Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(59)

“He did not!” Truman said loudly. “That rotten old fool would scare the kids with his big booming voice. I’ll be Santa Claus, and then after I give the presents to whatever kids are here, I’ll help you with the punch table, Dora June.”

Dora June’s eyes came close to popping out of her head and rolling across the floor. “Well, Truman O’Dell, I think you’ll make a much better Santa Claus than Herman, and Lucy is going to be so jealous of me.”

“Good. That meddlin’ woman needs to be jealous of you. I’m going to take a nice warm bath and go to bed. All this decoratin’ crap done wore me out,” Truman said gruffly, and headed toward his bedroom.



Fiona took a quick shower, checked the hall, and then trotted to her bedroom with nothing but a towel around her body. She dried off, then slid on a pair of cotton bikini underpants and an oversize red plaid flannel shirt that hung to her knees. She was brushing the tangles from her wet hair when a gentle knock on the door drew her attention from the vanity mirror.

“Come on in,” she said.

“You sure?” The door swung open and Jud stood there like a blond Greek god in a pair of red flannel pajama pants and a white tank top that hugged his body like a glove.

“Of course. We’re over twenty-one and I expect we can be trusted since the door is open.” She smiled. “You can have the recliner. Soon as I got my hair brushed out I was going to come over to your room. I’m dying to know how you got Truman to be Santa Claus.”

When he sat down in the recliner, the overhead light lit up the water droplets still hanging like diamonds on his hair. The stubble on his face was downright sexy.

“It was kind of funny.” His smile lit the room up far more than any artificial light could do, and then he went on to tell her word for word what he could remember of the conversation.

When he finished, tears were rolling down her cheeks. “My sides hurt and I can’t breathe. That is priceless,” she said. “He and Herman Hudson have never gotten along. I bet it’s because Herman and Lucy have all those kids. You did a bang-up job by baiting him with Herman.”

He stood and held out a hand. “Well, thank you, Miz Fiona. Now give me that brush and I’ll work on the back of your hair.”

She put the brush in it and he gently ran it through her hair. When it hit a snag, he laid the brush aside and worked the tangle out, one hair at a time. When there were no more rats, he dug his fingers all the way to her scalp and massaged. She thought that his foot rubs were a turn-on but her body turned into a quivering mass of jelly when he worked on her scalp.

“Sweet Lord! If all the Dawsons are as good as you, no wonder my sisters fell head-over-heels crazy in love.” She shut her eyes and enjoyed every hot little quiver that shot through her body.

Jud bent forward, swept her hair to one side, and planted a kiss on her neck that sent her hormones into a spiral. Slow be damned. She wanted him.

Pretty, brilliant sparks danced around the trailer and Lizzy’s knees went weak. She leaned into him and the second kiss was even more sensational. Hormones whined. Her heart thumped so hard that her chest hurt. Her hands were clammy and his hands on her back were like fire. She wanted him and nothing was going to fill the aching void but Toby.

Jud caught her gaze in the mirror, his brown eyes boring into hers with questions. “I should leave now before we go from low gear to high and have regrets later,” he whispered huskily.

His tone said that he was every bit as affected as she was. His eyes said he wanted more like she did. His hand on her shoulder was warm even through her knit shirt. The world stood still in that moment. The moon didn’t rise. The stars held their breath.

She put a hand over his. “Shut the door and stay.”

“I thought we were going to go slow,” he whispered.

“The second time, we will. It’s been a very long time for me, so if I get in a hurry the first time, I promise I’ll slow it down to low gear the second time around,” she said.

“But, Fiona, you are…”

“This is tonight, Jud. Not tomorrow. Not next week or next spring. Just tonight between two consenting, very hungry adults. No questions. No promises. And I don’t think Dora June can hear the squeaky springs all the way in her bedroom.”

She flipped around and tugged his shirt up over his head, tiptoeing to kiss his Adam’s apple before digging her fingertips into his thick hair and pulling his face toward hers. His lips were pure honey to her starving heart. She pressed her whole body against his, feeling the effect below the elastic waist of his pajama pants. She pulled away from him, their lips making a sucking noise when the kiss broke.

Running her hands through the soft brown hair on his chest, she felt his big hands fumbling with the buttons on her shirt. Finally, he got them all unfastened and tossed it to the side. He held her breasts, one in each hand, staring at them as if they were gold.

“You are so beautiful,” he said.

“And you are so sexy it takes my breath away,” she whispered as she tugged his pants down over his firm hips.

“Oh, my!” she gasped.

“And so ready.” He pulled her pants down and then slowly bit at the side of her bikini underpants. Taking them down an inch at a time, his hand barely brushing her skin, teasing, tempting all the way down was far hotter than massaging her feet or her scalp. Her insides vibrated with desire.