Cowboy Player: Cowboy Cocktail, Book 3 Read Online Free Page B

like yours.”
    “That’s the friend talking. Your dick might say otherwise.”
    “My dick, huh?” Clark laughed quietly. “You’re welcome to check with my dick yourself. He doesn’t talk loud, so you’ll have to get down on your knees to hear him.”
    “Jackass.”
    “Seriously, Mel. You don’t know what you’ve got going on. Smart as all get-out. Hell, you run circles around me, and I’m a genius. And you’re funny too. Ain’t many women who can make me laugh. You’re one of them.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Aw shucks, Ma. Next the cowboy told me I was real purty.”
    “Fuck pretty. You’re beautiful.”
    It was too much. Danger. “Clark—”
    “So beautiful. I always thought so.” He gave her a sad smile. “Honest to God.”
    The heat rising between them cooked her brain. She was at a loss for words. “Thanks.”
    “No thanks needed. Just stating the obvious.” They danced until the song ended on a ribbon of steel guitar. Clark leaned down and pressed his lips to her temple.
    Melody gasped.
    Instead of pulling away, he traced a slow, agonizing trail of kisses along her hairline until he was kissing her neck just behind her ear.
    Pleasure overloaded her nervous system, but her brain wouldn’t let her enjoy it. “Wh-what are you doing?”
    “Something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.”
    “Oh God.” She gripped his rigid arms. Complicated feelings cascaded through her so quickly, she couldn’t identify one from the other.
    Still holding her, he looked into her eyes. “Don’t be scared,” he whispered. “Look at me.”
    For the first time in twenty-eight years, she realized Clark’s eyes were brown. No—not brown. Swirled mahogany and gold, like bird’s-eye maple, with irises rimmed in dark chocolate. Her body ached under his warm gaze, ravenous for what he offered her but terrified of what they’d lose if she took it.
    “We’re friends,” she said. “I don’t want to throw that away.”
    “Nothing will change that.” He searched her face. “Do you think I’d hurt you?”
    “Not intentionally.” Loneliness welled up inside her. Her heart was a broken bucket at the bottom of a deep well. “And I know what it’s like when you think you know someone, and then you discover…” She trailed off.
    “But you know me,” he said. “I’m not hiding anything. You know me better than anyone, right?”
    She nodded.
    He was quiet for a moment. “One night’s not forever, Mel.” The expression on his face was unreadable. “We’re adults.”
    “Yeah, but—”
    “Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me no.”
    She closed her eyes. Could she? Should she? Lust flooded her bloodstream. “What if…I don’t want to tell you no?” she whispered.
    He pressed his body against hers. At once she felt his desire for her, hard and real and burning against her belly.
    “Then tell me yes,” he murmured.
    Desire trumped fear. She wanted this. She wanted him. Melody took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “Yes.”
    Clark had big hands. One big hand cupped the back of Melody’s neck. He put two fingers under her chin and raised her head to meet his gaze. With a touch as gentle as his voice, he stroked her bottom lip with the tip of his thumb.
    “Just to be clear, Melody,” he whispered, “I’m asking to take you to bed. Is the answer still yes?”
    If the devil looked at her like that and asked for her immortal soul, she would still give the same answer: “Yes. God, yes.”
    Then Clark kissed her.
    Six foot two, hard edges and curves, thick limbs and broad shoulders and big muscles—it seemed odd that he’d have lips as soft and full as the ones he pressed to hers. Melody’s eyes fluttered closed as the man she saw as the definitive player kissed her as shyly as a teenager. The shape of his mouth melded sweetly to hers as his fingertips massaged her nape. Bit by bit, her conscious mind surrendered to the sensations. The warmth of his skin. The faint smell of gin on his