Last of the Red-Hot Cowboys (12 page)

“Can you put her off?”

“No-o,” Ava said slowly, and he wished he were in bed with her, or even just sitting on the porch step talking to her, rather than dealing with a problem that was about to explode the training relationship they had. “No, I don't think I can, Trace. I think someone sent her some photos that have upset her terribly.”

“Shit,” Trace said. “Tell her we'll be there in a minute. Can you calm her down?”

“I'll try,” Ava said. “But I'd put the pedal to the floor if I were you.”

“I'm on it.” He hung up. “Steel, buddy, I know this sucks the big one, but tonight's the night you earn your badge, man.”

Steel pushed himself off the sofa, looking like a dog with nothing in his dish and no hope of anything appearing. “All right,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“You want us to come?” Saint asked.

Declan looked a bit ill as he glanced at the sheriff, but he said, “We can saddle up for support.”

“I think,” Trace said, looking at the condition his friends were in, “we try to dole this out in spoonfuls.”

He and Steel got in his truck and headed over to Ava's.

“I feel sick,” Steel moaned.

“I don't blame you.” Steel was a big, tough man—except when it came to Judy. Trace hoped he never let Ava get under his skin the way Judy was under Steel's. He resolved to put a little distance between himself and the pretty brunette.
Keep that
relationship strictly professional
.

“You just can't understand how much I love her. When that woman is all soft and gentle, it's like being in an angel's arms. My girl is a big woman, Trace, she's strong and fit—but when she's in my arms, she's like a delicate flower that only I get to pick.”

“Damn, Steel.” Trace blew out a breath. “It's going to be okay, man.” He hoped it was, anyway.

But he wouldn't put money on it.

* * *

Ava didn't let herself gasp when Trace ushered Steel into her bungalow, but she barely managed not to. Steel had lipstick on his neck, and Trace looked plain miserable for his buddy. He glanced at her, and she couldn't help the sympathy she felt—no wonder the sheriff had been trying to hide from Judy.

It wasn't going to work. Judy's normally smiling face wore a scowl, which grew when she noticed what Ava suddenly realized wasn't lipstick at all but something more incriminating. She glanced at Trace, stunned, and he shrugged helplessly.

“Oh, Steel,” Judy said. “What happened?”

“It was horrible, Judy!” the sheriff began, and Trace said, “It was a setup.”

“A setup!” Judy put her arm through Steel's, gazing up at him. “What kind of setup?”

“A terrible one,” Steel said. “You have no idea how fast that crowd can come at a fellow.”

“I have some idea,” Judy said, her tone dry. She glanced at Trace. “I trust you to protect him from this very kind of thing. How are those photos going to look when Steel goes up for election this year?”

Steel sagged into a chair, seemingly defeated.

“I don't care,” Steel said. “I don't have to run for election again.”

“Steel!” Judy looked at her sheriff with concern. “Don't you dare allow Poison Ivy to win!”

Ava went to get a glass of wine for everyone, not knowing what else to do with
herself. She was just glad Judy seemed to realize that the enemy was someone other than her handsome sheriff.

She wondered what had happened to Trace while he'd been at the Honky-tonk, supposedly “protecting” Steel from Ivy. He came into the kitchen and helped her rinse out the wineglasses.

“You never saw anything like it,” Trace murmured. In the den she could hear Judy and Steel talking. “It was like a pack of bees descended on us.”

“I don't want to know. Please don't tell me anything. I'm just glad Steel's all right.”

“He's fine. Now that he knows Judy isn't going to cut him off of Saturday nights, he can go on to the next phase.”

“Which is what?”

“Groveling.” Trace poured wine into the glasses. “We all do a pretty good grovel around here when needed.”

She wasn't going to ask any questions about what had happened, and she didn't want to know.

“No one kissed me,” Trace said cheerfully.

“I find that very hard to believe.” She tried to keep the jealous note from her voice.

“Believe it. Now, if you can keep a secret about my buddies—”

“I can keep secrets,” Ava said. “I just don't want to hear them in the first place.”

