Midnight Thunder(INCR) (12 page)

“It makes a lot of sense,” she murmured. “Your roots are
here
, not with some newly discovered branch of your biological tree. You don't want to get pulled off center.”

“Exactly!” He reached over and found her hand in the darkness. “Thank you for getting that.” He laced his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his mouth. “I really don't want to leave this spot.” He kissed her fingers. “I like when it's just you and me, and we can talk like this.”

“You're sure it's not because you're dreading those clammy jeans and shirt? Not to mention the damp underwear?”

“Well, there's that.” So she didn't want to talk about serious stuff tonight. At least she hadn't mentioned only seeing him when it was convenient. He was pretty sure she'd had as much fun tonight as he had, so chances were she'd find it convenient to see him often.

She squeezed his hand. “Come on, Gallagher. Let's pull on those wet clothes and go back to the ranch.”

“And you'll stay in one of the spare rooms, right?”

“I will if you promise to go down to the cabin. This has been perfect, but having sex in one of those spare rooms would feel weird.”

“Believe it or not, I agree with you.”

“Good.” She opened the driver's-side door. “Then let's go find our clothes and put on enough to keep from violating any public decency laws.”

“Nobody's going to see us. We could—”

“Sorry, not doing that. We'll inspire enough gossip without being caught driving a county road naked. Get dressed.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Pulling on his clothes wasn't nearly as much fun as taking them off, and the drive home wasn't remotely comfortable. But he couldn't complain about the way things had turned out. He and Lexi were back together in every way that counted.

He parked the truck next to Lexi's in the circular drive so she could pick up the overnight bag she'd brought to the ranch at the beginning of the crisis with Rosie and hadn't taken home yet. Then he insisted on walking her to the door before taking the path to the cabins. The porch light revealed how bedraggled they both looked.

She grinned at him. “You'd better hope Damon and Finn are asleep, or there will be an interrogation.”

“See how easy you have it?”

“But I have to be careful to mop up after myself. I can't leave a trail of water on the hardwood floor, but the cabin floor doesn't matter so much.”

“Guess not.” He pulled her close, soggy clothes and all. “Before I forget, don't worry about feeding the horses and turning them out in the morning. We'll do it.”

“Thanks.”

“You're welcome.” He ran his fingers through the damp curls above her ear. “I didn't think I ever wanted you to cut your hair, but I like it short.”

She met his gaze. “Good, because it's much easier for me to deal with when I'm traveling, so I plan to keep it this way for a while.”

He caught the challenging light in her eyes. “Did I say something wrong?”

Sighing, she relaxed against him. “No. I'm glad you like my hair short, because even if you didn't, I wouldn't grow it long just to please you.”

That startled him. “Is that what you did before? Leave it long because I liked it that way?”

“I'm afraid so. Everything I did was based on how you'd react, what would make you happy.”

“Wow, Lexi. I had no idea.” Gradually he was beginning to understand the problem, and it might be more complex than he'd thought.

“You never asked that of me. I just automatically adjusted my behavior to accommodate you, and you seemed happy to be in charge.”

He was flabbergasted. “I thought you wanted me to be in charge!”

“Maybe I did, but I don't anymore.” She touched his cheek. “When you ordered me to the end of the tailgate so you could carry me to the cab, I almost refused.”

He groaned. “I didn't mean to
order
you, but I was scared about the lightning. If anything happened to you...” He hugged her close. “We'll work on it, Lexi. This is important.”

“Uh-huh.” She sniffed.

He tipped her chin up. “Are you crying?”

“No. Yes. It's been...a very long day.”

“It has.” He brushed his thumbs across her cheeks. “Go get some rest.”

Her laugh was watery. “Was that an order?”

He gazed at her and replayed what he'd just said. “I guess you could call it that. Bad habit.” He took a deep breath. “I don't know how tomorrow will go, and I'm sure you'll want to get back to your apartment tomorrow night.”

“Yes.”

“So, I was wondering... Would it be convenient if I came to see you there?”

She smiled. “It would.”

“Thank God.” He gave her a deep kiss with lots of tongue, and then he released her, turned away and walked to the cabin without looking back. At their make-out spot he'd imagined that they'd never been apart.

