Faith in the Cowboy (Taming the Cowboy) (14 page)

He smiled over his shoulder and beckoned for her to come forward, and she led Emily toward him. He smiled and for a moment she thought he’d kiss her. Instead, he rested his hand on her hip.

Then he turned back to watch the sharks and stingrays.

Noah tugged at West’s jean leg. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

“I can do it,” Teresa volunteered.

“Nah, I got it. We’re guys,” West said, taking the boy’s hand. “Taylor?”

“Sure.” The boy shrugged and followed.

To Teresa’s surprise, Emily edged closer to her side. Teresa looked up at the sharks that swam by. She rubbed her hand between her daughter’s shoulders, as she’d done ever since Emily had been born.

“Do you want to go to a different part?” she asked.

Emily shook her head.

“Okay, then, let’s sit on one of the benches to wait for the guys.”

*****

“You got it?” West asked warily as Noah positioned himself over the child-sized urinal, which still looked too tall for the kid. “Maybe we should go in the stall.”

But Noah shook his head, standing side by side with Taylor. “I can do it.”

West winced at the mess involved, and set the boy on the edge of one of the sinks to clean him off as Taylor washed his hands.

“Nice family there,” a dark-haired man said from a sink down the wall.

West grinned as he wiped a wet paper towel across Noah’s upper thighs. “Yeah, thanks,” he said, rather than explain the complicated relationships. He dried the kid off, tugged up his jeans and set him on the floor before washing his own hands, then guiding the boys out of the room to the aquarium to meet Teresa and Emily.

The two of them were glued to the acrylic wall, watching a scuba diver lower himself among the sharks. The sharks kept their distance, but the rays approached and ate from the diver’s fingers.

West looked down at his son. “Would you ever want to do something like that?”

Taylor swallowed and shook his head.

“I would!” Emily said, her voice ringing off the walls, her face almost pressed to it.

“Really?” Teresa stared down at her baby

“Wouldn’t you?” the girl asked, looking up at her.

Teresa held up her hands. “Nope. I barely like to go in the deep end of the pool.”

West laughed.

“But look how he’s feeding them. And they just come up to him.”

“I feed horses like that,” West said. “If I have food, they just come up to me.”

“But horses are tame,” Emily protested. “These are wild animals.”

“They’re fish,” Taylor said, disgusted. “Fish are dumb.”

Emily shut down at that, and Teresa’s brow furrowed.

West nudged Taylor. “I’m with Emily. I think it would be completely cool.”

“There’s another part,” a man leaned over to tell them, the same man from the restroom. “There’s a part where you can touch the rays. It’s just through there.”

Emily scooted closer to Teresa and Teresa craned her head to look past West at the stranger, but he was gone.

“Well, let’s go,” West said, herding the kids ahead of him and reaching back to make sure Teresa was with him.

Two hours later, they herded three tired kids out of a nearby family restaurant.

“I need to get Emily home,” Teresa said quietly. “Thank you, West, for everything.”

She leaned into him, just for a moment, and he wanted to kiss her but didn’t. He wound his fingers through hers for a moment before letting her go and watching her walk to her car.

*****

“So do you think we can do this again? Maybe just the two of us going somewhere this weekend?” Teresa asked as she pulled onto Layla’s street.

Emily hesitated, then nodded. “It was fun.”

Teresa’s heart thrilled, though she knew Emily was reacting more to the aquarium and dinner than to her company. But it was a start. She parked in front of Layla’s.

“Are you going to be awake enough to do your homework?” Teresa asked as they walked up the sidewalk to the house. Layla watched from the window, and Teresa braced herself for an ugly ending to a beautiful day.

“I brought her back in plenty of time,” Teresa said when Layla opened the door, immediately hating that she felt so defensive.

Layla inspected Emily with a little more solemnity than was necessary, then ushered the girl inside, barely giving Teresa a chance to call out a good night, much less give her a hug or a kiss. Layla stood in the doorway, blocking her from entering, from even seeing her daughter.

“Good night,” Layla said sharply.

