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  Bradley laughed. “I figured. The guys at Hank’s Feed and Seed just iced down a big tub of water for everyone.”

  “Nice of them. God, I love this town.”

  “Can you take a break for a minute?”

  Mel smiled. She and Bradley had been friends for quite some time now and for a little while she’d even considered going out with him. That was out of the question now. At least until things kind of evened out with T. “Sure. Probably a good idea. I’m beat.” Of course the all-night sex marathon had much to do with her exhaustion. Not that she was complaining.

  Brad went quiet for a minute or two. “Guess our going to the street dance together is out of the question now that T is back in town.”

  “Brad, I—”

  He held up a hand. “Don’t say it. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. The whole town is talking about how he was the one great love of your life. Everybody knows about what happened at the gym yesterday and that his truck was parked in front of your house last night.”

  Mel closed her eyes and groaned. “Ahhh man.” Finally she looked at him, her face burning with embarrassment. He watched her solemnly.

  “I understand, Melanie. I don’t have to like it but I do understand.”

  “Maybe it’s just not a good idea right now. I’m pretty mixed up about things right now. Besides, we work together. That could get tricky.”

  He nodded. “Yes, it could but I think we’d make a good couple. Looks like that’s not in the cards.”

  “I’m sorry. I really am. I’ve started seeing T and yes, we have a history together. Brad, I just can’t lead you on or play stupid games with you. I have to see where things are going with us. He says he’s home for good but I—”

  “You don’t trust him?”

  Melanie shook her head. “I can’t discuss this with you. I’m sorry.”

  Brad turned to go then tossed her a look over his shoulder. “T’s heading this way. Figure that’s my cue to take off.”

  Sure enough T, Cooper, and Harley were heading straight for them and if the scowl on T’s face was an indicator, he’d spotted Bradley right away. Could he be jealous? Now why did that juvenile, silly bit of nonsense make her a little bit giddy? She was pathetic. Even all puffed up and pissed off, he was a mighty fine specimen of a man. Faded jeans fit his hips to perfection as each long stride brought him closer. The navy-blue tee shirt he wore clung to broad, broad shoulders, the very same shoulders she’d clung to when she’d cried out his name in a fit of head-exploding orgasmic pleasure. Ah man! She was whipped. Plain old whipped.

  T shot a glance in Bradley’s direction then focused that stormy gaze on her. Without a word, he rounded the booth and stepped inside to haul her close. Pressing his lips to hers, he gave her a bone-melting kiss that made her libido sit up and say howdy. Going as limp as a well-cooked noodle, she leaned against him, absorbing all that heat and hardness, belatedly recalling they were in a very public place. What was it with him and these exhibitionistic tendencies anyway? Pressing feebly at his chest, she managed to free herself from the titillating liplock and give him a shaky smile. “I’m all sweaty.”

  T’s sudden grin was blinding then he bent close to her ear. “Don’t you know I like you all sweaty, darlin’? Which reminds me, do we have another hot date tonight? Say the word and I’m there.”

  “Hmm. Now that sounds like a plan, cowboy. What do you have in mind?”

  “Anywhere Bradley the biology teacher isn’t.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you but I’m sick of seeing his face at the moment.”

  Just then Cooper and Harley walked up. Cooper wore a tool belt around his waist and looked ready to pound the hell out of some nails. He carried a box full to the brim with jars of what looked like peach jams and preserves. Harley toted a large picnic basket. “I know it’s too early for dinner but I brought food anyway,” she said as she headed toward the nearby gazebo. “Come on. I fixed sandwiches and stuff. Let’s all take a break.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” T said as he took the big box of stuff from his brother and set it down.

  “What do you have here?” Mel peered into the box.

  “Mrs. McKreedy, who lives on my street, doesn’t get out much these days so I offered to bring her jams and jellies. I just need to find an empty booth somewhere and set them out for her.”

  “One of the ladies from the Steering Committee will find somebody to sell them this weekend,” Mel said as she headed toward Harley and her basket of goodies. “After our break, we can hunt down a spot. I hear her arthritis is pretty bad these days. Haven’t seen her around much lately.”

