Cowboy Trouble (The McCord Brothers 1.5) (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

T
HIS
WAS
A
textbook example of playing with fire. Or being just plain stupid. But Natalie had to find out if kissing Rico still felt as if she’d just been dropped into a scalding-hot vat of lust. After one second, she had her answer.

Yes.

Mercy. That wasn’t the answer she wanted.

Even if every part of her body did. Her mouth was especially eager about this experiment. It was the same for her lady place. In fact, her lady place wanted a whole lot more than just a kiss from him. And for a moment, she thought she just might get more, too. Then Rico pulled away from her and looked at her as if she’d sprouted a couple of extra noses.

“What the hell are you doing?” he snapped. “And get back to explaining about us still being married.”

Natalie drew in a long breath, which she would need. Not just to recover from the kiss, but because Rico was asking a mouthful. She went with the second part because it was actually easier to spell out. Easier than admitting she’d come there to test the old flames.

“The divorce decree that I got doesn’t appear to be in order,” she told him. “The judge’s signature is missing.”

He cursed, scrubbed his hand over his face and cursed some more. “Well, the signature can just be found.”

She doubted that profanity was because he’d reacted in some small way to the kiss. Or rather in some big way, she mentally corrected, when she glanced at the front of his jeans.

She didn’t smile. Not with this riled mood he was in. But, yes, he’d reacted all right.

Natalie wasn’t sure why that pleased her. It certainly didn’t help things other than falling into the “misery loves company” department. Even if it was obvious Rico didn’t want to be married to her, there were parts of him that still wanted her. That meshed with the parts of her that still wanted him, but Natalie was reasonably sure there’d be no meshing today.

Or any other day, for that matter.

Still cursing and shaking his head in disbelief, Rico kept tossing scowls and glares at her. He probably didn’t know that he was hot when he scowled. Even more so than when he smiled. Of course, with those looks—the black hair and steamy blue eyes—Rico always fell into the hot category. It was why she hadn’t been able to resist him twelve years ago. It was why she’d made a fool of herself and kissed him today.

It took him a couple of minutes to quit cursing and shaking his head, and the scowl stayed in place when he looked at her again. “Why were you even looking at the divorce decree anyway? And how do we fix this?”

That required another deep breath. Best for her to be vague on that first question, though. “I just happened to come across the decree and finally read it from start to finish. As for how to fix it, I can refile the paperwork, of course. Today, in fact. But I’ll need you to go with me to the lawyer and then the courthouse.” Natalie paused. “I was hoping to keep it quiet.” And she really hated to tell him the rest of this. “My father doesn’t know about the snafu.”

The scowl morphed into a flat look. “Right.” With just that one word, he managed to spell out their entire relationship. Or his version of it anyway.

There were some things Rico didn’t know, either.

Things that sliced at her even now, all these years later.

That thought cooled down some of the fire inside her and reminded her that she’d been an idiot to come here like this. She couldn’t do anything about that kiss, but she could do something about the blasted shoes. Natalie plopped back down on the desk and took them off so she could massage her toes.

Which had possibly fused together.

“So, can you come with me now, to the lawyer’s office?” she asked. “I made the appointment with Bernie Woodland here in town so that you wouldn’t have to travel far.” It was less than a half mile away. “I made Bernie promise to keep this quiet. And you could ride with me. When we’re done, I can drive you back.”

Rico didn’t exactly jump on any part of that offer. “How the hell did this happen?” At that exact moment, he wiped his mouth—or perhaps his upper lip—with the back of his hand, so Natalie wasn’t sure if they were talking about the kiss or the divorce debacle.

“People screw up,” she settled for saying. “The clerk did. I did,” she added. “With that kiss just now,” she tacked on to her added comment. Though she could include the marriage in that screwup, as well.

Oh, she’d loved Rico all right. Of course, he would never believe that. But she had. And it had crushed her heart to sign those divorce papers. For all the good it’d done. Fate was laughing its butt off about right now because their signatures had meant nothing. She was still married to this hot, sweaty cowboy.

