Cowboy Proud

Then she smiled, the stubble on Cade’s cheek leaving a slight whisker burn on her delicate skin. “I understand exactly what I’m doing, darlin’. I may be single, but I’ve never been celibate. I take liaisons as more than a casual fling but less than a plea for serious commitment. Clear?” She pressed closer, her lips brushing the shell of his ear. “And as for fire? You have no...idea...just how good it would be to burn with my particular brand of heat.”

Cade silently worked his jaw, the muscles and tendons in his neck standing out in sharp relief. She’d balanced herself by placing one hand on his headrest and the other against his ribs. Beneath the one hand, his heart pounded out a hard, fast rhythm. And she’d caused it.

Satisfaction rolled through her. It blazed, reducing any remaining hesitation to ash and clearing the path for her to touch, to taste, to experience this man who’d clearly kidnapped her common sense. This so wasn’t her norm. She was adventurous and fun loving, yes. To do her job, she had to be. But in her private life, she was far more cautious, always weighing the risks. Because once two people crossed a certain line, there was no going back. Ever.

“Hold on,” Cade snarled before he braked rapidly and yanked the wheel. Hard.

Emma tightened her thighs around his to keep from being tossed across his lap. She clutched his shirt in one hand and wrapped her other arm around his rigid shoulders, clinging to him and not sorry for the action or the opportunity.

They hit the dirt road at speed.

A shout of exhilaration escaped her as he wrestled the fishtailing behemoth into submission before stomping the accelerator. This, this was what she’d been so sure he could give her. In a lifetime of structure and boundaries, she was suddenly living, alive in a way she’d never been before.

They flew down a two-track dirt road, kicking up an impressive dust trail. The walls of the canyon rose around them and grew steeper the farther they went. They crossed a cattle guard so fast the truck hardly chattered over the pipes, but Cade still accelerated. Images outside the windows became blurred. But all she could focus on was the fierce, untamed expression that had taken over his entire appearance.

Daylight had abandoned them almost completely. They rounded a curve in the road and, before Emma realized what was happening, Cade left the two-track lane and headed across a wide field. She shifted to watch as the headlights flashed over a huge copse of aspens, their white bark startling in the halogen glare.

Canyon walls closed in tighter around them and drew the eye up, showcasing the building storm. Thunderheads roiled. Lightning flashed, nature’s strobe, and thunder rumbled a bass line. The storm would roll over them in minutes, but at the moment? The sliver of deepening night sky that could be seen was filled with brilliant pinpricks of starlight.

Cade rolled down the front windows.

The smell of rain and the charge of electricity in the air filled the cab.

Her last coherent thought fled, leaving nothing but instinct in its wake. She yanked at his shirt to pull him toward her, or her toward him. She wasn’t sure. Didn’t matter. The hem pulled free and her knuckles brushed down the edge of his abs and into a gutter created by his lats. She’d been relatively certain he was built. Now she had to revise her opinion to acknowledge he was honed and defined in a way that could make a woman’s common sense take a vacation while her body enjoyed the fruits of his labor—thick cords of muscle, ridges and valleys of definition, smooth skin interrupted by only the thinnest line of hair from his belly button and disappearing into his pants.

His arm banded around her.

She instinctively tightened her grip on him.

He slammed on the brakes, sliding the truck to a stop amidst the trees. A dust cloud rolled over them, but it was quickly blown away by the storm’s volatile winds.

Thunder boomed louder.

Ozone tickled her nose.

Cade shoved open the door and, pulling her into his arms, took her with him when he hopped down from the cab. He carried her with sure steps to the rear of the truck before he set her down.

She wobbled, her heels sinking into the dirt. “My shoes—”

“Stay on,” he said, blindly reaching for the tailgate handle and lowering the impromptu seat. Raw need made his smooth voice deeper, giving it a rough, commanding edge. His eyes darkened.

The first drop of rain hit her bare arm. She shivered. “This is crazy.” She took a step back and her ass hit the edge of the tailgate.

He reached out and wrapped his hand around her neck, tightening his grip. “Insane.”

Emma nodded her head, the movement minute. “There’s a zipper on the side. Pull it.”

Cade found the zipper tab and hesitated. “Do you want this, Emma? Say no and it all stops.”

Her pulse fluttered faster than a hummingbird’s wings. “And if I say yes?”

A flash of lightning lit his face, burning his image into her mind in stark relief before she was left blinking and trying to see through the burnout that had stolen her sight. She reached out and laid a hand flat on Cade’s chest.

“This is irresponsible,” he said softly.

“Irrational.”

“Mad.”

She hesitated before offering, “Undeniable.”

He moved in, his hard body pressing against her. “Done,” he whispered, his mouth closing the distance between them.

The sky opened up the moment he kissed her.

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