Erotica- So Not A Cowboy/ Spanking (7 page)

She thought about him sitting on the sofa, probably already lost in his business tasks. They didn't fit into each other's lives. They had great—amazing—sex over and over again. But that was it.
You're not willing to even give him a chance
. Now her conscience was chastising her. Pitiful.

Sweat beaded on her brow and she dashed at it with the back of her hand. She could already see the dozen guests standing around the arena fence. Three of the ranch hands stood in the arena, each holding onto a horse. Everyone was waiting for her. She jutted out her chin, put Erik to the back of her mind, and walked briskly toward them.

Erik carried his cell phone and walked to look out the front window across the ranch yard. He barely listened to Allan explaining a new game idea the “think tank” had come up with. He should be paying strict attention and he knew it, but a certain hot cowgirl held his focus. She could do some incredible things to a pair of jeans. She had one of the best asses he'd ever seen. An idea which only served to make the bulge in his shorts grow even more. He'd had a painful erection ever since he'd arrived here…at least every moment he wasn't making love to her or recovering from it.

“Are you listening to me?” Allan complained. “When exactly are you coming back to LA? We need you here, buddy.”

He tried to turn away from watching Mandy walk into the arena, but couldn't do it. Those darn big horses almost scared him spitless, not that he would ever admit it to her. He hated her being around them, even more so being near three.

“Erik!”

“Send me all of the details on the new game idea in an email.” He managed to say while his wife stepped closer to a black beast that towered over her. His stomach tensed. “I can't talk now. I have to go.” He disconnected even as Allan had shouted at him not to hang up.

Thinking about his ridiculous decision to go out and watch his wife for a while, he headed toward his laptop, intending to close the Internet connection. What he really should do is get his ass back to Los Angeles. Sticking around here wasn't getting him anywhere with Mandy. They hadn't done much more than watch some movies and spend the rest of the past two nights driving each other crazy. She was the hottest lover he'd ever had.
Best of all, she's my wife
. They could have wild monkey sex every day for the rest of their lives, but he knew they needed more than that. He honestly liked her sense of humor, her pride in her brother and his new animal rescue foundation, her determination to pull her own weight with the family ranch. The ranch was their biggest problem. It wasn't that he hated the place. No, the Weatherford Ranch was impressive and solidly respected. The problem was that it was in Kansas. His business was in California.

A woman's scream split the air and he looked anxiously toward the arena. Mandy was lying on the ground toward the side. The guests appeared to be worriedly watching as one of the cowboys knelt down beside her and the others were leading the horses away.

Without another thought, hardly breathing, he raced out of the house barefoot.

Well, shit! Mandy lie still where she'd fallen and kept her eyes closed. That was sure humiliating and unnecessary. She fought down embarrassment. She'd spotted the little garter snake slithering along the fence edge when she walked toward the spectators with Blackie. But she'd assumed it was headed away from the action in the arena. What was that saying about the word “assume”? Something about making an ass out of you and me. She'd certainly done that.

She shifted a little, eyes still closed. Her entire body hurt from the sudden crash to the ground.
Darn you, Blackie
. He might be the biggest horse on the ranch and sometimes the most ornery, but he turned into a real wus when he spotted a snake. She'd known that. Stupid snake had changed its path and caught Blackie's attention. Before she'd had a chance to yell at someone to get the snake, her horse had gotten agitated. He'd danced around, snorting as she held his reins, tossed his head and went wild-eyed, and then shoved her with his hindquarters. She'd dropped the reins and lost her footing. Then she'd fallen head first toward the metal fence and banged her head against a post. She had gone down hard, dazed more than anything. But she might have been out for a few seconds, she wasn't sure.

“Are you okay?” Chet asked leaning next to her. The foreman was good friends with her brother and he'd probably already speed-dialed Drew.

The woman who'd screamed at the chaotic moment was continuing to whimper nearby.
Perfect
. She'd have to calm her and the other guests down, too. Plus face the ranch hands, Chet and Drew. At least her brother and Tanya were probably halfway to Denver by now on their baby nursery shopping expedition that Drew had been less than excited about going on.

