Cook County: Lucky in Love Read online

  “You might be worrying over nothing, hon.”

  Cammie nodded, sniffed a little before a trail of tears spilled over, sliding down her cheek.

  “Hey now.” Lucky quickly wiped away the moisture with his thumb, erasing the evidence of heartbreak. If there was anything he couldn’t stand to see on a woman’s face, it was that. “I’m sure she’ll be all right. A match will be found if it comes to that, and who knows, maybe your friend will outlive us both.”

  She nodded as she sniffed harder. “Gotta have faith, right?”

  “Yeah,” he agreed half-heartedly. Faith hadn’t done a damn thing for him, but he’d agree with just about anything right now to keep Cammie from breaking down into full on sobs.

  “I’m sorry,” she abruptly apologized. “I’m just spilling my guts about all this depressing stuff. I’m sure this wasn’t how you planned to spend your night.”

  “It’s fine.” Lucky patted her hand, careful not to linger. It would be too easy to allow his fingers to feel more of her soft skin. “I just came in for a drink, and to be around people for a little while. Drinking in a crowded room isn’t nearly as depressing as swigging your alcohol from a bottle in your living room, regardless of whether or not you’re actually alone in that crowded room.”

  “You’re not alone, Lucky.” She put her hand on his shoulder and lightly squeezed.

  He swallowed hard. “Yeah, I suppose not. Thanks, kid.”

  “I’m not a kid,” she replied, hard gaze cutting through him like a dagger. “I’m twenty-freaking-eight years old for cripes sake.”

  Lucky laughed, unable to contain it while looking at Cammie’s cute nose scrunched in irritation. “What exactly is a cripe anyway?”

  Her lips twitched as she put up a fight, but soon succumbed to a small laugh. “I don’t know, but I think I made my point.”

  He raised his hands in surrender. “Yes, ma’am. Didn’t mean to get your panties in a twist.”

  “You, sir, have no effect on my panties.” She raised her nose indignantly and turned her face away, lips twitching again.

  “It’s good to see you laugh and smile, Cam. The frown just isn’t you.”

  She met his gaze dead-on and nodded. “Same for you, cowboy. You’re supposed to be the lighthearted Masters. Chance is the dark, moody one.”

  “He was before your friend got her hands on him and pussified him all to hell,” he muttered, earning a soft chuckle. “It’s good to see him happy though. Lord knows he’s earned it.”

  “As have you.”

  She leaned in close, the soft scent of strawberries reaching out to tease him.

  “When’s the last time you really had fun?”

  The night before I woke up to a dead woman in the bathtub.

  Lucky shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I’m doing just fine, Cammie. You should have a little fun yourself, get your mind off the ex and the friend for a little while. Grab yourself a guy and take a spin on the dance floor.”

  “Great idea,” she said, sliding off the barstool. “Don’t mind if I do.”

  A soft hand gripped his forearm tightly and yanked him out of his seat.

  “Wait a minute,” he started to protest, but the devilish twinkle in Cammie’s red, puffy eyes stopped him cold. Damn, she was cute in a sweet but sexy way.

  “You’ve owed me this dance for a long time, cowboy,” she said as she pulled him across the floor, stopping when she found a space in a dark corner near the jukebox, which wasn’t in use due to the live band playing. “I’m collecting. Deal with it.”

  “Now, how do you figure I owe you?” Lucky asked as she placed his hands on her hips and nudged his inner thigh with hers. His breath caught as they started to sway, and he fought against the urge to let his hands wander to her backside.

  “You yelled at me sixteen years ago and never made it up to me,” she answered, chuckling softly.

  “Sixteen years ago?” He counted back in his mind, laughing when he remembered the night he and Chance had fortunately been on the Calhoun ranch when Cammie and her friends pulled the dumbest stunt of their lives. “Oh, you mean the night you almost got Kenzie killed? You deserved the yelling.”