  “Yeah, she’s pretty much stuck at home these days but she likes to contribute to the festival. Makes her feel a part of things.”

  Harley took a seat on one of gazebo steps and reached into the basket to retrieve several jugs of sweet tea, plastic glasses and some sandwiches. When the guys joined them on the steps, they tore into the food while she and Harley continued to talk. It felt so good to be with her best friend again after all those years when Harley was a hot-dog boot designer in Houston. She’d missed her. In comparison, her life had been rather boring but there was no doubt that Harley returning to Delight had added something really good to her life. “So tell me about the wedding plans?”

  She felt the attention of the guys.

  “We’re getting married at the ranch,” Cooper said, leaning back a bit and giving Harley a look of such love that Melanie couldn’t help but sigh a little bit. “We wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  Harley laughed. “I think the entire town is invited. Ransom agreed to give me away and T will be Cooper’s best man.” She smiled. “Which reminds me. I meant to ask but I figured it was a given. Will you be my maid of honor? I promise I won’t make you wear anything too pink and frilly.”

  “God forbid!” Mel smiled, feeling utterly thrilled. “I’ll wear whatever you want. Just want you happy, ya know? I’ll be there with bells on. I’m thrilled and touched and all kinds of happy. Yes. I can’t think of anything I’d love more.”

  T’s phone rang and conversation halted when he dug it from the front pocket of his jeans. “Hey, Ran. Uh-huh. Sounds good. Do you need us to bring anything from town?”

  In a bit, T disconnected and tucked his phone away. “Ransom set out some steaks and wants us to all come out to the Double D for dinner. You guys good with that? A barbecue at the old homestead?”

  “Sounds wonderful. Count me in,” Mel said. Bittersweet memories assaulted her. She’d been such a fixture at the Double D when she was just a kid and the prospect of being there again set off all kinds of sweet memories.

  “I’m worried about Ransom,” Cooper said as he crumpled up the sandwich wrapper and tossed it into the basket. “He’s a damn grump most of the time. We’re approaching the anniversary of Cassie’s death this winter and I’m concerned. He never handles it well.”

  “He took it hard,” T said. “He just hasn’t been the same since she died. How does a man get over the death of the woman he loves?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and, pulling her close, pressed his lips against her temple. “I never could. Poor bastard.”

  Melanie’s heart melted to total mush and later, as T drove her home, she remained quiet as she thought of Ransom and about the fatal crash that had so altered his world. It was sad and scary. Life was tenuous. She looked across the cab of T’s truck and studied the perfect, beautiful lines of his face and thought of the danger he’d courted over these long years. At any moment, he could have died while making some dumb movie that nobody, in the end, would give a shit about. Thoughts of the dangerous situations that T had gotten himself into filled her mind. She recalled the broken bones, the bumps and bruises and shuddered.

  Love for him filled her up.

  Imagining a world without T Dobbs did funny things to her heart and with hands that shook she reached across the bench seat of his truc
k and took his hand, smiling at him when he looked at her. Affection shone in his eyes along with a look of tenderness that fairly stole her breath. Trust or not, she suddenly knew the only thing left to do was give in and love him. Life was short, tenuous and she couldn’t imagine doing it all without him. Maybe she was a stupid sap but she had to tell him how she felt before he did something crazy and left again.

  Chapter Five

  Later that night she and Harley sat under the stars with the three Dobbs brothers after a great meal of thick T-bone steaks and other goodies. They’d dined outside on the backyard patio and the scents of their dinner rose in the air, mingling with the sounds of cattle, horses and other night creatures. Squat citronella candles burned on a big patio table. Not long ago they’d cleaned up the mess and now they sat back, nursing beers and talking plans for the Peach Festival.

  Mel figured that after tonight she’d be so busy with the Miss Peach Delight Pageant she wouldn’t be around much and that was a shame. She loved this time spent with these people, reliving their rough and rowdy youth and hearing of Cooper and Harley’s future plans. Cooper and Harley would be living in town after they married, leaving the other Dobbs brothers with the running of the Double D. It was evident from the way Ran and T spoke, T had definitely made plans to remain at the ranch. For good.

