She lifted on the reins and hitched her horse to the left. “Follow me.”

She took off at a fast gallop toward the cow, Walker right on her flank. He spotted it—a calf—just as Jolene pointed for Walker to go around to the right. He did, cutting off the calf’s attempt at a mad escape. The creek prevented the calf from getting too far, though this area was muddy from previously rising waters due to the excess rain they’d gotten over the past few days, so their progress was slowed as they had to rein in the horses and step through the thick mud.

The mud also impeded the calf’s progress. Too much, apparently, because the calf was half sunk in a mud hole. Walker jumped off his horse and tethered it to a tree, and waded in toward the stranded calf. Jolene approached from the other side of the mud bank, both of them pondering the now bawling calf.

“Well, now what?” Jolene asked, loud enough to be heard over the calf that had realized the error of its ways and was crying for its mama.

“We sure as hell can’t drag it out of there on our own. That calf is too heavy, and the mud weighs it down even more.”

Jolene nodded. “I’ll get Paradise and some rope line. We’ll have to pull her out.”

While Jolene fetched the rope, Walker waded into the mud hole and promptly sank up to his thighs. Great. Just f**king great. He lobbed over to the flailing cow just as Jolene came back with the rope.

Her lips twitched as she looked down on him. “I hear mud baths are good for the skin.”

Mud oozed into Walker’s boots. “You’re funny. Now get your ass in here and help me.”

“I don’t think so. You’re already in it up to your . . .” She tilted her head and inspected his body, her scrutiny lingering far too long for his liking. “Ass. I think you’ve got a handle on it.”

She tossed the rope at him. He caught it and looped it around the calf while Jolene tied it to the saddle horn on her horse. She climbed on and began walking her horse backward while Walker got the tail end of the cow and began to push. The cow, terrified, resisted.

“Come on, you dumbass, we’re trying to help you here.” Walker pushed, Jolene pulled, and finally the cow’s brain engaged and she cooperated, heading for the sloping bank of the mud hole. Then she was scraping her hooves on the sides, kicking up mud into Walker’s face as she mooed and scrambled for solid ground.

The cow made it, and Walker slipped, falling face-first into the mud. He came up sputtering and spitting out the foul, thick liquid, wiping his eyes to find Jolene standing at the foot of the mud bank, laughing her ass off.

“Think this is funny, do you?”

“Freakin’ hysterical,” she said, whipping off her hat and wiping the sweat from her brow.

Her inattention gave him just enough time to grab the ankle of her boot and pull, which sent her sliding down the already slick embankment. All he had to do was step out of the way and let her enjoy the ride.

She was lucky, because she went in feet-first, but the slope was steep and he’d pulled her right on her ass with enough force to send her under. He stood there watching, his arms folded together when she came up spitting curses at him.

“You son of a bitch!”

He smiled as she wiped mud from her eyes and glared at him.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?”

“I hear a mud bath is good for the skin,” he said, crossing his arms to smirk at her.

She rolled her eyes, turned and started crawling up the side of the mud bank. Without traction or footing, she slid right back down, her nails scraping the wet side of the bank.

“Goddammit, Walker, help me out here.”

“Yes ma’am.” She started the crawl up again, and this time he shoved his shoulder in her butt and boosted her up. She fell onto the grass and rolled onto her back. Walker followed, digging the toes of his boots into the soft side of the slope as he pulled himself out of the mud.

“You’re a mess,” he said, realizing he was an equal disaster as mud squished out of the top of his boots.

“No shit,” she said, yanking off her boots and tossing them aside. She pulled off her socks, then stood and went for the zipper of her pants.

Walker stood, too, and gaped as Jolene fumbled with muddy fingers for the buttons on her shirt. “What the hell are you doing?”

She stared at him like he was the dumbest cowboy on the planet. “Stripping, moron. What does it look like I’m doing?”

She bent over and retrieved her boots and socks, then headed toward the creek.