  “I told her it was a bad idea to tip the cow, but the boys kept egging her on. You know she’s stubborn. And if the gate to the bull pen had been latched correctly, it wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Sure. Blame it on whoever didn’t latch the gate instead of admitting y’all knew better than to be in that cow pen, or anywhere near the vicinity of that bull.” Lucky chuckled. “I should have put you over my knee like Chance put Kenzie over his.”

  “We were just lucky you two were there that night,” she said softly as the band switched to a ballad. She rested her cheek against his shoulder. “You became our heroes that night.”

  “And the two of you became the biggest pains in our asses,” Lucky grumbled as he closed his eyes against the pull of the soft music playing and the sweet scent of Cammie’s strawberry shampoo.

  She smelled so good he inhaled deep and had to remind himself to release the breath. His hands inched lower, but her giggled response to his comment brought him back to his senses. He pushed his thumbs into her belt loops instead, effectively restraining his wandering hands before they could trespass into forbidden territory.

  “This is nice,” Cammie murmured as they continued to sway to the music.

  Lucky agreed in silence, afraid opening his mouth would ruin the spell she’d somehow managed to conjure. He’d danced with a lot of women and had his hands on even more, but nothing had ever felt so right as having his hands around this woman’s small hips, swaying with her to music he could no longer even hear. The world evaporated around him until it was just Cammie and him swaying together like two leaves in a gentle breeze, the smell of strawberry filling his senses.

  “Closing time!”

  Lucky jerked his head up, having buried it in Cammie’s sweet smelling hair some time ago, and looked around to find the band gone and only a few stragglers in the dimly lit bar. The stragglers paid them no mind as they left bills on the bar and tables, paying up their tabs before clearing out, but Rho pinned him in place with a devil’s warning glare. Looking down into Cammie’s angelic face, he knew why.

  “When did the band stop playing?” she asked groggily as if coming out of a dream. Pink stained her cheeks as she looked up into his face then quickly looked away.

  “I have no freaking clue.” Lucky checked his watch, blinked hard to clear his vision. “Three hours? We’ve been dancing non-stop for three hours?”

  “It’s two in the morning?” Cammie looked around, bewildered. “How did we lose track of time like that?”

  “I don’t know. It’s definitely a first for me.”

  “Well, figure it out somewhere else or grab a broom and pitch in,” Rho barked from behind the bar where she was wiping down the beer-splashed counter. “Time to call it a night.”

  Noticing the color in Cammie’s cheeks growing brighter, Lucky took her by the elbow and headed for the door. “G’night, Rho.”

  The busty bartender grunted as she continued wiping down the bar, head shaking in disapproval.

  “Well, that was weird,” Lucky commented as they stepped into the cool night. Gravel crunched under the tires of the stragglers who’d left just before them, leaving them alone in the parking lot to muse over whatever the hell had just happened. Letting go of Cammie’s elbow, he scratched his head, baffled over the loss of time. “Guess I’ll see you to your car. Better get home and hit the sheets if you’re working tomorr—”

  Lucky’s back slammed into the wall of Hell’s Belle, and his breath whooshed out of his lungs. Before he could draw it back in to form a word, Cammie closed her lips over his and slipped her tongue inside his mouth. Then there was no trying to speak as their tongues dueled, Lucky’s brain trying to play catch up. When had sweet little Cammie May gotten so aggressive? And where in the hell had she learned to kiss like this?

/>   “I don’t wanna go home alone,” she said huskily after coming up for air.

  Panic and hunger tussled inside Lucky’s gut. He’d vowed to end the one-night stands after he’d found his last one dead in the motel, and he knew he wasn’t the type of guy a woman like Cammie May wanted for her happily ever after. She was the type of woman men like him had no business with.

  But standing there in skintight jeans and heels, chest heaving under her thin cotton shirt, she called out to the wolf he was doing his damnedest to keep locked inside.

  “Now, sugar, you don’t wanna do this,” he warned as his jeans became painfully tight. “I know you just went through a breakup and you’re hurtin’, but I am not the guy you want for a rebound.”

