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  She wasn’t aware of when he’d unfastened her bra, but suddenly his mouth left her lips and was kissing its way toward her breast. His tongue was velvet heat when it found its destination and she arched against him.

  “Still mad?” he asked.

  “I’ll be even madder if you don’t finish what you’ve started,” she panted.

  “This is going to be a helluva year.” He chuckled.

  “I’ll make it hell tonight if you don’t get those jeans and boots off,” she threatened.

  He wiggled out of his jeans at the same time she did hers. Ace didn’t like underwear and he was more than ready. He looked like a Greek god bathing in the sunlight that filtered through the sheer curtains in the bedroom.

  She was in love with him and didn’t give a damn about tomorrow. She just wanted him to ease that deep ache inside her body that only he could do.

  His kisses were hot and demanding, sweet and sensual, and in minutes they were both panting. Then he slid into her without stopping the kisses, building her up into a panting frenzy. She dug her nails into his firm butt and held on as she bucked against him.

  “Bull riding, are we?” he teased. “Well, you are the most beautiful bull rider I’ve ever seen, Jazzy.”

  “Call it what you want, cowboy. I just need you right now,” she whispered hoarsely.

  “Fight over?” he whispered as he nibbled on her ear.

  “Hell no!”

  He ran his tongue around the outer edge of her ear.

  “Then we’ll just skip supper until it is.” She whimpered and he increased the rhythm.

  They reached the climax within seconds of each other and she called out his name at the same time he said,

  “My God, Jazzy.”

  “Stars?” she asked when she could breathe.

  “A whole galaxy.”

  “Fight is over, darlin’. Hold me tight. We’ve got thirty minutes before we have to go to supper.”

  “I don’t have enough ink to make that many stars on the page with your name,” he groaned.

  “I love this part,” she whispered.

  “The end?” he asked.

  She kissed him, soft and sweet on the lips. “No, the after part when we cuddle. I love it.”

  “Confession time,” he whispered. “Mallory wasn’t the same Mallory who gave it to me. That lady is married and has three kids now. The Mallory who takes pictures isn’t in the book. I’ve never even been out with her but Dalton has.” He chuckled.

  Jasmine slapped him on the butt. “That was mean.”

  “Yep, it was, but you made me mad when you said that about posing for a hotrod calendar. I don’t want other men looking at you,” he said.

  “Well, I don’t want other women looking at you,” she told him.

  “Then this is our last year to model for calendars?”

  “It’s your last year,” she said.

  His blue eyes turned dark.

  “Don’t get your underbritches in a wad, darlin’. I never did pose so it isn’t my last year or my first. I was jealous so I lied,” she admitted.

  “To begin with, darlin’…” he drew out the endearment in a sexy Texas drawl, “I don’t wear underbritches and you know it. And to end with, you don’t play fair.” His eyes went all dreamy again.

  “No, I don’t play fair, and don’t forget it,” she said.

  “And thinking about what’s under your jeans makes me very hot, and it’s not a vision of underbritches, either. We still have twenty minutes and the children don’t sound like they are fighting. Cuddle or a second helping?”

  “I think a second helping is in order. This ranch isn’t the Double Deuce for nothing, darlin’.”

  Chapter 20

  Jasmine took the steps up to her apartment two at a time. She took the quickest shower of her life and dressed faster than she’d ever done in the past. She had taken time to iron her shorts and halter top and put on makeup. Mallory was not going to steal the show that afternoon, not if Jasmine had her way. She was on her way out to her truck when her phone rang.

  “Hello,” she answered without looking at the Caller ID.

  “Hey, it’s Lucy. You want to go grocery shopping with me down in Bowie this afternoon so you won’t be on hand when the photography thing is going on at the ranch?”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. I wouldn’t miss this for anything. I want to be standing right there when Ace does his half- naked shots,” Jasmine said.

  “You’re jealous?” Lucy asked.

  “Oh, yeah, and I’ll even admit it to you. What are the guys doing? Has she arrived yet?” Jasmine asked.

