Page 6 of My Cowboy Date (Lucky River Cowboys #3)

Aspen

The meeting and dance tonight is semi-formal and I’m glad that I picked up a new calf-length dress months before I’d lost my job. It’s pale blue with silver threads flowing from the waist to the hem that shimmer when I move.

The top of it has a sweetheart neckline and I think about Wilder and what I might glimpse in his eyes when he sees it. After I’d sucked him yesterday, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. I’d thought about the way he’d pleasured me for the first time and I’d ended up touching myself.

Coming by myself wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it used to be because I’d longed for him to be buried inside of me, to have him crushing me to the mattress.

Tonight, I’m determined that I’ll know what it’s like to have his weight pinning me down. I’ll know what it’s like to feel his cock throbbing between my legs. I’m already wet with anticipation.

When I hear a vehicle outside, I run a brush through my hair and decide to leave it down, then apply a light coat of lipstick.

There’s a knock on the door after I finish adding a spritz of perfume.

Taking one last glance at myself, I draw in a deep breath to calm the butterflies in my stomach, then go to greet my cowboy date.

I guess it’s not really a date considering I’m going there for a purpose, and when I asked him I guess I didn’t really make it clear to him that I’m interested and— holy hell .

I can’t speak after I open the door and see him.

Wilder in jeans and the usual t-shirts that he wears is an eye feast. But in the dress slacks and blue pinstriped shirt with a tie slung loosely around his neck, he leaves me breathless.

“You look good enough to eat,” I tease, then put a hand to my lips. “Oh wait. I already did that.”

He hooks an arm around my waist and hauls me against him. “I missed you,” he says, kissing me hotly.

My nipples stand at attention, and the throb between my legs grows more insistent.

“We’ll attend the meeting,” he says, pressing his lips to the side of my throat.

“Uh huh.”

“We’ll share a dance or two.” He kisses my collarbone.

“Yep.”

“Then I’ll bring you home and fuck you senseless.”

“I have to say that I agree with your plan.”

“Glad to hear it. Get a jacket,” he says.

“It’s warm out.” I step onto the porch and hold my arms wide like can’t you tell?

“I know but it’ll be cold in the building where the meeting is. They always set the temperature too low.” His gaze flicks to the neckline of my dress. “And if I see your nipples, I’m going to get a hard on. And if I get a hard on, I might decide to fuck you while we dance.”

“I see what you mean. We’d probably wear out our welcome at that point.”

“Possibly.”

“Hang on,” I tell him and dart back inside, then return with a sweater. “I lowered the thermostat in the cabin, so it’ll be cold when we get back.” I shimmy my chest.

Wilder laughs. “Did you really?”

“No, but we’ll pretend I did and you can fuck me while we dance once we return here tonight.”

He groans and presses his hand against the bulge in his pants. “You make me so hard, woman.”

“And you made me wet,” I tease. “I thought of you as I put my lipstick on. The way you traced the head of your cock across my lips.”

“Get in the truck and do it fast or we’re not leaving,” he says gruffly, swatting me on the ass. His hand lingers for a moment, and he gives me a squeeze.

He gets in, then tells me to sit close to him as he drives with one hand on my thigh. As we travel, I’m wondering other than setting the record straight about what I created why the hell I want to go to the meeting and why I don’t just stay home and get dirty with Wilder.

And I start thinking about my revenge quest and how my fucking ex piece of shit doesn’t matter to me. I think about how he can’t hurt me and hasn’t been able to since I met Wilder. Because I’m over him and his weasel ass.

I’m so done wasting my time and energy on a man like that. Especially since I know now what a good man is.

“It’s over,” I say.

Wilder slows the truck to pull into a parking lot. “What’s over?”

“Anything to do with my ex. I’m settling everything tonight.”

He parks the truck and shifts to face me, eyebrows rising in surprise. “No more revenge?”

I shake my head. “No, because I realized on the drive over here that the best revenge for me is focusing on myself. On being successful and happy and having fun. He can live in yesterday if he wants. I’m going to live in the present.”

