Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (18 page)

“Just last week,” Cord said as he wiped his eyes from laughing so hard.

“Ahahaha.” More laughter from Jake and the gang.

“First time I met his parents, too,” Annie said, laughing so hard she held her side. To be fair, she laughed out of nervousness.

“Oh, no,” Jennie chimed in.

“Did you pause to say please to meet you?” Rory asked, to another round of laughter.

Then Lisa got up and left the pool area. That sobered Cord. He didn’t think to keep quiet in front of her.

Annie felt him tense and she turned to him as his eyes were on Lisa’s retreating back. He looked to Annie and she shrugged.

“See who she’s hanging out with lately?” Rory asked.

“No,” Cord said.

“That mechanic from Luckenbach, Doug Treemont,” Rory told them. Doug was always in trouble with the law. He was bad news.

“It’s her life,” Cord said.

“He’s creepy. I went with my father to Elroy’s shop, that’s where he works, and my dad was talking to Elroy about his car, and Doug came up behind me and he made this kissy sound, real low in my ear, and when he passed me, he stuck out his tongue in a provocative manner that he only showed me, that sneaky jerk. I got goose bumps from it. Plus he’s greasy and dirty looking with yellow teeth. Ugh!” Jennie said.

“Baby, I don’t want you going to his shop anymore. And he better watch himself or I’ll have to beat the shit out of him,” Jake said to Jennie.

“Okay,” she said. She would do anything Jake said. She was crazy in love with him.

“My mother caught me masturbating,” Rory said and they all cracked up again.

“What? Where’d that come from?” Jake asked snorting.

“You never told me,” Calista said.

“Geez, it must have slipped my mind,” Rory said sarcastically.

“How did she catch you?” Jennie asked.

“Cord, you remember that Playboy magazine that was circulating around in Mrs. Grinsby’s class? You handed it to me.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Jake said.

Cord just nodded his head.

“I think Hector Alves brought it in,” Rory continued.

“No, it was Leonard Hickenbottom,” Cord said.

“Yeah? I always thought it was Hector,” Rory said.

“Nope,” Replied Cord.

“Yeah, Cord’s right. It was Hickenbottom,” Jake said.

“Well? Continue,” Calista said to Rory.

He gently squeezed the back of her neck.

“All right, all right, don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

“I’m not wearing any panties.” Calista pointed out the obvious, she was in a bikini.

“Yeah, baby, you know how I like it,” Rory said to her and she looked at Annie and rolled her eyes.

Annie giggled and when Cord felt her giggle, he wrapped his arms around her, smiling.

“That’s my sister,” Jake said, seriously, with a hint of laughter.

“Rory, does this story have an ending?” Jennie asked laughing.

“Long story short-” Rory continued.

“Ugh…” Jake muttered.

“I slipped it in my backpack and when I got home, I thought I was alone. I didn’t see my mother’s car. I went to my room and laid on the bed looking at the pictures and one thing led to another and I’m whacking-”

“Ugh, t.m.i., t.m.i.” Annie laughed and everyone else laughed, even Rory as he continued.

“I was almost done and she throws open the door and says ‘Rory, I’ve been calling you. Didn’t you hear’, and before she could get the word ‘me’ out, she screams, ‘oh my God, oh, my God’ and shuts the door.”

“What’d you do?” asked Cord who was hysterical.

“I finished,” Rory said smiling. They all rolled with laughter.

“When I came downstairs for dinner, my father had ‘the talk’ with me about sex and my mother couldn’t look at me for the rest of the night. But the point of this story is, Cord,” and Rory directed his stare to him and Annie, “I was fourteen, fourteen, dude, not thirty. Lock the damn door, man.”

They were all out of breath from laughing so hard.

“My parents have a set of keys to my house.”

“Why have we not heard this story before?” Jake asked Rory.

“Hah! Not one of my proudest moments, dickhead,” replied Rory to another round of laughter.

“Miss March.” Jake sighed. And Rory and Cord sighed right after that.

Annie looked to Jennie then Calista and they all laughed at their grown up babies.

It was Father’s day and Cord was at his parent’s house on the back part of the wraparound porch, talking to Annie on his cell phone. He called her when Lisa and her father showed up. He had no idea his mother invited them for dinner. Had he’d known, he would not have gone over.

Annie wasn’t upset, she was pleased he thought to call her and let her know.

If the situation was reversed, he would have been a jealous motherfucker, but all of Annie’s actions and reactions always made him feel that she trusted him, and that made him feel good, that this woman put so much faith in him.

“My father just told me that there was a scratch in bulls on the PBR tour and they selected one of our bulls, Rebel, to replace him.” He sounded excited. “I have to go with him up to Wichita Falls this Friday to Sunday. Come with me,” he said to her.

“I’d love to, Cord, but I can’t do that to Joan. I’m only here for three months, how can I ask for a weekend off?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He sounded disappointed. “You know, I love your work ethic, darlin’, but I got to tell you, I sure hate that we have a short time frame to work with here.”

