River Road (River's End Series, #4) (14 page)

Resting his hand on her stomach, he leaned down to kiss her mouth. She shoved the pillow away and grabbed the back of his neck, bringing his mouth to hers and moaning into it. She made love to his mouth with as much energy as she did everything else. He fell against her.

She finally slowed the kiss by gripping his cheeks in her hands. She held his face right over hers, staring up into his eyes. “It means something.”

He stilled. Their gazes were locked and her usual smile didn’t appear. He had no idea what it meant, but he felt her statement all the way into the pit of his stomach, and the ends of his toes. Nodding, he rested his forehead on hers. He kissed the end of her nose, between her eyes, and her eyelids after they fluttered shut. “This? Us? You think it means something?”

“I’ve just done this often enough to know the difference.”

He didn’t ask why or how, but dropped his lips onto hers. She kissed him back, but more gently now. He withdrew briefly to grab a condom from the cupboard that conveniently sat right over their heads. She laughed, breaking the strange mood that engulfed them only a moment before. “Handy. But why does a celibate cowboy have condoms stashed there?”

“Well… you know, just in case.”

“They aren’t like years old, are they? Check the date. No risking any accidents.”

He glanced at the box. “We’re good.”

She closed her eyes and sighed with relief. “Thank you, Jesus. Not sure I could handle it if they weren’t.”

He groaned, “Kate…”

“Oh, sorry, thank you…” She suddenly lifted her head up to whisper into his ear, “Whom should I thank instead?”

He shook his head and smiled at her audacity, her quick wit, and how she made it feel like he’d known her far longer than he did. His being there like that became less awkward and strange around her. Her humor leveled the playing field between their odd coupling and different statuses.

“Maybe me. Thank me, I’m the one who did it for you.”

She spoke primly and smiled, as if behaving like a good little student, “Thank you, AJ.” 

He leaned over her and their mouths met, the heat just simmering now. He allowed her to slip the condom on while their mouths stayed joined together. It was so easy. Her legs parted and he lowered himself inside her, but everything was easy and gentle this time. He pushed inside her and their mouths separated, yet their eyes remained fastened on one another. This time, sex was completely different. He wrapped her in his arms with an almost gentle undulation of their hips together. There was no hurry, no disconnection, and no regrets. They were there together in the same moment as their bodies reciprocated the pleasure. Each stimulated all the right nerve endings and ignited and fulfilled the other. It was like she put him on fire and doused the very flames she started until he exploded. In the end, they stomped out the flames together before clinging to each other, fulfilled in every way. They were closer now than when it all started, and more than just physically.

****

He felt her waking up. She was startling and then falling flat and relaxing her muscles. She turned towards him, reaching her hands out to touch his chest. Lying there, she gently rubbed back and forth over his stomach. He caught her hand in his to stop his growing reaction to her. She sighed. “Tell me what you dream about?”

“Dream about? Like at night?”

“No. Like if you could do anything, that kind of dream.”

“Oh. I don’t know. Not sure I really ever do that.”

“There has to be something you’d want if you could have it.”

“Well, a horse, I guess.”

“A horse? That’s it? If you were granted anything in the whole world, that’s it?”

“Well, a horse needs land and food and care. So if I could own a horse, that would mean I had all those things too, wouldn’t it? A horse and the space, time and means to care for it. There’s this piece of land, right across from the front gate of the ranch. Been for sale for years. Stuff don’t sell too easy around here. Anyway, it’s just raw land. Sagebrush and the mountain straight up behind it. I imagine it…well, you know, planted in grass, and maybe a few trees for shade. You’d be shocked what a little water can do to make the land more appealing around here. Maybe put a little cabin on it or a mobile home… and it’s got enough room for a horse, or even two. I guess I’ve always thought it was a nice spot.”

