Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
B ig Bend was hopping. There was a buzz in the air that Collins hadn’t felt before. Not that she was an expert on buzz in Big Bend, but still. The Sundowner was packed, and she’d just started her shift. Millie Sue was behind the bar helping out, alongside her co-owner and cousin, Zach. Jo was serving tables.
“You’re still here,” Millie Sue said, handing her an empty jug.
“I am.” Collins filled the jug, grabbed two frosty mugs, and handed them to the gentlemen waiting. They gave her cash, and she finished the transaction, tossing the tip into a large jar that was perched behind her.
“Well, saddle up. There’s a music festival in Bozeman this weekend, and it’s always a boon for our town because of the proximity.” Millie Sue motioned toward the bar. “Plus, folks think if they come to Big Bend, they’ll get the chance to see Cal perform.”
“Will you guys get up there?” Collins asked.
Millie Sue shrugged. “He’s home with Josh, who woke up with a fever this morning, so who knows?”
A local band, the Honey Bees, took to the stage. Three sisters who played guitar, fiddle, and bass, while singing their hearts out. Millie Sue told Collins that Cal had just signed them to his own record label, something he’d been working on for the last few years, and the ladies were in the process of recording their first record out at the studio he’d built on the Triple B.
Collins enjoyed their music, while running her butt off, and when she spied Bunny and David, standing near the entrance of the Sundowner, she pushed her way through the crowd and brought them to the corner of the bar, where a couple of guys gave up their seats. By this time, it was pushing nine o’clock, and she’d been on her feet for four hours.
“What an amazing place this is,” Bunny said, leaning over so that Collins could hear her. “It’s so…authentic.”
“It is.” Authentic and laid back. No one cared who she was. For a girl who’d grown up in a well-known family, a girl used to paparazzi and in-your-face fans, a girl who was used to seeing her photos everywhere, the anonymity was amazing.
“Do you guys want a drink? Menu?”
“I’d like to eat,” David replied. “And I’ll take whatever’s on tap.”
“Do they have wine?” Bunny asked.
“Special, for folks like you.” Collins winked and handed them a menu, then got their drinks. They were still working on their food choices when Jo asked her to take a menu and a bottle of Bud over to a table back near the kitchen. “Number thirty-two,” Jo shouted over the din.
“Sure.” She grabbed the beer and a menu, then slipped through the crowd. Smiled at some of the regulars she’d gotten to know, and even at some she didn’t. She’d been in a funk since Sunday and thankfully, being here helped to ease that burden. Her heart was unsure, and she’d never been so confused in her life.
She walked up to table thirty-two, mind on other things, and set down the menu before handing over the bottle in her hand. Collins glanced up and froze. Benton leaned against the table, a soft, sexy smile on his face.
“Hey,” he said, taking the bottle from her.
Holy. Mother. Of. God.
The blood in her body froze. Her mind blanked. Goosebumps spread across her skin, bringing with them the shakes. Her mouth was dry, and her heart worked double-time, making her feel hot and cold and weak.
Benton Bridgestone was, hands down, the sexiest man in the world. His dark hair waved around his neck, his eyes glittered from the lights from the stage, and that mouth of his made her think of dark and needful things. He wore a plain white T-shirt, jeans that fit like a dream, and as his smile spread across his face, she resisted the urge to jump his bones. Right there. In public.
That was how visceral her reaction to him was.
“Hi,” she managed to reply. A miracle, because her lips were dry, and her mouth, now working, was filled with sawdust.
“I needed to see you.” His words were plain. To the point. And they made her heart sing. “Been watching you work for a couple of hours.”
“You’ve been here since seven?”
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you come over and say hello?”
His eyes fell away, and he cleared his throat. He seemed unsure. Vulnerable. And not only was her heart singing, but it also melted. Right then and there. Her heart was a puddle of goop on the sticky floor at his feet.
“I felt that something was off, and I don’t like feeling that way.” He looked directly into her eyes. “I needed to see you, but you’re busy and I don’t?—”
She grabbed the menu. Pressed her body up against his and dropped a kiss to his mouth. She lingered. Tasted him a bit. Someone wolf-whistled, and she smiled. “Come with me.”
She didn’t give Benton a chance to reply or to react. She grabbed his free hand and led him through the throngs of bodies, aware that a good number of folks were watching the two of them. She didn’t stop until she was at the bar and then pointed to the end where Bunny and David sat.
“You can squeeze in here and keep me company while I work. If you want to.”
Benton leaned real close. So close she could see the ring of hazel that surrounded his iris. So close that she could see the pulse at his neck. It was beating kinda fast. Just like hers.
“I want to.”
“Good.” She smiled and led the way over. Spell broken, she smiled and turned to her friends. “Benton, this is Bunny and her brother David. They’re staying at Duffer’s Place.”
“Evening, Ma’am,” he said, before nodding to David.
“Oh my.” Bunny looked mesmerized. “This has to be your cowboy.”
Cheeks pink, because not only was Benton looking at her, but the crush of folks on the other side of Bunny were listening as well. How did she answer? He wasn’t her cowboy, not really. She wasn’t sure what he was, other than the man she was sleeping with.
“The name’s Benton,” he said with a grin. Then his eyes scorched a path across her chest. “And yes, I’m her cowboy.”
Bunny raised her eyebrows comically.
“I think we’re ready to order,” David said, before turning to his sister. “What do you want?”