“Me, too.”

Seeing how much trust she had in him, he wanted to do something that would show his trust in her.

“Jake and Jennie will be away at her family reunion next weekend, and C. and Rory will be away, too. You’ll be alone and without wheels since you returned your rental.”

“It’s okay, I’ll hang around the Shady Brook.”

“I’d rather you do that too, but I’m going to drop my car off to you. I won’t need it and you can get out a little if you get bored.”

“Cord, that’s not… Wait, your Camaro?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled, “Don’t sound so shocked,” he said and she knew by the sound he was grinning and she giggled.

“That’s sweet of you, thank you, but it’s not necessary, really.”

“It’s done. It’ll be there Friday afternoon. It’s all good.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“You can thank me tomorrow night when I see you, baby, and if you happen to forget to wear any panties, well that’ll be good, too,” he said laughing.

And he sucked in a breath when she said, “I may even blow you to show my appreciation,” in a soft tantalizing voice.

“Sweet Jesus.” He rolled his eyes and laughed. “Got to go baby, see you tomorrow night.”

“Bye, honey,” she said.

He hit the end button as he walked to the side of the porch and he literally bumped into Lisa.

“Oh, shit, I didn’t know you were there,” he said to her.

“I was just coming to get you. Your mom said dinner is ready.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” And he motioned for her to go on ahead without him. He didn’t want to walk in with her. He didn’t want to do small talk with her. He didn’t want to be around her or her father at all.

On Thursday, Annie was at Cord’s place.

It was Jake’s last day, with his contract with Cord, to train horses. He did a great job and they came in under time. Cord gave him a handsome bonus. The owner of the horse Jake was training would be by later that day to pick up the horse.

Annie walked between the two pens to watch, in awe, as Jake and Cord were training horses. She admired watching Cord breaking Storm without a saddle. His powerful thighs were guiding the big black.

Boy, Chaps certainly look hot on these guys. So handsomely rugged,
she thought. She also day dreamed of Cord in nothing but those chaps on while moving inside of her and a warm pleasure shot through her.

When Cord was through with his training he brought out Warlock, and Hank brought out Ghost. Warlock remembered Annie and the two bonded over his grooming.

Cord told her to mount up and she was just about to mount on Warlock’s right side.

“Whoa, darlin’, left side, remember?” he asked softly.

“Oh, right, left side.” And she walked to the other side of the horse remembering to leave her hand on Warlock as she walked around him. Cord met her there to help her up.

They rode out in a walk and when they got a ways out, he changed the gait to a slow trot. They rode that way for some time. He took them through fields of colorful wildflowers and enjoyed the look of wonder that was in Annie’s eyes when he looked over to her. She looked to him and smiled big and that was, and he wasn’t sure why, but that was when he felt a flutter in his heart.

He came up close to Warlock’s side and put his arm around Annie’s waist.

“Come here,” he said as he lifted her off of Warlock and settled her in front of him, on Ghost. He took the reins from her hands and snuggled up close to her and whispered in her ear.

“I’m going to miss you this weekend.”

“Mmmmm, me too,” she said, luxuriating in the feel of him as she tilted her head to the side to give him better access to her neck when he started raining kisses on it.

“You sound dreamy, what are you thinking about?” Cord asked her.

“Mmmmm, how hot you look in chaps.”

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling.

“Yummy.”

“Remind me to wear them more often.” He laughed lightly in her ear and the vibration went through her and gave her a warm feeling.             

They rode back to the ranch with his chin on her shoulder, hugging her to him in a lazy, comfortable manner.

Jake was already gone. The owner of the horse picked him up and Jake cleaned up and showered in Cord’s guest bathroom. He was going straight to Jennie’s house. They were going to drive the three and a half hours to Corpus Christi together for her family reunion.

Cord gave their horses to Hank for grooming and went and got his car for Annie. He’d rather she stayed longer, but it was getting late and he didn’t want her to drive back alone in the dark, plus he was leaving early in the morning because he and his father had a five hour ride ahead of them.

Their arms were wrapped around each other and their noses were nuzzling each other as he leaned against the car and she leaned into him. He then took her mouth with his in a long, hot, drawn out kiss that made her knees weak. He put her in the car, made her promise to call him as soon as she got back to the B&B and promised her that he would call her after the competition Friday and Saturday nights. He said he would be home Sunday night and then he sent her on her way.

He called her as promised on Friday night and told her how Micky Tungster, a bull rider, couldn’t stay on Rebel the full eight seconds, and how his brother was in second place at the end of the evening, and had a chance of winning that week’s competition. He also told her he missed her. Then they hung up and he went out with his brother, Shane, to a local honky-tonk for a few beers, while his father hung around and bullshitted with the other stock contractors.

“Hey, cowboy.” A sweet, soft voice whispered in Shane’s ear as he and Cord were at the bar with a bottle of beer in their hands. The place was packed with cowboys and wherever there were hot cowboys, there were hot chicks looking for hot cowboys.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said to her as he gave her a once over from head to toe, liking what he saw.

