Authors: Regina Carlysle
Scarlet gasped. “Married?”
“I didn’t know. She told me she wasn’t involved with anybody and I believed her. Anyway, her husband came home from a business trip and found us.” Nash reached up and rubbed his nose. Scarlet didn’t need to hear the rest. She knew what happened.
“Anyway, that’s why I stay away from the locals when I come in for a rodeo.”
“Until now.”
Nash leaned over her and settled his lips in for a slow, long kiss. “Yeah. Until now.”
Scarlet wound her arms around his shoulders as feeling swamped her. She wanted him so badly. No man had ever made her feel this way but he’d made it clear he was only in this for the short term. She knew she was going to be hurt badly but at the moment she couldn’t think. Passion clouded her judgment, she knew, but she just couldn’t help herself.
“Nash?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“Stay?”
“Yeah. All right. I’ll stay for as long as you want.”
Sighing, she sank against him, wanting him, craving him yet knowing deep in her heart that he’d never stay as long as she wanted.
****
“Heavens to Betsy, hon, that’s the sexiest damn man I’ve ever seen in my life,” Lyssa said with a sigh as they sat together at the rodeo the following afternoon.
Crowds milled around, taking their seats in anticipation of the big event of the day. The bull riding. Nash had left her place at dawn despite her protests that it wasn’t necessary. Still, he worried about how it might look to her neighbors and convinced her that high-tailing it out of there was best. Sweetridge was a small town after all, where gossips lived on every street and wouldn’t they all buzz about the rodeo rider getting cozy with the local girl?
Gossip didn’t bother Scarlet. She understood how small towns worked and was prepared to wade through any much tossed her way. Nash was worth it. Sending her gaze toward the chutes at the edge of the arena, she nibbled the edge of a fingernail. Had he gotten enough rest? Considering the sexual gymnastics of the past night, she highly doubted it.
Scarlet couldn’t help but worry. She watched him, once again, seated on the top rail of a chute while Shorty wrapped tape around the leather glove Nash wore on his right hand. He’d told her last night, the glove and tape served to protect his hand and keep his grip on the bull from slipping. He must’ve felt her eyes on him, because he glanced up. Nash was too far away for her to catch his expression, but he reached up with his left hand and tipped his hat.
“Oh. My. God.” Lyssa whispered. “Did he just tip his hat? Girl, you know I’m not a gushy kind of woman, but I would happily gush all over that Nash Logan. He’s got it bad for you.”
“Stop it, Lyssa. This is just a temporary thing. Just a brief affair.”
Her friend went still and looked at her. Hard. “You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Lyssa’s arm went around her waist and she leaned close for a hug. “Oh, honey, be careful. I love you and I don’t want you to be hurt.”
Scarlet didn’t want that either but she knew pain was waiting for her right around the corner. Nash was leaving tomorrow and she’d probably never see him again. Tears burned behind her eyes.
How could she be so weepy, so smitten, over a man who wouldn’t hang around? Stupid. It was stupid and futile. Determined to be adult about the whole thing, she drew a deep breath and looked at her friend. “I’m going to be hurt. There’s no way around it. The man completely does it for me but you know what? I’m not going to cry about it now. I’ll wait until he leaves tomorrow before bawling like a baby. Today might be all I have but I’m damn sure going to enjoy it.”
Together they clapped and cheered as one bull rider after another tried his luck. It was a good crop of cowboys today and Scarlet was impressed with the strength and athleticism displayed by every one. Nash was up next. One more rider to go.
Scarlet watched in appalled fascination as a cowboy from Arizona leaned and swayed atop a buttermilk colored bull named Rambo. After about six seconds, the bull tossed him off but his hand became caught in the strap. The cowboy was battered around and dragged like a broken doll. Wicked hooves slashed at the man’s torso.
The crowd gasped as one, standing. Many women had hands over their mouths, staring in shocked horror. Men yelled out. Rodeo clowns, some of the genuinely toughest cowboys in the world, raced out to free the fallen rider. The bull, distracted, focused in on a clown who wore huge, padded jeans and a polka dot shirt. Scarlet knew that behind that painted smile, the clown didn’t find the situation a bit funny. He taunted the bull and it charged, chasing him across the area until, just in the nick of time, the clown bounded up over the railing and into several pairs of waiting arms. While the bull was herded off, a silent ambulance drove onto the arena floor.
