Текст книги "Playing With Fire"

Автор книги: Alison Bliss

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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

I lowered my hand gently onto his stomach. His muscles flinched under my unexpected touch. For a moment, I wondered if my hands were cold. Probably. I didn’t feel cold, but it would explain why my whole body was shaking. Then again, that could easily be my nerves jumping as my hand traveled over his well-defined abs.

As I placed my other hand on him, I glanced down at his narrow waist and my gaze followed the muscle definition down the length of his nicely toned body. He was still fully aroused, which only made my skittishness return.

My straying hands lingered in designated areas, a safe distance away from his… Nope. Not going there—yet. But even though I enjoyed the hardness of this fine male specimen under my hands, I was beginning to feel uninspired.

I traveled a little farther south and checked his face for any signs of embarrassment or him wanting to turn back. Nothing. No blushing cheeks. No shocked, what-do-you-think-you’re-doing look. He just reclined with a tiny smirk curving the corner of his mouth while prominently displaying an erection the size of a torpedo.

Obviously he knew I was avoiding his… Penis? Member? What the hell do you call those things? Oh, come on, Anna! Go for it already. You want to touch his…dick. Feeling weak at the thought, I shifted my weight forward, leaning into his muscular thigh. “I’m going to…um, do something different now.”

Cowboy’s grin widened, but his eyes stayed closed. “Whatever you say.”

Stretching out my hand, I concentrated intensely on the descent of my fingertips until I reached my destination and curled my fingers around the base of his shaft. The moment I grasped him, Cowboy’s entire body stiffened and his penis twitched.

I froze, not sure what happened. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all.” He groaned, then relaxed his body. “Just caught me a little off guard.”

“I warned you first.”

Cowboy chuckled. “That you did. But I didn’t realize you were just going to…er, grab the bull by the horns. I thought you’d ease into it a little more.”

“So what I did wasn’t enjoyable?”

“Anna, you’re holding my rock-hard dick in your hand. What part of any of this do you think I’m not enjoying?”

I coughed to stifle the laughter bubbling in my throat. “Right.”

“Now, stop second-guessing yourself and just do whatever you want.”

Throwing caution and inhibition to the wind, I intuitively gave his swollen member a tight squeeze. He moaned under his breath, and the sound alone filled me with a renewed sense of confidence. It confirmed that I could elicit a response from him at will. A very positive one at that.

I caressed him slowly in what I deemed a vaguely sensual manner—something I observed on the DVDs I’d watched. He lay quietly, eyes still closed, while I touched him intimately, calculating every robotic move I made. My touches became more fluid as my fingers traced over his thickness and I delighted myself in the bumps and ridges under the smooth, silky skin.

“You’re so hard,” I said, then blushed a little as I realized I spoke out loud. “I mean, you have a lovely, um…” Damn. I still can’t say dick out loud.

I found certain motions took him to a higher aroused state. Direct contact made him grow thicker and longer, which I hadn’t thought possible, while my hand pumping his shaft deepened the color of his helmet. Every moan, every grunt he released, hit me low and deep, sending ripples of pleasure cascading throughout my body. Then I tried this contract and release variation on him that I’d read about.

A quiver ran through him and his eyes flew open, wild and burning with need and desire. “Don’t overdo it,” he managed to say, “or this demonstration won’t last very long.”

I smiled sweetly at him, but a dirty little giggle left my lips. I couldn’t help it. I loved the look of immense pleasure in his eyes.

At this point, I felt like an artist, harvesting my creativity and experimenting freely with his “materials.” And my eagerness to please didn’t want to lessen the severity of his symptoms. Nope, I wanted to magnify them, even though I knew his self-control would be tested.

So I sloped my hand underneath him, investigating the underside. His stomach flattened as I cradled him, cupping his balls in my palm and savoring the different textures while kneading him gently. Then, in slow motion, I leaned forward and dropped my moistened lips over the tip of him, tasting him for the first time.

A guttural moan left his lips. “Oh, Christ.”

Then he groaned as I dragged my lips all the way down until his head hit the fleshy part of my throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched his hand fist my comforter. “Anna…you don’t…have to do that.”

I pulled my head up, allowing my lips to linger just over him, and he sucked in a breath. “I want to,” I whispered and lowered my head again.

