Beauty and the Bull Rider (Hotel Rodeo #3)(35)

Zac’s cheekbones went deep bronze as she burst into a full paroxysm of giggles. “What’s so damned funny?”

“You, Zac. I’m just surprised. It never would have occurred to be that you’d have any trouble with that part.”

“Do you think all men can just perform on command like trained animals?”

“I never really thought about it that way. Didn’t they give you anything to . . . er . . . help you out?”

“Yeah,” he snorted. “They had soft porn.”

“And that didn’t . . .”

He glared. “No. It didn’t.”

She gazed up at him, wide-eyed. “Zac, I don’t see how we’re ever going to be able to do this if you’re unable to . . .”

“Told you I was distracted.” He stepped into her space. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’re treadin’ on real dangerous ground right now.”

“What do you mean?” she asked with feigned innocence.

“I’ll tell ya. There’s two things in this world you should never do. The first is pissing on an electric fence and the second is taunting a man about his manhood.”

“It was just a simple question, Zac. No need to get your”—she let her gaze drop to his crotch—“hackles . . . up. I just wonder how we’re going to solve your little problem.”

“It isn’t a problem,” Zac ground through his teeth. “You really wanna know how we’re gonna do this?” Before she understood what he was about, he spun her back to the door, muffling her gasp with his hot, hungry mouth. Bracing his arms on either side of her head, he ravaged her mouth with a deep and demanding kiss. She didn’t know if it was the wine or the kiss, but Delaney suddenly experienced the panicky sensation of a freefall.

She opened her eyes to look into his as Zac brought her hand down between them. He was hot and hard even through the thick layer of denim. “See? I got no problem now. There’s a real simple solution to doing this,” he growled into her ear. “You’re going back with me.”

“Me? Are you saying you expect me to . . .”

“Help collect it?” he supplied. “Since you’re the one who’s insisting on all this, I think it’s only right you should help. And given that I need to get to Vegas by tomorrow, I’d say we’d better go now.”

“Now?” She gaped at him.

“Yep. There’s no time like the present.”

“B-but my cows.”

“Your cows are fine, Delaney.” He checked his watch. “We only have a couple hours until the place closes so we’d better get a move on.”

“But . . . but . . .”

Zac took her by the shoulders. “It’s decision time, darlin.’ I’m not playing around anymore. Do you want to do this or not?”

She swallowed hard. “Yes, Zac. I do. I’m just a little nervous about this.”

“That’s somethin’ you’re just gonna have to get over. C’mon. Let’s just go and get it done.”



Zac and Delaney got to the clinic in record time, arriving twenty minutes before closing. Zac approached the desk, where a different nurse was typing into her computer. This one was a lot older and wore a sour expression that made him wonder if ol’ Bart had a twin sister.

“’Scuse me, ma’am. I’m Zachary McDaniel. I was here earlier today to . . . ah . . .”

“Give us a specimen?” she finished, gazing up over her glasses.

“Yeah. That’s right. Something came up and I had to leave before I could get it done so I’m back to try again. Brought my . . . er . . . significant other this time.” He nodded to Delaney, who hid her face behind a magazine.

The unsmiling nurse glanced up the clock. “We close in twenty minutes.”

“I know it’s late,” Zac said. “But I’m going out of town and I promised her we’d get this done first.”

The nurse cast him a disapproving look. “You’ll have to be quick about it.” She retrieved a plastic specimen cup from the drawer beside her.

Zac leaned in close, asking in a low voice. “I’d be much obliged if you could maybe give us one of those . . .”

“Collection condoms?” she said, loud enough to make Delaney slide deeper into her chair.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Zac said. “Nurse Wanda was kind enough to tell me about those earlier.”

“Did she give you one?”

“No ma’am. I live too far away, but since I’m back with my significant other, I figured . . .”

She glanced at the clock again. “I’m sorry, Mr. McDaniel. I’m afraid we’ve just run out of those. Perhaps you’d like to come back tomorrow?”

“No, ma’am. I would not like to come back tomorrow. Told you I’m going out of town.”

She handed him the container with a tight smile. “Then I guess you’ll just have to use this.” Her gaze darted back to the clock. “You can use exam room number three.” She pointed across the room. “You have fifteen minutes, Mr. McDaniel.”

“Thank you so very much, Nurse Ratched, for your kind assistance.” Zac snatched up the container from the counter and strode over to Delaney. “Gonna need a little help, sugar pie. We don’t have much time to get this done.”