Several attendants lifted the injured cowboy onto a stretcher as the crowd watched in utter silence. One of the clowns leaned over the fallen man. When the ambulance drove away, the clown yelled out to the crowd. “He’s gonna be okay, folks. That bull did a little dance on his bum knee, that’s all. He’s going to be all right.”
The stadium erupted in cheers and whistles but Scarlet’s heart was in her throat. As a woman who often attended during rodeo season, she knew how dangerous this sport could be.
And Nash was next.
Without thinking, she reached for Lyssa’s hand and held on. “I’m nervous,” she whispered.
“I know, Scarlet. The man has done this a million times. This is his thing and he’s good at it.”
Scarlet couldn’t speak. Her mouth went dry and, in the distance, she heard the scream of one pissed off bull.
“Our final competitor is Nash Logan from New Braunfels, Texas. He won the steer roping event yesterday and now he’s ready for a real challenge with Terminator. Let’s give this tough cowboy a big round of applause. Be careful out there, Nash, you’ve got a nasty, mean bull on your hands.”
The crowd erupted with cheers but Scarlet barely noticed. Focused on the chute at the far end of the arena, she watched Nash perch on the highest rail as he prepared to mount the beast. Kicks to the sides of the pen and more maniacal shrieking mingled with the sounds of the cheering crowd.
She’d never been so scared in her life. Was Nash insane? The vision of that last cowboy being battered to the point he needed an ambulance screamed through her brain.
A loud horn sounded and Nash leaped onto the back of the thrusting, lunging beast as it bounded from the pen. Its eyes, black and mean-looking, rolled back in its head as it raced across the arena floor desperately trying to dislodge the rider from his back.
Scarlet gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Her heart threatened to pound from her chest. She struggled to breathe.
Nash’s cowboy hat sailed into the air as he moved with the wild rhythms of the animal. Terminator was huge, a massive bull with a black glossy coat and wicked ivory horns rising from his broad skull. She couldn’t see the expression on Nash’s face because he was a man in constant motion.
As gracefully as a ballet dancer, his left arm swooped through the air as his right hand clenched tightly to the leather bracing. Fluidly, his torso weaved back and then forward as he rode the giant beast. Nope. Nash wasn’t budging from Terminator’s back.
The crowd went wild and so did Scarlet.
Leaping to her feet, she pumped her fists in the air, cheering Nash on.
She was so caught up in the moment, Scarlet barely registered the sound of the horn blasting. Eight seconds.
Nash leaped from the back of the bull, rolling a couple of times before rising up on one knee. He looked toward the crazed bull who had turned and was heading straight for him until a trio of clowns rushed into the mix and steered the snorting, stamping bull away.
“Eight seconds. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Nash Logan,” the announcer yelled into the microphone.
Pride filled her, threatening to steal her breath. Relief was there, too. Heart pounding in her throat, Scarlet stood and grabbed her purse.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Lyssa looked up. Her face was flushed, she was smiling broadly. “As if I don’t know.”
“Don’t wait for me. I have to see Nash.”
Heading down the stadium seats with a mission in mind, she spoke brief hellos to several locals then made her way around the arena toward the cowboys’ entrance. Zig-zagging through the participants as they killed some time, she searched for Nash. Finally, she spotted him and stopped dead in her tracks.
Hot damn!
He laughed at something Shorty said, leaving Scarlet poleaxed by the sheer beauty of him. The tall man playfully punched him in the arm and Nash shook his head as he slapped his dusty black hat against his thigh. Sunlight caught the hint of red in his hair and emphasized his dark coloring.
Without warning he looked up and caught her gaze, his grin of acknowledgement sexy and wicked as sin.
Scarlet didn’t hesitate but ran toward him, whooping at the top of her lungs. He held his arms open wide and she rushed into them leaping high as he caught her and spun her around in slow circles. Laughing, she wound her legs around his waist.
Everybody in Sweetridge would be talking about her come Monday morning but she didn’t care. Nothing was more important than holding Nash in her arms. Celebrating with him.
He could’ve been hurt out there but it hadn’t happened. Nash was alive and warm and more man than she’d ever held in her arms before.
