Texas Bossa Nova (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 5) (11 page)

She just gave him a wicked smile. “Ready for more?”

He pried her fingers off his penis and pushed her backwards onto the mattress.

“Be right back.”

Chapter Thirteen

Reno left Magda in the living room and went into her bath. He knew there were condoms in there, or there’d better be. His dick would freeze and fall off if he had to go upstairs to his room.

Under the sink, in the far corner, he found what he was looking for. He grabbed a strip and headed back to Magda.

She was lying on her side, her head propped in her hand as she studied the fire. The light from the flames licked along her side, dipped in at her waist and out with the flare of her hips. The flickering from the fire made the wings tattooed on her back appear to move. The vision stopped him. She was so breathtakingly gorgeous and sexy. He didn’t believe he could ever tire of looking at her.

She sighed.

“Hey,” he said, sitting down beside her. “I heard that sigh. What’s going on?”

She rolled over and looked up at him. “Listen.”

He frowned but listened. Nothing. He started to tell her he couldn’t hear anything but then he heard it. Plastic moving. The distant hum of the refrigerator. Air blowing.

“Power’s on,” he said.

She nodded.

“So?”

She shrugged. “Real world coming back.”

He brushed her hair off her face and studied her expression. So serious and with a tad of sadness. He rubbed his thumb along her lower lip. She licked his thumb’s pad and then bit it lightly. The nerves in his gut cramped and he hissed.

Sliding down beside her, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her into a deep kiss. She wedged a hand between them to fondle his cock. Whatever hardness he’d lost in the intervening time came rushing back. Her fingers, so long and soft, ran up and down his shaft with determined strokes.

“You’re a little underdressed for this party,” she whispered into his ear and then nibbled on the earlobe. “Let me.” Her nails had no problem ripping the foil packet open. She deftly unrolled the condom down his penis, which only served to drive any spare drop of blood to his groin. Once he was covered, she grinned up at him. “I believe I was promised a good fuck.”

He chuckled and then pushed into her. Her walls pressed down and surrounded his cock in heat and moisture. He pulled back and thrust in again.

“Harder,” she said with a moan.

Reno shoved his forearms under her thighs and lifted her legs to his shoulders. Then he caught her wrists and dragged her arms over her head. He held her wrists in his hand and began moving in and out of her, each stroke a little harder, more demanding.

With his free hand, he tweaked her nipples, pulling and pinching them tightly between his fingers. Beneath him, Magda twisted and jerked her hips with each thrust.

The pressure built in his balls and moved up and out. He pounded into Magda, enthralled and aroused by her moans and groans and demands for, “Harder. Faster.” His orgasm rose from deep inside, and when it discharged, Reno’s whole body jerked and shuddered from the release.

Magda’s climax came seconds behind his. She cried out his name as her body quaked.

Reno lowered her legs to the mattress but remained inside her. “Give me a minute,” he said.

He felt her heel running up and down the crack of his ass. “No problem.”

After regaining his breath, he withdrew and took care of the condom. She rolled into his arms.

“Remember when I said we couldn’t go on like this?”

“Yeah, but I just proved you wrong.”

She laughed. “I meant that we couldn’t go on with you doing all the work single-handedly. Not this.” She swept a hand over their nude bodies. “Darren is out for about three months. If we learned anything over the last ten days, it’s that this is not a one-man ranch.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll call our back-up help. I can have a couple of guys here.” He paused. “If the power’s on then the road is probably cleared too.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Okay. I’ll call Zack Marshall tomorrow.”

“Tonight. You need him here tomorrow.”

“Man, you’re bossy.”

She smiled and settled into the crook of his arm. She didn’t say anything because, hey, she was bossy.

Zack Marshall was a Godsend. She knew paying for an extra ranch hand was probably eating up Reno’s gut, not to mention his spare cash, but after two days of help, he didn’t come home looking like something a cat had dragged in.