  Maybe it was all true. But what if California came calling again and T was hit with another bolt of wanderlust? Could the lure of the ranch and this small town hold him? Could she hold him? That was the question.

  Ransom finished the last sip of his longneck bottle of beer and stood with a sigh. “It’s been fun, folks, but I reckon I’d better turn in. Long day tomorrow.”

  When he headed back into the house, Harley and Cooper also stood and said their goodbyes, leaving her and T alone. T took her hand and pressed his lips to her fingers and smiled. “Want to take a walk?”

  “Sure.”

  Hand in hand they left the yard and strolled toward the paddock near the barn. Roughly half a dozen horses grazed nearby, some chasing each other through the night shadows. A lonely light shone from near the barn door but it wasn’t enough to break the spell of the night. Melanie walked up to the paddock fence and leaned against it. “It’s pretty out here. Quiet.”

  “I like it. I didn’t realize exactly how much I missed this place until I finally returned.” He joined her at the fence and picking up a length of coiled rope, dragged it over his hands absently as he looked out. “Sometimes there were periods of months between movie shoots and I’d hire out as a cowboy at area ranches. Worked a few in Montana too. Really pretty country and it was a nice break from the city. But every time I took one of those jobs, it was almost like coming home again. It was a good feeling.”

  “Is that when you realized you missed it here?”

  “Hm. Maybe.” He gave her a steady look. “But it wasn’t the place I was missing as much as the people. I missed you, honey. Missed you so badly my heart just ached with it.”

  “Oh, T. You could have called me. Something.”

  T blew out a breath. “Wanted to kill Ransom, I swear. Every time I asked about you he’d tell me to come home and find out for myself. Cooper filled me in a bit more but he only knew the basics.”

  Melanie stepped closer and trailed one hand over his arm. “So what did you want to know?”

  The air went still as she waited breathlessly for his answer.

  “I wanted to know if you tasted as good as I remembered.” T swept his arm around her, pulling her flush against him. They stood belly to belly and her nipples tightened under the lightweight cotton of her top. Against the satiny cups of her bra, they tingled and helplessly, she pressed harder against the firm muscles of his chest. He bent his head and lightly kissed her. His lips moved against hers when next he spoke. “I needed to know if you’d feel as good pressed against my body as you did all those years ago.”

  “And do I?”

  T groaned and settled his mouth against her throat. “I think you know the answer to that, darlin’. I can’t keep my hands off you.”

  “Then don’t, T. Just don’t,” she whispered, sinking against him as his powerful, savage kiss carried her under. His tongue swept her mouth, carrying her away on a wave of lust and need. His arms tightened. Emotion curled through her brain, transforming itself into a powerful, thrilling sensation that dipped deep into her body to coil in her belly. Pressing her lower body closer to his heat, she rubbed her needy pussy against the hard bulge behind the fly of his jeans. T groaned into her mouth and Mel swallowed the sound.

  Finally T stepped back to look at her, his eyes gone hard. He took one of her hands and she noticed he still had the coil of rope clutched in the other. “Come with me.”

  A muscle worked in his jaw as he pushed open the barn door. A meager light cast shadows over the cavernous room and the scent of horses and hay filled the air.

  “Figure I need some privacy for what I have planned,” he murmured, leading her over to a sturdy post. T threaded the rope through a hook bolted into the thick wood and gave her a dark look. Expectation whipped through her, settling low in her pussy and soaking her panties. She’d never been a wild child but that rough-edged look he gave her sent her imagination into overdrive, making her visualize all kinds of dark and naughty things. Then suddenly she couldn’t think at all because T pressed her to the beam and leaned in close. “Every time I walk into this barn, I think about tying you up right here and fucking you, having you at my mercy.”

  Pleasure danced over her flesh and she could only stare as he wound the soft, flexible rope around her wrists. T pulled at the loose end until her arms were hauled up high over her head. Stretched along the post as she was left her feeling vulnerable and wondering when and where he would touch her.