Kate was very quiet for a long moment. He immediately felt stupid and hick-like. What a thoughtless answer. As if an empty lot full of sagebrush was her idea of a dream. But then, her hand squeezed his and her mouth kissed his shoulder as she replied, “That’s a lovely dream.”

“What do you dream about?”

“If only I could bring my mother back.” Her answer was immediate and her tone seemed impassioned.

He turned his head to catch her eye. “She died?”

“Forty-two days ago.”

His mouth popped open. “Forty-two days ago? Kate, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s what I’m doing here. It all has to do with her. I just, I miss her so damn much. Usually, I try not to feel it. Like I can banish it from my mind, you know? Kick the grief in the teeth, until suddenly, it comes out of nowhere and bites me in the ass. It just did that. I dreamt about her.”

“Even you, my mighty Kate, can’t kick grief away. What did she die of?”

“Heart attack. So maybe you thought the other night was wrong. And tonight too, since we’re still strangers, kind of, and having sex. But it made me feel… alive. Connected again. I like being near you. It doesn’t feel wrong to me.”

“Maybe now, it doesn’t feel wrong. I just assumed that first night, that’s all you were about. With me, I mean. I obviously knew there was more to you. But I didn’t think you’d be back to see me beyond that one reason.”

“Well, I think I do. We do.”

He didn’t add
for the few days remaining of your vacation
. So that’s all Kate was doing here with him. Forgetting. Vacationing. He held that thought in his head, drilling it in there, lest he fail to remember it.

“I have to get up soon. Go to work. Some of us aren’t lazing the days away on vacation.”

Kate eventually slipped from the bed and hopped into his shower, commenting on how she didn’t see how he managed to fit inside it. She came out wearing one of his shirts and went down to the small kitchen and rifled around. She reappeared back in the opening of the room. He glanced up from where he lay on the bed, contented somehow, just to listen to her shuffling around, and chatting all the while.

“You have like three loaves of bread, cheese, lunchmeat, and instant coffee.”

“I told you, I eat sandwiches.”

“Three meals a day?”

“Well, no, but two.”

She shuddered. “Dear Go—goodness, you need some help with that. I have no idea how you maintain that physique on white bread and baloney. All right, instant it is. I’ll boil up the water.” She disappeared again.

A laugh rumbled from his chest as a weird, levity filled his heart. Kate, meanwhile, muttered away about his lack of groceries in between her complaints about the instant coffee. Still, she brought a cup to him in bed, claiming it wasn’t really coffee, even if it were all he ever drank. He enjoyed it along with the toasted white bread and margarine she spread on it. He sat against the small headboard. The bed was too small for both of them. Their feet hung over the end. But AJ couldn’t remember ever having a better morning or feeling so dang content. He munched on the warm toast and washed his bites down with the strong coffee while watching the prettiest woman in the world. She perched on the edge of the bed, explaining the cancer-inhibiting factors in fruit and vegetables and the importance of consuming real protein, not the fake, processed baloney he ate. Shuddering at times, on and on she talked. He only half listened as he glanced at the alarm clock. It was nearing seven and he needed to get going.

“How about we go shooting tonight?” she asked as he set the plate and empty cup aside and stretched his huge body out of the bed. He grabbed his underwear and slipped them on, keeping his back to her. Her hand stroked the back of his thigh as he tugged up his jeans.

Standing at full height, his head almost hit the top of the ceiling. “Sure. I have to finish Joey’s roof, but after that…”

“How many hours do you work a day?”

“I dunno. Ten or eleven.”

“It was twelve yesterday.”

“Okay, twelve.”

“That seems illegal,” she grumbled.

He turned, sliding the t-shirt over his head before he kissed her pouting mouth. “It’s money I need. Try again for seven tonight? And please try not to come near me until after we go, okay?”

That request made her wide mouth slip into a smile. “Maybe. All right. See you then.”