  “I’m not drunk, hurt, stupid, or anything else that would make me think unclearly,” Cammie responded, grabbing a fistful of his shirt to guide him toward his truck. “I’ve wanted you a long time, Lucky Masters, and tonight, I’m going to have you. Now, get in the truck and drive to wherever you want this to happen, because believe me, it’s going to happen.”

  Chapter Four

  What am I doing? I’ve lost my mind!

  Cammie chewed her bottom lip as Lucky steered his truck with a white-knuckled grip. She’d practically attacked him outside of Hell’s Belle. If her Grandma Opal was still alive and found out what she’d done, she’d skin her hide for being so…so…wanton. She couldn’t help it though. She’d adored and, yes, lusted for Lucky Masters about as long as Kenzie had craved Chance, but she’d done a better job of hiding it than her friend had in the early days. A realist to the core, she knew the older boy hadn’t even acknowledged her existence, but as they’d gotten older, listening to the voice of reason had gotten harder to do.

  She wasn’t his type. She wasn’t busty and wild. She wasn’t a drinker. She hadn’t even finished the one drink she’d ordered tonight. To tell the truth, it had tasted about as appetizing as dog spit. Grandma Opal had raised her to respect her body and save it for the man who recognized her as the treasure she was. But Grandma Opal didn’t understand just what Lucky Masters did to her. And Grandma Opal hadn’t known her time was limited.

  No, she didn’t have a sick friend, but she’d been so scared and had just wanted to tell someone what was going on. She’d needed comfort, but didn’t want the pity that would have come with it. So, she’d told Lucky a friend was sick. It had helped a little bit to talk about it, even though she was still keeping her sickness a secret from everyone.

  She’d realized something as she’d spoken the fears out loud. Life was short, and nothing was sadder than a dream escaping you because you never even bothered to reach for it.

  She wanted to love Lucky Masters and to be loved by him. She’d waited so long, hoping he’d see her in a new light some day and ask her out. Well, she didn’t know if she had the time to wait any longer. Her medication wasn’t doing its job well. Lucky might never put a ring on her finger, but she’d rather die having made love to the man she’d wanted for over half her life than die a virgin, never knowing what it was like to be that intimate with someone her heart ached for.

  The truck careened around a corner and traveled down a narrow lane bisecting rows of mobile homes. Lucky didn’t lay off the gas until he brought the truck to a screeching halt outside a white, aluminum-sided double wide. “It’s not much, but there’s a bed.”

  Cammie swallowed hard at the mention of a bed. She was going to go through with this. She was going to sleep with Lucky Masters. Excitement and fear swam around in her head as the tall cowboy made his way to the front of the truck and opened the passenger door.

  “You sure you wanna do this?” he asked, holding out a hand.

  Licking her lips, Cammie nodded. She wasn’t going to leave this world without knowing what it was like to spend the night in Lucky’s arms. She placed her hand in his bigger one and allowed him to help her out of the truck.

  “I’ve never brought anyone here,” he murmured softly as he fit a key into the front door and pushed it open. “I know it’s an eyesore. Hope you don’t mind, but you’re not the type of lady to take to a motel, and I know your grandma would probably pull a gun on me.”

  Cammie laughed at the image of her grandmother holding Lucky at gunpoint. “Maybe a frying pan, but no gun…and Grandma Opal passed away last year.”

  Lucky stopped abruptly inside the door, nearly causing her to run into him. “I’m sorry, Cammie.” He turned to look down into her eyes, his own coated in genuine sincerity. “I guess I should have known that.”

  “It’s fine. There was a small ceremony at the church. It was her time, you know?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Shadows formed over Lucky’s eyes as he closed the door behind them and looked around the room they stood in. It appeared to be a combination living room and kitchen with minimal furniture and no homey touches. “I guess we all have our time.”

  Judging by the haunted tone in his voice, Cammie safely deduced he was either thinking of the woman who’d killed herself after sleeping with him three months ago, or his own mother who’d passed away recently. She wanted to offer condolences, but knew it would ruin the mood, and the surge of courage that had given her the fortitude to shove Lucky against the wall at Hell’s Belle and set forth on this adventure wasn’t going to last forever.

