Rocky Mountain Haven (6 page)

He reached for her chin. “So what you’re saying, and pardon my crudeness, is you want a fuck buddy.”

She cringed. The phrase had skipped through her brain earlier, but it sounded far worse when said out loud.

Daniel stroked his thumb over her cheek. “You’re not looking for a friend with benefits because I ain’t allowed to be your friend.”

“It’s not that, it’s just—”

“Don’t know if I can do that.” She squeaked as he picked her up and placed her on his lap. “If all you’re looking for is some sex, I’m not interested. There’s a part of me that says,
hell yeah
, and I could be fucking you up against the wall in two minutes flat.”

Oh God, the images racing through her mind.

“But if you remember our conversation in the back hall of the bar, I don’t think you’re that type of woman. I’m not that kind of man. Honesty is one of the things that makes us who we are, and I’m going to be honest with you, darling.”

Beth held her breath as he cupped her face then stroked his other hand down her body intimately. He opened her legs and settled his fingers over her crotch. Could he feel how hot she was through her jeans?

“I find you very attractive, and I don’t just mean your body. I don’t know what troubles you’ve had in your past, but I hope we’ll get to talk them through at some point. So here’s what I suggest—you tell me if you agree. You and I do both. We fool around like you want, as long as you let us try to learn to be friends, like I want.”

It sounded so reasonable. Then he pressed a finger to the seam of her jeans and rubbed, and all logical thought fled. The slight friction against her clit was enough to cause an instantaneous reaction. She trembled in his arms. “I can’t…”

He hummed, caressing the tender skin behind her ear, tracing patterns down her neck with his tongue. “I think you can do a lot of things, Miss Beth, if you put your mind to it.”

The constant motion of his hand was driving her wild. “Please…”

Kisses descended again, and for the first time in a long time Beth let go. All her tension and fear she let fall away and simply accepted the rising passion. He was a thorough kisser, tasting her lips, her cheeks, brushing his fingers through her short hair and tugging her closer so their bodies melted together.

His hand moved relentlessly, and Beth widened her legs, rocking into his touch harder, needing a little nudge to push her over the edge. He slid his other hand under her sweater and cupped her breast through her T-shirt and bra, pinching her nipple. She teetered off the cliff, her sex pulsing with her orgasm as she moaned into his mouth. The physical bliss was so much richer than when she brought herself to a climax, and she closed her eyes to enjoy the sensations rocking her body.

It had been a very long time since a man had touched her like that.

When he finally separated them, her whole body buzzed. His grey eyes were dark, his pupils huge as he stared. Stared at her lips, her hair, her body. “You’re beautiful when you come.”

Beth glanced around the barn then laughed. “What am I doing?”

Daniel lifted her chin, and those fathomless eyes mesmerized her again. “You’re dealing with the passion you’ve locked inside, for whatever reason.” He didn’t let her look away. “You on the Pill?”

Oh dear, this part of the conversation. She’d thought this through as well, but it was still tough to say. “I’m protected, but I want to use condoms.”

Daniel shook his head. “We’ll use them until we get a clean bill of health to show each other. If this is supposed to be fun for us both, condoms won’t cut it for the long run. There are too many things I want to do with you. Plus, I want you to know I’m clean and not going to hurt you in any way.”

Beth opened her mouth to protest then closed it. It made sense, even if the thought of anyone finding out he’d had blood work done scared her. She didn’t want the whole town talking, but if they kept it quiet, she could make that change to her plans. “I’ll get a test done when I go to Calgary at Thanksgiving. I have to see my doctor then anyway about my leg.”

He touched the brace lightly. “Anything I need to be warned about? Any positions we need to be careful with while we’re playing?”

“As if I would know,” she answered without thinking.

“Beth?”

She flushed hard at his expression—the half-savage lust-driven animal, half-confused human thinker. He kissed her temple then lowered her back to the bale before rising and pacing a few steps.

“I need a few more details before we continue this adventure. You haven’t had sex since your accident? Is that what you’re saying?”

She hesitated.
Take control, Beth. Tell him what you want. Stay in charge.
“I haven’t had sex, but I also…” The words stuck in her throat.

