Chapter 12 #2
“All I want is to get this last thorn out.” Drawing a deep breath, she marked the spot with two fingers spread on either side of it.
Then she leaned down and located the blunt needle with her tongue.
The scent of denim, dust and potent male filled her nostrils.
Warm rivers of desire coursed through her as she fastened her teeth on the end of the barb.
With a twist of her head, she pulled it out and rose to a kneeling position beside him, the needle in her teeth.
“Here,” he said softly, reaching to take it. His fingers brushed her mouth and his eyes darkened. He dropped the needle to the ground. She couldn’t seem to move, couldn’t summon even the faintest resistance as he cupped his hand behind her head and urged her closer.
“You want more than that, Freddy.” His lips met hers in soft supplication.
All the reasons that she shouldn’t be doing this abandoned her with the first touch of those persuasive lips.
The slightest feathering of his tongue gained him access to her mouth as she moaned in surrender.
Cradling her head in both hands, he tasted her thoroughly.
His kiss painted images of skin sliding against skin, of limbs entwined, of bodies thrusting as two become one.
Desire streaked through her like fire through dry brush.
She’d chastised herself about responding so readily in the pool, but this was worse.
She wanted him with a ferocity that urged her to pull him down to the dusty floor of the desert, rid herself of her restricting clothes and open her thighs to receive all he offered.
Breathing hard, he lifted his mouth from hers. She swayed, and he clasped her by the shoulders, holding her steady as much with his heated gaze as with the strength of his hands. “Open your blouse for me,” he murmured.
She hesitated.
“Please, Freddy.”
She unbuttoned the cotton shirt with quivering fingers and pulled it from the waistband of her jeans.
When the blouse hung open, he stroked down the swell of her breasts and almost negligently flipped the front catch on her bra.
Her breath caught as he parted the material, grazing her nipples with his palms.
His voice was husky. “I knew you’d look like this.” He tossed his hat to the ground and captured her breasts in both hands. Closing her eyes, she arched upward, anticipating the hot moisture of his mouth. When it came, she sighed with satisfaction and tunneled her fingers through his hair.
Splaying his hand across her back, he held her steady for the onslaught of his lips and tongue and the gentle abrasion of his chin. Thought surrendered to sensation, logic to desire as she gave herself and delighted in the giving. Moistened with need, she begged softly for more.
“Not here,” he whispered against her breast. Then, with a groan, he returned to her lips for a penetrating, mind-bending kiss.
A firm bump from the side nearly sent them both toppling over. Wrenched apart by the near fall, they turned in unison and confronted Destiny standing two feet from them, his flanks heaving.
“Go away,” Ry said, waving his hand.
Destiny jerked his head up, but he remained where he was. Then he lowered his head and blew through his nostrils, spraying them.
“Ugh.” Freddy wrinkled her nose and started mopping her breasts with the tail end of her shirt.
“Let me,” Ry said, a trace of humor in his voice as he took the other end of her shirt and began a motion that was more caress than cleanup. “I thought you said he was well trained.”
“That’s exactly why he’s standing there.” She struggled to breathe normally, but Ry’s touch made that difficult. “He’s supposed to return to the spot where he left his rider.”
“And blow snot on him?”
She smiled. “No, that’s Destiny’s specialty. I think he has springtime allergies.”
“Remind me to buy him an antihistamine.” Ry put his hands under her elbows and lifted her to her feet. “In the meantime, let’s get out of the range of fire, go where we won’t be so rudely interrupted.”
She drew in a deep breath. Destiny had given her a second chance to be rational and she had to take it.
Ry gazed at her. “I see misgivings. Guess I’ll have to kiss them away.”
“No.” She forced herself to step out of his embrace. “I think Destiny just saved us from making fools of ourselves.” Avoiding his eyes, she refastened her bra and started in on the buttons of her shirt.
His frustration was evident as he put his hands on his hips and stared at the ground. He lifted his head. “I wouldn’t have made love to you on top of a cactus, if that’s what you were worried about.”
She looked up at the soft gray of the sky, where Venus sparkled next to a sliver of moon. Tucking her shirt into her jeans, she turned and started back toward Maureen. ”It’s getting dark. We’d better go.”
“Whoa, there, little filly.” He caught her arm and turned her to face him again. “Back up for those of us who don’t know the territory. A moment ago, you were begging me to love you, and now you’re shutting me out. I’m entitled to an explanation. Are you worried about what people will think?”
“Not really. Around here, people mind their own business about things like that. No, the problem is with me.”
He frowned.
“If it doesn’t work out between us, the fallout could poison my whole existence at the ranch.”
“It could also improve your existence at the ranch. Aren’t you willing to take a chance that it might?”
She regarded him steadily. “No.”
“My God but you’re protective of the status quo!”
“You’re right. I don’t have your appetite for risk.” She paused. “But that might be because I’ve found something worth hanging on to.” She pulled from his grasp and walked to Maureen on unsteady legs. “We need to go. It’s getting dark.”
The dusk-to-dawn light had snapped on by the time Freddy and Ry reached the corral.
Freddy noticed that Leigh was back from team-roping practice, and as they rode up Leigh unloaded Pussywillow, one of her favorite mares, from the horse trailer.
Freddy was glad for the company. The less time Freddy spent alone with Ry the better.
Leigh waved a greeting and turned the gray mare into the corral. Then she wandered ever to the hitching post as Freddy and Ry dismounted. “Have a good ride?” she asked.
“Ry decided to test-drive Destiny through a herd of critters,” Freddy said.
Leigh gave Ry a startled look. “You stayed on him?”
“No.” Ry swung down and tipped his hat back as he talked to Leigh. “And I’d like to arrange a few riding lessons, so I’m ready for him next time.”
As they discussed scheduling, Freddy pretended to be engrossed in unsaddling Maureen, but her attention remained on Ry.
She was amazed at how much he looked like a cowboy now.
He’d picked up the mannerisms, the walk, even the aggressiveness of cowboy lovers, she thought as heat rose to her cheeks.
She hauled the saddle and blanket into the wing to the right of the barn, an old stone structure reserved for the tack used by the hands.
Equipment for the dudes was segregated and kept in the newer tin wing on the opposite side of the barn.
As she started back out, Ry came through the door with Destiny’s saddle and blanket. Duane had sponsored Ry’s entry into the hands tack room. She moved aside to let him pass and then started out of the shed as he settled his blanket and saddle on a wooden stand.
“Freddy.”
She turned, and before she realized what he meant to do, he’d stepped forward and swept her into his arms. His lips came down quickly, stifling any possible protest, and in seconds he’d shattered her carefully built defenses.
Then he released her. “Think about that,” he said. “I’m catching a ride up to the house with Leigh.”
Long after he’d left the tack shed, Freddy stood in the same spot where he’d left her, fingers pressed to her love-sensitized mouth.
Ry might be lacking riding skills, but his kiss needed no refinements whatsoever.
She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted a man, almost more than she’d ever wanted anything. .. including the ranch.