Read Rodeo Daddy: Book 3 in the Stubborn Texas Siblings Trilogy Online

Authors: Faith Loveright

Tags: #Romance, #Cowboy, #Rodeo, #Siblings

Rodeo Daddy: Book 3 in the Stubborn Texas Siblings Trilogy (5 page)

BOOK: Rodeo Daddy: Book 3 in the Stubborn Texas Siblings Trilogy
10.44Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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“And how about when she grew up and asked you about
her father?” he asked, leaning back, refusing to let go of the
sweet baby girl who had fallen into a deep sleep on his
chest. “Did you intend on telling her lies about me? Tell her
I didn’t want her, when you’d never bothered to even
inform me of her existence? How could you respect
yourself, knowing you were planning on not only keeping
me from her, but looking her in the eyes in the future only
to lie to her face?”
Dana blanched and lowered her eyes to the sleeping toddler
in Jeff’s arms. “I didn’t think about that…” she answered
honestly. “I tried not to think about it. My only plan as to
what to tell her was that you are a very successful man that
I loved with my whole being, but that our relationship
evidently wasn’t meant to be…”

Jeff smoothed his big hand down over Alexis’s hair. “Well,
now you’re going to have to find a way to deal with my
presence in her life, because I’m in it now, and I’m not
going to just sit by and let you take her away from me. As
long as she needs me, I’ll be here as a part of her life.”

He looked back up at Dana and smiled warmly. “I want you
to be part of my life too. I want you back in my bed where
you belong. At least until I’ve managed to get you out of
my system. You claim I’m the sort to eventually move on
from all of the women I’ve ever bedded. Well, here’s your
chance to get me out of your life if that’s what you honestly
want. But I’m just going to put this out there right here and
now… As long as you’re dealing with what’s happening to
Mandy… You’re good and stuck with me.”

Not giving her a chance to say anything else, Jeff stood up
and carried Alexis back inside to put her to bed. Dana
needed some time and space to deal with his proclamation
of intent and he was man enough to give it to her.

Chapter 6

Dana walked into the house almost an hour later, looking
like a walking zombie. Her eyes were glazed over with
shock and her skin was washed out and pale. Her eyes were
wide and bloodshot and she felt as if she’d lived a lifetime
in the last couple of days. She’d known the second she’d
seen Jeff in town that her world was about to be turned
upside down, but she hadn’t seen his determination coming.

Jeff was sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on
the coffee table. His arm was draped over the back of the
couch as he sipped at a cup of coffee, having what looked
like a staring contest with her sister. No one was saying
anything and the tension in the room was so thick, it was
almost impossible to breathe as she made her way over to
where they were sitting.

Mandy looked up at her and in that moment, Dana knew
that she was really in for it. Normally, her sister was a
pretty easy going woman, but when it came to Alexis, from
the very beginning Mandy had been uptight. She had
planted herself in Dana’s face and had demanded the name
of the man who’d gotten her pregnant. It had hurt too much
to even think about Jeff, let alone talk about him, so she’d
done the only thing she could bear to do. She’d told her
sister that she didn’t want to talk about it and she’d walked
away.

When Alexis had been born, Mandy had come around
again… demanding a name so she could give the man a
piece of her mind. Dana had decided to put the words
“father unknown” on the birth certificate.

Now that Jeff knew about Alexis she knew that her sister
also knew that he was the man she’d wanted to chew out. It
was clear by the look on his face as well as his body
language that Jeff wasn’t backing down. It was equally
obvious that her sister was just as angry as ever.

Clearing her throat, Dana propped herself on the arm of the
couch. “Any chance we could all try to just let this go?” she
asked hopefully. Mandy glared at her and Jeff looked over
at her with a single raised eyebrow. Hanging her head in
defeat, Dana nodded in understanding. “Okay then…”

Taking a deep reassuring breath, she struggled to prepare
herself for what was about to happen and opened her
mouth, hoping and praying that what she was about to say
would be enough.

“Look… Mandy, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Things
between Jeff and I were over … What we shared was only
supposed to have been fun times and sexual satisfaction
and nothing else. My emotions were involved even though
they weren’t supposed to be. I didn’t have it in me to talk
about him when I knew I couldn’t ever let myself see him
again.”
She looked over at Jeff and offered him a tentative smile. “I
already told you why I took off without saying a word to
you.” Glancing down the hall towards the bedroom where
Alexis was sleeping, Dana swallowed hard. “I had my
daughter’s best interests in mind when I made the decision
to distance myself from her father.”

