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She gasped as he pushed two fingers deep inside at the same moment his tongue made contact with her flash point. One stroke, one flick of his tongue, and she erupted. Crying out, she clutched his head, both to keep her balance and to hold him there … right there.
Then she lost her battle with gravity as he urged her down to the tarp. Vaguely she was aware of the rough canvas against her back and the cushion of pine needles underneath that perfumed the air she dragged into her lungs in great gulps. Somewhere nearby a creek splashed over smooth stones. But her main focus was this man, divesting himself of his last bit of clothing.
Dazed as she was by her recent climax, she still possessed enough brain cells to appreciate the wonder of her cowboy’s package. If this was an example of Wyoming manhood, the state had much to be proud of.
As he moved over her and braced a hand on either side of her shoulders, he smiled. Then with one smooth thrust, he shoved home. “Welcome to Wyoming.”
“My goodness.” She reveled in the sensation of being filled to the brim, almost to overflowing.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. “More than okay.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
She gazed up at him, anticipation sending tremors through her. If this connection felt so amazing, what would happen when he began to move? Every nerve ending in her body was on alert, waiting.
He drew slowly back, and the sweet friction intensified the climactic hum building inside her. Forward again, and she started losing her mind. Three strokes later she came, filling the clearing with her hoarse scream of joy.
But still he didn’t stop. Instead he increased the rhythm and shifted his angle. “Again,” he murmured. “Once more.”
She was nothing if not obliging. That new angle was finding all sorts of places where she hadn’t known she had places. And she was dripping with sweat, glorious sweat.
“Good?” He was breathing heavily, but seemed in complete control.
“Oh, yes.” She, on the other hand, had absolutely no control. He was driving this bus and she was merely a very ecstatic passenger.
As she tumbled into her third orgasm, he groaned and moved in tight. The steady pulse of his climax kept time with the waves of completion rolling through her. It was, without a doubt, the best sex of her life.
Sated and relaxed, she wondered dreamily if she should catch the first plane out of Jackson. This experience had surpassed her wildest hopes and dreams. Her vacation could only go downhill from here.
3
NICK HAD EXPECTED GOOD. Good would have done nicely to bind up her psychological wounds and scratch his temporary itch. Good would have made her fairly easy to forget when she left Wyoming. But just his luck, she’d turned out to be great.
Worse yet, he’d told her so as they laughingly searched for their clothes, both of them staggering a little from the effects of incredible sex.
“You were great, too.” She smiled as she reached behind her back to fasten her bra.
He’d always adored watching a woman do that, and this woman was especially graceful at it. He had the urge to unhook her bra so she’d have to refasten it. But if he unhooked it, he’d want to touch her, and that would lead to more of what they’d recently shared. He wasn’t sure where she stood on that issue.
“I can’t tell you how this has improved my outlook,” she said.
That statement had a ring of finality, of completion, as if one session had fixed her right up and she had no inclination for another round. Bummer. “How long are you here for?” he heard himself ask while pulling on his boots.
Damn, he’d probably tipped his hand with that dumb question. And an unnecessary question at that. He could find out when he returned to the house. Ordinarily his mom welcomed the Bunk and Grub overflow guests, but she was staying in town while Grandma Judy recovered from a hip replacement. Jack must have handled getting this woman settled, and would have all the details.
“Five nights,” she said. “It was all the time I could spare from work.”
“Which is?” He shouldn’t have asked that, either. He was behaving like some lovesick fool desperate for information about the object of his affections. That was so wrong. They’d had terrific sex. Period. Sex wasn’t everything. But.he’d never had any better than this.
She buttoned her blouse. “I guess there’s no harm in saying. I own a photography studio. And before you get all impressed, let me assure you it’s strictly a meat-and-potatoes operation. I specialize in family portraits, graduation photos and weddings. The basics.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” But unless he was reading her wrong, she thought there was something wrong with that. Her description of her studio invited him to dismiss it as pedestrian. “My mom treasures her wedding pictures,” he said. “Especially since my dad passed last fall.”
His mystery woman had leaned against the truck’s front fender so she could pull on her boots. She paused in midmotion. “I’m so sorry. Was it sudden?”
“Yeah.” And he wished to hell he hadn’t brought up the subject. Way to put a damper on the proceedings. “Rollover.”
“How tragic. How long were they married?”
“Almost thirty years. They got married after I was born. I guess it makes sense, considering the times. All that free love and flower power. But then my mom got pregnant again, and that must have tipped the scales toward matrimony.” Sheesh. Maybe next he’d trot out the history of the Last Chance Ranch and regale her with that. He needed to shut up and take her back to. the road? Or the ranch house? Dilemma. He hadn’t thought past the sex, but he’d better start thinking tout de suite.
