Beauty and the Bull Rider (10 page)

“H
ere you go, Mr. McDaniel.” The nurse handed Zac two plastic containers labeled with his identification number. “This one is for your urine specimen and the other is for your semen. Be sure to give us the urine first,” she continued. “After that, be certain to wash your penis before ejaculation. We don't want anything to contaminate the specimen.”

Zac glanced around with a wince. She might as well have announced it over a loud speaker. The clinic wasn't that busy, but it was impossible not to be overheard.

The nurse led him to a sterile-looking examination room complete with white paper table cover. “There's a private bathroom through that door. The rest of the instructions are right here. I think you'll find them self-explanatory.” She handed him a printed sheet.

Zac glanced down at the instructions in his hands.

“Any questions?” the nurse asked.

He looked at the tile ceiling and blew out a breath. “Nope. I think I got it. Thanks.” In truth, the instructions were a little vague on what should happen between steps number four and number five.

As if reading his mind, the nurse nodded to a cabinet in the corner with a TV and DVD player. “If you need any . . . er . . . assistance, there are some magazines and DVDs in the top drawer. Take as much time as you need.” She departed with a smile.

Zac stared at the closed door and then glowered at the plastic cups. Since walking into the clinic, he'd been stuck with needles and quizzed about everything from his birthplace to his bowel movements. Now that it was finally time to give up the goods, he didn't know if he was up to the task. Jacking off in the shower was one thing, but this?

He opened the drawer the nurse had indicated and discovered a stack of outdated and rumpled
Playboy
magazines and a few soft porn flicks. He slammed it shut again.

What he needed was proper motivation. Reminding himself of the end goal—Delaney—Zac inhaled a breath that he released on a stream of expletives and took his cups into the restroom. He filled the first cup easily thanks to the coffee he'd consumed on the drive, but the second proved a bigger challenge. Shutting his eyes, he traveled back three days to the lakeside, with Delaney moaning and writhing as he tongued her. He could almost taste her nectar on his lips. That memory alone was enough to get him stiff. He was just about to take himself in hand when his phone buzzed.

Shit.
His eyes snapped open. He cursed himself for forgetting to turn it off. He didn't need distractions right now. He plucked the phone out of his pocket, intent on ignoring the call until noticing Delaney's number on the screen. “Zac here,” he answered tersely.

“Zac? It's Delaney.”

“Ah. Can I call you back in a little bit? You kinda caught me at a bad time.” Literally with his pants down.

“Are you still in Oklahoma?” she asked, ignoring his request.

“Yup. I'm at the clinic in Ardmore. I'm leaving for Vegas as soon as I'm done here.”

“Oh, no, you aren't!” she replied, sounding pissed as hell. “I need you back here right away, Zac.”

His throat tightened. “What the hell's happened this time?”

“Your damned bull! That's what's happened, or should I say happen
ing
.”

“I'm not following you.”

“Apparently the horny son of a bitch climbed out of his corral and busted through the fence. He's right now in
my
pasture breeding
my
cows!”

“Holy shit.”

“You'd better come get him.
Now
, Zac.”

Zac shouldered the phone and zipped up his jeans. “I'm almost two hours away. You do understand that by the time I get there the damage is already gonna be done.”

“I don't care. I need you to fix this. I had a plan,” she replied tearfully. “I handpicked every bull for my cows and invested over ten grand in frozen semen. Now it's all blown to hell because of your damned rogue bull!”

“How many did he get to?” Zac asked.

“Who knows? I gave them all hormones a few days ago to bring them into season. It's a bovine buffet out there.”

She was furious for sure, but Zac had to suppress a chuckle. “Hang tight, sweetheart. I'm on my way. We'll just have to figure something out when I get there.”

Zac placed the two specimen containers into their respective plastic bags and took them back to the nurses' station. “Only one?” she asked, brows arched in question.

“Yeah,” Zac grunted. “I got interrupted by a phone call. I gotta leave. Is there any chance I can just bring this back?”

“How far away do you live?” she asked.

“'Bout two hours.”

“I'm sorry, Mr. McDaniel. That won't work. We need it within an hour of emission to get an accurate analysis.”

“This is damned awkward, Miss . . .”

“Wanda,” she supplied. “Don't be too concerned, Mr. McDaniel.” She offered a reassuring smile. “It's not at all unusual for men to suffer performance anxiety in this setting.”

“
Performance anxiety
?” He shook his head with a snort of disgust. “That ain't it at all. I got no problem getting it up, ma'am. I just got distracted.”

“There's a simpler way to do this if you want to bring your significant other next time,” she suggested.

“How's that?” Zac asked.

She opened a drawer and fished out a package with a telltale disc shape. “It's a collection condom. They're specially designed for this.” She nodded to a couple who'd just exited the exam room, both looking rumpled and smiling sheepishly. “It usually does the trick.”

Delaney slammed her cell phone on the counter and threw herself into a chair, where she finally gave in to the fit of angry tears. It was all Zac's fault. Since that damned cowboy had walked into her life, all of her plans had gone to hell in a handbasket.
Nothing
was happening the way it was supposed to. First, her baby plans and now her calves. Her only consolation was that it was at least a bucking bull and not one of the longhorns that had busted in and ravished her heifers. Of course the shameless hussies had been perfectly happy to lift their tails and squat.

