Pushin' Buttons (Boot Knockers) (17 page)

Fighting to keep from passing out again, he fished for his cell in his pocket and stabbed a button that would connect him with one of two people he wanted right now.

Hugh’s baritone soothed the panic in Riggs’s heart. “Archer?”

Wetness burned in Riggs’s eyes. He opened his mouth and retched again.

“Riggs! What the hell’s going on?”

He coughed, spat. Tried to speak and could only gasp.

“Riggs, talk to me.”

“Top field. Woods.” He pushed the words out, hoping they were strong enough to be heard.

“Hurt? Fuck, man. Let me get help.”

“Ambulance.” Riggs’s head spun. He closed his eyes and let his cheek rest against the spiky grass.

Sibyll walked into the dining hall, and everyone stopped dead. She made a quick sweep of the space, searching for Hugh or Riggs. After sleeping for two hours, she’d awakened yearning, hoping to find them ready and waiting. Instead, she’d sat in her bungalow for another hour while neither man came.

Two cowboys sat at one of the tables, sharing snacks with their women. One paused with a cheese cube partway to his mouth.

She immediately sensed something was wrong. “What’s going on?”

They shifted their gazes away, avoiding her question by whispering to their companions.

Sibyll approached the table. “Where are Hugh and Riggs?”

When one cowboy opened his mouth to speak, the other shook his head. “She doesn’t need to get involved. She’s here to have a good time.”

Not get involved? She was up to her neck in her two cowboys. She folded her arms and gave the guys her best glare. “You’d better tell me what’s going on. I deserve to know.”

The cowboy wearing a bandanna around his neck nodded. “She’s right. She does deserve to know.
 
Hugh and Riggs are at the hospital.”

Cold terror ripped through her. Her hands went numb. “What?”

He jumped up and grabbed her arm. “Sit down. You look as if you’re going to pass out.”

“No!” She shook him off. The hospital? What had happened? Had Riggs and Hugh pounded each other into the traction unit? Or had something worse happened—an accident?

“Calm down, Sibyll. Try to take a deep breath. Quay, pull my truck around. I’m going to drive Sibyll to the hospital.”

“What the hell happened?” Her voice was too shrill, showing too much of her involvement with both men. God, the thought of either of them hurt made her bowels watery.

“Horse accident. Riggs was taken by ambulance.”

The vision of Hugh’s still-discolored eye flashed in Sibyll’s mind. He’d been kicked and acted as if it were a love tap. But if Riggs was in the hospital, something worse had befallen him.

She started to shake. “Take me to them. Hurry!”

Quay circled the table to plant a kiss on his woman, and she cupped his jaw. A soft word was exchanged. Did everyone fall for the man they were assigned to? Sibyll began to think this whole Boot Knockers Ranch wasn’t a good idea.

A truck appeared in the grass outside the windows, and Quay took Sibyll outside and put her in the cab. As they sped off toward the main road, a hundred scenarios ran through her head. Several minutes later she finally gathered her wits enough to ask Quay what happened.

“Riggs came across a wild horse. It had been starved and was out of its head. He got too close, it looks like it reared…”

She stopped hearing him. Sirens went off in her head and didn’t stop ringing until they pulled up in front of the hospital. The facility was small compared to those in Atlanta. Was such a small establishment even capable of caring for the injuries Riggs must have sustained? He should be transported—life-flighted if need be.

Quay took her inside and settled her in a waiting room while he went to talk to a nurse. Sibyll wrung her hands, staring at the ugliest painting of a bouquet in pastel tones she’d ever seen. When she looked up, Hugh filled the doorway.

Leaping to her feet, she was unable to contain her cry. She hurtled across the space and into his arms. “What happened? Are you okay?”

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face against her neck, inhaling deeply. She held on for dear life, hating to admit even to herself how shaken she was by his reaction.

“Hugh! What’s going on?”

