Authors: Calista Fox
Sam reached over and squeezed her hand. “Let’s hope he’s
moved on. If not, then I want you to consider a different option.”
“Going to the sheriff.”
He didn’t say anything. Sky stared out the windshield,
silently praying she wouldn’t have to resort to that extreme. Or any other one.
When they reached Wade’s Saloon, she turned in her seat and
suggested, “How about we forget about exes and horses and just dance the night
away?”
“That was my plan all along.”
“Okay.”
She waited for him to open her door, then they entered the
lively establishment Jack owned. As they wound their way around tables—the
place was packed, it being Friday night and Wade’s Saloon being the only
serious watering hole in Wilder, following the morality crusade a while
back—people jumped up to greet her. Friends, family members, old high school
acquaintances. She introduced Sam to the few who didn’t know him and told
everyone about the progress at the Painted Horse Ranch & Inn.
By the time they made it to the bar, she must have sung the
praises of the inn to sixty people.
Sam said, “Maybe you ought to consider taking the marketing
position.”
Sky laughed. “Not a chance. I’m finally getting comfortable
with the dessert station. No need to throw a wrench in the works.”
“You did turn out to be a godsend, darlin’.”
“Says your stomach.”
“Damn right.” He winked.
She didn’t have the chance to come up with another sassy
retort because Jess and George Mills descended upon them. Liza was at the bar
too. Jack cracked the tap on an amber beer and slid mugs their way.
“These are on me,” he said. “Welcome home, darlin’.”
They all clinked glasses.
The dance floor was full and Sky sipped while watching the couples
two-step and country swing. At the end of the song the band performed, the
singer—her very own cousin, Gus Travis—tipped his hat her way and announced to
the saloon, “We have a celebrity in our midst.”
Sky shook her head in honest modesty as the crowd cheered.
But the enthusiastic reception warmed her heart. Especially as several shouted
out for her to sing something.
Beside her, the hunky cowboy said, “A true testament of a
woman’s moral fiber is what her friends, family—and yeah, horses—think of her.”
“No fair throwing my own words in my face.”
“Just sayin’.” He quoted Reese this time.
Sky grinned.
Gus said, “Honey, why don’t you come on up here and sing us
a song.”
The crowd went crazy again.
Jack told her, “You know you’d hurt my feelings if you said
no. This is my joint, after all.”
“Now why on Earth would I want to hurt your feelings? I hear
you’ve got a spunky wife. She just might kick me in the shin if I refuse.”
Liza swooped in and gave her a hug. “Not a chance. I liked
you the moment I met you. But if you’ll sing, I’ll make Jack throw in a couple
shots of tequila. That’s how we ended up together, don’t you know?”
“Well, hell,” Sky said. “I’m sold.”
Everyone gathered around the bar clapped enthusiastically.
To Sam, she asked, “What’s your favorite song, cowboy?”
“
A Storm’s Rollin’ In
,” he said with another flirty
wink. “By one very alluring Sky Travis.”
“Cute. You’re just full of it tonight.” She kissed him. Then
she made her way to the stage.
Gus handed over his acoustic twelve-string guitar. “You’re
gonna need this.”
“Thanks.”
“They know your songs,” he said of his band members. “So
take your pick. And do as many as you want. I’m having a beer.”
“Make it quick. I’m just doin’ the one,” she said. “This
isn’t my gig.”
“Oh hell, honey. These people listen to me all the damn
time. You’re a fresh breeze blowing through this place.”
Gus left the stage and Sky gave her selection to the band.
Then she stepped up to the microphone. She strummed a few chords to get used to
Gus’ guitar before she addressed the patrons of Wade’s Saloon.
“Evening, folks.”
“Sky!” came a collective call.
Her throat tightened. She slid a glance toward the bar and
Sam raised his beer mug. She smiled at him. Damn, he made her all warm and
fuzzy inside.
Returning her attention to the crowd, she said, “This one’s
for the sexy cowboy at the bar who saves horses and knows how to kiss a girl
’til her toes curl in her boots.”
Sam grinned and tipped his hat at her. Several people
whistled.
Then she got serious. Sky strummed again, the song starting
off slow and haunting. When she reached the chorus, her audience sang softly
with her in a low, measured, staccato beat.
“A storm’s rollin’ in. I can feel it in my heart. I can hear
it on the wind. There’s a storm rollin’ in.”
