Things would never be the same.
That thought had been popping up all week, ever since Jake had walked out on her again. She’d avoided church last Sunday, getting her chores done and heading over to Earl’s instead. Although, that hadn’t exactly been a relaxing visit either. The old badger had known something was up and kept pestering her until she’d threatened to poison his pie. He’d let up with a grumble, but still, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the kiss.
Monday, she’d sent one of the guys into town for supplies, too nervous to face Jake and demand an explanation. Tuesday, she’d headed over to the veterinary clinic with a check for the fundraiser, but Jay hadn’t been in the office. It had been disappointing but nothing that kept her up at night. Not like the mystery reasons behind Jake’s sudden kiss-and-run habit.
Last night, she’d gone to the Hole and had a few beers with Red, but Jake hadn’t shown. When she’d asked Red about him, Red had mentioned he had a hot date, and that had pissed her off. Bad.
He had kissed her, ditched her, ignored her all week, and then had the balls to book a date for Friday night? Not that she cared about the date, ’cause Lord knows, she didn’t really want Jake, but did guys just do that? Did they just go around kissing unsuspecting women for no reason? No explanation? She’d almost asked Red about it, but he would have asked questions she wasn’t prepared to answer. For a sometimes male chauvinist, Red could be curious as a cat and as tenacious as a pit bull.
Rand looked up at the sky when she felt the first drop of rain and wanted to scream in frustration. The cows had downed a section of fencing on the roadside, and the last thing she needed was to lose any. She had to get it repaired now and stop obsessing over Jake and his wandering lips before the storm rolled in.
Hammering a nail into the post, she ignored the splatter of the falling rain on her ball cap, her face dry and her eyes clear as she focused on the repair.
Wonder if he kissed his date last night.
The hammer slipped and slammed down on her thumb. Crying out and dropping it to the ground, she held her injured hand and cursed a blue streak. The sucker throbbed so bad, tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and she pulled off her glove to assess the damage. Her thumb was already starting to swell and would be black and blue, but she didn’t think it was broken.
Carefully slipping her glove back on, she took a deep breath and grabbed another nail from her belt.
You have better things to do than think of Jake and his revolving door of hussies.
* * *
With the peace offering of pizza and beer, Jake waited for Rand.
He hadn’t meant to avoid her but was struggling with his feelings. On one hand, he knew what he wanted and knew that it wasn’t a wife, even a temporary one. On the other, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Rand: her kiss, her skin, and the way her perfect, unwrapped breasts filled out a T-shirt.
Even the very hot Laura Anne Gentry hadn’t been able to chase Rand from his mind. He’d ended up dropping her off right after dinner and heading home to his apartment alone.
He saw Rand walking up to the house, covered head to toe in mud, and grinned. This was the Rand he was used to, dirty and messy, not beautiful and sweetly sexy.
“What the hell happened to you?” he called.
Her head flew up, and he saw her eyes narrow. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He held up the box of pizza and bag. “It’s movie night.”
She stomped up the porch and snapped, “Did it ever occur to you that I might have made other plans?”
“No, it never occurred to me.” And it hadn’t. Even madder than a wet hen, Rand had never missed a pizza night unless she was sick, and even then it was iffy.
“Where’s Red?” She unzipped her sweatshirt, dropped it on the ground, and kicked off her boots. His eyes followed her hands as she unhooked her overalls, noticing her wince as she slid them down until they lay in a heap.
“You okay? You looked like you were in pain,” he asked as she stepped out of them. She wore a pair of black long johns and her red T-shirt.
“Hit my damn thumb with a hammer. You didn’t answer me,” she said, her head bent over as she took off her wet socks.
Jake wasn’t listening, though. As she lifted each long leg, his mind started to wander, picturing those slim limbs wrapped around his waist as he pushed her against the wall, his mouth coming down on hers as he reached for his zipper, determined to—
“What are you looking at?”
His eyes came back up to focus on her dark expression and he took a breath, trying to expel the fantasy. “Nothing.” He finally remembered she had asked him a question and added, “Red said he had something else going on again.”