Still laughing, she grabbed Nash’s face and planted a kiss square on his smiling mouth. Nash’s hands gripped her butt, holding her close as her arms wound round his neck.
“Um, this beats an eight second ride any day,” he murmured huskily. His hot whiskey eyes burned into her. “I’m glad you’re here.” Slowly he lowered her to her feet leaving Scarlet to feel every brush of his hard body against her. She wanted him with every breath in her body, wanted to strip the shirt from his body, and bury her mouth against his sturdy chest. Just inhale him. Devour him.
“Me, too. Let’s get out of here. All that bull riding gives me ideas. Really naughty ideas.”
His eyes narrowed as he leaned close. “I’m all ears, darlin’. Tell me.”
She went up on tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips, loving the way he responded to her simplest touch. “Maybe it would be better if I just show you, hm?
Nash’s gaze lowered to her breasts then rose to focus on her mouth. He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her flush to his body. “Let me collect my check and whatever else these good people want to give me and then you can show me anything you please.”
“What a fine idea. I like the way you think.”
Chapter Six
Nash drove through the town of Sweetridge feeling a sense of home he hadn’t felt in a long time. Everything about the place appealed to him. The warm smiles of the townspeople and their friendliness made him feel not so alone. He didn’t feel like a stranger here.
Maybe it was just his growing relationship with one sexy brunette. Damn if the woman didn’t make him burn. But it was more than that. She was smart and funny and had a natural way with him that made him yearn to learn more. It was just too bad that he’d be moving on soon. For the first time in a while he wished he could just stop all the rodeoing, all the scrounging for every last dollar and stop long enough to make a life.
After he’d collected his saddle, an enormous silver belt buckle and a big, fat check, he’d dropped Scarlet off at her house with the promise of some dancing at the Hot Damn Saloon.
Adrenaline from his wild ride at the rodeo still raged through his blood and he wanted more than anything to bury himself in Scarlet’s sweet, giving body.
He needed more than that though. Lots more. Gripping the steering wheel as he turned down her street, he knew he was in big trouble. Nash glanced into his rear view mirror and noted his hair was still slightly damp from his shower. It would have to do.
Breaking all known speed limits, he’d returned to his room for a quick clean up and change. Donning his nicest boots, jeans, and a dark patterned western shirt, he’d hopped back into his truck to head over to Scarlet’s place for a little celebration.
A little celebration?
Who the hell was he kidding? He wanted more than that. He wanted to take her down on the nearest bed and master her just like he’d mastered Terminator. That’s what he wanted. One another night, a different night, any woman might do but Nash feared that had all changed for him and he knew that from now on when he thought of a woman it would be Scarlet’s face he saw. She’d ruined him for other woman but somehow, Nash didn’t have a problem with that. The girl did it for him.
Blood rushed heavy through his veins and his heartbeat sped as he pulled into Scarlet’s drive and stepped from the truck, the adrenaline high revving him into warp speed. Every nerve in his body twitched as lust whipped through his body like chain lightning. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.
She called out to him just seconds after he rang the doorbell.
“Nash? That you?”
“Yeah,” he replied through the door.
He heard the lock turn and found himself looking into Scarlet’s wide green eyes. “Oh, thank God, it’s you, honey. I’m not even close to being ready.” She stepped back and he walked inside.
A smile twitched at his lips.
Her long black hair was still dripping from her shower and she had an oversized apricot colored towel wrapped around those luscious curves. She was out of breath as if she’d been running a marathon.
“You’re early.”
Unable to resist, he stepped close and wrapped his arms around her. “Looks to me like I’m right on time.”
There was nothing in the world as nice as holding Scarlet in his arms. He buried his nose against her damp shoulder and inhaled the scent of peaches and an underlying hint of pure woman. This woman.
“Nash,” she breathed as her arms swept around his shoulders, holding him close.
Opening his mouth over her flesh, he sipped at her, drank her in, wallowed in the feel of her lush breasts pressed against his chest.
Heat lashed through his blood, his cock thickened and a slow, steady ache began to build behind the fly of his jeans. His hands cruised down and filled themselves with her sweet ass as he walked her back, back, back.
“If I don’t get inside you soon, I’m going to die.”