They left her to the next verse. When she picked up the
tempo and reached the chorus again, she sang it an octave higher. So did they.
Sky got caught up in the steadily increasing rhythm and pitch, the song
showcasing her full register. By the time she reached the final chorus, those
who weren’t on the dance floor were tapping their toes as they sat in their
seats, slapping their hands against their thighs, cheering wildly.
She strummed faster and the band kept up with her. The song
worked its way to a frenzied finish and the entire bar erupted with applause,
everyone jumping to their feet.
Emotion and excitement welled in Sky’s throat. She’d forgotten
how much she’d enjoyed eliciting such an overwhelming response from fans when
she’d toured with Waylon.
Gus’ bandmates clasped her on the shoulder and praised her.
She bounced down the stairs of the stage and handed over the guitar to her
cousin.
His voice was filled with awe as he said, “Hell, girl,
you’re crazy for not recording another CD.”
Sky shook her head. “I’m a one-hit wonder, Gus. As in, it’s
a wonder I even had one hit.”
“You had more than that, honey.” He kissed her on the cheek,
then returned to the stage. He clapped her up again, and Sky blushed.
Sam gazed at her with admiration in his bright-green eyes.
“You are something else, darlin’.”
She sipped her beer, then said, “Just having fun. How about
we dance now?”
He led her out onto the floor and they tore it up with the
two-step. Sky lost track of how many songs passed as they danced.
Eventually, she asked, “You know a few country swing moves?”
He smirked. A sexy look that did her in. “I’m a Texan by
blood, darlin’.”
He twirled her around the floor. Sky couldn’t remember the
last time she’d enjoyed dancing so much.
When she was breathless and feeling as though she’d met her
match on the dance floor, she hollered up at Gus, “How about a slow one for us
older folk?”
Her cousin laughed. “Girl, if you’d take a break every now
and then, you could catch your breath.”
Sky gestured toward Sam. “Look at what I have to compete
with.”
Gus chuckled. “Might want to do some P90X, or something.”
She stuck her tongue out at her cousin.
He did her a favor, though, and slowed it down, covering
Mickey Gilley’s
Stand By Me.
Sky and Sam were in the middle of the floor and he pulled
her in nice and tight to him. He twined their fingers and rested them against
his chest. Her other hand curled the nape of his neck, her fingers brushing his
skin under the thick strands of his hair.
She asked, “Is there anything you’re not good at?”
His jaw set. “Plenty.”
She sighed. “I meant aside from saving the planet and
finding the solution to world peace.”
He brushed his lips along her temple. “Sometimes, a man
wants to be a hero for a woman like you.”
“Mission accomplished.”
Stand By Me
morphed into Willie Nelson’s
Blue Eyes
Crying in the Rain.
“I like the classics,” Sam said.
“Me too. The ’70s country music reminds me of my mama and
daddy. They used to sing and dance all night long on Friday and Saturday
nights. They were a lot of fun.”
“Were?”
“Well, Daddy’s still alive. He lives in San Antone. Has a
new girlfriend, after so many years of being alone. I don’t know her yet. I
think he’s afraid to do a meet ’n greet because he believes my sisters and I
will take offense. We won’t, and we’ve told him as much.”
“And what about your mom?”
She gazed up at him. “Died of liver disease when I was
thirteen. My two sisters, Macy and Morgan, are twins. They were six when Mama
passed.” Sky couldn’t help the ritual moment of silence. Then she added, “They
don’t really know her the way I did, and they’re supportive of Daddy’s current
life. But for some reason, he feels guilty for moving on. He loved my mama
deeply and was devastated when she passed.”
“Maybe it’s just not the same,” Sam ventured. “He could care
for this new woman but, in his heart, he might not feel
everything
that
he felt for your mom—his wife and the mother of his children.”
She nodded, understanding his point. Then she asked, “Were
you in love with Charlotte?”
He groaned. “Who brought her up?”
“Reese. But don’t worry, I’m not the jealous type. Just
curious.”
“Nothing to be jealous about. I was young and didn’t do a
good job of making things work with her and my family.”
“How so?”
Sam sighed. “They can be challenging. Selfish, even, in that
they need to know everything that’s going on with their sons so there aren’t
any surprises—particularly in front of others. You don’t catch my parents off
guard, that’s a cardinal rule. Charlotte was a surprise. Big time. I literally
sprung her on them after two years of being with her. I suppose I’d known all
along that she wasn’t going to be able to hold her own with them, and that’s
why I kept our relationship a secret.”
