Cowboy Take Me Away (27 page)

That did it.

Carolyn took a swing at her and was the little witch ever surprised when the punch landed right on her smart, lying mouth.

Edie stumbled and Carolyn struck again.

This time she socked Edie in the gut with everything she had. When Edie doubled over, Carolyn pounced on her, knocking her to the floor.

Carolyn went down with her, on top of her, continuing to strike her with body shots even when Edie curled into a ball to escape the blows.

Hands landed on her back and Carolyn twisted away, determined to keep swinging until her fist connected with solid mass.

While the anger still churned inside her, Carolyn grabbed a handful of Edie’s hair and tried to jerk her head up. “Look at me,” she demanded.

Edie shook her head.

Carolyn bent closer to Edie’s ear. “Look at me or I will start yanking out chunks of your hair in bloody clumps.”

That got her attention. Edie moved just enough that Carolyn could see her scared eyes and her bloodied face.

“The reason you weren’t successful in seducing my husband is because he’d sooner fuck a diseased sheep than you. Stay away from me and mine or I will finish this and fuck you up until you’re unrecognizable. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Say it out loud so I and everyone else can hear you.”

“Yes.”

Breathing hard, Carolyn slowly stood. Pushing the hair back from her face, she noticed a circle surrounding them. But the inner circle was all women, who seemed to be stopping the men from breaking up the fight. She recognized several of the women, and they were nodding at her with approval.

Holy. Cow.

“Back up and get outta the way,” the bouncer barked and crouched next to Edie.

The bartender stomped over. “That’s it. So much for me thinking you’d class up the joint—you started a damn bar fight! Get out. Don’t ever come back because you are banned for life.”

Her jaw dropped. “What do you mean banned for life?”

“Just what I said. I ever see your face in here again I’m calling the sheriff.”

Infuriated, Carolyn threw up her hands. “I’m banned?”

“Yes.”

“Is she banned?” She pointed to Edie, still curled up on the floor.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s bleeding; you’re not.”

Carolyn opened her mouth to argue or maybe lunge at the guy who’d decided—unfairly—to toss
her
out, when Carson’s strong arm created a band across her chest.

“If my wife is banned, then you’ll never see me in here again, understand?”

The bartender went bug-eyed. “She’s your
wife
?”

“Damn straight she is.”

“Sorry, man, we’ll miss ya, but I can’t let this slide.”

She jabbed her elbow into Carson’s gut with enough force he loosened his hold on her. “Fine. I’m gone.” Holding her chin up, she marched to the front door and the crowd parted for her.

The shame she expected to feel? Strangely absent.

Maybe for the first time she understood why her husband liked to fight. It was cleansing.

She’d almost made it to the parking lot when hands landed on her hips and pushed her into the shadow of the building, then spun her around.

Carson wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, holding her in place. The fierceness in his eyes…wow. Been a long time since he’d looked at her that way.

“That was the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen. Except for the two times you brought our sons into the world.”

“I’m mad at you, Carson McKay. So don’t you dare try and charm your way out of this mess.”

“I’m not. I’m tellin’ it like I saw it, sugar. You were spectacular.
Spectacular
. Callin’ me on my shit. Not backin’ down from me or anyone else. Reminding me of why I fell in love with you.”

“Maybe you ought to remind
me
why
I
fell in love with you,” she challenged. “Because a man who claims to love his wife doesn’t avoid coming home.”

“I know.”

“What is going on with you?”

“Besides the obvious that I’ve been drinkin’ too much?” He pressed his forehead to hers. “I’ve been a lousy husband and a shitty father.” He inhaled. Exhaled. “Fuck. It’s like stabbing myself in the heart even sayin’ that to you because you are such a damn good wife and mother. You are the most important thing in my world. And if I lose you…”

Carolyn watched his chin wobble as he fought to retain control. Her gut clenched and her heart hurt to see this strong man start to crumble. But she let him struggle.

“Truth is, my life is over if I’m dumb enough to lose you. So I ain’t gonna let that happen. Ever. I fucked up but I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this. Whatever it takes.” He stared into her eyes. “Say you’ll give me another chance.”

