Learning the Ropes (26 page)

It wasn’t just a physical attraction. Chris was confident with just enough cockiness to make him stand out. He’d been a shrewd businessman while negotiating with Tim for the property and protective when he found out Colt had insulted her, but this stereotypical cowboy persona was only a part of him. She was coming to realize his reputation was more a role he played and less the real man. When he thought no one was looking, he was kind, with a soft spot for kids, tender and genuine. It was no surprise that everyone loved him, or fell in love with him. A curl of desire snuck through her limbs, warming her as she recalled the way he’d held her, his hands and mouth bringing her to the heights of pleasure.

“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Sydney’s voice was soft, sympathetic.

“I don’t want to be,” Alicia admitted, tearing her eyes from the subject of their discussion and meeting her friend’s gaze.

Sydney laughed quietly. “Love’s sort of unpredictable that way. Have you met my husband? Don’t you remember what a jerk he was when I met him? You always seem to fall for the one guy you think you shouldn’t.” She glanced back at the corral where her brother was dismounting. “He’s been in love with you for years, Ali. He just wasn’t ready.”

“What makes you think he’s ready now?”

“I saw him at that barbecue when you were with David. He was ready to kill someone. I’ve never seen him so miserable. His eyes never left the two of you.” She shrugged. “Maybe it just took him seeing you with someone else to wake him up so he’d see what he was losing by running wild.”

Alicia shifted Kassie in her arms and looked down at the little girl. “Syd, how do I know I’m not just another of his one-night stands?”

“Um, maybe because it’s been longer than one night?” She looked at Alicia like she was crazy. “You do realize he hasn’t had that many, don’t you?”

Alicia laughed. “Who are you trying to fool? He leaves with a different woman at almost every rodeo. I’ve heard people talking, even when I haven’t seen it myself.” She wasn’t judging him for his past, but she didn’t want to be just another notch on his belt.

“Ali, just because he leaves with them . . .” Sydney paused as if wondering how to get her point across. “It’s usually with one of the drunkest women in the room, right?” Alicia furrowed her brow, not understanding what Sydney was trying to get at. “He stays sober and drives them home in his truck. That way they aren’t driving themselves. He’s done that ever since that year when Susan Miller was killed. Most of the time he just sleeps in his truck. You didn’t know that?”

Chris had tried to tell her she shouldn’t believe the rumors about him and she’d completely disregarded him and practically called him a liar. She looked back at Chris unsaddling the horses. How many other things had he tried to tell her she’d ignored or brushed off as a line?

“I’m not saying he didn’t sleep with
any
of them but he’s not the player everyone thinks he is. He’s just a nice guy with a bad-boy reputation. But until now, it’s never mattered.”

“Hey, ladies, what are the two of you talking about over here?” Scott climbed the porch steps and slid his hands onto Sydney’s shoulders, massaging the muscles. He glanced at Kassie, sleeping on Ali. “Guess it was too much excitement having Aunt Ali come to teach her how to ride barrels.”

Ali laughed, thinking about how excited Kassie was to be led around the barrels on her pony, pretending to ride as fast as her aunt did. Delight curled in her chest as she thought about Kassie staying at the ranch with her, or the other kids who she would be able to instruct through clinics and camps.

“Want me to take our little cowgirl inside and tuck her in?” he offered, interrupting her thoughts.

“Why don’t we both take her and leave Ali to help Chris put everything away in the barn?” Sydney rose and scooped her daughter from Alicia’s arms, giving her a quick wink. “Go,” she ordered. “Talk to him.”

C
HRIS TOSSED THE
saddle onto the rack and dropped the brushes into the grooming bin. Crossing the aisle of the barn, he grabbed several flakes of alfalfa and walked out to the corral to toss them over the fence before heading back inside to get the grain. He barely scooped a can of grain when he heard footsteps behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Ali standing in the doorway smiling at him.

Damn, if she wasn’t gorgeous when she relaxed and let her guard down. He knew bringing her to visit Sydney was exactly what she needed. She’d been so worried about the loan and property, then devastated when her parents refused to move, he hadn’t known how else to comfort her. But seeing her smile now, looking so calm and at ease, made his heart swell, knowing he’d provided her with what she needed most: time and a little perspective.

