Page 20 of Unforgettable Cowboy (Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys #1)

He lay back on the pillows, folding his hands behind his head as he stared at the shadows cast on the ceiling by the yard light.

Bailey was on the Tree Fork. She was safe.

That was the important thing. He’d help her deal with Chance Meyers and once that situation was settled, she could move on.

And he was honest enough to admit that he would miss her in more than a casual way.

He flopped onto his side and resolutely closed his eyes. He’d just started drifting off when his phone chimed, jerking him awake. He reached for it and read the message.

Please open your window.

She did not have to ask twice.

*

Bailey’s heart was hammering against her chest as the window slid up silently despite the casing not being soaped up in close to a decade.

She’d never taken advantage of the window, but Hayes had told her how handy it had been when he needed to work around Wade’s curfew and how a bar of Ivory soap was the key to a smooth exit and reentry.

“There’s a brick sticking out under the honeysuckle,” he said in a barely audible voice.

Bailey found the brick, got a toe hold, then took Hayes’s hand, allowing him to haul her in through the window. Her foot caught the sill, and she landed in a heap on the tamarack floor, the noise of her fall seeming to echo through the house.

For a moment she and Hayes stayed frozen in place, gazes locked, and then Hayes grinned and helped her to her feet.

“Wade’s bedroom is on the far side of the house,” he said, still keeping his voice low. “But it isn’t like he’s going to come investigating.”

Bailey didn’t answer. She reached for the man, taking his face between her hands and kissing him.

His lips were stiff for all of a second or two as if he needed to make certain that she really wanted to do this, and then he got with the game, wrapping his arms around her and nearly pulling her off her feet.

Bailey sighed against his mouth, years of longing finally coming to a head.

She’d never forgotten Hayes, never stopped wanting him.

It was the fear that want would turn into need that had sent her running away before, but now she could admit she did need him. Here. Now.

His body was harder than she recalled. Years of rodeo had turned his muscles to lean ridges whereas her own body was a touch softer than before now that she wasn’t riding every day. He didn’t seem to mind that change.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, setting her nerves on fire with his tongue as he traced a light pattern over her breasts. She let out a moan as he took her nipple in his mouth, teased it; felt her body start to arch.

Easy, girl…

She desperately wanted to take her time as she and Hayes rediscovered one another, but the sensations he evoked with his clever fingers and lips were almost too much after such a very long dry spell.

And this was Hayes. The dangerous cowboy that she’d once abandoned because he managed to make her feel exactly this way.

If anything, he was more dangerous now, but she was older, wiser.

Able to create boundaries and stand up for herself instead of running.

She was in control, for now. She could take her time.

Maybe.

She gasped when his fingers eased between her thighs, teasing her, and she automatically reached for him to return the favor.

He was thick and heavy in her hand and when his erection pulsed, she knew she needed to take advantage of the condom he’d managed to scrounge out of his duffel bag.

The was not be a leisurely lovemaking session.

This was going to be a desperate coupling, sparked by years of wanting what she’d told herself she could not have.

Hayes got the silent message and reached for the condom. Bailey, who had never been good at manipulating the things, waited as he rolled it into place before meeting his gaze in the dim light from the yard lamp outside the window.

“I want this,” she whispered, sensing his unspoken question. As if they could turn back now. That would, quite simply, kill her.

“Top or bottom?”

It was an old teasing question, which would have melted her heart in another less fraught moment.

“Bottom.” Cowgirl was fun, but she wanted to feel his weight on her this first time. Hayes obliged, barely getting into position before taking her mouth in a soul-searing kiss as he pushed into her with a long steady stroke.

Oh, damn.

Hayes was home and Bailey’s body threatened to explode.

Not yet, not yet…

He pulled back and she relaxed for all of a nanosecond before he pushed in again. It had been so long since she’d made love, and now that she had Hayes with her, in her, it was too much. Just…too much.

Bailey fought.

Bailey lost.

She bucked against him, clutching at his back as her body released in a spectacular way, and pressing her mouth into his shoulder to stop her cry. Hayes, breathing heavily, managed a couple more thrusts before he, too, lost the battle.

And then they lay in a satisfying tangle of arms and legs as they worked to catch their breath.

“I’m glad you came,” Hayes finally said, stroking her sweat-dampened skin. “Through the window, I mean.”

“Mmm,” was all she said, but she smiled at his double entendre. His fingers continued to trail lightly over her skin, soothing her. She needed to make her escape back to the trailer, but exhaustion took over and she closed her eyes.

She’d rest for another minute, then take her leave. His fingers felt so good…

*

Bailey’s head jerked up and she realized that the room was light. Not just light, but really light.

She eased herself off from Hayes’s chest, realizing that they’d barely moved all night long. His arms came around her, pulling her back.

And heaven help her, she wanted to stay. But she also wanted to keep matters from getting even more complicated than they were. There were noises coming from the kitchen and when she got out of bed to look out the window, she was surprised to see a strange truck parked in front of the house.

She turned to Hayes. “There’s someone here.”

He joined her at the window.

“Trev. He isn’t supposed to be here for another day.”

“He changed his plans.” Bailey judged the distance to the horse trailer. She should be able to make it without being seen from the kitchen window.

“Really? You’re going out the window?”

“You have a better idea?”

He looked as if he did indeed have a better idea but was resigned to the fact that if Bailey wanted to run, she was going to.

She gathered her clothes and quickly dressed while Hayes sat on the bed, watching.

She lifted the window, then turned to him.

With a half-smile she crossed the distance to the bed and gave him a lingering kiss, hoping he got the message that she wasn’t ready to sheepishly wander down the hall to the living room and face Hayes’s family with a morning-after look about her.

“I’m not running,” she said, holding his gaze.

He gave her an oh-yeah? look but said nothing.

She went to the window, put a leg out the sill, searching with her toe for the protruding brick, then froze when she heard a cough. Her head whipped around to see Trev Matthews standing on the porch phone to his ear. Her gaze snapped back to Hayes, who merely shrugged.

Busted.

Shit.