Seducing the Bachelor (The Bachelor Auction Returns Book 3) (12 page)

But what about Parker? She couldn’t let him get attached only to have Colt walk out after a few weeks. But surely he was old enough to understand that. Maybe. If she explained. Or was she being selfish? Or hormone driven? Probably both, she derided, but if he stayed in the cabin, Colt would have a chance to find peace, and settle his uncle’s affairs. He had to do something about the land and the house. Sell it. Lease it. Either way, it meant another change for her and for Parker.

She watched Colt shake the crate again before shifting it to one hand and dangle it and head towards the barn. Parker coiled the hose back like he never did for her. Colt waited for Parker to finish before they both walked back to the house, and her stomach pinched a little when she saw Parker look at Colt sideways and then adjust his posture and walk a little, although that deadly, sexual, prowling swagger did not look the same on her seven-year-old.

She found it hard to breathe. Why was she thinking about a fling? It was selfish because Parker would get attached. Of course he would, and the benefit of having a positive male role model would be outweighed by losing that role model after a few precious weeks. And to be honest, she kicked herself, the longer she was around Colt, the harder it was to see him as just fling material.

She would be strong. Ignore her clamoring hormones.

And then Colt came in just as the first puppy slid out in a gush of fluid and blood, but instead of wiggling, it was ominously still. Parker ran over.

“I want to see. I want to see.” His voice was sharp with excitement.

The dog thrashed and struggled. With one hand Talon tried to sooth her, with the other she wrapped the puppy in a towel and massaged her chest a little.

“Parker.” Her voice was sharper than she intended.

He skidded to a stop, knocked into a shelf, which tumbled his backpack, several pairs of athletic shoes, and his bat to the floor.

“Parker, let’s go get the crate set up for the dog,” Colt said, his voice soft and low, but Talon could hear the command in it. “She’ll need some of those blankets and we need to find an extension cord for the heating pad. Do you know what one of those looks like?”

“Yeah, we got one. Is it dead, mom?”

“Let her do her work,” Colt said easily, and Talon was a bit surprised when Parker followed Colt out of the room.

“But what if—” Talon didn’t hear the rest of Parker’s question, but she heard Colt’s low voice, quiet and calm. Damn, he was perfect.

Except the fact that he wasn’t hers.

Except the fact that he was leaving in a few weeks.

Except for the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

She cut off her unproductive thoughts. She massaged the puppy’s chest, suctioned its small nose, pressed as hard as she dared on its chest, puffed a bit of air into the puppy’s mouth and was finally rewarded with movement. Sighing with relief, she tucked the tiny pup against its mother and repeated the process with the next pup.

Colt and Parker came back to watch, Parker’s eyes and mouth wide with wonder, but he didn’t speak. But in the end, when the dog slumped, exhausted after a few halfhearted licks of her newborns, three puppies lived and two hadn’t been revived. Parker was heartbroken.

“Can we bury them?” he asked tearfully.

“Sure,” Colt said. “But let’s see if your mom needs me to run into town to get some supplies.”

“Let me wash up.” Talon followed Colt into the kitchen wishing she were paying more attention to her patients instead of his butt, and the way he moved.

She had a fantasy of what it would feel like to sink her fingers into his bare ass and haul him up against her, and it was so realistic she could feel her cervix spasm and clit supernova at the too visual image she was rocking, wetting her panties, which was more excitement than they’d seen in their entire lifetime.

So not the way a twenty-five-year-old woman should be living, her panties seemed to chide. She had to have him, her body demanded, earlier good girl, responsible single mom intentions forgotten.

Parker dashed off to his room to look for a box he could decorate where they could bury the two puppies that hadn’t made it.

“Want me to put the cone back on?” Colt asked as he learned against the counter next to the sink, strong arms folded. She walked up next to him, intending to wash her hands, but instead she stared at the front of his shirt.

“No. Let’s see how she does.”

He smelled amazing. Total man and outdoorsy, a mixture of pine and citrus and something indefinable that made her dizzy. She tried to breathe shallowly but still his scent wafted between them, and she could feel the heat roll off him, with a hint of sweat and wet cotton from when Parker had sprayed the crate, and it was all she could do to not lean into him.

