“Are you really going to use that as an excuse? Do you think it’s your responsibility to monitor how many miles you’ve driven on a tank of gas?” She tugged a long tendril of hair behind her ear before nailing him with what she hoped was an annoyed glare. She was hot, tired, and her feet were killing her after walking on the gravel road. She wasn’t normally this pissed and wasn’t even sure why she was so angry with him, but she couldn’t seem to control any part of her body around him. From a fast beating heart to dizziness to clammy hands, she was having symptoms of something horrible—an attraction to an infuriating cowboy.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything but a granola bar since that morning. The emergency department had been pounded with patients and by the time she ended her shift, she’d been in a rush to make her date with Keefer. .
She couldn’t believe she’d chosen the stilettos for tonight. They were sexy, but nothing about the heels were made for walking except across the room looking sexy. Very seldom did she get all dressed up and had been looking forward to wearing something different than her scrubs and tennis shoes. Nothing had gone as planned this evening. Especially pulling off sexy for her date, the first she’d had in over six months. She was certain her hair that she’d curled over top of the staff bathroom sink was now hanging straight. The makeup she’d applied was worn off and the expensive red dress she’d bought specifically for tonight clung to her body, and not in a good way. She’d even had a Brazilian wax because a girl should always be prepared. Those parts of her body were now sweating. ‘Sexy’ was the last thing she felt like at this moment.
She smoothed her gaze over the cowboy and hated that not one part of him appeared unraveled. In fact, he looked so good she could eat him on a cracker. Her stomach growled and every nerve ending sparked alive—at least the junction of her thighs still worked. No surprise. He was easy on the eyes and his hypnotic grin could make a woman feel special. Remind her of things she was missing, and oh brother, did Violet miss the things this cowboy, no doubt, could do well. She’d bank on it.
A week ago she’d met him after he’d won a date with her at a charity auction and she’d anticipated the moment when she’d see him again. It was pretty obvious the only action she’d be getting tonight was a long foot-soak and sinking into bed alone. That was whenever she finally made it home. She grabbed her cell from her handbag and checked the screen. Still dead. What was she expecting? Dropping the phone back into her purse, she continued beside Keefer along the narrow road.
“Hey, by the way, I’m sorry about this,” he said.
“An apology? We’re getting somewhere.” She kept her gaze steady on the road in front of them. The sun glinted off the gravel appearing as though they were walking off the edge of the earth. The weather forecast warned people to stay hydrated today and her body agreed. What she wouldn’t give for a sip of water.
“I’ll take full credit for not being the most responsible, but I was preoccupied.” He slid his gaze over her, spending a good second on her breasts. She hated that her knees weakened and the apex of her thighs throbbed with an urgency for a cowboy—and not just any cowboy would do.
“Are you saying that because I—well—‘preoccupied’ you, that I’m at fault for our situation?”
“Were you thinking clearly yourself?”
She shook her head in disbelief. “I wasn’t the one behind the wheel.”
“You were tucked up real nice and tight at my side, your fingers tugging at my belt buckle and I sort of lost touch with reality.” He shifted in his dusty boots, then kicked up a rock with his toe.
“Oh, in that case, you’re completely forgiven.”
“Am I?”
“No, not in the slightest! However, I do appreciate that you can be honest. It’s no secret that a man can’t think with his brain when he has a—” she slipped her gaze to his zipper, rolling her tongue along her bottom lip, “problem.”
“I wasn’t the only one with a 'problem', sweetheart.” His deliberate grin drove through her like a pitchfork.
How could she argue? She’d wanted him in a very bad, but also a very good way. “Believe what you wish.” She sniffed loudly and walked ahead of him, knowing he watched her closely. She put an extra amount of shake in her sashay just for show.
