The only thing more surprising to Laura than finally losing her virginity after so many years was the fact that Ted was still in her bed the next morning. She awoke from a sleep that had started out fitful but turned into deep, exhausted slumber, once the adrenaline of the situation had worn off, to find him naked and sprawled on his back beside her. Her heart sped up all over again.

She opened her eyes and propped herself up on one arm so she could look at him. Just look at him. Wow. Ted Flint, naked in her bed, after making a woman of her. The thought was ridiculous and brought her near to giggles. She bit her lip and continued to stare at him, at the muscles of his shoulders peeking out from the blanket. He wasn’t as tan as she’d have thought he would be, but then again, ranchers probably didn’t wrangle cattle—or whatever they did—shirtless.

The image of Ted riding out on the prairie in nothing but a cowboy hat and a smile lodged another giggle in her throat. She wasn’t quite brave enough to throw the covers back so she could get another look at his chest—and other things—but she did sneak her hand across his side to rest with her palm flat over his heart. It beat in a slow, steady rhythm, and his chest rose and fell with it.

Speaking of rising and falling…. She bit her lip even as a grin spread across her face and slowly brought her hand lower over his belly. She’d always heard that guys woke up in the morning ready to go. Part of her had always wanted first-hand evidence of whether that was true. And since her hand happened to be in the right place for evidence at the right time….

She reached lower, down over a bit of thick, wiry hair to slide her hand over his penis. He stirred. In more ways than one. A sound between a giggle and a moan caught in her throat, and she curled her hand around his length. It felt strange, different…not as firm as the night before, but not like a wet noodle either. Although that was subtly changing as she moved her hand down to his base to see what his balls felt like, then back up to the tip, which had a slightly different texture.

The more she touched him, the more pointed the ache between her legs became. That was new. Touching someone else was turning her on. Not that she was complaining. Especially since Ted was getting harder by the second. And there was a kind of challenge in that. She kept stroking him, curious to see just how hard he would get.

Until she realized his breathing had changed. His breath was no longer deep and even. It had turned tense and shallow. Ted was awake. She immediately let go of him.

“Why did you stop?” he asked, his voice rich with teasing.

“I…I didn’t…I mean, I’m sorry I didn’t ask,” she stammered.

He chuckled and reached for her hand under the covers, returning it to where it’d been moments before. “Princess, you don’t have to ask to wake me up like that.”

Laura blinked and grinned, close to laughing outright. She wrapped her hand gently around his penis, but knowing he was awake, she was too embarrassed to rub him outright. “You really don’t mind?”

His answering laughter made him shake in ways that had her prickling with arousal. “Mind? Seriously, that feels so incredibly good that—” His breath caught as she brushed her fingers around the now flared tip of his penis. “—that I’m wishing I’d brought more than the one condom with me.”

“Oh. Crap.” She debated moving away. Just debated. There was no way she was actually going to do anything about it.

“But there are other things we can do,” he went on, a sexy growl in his voice.

“Such as?” She could have kicked herself as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Duh, Laura, you’re doing those things right now.

“Such as this.”

He rolled to his side—carefully, so that her hand stayed where it was without tugging him the wrong way—then pulled her closer. He lifted her leg over his hip, then teased his fingers through her curls until he reached just the right spot.

“Oh, that,” she squeaked as pleasure shot through her.

He continued to tease and tickle her, sliding down across her increasingly wet opening. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry, and frankly, considering how awesome it felt just to have him and his big, callused hands exploring her like that, she did not mind one bit.

“Uh, Princess, you can continue with what you were doing too,” he told her, humor and affection in his voice.

“Oh! Right.” Her hand had gone still on him, but at the reminder that they were in this together, she resumed stroking. It was crazy-hard to concentrate on what she was doing with him easing her toward levels of arousal that she’d never experienced before. He was probably used to women who knew exactly what they were doing and who could give him everything he needed between the sheets.

Maybe things were moving a little too fast between the two of them. Maybe she needed more time to research ways to pleasure a man before they ended up in bed again.