They’d moved her mattress back to her bedroom and Reno had taken to sleeping with her. Magda wasn’t sure how she felt about that. The sex was mind-blowingly hot. No doubt about that. But there was a part of her that felt smothered. Having a man in her bed every night felt foreign, as though she were trying to learn to live in Europe. The bed was the same but the experience was new.

She also knew that it was only a matter of time before Darren moved back home, and there was no way she and Reno could keep sleeping together after that. It’d been three weeks since his accident, and Reno had talked to Darren often, especially after they got their phones back.

During the ice storm, the hospital had discharged Darren. With no way to get home, he’d stayed first with his sister, KC, and her husband, Drake Gentry. After a week there, he’d moved to Olivia and Mitch’s house. Magda expected every phone call to be him calling to say he was on his way.

With the cast on his leg and using a pair of crutches, Darren would not be any help around the ranch, and she suspected he was going to be a major pain in her butt. A bored cowboy with nothing to do was the devil’s plaything.

It was a Saturday at the end of January when the house phone rang. Magda lifted the wall receiver. “D&R Ranch.”

“I wondered if my initial was still there.”

Magda laughed. “Darren. How are you?”

“Ready to come home.”

“Great. When?” Magda’s mind immediately shifted into overdrive, making mental lists of what she needed to do.

“Tomorrow, if you’re ready. Is Reno around?”

“Nope. He’s gone to town for supplies. Can I help you with anything?”

There was a pregnant pause followed by, “I really hate to do this to you, Magda. I know you’re all settled in and everything.”

Her heart skipped. Was he going to fire her? Or worse, had something gotten back to him about her and his brother?”

“What is it, Darren?”

Long sigh. “I can’t go up and down those stairs to my bedroom. I’m pretty good on my crutches, but that’s just asking for me to fall. I need to move downstairs.”

“So you want my bedroom?”

“Unless you’re willing to share.”

She laughed. “Consider the back of your head popped.”

He snorted. “I’ve kind of missed that.”

“No problem with the bedroom situation. It’s been in the back of my mind anyway. I’ll get started shifting things around. Once you’re back on your feet, so to speak, we’ll swap back.”

“Thanks. You don’t mind moving upstairs? I mean, there’s a whole lot less privacy. And I hate to tell you this, but my brother snores like a chainsaw. Sometimes I hear him through the walls.”

She wasn’t going to tell him she knew all about Reno’s sleeping habits. “No problem. I assure you, I can sleep anywhere.”

“Thanks, Magda. We’re lucky to have you. Reno drive you nuts while I’ve been gone? Tell me you had to slap his head a few times.”

“Oh, well, yeah. His head did get a workout.” Her eyes rolled to the top of her head. Not a lie exactly, but probably not what Darren meant. “I’d better get moving if I want to get everything ready for you. How are you getting here? You want Reno to come pick you up?”

“Nah. KC’s driving me home. I’ll see you guys tomorrow afternoon.”

She hung up the phone and got to work. She didn’t have that much to move, but she knew Darren was a tad of a clotheshorse.

Three hours later, she was hauling an armload of clothes down the stairs when Reno walked into the living room, an iced tea in his hand. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Moving my stuff upstairs.”

For just a moment, she saw the flash of confusion and then panic on his face. “Okay,” he said, drawing the word out. “Why?”

Stepping off the bottom step, she started to remind him that his brother had a broken leg and climbing the stairs would add more stress to his recovery. Instead, she just couldn’t resist pulling his chain. “Well, I figured I’d just move into your room. I mean, after all, we’re together every night. It’d just be easier, right?”

The gulp of tea stuck in his throat and he began to cough. She laughed and headed toward her old bedroom.

“Don’t be an idiot,” she called over her shoulder. “Your brother can’t be climbing up and down stairs all day. I’m moving into his room until his leg is better.”

Reno followed her into the bedroom. “You could move into mine if you wanted.” His voice held no conviction of his words.

