And below? Her pussy felt swollen and a little raw. He’d stretched her inside, made her hot with the friction of his motions. Her body felt boneless and relaxed, and she thought she could probably sleep the day through because he’d used her up so well.

  But she had that pesky appointment with Laura and, maybe, Rhonda.

  Both women had given her such sly looks last night, she knew what the topic of conversation would be.

  Not that she would mind bragging a bit. She was bursting with the need to tell someone how she felt—if she could figure out how to describe the feelings whirling inside her.

  She’d never been so thoroughly loved. Had never had anyone roam her body quite like him, touching and kissing everything. Cowboy knew all her secrets now. And he’d truly seemed almost…reverent.

  As for her, she still couldn’t believe she’d been the recipient of all that reverence.

  Colleen pressed a hand against her hot pussy and closed her legs to hold in the heat and the feeling. She could almost imagine that he was still there inside her.

  Hell, they’d fallen asleep, still linked together. She’d never felt so close to another human being, and yet, she didn’t really know all that much about him. What was his favorite color? His mother’s name? Had he played sports in school? Was he a democrat or a republican? That could be important because she and her brother fell on opposite sides of that irksome aisle and had argued frequently throughout the last election cycle.

  Did he believe in Jesus? Could they attend the same church?

  Not that she hadn’t changed her religion a few times in her life. Her apartment had as many Buddha statues as crosses strewn throughout the space.

  See? she said to herself. You can’t possibly be in love with a man you don’t really know.

  But here she was, missing him, and he’d only been gone ten minutes.

  How would she feel if days passed? Would she forget what had drawn them so close so quickly? Had it just been lust?

  Colleen sat on the edge of the bed, frowning.

  Cowboy wasn’t here now, and she couldn’t sit and worry about what they had or didn’t have. The only direction to go was forward. One step at a time.

  Pushing off the bed, she stood and took a couple of steps, and then winced. She’d never before felt her pussy when she walked. That was new. And interesting.

  She smiled as she walked to the bathroom because that was the first thing she’d tell Cowboy about if he called her.

  Chapter 7

  Colleen was one hundred percent sure that Laura Priestley’s donuts were laced with truth serum. No other explanation came to mind for why she’d just admitted what she had to the two women sitting across the table from her in Deadly Delights.

  Laura’s eyes were round. “You fell in love when he gave you your first ‘intersex’ orgasm?”

  Rhonda waved a hand. “I still can’t get around that word, ‘intersex’. I keep seeing you having sex with an alien.”

  Laura rolled her eyes. “It just means she’d never had an orgasm with a man before.”

  “I didn’t fall in love with the first guy who got me off,” Rhonda said, then leaned over the table. “However, I’ve never come as fast as I do with that big guy.”

  Laura giggled.

  Colleen grinned, even though her cheeks were hot. “I can’t believe I just told you both that.”

  “All I asked was whether Cowboy showed you a good time,” Rhonda said with a shake of her head. “It’s not like I pulled out your toenails to get the truth.”

  Laura picked up her coffee mug. “So, how are you going to fill your time while he’s gone?” Then she took a sip.

  Colleen shrugged. “He wants me to stay.”

  “So, are you? That motel room’s going to feel awfully small if you’re there for very long,” Laura said.

  “Well, I thought I might look for a job.”

  “You’re really serious about sticking around,” Rhonda said. She waved a hand before Colleen even got her mouth open to interject. “Not that we won’t love having you around. And there are jobs. I could use another saleswoman at the liquor store.”

  “I need another waitress now that I’m serving lunch here, too,” Laura said.

  “That’s so kind of you both,” Colleen said. “Although, I should tell you another truth about me before you offer me a job. I tend to hop around. I mean, I work at a job, and then I get bored. I’ve worked retail, and I don’t think it’s right for me.”

  Laura tilted her head. “Do you have any office skills?”

  “I do. I worked at a waste outfit as their office manager, but I screwed up the payroll—I’m not very good with numbers. However, I did love interacting with customers.”

