Trick doesn’t say a word as he approaches. He walks to within a couple inches of me and looks down into my face. I’m caught in his eyes. They’re like spider web and I’m entangled. I can’t seem to fight my way free of him. Then again, I don’t want to. Not really. I just want him. Whatever he’ll give me. For however long he’ll give it. I know, at this point, I’m all in. Whatever it takes.
Without taking his eyes off mine, he reaches down and takes my hands in his. He raises first one to his lips then the other, kissing the backs of my fingers, sending chills up my arms. Lowering them, he tugs my hands, pulling me forward. Closer.
All the people, all the sounds, all the world fades. Our thighs are touching and his chest is brushing mine. I can smell his soap, even above the smoke in the room. He laces his fingers with mine and pulls our joined hands around to his lower back, bringing me closer still, our stomachs pressed together. He starts to sway to the music, his body rubbing gently against mine. The friction sets fire to every nerve beneath my skin.
My eyes are drawn to his mouth. I think I might die if he doesn’t kiss me. His lips part and I hear the hiss of air as it’s pulled between his gritted teeth.
He drops his head, his cheek pressed to mine, and he whispers in my ear. “If we go, we can’t come back. Not ever. Things will never be the same.”
I lean into him, needing to feel every inch of him, wishing he could absorb me and put me out of my misery.
“I’m not perfect, Cami. I’m not a thoroughbred like he is. I never will be.”
I’m under his spell, but I hear what he’s saying. And I don’t care. I don’t care about anything but having Trick, having him in my life, having as much as he can give me.
“I hear sometimes the wild ones are the best.”
He says nothing at first, but I can almost hear his smile as he no doubt recognizes his own words.
“That may be. It’s still a gamble, though. But it’s your gamble. Your choice.”
I pull away to look up into his face. “My choice? I thought—”
“So did I,” he interrupts. “But I was wrong. It’s always been your choice.”
“What are you saying?”
I’m so breathless, my chest hurts. I don’t want to misunderstand what he’s getting at.
“I’m saying I’ll be waiting for you.” His eyes are deep and serious as he watches me. Pulling my hands from behind him, he releases them and drags his fingers up my arms to my shoulders and winds them around my neck. His thumbs tip my chin up and for one heart-stopping second, I think he’s going to kiss me. “Make your choice, Cami.”
And then he turns and walks away.
I watch him until I can’t see him anymore, until the crowd has swallowed him up. There is no question what my answer is, what my choice is.
Immediately, I make my way back to Jenna. She’s laughing at something Rusty is saying. When she sees me, her smile fades and she scoots off her bar stool.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I need your keys.”
“What? Why?”
“I just need them, Jenna. I need to go.”
“Go where.”
“Home,” I answer. Jenna’s eyes search mine. When I smile, I know she knows I don’t mean home, as in my house. I mean home, as in Trick. Where I belong.
Her face splits into a stunning smile and she reaches into the back pocket of her jeans. She dangles the keys in front of me and after I take them from her fingers, she grabs me in a spontaneous hug. When she pulls back, her eyes are a little shinier than usual.
“Go get him, Cam.”
I give her a quick smile, wink at Rusty, who is just looking on with a satisfied grin, and I run for the door. For the first time I can remember, I’m going to chase after what I want. With everything that’s in me.
My muscles are coiled like a rattlesnake by the time I get home. I don’t park at the house; I park at the stable. Trick’s car is there. It barely registers that what I’d thought was just a Mustang that he drives is actually probably something like a Mustang Boss 429, a car that even my father would sit up and take notice of. And he probably has, as they’re rare and extremely valuable. Like hundreds of thousands of dollars valuable. But I don’t care about the car. I care about the driver.
There are no lights on in the stable. The big doors are open just a crack. I push on one side until I can step through. It takes my eyes a second to adjust, but then I see Trick leaning against the office door jamb, facing me, his arms crossed over his chest.
It’s so quiet I can hear my heart hammering against my ribs. When he speaks, his words pour over me like rain over flower petals. And I blossom under them just the same.
He straightens. “God, I hope you’re sure.”
I take a step toward him. “I’ve never been surer of anything. Ever.”
There is a slight pause, during which my heart stops beating, but then I’m in his arms, crushed against his hard chest, burning up in the heat of what’s between us.
His lips take mine in a kiss I feel like I’ve been waiting for all my life. They’re wild and passionate, everything I remembered, everything I’d imagined, and more.
His hands dive into my hair and he tilts my head to the side. His tongue slips into my mouth and I taste the most delicious flavor in the world—Trick. Unbridled. Unreserved. Unfettered.
All I can think of is how much I want him—want his skin against me, want his hands all over me, want his body inside me. I am ravenous and the only thing that can satisfy me is Trick.
Before I know it, my hands are fisted in his t-shirt, pulling it up and rubbing over the smooth skin of his back. He pauses long enough to yank it over his head and then his lips are back on mine.
I feel his fingers at my waist, working the buttons of my blouse loose, making their way toward my chest. I’m lost in the moment. I don’t care where we are, who might walk in, or who might find out. I don’t care about anything but the here and the now, and finally getting what I want most.
Trick pushes my shirt from my shoulders and I let it slide down my arms and fall to the floor. Grabbing me under my butt, he lifts me up and carries me into the office. I hear the clatter of things falling to the floor and then the cool of a table beneath my butt where my skirt has been pushed up.
I reach forward to work the button and zipper loose on Trick’s jeans. His fingers are tugging at my panties, pulling them down and out from under me.
Running my fingers along Trick’s waistband, I push his jeans past his hips. They fall easily to the floor. My hands are met with nothing but warm skin. He’s not wearing any underwear.
