Excerpt: Pickup Man by Deirdre O’Dare

Pickup Man, by Deirdre O’Dare; ISBN 1-59279-305-3; www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/bio_ODare.html

Blurb: Jana, spinster librarian goes to the favorite night spot of the rodeo crowd to try to pick up a cowboy. Once she gets acquainted with Ty, the phrase “ride “em cowboy’ takes on a whole new meaning and her prize of a steak dinner for winning a bet with her girlfriends is the least of her rewards.

Excerpt:
When Ty turned away as if to dismiss her, Jana felt a surge of panic. Oh no, I can’t fail! I wouldn’t have guts to try this again. Reaching out, she put a hand on his shoulder. Under her fingers, his flesh felt hot and hard as the tight muscle of a good Quarter horse.
“Come on, cowboy,” she said in her lowest husky voice, the voice that was totally inappropriate for a high school librarian. “Let’s dance. I didn’t come in here to sit around and be someone’s crying towel.”
“You don’t know one damn thing,” he muttered, but he stood and followed her onto the dance floor, walking as steadily as if he were stone-sober. “One bad day–or a dozen…”
As she turned to face him, he looked at her again, really looked. As that fierce gaze slid over her body, she felt it as keenly as a touch. Her nipples hardened, thrusting against the clinging tee and her knees wobbled. She could see he didn’t miss any of her reaction, which proved he wasn’t nearly as drunk as he’d pretended to be at first. Bet he’s nursed that one beer for quite awhile.
His angular lips quirked into a parody of a smile. “Okay, little girl, if you came to dance, I’ll give it a try. In that outfit, you’re looking sexier than Dolly Parton at her best with a little Shania Twain on the side. I hope you’re not just for show ’cause I could sure use a dose of warm woman tonight.”
In answer she snuggled close to Ty’s big hard body as they stepped off to the music. Take his mind off the blonde, off anything except me. She’d bet he was just lonely and angry enough to let his guard down. In fact, she was counting on it.
As they moved around the floor, Jana thanked her lucky stars that all the tunes someone had chosen were slow ones. That kept her close to Ty, body to body, in a contact that felt more intimate with each passing second. Still, in the heat of the crowded bar, she began to perspire.
The moisture heightened the scent of her musk perfume which rose up in an invisible cloud around them. With every breath, they both inhaled the sensual odor. Before the set was over, she sensed him growing hard, felt the unconscious tightening of his embrace. His hand slid from the middle of her back to the swell of her bottom. She relaxed and let her body meld to his.
“I don’t know who you are, gal, but you’re coming across as one hot mama. How about we go outside?”
Jana nodded, too pleased and too anxious to reply. When he turned her to walk directly in front of him, she smiled inwardly. Bet the zipper and denim of his jeans are stressed to the max. The notion that she, plain timid little Jana, could arouse a hard-bitten cowboy to that extent was headier than a whole pitcher of beer. They made their way through the shifting crowd to the door through which Jana had entered a half hour or so ago. Outside it must have been close to a hundred degrees at ten o’clock. Dry heat or not, she felt it and sensed he did, too.
He turned to the side once they were clear of the door and propped himself against the wall, drawing her close. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but before the words were out, his lips closed over hers. He gave her a hard, urgent kiss, tasting of beer and cowboy, a kiss that hit her like striking a match over a dish of gasoline. A flare of desire surged through her so fiercely she went weak all over. She clutched at his shoulders for balance, for something to hang onto in a world that whirled crazily around her.
“I’ve got a room in the motel across the highway,” Ty said, finally lifting his mouth clear of hers. “It’s there or my truck. Truck’s closer but not as comfortable.”
“Or we could go to my place. It’s just down the road.”
“You live here?”
She nodded, almost hating to admit that the dull little town was home. “All my life. Well, as long as I can remember, anyway. Riverbend is the only home I know.”
“I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “Home grown sin and I never saw you before. How could that happen?”
“Maybe you weren’t looking,” Jana answered lightly. “So where will it be?”
“Lady’s choice,” he replied. “But don’t take too long making up your mind.”
There was never any question. From the first, Jana had intended to take him home. Leaving both his pickup and her compact in the bar’s huge parking lot, they walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand. It only took a few minutes to reach her apartment. She used her code to pass through the gate, the one feeble attempt at security and propriety the complex’s owners made.
Glancing around the cluttered courtyard of the complex, she sighed. Place looks like a dump. Ty didn’t seem to notice. When she moved ahead to climb the stairs to her second-floor unit, she could feel the heat of his gaze on her butt. Well, wasn’t that what skintight jeans were for?
Inside, the room felt stuffy, the mingled scents of someone’s spicy cooking, her cosmetics, and dirt both old and new dulled the giddy sweetness of her perfume. She had barely closed the door when she felt Ty approach. He enfolded her in his arms again. Turning her face up to his, she took his kiss with unfeigned pleasure.
This time she opened her mouth under his lips and initiated a duel of tongues, a darting dance that foreshadowed the deeper round of eager thrusts sure to follow. At the thought, moisture pooled between her legs, dampening the jeans past the nonexistent barrier of her thong panties. She hadn’t wanted anyone this badly in a long, long time.
Really, there hadn’t been that many times, ever. Maybe that was why her friend Kim had made the bet with her.