  Laura nodded. “I think I know of something that might work out for you. Let me get back with you.” She held out her phone. “Give me your digits so I can call you.”

  Feeling hopeful, and again, like her move to Dead Horse might be fated, she entered her phone number into Laura’s cellphone. “I really appreciate this.”

  “Well, you’re dating one of our team. We look out for each other,” Laura said.

  “I’ve known Cowboy for two days, and not even two entire days,” she reminded her. “It makes me nervous thinking about how little I know about him, and vice versa. It’s happening too fast.”

  “I hear you,” Laura said. “I mean, I had my eye on Preacher for a while before he actually worked up the nerve to ask me out. After that, things moved at lightning speed.”

  Rhonda nodded. “I knew Chase because Laura, here, was seeing Preacher, but when we were finally alone, bam!” she said, clapping her hands loudly. “The man can go from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye.”

  Both women placed their chins on their hands and sighed. “I sure do miss him,” Laura said.

  “Me, too,” Rhonda said, her eyes unfocused.

  “At least you got a chance to see your man off with one for the road before he left,” Laura said. “I got a peck on the cheek, and ‘see you in few days, babe’.”

  “I got a swat on the ass and a ‘don’t forget to pick up my shirts from the cleaners’!”

  Laura and Rhonda laughed. Then their gazes returned to Colleen. “So, beyond finding a job, have you thought about what else you might like to do while he’s gone?”

  Rhonda slapped the table, which made Colleen jump. “We should get the girls together!”

  “If you don’t mind two pint-sized hellions, we could probably talk Elaine into hosting us at her place,” Laura said. “I volunteer to bring the food.”

  “I can bring the booze,” Rhonda said.

  Colleen felt warm inside at the thought that these two strangers were willing to put in the effort to make her feel welcome. She’d never had girlfriends before, but she thought she’d like to be one of theirs. “What can I bring?”

  * * *

  Cowboy was beginning to regret signing the contract with the production company—and he was surprised to discover that both Marti and Hardman had as well.

  As Marti had said earlier that day, “Well, the internet had that clip of me nekkid at the repair shop, so I thought, next time, I’m getting paid.”

  Hardman had given her a deadly glare. “There is no next time for you getting naked unless it’s with me. Alone. In our house.”

  Unperturbed by his deadly look, Marti had wrinkled her nose. “Since when do I let you order me around?”

  Hardman had given her a sly smile and said, “When we’re naked. Alone. In our house.”

  Right now, every one of the hunters had a cameraman up their ass as they tried to sneak in closer to the warehouse where they’d tracked Sidney Coleman down. Sidney was wanted on an outstanding warrant for a string of bank robberies. His bail had been set high, so the money was good. The crime had made national news on account of the mask he’d used during the robberies—a Wolfman mask—which had had the media dubbing his crimes “The Wolfman Robberies”. The Bounty Hunters of the Northwest showrunner was salivating over this takedown. Not that this episode would air on that program, but they hadn’t chosen a name for their team’s show just yet. The Chase & Cowboy title had been nixed the moment Marti and Hardman had signed on.

  “I’m thinking we should call our show, the Best Bounty Hunters of the Northwest,” Chase said in his earpiece.

  Marti snickered. “Lacey would have a cow.”

  Bounty Hunter Lacey Jones worked out of the Bear Lodge office and had earned an Executive Producer’s title due to her input to the show. She was also the person who had talked Cowboy and Chase into taking the dive into reality TV.

  “We even sure Sidney’s inside?” Chase asked.

  “I can get closer,” Cowboy said, then aimed a glare behind him when the cameraman started to move past him. “Haven’t moved yet,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Go for it,” Chase said. “I’ll cover you.”

  The warehouse was in Poison, Montana, a location that Cage had said Reaper was familiar with due to a previous job. It was closer to Bear Lodge than Dead Horse, but Reaper’s crew was covered up with assignments at the moment, so he’d offered the bounty to Cage’s crew.