Walker followed behind her. “Are you serious? The creek has got to be icy cold.”

“I don’t care,” she said as she peeled off her shirt, then the sleeveless tank she had on under that. She started to shove her pants down next as she turned around to face him. “I am not taking that long ride back with twenty pounds of mud stuck to me.”

“Your clothes will still be muddy.”

She shucked her jeans to the ground and stepped out of them, leaving her wearing only a bra and panties. And damn if her body wasn’t even more perfect than what he’d imagined. Long legs, curved waist and br**sts nearly spilling out of the cups of her bra. His mouth watered.

She grabbed the clothes and started rinsing them in the creek.

“No, my clothes will be wet,” she said. “But in this heat they’ll dry fast. And I need a goddamned bath. This mud stinks.”

She rinsed her clothes and boots and laid them on a large rock in the sun. Then she turned to Walker and unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the ground.

Walker tried to swallow, but he had no spit left.

And when Jolene dropped her panties, she might have been covered in mud, but she was still na**d.

And he didn’t think he’d ever seen a woman more beautiful than her.

She turned around and walked into the creek. And there on the base of her back was that tattoo, some kind of tribal symbol full of the same variations of colors that glittered in her eyes.

“Coming, Walker?”

He could. Easily. Just watching her strip had made him hard as a rock. Her body, face and hair covered in mud, she should have been one wreck of a sight. Instead, she was sexy as hell. And that body? Jesus Christ, what man could resist it? All curves, beautiful br**sts with light pink nipples, a triangle of dark blond hair covering her pu**y and the tightest, most perfectly formed ass he’d ever seen.

She disappeared under the water and came up right away, shaking her hair loose, droplets flying everywhere.

“It’s not too bad once you get in it,” she said. “Temps have been warm enough and it’s hot today. Come on in.”

Walker unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. “This isn’t appropriate.”

She cocked her head to the side, bobbing up and down in the water, her br**sts hidden, but the sweet swell just visible. “What isn’t appropriate?”

“Us getting na**d together.”

She laughed. “I don’t recall propositioning you.”

He bent down at the water’s edge and rinsed his shirt, then pulled off his boots and washed out the mud.

“Walker. Strip down and get in the water.”

Tempting. Too damn tempting. “Is that an order?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t think I’ll follow that order.”

She rolled her eyes. “I promise not to touch you. You know, in case you’re afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Jolene.”

“Could have fooled me the way you’ve been acting lately. But I’m not the big bad wolf, Walker. I won’t attack you. You don’t have anything to be afraid of.”

Afraid? She thought he was afraid of her? That did it. Months of repression had taken its toll. Between denying what he wanted and her impromptu and obvious striptease of a few minutes ago, Walker had taken all he was going to take from Jolene. He pulled off his T-shirt and unbuttoned his pants, then slid the zipper down.

Jolene didn’t take her gaze from him, instead watched him strip. And he didn’t bother to hide his erection as he let his jeans fall to the ground and pulled off his boxers. It jutted out high and hard as he padded to the cold water and dove in headfirst.

The water felt damn good. He surfaced a couple feet from Jolene, found his footing on the bank and waded over to her. She was resting on a rock, submerged from the waist down, her br**sts out of the water and glistening under the sun.

He didn’t bother to say anything to her, just sloshed through the water and swept her into his arms.

He pulled her off the rock and jerked her against him. Her lips parted with her gasp. Then she smiled and wrapped her legs around his waist, trapping his c**k between them.

“It’s about goddamned time, Walker.”

“Shut up, Jolene.” He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her, hard.

four

jolene resisted a whoop of joy. wrapped around Walker, both of them na**d, lips pressed together, was everything she’d dreamed of. And more. He was rock-hard—everywhere, his body a solid wall of muscle as he effortlessly carried her out of the creek and onto the grass.

He held on to her as if she weighed nothing, dropping to his knees and then down on the grass, bringing her on top of him.

