Taivon: Book Three of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Twenty

Not that Park Ranger Taivon wasn't equally as hot, but the whole cowboy thing, it was a sort of fantasy of hers.

“C'mon, cowboy.” She opened up her bedroom door and dragged him in. “Take me to bed.”

He pulled back. “I thought we were just going to sleep.”

“We are.”

“But the way you said it...” His voice trailed off, and even in the dark, Alix knew there was that blush on his face.

“Let me rephrase then,” she said, squeezing his hand. “Let's walk into my room, get into our pajamas-”

“I don't have pajamas here.”

“-and then I'm going to put my head on my pillow, and you're gonna put your head on the other one, and we're going to fall asleep. That's what I meant by take me to bed.”

He entered her room cautiously, as if expecting the carpet to turn into shards of glass. Each step he took had her heart hammering, his soft footfalls sounding heavy, like the beat of a drum. When he looked at her, she saw how nervous he was.

“Should I...” He licked his lips. “Change?”

“Sure.”

“What are you gonna do?”

Alix dug through her dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of pajama shorts and camisole. She didn't even bother going back to the bathroom. He'd just seen it all before; and besides, it was fun seeing Taivon all flustered.

After she'd changed, Alix turned back around, only to see him with his back turned to her. His face was practically pressed up against the corner. Alix just let him and got into bed, snuggling underneath the covers.

“Taiv?” she asked.

“What?” he said, right into the wall.

“You gonna come to bed?”

His shoulders rolled, and his head hit the wall with a clunk. “In a minute.”

Propping her head up on a pillow, she waited for that one minute. That sixty seconds turned longer, though. She could just barely make out his hand doing something with the front of his pocket. His back muscles rippled as he breathed and worked at something. Maybe his zipper was stuck.

“Should I take off my jeans?” he asked, into the wall. Again.

“That's up to you.”

“'Kay,” Taivon said and then moved his hands again.

She watched as he unfastened his belt buckle, hearing that familiar jangling sound. He was sliding his pants down his lean hips in the next second. The denim went lower, lower, and lower still, stopping to pool at his feet.

Plain white briefs.

He would be the one to wear plain white briefs. Not that a lot of other men didn't – because there were probably a lot – but it was the fact that he wore them. It was the fact that he went to KOHL's, or wherever it was men like him shopped, and specially picked out the underwear.

She was more into men who wore boxers – the silk ones, especially – and not ones whose underwear showed about as much leg as her pajama shorts did. But as she looked at all that hairy, male leg that was displayed to her, Alix found a new appreciation for briefs.

He turned around then, and it was like everything moved in slow motion. That was how much masculine beauty he held. Of course, his head was down, eyes looking down at the ground, and he was just standing there with his hands clasped in front of hips. Completely oblivious to how utterly irresistible he was.