“Face the facts, Violet. You nearly jumped my bones back at the restaurant. Good thing I got us the hell out of there or we'd be sitting in a jail cell for indecent exposure.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Keefer. It makes you look very ugly.” Liar! As angry as she was, she still thought he was the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on. Her attention automatically drifted to his calloused hands that could offer lots of pleasure for her sensitive flesh. Even with the ego that stretched for miles, he could still make her libido hum a melody. Maybe it had something to do with his bad-ass quality. The deep, white scar on his left cheek made him look dangerous. A good girl always liked a challenge, however, she was far from being a 'good' girl.
“And like your snooty attitude makes you look any better.” He snorted. "I do believe the witch forgot her broomstick."
She stopped and jabbed her finger into the middle of his chest. “I might be a witch, but I have good reason. You try walking a mile on gravel in these heels and then we'll see how you feel! Until then, stick your opinion where the sun doesn't sh—”
He pressed his finger against her lips. "Let's not make things worse. Okay, darlin'? The sexual attraction is already off the charts and your anger only gets me hotter." She swallowed loudly. Holy mother of all that is real. “I know this isn’t the most romantic date, but we could make the best of what we’ve been dealt. It’s a nice evening and no threat of rain.” His pale blue eyes seemed to nuke her bloodstream like a powerful narcotic.
“These aren’t walking shoes.” She dangled her heels from her finger, giving them a quick shake. “I know that you probably want to come back with some poke about women wearing heels, but please save your breath. I’m tired and I have to be back at the hospital tomorrow for a double shift. So forgive me if it’s hard to find the rainbow on this road tucked in the middle of nothing.”
Keefer pulled out his cell from his pocket, held it up high and moved it through the air. “Damn network!” he growled.
“It didn’t work the last five times so what makes you think it’ll be any different now?”
“Maybe your phone would have had service, but, oh yeah, that’s right, you forgot to charge it.” The sarcasm in his voice made her spine stiffen. She left him standing.
“Okay, I’ll take the blame for my phone going dead and the fact that I should have never agreed to a second date with you.”
He stopped dead in his tracks. “Wait! What?”
Violet turned to look at him. “You heard me. I shouldn’t have agreed to the second date.”
He chuckled. “This should be interesting. Why not?”
She shrugged. “Because you and I…well…we don’t have a lot in common.” She tried her best to keep the tone of her voice indifferent. He didn’t need to know that she’d counted down the seconds before he’d pulled into Stone Hedge Ranch to pick her up. At the restaurant, his dashing blue eyes and beguiling smile had made her giddy. His strapping, line-backer shoulders and the spectacular way his Wranglers fit his tight, bull-riding ass made her full of desire. He’d made reservations at a five-star restaurant and they’d walked in together, her arm tucked in his elbow. He’d surprised her when he’d asked her to dance before they’d even ordered and things heated up like the fourth of July. There was no denying that she’d wanted to explore him, inch-by-tough-man-inch. So when he’d asked if she wanted to get out of the restaurant, she’d eagerly said, “Yes.”
And that’s what landed them thirty miles out of the city on some godforsaken country road where the only speck of life was a frog that had hopped by some twenty minutes ago. What man takes a woman in the country and gets her stuck? Hell, what sort of woman gets into a
truck with a practical stranger and lets him take her on that so-called country drive?
What had come over her? Her sisters Ruby, Sapphire and Crystal would shake her by the tail feather if they knew what she’d done. They were always telling her to be careful, think ahead, and the biggest, keep her phone charged. For goodness sakes, she’d failed on all counts. She groaned. She was capable of handling herself. She wasn’t a child, no matter how much they treated her like one. Even being out on a secluded road with a cowboy who looked like he could carry the world on his shoulders she knew she’d be okay. Working as an emergency room nurse, she’d gotten pretty good at warding off drunken brutes and hostile patients. However, Keefer wasn’t neither of those. In fact, he’d been a perfect gentleman since he picked her up for the date. And he hadn’t been wrong about her touching him once they’d left the restaurant. The cowboy could kiss, and boy did he have a body. She should have never danced three songs with him—slow, romantic songs—because suddenly she’d grown sticky fingers and couldn’t keep her hands off him. What was it about the singer John Vesely’s voice that could make a woman melt into a man’s arms? Warm, muscular arms. She dared a peek at Keefer. His shirtsleeves were rolled up high.
