Authors: Cerise DeLand
Tags: #Erotic Romance eBooks Erotica Total-E-Bound eBooks Books Romance
Sensing triumph, he crooned, “Clint’s gone. Your parents and mine, too. Aunt Marie is into Zen and the power of the universal one.” He grinned and so did Jess. “There’s no one here to object. No one here to criticise. No law we can’t be together.”
“There is the town!”
“What the hell do they matter?” he sputtered. “What’ve they ever done for you?”
! Work here! And even though you’re in the Army, you’re the owner. Frank is only your manager but he runs the Rocking H with the power of your name! You
are
a part of us!”
I just want to be a part of you.
He cursed, unable to reveal all his cards because she’d run like the devil was after her. “The people in this county don’t make me happy,” he pointed out. “Do they make you happy?”
“No! No one makes me happy.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He hugged her and she moaned a little, then shifted ever so slightly into his embrace. He smiled. “I want to make you happy, Jess. Again. Happy like you ought to be. Deserve to be.”
“Don’t be silly.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to be. Want to be. With you, Jess.”
Her big green eyes travelled all over his face as if she were seeing him for the very first time. “I haven’t laughed in so long,” she said, her one hand creeping up his chest, feeling his muscles as she went. “You are a tempting man.” Her fingers touched his throat. “And this is a sweet offer.” Her fingertips outlined his lower lip. “But I can’t.”
Growling, he crushed her closer. “How tempting is this?” He lowered his lips to hers and took them with the fierce longing of years of pent-up desire. Her lips were warm as summer honey, wet inside with mint and when his tongue surveyed the inner recesses and ravished her senses, he knew what she wouldn’t admit. So he said it for her. “You know this is a damn good offer.”
She looked up at him, her eyes glazed, her pink lips open in wonder.
“Say it.”
“A great offer.” She tasted her lips with the tip of her tongue. “The best offer.”
He leant down and spoke on her mouth. “Say you’re coming with me.”
“I want to,” she said without sound to the words. “But I haven’t made love to a man in so long.”
He felt like a stag in rut to think she hadn’t belonged to any man in a long time. Mad to claim her, he grinned. “Does that mean you’ve forgotten how?”
She fought laughter. “I might have. So
then
what’ll you do?”
“Teach you new things you’ll never forget.”
She did grin then. “You are outrageous.”
“Got that right.” He kissed the hollow of her throat and spoke on her satin skin. “And wild to have you. You won’t regret it, honey. I won’t, either.” He could have fused them together right then, and he wouldn’t need a blow torch either. With another kiss to her lips, victory would be his. So he whispered and begged, “Come with me, Jess. I need you.”
“Where?” she asked, dazed.
He grinned like a kid with a prize—and thought fast. “Big Bend.”
“The wilderness,” she asked, though she sounded like she was in a trance. “All alone.”
“Not a soul to disturb us. Except for maybe room service.”
Her eyes danced over him, and it was like the sun shining on him. “They have room service in west Texas?”
“At a big resort.”
“Oh,” she leant back in his arms and rolled her head on her shoulders, “I
love
room service.”
Chuckling, he kissed her cheek and blessed her eyes with two tender kisses. “Honey, the world is your oyster.”
“I
adore
oysters,” she sighed and wrapped her arms more tightly around him. “When?”
she asked, becoming more lucid.
“Tonight.”
“No, my bulls—”
“I’ll get my boys, we’ll saddle up and we’ll meet you at the creek. We’ll all drive them over here.” He clamped her close and he felt the air leave her lungs. “I’m not giving you time to back out.”
Her eyes cleared and her spine stiffened. She pulled away. “This isn’t wise, Trey.”
“Who said it ought to be?” He hauled her up into his arms. “This is what it’s supposed to be, Jess.” He ran his fingers up into the hair at her nape, braced her like a captive as he splayed his legs wide and pressed her torso to his aching shaft. “
This
.” He anchored her head and kissed her like he’d never kissed another, never wanted to, never needed to. He took her lips in one, two, three forays. He seized her breath and claimed the inside of her mouth with a spearing, demanding tongue. He made her moan and gasp, made her clasp her hands around his neck and kiss him back like she’d die if she didn’t. He wanted her here, now, standing up against the wall or in a chair. But if he seduced her quickly here, he knew he’d HARD DRIVIN’ MAN
a bed. Yet his home was not the place to lay her down for the first time. Not the place to savour her.
Still he had to have something to tide him over until tonight. As if he were starving, he just kept kissing her, not able to get enough of her mouth or her eyelids, her cheekbone or her jaw. Christ, she smelled like strawberries and coconut. Her skin tasted like them, too. Her throat, the hollow of her shoulder and the valley of cleavage. The plump rise of her breasts.
God, he’d been a hang-dog pup loving her all these years—and now that he could have her, he couldn’t stop. But had to.
Tormented, he retraced the path of his kisses from between her breasts to her throat and her chin. But when he pulled away to look down at her, he paused, enthralled.
Her eyes closed. Her lips open, her breath quick and hot, she hung in his embrace as if she were suspended in air. Drifting in euphoria. Lost.
Lost in him. Just how he wanted her. He cradled her closer. She was his. She loved what he did for her. And God knew, that’s what he had wanted, what he had dreamed of all these years.
And if he could enchant her with his kisses, imagine what he could do for her loving her with his entire body.
Look out, Hardwick. You may never get out of bed again.
Chapter Two
By the clock on Trey’s dashboard, it was ten past midnight and soon time for her to make good on this bargain she’d made with him. While he’d been making small talk for more than three hours, she’d been torn between outrageous hunger for his fit, firm body—
and a howling desire to escape a deal that could be her undoing.
