Tyler Read online

  Tyler in her bed. Lord, didn’t that just send another shiver up and down her spine. It worked its way up from her toes, and the sound of her concentration fizzling as it evaporated shook her to the core. Damn. Too late. Color her gone!

  “You know, my brother Dylan would just love you.”

  She shook her head, wondering what he was talking about. It was work struggling to pay attention since he’d sidled up to the bar. Jolene would ride her case no end if she thought Emily was slacking off while everyone was working.

  “Dylan?” Lord, while he’d been talking, she’d been stripping him naked in her mind. Her hands started shaking. She set her cloth down, reached for a bar towel from the neat stack, and wiped the sweat from her palms.

  The slow curving of his lips, lifting into a crooked grin did things to her insides that were probably illegal in forty-nine out of fifty states. But this was Texas. She felt her lips curve upward, mirroring his smile.

  “Yeah,” Tyler nodded. “He’s a man of few words and appreciates the same in a woman.”

  Their shared laughter eased another knot of tension, this one low in her belly. What she was beginning to feel for the man went much deeper than attraction. She reached for the soft cloth and picked up where she’d left off polishing the top of the bar.

  “I didn’t know you had brothers.”

  He hesitated, as if he’d only just realized he’d told her something personal—something she knew she’d only share with someone she’d come to consider a friend, or perhaps more, and figured he would feel the same way.

  He nodded, then said, “Two.”

  The silence between them was no longer comfortable. Wondering if it was him or her, she tried to re-establish the easy rhythm between them. “I don’t.”

  He grinned at her. “You want one?”

  Her bubble of laughter surprised them both. “If Dylan doesn’t like to talk, I don’t think he’d want to hang around with me.”

  Tyler’s gaze swept from the top of her head down to her hands then back. “You’d be wrong about that,” he said. “All of us Garahans are real partial to redheads.”

  He didn’t seem uncomfortable with the confession, and Emily noticed he’d been staring at her hands. She dug deep not to give in to the impulse to reach across the bar and grab him.

  Tyler cleared his throat and nodded toward her still-moving hand. “You’ll wear a hole clean through the wood if you don’t move to another spot.”

  She froze. Tension crackled in the air between them.

  Emily felt her toes curl over the edge of the precipice and the wind blowing in her face. Digging deep to pull back from the lure of unbridled passion simmering in his velvet brown gaze, she drew in a deep cleansing breath. She wanted him right here, right now, on the bar. Needing to keep her mind on the job and her hands busy, she kept polishing and asked, “So what’s your other brother’s name?”

  “Jesse.”

  She huffed in frustration, guessing he was back to one-word answers. “You’re not all that talkative yourself.”

  Tyler’s laughter sounded rusty and told her more than words could. He’d relaxed and opened up about his family and had been comfortable with her. From the wary look on his face, he hadn’t intended to. Were all men this stingy with sharing bits and pieces of themselves at the start of a relationship? It must be a man thing and one she intended to work through until they were on even footing. She wasn’t going to be the only one investing time and attention in what they’d begun last night. He was voracious in bed and that had her mind conjuring up the last time they’d made love early this morning.

  Emily licked her lips and looked up. Her gaze collided with his, and she drew in a long, deep breath. Oh yeah. Deep, dark, delicious passion beckoned to her. Her black leather bustier pinched, but she didn’t pay it any mind; she was too busy watching the way Tyler’s eyes glazed over. She’d have to see if Ronnie had something sexy in her shop that would get her cowboy’s juices flowing like hers were. Hell, life was too short not to be happy… or make a handsome hunk wait for another night of mind-numbing sex.

  His eyes grew impossibly darker. He was still interested even after the night they’d spent burning up the sheets. She really liked that about him. He was honest with her and told her he wasn’t just a one-night stand. She’d hoped, and now she knew.

