Million Dollar Baby

“Because you don’t look like a Mandy. It’s not your real name. So I’ll stick with honey. Unless you want to fess up and tell me the truth. It’s not like I’m going to stalk you.”

“I know that.” The snippy response was the tiniest bit sulky. And her bottom lip stuck out. It was so damned cute, he wanted to suck on it.

Gently, he pulled her shirt loose from the waistband of her jeans and slid his hands underneath. Her skin was warm and soft. So soft. He wanted to make this night good for her.

He unhooked her bra. It still bothered him that he didn’t know why she was here...not really. But his brain was losing the battle with the driving urge to give her what she wanted. What he wanted.

When he slipped her shirt from her shoulders and took her bra right along with it, she didn’t protest. The sight of her standing there, all white creamy skin and big gray eyes and rosy pink nipples, stole his breath and tightened his gut. “God, you’re gorgeous,” he said huskily, breathing it like a prayer.

He hadn’t lied to her. There had been a handful of women in six years. But those had been real one-night stands. Women whose names and faces he barely remembered. Divorcées. Widows hurting like he was. The sex had slaked a momentary physical need, but afterward, his grief had been just as deep, just as raw.

In a way, it had been easier not to have sex, because that way he didn’t have to be reminded of all he had lost.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Something about tonight felt different. Maybe because his mystery woman was ridiculously charming and vulnerable and maybe even a little bit naive. She brought out his protective instincts and tapped into raw emotions inside him that he would have sworn were dead and buried.

With her he felt the need to be tender.

“Hang on, honey.” Hitching her higher on his chest, he grabbed for the comforter with one hand and dragged it and the sheet halfway down the bed. Then he dropped the big-eyed blonde on the mattress and tried not to pounce on her. Instead, he came down beside her and propped his head on his hand.

Lazily, he traced a fingertip from her collarbone, down between her breasts, over her concave belly to her tiny cute navel. “Tell me what you’re thinking, sweet lady. I swear I don’t bite.”

Her body was so rigid it was giving him a headache.

She gnawed her lower lip. “I forgot about protection.”

“Not to worry. We’re good for two rounds.” He reached in his back pocket and extracted a duo of condom packets. “I had these in the truck.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

“Tell me your name,” he coaxed. He bent over her and kissed his way from her navel up along her rib cage, pausing just at the slope of her breast and waiting until her breathing ratcheted up a notch and a shudder worked its way through her body.

“You’re not playing fair...” She gazed up at him from underneath sultry lashes.

Did she have any idea what that look did to a man? He flicked his tongue across her nipple...barely a graze. “I play to win, honey. You wanted wild and exciting? That usually means breaking the rules.”

He was breathing hard, barely holding it together. Playing this game was fun, more fun than he’d had in a hell of a long time. But he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. Already he wanted her so badly he was shaking.

“Brooke,” she whispered. “My name is Brooke.”

The trust on her face made him ashamed. She was doing something out of character. He knew it. And he was prepared to help her in her quest for a night of reckless passion. What kind of man did that make him?

He swallowed hard. “Brooke. I like it. With an e or no e?”

She smiled. “Does it matter?”

“It does to me.” And it did. When this was over and they went their separate ways, he wanted to remember her exactly like this. He wanted to know everything there was to know.

She caressed his chin, feeling the stubble. He’d shaved at six that morning. “With an e, Cowboy. Now it’s your turn.”

He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Austin,” he groaned. “My name is Austin.” Moving his lips across her breast, he kissed his way up hills and down valleys and back again until Brooke panted and whimpered and begged. That was the sign he had been waiting for.

He rolled to his feet and ripped at his shirt, dragging it over his head in one frustrated motion. Then he toed off his boots and shucked out of his jeans and boxers. When he was buck-ass naked, he stood beside the bed and tried to catch his breath. It was embarrassing to be so winded when he hadn’t even started yet.

Brooke came up on her knees and stared. “Are you normal?”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

She waved a hand. “Your, um...you know. It seems kind of big.”