  “She’s not here, but this place is like a beauty parlor for the men folks.” Lucy laughed.

  Jasmine got to the ranch ten minutes before Mallory was due, but she’d broken every speed law in Texas to do it. She hadn’t even known her truck could go that fast or could corner so well until that day. When she entered the house, she got a nose full of shaving lotion and hair product. She should have escaped to the grocery store with Lucy, but a team of wild mules couldn’t have forced her away from the ranch that day.

  It was pretty evident that all three grown men had primped and spent hours in the bathroom that morning, but they were sitting in front of the television acting as if they weren’t even thinking about doing photos that afternoon.

  Dalton looked up. “Lucy said she was picking you up to go with her. She was going to one of those meetings.

  What is it? AA?”

  “No, SM,” Jasmine answered.

  Blake frowned. “SM!”

  “Stands for Stupid Men,” Jasmine said.

  “Oh,” Blake said flatly.

  “It’s a support group for abused women. Lucy has kept many of them alive, I’m sure. But today, if you’d been listening to her rather than primping for Mallory you would have heard her. She’s gone grocery shopping,” Jasmine said.

  “So you decided not to go?” Ace asked.

  She bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

  “Honey, I wouldn’t miss this afternoon for half the dirt in Texas.”

  “Blake, have you got your hair fixed just perfect?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Then you’d better be careful pulling that T- shirt up over your head. Acey, darlin’, why didn’t you tell him to wear a button- up shirt like you?”

  Blake jumped up and headed down the hallway.

  Dalton squirmed around for a while like a little boy who wanted to go outside and play but had to eat his Brussels sprouts first.

  “How do I look?” he finally asked.

  “You look plumb sexy.” Jasmine headed toward the kitchen.

  Ace followed her.

  She wore cutoff denim shorts and so short that her legs looked like they went al the way to heaven.

  Wedge- heeled sandals added three more inches to her height. Her dark hair floated around her face like a halo, but Ace had living proof an angel did not live in that body. More like the devil’s sister. An orange halter top tied around her neck, leaving half of her back bare.

  He wanted to touch her skin, smell her hair that was al shiny with a fresh shampooing, but most of al he wanted to kiss her so bad that it hurt. When she reached up into the cabinet to take down a glass for iced tea, her skimpy little shirt rode up and her belly button showed.

  All the air left his lungs.

  “What time is five- star Mallory getting here?” Jasmine asked.

  Ace leaned back and propped his elbows on the cabinet. “Three, but I wouldn’t know anything about stars.

  You’d have to ask Dalton about that.”

  His jeans were faded but they stacked up over his boots just right. His blond curls were all shiny and clean but without the mousse that Blake and Dalton had put into their hair. Ace’s curls would blow in the summer breeze and women would drool over Mr. July. She could visualize them reaching out to touch the picture and run a finger over his hair.

  “Well?” Ace asked
.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Why did you call her a five- star?” he repeated.

  “Three men don’t gussy up like y’all are for less than a five- star.”

  She started to remove the tea pitcher from the refrigerator and noticed a six- pack of beer. It looked a helluva lot better than tea, so she pulled out a bottle and twisted the top off. She took a long draw and handed it to Ace.

  “Good and cold. I don’t want a whole one. Want to share?”

  He turned it up. Anything to cool down the heat sending him into semi- arousal. It wouldn’t do to have a bulging zipper in the pictures.

  “Thanks.” He handed it back to her and turned to look out the kitchen window.

  She walked up behind him, ran her hands up under his shirt, and kissed him between the shoulder blades.

  Even through the cotton shirt she could feel his muscles tensing and his quick intake of breath. Her hands skimmed over his chest then moved over his pectoral muscles again and again as if she were searching for something, rather than teasing him into the bedroom.

  “Turn around!” she said.

  He turned and she unbuttoned his shirt.

  “Dammit! What have you done?” she squealed.

  “What?” he asked.

