Bedded then Wed

Did she accept because her feminine heart had dreamed of this moment a million times? Or did she turn him down because she suspected the offer stemmed more from guilt than an actual interest in seeing her socially?

Wrapping her fingers around the mug of still-warm coffee in front of her, she lifted it to her mouth and took a sip, buying herself a little more time.

But in the end, she knew what her decision would be. Knew that her heart and her sense of possibility would drive her to at least see where things could lead.

Maybe it would lead only to a couple of dates, dinner or a movie. Or maybe it would lead to more—to Mitch realizing he’d never belonged with Suzanne, but with a woman more like Emma. If she was lucky, with Emma herself.

The sensible side of her brain knew it was too much to hope for, but she was willing to take a chance. It was a small one, after all, and if things did work out, the payoff would be big. Everything she’d ever dreamed of.

And if it didn’t, she was the only person who would ever know her wishes had been for more than a casual relationship. She was the only one who would be hurt.

Taking a deep breath, she returned the cup to its saucer, then lifted her eyes to his. “All right.”

“Good.” He shifted in the booth, digging his wallet out of his hip pocket, peeling off bills and dropping them onto the tabletop. Then he slid out and got to his feet. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

Without a backward glance, he stalked out of the diner, leaving her alone with her coffee and uneaten pie.

If she were smart, she told herself for the fiftieth time, she would have called Mitch up and told him to forget about tonight.

He hadn’t exactly acted like Prince Charming back at Rosie’s when he’d walked out on her. And he hadn’t asked her out tonight, so much as told her when to be ready. For that alone, he almost deserved to be stood up.

Yet here she was, poised in front of her full-length mirror, checking her appearance one last time before he arrived.

She’d already fixed a supper plate for Pop and warned him she would be gone for the evening. She had no idea where Mitch intended to take her, but she assumed dinner would be involved, so she hadn’t bothered eating herself.

Then she’d come upstairs and torn apart her closet in search of something decent to wear. Without a destination in mind, it made dressing difficult, but she’d finally settled on a denim skirt and pale-yellow peasant blouse.

Looking at her reflection now, she adjusted the gold chain at her neck and tucked back a few thin strands of hair that had slipped out of its clip.

Through the open bedroom window, she heard Mitch’s truck pull up to the house and her father’s greeting as Mitch got out, slamming the door behind him.

She took a deep breath, straightened the hem of her top, then slid her feet into the black mules she’d pulled out of her closet earlier. Regardless of the butterflies tap-dancing through her belly, she’d agreed to go out with him. Beneath the layers of nerves that had her all but jumping out of her skin, she was even looking forward to it.

“Emma, honey,” her father shouted up the stairs. “Mitch is here.”

As though she wasn’t already keenly aware of his presence. Her arms had broken out in gooseflesh the minute he’d turned into the drive.

“Coming,” she called, when she found her voice.

He was waiting just inside the kitchen, near the front door. His black Stetson was in his hand rather than on his head, tapping against the side of his denim-clad thigh.

“Hi,” she said when his gaze lifted to hers.

“Hi.” He scanned her from head to toe, then met her eyes again. “You look nice.”

As compliments went, it wasn’t the best she’d ever received, but knowing that Mitch didn’t dole them out very often to anyone, she decided to accept.

“Thank you. You, too.”

He was dressed in jeans and a plaid button-down shirt, the same as usual, but he always looked good to her, so the compliment still fit.

“Ready to go?”

She nodded, grabbing a light jacket from the coatrack beside the door.

“You two have a good time,” her father called out from his seat at the kitchen table. He waved them off, barely sparing them a second glance as he dug into his dinner.

Mitch closed the door behind them, then walked her to the passenger side of his truck and helped her climb in.

“So, where are we going?” she asked once he was behind the wheel and they were headed down the long dirt driveway to the main road.

“You’ll see.”

She raised an eyebrow at his less than enlightening answer, but he kept his eyes on the road and couldn’t see the look of consternation she shot him.

Ten minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of the Silver Spur, one of the most popular honky-tonks in Gabriel’s Crossing. Lights blinked on the roof and bright neon signs shone in the windows, advertising a dozen different brands of draft and bottled beer.

Emma had only been to the Spur a couple of times before and always with a group of friends because the bar tended to get rowdy on the weekends. But this was a weeknight, and even though it was a strange place to go for a first date, she was with Mitch, so she had nothing to worry about.

