The Cowboy And The Widow (Texas Cowboys Book 2) Read online

  Maggie’s belly began to tremble; her breaths gusted in thin, wispy moans. She let go of his shoulders and scraped her fingers down his chest, tugging at his hair, sliding in his perspiration, reaching lower until she raked her fingers through the curls at the base of his cock.

  Her fingers encircled him, attempting to ring him, but coming up short. Lord, she didn’t know how they ever fit. But the girth straining beneath her fingers as he continued to thrust explained the fullness, the divine pressure he exerted against her passage.

  She lifted her gaze to find him staring.

  “Want more?” he asked. “Wanna come again?”

  With his voice tight, his body even more so, she didn’t know how he held it together, how he didn’t explode as he stroked inside her.

  She nodded, trusting he knew exactly how to get her off. After all, he’d already accomplished the miracle once.

  He pulled out, knelt, and placed both hands on his thighs. Then he dragged deep breaths into his lungs. “Turn over.”

  God, he’d be behind her. Get an eyeful of her big butt. She began to rethink.

  “No, you don’t,” he said tightly. “I’m in pain here. I’m not letting you change your mind.”

  A smile tugged at her lips. Danny might be her junior, but he sure like being in charge.

  She liked it, too. So taking a deep breath, she slid her legs to one side of his and rolled to her belly, coming up on her hands and knees.

  “Sweet Jesus,” he murmured, his hands smoothing over her ass.

  “Not another word,” she warned. “I might still change my mind.”

  “You think I don’t like this view?”

  She snorted and glanced back to gauge his expression. By the way his lips pursed, he didn’t seem to mind. A dangerous gleam shone in his eyes. “Thought we were going to get busy,” she huffed.

  “I am. I will. Just let me enjoy this for a minute, huh?”

  She issued a strained laugh and tried not to fall on her face, when he began to firmly massage her bottom, lifting her buttocks and rolling them as his hands squeezed harder around her flesh.

  Something began to happen as she watched him, staring at her. Some of the insecurities she’d carried for a long, long time melted away. She arched her back, determined to take as much enjoyment and provide as much of a tease as she had the nerve to deliver.

  Her bottom rose higher, and she spread her thighs wider on the windowpane comforter.

  His gaze narrowed and aimed right between her legs.

  She braced her weight on one hand and reached beneath herself, slipping her fingers between her folds to swirl.

  Danny’s fingers dug so deep, she knew he’d leave bruises on her tender skin, but she didn’t care. The look on his face was compensation enough for the sexy marks.

  Suddenly, he bent low to slide hot kisses over her cool skin.

  Her fingers circled faster. Her forefinger dipped inside her channel and came out soaked in her excitement. She used the moisture to skim lightly over her swelling clitoris.

  His mouth glided toward the center of her buttocks, and her breath hitched when his tongue traced the crease, pausing to lap at her forbidden entrance, an action she would never have conceived of as being pleasurable, and yet, a tremor shook her body, and her breath rasped.

  She didn’t bother trying to complain for modesty’s sake—it felt too damn good.

  His tongue circled again, and then lifted from her. “Liked that, did you?” he asked, his tone laced with lazy amusement.

  “Loved it,” she softly croaked.

  “Trust me?”

  A loaded question from her perspective. “What do you want to do?”

  “I’d spoil the surprise.” His mild rebuke was tinged with more humor.

  Her lips pressed together, and she faced forward, lowering her head to rest against the bedding. “Am I going to be able to look you in the eye tomorrow?”

  “Not without blushing.”

  “Oh, Lord,” she muttered. “You’ve already assured that.”

  “That would just be closing the gate after the cow came home.”

  “What the hell does that mean anyway?” she asked, her shoulders shaking.

  “Not a clue.”

  “So long as it didn’t come to mind while you were looking…where you’re looking.”

  Low, masculine laughter filled the room. A hand lifted then landed on her backside, startling her. “Just making sure I have your attention.”

