A Cowboy for Christmas (6 page)

Casey glanced back at him again. “Why not?”

“Because the old man is like a grandfather to me and it would betray his trust if I was anything but professional with you.” Though being professional was getting harder and harder—just like his cock. He could swear she was trying to bounce against his erection just to tease him.

“So because of business you won’t sleep with me?” Her opinion of that was evident in her tone.

“That’s right.” This was the strangest conversation he’d ever had with a woman. It sure didn’t help that her ass was pressed against his crotch during it while he desperately tried to talk down his hard-on.

“Humph. Stupid cowboy code.”

The words cowboy code coming out of this city girl’s mouth had him smiling. But still, she was bolder than a woman should be, and one day, when she wasn’t with someone like him who stuck to a code, it could get her into trouble. “Aren’t you at all afraid of me, Miss Casey?”

“No. Why should I be?”

“You’re alone on thousands of acres of open land with a man who’s basically a stranger to you. No one is nearby to help. There’s no cell phone signal, as you’re so fond of reminding me—”

“And you’re a trusted employee of my boss who’s a man well known and respected in the business world. You said yourself you’re like family to him. Why wouldn’t I trust you?”

“I just think it’s dangerous for you to throw yourself physically at men you don’t know.”

She stiffened, her entire body suddenly ramrod straight and tense. “Believe it or not, I generally don’t throw myself at any men at all, whether I know them or not. You were different. I liked you.”

He didn’t miss how she’d phrased her feelings about him in the past tense. Though he should be happy. This was what he wanted. No more temptation to break his own rule. If she was pissed at him, there was no worry they’d be having sex. Perfect.

But damn, it had been nice to daydream about setting her in his lap and letting her ride him. It was crazy. He hadn’t wanted it to happen, but now that there was no hope, he was disappointed.

Casey let out a huff of air. “Oh, forget about it. Let’s just get these stupid cows. Though you’re probably only going to cull them—which I asked Justus about, by the way. Lovely euphemism for slaughtering them just because they’re not pregnant. As if it’s their fault. Probably the bull’s fault. Bet you never think of that, do you?”

“Casey—”

“Do you cull the bulls too? Or just the poor old barren cows?“

This was quite a rant he’d sent her into. “Casey.”

Her entire posture changed again. “What?”

“It was inconsiderate of me to say that to you. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

She remained very still in front of him “It’s okay.”

Bonner prided himself on being good at reading both people and animals and something had shifted within Casey. “No, something’s wrong. Talk to me.”

“I accept your apology. I’m fine. You just surprised me.” Her voice was softer than before. Less cocky.

“Surprised you how?”

“You called me Casey instead of Miss Casey.”

He considered that. “Yeah, I guess I did. That upset you?”

“No.” She surprised him by laughing. “Not at all. I liked it.”

Bonner let out a short laugh of his own. “Are all New York women as hard to figure out as you?”

“Only the ones who are worth it.” Casey glanced over her shoulder with a smirk, twisting his gut with need.

Man, was he in trouble.

The cadence of the horse’s movements, combined with the heat of Bonner’s body pressed behind her, cradling her, probably could have rocked Casey to sleep. The main reason she didn’t drift off was Bonner and the need he created inside her with the ever present feel of his arm wrapped around her. She knew it was to keep her secure in the saddle, but his large, warm hand pressed against her stomach made her imagine all sorts of things. She’d wished at least a hundred times he’d move his hold a few inches lower.

The thought of him sliding down and using those long fingers of his to stroke her where she so desperately craved to be touched had her undone. It would have been a lovely, peaceful ride if she weren’t ready to rip off both their clothes and take care of the ache that only seemed to grow with every passing mile.

It seemed as if they’d been in the saddle for hours. The sun was high above them so perhaps they had ridden straight through the morning and into the afternoon. Casey didn’t wear a watch and Bonner hadn’t let her bring her cell or her tablet, saying there’d be no signal where they were going and checking for it would only upset her. He was probably right. After the panic of being without any technology had passed, she found it was kind of freeing.

Without the distraction of text or emails, or taking notes, she took the time to look around her. To live in the here and now. In fact, here and now would be the perfect time and place to pull over, park this horse and roll around on one of the blankets she saw rolled and strapped behind both saddles.

This trip hadn’t done anything to diminish her desire to have this man. It had only increased it, tenfold. She should try and take her mind off him and that tempting bulge of his pressing into her before she lost her mind and attacked him.

Not usually one to do what she should do, Casey leaned back a little farther against him. He tightened his hold around her ever so slightly and her insides turned molten.

“It’s so beautiful here.” Her voice came out sounding huskier than usual. Damn, if just this cowboy’s arm around her could give her sex voice, she could only imagine what having all of him all over her could do.

“Yup.”

His deep voice coming from so closely behind her sent a shiver through her body. She wanted to hear him again. Feel the warmth of his breath brush her ear. Feel the tenor of his response vibrate through her as she pressed against him.