  She went to work on the buttons of his shirt, threw the sides back like they were trash, and stared, unbelieving even after she blinked a dozen times. “You shaved your chest!”

  “Of course I did. Did you not understand this is for a calendar, Jazzy? Women don’t like hairy men. They like big muscles and tight abs. Mallory brings a bottle of special oil that we rub on our chests and then she sprays us with a mister to make it look like we’re sweating,” he said.

  “I like the hair on your chest. Running my fingers through it makes me hot. You’ll be all bristly for weeks,” she whispered.

  “Hey, Mallory just pulled up,” Dalton yelled.

  Ace quickly buttoned his shirt and shrugged. “You going to stay here and pout or go with me?” She narrowed her eyes. “Let’s go. And FYI, I do not pout.”

  Mallory stood just inside the door with Dalton to one side and Blake leaning on the wall in a seductive pose.

  Tomcat number one had already dated her. Tomcat number two was posing for her.

  Ace nodded toward her, grabbed Jasmine’s hand, and brushed past all of them on his way out the door. “We’re going to walk up to the barn. We’ll meet you there.”

  “Hello, Jasmine.” Mallory nodded.

  “Hey.” Jasmine stopped and Ace’s hand slipped out of hers.

  “So I guess y’all are ready to get this done?” Mallory asked, but her eyes were locked with Jasmine’s.

  “Guess so.” Blake had changed his shirt and made sure his dark hair was perfect.

  “Jazzy and I’ll meet y’all down at the barn. You alright with doing mine first, Mallory? Jazzy and I have a date this afternoon so I’d like to get done early so we can go.” Ace laced his fingers back into Jasmine’s and his thumb gently massaged the top of her hand.

  “No problem,” Mallory said.

  He led Jasmine out the front door, around the house, and toward the barn. Mallory, Blake, and Dalton all got into her truck and followed the path from the house to the barn.

  “I wasn’t aware that we had a date,” she said.

  “I planned it for a surprise,” Ace said.

  “When? Right then?” Jasmine snapped.

  It was going to take a long time for her to get over that shaved chest. Not that it wasn’t sexy all smooth and muscled up. She didn’t even have a problem touching it, but knowing that he’d shaved it for another woman stuck in her craw and wouldn’t go down.

  “FYI,” he said with sarcasm. “I planned it a couple of days ago. I know you are upset about this, Jazzy, but as long as you and I are together, I promise I will not do this again.”

  Aslongaswearetogether. Just exactly how long were they going to be together, after all? A year? Forever?

  “Should I change for this big mystery date?”

  “No, ma’am. I want you to watch this photo shoot, not go back to the house. Besides, you are dressed perfectly, except for the shoes and they don’t matter.”

  “Why do you want me to watch the photo shoot?” He squeezed her hand. “So that later Dalton or Blake can’t tease me and make us fight again.”

  The temperature had reached a hundred degrees at noon and it hovered there, right happy with itself. A breeze stirred the trees and fluffed up Ace’s hair just like she imagined. Sweat poured down her neck, took the path of least resistance between her breasts, and on down to her belly button where it pooled up. When that place overflowed it traveled on to the waistband of her shorts.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  He stopped and looked down into her green eyes.

  “On the date or long term?”

  “Date. I don’t discuss long term with men who haven’t even got hair on their chest yet,” she answered.

  He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her so passionately that she gasped. When he broke away, he ran his palms down her arms from shoulder to fingertips.

  “It will grow back. I promise.” His Texas drawl was husky with desire.

  She smiled. “Is our date in the bedroom?”

  “No, ma’am, it’s a real date.”

  “Dinner and a movie? I’ll have to change,” she said.

  “No movie but dinner, yes, and I don’t want you to change. You are sexy and beautiful just like you are.” When they reached the barn, Mallory and Dalton already had a flag attached to the door of the barn and several bales of hay pulled up in front of it. She was setting her camera on a tripod and attaching a remote trigger. She looked up and motioned them toward the hay.

