Afterward, they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, damp with sweat, breathing hard.
“God,” she said and laughed, a low, throaty sound. “I knew it would be good if we ever did this. I knew. But this … So much better than the fantasy.”
He ran a finger gently across her face, moving a curl of hair away from her eyes. “You fantasized about me?”
“I might have.” She grinned. “Once or twice.”
“Hmm.” He planted light kisses on her neck, her shoulder.
“We were supposed to have a date first,” she said, teasing.
“We did.”
“We did not.”
“Of course we did.” He said the words as he moved his head down toward her belly, teasing the skin with his tongue. “I don’t know about you, but I always take my dates to talk crazy artists off a ledge. So much more stimulating than dinner and a movie.”
She felt his breath as a tickle against her damp skin as he spoke.
She laughed.
“Well, I feel stimulated.”
“Me too.”
She watched his face in the moonlight as he held her, and she thought that no matter what happened between them, she never wanted to forget this moment, right here, right now. The way he looked at her, the way his voice sounded as he murmured her name.
Chapter Nineteen
“You did it in the barn ? You had barn sex?” Rose looked at Gen with interest, her pierced eyebrow arching skyward. “Barn sex with an actual cowboy. God. I am so jealous right now.”
Gen, Rose, Kate, and Lacy were gathered at Kate’s house the next morning. They sat around the dining room table with mugs of coffee in front of them while Jackson worked in the kitchen, making omelets.
“Ah, jeez, I should not be hearing this,” Jackson muttered as he flipped a mushroom and onion omelet.
The kitchen timer dinged, and Jackson pulled a tray of blueberry muffins from the oven.
“Man, it must be nice living with a chef,” Lacy commented as they all got a whiff of warm muffins.
“It is,” Kate commented, “but then you have to deal with a guy hovering around when you’re trying to talk about barn sex.”
“As soon as the food is done, I’m out of here,” he said, sounding distinctly uncomfortable.
“I could have cooked,” Kate said to him. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“You burn your omelets,” Jackson said. “And you make muffins from a boxed mix.”
“True,” Kate acknowledged.
“You’ve got to admire a man with standards,” Rose said.
“Thank you,” Jackson replied.
“So. The barn sex,” Lacy said to Gen. “How was our rancher friend? Did he meet expectations?”
“Ah, jeez,” Jackson groaned.
“Whatever I say, Jackson is going to repeat to Ryan,” Gen said, cutting a piece of omelet with her fork.
“Goddamn right I am,” Jackson said.
“Ah. Good point. We’ll wait,” Lacy said, batting her eyelashes at Jackson over the rim of her coffee mug.
“There.” Jackson put the last of the food on the table, looking relieved that he could now flee the scene.
“Thank you for doing this,” Kate said warmly, pulling him down toward her for a kiss.
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll clean up. You can escape now.”
“Thank God.”
He ducked into the bedroom, and within a few minutes he was in his running clothes and had gone out the front door for a jog.
“This omelet is fabulous,” Gen said. “Jackson’s a really good guy.”
“He is,” Kate agreed.
“The good guy is gone now, so spill about the barn sex,” Rose demanded.
“Yes, spill,” Lacy agreed.
So she told them about the ruined date, and persuading Kendrick not to leave Cambria, and talking about their lives over the last of Kendrick’s bourbon. And when she got to the part about Ryan scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to the barn, her three friends swooned.
“Oh, God. He carried you?” Rose said.
“He did.” Gen couldn’t quite keep the smile off her face.
“Maybe you should have gone out with him when you had the chance,” Kate said to Lacy.
“This is what I’m thinking,” Lacy agreed.
Gen pointed one finger at Lacy. “Don’t you dare. Hands off.”
Lacy raised her hands in surrender. “Don’t worry, I had my chance. I’d never break the Girlfriend Code of Honor. And anyway, I doubt he’s thinking much about me anymore.” She batted her eyelashes at Gen.
“God, I hope not,” Gen said.
They ate their omelets and muffins and drank their coffee next to a wall of windows that looked out on a spectacular view of the ocean. The morning was crisp and clear. Seagulls soared in the distance over the breaking waves.
“I’ve never had barn sex,” Kate said wistfully. “I want barn sex.”
“Well, most of us have never had bookstore sex, so you’re one up on us there,” Rose observed.
“True,” Kate said.
“So, you never said,” Lacy prompted Gen. “How was it? Was it fun?”
“No.” Gen looked at her plate, avoiding their eyes.
“No? Oh, honey.” Kate reached out and put a hand over Gen’s on the table.
“No. It wasn’t fun. It was …” Gen shook her head. “Fun is too small a word for what it was.”
“Oh,” Rose sighed.
“I think I might be in trouble now,” Gen said. “I mean … I’ve had a crush on him for a long time. But now …”
“Oh, no. You’re in love,” Lacy said.
“I think I might be, yeah.” Gen had barely touched her food, and now she’d lost her appetite entirely.
“Is that a bad thing?” Kate asked gently.
“It is if he doesn’t feel the same way,” Gen insisted. “It is if, for him, it was just …” She waved her hands vaguely, looking for the right word. “Fun.”
Lacy put down her fork and looked at Gen. “I’ve known Ryan Delaney for a long time. We went to high school together. And I have never known him to use women just for the hell of it.”
“Unlike Jackson,” Kate put in wryly.
“Jackson’s changed. You changed him,” Rose said.
“My point is,” Lacy said, getting back to the topic, “Ryan was never like that. Back in school, he didn’t date very often, but when he did, he’d be with the same girl for a really long time. He was never looking for fun. He was looking for a relationship.”
“Huh,” Gen said.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard about him dating anybody,” Rose put in. “And you know how word gets around in this town. We’d have heard. I think Lacy’s right. He’s not going to play with your emotions just to get laid.”
Gen poked at her food with her fork. “Well, then I’ve got another problem, I guess.”
“The am-I-really-ready-for-a-big-relationship problem,” Kate supplied.
“Exactly,” Gen said.
“Well, are you?” Lacy asked.
“And what happens if you really are going back to New York?” Rose said.
Gen sighed. “That sums up the problem, all right.”