Jeff stood up and walked over to where she was sitting and
stood in front of her. “Well, I’m here now, and I’m not
going anywhere. No more distancing yourself from me,
Dana. I won’t allow it.”

Mandy opened her mouth to say something but then she
saw the way Dana was looking up into Jeff’s face and
closed it again. That was a look that she’d seen in the
mirror way back when she’d first fallen in love with her ex-husband. That wasn’t the look of a scorned woman… or
one who’d been used and then dumped, which was exactly
what she’d once been sure had happened. Standing up, she
walked out of the room without saying a word. There
would be plenty of time for her to get the answers she
wanted from her sister later on… after Dana resolved a few
important issues with the father of her child.

Dana blinked up at Jeff as he stepped into her personal
space and used his knees to push her legs apart so he could
stand between them. He wrapped his arms around her body
and leaned his face down so that his mouth was inches
away from hers.

“If I have my way, there won’t be any distance between us
at all,” he added huskily. “I want you, Dana. The last
couple of years have been Hell on me.”
A soft whimper escaped through her slightly parted lips and
she licked them in anticipation. She’d never had much of a
choice where this man was concerned when it came to
falling into his bed. One look at his sexy body and
incredible looks and she went weak in the knees. When he
asserted himself sexually, it was all she could normally do
to get naked fast enough, and she was afraid that this time
would be no different.

Jeff gave in to the need that was pulsing through him and
closed the distance between them claiming her mouth in a
kiss hot enough to set his blood to boiling in his veins.
When she moaned the second his lips touched hers, it took
the need he’d already been feeling and knocked it up
another notch.

When he swept her up into his arms and carried her down
the hall towards her bedroom, Dana’s heart began to pound
so hard, she was actually surprised it didn’t beat its way
right out of her chest. His hand brushed over her puckered
nipple, massaging lightly as he kicked her bedroom door
closed and carried her to the bed, kissing her lips and then
the curve of her neck.

He followed her down onto the bed, yanking his shirt off
over his head and throwing it across the room as he eagerly
pressed his hard body between her legs. Dana groaned and
wrapped them around his body, glad that she was wearing a
skirt so she could feel the long hard length of his erection
rubbing against her underwear. Her hands quickly pulled at
the button fly of his jeans to get it open, rubbing her thumb
over the moistened tip of his erection once she had access
to it.

Jeff had to grit his teeth to keep a colorful curse word from
flying when her hand wrapped around him and began to
mimic the motion of lovemaking. “Dana,” he begged
huskily. “Please… I’m at the end of my rope… I need
you.”

“Yes,” she murmured pleadingly as she reached down and
pulled her underwear off, watching with hot eyes as he
yanked his pants and underwear off in once quick motion.
He was lined up and seconds from pushing into her
awaiting heat when they heard a crash sound down the hall
coming from Mandy’s room.

Jeff groaned and reluctantly rolled to the side, covering his
face with his forearm in a lame attempt to bring his body
back under control as Dana leapt from the bed and pulled
her robe on over her naked body. He watched helplessly as
she pulled the door open and ran down the hall towards her
sister’s room, yelling her name.

Alexis began to cry in the next room and gingerly
extracting himself from the bed; Jeff grabbed his pants and
tugged them back on over his erection to go get his
daughter. His reunion with Dana was going to have to wait.
Her sister had apparently fallen and their daughter needed
one of them to be a parent.

His anger at Dana that he should have felt before about her
unwillingness to share Alexis with him, hit like a two by
four to the head and he gritted his teeth as he made his way
into the nursery. He bent over and picked his daughter up,
rubbing his big hand over her back and shushing her softly.

“Shhh…
its okay, baby. Daddy’s here,” he soothed quietly.
The word felt foreign on his tongue but along with the
word came a sense of pride and obligation to protect his
daughter with his very life if that was what she needed.
Alexis would come to know him as her Daddy now. She
would know that she could count on him to be there for her
through thick and thin. If Dana said or did anything to try
to stop him, he would flatten her like a pancake.

If she thought he was stubborn when it came to staying on
the back of an angry bull that wanted him off, she hadn’t
seen anything. When it came to trying to take the precious
baby girl in his arms away from him, he would say or do
anything it took to stop that from happening. The fact that
he still very much wanted her mother was a minor
annoyance that he’d get over soon enough. When Dana
flitted off out of his life the next time, she’d be doing so
without his daughter. It was the only scenario he was
willing to entertain.

