Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (16 page)

“Go find your own girl,” the guy with the knife said to Bobby.

“Unless you like to watch,” the other guy said, laughing.

The one holding Annie moved his hand up her waist to under her breast and was leering at her.              

Cord left Bobby to the two guys and flew over to Annie and the guy manhandling her.

The guy didn’t see it coming and fell on his ass when Cord ripped him away from Annie, by the neck, and flung him.

The two guys that Bobby was tangling with turned at hearing a commotion.

“What the fuck?” the one with the knife said, and Bobby took that moment to drop, and he did a round house kick, sending knife guy crashing to the floor.

The third guy went after Bobby, but Cord came at him from behind.

Just as Cord was about to punch the guy, the first one that held Annie went after Cord with a broken beer bottle. He landed a hit just above Cord’s left eye. Blood was dripping down from the side of his face.

Annie screamed as Bobby finished off and removed the knife from the guy who had it. He turned his attention to the second guy but the second guy took off running. The guy that hit Cord was being pummeled by Cord. That ended when Cord picked him up by his collar and slammed him down to the ground.

Annie had her hand over her mouth stifling a scream. She looked to Cord, who was bleeding, with wide eyes.

The remaining two guys got up and took off in the same direction as their buddy.

“Let’s go,” he said to Annie as he grabbed her arm and dragged her to his car.

“Cord, you good?” Bobby asked. He was a few feet away, walking back to the bar.

“Yeah, thanks, man, I owe you. Later.”

“Nah, don’t worry bout it. Later.” And Bobby walked into the bar.

“Get in the car, Annie,” Cord said, furiously as he opened the passenger side door.

“No, Cord. I’m going back to the bar to find Calista. She’ll take me home.” Then she hiccupped.

“Get in the fucking car, Annie!” he yelled as the blood dripped down the side of his face. She put her hand up to it. He turned his head.

She started to walk away. “Go away, Cord.” And she continued to walk. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

“Let go of me!” she screamed. But he only put more force on her arm. 

“Stop it, you’re hurting me,” she hissed.

He eased up but didn’t let go. He grabbed her other arm and pulled her to him.

She crashed into his chest. She didn’t resist.

“Annie,” he murmured against her hair.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she said.

With a little smile, he gently pushed her back, turned her around and grabbed her hair in a pony tail just as she bent over to throw up.

When she was through, he walked her over to his car and she didn’t resist. He opened the car door with a free hand, bent a little and stretched to get the half full bottle of water he had in the console. She took a sip and spit it out. She sipped again, that time swallowing it and handed it back to him.

“Feel better?”

She looked up into his eyes. God, she loved those eyes, even in the dark she could see the vivid green against the white. The blood had stopped running down.

“Yeah… No. Cord, you hurt me.”

“I know, baby, I’m sorry. I was going to tell you when I saw you.”

“You texted me from there that night. She was there, then, wasn’t she…hiccup.”

“Yeah.”

He bent back down into the car to get a tissue from the console and brought it up to wipe his eye. There was a cut just above it.

Annie took the tissue from his hand and continued to wipe the blood from his face. Her hand was so soft, he leaned into it.

“Oh, Cord. Don’t you think that was something you should have mentioned before I found out from someone else?”

“I was going to tell you when I saw you. How did you find out?”

“Your mom came by today to say hello to Joan…hiccup. I happened to be there at the time,” she said, swaying a little.

He held onto her.

“Oh. Why was she there?”

“I got the feeling it was to let me know about you and Lisa the other night. She also said you were going to marry Lisa.”

“What? I never said or gave any indication to her, or anyone for that matter, about marrying Lisa. You know that, Annie.”

Annie put her arms around Cord’s waist and held him tight.

They held onto each other for some time then Annie said, “Ugh, I’m going to throw up again,” as she teetered a little.

Once again, he turned her around and grabbed her hair. She bent and made the motion but nothing came up.

“Ugh!” She moaned again.

“How much did you drink tonight?”

“I don’t know, four, maybe five Cosmos.”

“Did you eat anything before?”

Annie looked at him. “No.” She shook her head.

“Come on, let’s get you home.

“Okay,” she said, and he was relieved she didn't fight him anymore as he placed her in the car and went around to the driver’s side.

They reached the B&B in less than ten minutes.