“Did you love her?” she asked again.
“In that first-time sort of way,” he said. “But in the end,
I had to accept the fact that I’d known in the back of my head she wasn’t the
right woman for me. I sensed from the beginning that it wasn’t going to work
out. Maybe that’s another reason I kept her from my family for so long. I
didn’t want to break the illusion so quickly.”
Sky asked, “What about me?”
He grinned. “Things are different now. I don’t subscribe to
the family criticism or drama. But as a matter of tradition and principle, you
will have to meet them someday.”
She laughed. “Does that mean we’re officially dating?”
“Think it goes without saying.”
“Nice to know.” The song ended and Sky said, “Why don’t you
take me back to your cottage, cowboy?”
They said their goodbyes and headed out of the saloon. Sam
gave her another spin in the parking lot and she laughed as she ducked under
his raised arm. But the flash of blue in the moonlight and the flicker of
familiar taillights made her pull away.
She stared out into the dark night, the sight vanishing so
quickly she didn’t know if her paranoia had caused a hallucination. Or if she’d
really just seen the ass end of Mac’s ’57 Cadillac convertible peeling out of
the parking lot and disappearing down the road.
“What is it, darlin’?” Sam stood beside her, his gaze
following hers.
Her pulse raced, and not in a good way. She absently wrung
her hands and said, “I’m not sure. I might’ve just imagined it.”
“Imagined what?”
She shook her head. “I could be totally wrong. But I thought
I saw the ex’s car.”
Sam stared down at her. “You think he’s here in Wilder?”
“I can’t fathom why he would be. I mean, he wouldn’t see me
around town. My SUV is out at the ranch all day. He wouldn’t know where to find
me. Unless he started asking around. Of course, I don’t know how many people
know I’m working at the inn.”
Sam took her by the hand and led her to the truck. “Well,
he’s not going to get close to you at the cottage. The first thing Caleb and I
did when he bought the property was to secure the fencing that surrounds it and
install video surveillance. We’ve got cameras everywhere. And the gates are
monitored after five o’clock, but you know that already.”
“And you have guards who patrol the grounds on ATVs and keep
an eye on all the outbuildings and horses. I do feel safe there. I just
wouldn’t want him to try to breach your security.”
“Not a chance.” He helped her into the cab, then leaned
against the door panel and asked, “Why won’t you tell me his name?”
“I don’t want you getting any ideas in your head about going
to the sheriff on my behalf.”
Sam grimaced. “As much as I’d like to—and the thought has
crossed my mind, I’ll admit—I wouldn’t betray you that way.”
“I didn’t think you would. I just didn’t want there to be
any sort of temptation.”
His head dipped and he kissed her. Then he said, “Oh there’s
plenty of temptation.”
“Of the good kind. Stay focused on that.”
He closed her door and rounded the front of the vehicle. He
drove them back to the cottage.
Just the one light was on in the living room again.
Moonlight streamed in through the tall windows. Sam turned on the sound system
and more country music drifted through the house at a low decibel. He pulled
her into his strong embrace and their bodies melded together as they swayed to
a Juice Newton song.
Sam gave her a long, smoldering kiss. She unbuttoned his
shirt and pushed it off his shoulders and down his arms. He held her again and
her fingertips skated over his bare skin. All those rock-hard muscles and his
heat and cologne stimulated her senses. Butterflies took flight in her stomach.
That now-prevalent tickle along her clit, whenever Sam was near or she thought
of him, almost made her miss a step.
She laughed softly.
“What’s so funny?” he murmured against her hair.
“Think I was dancin’ before I could walk, but you without
your shirt on is going to make me tromp on my own feet. Or yours.”
“Then why don’t we take this into the bedroom?”
He palmed her ass cheeks suddenly and lifted her up. Sky
wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She whisked off
his hat and dropped it on the sofa as they passed by. Then she kissed him.
“You’re gonna make me run into a wall or something.”
Sky smiled. “I figured you could handle the distraction.”
“You are more than just a distraction, darlin’.”
They entered his bedroom and he sat on the mattress, with
her straddling his lap. He worked off her boots. She raked her fingers through
his hair.
“I like dancing with you,” she said.
“I like this a bit better.”