Chapter 7

The ambulance had just left, taking Mandy to the hospital
and Dana was pacing the floor nervously chewing on her
fingernails. Jeff was sitting silently in the rocking chair
holding Alexis who had her little head resting on his
shoulder with her thumb stuck in her mouth. Her eyes were
wide open but she wasn’t fussing. The only time her
daughter had cried after Jeff had picked her up had been
when Dana had tried taking her from him.

It seemed that Alexis had formed a bond with her daddy
just as quickly as Dana herself had, and she didn’t have a
clue how to deal with it. Nor did she know what to do about
the fact that she still wanted Jeff as evidenced by how close
they’d come to making love again before all Hell had
broken loose.

Looking over at him she took a deep breath and walked his
direction. She swallowed hard before sitting beside him.
“Perhaps we should talk about what almost happened?” She
asked hopefully, placing a shaky hand on his knee.

Jeff glared at her out of the corner of his eye and shook his
head. “What’s the point? It happened, we can’t take it back
but we can make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ve
admitted I’m weak where you’re concerned, but I don’t
want to get involved emotionally any more than you want
to get involved physically with me. Sure for the moment
you wanted me, but I saw the look on your face when you
ran out the door. You are relieved nothing had happened.
I’m here because I want my daughter; end of story. I won’t
lie to you and claim that I don’t want you, but I also won’t
pretend that I want more than just a role in the hay. I need
to get you out of my system because I know it’s only a
matter of time before you take off again. I need you to
realize something though; when you do leave me next
time… you won’t be taking my daughter with you.”

Dana’s nostrils flared in anger and she stood up stomping
across the room. She spun around to stare at him; the fire in
her eyes was so hot Jeff thought for sure he’d be feeling it
any second. He was sure that she meant to put the fear of
God into him but the result instead was a boost in his
libido. This woman had always made him hot without
much effort but when she got angry it only managed to
make him want her more.

“No way… The whole reason I stopped coming to see you
in the first place was to keep our daughter away from the
likes of you and your lifestyle. I told you I don’t want a
man who would use any number of women for his own
pleasure as a father for my child. I can’t and won’t deny
that she has your blood running through her veins, but you
have no business whatsoever trying to be any kind of an
actual daddy to her or any other child. You are immature,
irresponsible, undisciplined, and as wild as the bulls you
ride. Allowing you time alone with Alexis would be insane
on my part. I won’t deny that I want you or that despite all
the reasons I shouldn’t, I love you. But that doesn’t mean
I’m going to just sit by and say or do nothing while you try
to take my child from me. Had I told you I was pregnant
you would’ve tried to talk me out of having the child or
into giving her up for adoption. Either way we wouldn’t be
having this discussion right now because she wouldn’t be
in either one of our lives. You don’t want a family and I
don’t want to leave her with you. When you get tired of me
and you’re willing to finally just go away and leave me
alone, you need to be prepared for the fact that my daughter
will be going with me. If you really want her to be around
you are going to have to change your ways, your job and
your way of life… And you’re going to have to accept me
as part of the picture because if you want one of us you’ll
be getting both of us; we are a package deal. If you aren’t
willing to take both of us, I don’t want you teasing me by
touching or kissing me at all. I’m a strong woman. As a
matter of fact, if you don’t mean to make a family with us
both, you should just leave now, because I don’t want you
around at all.”

Dana couldn’t tell what the look in his
eyes meant just by
looking at first but when he laid Alexis down on the couch
and stood up striding towards her with that look of intent
on his face her heart skipped a beat and went into
overdrive. His arms snaked around her back pulling her
tight up against his chest; his breath came out in hot bursts
against her face and she felt as if she may never get a full
breath again as anticipation mounted.

His lips claimed hers in a kiss so hot Dana was surprised
not to see the whole house go up in flames. His tongue
flicked over the seam of her lips and pushed its way past
her teeth to tangle with hers. A soft murmur of acceptance
escaped her as she melted into his embrace. When he
moved his mouth down the length of her jaw to that little
dip between her neck and her shoulder Dana moaned softly.

“Jeff” was a throaty sound
; more of murmur that it was a
word. It was all the Dana could come up with to say as her
brain became instantly addled from the desire that coursed
through her.

“Don’t ever make
ultimatums you don’t intend to keep,” he
snarled in between kisses. “You want me, I know you do.
There’s no point in trying to fool me by telling me
otherwise or by making empty threats. One look into your
eyes and I can tell I can have you anytime, anywhere just
like that first day at the rodeo when my eyes caught yours
across the crowded arena.”