A slither of unease sent ice water through his veins. “You wouldn’t lie to me about that virgin thing. Would you?”

She straightened her shoulders, her eyes flashing. “I am not a liar.”

“So you’ve definitely had sex.”

“Of course.”

“How many times?”

“That’s none of your business.” She unbuttoned her jeans and shimmied them down her thighs.

His mouth went dry. “I was gonna do that.”

She gave him a look. “You were taking too long. I’m not sure I picked the right man. Are you positive you know what you’re doing?”

He didn’t know whether to laugh or howl with frustration. “God, you’re a piece of work.”

“You promised me wild and exciting. I’m still wearing panties.”

He grabbed her around the waist and tumbled them both to the bed, rolling so they landed with Brooke on top. She was easily eight inches shorter than he was and forty pounds lighter. She pretended to struggle. He pretended to let her. When they were both breathless, he kissed her hard.

She melted into him, purring his name with soft, erotic yearning that made every cell in his body ache.

He rubbed her back. “I’m glad you walked into my life tonight, Brooke with no last name.” Her ponytail had come loose. Pale, sunshiny hair tumbled around them, soft and silky. It smelled like lilacs and innocence and happy summer afternoons.

She nibbled his chin. “Me, too. I nearly chickened out, but then I saw you sitting there, and I felt something.”

“Something?” He palmed her bottom. It was a perfect bottom. Plump and pert and exactly the right size for a man’s hands.

“A zing, I guess. Animal attraction.” She shifted her weight and nearly injured him. He was so hard his balls ached. The condom was in arm’s reach. All he had to do was grab it. But he didn’t want this to be over. He didn’t want the night to end.

Without warning, Brooke rolled off him, settled onto her side, and took his sex in her hand. “I like the way you look, Cowboy.” She stroked him slowly, her gaze focused on the task at hand.

The feel of her cool slender fingers on his taut flesh skated the line between pleasure and pain. He gritted his teeth and tried not to come. “I told you my name,” he groaned.

She rested her cheek on his shoulder and continued her torture. “Yes, you did.” She gripped him tightly. “Austin.” She whispered it low and sweet.

Sweat broke out on his brow. This woman was killing him slowly...

* * *

Brooke was hot and dizzy and elated. For an idea that had begun so badly, this was turning out to be a night to remember. Austin was everything she could have asked for in a lover. Demanding and yet tender. Tough and masculine, but still considerate of her insecurities.

He grabbed her wrist and moved it away from his erection. “Enough,” he croaked.

Before she could protest, he reached for the condom, rolled it on and dragged her panties down her legs. Then he was on top of her and in her and she forgot how to breathe.

He was heavy and wildly aroused. Thankfully, she was equally excited. Despite his impressive stats, her body accepted him easily. It had been a long time for her, but he didn’t have to know that. She canted her hips, tried to relax and concentrated on the incredible sensation of fullness as her body became one with his.

Something about the moment dampened her eyes and tightened her throat. Maybe it was the thought of all he had lost. Maybe it was a breathless yearning to have a man like this for her own one day. Whatever it was, it made her weepy and left her feeling raw and vulnerable. As if it were impossible to hide from him.

He came quickly, with a muttered apology, his chest heaving. Brooke tried to squelch her disappointment. After a quick trip to the bathroom to dispose of the condom, he returned. In their hurry, they had left the lamp on. Now, he flipped the switch, plunging the room into darkness. Only an automatic night-light in the bathroom dispersed some of the gloom as their eyes adjusted.

Austin smoothed the hair from her face. “I’m sorry about that, honey. You had me pretty wound up, and it’s been a little while for me.”

“It’s fine.”

His grin was a flash of white. “It’s not fine. But it will be. Spread your legs, darlin’. Let me show you the fireworks.”

She moved her ankles apart obediently, but inside, she grimaced. This had never been her strong suit. It was too personal, too intimate. The only man who had ever gotten this far with her had been really bad at it.

Fortunately, Austin wasn’t privy to her negative thoughts. He cradled her head in his arm and touched her with confidence, the confidence of a man who knew how to pleasure a woman and liked doing it. “Close your eyes,” he crooned. “Relax, Brooke.”