A hot, sweaty cowboy who was pissed off. “Why didn’t you follow up on the paperwork?” he snapped. “Why didn’t you make sure the divorce went through?”

Natalie opened her mouth. Closed it. And repeated that process a couple of times. “I got what I thought was a legit decree. Plus, I had some things going on in my life,” she settled for saying. Things that were still going on.

Things she didn’t want to get into with him now. Maybe not ever.

“Why didn’t you follow through?” she countered. “Didn’t you notice that the judge hadn’t actually signed it?”

His eyes narrowed. “I had some things going on in my life,” he tossed right back at her.

Touché. He was probably referring to the fact that he’d been shaken up. Hurt. Even more pissed off than he was now. In a “things going on in my life” contest, she’d win.

But it wasn’t a victory title Natalie wanted.

The heat from the kiss had cooled a little now. Enough for the other memories to come poking into her mind. Always the memories. She’d caused so much pain. Too much. And that was yet another reminder of just how stupid that kiss had been.

“Well?” she prompted when he didn’t say anything.

He glanced around as if deciding whether to agree to go with her or curse. Then his gaze landed on her mouth, and she wondered, briefly, if he was considering another kiss. Maybe his way of testing if the old flames could still be fanned.

However, no kiss.

He went with more profanity and another scowl. “You really wore that outfit and shoes for me?” Rico asked.

They were back to the her-sprouting-more-noses tone, but it was a question she hadn’t expected. Maybe it was a safer topic for him than discussing why neither of them had made sure they’d actually gotten a divorce.

“I wore it for you and my father. He prefers me to dress this way because it looks more professional, and I didn’t want to show up here today looking like...”

His eyebrow rose. “Me?”

Natalie studied his clinging gray shirt and then his jeans that were snug in all the right places. She often wore jeans, but they never looked that good on her. Heck, they wouldn’t look as good on an underwear model as they did Rico. He’d sewn up the hot-cowboy clothes market.

“I didn’t want to look like someone you were glad to be rid of,” she corrected, then waved him off before he could say anything about that. “It doesn’t make sense. I just wanted to know I was still, well, attractive to someone other than...well, to anyone.”

If his flat look got any flatter, she’d be able to use it to make pancakes on it. “Of course, you’re attractive. That was never the problem between us. Neither was that.” He glanced down at what was left of his erection. “The problem was your
daddy
.”

He said that last word as if he was discussing navel lint. Which in his mind, her father was. But then, she fell into the navel-lint category, too, because she’d given in to her father’s demands. For all the good it’d done. She was still married to Rico, still trying to make sure her world didn’t implode.

And speaking of imploding, that might happen on a more personal level. She tugged at her body-shaping underwear in the hopes that it would give her a little relief. It was like wearing a boa constrictor, and it was possible her intestines had fused together, as well.

“Your dad wants you to dress like that?” Rico snapped.

Apparently, they were still on the subject of the outfit that had taken her five hours to choose. She nodded. “I do PR for his real-estate company. I need to look professional and approachable.” That was according to the stylist her father had hired for her several years back.

“Approachable?” Rico repeated. He’d taken the navel-lint tone up a notch.

Natalie didn’t ask him if she’d succeeded because she wanted to get this conversation back on track. “Will you go with me to Bernie’s office?”

He stared at her. A long time. And then he did something Natalie certainly hadn’t been expecting.

Rico got naked.

Well, almost. Actually, he stripped off his sweaty shirt, tossed it onto the chair and grabbed another one from the small closet that was behind his desk. Natalie figured she should turn away and not stare, but her eyeballs seemed glued to him.

He pulled off his boots, reached for his zipper but then stopped. “You can watch if you want, but I’m about to drop my pants.”

Yes, so he could change into a clean pair of jeans that she saw hanging in the closet. And yes, she should turn away.

She did.

But not before she got an eyeful of his toned and perfect backside.