“You have three sons. I didn’t imagine you were a blushing virgin.”

What was it he had said? Be honest?

She lifted her chin and spoke as boldly as she could. “I’ve had sex on my back for ten years with one man. I want to do something different. I want to…” The conversation got harder and harder to continue. “I want to try it all.”

He stopped in mid-pace, rotating slowly to face her. “What if your ‘try it all’ and mine veer apart?”

Oh dear.

Daniel continued, his voice gone husky and deep. “How about you make a list. Sound alright?”

She nodded, unable to force out any more words. Had she actually agreed to make a wish list of sexual positions and experiences?

Daniel held out his hand. “Come, I’ll walk you home.”

She glanced at her watch and swore. “I need to pick up the boys soon.”

“I’m just walking you home, not ravishing you.” He kissed her knuckles. “Not yet.”

Beth swallowed hard. Holy cow. What had she done?

Chapter Five

Gabe Coleman stared his cousin down. Daniel tore his gaze from the chessboard for long enough to flash him the finger.

“Ha, getting pissy won’t help you. Either you have the moves to make or you don’t,” Gabe taunted. One mistake later, Daniel groaned as Gabe slid his bishop across the board and took out the castle guarding Daniel’s king. “Checkmate. Again,” he gloated.

“Dammit, you never win this often.”

“You don’t usually suck this bad. What kind of mind-altering drugs you taking to be so brainless?”

Daniel eased back in his chair and grabbed his beer. “Nothing illegal or immoral. At least, not yet, anyway…”

Now that was interesting, coming from the most puritan of the Six Pack clan. Gabe popped up and headed for the kitchen. “Let me grab a refill, then I want details about that comment.”

Their regular chess nights were far from regular, but Gabe always enjoyed the times he got together with his cousin. He tugged open the fridge and grabbed another couple of brews.

“Nothing really to tell. Nothing I would share. Maybe never anything.” Daniel ended with a growl of frustration. He accepted the bottle Gabe held out then paced the distance between Gabe’s tiny living room and the window overlooking the road.

While it wasn’t anything near big enough to host a party, Gabe found his one-bedroom apartment over the garage was a godsend—mostly because it had gotten him out from under his dad’s roof.

“Sounds as if you’ve got a bee up your butt.”

Daniel shook his head. “Just…you remember that woman the twins were teasing me about back in July? She’s living in town.”

“No shit. That’s great.”

“She’s living next door to me in the Peter’s house.”

Fate had a twisted sense of humour. “Now, that’s both great and weird.”

“It gets weirder. She’s sleeping in my old bedroom, and she says she’s interested in me.”

Gabe stopped in the middle of seating himself, caught in a half crouch. He laughed as he lowered himself the rest of the way to the couch. “You win. Totally the best story I’ve ever heard. Sounds like you’ve been a good boy and everything’s coming your way for a change.”

Daniel sighed. “Yeah, that was my response last Friday when she talked to me. But I’ve called her daily since, and every time there’s been no answer.”

“Screening her calls?”

“Maybe, or busy with her kids but—”

“Kids.” Gabe raised a brow. “You didn’t mention that to me last summer. About her having kids.”

“I didn’t know.”

Silence hung between them for a minute. Gabe took a long swig of his beer as he calculated the best thing to say. Daniel deserved better luck in the female department than he’d gotten. “So…you think she’s changed her mind?”

Daniel resumed pacing. “I don’t know. I guess, I don’t want to push her, but dammit, she
said
she was interested.”

“Exactly. So you should go after her. Seize the day, carpe diem, all that shit.” Daniel made a rude noise and Gabe grinned. “Suck it up, that’s what you’re always throwing at me.”

“And look how well it works. You’re doing all the same old things you did before I started taunting you. Still sitting here, in what you called a piss-poor situation. Still not trying anything new. I mean, you came back to Rocky because you said it’s what you want, but I don’t see much cheering happening. Well, other than about your shiny new truck. But even that doesn’t seem to be making you happy.”

“Shiny it is, but you know it’s more the bank’s truck than my own. I’m making payments—I ain’t dancing in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow yet.” They both sat heavily, bottles in their hands ignored. Gabe snorted in disgust. “We’re damn sad creatures, ain’t we? Twenty-nine and twenty—what are you again, twenty-five?”