“I’ll be back on Saturday, my regular time.”

“That wasn’t part of the agreement. This was to take the place of that.”

Teresa’s back snapped straight. She was afraid Layla would pull something like that. “No, this was a special occasion. It’s not an instead-of. And I’m going to start taking her every time I visit. It’s better for us.”

Layla narrowed her eyes. “We’ll talk to the lawyers and see what they say.” She closed the door, the abruptness knocking Teresa back on her heels.

As she walked back, she saw the curtains twitch again, and wondered who was watching her.

West couldn’t believe how fast the week went, how easy he’d become with his son after their rocky start. He walked the boy to the gate at the airport, his hand on his shoulder. This time Taylor didn’t tense, and when West handed him over to the flight attendant at the gate, Taylor turned to give him a big hug. West wrapped his arms around his boy and didn’t want to let go.

“I’ll be down to see you soon. I promise. I won’t let things get so far apart anymore.”

He watched until Taylor disappeared down the jetway before he turned around and left.

He was glad that Teresa’s car was in front of the house when he got to the ranch. This was his last night on the ranch—he was taking the RV up to Laughlin for his first rodeo, and he’d start heading up north after that, chasing the rodeos. As hard as it was to say good-bye to Taylor, West was glad he was going to have one last night with Teresa.

He had plans.

She was in the kitchen with Grace, still wearing her school clothes, when he walked into the house. He strode in, hooked his arm around her waist, cutting her off mid-sentence.

“West!” she protested when he hefted her over his shoulder, digging her nails into the back of his shirt and giving a little kick.

He turned to apologize to Grace, who he figured knew they had something going on anyway. “I’ll bring her back tomorrow, not too early. I hope you don’t need her before then.”

Grace only laughed, but Teresa kicked harder. He looped his arm over the backs of her legs and carried her out the front door to his trailer.

“Are you crazy?” she demanded when he set her down inside and followed her, crowding her against the cabinets. “What if Noah had seen?”

“I was paying attention,” he said, a little stung. He didn’t know why he was surprised—she was always cautious. He just wanted her to be as swept up by longing as he was. “And if he had seen, we’d just say we were playing a game.”

“Are we?” she asked, holding onto the front of his shirt and looking up at him.

“Not anymore.” He curved his hands around her face, not good with words, but wanting to show her how important she was to him.

He kept the kiss tender, needing first to work past her reservations, needing to show her how much he’d missed this between them the past week.

Needing to give her a promise that even though he was leaving tomorrow, he wouldn’t forget her.

She opened beneath him, holding onto his hands, returning the kiss, her tongue sliding over his lower lip before rising to touch his, to slide along his as he caressed the inside of her mouth.

He smiled against her and lifted her into his arms, carrying her down the hall to his bed. He lowered her to the mattress and held himself over her, his knee between hers. She let her hands flop to the mattress beside her head as he kissed her, and he understood her surrender.

He pushed up her shirt and lowered his mouth to her breast in the lace bra, his tongue stroking her tight nipple through the fabric, making her gasp and bow towards him, her hands fisting. He smiled against her skin, then turned his attention to her other breast, this time peeling the lace down before suckling her, drawing her deep into his mouth. At the same time, he glided his fingers up her leg beneath her skirt, and pulled aside the leg of her panties to stroke lightly over her pussy.

His name was a groan on her lips as he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties and pulled them slowly down her legs. He released her nipple to slide farther down her body, over the smooth skin of her stomach, which contracted under his lips, pausing there while he unfastened her skirt and pulled it down. Slowly he moved past her mons to her thighs, which fell open for him.

She was wet, hot, but he resisted the impulse to touch her, instead brushing his lips over her inner thighs, watching the goosebumps rise on her skin. He swept his caress down to her knee, then up again, pausing just south of her pussy, feeling her quiver beneath him. He wanted to make her come, but at the same time he wanted to draw out the anticipation, wanted to make her crazy. So he rose over her again, taking her sob of disappointment into his mouth as he kissed her. He lowered his hips to hers and she wrapped her legs around them, the heat of her pussy against the fly of his jeans. Damn, he didn’t know how long he could last, was already so hard, aching to be inside her.

