Happiness suffused her heart and filled her with a warmth she’d never felt before. The incredibly sexy Reese Madaris loved her! She closed her eyes and breathed his name on a sigh. She quickly opened her eyes when she realized that at the moment, the incredibly sexy Reese Madaris was pretty angry at her for not believing he loved her.
On shaky legs she hurriedly followed him. When she reached
the living room she heard a noise upstairs and slowly walked up the staircase. Reese loved her, and she intended to show him just how much she loved him as well.
Chapter 23
K
enna didn’t believe him, Reese thought, stripping off his shirt, sending buttons flying in the process. He was royally pissed. What was it with her thinking Alyson was supposed to be the one woman he wanted? She should have known from that night at the party that Alyson was so far out the picture that it wasn’t funny. And the other day she had mentioned seeing Alyson and
Dr.
Wendell Thomas together. Had she expected to get some kind of rise out of him? Some sign that he was jealous? Clayton had been right when he’d warned him that women were complicated.
He went to the window and gazed out into the darkness. But he didn’t need the daylight to see all of his land, all seventy-something acres. It was a drop in the bucket compared to what his uncle Jake and his brother Chance owned, but it was his. And more than anything he wanted to share it with Kenna.
Not only did he want to share his land, but he wanted them to have babies together, beautiful babies, as many as she wanted. He
envisioned her standing at an easel painting, while several little ones were at her feet. That was an image he’d carried around with him for some time but was too afraid to ever see it for what it was or what it might mean. He didn’t want to be just a godfather to her children, he wanted to father them. He wanted to plant the seed in her body that would procreate their family.
He heard the soft knock on his bedroom door. “Come in,” he said without turning around. He didn’t have to, since he could see her reflection in the window.
She was nervous. He could tell by the way she rubbed her hands together. She probably didn’t know that he was very much aware that she was checking him out, taking note of the fact that he didn’t have his shirt on.
Her eyes were taking him in, and in her reflection he saw the heated look in her gaze. His heartbeat raced as his chest tightened. He loved her so damn much, and before she left this room tonight, he would show her
and
tell her.
It was at that moment, after he’d made up his mind about how he would handle LaKenna James, that he turned around and said, “Is there something you want?”
Kenna gritted her teeth, forcing back what she really wanted to say, which was something like,
Oh yeah, I want to take those jeans off your body and then push you back on that bed and ride you in a way that I’ve never ridden Rollins.
When she walked into his room she hadn’t expected to find him half naked, displaying a strong, muscular back and the thick cords of his broad shoulders. And she couldn’t overlook how his jeans clung perfectly to his backside. She unconsciously licked her lips.
“Kenna?”
She blinked. She hated that her mind wandered. “I want to talk…to make sure I heard you correctly downstairs when you said…”
Kenna swallowed, unable to get the words out because she
couldn’t comprehend having a man say he loved her and truly meaning it. Terrence had said it like it was nothing, but that hadn’t stopped him from finding his way into another woman’s bed. Lamont had claimed he loved her in one breath, while voicing his distrust of her and Reese’s relationship with the next. Now she had serious doubts that either of them had loved her at all. She realized they had been saying what they thought she wanted to hear, but it definitely wasn’t in their hearts. She didn’t want to think about Curtis and how deceitful he’d been. He had claimed he loved her, too, but in the end she’d discovered he’d only wanted her to help him keep his secret.
“When I said what, Kenna?”
She unconsciously licked her lips again when Reese interrupted her thoughts. “When you said what you did in the kitchen.”
Reese met her gaze and held it. He slowly began walking over to her. At first he decided to make it hard for her and make her come to him. But then he decided he would save her the trip. The sooner they cleared things up between them, the sooner they could spend the rest of the night in each other’s arms. But that was only if she loved him. That was something that was still up in the air. Something he didn’t have a clue about.
“What did I say in the kitchen, Kenna? You tell me,” he said softly, forcing her to say the words aloud. “And if for some reason you can’t repeat it because you don’t feel the same way, then I understand and I accept that for now. But only for now, because I’m going to make you love me,” he said with conviction.
