Lasso My Heart (4 page)

She worked her slick folds from bottom to top, traced a pattern over her clit and back down to her soaking entrance. The private bubble of memory mixed with her memories of Josh’s big body moving over her—inside her. And Tucker’s smoldering eyes right before he lowered his head between her legs.

A quake hit her, and she rocketed upward. Pulsing, contracting, her inner walls squeezing with a body-racking orgasm. She gulped back her cry as ecstasy wiped the images from her mind. She closed her eyes to hold in the moment. Only when she heard the tractor engine roll over did she return to her senses.

Oh God.
She’d just used both men in her fantasy. What kind of woman was she? Having Tucker show up on their doorstep had unnerved her. She hadn’t thought of him that way in years and years. Not since meeting Josh. What she and Tucker’d had was young lust. Josh was her world.

With a hollow stomach, she got out of bed, showered quickly and dressed in her normal clothes for working on the ranch—tank top and jeans. In the kitchen, she poured herself a mug of coffee Josh must have made before going out to work.

Fresh guilt assaulted her. Any rampant thoughts from her unconscious mind were officially cut away. She wandered to the screen door with mug in hand just in time to see the old tractor burst from the shed, gurgling like an old drain.

A laugh rose in her as she spotted her husband seated atop the rusty steel, grinning like a fool. Her gaze lingered on the open throat of his shirt and the tanned, lickable flesh there. Then slid to the man running out of the shed behind him, waving his hat in the air.

She laughed again and moved onto the porch to watch the tractor running for the first time since they’d bought the property. Bare-footed and still cradling her mug, she crossed the yard as Josh disappeared around the barn with a whoop of glee.

Tucker spotted her. As he strode toward her, every muscle rolled like a predatory animal’s. Thighs bulging in his jeans, arms corded with muscle developed by holding onto bulls for dear life. And his tight PBR T-shirt left nothing to the imagination. She could see the ripples of his abs from here.

Quickly she took a sip of coffee to cover her reaction. He was a god of a man, just like her husband. What woman wouldn’t look at them both?

A stupid one.

Tucker came to stand beside her, and together they watched Josh loop the barn two more times. By the third time, they were bent over laughing together.

“He’s like a kid with his bicycle fixed,” she said, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye.

Tucker nodded. “I think he was that way with his first car. Remember?”

“Do I remember the old brown tank belching smoke all over the school parking lot so nobody wanted to go out of the building even after the bell rang? Yeah, I do.”

Tucker gave a masculine grunt that made her skin prickle in awareness. “He sure was proud of that jalopy.”

“Looks as if he’s got another jalopy to adore.” She waved away some of the blue smoke drifting to them on the air currents.

“Yeah, it’s running a little rich.”

“How’d you get it running? Josh has been working on that thing on and off for a whole year.”

“It needed a little finesse is all,” Tucker drawled.

She arched a brow at him. His hazel eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled.

“Oh all right. We manhandled the son of a bitch. Took two of us yanking on a pipe we slid over the wrench handle, but the rust finally gave. After that, it didn’t take much to get it started.”

She wiggled her toes in the soft grass and sipped her coffee. When Tucker had started walking toward her, she’d experienced  a moment of sheer panic. With her dream so fresh in her mind, she’d feared his approach. But now she was glad he had. Talking to him about normal things gave her hope that they really could make this situation work.

He rested a callused hand on her arm. She started, and coffee sloshed out of her mug.

When she looked up at him, his eyes were warm and intense. Sincere. “Does he know about us?”

She pulled her arm from his touch. “There was no us. We were sleeping together. Kids having fun.”

The corner of his mouth drooped though he nodded. “I know, but does he know?”

“No,” she breathed. Josh zigzagged across the field. She returned her gaze to the badass bull rider beside her. “It never came up and telling him now would only make us all uncomfortable.”

“Right. I just thought I’d ask.” He doffed his hat to run long, tanned fingers through his hair. The sight of it swinging forward over his square jaw inspired brand new memories from her dream.

“If it comes up, I wouldn’t lie.” Her tone came out almost belligerent.

He blinked, startled. “’Course not.”

“As long as you know I don’t have anything to hide.”

“Dixie, you don’t have anything to explain to me. I’m just your ranch hand and we’re standing here celebrating getting the old tractor running.”

Josh wheeled around in the field, the equivalent of doing a donut in the high school parking lot but a hell of a lot slower.

They both laughed at his antics, and the moment of tension passed. He was right—he was a friend who needed work, and they needed help.
So my husband can have some energy for bed.

When she placed her hand on Tucker’s sleeve, surprise crossed his handsome features. His squint lines deepened around his eyes, and his lips twitched.

“I’m glad you’re here, Tucker.”

“Me too. And the bed sure beats the crappy ones in travel trailers or motels.”

Reminded of the injury that had knocked him out of the game, she looked down, down, down his long legs. “Do your legs bother you at all?”

“Ache like a bitch when it rains, but so does most of my body. I’ve broken nineteen bones.”

“Nineteen? Crap, Tucker. I guess I missed a lot of your career.”

“You’ve been busy living life. No shame in that, Dixie girl.” The old nickname seemed to flow off his lips. Her fingers convulsed on his arm. Warm, hard muscle against her palm was too intimate, so she released him.

“Well I’d best grab my boots and get out to the barn. I was late getting up this morning.” She gazed across the land at her husband, who was returning at a more reasonable speed. When she glanced back at Tucker, his lips had tight, chiseled lines around each.

“I’ve got work to do too. See ya,” he said.

“Come inside for French toast.”

“Mmm. My favorite.” He rubbed his stomach, circling the fabric of his shirt over the ripples until she had to yank her gaze away.

As she mounted the stairs and opened the screen door, her jumbled mind could only focus on one thing.

