The Cowboy's Temptation (15 page)

“Cooking? I’m guessing you’re making dinner, right?” he asked, his chest swelling with pride that he could so completely confuse her this way. She definitely moved him, he thought as he considered his painful erection after just one, simple kiss.

Elissa glanced around at the kitchen and countertop filled with food. “Oh! Yes. Yes, dinner. I wasn’t sure if you were hungry or not, but thought pasta might be good.”

 

Jake nodded his head. “I’m starving and pasta sounds great.”

Taking a deep breath, Elissa tried to get her thoughts in order. “Okay then. Stop stealing the carrots and move out of my way,” she smiled, not daring to step closer to the counter until he was farther from her work area. She couldn’t think clearly with him so close.

“Can’t I do anything?” he asked.

 

“No. You can go sit down somewhere,” she said.

 

Jake moved around the counter and sat down in a chair that was tucked under the counter. “How’s this?” he asked.

 

Elissa didn’t think it was far enough away but at least she could think now. “Fine, for now,” she said and put down the tomatoes.

 

“Where did you learn to cook so well?” he asked, grabbing a slice of tomato she had just sliced for their salad.

Elissa ignored the warm glow of pleasure she felt at his words. Stay cool, girl, she told herself. He was only a man. Surely she could keep her wits about her for one evening. “I don’t know. I learned from school and from my mother, I guess but I haven’t had a chance to cook in a long time. I really enjoy it.”
“So do I,” he said and smiled at her as she glanced up at him.

“Where’s your mother?” he asked.

 

“She lives in Virginia. She and my father retired about two years ago and travel all over the world.”

 

“Where did you go to school?” he asked.

 

“Ronny and I went to college together. She was my college roommate,” Elissa explained, remembering some of Ronny’s antics in college.

 

“What made you decide to major in math?”

 

“I didn’t. Ronny majored in math. I studied economics,” she explained.

 

“Is there a difference?”

Elissa smiled. “Yes. Economics is more about theory and sociological phenomenons surrounding how people spend and think about money. Math is more concrete. Ronny tried to take some of my economics courses and almost failed. She hated the theory side of it. She likes the more down to earth, solid sort of concepts.”

“Don’t you like that?”

Elissa grimaced. “No way. I tried taking some of her upper math classes and just about failed those. I like thinking about math more than doing it. Once you get into that physics and tangent stuff, you’ve lost me.”

Jake shook his head. “I don’t know how anyone could stand being cooped up in an office all that time.”

 

Elissa smiled and agreed. “I can definitely see the advantages to living out here, smelling the clean air and actually seeing the stars every night.”

 

“I’m guessing you don’t get to see many stars in New York.”

“No, not really. In order to actually see stars, we have to travel about two hundred miles west. And even then, the pollution is still so strong and the air so humid, we can’t really see anything. Not like this at least,” she said, glancing outside as the sky continued to darken and she could already see the stars peeking out of the night.

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” he said. “Yes. Everything about this country is beautiful,” she said, keeping her eyes down and concentrating on cutting the vegetables.

 

Jake opened a bottle of red wine and poured her a glass, then pulled out a beer from the refrigerator for himself.

Jake moved on to less touchy subjects and Elissa finished cooking the spaghetti and preparing the salad. When it was done, she put the plates on the counter and joined him, relishing the warm, savory sauce.

They ate their pasta and talked about college days and growing up with their respective parents. It was more about getting to know each other rather than a heated conversation filled with emotional undertones. It felt nice to just relax and talk with someone, Elissa thought.

When they were finished, they cleaned the kitchen together, then Elissa stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, wondering what would happen next. She didn’t want the evening with Jake to end but also didn’t want to impose on his time anymore. Jake took the lead by saying, “Bring your wine and come join me outside.”

Elisa picked up her glass and followed him, unwilling to resist the lure of Jake any longer. She’d already experienced the magic of his touch, his kiss, his body. She wanted more. She wanted to experience as much of him as he’d allow before she had to abandon the fantasy world she’d created in the past two weeks.

Elissa walked quietly behind him, right into his arms as soon as he closed the door leading out onto the patio.

