Cowboy Sandwich (13 page)

“She’s out cold in bed, snoring louder than a chainsaw.”

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“Does that mean we have to follow through on all those things we promised God?” Bryan turned away without waiting for Adam’s sarcastic comment. He’d made his own deal with God and knew Adam would do every one of those penances, gladly. Whether she wanted to stay and marry Adam or not, she was alive. He walked just far enough to call out that Candy was fine and that they’d better get after the cattle.

Adam’s arms were full of wood when Bryan returned.

“Bess is fine. Give me your pack and bring in another load. It’s cold in there.” He shut the door behind him, a determined look on his face.

Bryan counted to twenty before a shriek let him know Adam had woken sleeping beauty, likely by placing cold hands on her warm boobs. Grinning, he went inside for the show.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?”

Adam bellowed at Candy curled up in the bed. The way she pulled the covers tight, Adam must have touched something warm.

“Morning, darlin’.” Bryan winked at her on his way to the kitchen area but he was invisible to her. He placed the packs on the table and checked the stove, keeping an eye on the lovebirds. He whistled softly to himself while he stoked the fire. Candy had banked the ashes so it wouldn’t take long.

“Doc almost had a heart attack!” Adam paced like a caged predator in red bush socks. “Johnny’s pulled out what little hair he had left and you scared the hell out of Joe. He blames himself for this.”

Bryan winced when Adam said nothing about himself, how he’d paced most of the night fretting about her. How he’d vowed he’d never be able to get over it if something bad happened to her on his watch. It didn’t take long for the whole crew to realize how much Adam loved Candy.

Too bad the damn fool wouldn’t admit it.

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Candy squawked at Adam’s yelling, fighting with the covers until she stood on the bed facing him. She wore her coat, a pink, white and baby blue toque she’d knitted and matching socks. Standing on the bed made her eyes the same height as Adam’s. She glared hot enough to warm the room ten degrees. The naked legs below her coat raised Bryan’s temperature even more.

“You think I did this on purpose?”

She wrenched her coat open, twisting the buttons viciously as if each was a portion of Adam’s anatomy.

“Listen, buster, I did nothing wrong. It was sunny when I started out, perfect for my last ride. I got here and thanks to your demands last night, was so tired I had a nap. When I woke up the storm blasted too strong to go back. I took good care of Bess, and neither of us were in any danger.”

Bryan put coffee and bacon on to cook, making himself useful.

They hadn’t taken time to eat before setting out. He put on a pot of snow to heat. Bess deserved warm mash for her ordeal. Candy deserved far more, but was Adam mature enough to recognize that?

“And why do you care anyway?” she bellowed. “You don’t want me.”

“What?” Adam ripped off his coat and tossed it to the floor, his ire making up for the chill. “Why the hell did you think I don’t want you?”

“What?” Candy lifted her hands, face screwed up. She turned her head away, shook it then faced Adam again. “Duh! Because you never told me you did?”

“I thought you knew!”

“Did you even ask me to stay? No!”

Candy tossed her coat away, leaving her in a sweater and thigh-length shirt. Bryan couldn’t tell about panties yet.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” growled Adam. “I thought you were happy, so why bring it up?”

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Candy snarled like a mountain lion. “You could have asked me.

But don’t worry, I’ll get out of your way.”

She pulled her sweater over her head. It lifted her shirt but not high enough to tell if she had anything under it. The way her breasts moved, she wasn’t wearing a bra. Bryan’s blood pressure shot up a few hundred points. Adam’s face darkened as if his was up a thousand.

“I don’t want you out of the way, dammit. I want you in my bed!”

Adam ripped open his shirt, buttons flying. Candy’s eyes dropped to the muscles outlined by his white tee-shirt. Bryan saw her lick her lips but Adam was too wild to notice. When Bryan cleared his throat to speak, both glared at him. He held up his hands and backed away, biting back a grin.

“Too bad. You just want me for cooking, cleaning and sex. A perfect package deal for a man, but I’m not going there again.” She shrugged and looked at the wall. “Since you don’t like the rest of the package, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Her slim fingers twiddled with the buttons on her plaid shirt. It hung to her thighs, hinting at what might, or might not, be underneath.