Scarlet made a purring sound the second he moved her up against the nearest wall. “Bad boy.”
“I can be.”
“I love bad boys.”
“Tell me all about it.” Nash whipped the towel from her body and drank in the sight of her, naked and fresh from her shower. He filled his hands with her breasts and felt hunger roar to life in his belly. “Damn.”
Scarlet’s gasp exploded from her lungs the second he latched on to a sultry little nipple. He brushed it with the tip of his tongue, then drew deep giving the morsel tiny, quick pulls that had her moaning and moving against the wall.
His fingers speared through the damp flesh between her thighs and the feel of her was so sweet and lush, he moaned against her breast. Unable to stop the fire that swept him, he flipped her to face the wall, holding both of her hands high in one of his.
“I’m going to take you like this.”
“Yes.”
“Right now.”
“Uh-huh. Do it.”
Hungrily he studied the smooth expanse of her naked back, the curvy backside, the dimples peeking at the top of her hips. He wanted all of her. Brushing her hair over her shoulders, he sank his teeth gently into her shoulder, felt her arch, heard her quick intake of breath. His hands were hard against the soft flesh of her back. “God, I love your backside, darlin’.” He punctuated the comment with a firm squeeze. His fingers dipped lower to spear through the petals of her sex.
She was wet. Very wet.
It was enough to send him over the edge of a very sharp cliff. With a muttered curse, he unzipped and plucked a tiny packet from his pocket. Good to go.
He brushed her ass with the head of his erection and let go of her hands. When she started to move them, he stopped her.
“Don’t. Don’t move.”
Scarlet stilled until he reached around to take her breasts in his hands. His fingers flexed and she made a tiny whimpering sound. “These are so pretty, honey,” he whispered against the back of her neck. “But so is the rest of you. Everything about you is beautiful. Hold still for me now.”
Releasing her breasts, he trailed his fingers over every womanly curve, past her ribs and over her belly. Dipping into the wet cavern of heat between her thighs, he heard her soft groan of pleasure. Her hips moved like a slow song against his touch.
He wanted more.
Cursing, he grabbed her hips and buried himself deep inside her giving warmth. Damn! Soft and hot, pulsing like an electrical current, her body clenched and released, milking and squeezing.
“Christ!” Nash’s head snapped back. His teeth clenched as he plunged, slow and steady, filling every space inside her. He rested a broad palm low on her belly, flicked the tiny pearl of her sex, pressed it. “Yeah, honey, like that,” he gritted out as she moved against him, with him, drawing him in.
She was close. Oh, yeah, he knew she was. Scarlet stiffened. Knowing what she needed, he squeezed the firm little bud between his thumb and index finger until cried out as she tumbled over the edge, her silken flesh pulsing around him.
“Scarlet, Scarlet.” Nash breathed her name against her bare shoulder as emotion curled tight in his chest.
What would he do without her?
Unable to halt the demands of his body, Nash plunged deep, thrusting hard as he buried himself repeatedly into her body. His balls drew up stiff against his body, as a sizzle ran wicked fingers over his spine and across his scalp. The powerful orgasm swamped him and he could do nothing but wrap her close and lose himself in her heat.
Breathing hard, Nash withdrew from Scarlet’s body and turned her around. Without hesitation, he took her mouth in a long, deep kiss. “You’re sweet. So sweet,” he whispered against her lips. He nipped the lush bottom one and looked into her eyes.
Tears filled them making her eyes seem even greener. They drifted down her cheeks and his heart clenched at the sight.
“Ah, honey.” He caught a tear on his thumb. “Don’t cry.”
Nash’s arms went around her and she made a little sniffing sound against his chest before drawing back to look at him.
“I don’t want—”
He placed a finger on her lips to stop her words. “I know. Don’t say it, Scarlet. We’re going to have some fun tonight. That’s the bottom line. We can’t predict the future, sweetheart, and I’m not about to try.”
He picked up the towel that lay crumpled at his feet and pressed it into her hands.
Her eyes flashed green fire but he didn’t want to fight with her. Their time together was coming to an end. It was killing him. He brushed his thumb high over her cheekbone and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “We’ll talk about this later. Right now, I just need you to get your pretty self dressed and ready to go. I promised you a hot night and that’s what you’re going to get.”