  Meeting his direct, questioning gaze, she didn’t hide what she was feeling. She wanted to nip at the skin at the top of his hip and lick a path from his breastbone to his navel. Her hands itched to glide down the length of his spine before gripping his amazing backside while she devoured him one lusty bite at a time. She hadn’t had the time last night; he’d overwhelmed her with his need. Not that that had been a bad thing, but it was surely her turn to make his knees weak and his heart stumble.

  Holy crap!

  Tyler’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, his nostrils flared, and he clenched his hands into fists. Her man was ready, willing, and able. But was there time? Ready to risk her heart and her cousin’s wrath, she smiled at him wanting to hook her thumbs in his pockets to yank him in for a thorough tasting.

  “So you like redheads?”

  Chapter 13

  Tyler’s tongue got stuck to the roof of his mouth. If he was reading the unspoken messages Emily was sending him, she was his for the taking, right here, right now. She hadn’t been turned off by their door-banger. He’d wondered about that driving home this morning. He usually had more finesse, but Emily Langley had short-circuited his brain.

  Hot, sweaty, sheet-tangling, brain-burning sex. How the hell was he going to make it through his shift later, knowing she wanted him as badly as he wanted her? Nodding his head to hide the fact that he was momentarily unable to speak, he dug deep for control.

  Emily made her way down the bar, polishing in smooth circular movements. “You really are a man of few words, like your brother… Dylan.”

  He finally managed to loosen the knot in his tongue. “Yeah. Natural redheads are a personal favorite of mine.”

  He let his gaze dip down to her amazing cleavage before he caught the direction of his lust-addled brain and stopped. Hell, he’d almost let it slide down past the Mason-Dixon line of propriety in public. It didn’t matter that Natalie and Jennifer were on the other side of the room talking to Jolene, he didn’t want her to think he would disrespect her. Alone and in bed was a different story. It would be just the two of them.

  He looked up at her, hoping he hadn’t blown the good thing they’d started. She was grinning at him. She knew what he’d been thinking, and she wasn’t mad. Relaxing, he let out the breath he’d been holding.

  Hell yeah! He liked redheads just fine. The one on the other side of the bar, taking another damned deep breath displaying her best assets while smiling at him just about had him panting, as she hog-tied him with the seductive power of her smile and the promise of passion in her warm, amber eyes. He wondered what other fantasies her agile mind could come up with. Just the thought of it had him chomping at the bit, but he could wait to finish the first one and wouldn’t push her. She’d be worth the wait. He cleared his throat. All he could think about was letting the gorgeous redhead, with the promise of heaven in her eyes, take him upstairs and have her way with him. Hell, he’d even let her borrow his rope, so she could tie him to the bedposts while she let her sexy mouth fulfill the promise in her eyes, but that was one of his fantasies. Maybe they’d get to it before too long.

  He held out his hand and locked gazes with her. “I just had this really great idea.”

  She set down her cloth, her eyes never leaving his, and as if in a trance, walked around the end of the bar to take his hand.

  He lifted it to his lips and pulled her into his arms, then tilted her face up with the knuckle of his pointer finger. She licked her lips, moistening them. Fire shot straight to the part of him currently standing at attention, painfully straining behind the zipper of his jeans.

  “Kiss me back, Emily.” Molten amber se
ared him. He dipped his head and took her lips in a kiss that had his heart pounding as he pulled her toward the stairs. “I need you… now.”

  She yanked him toward the pantry. “In here.”

  He went with the moment and the lust that had him by the throat. As she closed the door and locked it, sealing out the world around them, he dipped his head and feasted on her breasts.

  He slipped the tip of his tongue beneath the edge of her bustier. Sweet. Hot. “God, you taste good.”

  “Mmmm.” She leaned back against the low cabinet and pulled him close. “My turn,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt, brushing her hands across his chest, and smoothing the soft cloth off his shoulders. “I just love your broad shoulders.”

  While he tugged at her leather top, she pressed her lips to his breastbone. The warmth of her mouth drugged him until his eyes crossed and his hands cupped her shoulders with a strength she knew he was keeping in check. “More,” he rasped, sliding his hands down her spine, kneading her denim-covered backside, and pulling her hard up against his erection. Emily was so hot, she worried that the club’s supply of matches would spontaneously combust.

