had been on her mind a lot lately. She had to make some changes in her life. Soon.
“Is that the right way to treat Jonathan?” Moon Nixon glanced up from tightening guitar strings to give her a stern eyeing. “I’m lucky to have such good friends in the business, and you’re lucky that they keep you employed.”
