A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe Read online

  She gasped. “Oh, Ty... Ty.” She tensed, and then she let go, abandoning herself to her climax with a soft cry.

  He wrapped her in his arms and buried his face against her full breasts as she shuddered in the aftermath of her orgasm. What a miracle she was. And he was the lucky guy holding her tonight.

  As she quieted, she stroked his hair. “I love coming that way. But if a guy can’t wait...”

  “I can.” Barely. If he had to wait much longer, his zipper might self-destruct.

  “Thank you for that.” She leaned away from him. “But let’s get you out of those jeans.”

  “Let’s do.”

  She laughed. “You sound pretty eager.”

  “Lady, you have no idea.”

  “Then lie down and I’ll help you.”

  “That could be fun.” He stretched out on the blanket as much as he could. Even with the seat down, he didn’t quite fit, lengthwise. He wasn’t complaining. Whitney had already unbuckled his belt and unfastened the top button of his jeans.

  “I’m going to do this gradually.” She eased down the zipper of his fly. “You’re really smooshed in there and I don’t want to cause any damage.”

  “I’m tougher than you think.” But he clenched his jaw at the sweet torture of having her release him from bondage.

  “Are you?” She stroked a finger along the ridge of his cock. Even through the cotton briefs, she left a trail of sparks.

  He gasped. “I take it back. I’m not tough at all. One more of those and I’ll fold. Move back, lady. This is a man’s job.”

  Laughing, she scooted away as he peeled off his jeans and his briefs. While he was at it, he pulled off his socks. Then he sat up and shrugged out of his shirt.

  He turned to her. “There’s the little matter of those hot pink panties.”

  “These hot pink panties?” She twirled them on the end of her finger, teasing him with the scent of an aroused woman.

  “Yeah, those.” He grabbed them and rubbed the damp silk between his fingers. “The ones that let me know how much you want me.”

  “If you want to know that, just ask me.”

  “All right.” Setting the panties aside, he eased down beside her. Then he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in close. “How much do you want me, Whitney?”

  She flattened her palm against his back and inched closer. “Enough to have sex with you in the back of my car in the middle of a Wyoming winter night.”

  His heart thundered. “Then I guess that’s what we need to do.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  Using the tips of his fingers, he located her mouth in the dark so he could give her a quick kiss. “Don’t move. I have to suit up.” As he rolled over and located the box, he could hear her giggling. “What?” He opened the box and took out a packet. “What’s so funny?”

  “You telling me you have to suit up. I’m picturing you zipping yourself into some kind of space suit so you can blast off to Mars.”

  He put on the condom and turned back to her. “That’s exactly what I have in mind.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. Come over here.” He guided her into position until she was lying beneath him. “Let’s launch this rocket.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Go crazy with me, Whitney.” After grabbing those wet panties, he knew she was ready. Her heat called to him as he settled himself between her thighs and nudged her slick entrance with the tip of his cock.

  She wound her arms around his neck. “I guess craziness is what I signed on for.” She might sound casual about it, but her body quivered with each breath.

  “You can still change your mind. It’s not too late now, but in another second it will be.”

  “Ty Slater, are you stalling?”

  Maybe. And not because he didn’t want her with every fiber of his being. But underneath that physical craving that pushed him to take her with gusto, he heard a voice of caution that told him this moment could change his life forever. He ignored it. “Only a fool would do that.” And he plunged deep.

  The instant he did, he knew the truth of it. His life had changed forever. She rose to meet him and welcomed him in a way that he’d never felt before. Sinking into her body was like coming home.

  In this unlikely place, an apartment complex parking lot, he’d found what he hadn’t admitted he’d been searching for with every woman he’d taken to bed. Each rhythmic stroke strengthened the connection as it bathed him in the warmth and light that spilled from Whitney’s soul.

  He savored the wonder of being inside her as if he’d crawled through a barren desert and stumbled upon an oasis. Again and again he thrust deep, glorying in the richness that he found within the moist recesses of her body. His climax hovered near, demanding to be satisfied, and he kept pushing it away. He wasn’t ready for this to end.

  Instead, he reveled in her responsiveness. With a slight shift here, a faster pace there, he coaxed another orgasm from her. And another. She was so easy to please and he could think of nothing he’d rather do than give her pleasure.

  Then she wrapped her legs around his waist and cupped his face in both hands. Her brown eyes were dark with passion and purpose as she looked up at him. “Your turn,” she murmured.

  “But I like—”

  “Your turn.” And she drew him in close and worked her magic as she held his gaze.

  Locked in tight, he could barely move as she rocked slowly against him. The sweet undulations of her body gradually eroded his control. He felt himself slipping, slipping, until all the restraints gave way and he came in a rush, crying out at the intensity of an orgasm that went on...and on...and on.

  When the waves of sensation began to ebb, he rested his forehead on her shoulder and wondered what the hell he was going to do now. She’d just given him the most significant sexual encounter of his life. It had been so perfect that it scared him to death.

  He was used to having good sex with the women he’d dated. But no matter how much he’d enjoyed those relationships, giving them up hadn’t been a problem when they’d ended for one reason or another. He was in completely different territory, now.

