Texas Size Passion (A Cowboy's Heart Book 2) (2 page)

             
I never…ever want to wear something like that again in all of my life. Just having that on for a few seconds…I feel close to becoming sick to my stomach with disgust.

             
Silently swearing herself off of the dress, Emily brought the next dress down while she stood in only a white strapless bra cupping her round, firm breasts and a pair of white low-rise panties. She slipped the soft, white cotton fabric over the top of her head, and her arms into the sleeves of it. Once the skirt was tugged down to fall at the calves of her legs, her body walked back out, and stood before the mirrors.

             
Instead of immediate repulsion like she had for the previous dress, Emily found herself simply smiling at the way she had the appearance of a young woman her age from the seventies. The sight caused a light chuckle to escape from the confines of her mouth.

             
Although this is not really the kind of thing to wear to a midsummer’s dance…I definitely would wear something similar to this for a Halloween party.

             
She made her way back to the dressing room, and eased the door shut behind her with a little more relaxation in her movements a whole lot less stress. Her hands slipped the dress off, and placed it back onto its designated hanger before moving it onto the hook with the other gown. She moved her eyes to the last remaining dress with a heavy look in her eyes.

             
Well…It looks like this last one will have to be the one or it is back to the drawing board for me.

             
Emily eased the dress over her head and guided her arms through the quarter length sleeves that fell at her elbows. Once she had pulled the skirt to fall at her knees, and made sure the front was buttoned up, her body walked outside and back to the mirrors.

             
Looking back at her, the mirrors revealed her to be in a red and maroon colored plaid dress that was not too stuffy and didn’t show too much either.

             
The visual brought a sweet smile to her face. There was no doubt about it. This was the perfect dress for her to wear for her grandmother’s party. Emily turned to go back to the dressing room to change when John’s sudden appearance in the store caught her full attention and brought her body to a complete and abrupt stop. She managed to at least draw in a breath of air while her eyes were fixated upon him approaching her where she stood.

*                            *                            *

              “That dress looks great on you, Emily.” John broke the momentary silence between the two of them with a compliment in his calm yet deep voice while his face had a friendly smile upon it.

             
“You think so, John?” Emily asked, curiously. She secretly wanted his opinion about what she had on since she was thinking about buying it, and wearing it for her grandmother’s party. “Are you sure that this looks okay?”

             
He clearly saw how unsure she was, and how she needed to hear his opinion about what she had on. Deciding to ease her concerns and worries away from her mind, John walked right up to Emily’s physique, and left very little to no space between him and her. He bent his head down, and pressed it against the top of hers as he spoke to her in a soft, deep whisper.

             
“Darling…Taylor Swift is nowhere near as beautiful as the way you are looking right now.”

             
His eyes watched hers start to brighten up, and a bashful smile move across the fair complexion of her face. The sight caused a grin to form onto his face, and a warm sensation rushing throughout his entire body.

             
“Do you really think that I am prettier then Taylor Swift, John?” Emily asked. Her voice not only had a bashful sound to it, but also a child-like giggle trying to make its way out despite her doing her best to suppress it.

             
Instead of answering with words in response to her question, John lowered his head down to hers, and pressed his sensual, strong lips against her tender ones. He sealed off her mouth to prevent any other words from coming out of it by using his as a block. John only held the moment for a few, brief, lingering seconds, knowing very well what happened the last time they had kissed each other and that it could easily happen that very moment with more people around and no horses.

             
“Sweetheart,” he whispered, moving his mouth back to hover over hers, “if it was just the two of us right now…I would
really
show you how attractive you look to me right now.”

             
“Is that a threat, Mr. Hicks?”

             
“It’s a promise, Miss Withers.”

             
A chuckle escaped out of his mouth at the sound of Emily referring to him as ‘Mr. Hicks’ instead of just saying his first name like she had been during the past month she had been staying with her grandmother at the ranch.

             
“Well then…I believe that I have a dress to take off and pay for.”

             
“I will be waiting for you right here…you sweet little southern tease.”

             
His eyes watched her curvaceous frame move away from where he stood, and head in the direction of the very dressing room that she had come from originally. He caught a small glimpse of her looking over one of her shoulders in his direction with a grin stretching from ear to ear on the angelic and beautiful features of her face before she slipped out of his sight.

             
Oh how I just love watching that woman look as she walks away from me.

             
He couldn’t get enough of Emily. Each time he thought of her…Every moment that was spent in the company of his boss’ guest…He wanted more and more. There was no set amount for him. There was no limit to how much of her he could take before things went too far and he started to become sick of her. She had become to him like someone’s favorite alcoholic beverage was to them.

             
Turning his attention away from the area she headed in, John noticed a man that wasn’t from around the area looking into the store while trying to appear he wasn’t gawking at the same time due to catching his reflection in the mirrors that Emily had just modeled and stood in front of him a few moments ago.