“Yeah, well, I kind of need your help.” He carried the wine out to Steel and Judy, came back into the kitchen. “At least they're talking. I was afraid Judy might be really angry.”

“I'm sure she's angry, but I don't think it's Steel who's going to feel it. Judy's too cagey. She can read the signals that were sent.” Ava eyed Trace, not wanting to admit that she was quite happy the big, lanky cowboy hadn't gotten any kisses from Ivy's girls.

Or so he claimed. He wasn't bearing any scars or lipstick trophies, as Steel was.

“What help?” Ava asked. “Not that I'm going along with whatever it is.”

“Declan and Saint didn't fare as well as I did. And I don't know what happened to the deputies, though they did radio that they'd escaped by the time we got here.”

“You're thinking about Cameron's date tomorrow night with Jake.”

“Yes, I am.” Trace leaned against the counter, his face thoughtful. “By now those photos have made it to everyone's phone, so Cameron and Harper have seen them, too.”

“If Cameron's got an eye for Jake, there's nothing much that's going to matter.”

“I know that Fallon called Harper and asked her out for a drink.”

“This is true,” Ava said. “Does it seem like there's a lot happening, or is this the way Hell always operates?”

“It was certainly a lot more quiet before you ladies arrived.”

Ava looked at him. “You want me to put in a good word for the Outlaws with my team members. That's what you're going to ask me.”

“Something like that.”

“What good will it do?”

“They may just need a little encouragement to stay off the bad side of town. Hopefully they're not the kind of women who go for the dangerous types.”

She thought Trace was probably one of the most dangerous men in town, if not the most dangerous. How else did one get to be a platoon leader, if not because other men respected you and figured you were strong enough to lead?

“Cameron and Harper aren't going to listen to anything I have to say. You forget we've only known each other a couple of weeks. We haven't quite gelled as a team yet.” Ava studied him curiously. “So how is it that everybody got some action but you?”

He grinned. “Lucky, I guess.”

“Or not.” She wouldn't have passed him up. “If you're worried about Declan and Saint, and clearly Steel didn't come out unscathed, why weren't you singled out, too?”

“I don't know. Maybe I'm just not their type.” He gave a careless shrug. “Perhaps my reputation precedes me.”

“What? That you're not a good kisser?”

He didn't even blink. “That I'm not anyone to mess with.”

“Oh,” Ava said, enjoying pushing his buttons, “but Saint and Declan are?”

“Wrong place, wrong time for them, I'd say.”

“It doesn't make sense.” She turned to the sink, rinsed out a couple of glasses that didn't really need washing.
If I was looking for one of the Outlaws to kiss, it would
definitely be Trace. Not that I'm looking, but phew. I'd be stuck on his face like—

“If you're worried about whether or not I'm a good kisser …,” Trace said, taking her face in his hands. He kissed her and she didn't move, frozen, wanting it so badly.

Wanting to kiss him so much it felt like she'd been waiting a month instead of just a week.

“Hey, you two,” Judy called from the den, and Ava and Trace jumped apart. “We're going to head home. Thanks for the hospitality, Ava. And Trace, I'll talk to you later.”

Ava and Trace left the kitchen. She tried to keep herself from looking like she'd just been in the kitchen receiving the kiss of her life, but she had been, and there was really no way to disguise it. She probably had
I just got kissed!
written all over her face.

“Goodnight, Judy, Steel,” Trace said, following them to the door.

“You watch yourself with my girl,” Ava heard Judy hiss to Trace.

“Yes, ma'am,” Trace said. He closed the front door, and Ava walked right to him, giving him a kiss that he would remember for a long time, no matter how many of Ivy's girls kissed him. If she'd learned anything from the sheriff's situation, it was that the women in this town didn't pull their punches, and she saw no reason whatsoever not to do likewise.

“Wow,” Trace said, when she pulled away to gaze into his eyes.

“Thanks for coming over and smoothing things for Judy and Steel. That meant a lot to me. I couldn't bear it if those two hit a rough patch over stupid stuff.”