He saw her eyes become moist before a single tear slid down her cheek. “But you don’t have to do that, because I already love you, Reese. I’ve always loved you. You’ve been there for me. You’ve been my strength when I didn’t have any. You were someone I could talk to about anything. You were my best friend, and that was what frightened me. I didn’t know how you felt and I was afraid that if you found out how I felt, then you wouldn’t want me as a friend any longer.”
She swiped her tears away. “Everything was fine as long as you had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend. But when that changed, my attention focused on you, and my attraction to you became too intense. I was afraid that you would find out the truth.”
He tried to follow what she was saying and suddenly a lightbulb went on his head. “Is that why you kept pushing Alyson in my face? You thought our friendship would be safe if I was with someone?”
“Yes. I thought it would be safe if you had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend.”
Reese slowly nodded. “Okay, now I’m following you, although I don’t agree with it. So tell me why you thought we were just testing the waters? Why would you think after all we shared we could go back to being just friends?”
Kenna looked down at the floor, knowing she had to be honest and speak directly from her heart. She slowly raised her head to meet his gaze. “I was too afraid to think otherwise, too frightened to hope that you could possibly find something in me that you couldn’t in Alyson. She’s beautiful and refined and most of the time she looks like a model. She has a prestigious job and—”
“She’s as phony as a three-dollar bill. I can see right through her.”
“But the two of you dated for almost a year,” Kenna implored.
“Because she was convenient and fun, and because at the time you were dating Curtis.”
He chuckled. “My family had the right idea all along, which is why most of them weren’t surprised tonight by that kiss. I kept telling them we were just friends and none of them believed it. Oh, they pretended to, because they knew that’s what I wanted them to believe. But none of them really did.”
Kenna lifted a dark brow. “Are you saying that they’ve…”
“Been waiting for both of us to come to our senses and
realize what they already knew. There has always been more than friendship between us. I love you, Kenna, and you are—and forever will be—the only woman that I want.”
“Oh, Reese.” She moved closer as he pulled her into his arms, surrounding her with his embrace. He’d held her before. But she knew this time was different. Not only was this where she wanted to be, but this was where he wanted her to be.
And then he eased back and she caught a glimpse of the smoldering look in his eyes before he lowered his head to kiss her. She thought like she always did that there was nothing quite like a Reese Madaris kiss. As if on cue, her nipples hardened against his naked chest and the lower part of her body cradled his huge erection. A firestorm of desire swept through her on a wave that made her shiver all over. A warm and tingling sensation stirred in her stomach and had her heart pounding like crazy. Suddenly she was being swept off her feet into Reese’s strong arms and she knew he was carrying her over to his bed.
And there he placed her, in the center of the bed, before taking a step back to relieve himself of his jeans and briefs. She watched, fascinated, enthralled as he stripped for her, revealing the sexiest body any man could possess. She couldn’t help trembling in appreciation and anticipation.
And when he stood before her completely naked, her gaze roamed the full length of him. But time and time again her gaze returned to where his manhood stood proudly erect, jutting from a thatch of dark, curly hair.
“Like what you see, LaKenna James?”
“Yes, definitely, but I can’t ask you the same thing because I still have my clothes on.”
He chuckled. “Not for long.”
He moved toward the bed, and when he reached for her she came to him and slid her arms around his neck. This time it was she who went for his mouth, needing the taste of him. Their
tongues mated, tangled and twisted as she felt passion oozing from every pore.
He broke off the kiss and reached out and tilted her chin upward so their eyes could meet. “I love you,” he whispered.
His words sent everything within her spiraling and she fought back her tears when she whispered back, “And I love you, too.”
The corners of her lips curved into a smile, and then he began undressing her, chuckling in his throat and murmuring out loud that she had too many clothes on. By the time he had removed the last stitch of clothing from her body she intended to make the time he’d spent undressing her well worth it.
