Should’ve Been a Cowboy (Sons of Chance #4)(16)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

He lifted his mouth away a fraction. “Listen.”

Her heart raced as her imagination ran wild. “What do you hear? Footsteps? A bear? A moose? What?”

“I don’t hear anything, anything at all.” He lifted his head. “And that could be a problem.”

“Because?”

“I’m afraid the truck’s stopped running.”

“Are you saying—”

“We’re out of gas.” He paused. “Did you bring your cell phone?”

“No. Did you?”

“No.”

“So what are we going to do?”

He sighed. “Walk.”

Chapter 9

“BUT WAIT.” Alex untangled himself from Tyler, and as cool air hit his overheated body, his brain started to work again. “This isn’t your fault, so it’s not fair to make you walk back. I’ll go to the house, get a can of gas and bring it here in a second truck. I’ll be fast. You can stay here.”

“Not happening.”

“No, seriously, it’ll be fine.” He turned away from her so he could deal with the condom. Before they left, he’d toss it in a bucket in the back of the truck where he’d put the other one.

“You think you’re going to leave me out here by myself?”

“You’d be perfectly safe. You can lock yourself in the truck if you’re worried about wild animals.” He felt like a total idiot for getting them into this fix. Running out of gas, for Chrissake. Teenagers did that kind of thing, not a grown man, and certainly not a self-confident cowboy.

But he’d do whatever it took to correct the situation. Too bad the whipped-cream fantasy would have to be sacrificed, but there was always tomorrow night, or the night after that. They had time…some, anyway.

“Alex, I’m not staying out here with the truck while you walk back. I’m going with you.”

He turned around to find her sorting through their damp clothes. “I won’t be gone long. We’re probably only about five or six miles from the house, so I can walk that in about an hour, maybe less if I jog part of it. I’ll be back to get you in an hour and a half, tops.”

“If you’re worried about me keeping up, I’m in good shape. The Sea Goddess has a weight room and a jogging track.” She stepped into her panties and pulled them over her hips.

He knew she was in good shape. He’d had his hands all over her tonight, and there wasn’t a bit of flab on her. She was all sleek, toned, sexy woman. “I’m sure you can make it fine.” He walked over to the pile of clothes to search for his briefs.

“Damn straight I can.”

“That’s not the issue. The issue is…look, I screwed up by not checking the gauge and noticing the tank was almost empty. I don’t want you hiking back to the house because of my stupidity. Stay here and relax.”

“No.” She pulled on her jeans next instead of searching for her bra.

As she buttoned and zipped her jeans, Alex took a moment to appreciate the sight of her standing topless in the headlights, her dark hair cascading down her back. Her br**sts were truly a work of art. One lock of her hair had fallen forward over her shoulder and curled lovingly around her nipple. Alex wanted to step closer and tease her nipple with that tendril. And then he would…stop thinking about that, is what he would do. Right now.

He was the doofus who’d managed to strand them out here, so he needed to forget about sex and concentrate on fixing the mess he’d made. He located his jeans and shook them out. “Please stay here,” he said. “Let me take care of this.” He pulled on the jeans and his belt buckle clanked.

“No way.” Her gaze flicked over his belt and his open fly.

For one crazy moment he wanted to say the hell with going back to the ranch house. They had privacy and a generous supply of condoms. They could spend the night making noisy love and walk back in the morning.

But he had obligations in the morning. The open house began at ten. The ranch hands would be up before dawn, but they needed him there to supervise. The tractor barn had to be prepared, the setup for the music arranged and final touches made to the barn. Besides, he’d prefer this rendezvous with Tyler be kept on the down-low, so that meant returning under cover of darkness.

“Listen, Alex.” She propped her hands on her hips, which made her look even more like a centerfold. “I’m the reason we’re out here in the boonies, remember? If it weren’t for me, you’d be at the house enjoying your third glass of celebratory champagne in front of a warm fire.”

He deserved a medal for not going over and hauling her back into his arms. “And thank God you suggested coming to the sacred site. You have to know I’m happy about that. My dick is really happy about that.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “Point taken. But if I hadn’t insisted on leaving the engine running and the lights on, I’ll bet we would have had enough gas to get back, or almost back, so I’m accepting part of the blame for this, like it or not.” She picked through the clothes again and came up with her bra.

“Accept all the blame you want. Just stay here while I get the gas and another truck. Then we’ll drive tandem back to the ranch and all will be well.”

“No.” She fastened her bra in place.

He shoved his arms into the sleeves of his no-longer-white shirt. “Yes.”