But he let her undress him, unsnapping his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders, then tugging his t-shirt over his head so she could smooth her hands up his chest, over his shoulders, down his back. He rose over her so his muscles flexed beneath her hands, and a smile curved her lips. She traced his obliques before curving her hands over his back and trying to pull him down over her.

He reached between them and unfastened his jeans, slithering out of them with some difficulty. He managed, though, and her legs tightened around his bare ass as she opened to him, angling her hips to bring his cock into her.

Unable to resist, he slid into her, deep, her heat branding him, and God, she was so wet, so slick. He wanted to pound into her, but kept his movements shallow. She whimpered and dug her nails into his lower back, making him suck in a breath, making his balls tighten, making his cock harder.

“Jesus, baby. Jesus.” He stilled, deep inside her, feeling her muscles flutter around him. “Not yet. Not yet.”

She ignored him, curling her hips upward, bringing her pussy flush against his groin, rubbing her swollen clit against his body. Each caress had her tightening around him, destroying his need to go slow. He used every bit of self-control to stroke into her gently, then roll his hips against hers. She responded with a throaty moan and gripped him tighter, thrusting and rolling, thrusting and rolling, until the tremors started deep inside her, her orgasm undulating her body beneath him, her breath coming in soft sighs. She wound her arms around his neck and brought him down for a kiss.

He slid his hands down to her hips, to hold her still as he pushed deeper into her, deeper, faster, chasing his own orgasm, feeling her all around him, the way he’d wanted to feel her for days. His climax, when it came, wasn’t gentle like hers. He exploded inside her with a shout of pleasure, then lowered himself to the bed, pulling her into his arms and vowing it would not be their last time.

*****

“Where are you going?” West rolled onto his back and blinked up at Teresa dressed in her skirt and blouse.

“It’s my day with Emily, and I need to go shower and dress.”

He rose on his elbows. “So you’re just leaving without saying anything?”

“I was going to kiss you once I was dressed. And I’ll see you tonight in Laughlin.”

“Right, but I thought we could go one more time.”

With sinuous grace, he rose from the bed and caught her waist. He pulled her back against him with one arm and stroked his other hand beneath her skirt and into her panties in a single move. She gasped when he had her wet again in two strokes, gasped again when he lowered her onto her hands and knees, parting her with his already-hard cock.

“West!” But her protest became a moan as he pushed all the way into her, the angle exquisite. She lowered her head, thrusting back against him, savoring the depth that verged on pain.

He rested his hands on her hips and pumped slowly, which made her wind up even tighter. Damn, he could take her from zero to orgasm in under a minute. Already her body craved release.

“West. West, please.”

She felt his chuckle all through his body as he reached around to toy with her clit. He pinched and stroked, then pinched again, then curled his fingers around his own thrusting cock before sliding them back to her clit and rubbed, incredibly lightly, making her rock her hips to get closer to his touch.

When she came, every fiber of her being slowed, stretching to absorb him, to hold onto him, all of him—the pleasure he gave, the love he promised. She lowered her head to her hands as he continued to thrust, finally plunging deep and coming inside her, each pulse sending more tremors through her.

Then he pulled out and drew her back against him, his lips light on her cheek, her ear.

“Can’t wait until tonight,” he murmured before he released her and let her walk out on shaky legs.

*****

She was still smiling when she pulled up in front of Layla’s. She was taking Emily on a picnic on Lake Mead. She’d already packed the lunch, and hoped it wouldn’t be too crowded, since the weather was beautiful.

She left the picnic basket in the car and practically skipped up the steps to the house. The door swung open, and the world came crashing down.

Miguel stood in the doorway, his hand on Emily’s shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” Teresa demanded, forcing herself not to take a step backward. Her pulse raced, her flight instinct kicking in. “I thought you were still...away.” She hadn’t told Emily her father was in jail for beating her. What kind of scar would that leave?