“Then you need to come clean. During all the time you’ve spent away from home and at the bar, did you step out on me?” Her breath remained trapped in her lungs as she waited his answer.

“No.
Fuck
no. I’d never do that to you. Or to us.”

“So Edie…?”

“I swear I had no idea what she was doin’. Last night she and two of her friends sat at the booth in the back room while they were playing pool. When her friends left she was sitting next to me and she didn’t move. By then I was pretty deep in the bottle. Doubt I spoke more than a dozen words to her. So what she said about cryin’ on my shoulder was complete bullshit.”

“That doesn’t explain tonight.”

His eyes brimmed with anguish. “She told me she was worried her ex would show up and asked if she could sit with me for a bit. That happened when Charlie was drinkin’ with me. Then he took off with her friend.”

“And Charlie didn’t think anything of leaving his drunken brother alone with a recent divorcée?”

“Charlie knows I worship you. He knows even if Edie had been nekkid I wouldn’t have touched her.”

Men were so stupid sometimes. “You know that doesn’t mean
she
wouldn’t have tried to touch
you
.”

He blinked as if that hadn’t occurred to him. “I see that now and I’m really sorry I didn’t see it before.”

“Do you have any idea know how horrible it is to get a phone call from a friend who’s seen you out with another woman?” Her tone turned bitter. “Then I get here and find out it’s Edie? That made it worse. You know the crap she’s said to me over the years. So is this one of those times you tell me you don’t give a damn what anyone around here says or thinks about you?”

“No.” He brought his eyes in line with hers. “
No
. I give a damn because this hurt you.
I
hurt you. I have to live with that. I have to prove that it’ll never happen again.”

“There’s an easy way to prove it.”

“How?”

“As of right now your going to the bar days are over, Carson McKay. Not just the Silver Spur but every other bar in the vicinity and the entire state of Wyoming.”

He said, “Done,” without a moment’s hesitation.

“You want to drink? You’ll drink at home. You want to go out? You’ll go out with me. Those are my stipulations for us moving on from this.”

“That won’t be a problem. I want to be the man you deserve.” Carson framed her face in his callused hands. “I love you, Carolyn. You are it for me. You have been since the moment I met you. There ain’t a woman alive that can give me what you do.”

“What’s that?”

“Passion that has marked my heart and soul as yours, and yours alone.”

This brusque man wasn’t big on professing his feelings beyond telling her he loved her. So when he said things off the cuff and from a place of truth? She cherished every word.

Then his mouth was on hers. His hunger, his driving need didn’t surprise her; it inflamed her.

She shoved her hands into his hair, knocking his hat to the ground. Carson didn’t pause in the ferocious kisses; if anything, he kissed her harder. Pushing her backward until her spine connected with the building.

“There’s another way you can prove it,” she panted against his throat. “Fuck me. Right here, right now.”

“But, Caro, if anyone comes out here—”

She grabbed his chin in her hand, forcing him to meet her gaze. “They’ll see you fucking me—
your wife
, not some two-bit bar whore. And I don’t give a damn who knows that you wanted me—
your wife
, so desperately that you fucked me right outside the front door.”

“Good God, do you have any idea how fucking much I love you?”

“Show me.”

After he thoroughly ravished her with intense kisses that left her breathless, his mouth skated down her neck. His razor-stubbled cheeks scraped her skin, which he soothed with sucking kisses. “Fuck, woman. Never get enough of you,” he panted. “I’ll be an old man of a hundred and five and I’ll still want this—need this—from you.”

She moaned when he zeroed in on the section of her neck that nearly sent her into orgasm. “More.”

He sucked harder, letting his teeth and tongue come into play while his fingers found the first button on her blouse. He yanked and the snaps gave way, exposing her torso to her belly button. Then he placed his hand over her heart and she went weak-kneed. She spiraled even deeper under his spell when his fingers slipped beneath her bra and started plucking her nipple.

Against the upper swell of her breast, he growled, “Will I find my pussy wet if you put my hand between your legs?”

She loved that he called her pussy his. “Yes.”