But that kind of thinking would get him in trouble. They had been apart, and they'd both changed from the people they'd been five years ago. Apparently he'd been a typical arrogant male expecting her to go along with whatever, and she hadn't been strong enough yet to tell him to go to hell. But now she was.

That made it critical for him to figure out who she was now, and who he was. He had a hunch that of the two of them, she'd made the most progress. She might not wait for him to catch up.

Obviously the sex was still great, but he was beginning to understand that he had some things to learn and some attitudes to change. He wasn't sure how good he was at that kind of thing. If he couldn't master it, he was headed for heartbreak.

 

11

L
EXI
HAD
LEFT
the bedroom window open, so she was awakened by the sound of male laughter drifting in. The pale glow of early morning told her the sun was barely up, but the Brotherhood seemed to be awake and doing their cowboy thing.

A gate creaked and the slap of a hand against a horse's rump was followed by the hoofbeats of several horses trotting into the pasture. Comments were tossed back and forth. She couldn't make out the words, but more laughter followed.

After getting out of bed, she went to the window and pulled back the curtain. She had a clear view of the pasture from here, and the scene was pure female fantasy. As the horses cavorted in the grass, which sparkled with dew, three broad-shouldered cowboys leaned against the fence to watch them.

Cade was on the left. She'd know those cute buns anywhere. Damon, who was more muscular than Finn, was in the middle. Finn might not have Damon's bulk, but he possessed a lean appeal that women had always found sexy. Damon and Finn must have discovered the old straw cowboy hats Herb relegated to the barn after Rosie had pronounced them too disreputable to wear in public.

Lined up along the fence, hats tipped back and jeans stretched as they each propped a booted foot on the bottom rail, the Thunder Mountain Brotherhood provided a visual treat that any woman would have appreciated. Too bad she was the only one around to enjoy it.

Pushing away from the fence, they turned and started toward the house, still talking and joking. Finn said something that made the other two laugh. When Cade's grin flashed, Lexi caught her breath. The boy who'd captured her heart at sixteen had become a man to be reckoned with. But then, she'd become a woman to be reckoned with. The future would be interesting, indeed.

She left the window and grabbed a change of clothes, ducking into the bathroom down the hall. By the time she'd showered and dressed, the smell of coffee brewing and the murmur of voices told her the guys were cooking breakfast. She recognized Cade's soft chuckle.

Then she smelled biscuits baking and decided having three handsome cowboys cook her breakfast was a great way to begin the day. She'd started out of her bedroom when the house's landline rang in the kitchen. She quickened her step. Maybe there was news about Rosie.

As she entered the kitchen, Finn was on the phone talking earnestly. Cade glanced her way immediately and smiled, but he didn't say anything, as if he didn't want to miss a single word of Finn's conversation.

Damon stood by the stove. Bacon sizzled in one frying pan and eggs cooked in another, but Damon wasn't paying attention to any of it. His spatula was motionless in his hand as he listened to Finn.

“Yeah, I'll tell them. It's very good news. Excellent news. We'll see you soon. Bye, Dad.” He hung up the phone and turned, his blue eyes glowing with excitement. “They want to keep her longer for observation and do some more tests, but the preliminary evaluation is that it wasn't a heart attack.”

“Yee-haw! Conga line!” Damon began dancing around the kitchen table and punching his spatula in the air as he chanted out the beat. “Show some spirit, Brotherhood!”

Laughing, Cade and Finn jumped in behind him. Finn glanced at Lexi. “Are you dancing or what?”

“I'm dancing, I'm dancing!” Apparently for the moment, she was one of the guys, and as they celebrated Rosie's good news together, she was ridiculously happy to be included.

No telling how long the parade would have continued if Damon hadn't yelled “Shit!” and dashed for the stove. “Food's starting to burn,” he announced. “Grab plates and silverware. Breakfast is happening.”

They gathered around the table with their plates of slightly overdone bacon and scrambled eggs. Finn refilled everyone's coffee mug and got a fourth one out of the cupboard for Lexi.

She thanked him for the coffee and sat down, once again choosing a seat across from Cade. Somebody was missing from the group, and finally she figured out who that was. “Where's Ringo?”

“Sleeping it off.” Cade chuckled as he dug into his scrambled eggs. “Apparently they wore him out playing with him. He's catching z's on my bed with his mice between his paws.”

