“What?” Tracy gasped and looked at Cash.
Cash raised his chin, glared past her at Gerald, and gritted through his teeth, “Yes, he did.”
“It’s three against one and these bastards are lying, Tra—” Gerald began.
“No!” Tracy’s right hand smacking Gerald’s face exploded simultaneously with the fireworks bursting into the sky atop Pikes Peak. “It’sfouragainst one, Gerald,” she seethed with fury, fists clenched at her sides and shaking from head to toe. “Leave!”
Cash shot a shielding arm in front of Tracy and swept her behind him. Presenting a solid wall of security Beau and Ed, arms crossed over their chests, stepped up on either side of Cash.
“Moles, you’ve been told to go. Twice,” Cash growled asTracy elbowed her way in between him and Beau. “I suggest you do so while you’re still in one piece.”
Gerald yanked his car door open and slid behind the wheel. Starting his electric vehicle, he made a silent and anticlimactic exit from the ranch onto the highway.
Beau chuckled and asked, “Did that prick just give us the finger?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Ed laughed. “From a safe distance.”
Cash grinned down at Tracy and asked, “Is my girl here a spitfire or what?”
“Hell, yes, she is!” Beau hollered.
“Hell, yeah!” Ed howled even louder.
Tracy smiled at the compliments and gave the men a playful curtsy. Her heart flip-flopped wildly not at the scene with Gerald, but the fact Cash had referred to her asmy girl.
When all the guests were gone, Beau and Ed shut the gate across the driveway. Tracy didn’t recall it being closed during the past week and guessed it was due to the trouble with Gerald. Cash took her hand, and they started toward the house. Sam, Jeff, and Larry met them halfway there. Beau and Ed, more than Cash, filled them in on the scene with Gerald. Sam, Jeff, and Larry each added a story or comment of their own about Gerald, none of which were favorable. Thus, Gerald Moles was unanimously declared banned from Triple C Ranch-East.
Bob and Teresa had already taken the back road to Triple C-Central by the time Sam said good night and walked home to Kellie. Beau wrapped an arm around Cristen, and they veered off to his truck. Jeff drove himself, Ed, and Larry to the bunkhouse.
Cash opened the front door to his house and, like the gentleman he was, let Tracy enter the foyer first. He locked the door and checked an alarm system which showed everything was secure for the night. Near the front door, he showed her how to take off her boots using a bootjack which he kept next to a coat rack. With their boots and hats off, he looked around and rubbed his forehead.
“I left your bag here in the foyer.” Cash cocked his head, and she detected a hint of vulnerability in his voice as he asked, “Did you give it back to Jacob?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
Tracy bit her lower lip and said, “In the bedroom of my choice.”
A sexy grin lifted the corners of Cash’s mouth before it came down on hers. His hands slid under her arms and her feet left the floor. Arms around his neck, he cupped her fanny.
The tongue-searching, body-molding kiss was a prelude to passion.
When Tracy’s feet touched the floor again, she headed straight for the staircase. Cash caught up with her and grasped the seat of her dress. She giggled, wiggled free, and raced up the stairs. He laughed and chased after her. In his bedroom, she’d left her purse next to a dim lamp on the dresser and her bag on the floor at the end of his bed.
“Wanna watch what’s left of the Pikes Peak fireworks?” Cash teased.
Tracy shook her head. “You’re the only fireworks I want, Cash.”
Cash placed his hands to her face, and as they kissed, he backed her up against the side of the bed. He took hold of her short dress near the hem and eased it up her thighs. Tracy shivered. As he tugged the dress up her ribs, Tracy’s desire for him soared. She raised her arms so Cash could pull the dress over her head. He did so and she gave her hair a shake around her shoulders as he tossed her dress to the end of his bed. Before the fully clothed magnificent male, Tracy stood clad only in her barely there navy-blue satin bra and matching G-string panties.
“Show me what you want, Tracy,” Cash said, his hands splaying on his tapered waist.
Tracy began unbuttoning his shirt. He let her. She pulled the front of the shirt out of his jeans to finish unfastening it.As he shrugged out of his shirt, she struggled to undo his belt buckle. He unbuckled it for her. Then stopped. With her heart thundering, she unbuttoned the top button of his jeans. He let her. With a grin up at him and a tug she popped open the remaining buttons of his fly. His brow cocked and his blue eyes narrowed. He waited. She pushed his jeans down his hips and thighs to his feet. He stepped out of the jeans and stood before her in snug boxers.
“I want the big, bad stallion,” she whispered.
Tracy boldly cupped her hands to the long, hard bulge stretching the front of his boxers. Cash unfastened her bra, peeled it off her, and dropped it. He reached around her, grasped the comforter and sheet and tossed them toward the end of his bed.