“No, Alex!” She picked up her black shirt and started pulling it over her head. Her next comment was delivered while she still had the shirt covering her face. “It would be way too scary out here alone.” Then she pulled the shirt down, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

He stopped fastening the snaps on his shirt. “You’d really be afraid?”

She shrugged. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I grew up in a family with seven kids, so somebody was always around. Nowadays I spend most of my life on a cruise ship full of passengers. When I’m in L.A., I live in an apartment building with three hundred tenants, give or take. Don’t make me stay all by myself out in the middle of nowhere. Please.”

His protective instincts roared to life. He closed the distance between them and gathered her into his arms. “I didn’t mean for you to be scared. I’m sorry.”

She clung to him and pressed her cheek to his chest. “It’s not something I like admitting. After all, I travel the world. I’m the most independent woman in my family. Everybody thinks I’m invincible.”

“I won’t tell anyone. And I certainly won’t make you stay here. We’ll walk back together, and we’ll sing camp songs on the way, if that will help.”

She groaned. “Not camp songs. My parents love camp songs, and I’ve heard enough to last me a lifetime. If I never hear ‘Kumbaya’ again, that’s fine with me.”

“Then we can sing drinking songs.”

“We don’t have to sing at all.” She gazed up at him. “Just don’t leave me.”

His heart twisted. She was begging him not to leave her tonight, and yet she would be the one doing the leaving next week. The irony wasn’t lost on him.

Now that they had a plan, they both moved quickly. After pulling the flashlight out of the glove compartment, Alex turned off the headlights and climbed out of the truck.

Tyler wanted to be in charge of the flashlight, so he gave it to her. But after seeing that she intended to keep it switched on all the time and fan it lighthouse style over the muddy road and the grassy meadows on either side, he had to say something. “Maybe we should conserve the batteries.”

“Conserve the batteries? That sounds like something out of Survivor. Are we in more trouble than I thought?”

“We’re not in any trouble, but the flashlight would be nice to have if we need to see something specific.”

“Like what? A snake?”

“Not a snake. Like I said before, it’s too cold.” He was thinking more of a bear, but decided not to mention that critter. He chose something that sounded more cuddly. “You know, like a raccoon.”

“Raccoons are kind of cute. I wouldn’t mind seeing a raccoon.”

“Anyway, you should probably use the flashlight sparingly. I don’t know how old those batteries might be.”

She didn’t look happy about that. “You’re saying that I can’t leave the flashlight turned on because the batteries could go dead any minute?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

She muttered something to herself and turned off the flashlight.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“It was too something. Spit it out, O’Connelli.”

“I just wonder what sort of outfit this ranch is, that’s all, with trucks almost out of gas and dead batteries in the flashlights.”

He cleared his throat so he wouldn’t laugh. Nerves could make people say funny things. “It’s the person driving the truck who’s supposed to keep it gassed up, and I didn’t do that, so my bad. The flashlight batteries may last for hours, but I don’t know that, so I thought we should use the flashlight only when we have to.”

She took a deep breath. “Fine.” She started off again, but she was walking noticeably faster, which wasn’t such a good idea on a muddy, rutted road.

He lengthened his stride to keep up with her. “You might want to watch out for—”

“What?” She glanced around wildly and stumbled over a rut. Although he caught her before she fell, she still managed to splash the legs of their jeans with mud. “What was I supposed to watch out for?”

“Ruts.”

“Well, damn.” She flashed him a quick grin. “Thanks for catching me. Falling down in the mud once is an accident. Twice begins to look like a habit.”

“Well, we didn’t.” He massaged her shoulders. “I would kiss you, but I know what that could lead to, and we need to get back.”

“I wouldn’t let you kiss me, cowboy.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No.” She backed away from his touch. “Not a challenge, so get that note of anticipation out of your voice. You have a way of making me forget where I am, and where I am is in the woods in the dark, and that’s not where I want to have sex.”

“Actually, me neither.” He stepped forward and placed a quick kiss on her nose. “Let’s go. We’ll hold hands.”

“Okay.” She laced her left hand through his and held up the flashlight with her right. “At least I didn’t drop this.”

“Good.” He squeezed her hand, enjoying the way her fingers fit through his as they started walking again. “See, this isn’t so bad, taking a walk along a country road after a rain, breathing in the fresh scent of pine, listening to the wind in the—”

Noise exploded to their left in a wild series of yips and barks before several dark shapes hurtled across the road about twenty feet in front of them.

Tyler gasped and squeezed his hand so hard he winced. Then she switched on the flashlight and swept the area, but nothing was there. “Dear God, were those wolves?”