She ran her hand down the placket, unbuttoning as if on auto-pilot.

“What part of the package don’t I like?” Adam pulled his tee-shirt off and tossed it behind him. He stuck his hands under his armpits to warm them.

Bryan dropped bacon into a cast iron pan, smirking to himself at the two fools. Crazy about each other but too scared to admit it.

Candy was in fine form. Even with her face creased from the blankets, blotched and puffy from the obvious tear streaks, she was sexy as hell.

“Me, Candy Stevenson.” She jabbed her finger between her breasts and Adam’s eyes dropped. “The living, breathing person with feelings, hopes and desires. I love you, but I guess that’s not good enough.”

“What?” Adam’s eyes found her face again.

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“Gee, you don’t want to commit to loving someone because you might get hurt?” She sniffed at him, making it an insult. “Join the club and get over it.”

“You go, girl,” called Bryan in a falsetto. Like a helpful girlfriend, he gave Candy the thumbs up when she looked over.

“No, what did you say before?”

“I love you. But if you don’t love me…”

“I want you, Candy. You make me so hard.”

“So?” Candy rolled her eyes at both men. “If you go without sex for two days, any female makes you hard.” She jammed her fists on her hips. The unbuttoned shirt pulled open to reveal a flash of white fabric.

“You’re wrong, sweetheart. No one else has ever done this to me.” Adam unzipped his pants, kicked them off and stood on the cold floor in his wool socks.

She stared at his cock, jutting up thick and hard from its dark nest.

Nostrils flaring, she flapped the edges of the shirt a few times as if to cool herself. She shrugged it off her shoulders and it dropped, unnoticed. Her chest heaved, stretching her last piece of clothing. Her nipples strained to burst through the thin, silky fabric of her short lace camisole. Other than their rough breathing, the only sound was the crackle of the fire.

“Ouch!” Bryan brought his attention back to breakfast. He licked the spattered bacon grease off his hand and moved the spitting pan to the cool side of the stove.

“So?” She stared at Adam’s cock while he focused on the dark junction of her legs.

“So it means I want you. Badly.” His voice rasped. He cleared his throat.

“How badly?” She bit her lower lip and lifted her hand to cup her left breast. Adam’s cock bobbed, swelling even larger.

“Jesus, woman!”

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“You want some of this?” She slid her other hand between her wet folds. She looked like Eve offering an apple, though she smiled like Mona Lisa.

Adam reached out but she stepped away.

“I made a decision last night. No more sharing my body with men who don’t love me.” Without moving her eyes from Adam, she called out. “Do you love me, Bryan?”

“I already said I love you, darlin’.” Bryan approached, carefully unzipping his pants as he walked. “You offering that wonderful brain and gorgeous body, woman? ‘Cause I’m ready for action.”

“She’s mine.” Adam growled low in his throat. His fists clenched, arm muscles tight. His breath rasped as hard as when he’d slogged uphill, desperate to find her alive. “I’ll share, but she’s mine first.”

“Better ask the lady,” replied Bryan. “Remember, it’s the lady’s choice. Always.”

Adam jammed his eyes shut and stood like marble for a moment.

He exhaled heavily and dropped to one knee, cock jutting at Candy.

She stood on the narrow bed, back stiff and head high like a general reviewing her troops.

“Candy, I want you,” said Adam, meeting her eyes. “Not just your body but the woman inside it. The one who makes us laugh while we play. Who draws a picture of an old man that makes his whole life come alive. I don’t want to live without you.”

She sniffed once and blinked rapidly but kept her mouth closed.

“You said to ‘get over it.’ I guess I did last night, when I thought I’d lost you forever.” He shook his head. “I thought a lot last night pacing the floor, waiting for the storm to calm down enough to go after you. Nothing could ever hurt as bad as last night, waiting to see if you were still alive.” He took a deep breath. “I love you, Candy.

Will you be my…my…” He blinked, biting his lip.

“…
our
wife,” said Bryan. “Breakfast is ready. Coffee, anyone?”

Adam glared at his laughing friend. “Jeez, this is hard enough without your interruptions.”