He came around to help her down from the truck, then held her hand as they walked into the bar. Loud country music blared, filling the early evening air and hitting them like an ocean wave when they pushed open the front door.

Men and women, most wearing cowboy hats of all sizes and colors, filled the wide, open room. Dancing, milling around, sitting at the tables and bar with longneck bottles of beer and bowls of peanuts in front of them.

Sawdust was scattered in clumps across the scarred wood floor, and antlers decorated the walls, along with a dartboard and assorted alcoholic beverage posters and signs. At the far end of the room, a live band played on a raised stage and a group of people—mostly made up of couples—line danced to the tune of a Texas two-step.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Mitch asked, leaning over her shoulder and speaking close to her ear to be heard over the volume of the music. “Dance, find a table and order some nachos, or sit at the bar and order a drink?”

She scanned the crowd, weighing her options. This was a far cry from the movie or dinner at a quiet restaurant she’d expected of tonight, but it could still be fun.

“Let’s get a drink,” she yelled back, tipping her head toward the bar.

With his hand at her back, Emma eased her way through the crush of bodies and hopped up on one of the tall stools lining the long mahogany bar. Mitch took a seat beside her and ordered two cold beers.

Since she hadn’t had anything to eat yet that evening, she sipped her drink slowly and tried to avoid their images in the mirror that lined the wall behind the bar.

It wasn’t her reflection that made her uncomfortable, but Mitch’s. He was too darn handsome, too tall and sinewy and masculine in all the right places.

Beneath the wide rim of his black hat, he looked like some hardened Clint Eastwood character. His eyes glittered in the low lighting, his mouth a thin line of indifference.

And yet he took her breath away. Every strong, familiar inch of him.

She dragged her gaze away, staring intently at the colorful label that circled the brown glass bottle in her hand until her pulse slowed to an almost human rate of speed instead of that of a hummingbird.

Even in a rowdy, crowded bar, surrounded by strangers and the teeth-rattling thrum of a noisy band, she was still unaccountably attracted to him. He hadn’t touched her intimately since that night in the barn two weeks ago, yet she still felt the whisper of his hands and mouth on her naked flesh.

She shivered at the memory and took a long swallow of her light beer to extinguish the fire sparking to life low in her belly.

When Mitch’s hand closed on her arm, she jumped.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

He was talking at a near-normal volume now, and she realized the band had slipped into a much slower song.

“Let’s dance,” he said. Then, without waiting for a reply, he slid off his stool and pulled her down to the floor beside him.

Fingers linked together, he led her to the dance floor, then swung her around and into his arms.

He held her entirely too close…not too close for society’s standards, especially in this place, but too close for her peace of mind. For her body to maintain its natural calm.

One of his hands clutched hers. The other rested at the small of her back, his arm wrapped around her waist. His tall form brushed against her in all the right spots—chest to breasts, stomach to stomach, pelvis to pelvis. Everywhere they touched, rockets went off beneath her skin.

If he hadn’t been holding her up, she thought she probably would have melted to the floor. As it was, her feet felt like they were barely touching the ground.

The music flowed all around them, and for the moment she let herself pretend this was more than their first date, more than two old friends who were toying with the idea of getting more seriously involved.

She imagined they were old lovers, maybe even a married couple, still very much in love. Out on the town for their anniversary, or perhaps just for an evening away from the kids.

The hand on her back shifted slightly lower, caressing the upper curve of her buttock and drawing her snug against his arousal.

It stunned her still that he was so obviously attracted to her. After all the years she’d pined for him from afar, to suddenly have him notice her as a woman and show sexual interest left her feeling confused and off-balance. Especially when he could make love to her with abandon one minute, then leave her hanging for two full weeks without so much as a phone call.

But he was trying. His suggestion that they try dating might not have been the smoothest invitation she’d ever received, and this might not be the greatest first date she’d ever gone on, but she gave him an A for effort.

And an A-plus for the way he made her heart beat faster, her knees turn to jelly, and her insides feel like she was riding up and down in an elevator car.

She sighed and closed her eyes, forgetting that they were in the middle of a crowded dance floor. As far as she was concerned, there was only Mitch and herself and the electricity arcing between them.

His rough jaw scraped her cheek as he leaned in close, his warm breath stirring her hair as he leaned in to speak above her ear.

“Want to get out of here?”

She blinked, raising her head to meet his gaze. His gray eyes burned with barely banked desire, and it was all she could do to remain upright.

She didn’t think, didn’t weigh the pros and cons, she simply responded in the only way her heart and body would allow. “Yes.”

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