“Oh!” She gasped as he touched her just right, bringing her right up to the edge of an orgasm. He backed off enough to stop her from coming, although the intensity of everything she was feeling down there seemed to vibrate through her entire body.

“Stroke me harder,” he whispered.

The command made her shiver in all sorts of ways. Half because it was surprisingly sexy to have him order her to pleasure him, and half because the fact that he had to tell her what to do raised a reluctant wave of self-consciousness in her.

“Yeah, like that,” he sighed as she followed his directions.

The guilt she felt for doing things all wrong began to ebb, and she closed her eyes and let the pleasure of the moment take over.

At least until the phone rang.

Her eyes popped open. No one ever called her. After the main events of the night before, she’d gotten up, taken out her new earrings, found her phone, and plugged it in to charge on her bedside table, but never in a million years would she have expected a call. The only time anyone called her was if someone was dead.

“Let it go,” Ted murmured.

But Laura had already broken away from him and twisted to reach for the phone. She frowned when the caller ID showed Dr. Ashford was the one calling. She tapped the screen and pressed it to her ear. “Hello?”

It wasn’t until a split second later that she realized her leg was still hiked over Ted’s hip and his hand still covered everything important down south. And you freakin’ answered the phone like that.

“Laura. Hi. Sorry to call so early on a Sunday,” Dr. Ashford began.

“That’s okay, Dr. Ashford.” She said the name as she met Ted’s eyes, letting him know who was calling. “I was already up.”

“So was I,” Ted murmured.

Laura nearly laughed. She swatted at him.

“I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t think you would want to hear what I just found out,” Dr. Ashford went on.

“Oh?” Her interest in the call was suddenly greater than her interest in the way Ted’s hand still nestled between her legs. “What? Hold on. Ted’s here, so let me put you on speaker.”

She moved the phone away from her ear and tapped it just as Dr. Ashford said, “Oh, uh, I’m really sorry to disturb the two of you so early.” Even with the poor sound quality of the speaker, it was clear Dr. Ashford suspected she’d interrupted something. Never mind the fact that she had. “Are you sure you want to talk about this when you’re, uh, busy?”

After the conversation she and Dr. Ashford had had over coffee, about men and intimacy and loss just a few weeks ago, especially about the advice her mentor had given her to take things slowly, the last thing Laura wanted to confess was the position she was in. Literally. “It’s no problem. Ted just came over so we could go for a run together,” Laura lied. Her face burned hot, especially when Ted pinched her where his hand was.

“Okay.” Dr. Ashford paused, then went on with. “The Field Museum in Chicago has put in an actual bid for your fossil, based on the photographs and scans we’ve published so far.”

“Really?” If Laura hadn’t already been riding an adrenaline high from her activity with Ted, she’d have perked up at that.

“They’re offering twelve million for the whole thing and the right of first refusal to any other fossils found on the site.”

“Twelve million?” Ted moved his hand away from Laura’s nether regions and rested it on her side. Strangely, it was a much more intimate gesture.

“They think you’ve got something incredibly special,” Dr. Ashford went on. “We all do. And just because The Field Museum has made this offer doesn’t mean other institutions might not make a better one.”

“Wow.” Laura’s whole body buzzed with excitement.

“There’s lots more to come, but I thought you would want to hear about this right away.”

“Thanks, Dr. Ashford,” Ted said. “I can’t believe it.”

“Take some time to think it over,” Dr. Ashford went on. “You don’t have to make any decisions right away. I’ll let you know if we hear more.” She paused for a moment, then said, “You really don’t have to rush into anything, Laura.”

Laura peeked sideways at Ted, wondering if he’d picked up that that last bit was specifically for her. Judging by his impatient expression, he had.

“Well, I should go,” Dr. Ashford went on. “I’m sorry I disturbed you.”

“I’m not,” Laura said. “This is great. Thanks so much.”

“You two have a good Sunday,” Dr. Ashford finished.

Laura twisted to put her phone back on the bedside table, then snuggled into Ted’s arms once more.

“Twelve million dollars. Can you believe it?” she said.

