Free At the Cowboy's Mercy by Emma Jay Page A

spurts seeming to originate from his goddamned boots, which he still wore.  
    "I like it when you fuck me with your clothes on," she said when he collapsed on the bed beside her, his cock flopping against his shirttail. "It's like you can't wait to get to me."
    He grunted. That wasn't far from the truth. And it scared the hell out of him.
    ***
    They ate a quiet dinner on the porch--well, quiet except for the mews of the kittens in the box Kennedy insisted they bring with them. And the roosting birds in the trees.
    "This is the best time of year in Texas," he said as he crunched on a chip. "No bugs."
    "For like, what, a minute?"
    "A day, at least." He winked at her, and she blushed. What was that about? Luke didn't tease, as a rule.
    He polished off his sandwich and leaned back on his elbows on the porch. "There are some hooks there where I can hang a porch swing once I'm sure there's no dry-rot or anything."  
    "Sounds perfect. I bet the former owners sat out here and watched the sunset."
    He glanced over and saw she was almost done with her sandwich. He jumped up, grabbed the cooler and held his hand out to her. "Come on."
    "Where are we going?" she asked, wadding up her trash and looking for a place to stash it before he finally grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.  
    "To watch the sunset. Get in the truck." He pushed her toward the passenger side and bounced his keys in his palm as he circled the front toward the driver's side. "Wish I'd thought of this sooner." He put the truck in gear and circled it through the yard to head up the overgrown road, past where they'd stopped at the creek, farther up the hill. Again he circled the truck, facing west and put it in park. He rolled down the windows before shutting off the engine and popping open the cooler. He passed her a bottle of beer and twisted the top off his own, then settled back in his seat, his knee resting against the door.
    She popped open the door, inspected the grass before jumping down. She used the tire to heft herself onto the hood of the truck, stretching her legs in front of her. He swung his door open and followed, plopping beside her on the slightly warm hood. She didn't look his way, merely smiled as she lifted the bottle to her lips.  
    Clouds gathered on the horizon, reflecting the oranges, pinks and purples from the sun's rays. The globe itself was already sinking beneath the hills, the bottom third already out of sight. Overhead, ducks flew in formation toward another water source. Around them, the air filled with bird calls.
    And she linked her fingers through his.
    "He didn't want me to call you," she said when the sun was nothing more than a glimmer of light on the other side of the hills. "He didn't want you to see him like that."
    Luke's stomach clenched. "Why did he care how I saw him? God knew he saw me in bad shape more than once."
    "He was weak, he was not in control of his body. The one thing he was in control of was who he saw and didn't see. For the last few months, the only people he saw were his doctor, his home health nurse, and me."
    "That pisses me off, Kennedy."
    She stiffened. "It wasn't my doing. He was my father and I was respecting his wishes. I had to. It was the only thing I could do to help him at that point."
    "Did you try to talk to him about it? Make him see how important it would be for Liam and I to help, to take part?"
    "He was so proud--"
    "And yet when we were too proud he would call us on it."
    She blew out a breath and sat forward, her legs folded, the bottle between them. "He was dying. I didn't want to fight with him when he was dying."
    "Then you should have called me and let me fight with him."
    "Peace was hard for him to come by. He had a lot of pain, and he didn't want to take anything at first. He was the tough guy."
    Her voice had grown softer, distant. She was seeing it all again, and he wanted to tell her to stop, but she was the one who had started.  
    "When he finally gave in and agreed to the