Satin & Saddles (5 page)

Then he disappeared and she got married, and that was the last she’d seen of him until he stopped by her house this morning.

Carly and Dillon danced late into the night, until Carly didn’t think she could dance any longer. She’d wondered if Geoff would try to cut in, but she never saw his face in the crowd the rest of the night.

“Ready to go home?” Dillon put his arm around her shoulders. “You wore me out.”

“Me? Wear you out?” Carly laughed. “I think it was the other way around.”

They headed back to the truck, their arms brushing as they walked past parked cars to where they’d left his vehicle. In the background the band continued to play and the sounds of laughter continued.

Tingles ran up and down her spine and she looked over her shoulder. No one was there. Still, she had the strangest sensation they were being watched.

Anger burned inside Geoff, red-hot flames that rose to lick his skin. Where had the cowboy come from?

After watching Carly for the past week, biding his time, Geoff had known she had no one but a few friends around town and no man in her life. So who was this fucking cowboy, this Dillon Cameron?

He clenched and unclenched his hands as he watched them walk through the parking lot and ground his teeth. He eased along behind them in the darkness, moving from parked vehicle to parked vehicle.

Carly glanced over her shoulder, as if she sensed him. He paused but was pleased. Good, something inside her was aware of him. Something inside her wanted him, needed him. She just didn’t realize it yet.

Tonight, though, she would pay for tonight. She had brushed him off when he’d gone to interrupt that almost-kiss.

He couldn’t believe she’d almost kissed Cameron. What were they going to do now? Was she going to go off and fuck him?

No. Geoff mentally shook his head. He bet his return had started to pull at her and soon she would have no interest in another man. They were destined to be together. Cameron would soon be history.

Maybe he’d waited too long to contact her. But he’d felt the need to learn her routine, to get to know her again. When he knew her ten years ago, she had been a journalism student. Now she wrote books for a living. She’d always been outgoing, so it surprised him that she would live in a remote area where she had little contact with the outside world.

Carly and Cameron reached a truck and Geoff spit on the ground with disgust at the way the cowboy pretended to be a gentleman and help her into the truck. Geoff knew the truth. Cameron just wanted to get into her pants.

Geoff watched as the cowboy climbed into the truck and started it, and the engine roared. Dirt and gravel spit from beneath the truck’s tires as the truck drove away from the other parked vehicles.

He made a mental note of the license plate. It could come in handy if he was forced to take things a step farther. If Carly developed a real interest in Cameron, more than just a date to a barn dance, Geoff was going to have to take matters into his own hands.

He watched as the red taillights faded and then the truck turned onto a road. When he couldn’t see them anymore, he walked back to his SUV.

His skin cooled as he talked himself down. Carly wouldn’t stay with the cowboy. Fate had already decreed that she belonged to Geoff Burnside. Why else would he have discovered where she lived and that she was now divorced? Why else would his asshole boss allow him to work remotely?

No, this was no chance. This time she would be his.

It was one in the morning by the time they reached Carly’s house. Dillon helped her out of his truck and grabbed the bag she’d taken to his house, along with her empty cookie tin.

“It’s a beautiful night.” She paused and looked at the countless stars that were so clear in rural Arizona, like millions of crystals scattered across a midnight blue cloth.

She smiled up at him and then he walked her up the porch to her front door. He waited while she opened it and then she turned to face him. “Come on in.”

He carried her things into the house and she took them from him and set them on a chair in the dining room.

“How about a homemade margarita?” She walked into the kitchen. “Fresh limes, silver tequila, and triple sec. No premade mix when it comes to my margaritas.”

“Homemade?” He followed her and hitched his shoulder up against the doorframe and studied her. “In that case I’ll take one.”

After she got out the ingredients, she combined everything. When she was finished she used a lime along the rim of the margarita glasses then coated the rims in a container of margarita salt.

She filled the glasses and handed one of the drinks to Dillon, then took the other one and raised it in a toast. “To good margaritas.”

