My Kind of Trouble (8 page)

"I'm okay," she finally told him then rolled
over and tossed her arm across her eyes. "Tell me you killed that
snake."

"He's dead," he told her gruffly then asked
with concern, "Are you hurt?"

"Just stunned..." She moved her arm and
looked around for Honey. "Is Honey okay?"

"She's fine, she's over by Bud," he told her
then stood. He grabbed his rifle and slid it into the scabbard on
his saddle, before kneeling back down beside her and sliding one
arm under neck then the other under beneath her knees before
lifting her into his arms.

He hugged her to him tightly for a second,
and kissed her cheek, which shocked the stuffing out of her and
caused her tongue to stick to the roof of her mouth. She thought
she felt a tremor move through his big body, but she was shaking so
badly she couldn't be sure if it was him or her.

When she finally got her tongue unglued, she
told him "Put me down, Luke, I'm fine."

He ignored her and walked to his horse and
lifted her into the saddle. She scooted forward to give him enough
room to mount behind her and grabbed the saddle horn. He walked
back to the tree and picked up her hat from the ground beside the
dead snake and dusted it off on the leg of his jeans. When he came
back, he put his foot in the stirrup and vaulted onto the horse's
back behind her. He handed her the hat then grabbed the reins with
one hand and put the other around her waist to pull her back
against him.

As shaken up as she was, Cassie still
noticed how good his body felt against hers, his strong thighs
pressed against hers on the fender of the saddle. His warmth
pressed against her back warmed the coldness that had settled in
her chest. And he smelled so damned good. Like soap, sunshine and
sexy warm male. A little moan escaped her when she took a deep
breath wanting to inhale his essence.

His arm tightened against her waist.
"Something hurting you?" His voice was a gruff whisper against her
ear.

Just her inability to resist the big sexy
man behind her. "No, really--I'm just shook up." She shivered, not
entirely from her ordeal. His hot breath on her ear was causing all
kinds of havoc to her system. "I hate snakes," she said and wiggled
her behind in the saddle trying to get comfortable.

Luke groaned behind her and she felt a large
very hard ridge press against her bottom. Cassie wanted to groan
herself now, but sat perfectly still instead and said, "Sorry."

"Just sit still," he begged his voice low
and tortured as he rested his chin on her shoulder, and rubbed his
jaw against her hair. "God, how the hell can you still do this to
me?" He sounded amazed and then she felt his tongue lick at the
side of her neck before he sucked her earlobe between his firm
lips.

"Luke, stop," she told him heatedly then
slid forward in the saddle. "That can't happen."

"Why not? We're grownups, darlin' and surely
you remember how good it was between us."

He licked her again and she leaned away from
his exploring mouth, which felt way too good. "Because I'm
engaged."

"And?"

"And I'm not interested," she said with
finality, although that little devil that rode her shoulder
occasionally called her a liar.

His hand moved up from her waist to cup her
breast and his thumb brushed over her pebbled nipple causing her to
shiver. "Liar."

She slapped his hand away. "Just get me back
to my freaking horse please."

He chuckled then nudged the horse to a trot.
"Yes ma'am."

When they reached Bud, he was beside
himself, and quickly slid off his horse and ran over to them. "You
alright Cassie Bee?" he asked putting a hand on her calf.

"I'm good, Bud. Just shook up. Damned snake
scared me and I squeezed Honey like I've never ridden before and a
limb got me. Poor darlin' is probably scared to death."

"Ain't too worried about the horse, girl."
His voice was gruff and concerned. "Are you sure you're not hurt?
We need to take you to the doc to have you checked out?"

"No--I'm fine," she almost shouted. She was
tired of saying it. Why wouldn't these two believe her? She elbowed
Luke in the ribs and he grunted. "Get down." Once he was standing
on the ground, she tossed her leg over the saddle, but before she
could slide to the ground, she felt Luke's hands at her waist
lifting her down.

