With a wiggle she freed herself from him, pushed him back on the bed, and straddled his body. “My turn, cowboy.”
It only took a shift and another wiggle and he was planted firmly inside her and she started the slow ride. When he could stand no more, he groaned and circled her waist with his big hands.
“Laura, darlin’, this isn’t going to be a two-hour movie.” He flipped her over on her back and took control, bringing them both to the top of the game in just a few strokes.
She buried her face in his shoulder. “It was better than a movie. It got right to the point and now I can’t breathe.”
He propped up on his elbows. “Is this afterglow?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never had afterglow, but it’s sure wonderful.”
They snuggled together under the covers, taking up only a small portion of the king-sized bed. Laura intended to rest her eyes for a minute and then go over to her own room. It wasn’t healthy to spend two nights in his bed. One was excusable since they were both tired and had had a few drinks. Two and she’d be thinking that was where she belonged. Just a few seconds to enjoy the pretty warm feeling surrounding them like a furry blanket in a snowstorm and then she’d sneak out of his bed and go to hers. His soft breathing said he was already asleep.
She cuddled up next to him and fell fast asleep. They both slept that deep sleep reserved for those lucky folks who have just had mind-blowing sex.
She awoke the next morning angling for a fight. If they had a rousing good argument it would put a screeching stop to her feelings. Happiness didn’t last forever and it was smart to clip it in the bud before it faded like yesterday’s lilies.
Breakfast was awkward. Packing to leave was hurried. The ride down the elevator was quiet as she tried to make sense out of all the mixed emotions rattling around inside her body and mind.
The trip from penthouse to lobby was over in a flash, but when the doors opened, Melanie, Bunny, Tootsie, and Karen were there, arguing as usual. Colton let go of her hand and brushed a kiss across her lips. The magical weekend was over. When she had awakened that morning, her robe waited on the end of the bed and Colton was singing in the shower.
“Good morning. Glad y’all got here before we left so we could say good-bye,” Karen said.
“I’ll get the valet to bring the truck around. You’ve got a few minutes to talk to the ladies,” he said.
She smiled at the ladies. “I figured y’all would be gone. We were running so late.”
Tootsie smiled. “I remember back when we used to be late on the day after the dance. Enjoy it, darlin’. You’ll get old soon enough and all you’ll want to do after a meal and a couple of dances is put on a comfortable gown and go to sleep.”
Karen hugged her and tucked a business card into her shirt pocket. “Our dear husbands have to get our vehicles brought around and the luggage loaded. If you are back in Dallas before the next board meeting, call one of us and we’ll do lunch, or better yet, a day of beauty.”
“You were the talk of the party last night,” Bunny said.
“Really?” Laura said.
“Good talk. Everyone says Colton did well when he found you.”
“I hope they are right. We have a big barn party going on next Saturday. It’s going to last all day. If y’all are free, please come up to Ambrose and join us,” Laura said.
“I just might do that,” Tootsie said.
Laura hugged her. “Call me if you want to come the night before and you can stay at the ranch. Got to go; there’s our truck.”
Sunday morning traffic was sparse. At eleven o’clock folks were either sleeping off the effects of Saturday night parties or else sitting in church. Either way, they weren’t on the road that morning.
Lightning streaked through the sky and thunder rumbled. Rain, so hard that it obliterated the skyline, was the last view that Laura had of the hotel.
“Weekend used to last forever. This time it was too short,” Colton said.
“We had a good time, didn’t we?”
He reached across the seat and laid a hand on her knee. “We had a wonderful time, Laura. Thank you for going with me and for everything.”
Was she supposed to tell him that he was welcome? Was that what pretend girlfriends that got too involved in the make-believe world did? She looked out the side window at the hard rain and didn’t say anything.
The lyrics from Brad Paisley’s song a few years back came to her mind. It said that hard rain don’t last. The man was a prophet for sure because by the time they’d made it up the highway to McKinney, the rain had slowed to a drizzle and she could actually see the white lines on the highway. A few miles farther and there was barely a drop to the acre, but water still stood in puddles and the ditches along the road were flowing.
“I hope we got some of this,” Colton said.
“All the hay baled?”
It was time to forget the hot sex and go back to ranching, evidently.
“Rusty was finishing up with it yesterday morning. A good rain will be real good on the next crop that just went into the ground. And your flower gardens,” he reminded her.
The weekend had been a figment of her imagination. It hadn’t really happened or they wouldn’t be talking about hay, rain, and flower beds. Did Cinderella feel like this after the ball when she went back to scrubbing floors and living in the attic?
