True Love Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan

By the time he finished bathing Emmy and getting her ready for bed, his whole house smelled like spicy beef and melted cheese. Trinity took the pound of ground beef, a tomato, the jar of jalapeños, a block of cheddar, and the bag of tortilla chips he had on hand and started turning them into oven-baked nachos. It wasn’t the Italian meal he still owed her, but it made his stomach rumble.

The long drive home gave him time to let his anger wane. It still simmered in the background. He needed to give some serious thought to what he was going to do about Steph and Emmy. This couldn’t go on.

“Did you pick your three books?”

Emmy turned from her bookcase with four in her arms. “I can’t decide which to put back.”

She gave him the sad face he couldn’t ignore and he caved. As usual. “Let’s do four then.”

She dumped the books on her bed. “I have to say good-night to Trinity.” She ran from the room.

He went after her and caught up just in time to see Emmy throw her arms around Trinity’s gorgeous legs.

“Good night, Trinity.”

“Thank you for dinner and the brownie,” he prompted her.

“Thank you.” She tilted her head way back to look up at Trinity. “Will you bring me a brownie every time I see you?”

“I’ll try, but sometimes it may not be possible.” Trinity leaned down and rubbed her nose against Emmy’s. “I had fun stargazing with you.”

“Me too. Do it again next date-night-with-Emmy?”

Trinity giggled. “Sounds good. Now, off to bed with you.”

“You read stories, not Daddy.”

“Sweet girl, Trinity just cooked dinner. She’s had a long day. I’ll read to you.”

Emmy held Trinity’s hand. “No. Her.”

“I don’t mind.” She opened the oven door, revealing two plates of nachos. “Why don’t you take yours and eat.”

He stared into her beautiful blue eyes. “I’ll wait for you.”

“You must be starving.”

For her, yes. That dress. Those legs. Her sweet smile. All of it tempted him. She made him so damn hungry. “Let’s put her to bed, then have dinner together.”

Emmy smiled with her victory and ran for her room.

Jon stopped Trinity before she followed. Before he said anything, Trinity put her fingers over his lips. “Don’t thank me. I’m glad you called. I wouldn’t have wanted Emmy to spend another second alone while you drove all the way to town. Your ex is something else.”

He rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. She was so good with Emmy when she was a baby. I never worried about things then. But now . . .” He shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around how things had deteriorated to Steph not caring that she left their sweet girl alone like that.

“It’s none of my business, but . . .”

“What?” He really wanted to hear what she had to say.

“If you don’t do something about it, it’s as good as you saying what she’s doing is okay.”

He feared Emmy felt that way, too.

Trinity leaned in and kissed him. Best thing to happen to him all night. “You’re a great father, Jon. She loves being with you. You brought her here to put her first. Do that.”

He wanted to, but . . . “It’s complicated. Emmy deserves time with her mother.”

“Does her mother deserve time with Emmy?”

The turnabout took him aback. He hadn’t really thought about it in that way. He didn’t want to deny Emmy her mom. That relationship was important and essential. He loved and missed his mom and wished she was still here to give him advice and the support he could always count on. But if Steph couldn’t take care of Emmy and be the kind of mom she needed, maybe she didn’t deserve to see Emmy.

Trinity patted his tight chest with her palm. “No one is saying cut her off completely from Emmy. But does she need to have Emmy for days at a time?”

He sighed. “No. She doesn’t.” So many changes. Moving from California. His father moving. Renovating the ranch. Meeting Trinity. Now possibly taking on being a full-time single father.

He could do it all. It was just a lot all at once and in such a short time. He needed his brain to catch up.

“Looks like I’m facing another battle with Steph.”

“Emmy is worth it.”

“Absolutely.” No doubt. But he didn’t look forward to Steph fighting him for her parental rights. She loved Emmy, and despite how hard and unfulfilling she found taking care of her, she wouldn’t back down when it came to having her time with Emmy.

“It doesn’t need to be a fight. If she can’t tend to Emmy’s basic needs and provide a safe environment for her, then you will.”

He’d have to prove his case in court, and even when he did the courts tended to give parents a chance to prove themselves and often sided with the mother.

His lawyer had advised him of that when they made the original agreement and the changes prior to the move.

But after what happened tonight, he’d push the matter for Emmy’s sake.