“Do it.”

The shock of his demand fed the inferno raging between them. She circled her fingers around his wrist and tugged his hand beneath her skirt.

Carson’s kiss stayed at the teasing level as he pushed two fingers inside her and swept his thumb over her clit.

The band began to play again and the bass from the speakers reverberated against her spine. It seemed as if her blood mimicked the
thump, thump, thump
rhythm of the bass. She let her head fall back and squeezed her eyes shut as her midsection tingled and tightened. So close. So, so, so close… How long had it been since passion had exploded between them this fast?

“Caro. Look at me.”

“Carson, please—”

“Sugar, I need you to look at me when you come.”

She opened her eyes and fastened her gaze to his. There was the look she’d missed seeing on him; his complete possession of her, his utter devotion to her.

That’s all it took.

Her nails scored the back of his neck when the orgasm steamrolled her. The slow, steady
thump, thump, thump
prolonged each throb around his fingers and against his wickedly stroking thumb. Not until the last pulse did she look away.

Carson’s mouth brushed her ear. “Turn around.” As soon as she did, he stretched her body out, keeping her hands against the building. “I wanna fuck you face to face so I can see that look of bliss when you come again.” He nuzzled her neck. “But I need it fast and hard and deep. I need to remind you, to remind myself that you married a man, not a loser who drowns his sorrows in a bottle. A man whose idea of heaven is bein’ balls deep in this hot cunt. A man who’ll never give you reason to doubt him again.”

With one hand he tilted her head so he could kiss her, while the other hand pushed her skirt to her hips. Then he angled his pelvis, connecting his hardness with her soft, wet tissues.

“Pull your panties out of my way,” he growled against her lips.

Managing to brace herself with one hand, she reached down and pulled the soaked crotch of her underwear aside.

The hot, slick tip of his erection bumped her hand before finding her opening. Carolyn waited for—craved—that first thrust as he impaled her fully.

But Carson eased himself inside her little by little, changing the kiss to a soft sweep of damp lips and the heated exchange of breath. Then he was seated inside her, waiting.

“Carson?”

“Promise me you’ll give me another chance.”

“I will.”

“Promise me you won’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

“Tell me you still love me.”

“I still love you.”

That’s when he unfurled all that coiled male need. Pounding into her like a battering ram.

Oh how she’d missed this. Carson’s sexual energy unleashed on her. His breath hot in her ear, his whiskey-rough voice telling her how good her pussy felt. His hand kneading her breast and one squeezing her hip. His mouth on the nape of her neck sending every fine hair on end with deceptively gentle kisses.

He knew what got to her. Knew how to propel her to the edge where she teetered precariously. Where one nudge would send her soaring into pleasure.

“One more, sugar. Give it to me.”

Then he pulled out and followed the seam of her sex with the broad tip of his cock. His hand slid down to hold the thick head against her clit. Every pump of his hips sent the rim rubbing against that swollen nub exactly where she needed it. Faster and faster until that dizzying sensation coalesced, spinning her into orbit in a hot throbbing rush. His mouth caught hers in a brutal kiss as he muffled her cries. As she came back down, she feared her legs would give out.

“I’ve got you, beautiful. I’ve always got you.”

He pushed his cock back through her plumped folds and he reentered her in one deep thrust that caused her clit to spasm one more time.

The long strokes became short jabs. There was no warning besides a groaned, “Fuck,” and Carson’s deep rumble in her ear as his orgasm overtook him.

She clamped her inner muscles down on his shaft and felt every scalding spurt of his seed. Every hard pulse.

But there were no sweet kisses or tender moments in the aftermath. The front door slammed against the building and people started streaming out.

Carson had her skirt down and her panties back in place. He turned her around and said, “Your shirt,” while he zipped and buckled. He reached down to retrieve his hat.

When he realized she hadn’t started to fix her clothing, he offered her a soft smile. “Flustered ya, didn’t I?” Then he tackled the snaps on her shirt himself.

Such a sweet man; sometimes she forgot how much she needed that tender care from him. “You always fluster me when you put your hands on me. You have since that first time.”