My tongue swirled around the head, and my lips tightened around his shaft, working their way back down to the base of his penis. He breathed heavily and twisted his fingers into my hair. Judging by his hesitation, I could tell he was resisting the urge to thrust upward into my awaiting mouth. Damn, he’s really struggling…and I love it!

Instead, he pulled me back firmly. “You have to stop. Now!”

I blinked. “Was that okay?”

“Darlin’, that was a hell of a lot better than just okay. Jesus. I have a strong desire to spank you right now. But I think I need to steer my thoughts to something pure for the time being or this little experiment of ours is going to end with an explosion.” He released a heavy sigh, then said, “Where the hell did you learn to do that, anyway?”

It was a rhetorical question, and was obviously meant as a compliment, but I smiled proudly as I answered him. “I practiced.”

Cowboy bolted upright and fire flashed in his eyes. “What? With who?”

My grin widened at his reaction. “No one, silly. I practiced that move on a banana.”

He blinked at me, but I didn’t miss the look of relief that washed over his face. “My God. The woman’s touching herself and giving a banana head,” he said to no one in particular. “Then she has the nerve to call me silly.” He shook his head in disbelief as he glared at me. “Got anything else in your bag of tricks I should know about?”

“Can I show you?”

He considered my question thoroughly before giving me a reluctant nod and lying down once again.

I lowered my head and licked him again. He groaned and the sound came out as an abrupt, one-word warning. “Anna.”

“Just wait,” I told him, wetting his tip with my tongue. “It gets better…well, so I’ve read.” My fingers slid slowly down the long ridge on the underside of him as I took him into my mouth once more and ravished him mercilessly.

“Sweet Jesus, you’re killing me,” he said, putting his hand on the back of my neck.

At first, I thought it was to impede my motion, but quickly realized he was steadying himself by anchoring his hand in my hair. A sense of satisfaction washed over me as he fought for control mostly because I wasn’t nearly done with him. Keeping firm continuous suction, I allowed my fingers to gradually move lower until they reached the sensitive spot between…

“Holy mother of—” He paused to swallow hard, then touched the side of my face. “Anna, you have to…oh God… Stop!”

At his insistence, I pulled back and poked out my bottom lip. “I don’t want to.”

“But I need you to.” He sat up and ran a hand over his distraught face. “I never meant for it to go quite this far. If this continues, I’m not going to be able to keep my hands to myself like I promised.”

I shook my head. “I…I never asked you to keep your hands to yourself. I want you to touch me. I mean, if you want to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“We don’t have to—”

I put my finger to his lips. “Shhh.”

He reached up and settled his hand around mine, kissing it, as he gripped my fingers tightly. “Anna, I’m not going to last long after—”

Still sitting beside him, I leaned forward and pressed my mouth against his to shut him up. When I was sure he wasn’t going to say anything else, I released the hold I had on his lips and backed away. I untied the knot in my robe with trembling fingers, inviting him to touch me, but his hand grasped mine once more.

He stared into my eyes, probably looking for reassurance that this was what I wanted. He must’ve seen whatever he was looking for because he slid the robe from my right shoulder. Cowboy took his time undressing me, kissing every inch he exposed, as small rumblings of pleasure vibrated from my throat. His lips nibbled at the subtle curves of my neck and shoulders as he dropped my robe to the floor.

When my hands shot out to cover my marred skin, Cowboy grasped them and pushed them away. “Uh-uh. If we’re going to do this, then I get all of you. No hiding.” His gaze lowered onto my breasts and then trailed lower to where the large ropey scars covered my hips and thighs. He reached out and touched them, moving his hands over them slowly, as if he were measuring their length. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said, his green eyes darkening with lust.

My legs trembled, but I didn’t know if it was from his slight touch or his words. No one had ever looked at me like that before. Like he wanted to devour me. And as his fingers feathered over my skin, moving upward, my nipples tightened. Cowboy idly rubbed his gentle hands over them. Then he lowered his mouth and curled his tongue around one, and a marvelous tingle ran through me. Like an electric buzz amplified by an incredible physical sensation.

As his lips returned to mine, his hand skated lower, cupping me between my legs. I jolted as he drew his finger up my center. He stopped kissing me, but his mouth lingered near mine. His eyes were mad with desire, and his hot breath intermingled with mine. “Sweetheart, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Hell, yes.”

He smiled wide, pushed me backward onto the bed, and covered me with his body. “Good. Because it’s my turn to show you a few things.”