“Mandy?” Chet tapped her cheek. “I saw you move. Are you playing opossum on me?”

She nodded, which made her head hurt more. As she flicked open one eye, she asked, “The snake?” Okay, she was a bit dizzy, but she knew it wasn't anything really to worry about. Stunned, embarrassed, that pretty much covered the situation. And she would have a headache, she suspected.

“Toby caught him and took care of the problem.” He sounded relieved. “Aaron's helping him put the horses away for now.”

She still didn't move, but she did glance up at the worried faces focused on her. “Not to worry. Just a bummer of a headache.” None of them looked convinced. She should have the horses brought back, get on with these lessons. It would be kind of like being thrown and not wanting to get on a horse again…for these tenderfoots, not her.

“We'll try this later. I just need—”

The words faded away as she heard someone running hell-bent in her direction. She raised her throbbing head enough to see Erik speeding barefoot into the arena and toward her. The tan had left his face. His eyes looked as wild as Blackie's had when he'd spotted the snake.
Wonderful. Things just keep getting better and better
.

He stopped and glowered at Chet, huffing out breathlessly, “I called for an ambulance.”

“I don't need one.” Mandy looked at Chet. “Cancel it. Call Drew, too, and tell him I'm fine. I'm sure one of you has already called or texted him.”

Chet jutted out his chin. “He needed to know.” But he sighed and stood. “Drew has probably already turned his truck around.” He looked warily at Erik and then started to walk off pulling his cell phone out of a holder on his belt.

“Tell him to turn around again. I'm fine.” She did not need her big brother tearing back here to take care of her when she didn't need taking care of. And Tanya had been looking forward to this long weekend trip.

Erik couldn't look more frustrated. A vein pulsed in his jaw, his brow was deeply furrowed. He hunkered down next to her. “You're not fine. You're lying on the ground and your head obviously hurts, from the way you're rubbing it.” He drew in a breath and blew it out, watching her closely. “What the hell happened? I heard a woman's scream.”

“Not mine.” Mandy stopped rubbing the side of her head and forced herself to sit up. Evil gremlins in her head started pounding with tiny hammers. She put a calming hand on his leg, which seemed to distract him. “Minor snake incident. Spooked horse. I got caught in the way.”

He appeared to mull over her explanation and she took the time to face the guests. “Why don't you all take a swim in the pool? Or drive into town and look around this morning. We'll try this again after lunch.”

With some concerned looks, they finally decided she would live and wandered away. That left her with Erik and she didn't quite know what to say or do. She went with the first thing that came into her head. “You're barefoot. Are you nuts?”

He barely glanced at his feet, flinched at the blood trickling along the sole of one of them. “I'll survive.” She noticed his grimace and knew running across the gravel road and arena ground had been painful. “I had to get to my wife.”

Warmth swept through her at his matter-of-fact words. Nothing had mattered but getting to her. Before she could let it get to her, make her go all teary-eyed, she attempted to get up. “It was a foolish accident.”

He stood and gently tugged her to her feet. His hands pushed her ponytail out of the way and he ever so carefully touched the side of her head. “That's going to hurt.”

“Already does.” When he frowned down at her, she gave him a reassuring look. “But it isn't serious. Not even a slight concussion, really. I've been concussed before and I know how it felt.”

That didn't reassure him as much as she'd hoped it would. His eyes still mirrored worry. “You're done for the day, honey. If there are riding lessons to be taught later, your ranch hands can do it.”

She stiffened. “I'm in charge here. I'm the guest ranch manager. I—”

“I'm your husband. And I said you're done for the day.” Anger simmered in his gaze. “Now if you don't want me to cart you into town to see a doctor—which I really should do, you'll give yourself at least today to recover.”

“I'm fine,” she countered. She hated being told what to do, even if it made sense. He didn't need to know that she felt ready to collapse, dizzy. She wasn't nauseous, so she'd be all right.

They stood glowering at each other until finally he blew out a heavy breath. “You're
not
fine. I can already see the lump swelling on the side of your head. You're swaying.”

She tried to stand straighter, still.