A gentleman would take her back to the ranch house. He liked to think of himself as a gentleman, despite having just had sex with a woman out in the woods, a woman whose name he didn’t know. But that had been gentlemanly, hadn’t it? She’d needed something from him, and judging from her response, he’d provided it.
Turns out it was also what he’d needed, and would probably need again soon. That was the thing about good sex. It reminded you that sex was a lot of fun and should be enjoyed more often.
In fact, maybe there was a second condom … no, that was pushing it. This area was secluded, but not so secluded that someone might not show up. Like Jack, for instance, checking on his posthole digging. That thought prompted Nick to grab the tarp, fold it quickly and toss it in the back of the truck.
“You look worried all of a sudden.” She fingercombed her short hair, which was still damp with sweat. “If it has to do with me tattling on you, then relax. That would be extremely ungrateful of me, to spill the beans and possibly get you fired.”
“I appreciate that.” He glanced down so she wouldn’t see his smile. No matter what his transgressions, Jack was stuck with him. Although Jonathan Chance Sr. had specified in his will that Jonathan Chance Jr., aka Jack, was in charge, their dad had also dictated that his other two sons have jobs for as long as the Last Chance continued in operation.
Besides, Jack needed him. Nick was a damned good vet, and the horses bred at the Last Chance were valuable and required a vet on the premises. The Last Chance herd didn’t take up all of Nick’s time, so he had other clients in the Jackson Hole area, but his primary duty was to the LC horses. Even without the terms of the will to guide Jack’s decisions, he wouldn’t trust those animals to anyone else.
That wasn’t to say Jack would let this little incident go if he found out. There was a time when he would have laughed about it, but he seemed to have misplaced his sense of humor. Nick would love to fix that problem, too, but so far all his attempts to get Jack to lighten up had failed. If his brother found out what had happened here, it could get awkward.
As if all this thinking about Jack had pulled him in Nick’s direction, he heard the sound of hoofbeats. A few seconds later, Jack rode into the clearing on Bandit, a handsome black-and-white paint who’d been named for the masklike markings around his eyes. The ranch’s topearning stud, Bandit looked as if he could have belonged to a Shoshone chief.
Jack had some Native American in him on his mother’s side, which explained his dark hair and eyes. Today he wore his don’t-mess-with-me black Stetson, although it was covered with dust, as were Jack’s jeans, his leather chaps and his long-sleeved shirt. He’d probably just finished a training session with one of the horses and was looking for something else to wrangle. His gaze swept over the scene, and his jaw tightened.
Nick did his best not to look guilty as hell. “Hey, there, Jack. What brings you out here?”
“Curiosity.” His tone was even but his eyes narrowed as he focused on Nick. “I figured you’d be done with the postholes by lunchtime and it’s nearly noon.” Turning in the saddle, he touched two fingers to the brim of his hat. “Nice to see you again, Miss Jeffries.”
Just like that, some of the mystery disappeared. Nick knew the last name of his previously anonymous lover. Soon enough he’d learn her first name, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. What if it didn’t fit his image? A woman who had stood naked and eager in the middle of a pine-scented clearing with the sun dappling her smooth skin deserved a really great first name.
He noted that Jack was behaving with polite formality by using her last name. No doubt Miss Manners would approve. Nick wondered what Miss Manners would say about using no name at all, particularly during the activity Nick and Miss Jeffries had engaged in. Nick didn’t think there was a rule of etiquette to cover that situation.
The woman now partially identified beamed at Jack. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Chance. You’ll have to blame me for the postholes not getting finished this morning. I was looking for Wyoming wildlife and your ranch hand was kind enough to escort me into the woods, where I’d have a better chance of finding it.”
Nick almost choked as he swallowed a laugh. Damned if she hadn’t told the truth. He was really starting to like this woman.
“I see.” Jack folded his hands over the saddle horn and studied the scene. “In my experience, wildlife tends to come out at dawn and dusk.”
Nick shrugged. “Usually, but it was worth a shot to accommodate a ranch guest.”
“And it’s a lovely spot,” added Miss Jeffries.
“Yes ma’am, it is.” Jack gave Nick another dirty look. When Nick and Gabe were in high school, they’d each claimed a make-out spot on the ranch. Jack had been their accomplice back then, supplying condoms from his personal stash and handing out sexual advice from his lofty, nonvirginal perch.
Nick wished the old Jack had shown up in the clearing instead of this new version. The old Jack would have smiled knowingly and headed back to the ranch house.
