Cowboy Crush(34)
Cal started laughing. “What do you need me for?”
“The sperm.”
“The sperm?”
“Are you going to keep repeating everything I say?” she said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. “I need your connections and your name. This is still a good-ol’-boys network and you’re a top-notch bull rider. You have an ‘in’ I don’t have. So I’m offering you a partnership.”
“A business partnership?”
Maggie huffed. “Jesus, Joseph and Mary, do you need to clean out your ears? Yes, a business arrangement.”
“No.”
Maggie’s heart sank. “But why not? It would be a good investment.”
“I’m not saying it wouldn’t be, but I’m not interested in just a business relationship with you, Mags.”
“What are you interested in?”
“A forever sort of relationship.” Cal caught her at her waist and pulled her to him.
“You’re talking about...?”
“Me, you and a barn cat named...Sue?”
“I named her Tuss,” Maggie said, clamping her hands on his forearms and pushing against him. “And I’m not sure we’re ready for that sort of commitment.”
“Stop thinking with your head, Maggie. Think with your heart,” he said, dragging her to him. He set his forehead against hers and looked deep into her eyes. “Bud was right. Go with your gut. Mine tells me you are the woman I’ve been waiting for. I didn’t even know it, but you are exactly what this cowboy needs.”
“But—”
His lips caught her protest. She allowed the logic to fade into the background and she slipped into a rightness that existed only in Cal’s arms. He gathered her to him, growing bolder. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and he groaned, breaking the kiss to say, “Oh, Mags, I missed you so much, baby. I’m so sorry. Please say you’ll forgive me. Say you’ll stay with me.”
Maggie pulled back. “But what does that mean?”
“It means I want to live with you at the Triple J. I want to raise bulls with you, teach young guys how to ride and make love to you every night. I want to be your business partner, your life partner, your sun and moon.”
“You want to live with me?” she repeated, her heart once again thudding in her ears.
“And love with you. Somehow I’ve fallen for you. I’ve been so miserable these last few days trying to get my old life back. I couldn’t. Know why?”
She looked up at him.
“Because you changed me. I’m not the man I was. I’m a new one. One with a future.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, staring at him. She wanted him to mean it. More than anything she wanted to start this new life with Cal beside her.
A fresh start together.
“More than I’m sure of anything. I don’t know how much longer I’ll ride. May be done this year, but I want a future to look forward to. I want a future with you.”
Maggie smiled. “You love me?”
“I do,” he said, giving her another kiss.
Lifting up on her toes, Maggie kissed him. “I love you, too, cowboy.”
“Don’t make it too easy on me now,” he said with a grin.
Maggie studied that face she loved so much, marveling over how everything had changed in a matter of minutes. Cal loved her. She’d gone to Texas and found a future she’d never imagined. And she’d come to Alabama to get her cowboy back.
Mission accomplished.
“I envision you groveling and maybe cleaning the toilets for a good month,” she said, looping her arms about his neck.
He made a face. “Surely you wouldn’t make the man you love clean toilets. How about some sexual favors instead?”
“What do you have in mind?” she asked.
“Something where you wear my chaps and I try bucking you off.” He grabbed her hips and brought her to him.
“Did you say bucking?”
“Mmm-hmm,” he said, dotting her jaw with kisses.
“Okay, deal.”
* * * * *