“I can’t let something like this happen again. I’ve given her several chances before, and it goes well for a few weeks, a couple months, then the effort becomes too much. She doesn’t pay attention to what or how well Emmy eats. She skips baths to get her to go to sleep because she let her stay up too late. Then Emmy is cranky and Steph is short-tempered and they end up arguing about stupid stuff. I want better for Emmy, but those things aren’t reasons that a court would take Emmy from her.” He raked his fingers over his head. “We keep ending up in this bad place, where I’m acting like the parent to both of them. I thought the move would be good for Steph. A fresh start. She could create a whole new life here. But she’s making all the wrong choices.”

“Do you believe she can make a significant change for Emmy’s sake?”

No, he answered easily. “I’m so tired of doing this.” He let his head fall back, then sucked in a breath and looked at Trinity again. “I’ll talk to my lawyer, ask him how I move forward with getting full custody. Her inexcusable actions tonight actually help me.” And if he could settle this without getting Department of Public Health and Human Services involved, all the better for Emmy.

“I don’t want to push you to do something you’re not ready to do. I’m just playing devil’s advocate for you so maybe you see things in a new perspective.”

“Oh, I’m looking at them from Emmy’s point of view. She told me during her bath that she was really scared when the can in the microwave started sparking. She didn’t know what to do. Luckily, I had her mom put a speed dial for me with my picture on her phone. All Emmy had to do was tap it to get me.”

“You were just a phone call away. I’m sure that made her feel better.”

“She shouldn’t have been left alone in the first place. She’s four.” It still made his heart ache and the anger flare to think of her all alone and scared. What if she hadn’t had the phone and Steph hadn’t come home for hours?

Trinity held his arm. “Let’s go read her books and set this aside for tonight.”

They walked down the hall and stood in Emmy’s doorway. She’d fallen asleep with the books spread out beside her and her favorite stuffed bunny under her arm.

“She had one hell of a day.” Jon went to the side of the bed, kissed Emmy on the forehead, picked up the books and set them on the bookshelf, then returned to Trinity at the door.

She gave him another soft, sweet smile. “You had a hard day, too.”

He locked eyes with her and closed the distance between them. “Ending my day with you . . .” He didn’t have words to express how much it meant to have her here, supporting him, that the drama and chaos in his life hadn’t driven her away. “I really appreciate how you make everything better.”

She placed her warm hand on his cheek.

He leaned into her sweet touch and savored the feel of her skin against his.

“I’m sorry Steph put you and Emmy through that tonight. You both deserve better.”

“Amazing is standing right in front of me.” He slipped his hand into her hair and drew her in for a soft kiss that had her body melting against his, warming him up from the inside out. He touched his forehead to hers and stared into her smoldering eyes. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

She kissed him again with the same sultry slowness.

The connection between them felt like a tangible thing, growing and strengthening with each passing day and every moment shared.

Reluctantly, he ended the kiss, took her hand, and drew her down the hall to the kitchen. She’d made dinner and he couldn’t wait to share it with her and a little more time alone together. He wanted to look at her beautiful face across the table, feel her presence surround him, and wallow in the peace she always brought with her.

She took her seat at the table. He pulled the two plates of nachos out of the oven. They were warm, the food a little on the dry side but still edible when he set the plates on the table. He pulled the sour cream and two beers from the fridge, grabbed a spoon, and joined Trinity at the table. He sat next to her and she immediately reached out and squeezed his thigh, then spooned sour cream onto her nachos like they did this all the time.

He cracked open her beer, then his. He held his up. She did the same.

“To you. Beautiful inside and out.”

Her soft cheeks pinkened and she tapped her bottle to his. “Thank you, Jon.”

He loved that she took the compliment and let the happy feeling it gave her shine in her eyes and smile.

They both sipped the cold beer and settled into the quiet kitchen and good meal.

She picked up a meaty, cheesy chip and stuffed it into her mouth, leaving a dollop of sour cream on her lip.

He brushed his thumb over it, then sucked it off, and smiled at her. “Mmm.”

“Eat yours.”

“I like watching you.”

She gave him a sexy smile and stuffed the next chip she picked up into his mouth. He chewed and smiled at her, feeling the weight of the day disappear.

“I’m sorry another date didn’t go as planned.”

She locked eyes with him. “I don’t know. This is pretty good.”

“Only because of you.” He let his gaze travel down and up her. Every part of him turned hot and desperate for her. “You wore another killer dress.”

“I wanted to see you look at me just like that again.”

He’d barely touched his food because all he wanted to do was soak her up.

She abandoned hers and turned to him. “It’s a long drive back to town.”

Disappointment hit him hard and fast.

“Maybe I should stay here tonight.”