This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

* * * * *

When Dixie set a plate of hot, gooey chocolate chip cookies on the table, Josh looked closely at her face. Chocolate chip were her let’s-make-up gift. Last time she’d made her special recipe, she’d snapped at him for feeding her chickens one morning. He’d thought she’d appreciate the help, but she took as much pride in the ranch as he did.

What had she done to warrant make-up cookies? He couldn’t remember her being anything but her sweet, normal self. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask, but now they had company for dinner. Suddenly, he was rethinking his decision to bring Tucker on. The man would be here for three squares a day.

Which meant no bending Dixie over the counter and taking her round ass. No lifting her onto the tabletop and fucking her hard enough to make her tits bounce.

His cock lengthened even as he wished to hell they were alone right now. Damn.

Tucker reached for a cookie. Josh tracked the movement, noting the man’s thick wrist and the strength in his hands. Those fingers had driven Josh nuts for so many months. Their first encounter had involved mutual masturbation, and he’d focused on Tucker’s cock as he drew the length through his hand.

His dick pinched from too little space in his jeans, and he resisted the urge to shift it. Instead he smiled at his pretty wife. Her hair was down this evening, cascading over her shoulders and trailing to her breasts.

“Now that the tractor’s running, you should be able to get the hay in faster.” Hope was in her voice, and the sound launched him into another sea of guilt. All she wanted was his time.

“Shouldn’t take more than a week,” he said, biting off some cookie. The sugary sweetness gave him an ache that had nothing to do with a sweet tooth. Dixie wouldn’t have made these cookies if she weren’t trying to make up with him. Trouble was, she hadn’t done anything wrong. Hell, even when she’d snapped at him about the chickens months ago, he’d understood her. She never needed to make up to him. He loved her through good and bad.

He stared at her across the table. Her warm brown eyes swerved between him and Tucker.

Awareness slammed him. He fumbled the cookie, and it fell into his lap over his softening erection. His stomach crawled.

Tucker had told her about their little affair. It had to be. And somehow Dixie had interpreted the knowledge into needing to do more for Josh.

Fucking hell.
He was going to take Tucker outside and pound him into the ranch dirt.

He retrieved the cookie off his lap and dropped it on the tabletop. Pushing away from the table, he brushed the crumbs off his hands. “I’d like to talk to you outside,” he said.

Tucker and Dixie stood at the same time. Josh threw his wife a look. “Not you, darlin’. Tucker and I have something to discuss.”

By his tone, both of them knew something was up. He twitched his jaw toward the screen door. “Outside.”

With that, he clomped out. Tucker, never one to back down from any conflict, followed right on his heels. Dixie spilled onto the porch behind them and ran down the steps to the yard.

“Dixie, give me a minute alone with Tucker, okay?”

She folded her arms, stress tightening her sweet lips. “What’s happening?”

“Just go back inside, darlin’.”

She shook her head. The breeze blew a strand across her face, but she ignored it, focused totally on the situation.

Josh hooked the hair with his finger and guided it back in place. Looking deep into her eyes, he said, “Please go inside. I’ll talk to you in a bit.”

Never in his married life had he separated them in such a way. What he did, she did. They were a total, unshakeable unit. At least they were before Tucker had turned up.

Dixie gave a slight nod, confusion pinching her brows together. But she turned and went back to the house. The instant she’d disappeared, Josh grabbed Tucker’s shoulder and gave him a shove toward the barn.

“What the fuck’s crawled up your ass, Thorpe?”

“You and your big mouth have, Lee.”

As soon as they were in the barn, Josh threw a punch. Tucker ducked it and came up glaring.

“Jesus, man, what are you swinging at me for?” Tucker raised his hands, boxer-style, prepared to fight back. They were well-matched. The outcome of a brawl was questionable. Josh knew his friend’s strength very well. They’d probably both be dead.

“You told my wife about us, didn’t you?” Unable to stop himself, he aimed a punch at Tucker’s stomach. His fist connected, doubling Tucker up.

The air gushed from him and his eyes bulged. But he straightened almost immediately and hurled himself at Josh. They were thrown back onto the hay-strewn floor. Josh scrambled to get out from under him, but he was strong and heavy.

Jerking his knee upward, Josh connected with Tucker’s thigh. Tucker cuffed him around the ear, ringing his head like a bell.

“I never said a word. I swore I wouldn’t, and I don’t go back on my word, you damn idiot.” Tucker’s fierce expression burrowed deep into Josh. Memories of their last moments revolved through his skull. Tucker had worn that same expression of earnestness when he’d told Josh how much he didn’t want him to go.

His chest constricted, and he pushed off the floor, levering his friend onto his ass. When Josh rolled atop him, they both stopped dead. Hard chest against chest, hips to hips.

Tucker had a hard-on the size of a bull’s. His eyes dilated as he looped an arm around Josh’s neck. One jerk and Tucker would yank him down to his mouth.

“Fucking hell.” Josh shoved away and scooted a few feet off. He slung his arms around his knees and dropped his head to them. Emotions raged.

“I shouldn’t stay.” Tucker’s voice sounded as though he were choking on hay.

Another pang shot through Josh, deeper this time. With a lump in his throat, he looked up at his friend—ex-lover. This was going to be hard as hell to manage, but the idea of turning Tucker out in the cold didn’t sit well with him. They’d worked so well all day with very little tension.

“You really didn’t tell Dixie?”

He shook his head and settled his hat with a wide palm. “Never.”

“I’m sorry. I just thought…the cookies.”

Tucker’s brows drew together. “Cookies?”

“Yeah, she bakes them when we’ve fought.”

“Did you fight?”

“No. I figured it was coming or she was trying to say she was sorry somehow.”