“No.” Ted laughed. “I absolutely can’t believe it.” He surged into her and kissed her.

She had to admit, Ted was a really good kisser. The way he used his lips and tongue to elicit sensation and emotion from her was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. It baffled her that he wanted her, as hopeless as she was, but in the moment, she wasn’t about to resist or explain all the reasons why he was wrong to like her so much.

“See,” he said after he’d kissed her into breathlessness. “Those earrings weren’t too much. In fact, I’m not sure they were enough.”

“They were absolutely too much,” she laughed.

“No, I think you need something more.”

“What more could I—oh!”

He flipped her to her back before she was ready, pushing her legs farther apart. His hands roved over her body for a moment before he bent over her, kissing her breasts, her stomach, and then lower. She threaded her fingers through his hair as he put every bit of his skill to amazing use where it counted. The last logical thought Laura had before pleasure took over was that this was better than earrings any day.

* * *

Twelve million dollars. Ted still couldn’t believe it. All for a hunk of rock in his back yard. He laughed and shook his head as he hauled a bag of feed from the shelf in Bertran’s Feed Store onto his cart. He would have spent the next decade or so making jokes about what he’d thought was an old cow bone sticking out of the ground if Laura hadn’t come along to see it for what it was.

He tugged another bag off the shelf, tossing it on the pile in his cart, and smiled. Twelve million dollars was nothing to the joy of spending a night in Laura’s bed. Just the thought of her naked body with just the right amount of curves was enough to make his jeans tight. There was something about the way they’d made love the night before that was special. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It hadn’t just been sex. Not like the good times he’d had with women in the past. No, with Laura it had gone deeper, affected him more. He had the feeling it had been a really big deal for her, but he didn’t know why exactly.

A satisfied smirk spread across his face as he hoisted the last couple of bags of feed he needed onto the cart. He’d bought a deluxe-size box of condoms at the drug store on the way to Bertran’s, and he intended to put them all to good use in the coming days and weeks. Just the thought of Laura begging him to fuck her made him break out in a cold sweat. Then again, the word “fuck” was way too vulgar for what she had been asking from him. She’d begged him to be inside of her, to meld with her in the most intimate way two people could be together. That did more than make him sweat. It made his heart feel too big for his chest. It made him want to hold her for the rest of their lives.

“Need help with that?”

Carlos’s question jolted Ted out of his thoughts. He’d been standing there like a moon-faced schoolboy, grinning over thoughts of Laura.

“I think I’ve got everything I need,” he said, moving to the handle of the huge, flat-bed cart and its full load.

Carlos’s grin widened. “Yeah, I hear you do have everything you need.” He slapped Ted’s shoulder like he’d hit a home run. And euphemistically, he had. “And what’s this I hear about that fossil on your ranch?”

Ted started pushing his cart toward the front of the store, Carlos walking by his side. Carlos ran the store for his family, and slipped behind the register to ring up the order when they reached the front.

The same rush of excitement that Dr. Ashford’s call had raised in him struck again. “It’s pretty big,” he told Carlos. The man was a friend, after all.

“You mean the size of the thing or its value?” Carlos asked, counting the number of feed bags Ted had.

“Both. Well, size-wise, the fossil isn’t as huge as some of the massive skeletons that the big museums have. It’s pretty sizable, though. But it’s all about how unique it is.”

“Are you talking about your fossil?” Brian Pickering walked up to the register with a salt block in his arms. By the eager look in his eyes, Ted had the feeling he wasn’t there to pay for his purchase so much as to get the skinny on what was going on with the discovery.

“Ted here was just telling me what a big deal it is,” Carlos said, more likely than not fanning the flames of rumor.

“How big of a deal?” Brian asked.

Ted tried to play it cool, but the whole thing was way too exciting for him to form much of a poker face. “Turns out that old bone sticking out of the ground was just the tip of the iceberg. Laura’s been working to uncover the rest of it for several weeks now.”

“Laura Kincade, who works over at PSF, right?” Brian asked. “She’s friends with the Clutterbucks?”

“That’s her.” Ted couldn’t help but grin from ear-to-ear.