“He’s sure been a busy beaver lately.” She bent over to pick up the pile of clothes. She opened the door to go inside, and Jake followed, watching those long legs and tight, shapely rear until she disappeared into the laundry room.
Get a grip, man!
When she came out of the laundry room, he jumped in with, “Look, Rand, I’m sorry about last week.” She watched him with those big brown eyes, her expression pointed, and he shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t have an excuse, but I promise, it will never happen again.”
The silence was deafening for several ticks.
“Fine,” she finally said, her expression telling him things were anything but. “I’m going to take a shower. Heat up my pizza, would you?”
“I thought you had other plans tonight?” he asked, smiling.
“Yeah well, for pizza and beer, I’ll cancel it. What movies did you get?”
He pulled out Young Guns One and Two, Tombstone, and 3:10 to Yuma.
“Wow, you really are sorry,” she said, and he caught himself thinking he liked the way her eyes grew warm when she was happy.
As westerns were not his favorite genre, he knew exactly what she meant. “I am.”
“Well, I’m going to run and shower before you change your mind.”
He watched her go, but thoughts of a naked Rand only a few rooms away made him want to bang his head against the wall.
* * *
Rand went back to the bathroom after her pizza and brushed her teeth, figuring she’d probably fall asleep during the third movie. By then she’d be out of it and forget, and she hated going to bed without brushing.
She came back into the living room, flopped onto the couch, and curled her legs under her chin. “So what should we watch first?”
Jake’s lips twisted into a grimace. “You pick. They’re all painful for me.”
She jumped up with Young Guns and slipped it into the DVD player. She loved Young Guns, especially because of the very young and cute Charlie Sheen. She came back to the couch and impatiently tapped the remote against her thigh as it loaded.
Sitting next to Jake on the couch, she could feel the warmth radiating off his body, and the smell of his cologne was giving her those tingly feelings again.
“So, have you picked out any other dates?” Jake asked.
She shook her head. “I think I’m going to take your advice and ask Red for help. Or one of his sisters.”
“Wow, I thought you wanted nothing to do with them,” Jake said, frowning.
“I just thought if you’re right and Jay is really going to ask me out, I should probably be a little more…feminine, I guess.” She played nervously with the knee of her jeans. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“When you go out with a girl, how many dates do you wait before you kiss her?” she asked in a rush.
Jake cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “Well, there’s no set date. I can usually tell when a girl is into me by the way she acts, and she’ll usually give me signs that she wants me to kiss her.”
Had she given Jake some kind of signal? Her face flushed at the thought.
“Like, what kind of sign?” She held her knees tighter.
For a minute there, she thought he wasn’t going to answer her. After a long, thoughtful look, though, he slid closer to her and pulled her arms off her knees. “Usually, if she wants me to kiss her, she doesn’t cross her arms. Crossed arms make a guy think you don’t want him touching you.”
She dropped her arms and prodded, “What else?”
“She’ll usually touch me a lot. Run her hand over my arm, touch my hair, or brush off some lint.” He demonstrated with a soft caress on her own arm.
His fingers on her bare skin made little goose bumps pop up everywhere, and the tingles traveled from his touch to her toes. She reached out and brushed his bronzed hair off his forehead. “Like that?”
He nodded, his eyes capturing hers. “And she usually licks her lips or applies gloss. I’m not a big fan of the sticky shit, but for girls, it’s like a neon sign that says, ‘Kiss me.’”
She ran her tongue over her lips. “Like that?”
“Just like that,” he said, scooting closer and cupping the side of her face. His thumb brushed across her lips, and unconsciously, she kissed its tip.
He stared at her mouth intently but made no move to kiss her. Boldly, she kneeled up and moved until she straddled his lap, her arms wrapping around his neck.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his hands going around her waist like he was about to lift her back off.
She squeezed him between her thighs and bent down. “You weren’t taking the hint.”
And without giving him a chance to say no, she dropped her mouth that last inch and molded it to his.
* * *
You have to stop this.
Instead of listening to his voice of reason, Jake deepened the kiss, running his hands over her back. Reaching the tight bun of her hair, he tried to take it down so he could tangle his hands in it, but she jerked away and cried, “Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay, you just startled me. You want it down?”