Oh, the ache came. It always did. That tug deep within her that made her want to go to him, drag him onto the floor and ride him hard. As good as that would be, and it would be good all right, it would come with complications. Complications that Natalie wasn’t sure she was ready to face. A kiss to test old waters was one thing, but sex could cause her to make a decision she shouldn’t be making. That was why she turned around and shut her eyes for good measure. Too bad she couldn’t shut her ears, too, because she could hear him dressing, and her imagination was filling in the blanks.

“Thank you for doing this,” she said.

No answer. Maybe he didn’t want her thanks. Heck, maybe he didn’t want to talk about it at all, but she wished she knew how he felt about it. Natalie already knew how he felt about her.

She’d seen the disdain in his eyes. The lust, too. She figured he saw the same thing in her own eyes.

“We’ll need to make this quick,” he growled, moving ahead of her. Of course, that meant sliding against her as he went to the door. But it seemed as if he took his time. And as if he were enjoying it a little too much.

“Payback?” she mumbled.

The corner of his mouth hitched. Then immediately lowered. Probably because he knew that kind of payback came with consequences.

Natalie checked the time. Just past one o’clock. If all went as planned, they could pick up the papers from Bernie, sign them and drop them off at the courthouse. It could be a done deal by three o’clock. Well, except for the waiting. The law required the papers to be on file for sixty days before the divorce was finalized. Maybe during that time, the news wouldn’t make it back to her father. He already had enough on his plate without adding more from her.

“We’ll take my truck,” Rico said as he walked out the door. “I don’t have spare boots here, and I doubt you’ll want cow shit in your car.”

It already had shit. Her riding gear was in the trunk, but Rico didn’t give her a chance to explain that. He headed straight for a dark blue truck that was parked at the side of the barn.

They didn’t make it far.

She spotted Logan McCord making his way toward them. Or rather making his way toward Rico. Logan spared her a glance and then did a double take.

“Natalie,” he said. Not exactly a warm and welcoming greeting. He knew her, of course, because they’d gone to high school together, and Natalie had occasional business contact with his longtime girlfriend, Helene.

Logan was part of the superior gene pool known as the McCord brothers. There were three of them. Lucky and Riley were the other two. But he was the least friendly of the bunch. Of course, probably none of them would be friendly to her, since they’d be on Rico’s side.

“Is everything okay?” Logan asked, volleying his attention between Rico and her.

“Rico and I are just catching up,” she jumped to say. She’d sworn Bernie to secrecy and didn’t want to have to do any more swearing today, especially since just her mere presence would cause tongues to wag. Spring Hill was the mecca of tongue-wagging.

Logan’s expression was a prime example of a skeptical expression. For a moment she thought he might press for more, or even the truth, but thankfully, this was Logan and not one of this brothers. From everything she’d heard, Logan wasn’t the sort to want to know more unless it pertained to business.

“I’m here to check on the livestock shipment,” Logan continued, proving that the gossips had indeed gotten it right about the business-minded CEO of McCord Cattle Brokers. He hadn’t lingered on potential rumor fodder at all.

Rico shook his head. “Hasn’t arrived yet. I called about an hour ago, and the calves should be here soon.”

“Good. I’ve already got a buyer for them, so we shouldn’t have to keep them more than a week.” He glanced at the truck keys that Rico had taken from his pocket. “You going somewhere?”

“Just into town for a cup of coffee,” Natalie volunteered, earning her a fresh scowl from Rico. Maybe because he didn’t like lying to his boss.

Rico glanced over his shoulder in the direction where the hands had been earlier, and so did Natalie, but the four were nowhere in sight. Probably back to work since the boss had arrived.

“Natalie and I need to take care of some paperwork,” Rico explained to Logan.

Logan really had that skeptical look down pat. “Anything I can do to help?” But that sounded like man-code for
You want me to get rid of your ex?

“No. I won’t be long, and if the calves arrive before I get back, Lucky’s inside, and he can sign for them.”

“Lucky’s home?” That sent Logan’s attention toward the sprawling house. “I didn’t see his truck.”

“He left it at the pub. I gave him a ride here. But he’ll be leaving before long because he said he’s got a rodeo up in Dallas.”

Logan made a sound of disapproval. “Is he with someone?”