  Before this he’d thought the term making love was a euphemism. He’d used it often himself because it sounded nicer, more considerate. But making love had nothing to do with being nice or considerate. He knew that now. Making love had the power to transform physical pleasure into a life-changing, transcendent experience.

  Already he wanted her again because she’d take him to that place where nothing mattered but the joy of right now. But asking for more would be selfish. She had work in the morning and her parents to entertain. She needed gas to get to work and they were using it up the longer they stayed here with the motor running.

  He dragged in a breath. “I don’t want to move, but we need to.”

  “I know.” Her arms tightened around him. “I don’t want to move, either.”

  Lifting his head, he gazed down at her. He wanted to look into her eyes, but her face was in deep shadow. “I...that was really great.” So lame. Really great didn’t begin to cover the beauty of what they’d shared, but he doubted he could talk about that without sounding even more idiotic. He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about it. The feelings were too tender and new.

  “Yes.” There was a smile in her voice. “Really great. You’ve thoroughly convinced me that you should stop by tomorrow night.”

  “Good. I’ll be in the parking lot. I’ll watch for your car.”

  “I would try to get off early, but I just did that tonight, and I can’t make a habit of asking people to cover for me. Sets a bad example.”

  “Agreed.” He sighed. “I really don’t want to let go of you.”

  “Lean down here. Let me have one more kiss before we untangle ourselves.”

  “You bet.” They bumped noses and were both laughing by the time he located her mouth. But once he did, once he slipped his tongue inside and deepened the kiss, the ma
gic began all over again. Kissing her had been wonderful before, but now that he’d felt the welcome of her body, a kiss meant so much more. They’d crossed a threshold and he’d remember the joy of loving her for as long as he walked this earth.

  With great reluctance he ended the kiss and unwillingly eased away from her warmth. He found his jeans and used the handkerchief in his back pocket to take care of the condom. Then they fumbled around locating their clothes.

  He finally got his briefs and jeans back on, but not without a few muttered swearwords. “Much as I loved how tonight turned out, let’s not do this again, okay?”

  “Yeah, let’s not. Ow!”

  “What happened?”

  “I couldn’t find my panties, so I decided to put my jeans on without them. Not a good idea.”

  “Let me guess. Something silky and blond got caught in the zipper.”

  “Spoken like someone who’s tried the same stunt.”

  “Once. That was enough.”

  “Once is enough for me.”

  “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”

  “Yes, but I don’t have enough gas in the tank for what would happen after that.” She grabbed her sweater from the front seat and pulled it over her head.

  “I know. I just checked the gauge. We need to move it.” He patted the area around him and found her panties. “This is no help now, but here.”

  “Thanks. I’ll just put them in the pocket of my coat.”

  “And here’s your bra, too.”

  “That can go in the other pocket.”

  “Is it hot pink, too?”

  “The bra matches. It’s one of my indulgences. I have a whole rainbow of matching bras and panties. Makes me happy.”

  “Makes me hot.”

  “Oh, yeah? What’s your favorite color?”

  “Red.”

  “Then red it is tomorrow night.”

  He groaned. “Which now seems like an eternity away.” He fastened the snaps on his shirt. “Just know I’ll be thinking of your red underwear all day tomorrow.”

  “Just know that I’ll be thinking of you taking them off.”

  Instead of tucking his shirttails in, he crawled toward her. “I’m coming over there for one more kiss.”

  She stopped putting on her shoes. Rising to her knees, she took his face in both hands and gave him a hot, openmouthed kiss that made him forget everything but kissing her back. In seconds he’d cupped her delicious bottom and hauled her against his growing erection.

  She pressed closer and moaned deep in her throat. That was all the encouragement he needed to slide his hands under her sweater. Leaning back, she gave him access and he took full advantage of the opportunity to caress and knead her plump breasts. His cock strained against his fly.

  The kiss grew hotter and their breathing roughened. But when he reached for the button of her jeans, she wrenched her mouth from his. “We have to stop.”

  He struggled to catch his breath. “I know. I just—”

  “Me, too. But we can’t.”

  Slowly he relaxed his fingers and pulled his hands out from under her sweater. “I feel as if we could spend all day in bed and I’d never get tired of touching you, kissing you, thrusting my cock into your—”

  She slapped a hand over his mouth. “Stop it. I’m on the verge of an orgasm as it is.”

  “Want one more for the road?” He reached for the button on her jeans again.

  “No.” She caught his hand. “I’m not taking any chances on unzipping these jeans.”

  He sighed and moved away from her. “Okay. Putting on my boots now. Then I’ll go turn off the engine. That should motivate us to get the heck out of here.”

  “It will. Good idea.”

  Moments later they’d bundled up in their coats and snapped the seat back into place. After he folded the blanket, Whitney tucked it in a zippered bag that went under the seat.

  “That came in handy.” He’d had the unwelcome thought that she’d set up everything quickly as if she’d done it before. But he wasn’t going to ask. If she had, he didn’t want to know.