“Hey there, beautiful. I thought you were up at the house with Sydney.”

“I was. They went to put Kassie to bed.”

She continued to stare at him, her eyes soft and liquid. She looked like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure where to begin. His eyes swept over her, from the soft cotton t-shirt hugging her curves to the way her jeans accentuated her rounded hips and thighs. She was awfully curvy for someone so tiny. He almost groaned when she bit her lower lip.

“I’ll take care of the horses if you want to go inside, too,” he offered. “I know it was a long drive.”

“You always do that.” She edged closer, standing in the doorway of the stall that had been converted to a feed room. “Why?”

He stood up and furrowed his brow. “Do what?” He covered the few steps separating them.

“You take care of me.” She reached up and brushed alfalfa leaves from his shoulder. He noticed she kept her hand against his chest. “You took care of me the night I drank too much, too.”

Her hand slid over the muscles of his chest and she curled her fingers into the belt loop at the side of his waist. Her thumbs grazed against his sides and he felt longing settle into his gut, preparing to travel downward if this continued.

“You took care of me when Colt and Delilah insulted me.” She didn’t meet his gaze, staring instead at his throat, and he suddenly understood her hesitation.

He lifted her chin with a finger, wanting her to look into his eyes as he spoke, to see the depths of his love for her. “I’ve already told you why, Ali.” His voice was thick. He was barely keeping himself from burying his hands into her hair and kissing her senseless. “I may not have always realized it, but I’ve loved you for a long time.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she whispered. Her voice wavered with uncertainty.

He set the can of grain aside. “I don’t know, stupidity?” he answered honestly. He cupped his hands around the sides of her neck, his thumb tracing her jaw. “But when I saw you with David, something snapped inside me.” She took a step back and he pulled her back to him. He could almost read her thoughts. “It wasn’t because I wanted what I couldn’t have. It took seeing you with someone to realize what I wanted. Until then, I didn’t know what I was missing. When I told you and you ran away—”

“I didn’t believe you.” She bit her lip again.

The sleepy yearning he’d been feeling for the past week came awake, demanding satisfaction. How could that one small gesture shred his self-control? He ran his thumb over her lip.

“I get why you wouldn’t believe me but I meant it when I said I’ve never spoken those words to anyone else before.”

She smiled up at him. “Yeah, you
do
sort of have this reputation for being quite the ladies’ man.” Her voice was teasing but he could hear the skepticism she was trying to hide.

He pinched his lips together, hating that he’d let the stories about him get so out of hand. Chris sighed. “Ali, don’t believe everything you’ve heard about me. Most of it has been grossly exaggerated.”

“Sydney told me.”

He wasn’t sure whether he should be disappointed or grateful. He was glad she knew the truth about him but he’d wanted her to have faith in him. Being told wasn’t the same.

“Why didn’t
you
tell me?”

“I tried to but you ran out, remember? I thought you’d eventually believe me. Believe
in
me.”

Her smile spread over her lips, soft, tugging at his heart with tenderness. “I might not have believed here,” she said, pointing at her head. “But I believed here.” She pointed at her heart. “Or I never would have—”

Chris didn’t give her a chance to finish her thought. His mouth crashed against hers, desperate for her to comprehend the depth of his feelings for her. It wasn’t just his physical need for her. She touched something inside him, made him want to become more, to prove himself, to be more than a man—to be a man she could be proud to love and be loved by. Chris pressed his body into hers, the wall braced against her back, and she circled her legs around his waist, her arms around him.

His lips found her jaw as she tipped her head backward, clutching at his shoulders. “What is it with us and barns?” he teased.

“Maybe I just love you in your natural element.” Her eyes were lit from within, bright with want and need, sparkling with sassy humor.

“I love you au natural, but this time we aren’t staying in the barn.” Chris grasped her hand, leaving the grain behind, and hurried toward the house.

“I thought you were staying in your trailer?”

“Screw the trailer. I want to be able to see every inch of you stretched out on my bed, not cramped in that tiny space.”

Chapter Eighteen

C
HRIS PULLED HER
through the doorway into the guest bedroom, locking the door behind him as he pressed her up against it. “Do you realize what kind of torture this past week has been? Wanting to touch you but trying to give you space.”