He took her to the pool house, turned on a lamp, and walked her to the bedroom. He sat her down and took off her boots, totally checking out how hot they were on her.

He removed all her clothes except for her panties.
Oh God, did she always wear sexy underwear,
he thought as he ran his hand along the lace on them and stared at her beautiful tits, which was not a wise thing to do because he grew hard so fast, that he had to stand and rearrange his pants at the groin.

He took off his T-shirt and quickly slipped it on her. He would have preferred her to sleep naked but he didn’t want her to feel vulnerable when she woke up in the morning.

He pulled back the covers and picked her up and laid her gently down.

He went to the bathroom and checked out his face in the mirror.
Fuck,
he thought, seeing for the first time the cut over his eye. He took a washcloth, soaped it up and cleaned himself up. He threw the washcloth in the sink and walked back to the bedroom.

Annie had fallen asleep, or so he thought. He watched her a few minutes with a small smile on his face. Then he removed his jeans and climbed into bed. Every time he was around her, he noticed, he had the urge to touch her or hold her, so he turned her to her side, away from him, and brought her tight to his body and put an arm around her waist.

After a moment, she turned in his arms and looked at his chest. She said, “You hurt me.” The she put her arm around him and hugged him tight.

“I know, baby. I’m sorry,” he whispered as he gently squeezed his arm around her. “Sleep now, we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“How do you feel?” he asked her.

She looked up into his eyes and said. “My head hurts. I don’t think I could drink another Cosmo ever again.”

It was the next morning and they were still wrapped up in each other’s body.

He smiled at her then leaned down to kiss her lips. As much as she really wanted to kiss him, she held back. He stopped and lifted his head up in question.

“You hurt me, Cord. You lied to me.”

Oh, man, he knew that was coming. He blew out a breath. “I didn’t lie,” he said. “I didn’t tell you anything, but I didn’t lie.”

She looked at him and pressed her lips tightly together. She sighed.

“That makes it okay?”

Cord looked at her then averted his eyes to the ceiling.

“No,” he said and sighed. “I’m sorry Annie. I fucked up.”

Annie brought her eyes up to read his. She must have seen he meant what he said because after a while of searching them she sighed and said. “Okay.”

Just that one word made Cord feel like a ton of bricks had been lifted from his chest. Again, he reached down to kiss her but that was when she noticed the bruise just above his eye. It not only had a cut on it but it was swollen and bluish looking.

“Oh, Cord, your eye,” she said as she tried to get up to get another look. He held her down and squeezed her lightly.

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” he said.

“Does it hurt?”

“Nah, it’s good.”

“I’m so sorry.” Again, she tried to get up but he just held her to him.

“Not your fault, babe. Don’t worry about it.”

“Cord?” she asked but came out more like a statement. She didn’t try to get up that time.

“Do you remember anything about last night?” he asked her.

She paused, “Yeah, Calista said you were on your way, and I was so angry with you, that I didn’t want to see you and thought I could walk home. Hah… in thigh high, four inch heeled boots.”

“By the way, killer boots, babe. So sexy.”

“Thank you. Let’s see, so then, huh, oh my God, someone grabbed me in the parking lot and he wasn’t alone.”

“Right,” he said and she sat up to look at him, that time he didn’t stop her.

She looked down at what she was wearing. Another T-shirt. She put her nose to it and took a deep sniff.

“I’m keeping this one, too,” she said.

Cord chuckled and said, “I’m probably gonna need it to go home in.”

“Oh, okay.”

“So what else do you remember?”

“Um, some guy came after us and told the guy that was holding me to let me go. Then… huh! Cord, one of them pulled out a knife. Oh, God.” She paused. Then she put her head down, ashamed that she was the cause of that turn of events.

She remembered seeing Cord, take by surprise, and brawl with the guy who was holding her. She even saw the bottle hit his eye and cringed just thinking about it.

Cord sat up and pulled her to his chest the moment he saw the first tear fall from her eye.

She cried softly as Cord held her tight whispering, “Shhh. It’s ok, baby.”

“I’m so sorry, Cord.”

“I know. I’m sorry, too, for not telling you about Lisa.”

She raised her head to stare into his eyes.

He grew more serious as his gaze grew more intense. Then they brought their mouths together in what started out as a series of little kisses that became deep and drawn out.