“You never fail to make me smile.”
“How about I make you come?”
“Now
that’s
a bit better.”
“Smartass.”
She kissed him again. Then he pulled apart the snaps on her
black leather vest and slipped it off. He eyed her black lace demi-bra and
traced the pad of a finger along the scalloped edge of a cup where the top of
her breast swelled over the material.
“You are damn sexy,” he told her in a tone full of desire.
“I could be ninety years old with one foot in the grave and still get hard for
you. No Viagra needed.”
She stared at him. Blinked. “Hmm.”
Sam chuckled. “Guess I could stand to work on my analogies.”
“It’s a thought.”
“How about I stick with what I know best.” He reached a hand
around her back and flicked the hook on her bra. Then he dragged the straps
down her arms and admired the view, if the flare of lust in his eyes was any
indication.
“Good idea,” she concurred.
He cupped her breasts and massaged them gently, his thumbs
stroking her nipples. She clasped his shoulders to hold herself steady. His
head bent to her chest and his tongue swept over her nipple.
Hot flashes burst inside her, low in her belly, deep in her
core. He suckled and then licked again. She squirmed in his lap.
“Take my jeans off,” she said in a throaty voice.
Sam carefully flipped her onto her back on the bed and
worked the fastenings at her waist. He discarded her jeans, panties and socks.
Then he stretched out beside her. As he kissed her, he caressed her breasts
again, then eased his hand down her stomach to the apex of her legs.
His fingers slid over her labia, stroking slowly. She
gripped his biceps as her body shuddered with intense longing only Sam
elicited—and sated.
He rubbed her clit, teasing the sensitive bud with the pad
of one finger, then two. Her back arched and her body twisted slightly so that
her bare breasts pressed to his pecs. He still wore his jeans, but his chest
was deliciously naked and hot.
When he pushed a finger deep into her pussy, she tore her
mouth from his and groaned.
Sam stared down at her as he pumped in and out of her,
heightening her arousal in a heartbeat. Her hips lifted off the mattress to
meet his strokes.
His lips brushed over hers. He eased a second finger into
the tight space and used his thumb on her clit.
“Come,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
Her desire for him spun out of control. All the strings that
kept her bound together snapped at once. She let out a sharp cry as her insides
ignited and a powerful climax ripped through her.
Sam’s mouth claimed hers and he kissed her deeply as he
continued to stroke her, drawing out her orgasm and fanning the flames
consuming her.
And making her ache for so much more…
* * * * *
Sam’s cock throbbed viciously, but he tried to ignore it.
Sky coming all over his fingers in a wave of heat and moisture had him half out
of his mind with wanting to grab a condom and thrust wildly into her. But the
need to keep pleasuring her overrode his own lust. More than that, he loved
getting her hot and restless, pushing her over the edge.
He withdrew his fingers from her and slowly rubbed her clit
again.
She sighed dreamily.
He shifted on the bed and settled between her parted thighs.
His tongue replaced his fingers on her swollen lips and he flicked the dewy
flesh, alternating between lapping slowly and teasing her with a faster,
fluttery movement.
“Sam,” she said in a breathless voice. “Oh my God. That is
incredible.”
One of her hands combed through his hair. The other slid
under her leg at the juncture of her thigh and ass. His fingers twined with
hers there, and she held on as he continued to lick her. He suckled her lips,
then her clit, and her breath caught.
With his free hand, Sam slipped a finger inside her wet
pussy.
She moaned and writhed. Her response to him spurred him on.
So too did the taste of her, so warm and wicked.
Her body bowed and her hips lifted off the mattress. He
suckled her flesh again, then used the tip of his tongue on her clit, in
lightning-quick strokes.
“Jesus, Sam,” she ground out.
And then a tremor rocked her body and she moaned again, deep
and throaty, as her inner walls contracted around his finger while she
climaxed.
His breath came as heavily as hers did. He released her hand
and also withdrew his finger from inside her, but lightly rubbed her vulva as
she still panted and wriggled on the bed. Then he kissed her in that intimate
spot before working his way up her body, his tongue and lips trailing over her
flushed skin. He suckled a nipple and then kissed her neck. Finally, his mouth
sealed with hers and he kissed her hungrily.
Her fingers remained threaded in his hair and she returned
the kiss with equaled passion. And need. He reached between them and yanked
apart the buttons on the fly of his Levi’s. He broke their sizzling kiss just
long enough to get naked and snatch a condom from the nightstand.