Straightening, he met her gaze. Creases lined his face. Out in the Texas sun they looked healthy, normal. Within these pastel walls the lines were frightening.

“They’re taking him to a room now. They have the results of the tests back, but I haven’t heard them yet.”

“God, is it bad?” She thought of Riggs’s strong, virile body, and her stomach cramped.

Hugh released her. He pulled off his hat and scraped his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end. “Not sure. He was pretty bad off when we brought him in. But sweetheart, don’t worry. He’ll be okay. He’s in the best hands here. The doctors know cowboy injuries. And we’ll finish what we started, me and you.”

She gaped at him. Did he really believe her concern was for her sex life? “I just hope he’s okay. Can we see him?”

“In a few. Sweetheart, sit down. Get some coffee.” He gestured to the courtesy coffee in the corner. “I’ll check with the nurses and be in for you as soon as I can.”

Nodding, she plunked into the horrid, uncomfortable chair again. Hugh vanished, and two other people came in, looking distraught. More people drifted in and out, and Sibyll’s throat burned.

Tears. Why would I shed tears for a man I’ve only fucked?

Because somehow in the course of the night, each man had wrapped her around their fingers. She didn’t want to leave Texas, The Boot Knockers Ranch or her cowboys.

When Hugh finally returned for her, she was pacing. She rushed to his side, and he wove an arm around her shoulders. The walk to Riggs’s room seemed endless. She peeked around the curtain and saw Riggs’s face, pale against his stark black hair. Her heart turned over.

He spotted her, eyes tracking her progress to his bedside. A wan smile graced his handsome face. “You came. You didn’t have to.”

She would have smacked him with her purse if she’d carried one. “Of course I had to!”

His smile spread, and he winced. A shiver gripped her.

“Sit down,” Hugh commanded. The gruff tone of his voice made her look at him hard. “Baby, we don’t need you passing out.”

Did she look that bad? Damn, they’d really discomposed her.

That’s what happens when people you care about get hurt.

She stiffened her spine. Did she care for these cowboys? She’d only slept with them.

And they gave me the most pleasure I’ve ever known.

Looking into Hugh’s eyes, then Riggs’s, she accepted they had treated her with the utmost respect too. They’d shown her so much sweetness, she probably had cavities. And they’d gotten to know more about her in a few short days than most of her boyfriends did in six months.

“Don’t sit there. Sit here.” Riggs patted the space on the bed.

She balked. “I’ll hurt you.”

“He isn’t hurt,” Hugh said. “The pansy-ass doesn’t even have a broken rib.”

“But—”

Riggs nodded, looking abashed. “Contusions.”

“Barfed his guts out like a little baby and mistook it for internal injuries.” Hugh cuffed Riggs in the shoulder.

Riggs laughed and doubled up. “Jeezus, don’t make me laugh. I hurt, man.”

Hugh sank to the bed, crowding Riggs. He pulled Sibyll down to sit too. When Riggs looked at Hugh, she saw more than passion.

“Mr. Donovan, would you mind taking a phone call on behalf of Mr. Archer?” The nurse’s appearance got them both off the bed in a hurry.

“Sure.” He sent Sibyll an intense look that curled her toes and made her think of breakfast in bed.

He left the room.

Riggs reached for her. “Come here, baby. You look so worried. I’m sorry for that.”

She slipped into his arms, careful not to jar him. “Are you really okay?”

“They say I am, though I hurt like hell. I’m only in the hospital because of the ambulance ride. They’ll let me go tomorrow.” He directed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“You were trying to save that horse.”

His eyes darkened. “Yes.”

“Where is it now?”

“Hugh sent the guys after it. They have him boarded in the barn.”

Somehow that news made her breathe a sigh of relief. She tentatively slid a hand down his arm. When he didn’t pull a face, she figured his arm wasn’t bruised, and did it again. “I’m so glad to hear it.”

“And hear I’m okay?” His eyes twinkled.

