Free Send Me a Cowboy by Joann Baker

his arm drop to his side but made no move to
help her from his lap. If she wanted to leave him, she could damn
well do it on her own.
    Katie thought John looked impossibly
arrogant. He still wore his leather jacket and his once neatly
combed hair was rumpled from her fingers. She hadn’t even realized
that she’d ran her fingers through the dark locks as he kissed her,
so lost had she been in the sensation of his touch. No doubt her
mouth looked as swollen as his from the intensity of their kisses.
She knew if she hadn’t called a halt, she’d be lying beneath him
right now feeling the surge of his body as he brought them both the
most intense pleasure that she’d ever known. She went to move, but
his arm came back around her.
    “What I said to you on the ranch was uncalled
for.”
    She laid one hand on his chest, keeping him
at a distance. “Yes, it was.”
    “My only excuse is that I’ve never had these
feelings before. You exasperate the hell out of me, woman.” He ran
a frustrated hand through his already disheveled hair. “I should
never have let you leave the ranch that night. I should have tied
you back to the bed and kept you there until you told me the
truth.”
    Katie blushed as she remembered the one night
they’d shared together. To say John was a demanding lover was the
understatement of the year.
    “I was just so jealous. Crazy with it.” He
laughed harshly. “I thought you’d gone from me to him.” His hand
was faintly unsteady as he pushed back her hair. “I’d never felt
the urge to deck a man as strongly as I did James. My own
brother.”
    He sighed and placed a quick kiss on her
parted lips. “Not only did I distrust you, I thought my brother had
betrayed me as well.”
    Katie sighed, feeling the coldness in her
chest warming a little. “You believed what you needed to
believe.”
    “Come again?”
    “You weren’t ready.”
    “You’re probably right. But after that night
in your arms I felt ready to take on the world, Katie.” He pulled
her closer, his arms like steel bands, holding her tight. “I was
scared. Scared you wouldn’t love me the way I loved you. Scared it
happened so quickly. One minute I was on the phone closing a deal
on a bull and the next you walk in looking so damn sexy in that
little green skirt, I thought I’d explode just from the sight of
you.”
    His lips found hers in a kiss that was dark
and hungry and passionate. Yet it was so gentle and touching, it
melted her heart.
    “How do you suppose we get to know each other
better, Katie-cat?”
    “Well, we could do more of this.” Her sharp
teeth nipped his earlobe then suckled gently, soothingly, eliciting
a deep-throated grown.
    “More of this?” he questioned as his hand
moved to cup her breast.
    Her breath hitched at his warm touch. “Yeah,
more of that.”
    He eased his hand across her stomach. He
moved it lower. “And this?”
    “Oh, yeah,” she groaned huskily, “lots more
of that.”
    Those were the last words they spoke as he
proceeded to show her just how much he loved her.
    *****
    Valentine’s Day was cold and snowy but Katie
didn’t care. She had a boyfriend for Valentine’s Day. Not just a
boyfriend, she had a cowboy. She giggled and hugged the knowledge
to herself as she made her way to Jessica’s office. They were going
to the cafeteria for lunch. Many of the desks she passed already
sported large bouquets of roses and heart shaped boxes of candy.
Again, Katie didn’t care. It would be nice if John sent her
flowers, but she wasn’t expecting it. They were going to have
dinner at her apartment. She was cooking pasta. Quick, simple, with
easy clean up. Because she wanted to get to the dessert quickly.
There would be no chocolate mousse or flaming Baked Alaska in a
fancy restaurant. No her dessert would be John spread across her
silk comforter—a smorgasbord of male delight.
    She couldn’t wait.
    “Are you ready for lunch?”
    Jessica sat behind her desk, her cell phone
in her