“So when did you figure this out? That we shouldn’t have gone out on a second date. During the dance when you whispered that you wanted me? Or when you practically pushed your hand down my pants?”
Her mouth fell open and she quickly snapped it shut. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, did I not speak English?” He brushed past her.
She had to hurry to catch up with him. “Is that really how you see things? First, I didn’t whisper that I wanted you! I said that I wanted to leave after you suggested that we should!”
He laughed. “And that’s not the same thing?”
Violet opened her mouth to argue, but what could she say? At that heated moment on the dance floor, she’d wanted to leave so they could—she shook the thought right from her head. “I didn’t have my hand down your pants!”
“That’s why I said ‘practically’. If it wasn’t for my jeans, we’d found out just what connection we have between us.” He snorted. “And how the hell do you know if we have anything in common. The first night we went out we talked until the waitress kicked us out. What was that?”
She was beside him now. “Fine, I’ll tell you why I shouldn’t have said yes. You are on a one way track into danger every time you walk into the arena to ride a bull. I help heal people. I can’t stand to see people live dangerously, regardless how precious life is.” Lifting one shoulder, she let it slump. “Well, I could never be with an adrenaline junkie.”
“You’re not fooling anyone, sweetheart.” He gave her a quick glance. “You’re a nurse because you like the adrenaline rush. Can you deny it?”
Wow…he was right. “But I’m not putting my life on the line. What can you offer long-term?”
“I asked for a dinner date, not marriage.”
She moistened her lips and placed her hands on her hips. Her shoes banged against one thigh “And I couldn’t be with a cowboy. I grew up around them and they’re just not—”
“Rich enough? Refined enough?” His jaw hardened.
“That’s not what I was going to say.” He flicked up a thick brow in accusation. “I meant, available. Work is their number one priority.”
“And how many cowboys have you dated?”
“None.”
“Then how can you lump us all together?”
“I grew up with them around all of my life. My sisters and I were out on the land more than we were in the house and many of the hands became like brothers. I also saw all of the arguments they got into with their spouses over time management and priorities. My mom and dad even had a few of those spats.”
“You can’t use that as a gauge unless it happened to you specifically,” he huffed. “Any other reasons in that stubborn head of yours why we shouldn’t date?”
“I do have the right to my own opinion, you know.”
“Or you just don’t have a valid answer so you’ll change the subject.” He shrugged. “No worries. I wouldn’t have asked for a third date even if things had gone great, so you’re safe with that crazy opinion of yours.”
She thought he was joking, but his expression remained serious. “Well, it sure seems like you’re trying to talk me into a third date.”
“We probably are too different to be a match.”
“You’re just saying that because that’s what I proposed.”
“No, I made my mind up the second you almost fell on your ass a half mile back and then called me a jerk,” he said.
“I said that under my breath.”
“And that makes it less offensive?”
The man never ceased to irk her. “That was when I thought that maybe you brought me all the way out here to take advantage of me.”
“So you think I’d go to the trouble of driving over an hour from home with some sappy story of stars and a clear night sky just to go to bed with you?” He laughed hard his face turned red as he smacked his hand against his thigh. She didn’t find any of this humorous. “I’ve heard it all now.” He dragged off his hat and ran his hand through his thick, black hair.
He was making fun of her and she didn’t like it, not one bit. “You’ve never lied or came up with some clever ruse to get a woman into bed?”
He scrubbed his jaw, not looking so confident now. He mashed his hat back on his head. “I’ve never had to lie, darlin’.”
“Yeah…right.”
“Don’t start believing for a second that I’d have gone out of my way with a trick to get you, lady. Fact is, I wouldn’t have to come up with a trick.”