It was only when he said those two words that she realized her fingers were clenched in the sheets and her shoulders were rigid. “Sorry,” she muttered. “You don’t have to do this.”

Austin frowned. “I need to touch you. Your body is beautiful and soft and so damn sexy. I want to hear you scream my name.”

“Arrogant cowboy...”

He entered her with two fingers and used his thumb to stroke the spot where she ached the most. The keening cry that escaped her throat was embarrassing. But soon, embarrassment was the furthest thing from her mind.

Austin decimated her. He whispered naughty things and caressed her with sure steady touches until her own responses shocked her and her body became a stranger. Just as her spine arched off the bed, she did indeed scream his name. Moments later, he moved on top of her and entered her a second time.

The orgasm was incredible. On a scale of one to ten, it was some imaginary number that only scientists from outer space could decipher.

This time, Austin was just getting started as she tumbled down the far side of the hill. He laughed roughly and shoved her up the peak again, thrusting harder and faster and holding her tightly until they both found the pinnacle at almost the same moment and lost themselves in the fiery pleasure.

Brooke was boneless, elated and utterly spent. Never again would she settle for the kind of relationship that was boring and mundane. This wonderful cowboy had given her that.

They lay together in a tangle of arms and legs as their bodies cooled and their heartbeats slowed.

At last, Austin shifted so she wasn’t bearing his full weight. “You okay?” he asked, sounding sleepy and sated and maybe a little bit smug.

She nuzzled her head against his warm, hard shoulder. “Oh, yeah. Better than okay.” Tomorrow morning, she was going to get online and give this hotel five stars across the board.

He groaned and rolled away. “Don’t move. I’m coming back.”

She heard the water run in the bathroom. Then silence. Then a low curse.

“What’s wrong?” she said, raising her voice in alarm.

He stumbled back into bed, his skin chilled. “The condom broke.” His voice was flat. She couldn’t read him at all.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m on the pill. For other reasons. And besides, it’s the wrong time of the month.” She was due to start her period any day, actually.

“I’m healthy, Brooke. Nothing to worry about there.”

“Then we’re in the clear.”

He yawned and pulled her into his arms, spooning her from behind. “Let me sleep for an hour, and we can go again.”

“You’re out of condoms.”

He kissed the nape of her neck. “We’ll improvise.”

Brooke lay perfectly still and felt the exact moment when Austin crashed hard. His breathing deepened. The arm that encircled her became heavy.

She knew the time had come for her to go home, but she couldn’t leave him. Not yet. This night had turned into something she hadn’t anticipated, something she hadn’t really wanted.

Here was a man who had known pain and loss. Even if they lived in the same town, he wouldn’t want a woman like her. She couldn’t even stand up to her parents. She had her own battles to fight. And she would have to do it without this sweet, gruff cowboy.

She inhaled his scent. Tried to memorize it. The way his body held hers seemed fated somehow. But that was a lie. He was a man she had picked up in a bar. A man with demons, like any other man.

Carefully, with her chest tight and her hands shaking, she extracted herself from his arms one heartbeat at a time. It wasn’t easy. Fortunately, Austin slept like the dead. Once she was out of the bed, the rest went smoothly.

She visited the bathroom. She dressed quietly. She took her bag and her purse and slipped out into the hall.

On the other side of the door, she started to shake. Leaving her one-night stand cowboy was the hardest thing she had ever had to do.

The drive from Joplin to Royal in the middle of the night seemed surreal. Punching in the alarm code and sneaking into the house was almost anticlimactic. She was too tired to shower. Instead, she tumbled into bed and fell asleep instantly.

Three

Two months later

Austin parked his truck across the street from the Texas Cattleman’s Club, got out and stretched. It had been three years...maybe four...since he had last been in Royal, Texas. Not much had changed. An F4 tornado a while back had destroyed a few homes and businesses and damaged others, but the town had rebuilt.