Wilder puts his hand on the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. “Whatever you want, honey. But just so you know, whatever you do or say to him, I’m happy to punch the shit out of him as a physical exclamation point. Hell, I’m happy to punch the shit out of him for any reason.”

I laugh at that and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell what I feel for him, but I don’t want to do that until after the meeting when we’re alone together.

I press myself against my cowboy and kiss him deeply, only stopping when the windows start fogging up. “I want to go in and get this over with so that moving forward I can concentrate on better things,” I tell him.

“That sounds like “Wilder, do me,” don’t you think?”

I laugh again and yank open the truck door to get out.

He comes around the truck and takes my hand in his, raising it to his lips to press a kiss to the back.

As he opens one of the double glass doors to the meeting hall, I take a step in and say to him in a low voice, “Wilder, please oh please do me.”

Wilder

She does not fucking play fair and by the wicked grin she’s directing my way, she knows exactly what her words did to me. I slant her a look, a heated promise of what I’m going to do to her while I’m trying to smile and make nice with the crowd of ranchers greeting me.

They’ve come from various towns in Texas, some a few hours away because this association is one of the most popular. It’s that way because there’s a rumor that the prettiest women in Texas show up here. Now that I know Aspen, I’d have to agree that it’s the truth.

I greet a few of the cowboys I know, then put my hand on the small of Aspen’s back to lead her to a table in the center of the room. I’ve seen the way other men are looking at her but she’s not paying them any attention.

Then I see the way her ex is staring at her or rather at her cleavage and I want to kick his ass so hard it’ll make his tongue flop out of his mouth. He’s trying to get her attention but she’s busy talking to a rancher’s wife sitting next to her.

Someone at the front of the room takes a microphone and greets the crowd. When he begins to mention a new cattle tagging system and says he’d like to introduce the person behind it, Aspen gets to her feet and makes her way to the speaker.

He looks confused when she takes the microphone and introduces herself, then says, “I created this system several months ago because all the software that was available was expensive and I wanted to find a cheaper way to help ranchers. So for anyone who wants to use it, there’s no cost and I’ll be glad to send you a copy of it. Just let me know you want it.”

At her announcement, a round of applause rippled through the room and her ex looks like someone slapped him.

Aspen returns to my side and I make it clear by the way I pull her against my side that to mess with her will get his ass handed to him.

The guests we’re seated with at the table begin to talk about some issues they’ve had on the administration side of running their ranch and I tell them how Aspen has been instrumental in helping to put our ranch back in order.

Later when we’re dancing, she says, “I’m not used to being praised like that. To hear you talk about me to others, you’d think I could tackle every problem under the sun and do it well.”

“Well, get used to it because I think you can handle everything you’re given.”

“Hmmm…is that a forewarning about the two of us once we’re alone?”

“Absolutely.” I sigh dramatically. “I believe in you, honey.”

She laughs. “I’d hate to waste a second of your belief in me.”

“You’re ready to go?”

“I was ready to be alone with you before we left the cabin.”

I wrap my fingers around hers and lead her from the dance floor. We briefly speak to a handful of people who stop to chat with us and then I manage to get us out of the door, and we’re striding toward the truck.

At the truck, I toss her the keys. “Can you handle something this big?”

“All I have to do is shift the right gears at the right time and it’ll respond to my touch.”

My cock springs from just being along for the ride to full on attention and I growl, “Let’s get out of here.”

She climbs behind the wheel and her dress slides up. I put my hand on her thigh as she backs out of the spot and hooks a left onto the main road.

A couple of miles later when she slows for a stop sign, I lean closer, kiss her shoulder, then the side of her neck. “I might sound like I’m crazy when I say this, but I want to tell you,” I say.

“I think I can guess. You want me, right?”

I shake my head.

“You don’t? Could have fooled me.”

“I do and you know that.”

“Then what?” She steers the truck down the road that leads to the vacation cabins on our property and heads to the one that she’s been living in.

The porch light flicks on automatically and bathes the cab of the truck in enough light for me to see her beautiful face clearly.

I take off my seatbelt and slide closer to gently kiss her luscious lips. Then I pull back and stare deeply into her eyes. “I love you.”