Magda rolled her eyes. “No, I couldn’t. In fact, now that Darren is back in the house, our sleeping together has to stop.” When Reno opened his mouth as though to argue, she stopped him with a shake of her head. “It has to. We knew it was temporary, and now temporary is up.” She dropped the clothes on the bed.

“When will he be here?”

“Tomorrow sometime. Your sister is driving him out.”

“So we have tonight?”

“It’d be better if we didn’t. Let’s just do a cold-turkey break.”

“Dinner out,” Reno said. “And then we’ll talk about it.”

Magda was exhausted from her multiple trips up and down the stairs all day, not to mention stripping and replacing sheets on all three beds. Dinner had been the farthest thing from her mind.

“Not Whispering Springs,” she said as she hung Darren’s clothes in the closet.

“Agreed.”

Reno took her to Tyler, Texas, to an intimate restaurant on the square that featured a diversified menu and live music. She had wine with her catfish-stuffed filet, which was so much better than anything she knew how to make. Over a dessert of white chocolate bread pudding and coffee, Reno didn’t restrain his public display of affection, holding her hand, kissing her knuckles and even offering her a bite of his chocolate brownie.

The band played a variety of music from the eighties and nineties, and more than once, Magda found herself on the dance floor. Fast or slow, it didn’t seem to matter to Reno. The broad grin on his face told her how much fun he was having.

When “Waiting for A Girl Like You” began, Reno pulled her in his arms. She snaked her arms around his neck and laid her head on his broad shoulder. She loved his smell…part cologne, part Old Spice soap, part starch she used in his shirt, but mostly just Reno. He flattened his hand on her back, stroking up and down as they swayed to the music. As the sound came to an end, he pulled back and kissed her. Publicly. In front of everybody. Not that they knew a soul here, but still… Her heart melted and dripped.

She was in love with him.

And wasn’t that the worst idea ever.

Darren’s arrival the next day was met with lots of hugs from Magda and backslaps from Reno.

“You are handling those crutches like a pro,” Magda said.

“He ought to be,” KC said. “He’s driving the entire family nuts walking around.” She imitated her brother. “Clump. Swing his cast. Clump with the crutches. Swing his leg.” Looking over her shoulder at Reno and Darren laughing, she said, “Laugh now. Call me in a week when he’s driven you crazy.”

“Need help with his stuff?” Reno asked.

“Sure.”

KC and Reno headed outside, leaving Darren and Magda in the kitchen. “Want something to eat? Drink?”

He shook his head. “Just a place to land. I think I’ll head to the living room.”

“Where is he?” Reno asked, walking in with a couple of bags.

“Living room. Where’s your sister?”

“Gone. Said she had a long drive home and a hot husband waiting.” Reno gave a dramatic shiver. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

Magda laughed and took one of the bags. “Clean or dirty stuff?”

“No idea. Hey, Darren.”

“Yeah?”

“Stuff in the bags clean or dirty?”

“Clean. Olivia said to tell Magda that she owed her.”

“Thanks, Darren,” Magda called. “Go on and dump his stuff in the bedroom. I’ll unpack his bags while you two catch up.”

Chapter Fourteen

The phone calls from women for Darren started within an hour of his arrival home. First to his cellular, and if that was busy or there was no answer, they called the house phone. Magda had never heard of any of the women. Sarah Jane. Delene. Tina Marie. Porchia. Tanya. Paula. Who were all these women? Darren treated each caller the same…as though the woman and her call were the only things keeping him alive.

By the fourth call, Magda rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen to bake cookies for the week. But she did fix a special dinner of all Darren’s favorite foods to celebrate his homecoming. Meatloaf. Mashed potatoes. Glazed carrots. Black-eyed peas. Yeast rolls. A gallon of sweet iced tea. And for dessert, a blueberry cobbler and ice cream.

Reno was scraping the last of his cobbler off his plate when he said, “Tell you what, bro. You go away again and come back. Best meal I’ve had since your accident.”

