Colorado Cowboy - Includes a bonus novella

by Sara Richardson

  He’d asked her sister not to tell Charity about the lawyer, but it seemed Melody hadn’t listened. “She loves Bodie, that’s for sure. Every mom should have another chance to be there for her kid.”

  “Thank you,” Charity whispered. “It was so good to talk to her. So good for Bodie to hear her tell him she was sorry.” There was a sniffling pause. “You didn’t have to do all of that, Dev. I want to make sure you know that. Your arresting my sister didn’t change anything for me. I still like you.”

  “I know.” But it was good to hear her say that. “I wanted to do it. For her. For Bodie.” Something told him her nephew wouldn’t be as forgiving as Charity.

  Well, her life might be a mess right now, but at least her garage was clean. Charity stashed the broom next to the shelf that housed her saddle collection and glanced around. It was spotless. That’s what happened when she needed to think. She cleaned, found something to obsess over besides the problems cramming her head. After Melody’s phone call last night, Charity had plenty to think about. Mostly Dev.

  She’d been dying to tell him in person she was sorry for sending him away when he’d come to see them, but she still wasn’t sure how to approach the subject of Dev with her nephew. Everything felt so tenuous right now. With all Bodie had been through, she didn’t want to make things harder for him. He would come first no matter what, but she was hoping he’d give Dev a chance. Especially after everything the deputy had done for Melody.

  And yet…Bodie hadn’t said much after they’d finished cleaning the kitchen last night, and then he’d slept until well after noon. She didn’t want to push too hard, but she’d hidden in the garage long enough. She had to stop thinking, obsessing, deliberating. She simply had to come out and ask if he was willing to give Dev a chance.

  That in mind, Charity went back inside the house.

  Bodie sat on the couch doing homework. “Hey.” She walked over to join him. “How’s it—”

  There was a crash in the kitchen followed by her mother’s interpretation of taking the lord’s name in vain.

  “Judas Priest!”

  “What’s she making in there?” Charity asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

  Bodie winced. “She said something about lasagna.”

  “Oh dear god.” Charity sat taller, trying to get a good view of the kitchen and slowly, quietly, carefully pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

  “What’re you doing?”

  She grinned at her nephew. “Ordering pizza.”

  There was another clatter, and Charity rushed to tell the pizza place their order without being heard.

  “Bodie?” Her mother came scurrying out of the kitchen. “Oh! Charity, there you are. I knew you were busy out in the garage so I’m starting dinner.”

  She and Bodie shared a look. While she appreciated her mother trying, she would not subject her nephew to Tammi’s cooking.

  Her mother didn’t seem to pick up on their lack of enthusiasm. “I was thinking maybe you’d want to invite Dev over.”

  “Oh.” It was the perfect opening, but she still didn’t know how Bodie would feel about spending time with him. “Um. Actually, I did want to hang out with him. So I could tell him thank you. For what he’s done for Melody.” She held her breath and waited for her nephew’s reaction.

  Bodie closed his book and set it on the coffee table. “Would you tell him thank you for me too? It’s cool what he did for my mom.”

  Relief nearly overwhelmed her. “Of course. I’d be happy to tell him.”

  Tammi looked thoughtful. “Why don’t you go over to his place?” her mother offered. “Bodie and I will have lasagna—”

  “Pizza,” Charity interrupted with a grin at her nephew. “You’re having pizza. I called for delivery.”

  “Why would you go and do something like that?” Tammi demanded.

  “Have you forgotten the great lasagna fiasco of 1996?” Charity widened her eyes at Bodie. “She’d never made lasagna before, and—”

  “My mom never taught me how to cook,” Tammi interrupted.

  “Anyway,” Charity went on. “She was determined to make lasagna for your mom’s birthday dinner, but she didn’t realize she had to cook the noodles first.” The memory almost amazed her. Somehow she’d suppressed the good ones right along with the bad ones.

  “The recipe wasn’t clear,” Tammi grumbled. “I swear it didn’t say you had to cook the noodles.”