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“But not as hard as it was,” said Candy. Eyes shining, she pressed her lips tight to hold back further comments and pointed at his drooping member. “Cold really does shrink the poor thing.” A giggle escaped from her.

Damn, thought Adam. He pour his heart out and they thought it funny? He opened his mouth to roar then shut it again. He looked up at his nearly naked woman. A sultry pout on her lips, she swung her body side-to-side to advertise her assets, wearing nothing but a camisole that enticed more than it concealed.

And a wicked smile.

“Ooh, he’s not shrinking anymore,” she whispered.

Adam realized he knelt on a freezing cabin floor wearing bush socks and an erection. The woman he loved grinned down at him, teasing him as if he were a starving dog and she held a piece of steak.

He pulled himself to his feet and stepped to the edge of the bed.

Candy, now eye to eye with him, shrank back a step.

“Candice Stevenson?”

“Yeah?” Her voice was breathy but determined.

“I love and want to marry you. But if I don’t put this where it belongs in the next ten seconds I’m going to explode.”

“Oh, Adam. I need you. Now!”

She stepped to the edge of the bed. Adam gripped her camisole and ripped it in half. She grabbed his neck and pressed cold breasts against his chest. He kissed her, sliding his tongue in to taste her. He grasped one hip in each huge hand and lifted. She curled her legs around and enfolded him.

His cold cock sank deep into her warmth. She shivered and clung harder.

“Home,” he growled. He held her for a second then lifted and slammed her down. She was so hot and wet it only took a few minutes for her to explode. At her first tremor Adam went wild, slamming her like a piston, setting her off again.

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When he could think again he turned and sat on the bed before his legs gave out, still attached to his woman. He lay back, the chilly blankets cooling his sweating skin. He cupped one palm under her butt cheek, curling his fingers to keep her aroused. The other he used to hold her tight.

“You want kids, right? ‘Cause we didn’t use protection again.”

“Mmm,” replied Candy, twirling her fingers in his chest hair.

“Bryan’s part of the package deal, but he’ll find his own wife one day and bring her home to share. Right, Bry?”

“That’s the plan,” said Bryan.

“Candy’s going to marry me, Bry,” Adam gloated, fully satisfied.

Bryan tossed off the last of his clothes. Candy squirmed until Adam reluctantly let her go. She stood up, still on the bed, thighs glistening.

“If Adam’s my husband, what do I call you, Bryan?”

“The Best Man,” he growled. “And I’m gonna prove why.”

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Candy, both arms loaded with her babies, beamed at the camera.

Hungry men crowded the laden kitchen so she’d moved into the sunroom with women who’d become good friends.

When she arrived back home after her snowstorm ordeal she’d been stunned to find Doc and his cronies holding fort in the kitchen.

People she’d never met crowded the house, ready to help in any way they could. They’d joyfully welcomed her as Adam’s new fiancé, caring only that she was safe and the men of the Double R finally had found happiness.

“I want a few pictures with the whole shebang,” declared Madge, Doc’s new partner. They’d loved each other for years but married others because she was from the wrong side of the tracks and the wrong color, to boot. Both now free, Doc had courted Madge until she realized he was serious. “Get the boys in here while both babes are smiling.”

Candy, still nursing, didn’t know how moms with only one husband coped with tag-team twins. For the first few weeks she’d barely got one fed and dry before the first started up again. Their wonderful neighbors had pitched in with the chores for a few weeks.

Now the twins were a few months old and the party was to thank everyone.

She looked around at what she’d gained. After her divorce from Dan she’d demanded independence, never realizing the increased joys of interdependence. She’d become an equal partner to Adam, buying half of his half with her investments.

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As Candy Richardson she was an integral part of the Double R.

She understood the joys of sharing love, life and laughter, along with hard work and a few tears.

“Where’s my girl?” demanded Adam. He slipped Diane from Candy’s arm, already an expert, holding her in the crook of his long arm. Anyone could see the two were dad and daughter, both with dark curly hair and brown eyes. Prominent photos of Candy’s mother explained Evie’s reddish blond locks to those who didn’t know the truth, that her mom’s hair color came from a box.