Her legs weren't all that steady when she
landed, so she was glad he did. She pulled away from him then
staggered over to where Honey was ground tied, her reins dragging
in the dirt. Cassie grabbed them up and the mare looked at her with
scared brown eyes. She scratched the side of Honey's neck and cooed
into her ear, "It's okay, baby girl, it was my fault, not yours."
She whispered encouragement in the mare's ear a few more minutes,
then eased the reins over her head and mounted her.

"What's the next number, Bud?" She asked him
with fierce determination then patted her hat down on her head.
They had a job to finish, and it wasn't going to be because of her
they didn't finish.

"No way, Cassie Bee. We're going back now,"
Bud told her seriously and mounted his horse. "We'll finish up
tomorrow."

"We'll finish up today." She told him
through gritted teeth. "What's the next number?"

Bud studied her intently for a second.
"You're as stubborn as your daddy, you know that?"

"And proud of it." Cassie gave him a
bodacious grin and demanded once more, "Now what's the next
number?"

The sun was setting by the time they
corralled all the cows they'd cut into the catch pen, and had
unsaddled their horses. Cassie was dirty, sore and tired, but happy
too. They'd finished the job and had all sixteen cows back to the
barn.

"I'm gonna sleep good tonight," she said as
Luke took her saddle from her shoulder and walked with her to the
tack room. Her stomach rumbled. "We missed lunch, so I hope Imelda
has something good for supper."

"Everything Imelda makes is good."

"Yeah, she's a damned good cook," Cassie
said then tilted her head and asked, "You staying for supper?"

"You inviting me to stay?" he drawled, his
whiskey brown eyes hopeful.

Cassie hesitated and nibbled her lower lip.
It probably wasn't a great idea, but he had worked hard today and
was probably just as hungry as she was. As aggravating as he'd been
today, she couldn't deny him. "Yeah, I'm inviting."

Surprise flitted across his tired face, then
he grinned at her. "Thanks," Luke said then looked down at his
dirty clothes and dirtier hands. "I need to take a shower
though."

"You can take one up at the house in the
spare room. I'm sure Daddy has something you can change into."

"I have some spare clothes in the truck.
Always carry them because I never know what I'm gonna encounter
when I'm on shift," he told her thinking of the last time he'd had
to use them. A very unfriendly skunk had wandered into the
mini-mart right outside of town. It took him a week and a case of
tomato juice to get that smell off of him and out of his car. Cole
had gotten a lot of mileage teasing him over that unfortunate
event.

He pulled off his dusty, sweaty hat and
slapped it on his thigh, then ran his hand through his wet hair.
"I'll grab them and be right in...and thanks again."

She nodded and he watched as she walked off
toward the house, her stride not quite as long as it usually was.
Tomorrow she'd feel like she'd been run over by a truck. You didn't
ride as hard as she had today after not riding for ten years and
not pay the price. It had been seven years since he'd ridden, so
her pain must be at least twice what his was.

Luke shook his head, amazed again at how
focused and determined she'd been to finish their job after being
thrown from Honey. Most women, wouldn't have even been out there in
the first place. But she'd been out there and she hadn't let a
little thing like getting thrown slow her down.

It seemed like he was the only one scared
down to his toes from the frightening experience. When he saw her
fly off the horse and hit the dirt, his heart had actually stopped
until he found out she was still breathing and in one piece. People
died from lesser falls.

After he'd gotten his senses back, his
respect for her edged up a few notches. Her spurs weren't just for
show, like he'd originally thought. Working the cattle with her
today had been like a well-orchestrated dance. One he wouldn't mind
repeating...in bed.

He had to get control of himself several
times during the day when he kept imagining her riding him as well
as she was riding that horse. And then when they'd ridden double,
Luke thought he was going to lose it right there like a teenage
boy, if she wiggled against him in the saddle again. Her
salty-sweet taste, when he couldn't resist sampling her neck, had
almost sent him over the edge.

