She shrugs. “I’m used to him. It’ll be him and me until the end, of that I have no doubt.”
Landry chuckles, but surprises me when he cautions a troubled, playful glance at Mabel. “Hey now, Mabel, I hear I have a bone to pick with you.” He glances my way, steely blue eyes so clear and gorgeous I almost go breathless from my cowboy’s hunky good looks. “I heard you tried to make me think Miss Quinn went on a date, you know, before I got my ring on her finger.”
Mabel looks at me and smirks. “Well, I knew she wanted to date you, but she wouldn’t admit it. All I did was get the ittiest of balls rolling.” She beams, fanning herself, silver hair flying. “That’s why I’m Mrs. I Told Ya So, after all. I mean, I know the marriage started as fake, but I also just saw you take a handful of cowboy junk,” Mabel says to me, making me immediately flush. “So I was right. You two are the real deal.”
I look up at Landry. “You were right, Mabel,” he says to her while looking at me.
“Okay, well, go ahead, get back to your whisperin’ and smoochin’,” she says, waving her fan. “I’m off to get a beer and a pretzel.”
“Enjoy yourself, Mabel,” Landry says as she throws a lazy wave over her shoulder and joins the line for pretzels.
“C’mon, let’s go make sure Petunia and Sadie don't marry off another pair of related animals, then we’ll do some dancing,” he says to me, feeding his fingers into mine. His hand dwarfs mine, being twice the size, but I love the feel of being safe in his grip.
Kids are so random. When I asked Sadie why she wanted to skip watching her daddy’s ride, she took my hand in hers and began softly stroking my palm. “Miss Elena’s friend brought his horse, all the way from Wyoming,” she started, her little chestnut curls wild around her face. “Her friend brought a real fancy horse that we don’t have in Texas.” I nodded, and that’s when keeping a straight face got hard. “Miss Quinn, I love watchin’ my daddy, but Miss Elena’s friend’s horse has really pretty eyes, like real rare and stuff, so me and Petunia had to see ’em.”
“Ah,” I said, “a rare horse. Well, I certainly don’t blame you. And you always know you can watch the movie I make of his ride later.”
She waved me off when I said that. “Oh yes, I’ll do that.”
On the side of the bed, I ease my pink boot off my foot, and immediately start rubbing my heel. I do the same to the other foot as Landry comes in, his sun-kissed skin and tousled hair stirring up my insides, even after four beers and a round of line dancing that got me nicknamed “the bad dancing Vaughn.”
“How’d it go?” I ask, since Sadie asked that Landry specifically put her to bed tonight.
He pulls his belt out of his jeans. “Good.”
I scratch my scalp where my barrette kept hair out of my eyes all night. “I hope she isn’t upset with me.” I yawn,talking through it as I tug my top off over my head. “I missed putting her to bed.”
Landry hangs his hat on the rack by the door and kicks off his boots, moving for his jeans. He’s as large as the doorframe, with wide-set shoulders and a muscled body that tells the tale of ranch life and bronc riding. I’m enjoying what’s mine when he glances up, a mischievous grin on his lips. “I kinda like finding you watchin’ me,” he says, shoving his jeans down until he’s just a filthy white T-shirt and beautiful, tanned skin. He wags his brows before disappearing for a moment, returning to the room with the shower started in the bathroom.
He drops to his knees between mine and kisses my thighs, then places a kiss on my pussy, over my panties, beneath my skirt. “She didn’t want you to be there at bedtime because she needed to talk to me.”
My eyes roll closed as heat infiltrates my veins from the flick of his thumb over my clit. “Everything,” I start, easily becoming breathless from his mouth, “is everything okay?”
He nuzzles into me.
“I need to shower,” I whine, knowing full well that he needs one, too, and yet if he pulled his cock out and commanded me to fall to my knees and suck it, I would. Sweaty or not.
“She wants you to stay. Forever,” he whispers. Finally sick of the barrier, he rolls my skirt up my hips then yanks my panties down, making me squeal. Mussed hair and gorgeous eyes appear in front of my face as I open my eyes. “I want you to stay, too.” His voice is thin, threaded with fatigue and desire.
He places his thumbs beneath my eyes, on the apples of my cheeks, and slowly strokes them down. “Right here,” he says, “that’s where I wanna see your tears.”
I raise my brows. “Tears?”
His eyes drop to my mouth, studying and praising silently for a moment before he looks up at me. Landry’s nod puts a lecherous desire between my legs.
“Your throat is going to be so full of me that you’re gonna start crying,” he says quietly, sensitively stroking the pads of his thumbs over my cheeks. “And I’m gonna hold you steady and wipe your tears, and when your throat is too good, I’m gonna lay you down, spread you out, and fuck your tiny, perfect pussy until you can’t talk or walk.” He kisses the side of my throat, stubble burning deliciously. “How’s that sound?”
I nod my head, ready to put aside free use for a moment to become his to use. “You know, you can always use me the way you want, the way I was using you,” I start, a little embarrassed to want him so boldly, despite the fact I share his last name and wear his ring.
“I intend to do just that,” Landry promises, popping up from a squat with me over his shoulder. His strength is such a turn-on, knowing he’s capable of anything, able to do or fix anything. Fuck hot. “But not until we’ve shared a nice, steamy shower.”
In the bathroom, Landry and I finish getting undressed, though there’s no art to it. We’re horny and hot, and that combo has my bra flying and his shirt hanging from the light switch as we step into the shower, lips clashing, teeth gnashing.
Everything has become so frantic, and for a million dollars and all the Indie Film Awards in the world, I don’t know if I could stop now.
Landry rolls a bar of soap in a washcloth, and gets to work on my arm, draping my hand over his shoulder. He washes me, steam heavy in the air, our eyes locked in a dizzyingspell. “You looked beautiful tonight,” he says quietly, and though we’re naked and he’s about to claim my mouth in a way that makes me wild, still, the comment bridges an intimate gap I didn’t know was there. “I love seeing you out there, love feeling that skip in my pulse when I find you in the sea of faces.”
“Yeah?” I ask, suddenly feeling the beers and heat, and the emotion of it all. My chest tightens, so much that I can’t speak through it.