  “So she threw it together and popped it in the oven and then forgot about it,” Charity continued.

  Bodie laughed. “She forgot?”

  “As I recall, the reason I forgot is because you girls left the hose on outside and it flooded the basement.” Her mother slapped her hands on her hips like she used to when they sassed her.

  “Anyway,” Charity said with a teasing roll of her eyes, “when she finally remembered the lasagna, it had been in the oven for a good two hours and she couldn’t even get a knife to cut through it.”

  “Yeah, I’m good with pizza.” Bodie sent an apologetic look to his grandma. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. We can have pizza.” Her mother always could out-sigh any martyr. “But you should go, honey.” She prodded Charity off the couch. “Bodie and I will be fine. We’ll get his homework done, and then maybe we’ll play a board game.”

  Charity glanced at her nephew.

  “Yeah.” He smiled. “Go ahead. It’ll be good to spend time with Grandma.”

  “Okay.” Charity tried not to seem too rushed, but she kind of couldn’t wait to go spend some time alone with her favorite deputy. “Thanks.”

  Tammi gave her a hug and whispered, “We won’t wait up.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Dev added a splash of olive oil to the pan, swirling it a few times like he’d seen Alton Brown do on television. For once he was glad his mom was obsessed with the Food Network—and mainly Alton Brown. He’s a tall drink of iced tea, she’d always say while they watched. Not his taste, but he’d picked up a few pointers food-wise, so it hadn’t been a complete waste of time.

  Dev placed two steaks on the sizzling puddle of butter and oil.

  A pitter-pattering knock that sounded a lot like his—

  “Dev? I’ve brought you a rum cake,” his mom called through the door. “Hot right out of the oven.”

  Yep. Right on time. He opened the door, already smirking. “Why would you do that?” The question wasn’t necessary. He’d mentioned earlier that Charity might be stopping by tonight.

  “A rum cake can’t hurt your chances with her.” His mom swept past him and set it on the kitchen counter.

  He got a look at the dessert over her shoulder. “No, but it could upstage the dinner I’m working on.” Could? More like it most definitely would.

  “Well, since you mentioned dinner, I’d better take a look.” His mom bustled over to the stove top and gave the steaks her critical eye. “Not bad. But we should add a little more thyme.” She plucked a few of the leaves off the stem he had sitting next to the stove and sprinkled them in like magic fairy dust. “Otherwise, it smells divine. She’s going to love—”

  “Hello?” The door creaked open. In her haste to micromanage his dinner, his mom must’ve forgotten to close it all the way.

  “Hey—”

  “Charity!” Mrs. Subtle wasted no time upstaging his greeting. She hurried over and gave Charity a hug. “How’s Bodie? Is he all right? I can’t believe all he’s been through. Poor boy. You tell him I’ll bake another batch of chocolate chip cookies next time he comes over here, okay?”

  “Will do.” Charity gave Dev a quick smile before focusing on his mom. “And he’s okay. We’ve officially decided he’s going to stay with me. I’ll be his legal guardian.”

  “Oh, how wonderful!” The news prompted yet another hug.

  “We should have a party to officially welcome him to town,” his mom insisted as though someone had just assigned her to be the social director. “We’d be ha
ppy to host it here. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  “That sounds perfect.” Charity suddenly inhaled and looked around. “Is something burning?”

  Shit, the steaks. Dev flailed back to the kitchen and flipped them. A little charred but not too overdone.

  “Dev made you dinner,” his mom informed her. “And I brought over a rum cake for dessert. It’s an old family recipe that my grandmother used to make.”

  “And it’s delicious.” Dev rushed back to them before his mom launched into the half-hour story about how they’d thought the recipe was lost in a house fire. “So…Mom…thanks for the cake. Charity and I have a lot to talk about. Hope you have a good night.” Any other day he’d let her talk to Charity as much as she wanted, but he and Charity had an unfinished conversation lingering between them from a few days ago on her porch. She was right. Bodie would always come first in her life. Especially now when he was grieving. And Dev wasn’t sure where that left him and Charity. He couldn’t stand in the way of Bodie’s healing, but he wasn’t ready to give up and disappear from their lives either.