  “It’s smart to keep a blanket in the car during the winter.” She used the remote to lock the doors.

  “Yep, sure is.” He put his arm around her shoulders as he walked her toward the apartment building.

  “Fortunately I’ve never been stranded where I had to use it to keep warm. So I use it for my nieces and nephews. They love playing in the back of my car whenever the whole family goes on a picnic.”

  “You know, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll bet it would be fun for kids.”

  “You were afraid I’d had sex with someone else back there, weren’t you?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “You were!” She chuckled. “I could hear it in your voice.”

  “Okay, maybe I did wonder. You put that whole deal together really fast. But even if you had, so what? It’s not like we’re a couple of untouched virgins.”

  “No.” Their footsteps crunched on the hard-packed snow. “But tonight felt different, sort of like I wish my first time had been.”

  He was startled by her openness. That was a good description of how he’d felt, too, but he wouldn’t have dared say something that vulnerable.

  “Only speaking for myself, of course,” she added. “Well, here we are. I’m not going to kiss you good-night at the door because our lips might freeze together.”

  He smiled. “I doubt it. Our kisses are too hot.”

  “Probably. But let’s not chance it.”

  “Okay, but mostly because it’ll just get us both worked up again with no hope of follow-through.”

  “There’s that.”

  Putting his hands on her shoulders, he looked into her eyes. “Just so you know, I felt the same way.”

  Her gaze warmed. “Thank you. It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one.”

  “You weren’t.” He gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Good night, Whitney.”

  “Good night, Ty. Drive carefully.”

  “I will.”

  “I mean it. Don’t speed like you did on the way here.”

  “I won’t. Now go in before you get frostbite.” He watched until the door closed after her before he walked back to his truck. He would drive carefully. He could use the time to think about what was happening between them.

  He couldn’t deny it was the most intense relationship he’d ever had. And the best one. Physically they were a perfect fit. Mentally he wasn’t so sure. She’d come from a big, rambunctious, normal family and she obviously loved talking about them. His past was a lot more complicated and he never talked about the years before his folks had died.

  Maybe they could skate right over that issue and start a new chapter in the here and now. He hoped so, because he’d buried most of his childhood memories along with his parents and he planned to keep it that way.

  11

  WHITNEY SAT ACROSS the booth from her parents while they all had lunch at the same diner where she and Ty had eaten mac and cheese the night before. In her mind, that meal could have taken place in another century. So much had changed since then.

  “I’m glad the party was fun.” Her mother hadn’t asked any pointed questions about Ty, but those could still be coming. “It must have run late. I got up around one and you hadn’t come home yet.”

  “I hope you weren’t worried.” Wow. Shades of her teen years when she’d had a curfew.

  “No, no.” But the way her mother said it was a dead giveaway that she had been worried.

  Whitney battled guilt she had no logical reason to feel. Her parents had chosen to come to her place, which meant she was in charge, not them. Still, she didn’t like the idea that her mother had suffered some anxiety because she hadn’t come home at what Ellen considered a normal hour.

  Actually, she had been home at a normal hour. She just hadn’t been upstairs tucked under the covers on her futon. And she’d slept like a rock after all those orgasms. Thank you, Ty.
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  “It’s hard to turn off that kind of concern,” her dad said. “We both try, but it isn’t easy.”

  “I know.” Whitney gazed at them. “Well, I don’t know because I’ve never had kids, but I can imagine. Ty drank coffee at the party so he drove us home.”

  Her mother dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “He seems like a conscientious guy.”

  “I liked him.” Pushing back his plate, her dad reached for the dessert menu propped in the middle of the table. “Seems intelligent and focused on his career. Considering what he had to deal with when he was young, that’s admirable.” He glanced over the menu. “The cheesecake sounds good. You two going to join me?”

  Ellen waved her hands. “Not me. As it is, I’ll have to wait a few days before I dare get on the scale. You go ahead, Mr. High Metabolism. Knock yourself out.”

  “I’ll have some with you, Dad.” Whitney had inherited his height and his ability to burn calories. She was grateful for both.

  “Figured I could count on you, Peanut.” He still called her that even though she was five-nine, a college graduate and manager of a flourishing coffee shop. She didn’t mind.

  “It’s a shame Ty doesn’t live in Sheridan,” Ellen said. “Then you could see more of each other.”

  “That’s the way it goes.” She wasn’t about to announce that Ty planned to keep the road busy between here and Cheyenne.

  Her dad leaned back against the booth. “Well, maybe you two can meet up when you come home for Christmas.”

  “I think he’ll be up here for Christmas.”

  “Oh.” Her dad seemed to consider that. “Makes sense.” He shrugged, obviously dismissing the idea that she’d get serious about Ty. “Oh, well.”

  Her mother, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be making that assumption. “So you won’t be seeing each other at all? He seemed so taken with you.”

  “We’ve talked about finding opportunities to see each other.” She thought.

  Her mother obviously saw through that vague statement. “I thought so. A man doesn’t look at a woman the way he looked at you and then give up because she’s a five-hour drive away.”