“Yeah.”
She reached up behind her head, and released the brown strands, fanning them out with her fingers. “How’s that?”
“Beautiful.” He slid his hands into her hair and pulled her mouth to his.
“I’m not,” she whispered between kisses.
“What?”
“I’m not beautiful,” she repeated.
“I think you are.” He moved his mouth along her jaw to her neck.
“You are such a liar,” she said, but he caught the way her neck tilted to the side to give him better access and smiled against her skin.
He continued his slow descent down to the edge of her T-shirt. “Am not.”
She reached up and ran her fingertips over his neck, making him forget exactly what they were arguing about, and he was uncomfortably aware that his hard-on was nearly perfectly nestled against the apex of her thighs.
Pulling away from her, he looked up and asked, “What are we doing?”
“What? I like kissing you.” Her fingers were playing with the back of his neck, and it was distracting as hell.
“Yeah, I like it too, but aren’t you supposed to be looking for a husband?” he asked, and her fingers stopped moving.
“Yeah. And I was thinking maybe you could help me out with that.”
“How am I going to do that?” he asked, his chest tightening with anxiety.
Her cheeks blossomed pink. “By teaching me how to kiss and anything else I need to know.”
That wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting, and instead of being relieved, he was irritated. “So you can practice on me, and then use what you’ve learned to snare some poor sap? I thought you wanted a marriage in name only anyway?”
She shrugged, which infuriated him more. “I don’t really know what I want anymore. All I do know is I’m about to lose my ranch, and I can’t let that happen.”
He didn’t like her pleading look. Rand never begged for anything, and she looked like she was three seconds away from falling to her knees and clasping her hands. “You know how to kiss.” He almost didn’t hear her, her voice was so quiet. “But I’ve never done…anything else before.”
“Rand, are you saying you’re a virgin?” he asked, unable to conceal his surprise. He knew she didn’t really date, but he figured she’d just been sly about it.
She tried to look away, but he caught her chin. “Are you?”
“Yeah,” she said hesitantly, but her eyes suddenly flared, and she added, “By choice. I didn’t want anyone talking about me and my private matters.”
He almost asked if he had been her first kiss but thought it might put her over the edge. Releasing her chin, he gently tucked her hair behind her ear. “Lesson number one: leave your hair down. Guys like long hair.”
“It gets in my way,” she protested.
“I thought you wanted my advice and expertise,” he countered.
She frowned. “I do.”
“Then take my advice. Anytime you aren’t working, wear your hair down.” Tangling his hands in the brown curtain, he pulled her down and kissed her right under the ear.
“Fine,” she whispered, and he trailed his mouth back to hers.
“How many dresses do you have?” he asked as he ran his hands down over her hips.
“Just the one my granddaddy bought for me for the Johnsons’ wedding.”
“Wear it to church tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at nine.” He nibbled at her bottom lip.
“You’re taking me to church?” She slid her hands under the front of his shirt and over his abs.
He liked the feel of her callused hands over his bare skin, but if he didn’t stop her, they were going to move beyond light petting and head straight for the really good stuff. Pulling away from her, he said, “Yeah, I’m taking you to church.”
“Why?” Her voice was soft, breathless, and sexy as hell.
“Because one of the best ways to gain another man’s undivided attention is to date someone else.”
“But I had two other dates this week…”
Jake lifted his brow. “Fred and Bubba are great guys, but not exactly stiff competition for a guy like Jay. The guy’s no slouch.”
“Are you telling me you’ve been checking out Jay?”
He scowled. “Not like that, but a man likes to size up the competition. Which is exactly what Jay’s going to do when you show up tomorrow with me.”
“You are so cocky.” She pursed her lips as she seemed to consider his idea. Suddenly, her mouth split into a wide grin, and she shook him by his shoulders. “But I also think you might just be an evil genius!”
Actually, Jake felt more like the biggest idiot in the world as Rand threw her arms around him and the smell of peaches surrounded him. “Damn straight I am.”
She pulled back and said, “I owe you big.”
“I’ll remember that.”