They both took a drink and then he toasted her with, “Here’s to wearing down my boot heels, dancing with a beautiful lady.”

“And sore feet,” Carly added with a laugh.

They headed into her living room and sat on the couch. They hadn’t had an alcoholic drink all night and the tequila made a pleasant burn down her throat to her belly. It didn’t take long before she was feeling the effects of the drink.

“It’s ridiculous how comfortable I feel around you.” She tilted her head to the side. “I barely met you at the wedding.”

“Feels like it’s been longer… A lot longer.” He rested his hand on hers and she felt a thrill in her belly.

He paused a moment as his eyes held hers and then he set his drink aside and captured her shoulders with his hands. Slowly he lowered his head, his mouth closing in on hers. She had the opportunity to tell him no but instead she closed her eyes and their lips met.

She sighed as she fell into his kiss, feeling the luxury of it from her head to her toes. She moved closer to him, wanting to feel his warmth, his heat. He caressed her shoulder then settled his hand on her hip.

His kiss sent heat through her body and she found herself shifting closer to him, wanting him, needing him. He moved his hand to her breast and she gasped as he played with her nipple through her bra. Her nipples were so sensitive that she squirmed with desire.

Everything about his kiss, his touch, his masculine scent, caused fire to burn through her. Coherent thought fled and she just wanted to feel, to be entirely in the moment.

He moved his mouth from hers and she shivered as he kissed a path down her throat to the top button of her red blouse. Her blouse parted as he unbuttoned it, his mouth moving over her collarbone to the valley between her breasts.

She caught her breath as he pulled her bra cups down, releasing her breasts. He palmed them and rolled her nipples between his fingers. She moaned, needing to feel his mouth on her, and she slipped her hands into his hair and guided his lips to her nipple.

A low rumble, like a growl, rose up in his throat as he sucked her nipple and flicked his tongue across it. She moaned, sliding into another dimension where the only thing she needed in the world was to have his hands and mouth on her…to have him inside her.

As he sucked first one nipple and then the other, he slid his fingers between her thighs and pressed her jeans against her clit. She groaned, and ground herself against his hand.

She slipped her hands from his hair and moved them to his western dress shirt that had pearl snaps. She pulled it apart, jerking it hard so that she could run her hands over his broad shoulders then slip her hands down and feel the hardness of his chest.

His abs were flat and tight as she slid her hands to his waistband. She tugged at the belt buckle. She had to touch him, feel his hardness in her palm. She managed to undo the buckle and the button and grasped his zipper.

He shifted her, catching her off balance by laying her on her back on the couch. He pushed her thighs apart and knelt between them. It gave her better access to his zipper and she pulled it down then pushed his jeans and briefs to his hips, and released his erection.

His gaze held hers as she grasped his cock and a muscle in his jaw ticked. Her heart pounded faster as she felt his thickness and length, and imagined how his cock would feel inside her.

At the same time, warning bells started tolling in her head.

What was she doing? She was doing exactly what she’d promised herself she wouldn’t. She was already letting herself get too close to Dillon, and she was about to have sex with a man she barely knew.

Abruptly she released his erection and scooted up on the couch and brought her knees to her chest.

He gave her a gentle look. “Everything all right, Carly?”

I’m not looking for a relationship, she told herself. Sexual or otherwise. She had to stop this before it went too far.

She looked down at her knees and then back at him. “Things are moving way too fast.”

“I won’t push you.” He studied her as he tucked his cock back into his jeans and zipped it. “I just know a good thing when I see it.”

“Well, I don’t.” She looked away from him. “I’m not known for my good judgment.”

“Hey.” He scooted beside her on the couch so that he was sitting by her waist. “I shouldn’t have let things get carried away like that. You’re right. It’s too soon.”

She nodded as she pulled her bra cups up and started to button her blouse. He gently pushed her hands aside and buttoned it for her.

When he was finished he rested his hand on her bent knee. “I think this is my cue to go home.”