He nipped playfully at the skin between her shoulder blade
and her breast with the edges of his teeth and the tip of his
tongue causing goose pimples to rise all over the sensitive
area. “Admit it Dana… You need me as much as I need
you, if not more so. Whatever happens with Alexis down
the road does not affect what we feel for each other now.
We will sleep together again. It’s just a matter of whether
it’s now or whether it’s later. But I have to say if it’s later
you may be punishing me but I believe that you’re hurting
yourself just as much if not more so. I can see it in your
eyes; hear it in the catch of your breath; see it on your
puckered nipples. I can feel it in the dampness between
your legs.”
His hand glided down her body to touch the fabric between
her legs, proving his point when he pulled it away and
showed her the wet glimmer left behind by her own desire.
“Go ahead, Dana… try to deny how much you want me
when we can both see it for the lie it is.”

A whimper of need was her only response as she closed her
eyes and let pleasure wash over her body when he pushed
two fingers up inside of her heat. “Give the word and you
can have more than my fingers,” he promised in a throaty
voice that gave away his desire and need.

Unable to speak, her eyes half-mast; she nodded her head
weakly. He began to move towards her and she had to
shake her head to try to gather her composure long enough
to remember that their daughter was sleeping on the couch.
When he arched his single eyebrow at her in question she
raised her arm pointing at where Alexis still lay. Catching
the hint, Jeff swooped the child up into his arms and carried
her quickly back to her room. He bent and kissed her brow
before quietly exiting her room and going to find Dana.

He found her lying sprawled out on her bed as naked as she
had been before they'd been interrupted. His mouth went
dry as he recalled the hundreds of times he’d seen her like
this before. As he ripped his pants from his body Jeff
recalled just how addicted to her he had become and no
matter how many times he’d seen other women naked
since, none of them had been able to compare to Dana.

His heart hammered in his chest as he climbed onto the bed
and wrapped his big muscled arm around her torso. The
kiss he planted on her lips as he nudged her legs apart with
his knee was full of equal parts reverence, greed, desire and
promise. He hadn’t meant for the promise to be there but it
was nonetheless. His intention had never been to promise
more than what he knew he could give her. But with every
touch and caress, even he could not deny the promise of at
least one more time… One more day… Perhaps even more,
but he wasn’t willing to admit even to himself that that
might be the case. All he knew in that moment was that
what they were about to share would not be a one of.

When their bodies fused as one Dana gasped and clutched
at his shoulders, her knuckles going white from the grip she
had on his skin. Her mouth fell open as she sighed his name
welcoming him home. Jeff groaned and closed his eyes as
he pressed further into her body. His voice was husky and
full of grit when he spoke. “God, I missed you…”

“I missed you too,” she admitted breathlessly as she rotated
her pelvis to take him more fully into her body. When he
reverently touched her sweat dappled midriff with the palm
of his hand and picked up the pace, she moaned again. “So
much Jeff… There were times I thought I might die from
missing you.” The words had come out as if ripped from
her very soul and Jeff grabbed both of her hands with his
own and held on tight as he began to make love to her in
earnest.

When it was all said and done, Jeff held Dana close to his
chest; a wide grin covering his face as he lazily dragged his
fingers down over the skin of her arm. “Now that I have
you back where I want you, perhaps I can get a full night’s
sleep for a change. Lord only knows I haven’t had one
since that first rodeo you missed.”

Dana rolled her head over to look him in the eyes. “You
really missed me that much?” she asked, blinking sleepily.
“I got the impression from what you said that you could
easily replace me in your bed.”

“Oh, there were other women,” he told her, not wanting to
admit how much time he had really spent thinking about
her. “It was as easy to get them into my bed as you were…
but after spending a year with only you and no closure, I
spent entirely too many hours awake and thinking about
why you’d taken off without bothering to say goodbye.”

When Dana sighed and started to get out of the bed, Jeff
grabbed her by the waist; his hands settling on her bare
hips. “Don’t go. I said it before and I’ll say it again. I need
to get you out of my system, and we’re nowhere near
there.”

She blinked up at him, swallowed hard and lay back down
with her head resting on his chest. She knew that she was
asking for trouble, giving in to her desire and need to be
with Jeff, but she couldn’t help it. She loved the rascal,
despite all the reasons there were why she shouldn’t.

BOOK: Rodeo Daddy: Book 3 in the Stubborn Texas Siblings Trilogy
10.44Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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