He had a bit of spray from the hose on his neck near his Adam’s apple, and her mouth actually salivated for a taste. What the hell was wrong with her? She hadn’t jumped a guy since…well, since never. She been mildly attracted before and had definitely been an agreeable participant in her younger, less responsible youth, but it was as if she’d been snoozing and Colt sauntered up to her, steeped in silence and mystery, and her body responded as if he’d hooked jumper cables to her nipples. She could feel them beading, tighter and tighter so that even the thin fabric of her bra chafed. He’d been right to tell her not to wear a bra around him, she thought. Too bad she’d been too prudish to heed his advice. She so wanted a repeat of last night’s kiss and then some.

Just thinking about the way his hands had touched her, the way his mouth had dominated hers last night had her aching for more.

Bad, bad, bad
. But her bad self rejoiced and her good self was silent, expectant.

“Colt,” she whispered, not knowing what she was going to say next, but needing to hear his name on her lips.

“I saw a list on the counter in the mudroom. Do you need supplies?” His voice was as tight as his expression, and he seemed to be leaning away from her.

She was making him uncomfortable. She spun toward the sink, embarrassed and angry that she kept reading his signals wrong. Talon ignored the question. Her cheeks flamed. She’d totally made a fool of herself and embarrassed Colt. Total rejection. She was like some sex starved, desperate mom, and he couldn’t get out of here fast enough. And she couldn’t blame him. Not really.

She held her hands under the spray of water, staring at them blindly. And then he was behind her, the warmth and strength of his body pressed against her, leeching all the tension and ache and sorrow from her bones. Strong arms wrapped around her, hands smoothed down her arms and then were over hers, massaging soap in, rinsing, and then he dried her hands off with a bright, royal blue hand towel while she focused on her breathing and trying not to let her legs shake. She could feel him hard against her bottom, and it took all her willpower not to spin around and climb him like a jungle gym.

“What do you want?” His words were a harsh whisper in her ear.

Her throat squeezed. She wanted everything. Him. All of him. But she couldn’t say that. It sounded insane even to her, and she was used to living in her head. She hadn’t even known of his existence yesterday at this time. Talon knew she was emotionally needy and she stuffed down the need as much as she could, but having breakfast together, sitting up in the tree and looking out over part of the ranch, watching him with Parker, had given her a peekaboo of a life she’d never had and tried to pretend she didn’t need.

“I need to know.”

“I want so many things.” She turned around, hoping to find some answers in his face but, as usual, his expression was shuttered, his masculine features stamped with restrained emotion, but, oh, so beautiful to her. “Can we talk about it later?”

“When?”

She would have laughed if she didn’t feel so frazzled by her desires and thoughts that were like sparklers in her brain. “Will you stay for dinner?” She took a deep breath and plunged on not wanting to see or hear his ‘no’ “You said you didn’t have plans or a place to stay, and I, well, I’d, we’d—” She was not sure if using Parker would help her case or not. “Love to have you.”

“Sure,” he said finally after his liquid gold eyes had searched hers. “I’ll get the list.”

Talon looked down at her hands that he had washed as if they were magic, as if they were holy. Nothing had ever happened to her like that before. Something so sweet and sensuous and intimate. He would stay! At least for one more night.

“One day at a time,” she said to steady her excitement, and then she remembered dinner. They could grill out. Colt probably ate a lot of meat. To keep up his strength. To build up his muscles. Red meat. She needed to add a lot to her original list.

“C
olt.” She called
out, rounding the corner to get to the kitchen. And slam, all her air was gone again. Colt was shirtless, his back to her. An amazing tattoo of some kind of tree—twisted trunk and branches—speared up his spine and spread out across his shoulders. Woven within the branches she could see the hint of other images, a crest of some sort. Words. And the musculature of his back—he could have been a model for a human anatomy book.

“We were a bit too premature,” he said, turning around, holding his shirt in his strong hands.