“Hold on a minute. We were just getting to know each other better,” Trace said, and pulled her into his arms. There was nothing polite about his kiss this time—there was no
getting to know you
about it. He tasted her and swept her hard against him. She felt like they were almost two parts of one whole, and as he held her, Ava had the strangest sensation that somehow she'd met the man of her dreams.

Which was totally wrong—except for how badly she wanted to be with him right now.

“Too much too soon?” Trace asked.

“Not at all,” Ava said, hearing herself talk from some place she was floating in. She took the lead again, pulling his head down so she could kiss him, and found herself
wondering how kissing a man could be better than anything else on the planet, including riding her horse.

She pulled away, looking up at him. “Maybe we should probably call it a night.”
Everything is way too hot; I want more than I should right now
.

“Maybe,” he agreed, “but things are just now getting interesting.” He kissed her fingertips, then her lips, and there was no way she would pull away from him. He tasted wonderful, he felt strong and sexy and irresistible—and he definitely knew how to kiss.

“I'm dying here,” Trace said, taking a deep breath and stepping away from her. “I think I'd better go.”

She looked at him, wishing he wouldn't, knowing if he stayed much longer, he was going to get much more than a kiss. He looked totally shell-shocked, as she'd meant for him to, and which she found totally gratifying. “I'll see you in the morning. Don't be late,” he told her. He went outside, looked back at her. “I don't suppose you'd care to do that again. One for the road, as they say?”

Ava smiled. Of course she did. Her fingers itched to grab him and drag him to her bed. “Don't be greedy.”

She closed the door.

From the other side he said, “For the record, I'm always greedy.”

That was no surprise. Smiling, she turned off the porch light and went back to what she'd been doing before Trace and Company had blown into her evening.

* * *

A tap sounded on her bedroom door at five
A.M.
, just as Ava was getting up to start the coffee for herself and her bungalow mates. She pulled her door open to stare blearily at Cameron and Harper. “Hi.”

“We're riding with you today,” Cameron said.

“Okay. Works for me.” She went into the kitchen, pulled out the coffeepot, realized they'd followed her. “What's up?”

“Did you see the photos?” Harper asked.

“The photos? Oh, the ones from Ivy's last night. No, I never saw them.” She
carefully measured the coffee, her mouth practically watering at the reviving fragrance. She hadn't slept a wink last night—all she'd done was think about Trace.

It was a flirtation, nothing more. Why she couldn't get him out of her mind she didn't know.

He was so not her type.

“Judy was upset about the pictures.” Ava turned to face her friends. “I can probably do without seeing them.”

Harper held up her phone. Ava wrinkled her nose at the image of Steel getting smooched hard. Harper moved the photo to the next one of Declan getting his, and the same for Saint. Ava winced for Harper and Cameron—but thankfully no images of Trace showed up or she would have been devastated.

Which just shows I'm getting in way too deep here in Hellville
. “No wonder Judy was unhappy.”

“We're not exactly thrilled,” Cameron said.

“Why? What do we care?” Ava asked. “Judy's all calmed down about it.” Actually, that probably wasn't true. If she knew Judy the way she thought she did, retribution would be paid. Judy wasn't going to let Ivy get away with anything.

Cameron and Harper looked at her. “It's just we'd been in the pool with the guys only thirty minutes before that,” Cameron pointed out.

“So?” Ava looked from Cameron to Harper. “If you want to kiss the fellows, get on with it. In this town, it appears it's not advisable to let grass grow under one's feet.”

Cameron sighed. “I've got a date tonight; I'm not going to think about it anymore. It was just a shock. We thought maybe the Outlaws were flirting with us. Looks like they flirt with everyone, though.”

“About that date,” Ava said, “we're all coming on it.”

“Who's ‘we'?” Cameron asked.

“Trace. And me. And I think Saint. Or maybe Declan. I'm not sure.” She hadn't really wanted to be part of Judy's scheme—but now she understood why Judy was taking no chances with her team. “Anyway, you're being chaperoned. I hope you're okay with that.”