The new Jack glared at Nick with obvious disapproval. “I’d like those postholes dug today. The posts and wire should arrive this afternoon.”
Nick met his gaze. “It’ll get done.”
“I surely do hope so. We’ve needed a fence out here for a long time.”
Nick was willing to argue the point, but not at the moment.
Jack glanced up through the trees at the sun. The guy never wore a watch, never needed to. “It’s late. Mary Lou’s probably dishing up. You two better head back or you’ll miss lunch.”
“We’ll do that.”
“See you there.” Jack touched the brim of his hat again. “Ma’am.” Then he wheeled his horse around and cantered down the narrow road.
Nick wished she wasn’t standing there watching Jack go with such apparent fascination. Jack might be bossy and abrupt these days, but women were still drawn to him. They always had been. For all Nick knew, Miss Jeffries might wish she’d thrown her loop at Jack Chance instead of some nameless cowboy wielding a posthole digger.
She turned to Nick. “What do you call that color horse?”
“Bandit’s a paint. That’s what we breed on this ranch.” So maybe she’d been admiring the horse instead of the man.
“Show horses?”
“Can be. But we train and sell them as cutting horses, which means they—”
“I know what that is. I saw City Slickers.” She ruffled her hair with her fingers again. “I think Mr. Chance had a pretty good idea what we’ve been up to.”
“Probably.”
“The way you talked back to him, I’m amazed you still have a job. Or maybe he didn’t want to fire you in front of me. I’m perfectly willing to cover for you, but an employee needs to watch his attitude.”
“Guess so.”
“Yours was kind of belligerent, if you don’t mind my saying.”
Nick decided the game was over. “He can’t fire me. I’m his brother.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re one of the Chance boys?”
“‘Fraid I am.”
“But.you were out here slaving away as if…”
“I know. It’s a problem these days. Apparently Jack grieves by working around the clock, which is fine, except he insists the rest of us do the same. I’d rather not have a showdown with him, which wouldn’t help morale, either.”
She groaned. “And I’ve only made things worse between you during a tough time for your family. I’m so sorry.”
“Hey.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I’m a big boy and I make my own decisions. I don’t for a second regret what we just shared. In fact, I was thinking that since you’ll be here for five nights, we might—”
“Oh, no.” She stepped back, out of range of his touch.
“What do you mean, no ? Didn’t you enjoy yourself? Scratch that. I know for a fact you enjoyed yourself. You couldn’t fake that kind of reaction.”
“But I thought you were one of the hired hands. Sure, I knew I might see you again while I’m here, but we’d pretend nothing happened so you wouldn’t get fired for dallying with a guest.”
He was picking up the drift of her comments, and he didn’t like the implication. “So you bagged your cowboy, and now you’re done?”
Her brow furrowed. “I told you I didn’t expect anything to come of this.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it has to end with one brief moment in the woods! Hell, we’ll be sleeping under the same roof!”
“Even more reason not to take this any further, especially with your brother monitoring everything that happens on the ranch. I don’t want to be the cause of more friction between you two.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” Nick was wondering if he could manufacture a necessary business trip for his dear brother, who was becoming an obstacle to all things happy.
“Let’s just leave it alone. What we had today was perfect. I don’t want to spoil it by turning it into some … some complicated maneuver.”
Nick blew out a breath. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. It could be very simple. I become your date for the time you’re here and I inform my overbearing brother that it’s none of his business what goes on between us.”
“I don’t think—”
“Look, I understand that you’ll return to your life in Indianapolis in five days, and I’m cool with that.”
“I’m not so sure I’d be. I don’t trust myself not to get in over my head. I can’t take that risk.”
Nick gazed at her. “But you were willing to have outdoor sex with an anonymous cowboy.”
“Yes. But now I intend to rein myself in.”
“That’s too bad. Plus, what else are you going to do while you’re here? The skiing is lousy in June and I’m way more fun than a horseback ride or an all-day hike.”
Her lips twitched, as if she wanted to smile but wouldn’t quite let herself.
“Think about it, Miss Jeffries. In the meantime, let’s hightail it to the ranch house before all the food’s gone. I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked up an appetite.”
“Me, too, Mr. Chance.” With a little grin, she walked toward the truck.
He had to clench his hands into fists to keep from grabbing her and kissing her until she melted against him the way she had earlier. He thought he’d done a damn good job of satisfying her, but maybe he hadn’t pleased her all that much if she could turn her back on more of the same.
“The name’s Nick,” he called after her as she climbed into the cab.
“I like that,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m Dominique.”
Dominique. Great name for a very sexy lady. And he would get her into bed again or his name wasn’t Nick Chance.
4