She was a cute little thing with long blonde hair, big boobs and great legs that were in very short shorts. Her friend, who was equally pretty with slightly darker blonde hair and had a knockout figure, was eyeing Cord.

“What’s your name, sugar?” Shane asked.

“Candy,” she said.

Boy, if he had a nickel for every buckle bunny named Candy, and if he had to guess, the girl cozying up to Cord was named Amber.

“Buy me a drink?” Candy asked.

“Sure, darlin’,” and he turned to the bartender and held up his bottle in one hand and two fingers in the other.

Cord shook his head and laughed. It never ceased to amaze him that whenever he was on the circuit with his brother, buckle bunnies would be all over them. Getting laid was the easiest thing to do out there.

“How bout you, cowboy? Buy me a drink?”

Cord looked at her face. She sure was pretty and young and another time he would have been all over it, but that night, his only desire was to be back home, with Annie in his bed.

“You’re wasting your time here, sugar,” he said to her as he brushed the back of his hand softly against her cheek and walked away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shane saw his brother turn to walk away. He grabbed his arm. “Where are you going, Cord? These girls are hot, man.”

“Yep, they sure are.”

“So, where are you going?”

“Back to the motel.”

“Oh, good idea, we’ll get something going over there.”

“No, man. I’m going to bed. Have fun with them, Shane. See you in the morning, little brother.” Cord left the bar.

Shane took a moment to note his brother’s lack of interest, then turned to the two girls, smiled at them and put his arms around the both of them. “Who’s up for a threesome?” he asked the girls, and they both raised their hands and squealed “I am,” while giggling as he walked them out of the bar and headed to his trailer.

The next morning, Cord and his dad met up with Shane at the Bridwell Center. They were by the pens where the bulls were kept, looking over Rebel. “He looked good last night,” Shane said.

“Yeah, Tony said he was impressed with him. Definitely wants to see him again,” Cal said to his sons.

Tony had big pull in picking bulls for the tour. If he noticed your bull, he’d seen something in him.

Another contractor came by to say hi to the McCreedy’s and he started talking with Cal.

Shane finally got the opportunity to ask Cord why he refused the women last night.

“Man, Cord, what gives? Why’d you leave last night? Those two girls had the hottest pussies and when they ate each other right in front of me, oh man, it was so fucking hot, I thought I died and went to heaven.”

“Yeah,” Cord said with indifference.

“Yeah, How come you didn’t partake?”

“I met someone,” Cord simply said.

“You… You, Cord, love em and leave em, McCreedy, met someone?”

“Yep.”

“Huh… So, who is she and how long you give yourself before you leave her?” Shane asked, chuckling.

“Her name is Annie Amanti. She’s Calista’s friend from college.”

“Oh, that name sounds familiar. They were roommates, right?”

“Yep. She’s working at the Shady Brook for the summer. The pastry chef there went back to her homeland to nurse someone or something, I think. So she’s filling in.”

“So, this is a summer thing and you’ll be back in the saddle in the fall? Okay, a little longer than I expect of you, but hey, the fall will be here in what, three short months, right?”

Cord looked to his brother, then looked around at nothing in particular.

“Right?” Shane asked again.

Cord tipped his hat forward and looked down. “Right.”

“Cord, man, I’m sensing you’re not real happy about that. Don’t tell me you really like her, huh?” Shane asked.

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Huh. Mom and dad meet her yet?”

“Yep, but don’t even go there.” And Cord rolled his eyes.

“Why not?”

“Because, uh... they walked in on us while we were… um... in a compromising position,” Cord said, focusing his eyes on Rebel.

Shane let that sink in a while before he realized what his brother had just said.

“Holy shit! You were boinking her when they walked in?” Shane said excitedly that his father and the other contractor stopped talking and looked over to them.

Cord looked from Shane to his father then back to Shane again.

“Drop it, Shane.” Cord brought his voice down to a whisper.

“What? Are you kidding me? This is priceless. I can’t belie-”

“Drop it, I said,” Cord repeated as he pushed past Shane and walked away.

****

“So, when is Cord due back?” Lisa asked Annie.

It was late Saturday afternoon and Annie was working on her tan by the pool. There was a couple with a three year old in the shallow end of the pool and an older couple in their forties sipping cocktails on the other side of the pool. They were all guests of the B&B.

Lisa had shown up not ten minutes before and plopped down next to Annie. Annie was taken aback, but didn’t show it. She didn’t even look at Lisa when she said, “Sunday night.”

“Oh, are you going to his house to meet him?”

Annie looked at her and said, “Yeah, Sunday afternoon. What’s with the third degree?” she asked Lisa, not caring if she sounded abrupt.

“Nothing. Just making small talk.” Then she sat there for maybe ten more minutes before she got up and said, “See ya,” to Annie, without even looking at her.