  Mouths fused, tongues tangled, they drove each other closer to the edge, and all she could think was: Yes! Now! The door rattled as someone tried to open it. “Emily, I know you’re in there… we’re gonna open soon, and I need you out here.”

  They looked at each other and he whispered, “I think your boss is looking for you.”

  “I’m busy,” Emily answered, pulling him closer so she could press her lips to his. “Why can’t I get enough of you?” Her moan of desire must have been just a little too loud.

  Jolene rattled the doorknob and called again, “Emily!”

  “Are you gonna get in trouble if we don’t open the door?”

  Emily placed her hands on either side of his head, amazed that he’d worry about her. “My cousin likes getting her way, but it’s my turn. She had her way yesterday. Go away, Jolene.”

  Tyler eased back so he could cup her face in his hands. The kiss he pressed to her lips was soft, tentative. “I thought I could be satisfied with a quickie, Em, but I want more.”

  She melted against him and sighed.

  “I rushed you last night. I’m not sorry and wouldn’t change one moment of what we shared, but tonight you deserve my undivided attention when I make love to you.”

  When she smiled up at him, he held her hands to his heart. “I promise you will enjoy the ride. I think I missed a couple of places last night, and I’ve got a hankering to sample some more of your buttercream skin.”

  Emily couldn’t think; her imagination was working overtime, processing the erotic images Tyler planted in her brain. She leaned against him, hoping her legs wouldn’t just fold up like a lawn chair.

  “I plan to drive you crazy later,” he promised kissing the breath out of her. “If we don’t relieve the powder keg of sexual tension soon, one of us is gonna explode.” Tyler straightened Emily’s clothing and she buttoned his shirt. Smoothing her hands along the breadth of his shoulders, Emily inhaled slowly, savoring the solid feel of him beneath her fingertips before tracing the outline of his mouth. “What if I can’t I get enough of you, Tyler?”

  “Don’t let’s borrow trouble, Em.” He ran the tips of his fingers along the length of her jaw and pressed his lips where his fingers had been.

  His tender touch lined her belly with a slow sweet ache that she’d never felt before. Afraid to put a name to it, she rested her head against the broad expanse of his chest and closed her eyes. “I’m afraid I’m in over my head.”

  He tightened his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. “That makes two of us.”

  “Tyler?”

  “Good grief, now they’re looking for you.”

  “Is it going to be a problem that we’re together?” He hoped it wouldn’t be but had to ask. Women could be territorial about things that made absolutely no sense at all.

  “No,” she leaned up on her toes and brushed her lips across his. Clothes straightened, Emily opened the door just enough to peek around it. Satisfied that no one was waiting to give her a hard time, she slipped out. A few minutes later, Tyler did the same, closing the door behind him.

  “Hey, Tyler,” Natalie called out. “You ’bout ready to go over tonight’s routine?”

  The sigh slipped out before he could catch himself. “Can’t we just stick with the one I’m doing?”

  When Natalie rolled her eyes at him, he knew she wasn’t upset that he really didn’t want to learn another routine.

  Emily was back at the bar setting up glassware. Her eyes met his and he wished they were alone back in the pantry or upstairs in her bed.

  “You’ve got a couple of routines under your belt now, Tyler,” Natalie reassured him. Thinking clearer now that Emily wasn’t standing so close, messing with his brain, he knew he had to take her out to the Circle G. He wanted to make love to her out by the pond. He couldn’t wait to ask her.

  “…and the crowd just loves you,” Natalie continued.

  He didn’t know how he felt about that. On the one hand it was good for business, so it reflected in his paycheck and his tips, but the flip side was that the females sure couldn’t wait to run their hands all over him when they lined up in front of the stage. Hell, half the time it annoyed him, making him feel like an object, and the rest of the time he worried that he’d end up meeting one of the women outside of the club when he was in town. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he’d seen Mrs. Beeton at the back of the crowd last night… awkward didn’t even begin to describe how he felt about that.