Suddenly, I’m inflamed beyond the point that I can think clearly. All I can do is I feel, and taste and crave. And all of it comes back to Trick. My entire being is centered on him.
Grabbing my hips, Trick scoots me to the end of the table. Automatically, my legs come up and around his hips. The intimate contact is enough to steal my breath.
Trick leans back and looks into my face. I can see that he’s struggling to retain some kind of sense in the situation. I can also see that he’s barely succeeding. The knowledge makes it that much harder to wait.
“Condom,” he pants, bending to dig one out of his pocket.
“Hurry,” I whisper.
I hear the rattling of foil and then Trick is standing. I watch him as he quickly rolls down the latex. A shiver runs through me when I see what’s coming. There isn’t one disappointing inch on Trick’s entire body!
When he’s finished, he cups my face in his hands. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I want it more than anything. I want you more than anything.”
I see the white flash of teeth in his tanned face. “Then come here, baby,” he says, pulling me forward again and covering my lips with his own.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - Trick
I’m sitting in the floor, in the dark, with my arms wrapped around Cami. She’s between my legs with her back against my chest. I can feel her breathing returning to normal.
It’s surreal, the whole thing—the way it happened, the fact that it did happen. I couldn’t have planned it any better if I’d tried. Don’t think I’d even have wanted to. There’s no way I could’ve made it any better. In my wildest dreams, I never anticipated it would be like this.
She’s just as hot and fiery as her hair, but she’s sweet and sincere, too. The perfect combination. Or maybe just perfect. I don’t know. I have yet to see any flaws, physical or otherwise. Unless it might be that she cares too much what her dad thinks. Of course, if that was the case, she wouldn’t be lying half na**d in my arms.
I hear her say something, but it’s too low for me to make out. I lean my head down and c**k my ear toward her mouth. “What did you say?”
“I asked why you changed your mind.”
“Why I changed my mind?”
“Yeah. About this, about us.”
“I don’t think I did.” I feel her jerk, as if she’s going to sit up. I tighten my hold and grin. Yeah, she’s fiery all right. “What I meant by that is I think I knew all along that it was inevitable. I wanted you too much to let anything stand in my way. I guess I was just trying to convince myself that I was stronger than that, more responsible.”
She gets very quiet and I can’t help but be concerned that she’s drawing all the wrong conclusions.
“We can’t let him find out. I’d never forgive myself if you lost this job and your family had to suffer for it.”
I can almost feel the guilt rolling off her in waves and bunching up her muscles. “This is not the only job in the world. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be fine. I wanted this. Wanted you.”
She leans to the side and turns to look back at me. She grins and I feel relieved that she’s not having second thoughts. Or regrets.
“That’s nice to hear.”
“What? That I want you?”
She nods.
“I thought that would’ve been fairly obvious by now.”
She laughs, a sort of husky sound that has my lower body parts stirring again.
“Oh, you made it pretty clear, but it’s still nice to hear.”
“Ahhh, you’re one of those girls, the kind that likes to know what I’m thinking, aren’t you?”
She shrugs. “I suppose. I think all girls like to hear nice things, heartfelt things.”
I bend my head to kiss her cheek then her ear. “Like you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen?”
“Mmm,” she moans, tilting her head to the side to give me better access to her neck.
“Or that you captivated me with your beer-soaked t-shirt?”
I pull her bra strap down and kiss the curve of her shoulder. She reaches up and runs her fingers through my hair. I’m already thinking about round two when I hear soft sounds coming from next door, from the stall that shares a wall with the office.
I listen closely and hear what seems like scuffling sounds. Cami notices my distraction. “What is it?” she whispers.
“I’m not sure,” I reply, still listening. “Mint is next door. Let me check on her real quick.” Cami leans forward and I slide out from behind her. I bend to brush my lips over hers. “And then I’ll come back and ‘check on’ you. But it won’t be quick.” I growl playfully and she giggles.
“Then hurry up!”
I’m smiling as I zip my jeans. The summer has taken an unexpected turn for the better. Much, much better!
I’m surprised and a little alarmed when I peek into Mint’s stall and see her lying down. I open it and go inside. She’s groaning.
Although we all knew she was close, she hasn’t given any sign that she’d be delivering tonight, which concerns me. I turn on the light and go around to her tail to check her. When I see the red, velvety sac protruding from her, I spring into action.
“Cami, bring the foaling kit from under the table! Now!”
I didn’t put my t-shirt back on, which means that my clothes won’t get bloody. Unfortunately, that means that I will. But there’s no time for considerations like that. Mint and her foal are in danger.
When Cami arrives with the kit, I can see the concern on her face. “What can I do?” she asks, out of breath as she maneuvers the plastic trunk of supplies.
“Call the vet.”
The next two hours are a blur. They fly by in a flurry of anxious activity.
I realized immediately that Mint was having complications when I saw that her placenta had detached prematurely. That means the foal’s life is in grave danger if it’s not delivered as quickly as possible. Thank God I’d dealt with something similar on a couple other occasions. I had the foal out and stimulated by the time Dr. Flannery arrived.
Not that it makes any difference. At least not to them.
I’d already resigned myself to being seen as the “help” at the ranch, even though I’ve got enough training and education to dispute it. My age doesn’t make matters any better either. Men like Jack Hines and Dr. Flannery will always be biased based on that fact alone. It doesn’t help that I still haven’t graduated, despite the fact that the circumstances are pretty much beyond my control.
But on a night like tonight, when I’d already stabilized both horses and the situation long before any of the “real” professionals arrived, it’s particularly hard to swallow. Jack Hines’s arrival only adds insult to injury.
“Why didn’t you call me sooner?” he asks, instantly on the attack.
“Sir, I was working to save the foal. I had little time for much of anything.”