Laura blinked several times to keep tears from rolling down her cheeks. She’d felt beautiful but now it was time to go home to the ranch and go back to work. She’d go to her apartment at the end of the day and he’d go upstairs to his bedroom. They’d hold hands and even brush light kisses across cheeks and foreheads, but the fire was gone now, leaving nothing but cold, gray ashes in its place.
She noticed the Ross store where she’d bought her inexpensive little red dress. She should have worn it instead of letting Melanie talk her into charging the white dress to the hotel room. She would definitely make Andy take the price of it from her final paycheck. She didn’t intend to owe anyone for anything when she left. She loved that dress, loved how it made her feel when she wore it, and in the future she’d take it out of the zippered bag and remember the most beautiful weekend of her life.
One tear escaped but she quickly brushed it away.
Colton’s phone rang and he hit the speaker button. “We’re about ten minutes from the ranch,” he answered.
“You didn’t stop and eat, did you?” Maudie asked.
“No, we didn’t.”
“Then I’ll set the table for y’all too. Chester made chocolate cake before he left yesterday. I can’t wait for you to get here and tell me all about the weekend.”
“We’re on the way. Bye, now.” Colton touched the phone and the truck cab was quiet again.
All
about
the
weekend?
She could tell them about the hotel, the dinner, the spa, and even the ladies, but never about what was tucked away inside her heart. It was impossible.
***
Colton had spent two days in another world. It had gone by like a flash of lightning zipping through the sky, but now that he was back on the Circle 6 it seemed like he’d been gone a month.
He hiked a leg on the rail fence and looked out over a pasture full of Angus cattle. The air was fresh from the recent rain, but the warm sun had brought on humidity. Even with the sticky weather, Colton was glad to be home and even happier that those events were only a couple of times a year.
Rusty propped his elbows on the fence beside Colton. “So did she do all right in the big city?”
“She did fine.” Colton removed his cell phone from his shirt pocket, touched the screen, and brought up a picture. “See?”
“Who is that? Did y’all have movie star look-alikes this year?” Rusty asked.
“Look closer.”
“That’s a Marilyn look-alike but I don’t recognize the cowboy. Is he supposed to be Josh Turner?” Rusty asked.
“We didn’t have a movie star thing. The guy is some multibillionaire who paid out the ass for a couple of dances with the lady.”
“How do you know?”
Colton grinned. “Because I made him pay and I asked the president of the committee the next morning how much he’d donated.”
Rusty studied the picture on the phone then touched the screen and zeroed in on the woman’s face. “Shit! That ain’t… is it? It’s Laura. What did you do when you saw her lookin’ like that?”
“Stuttered.”
Rusty threw back his head and roared.
“It wasn’t funny.”
He wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve and was still chuckling when he said, “Oh, yes it was. This whole false relationship idea has whipped around to bite you on the ass. Laura is everything you wanted all these years and you are probably going to lose her because she thinks this whole thing is just a front. You are falling for that woman, my friend.”
Colton slapped the top fence rail hard enough to shake it. “What do I do about it?”
“I reckon you’ve got a while to think about it. It’s going to take her a long time to pay off that debt, but you’ve got your work cut out for you convincing her that this has gone from false to real. Did you kiss her? Of course you did. You’d be a fool not to kiss her,” Rusty mused.
Colton nodded.
“Knock your socks off?”
He nodded again.
“Then talk her into staying.”
“That love shit is some scary stuff,” Colton said.
“Yes, it is, and it’s some serious stuff too. Don’t lead her on. If you get tired of this thing that we all forced you into tell her and then tell us.”
“I’m not sure I’ll get tired of it,” he said.
Rusty shrugged. “That’s up to you, partner. We got two more calves while you were gone. Heifers were those two yearlings that you bred to Dandy Six. Cows didn’t have a bit of trouble.”
“Bulls?”
“No, heifers. Good stock that folks will pay high for if you want to sell.”
Colton shook his head. “Anything out of Dandy stays on the ranch unless it’s a bull. I’ll keep one or two to replace him when he’s too old to use anymore, but the heifers I plan to keep. And I’m not selling anything that T-Bone produces either.”
Rusty looked at the picture one more time and handed him the cell phone. “I hear that you’re letting Roxie partner up the games for the party.”
Colton smiled. “It’s good for her. You worried about who she might fix you up with for the day?”
“Hell, no!”
Colton laughed. “How much did it cost you?”
Rusty blushed. “Fifty bucks not to put me with Cynthia Talley. I’d rather dig worms with Ina Dean. At least she wouldn’t be squeamish about putting them in a can and squeal if she broke a fingernail.”