 

“I’m sorry about this morning,” he said. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Elissa didn’t want to talk about that. She wanted him to make love to her again and help her forget the world and all the awful things waiting for her. “Shhh,” she said and leaned against him.

Jake couldn’t resist. He wanted her and, just as he had last night, at her first touch, the feel of her body against his, he lost all his ability to concentrate and talk sensibly to her. He wanted to get things straight between them, find out what exactly she wanted from him. But when she looked up at him as she was now, his body reacted instantly to the desire shining through her eyes and he reached down to kiss her.

When the kiss didn’t seem to stop, Jake took her wine glass from her hand and set it down on the table behind him, doing the same for his beer. Then he pulled her more firmly into his arms and kissed her soundly.

With a groan, he picked her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to his bedroom. Laying her carefully in the center of the bed, he looked down at her and promised himself that he would go slow, teach her about making love and make sure she felt everything he was feeling.

The plan was all well and good but the moment Elissa put her hands on his shoulders, she pulled him down and the plan to go slowly flew out the window. Elissa’s touch drove him wild and he couldn’t slow down much less stop breathing. She pulled his shirt off, her hands eagerly touching his skin and making him burn for her. He pulled her tee-shirt over her head and stared at her, then quickly removed her lacy bra. She tried to cover herself from his heated gaze but he pulled her hands away and held them above her head. “You’re beautiful. Please don’t hide from me,” he said, his voice barely above a groan. He then dipped down to take her nipple in his mouth, causing Elissa to arch her back, increasing the pressure of his mouth.

Elissa’s hips moved erotically against him and he stood up to take off her jeans, discarding his in the process. The feeling of her smooth naked skin next to his almost sent him over the edge. He held her hands over her head, unable to endure her touch anymore without taking her immediately.

“Please Jake,” she whispered. “I want to touch you too,” she said.

 

“You can’t. Not tonight,” he said and ran his fingers down her waist, her leg, amazed at how soft her skin was behind her knee and down her calf.

He reveled in the softness against his skin and pulled her deeper into the realm of desire. When he finally entered her, Elissa was so on fire, she instantly climaxed, throbbing around him and pulling him along with her.

When they were sated, Jake fell on top of her, holding some of his weight with his elbows but his face was buried in her neck. He released her hands and she instantly wrapped them around his shoulders, loving the feeling of his muscles and his whole body.

After he caught his breath, he stood up. “I’ll be right back,” he said and walked out of the room, completely unashamed of his nakedness. A few minutes later, he came walking back into the room, her wine glass and a fresh beer in his hands.

He slipped into bed beside her and handed her the glass of wine. They laid in bed and sipped their drinks, laughing and talking about whatever came to their minds. It was nice to be able to enjoy someone’s company in a relaxing atmosphere, which isn’t to say that the sexual tension wasn’t just beneath the surface. Elissa couldn’t look at the man without thinking about sex and how incredibly masculine he was.

They made love three more times that night. Each time Elissa snuggled up to him in her sleep, she woke him up enough to be aware of her which meant that he made love to her again and again, always satisfying her more than she could ever have imagined. By dawn, she was exhausted and couldn’t lift her arms to hold him. He simply pulled her tightly against him and they fell asleep wrapped up in each others arms.

Monday morning, she woke to him kissing her neck and nibbling on her ear. “What are your plans today?” he asked.

Elissa rolled over onto her back, taking the sheet with her. He was already showered and dressed but she was still naked underneath the sheet. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess the same thing I’ve been doing for the past two weeks. I’ll help Ronny, make dinner, then hopefully fall asleep in your arms just like last night,” she said and reached up to touch his smoothly shaven jaw.

He kissed the palm of her hand and glanced down at the rough skin on her palms. “Why don’t you take it easy, give these hands a chance to heal a little more? I’ll take you out flying tonight and you can see the sunset from my favorite place. Deal?”

“What about my riding lesson?” she asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position. She had no intention of sitting around, waiting for her hands to heal. She wanted to be doing something. Everyone seemed so busy on the ranch, she didn’t want to laze the day away.