Nibbling at my lips, Cowboy wiggled his finger into my soft, pliant folds. The whimpering sound that left my lips pleaded with him to give me more, and he obliged. Slowly and smoothly, he inserted his finger, penetrating me, and I gasped into his mouth.

There was a sweet, slow buildup of pressure. My wetness increased as he played with me a bit more. Then he slid down my body, crouched between my legs, and gave me one of his famously sexy smirks. “Darlin’, I’m about to introduce you to your most favorite thing in the world from now on.”

His face pressed between my thighs, and his tongue found my core. My heart beat faster at the new sensation, and I even tried to worm away from him. “Uh-uh. The best part is yet to come,” he said, chuckling at his play on words. “Let me finish you off.” Then he grasped my hips and buried his tongue further into me, pleasuring me once again.

As he used an incredible lick, nibble, suck variation on my sensitive area, a tremendous amount of pressure formed, spreading warmth throughout my abdomen. Memories of being caught under a blazing wooden beam clouded my mind. But this time, it was as if I were burning from the inside out. My respiratory rate increased until I was full-on panting. I shuddered and bucked my hips wildly. Holy shit!

Cowboy braced himself by gaining purchase with his feet on the floor as involuntary spasms wracked my body. My legs molded around his head, but he cracked them open and drove me up again.

After the second orgasm, my hands twined into his hair. “Cowboy? Please…I need you to…”

“What, baby? What do you want?” He wanted to hear me say it.

“I want you inside me.”

Obviously quite pleased with himself, he chuckled at the desperation in my voice and rose to a standing position. “I’ll be right back. Let me get a condom.”

I reached over, slid open the drawer next to my bed, and withdrew one. As I handed it to him, he caught sight of the large box I’d pulled it from and grinned. Seconds later, he was crawling up between my legs, condom in place, as he kneed my thighs apart.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to take it slow and easy. I’ll make it feel good for you.”

I didn’t bother to tell him I was already feeling pretty darn good.

Sliding his hands over my shaky knees, he spread my legs wider and positioned himself at my entrance. Slowly and gently, he increased pressure until he entered me. I tensed up.

He groaned. “Jesus, Anna, maybe we should stop.”

“No, don’t.”

“You’re really tight. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, shifting his weight a little.

I shook my head. “You’re not. Keep going.”

But he must’ve known I lied by the way I closed my eyes and braced for the burning sensation of being stretched by his large member. “Look at me, honey.”

I did, but not before latching my ankles around his hips and pulling him slightly forward, laminating him to me. I gasped at the increased penetration and the uncomfortable fullness, while he swore under his breath. He stalled and balanced himself over me, probably afraid to move in case he hurt me more.

“I need this. I need you,” I pleaded with him. “Please don’t stop now.”

Determined to give me what I needed, he slowly increased the heavy pressure until he was seated fully inside me. He leaned down and brushed my hair away from my face. “You okay, sweetheart?” Once I nodded, he kissed my forehead softly and said, “It’s going to feel much better in a second.”

It was a snug fit with a lot of heightened sensitivity—on both our parts, judging by his low, pleasure-filled grunts—but soon he was rotating his hips and gradually moving in and out. Suddenly, as he predicted, the pain vanished and was replaced with a new sensation, a better one. Beneath him, my body shimmied against his until I was undulating like crazy and speeding up the rhythm he had set.

“Are you going for extra credit, young lady?” he teased.

I grinned at that, but thrust my hips again, matching his every stroke. He lifted my ankles, holding them at hip level while he continued to spur me on to new heights. When he couldn’t stop me from gyrating my hips, he draped my legs over his shoulder in an interesting new position.

“Darlin’, slow down. I want to make love to you for longer than three minutes.”

I ignored him, enjoying the sensation of him digging his fingers into my hips as he tried to slow my movements. He took my mouth forcefully, probing his tongue inside, as he rocked his hips into mine, thrusting deeper inside me. Flesh pounded against flesh as he tried to control my eagerness and keep himself from going over the edge. When that didn’t work, he pressed my knees into my chest and made shallower thrusts.

He was still inside me when the orgasm overtook me and my contractions milked him to his own. His jaw clenched tight and the veins in his neck protruded as his release rendered him immobile.

Finally, he collapsed next to me and patted my bare bottom. “Fuck,” he said, blowing out a hard breath. “You’ve got to show me those videos you’ve been watching.” He panted heavily and ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair. “Then we’re going to have a cram session with those books. Holy shit!”