  Please, God, make it soon.

  Seconds ticked by in slow motion as he tied off the bit of rope and turned to her. A raw, savage expression crossed his face as he swept both calloused hands beneath her shirt to stroke the flesh of her belly then higher until his thumbs rubbed over her ribs. Finally, he palmed her breasts. “I love how your nipples get so stiff when I touch you, Melanie.”

  Mel gasped a breath when he stroked them and leaned close enough to speak against her hot cheek. “I have you right where I want you,” he whispered, his voice low and raspy. Pleasure spiked when his busy fingers found the front clasp of her bra and then he went to work on the buttons of her short, cropped shirt. When he had it undone, he spread the soft cotton wide until it framed her exposed breasts. He filled his hands with them and kissed her again but kisses weren’t enough. Not now. When T insinuated his thigh between hers and pressed the muscular length against her pussy, she whimpered. Over and over again he rubbed her drenched, needy flesh and then his mouth settled over one pulsing nipple. Sucking strongly, lightly scraping with his teeth, he sent her body into overdrive but she hung there, helpless and trembling, yanking against the ropes that held her prisoner.

  More than anything, she wanted to dip her fingers into his thick hair to hold him closer, to keep his hungry lips at her breasts but it was impossible. Dark need filled her as he sent his mouth over her belly and she felt his hands at the button of her shorts. The zipper rasped in the silence of the barn, echoing through her brain and before she could gasp another breath, he whipped them down her legs. His fingers went to the seam of her pussy to rub the drenched satin of her panties against sensitive flesh that practically screamed for an even firmer touch. The intense hunger in T’s eyes was too much for her to bear. Melanie slammed her eyes shut and pressed the back of her head against the hard post. T plucked at her swollen clit. The action dragged a ragged sound from her throat as she tugged futilely at the bindings on her wrists.

  “Hold on to the rope. I’m just getting started,” he said as he straightened to yank his tee shirt over his head and drop it to the ground. T reached for the waistband of his jeans and, after making quick work of the zipper, withdrew his hard cock from its confines
and wrapped his fist around it. His stormy gaze slowly traveled the length of her exposed body, sending a shiver over her skin. Watching his fingers move over that stiff cock brought a fresh wash of cream to her pussy. Aching for him, she stared, mesmerized and more than anything she wanted to be able to touch him too. She hung there knowing she was prisoner to his touch, to whatever he wanted and it was obvious from the rhythmic clench of his jaw that he wanted her. No longer was she merely a small-town teacher and coach. She wasn’t the girl next door, a dutiful daughter or friend.

  She was a lover.

  This man’s lover.

  Trussed up and a slave to his every whim, she trembled, wanting to bring him to his knees and as if her wild thought willed it, T went to the floor of the barn and took his time gazing up the length of her nude body. Settling his hands on her thighs, stroking her skin, he pressed open-mouthed kisses there. “Spread your legs.”

  Melanie obeyed him soundlessly but then sucked in a breath as his avid mouth moved higher and higher, tasting her flesh as if he were starved. She looked down and their gazes locked. “Gonna eat you out. Hang on to that goddamn rope.”

  Gritting her teeth, Mel grasped the rope until she thought her fingers might break. Clinging as if her life depended on it, she slammed her eyes shut, crying out at the first hot lash of his tongue at the seam of her pussy. She felt his fingers part her labia to take the tasting deeper, then deeper. T drew her clit into his mouth to suck as his fingers thrust deep into her hungry vagina. In. Out. Shallow. Deeper.

  Things this good never lasted long enough and that was a fact. A strangled cry split the night as she came long and hard against his hungry mouth. Before the last wave died, T was there, holding her in his arms briefly before turning her to face the sturdy post. Twirling easily, she laid her head back on T’s chest, trying to stop the frantic spinning of her world. “You taste so fine, darlin’,” he breathed against her ear. He cupped her breasts in his big hands, thumbing the nipples until she was ready to shoot off like a firecracker. Again.