Not sure who broke the kiss first, but they gazed into each other’s eyes and Cord’s lips slowly curled into that smile that always got to her and her lips curled up too.

“Do me a favor, sweetheart?” he asked.

“Anything.” she answered.

“I know I won’t have a say once you leave for Paris.” He paused and she saw a shadow come over his eyes, then he continued. “But, please don’t wear those boots again unless you’re on my arm.”

“Okay,” she said without hesitation.

Then a moment later he whispered in her ear with a devious smile, “I wouldn’t be opposed if you wore those boots with nothing else on while I fuck you, sometime.”

She sucked in a breath as she felt a tingle course through her. “Okay,” she said again without hesitation.

“Okay, I’d love to stay here all day and have my way with you, but I have to get back to the ranch. I left Jake in charge, and Hank won’t be pleased about it when he finds out.” He hesitated. “We good?”

“We good,” she said and laughed.

  “Don’t make plans for tomorrow night. I want to take you out to some place nice. You ever hear of the River Walk?”

“Yes. It’s in San Antonio, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I Always wanted to visit there.”

“Good, we’ll go tomorrow night for dinner. It’s only about an hour away from here.”

“I’d love that.”

“Good, wear something sexy,” he said with a smile. “In the meantime, hand over my shirt.”

She didn’t hesitate, she whipped the shirt off quickly, but Cord was quicker.

He held the shirt, and her arms still in it, up in the air and latched onto one of her nipples and sucked hard, then as she let out a gasp, and he felt the nub get hard on his tongue, he gently sucked and licked to ease the pain she felt.

“Fuck, that’s awesome,” he said as he got out of bed, and chuckled when he saw the disappointment in her eyes.

“Babe, I really got to go.”

“Okay.”

Then he kissed her and was gone.

“Because, then she might think I like her,” Jake said as he mischievously smiled.

Annie chuckled. “But, you do like her,” she said, tilting her head at him like she was stating the obvious.

He was stretched out on her bed with his hands behind his head and his feet crossed at the ankle.

“Come on, Jake. You know you want to go, and you will make her so happy. She really wants this,” Annie said as she turned back to the mirror above the bureau and continued putting a pair of diamond chains through her earlobes.

She was getting ready for Cord to pick her up and take her to San Antonio. She did, she hoped, what he asked and dressed sexy. What says sexy more than that little black dress? It was short. It was form fitting and it had a plunging neckline and an even more plunging back. She paired it with a pair of three inch black strappy sandals.

The door was ajar and Cord walked in. He took in a breath when he saw Annie.

She caught his gaze through the mirror and smiled as she turned around.

“There a reason you’re lying on my girlfriend’s bed, Warner?” Cord addressed Jake by his last name but did not take his eyes off Annie.

Annie felt all warm inside upon hearing him say she was his girlfriend. Though they didn’t discuss it, it was pretty obvious they were seeing only each other. Still she thought it would be a good idea to discuss it with him.

He couldn’t keep his eyes off Annie. He slowly scanned her from head to toe. He smiled and said, “Holy smoke, you are so hot. The legs on you just don’t quit.”

When he reached her, he brought her in his arms, tipped his Stetson up, tipped her back, bent over her and planted a deep, long kiss on her lips as she held on to his shoulders.

“Ugh! Get a room,” Jake said, then grinned.

“This is a room, but you’re in it.” Cord teased, after righting Annie. 

“Geez, McCreedy, don’t you ever acknowledge anyone else when Annie’s around?”

“Nope,” he said and Annie giggled, clearly loving that about him.

The two boys talked about work while Annie watched the exchange. She turned back to the mirror to secure one of the chains in her ear and scanned Cord, slowly, up and down and smiled at how handsome he looked. He had on a pair of black slacks with a black long sleeve button down shirt and a thin gray tie that hung loosely at the neck. He wore a pair of black cowboy boots and he rounded it out with his black Stetson.

She realized it got quiet and she moved her gaze to his face. She saw him watching her through the mirror and she moved her head slightly to see Jake was also watching her watch Cord.
Uh-oh, caught,
she thought and blushed as Cord questioned her with his eyes.

She turned around not even trying to come up with a cover. She whispered to him, but loud enough that Jake heard. “You take my breath away.”

Then before she put her head down, she caught Cord with a wide toothy smile on his face.