“No way,” he said. “These pretty little hands need to heal before you head back to New York,” he said, shaking his head. He didn’t want her to head back to New York and be embarrassed about what ranch life had done to her perfectly manicured hands. It might be too much of a memory to handle.

“What about if I wear gloves?” she asked. “And can I feed the new foal? What if the mother still can’t feed her? She’ll need help and you guys don’t really have the time.”

Jake thought about it for a long minute. “Fine. You can feed Mini but nothing else,” he said.

 

“Mini?” she asked, smiling at the name.

 

“Yeah, that’s what the guys started calling her apparently. She’s pretty small for a horse.”

 

“I like it,” she said.

 

“Good. Whenever you get down there, she’ll be ready for your feeding.”

 

With a quick, hard kiss, he left the room, whistling as he went down the hallway.

Elissa waited for the door to close, indicating that he had left the house, then jumped up and got into the shower. She didn’t have her toiletries with her but she didn’t want to walk down the hallway to her own shower so she used his shampoo and soap, feeling closer to him in some odd way.

Wrapping herself in a towel, she padded down the hallway to her room and changed into a clean pair of jeans and shirt. She was too excited about seeing Mini, she didn’t want to wait to do anything with her hair so she just pulled it back into a pony tail and rushed out of the house with only the barest amount of makeup on. She suspected that Jake would be out on the range already so he didn’t have to know that she followed behind him only fifteen minutes later.

She slipped into the barn and found the stall they had moved Lucy and Mini into. Both horses perked up as soon as she entered. “Hi, little lady,” Elissa said and knelt down to pet the tiny horse. Lucy, still exhausted from her ordeal from the previous day, made sure that Elissa wasn’t a threat and then laid back down to recuperate.

“I thought I told you to lay low, Elissa,” Jake’s voice said from behind her. Elissa jumped slightly, feeling guilty only for a moment. “I did.”

“For all of thirty seconds?” he asked, and handed her a bottle of warm milk. “There are more bottles in the refrigerator over there. She’ll need to be fed about every three or four hours until her momma get’s more energy to feed her herself.”

Elissa was thrilled that Jake was letting her take care of the foal. She took the offered bottle of milk and happily fed the sweet little animal while her mother watched cautiously.

Jake thought of over fifty things he needed to do on various places on the ranch. But none of them overrode his need to stand here and watch Elissa feed a hungry, almost orphaned foal and see the delight on her face as the foal drank thirstily.

Once she was done, the foal sat back down and curled up against her mother yet again. Elissa watched the foal for a few more minutes, then stood up and dusted off her jeans. “I guess I’d better head over and help Ronny,” she said shyly.

“I’ll bet she could use the break since I took you all day yesterday.”

Elissa laughed and nodded her head. She wanted to talk to him, express her feelings but she wasn’t sure exactly what they were. “Well, I’d better head over there,” she said but still didn’t move.

Jake watched her for a long moment, knowing she wanted to kiss him. But something inside her kept her from initiating the kiss. He wondered if she would ever feel comfortable around him. He hoped so. But he didn’t mind bending over and taking her in his arms, kissing her thoroughly. Once she was completely dazed, he let her go. “I’ll see you at five o’clock tonight,” he said and patted her on her cute, jean clad derriere.

Elissa laughed and jumped slightly at his pat, then shook her head as she headed out of the barn toward Veronica’s house.

“Good morning,” Elissa called quietly as soon as she entered, then saw Veronica with tears streaming down her face, a sleeping baby in her arms although she wasn’t sure if it was Michael or Maxine.

“What’s wrong?” Elissa asked, rushing over to take the baby in her arms. Veronica instantly relinquished the baby and fell onto the sofa.

 

“Nothing,” she sobbed.

 

Elissa looked at her friend and blinked. “Okay,” she said and sat down next to her. “Then why are you crying?”

“Because I’m so tired,” she sobbed and leaned back onto the back of the sofa. “And you’re going to leave here in a few days and I’m going to be marooned here all by myself with no one to talk to and I’ll end up hating my children because I can’t get any sleep. Then Rick will hate me and leave with some beautiful blond woman who won’t be fat and pregnant anymore and not lactating or sobbing like a fishwife.”