“You ever get her to go out with you?” Carlos asked. The look in his eyes said he guessed the answer.

“Yes, I did.” Ted humored him anyhow. There was no way Carlos and Brian wouldn’t get the full implication of what was going on, thanks to the cocky expression he couldn’t wipe off his face. “We’re dating,” he added, so they wouldn’t get the wrong idea about his intentions.

“After the way she found that fossil, you’d be an idiot not to date her,” Carlos went on. He finished ringing up the order, told Ted the total, then launched straight into, “So it’s a valuable fossil too?”

“Yep.” Ted slid his credit card through the reader. “It’s really rare. Two dinosaurs locked in combat.”

“Cool,” Brian said. “How much of them is there?”

“Two almost complete skeletons,” Ted explained. “We haven’t been able to dig the whole thing out yet, but Laura knows a bunch of people in the paleontology world, and they’ve come in and taken pictures and scans and things to assess what’s there.”

“It’s amazing what they can do with modern technology these days,” Carlos said, setting Ted’s receipt on the table so he could sign it.

Ted laughed as he signed. “What’s amazing is that The Field Museum in Chicago is offering twelve million dollars for it, sight unseen.”

Carlos and Brian whistled and gasped in surprise. “That’s one hell of a lot of horse feed,” Brian said.

“Tell me about it.” Ted straightened and handed the receipt and pen to Carlos. “And all for a hunk of rock.”

“Is this about your fossil?” Another man joined the conversation, Tony Abernathy.

“Yeah,” Ted said, suddenly more reserved. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Tony, it’s was just that he never quite knew the man’s motives for everything he did. And it didn’t help that he was friends with Ronny Bonneville.

“Twelve million dollars, huh?” Tony’s eyes shone with greed.

Ted regretted opening his mouth. But it was too late now. “Nothing is set in stone yet.”

“Ha! Funny,” Brian said. “Considering it’s a fossil and all.”

Carlos chuckled too, but a growing sense of uneasiness spilled down Ted’s back. “We won’t really know what’s going on until the fossil is completely excavated.”

“Hey, would you mind if I came by and took a look one evening?” Carlos asked.

As much as Ted wanted to say no, Carlos had been a friend for ages. He was the captain of his baseball team, for gosh sakes. “Sure,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound too unfriendly.

“Mind if I come too?” Brian asked.

“We can all come,” Tony said before Ted could answer. He barked a laugh. “You could charge admission for people to see it, like some of the other places around here that have fossils.”

“I don’t know about that.” Ted made a show of putting his receipt in his wallet and moving his cart of feed toward the door. “It’s a working fossil excavation. There’s a lot of sensitive equipment out there. I’m sure it’s okay if some people come and see it, but not too many.”

“It won’t be too many,” Tony said. “Haskell’s not that big.”

“I’ll call first to make sure it’s a good time,” Carlos said with a knowing nod.

“Wait ’til Ronny hears about this,” Tony said.

No words could have gone further to unsettle Ted than those. “Isn’t Ronny awfully busy with his car dealership and being on the town council and all?” he asked.

“Probably,” Tony shrugged, dumping his purchases onto the counter, even though Brian was still juggling the huge salt block in his arms. “But Ronny always loves a good get-rich-quick scheme. And that’s what this fossil is, right?”

Hot offence raced along Ted’s nerves. He thought of what Laura would say if she heard a comment like that. He had a feeling he’d have to break up a fight.

“It’s an important paleontological find,” he corrected Tony. “We’re not in it for the money.”

“But I’m sure the money’s nice,” Tony laughed.

Ted grabbed the handle of his cart and started pushing it toward the door. “Give me a call when you want to come out and see it,” he said, making a quick exit.

He left a little too fast for the way he liked to part company with friends, but a knot had formed in the pit of his stomach, a knot with Tony Abernathy written all over it. No, it was a knot with Ronny Bonneville written all over it. That family didn’t know when to keep their nose out of other people’s business. Especially when it came to money. No good could come of the Bonnevilles catching wind of how valuable Laura’s fossil was.