12-Alarm Cowboys (175 page)

“And now?”

She snorted. “My mother
still
likes him.” But then, Mom had always had a soft spot for unfaithful men. And Guy
had
been—apparently, from the get-go. He’d been really good at keeping his philandering a secret. It was only by the purest accident Lisa had returned home early that day and caught him
in flagrante delicto
with his sex-bomb secretary. It still made her skin crawl that they’d been romping in
her
bed.

“So why did you come to Snake Gully? Of all places in the world?” Cade’s question tugged her from her dark reflection.

She shrugged. “I don’t know why I came back. I needed to get away, for one thing. And I was checking out places I might move to.” Oh, Mom and Gary—her most recent boyfriend—had invited her to come stay with them in their condo in Waikiki, but the last thing she wanted to do was watch her mother flirt with a boy who was half her age. Aside from that, Mom really did like Guy. Loved that he was a lawyer and ran with the Dallas elite. She’d never stop nagging Lisa to take him back.

Lisa would never take him back, even if he wanted her back—which was doubtful.

Cade’s head bobbed in a small nod. “Well, you can stay here as long as you want.”

“I… Thanks.” That was nice to know. One of the nicest things she’d heard in a while.

“That is, if you don’t mind the parties.”

“Ah, the parties.” She couldn’t hold back a grin.

“They can be a little…wild.”

“I’ll bet.”

They shared a smile then, a lingering gaze. One that spoke to her. Sent a shard of excitement and anticipation through her.

She had no idea what it meant, but she liked it. She liked it a lot.

Cade winced when
Cody breezed into the room, shattering the moment he and Lisa were sharing. A-fucking-gain.

Cody stopped short and stared at her. His lips kicked up into a seductive grin. “Well. What do we have here?” he cooed.
Fucking cooed.

Lisa waved in Cade’s direction. “He invited me.”

Cody whipped around and gaped at him. “You did?”

“Yup,” Cade murmured into his mug. “The motel burned down last night.”

“What?”

“Huge fire.”

“Cade saved me.” God, he loved the way she looked at him, as though he were some kind of hero. “Waded right in through the flames and pulled me out.”

He lifted a shoulder. “All in a day’s work.”

Cody glared at him, no doubt annoyed that Cade had earned such adoration. He couldn’t hold back a smug smirk.

His brother’s gaze flicked to the plate on the table, which held the two last cream puffs. His eyes narrowed and he stepped closer.

Something sizzled in Cade’s gut.

No way was he sharing.

They exchanged a glower and a sudden resolution swelled in Cade’s chest.

He’d had to fight his whole life for every scrap. He’d had to fight for everything.

He would fight for her.

No way in hell would he stand back and let his brother waltz in and sweep her into his arms. Not again.

Cade quickly popped one, and then the other cream puff, into his mouth, before his brother could snag so much as a crumb.

This time it would be different.

This time, he would win.

‡

O
kay. It was
probably wrong to stare. Especially since she was hunkered behind a pile of hay bales and leering at him. But damn. He was a sight to behold.

Cade Silver. Shirtless. Sweating. Muscles rippling as he hefted feed into the back of his truck. Load after load after load.

She’d come upon him by accident. She’d been taking a stroll through the woods and come back to the house around the barn…and there he was. The vision had knocked her senseless. So senseless, she’d immediately dropped to her knees and proceeded with the leering.

What she should do was saunter up to him and engage him in conversation, or something, but if she did that, he might stop. Or worse. He might put his shirt back on.

That would be a tragedy.

She didn’t remember Cade having a build like that in high school. But, come to think of it, she didn’t remember much about Cade in high school. Next to his brother, he’d always kind of faded into the background. He never spoke much, and he wasn’t the captain of the basketball team and he didn’t run with the popular crowd like his brother. He was simply just there.

Granted, he’d been two years ahead of her, so there was little chance for them to meet socially, and shortly after she and Cody started dating, he’d moved away—apparently to join the marines—and she hadn’t seen him again.