Talon stared at all that tanned skin, the flex of muscle in his pecs, his arms, and then when her eyes drifted down to his abs she could feel her lips part like she was going to take a bite, and even though she told herself to close it, her mouth hung open. She was counting. Actually counting his ridges like she was in a math class. Ugh. She was not twelve and she wouldn’t act like it.

“Look what I got.” Colt approached her.

She could see what he had!

“This little guy was just taking his time coming around.”

“Oh,” she said, stupidly looking at the little ball of squirming wet, white puppy.

Pull it together
. She was a professional. Or working on becoming one.

“Let me…um…” Where was Parker and his interrupting when she really needed it?

There was a strange buzzing in her brain, making it nearly impossible to think. And speaking?

“Let me wash and suction this little guy, and we’ll get him to his mom and see if she accepts him.”

“Why wouldn’t she accept him?”

Why did stern sound so sexy? She’d always imagined she would like easy-going guys. Guys who were open books. Colt was complicated with a capital “C” and she couldn’t get enough.

“He’s smaller than the others. Weaker. And she’s going to need all her energy to nurse the other three. I really need to get her fed and fattened up.”

She quickly wet one of the towels with warm water and rubbed the pup Colt held to stimulate it. She hissed a breath in when a few drops of water trickled down his bare chest and abs to land in the waistband of his pants. She was now envying a drop of water. And was so thirsty.

She stepped in close to Colt, determined to be detached. In control. She suctioned out the pup’s mouth and nose. “Let’s try to reunite them.” She said, proud that she managed to turn away from all the top choice, prime fabulousness like she was the most virtuous vegetarian in town.

She tucked the pup up against his mother, but he didn’t suckle. Talon tried to latch him on, but the mom pushed him away with her nose.

“No, no, no,” Colt said softly, but with a thread of tension in it.

“I’ll keep trying,” she said, not surprised by the mother dog’s rejection but a little bit by Colt’s investment in the proceedings. She added a few things to the list. “There’s a feed store in town and—” She broke off. “You know all that. The basics haven’t changed all that much.”

Basics of man and woman. Basics of skin warm and firm under fingers.

She tucked the pup back close again. Crossed her fingers. Whispered a little prayer.

“Your tree tattoo is beautiful,” she said. “Does it symbolize anything?”

“Yeah.” His voice was merely an exhale that mingled with hers and Talon stared at his mouth never wanting anything more.

Gone was the good girl who thought she should apologize for her lust-addled thoughts. Instead, there was just Colt and how he made her feel and how she wanted to make him feel. She reached out tentatively and touched his sternum right where his heart would lay. She wondered if he’d ever been in love, been loved back. He didn’t shrink away so she let her finger slide down the middle of his body, dividing him in two. Left and right. He still didn’t stop her, but he sucked in a breath and seemed to be holding it, waiting for what came next. In the small room, where the washer and dryer fit tightly and the dog crate made it crowded, it seemed like all the air to breathe had been sucked up already.

“What does it mean?” She tried to gather at least one coherent thought to her.

“Later.” He hissed in a breath and arched into her.

She reeled with the closeness. And the power to affect him.

“You’re so beautifully made.” She breathed. “Do you have other tattoos?”

His lips tilted a bit in what might have been a smile at the beautiful word, but she was not exaggerating.

“Do you really want to know?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you?” He challenged.

“Yes.”

“Where?” His eyes flared with excitement, and the fact that she was having just as much effect on him as he was on her, charged all her cylinders.

“No.” She corrected. “I don’t have any. But your tats, I want to see them.”

“You need to search.”

He held his arms out a little as if in permission and she gulped at the opportunity. Eyes on his, she flattened her palm against his pec and let it slide over his skin. He briefly closed his eyes and then opened them again, and they focused on hers, burning hotter than before.

“Can I touch you?” She asked.

“Anywhere.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely anywhere.”

Her thumb stroked one of his nipples and her tongue lightly ran around the inside of her lip simulating what she wanted to do to his nipple and other parts of him. She let her other hand rove over his shoulder and down his arm to feel each muscle, and then both hands did what she’d been dreaming of, caressed over his back down to his waist, her fingers tucking into his waistband. She let one finger circle his waist, and he sucked in a ragged breath as her fingers brushed the tip of his erection.