Page 8 of The Cowboy’s Forever Promise

How would he ever be able to get into a shower and not think of the gorgeous blonde he’d had the pleasure of spending a night with?

If it hadn’t been for the rumpled bed, her lingering scent in the room and the hairbrush, he would’ve thought he’d dreamed the whole thing. He certainly wasn’t in the habit of picking up unknown women in a bar. It wasn’t as if he were a prude, but he’d honestly never felt the urge. Until last night, that was.

From the moment the blonde had walked into the bar until she’d ended up in his arms, he’d been bewitched. There was no other word for it. Normally he was a bit tongue-tied around women and would never even think about touching one he didn’t know, but somehow, with her, it had been perfectly appropriate to talk to her, to touch her, to kiss her, to make love to her.

Images of her slim body above him, under him, curling into him, floated through his mind.

With a groan, he closed the tap. She’d left. Chances of him ever seeing her again were zero.

But damn if he didn’t miss her smile this morning.

*

Abby stopped by the side of the road outside Marietta, allowing herself to exhale for the first time since she’d left the cowboy’s bed. Not even when she had to stop for gas had she allowed herself to think about last night. What she had done was scold herself.

What had happened to her resolution to never, ever surrender to crazy impulses? She didn’t do spontaneous, remember? Not ever had she even considered coloring outside the lines. And there were lines, everyone knew that.

Her life had been going smoothly according to her plan. It was a good one, one that had so far kept her from doing something stupid like going to the room of a guy she’d just met. In a bar of all places.

Until last night. Until she’d locked eyes with a cowboy with his one blue and one brown eye. The mismatched eyes should’ve bothered her, should’ve made her leave the bar, or at least prevented her from even talking to him, but no, every single rational thought had just vanished.

For the first time in her life, she’d forgotten about lines and plans and control and had simply succumbed to every, single impulse from that moment.

With hindsight, it was easy to see what she shouldn’t have done. She shouldn’t have left her hotel room in the first place. She shouldn’t have entered a bar, she shouldn’t have accepted and drunk a strange drink, she shouldn’t have turned to look into a stranger’s eyes, she shouldn’t have touched him, let him kiss her, and she certainly should’ve gone with him to his hotel room.

Groaning, she dropped her head on the steering wheel. So why had it felt so utterly normal, so right to be with him? What she’d experienced in his arms was a first. Nobody had ever touched her with so much tenderness, brushed her hair as if he would never get enough of touching her, nobody had ever looked at her as if she was the most beautiful woman on earth, and nobody had ever taken her to the heights of pleasure the cowboy had managed to do.

They’d literally made love all night long. Wasn’t there a song about it?

With a soft laugh, she rubbed her face. After four hours her body was still humming, her breasts were still tingling and … she didn’t even want to think about the rest of her body. Blushing furiously, she started her car. Now she was blushing, last night she didn’t have any qualms getting rid of her bra, yanking off a stranger’s shirt, touching his impressive body, welcoming him into her body.

She’d only realized how messy his room was as she was leaving. Maybe if she’d noticed it earlier, it would’ve prevented her from making such a huge mistake, but no, her mind had been so clouded with lust, she’d simply tuned out anything else. While looking for her clothes this morning, she’d ended up folding everything of his that was lying around and leaving it on a chair in a neat pile.

Shaking, she inhaled. This was not helping. Taking another few deep breaths, she tried to calm down as she checked her rearview mirror before she steered her car back on to the road.

Her first instinct this morning had been to flee back to Seattle, but she’d promised June she would visit her. She hadn’t seen her friend in months and was really looking forward to visiting her. They had a lot to talk about.

Besides, how would she explain her change of heart?

Opening her phone with unsteady fingers, she found Annie’s directions to the B & B. She hadn’t showered again this morning because she was petrified the cowboy would wake up. There was no way she could’ve faced him in the cold light of day. Inhaling shudderingly, she groaned out loud. If she wasn’t mistaken, his scent was still on her. She needed a long shower to wash away every single memory of last night.

She quickly texted June to let her know she’d be ready in half an hour. Rummaging through her handbag, she looked for her brush. Maybe she should at least braid her hair before she met her landlady.

This morning, she hadn’t even bothered to comb her hair, she’d just twisted it and pushed it into the back of her top. At her own hotel she hadn’t lingered, even though she needed a shower badly, only grabbed her luggage before she’d left. She’d been petrified the cowboy would somehow find out where she was staying.

Only now she realized how ridiculous that was. For him she was just another one-night stand, why would he go looking for her? Damn it, where was her brush?

As she opened the bag wider, she closed her eyes and sighed. She remembered exactly where it would be. On the floor of the cowboy’s hotel room. Of course, she had more than one hairbrush, but for this trip, she’d only packed one.

Hopefully Annie would have something she could use until June picked her up this afternoon.

Chapter Three

Annie was as lovely as June had promised, hugging Abby like a long-lost friend.

“I’m so happy you’ve decided to stay with us. Craig, my husband, is on a Zoom call with a client in Portland at the moment, but you’ll see him later. Let me show you your room. Up the stairs.” She looked at Abby’s one bag. “Do you have anything else in your car?”

Abby shook her head. “No, this is it. I do need to borrow a hairbrush from you until I can get to the shops. I think I’ve left mine in the hotel room.” Exactly whose room, she wasn’t saying.