Clumsily, she wrapped the towel around her body, refusing to look him in the eye. He could see the fine trembling that shook her and right then he felt like crying too.
She left and a few minutes later, he heard the sound of her hair dryer blasting. Rubbing his eyes, Nash wandered over to the couch and sprawled there, leaning his head back against the fabric.
How could love hit him so quick and hard? This kind of shit was impossible, wasn’t it?
Looking around Scarlet’s beautiful house, Nash absorbed the bolt of longing that crashed through his body. Deep inside, he knew there was a part of him that would always be that sad little boy who’d lost his mother and his home in the blink of an eye. Want and need rumbled through him as frustration shook him to the core.
This house, this town was what Scarlet needed. She didn’t need a man with no roots to take on for the long haul. In a year or so, he might have the money he needed to build his ranch and start a family but the day wasn’t here yet and he damn sure wasn’t going to insist Scarlet wait for him.
Nope. This was it. Just tonight. But damn, he wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
****
From the parking lot of the Hot Damn, they walked through a sea of cowboy Cadillacs assaulted by the sounds of music and noise coming from inside the place. Then the blast of noise increased as they stepped through the doors. Scarlet looked over her shoulder, smiling. “It’ll be wild tonight. It always is after the rodeo finale. Glad I wore my dancin’ boots.”
Was it his imagination or did her smile seem a little forced? If so, he knew exactly how she felt. Part of him wanted to bawl like a baby. This was their last night together and the reality of it hovered over his head like a dark cloud.
Nash tipped his hat to a big burly man who sat in a booth at one side of the entrance and pulled out his wallet to pay the cover charge.
“Hey, there, Barney,” Scarlet said reaching through the window to pat the man’s hand. “How’s Cathy?”
“Doing good these days, little missy,” Barney said, his voice gravelly. “She’s home with the grandbabies tonight while the young folks scoot a boot.”
“Oh, are Owen and Alisha here tonight?”
“Yeah, they just got here but I reckon they’re on the floor about now. You know how they like to dance. Kind of like you.”
Nash tucked his wallet back in his hip pocket and settled a hand on Scarlet’s lower back as they stepped into the dimly lit, crowded bar. “You know everybody, don’t you?”
“Yep. Love them all, too. Known Barney and his wife, my whole life. Same with most of the locals here tonight.”
Suddenly, he stopped right there in the doorway and turned to her. She probably thought he was nuts but he had to know. He focused on her. “You could never leave here, could you?”
Scarlet frowned. “Leave Sweetridge?”
“Yeah.” Nash forced himself to stop gritting his back teeth.
A strange look crossed her face. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “It would depend on why or who I was leaving for, I guess.”
He expelled a breath. God, he was a dumbass. Why would a smart, beautiful woman like her even think of leaving her home town and everyone she knew for a rambling cowboy like him? It was beyond selfish of him to even think about something like that.
He turned back toward the crowd and settled his hand at Scarlet’s back again but she put her hand out to stop him. “Nash? What…?”
“Never mind. Just never mind. Come on, darlin’. Let’s find us a table.”
Back in a far corner, they were lucky enough to find an unoccupied spot and sat to watch the dancers. A Rascal Flats song pumped from the sound system as couples two-stepped across the floor. Overhead lights threw down shimmering colors of blue, green, red and white.
Nash waved or tipped his hat to other rodeo cowboys who were out celebrating the outcome of the day’s events. “Hey, there’s Shorty.”
“Really? Where?”
He pointed to his very tall friend, pleasantly surprised to see him boot scooting with the little barrel rider from Tulsa. “That’s Amy Sue Shoemaker, a barrel racer. Shorty’s been sweet on her for a long time.”
Scarlet smiled then glanced up as a harried looking waitress walked up to take their order.
“Beer? Or something else?” he asked.
“Margarita on the rocks. Heavy on the salt.”
Nash ordered a long neck and settled back. “Are your friends here tonight?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been scanning the crowd but I don’t see them yet. Bet they’re here somewhere.”
Nash saw her blink then glanced over and saw Scarlet’s former fiancé, the shithead, strutting toward the dance floor with the redhead from Mossy Creek. “Do you want to leave?”