Alicia tugged at his shirt, pulling it over his head, her fingers digging into the muscles along his spine as his lips trailed over her throat sending shivers of yearning to her core. “Almost as difficult as it was for me when you brought Melissa to the swimming hole.”

He pulled back and held her chin between his fingers, looking down into her eyes. “You have no idea how sorry I am about that. It killed me to watch you and David together. You guys kept getting closer and I was hoping someone else could distract me.”

“Did it work?” She didn’t mean to ask, wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his answer, but the words slipped out anyway.

His voice was husky. “Not a bit.” Chris gave her a lopsided grin. “When I saw you in that bikini, and that horse tattoo on your hip . . .” His hand slid to the side of her waist, his fingers trailing over the spot. “I forgot she was even there.” His fingers slid along the bottom of her t-shirt, finding the smooth skin of her waist and belly. “It seems like I’ve spent years trying to get you out of my mind.”

“You have no idea what you do to me.” He popped the hook on her buckle from her belt and reached for the button on her pants, his thumb circling her bellybutton.

Icy fire raced up her spine and she slid her hands over his chest to his arms. “You know, you could’ve had me at any time. I’ve always been yours for the taking, but I thought you never saw me as anything more than Sydney’s friend. You’ve always had your pick of girls.”

His hands stilled. “Ali, don’t sell yourself short. You are the pick of them.” He brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek. “I don’t deserve you.” He ran his fingertips down her arm, smiling at the goose bumps that rose on her flesh.

She looked into his eyes, unable to understand why he would believe that. “I think you have all of this backward.” Chris shook his head in denial.

Didn’t he realize she was the one who didn’t deserve him? He was the rodeo star and she was nothing more than the poor kid who’d followed him and his sister around the circuit, trying to be like them. Sure, she might be in the top standings now, but inside she was still afraid someone would call her out for being a fraud—the poor kid from the wrong side of the barn—and Chris would get away as fast and far as he could. He’d find someone who had more to offer him. Until that day, in spite of the heartbreak it would cause her if he rode off and left her behind, she was going to make the most of every second. She wasn’t going to let her own insecurities, or those planted there by people like Delilah and Colt Greenly, ruin what Chris offered.

She’d lived her life for others for too long. She’d saved every dime she won in order to help her dad reach a dream he really didn’t have, to help her mother achieve more than it ever occurred to her to want, and to reach a status in the eyes of people like Delilah who didn’t matter. For once, she wanted to grasp what was offered to her, what she desperately wanted, with both hands. She loved Chris and he said he loved her. For the first time, she was going to accept this moment, and the future outcome and consequences be damned. She smiled up at him and arched against him.

“Look, cowboy, I didn’t let you drag me in here to waste time fighting over who is less deserving of the other. I came in here to throw you on that bed.” She put her hands on his chest and walked him backward toward the bed until his knees hit the mattress before reaching for his belt buckle. “Then to take these off.”

She slid the belt from his jeans and pressed her hand against his chest again, this time forcing him backward. Chris braced himself on his elbows and watched her as she pulled his boots off, barely catching herself as she stumbled backward. He had a grin on his face as he humored her and allowed her to slide his pants down his thighs, grunting with the effort.

“I thought girls wore their pants tight,” she said, tugging at the denim material. She glanced up at him on the bed. “This isn’t turning out nearly as sexy as it did in my head.”

Chris laughed and sat up, slipping the jeans down his thighs easily before reaching for her shoulders and rolling over her on the bed. “Honey, you are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and watching you trying to get my pants off . . .” Chris gave her that wicked smile that melted her insides. “If you need any proof, just look down.”

She didn’t need to look down. She could feel his arousal through his boxers against her thigh. Chris took her wrists in his hands and lifted them over her head but instead of releasing her, he held her hands together with one of his while his other hand slipped under her shirt. His touch was feather-light, sending jolts of electricity wherever his hand grazed over her heated flesh. She could feel the need coiling between her thighs as his hand would come close to her breast, barely brushing the curve before moving away quickly. She arched against him as his lips found hers, his tongue darting, flicking, and toying with her. When he tore his mouth from hers to find the sensitive hollow below her ear, he licked her skin and she cried out twisting against the exquisite torment.