  “You’ve had it since you were—” She cut off the retort before she finished it, realizing the rest would have been too revealing.

  “A boy?” his voice rose in mock surprise. “Maggie Dermott, were you lusting after me when I was still in high school?”

  “Of course not,” she said, a little too quickly.

  Another light swat, and he growled, “The feeling was mutual, ma’am.”

  “Oh shut up,” she said, then groaned. “I’m ashamed of the fact.”

  “Why? It was a natural thing. You had the good sense not to act on it.”

  Her mind raced. Sure, she’d had good sense. She’d left buttons open on her blouse. Wore shorts so brief a slight bend would have shown the cheeks of her ass.

  And she’d left her bathroom curtains open.

  “I was married. I had no right to even think about it—and you were too damn young.”

  “Not so damn young I didn’t dream about you at night.” His breaths left a hot humid trail over her bottom again. “I lay in this bed, naked as the day I was born, wishing you’d slip down the hall and peek inside. Know what you would have seen?”

  “I washed your sheets. I have an idea.”

  His tongue flicked out and traced one side of her labia, then other. “I watched you,” he whispered against her sex then thrust his tongue inside her.

  She jerked against him, her finger toggling fast on her clit. Her belly tightened as arousal coiled like a spring deep inside her.

  His mouth drew on her lips, sucking on them while he continued to spear her with his tongue, then his hand closed around her finger and drew it down.

  He sucked her finger into his mouth, licking it clean then dropping it. “No cheating.”

  Then he straightened behind her, his hands reaching for the tops of her hips. His cock prodded between her folds, nudging, circling until he was centered on her entrance.

  When he thrust inside, she balled her fists in the coverlet and moaned. She’d never felt anything so exquisitely erotic in her life. His thick cock, shoving past her swollen inner tissues, thrusting in and out, inching forward as he lifted her bottom toward him to angle deeper.

  She rolled her face to the side. “What did you mean, you watched me.”

  He stroked harder inside her, shoving all the way in. “Through your bathroom window,” he rasped. “I watched you pleasure yourself.”

  Oh, God! The night Douglas had gone to San Antonio. The one night she’d given in to her fantasy. She’d left the drapes parted a few inches, never expecting he would notice.

  Just the thought that he might had been enough to rocket her toward ecstasy. A sob broke free, and she planted her face in the bedding, even as his sure, straight strokes tunneled deep inside her body, capturing the arousal coiling tighter inside her.

  “I did it on purpose,” she whispered. “I wanted you to watch. I was so damn desperate for it. Too far gone to think about consequences. I never really thought you’d see. But it didn’t matter.”

  “When you came, were you thinking about me?” he asked, not missing a stroke.

  “Yes!”

  His hips gathered strength and, suddenly, his slow glides gained speed. Each one ending on a jarring stroke that tapped the mouth of her womb.

  Her body began to tremble, and she eased apart her knees a little farther, let her back sink deeper, and tilted her ass higher to receive the full force of his thrusts.

  Danny’s hands pushed and pulled her hips, bringing her in when he hammer
ed forward, pushing her away when he withdrew.

  So much moisture seeped from inside her, that soon the room was filled with wet, slurping sounds, so decadent, so raw, they only added to the excitement unfurling inside her.

  His strokes grew in power, and her chest rubbed up and down the coverlet, her nipples scraping the cotton, until she felt as though every inch of her body was being seduced toward an orgasm.

  Sure she wouldn’t last a second longer, she gave a thin scream when a finger traced between her buttocks then nudged against her asshole.

  When the tip slipped inside, she shoved off the mattress and began to slam backwards to meet his thrusts.

  He tunneled deeper, the tender tissues squeezing tight around his finger, burning, convulsing, as a strong, writhing ripple worked its way down her vagina.

  “That’s it, baby,” he said, his voice sounding strained and hoarse. “Go with it. Fuck!”

  His finger pumped inside her as his hips jackhammered into her pussy.

