Wild Wyoming Nights (13 page)

When she finished feeding the horse, she headed for the house. Abby paused at the kitchen door before knocking soundly. A moment later, he pulled it open and his bare chest met her gaze. She sucked in a ragged breath when desire zipped through her.

“You don’t have to knock, Abby.”

She shrugged with a little smile when her heart started beating again. “It’s not my house.”

Chase stepped back, allowing her to enter.

“Have you eaten?” She looked at his sleepy eyes and mussed hair, her fingers itching to comb it back into place.

“Nope. Just got up when I heard the truck pull in.”

She laughed. “It’s kind of hard to be quiet with all that noise.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I never thought of it that way.”

“I’ll make coffee.” She moved into the kitchen as she heard Chase hobble toward the dining room table.

“Isn’t today when they said you could get the walking cast on?”

“Yeah, thank goodness. This being in the house is driving me nuts.”

“Well, hopefully after you get that on, you can at least go out to the barn and do a few things so you aren’t going stir crazy.”

“Good Lord, I hope so.”

She laughed as she pulled out some pans and ingredients. “How about an omelet?”

Chase cocked his eyebrow in surprise. “I haven’t had an omelet in years.”

“Well, today is your lucky day, cowboy,” she teased.

“Mmm…sounds promising.”

Her gaze swung up to meet his, and she was startled to see how dark his eyes had become. She knew the look. It was the same one he’d gotten when they kissed on his couch, the same one that promised untold pleasure if she so chose. She turned back to the cooking, doing her best to ignore it as shivers rolled down her spine.

“Did they tell you what time?”

“They said come by the office any time. It wouldn’t take long.”

“Shall we go after we eat, then?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. The sooner I can walk on this thing, the better.”

* * * *

Abby and Chase talked about the horses, his ranch, his family, her family, and anything else they could think of while they ate. Avoiding any kind of talk concerning what happened between them on the couch and her date with Christopher became second nature. He didn’t want to know
anything
about her date. He’d seen the other man kiss her by the car, and he felt like he wanted to punch the wall.

Once they finished, Abby cleared the table while he went into the bedroom and put on a shirt. He slid his coat on, and she followed when he hobbled out to the truck. She was right. He hated anyone driving his vehicle. Krista never drove it. Now he had to sit back and let some woman he barely knew drive. It just didn’t sit right with him at all.

“You aren’t going to give me crap this morning about driving are you?”

“Nope. My lips are sealed.”

Abby gave him a skeptical frown before she started it and headed down the driveway.

Reaching the hospital, he directed her to the physician’s office where she pulled into an empty spot and turned off the truck.

He slid off the seat, balancing himself on the crutches as she walked around and helped him shut the door. They walked into the office building, not completely oblivious to the curious stares that followed.

An hour or so later, he came back out with the crutches, hobbling to the truck as he grumbled under his breath.

Abby rolled her eyes. “Will you quit already? It’s only another day until the cast dries.”

“That’s not what they said originally.”

“Are you always this impatient? Gotta have it now kind of guy?” His eyes shot up to hers when the words hit him square in the jaw.

If she only knew how patient I’m being. I want nothing more to bury myself in her hot, wet warmth and rock her world.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Chase slid into the cab of the truck while she went around the other side.

They drove back to his house in silence while thoughts of making love to her had his cock straining against the fly of his jeans.

Once they managed to get him inside without too much difficulty, she headed for the kitchen. “I’ll fix you a nice lunch so you can forget about the cast. Then we can figure out some way to get your mind off it for the rest of the evening.”

Damn it! Does she have any idea what she’s doing to me?

“Chase?”

“Huh? Sorry. I was thinking.”

“What would you like for lunch?”

You on the dining room table.

He cleared his throat. “Whatever is fine. I’m not a picky eater.”

“Well, let’s see what’s in the fridge, then.”

He watched her putter around his kitchen in awe. The curve of her hips, the sumptuous cheeks of her ass, the swell of her breasts as they pushed against her shirt, held nothing if not his attention. He had been so wrapped up in his musings; he was surprised when she set a plate down in front of him.

“Thanks.”

“Sure. What would you like to drink?”

“Milk is fine.”

“Coming right up.”

He managed to get his mind off how soft her lips looked long enough to eat his lunch without grabbing her and devouring them under his own. That is until she cleared the dishes before she returned to his side and said, “What shall we do now?”

Oh shit! I know what I want to do, but I’m sure she has something else in mind.

He cleared his throat and shifted in the chair. “How about cards? I think I have a couple of decks in the drawer over there in the kitchen.”

“Okay.”

Abby was back in moments with the cards in her hand as she slid onto the seat across from him and started shuffling. “Poker?”

Surprised, he laughed at her suggestion. “Poker? Sure. You have money?”

“Mmm…maybe.” A playful smile flittered across her mouth, and his blood shunted to his groin. “Of course I have money.”

Abby reached for her purse, pulling out her wallet and dumping the change on the table. He always kept a jar of spare change on the table near the door so he asked her to retrieve it for him.

“Sure.”

Returning with the jar clutched in her hand she asked, “Penny ante?”

“Works for me. That way you won’t lose too much.”