Magda glared at him, but when he winked, she chuckled and tossed the kitchen towel she was holding at his head.

Darren gave both of them a hard look and then apparently decided nothing was amiss and dug back into his ice cream. “Yeah, well,” he said around a mouthful of cobbler, “next time, you break your leg and I’ll stay home.”

Reno snorted. “You have no idea what it was like without you.”

“He damned near worked himself to death,” Magda said, picking up her plate and carrying it to the sink. “Thank goodness for Zack Marshall.”

“Why thank goodness for Zack?” Darren asked.

“Had to have some help. What I learned, much to my regret, is that I missed your ugly mug around here. And although your work was pretty slack and sloppy, this is not a one-man ranch.”

Darren’s phone trilled. He looked at the caller ID and answered. “Hey, babe. I was just thinking about you.” He looked at Magda and winked. “Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been missing you loads too. Can you hold on a minute? I’m going to move to somewhere more private.” He put the phone in his shirt pocket and collected his crutches. “See you in the morning.” He gave a fake yawn. “I’m exhausted.”

As he left the room, Magda looked at Reno. “Exhausted from all his phone calls is what he means.” She rolled her eyes. “You cannot believe all the women who have called here.”

“Sure I can. I’ve lived here longer than you.”

It was then that Magda realized that in the month or so she’d been there, she hadn’t had one woman call asking for Reno. But he did have a cell phone and he was gone all day. It was more than possible that he’d gotten a few calls that way.

Since the ice storm had brought Magda and Reno together, they had been sharing the evenings. Now that Darren was home, they’d gone back to separate lives after dinner. Reno would usually head back to the barn or find something that needed fixing. On a ranch of this size with him as the only fulltime employee, there was always something needing attention. By eight most nights, he was headed up the stairs, which wasn’t all that surprising since his days started so early.

She opened her mouth to ask about his phone calls but snapped it shut. Their fling was just that…a lapse of judgment brought on by being iced in the house and him almost freezing to death.

Yeah. Just keep telling yourself that.

Reno went to bed and Magda finished up downstairs, set the timer on the coffee maker and went to her new room at the front of the house. Darren’s room was considerably larger than her old room. The view was better too. The bathroom larger. Her few belongings looked sad hanging in his big closet. She’d left his summer clothes hanging since he’d be back in his room before then, so at least one side of the closet was still full.

Flipping off the lights as she made her way through the house to the stairs, she yawned and stretched. Each step creaked as she climbed up to her new room. Upstairs, she turned to the right. She hesitated for a moment and glanced over her shoulder toward Reno’s door. Closed tight. No light seeping around the edges. She whirled her head back around. Just as well. Cold-turkey was the best way to break a bad habit.

Her room was dark when she entered. The light switch would turn on a ceiling light, which she didn’t need. She stripped, leaving her clothes piled on the dresser. Fumbling in the top drawer, she found an old T-shirt and dropped it over her head. She pulled back the covers, climbed in and ran into a hot, muscular body.

“Eek.” She scooted back and turned on the bedside lamp. Reno, lying on his back, grinned up at her. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked in a whispered hiss.

“Waiting on you, obviously.” He pulled her over on top of him.

Struggling to sit back up, she said, “Darren’s downstairs.”

“Sorry. I don’t swing that way and I don’t share.”

She poked his chest. “Not funny.”

He gave her a grin that she knew he’d probably used for years to get out of trouble and into a girl’s panties. “Aww, come on, babe. That was funny.”

She shook her head. “We really need to stop this.”

He pulled her down again and rolled on top of her. “Okay. We will.” He kissed her, working her mouth like a professional. He knew all her hot buttons, and with his mouth and hands moving, he was hitting them all. He took a breath and looked at her. “After tonight.” He held up a strand of condoms. “I come bearing gifts.”

Well, who could argue with that, said her throbbing center.