He opened the trailer door, quickly slamming it shut and stepping into the cool morning. The sun was still hidden by the mountain above the main ranch house. He loved the crisp morning scents, pockets of warm air and the lazy, sizzling sound of the sprinklers. Horses neighed to him, lifting their pretty heads. And a beautiful woman had just sent him off to work. What a fantasy. But still… At least, for one day, he could enjoy it.

Turned out to be five full days that he enjoyed it. When he got back to the trailer after working on Joey’s roof, she was there waiting with a decent meal all ready for him. No more sandwiches. She brought the groceries in and didn’t ask his permission. Nor did she ask if she could stay. She simply did both; and seemed oddly at home in his trailer. She brought in her girlie combs, makeup, and a whole duffel bag of her essentials. It was as much as he possessed in the entire world. She was there when he left for work and there when he got back. She was often waiting on the deck, all stretched out, “enjoying the view,” or so she claimed. Dinner was something new and different each time.

He kept his promise and took her target shooting as she desired.

Driving to a remote, nearly abandoned road, he set up an old box in a safe shooting area. He showed her the basics of the gun and safety procedures. After loading it, he snapped the stock and barrel back together, raised it, checked the sight, and gently squeezed the trigger. The box’s center exploded as gunshot sprayed right where he was aiming. Kate let out a squeal, sounding all girlie-like. “You got it.” He lowered the gun, glancing at her as he pumped the empty shell out.

“You wanna try it?”

She nodded, coming forward. Holding the weapon, it drooped strangely in her arms, like it was much too heavy for her. Her lack of confidence at the novelty resulted in her fear of it. “Look here, it’s not loaded.”

She nervously bit her lip in concentration as he loaded it. He stood behind her, ready to shift her arms around to the right position. Placing the stock against her shoulder nice and tight, he parted her legs, and she shifted her weight. He showed her where to sight the gun with relation to the target, and how to release the safety before massaging the trigger with a gentle squeeze. She was not to use a quick pull. Standing there for a good three minutes while she adjusted her position, her arms started to shake before she finally pulled the trigger. She jumped as if she were the target she just shot at. And missed. Letting the gun drop in defeat, AJ caught it before it hit the ground as Kate rubbed her sore shoulder.

“That was not what I expected. It was loud and it hurt me when it kicked.”

“It shouldn’t hurt. Maybe you weren’t holding it tightly enough. Want to try again?”

“No. But I’ll watch you.”

He shot a few more rounds to please her before sitting down on the tailgate beside her. First, he carefully unloaded the weapon and stowed it in its case at the back of the truck. He put the ammunition in his glove box, keeping the two separated. The doors were open on his pickup and the lazy strum of country music and nasal twang filled the air.

Kate’s gaze wandered over the shadows made by the pines surrounding them and further beyond into the mountains as the sun sank lower. “It’s really raw country up here.”

“Yeah.”

“God, guns, and country, huh? Around here. No wonder you fit in so well.”

“Well, yes, it is.”

She leaned back, placing an arm over her forehead. “It’s hard to picture we’re both from the same state.”

“That’s why it turned out to be a good vacation spot for all you coasties.”

She smiled, turning her head, and squinting against the setting sun. “Do you guys really call us that?”

“Yup, we really do.”

“I never knew until I came here that I belonged to a special group.”

“It’s not a compliment.” He grinned, leaning back against the side of the pick-up, and letting his legs stretch out before him. She moved her legs to entangle his and pretended to kick him.

“Yes, so I gathered.”

“How come you wanted to shoot a gun?”

She shrugged, gazing up at the sky. “I don’t know. Never did it before. They kind of intimidate me, in all honesty. I don’t like to be scared of things I know nothing about. So I thought I’d face off against it, and I think it won. I just really do not feel comfortable around them.”

“Hard to picture you being scared of anything,” he commented.

“More than you’d think,” she muttered. She twisted, rolling onto her side and setting her hand under head. “In my meanderings around the ranch, I happened to notice the littlest Rydell, Charlie, isn’t that his name? I noticed that he often follows you all around.”