“Yes. But you scared me, you jerk.”

He laughed and grunted. “Damn, that is painful.”

“You scared Hugh too.”

He went still and sobered. “Did I?”

She couldn’t resist cupping his jaw. “Does he know you’re in love with him?”

Riggs twisted his head away but didn’t even deny his feelings. “No.”

“Why don’t you tell him?”

“He’s not into that. Besides, we work together.”

“But people fall in love all the time while working together.”

“It’s not like that for Hugh.”

She studied his dark lashes against his pale cheeks. At that instant Hugh returned, bearing a bouquet of pink and white blooms. With a chuckle he read the card to Riggs: “To our delicate flower. The Boot Knockers.”

Shaking his head, Riggs threw him a grin. “Jackasses. I hope they’re prepared to wake up with their eyebrows shaved off.”

Sibyll couldn’t contain the giggle that burst from her. Hugh and Riggs slid their arms around her, and she’d never felt so secure or happy. Unfortunately, she only had a few more days to bask in it.

Chapter Ten

As Hugh led Sibyll across the field to Bungalow 9, a chorus of peeper frogs serenaded them, and the moon was a medallion riding low on the horizon. The light kissed Sibyll’s pale hair and turned it into spun gold. He clenched his fingers to keep from touching it.

Not yet.

His cock demanded he take her here, in the field, but he fought back the urge. She deserved a soft bed, not rough weeds and hard earth.

An image of her riding him flitted through his mind, and he bit off a growl.

Her ass twitched with every step. Too easily he recalled the round globes of her luscious behind thrust into the air so he could fuck her. This time he did groan. Sharing her body with Riggs had been one of the best experiences of his life.

She threw a look over her shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yes, almost there.” It was a good thing, since he didn’t know how much longer he could contain his need.

Having her arrive at the hospital had blown his mind. He’d been with a lot of clients over the years, and guessed very few of them would have shown up once they heard a cowboy had been injured. But Sibyll had refused to leave even after learning Riggs was okay.

The porch lights on the bungalows were set on timers, so hers already beckoned. Hugh followed her inside. Before she even reached for the light switch, he grabbed her.

She released a cry of surprise. In one fluid motion he kicked the door shut and shoved her against the wall. Bracing his hands on either side of her head, he leaned in so their lips almost touched.

Her breath came in quick, mint-scented pants. When Hugh ground his erection into her pussy, she melted. He trapped her body at the moment he claimed her mouth. Passion flowed in him as he chased her tongue around her mouth.

Moving restlessly, she sucked on his tongue.

“I’m going to keep you coming all night, baby.” He plucked her off her feet. In a few steps they were in the bedroom. Darkness drenched the room, but he could see the shadow of the bed. When he laid her on it, she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

Cupping her breast, he moaned. “Hell, baby. You’re ready.” Her nipple was a hard pebble against his palm. He rubbed it in a slow circular pattern then went counterclockwise. As she started to rock her hips against his, he moved to her other breast.

She scrabbled at the cloth between his shoulders and yanked his shirt overhead. When she surged upward and bit his nipple, he lost it.

He ripped off her clothes. Her shoes hit the floor with two thuds, followed by jeans, top and the sexiest hot-pink thong panties he’d ever seen. He left her bra on, but pulled the cloth down so each plump breast popped free.

She stared up at him, eyes glittering in the dim light streaming in from the moon. Was it his imagination or… No, she was filled with lust. That was all.

Pressing her tits together, he lowered his mouth to her nipples. One, the other and back again, licking the decadent treats until her pussy grew wet against his jeans.

Damn, he needed to get out of this constricting fabric, but doing so risked losing control. Drawn by the scent of her arousal, he lifted one of her legs high and dived between her thighs.

The first taste of her pussy was sheer heaven. He buried his tongue deep, gathering her flavors. Then he ran the tip up and down her soaking seam. Each time he traced a path over her clit, her belly dipped.