  The building was abandoned, with panels of siding starting to slide toward the cracked pavement. They’d gotten a tip from Sidney’s brother, who’d been encouraged by a cold call from Lacey to score the reward money the banks were offering. Brotherly love wasn’t as valuable as the $75,000 that Bobby Coleman wanted in order to buy a new hunting cabin.

  For this job, they were utilizing the team’s ops van, with their office and ops manager, Fredericka “Fig” Newton, manning the console. All the hunters wore helmets with night vision goggles and cameras that fed to the monitors on Fig’s console. Cage was watching the action remotely from his home in Dead Horse. Earlier, Chase had operated a drone to scope out the warehouse area, so they knew the terrain surrounding the fenced-in warehouse, but they hadn’t been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Sidney. For all they knew, Sidney might not even be there.

  Getting close to the warehouse to be sure was going to be tricky. Although the sky had darkened, a full moon lit the area around the building. Cowboy was positioned outside the chain-link fence on the backside of the warehouse, but he’d spotted a gaping hole in the siding that would afford him a peek inside using his night vision equipment.

  He snipped the wire with bolt cutters then moved inside the fence, crouching low and moving fast toward the corner of the building. He moved quietly, but the cameraman had two left feet and kept tripping on the jagged pitch.

  At last, he made it to the corner, lowered his goggles, and made his way to the hole. Coming up from beneath it, he looked inside. At first, he didn’t see anything, just stacks of dilapidated boxes. Beyond them, he saw the fender of a vehicle. When he moved a little more to the right, he made out a license plate number.

  “Can’t see too deep inside the warehouse. But there’s a car. I have a tag,” he whispered.

  “Ready to copy,” Fig said from the ops van parked on the roadside leading into their location a quarter mile away.

  Cowboy read the tag number then ducked down as they waited for Fig.

  “It’s stolen—and was used as a getaway car for a robbery in Butte.”

  “So, we know he’s been here. No sign of our target?” Fig asked. “Wait, Cage… He’s in my other ear, guys. Sorry. Cage says if he’s not there, be sure to cover your tracks on the way out so he doesn’t have a clue we’ve found this place. I’ll set up cameras.”

  “Roger,” Chase said. “I’ll make my way to my side of the building. Maybe I can see into the front of the warehouse.”

  “I’ll move in on my side,” Marti said. “Just to be ready in case we have to move in quick.”

  “Got you covered, M,” Hardman said. “Keep your head down.”

  A snort sounded, and Cowboy smiled. Marti was a hard woman. He didn’t envy Hardman trying to keep Marti in check.

  A couple of minutes later, Chase said, “I don’t see anyone inside. Just the car, a table, and a cot. Looks like he’s slept here some, but he’s not in his crib now.”

  “We should take a look around inside,” Cowboy said. “Might give us a clue as to where he is.”

  “I’ll get the lock,” Marti said. “He’ll never know it was picked. You guys tend to shred the tumblers.”

  This time, Cowboy was less cautious coming around the side. The cameraman kept close but wasn’t breathing on him, so he ignored him as he moved toward the front.

  Marti had the lock open. Hardman stood behind her, his weapon raised as she slid up the warehouse door then crouched at the side, letting her partner enter first. First Hardman then Marti, followed by Cowboy, entered the building, turning off their goggles and using flashlights while they riffled through Sidney’s things, looking for clues.

  “Lots of bank brochures,” Marti said, lifting her iPhone to take pictures.

  “Yeah, take pics,” Fig said. “We can see where he might be going next.”

  Cowboy squatted next to a pile of trash, mostly food and drink containers. He found a receipt beneath one and took a picture. Then he found another. “He bought food in Philipsburg. Maybe five meals here. Two different places. The Chicken Hut and Bradley’s Burgers.”

  “Looks like we’re going to be pulling stakeouts,” Hardman said.