A what-you-don’t-know-won’t-hurt-you look rippled across her face, and he was afraid he’d just gotten in way over his head.

“Do you want to deal first or me?”

“Ladies first.”

Abby expertly shuffled the cards and cut them with deft precision. He had a gut feeling he was in trouble when she started to deal.

They played for a couple of hours, laughing hysterically as they talked, and told stories about growing up. He relayed more about the horses he bred and promised her she could help him next time he had one to break. They broke out a wine bottled he had stashed in one of the cabinets and toasted to everything and anything they could think of.

A half-drunken smile lifted the corners of her mouth and she giggled.
She’s cute when she’s drunk. Of course, I’m feeling pretty good myself right now.

The pile in front of him grew and hers dwindled to nothing.

“I’m out of money it looks like.”

He started to put the cards away, but caught the twinkle in her eye across the table.

“Do you want me to loan you some?”

“No, I don’t want to owe you.” Her flirty smile was back.

Damn! I just got my raging lust under control.

He felt his cock swell, pressing insistently against his fly, and he fought a tortured groan from reaching his lips.

“What do you propose, then?”

Abby cocked a perfectly arched eyebrow at him before her gaze shifted to his shirt.

He allowed his own flirtatious smile to flitter across his lips. “Strip?”

She shrugged, but he could tell she was uneasy, so it shocked him even further when she said, “Sure.”

* * * *

Abby couldn’t believe she’d just agreed to play strip poker with him.

What the hell am I thinking? I need to just get in his truck and go home, right now—right this minute before something happens I’m going to regret later.

“Are you sure about that?” A frown pulled the corners of his mouth down. She was sure he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. That was the last thing a man like him would do, but her comfort level with him bordered on insane.

“What’s wrong, Chase, afraid you’ll lose?”
 

Good lord, what am I doing?

He looked at the pile in front of him and the non-existent pile in front of her before his dimples peeked out as he grinned. “I don’t think so.”

“Mmm…let’s see what you got, cowboy.”

More wine found its way into her glass when he dealt the cards. She picked up her hand without even a smirk resting on her lips.

My luck is definitely turning around.

“Two cards, please,” she said, sliding two cards into the middle of the table.

Chase dealt her two.

“I’ll take two as well.” He gave himself two cards and set the deck on the table.

She studied her cards before she let herself sneer just a little.

“I’ll bet one sock,” he said and gave her a half smile.

“One sock?” she asked with more confidence than she actually felt.

“Yep.”

“I’ll raise you a shoe.”

He grinned in return and asked, “You think you have something, huh?”

“You’ll never know unless you fess up the shoe.”

His dimples peeked out, and her heart thumped in her chest, slamming against her ribs. She took a shaky breath.

“Okay.” Chase leaned over and pulled off his sock and shoe, dropping them in the middle of the table. “Let’s see.”

She turned over her hand face up and flashed him a triumphant smile. He groaned before he flipped his over. Her three of a kind beat his two pair.

Several hands later, she was minus her shoes and socks, but he had lost his as well, and now they were in a stare down.

“What are you going to bet now?” she teased.

There were those dimples again.

Damn! He needs to quit that before I melt in a puddle on this chair.

 
“My shirt. What about you?”

Inhaling on a shaky breath, she said, “I’ll bet my bra.”

Air whooshed from between his lips, and he closed his eyes.
 
When he opened them again, they had dilated to the point where his blue iris had almost disappeared. He cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “Let’s see it.”

Abby reached inside her shirt, unsnapping her bra from the back and slipped it out from underneath, holding it between her fingers as she shot him a challenging look. She watched in undisguised anticipation as his fingers worked the buttons on his shirt, slowly undoing them, revealing the hard muscles beneath.

Shit! I almost forgot how nice his chest is.

 
Moisture gathered in her mouth, and she was sure she was about to drool all over the table.

Oh hell!

 
He slipped it off his shoulders and she swallowed,
hard.

“Whatcha got?”

“Two pair,” she replied, flipping over her cards.

“You lose. I’ve got a full house.” He turned his cards over and the thought rippling through her mind was that she’d won as she stared at his bare chest. After all, she now had his gorgeous muscled chest to stare at.

He laid his shirt across his lap, and she dropped her bra in the middle of the table. He swooped up his winnings as a devilish grin graced his mouth, and he fingered the lacey piece of material.

“Nice.”

She blushed, chewing her bottom lip as she watched his fingers caress the lace that was against her skin not two minutes before. Heat pooled between her thighs, robbing her brain of the blood needed to keep her mind working on all cylinders.

“My deal.” She shuffled the cards, deftly dealing them both five. Setting the deck down, Abby picked up her cards. A pair of aces stared her in the face.

“My shirt is up again. What are you bettin’ this time?”

“My shirt, too.”

She could have sworn she heard a groan come from across the table.

He slid three cards across the table and said, “I’ll take three.”

She sighed as he picked up his cards. She dealt three to herself and laid the deck on the table again.

Two pair—not bad.

“Are you raising?”

“Uh-huh…my jeans,” he said, in what sounded suspiciously like a growl and a challenge in his eyes she couldn’t refuse.

She closed hers for a moment.
Oh God!
“I’ll call.”