She put her hand over his with the strangest feeling that she was making some kind of mistake. “I’m sorry.”

“How about a rain check on tomorrow.” His smile was soft. “I think you might need space.”

She felt a strange sense of disappointment and appreciation all at the same time. “Thank you.”

He squeezed her knee. “I’d like to take you to my family get-together at Patagonia Lake next Saturday. It’s how we start the summer, the Cameron way.”

“I’d like that.” She smiled. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He gave her a grin. “You haven’t met all of my family.”

“I like those I have met,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

He slipped his hand from under hers and stood. “I’ll call you this week.”

She swung her legs over the side of the couch and went with him to the front door. He opened it and walked out onto the porch and she stepped out with him. She rubbed her arms with both hands as if she was cold, but it was more that she felt suddenly nervous.

“Can I kiss you good night?” He still looked like he was trying to keep his hands off of her.

She nodded. “Yes.”

He raised his hands and cupped her face in his palms. He lowered his mouth to hers and brushed his lips back and forth. Without meaning to, she let out a soft moan. He pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her.

It was a soft and sweet kiss as if he was holding back from kissing her with all the passion that he felt inside.

He drew away and stroked the corner of her mouth with his thumb. “Good night, Carly.”

“Good night,” she whispered as she looked into his eyes.

He turned and headed down the stairs to his truck. When he reached it, he paused to look at her then climbed into his vehicle.

She stepped back into the house and closed the door. She waited until she heard the sound of his engine fading down the road before she wandered into her bedroom, wondering if she was making a mistake by promising Dillon she would go out with him again, especially when it involved meeting his family.

Getting too close to him isn’t an option, she told herself. I know better than to take a chance with my heart.

Carly pushed her basket through the grocery store, anxious to get her shopping done and get home. She had writing to do and a number of things to get ready before tomorrow when she’d go with Dillon to his family event.

All week she’d been a basket case, worrying about getting too close to him. But when he’d call her in the evenings, all of that worry slipped away and she found herself enjoying their conversations and looking forward to them all the following day.

She rounded an aisle and nearly ran into Geoff Burnside’s basket.

“Hi, Carly.” He gave an enthusiastic grin.

“Oh.” She smiled. “Hi.”

“Glad I ran into you,” he said. “Barely missed you yesterday when you left the café.”

“Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to stop and talk,” she said. “I was in a hurry.”

He nodded as he leaned forward on the grip on his shopping cart. “Well, now that I have your undivided attention, I want to ask you out. How does tomorrow look for you?”

“I have a date.” She was glad to have the excuse. She didn’t want anything more than a friendship with him.

“What about next week?” he asked. “Pick a night.”

She wanted to groan. She had to let him know that she was in no way interested in him romantically.

“I just want to be friends, Geoff.” Carly sighed. “I’m not interested in starting up a relationship.”

Geoff looked unperturbed. “Who said anything about a relationship? It’s just dinner between friends.”

“Okay. We can talk about that later.” She pushed hair out of her eyes. “Right now I’m in a hurry.”

“All right.” He held his hands up. “I know when I’m being a bother.”

She felt bad for being so brusque with him. “I’m sorry. I just have a lot going on.”

“I understand, Carly,” he said.

“I’ll see you around, Geoff.” She gave him a friendly smile.

He nodded. “Yeah. See you around.” He moved his basket away and went around her.

She let out her breath. She wasn’t sure that went so well, but hopefully it did the trick and he got the message.

* * * * *

Carly gripped the phone tight as she spoke with Sabrina, her closest friend who’d just married Wyatt Cameron. “Dillon is a man I could fall for and I don’t want that. I’m flat-out afraid.”

“I’ve gotten to know him since I first started dating Wyatt.” Sabrina’s tone was serious. “Dillon is a good man.”

“I have a history of bad judgment.” Carly pushed her fingers through her hair as she paced her living room. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes I have in the past. Moving too fast and being a poor judge of character are some of my biggest faults.”