“You got a good deal. I would’ve paid Roxie a hundred. Andy talked to her yet?”
“You the lucky one. To keep the gossip vines well watered, you get to play games with Laura and it ain’t costin’ you a thin dime. Andy had to give her sixty dollars because she already had his name beside Cynthia’s and she said it cost ten extra to erase it. He said it was money well spent.”
Colton threw up both palms. “Y’all just need to find a girlfriend and you won’t ever have to buy your way out of partners again.”
“I’ll pay my fifty rather than feel like you do today. Guess who Cynthia is with now?”
“The preacher. That’s who Roxie planned to put her with the whole time,” Colton answered.
Rusty slapped his thigh. “That gypsy demon!”
“We don’t know that her grandma was a real gypsy.”
“Oh, I bet she was and I bet Roxie is just like her.” Rusty pushed away from the fence and headed toward the barn with the pool and gym, mumbling the whole way. He’d barely gotten out of sight when Andy joined Colton at the fence.
“The bill for the hotel came through on your credit card. Were you aware that your new bride bought a very expensive dress and spent a wad at a spa? I hope that I didn’t unleash a monster when we helped to get those rumors started.” He pulled a red bandana from the bib pocket of his striped overalls and mopped sweat from his round face.
“I’d be willing to bet that she insists on you taking the money out of her final payment for both.” Colton removed the cell phone from his pocket again and brought up the picture he’d shown Rusty.
Andy took it when Colton offered it to him. “Wow! Who is… holy smokin’ shit!”
Colton couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “If she never gives me back a penny of what she spent, I won’t complain. You should’ve been there, Andy Joe. It was amazing to walk into that dinner with her on my arm. You done good, partner, when you brought her to the ranch.”
Andy continued to stare at the picture. “You fallin’ for her?”
Colton looked out across the pasture for a long time before he answered. “A man can fall for a woman without letting her have his heart, can’t he?”
“If you manage to do that, you write a book about it and we’ll make another billion,” Andy said.
***
Roxie squealed when she saw the dress. “Can I borrow it for the prom next year? Please, please, please! Dillon will think I’m beautiful in that dress.”
“Of course you can, but we’ll have to get it altered. And honey, Dillon thinks you are beautiful no matter what you are wearing.”
Roxie looked down at her chest and whispered, “You think Colton will buy me some boobs?”
“Roxie!”
“Well, it’s worth askin’. All he can say is no.”
“And you’ve got enough nerve to ask him for new boobs?”
Roxie blushed as crimson as Laura had the morning she woke up in Colton’s bed. “Probably not, but I sure would like to have bigger ones. Tell me about the dance. Was it fabulous?”
“Yes, it was. I snuck in a few pictures with my phone. Want to see them?”
Roxie crawled up in the middle of Laura’s bed and reached with both hands. “Oh, oh, look at that chandelier and that room. It’s like a Cinderella ball. And who is this?”
“Her name is Tootsie and she was a riot. She and some other ladies went with me for a day of beauty. It was unreal, Roxie. I really did feel like Cinderella.”
Roxie looked up. “Will you take me for one of them on the day of my prom next year?”
“If you don’t make a single C all year, I promise that you can have a day at the spa.”
Roxie’s smile was prepayment for whatever a day like that would cost. If Laura wasn’t still on the ranch, then she’d come back just for that occasion.
“Did he kiss you?” Roxie asked.
It was Laura’s turn for high color in her cheeks.
“He did!” Roxie grabbed her heart and fell backwards onto the pillows. “Tell me what it was like. Did it make you go all jelly inside and did you see stars and feel all tingly?”
“All of the above,” Laura said.
“I knew it. I just knew it was out there somewhere just like in the romance books.”
“You don’t feel like that when Dillon kisses you?” Laura asked.
“No, I don’t, but I might someday.”
Laura’s laughter echoed off the walls. “Then why don’t you let Rosalee have him?”
“I’m the only girl he’s ever kissed and he’s got to learn, don’t he?”
“Is he the only boy you’ve ever kissed?”
Roxie smiled shyly. “Yes, he is. I’m not going to have a baby at sixteen and repeat my momma’s mistakes. I’m going to go to college and be somebody, like you.”
Laura moved from the rocker to the edge of the bed. “Roxie, I was eighteen two days after I graduated high school. That’s as much education as I got. I did not go to college. I went right to work in a greenhouse and when I got laid off I came here.”
Roxie sat up and handed the phone back to Laura. “But you are somebody. You went to the ball and you got all dolled up and you were friends with those women. You are smart. Andy says you are and that you are the best help he could ever have.”