“Yeah, wanna see?” Damon pulled out his phone and showed her a picture.

“Aww. He looks like a happy guy.”

Cade sighed and shook his head. “If he were any happier, he'd be levitating. Harrison, I can't believe you now have a picture of my cat on your phone. What the hell?”

“It's cute. I might make it my screen saver.” He popped a piece of crisp bacon in his mouth and crunched down.

“I already did.” Finn passed Lexi his phone. “This is from last night when he was playing with the feather wand. That cat can jump, too. He—”

“Hey, losers.” Cade cradled his coffee mug. “Promise me that when you get home, you'll find a shelter and adopt a kitty-cat, okay?”

“Wouldn't work for me.” Damon continued to eat. “I move too often, and I don't think that's fair to the cat. It's a disadvantage of my job, because I love animals. I miss that about living here. Besides the horses, we always had dogs and cats.”

“I had a dog and a cat,” Finn said. “Alison got custody.”

Cade frowned. “That sucks.”

“No, she should have them.” He forked up more eggs. “As she pointed out, I work all the time. I didn't spend enough time with them.”

Lexi was no psychologist, but it didn't take an expert to see that both guys were working themselves to the bone and ignoring their emotional needs. She knew enough of their history to understand why they'd do that. They were determined to succeed.

But no wonder they'd gone crazy over Ringo. During the rest of the meal they couldn't resist showing her all the pictures they'd taken, and there were a bunch. “I have to agree with Cade,” she said. “You both need animals in your life.”

“Not feasible,” Damon said.

“What if you adopt two cats so that when you move them they'll have each other to provide stability?”

Damon slowly nodded. “I'll think about that. It might work. Thanks.”

“And Finn, you could do the same thing, and then you wouldn't feel so guilty when you're not there all the time.”

“Yeah, two cats.” Finn smiled. “Good concept. I like it.”

Damon stood and started collecting plates. “Now that we have the cat issue under control, we should get over to the hospital. Rosie will wonder where the hell we are.”

He'd been the first to begin tidying up last night, too. Lexi had forgotten that he was a neat freak after being forced to live in a pigsty of a house until he'd run away from home at twelve. She finished her coffee and pushed back her chair. “What about our brainstorming?”

Damon stopped loading the dishwasher. “Right. We need to do that. But we should get to the hospital and celebrate Rosie's good news with her. How about we brainstorm on the way? We can put our cell phones on speaker.”

“That works.” Lexi glanced at Finn. “Are you riding with me?”

“That would be great.” He dumped the coffee grounds in the garbage. “But I feel like we're putting you out. Maybe we should just rent a car today.”

“I don't mind taking you.”

Damon finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on. “Yeah, but he'll need a ride back here later on. Is it too much trouble?”

“Not really.” She avoided looking at Cade, but the unspoken thoughts zipped between them, anyway. Would she stay again so they could make love tonight?
Yes.
Were they moving too fast?
Maybe.

“That's good.” Damon turned on the dishwasher. “Once Rosie's home, transportation won't be an issue. Plus Rosie and Herb's truck will be here if we need it.”

That would put a limit on how many nights she stayed at the ranch, which was probably a good thing. When Rosie came home, she'd return to her apartment. If Cade spent the night there, and he quite likely would, the dynamic would be different. In subtle ways, the back of the truck tied them to their past when they needed to focus on a different kind of future.

She glanced around the kitchen to see if anything more needed to be done, but the guys seemed to have it covered. Cade handled the final chore of wiping down the table and the counters. She gave Rosie a mental salute for doing such a good job teaching her boys to clean up after themselves. Damon hadn't needed much coaxing, but most of the others had required guidance.

Cade finished and rinsed the dishrag under the kitchen faucet. “I just thought of something. If Mom didn't have a heart attack, then what happened? Did Dad say?”

“He did.” Finn leaned against the counter. “It's called broken heart syndrome.”

Cade turned to stare at him. “What the hell is
that
?”

“It sounds bogus to me.” Damon's chin jutted. “Like they don't know what's wrong so they make something up.”