Chapter 24
“T
hanks, Reese, for allowing my daughter to come see your horses,” Lynette said as she walked beside him and Kenna as they headed toward the barn.
Reese smiled. “No problem. The two of you are welcome at Tall Oaks Ranch any time.”
He glanced over at Kenna and gave her a loving glance as he remembered what had taken place since they had professed their love for each other three nights ago. They had done a lot of talking and had reached the conclusion that they’d wasted a lot of years by keeping their true feelings hidden and that wouldn’t ever happen again. They were now doing more than testing the waters. They were committed to building a solid relationship based on love. It was the kind of relationship they should have had years ago, but they accepted the fact that everything happened in due time and now was their time to be together.
He smiled as he observed Lynette’s daughter as she skipped and hopped ahead of them, excited by the prospect of seeing his
horses. In that instant he could imagine his own little girl, one who would have her mother’s looks, but especially her smile. And the only woman he would want to be the mother of his children was Kenna.
“Is there anything I can help you with, Mr. Madaris?”
Reese glanced up and saw Clark Lovell. According to Joe, Lovell was a hard worker who stayed to himself. Although he periodically slept in the bunkhouse with the men, he kept a place somewhere in town.
“Yes, Lovell, this is Lynette Cummings and her daughter, Aleena. They’re here as our guests for the day. Aleena is fascinated by horses, so I thought we’d show her some.”
Lovell extended his hand to Lynette. “Nice to meet you, Ms, Cummings.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” Lynette said, accepting the man’s handshake.
Lovell glanced down at Aleena and smiled. “She’s a pretty little girl.”
“Thanks, and she’s dying to see the horses,” Lynette said smiling.
“Would it be okay if I let her ride one of the ponies while I hold the reins and walk her around a couple of times?” Lovell asked.
Lynette’s face showed concern. “Will it be safe?”
Lovell nodded and smiled. “Yes, I’ll make sure that it is.”
“All right then.”
Reese and Kenna hung back and leaned against the post of the corral while Lovell led Lynette and Aleena to where one of the ponies was grazing. They watched how Lovell introduced the little girl to the pony and how she jumped up and down, obviously excited.
“Lovell surprises me,” Reese said softly. “He seems comfortable with kids. Not everyone has the kind of patience with a child that he’s showing Aleena.”
Kenna studied the man and had to agree. She glanced over at Lynette, and from the look on her friend’s face Kenna could see that Lynette was just as fascinated with Clark Lovell as Aleena was with the pony.
“Don’t forget we’re having dinner at my grandparents’ place tomorrow,” Reese reminded her.
She returned his smile and automatically felt an intimate connection, even though they weren’t touching. There was a strong sexual chemistry between them, and just being close to him had her pulse beating rapidly.
“I know,” she said softly. “And I hope you know they’re going to expect us to give them an answer to your mother’s question from the other night.”
Reese chuckled. “Yes, that’s a sure bet. Are you ready to satisfy their curiosity?”
“Yes.”
His smile widened. “Good.”
Just then Reese’s cell phone went off. “Excuse me a minute. This is the call I’ve been expecting from Dex.”
“All right.” She watched as Reese walked back toward the house before she turned around to observe Clark Lovell placing Aleena on the pony’s back to let her ride.
After satisfying herself that her little girl wouldn’t fall off the pony and that Lovell had everything under control, Lynette strolled over to where Kenna stood.
“Aleena is having the time of her life,” Lynette said, smiling.
Kenna chuckled. “Yes, I can see she is. And Lovell is good with her.”
“He most certainly is,
and
he’s extremely handsome,” Lynette whispered.
Kenna laughed. “I see you noticed.”
“Hey, you’d have to be blind not to.
Good-God-almighty,
look
how he’s wearing those jeans. The one thing he’s not wearing is a wedding ring. Is he married? ”
“I don’t think so.” Then Kenna remembered the night she saw him returning to the bunkhouse late. “But he might have a girlfriend, I’m not sure.”