“I wish I had a camera with me. I’d love to capture all this to bring back to New York.”

He shook his head. They were so close together she felt him do it. “It’s best to see it with your eyes, not from behind a lens. The mind is the best camera.”

Between the combination of their physical proximity, his rich, sexy voice and the fact he’d proven time and again that he could read her like an open book, she was a total goner for this guy. Add in that he was the epitome of her ideal of a perfect man, a real life version of the Cowboy Cody she’d fallen in love with as a child, and she had no hope.

Casey loved the whole idea of him, and if she didn’t watch out, she’d be in love with the man himself by the time she left for New York. Hell, she was already in lust with him. Her stomach and parts lower had been in a permanent clench since yesterday.

And now he was delivering what amounted to cowboy poetry as his hand warmed her belly and his cock rubbed against her ass. She turned her head enough to see his face so close behind her. “Wow. That was…beautifully spoken.”

He smiled. “You’re wishing you could write it down for your notes, aren’t you?”

No, I’m wishing you’d fuck me.
Casey cleared her throat. “You’re right.”

His chuckle vibrated through her back.

“So how long until we’re there?”

“Not long now. You getting tired?” He shifted in the saddle until his face was so close to hers, his chin rested against her hair.

“No. I’m fine.” Definitely not too tired for what she had in mind. Casey swallowed hard. “Are we spending the night up there?”

Please, please, please…

There was a pause that seemed to stretch on forever as the pull between them became almost palpable. “Depends.”

“On what?”

“How quick I can round up the stragglers. If you can ride back on your own horse so I can keep them together and moving on the trail.” His voice sounded huskier, lower, closer… It wasn’t her imagination that they were pressed as tightly together as two people could be without actually having sex. His hold around her was unyielding, which was perfectly fine with her.

“I think I could ride back on my own,” she turned her head toward him, “tomorrow.”

They’d slowed to nearly a crawl, the reins slack in Bonner’s left hand as he held her with his right. The two horses seemed to know where to go on their own. His horse Morgan plodded with Thunder trailing along without much direction from Bonner, which was good, since he wasn’t watching the path at all. Instead, his was staring directly at Casey. She held the eye contact as her breath became shallow.

Kiss me
. She hoped he’d hear the silent plea she sent. He was so close. Just the slightest movement would put him right where she wanted him.

Bonner’s chest rose and fell behind her. “Casey, if we spend the night in that cabin... I don’t know what will happen.”

“That’s fine.”

“I don’t do things half way.”

“Good. I don’t want half way. I wouldn’t mind two or three times all the way though.”

She felt him shift behind her. He moved an inch closer and then his mouth was on hers, kissing her, hard and demanding. Nothing gentle about it. His kiss was as intense as the man himself. He wrapped his arm farther around her waist, spreading his fingers wide as if trying to touch more. More was good. She craved his bare skin against hers and sighed against his mouth.

As the horses came to a stand still, Casey tipped her head back and Bonner took the kiss deeper. He plunged his tongue between her lips and she gladly accepted, opening to him.

When he broke away, he let out a long huff of a breath. “If we pick up the pace we can be at the cabin in a few minutes. You think you can hang on?”

“Will you keep holding on to me?”

He laughed, but his heavily lidded gaze held no humor. “Darlin’, keeping my hands on you is not a problem.”

“Okay. Let’s go.” After that darlin’, delivered in a voice hot enough to melt her to the core, he could put her on a race horse in the Kentucky Derby and she’d be okay with it, if the finish line were a bed in a cabin with a naked Bonner in it.

“Good.” He looked as if he was relieved as she was that the torture would be over soon and they’d get to what had been coming for days now.

He made a clicking sound and seemed to barely make a move, yet somehow they went from a complete stand still, to speeding down the trail. The wind whipped her hair back from her face as they sped ahead, the horses’ hooves pounding against the dirt, eating up the distance between them and their destination. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.

Bonner on horseback galloping across the countryside seemed so natural, as if he was born to be here. Then again, he had been born and bred to this life, and for now she got to share it with him. That sent a thrill through her she’d never experienced with any other man.

The outline of a few buildings clustered together on a hilltop came into view. Her heart rate sped faster. As they neared, she could make out the cabin and some sort of three sided shed with a fence around it. She felt him lean forward just a bit. The horse seemed to pick up speed in response to its rider’s cue, or maybe Thunder just sensed the excitement in both riders.

They maintained the speed until they were nearly upon the cabin, then Bonner pulled up on the reins. They halted directly in front of the door.

He swung down to the ground and reached up for her. “I have to take care of the horses.”

Casey saw the need in his eyes. It mirrored her own. With her mouth feeling dry, she swallowed. “Hurry back.”

“Believe me. I will.” He encompassed her waist with both hands. One moment she was in the saddle, and the next she was standing on wobbly legs between the horse and Bonner.