Chapter Sixteen

Early the next morning, I awoke curled into a hard chest with an arm tucked firmly around me as a large hand stroked leisurely down the curve of my spine. I reveled in the sensation of his rough, calloused fingertips traveling over my smooth bare skin and let out a small sigh. I hadn’t slept that soundly in years.

Cowboy shifted to look at my face, apparently checking to see if I was awake. When he saw my eyes open, he grinned. “Morning, darlin’.”

The sun hadn’t risen fully, but soft blue morning light illuminated his too-good-to-be-true face. He stayed? All night? I gazed into his twinkling green eyes and smiled sweetly at him. “Good morning.”

I had to be at work by ten o’clock, but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was snuggle back in and sleep the day away wrapped in his arms. Because when he did finally leave, he wouldn’t be back. This moment would be our last together and I never wanted it to end. Nothing could ruin this for me.

For a moment, he was silent, then he said, “I didn’t know you had a photo of us at camp.”

Crap!

I’d forgotten all about the framed print sitting on my nightstand. Had I known he’d wind up in my bedroom yesterday, I would’ve shoved the picture in a drawer or closet. “Bobbie Jo sent it to me.”

“We were young. I was a cocky little bastard back then.” He chuckled. “Not that I’ve changed all that much since.” I grinned, but my mouth melted when he added, “And look at you. So sweet and innocent and…completely infatuated with me.”

Kill me now. “Oh, stop it. Just because I was looking at you in the photo didn’t mean I was infatuated with you. Maybe I was just stunned by your arrogance and your—”

“Impressive boner?”

Shocked, I glanced over my shoulder at him as a smile erupted on his gorgeous face. “You did not have…one of those.”

His hand moved lower and massaged my rear firmly, grinding my pelvis against his rapidly hardening length. “No, but I damn sure do right now.”

A rush of heat climbed my neck and flooded my face. I did the coy look-away thing, not wanting him to know how much his words and actions affected me.

When I tried to pull away, he wouldn’t allow it. He grasped my chin with his free hand and tilted my face back to his. “What’s this?” he asked, brushing a finger along my cheek. “After all the things we did last night, you’re still blushing?”

I shook my head. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what, darlin’?”

“Don’t humiliate me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said with another grin as his finger doodled lazy circles over my collarbone. “Though I do like it when you blush from head to toe. Everything on you turns pink. Your neck, your ears, your…” He glanced down at my nipples and they instantly hardened. His eyes darkened with desire.

Gently, he flicked the bud with the tip of his finger. It tightened even more as a tingling sensation rocketed through my body.

“Hmm. Interesting,” he noted casually, as if he hadn’t realized he’d just awoken hundreds of nerve endings in that one touch.

With warp speed, he rolled me onto my back and draped himself halfway over me, being careful not to crush me under his weight. He ran his tongue around my nipple, doing this little suck-nibble thing with his lips and teeth as his hand traveled farther south. By the time he reached the notch between my legs, my chest had already expanded with an inhaled breath. Surely he couldn’t want to do it again, could he?

His knuckles brushed my nether region and he whispered, “Open your legs.”

Guess so.

I started to do as he asked, but stopped, remembering the thick baseball bat digging into my hipbone. As much as I would’ve loved to play ball with him, my muscles were already deliciously sore from last night’s overtime innings. And it wouldn’t be fair to invite him up to bat only to let him strike out before reaching home plate. God, why was I thinking in baseball terms?

His fingers wiggled into the crevice between my thighs and moved upward, but I squeezed my legs together and bit my lip. “Um, Cowboy?”

He chuckled softly under his breath. “Don’t worry. I’m not asking for anything in return. I just want to make you feel good. Now be a good girl and do as I asked.”

Reluctantly, I relaxed my legs, allowing them to fall open. His fingers traced carelessly over my flesh, moving up my thigh, until they reached their destination. The moment he found me, he kissed my mouth. Once. Twice. Then he deepened the kiss, pulsing his tongue against mine, as his fingers provided gentle stimulation.

His thumb settled over my clit and kept a firm pressure as he slid two large fingers inside me. I gasped into his mouth from the sheer electric shock that jolted through my system in lusty waves of pleasure. I closed my eyes, but could feel his grin against my open mouth as he worked his fingers in and out of me.

When he suddenly froze, I opened my eyes to find him staring at me. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re so…responsive,” he said, slowly twisting his fingers deeper inside me. “It’s like seeing an invisible girl come to life before my very eyes.”

