Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(65)

“You should stock some on the shelves. I bet you’d make a lot of money.” He pulled out a couple of dollars and handed them to her to pay for the hot chocolate that he’d drawn up.

“And get sued for causing the old ladies in town to drop dead with heart attacks in my store,” Fiona said. “It’s a wonder any of them even use the bathrooms.”

“Maybe they don’t know what those machines are dispensing,” Jud said.

Deke chuckled. “Don’t fool yourselves. I bet they’re the ones guilty for the machines being empty. Can’t you just see Truman wearing one of those new glow-in-the dark—”

Fiona leaned all the way across the counter and put her hand on Deke’s mouth. “Enough! It’ll take all day to get that image out of my head.” She shivered.

“I was thinking about Dora June’s face if he rolled on—” Jud started.

“Both of you”—Fiona pointed at the door, her face burning red hot—“out, right now!”

Their laughter still echoed in the store five minutes after they’d gone. She refilled her coffee cup and carried it to the back room, where she turned on the computer and went to work on her second job.



The weather in Texas is as predictable as a seven-month pregnant woman. It changes its mind constantly and is never happy, so when the sun came out that Thursday afternoon, no one was surprised. There was more than one sigh in Throckmorton County and lots of hopes that they’d seen the last of snow, sleet, and ice for a long time.

In spite of the sun, no one else came into town that whole day after Deke and Jud had been thrown out of the store, so Fiona got completely caught up on her work by closing time. The roads were still slick, so she drove home slowly, glad that she’d be there in time for supper since she’d missed lunch and was starving.

The sweet smell of cinnamon welcomed her into the house, but neither Dora June nor Truman were anywhere in sight. She sniffed the air again and sure enough, it was cinnamon, so she followed her nose to the dining room where she found a note propped up beside a platter stacked high with snickerdoodles.

“They’ve gone to a Christmas party at Henrietta’s, whoever that is, and we have the house all to ourselves for about two hours,” Jud said from the shadows.

Her heart leapt into her throat and the note fluttered to the floor. “You scared the hell out of me.”

In a blur he was across the room. He scooped her into his arms and carried her up the stairs. “I had something better in mind for our time than scaring you,” he whispered.

She laid her head against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. She gasped when he opened the bedroom door. Curtains had been drawn, a dozen jar candles were burning around the room, casting their yellow glow, and there were rose petals strewn on the bed—there was no way in hell she could back out of a deal like that. She could hardly even hear for the humming noise her hormones made in her ears. When he laid her on the bed, the fresh smell of roses washed away every sane thought in her head.

“How did you do that? These smell like roses but they are silk.”

“Magic.” He kissed her long, lingering, and hard. “Only our lips can touch.”

“Who said?”

“We are going to make love, Fiona Logan, not have sex,” he whispered.

“Is there a difference?” she asked.

“You tell me in two hours.”

“How many times have you made love instead of having sex?” she asked.

“Never, and this time we are going to take it slow. It’s going to last all night,” he said in a husky voice as he bent forward to kiss her on the lips.

Her hands ached with desire to tangle themselves in his hair. Her body wanted his hands to roam over her like they had two nights before. She promised she wouldn’t even laugh at glow-in-the-dark protection if he’d take her clothes off and satisfy the deep need threatening to devour her.

“One article of clothing at a time,” he said. “You first.”

She thought about it, wanting it to be his jeans, but she’d never get them down past his boots. She decided to start with his shirt. Two could play this game even if she was a beginner.

She undid the three buttons at the top of the oatmeal-colored thermal knit shirt and slowly tugged it free of his jeans. Then she pulled it up over his head, stopping to kiss each nipple and his neck on the way. When it was fully off his body, she took time to fold it perfectly and lay it on the end of the bed.

“Aha!” He grinned. “Trying to torment me?” He flashed one of those devastating, heart-stopping smiles that heated her insides. “Just remember, darlin’, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.”

He removed one of her boots and then the other and was starting to take off her socks when she shook her head. “That would be two articles, so only the boots.”

“Okay, darlin’, if that’s the way you want it.” He massaged her calves through the fabric of her skinny jeans and her feet through her socks.

She’d had massages of all kinds. Full body, hot rocks, the whole works. But nothing affected her like sinking into the depths of his brown eyes as he worked all the kinks from her lower legs and feet. Lord, if the look in his eyes really held the promise of what was to come, they might really wake Dora June with all the noise. Her soul hovered up there near the ceiling somewhere and her heart told her repeatedly she was a fool if she ever let this man get away from her.