  In his gut, he knew the gorgeous redhead watching him like he was a hunk of brownie warm from the oven and she’d just die if she didn’t get to take a bite was the reason he really hadn’t noticed too many of the customers or thought about what he was doing up on stage too much.

  “Aren’t you listening?” Jolene asked walking toward him.

  Years of training had him answering, “I… um… yes, ma’am.”

  “Don’t call me ma’am,” Jolene grumbled.

  “Oh, give him a break, Jo,” Emily said, folding clean bar towels and storing them in the cubby beneath the bar back.

  “Why should I?” Jolene asked. “He’s giving Natalie a hard time.”

  Natalie tilted her head and looked up at their boss. “I don’t mind.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to harass you when you’ve been nothing but patient with me, Natalie.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, reached out, and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, we don’t have a whole lot of time to rehearse.”

  Not sure when he’d have another opportunity to get this close to Emily, he resisted for a moment, but Emily was nodding at him to go with Natalie. “Later, Tyler.”

  Emily wasn’t tired anymore… a brief taste of Tyler had rejuvenated her, knowing she’d have an opportunity to sample more of the dark-haired Texan currently driving her crazy.

  She wanted to blame it on her hormones but knew it might be what her heart whispered to her, scaring the breath out of her… he might be the one. What worried her most was that she didn’t know a whole lot about him; maybe it was time to find out more. “Who does Tyler work for during the day?”

  Jolene reached for a bottle of water and opened it. “I don’t know.”

  “Maybe Natalie or Jennifer knows.”

  “You can ask later… our cowboy’s got some work to do before I let you distract him again.”

  Emily shook her head and with an absolutely straight face said, “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Jolene snorted. “You mean tall, dark, and studly wasn’t locking lips with you in the pantry?”

  Emily’s smile was just this side of smug. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”

  Jolene laughed. “Good thing you’re no lady… by the way, was it as good as I’m imagining?”

  Emily grinned. “Better.�
�

  Jolene nodded and smiled watching the stage where Natalie was working with The Lucky Star’s headliner. “It was our lucky day when he walked into the bar because of that ad.”

  They both watched as Natalie put Tyler through the paces.

  “There’s just something about him that’s so physical.”

  “Could be because he works a ranch for a living,” Emily bit out. When Jolene just stared at her, she let out a huff. “Honestly, Jolene, didn’t you remember him talking about Widowmaker the other day?”

  Jolene shrugged. “If you know he works at a ranch, why did you just ask me about what he does?”

  Emily just shook her head. “I know he works on a ranch; there’s a half a dozen just outside of town. I was wondering which one.”

  ***

  “You’re a natural, Tyler,” Jennifer called out encouraging him.

  He gritted his teeth and started counting again. “Natalie, please?” He hated to beg, but he was sore all over from the last couple of days. “Isn’t this one new step enough?”

  She stopped moving and turned toward him, her eyes searching his face for something. What, he sure as hell didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to prod her. He’d take the much-needed break while she thought it over. Maybe he could sweet-talk Emily into taking a break with him… alone.

  “I think our man’s ’bout done in, Nat.” Jennifer waved a water bottle at him.

  He grabbed it. “Thanks.”

  “You need a couple of aspirin?” Jennifer was watching him closely—too close for comfort.

  He paused, swiping the sweat from his face with his forearm and nodded.

  “I’ve got some stashed behind the bar.” Natalie went to get it.

  “Who do you work for?” Jennifer asked. “That is, when you’re not working for Jolene.”

  “A rancher.”

  Jennifer rolled her eyes at him, “Well there’s news. Which rancher?”

  “Does it matter?” He didn’t want anyone at the bar to know his business. If they were like most women, and this nosy bunch seemed to be, once they found out that he was on the verge of losing his ranch, the story was bound to make the headlines of tomorrow’s newspaper right alongside the mystery of who peppered bird shot through the wooden star hanging outside the club. Either that or word would get back to his brothers about his night job. Once that happened, he was seriously screwed.