Physically, I couldn’t pretend the power of his touch and the intensity in his eyes hadn’t affected me. But mentally, I cringed. Telling a woman that she’s only visible when she takes her clothes off wasn’t my idea of a compliment. At least not a good one.

Suddenly, his watchfulness affected me more than his fingers did…but not in a good way. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know…like you’re a hungry carnivore about to gobble up your prey.”

“Hmm. Good idea,” he said, sliding his fingers out of me. “I like the way you think.” He grasped my hips and rolled onto his back, taking me with him, until I was straddling his bare chest. “Don’t move,” he ordered firmly as he lifted me up just enough to slither down the bed until his face stopped between my thighs.

Holy hell. “Um, Cowboy?”

He ignored me. Hell, he didn’t even pause. Slow hands made their way up the inside of my trembling thighs. When he touched me intimately, my body jerked from the contact. He worked his two thick fingers back inside me, slow and deep, and lapped at my swollen clit with his tongue.

My heart stalled as my knees locked into position around his head and my hands fisted his hair. I think I even whimpered a little.

He stopped momentarily. “Darlin’, I’m not going to have any hair left if you keep pulling it all out.”

Closing my eyes, I let go of his hair and breathed out a sigh. “I need you to stop for a moment.”

“Uh-uh,” he said, nipping into the flesh of my right thigh and sending sparks through my central nervous system.

I started to move off him, but he gripped my hip with his free hand. “Whoa! Where do you think you’re going?”

“Stop, please. Just for a second.” Reluctantly, he released me and let me move off him. I turned around quickly and mounted him again, climbing astride his shoulders and situating myself over his mouth in the opposite direction. “If you don’t want me to pull all of your hair out, then you’re going to give me something else to hold onto,” I said, taking a firm hold of his manhood.

He released a guttural groan and swore under his breath. “Christ, Anna.”

I smiled at the strain in his voice and pumped his throbbing length in my hand, working it with the same pace as his tongue. I took in the planes of his body and nibbled on his stomach, giving him love-bites that left teeth marks. When his body stiffened, I considered apologizing for them. But his erection grew stronger in my hand and I got the message: no apology needed.

The sounds of his grunts delighted me as he dug his heels into the mattress. The vibrations his mouth provided sent me into overdrive, and my hips swiveled in circles, grinding into him as he continued to coax me to euphoria. Fingers here. A nibble there. Tongue everywhere.

When the blinding orgasm he facilitated hit me, I dropped my mouth over him and swallowed him whole. His hand shot downward and clasped my head, his fingers twining in my hair, as he tried to deter me from my mission.

“Anna…God… You need to stop. I’m about to—”

The only answer I gave was firmer suction as I took him deeper into my throat. I knew he tried not to thrust, but he did a little, anyway.

Quivering beneath me, Cowboy gripped the back of my thighs to steady himself as he vocalized his completion in grunts and groans and let himself go.

I came out of the bathroom swaddled in a robe with my wet hair wrapped in a white towel on top of my head. Cowboy still lay on the bed in all his blatant nudity while already sporting another massive hard-on. I shifted my eyes away, but my face flushed. “Oh, I guess I thought you would’ve gotten dressed by now.”

He chuckled. “Can’t seem to get past that shyness, can you?”

“I’m trying,” I said softly, keeping my back to him.

“Turn around, Anna.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Come on, darlin’. I want to see your pretty little face.”

“Fine.” Begrudgingly, I did as he asked, but kept my gaze above his waist. “There. Happy now?”

He grinned wide. “Sweetheart, if you keep twisting your fingers in your robe like that, you’re going to break them off.”

I settled my hands at my side. “Sorry. Nervous habit.”

Cowboy shook his head. “I just don’t get it. Why does seeing me naked make you so nervous? You weren’t this jittery when you were sitting on my face a few minutes ago.”

I gave him a stern look. “Do you have to refer to it as…that?”

“Well, what the hell do you want me to call it? It’s what you were doing…and you liked it.” He licked his lips and winked lewdly at me. I rolled my eyes and wheeled around to return to the bathroom, but Cowboy shot off the bed and clasped his hands around my waist, turning me back to him. “All right, I’ll stop, I promise.”

“No, you won’t. You’ll keep saying things like that because that’s who you are.”