“Collins’ cowboy.” Her reply was deadpan.
“He’s not on the menu.” David gave Collins that long-suffering look she was getting used to.
“In that case,” Bunny said, finally looking at the menu. “I’ll have a bowl of chili and Texas toast.”
Collins spent the night, light on her feet, selling booze and food while keeping an eye on her cowboy. And he was hers. Of that there was no doubt. She’d counted at least five women who’d made their way over to him. Five women who’d flirted outrageously. Five women he’d sent away. Five women who would never know what it felt like to have him in their beds.
At midnight, Bunny and David left. The older woman handed Collins cash to cover their tab and winked. “Well done.”
Bemused, Collins watched them leave and got busy filling orders for Jo and the other serving staff. The band was well into their last set by this time, and the bar was still full. She noticed Millie Sue near Benton, and the two of them looked as if they were having an intense conversation. She watched them a few moments longer, but then Jo needed an order filled, and she turned away. She wondered what it was they were talking about, and assumed it was family-related. She thought of Daisy Mae. The woman had done everything except mark her territory like a dog, and she was gunning for Benton. She definitely wanted Collins out of his life.
The rest of the evening flew by, and when it was closing time, Millie Sue told her she could leave.
“But what about the clean up?”
“You’ve already done a lot of it. Zach and I will get the bar prepped for tomorrow.” She looked at Benton with a half-smile. “He doesn’t have it in him to hang around here much longer.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Definitely sure.” Millie Sue chuckled. “Get him out of here.”
Collins grabbed her purse from under the bar, then leaned over so that her face was only a whisper from his. “Where you headed, cowboy?”
“You tell me.”
She dropped a kiss onto his mouth, then started for the exit. Didn’t take long for Benton to fall in step beside her, and the two of them headed out into the warm, sultry moonlit night. Her truck was parked behind the bar in staff parking, half hidden by shadows, and just as they reached it, he grabbed her up, slowly pushed her back into the vehicle, then pressed his mouth to her neck.
“Can’t wait any longer,” he muttered against her skin.
“Then don’t.” Her hands crept up to his shoulders, the fingers dug in while he slid his mouth overtop hers. She opened for him, loving the taste and feel as he deepened their kiss. Her legs liquefied. Her heart expanded, the beats hard and fast. She groaned, thrust her hips at him, and he tore his mouth from hers. Breath ragged. Eyes dark, filled with the kind of wickedness she craved.
He reached for her jeans. Slipped his hand under the band, then slowly undid the button before tugging on the zipper. Collins bit her lip when his fingers slid underneath her undies, the fingers long and searching.
“You’re so fucking wet,” he growled, lowering his head. Her nipples were erect and he closed his hot mouth over her thin T-shirt, while he began to massage her clit gently. Collins threw back her head, banged it on the window, and even that sharp sliver of pain felt good.
She whimpered, managed to mutter, “harder.”
Benton smiled up at her, his mouth still at her breasts. “Not yet, darlin’.”
He continued to stroke, his touch light and quick, and when that ball of heat inside of her began to expand, she clawed at him. It was white-hot. Big and sharp and so intense she thought she would come apart.
She didn’t care that they were in a parking lot. Didn’t care that if anyone walked out from the kitchen, they’d probably see the two of them half naked, rutting like animals. That particular thought made her want him more.
“I need you inside me,” she said, roughly, squirming as she tried to reach for him.
“Hold on, kitten.” His voice was rough. He yanked down her jeans. Told her to spread her legs as much as she could. She sank back onto the truck and complied, the smell of her sex in the air. She wondered if he noticed. Then lost her mind when Benton opened his jeans. He took out his cock, placed one hand on the truck, and with his other, guided himself inside her. He felt so good, she wanted to cry. He eased in gently, a wicked grin on his face. “Don’t move,” he warned, eyes on her upturned face. “Let me do the work.”
He began to slowly rock into her, filling her completely. At first, it was a tease, the kind that made her cry out in frustration, which only made his grin more wicked. More beautiful. She began to thrash her head; the sex was that exquisite, but he wasn’t having it.
“Eyes on me.” It was an order, and how could she refuse?
Collins placed her hands on his shoulders. “I need it faster,” she managed to say, biting her lip to keep from screaming when he pulled out entirely and rubbed himself against her swollen clitoris. With one hand still holding onto the truck for support, he gripped her hip with his other and, after easing back inside her…slowly…he began to fuck her the way she needed him to. In. Then out. Faster. Harder.
She moaned as her climax built. Began to cry when it crested. When it tightened around him. And when it crashed wide open and they came together, she told herself that no way sex could get better than this. Not ever.
Yet hours later, back at Duffer’s Place, back in her bed and the shower and on the chair and against the door. It was more than better. It was more than orgasmic. It was as if his body was made for her. As if his mind and soul and heart were the things she needed to live. To breathe. They were mad for each other. Frenzied with a need she couldn’t articulate.
And as she fell asleep, wrapped in his arms, she realized a few things. One, she knew that this connection between them was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. She would never feel this way about another man. Ever. And two, not once had they used a condom. Something she’d never done before. She wasn’t worried about a pregnancy because of her IUD. It was the trust thing she’d never managed with anyone before.
She’d lost control and so had he.
This was some kind of beautiful, crazy thing, and if she were being honest, more than a little scary.