“None of that sounds remotely fair. Or even accurate,” Hannah said, laughing too hard by now to check his math or even seriously object. “Counter offer. Fifteen minutes of foreplay—which might or might not include oral sex, but if it does, we take turns fifty-fifty—ten minutes of the actual act, then another ten minutes of post-coital cuddling. That leaves…” She took a wild guess. “Twenty minutes for food.”
“Holy crap. What does this say about our public school system? And who does your bookkeeping? Because with math skills like that, it can’t possibly be you,” Dallas said, his hand over his heart as if to contain his shock. “And ten minutes for cuddling? What am I, a machine?”
He planted both hands on the counter and looked like he fully intended to vault it. Hannah wouldn’t put it past him, so she broke and ran for the bedroom. He caught her before she could get the door closed, scooped her up by the waist, and tossed her, shrieking with laughter, onto the bed. He landed beside her, all six-plus, sexy feet of him.
He smoothed her hair off her face with a lazy finger. “We could always get the cuddling out of the way now and save the best part for later,” he suggested, his voice warm and husky and making her head swirl with endless possibilities.
She could fall in love with him so easily—meaning things really were happening too fast. Less than a year ago, she’d been living with a man she’d loved for more than half her life.
She almost told Dallas about having coffee with Tim at the Wayside right then, but he’d already had a rough day and didn’t need her adding to it. A man losing a hand trumped foolish doubts raised by an ex-boyfriend who had no claim to her anymore.
She suddenly wanted Dallas. Badly. To prove she was his.
She began unbuttoning his shirt. “Ten minutes of sex. Straight up. We’ll bank the foreplay and the cuddling for some night we’re both too tired to perform.”
“Deal,” Dallas said.
He ducked a palm under her T-shirt to rest on her belly. His lips and his fingers trickled heat along her flushed skin. Within minutes, they were both undressed and wrapped up in each other. He moved gently at first, then, at her insistence, with greater abandon. She arched her back as her orgasm began, lost to all but the waves of pleasure he gave her, and grasped his hips until she heard his harsh breaths and felt him stiffen, too.
Long moments later, she came back to her surroundings. He rolled to the side, taking her with him, so that she lay on top staring down at him with him still inside her. He threw an arm over his eyes and groaned.
“I hope you weren’t timing that,” he said, peering at her from under his elbow, “because if so, I think I just disgraced myself and most of mankind.”
She brushed a kiss along the rough edge of his jaw that prickled her lips and waited for her erratic heart rate to sort itself out. “I can’t speak for mankind, but as far as this woman’s concerned, I have no complaints.”
*
They made itdownstairs to the taproom with five minutes to spare. Dallas unlocked the door while she opened the cash.
Monday nights were slow. She only had two customers—cowboys who worked on the Endeavour Ranch. Dallas stopped to talk to them and buy them each a beer before pulling a table up to the bar.
“How about a game of chess to kill time?” he suggested to Hannah.
“I’m terrible at it,” she warned him, then proceeded to win the first game in less than ten moves.
“Huh.” Dallas tipped his king. “I’ve been fleeced.”
“Did you really think I’d have a games theme for my business and not be any good at them?” she asked.
“Pretty girls aren’t supposed to be smart.”
“You just added ten minutes to cuddling, wise guy. I—” The outer door opened before she could finish her sentence. She glanced over to see who it could be. She’d half hoped to be able to close up early so she and Dallas could pick up where they’d left off at the start of the evening. It was almost ten o’clock and the two cowboys looked ready to call it a night.
A panicky sensation slithered over her skin when she saw the tall, athletic man with the casually ruffled blond hair, dressed to impress in a smart business suit. What was Tim doing here?
His gaze swept the room, found her, then shifted to Dallas, where it lingered too long. Hannah upset one of the chess pieces in her haste to intercept him before he could approach their table. She wasn’t about to introduce the two men.
She rushed over to cut him off before he’d made it halfway across the room. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
He smiled at her as if there were no one else in the room. That smile bruised her heart. It took her back to the days when they’d first moved in together. They’d been eighteen, straight out of high school, and she’d been so in love. Whatever happened between them? What had gone wrong?
Why hadn’t she been enough?
“I wanted to see the Grand Master Brewery for myself. Love the name, by the way,” he said.
“Go away,” Hannah said quietly. “Leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that,” Tim said, keeping his voice down too, shrinking the room to the two of them. “I love you, Hans. I need to know you’re okay and aren’t making a mistake just because you’re angry with me. I screwed up, yes. I own it. But I found a place in Grand to stay and I have a job interview next week.” He gazed past her toward where Dallas was setting up the chessboard for a rematch. “So that’s my competition.”