Her only hope was that they were too early in the cycle for fertilization. As long as Zac removed the bull before he got another go, maybe she could control the damage. She poured a glass of wine and waited for Zac.

Her nerves had begun to settle by the time she poured her second glass.

It would be at least a week before she could do any preg testing on the cows, but it actually wasn't quite the disaster she'd first thought. The bull had bred her recipient cows but not the egg donor. Thank God, Diamond was still in her own pen and not turned out with the others.

She downed her third glass and then poured another.

She was feeling dangerously mellow by the time Zac pulled into the drive. She met him at the door, opening before he had a chance to knock.

“I'm damned sorry about this, Delaney,” he said. He stood there with hat in hand and apology on his lips. She focused mostly on the lips. She loved the shape of Zac's mouth and the feel of it even better. “I'm confounded how he got out,” he continued. “It wasn't negligence, I swear. He's got an injured hock and I had him in a six-foot pen. It shouldn't have happened.”

“I'm sorry for lashing out at you on the phone, Zac. I know it wasn't your fault. These kinda things happen sometimes.”

He looked surprised. “So you're not all pissed off anymore?”

“I still am,” she confessed with a hiccup. “But maybe not
quite
as much as before. Did you come to get your bull?”

“Already did,” Zac said. “I called Bart the minute I got off the phone with you. The bull's already loaded up and on the way home. He didn't fight us much.”

“I don't imagine he had the energy,” she said dryly. “All that humping must have worn him out.”

“So he got to all of them?” Zac asked.

“Let's just say he didn't overlook any who were willing. I'm very disappointed with the low moral caliber of my cows.”

“Given that breeding is what you bought them for, you should be happy how eagerly they embraced the job,” Zac replied with a twitch of his fascinating mouth.

“But they aren't supposed to breed indiscriminately. I had the studs all picked out before your cow-seducing Casanova came along.”

Zac cocked a brow. “Maybe they wanted to know the baby daddy instead of some anonymous stranger. Maybe they thought they'd be happier humping than taking a semen injection by syringe.”

“Point taken,” she said softly. “The idea of a syringe isn't very appealing. Neither is a battery-operated vibrator.”

He cocked a brow. “That's mighty illuminating.”

Her gaze locked with his, she licked her lips. Would he take it as an invitation?

“Did you get your testing done today?” she asked.

His gaze focused on her mouth and then darted over her left shoulder. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?
What do you mean? Is something wrong?”

“I was at the clinic when you called. I had the full physical, the DNA, and the blood work. I even paid extra to get the results expedited.”

“Great,” she said. “When will they have the semen analysis back?”

His color deepened. He shut his eyes and blew out a breath. “I couldn't give it to them.”

“What do you mean, ‘couldn't'?”

“Shit, Delaney. The whole thing embarrassed the hell out of me. They gave me a little container and sent me into a private room to jack off. It was really hard to do that knowing they all knew what I was doing in there. It was damned distracting and then your call came at the worst possible time.”

“Really?”

Zac's cheekbones went deep bronze as she burst into a full paroxysm of giggles. “What's so damned funny?”

“You, Zac. I'm just surprised. It never would have occurred to be that you'd have any trouble with that part.”

“Do you think all men can just perform on command like trained animals?”

“I never really thought about it that way. Didn't they give you anything to . . . er . . . help you out?”

“Yeah,” he snorted. “They had soft porn.”

“And that didn't . . .”

He glared. “No. It didn't.”

She gazed up at him, wide-eyed. “Zac, I don't see how we're ever going to be able to do this if you're unable to . . .”

“Told you I was
distracted
.” He stepped into her space. “I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're treadin' on real dangerous ground right now.”

“What do you mean?” she asked with feigned innocence.

“I'll tell ya. There's two things in this world you should never do. The first is pissing on an electric fence and the second is taunting a man about his manhood.”

“It was just a simple question, Zac. No need to get your”—she let her gaze drop to his crotch—“
hackles
. . . up. I just wonder how we're going to solve your little problem.”

“It
isn't
a problem,” Zac ground through his teeth. “You really wanna know how we're gonna do this?” Before she understood what he was about, he spun her back to the door, muffling her gasp with his hot, hungry mouth. Bracing his arms on either side of her head, he ravaged her mouth with a deep and demanding kiss. She didn't know if it was the wine or the kiss, but Delaney suddenly experienced the panicky sensation of a freefall.

She opened her eyes to look into his as Zac brought her hand down between them. He was hot and hard even through the thick layer of denim. “See? I got no problem now. There's a real simple solution to doing this,” he growled into her ear. “You're going back with me.”

“Me? Are you saying you expect me to . . .”

“Help collect it?” he supplied. “Since you're the one who's insisting on all this, I think it's only right you should help. And given that I need to get to Vegas by tomorrow, I'd say we'd better go now.”

“Now?”
She gaped at him.

“Yep. There's no time like the present.”