The house settled back into a routine, albeit a new one. Reno would head out in the morning to meet Zack Marshall when there was field work to do. Darren would mope around the house, talk on the phone to his women and generally be a pain in the butt. After two days of listening to him whine that he was bored, Magda decided it was time for him to learn to cook.

“Darren,” she yelled. “Come to the kitchen.”

She heard his thump as he made his way from his bedroom.

“Yeah?”

“I think it’s time you learn to cook.” The aghast look on his face made her laugh. “It’s not that bad.”

“Why?” he asked, a frown etched in the deep grooves of his forehead.

“I’m not going to be here forever. This was supposed to be a temporary job until Zeb got to feeling better. When I saw him this weekend, he was looking and acting like his old self. I’m thinking he doesn’t really need me hovering over him, especially with Blanche in the picture. If nothing else, I’ll feel better leaving if you and Reno know how to cook more than hot dogs and popcorn.”

“Why?” he asked again, the confusion evident in his tone.

“Because you love cookies and you don’t know how to make them.”

He nodded. “That’s true.”

“Plus, women think it’s very sexy when a guy can cook for her.”

“An even better reason,” he said, a broad grin on his face.

She assembled the ingredients for Snickerdoodles, one of the easiest cookies to make. Darren sat on a stool ready to watch her work. She laughed.

“No way, buddy. I’ll handle the pans, but you’ll be handling the mixing.”

He did pretty well for his first time, and only argued with her when she wouldn’t let him drag the measuring cup through the flour to fill it. He was rolling the dough into balls when Reno came in for lunch.

“What are you doing?”

“Makin’ cookies,” Darren said with a growl. “She made me.”

Magda bit her lip and met Reno’s gaze.

“Really?” Reno said. “Are they any good?”

“Hell, yeah, they’re good.”

Magda passed Reno a cookie from a stack on the counter and he took a bite.

“These are good, bro. Good job.”

Darren’s shoulders, which had been tense as though ready for a fight, fell into a relaxed position. “It wasn’t that hard. Magda’s a good teacher.”

“He was bored,” she explained. “And I told him I won’t be here forever, so it might be a good idea if you guys knew how to cook a little.”

“Bored, huh? There’s a butt load of work that needs to be done around here.”

Darren held out his leg. “Little tough to climb on Archie right now.”

“There’s always tack that needs to be repaired or cleaned. Lots of stuff like that.”

Darren smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”

Reno snapped his fingers. “Forgot why I came up here. Saw Porchia Summer’s car turn on the road. She should be here any minute.”

“Damn.” Darren got from the stool back onto his crutches. “I wasn’t cooking,” he said over his shoulder as he disappeared into the living room.

“Whatever.” Magda shook her head. “You hanging around?”

“Sure. I like Porchia.”

His words poked the jealousy dragon that lived in her gut. She fought to keep it under control. After all, she had no claim on Reno, and besides, there were probably a lot of women he thought were nice. That didn’t mean he wanted to sleep with them. Throwing a wet blanket over the fire-breathing creature inside, she asked, “Want some lunch?”

The growl from his stomach was like a gunshot on a quiet night…impossible to miss. “I was going to say I wasn’t hungry but…” He shrugged and gave her a sexy smile. “Can you throw together something?”

“How about a pulled-pork sandwich with coleslaw?” Magda turned toward the refrigerator at the same time a knock came at the front door.

“Sounds great.”

“Ah. Porchia’s here.” Magda set the cold pork on the counter, not sure she liked the bright smile on Reno’s face. “I don’t think I know her, do I?”

“Probably not. She’s a couple of years older than we are. Total knockout. She only moved here this summer, so sounds like your paths never crossed.”

“What does she do?”

“She opened up that new bakery in Whispering Springs.”

“Why Whispering Springs? It’s kind of small. Family in the area? Move here with a husband and five kids?”

Reno laughed. “Husband and five kids. That’s funny.”

A second knock on the front door had Reno moving. “I’ll get it.”