  “Hey.” She gently palmed his jaw and redirected his gaze down into her face. “Don’t forget what we came here for.”

  He stepped back. “I don’t know about this, Cam. I don’t want to be your regret.”

  Cammie almost laughed. He was her regret. Every day she regretted not having the courage to go for what she wanted.

  That ended now.

  “Tell you what,” she said, pulling her T-shirt over her head to expose the lacy red bra beneath. “I’m going to bed. You can join me or not.”

  She turned and headed down the narrow hall to her left, hoping the sight of her meager chest in the sexy lingerie did the trick. Lucky had been with a lot of women, and she didn’t doubt half of them, maybe more than half, had better bodies than her. But she wasn’t unattractive, and knowing a nearly naked woman was getting into his bed had to have some effect on the man, regardless of whether he was trying to be a gentleman.

  An open door showed a full-size bed in a room decorated with prize belts from rodeos Lucky had competed in. Cammie stepped inside, kicked off her heels and shimmied out of her jeans beside the bed.

  “It just had to be a matching set,” came a rough voice from the doorway.

  Cammie grinned as her heart pitter-pattered with nerves. She’d never even worn a two-piece bathing suit in public, and now she stood in Lucky’s bedroom in skimpy, red lace lingerie, pulling back the dark blue cover on his bed to expose the white cotton sheets beneath.

  Lucky’s warm hands, roughened from years of ranch work, came around her waist, and Cammie jumped, not realizing he’d moved from the doorway so quickly.

  “Sorry,” he murmured as his lips tickled her neck.

  “You’re fine.” Her voice rushed out in a whisper as her nerves kicked into high gear. She prayed he couldn’t hear the frantic beating of her heart as he turned her around with a gentle push of her hip, and pulled her tight against his chest to devour her mouth.

  Cammie melted into the kiss as his tongue dipped and explored. He tasted of liquor and dreams, a flavor that Cammie thought could definitely become habit forming as she felt herself falling backward. Her back hit the soft mattress and Lucky’s weight settled on top of her.

  She opened her eyes to stare straight into blue orbs smoldering with hunger, looking down at her as if she were the tastiest morsel ever created. Cammie licked her kiss-swollen lips as her mind reeled. She’d fantasized about this moment for over a decade, but never thought she’d have to state the obvious. “You have on too many clothes.”

  Lucky chuckled as he rose to his knees, kneeling between her legs. “That I do.”

  Cammie watched in awe as he quickly pulled
his white T-shirt over his head, revealing a lean, chiseled chest buff from years of working ranches, and then unfastened his belt.

  “You sure about this, honey? We’re about to reach the no going back point.”

  She nodded, her voice frozen in her throat. He was beautiful, and he was with her. Even if it was just for one night, it would be a memory she would take to the grave, smiling all the way. Lucky Masters had left Hell’s Belle with her, not anyone else, and he was going to make love to her in a place he’d never brought another woman. She was in his home, a place she’d wanted to see since she was a child desperate to know every detail about his life. There would be no regrets no matter what happened when the sun rose because right now, she was living a dream she’d feared would never become real.

  Lucky kissed her softly before rising from the bed to discard the rest of his clothing. Fully nude, the six-foot-one blond was an imposing image, but the hand he ran over her hip and stomach as he rejoined her on the bed was gentle.

  “Now you have on too many clothes,” he said with a grin before covering her mouth with his and sliding his hand underneath her to unhook her bra.

  As air hit her freed breasts, Cammie arched her back impulsively, earning a groan of appreciation from Lucky as their chests met.

  Lucky trailed away from her mouth, sprinkling kisses along her body from jaw to stomach, taking time to kiss each nipple and dip inside her navel. Cammie’s breath caught as he tasted each sensitive spot, and she grabbed his head, determined to hold him in place, but he eluded her as he trailed down, pulling her panties away from her body as his lips and tongue sampled every inch of her thighs.