He shook his head and before she could stop him, he scooped her up in much the same way he had at the bar in Maui. “Am I forever to be forced to carry you around?” He sounded more teasing than annoyed now, his voice husky while he easily held her.

A part of her wanted to sigh in contentment and enjoy being held in his arms. But the independent part of her didn't cave so easily. She squirmed. “I'm perfectly capable of walking. Put. Me. Down.”

The stubborn devil chuckled. “Not happening, babe.” Even though he grimaced with the added weight in his arms and pressing down on his tender feet, he started across the arena.

Her stomach tightened and it was as if she felt his pain. He suffered because of her. “You can't do this. Your feet….”

He only moved faster. “I'm doing this.”

She remained silent until they reached the porch. Pain etched his face and sweat beaded his brow and upper lip. She glanced behind them and saw the bloody footprints. One of his feet must have been cut on a sharp rock. “Put me down,” she said gently but firmly. “I'm okay now. You aren't.”

He finally gave in and set her on her feet, but held her to him. “Don't scare me like that again.”

“But you play the white knight role so well.” She gave him a teasing smile and went up on tiptoe to kiss him.

An hour later Erik stretched out beside Mandy on the big rumpled bed. One kiss had led to another and then onto the inevitable ripping at each other's clothes. They had managed to steal a few minutes for cleaning off the nasty gash on his foot and bandaging it. He'd cleaned off the dirt from her head bump and examined it, too. He'd wanted to put ice on it, but she'd been too impatient. Fact was, he'd been pretty ready as well.

“I may not survive this marriage. You're awfully demanding of a man.” He grinned up at the ceiling, thinking about how she'd slid to her knees in the bathroom after they'd dealt with each other's injuries. He'd stood next to the counter and she'd taken him into her hot mouth. He should have refused, should have insisted on putting her to bed right then. But it had been impossible to think with what she'd been doing. Clearly he was darn easy.

She lay limply beside him and he turned to note the pleased smile on her face. “You're pretty demanding yourself, Stud Boy.”

He shifted to his side, reaching over to cup one breast and thumb the nipple. “Stud Boy, I like that.” She was tired and he saw the pain lines bracketing her mouth. Still, he couldn't keep from leaning over and swirling his tongue around the aroused nipple. She sucked in a breath and arched upward.

“Don't you have work to do?” she asked, but put her hand to hold his head in place.

Erik continued playing with the nipple and reached over to cup and to massage the other breast. Without a doubt he had a ton of email messages to return. Allan would be expecting him to call back, too. And he needed to check in with the realtor, his business manager, and his main attorney. He didn't want to think about any of that, but he only had so much time he could take away from his business.

“Can't you come back to LA with me for a few days?” He braced for the blunt rejection she'd given him every other time. Good thing he had a tough ego.

She didn't let him down, but for the first time she didn't sound absolutely firm. “I have responsibilities here, especially with Drew and Tanya away for a few days.”

He dared to take that as a small bit of hope. He'd take what he could get at this point. “I understand.” He focused on her nipple again, lightly biting it.

“Ohhhh,” she gasped. She stroked his hair, threaded her fingers through it. He felt her racing heart. “You understand? Really?”

He understood that she made him sexually crazy, that he couldn't get enough of her. He understood that he wanted her in his life if he could just figure out how they could manage it. And he understood that she didn't think there was a possible way they could meld their completely opposite lives together. Somehow he would have to find a way to convince her. There would be serious compromises involved. What he needed was time and patience.

His cock had magically come to life again, a fete that amazed him considering what they’d just done. “And you should be resting.”

“And you should be returning phone calls or whatever.” She shifted her legs apart, smiling with a twinkle in her eyes. “One more time.”

* * *

She had finally worn lover boy out. Mandy glanced at the bedside clock, just after one o'clock. Did she dare? He'd sounded pretty commanding when he'd told her that she was done for the day. But she'd been lying in the dirt, dazed from the head bump. She felt immensely better now, though her head still throbbed a little. Sex was an amazing healer, a rejuvenator…at least for some people. Erik was dead to the world face down and didn't look as if he could possibly move a muscle for a while. Particularly not
that
muscle.