Page 43 of Unforgettable Cowboy
Wade rolled his eyes.“I’m going to bed.”He began the process of getting himself up out of his chair and onto the walker and Hayes had already learned to let Wade do everything by himself that he could.Because Jess had come earlier, for his second to last visit, he’d already bathed and was wearing sweat bottoms and a robe.
After Wade had disappeared down the hall to his room, Hayes lingered, waiting to make certain there were no crashes or sounds of distress.Fifteen minutes later, when all had quieted at Wade’s end of the house, he turned toward his, ambling down the hall to the room at the very end.
He got out of his clothes, kicking them into a pile to be dealt with in the morning before snapping off the light.It struck him then, as he sat on the bed in his stark childhood room, lit only by the glow of the yard lamp, that he was probably home to stay.Even if Parker came back, even if Trev returned for good, he was most likely going to stay in the Marietta area.Bailey was leaving, but maybe when she was done roaming, she, too, would come back.
Or maybe she’d continue dodging anything that smacked of a relationship and maintain her nomadic ways.
Safety first.
His lips twisted grimly.A smart man would give it up.
He wasn’t feeling all that intelligent.
He lay back on the pillows, folding his hands behind his head as he stared at the shadows cast on the ceiling by the yard light.Bailey was on the Tree Fork.She was safe.That was the important thing.He’d help her deal with Chance Meyers and once that situation was settled, she could move on.And he was honest enough to admit that he would miss her in more than a casual way.
He flopped onto his side and resolutely closed his eyes.He’d just started drifting off when his phone chimed, jerking him awake.He reached for it and read the message.
Please open your window.
She did not have to ask twice.
*
Bailey’s heart washammering against her chest as the window slid up silently despite the casing not being soaped up in close to a decade.She’d never taken advantage of the window, but Hayes had told her how handy it had been when he needed to work around Wade’s curfew and how a bar of Ivory soap was the key to a smooth exit and reentry.
“There’s a brick sticking out under the honeysuckle,” he said in a barely audible voice.
Bailey found the brick, got a toe hold, then took Hayes’s hand, allowing him to haul her in through the window.Her foot caught the sill, and she landed in a heap on the tamarack floor, the noise of her fall seeming to echo through the house.
For a moment she and Hayes stayed frozen in place, gazes locked, and then Hayes grinned and helped her to her feet.
“Wade’s bedroom is on the far side of the house,” he said, still keeping his voice low.“But it isn’t like he’s going to come investigating.”
Bailey didn’t answer.She reached for the man, taking his face between her hands and kissing him.His lips were stiff for all of a second or two as if he needed to make certain that she really wanted to do this, and then he got with the game, wrapping his arms around her and nearly pulling her off her feet.Bailey sighed against his mouth, years of longing finally coming to a head.She’d never forgotten Hayes, never stopped wanting him.It was the fear that want would turn into need that had sent her running away before, but now she could admit she did need him.Here.Now.
His body was harder than she recalled.Years of rodeo had turned his muscles to lean ridges whereas her own body was a touch softer than before now that she wasn’t riding every day.He didn’t seem to mind that change.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, setting her nerves on fire with his tongue as he traced a light pattern over her breasts.She let out a moan as he took her nipple in his mouth, teased it; felt her body start to arch.
Easy, girl…
She desperately wanted to take her time as she and Hayes rediscovered one another, but the sensations he evoked with his clever fingers and lips were almost too much after such a very long dry spell.And this was Hayes.The dangerous cowboy that she’d once abandoned because he managed to make her feel exactly this way.If anything, he was more dangerous now, but she was older, wiser.Able to create boundaries and stand up for herself instead of running.
She was in control, for now.Shecouldtake her time.
Maybe.
She gasped when his fingers eased between her thighs, teasing her, and she automatically reached for him to return the favor.He was thick and heavy in her hand and when his erection pulsed, she knew she needed to take advantage of the condom he’d managed to scrounge out of his duffel bag.The was not be a leisurely lovemaking session.This was going to be a desperate coupling, sparked by years of wanting what she’d told herself she could not have.
Hayes got the silent message and reached for the condom.Bailey, who had never been good at manipulating the things, waited as he rolled it into place before meeting his gaze in the dim light from the yard lamp outside the window.
“I want this,” she whispered, sensing his unspoken question.As if they could turn back now.That would, quite simply, kill her.
“Top or bottom?”
It was an old teasing question, which would have melted her heart in another less fraught moment.
“Bottom.”Cowgirl was fun, but she wanted to feel his weight on her this first time.Hayes obliged, barely getting into position before taking her mouth in a soul-searing kiss as he pushed into her with a long steady stroke.