He kept hold of her, which was good since after so long on top of the horse she wasn’t feeling very steady. Not to mention that she just plain liked his hands on her. He bent low and dropped a quick, hard kiss on her mouth and then released her. As she remained rooted to the spot, unable to take either her eyes or her mind off him, he grabbed hold of both horses’ reins and led them toward the fenced area. Misty went with her master.

Quicker than she ever could have, he had the horses stripped of their tack. They wandered off to seek grass to chew on as Bonner latched the gate shut, then jogged back to her, their bags in one hand and the two rolled blankets under his arm.

Unlike the mating dance that happened at the end of her usual dates in the city, where both she and her date tried to judge if there’d be a goodnight kiss, or an invitation inside for a drink or more, she didn’t have to worry about any awkwardness. They both knew what was coming.

Bonner stopped only long enough to grab one more kiss before he grinned and reached for the doorknob. “Come on in.”

The dog followed them up onto the small porch. “What about Misty?”

“She can stay outside. Close the door.”

“Sorry, Misty,” she mouthed as the dog sat, wagging her tail hopefully. Casey felt bad, but she stepped into the dim interior of the cabin, turned and shut the door in the poor dog’s face.

One quick glance and she could take in the contents of the single room—a plain wooden table and a few chairs, a wood burning stove with a stack of split firewood nearby, and most importantly, beds. Two to be exact, but she was more than sure they’d only need one.

Bonner dropped the bags onto the unfinished floorboards and strode to one of the beds. As he unrolled one of the blankets, he glanced back at her. “I’ll make a fire. Later.”

He whipped the blanket out. It had barely drifted down and settled on the mattress before he was in front of her again. Then she was no longer standing as he lifted her off her feet and, kissing her for the duration of the short trip across the small room, carried her to the bed. She landed on the mattress with a bounce, and looked up to see him undoing his belt buckle.

When this man made up his mind to do something, even something he’d claimed he’d been opposed to doing originally, he didn’t waste any time. She watched, breathless, as he tossed his hat onto a peg sticking out of the wall and went on to pull the plaid shirt from where it had been tucked into his jeans. He made short work of the buttons and then she was faced with her first view of what real work—the outdoor, physical kind—did to a man’s body.

Bonner was all hard muscle and sharp lines, his shoulders broad and his waist narrow, his stomach punctuated with washboard abs. A barbed wire tattoo wrapped around one bulging bicep, while a small cross with words and what looked like a date she couldn’t make out from where she lay marked the opposite shoulder.

Shirtless, he sat on the edge of the other bed and reached to pull off one of his boots. He glanced at her and cocked a brow. “You waiting for me to undress you?”

“Maybe.” The racing of her pulse made even that one word hard to get out.

One boot hit the floor with a clunk, followed by the other. He stood again to unbutton his jeans.

“You city girls. Whole lot a’ work, if you ask me.” He shook his head and grinned.

“But we’re worth it.”

“Something I’m sure I’m about to find out for myself.” His grin grew broader. In nothing but boxer briefs and socks, Bonner strode to the bed and reached for her foot. He pulled her boot off and dropped it to the floor next to his. “I’m warning you, darlin’. I’ve been ready to shoot off the whole ride here. I can’t promise this first time is going to last very long.”

He yanked the second boot off her foot, dropped it and reached down toward the button at her waist.

“That’s fine. You can make it up to me the second time.”

Groaning, he unfastened her jeans and pulled them roughly down her legs. She felt like a heroine in a romance novel, being taken by the hero. Carried away. Stripped. Ravished.

After being in charge of everything for so long, her department at work, her single life at home; it was extra hot that Bonner took complete control.

As her jeans hit the floor next to his, his gaze settled on the lace of her panties. She didn’t miss the appreciation in his eyes as he took in the view of the half of her that was exposed both to view and to the chill of the air.

Goosebumps rose on the skin of her legs and a shiver ran through her in spite of how hot Bonner had her on the inside.

“You’re cold.” He reached for the other blanket, unrolled it and covered her. Lifting one corner, he crawled into the bed with her and then Bonner’s mouth covered hers again.

He settled his legs in between hers and pulled the blanket higher over them both, but with the heat of Bonner’s skin covering her, she didn’t think she’d need it. Besides that, he’d left her sweater on, probably because he’d seen her chills. Rough and tough on the outside and a big softy on the inside, this cowboy never stopped amazing her.

Bonner snaked his hand between them and slipped beneath the edge of her panties and he surprised her one more time by sliding a finger inside her. Her breath caught in her throat as he pressed directly on her G-spot while putting pressure on her clit with his thumb.

It was like he knew exactly where she’d been imagining, craving, needing his touch the entire ride. He moved to bite her ear while his hand worked her faster and Casey gasped.

She tilted her hips, seeking more. He gave it to her by looping her one knee around his waist, which lifted her ass off the bed. Between the change in angle and his increased pressure on her clit, she felt the orgasm build.

Her muscles clenched around his finger inside her, and her breath came faster. She was so close. Casey bit her lip but she couldn’t control the sounds of pleasure, which grew louder. Bonner lifted his head and gazed down at her.