The Country Duet(15)

Staring at her with my arms crossed, with the bunch of roses pressed against my chest, is fast becoming my favorite pastime. She nibbles on her lower lip, deep in concentration. It takes everything in me to not go soothe that lip with my tongue.

“You staring again?” She pops up her head, nailing me with those blue irises.

It’s a sucker punch straight to the gut, a delicious fucking sucker punch at that.

“Yeah, I am, Darlin’.” Making my way to her, I hand her the roses.

“Damn, thought you were going to whip out your pony.” She smiles, standing up.

My jaw drops, then once common sense kicks in, I slowly shut my gaping mouth. Teale has on a little, tight black dress. When she rounds from behind the desk, I notice her legs are bare until I spot her knee-high tan cowboy boots. Well, hot damn, that pony may be trotting later tonight after all.

“A real life pony, jackass.” I smirk, trying to keep the conversation light.

“Sure, you do.” She reaches over, grabbing a piece of paper off her desk. “Here’s your Christmas present. It’s sorta, kind of, a re-gift, but it’s the thought that matters and all that jazz, right?”

Her cheeks flush a light pink as I unfold the paper. I don’t break our eye contact until I peer down at the drawing she’d texted me. A damn cowboy hat with cock and balls drawn around it.

Hunter,

Merry Christmas. Hope you had a “wank-licious” time. Dancing on me. That’s your gift, if you can keep up.

Teale

Profound Frank and Beans Author in Work

“Keep up. Dancing?” I peer up with a raised eyebrow to see that Teale is standing right in front of me.

Her sweet scent is assaulting me, threatening to take me out. A combination of the sweetest honey with a hint of oranges and I grow drunk on her.

“Want your second gift now or later?” she asks, pressing her palms into my chest.

“Had to out do me and get me two presents, yeah?” I smile, inching my face to hers.

“Always.”

“Now,” I reply.

Her lips press into mine and I swear she’s sweeter than before. Our lips aren’t hesitant this time, moving like they want to. Teale opens her lips, letting me explore her mouth. Our tongues dance to the perfect beat of life. No one walks in on us this time, giving us time to explore each other’s clothed bodies with our hands.

I’m an ass man and go straight for it. After several minutes, Teale is the one to pull back first. We never break eye contact or let go of each other.

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Fix It.”

She reaches up on her tiptoes again and proceeds to kiss the hell out of me. This time when she pulls back, the smile lighting up her face is contagious.

“And Happy New Year.”

We walk hand and hand out to my truck after she locks up the shop. I take a chance flipping up my console. I’ll leave it up to Teale whether she decides to slide over to the middle or not. Being the honest man I am, I hope like hell she slides right on over.

The engine of my truck is already rumbling with the Zac Brown Band’s “Beautiful Drug” blaring from the speakers. I definitely have a death wish and am addicted to the most beautiful woman. Teale climbs up into the truck, hoisting herself with the use of the running board like a well-mannered woman, not exposing any part of her.

She settles in the passenger seat and eyes the middle for half a second before she glides right over, trusting her rebel heart. I shift the truck into first gear, rev up the engine, place my hand on her exposed thigh, and drive right into the New Year.

“I really, really like gummy bears,” Teale announces when we pull into the bar.

“That was random.” I smile over at her.

“Just thought you should know something about me.” She places her hand on top of mine. “Tell me something about you.”

This one is fucking easy, not even taking me a second to think about. “I really, really like the color red.”

Her eyes shine with happiness. It’s a gorgeous look on her. She’d been chipper before, but nothing like this. Before our lips have the chance to connect, I hop from the truck and guide her out. If I didn’t force myself to move, we’d be in the cab of my truck all night long, tangled up. I freeze, causing Teale to slam into my back.

“Jesus, a little warning next time, cowboy.”

I turn slowly to her.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Just had a thought.” I grab her hips and pull her into me.

“Something that involves your pony?”

A chuckle escapes me. “No, it’s back home on the ranch. We could stay in the truck you know.”

Teale bites down on her bottom lip. “We could, but I really want to dance.”

“Dancing will do,” I whisper, grazing her lips with mine.

The bar is packed with rowdy partygoers, mostly dolled up with cheesy-ass party hats on their head. Teale never once lets go of my hand as we wind through the mass of people to find a booth in the corner. She doesn’t seem to notice all the stares her tanned legs are getting. Or if she does, she has perfected a poker face, ignoring them.

We slide into the same side of the booth and before either of us have a chance to say a word, a waitress is at our side.

“Hey, cutie.” She smiles brightly at me. “What can I get you?”