Surprise and excitement rushed through him, making his eyes go wide. “Are you sure?” He hoped he wasn’t dreaming.

She leaned in until their lips were inches apart. “If you want me t—”

He cut her off with a searing kiss to let her know just how much he wanted her in his bed. “Make my night. Stay.”

She stood and he followed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his. In her high heels, their bodies perfectly aligned. “Sounds like you’re going to make my night.”

He swept his hands up her sides and around her back. She kissed him with a demand and urgency that told him she wanted this as much as he did. He backed her out of the kitchen and down the hall, still kissing her, needing to get her into his room and his bed. Now.

Just to be safe, and so they’d have no distractions, he let her loose, closed his bedroom door, and flipped the lock. In the dark, he could barely see her face, but he caught the raised eyebrow.

“Emmy sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and sneaks into bed with me.”

Trinity hooked her hand at his neck and drew him close again. “That’s sweet.”

Yeah, he loved it. But . . . “Tonight I want to be alone with you.”

“Nice.”

“You might not think that of me if you knew what I was thinking about doing to you right now.”

She gave him a sexy, seductive smile. “Should I pick a safe word?”

He pressed his hand to her beautiful face and brushed his thumb across her soft cheek. “I take instruction very well. Yes. More. Don’t stop.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you don’t ever want to say no.”

She leaned in and kissed him once. “Then, yes.” She kissed him again. “More.” She kissed him again, this time with her tongue sliding across his bottom lip. “Go. And don’t stop.”

Maybe he really had finally met his match.

The thought drove him wild and he dove in for a searing kiss that drove them both mad with wanting.

Her fingers worked the buttons at the front of his shirt.

He slid the zipper down her back, and the sexy black dress slipped right off her and pooled at her feet. He broke the kiss and stared at her pale skin disrupted by a black lace bra and barely there strip of panties that made his mouth water. “Damn, Trinity. You’re beautiful.”

“You’re overdressed.” She slipped her hands inside his shirt at his shoulders and pushed it down his arms. Her hands went to his chest and ran over his skin as he worked his hands out of the cuffs. Those roaming hands of hers dipped to his navel and attacked his belt. He kicked off his shoes. She pushed his pants over his hips and took his hard length in one hand, rubbing it up and down over his boxers as he kissed her neck and cupped her ass in both hands and squeezed.

She reached down and slipped off one heel and then the other. He undid the bra clasp at her back and pulled the lace right off her arms and sent it flying across the room. He spun her around, pulled her back to his chest, and filled his hands with her full breasts. She slid her hands over his thighs and held tight as she rubbed her ass against his throbbing cock.

He kissed a trail across the top of her shoulder and up her neck to her ear. “I want you so damn bad.” He nipped her shoulder, then smoothed his tongue over the love bite.

She moaned and slid her hand back between them and wrapped her fingers firm around his shaft. He worked her nipples to hard peaks, rolling them between his fingers as he walked her forward to the bed until her knees pressed against the mattress. He slid one hand down to her belly; the other massaged her breast. He kissed a trail down her neck and spine as he made her bend forward until she freed his aching cock and planted her hands on the bed.

He tugged at her nipple and cupped her sex in his other hand, sliding his fingers over her hot, wet center. He wanted to feel her skin against his, but to do that he needed to rid her of the sexy panties. He reluctantly left that sweet spot and drew his fingers up and over her hip to her back, trailing them up her spine, then back down again until his fingers hooked in the strings holding her thong on and he pulled it over her round ass and down her legs.

He kicked his pants off, took her by the hips, and rubbed his aching dick against her rump. She pushed back into him and it was all he could do not to pull his cock free of his boxer briefs and drive it home into her wet core.

But they had all night and he wanted to make this first time last.

If he could. Because damn, she tempted him to just take what he wanted. Hard and fast.

He leaned over her back. She immediately rubbed her ass against his dick again, making him groan. Hell, he’d beg at this point, he wanted her so damn bad. He swept her long hair to one side and whispered in her ear. “Lie down.”

She turned her head to him, their bodies pressed against each other, and smiled.

He could live on that wicked grin.

She held his gaze, put one knee on the bed, pushed herself forward at the same time lying across the bedspread. The soft moonlight filtering through the window highlighted every curve of her long body. The slope of her shoulder, the dip of her waist, the swell of her ass, and those long legs.

“Perfection.”

She answered with, “More.”

He ripped off his socks and boxer briefs. At last he stood before her with no barriers between them. Her eyes dilated with desire and her mouth opened slightly. Temptingly.