“This could be legit,” Finn said. “The doc explained to Dad that it's a reaction to stress that mostly hits women in Mom's age bracket. It looks and feels like a heart attack, and it can be serious if someone's not very healthy to begin with. But Mom could be home in a couple of days.”

“That's great that she'll be home so soon.” Cade massaged the back of his neck and gazed at his companions. “But if she has a broken heart, I think we all know why.”

Damon nodded. “The prospect of selling the ranch.”

“Right. So regardless of her claim that they can just sell and everything will be hunky-dory, it won't be. It'll break her heart.”

Finn took a deep breath. “Well, that's not acceptable. Last night we talked about wanting to give them a choice about whether to sell or not. If you ask me, selling is no longer an option.”

“I have to agree.” Lexi saw the light of battle in their eyes. “But the solution can't jeopardize any of you, because that would also break her heart.”

“Shit.” Damon took off his battered straw hat and ran his fingers through his sun-streaked hair. “We could go around to their friends and get donations, which I'd do in a heartbeat, but they'd hate that, too.”

“Yeah, they would.” Cade looked at Finn. “I keep coming back to that crazy crowdfunding idea, but damned if I know how we can make that work.”

“I like the concept, too,” Lexi said. “We just have to come up with a worthwhile concept that will get people excited.”

Damon gave her a dark look. “Not easy.”

She didn't flinch. “Not impossible.”

“No, it's not.” Cade sent her a quick smile of encouragement. “We have a few days to put together a plan. Give a shout-out if you get any ideas on the drive in, and tonight we'll toss it all out there and see what happens.”

Damon straightened. “Are we ready to roll?”

“Give me a sec.” Lexi headed to her room. Knowing she would be coming back here tonight meant she could leave her damp jeans draped over the shower curtain rod in the bathroom and her shirt and undies on hangers hooked on the closet doorknob.

Grabbing her purse from the dresser, she started digging her keys out. She ran smack into Cade in the doorway.

His arms came around her. “In a hurry?”

She looked into green eyes filled with the tender light that never failed to get her blood pumping. He'd left his hat somewhere else, so he clearly had a plan. “Cade, they're waiting for us.”

“No, they're not. I loaned them my truck. I'm riding with you.”

She had a sudden embarrassing image of what they'd done in his truck last night.

“Don't worry. I went over it with a fine-tooth comb before I went to bed. I even hung the wet blankets in an empty stall to dry.”

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

“But we have to leave. Otherwise they'll wonder what's keeping us.”

He grinned. “Oh, they'll know what's keeping us. Finn has caught on.”

“Even more reason! I don't want them thinking that we're—”

“Just a couple of minutes. I desperately need to kiss you. I feel like I'm gonna explode.”

She relented. “Can't have that.” Cupping the back of his head, she pulled him down and angled her mouth over his.

He moaned softly and pulled her in tight. His body was rock hard, especially the part she'd become reacquainted with yesterday. His tongue sought the recesses of her mouth with deliberate intent. He was frustrated and obviously wanted her to share that frustration.

That didn't take long. In no time she matched him moan for moan, and when he slipped his hand under her T-shirt to unhook her bra, she didn't stop him. She should have. This was crazy, but his hands... How she loved the way he stroked her bare breasts until they ached for his kiss. Wrenching his mouth from hers, he pushed up her shirt and leaned down to give her what she longed for.

Tugging at her nipple with his lips and tongue, he rubbed the crotch of her jeans with firm pressure. They'd spent many hours making out in his truck, and he knew all the ways to give her pleasure even with their clothes mostly on.

With a quick gasp, she came, soaking her panties and dampening her jeans. He drew back and kissed her firmly on the mouth before stepping away. “That's to tide us over until tonight.”

“I...” She dragged in a breath. “I...need to change.”

“Go ahead.” He backed toward the door. “I'll wait out by your truck. I'm in control now, but I can't promise anything if you strip off your jeans.”

She glanced at the hard ridge pushing at his fly. “What about you?”

“I've had lots of practice at decompressing. It'll be gone by the time you walk out the door.” He left.

This romance was creating laundry issues, but she'd worry about that later. After taking her third and last pair of jeans and panties from her little suitcase, she quickly changed and reapplied her lipstick. As she glimpsed her reflection in the mirror, she saw a woman dazed by the swiftness with which this man could seduce her.