  Thankfully, his mother only smiled. “Oh, yes. I’m going, I’m going. You have a good night too.” She chuckled at herself. “What am I saying? Of course you’ll have a good night.” She scurried past Charity. “I’ll get back to you about that party soon.”

  “I’ll look forward to it, Mrs. Jenkins. Thanks for the cake.”

  “MaryElla. You call me MaryElla.” She left in haste, and finally—finally—they were alone. Dev took a minute to simply look at Charity. She looked good. Nothing fancy, just darker jeans than usual and a simple white button-down shirt unbuttoned low enough to make his eyes linger there. The sight heated him right up. His gaze drifted to the duffel hanging off her shoulder. That was one big purse. “What’s with the bag?”

  Charity sashayed past him, shooting him a hot glance over her shoulder. “It’s my overnight bag.” She set it on the couch.

  Hmmm. That sounded interesting. And promising. “What do you keep in there?”

  “There are a few things I think you might like.”

  It took everything in him not to run over there and look for himself. But they did have something to discuss. “So I take it Bodie was okay with you coming to see me? Because I don’t want to cause any problems between you two.” He’d wait, if that’s what Bodie needed. It might kill him, but he’d wait.

  “He said he knows what happened isn’t your fault and he’s fine with us hanging out.” Charity’s smile held relief. “He’s thankful for what you did for his mom, but in typical teenage boy fashion, he doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it. So don’t expect a hug or anything.”

  “I won’t expect one from him.” But he wouldn’t mind one from her right about now.

  “So what’re you making?” She walked over to him and stopped just out of reach.

  Shit, the steaks. She made it too easy to forget things. He went back to the stove and pulled the skillet off, setting it on a hot pad on the counter. “Pan-seared rib eye with herb butter.”

  “Mmmm.” She came up behind him, draping her arms over his shoulders. “It smells good.”

  “So do you.” He turned so he could pull her against him. “You smell like cherries.” And something subtly sweet. Something he wanted to taste.

  “It’s my shower gel.” She raised her eyebrows. “I packed it in my bag.”

  He had no idea why someone would need gel in the shower, but hell, he was down with trying it out. “Maybe we should shower before dinner.” The image of her wet, naked body against his completely hijacked his focus.

  “No way,” she teased. “I’m starving and that steak smells amazing.”

  “I’m starving too,” he murmured, pressing his lips against her neck. “But not for steak.” She’d aroused his curiosity, his hunger, his desire to hear her moan his name again.

  “There’ll be plenty of time after dinner, since I’m spending the night.” She propped her hands on the countertop and hopped up to sit there. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Stop seducing me?” he asked futilely. That would be impossible.

  Charity laughed. “If it makes you feel better, you look incredibly sexy standing at the stove.”

  “Saying that doesn’t help.” It made him want to haul her back to the bedroom. But…if she insisted on eating first…“You want something to drink? I’m sure there’s a bottle of red wine around here somewhere.”

  Charity crossed her legs and leaned back into her hands in a pose that emphasized her chest. “I’ll take a beer.”

  Now she was just torturing him. “I knew you were the perfect woman.” He reached into the fridge and handed her an IPA. She popped the top and took a long pull, tilting her head back so that her blond hair spilled down her back just like it had when she rode him all the way to an orgasm.

  Yeah, he wasn’t gonna be able to eat dinner when he was this hard.

  “That’s it.” Dev hastily covered the steaks with foil and turned off the stove. “We’re having dessert first.” He walked over, took the beer out of her hand, and then lifted Charity off the counter, securing his hands under her perfect ass.

  A surprised squeak parted her lips, but he kissed her before she could say anything. Within seconds her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, and her hands were tangled in his hair. He pulled back to grin at her, to take in that rosy glow on her face.

  “I thought you told your mom we had a lot to talk about,” she murmured.