The heat in the room was so palpable at the moment that Jake felt a bit awkward, but Jake being Jake wasn’t going to let the moment go without a dumb dig.

“Yeah?” he said starring in to Cord’s face as Annie looked over at Jake “I’m not seeing it. I am seeing one ugly mug, though.” And Cord picked up a throw pillow and shoved it in Jake’s face and pretended to smother him while watching Annie, and they both grinned.

After they stopped laughing, Jake got serious. “If Jennie looked at me the way you two look at each other, I’d be a happy man.”

Cord and Annie looked at each other in astonishment.

“Are you serious, bro? Not sure what you’re seeing but Annie and I can both tell you, Jennie’s really into you, man.”

“Open your eyes, Jake. Cord’s right. There’s a reason she wants you to meet her family. You know, she feels you don’t want to meet them because you’re not serious with her.”

“She told you that?” Jake asked.

“Yes.”

“And you two don’t find it disturbing that you have been discussing my love life with each other and didn’t have the decency to tell me,” he said as he snickered.

“Dickhead,” Cord said. “If you can’t see it, you’re doing something wrong.”

“Hey, hey, hey, watch that mouth, there’s a lady present.

“Asshole,” Annie said as she rolled her eyes and laughed.

“I guess I’m going to a family reunion,” Jake said.

“Ooohhh, really Jake? Jennie’s going to be so happy,” Annie said and she went over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“Now, if you will excuse us, I have a hot date with an equally hot woman so close the door on your way out. Annie, you ready?” Cord asked as he stuck out his elbow.

Annie curled her hand around his bicep and said, “Yes. Good night, Jake. Don’t wait up.”

“Have her home by 11:00 pm mister or I send out the dogs.”

Annie didn’t see it, but as they walked out the door, Cord gave him the finger, and she wondered why Jake was laughing so hard. Cord just shrugged his shoulders.

The drive to San Antonio was pleasant. Once he shifted into sixth gear, he grabbed her hand and threaded his fingers in hers and placed them on her thigh.

They talked about his horse training and the progress he was making with Storm, thanks to Jake helping out with the other training.

She made him laugh with some stories she told about her and Calista’s college days.

They had a 7:45 pm reservation at Bohanan’s and were early, so they strolled around the crowded River Walk enjoying the atmosphere, but mostly enjoying each other. He always made sure to place a hand on her back, whenever possible, just to touch her. He always felt the need, the desire, to touch her and she never refused him that touch. It was because she needed and craved that touch, too.

They were seated at exactly 7:45 pm and they dined on Grilled Oysters, Caesar salad and Filet Mignon with a bottle of Beaux Freres, Ribbon Ridge, Oregon, Pinot Noir.

They spoke about life before they knew each other. She told him what it was like growing up in a big city and he told her what it was like growing up in a big country.

He asked her about old boyfriends and it pleased him that she had only three other lovers before. One sounded like a dick for dicking around on her with one of her friends. The other was an asshole for letting her go because he was going to college on the west coast, and the last one, his name was Tyler Russo. Annie told Cord that he pushed her around a lot, but Cord remembered her talking to Calista about it. Right after Tyler wooed her and she told him she loved him, he started with the hitting and shoving.

She broke up with him the night he gave her a black eye.

Cord was at Calista’s house, with Jake, at the time Annie and Calista Skyped. Cord caught a glimpse of her with the black eye, and that was the second time Cord saw her on Skype. Like the first time, she didn’t see him then either.

That abusive motherfucker would pay if Cord ever came across him. Yep, Cord never forgot his name. He didn’t tell Annie he knew the story.

If he thought he was going to get away with not having to divulge information about his ex girlfriends he was sadly mistaken.

“So?” Annie asked.

“So, what?” Cord said, grinning, knowing exactly what she meant.

She tilted her head. “I showed you mine, you show me yours.”

“Oh, darlin’, I’ll play that game,” he said, arching his eyebrows.

Annie slowly and deliberately licked her lips. He was bringing his fork to his mouth when she did that and mid air, he reversed the direction of the fork and placed it on his plate.

“You show me that beautiful, pink tongue of yours, you’d better be prepared to use it,” he said in a sexy manner and his lips curled up.

“Spill,” she said, refusing to let him change the subject.