If this was what the marines did to boys’ bodies, it should be written into law that each and every man served.

Because…damn.

“What are you doing?”

Lisa flinched as Claire’s chipper tone skittered on the breeze. She lurched around and glared at her friend. But it was too late. A hot tide rose on her cheeks and she stood, brushing the hay from her jeans. She didn’t have the heart to glance at Cade, but she was pretty sure he’d stopped what he was doing. She was pretty sure he had turned and was watching her. He’d probably figured out that she’d been ogling him.

How mortifying.

She fixed a blasé smile on her face and gusted, “Why, nothing.”

Claire’s expression made clear her disbelief. And the snort. The snort made it clear as well. She leaned closer and whispered, “Are you drooling?”

“Shut up.”

There was no call for Claire to titter a laugh. There was never a call for anyone to titter. Ever. She hooked her arm with Lisa’s and tugged her out from behind the bales of hay. “You’ll get a better view from the yard.” Numbly, Lisa followed. Her mind spun as she sought some way to explain her skulking. She finally decided there was no good explanation and her best option was to pretend it had never happened—as with any truly humiliating incident.

Her gaze landed on Cade’s face and her gut lurched. There was something there, in his expression, that supplanted her embarrassment. There was amusement, of course, the tantalizing tilt of his beautiful lips, but something else as well. A steamy assessment. And…interest. A frank and sexual appraisal. His perusal skated over her heated face, slid down to her breasts, to her waist and then her legs. His attention lifted again, stalled at her chest, and lingered. His tongue peeped out to wet his lips.

She nearly melted into a puddle right there.

In that instant, they were the only two people on the planet, certainly the only two in the yard.

Claire cleared her throat and Cade tore his attention away; Lisa felt it like a physical loss so strong her knees nearly buckled. It was a good thing Claire was holding her up.

“Where are the guys?” Claire asked.

Cade blinked. Lisa had the sense he was as befuddled as she was. “The guys?”

“You know. The ranch hands. The guys who are supposed to be doing this?” She waved at the truck.

“Oh.” Cade pulled off his gloves and slapped them on his jeans. Dust billowed. “They’re working the fence on the south forty.”

Claire propped her hands on her hips. “You know, there’s a reason we pay them. So you don’t have to do the heavy lifting.”

Cade took off his hat and raked his hair. “I, ah, needed a workout.”

Judging from those muscles, he didn’t. But Lisa wasn’t inclined to disagree.

Then he flashed her a grin. A gorgeous grin. It made all kinds of delight cavort in her belly. “I ate about ten thousand calories at breakfast,” he said with a wink.

“Right. And about that…” Claire frowned at Lisa. “How is it you baked all morning and yet there was nothing left when I got up?”

“I left an entire tray of muffins on the counter.”

Claire’s scowl shifted to Cade. He glanced up at the sky. Apparently there was something very fascinating wedged in a cloud up there. He pursed his lips into a nonchalant whistle.

“I’m not kidding,” Claire growled. “Next time leave something for me, or there will be hell to pay.”

Cade winced as his sister smacked his shoulder. “Hey, talk to Cody. He was there too.”

Lisa laughed and hooked her arm in Claire’s. “Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll make something now. Just for you.”

“Just for me?”

“Just for you.”

Claire shot Cade a superior look and flounced toward the house. Lisa followed, but she paused to glance at him over her shoulder. He was watching her with a smile on his face. It sent a bolt of lightning through her.

He found her
later when she was in the kitchen making cupcakes for Claire. A part of her had expected him to come. Another part had hoped he would. Still, she jumped as his deep voice wafted through the kitchen. “Were you checking out my butt?”

Her pulse thrummed and she whirled around, holding her stirring spoon before her like a weapon. Though it could never protect her. Not from his raw allure. “W-what?”