  “That overnight bag told me all I needed to know.”

  Something shook Charity gently.

  “Time to get up.” Dev’s voice was hushed and deep, radiating into her.

  She forced her eyes open, too comfortable on his soft mattress and wedged up against his hard body to even think about moving. “Do we have to?”

  Propped up on an elbow, he hovered over her. “I thought we’d sneak you back into your house and then take Bodie and your mom out for breakfast.”

  She stared up at him, taking in his mussed hair, those persuasive eyes. “You’re so hot.”

  He grinned. “Last night was hot.”

  So hot they’d hardly slept. “And now you want to get up early.”

  “I don’t want to keep you from Bodie too long.” His fingers trailed down her bare arm. “I don’t want him to think I’m going to occupy all of your time.”

  “You are very good at occupying my time,” Charity assured him. “But thank you.” She pulled him to lie down with her and wrapped herself around him. “I won’t have as much freedom as I would’ve a month ago.”

  “I can’t complain.” He kissed her temple. “If it wasn’t for Bodie, you might never have given me the time of day.”

  “This is true.” She might never have realized how good Dev was. She might never have let him in. “I think he’d still like to work on the ranch sometimes.”

  “We could use the help.” Dev leaned over to look into her eyes. “When he’s ready. I don’t want to get in the way of him bonding with you either.”

  Right. Even with Dev in her life, Bodie would be her priority. “I don’t know what it should look like. Being his parent, his aunt, his guardian.” It overwhelmed her.

  “It’s okay to figure things out as you go. Naomi and Jessa are great resources. So are my parents, for that matter. And I’ll be here whenever you need me to be.”

  Charity smoothed her hands up his chest. “I’m going to need you a lot. After last night, I have a feeling my bed is going to feel pretty boring.”

  “We’ll get creative,” he promised with a grin that sparked a sensuous passion. “Speaking of creative, last night you said something about shower gel?”

  “Oh, right. I forgot all about my overnight bag.” Despite her care in packing it, she really hadn’t needed anything from it, not even the satin-and-lace nightie she’d never worn before. “Where’d it end up anyway?”

  Dev rolled off the bed, and the sight of those strong sine
wy muscles made her heart dance with anticipation.

  He disappeared into the living room and came back carrying the bag. “Let’s see.” He unzipped it and pulled out the nightie. “Whoa, how did I miss this?”

  She swiped it out of his hands and tossed it aside. “You never gave me time to put it on. You never gave me time to put anything on.”

  “Yeah, okay.” His hand fished back in the bag. “This feels like shower gel.” He pulled out the plastic bottle.

  “That’s it.”

  “Cherry vanilla,” he read off the label. His eyes got bigger. “Warming shower gel.”

  “You’re going to love it,” she promised.

  “I have no doubts.” He pulled her up off the bed and started kissing her as they made their way into the master bathroom. Dev knew his way around a kiss. He started with a tease, then gradually made it more demanding, more passionate. In the bathroom, he nudged her up against the wall by the shower, and somehow got the water going without breaking their kiss. Steam rose into the air, clouding everything. Dev tugged on her hand, then eased his hands onto her hips and guided her to step into the shower with him.

  Hot water sprayed down on her skin. “Mmmmm,” she couldn’t help moaning. Her head fell back as Dev held the bottle of shower gel over her breasts and let the cold drops fall to her skin. He caressed with his hands, working the gel into a warming lather that made her tingle. Before she lost herself completely, she stole the bottle and squirted a whole handful into her palm. She let the bottle fall to the tile and brought her hands to Dev’s abs, spreading the gel lower until he was moaning too.

  Their kisses grew more frantic, and she swore she would never get enough of his mouth, his tongue, the way he held her and teased her and turned her on. “I love you, Dev.” It was so freeing to say it, to feel safe enough to tell him the truth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hopped up, knowing he would catch her and hold her.

  “I love you too.” He kissed her shoulder, her neck, her chin, and then her lips, and moved his hands to her butt, positioning her just right to fit them together.