“Six.”

“Twenty-six, and stuck the same place we were last year. Except for you trying to trade up on girlfriends.”

Daniel hissed. “Please, let’s not bring Sierra into this. That’s over and done, and if I never see her again, I’d be happy.”

Gabe didn’t blame him one bit. “Nothing worse than a woman deciding what you got isn’t enough.”

The music in the background thumped for a bit, then Daniel tossed back the rest of his drink and slammed the bottle on the tabletop. “You’re right. It’s time to take my own medicine. Carpe diem means now, and not down the road. And you’re going to join me.”

What the hell?
“You tossed a few too many idioms into that last one, cuz, between medicine, fish and roads. What’re we doing?”

“I’m going after a certain woman and getting a straight answer out of her. You…well, you’re going to figure out the one thing you most need to do, and you’re damn well going to do it.”

The crazy enthusiasm shining in Daniel’s eyes was contagious enough to get anyone’s blood pumping. “One thing?”

“One thing. I mean, neither of us can make all the changes we want in one day, but we need to get started sometime, right?”

No shit.
“So, is this a support group for procrastinators anonymous?”

“Damn right. You in?”

“Hell, yeah.” Which one thing wasn’t going to be easy to decide, but he could do it. “But I’ve got to think on it more before picking what to aim at.”

Daniel moved back to the chessboard. “Hey, my task’s easy. I get to track down a certain schoolteacher and convince her she will be seeing more of me. And that’s while working around her teaching schedule, her kids and my chores.”

“That’s all? Sure, sounds like a fucking spring breeze.”

Daniel grinned. “Actually, you know what? I’m excited about the challenge of figuring her out and making her take me on. I mean, it ain’t what I thought I’d be doing this fall, but it feels right.”

Gabe thought hard. Yeah, there was no getting around that there wasn’t going to be an easy thing to make some changes in his life, but it was damn-well time. “Excited isn’t the first word that comes to mind, you know.”

“Stupid, excited—same thing.”

They moved back to the chessboard and began a new game, but this time Gabe found it tough to concentrate.

One step. The first step to changing things and making his life better. What was it going to be? A million questions and ideas raced through his brain, all clamouring for attention.

Carpe diem. Seize the day. Maybe it
was
about time to do something other than simply drift.

Daniel leaned on the wall opposite her second-floor classroom, acknowledging the few students already dismissed from their classes. Two teenage girls giggled as they passed, eyeing him carefully, and he fought to hide his smile. He was far more interested in the woman waiting for him behind that door.

Even if she didn’t know he was here yet.

After he’d dropped her back at the house on Friday and left her without a kiss, he knew she’d been confused. And still aroused, even after her climax. He’d wandered back into the trees, wishing he could jerk off like some horny teenager. He had a stupid desire to remain by the house and stare at her silhouette as she moved around the house—the urge was far too Peeping Tom-esque to be obeyed, but damn if he hadn’t felt it.

Especially when a light flashed on upstairs right before the house slipped out of sight. Discovering she’d taken the room he usually slept in? He could picture in his mind what she saw around her, and the thought of being in the king-sized bed with her made his cock ache even harder.

Like he’d complained to Gabe, all he’d gotten was the damn answering machine, and now that it was Friday, time was up. If she’d changed her mind about wanting to see him, he wanted to hear it from her in person. Otherwise, enough of this pussyfooting around—she’d asked him for some experiences and he was dying to give them to her.

The bell rang, and he uncrossed his arms, shifting his weight forward as the door swung inward and a long line of students flooded out, laughter and chattering filling the air as after-school excitement rolled through the student body.

“Daniel.”

He acknowledged one of the local boys they hired on a part-time basis to help around the ranch.

“You here to see Ms. Danube?” The youth grinned when he nodded, and turned around to shout back into the room. “Hey, Ms. D, you got a hot date or something?”

Daniel gave the kid a thump on the head with his knuckles. “Be polite, or you’re mucking stalls all day long tomorrow.” He eased past the rest of the bodies exiting and stepped to the side of the door, searching for Beth.