  A high, keening cry tore from her, and Maggie was sure the top of her head had exploded. Light dimmed around her, narrowing to a tunnel. The prickling darkness lifted goose bumps all over her body and crackled in her ears.

  Molten liquid jetted deep inside her body, and then she was falling, her body shuddering so hard she couldn’t hold herself up.

  His finger pulled free, but he followed her down, continuing to rut against her, slowing gradually, until he too shook against her, jerking as the last emanations bathed her channel.

  He laid on top of her, stretching slowly to cover her, running his hands up her arms then threading his fingers though hers. His lips planted kisses against her shoulder, and then her cheek, and she turned as far back as she could to capture his lips in a kiss.

  When their breaths began to even out, he drew away and rested his head on the bed beside her. “Trust me now?”

  Chapter Five

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  All morning long, Maggie worked steadily, trying to keep her focus on her chores while inside she was a bundle of conflicting emotions.

  Last night had happened so fast, she hadn’t had time to think. She’d acted instinctively on the arousal he inspired in her, and she’d gone with those feelings to places she’d never imagined—into sinful pleasures that even now she had to really work hard to feel ashamed about.

  She was a fallen woman. A hussy. Her body warmed at the thought. Shouldn’t she be appalled with herself?

  Instead, she felt liberated, lighter at heart. Having always believed herself a sensible person, she’d been delighted to discover she could also be terribly, wonderfully slutty.

  She’d fucked a younger man. Practically begged him to do it. She’d paraded herself in her nightclothes, rubbed her body against his, and let him know in no uncertain terms that she was available.

  She couldn’t blame him for taking her up on her offer. Didn’t resent his eager acceptance. That he’d turned the tables on her and taken control from her, she couldn’t regret.

  The man definitely knew what he was about.

  However, as happy and satisfied as she felt the morning after, sadness lingered at the edges of her happy little bubble.

  She couldn’t let their affair continue. Someone had to act responsibly. It had to be her. Not that she’d acted all that responsibly the night before.

  Not once had she paused to ask him to use a condom.

  She couldn’t blame the lapse on the heat of the moment, or her lack of experience using them—she’d wanted his seed. Needed to take the reckless chance that, just maybe, she might conceive. The urge had been overwhelming.

  That morning, Maggie had found flowers on the kitchen counter, wrapped in two white plastic bags to conceal them. A dozen red roses, which she’d brought automatically to her nose to inhale their sweet fragrance.

  The flowers were a lovely gesture, which spoke of his pleasure in her, his affection even, but were still a gesture she wasn’t sure she felt comfortable with.

  Last night had been a revelation, but that was as far as she could allow things to go between them. Pleasure seemed to flow as easily as breath between them whenever they touched, and that scared the hell out of her.

  She simply couldn’t let him get close enough again to compromise her decision. She needed to set things straight with him, right away.

  Danny wasn’t hard to find. He worked alone in the training corral at the far side of the stable, a buckskin Quarter Horse circling him on a long rope.

  She wiped at the perspiration that dotted her forehead and upper lip, and then admitted it was a futile gesture. Even if it wasn’t summertime in Texas, she’d be sweating.

  Dressed in a straw cowboy hat, jeans, and a dark tee, Danny’s lean, muscled body drew her hungry gaze despite her inner warning to keep this light and nonchalant. She’d politely thank him for the roses, remind him of their agreement, and be on her way.

  She climbed onto the split rail fence to watch as he clucked and flicked the end of the coiled rope he held at the horse’s flanks to keep the stallion moving.

  Danny turned and flashed a quick, easy smile, and then slowed the horse, pulling it ever closer as he coiled the rope around his arm.

  When the horse finally came to a halt, Danny smoothed his hand over his head and neck, rubbed the side of his nose, and leaned in to whisper his praise, before grabbing the bottom of the halter to lead him toward her.

  “Mornin’,” Danny said softly, his gaze sweeping over her face then down over her cotton blouse and blue jeans. The heat that flared in his eyes was banked but palpable.

