Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(78)

Lizzy swallowed hard. “It is peaceful here, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Reminds me of my grandparents’ place. They raised a pretty good-size family in a little house like this. When things got better, Grandpa offered to build my grandmother a new house but she refused. She said that there were too many memories in her house to leave it behind.”

“I’m sure that’s one of the reasons that Deke wants the other place. That’s where his grandparents made their home. This one belonged to their daughter, Deke’s mama, but he was back and forth between the two places,” Lizzy said.

“Good land and already cleared. Someone got a bargain. Maybe in a few years they’ll want to sell and I’ll pick it up then.” Toby drained the rest of the tea. “Can I take you home?”

She smiled. “I’d rather you took me to the trailer.”

His blue eyes twinkled. “We’d have to get pretty up close and personal to take a shower together in the trailer.”

“Who said anything about a shower?” she teased.

“Darlin’, I’m not going to bed with you without a shower.”

“Who said anything about a bed?”

He grabbed her and pulled her toward him, tipped her chin up with his knuckles and kissed her, long and lingering, leaving her whole body limp and begging for more.

“That answer your question?” he asked.

“Let’s forget the shower and go skinny-dippin’ in the creek at the back of this place,” she whispered. “It’s not far from the barn where Deke keeps his hay, so we might watch the moon from the hayloft once we cool off.”

He took her hand in his. “Lead the way.”

It took twenty minutes, crawling over two fences and shooing a dozen cows out of the way, to get to the creek but when they did, Toby moaned. “Now I’m really mad at myself for not buying this place. I had no idea a creek ran through here.”

“Don’t kick yourself too hard.” She unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it over the top of a low-growing mesquite tree. “This is Dry Creek, and it’s running good right now, but we’ve had an unusual spring and summer. It will be completely dried up by mid-July and there won’t be a drop of water in it until next spring. Sometimes it never has water in it. Won’t be nothing but a gravel and sandpit, and darlin’, the water might be clear but it’s only knee-deep, so callin’ it skinny-dippin’ is for real. It’s sure not skinny-dunkin’.”

He shucked out of his dirty shirt and jeans, stuffed his socks down into his boots, and waded out into the cool clear water. His back against a rock, the water cut around his naked body, rippling past him, flowing over him. The moonlight defined the angles in his face and lit up his muscles.

She was so involved in watching him and trying to remember to breathe that she almost took the first step into the water without removing her shorts and sandals. In a few swift movements, the rest of her clothing lay on the grassy bank of the creek and the cool creek water was up to her knees.

“Would you lay with me in a tiny creek?” Toby opened his arms.

“I recognize that song, only I think the lyrics said a field of stone, and yes I would.” She curled up in his arms, her head on his chest, a blanket of clear water covering them.

Hot night air has a scent all of its own. Add that to the smell of the water, the remnants of Toby’s aftershave, mixed with the sweat of hard work and the musty aroma of green grass. Lizzy wished she could bottle it and take it home with her.

With a wet forefinger, Toby started at her forehead and traced the outline of her face, then went lower, barely touching her neck and arm until he reached her hand. Lacing his fingers in hers he brought her hand to his lips and kissed each dripping knuckle.

“You are beautiful, Lizzy Logan,” he drawled.

His warm breath on her neck sent a shiver down her spine.

“Cold?” He pulled her closer to his side, wrapping both arms around her, their naked bodies pressed against each other.

“Not at all. It’s desire,” she said honestly.

“I love that about you.” He buried his face into her hair.

“That I’m not cold?”

“No, that you say what you are feeling and aren’t dishonest with me.”

“We agreed that we’d talk about everything,” she said.

A pang of guilt hit her square in the heart because she was keeping a secret from Toby. But this wasn’t the time or the place to tell him she was his new neighbor. Tonight was one of those special moments that only came along once in a lifetime, and she would not take a chance of ruining it by talking about a ranch.

She raised her head and caught him staring at her, looking straight into the bottom of her soul, seeing the past, understanding the present, and looking forward to the future without fear. She could get lost in those blue eyes and never surface, not for food or air, just spend eternity in the peace she found that night curled up in the creek water on her ranch with the love of her life.

The words, the love of her life, echoed in her heart, but they didn’t scare her or put her in flight or fight mode. Instead she embraced them with open arms and decided in that moment that she’d give Toby all the time he needed. If he never fell for her, then she’d have all these fantastic memories to curl up with every night for the rest of her life.