The club itself was a historic structure over a hundred years old. The rambling single-story building with its dark stone-and-wood exterior and tall slate roof was an icon in the area. Ordinarily, Austin wouldn’t be the kind of guy to darken the doors, but he was meeting Gus Slade here at 10:00 a.m.

Austin had plenty of money in the bank...likely more than he would ever need. But he didn’t have the blue-blooded ranching pedigree that men like Gus respected. Still, Gus had invited him here to do a job, and Austin had agreed.

Audra was right. He’d been drifting since Jenny died. It was time to get his business back on track. He’d rambled all over a five-county area in recent years doing odd jobs to pay the bills. The truth was, he was a damned good architect and had been wasting his skills.

Even this job with Gus was a throwaway. But it could open the doors to something more significant, so he had jumped at the chance.

He took his time crossing the street. No need to look too eager. Already, he had made concessions. Instead of his usual jeans and flannel shirt, he had worn neatly pressed khakis, a spotless white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his best pair of boots. Cowboys came in all shapes and sizes in Texas. Austin was shooting for ambitious professional for today’s meeting.

It was who he had been once upon a time. Until Jenny got sick...

Shoving away the unhappy memories, he ran a hand through his hair, flipped his phone to silent mode and strode through the imposing front doors. A smiling receptionist directed him to one of the private meeting rooms partway down the hall.

Augustus “Gus” Slade was already there, deep in conversation with two other men. When Austin appeared, Gus’s two companions said their goodbyes and exited.

Gus held out his hand. “There you are, boy. Right on the money. Thanks for coming. It’s been a long time.”

“It’s good to see you, sir. Thanks for offering me the job.”

Gus was an imposing figure of a man. He was tall and solidly built with a full head of snow-white hair. Piercing eyes that were blue like the Texas sky reflected a keen intelligence.

By Austin’s calculations, the man was probably sixty-eight or sixty-nine. He could have passed for a decade younger were it not for the leatherlike quality of his skin. He’d spent decades working in the sun long before warnings about skin cancer were the norm.

At a time in life when many men his age began to think about traveling or playing golf or simply taking things easy, Gus still worked his cattle ranch, the Lone Wolf, and wielded his influence in Royal. He had plenty of the latter to go around and had even served a few terms as TCC president. Though the burly rancher loved his family and was well respected by the community at large, most people knew he could be fierce when crossed or angered.

Austin had no plans to do either.

At Gus’s urging, Austin settled into one of a pair of wing-backed chairs situated in front of a large fireplace. The weather in Royal was notably mercurial. Yesterday, it had been in the fifties and raining. Today, the temperature was pushing seventy, and the skies were sunny, so no fire.

Gus took the second chair with a grimace and rubbed his knee. “Got kicked by a damned bull. Should have known better.”

Austin nodded and smiled. “I worked cattle during the summers when I was in college. It was a great job, but I went to bed sore many a night.” He hesitated half a breath and plunged on. “So tell me about this job you want me to do.”

When he had been in Royal before, Gus had wanted him to design and build an addition onto his home. Austin had still been paying for Jenny’s medical bills, and he had needed the money. So he had worked his ass off for six months...or maybe it was seven.

He’d been proud of the job, and Gus had been pleased.

The older man twisted his mouth into a slight grimace. “I may have brought you here under false pretenses. It’s not like last time. This will be a one-and-done project. But as I mentioned on the phone, I think being here at the club for a few weeks will give you the chance to meet some folks in Royal who are movers and shakers. These are the kind of men and women who have contacts. They know people and can make things happen to push work your way.”

Austin wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, it made sense to rebuild his career. It had stalled out when he made the choice to stay home with Jenny during what turned out to be the last months of her life. It was a choice he had never regretted.

Even in the depths of his grief, when he had drifted from town to town and job to job, his skill set and work ethic had made it possible for him to command significant compensation for his quality work.

Did he really want to go back to a more structured way of life?

He honestly didn’t know.

And because he didn’t, he equivocated. “I appreciate that, sir. But how about you tell me the details of this particular project?”

