Slow Hand (Hot Cowboy Nights, #1)(14)

“Don’t fret, sweetie.” She patted Nikki’s hand. “Wade’ll help you get it all sorted out. It’s what he does.”

“Professionally you mean?”

“Yes, but more than that,” Iris said. “He carries a great deal on those broad shoulders.”

“How so?”

“He’s the only thing that’s kept his family’s ranch afloat these past three years. Under those good looks is also a real good man—a man who should settle down, if you ask me, but he’s burning himself out working all the time like he is. Trying to make up for lost time I s’pose, but I still hate to see it.”

“Really?” Nikki said. “He hardly strikes me as the workaholic type with all that charm and swagger.”

Iris shook her head. “You should have known him before. But it’s been even worse on his brother Dirk. He isn’t the same man at all.”

“Before what?” Nikki asked. “I’m not following you.”

“Before the accident—”

“Iris, you worry too much,” Wade’s baritone voice interrupted the exchange.

He stood in the doorway knotting his necktie. He was now clean-shaven, with his wet hair slicked back. To Nikki’s chagrin, the lack of beard growth only accentuated the damned chin dimple. “I already have a mother, if you recall, and don’t need two. Besides, I’m certain Miz Powell has little interest in my personal history.” His rebuke over the gossip was kind but real, delivered with a steely-eyed smile.

“Sorry, Wade.” Iris flushed, visibly cowed. “I just think you should take some time off and enjoy life a bit before it all passes you by.”

“I just returned from two days in Denver,” he said.

“A working trip,” she argued. “Hardly a vacation.”

“When the ranch is sold, maybe I’ll take some time off. Perhaps I’ll go to Mexico or try a cruise—if I can find an interesting traveling companion.” He slanted Nikki a sly look.

What game was he playing by repeating her earlier wishes to go to Mexico or take a cruise? Every comment he made seemed loaded with innuendo.

When Iris went back to filing, he added in an undertone, “My, my, Miz Powell. All charm and swagger, am I? That’s quite an improvement since I left the room. Words like that are sure to turn my head.”

Nikki’s gaze locked onto his teasing one, and she felt another flush coming on. “I hardly meant it as a compliment.” Hell no. She’d been a fool for his type too many times before. She didn’t believe his earlier denial either. He was a player of the most dangerous kind—a damned hot cowboy player. She didn’t trust him. But, being honest, she trusted herself even less.

*

After Wade left for court, Nikki opted for a shower as well. When she entered the bathroom, the pungent scents of cedar and spice mixed with man struck her senses like a two-by-four. In his hurry, Wade had left out his shaving gel and deodorant, neither of which was heavily fragranced. Men like Wade rarely wore fragrances to mask their natural scent. She’d always preferred guys like Wade to the perfumed and overgroomed metrosexuals. Wade’s lingering essence was heavenly. She closed her eyes and breathed in a lungful before turning on the shower.

Nikki wet her hair and picked up the soap, feeling a moment of hesitation. It was soft and sudsy from his use. It seemed almost obscenely intimate to use the same bar he’d used to lather the most private parts of his body—obscenely intimate and incredibly arousing.

She’d had a teasing glimpse of his bare torso earlier. Now her imagination painted a portrait of his entire naked body, all big and hard, sinewy and sudsy. She soaped herself, and then applied his shampoo to her hair. Shutting her eyes to rinse, she imagined sharing not only the soap with him, but the shower, too. Dear God, Nikki! Get a grip.

It had been too long. That was her problem. Six months was far too long to go without sex. Maybe that’s what was making her nuts. And there was an easy enough cure for that. The shower was equipped with an adjustable shower massager. She switched the setting to pulsate and adjusted the angle, and then braced herself against the wall, parting her thighs and letting the pulse of hot water work its magic. It didn’t take long to get off—not once she shut her eyes to more fantasies about Wade. She shut off the water with wobbly knees, but flying solo always left her dissatisfied…and bitchy.

She wondered briefly if giving in to her attraction might be a cure of sorts. Maybe it would balance her scales. She’d felt completely off-kilter since leaving Atlanta. She knew a lot of women who wouldn’t bat an eye at the thought of a short-term fling.

Yeah, that’s right, Nikki, let’s just start grasping at straws now. Let’s see if we can fabricate any reason at all to jump into bed with a hot cowboy.

She’d never needed much reason beyond pure lust in the past. Tight jeans, broad shoulders beneath button-down Western shirts, boots, and hats still combined to make her crazy, but she’d finally learned her lesson after Clint. Yes, she had. Thank you very much!

She then reminded herself how often she’d been disappointed with cowboys in bed—far more often than not. Kinda like anticipating a full night of rodeo only to have it end with the eight-second ride.

*

After her shower, Nikki spent the next three hours making calls to the mortuary, her bank, and several credit card companies—all just spinning her wheels. She was almost in tears by the time Wade returned.