Talk about sensory overload. Splayed over his body, her synapses were firing reactions to her br**sts mashed against his chest. Her ni**les tingled as they brushed the crisp chest hairs there, and she rocked her pu**y against him, wanting him inside her right now.

But oh, there was so much to experience—his tongue doing devilish things to hers, his hands roaming over her back and then cupping the globes of her butt. And when he surged against her, letting her know that the cold water of the creek hadn’t affected his hard-on in the least, she trembled with need, warmer than if he’d thrown a blanket over her.

He was all man, everything she’d imagined him to be. And he wasn’t turning away from her this time. He held on to her h*ps and ground his erection against her, his mouth bruising her in its intensity. Exactly what she wanted from him. She tangled her hands in his hair and gave as good as she got, twining her tongue around his to suck, greedy for more.

Walker rolled her over onto the grass, then pulled away and stood. They were in the shade, and she shivered at the loss of his body contact.

She leaned up on her elbows, wondering if he was going to once again walk away from her. Surely not, not when they’d come this far already.

But she had nothing to worry about. He came back a few seconds later with a blanket he’d gotten from the saddlebag. He spread it out on the grass.

“Inch over. This is softer than the grass. I don’t want to have to worry about ants crawling up your pussy.”

“The only thing I want crawling up my pu**y is you,” she said as she scooted over.

He shook his head. “You are something, Jolene McMasters.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, get down here and f**k me.”

He lay down beside her, his gaze roaming over her body. He trailed one finger along her nose, down to her jaw and neck, then over her collarbone snaking the trail between her breasts, eliciting chills that made her ni**les pucker. “You’re in too much of a hurry. There’s territory here I need to explore.”

She pushed him onto his back and sat on him, straddling him. She laid her palms flat on his shoulders, and saw his lips curl. Yeah, he was trying not to laugh, because if he really wanted to get up, he could. She was a strong woman but no match for someone like Walker.

In this, though, she intended to have her own way.

“Look, Walker. We’ve had years of foreplay, and that’s plenty for me. I’m hot, I’m wet and I want you inside me. We can play later.”

He shifted, sliding his hands behind his head. “You’re the boss, then. Take it for a ride.”

She rolled against him, tilted her head back and moaned as her pu**y slid along his cock. “God, that feels good.” She scraped her nails down his arms. “I don’t suppose you have condoms on you, do you?”

He reached underneath the blanket and pulled out two. Jolene arched a brow. “Haven’t been planning this, have you?”

“You’ve launched a heavy assault on me. I figured you might wear me down eventually and I should probably be prepared just in case you tied me up and had your way with me.”

She laughed, grabbed a packet and tore it open, then shifted down his body so she could wrap her hand around his cock. It was hot and steely hard like the rest of him. She wanted time to explore all of his body, but she couldn’t right now. Later, when the fever burning inside her had been doused, she’d taste and touch him all over.

But oh he felt so good in her hand, she couldn’t resist sliding up and down his shaft, measuring him, feeling him lift his h*ps and surge against her.

“You gonna put that condom on, woman, or are we gonna play?”

As she lifted her hand around the top of his cock, she slid her thumb over the crest, swirling it through the pearly liquid that escaped there. “I’d like to suck your c**k until you come in my mouth.” She rolled the condom over him. “But that’ll have to wait until later, because I want this inside me.”

He grabbed her h*ps and dragged her up, tangling his fingers in her hair to draw her face toward his. “You’re a vicious tease, Jolene.”

She laughed. “You have no idea.”

He pulled her head down to his and kissed her, and her pulse jumped at the contact of his mouth on hers. Damn, he had nice lips—soft—the only soft part on him. He kissed her with that hard intent, his tongue plunging inside to lick at hers. She slid her pu**y along his belly, igniting sparks of arousal that flamed ever higher when she reached between them to fold her fingers around his c**k and felt it jerk in her hands. He groaned against her lips.