“The club is hoping to do more with the outside space than we have in the past. Professional landscapers are in the process of developing a site plan for the area around the gardens and the pool. What I want from you is a permanent outdoor venue that will serve as the stage for the charity auction and can later be used for weddings, etc. The audience, or the guests, will be out front...under a circus tent if the weather demands it.”

“So open air, but covered.”

“You got it. Plus, we want the stage to have at least two or three rooms behind the scenes with bathrooms and changing areas...you get the idea.”

“And what is this auction exactly?”

Gus chuckled. “It’s a mouthful...the Great Royal Bachelor Auction.” He sobered. “To benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. That’s what my Sarah died of, you know. My granddaughter Alexis is on the foundation board. I’d like for you to meet her. Your wife has been gone a long time. It’s not good for a man to be alone.”

“I mean no disrespect, sir, but you don’t seem to be taking your own advice. And beyond that, I have no interest at all in a relationship, though I’m sure your granddaughter is delightful.”

Gus scowled at him. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to turn her down. A lot of men would jump at the chance to have my blessing.”

Austin smiled. “If Alexis is anything like her grandfather, I’m guessing she doesn’t appreciate you meddling in her affairs.”

“That’s true enough,” Gus said. “She seems determined to fritter away her time with a man who is all wrong for her.”

They had strayed off topic again, which made Austin realize that Gus was inordinately interested in matchmaking. He sighed. “I’ll need a budget. And the exact specs of the area where I’m allowed to build.”

“Money’s no object,” the older man said. “We want top-of-the-line all the way. And make sure to include some kind of outdoor heating units, concealed if possible. You know how it is in Texas. We might wear shorts on Christmas Day, and it can snow eight hours later.”

“What’s my timetable?” Austin asked.

“The auction is the last Saturday in November.”

Austin tried to conceal his shock. “Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?”

Gus nodded. “I know. It will be tight. But the club’s custodial staff has been given instructions to help you in any way possible, and we’ve also allotted extra funds to hire part-time carpenters to rough in the framing and anything else you need. I have faith in you, boy.”

“Thank you, sir. I won’t let you down.”

“Call me Gus. I insist.”

After that, they made their way outside so Austin could see exactly what he had to work with. Despite his reservations about the quick turnaround, excitement bubbled up in his chest. This was always one of his favorite phases of a project—looking at a bare plot of ground and imagining the possibilities.

The gardens were soggy, but Austin could see that someone had already begun placing markers and lining off planting areas.

Gus pointed. “Over there is where the stage will be.”

Austin nodded. “I can work with that.”

In the distance, he could see the pool, now closed for the season. The new structure would tie in with the gardens and the rear of the original building to create a peaceful, idyllic setting for entertaining.

To their left, a small figure in stained overalls stood three feet off the ground on a stepladder painting a colorful mural on an outer wall of the club. Gus waved a hand. “Let’s go say hello,” he said.

It was only a matter of fifteen yards. Twenty at the most. They were close enough for Austin to recognize the pale, silky ponytail when it hit him.

The woman turned around as Gus hailed her. The paintbrush in her hand clattered to the ground. Her face turned white. She clutched the top of the ladder.

Austin sucked in a shocked breath. It was her. Brooke. His mystery lover.

Only a clueless fool would have missed the tension, and Gus was no fool. He frowned. “Do you two know each other?”

Austin waited. Ladies first. Brooke stared at him, her eyes curiously blank. “Not at all,” she said politely. “How do you do? I’m Brooke Goodman.”

What the hell? Austin had no choice but to follow her lead. Or else call her a liar. He stuck out his hand. “Austin Bradshaw. Nice to meet you.”

The air crackled with electricity. Brooke didn’t take his hand. She held up both of hers, palms out, to show they were paint streaked. “You’ll have to excuse me. I don’t want to get you dirty.” She shifted her attention to Gus. “If you two don’t mind, I’m trying to get this section finished quickly. They tell me another band of showers is going to move in tonight, so the paint needs to dry.”

And just like that, she turned her back and shut him out.