             
I don’t know what it is about that guy…but something tells me that he is not here shopping for a dress…

Chapter Three

              Deciding to go with his gut instinct, John removed himself from the store, and stepped out onto the small porch that was nestled outside with a couple of benches placed in designated spots close to the door so people could have a place to rest their tired and hurting feet.

             
The stranger quickly turned his back in John’s direction, and attempted to flip the collar of his waist length leather jacket up enough so it wouldn’t be easy to tell what he looked like.

             
I don’t think so, buddy.

             
He shook his head at the individual trying to keep him from seeing who he really was. His long legs took him to the man that stood a foot less taller than him, erasing any of the previous gap from existence. Reaching with his right hand, John grabbed a hold of him by the back of his neck, and escorted him over to one of the benches.

             
“I believe…You need to sit down.” He barked at the stranger that gave off a very uneasy vibe to him. His once friendly and sensual tone he had used with Emily had turned into that of an animalistic, deep growl dripping with an overprotective nature for the young woman in the shop. “Now that we are face to face with one another…Perhaps you can tell me why you were looking in the window of the shop.”

             
“I don’t have to tell you anything, you dumb piece of shit.” The man replied, attempting to sound fearsome in his shaky, slightly higher pitched voice. “What I do is none of your damn-“

             
Before he could finish the sentence, John wrapped his large hand around his throat, and gripped onto it with enough strength to where it would hinder him from completing his sentence. He brought his head in closer to his own, and narrowed his piercing emerald stare into that of the pale blue one that the individual sat before him possessed as he lowered his voice to sound much more threatening that it really was.

             
“I am going to ask you this only one more time, you pathetic poser…and then I am going to either let you go or pop your head off your neck with just a squeeze of my hand if you want to keep playing this little game with me.”

             
In that very moment, his gaze found the person that had tried miserably to appear tough as nails quickly turning into that of mush the very second he had issued his deadly serious threat to him. He struggled to keep from smirking at him as he spoke to him once more, finding how he was behaving now to be quite entertaining.

             
“Now…I am going to ask you this one…last…time. Why were you looking in the window of the shop?”

             
“I…” The traveling voyeur said, “I was looking for my friend.”

             
“Who is your ‘friend’?”

             
“Emily Withers.”

             
John immediately grew concerned when he uttered Emily’s name, and could tell that this wasn’t the type of person that Belle’s grand-daughter would be associating with. The way he was greasy and shady was enough to tell him that he was still lying to him, and that was grounds enough to rough him up a bit.

             
He gripped onto his neck a little tighter, and pushed his head back against the window that he was in front of, causing the back of it to bounce off of it with enough force to make his intent to take things to the next level even further. John waited for him to focus on him once more before he spoke to him with his anger coming out of his voice.

             
“How about we try this again?”

*                            *                            *

              Walking out of the dressing room that she had been inside of, Emily had herself dressed in the clothes she was wearing when she left her grandmother’s home earlier that day. She kept the dress she planned on getting for the party that night on the elbow of her right arm as she approached the front counter of the store. The smile that John had caused to dance across her face still remained, as well as the feeling of excitement and contentment that he had brought on by his presence and how special he made her feel.

             
John certainly is one of a kind. He can make me feel like I am the only woman in the world that he has eyes for, and no one else but me will do for him.

             
I am pretty sure it is quite clear that what you just said is actually an accurate statement about how he feels about you, Emily.

             
She couldn’t agree with her conscience better. Her grandmother’s ranch hand had been around her and involved with her time at the farm ever since he had arrived there the previous month and he had shared a passionate moment with her in the loft of the barn above where the horses are kept in their stalls.

             
There was something else that was very obvious and she couldn’t deny: She had started to develop feelings for John. Ever since the moment that things took an intimate turn for the two of them in the privacy of her grandmother’s horse barn, her mind had not let her have a second to herself. The thoughts that ran through her mind in her spare time were full of nothing but of having another encounter with John without anyone interrupting them.

             
Reaching the front desk, Emily showed a kind smile to the lady at the register as she placed the dress down before her, and reached into her pocket.

             
“Is this all for you today, miss?” The cashier asked, getting the dress and scanning the code on the tag of it.

             
“That is correct.” Emily replied, smiling. “This is the only thing I need to get today.”

             
“Very well…It will be twenty-five dollar even.”

             
Wow. Really? Only twenty-five dollars? I thought that maybe it would cost more than that…but all the better for me to hear.

             
Emily pulled out a twenty and a five from her pocket, and handed it towards the woman behind the counter. She watched her smile to her after she took the money and placed it inside of the cash register prior to easing the dress into a nearby bag for her. Her eyes moved away from her, and focused towards the direction of the large window that was in front of the shop.