He returned to her and sank into her tight, wet depths. His
strokes were full and quick, fueled by desire and that other emotion that
dangled like a carrot within his grasp. That indefinable something that made
him think that perhaps he’d been right when he’d talked to Caleb about Sky.
Maybe she really was
the one.
He slung her leg over his hip and cupped a cheek, thrusting
deeper into her. They moved together in a frenzied rhythm. He nipped at her
neck and she arched her back, pressing her body against his.
“Sam.” Her lust-filled tone lingered on the quiet air. “Do
what you did to me last night.”
He groaned. “You make me so damn hot.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” she simply said.
His fingers slid along the cleft of her ass as his cock
stroked her inner walls. When her panting escalated and her body tensed, he
dipped one finger into the tight hole while thrusting into her. She came
instantly, her body shaking, her pussy squeezing him tight.
Everything inside of Sam erupted and he came with a jerk of
his hips and a sharp tremor through his body.
And the very definitive realization that he’d been right
about this woman and his feelings for her all along.
This was no mere crush.
* * * * *
Sky snuggled close to Sam later and reveled in the
contentment that seeped through her veins. Sated was one thing. Deliriously
happy was another.
As he stroked her hair while her head rested on his chest,
he said, “You sounded great tonight at the bar. Like you’re still on a stage
every night.”
She yawned and told him, “I get a lot of practice, singing
in the shower every morning.”
The stroking of her hair stopped. He asked in a serious
tone, “You think you’re just a dime a dozen?”
“I’m not the only girl in Texas who can hum a few notes.”
Several moments of silence ensued. She knew him well enough
now to know when something weighed on his mind.
Sure enough, he said, “You’re more talented than that. And
it doesn’t take your CMA to prove it.”
She propped herself up on an elbow and stared at him in the
moonlight. “You know I won a Country Music Award?”
“Best Female Artist of the Year. Reese told me. And three of
your singles, along with the CD, hit number one on the charts.” He rolled onto
his side and gazed at her. “So why, exactly, did you tell Gus tonight that
you’re a one-hit wonder?”
“Oh that.”
She flopped onto her back and stared at the shadows
flickering across the ceiling.
“Yeah, that,” Sam said.
Sky’s teeth ground together. Then she confessed, “I said it
because it’s true. Think about it. I made one CD. One movie. I danced in the
chorus line of one Broadway and one Vegas show. Professionally speaking, I only
ever do something just once.”
“Why?” he challenged.
Sky’s eyes squeezed shut for a moment. She said, “Fear of a
sophomore slump? I don’t know.”
She let out a long breath. Then she rolled onto her side to
face him again.
“I did stuff everyone else said I should do.
You should
be a singer. You should be an actress. You should be a dancer.
Okay. Easy
enough. I mean, I did all of that in high school. I was the lead in choir, the
captain of the dance team and every time the drama club put on a play, I had
the lead female role and they actually scheduled our performances around my
other dancing and singing commitments. My understudies prayed to God I’d catch
pneumonia or fall down a flight of stairs, because otherwise, they weren’t ever
hitting the stage in my stead.”
She groaned. “I can’t even begin to explain why I ended up
as everyone’s hopeful be-all-end-all in Wilder, Texas. Especially since I came
up so short in my mind. But for some reason, they all thought I’d be this great
success story—and believe I am to this day. They all had their own ideas for
what I should do with my life, regardless of my own personal feelings about the
matter.”
“Who’s
they?
” he asked.
“My family. My friends. Even people I only knew in passing.”
“Lot of pressure there, darlin’,” he said in an empathetic
tone.
“Yes.” She thought about all of the
you should do this
suggestions she’d dealt with her entire life and said, “All I ever really
wanted to do, after my mama died, was bake. It was kind of a weird sensation
that hit me. I used to love sitting at her kitchen counter, watching her whip
up a batch of anything while aimlessly chatting away.”
Sky smiled at the memory.
Then she added, “My mama had all these recipes in a box that
her mama had given her, and she never even glanced at them. I know she’d
studied them at one point, but after that, she decided how to measure or change
up the ingredients, and made all of those recipes her own, adding the notations
to the cards so that I’d know what modifications she preferred—and encouraging
me to try my own alternatives. I envied how talented she was.”