Breaking the Bad Boy (26 page)

Without a word they remounted and she fed him his sandwich from behind, and they ate companionably as the bike ate up
Montana
. With food in her stomach she felt overwhelmingly tired and she nearly fell asleep twice, jerking awake at the last minute.

Buck felt her struggling to stay awake, and called back to her.

“Put your arms around me, and I’ll hold you. I won’t let you slide off,” he said.

“I’m awake, it’s all right,” she answered.

“No you’re not, let me hold you, and you can sleep. Every time you jerk awake you throw off the bike, you’ll have us in a ditch if you keep it up. I’ll wake you when we get close to the cabin.” He was exaggerating, but not by much.

She wrapped her arms around him and he held them tightly in his left hand, keeping her fixed to his chest. They were screwed if he needed to break, but he loved the feel of her against him, and he was becoming very eager to get her to the cabin. The poor girl was spent though, they hadn’t had much sleep because he simply couldn’t keep himself away from her, and when they weren’t actively loving each other, they were frightened and running for their lives. And somewhere along the way he had fallen hard for the Duchess.

When had that happened? If he was honest with himself he was already in love with her when she spent the long evening digging bloody t-shirt out of his chest. He certainly thought about her the whole time he was rounding up the errant cattle, but he was only human, and after he had seen that mole on her breast the night before he left, it had occupied his consciousness the whole trip.

It was the morning at the hospital when she was ripping into him and her eyes were shining and boring holes into him, and she was luminous in her fury. That angry passion had quickly morphed into a lusty one at whatever bait he fed her, and when she trembled in his arms he was lost. Had he been a cave man that would have been the moment he grabbed her by the hair and took her to his favorite cave. No cave, he’d take her to a shady glade by the water and lay her gently back on a bear skin and never come up again.

It turned out she wasn’t the spoiled brat he thought she would be when he gave her the mocking name, instead she was a woman with strength and bravery and intelligence. This blew his mind, because he should have been completely safe from that kind of woman. It wasn’t at all what he was attracted to.

She was going to want him to settle down and raise kids in some suburb somewhere where all the men in the neighborhood would drool over her at barbecues, and she would give him that look she gave him like he hung the moon and take him upstairs to their bed where they would hold each other for the rest of their lives. Suddenly it didn’t sound so terrible.

Their kids would run around like lunatics getting into all sorts of mischief, getting the other kids in trouble. He smiled evilly. They would be beautiful. They’d have big eyes, long legs, and good teeth, and they’d be an interesting amalgam of the two of them. Christ, he was fantasizing about their children. Hell, she may already be pregnant. He was lost.

“What are you thinking about? You’re making funny growling noises,” she asked.

“You, you’re driving me crazy,” he yelled back to her.

“Me? What’d I do?”

“Hosting barbeques,” he grumbled.

“Barbeques?”

“Forget it,” he said and let her arms go. She leaned back and put her hands on his hips, and he put his left hand back on the handle bars.

“Where are we?” She asked a little subdued.
Shit, now I’ve hurt her again
.

“Just west of
Billings
, I’d say we have another—“

“Buck, it’s Cassidy,” she called.

Buck turned away just in time and Joss was hidden by his shoulders, Cassidy and the other passenger didn’t see them.

“That was Lanier with her, what are they up to?”

“Turn left up here,” Joss said a few minutes later. “Turn right in about two miles, I think it’s the first right turn.” When they got to it she nodded to herself. “It’s another three miles on this road, and the drive will be on your left.”

Well, I’m glad I’ve fallen for a genius; I just wish things were a little simpler for us,
he thought. He slowed when he got to the turn, but kept going straight. Joss said nothing but gave the cabin a close look as they passed.

“There weren’t any fresh tire marks, at least,” she said and he looked over his shoulder at her, he had to stop being surprised. “What?” She asked. He pulled over to turn the bike around and head back.

“When we ate dinner that first night, you asked if I was military. What was that about?” He asked.

“Your back was to the wall and you had your shooting arm free and unimpeded. You are on guard all the time, too.” She said. “You were either bad, which I refused to believe, very careful or a social butterfly, I made a wild guess.” He huffed out a laugh.

“I’ve been doing this for twelve years, Duchess, and no one has ever made me. You made me, or at least believed I was a cop in the first what? Three hours? I’m glad you’re on my side.” He reached back into the pannier and grabbed his gun, put the bike in gear and they rode up to the cabin. It was deserted, no foot prints of any kind anywhere near it.

“Do you have the key?” He asked. He could get them in, but a key would be easier.

“Not yet, but Brent is predictable,” she went to the porch and lifted the third flower pot and there was the key. Buck parked the bike behind some prodigious rabbit brush in back of the cabin. They went inside. It was hot and stuffy; no one had been there for some time.

“Familiarize yourself with the place in the daylight; we’ll keep the lights off when it gets dark.”

“I’ll start by familiarizing myself with the bathroom,” she said and went straight for it.