He prowled into the room and leaned on the countertop of the island, his biceps bunching. He had his shirt on, but only in as much as it was draped over his shoulder. The sight of the broad slabs of his chest, that sprinkling of golden hair trailing down to his belt buckle, captured her attention. She tried not to gape. Really she did. He was gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.

The kitchen was a large and airy room. Still, he filled it up, heated it up.

“Were you checking out my butt?” he repeated. “Out there, in the yard?” Oh, she loved the playful tilt of his lips. That and the hint of vulnerability in his eyes, as though he didn’t know. As though he wasn’t sure.

“No.”

His smile dropped and her belly with it.

She hurried to add, “I was checking out your chest. I didn’t get to your butt yet.” She twirled a finger. “Turn around.”

He did, and he even waggled it for her, but he held her gaze. His glimmered.

It sent heat licking through her, heat that was probably too intense, at least for a guy she’d just met. Well, kind of just met. Really just met. She didn’t know much about him except he was damn hot, and a firefighter, and ex-military. And Cody’s brother. If he was like Cody, it probably wasn’t a good idea to encourage a flirtation with him—no matter how sexy she found him. It probably wasn’t a good idea to encourage
anything
with him—until she knew him a little better.

Still, she gusted a melodramatic sigh. “I knew it was a good idea to come and stay at the infamous Stud Ranch.”

He barked a laugh and then made a face. “None of that was my idea, by the way.”

“Hmm.” She gave the frosting a stir. “Let me guess…”

“Yup. Cody. But I gotta admit, it did save the ranch.” He leaned over and peered at her work. “What are you making?”

“Butterscotch cupcakes.”

His eyes lit up. “Seriously?”

She waggled the spoon at him. “For Claire.”

He watched her with puppy-dog eyes as she spooned frosting into the bag and piped it on in a practiced swirl. “She’ll never know if you give one to me.”

“I’m pretty sure she will.”

His lip pooched out. God, it was a beautiful lip. She tried not to stare. “What kind of frosting is it?” he asked in a woebegone voice.

“Maple bacon.”

“That sounds…dangerous.”

She scooped some out with a finger and, without thinking, held it out. “Wanna taste?”

His eyes flared. Muscles flexed. He took her wrist in a warm cuff and leaned forward and, easing her finger into his mouth…he sucked.

Too late, she realized her mistake.

She should never have allowed this man to put his mouth on her. For as he drew her into that warm, velvet cavern, lapping and nibbling on her tender skin—long after the frosting was gone—she realized she was an idiot for thinking she could be
friends
with him. She was an idiot for imagining she could resist his allure.

He was far too desirable.

Their gazes locked. A tumult, a conflagration passed between them. Without loosening his hold on her, he came around the counter and pulled her into his arms. And then, he kissed her.

God in heaven
above.

Excitement pounded through Cade’s veins as he held Lisa in his arms. Her body, warm and soft against his, her hands tracing the muscles of his back as he settled his mouth on hers. It was everything he’d always imagined and more. She was sweet and fragrant and perfect.

He loved the little noises she made at the back of her throat as he rubbed his lips over hers. He loved the way she sighed and opened to him. He really loved the tentative dab of her tongue.

It was only natural for him to walk her back against the countertop, to press against her, drag his body over hers. To deepen the kiss.

And damn, if she wasn’t all in. She scraped her nails over his skin, as though testing his resolve, and then shoved her fingers into his hair, holding him, pinning him there. As if he had anywhere else to be.

This was wonderful. This was heaven. This was what he’d dreamed of for years.

But it was better than a dream.

Much better.

He kissed his way over her cheek and to her neck and when he nuzzled her there she arched into him with a groan. The pressure against his cock made every muscle in his body go on point. He reared up and stared at her. The intensity between them singed him. Holding her gaze, he skated his hand up her side, under her apron, and took possession of her breast. Shivers rippled through him. She was full and soft and her nipple thrust at his palm.