He started at her ankle and kissed his way up to her very fine ass, then took her knee, pushed and rolled her to her back. On his hands and knees, he stared down at her lying beneath him. “I think about doing this all day long.”

Her fingers slid into his hair and tightened into a fist the second he leaned down and licked his way up her soft folds to her clit with the tip of his tongue. Her soft little moan made him smile, so he did it again, glanced up at her, and licked his lips. “More?”

She pushed his head back down. He chuckled, but gave her exactly what she wanted and more, drawing her legs over his shoulders and burying his face in her sweet center. He sank his tongue deep, and she went limp on another moan. He loved her right up to the edge and kept her there with soft slides of his flat tongue and barely there brushes of his thumb against her clit.

“Jon, now.” Frustration and demand filled that order, making him want to smile, but instead he gave her what she wanted, slid two fingers into her slick channel, circled her clit with his tongue, and sent her flying over the edge with her heels dug into his back.

The quake of her body against his lips and the satisfied moan echoing in his ears nearly undid him, but he held it together, distracting himself by kissing his way up her body to one peaked nipple and drawing it into his mouth. He licked the tip, then rose over her, stared down, and found her smiling up at him as her hand clamped around his hard dick. She stroked his length up and down. Her thumb found the bead of moisture and she circled the head, spreading it around and driving him crazy.

He stilled her hand with his. “I’m so damn close, I . . .”

Words eluded him when she squeezed his dick. “Condom. Now.”

He’d bought a box this week and tossed it in the nightstand drawer. While he grabbed it, Trinity kissed and touched any part of him she could reach. He loved the feel of her hands and mouth on him, but it made it hard to concentrate and roll the condom on before he settled between her soft thighs and nudged the tip of his throbbing cock against her wet center.

Her hands slid down his sides to his hips and she pulled him in as he thrust deep.

“Oh God, yes,” she said on a sigh.

He lost all thought and the ability to speak as their bodies moved together. She held him close, her hands sliding over his skin, their lips locked in a kiss that matched the way they made love. Steady and urgent at first, then wild and desperate until they both went up in a brilliant flash of ecstasy that pounded through him and continued to pulse even after he collapsed on top of her.

She held him with one hand on his back, the other on his head, her fingers slowly sweeping back and forth in his hair. His heart thundered against hers. He could barely catch his breath, and the only thought in his head was, Don’t let go.

His mind didn’t start with, I think this could really be the start of something. It went right to, I don’t want to lose her.

Or maybe that was his heart talking.

Either way, he’d never felt this way about anyone.

He’d had hints of it since the first day they met. He knew she was special. The connection he felt to her kept getting stronger. But this. Being with her, making love to her, it opened something inside him. And she filled that empty space.

Any reservation he had, any nagging warning he should go slow, be sure, this could go wrong, disappeared, replaced with a sense that everything between them was absolutely right and perfect.

Possibly sensing something in him, she hugged him close and nuzzled her nose into his neck and kissed him softly. “Mmm. That was . . .”

She stalled a second. He held his breath.

“Amazing.”

Relief eased the tightness in his chest. He wasn’t the only one feeling something more now.

He had to be squishing her, so he slid his hand around her back and rolled to the side, taking her with him. She ended up tucked into his side as he landed on his back. He brushed the hair from her temple and kissed her on the head.

“I’m not sure amazing covers it.” His mind was still trying to catch up to the overwhelming feelings filling him up.

She snuggled in closer.

The silence stretched until he had to ask. “What are you thinking?” Wasn’t it women who always asked that? But he really wanted to know.

“I don’t know how to say this, except to say . . .” She paused. He hoped from being shy about saying whatever was on her mind and not because she didn’t want to tell him. “It felt different.”

He rolled to face her and stared into her eyes, letting her know he really wanted to hear more. “How so?”

She placed her hand on his jaw. And though he saw the shyness in her eyes, she said, “Like it meant more.” The way she said it, it almost sounded like a question.

So he immediately reassured her. “It did to me.” He kissed her softly, then met her gaze again. “What we have, Trinity . . . It’s good. It’s what I’ve wanted for a while now, but just couldn’t find. Until I met you.”

“I’ve watched my brothers all fall for someone who turned out to be the right one for them.” She pressed her lips together, her eyes soft and hopeful, staring back at him. “I’m hoping that’s what this is.”

“Me too.” It felt good to know they were on the same page and feeling the same thing, even if it was new for both of them.

And all he wanted to do was hold on to this feeling and her forever.