“Are you insinuating something?”
“I’m saying that you were all but squirming with need, wanting things to go to the next level. I could nearly smell the desire. Thankfully, I brought us out here, otherwise I think you’d be singing an entirely different tune right now—maybe screaming my name. One of us needed to keep things in perspective and manage the heat.”
Now she laughed. “Seriously? You’re trying to tell me you didn’t have one intention of sleeping with me tonight?”
“Yes, I can’t deny I wanted to sleep with you, but I wanted to come out here to—”
“To what?”
He shrugged. “See the stars, sweetheart.”
Her chest tightened. Why did secret parts of her throb? She hated the way her body succumbed to him. “How romantic it’s turned out to be. Take me on a trip just to screw me in your truck. Your rodeo bunnies might like that treatment, but I do not!” She marched down the road, hearing his boots pounding the road and kicking up pebbles.
“You’re a real treat, Violet. You were so hot at the restaurant that I thought you’d set the place on fire, and now you’re making out like I had some secret goal to take advantage of you? Either you don’t get out much or you think way too highly of yourself. I’m leaning toward both at this point.”
“I get out plenty, thank you!” she snapped.
His smirk jumped right through her skin. “If you say so.”
“I do say so.” She stomped faster on the road, not caring that the small rocks poked at her bare feet. “I think we should just stop talking. Agree to disagree. Otherwise we’re going to be out on this road until morning.”
“Yes, ma’am. Because you think we should stop talking then by all means, let’s stay quiet. Whatever the princess wants.”
“I’m not going to let you get a rise out of me.”
“Too bad I can’t say the same.” The latent meaning to his words and the twinkle in his eye did magical things to her nerve endings.
Violet continued ahead until a sharp pain radiated through her foot. “Ouch!” She stopped, immediately realizing she’d stepped on something, more than a pebble.
“Wow…so you don’t like to be called princess, huh?”
“It’s not that, you oaf! I have something in my foot.”
She favored her wounded foot, keeping it from touching the ground and balancing on her toes.
“Who had the bright idea to take her shoes off?”
She hopped to the side of the road and into a patch of thick grass, afraid to sit down because who knew what crawled through the weeds. If she made it through the night she’d be one lucky lady. “Yeah, because it would have been better if I’d broken an ankle. Explain how I’d get around at work, taking care of others when I can’t walk?”
“Wait.” He strolled to her, bending at his knees, looking up at her. “Hold on to my shoulder so you don’t fall.” She did as requested while he examined her foot closer. “You’re bleeding.”
“What?”
The creases around his eyes deepened. Was he actually concerned? “The blood is dripping.”
“That means there’s something still in the cut.” She wiggled her foot, attempting to see the damage for herself.
“Have a seat. I’ll take a closer look.”
“I-I’m afraid to sit. I do have a skirt on.” It only took him a second to understand. He stood up, holding her arm, and started unbuttoning his shirt with one hand. Her breath caught. “What are you doing? Nothing has changed between us.”
“Again, that ego is growing a devil’s head.” Once the last button was undone, he dragged the cotton material from his shoulders, letting go of her long enough to slide it off his arm, and shook it out like a matador to a bull. She automatically skimmed his broad shoulders, wide chest, and the trail of dark crisp hair from his navel disappearing into the low waist of his jeans. Breathing became very difficult and her heart took on a faster pace. Why did he have to look so good without a shirt? She’d never seen a better set of abs or obliques. Or biceps. And the scars that were proof he’d been thrown a few times in the arena.
A breeze swept across them and she got an overwhelming whiff of man—spice, leather and sweat. She imagined that was how he’d smell if they were stripped and going at it like—
“Don’t fall. I’m letting go.” He brushed around her, spreading his shirt in the patch of grass. “There you are, princess.”
Urban's Rush (Saddles & Second Chances Book 4) Page 15