The green dragon inside her shook off the wet blanket and blew a puff of jade-green jealousy through Magda’s system. Once again, she shook it off. She had no right.

The delight in Reno’s voice when he opened the door made Magda twist the dishtowel she held into a tight knot.

“Hi, Reno,” a deep, sexy female voice said. “You’re looking better than my latest batch of cream-filled doughnuts.”

Reno laughed. “I’m hoping that’s what’s in the box. I’ve been dying for something sweet.”

Magda looked at the pile of baked cookies and gritted her teeth. She was seconds from raking all of them into the trash when Reno’s voice stopped her.

“Come on in. The bad driver is soaking in all the attention from the sofa. Magda, come here and meet Porchia.”

Magda froze and then looked down. Her jeans had flour on them from one of Darren’s blasts with the mixer. The spots on her shirt looked like she couldn’t eat without spilling everything down the front of her. And she was wearing fuzzy slippers. She was just positive this Porchia woman would look ready to take the Miss Texas pageant stage.

The timer on the oven buzzed, buying her a short reprieve. “Be there in a second.”

As she lifted the cookie sheet out, she tuned in to the conversation in the other room. The three of them joked and laughed like life-long friends. As always in her life, she was the outsider.

“Hey. You coming?” She looked toward the doorway between the kitchen and living room where Reno stood.

“Sure.” She set the hot baking pan on the stove and brushed her hands off on her ass.

Porchia was so much worse than she’d feared. Tall, thin and blonde, the woman’s blue eyes sparkled. Her smile lit up the living room. Dressed in tight jeans, boots and a white oxford tucked into those skinny jeans, she was every woman’s worst nightmare. And then it only got worse.

“Hi,” Porchia said, holding out her hand. “You must be Magda. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“If it was bad, these two are the biggest liars in the world,” Magda said, shaking hands in a firm grasp. “If it was good then it was probably true.”

The goddess laughed, a sexy from-her-gut laugh. “You have these two figured out then, I see.” Porchia gestured toward an open white pastry box on the coffee table. “I brought doughnuts, but seeing as how Darren has already got one stuffed in his mouth, I guess you figured that out.”

Reno snatched a doughnut from the box. “I’m starving.” He inhaled half a chocolate iced doughnut in one bite. “That’s good. You want one, Magda?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.” Her voice was cool and calm, which was nothing like what she was actually feeling.

First, she felt like a slab of concrete next to a marble statue. And second, the two idiots she worked for were gobbling down doughnuts like they hadn’t eaten in a week.

“Can I get anyone some coffee?”

“Not for me,” Porchia said. “I’ve had my daily two-gallon allowance.”

“I was just putting together some lunch. Can you stay?”

Porchia shook her head. “I can’t, but maybe some other time.” She looked at Darren. “Can we have a word?”

“Nice to meet you,” Magda said.

“Good to see you,” Reno said and gave Porchia a kiss on the cheek. “Come back when the weather’s better and I’ll get you back on Layla. We’ll take a different route to the river for lunch. A little longer, but I think you’ll enjoy the views.”

Magda turned away to shield any emotions that might be on her face. Porchia had been here before. Had ridden the horses here. Who had she been with though? Reno or Darren?

“Thank you, Reno.” Porchia’s voice vibrated with interest. “I’d love it.”

Reno followed Magda to the kitchen. Once they were alone, he wrapped his arms around Magda from behind and pulled her back up to his front. “Isn’t she great?” he said, giving her a kiss on her neck. “I think she really liked you.”

Magda stiffened her back, pulled his hands off her stomach and stepped out of his embrace. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She stepped over to the pork and began piling some on a plate. After covering the plate with a paper towel, she slid it into the microwave and hit start. When she turned around, Reno was staring at her.

“What?” she said.

A grin spread slowly across his face. “You’re jealous.”

“I am not,” she sputtered.

“Oh, babe,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to be jealous of Porchia. There’s nothing going on between us.”