He paused, taking his sweet time. He picked up his fork and took a bite of his steak. He took his time chewing, then wiped his mouth. He took a sip of wine then wiped his mouth.

“Cord!” She said, all frustrated, and he laughed.

“I only had two girlfriends.”

“Come on, Cord. You expect me to believe that? Be serious. I was truthful with you-”

“I know you were, sweetheart. I am too. Girlfriend number one was Jackie Vander Bate. She was older than me. I was fifteen. She was twenty-two.”

That made Annie, who was bringing her glass of wine to her lips for a sip, pause.

“She was my first kiss, fuck, and blowjob. I was totally in love.” He grinned.   

“What happened?” Annie smirked as she slowly shook her head.

“I found out I wasn’t her only kiss, fuck, and blowjob. She was doing other kids, teachers, and neighbors. She had her own apartment and one day after she went down on me, she told me we couldn’t fuck that night. She caught crabs from the English teacher. That scared the shit out of me and I zipped up and got the hell out of there. She came to meet me after school the next day and I told her I was seeing someone else and it was serious.”

“Lie?”

“Lie, but we never saw each other from that point on.”

“Girlfriend number two?” she asked.

“Girlfriend number two was Debbie Donaldson. We were going out for a year and a half.”

“Serious?”

“I thought so at the time.”

“What happened?”

“She was getting too possessive. Always telling me what to wear, how to think, who to hang out with. Said she was looking out for me. You know, she hated Jake. He would always tease her. You know how he is.”

Annie nodded and smiled.

“One day she and Jake got into a screaming match and she gave me an ultimatum right then and there. It was her or Jake.”

“What did you do?” she asked.

Cord shrugged his shoulders and lifted the corners of his lips. “I chose Jake, of course. He’s my best friend. He’s my brother.”

Annie smiled at his loyalty to Jake. She knew how close they were. Jake spoke of him over the years.

“How long ago was this?”

“Just about four years ago,” he said without any hesitation. Cord knew he was the one who grew apart from Debbie all those years ago. The reason was sitting across the table from him and he knew at that moment he chose wisely.

“Do you still see her?”

“Occasionally. We run into each other at fairs and festivals happening in town, that sort of stuff. You’ll probably meet her eventually.”

“Oh.”

“She’s happily married now with two kids.” She didn’t ask but he felt compelled to divulge that information.

“I see,” she said, a bit more relaxed. She reached over the table and Cord moved his upper body in to her. She brought her lips to his ear and whispered.

“Now I know you know how to fuck,” she said, and he sucked in a breath. “So tell me more.” She pulled back and smiled seductively.

“Hah, I discovered what every other fifteen year old boy discovers… I love sex. I love pussy and I was getting it all the time without having to be someone’s boyfriend. I did it all Annie. Threesomes, devil’s threesomes, I’d share girls with my friends, sometimes together, sometimes not. One time, this girl took on four of us at the same time-”

He stopped talking when he realized her eyes went wide. He took his eyes off her and looked around then he focused back on her. I… um… I.” He looked into Annie’s eyes and she noticed he seemed a little nervous, but she sat there, silently looking at him.

“Um, two things,” he continued, “I always used protection, except for Debbie when she went on the pill and I knew she was clean. I never got a disease, I’m clean. And the second thing is, um, you are the only girl I’ve been with more than once since Debbie, and I haven’t been with anyone else since,” he said, and for some reason, that information made Annie feel good.

“When was your last one nighter?” She asked him.

“Umm, about a week before I met you. And you?”

She looked at him. Should she tell him? What if he’d think something was wrong with her.

“Annie?” he asked.

Come clean she thought. “I never had a one night stand, Cord,” she said, averting her eyes to her wine glass.

“Never?” he said incredulously.

“Not my thing. If that makes me a prude, well then I-”

“It doesn’t make you a prude. In fact, prude is not a word I would associate with you. Annie, look at me.”

She brought her eyes up to meet his.                      

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re not into that.” He smiled and then she slowly lifted the corners of her mouth.

They sat quietly, not knowing what to say.

“I, um, I sure hope I didn’t blow it now with telling you all this because I can’t seem to get enough of you.” He put his head down. “But I felt I needed to share this.”

She sat for quite some time without saying anything that Cord felt uneasy. Then she reached across the table with her hand and placed it on his hand that still had the fork in it. Not that he took another bite, but he never let go of it.