  “I have dibs on the Chicken Hut,” Chase said. “Love me some wings.”

  “I’m bringing the van closer,” Fig said. “I’ll need a hand installing cameras.”

  Cowboy stood and dusted off his hands. “Since Fig’s moving, I’ll head out to the road and keep an eye out in case we get company.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Chase said. “You’re gonna call your girl.”

  Cowboy grinned. “I can still keep an eye out.”

  “Just be sure to turn off your earpiece,” his partner said. “I don’t want to be listening to any nasty talk.”

  “Like I’ve had to suffer through?” Cowboy said, chuckling.

  “Huh,” Chase grunted.

  Cowboy headed out to the road, his cameraman following right behind him. Cowboy found a tree to take cover behind and pointed to another for the cameraman, far enough away he could talk with some modicum of privacy. Then he pulled out his phone and tapped Colleen’s number.

  “Hey,” she said. “Third call today. Are you lonely?”

  “Am I buggin’ you?”

  “Not at all. I like hearing your sexy voice in my ear.”

  Each time they talked, the sense of intimacy increased. The first call had felt a little awkward. The second, she’d regaled him with “the deets” of her conversation with the girls at Deadly Delights. This time, she seemed more relaxed, and so was he. The way she talked to him was like he was in the room, sitting beside her. He could well imagine her expressions. Right now, she was likely lying on her back, twirling a lock of her fiery hair with her phone on the pillow beside her head.

  Cowboy drew a deep breath. “We haven’t caught our guy yet.”

  “You will. Do anything exciting yet?”

  “Not really. We found a warehouse he’s been usin’. Had to cut through some chain-link and sneak up to the buildin’. Used our night vision goggles to see inside. But it was bust. He’s been here, and we have an idea where to look next, but we’ve got a way to go still.” He cleared his throat. “You okay by yourself?”

  “I am, if you’re still okay with me being here.”

  Again, that note of uncertainty was in her voice. He didn’t like hearing it, but he didn’t know how to reassure her. His words didn’t seem to dispel her doubts. “I want you there, babe. I like thinking about you lying in my bed.”

  “It’s strange, really,” she said.

  “What is?”

  “When you call, it’s like you’re here,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I can close my eyes, and you’re right beside me.”

  “That’s good. I feel the same way, too.”

  “You don’t think this is happening too fast?”

  “You think because it was fast that it’ll burn out quick?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “No. I knew the second I saw you that I wanted you. The more time we spend together, the surer I feel that we’re onto something here.”

  “I guess I should trust you more, shouldn’t I?”

  “I trust you. I’d like it if you could give me the same back.”

  She cleared her throat. “Okay, I’ll do that. In the meantime, call me. Anytime you like. And I’ll keep busy. Did you know Laura thinks she can find me a job?”

  “That’s great. You don’t have to rush into anything, but if it makes you happy, go for it.”

  “I think I’m ready to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

  “Think it’ll be in Dead Horse?”

  “Well, I was told by a grumpy waitress at the diner that I’m ‘not Dead Horse’, but then, none of you hunters are either. I think I can find a place.”

  He chuckled. “You must’ve met Nadine. Don’t put any pass on her. She’ll grow on you.”

  “Yeah, that was her name. She seemed to know all about everyone. Knew who I was when I walked in to place my order to go.”

  Headlights gleamed, and he stepped behind the tree until he saw that it was Fig arriving in the ops van. “I should go.”

  “Later, Cowboy.”

  He rang off and sighed.

  “You didn’t tell her sweet dreams?” Chase said in his ear.

  “Goddammit,” Cowboy muttered under his breath.

  “I warned you to turn off your earpiece.”

  “Sounds like it’s gettin’ serious. ‘You think because it’s fast it’ll burn out quick?’” Chase said in a falsetto voice.

  “That is not how I said it.”

  More laughter sounded.

  “Face it,” Hardman said. “We’re all a bunch of gossips.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Marti said, her tone dry.