Oh, yes, she wanted him badly. So badly, she’d decided to treat herself and him to a different woman. She ran a hand through her loose waves, hanging over her shoulders. She looked down at her frilly black blouse and a white match-stick skirt, black boots and the shiny silver belt she used to loop around her quivering body and tie her silly heart inside.
She’d even showered and shampooed with perfumed items she’d forgotten she owned. She’d put on blush—like she needed any, her fever for him was so high. She put on mascara, wondering if it would run when she perspired making love to him. Then she’d found her see-through black lace bra, worn once, put it on and preened at how it pushed up her size 36Bs.
And left the matching panties home.
At her risqué behaviour, she grinned, squirming once more now in his truck’s plush leather seats like she did every time he looked at her with those dark, fathomless eyes. But the sex she wanted today, she knew, might not be the yearning for him she needed to experience tomorrow. And the day after that. He was home only for one more week on leave. She knew that. Was it good he was going away again? Part of her said no. No, he was the only friend she had left. Now when he went, he’d be the only lover she’d had in more than six years.
Oh, God, what will I do after he leaves again for the wars?
She’d go back to being the lonely widow of the county. The one who’d told herself she’d live her life alone. Never love. Never laugh again
.
She wrung her hands.
Stop going round and round on this, Jess! You are here. You want him.
Should she just strip naked here, make him pull over so she could jump his bones—or should she order him to stop at the nearest town and let her jump out?
Escape.
But from the looks of things, by the light of the moon and a million twinkling stars, he was down to twenty miles per hour and headed up Main Street of a tiny town towards the only five-star hotel in west Texas. So to her, the idea that a man—the knowledge that
this
HARD DRIVIN’ MAN
man—wanted her enough to treat her so very right, tingled her toes. And made her body swell and her pussy cream with a luscious ache she hadn’t felt in at least a decade. She relished it, too, nestling her needy labia against the cool seat and feeling her nipples pucker.
He drifted to a stop in front of the Victorian-brick façade hotel and shut off the ignition.
“I called earlier and told them we’d be late. I’ll roust them and be right back,” he said in a gruff whisper and squeezed her hand. “I’ll check in, get the key and we’ll go around to the casita I’ve rented for us.”
She tried to look nonchalant while her cunt pulsed to have him inside her. “I’ll be here.”
He lifted her chin so that the moonlight drifted into her face. “I’m gonna make this good for you, Jess.”
She gave him a wry smile. “I don’t want either of us to ever be sorry.”
In the velvet darkness of the night, his features formed a devilish portrait in greys and blacks. He moved closer and thumbed her lower lip. “You’ll be so happy, darlin’, you won’t know what hit you.”
She shivered with his promise. “Get going then and hurry back!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
He hopped out, took the sidewalk with long strides of his two long legs and disappeared into the lobby. Maybe two minutes flat went by and he was out, inside his truck and driving around to the largest adobe casita that just happened to be the farthest from the main lobby.
After he parked, she jumped out and opened the back door to get her overnight bag.
But he grabbed it first, his eyes telling her he was being the gentleman here. Then he took his bag in one hand and her arm with his other. Only tiny lights illuminated the sidewalk in the silent black night as they headed for the door of their little house. With a twist in the lock, he opened the door—and she stood there, astonished by the sight.
The lights were already on inside. Mellow rays bathed the peach-coloured walls, the rich ochre leather sofa and matching chairs and the hues of sienna, turquoise and ivory in the Navaho carpets on the floor. While on every surface in large vases and small stemmed ones stood masses of white blooms of roses, chrysanthemums, jasmine and lily of the valley. The fragrances floated through the doorway and drew her inside to marvel at the array.
“Trey,” she whispered as she turned to take them all in. “Trey.” She couldn’t imagine what this cost him. “Oh, thank you.” She found his face, so handsome, so dear, so firm with tension. “They’re lovely. How did you know I love all these?”
He dropped the bags, kicked the door closed and twirled the lock. “You told me.”
“Did I?” she asked, a hand through her curls, star-struck by his proposition since this morning. And loving every moment of his devotion.
He took a step towards her and threw his keys on a table. “There is a lot I know about you, honey.”
“You remember from our Saturday mornings at the creek?” she purposely asked in an innocent tone because she didn’t want to know if Clint had told tales about her. “How could you? We were kids.”
“You were my friend who loved macaroni and cheese. Hated airplanes. Wanted to raise dogs—Labradors.”
She admired his strong features in the soft glow of the lamplight. “You have a remarkable memory.”
I remember you, too, sweetie.
“You were my best friend. I told you things I never told anyone else.”
Not even Clint.
He nodded. “I thought so.”
He wasn’t coming to her, and if that was him being even more of a gentleman and giving her room to breathe, she didn’t want either now. She’d come this far with him, not because she needed to save her ranch, but because she needed to save herself. She needed to take what she wanted. What she needed. And this afternoon, riding home from the Rocking H, she admitted to herself what she wanted was Trey. Naked. Rolling around in a bed with her. Making love to her for as long as she could claim him.
Smiling now, she took the two steps to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Thank you.” She inhaled the rich aromas of her own surrender and melted against his warm hard body. “The flowers are lovely, you are very thoughtful and I am absolutely dying here to have you kiss me like you did this morning.”
He made a small sound of relief and pulled her close. Now, torso to torso, thighs to thighs, she could feel his erection grow against her.
The fires of her own need had her standing up on tiptoes to search his eyes, speak his name and put her mouth to his.
“God, Jess!” He tore away before she could get a good hot taste of him. “I worried.”