  Looking down at him, Maggie drew in a deep breath. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  A single brow rose, and his eyes narrowed. “No, I didn’t. And it doesn’t come with a price, Maggie. I’m not expecting anything.”

  She should have felt comforted, but instead, warmth filled her cheeks. Ashamed for her ungracious attitude, she added, “I love roses. What female doesn’t?”

  He nodded, set the coiled rope over the top of a fence post, and turned back to her. “But…?”

  “Last night was just that. One night.”

  He glanced away, his lips tightening. “I’m not gonna say the roses didn’t mean something. A man should let a woman know he doesn’t take a thing for granted.”

  “We had a deal.”

  “I know. But I really hoped you’d change your mind.”

  When he lifted his gaze to hers again, his expression made her tremble. Need, confusion, heat, even a little anger…all those emotions were stamped on his taut features.

  “I don’t know what you thought this would be…” Her whispered words trailed off, because her throat tightened, and her eyes began to burn.

  Dammit, she wasn’t going to cry.

  “Last night was special,” Danny whispered harshly. “I felt the connection. You can’t tell me something didn’t happen between us.”

  “Something did,” she admitted. “And you know how incredible it was for me, but I’m not looking for a relationship. And you wouldn’t be the man I’d choose if I were.”

  His chest expanded around a deep indrawn breath. “Because I’m too young?”

  She nodded. “You have your whole life in front of you.”

  His angry glance sliced. “That’s bullshit. You aren’t thinking about me. You’re thinking about being embarrassed by being seen with me.”

  “I’m thinking farther ahead than just getting a little more satisfaction tonight.”

  His head lowered, his expression hidden by the brim of his hat. Then he straightened and placed his hands on the rails on either side of her thighs. “You think I haven’t considered everything? Where this might lead? I have plenty to offer you, Maggie. And you’re everything I want.”

  With him standing so close, surrounding her, her body warmed and softened. “You say that now…”

  He leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing on her face, a muscle flexing hard along the side of his strong jaw. “Y
ou think when those little wrinkles beside your eyes deepen, or your body gets a little rounder, that I won’t want you? That I’ll leave you?”

  She shook her head slowly, sadness curving her lips downward. “It would be so much worse, because I know you wouldn’t. You’d stay because you’d feel obligated, and I had that before. My life wasn’t fun. I was lonely as hell.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “Why not give it a chance? See where it goes. I can take it slow. If you think I don’t know my mind, give me time to make sure.”

  “I can’t,” she said brokenly.

  The set of his square jaw softened. “Why, Maggie? I deserve to know why.”

  She shook her head and glanced beyond his shoulder. “Because I don’t want that kind of pain. Can’t risk it. What I felt for Doug at the start was nothing like this.”

  Danny moved closer, and he lifted a hand to cup over hers as she gripped the rails. “It’s intense, isn’t it? The air crackles when we’re together, like lightning strikin’ close.”

  “Exactly,” she said flatly, pulling her hand from beneath his. “When it ends, that feeling won’t just gently fade away.”

  “Are you in love with me?” he said softly.

  “No…I don’t know,” she said, hearing the pain and confusion feather the edge of her voice. “I’m plenty in lust with you, though. It’s damn confusing. I know what I don’t need, and you’re it…but you’re not making this easy.”

  “Do you want me to leave? Take away the temptation?”

  Maggie sat very still. The thought of his going struck her like a blow, making her slightly nauseous.

  He misunderstood her silence, shoving away from the fence. “Dammit, is that what you really want?”

  She opened her mouth to tell him maybe it would be best, knowing she needed to get away quickly because she might throw up, but footsteps approached from behind them, cutting off her chance.

  “Danny, Miz Dermott,” Reggie Haskell said, tipping his hat in her direction. “If you’re finished with this horse, Danny, I’d like to talk to you.”

  Danny gave her a hot glare then relaxed his features, his easy grin sliding over his lips as he turned to Reggie. “I’m right behind you.”