  “Ace, sit here, undo your shirt, but don’t take it off.

  Here’s the oil. Rub it on your chest and I’ll spray you with the mist. Throw that shirt back a little further. I want to tease the women into buying more calendars.

  I’m glad you wore a red shirt. It goes with the setting so well. Okay, here comes the spray and it’s cold,” Mallory said.

  Jasmine watched his nipples perk right up when the water hit his chest. Ace gave her a lopsided grin and Mallory squeezed the trigger. “Keep looking at Jasmine.

  Yes, like that. The twinkle in your eyes is priceless when you are looking at her. I like this time of day. It puts your face in half shadow and the wind is picking up the curls on your collar.”

  She squeezed as she talked and in five minutes, she shaded her eyes with the back of her hand and looked at the images on the back of her digital camera. “Got plenty of really good ones to choose from. Dalton, let’s take you on down toward the creek. I saw an old dead tree down there that would make a great prop.”

  “That’s it?” Jasmine asked.

  Mallory nodded. “Unless you want some pictures with Ace. I could take some for y’all and you could come by next week to pick out a package. I’m reasonable on prices and you do look like a modern- day Daisy Mae in that getup. It would be perfect out here in this setting.” Jasmine shook her head. “No thank you.”

  “Okay, maybe another time. I think you’d be very photogenic, Jasmine. Hey, Dalton, help me take down this flag and we’ll move this operation on down to the creek. There’s a container of wipes in the passenger seat, Acey, darlin’. That oil will ruin your shirt if you don’t get it off,” Mallory said.

  Dalton hurried to help, but the sidelong glance he gave the long- legged woman in tight jeans and a black knit tank top that hugged her curves like a glove did not escape Jasmine.

  “See you next year?” Mallory asked as Jasmine and Ace started toward the truck.

  “This is my last year. Give my Mr. July spot to some other rancher. Creed might be interested,” Ace said.

  “Take good care of him, Jasmine. He’s a keeper,” Mallory said.

  “I think he might be.” Jasmine nodded. “Maybe we could hire you to come around next we
ek on Sunday afternoon and take some pictures of our reception.

  Momma wants a picture to go above the mantel and she hates my wedding picture.”

  Mallory raised an eyebrow. “I loved that dress and the hat and veil. Saw it on the news that night. It was different and I’d love to take pictures of you out by the barn if we could sneak away for a few minutes. I have tons of pictures of brides in big dresses in a church setting, but that would be something different for my portfolio.”

  “Sounds like fun. Can you be here then on Sunday?” Jasmine asked.

  “I’ve got a christening that morning, but I could be here at one thirty.”

  “Good. Bring a date and have a good time after you take a few pictures.”

  “Thank you. I’ll do it,” Mallory said.

  Ace wiped the oil from his chest, buttoned his shirt, and grabbed Jasmine’s hand again. “I did not see that coming.”

  “You aren’t the only one with surprises, Ace.” He pulled her close to his side. “No Acey darlin’?”

  “You kept your end of the bargain. I’ll keep mine.”

  Chapter 21

  “We’re goin’ fishin’?”

  She knew a fishing boat when she saw one, and that wasn’t a cabin cruiser hitched up to the back end of his truck.

  He opened the passenger- side door for her and kissed her on the forehead.

  “Kind of,” he answered. “Things are about to get crazy on the ranch. These next two weeks are going to be hectic and then we’ve got the party week. We are going to get away for a day of quiet and peace before it all kicks off.”

  “Party week?”

  “Oh, yeah, the Sunday before our party, we have a church picnic, then July 4th is at Momma’s, and if you’re a Riley and you ain’t in the hospital or funeral home, your presence is required; the next Sunday is our party, but today is for us to be alone.”

  She could think of a dozen things she’d rather be doing than fishing on her day of quiet and peace. If she’d been given some notice she would have at least brought along that thick romance book by Amelia Gray that she’d been reading in snips when she had time.