He smiled at that. “Okay, probably. But I’m not trying to embarrass you. I’m trying to understand how one minute you’re a sex kitten and the next you’re like a virginal blushing bride on her wedding night. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I was raised by my stepfather. We didn’t really talk about sex, or anything else for that matter, openly. It was very much his household, and he never let me forget it, either. I always knew that the day I turned eighteen I would have to find somewhere else to live. That’s why I started working at the summer camp when I turned sixteen. I had to save money, but needed a job that didn’t interfere with school. When school started back up, I babysat in the evenings to help get me into my own place.”

Cowboy’s jaw tightened. “All because that bastard kicked you out?”

“I wasn’t his responsibility. After my mother died, he was nice enough to take me in and keep a roof over my head until I became an adult. It’s more than most foster kids get.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for him.” His voice lowered and his eyes narrowed. “What he did to you wasn’t right.”

“Maybe not, Cowboy, but I understood why looking at me every day was so painful for him.”

“Because you weren’t his?”

“No. Because I look just like my mother.” Lowering my head, I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. So I tried again and managed to find my voice, even if it was a little shakier than before. “I reminded him every day of what he lost, and he hated me for it. That’s part of the reason I spent so much time at the library when I was younger.”

“It was a place to hide out…from him?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I lowered my gaze. “Anything to make it easier for him to—”

“Goddamnit. What about him making it easier on you? You were just a kid.”

I glanced back at him and shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. My stepfather provided for me when I had no one else.” My voice cracked with the desperate need to make him comprehend the guilt and shame that overwhelmed me. “He lost someone he loved dearly—my mother—and it broke him, but he didn’t abuse me or anything.”

“Neglect is a form of abuse, Anna.”

I didn’t expect him to understand why my stepfather treated me the way he had. But since I was responsible for my mother’s death, I couldn’t blame the man for hating me. For years, I hated myself.

I sighed heavily. “I don’t want to talk about this. It’s in the past and it doesn’t matter anymore,” I told him, hoping to change the subject. “Why don’t you go hop in the shower while I run out and get my mail? I forgot to check it after you showed up yesterday, and I still have to get ready for work.”

He frowned, but didn’t press the issue. “I can go out and grab it for you, if you want.”

My eyes glanced up and down his nude figure and I plastered a grin on my face. “Not like that, you can’t.”

“All right, fine. I’ll shower, and you get the mail.” He leaned down and pressed a sweet kiss to the corner of my mouth and then turned and walked toward the bathroom, the muscles of his tight buns flexing with the motion. Within seconds, the water was running while he whistled a low tune.

I had a good mind to sneak over to the door and watch him soap up that magnificent, firm body of his, but thought better of it. Knowing Cowboy and his insatiable nature, he’d probably pull me into the shower with him and have me do it for him. Although it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to a girl.

No, Anna. Damn it. Mail first. Otherwise the “male” will have his hands all over you making you forget…well, everything. I released a long, slow breath and headed for the front door. Being responsible and logical really sucked sometimes.

When I stepped outside, I squinted in the bright morning sun as I strolled across the yard to the end of the driveway where my weathered mailbox sat just off the road. I grabbed the stack of mail inside and headed back to the house, shuffling through the pile of bills and junk mail as I walked.

I’d just stepped back inside and kicked the door shut with my heel when I noticed a small envelope stuffed between two coupon ads. My name was written illegibly on the outside in something that resembled a child’s handwriting. Just like the others. I tore it open and quickly read the note inside just as Cowboy called out from the bathroom, “Hey, darlin’, where are your towels?”

My body stiffened. I’d been so preoccupied by the stupid note that I hadn’t noticed he’d turned the water off. “They’re…um, in the cabinet next to the shower.” I hurried to stuff the paper back inside its holder and looked for a convenient place to hide it. “On the top shelf.”

I shoved the envelope down the back of the couch in between the cushions and had just pulled my hand free when Cowboy stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a white towel tucked around his waist. Droplets of water dotted his skin and dripped from his short hair.

“I found them before I even finished the question,” he said, grinning.

Skittishly, I turned toward the kitchen, keeping my back to him as I placed the rest of the mail on the counter in front of me. “I…uh, okay.”

A beat went by before he said anything. “Something wrong?”

I shook my head. “No, nothing.” I closed my eyes as I felt his presence behind me. “You just caught me off guard.” I felt his arm brush against mine, but it didn’t close around me like I thought it would.