Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(73)

She wrapped her legs around him as he kissed her one more time, and then with a firm thrust they began to rock in unison. When they reached the very top of the climax together, she couldn’t even say his name because she had no more breath in her lungs.

“Oh. My. God,” he murmured as it all ended in a crescendo complete with beautiful sparks and all the bells and whistles of fantastic makeup sex.

Five full minutes later he propped up on an elbow and kissed the tip of her nose. “Can we fight again tomorrow?”

She smiled up at him. “I was thinking of starting an argument right now.”





Chapter Twenty



Katy breezed into the feed shop, looking happier than Lizzy had seen her in years. Over breakfast, she’d given Lizzy a general play-by-play of her weekend. Then she’d called every half hour all morning as she remembered details.

“I put a sign on the door and thought you could do the same. Nadine has chicken fried steaks on her blue plate special today,” Katy said.

“Sounds good to me.” Lizzy picked up a sign with a ragged edge from taping it to the window so often. In her handwriting it said, Gone to Lunch. Be Back at 1:00.

“Were you bored to tears all weekend or did you and Toby go out?” The wooden sidewalk sounded hollow beneath Katy’s cowboy boots. “I’ve been so wound up in my story and good time, I haven’t let you talk.”

“We had a nice dinner on Friday.” Lizzy wasn’t ready to share the story of the well and the skunk. “Then on Saturday after work, we went up to Olney to get two donkeys that he bought. Do you remember Melanie Robinson?”

“Name sounds familiar. Didn’t her parents live here for a little while?” Katy went into Nadine’s with Lizzy right behind her. She located an empty table in the back corner and made her way to it.

“They left when Melanie and I were pretty young. She’s married to Terry Dickson and that’s where we went to get the donkeys. She says she might come over here for the festival.” Lizzy pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Hey, you two. Y’all want the special?” Sharlene asked.

“Yes.” Katy nodded. “With two sweet teas.”

“Right on it. And Katy, any time you need me to run the store, just holler. I enjoyed it a lot.”

“I’ll remember that and might be calling on you pretty often.”

Sharlene gave her a thumbs-up sign and headed back to the kitchen to give Nadine the order.

“And yesterday?” Katy asked.

“What about yesterday?” Lizzy frowned.

“What did y’all do yesterday?”

“Church. Dinner. To see Granny where we had a big fight and I drove Deke’s truck home and then we made up,” Lizzy said.

“That sounds like real dating, not fake.”

Lizzy could feel her mother’s eyes boring into Lizzy, but she wasn’t about to look up from the menu. Even though she’d already given Sharlene her order, it gave her something to stare at. From youth, she’d figured out that if Katy or Granny ever looked into her eyes, they could see all the way to her soul and knew everything she’d done.

“So?” Katy pressed.

“It was a real fight. I wanted to bring Granny home. She had shoved everything she owns into black garbage bags and she thought we were the moving people. She didn’t even know where Dry Creek was but she wanted to move home. She thought she was in jail. Toby said I couldn’t do that and we had words about it.” That much was solid truth so she could glance away from the menu and into her mother’s eyes.

“Lizzy, we talked about this before we moved her there. The doctor warned us that things like this would happen and we’d have to stay strong,” Katy said.

“But she was so pitiful, Mama. I wanted to protect her like she did us girls when we were little. It’s not fair that life dealt this to her. She won’t even know Allie’s baby, and the times when she is lucid are getting fewer and farther between.”

Katy laid a hand on Lizzy’s. “I know that but this is best for her, not us. What if she ran away in the night and couldn’t find her way back to the house? She could die out in the weather, summer or winter. Did you talk things out with Toby?”

“Yes. He grilled some burgers and hot dogs and we had supper together with Deke who is in the market for a buyer for his ranch. He wants to sell his and buy the place that his cousin owns across the road.” Lizzy gave herself a mental pat on the back for changing the subject.

“It’s better property, has two good spring-fed ponds on it, and the house is in better repair. Don’t know anyone who wants to buy right now, but he could put up a flyer in my store and in yours, maybe run an ad in the newspaper in Wichita Falls. Trouble is…” Katy paused.

Lizzy pulled her hand free so Sharlene could set two tea glasses on the table.

“I’ve given up on taking Toby away from you. Now I’m waiting on Jud. I hear he’s the lucky cowboy, so I’m going to change my techniques and take a lesson from your playbook and Allie’s of course. You have to sneak upon a Dawson cowboy’s blind side and I’m going to come off as the sweet little woman who owns and operates a day care center,” Sharlene whispered.

“Well, thank you for that. I wouldn’t stand a chance if you were serious about Toby.” Lizzy smiled.