Buck looked around and checked once again how many bullets he had left. Painfully few. He locked the door and opened some windows placing objects on them to fall off noisily to wake him up if they were opened any further. He then looked in the refrigerator. Beer, diet coke, mustard and a jar of Spanish olives with an inch of mold on them were the entire contents. The freezer, however, was filled with choice steaks. Hot damn. He took two large ones out and put them on the counter to defrost and heard the shower start. He simply couldn’t resist her.

Going to the panniers he pulled out one of the boxes of condoms and while he was at it opened the bag of Snickers.
She’ll be putty in my hands,
he smiled and went to the bedroom bath and opened the door. Naked except for her toe ring she stood directly under the stream, her hands on the wall in front of her, and the water bouncing off her lovely face. It was such a beautiful sight he nearly sat down just to watch. But he couldn’t. He stripped and stepped into the stall behind her.

“Took you long enough,” she said as he cupped her breasts and pulled her back to him.

“Open your mouth and close your eyes, my beautiful Duchess,” he said just loud enough to be heard over the water. She turned in his arms and opened her mouth and closed her eyes. He took the wrapper off and put the chocolate to her lips. She closed her full lips around it and he almost fell back with the lust that shot through his body. She felt his tremor and opened her eyes as she bit down hard into the candy and smiled. He put the rest into his mouth and they stood there smiling at each other, chewing the Snickers with the water soaking them.

Thirty seconds later they were on the bed soaking wet. An hour after that they were back in the shower, taking great pains making sure they were clean.

“I found steaks in the freezer; they’re defrosting on the counter. And if I can bear to take my hands off of you for long enough I’ll cook them for us,” he said.

“I found a washing machine, every article of clothing we have is going in. We can wear towels for the next few hours.”

“I have a better idea,” he said grinning at her. “You are making me weak, Joss, I can’t concentrate, all I want to do is love you,” he kissed her deeply.

“All I want is for you to love me, Buck. If you feed me I’ll be strong enough to make it worth your while,” she said. He leaned past her and turned the water off. They toweled each other dry and started their own projects. Buck found a can of peaches and black beans in the cabinet and he grilled the steaks and later the peaches and warmed up the beans after putting some ancient and nearly flavorless cayenne in them. Joss came into the room and stood next to him looking at the food and him, standing in a towel, with equal desire.

“I’m guessing the cattle ranch girl wants it rare?” He smiled at her.

“I like it more pink than red, but it smells so good, I might just eat it raw,” she said. “My mouth is watering all over the place.”

“That’s what happens to me whenever I look at you. I guess you are like a steak to me,” he said.

“You’re a real poet, Buck.” He laughed.

“I found a deck of cards, Duchess, what do you say? One hand, winner takes all.” He grinned at her and she grinned back.

“You’re on, long shanks, but will you take out my stitches while there is still light?”

“Of course I will,” he kissed her. “There’s beer in the fridge if you want to self medicate.”

“Thanks, but I’m afraid I’d just fall asleep, and I don’t want to miss any time we have left,” she looked at him with a pained expression but looked away so he wouldn’t see it. Joss knew that tomorrow it would be over. Buck and she would live, or not, but either way he’d leave her. She tried to tell herself she wouldn’t let him go, but in truth she wouldn’t try to make him stay, he had to come to that conclusion on his own. Tonight was their last night together, and she didn’t want to fall asleep and miss any of it.

“Will you find some plates?” He asked. She found plates and steak knives and set the table. “This is domestic.” He liked the idea more than he wanted to. They ate in a comfortable quiet.

“This is the most delicious steak I’ve ever had,” she said. “Thanks for cooking dinner.”

“When you’re half starved, food tastes good.” There was a sound outside and he put his finger to his lips and pointed to the bedroom. He went to stand next to the window and he cautiously looked out. There was a dog, but he didn’t see any humans. The dog was Pablo from the ranch. “It’s a friend of yours, Duchess,” he motioned for her to come back out then opened the front door.

When Pablo came in he looked around until he found her and then wagged his entire body with his ears down. He should have been named Yoda now that she thought of it. “I missed you, too, baby.” She scratched his head and belly and his tongue lolled out in perfect ecstasy. Buck was still checking around outside the house, looking for anything out of place. There was nothing but it didn’t ease his worries.

“What is he doing this far from home?”

“He’s a ranger, and a food hound. I bet he smelled the steaks and followed his nose,” Joss said. “As the crow flies, we’re not that far from the ranch.”

“Maybe,” he said and put a bowl of water down for him which he lapped up happily. Buck sat back down and finished his steak, then finished her steak and the rest of the beans. The peaches were already gone.

“Find scissors, I’ll clean up,” he said and took the plates to the sink. She found small scissors and tweezers in the medicine cabinet with alcohol and Neosporin; she brought it all out and soaked the scissors and tweezers in the alcohol. Buck tossed steak scraps to Pablo and told him he was a good and faithful dog.

Once finished he wiped his hands and sat in the chair directly in the light of the setting sun. He put the bag of Snickers on the table and put his arms out to her and she went to him. Again, he guided her into his lap and reached around to unwrap the towel and let it fall and pool around her waist.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said and she chuckled.

“You’re crazier than I thought,” she said, “it can’t be pretty back there.” But he put his lips to her back and began the process of pulling out her stitches.