Avery wasn’t going to be shy about what she wanted. And she craved the big, tough, rangy cowboy all to herself for as long as she could have him. She shrugged. “Yeah, why not? We could spend the days in bed, and watch the stars at night.”
Avery rose into a sitting position. The covers shifted, tumbling down, leaving her torso bare beneath his gaze. And all right, she was playing dirty, hoping she could seduce him back into bed. She didn’t want him to leave—ever.
Those eyes of his lasered in on her chest and darkened with lust for a moment before he shook himself. “It’s a date. I’ll plan for the whole weekend. How do you feel about bondage?”
“That depends. When it comes to slavery, there were many different levels of it, and some of those institutions are still at play today,” she explained, not really sure where he was going with this train of thought. It was quite the shift in topics.
Colt chuckled with a bemused expression. “No, not that type of bondage, babe. I meant bondage as in my handcuffing you to the bed while I fuck you senseless.”
A punch of lust blasted through her body at the erotic imagery he mentioned. The man was sin personified. And she enjoyed the way he dominated her in bed, held her hands at her sides or above her head while he was inside her. Could she do it? Let him tie her up? Absolutely. She trusted him implicitly.
Was it any wonder that, in the short span of time that she had known him, she had grown addicted to him? “Oh, well, that sounds like fun. I’m game, cowboy. Do I get to return the favor and tie you up?”
“I’m not submissive in the slightest.” He caressed her cheek, a lopsided grin on his handsome face. Those callouses sent shivers through her body.
Rising to her knees, letting the covers fall the rest of the way off, leaving her naked while he was fully clothed, she wound her arms around his neck. Those big hands of his caressed the length of her back as he held her close. She nipped his bottom lip. “I bet I could make you submissive—just a little bit, mind you—since I tend to enjoy being at your wicked mercy,” she teased. His expression hardened into that of the stern taskmaster that made her insides go buttery. “Oh, don’t get bent out of shape, we’ll do it your way.”
“Appreciate that. Now, stay out of trouble while I’m gone. I’ll be back by dinnertime.”
“It’s easy around here. You should have seen when I was in the Amazon, there were these mammoth pythons that tried to eat my equipment, and then me. One of them got my wallet. I’m always losing the damn things.”
He kissed her briefly, tenderly. “I’ll be back tonight; stay out of trouble while I’m gone, or I will tan your hide. And it will make the spanking you received the other day look like love taps.”
She crossed her heart with her fingers. “I promise to do my best, as long as you promise to return tonight.”
“You can count on it. I’ll lock the door behind me.” He kissed her nose and released her, striding away with that confident swagger. Colt had one of those firm male asses that an enterprising woman could use to hold on to. She loved his sexy butt. He put on his cowboy hat. Her breath shuddered out at the ache in her chest, at the handsome picture he made.
Standing in his hipshot stance, he cast her a cocky grin at the front door. “Get some more sleep, you’re going to need it when I return.”
And her heart did a solo belly flop over the edge, plummeting into a free fall. She replied, “Okay. I will.”
He winked and headed out. She listened to his footsteps on the porch, and then the revving engine of his truck. What had she done? She sank back down onto the bed, trembling and shaky.
She was in love with Colt.
And it wasn’t just a little bit, it was love with a capital L: all the way, over the moon in love with the sexy cowboy. How could she have let this happen? She lay there, staring at the ceiling as the sun rose for the day, stunned.
One week from tomorrow, she was scheduled to leave the ranch, and Colt. And for the first time in her life, she wasn’t enthusiastic about picking up and hying off to the next exotic locale. After an hour of doing nothing but stare at her ceiling, Avery finally rose and showered as if on autopilot. Over her morning coffee and banana, she checked her upcoming schedule on her computer.
She was stuck going to Vegas, and then on to Houston and NASA. She couldn’t get out of those trips, or push them out to later dates. Then she reviewed her trip to Bermuda and the data she wanted to collect from that point on the globe.
Dammit!
That trip was solid as well, give or take a few days on either end. But she hadn’t decided on a spot on the globe after Bermuda just yet. Maybe she could come back here for a while. She didn’t have to be anywhere after Bermuda for close to four months, when her stint with NASA began in full force.
Maybe she could come back here, spend that time with Colt. If he wanted her to.
Well, she would propose a few items to him. But first, she had to pay him back. She put in a call to her accountant first.
“Lorne Danes,” he answered. Lorne was in his late forties, and devilishly handsome, with his black hair graying at the temples, and a brilliant financial mind.
“Hi Lorne, it’s Avery.” She didn’t even need to use her last name.
“Ah, my favorite client. Where are in the world are you?”
“I’m in Colorado, actually.”
“Just a few hours away from Vegas. What can I do for you, love?” Lorne asked.
“Well, you’re not going to believe this—”
He started laughing and said, “Let me guess, you lost your wallet.”
“Oh, you know me so well, it’s scary.”
“What’s scary is your propensity for losing your wallet. My accountant’s heart hurts at the thought of all the money you’ve lost over the years.”
“Yeah, at least I am lucky that I have more than enough so I don’t have to worry about the loss. So listen, I lost my wallet before I managed to pay for where I’m staying. And I’m doing so on sort of an agreement to pay by the end of my stay.”
“How much do you need me to wire?”
“Actually, I was hoping you could send me cash by courier. And I’m going to contact Missy at the penthouse, have her bring you both the envelope with my new credit card, and my state identification card for Nevada. I’ll email you the address where I’m staying, along with a map to my cabin. If you could have it all couriered to me, that would be great.”
He sighed. “Sure, I can do that. I’d prefer to wire it, it would be less expensive on your end if I did it that way. By courier will cost you.”
“I know, but it can’t be helped. I need my ID and credit card.”
“How much do you need in cash?”
She tried to calculate what her stay would cost, and what Colt had spent on groceries, plus what it would cost on her drive to Vegas. She’d probably need to stop overnight in Utah. “Let’s go with five thousand in cash. That should cover most of my incidentals.”
“I can do that. How soon will Missy be by?” he asked.
“How about I let you know in my email, once I have confirmation on a time from her?”
“You do realize that a courier from Vegas to where you’re staying and back will take a few days because of the drive? Unless you want to have it flown on the jet.”