Opening the door of his truck, Luke reached
behind the seat and pulled out his duffle then slammed it. He
walked to the porch and pulled off his boots then stomped a few
times to knock the dust off his jeans, before he opened the door
and walked inside. He heard someone talking on the phone in the
little alcove down the hall to the right and a light feminine laugh
had him standing still for a second to listen.

"Yeah, I'm fine, James. Just hurt my pride."
Cassie's lilting voice said to the person on the other end of the
line. "I'm sorry I didn't call when I got here. My cell doesn't get
reception out here in the boondocks."

After a few moments of silence, she said, "I
miss you too. Thanks for handling things so I could come out here."
She laughed a low intimate laugh and then, "Maybe you can come out
for the weekend soon."

Luke's fists clenched imagining what the man
on the other end of the line was saying to her. They talked a
minute or two more about some business deal in Phoenix, then she
told the guy she loved him too and hung up the phone. Luke gritted
his teeth, and forced his feet to start walking. He bumped into her
when she barreled out of the alcove without warning. He grabbed her
shoulders to keep her from stumbling.

"Oh, hey." Her hands fluttered and she said
unnecessarily, "I was just on the phone."

Luke captured her wide blue eyes with his
own and tightened his grip on her shoulders. She shrugged her
shoulders trying to break free, but Luke just moved closer and
pushed her back into the tiny alcove. He dropped the duffle on the
floor and pressed her back against the wall.

Cassie put her hands on his chest and pushed
then tried to bring her knee up between his legs, but couldn't
manage it. "Luke--let me go," her voice was a breathy whisper
between them.

"No, I made that mistake once," he ground
out then claimed her mouth with his and poured out all the anger
and frustration bottled inside him, as well as a good measure of
the lust he'd been smothering down all day.

What started as an angry kiss transitioned
into something else when her arms snaked up around his neck and she
leaned into him, her hips moving against his. Luke groaned then
deepened the kiss, his tongue seeking out hers in the warm cavern
of her mouth. All the blood rushed from his head and moved south.
He moved his hands down to her butt and squeezed before pulling her
closer into him.

Cassie moaned, but it sounded more like a
purr around the buzzing in his own ears. She lifted her thigh
against the side of his leg and wrapped her calf around him, giving
him access to where he wanted to be. He pushed his erection into
the V at the top of her thighs and pressed into her, moaning when
he felt her heat against him. He kissed her desperately for a
moment then jerked his mouth from hers to rain little kisses across
her smooth cheek then down her neck, before he stopped and licked a
spot right behind her ear that he knew drove her wild.

She whimpered and pressed her breasts to his
chest, her hardened nipples scratching against him with every
breath she tried to drag into her lungs. He moved his hand up to
cup her breast and rubbed his thumb over her nipple then asked, "I
bet he doesn't get you this hot, does he?"

Her body went completely still in his arms,
she reached down and moved his hand off her breast then squeezed
out from between him and the wall. Luke dropped his hands from her
body and turned to face her just in time to catch her hand across
the side of his face. Luke gritted his teeth against the sting. For
a girl, she packed a wallop and it stung like crazy, but he wasn't
going to rub it.

"How dare you!" Her fists were clenched at
her sides and color rode high on her cheeks. Her blue eyes were
fierce and angry.

"How dare I what, cupcake? Turn you on? Or
bring it to your attention that your boyfriend must fall short in
that department?"

She growled, her body shaking now,
practically vibrating, as she pointed toward the door and ground
out, "Get out."

He grabbed her hand and inspected it.
"Where's that honking ring the bastard gave you?"

Cassie sucked in a breath and glanced at her
naked finger, then pulled her hand from his. "In my pocket. I took
it off at the barn, before we went out." She shoved her hand into
her pocket and searched around for it. Digging in as deep as she
could, she felt along the seam at the bottom and didn't find it, so
she searched her other pocket.