by Jane Godman
How much worse could this situation get? Until he met Bree, Rylan had never known there was such a thing as the woman of his dreams. Now, she was in his arms, and her beautiful lower lip was quivering because she thought he was about to turn her down. He already knew how fragile she was. How could he be the one to hurt her?
“Bree, you must know how much I want you.” He tightened his arms around her. Always a good way to keep your distance. “I just wonder if this is the best idea. You know, with us working together...”
She gave a relieved laugh. “Is that all? Because we’re not exactly employed by the same company.” Rising up on her tiptoes, she whispered against his lips. “And I won’t tell if you don’t.”
That whole self-control thing? Yeah, that wasn’t working out quite the way he’d planned. Bree gave a little squeal as he swung her off her feet and marched her out of the living area.
“Other direction,” she murmured into the curve of his neck. “You’re heading for the guest bathroom.”
Rylan turned on his heel, finding her bedroom and closing the door just before Papadum could follow them inside. When he set her on her feet, the smile in Bree’s eyes nearly sent him to his knees. Desire surged through him, savage and fierce, setting his blood alight. Alongside it, there was a deeper sensation that mirrored the swelling tide of passion with a soft tenderness that astonished him.
Despite the urgency firing through his body, he wanted to savor the perfection of that moment. Of how it felt to be with her. Of how he could search his whole life and never feel this good again.
Bree gave him a quizzical look, but he smiled into her eyes before leaning down to kiss her deeply, his own need reflected in the quiver that ran through her body. He pressed his tongue against hers, feeling her, learning her, tasting her. Teasing, they drew back just enough to let the tension build, breath warm on each other’s lips before drawing closer again.
The next kiss heated up. Still slow, dragging out the excitement, savoring it, building the fervor, feeling every nuance. When they broke apart once again, they were both breathing hard.
“Sure this is what you want?” Rylan managed to get the words out.
“I practically begged you.” Bree slid a hand under his sweatshirt, her soft touch causing his stomach muscles to tighten.
“I need to hear you say it.”
“This is what I want.” She smiled into his eyes. “You are what I want.”
Feeling as though his heart had developed an extra beat, he drew her to him, his hands sliding down to her butt. Lifting her into him, he molded her body intimately to his.
Bree’s fingers moved lower, following the trail of hairs down past his navel and inside the waistband of his jeans. Her fingertips stoked the fire until it became a furnace. In a flurry of hands and lips, jeans, sweatshirts, boots and socks were flung aside. Scooping Bree up, Rylan deposited her on the bed.
Before he joined her, he reached for his jeans, snagging his wallet from the back pocket and placing it on the bedside table.
“I missed you.” Bree wrapped slender arms around his neck, drawing him down next to her.
“Protection.” He kissed his way along her collarbone, easing her bra strap down.
“Need you now.” The words ended on a soft whimper that made his whole body tingle.
Bree hooked her fingers in the elastic of his boxer briefs, easing them down, and Rylan lifted his hips to help her. When they were off, she kissed her way slowly down his stomach until she reached his straining erection. With a scorching glance from those tawny eyes, she bent her head and gave his tip a single featherlight lick.
“Bree...” Rylan arched his back as electric shocks tingled along his nerve endings.
She smiled before continuing to lick, rubbing her tongue all over his sensitive flesh until he was ready to howl in ecstasy. Just when he thought he couldn’t stand the exquisite pleasure any longer, Bree took his head into her mouth. Squeezing her lips tightly around him, she slid forward, inch by inch. Teasingly, maddeningly, wonderfully. Holding her position, she ran her tongue up and down his rock-hard length. Rylan drew in great gulps of air like a drowning man who has just broken the surface.
When she started sucking, he reluctantly cupped her face with his hands. “Too much,” he gritted out, in response to her look of disappointment. “I don’t want this to be over before we’ve even started.”
Kneeling, she reached behind her to undo her bra. With her perfect breasts freed from their lacy restraint, he reached up to tweak one dark-cherry nipple. As Bree’s eyelids drooped and her teeth caught her lower lip, Rylan decided he might just have found his new favorite view.
He was forced to change his mind when she shifted position to remove her white lace underwear. The neat golden globes of her ass were revealed in all their rounded beauty. The impression that her skin was like silk was confirmed when he placed a hand on her taut cheeks. Sliding a finger into the cleft between her buttocks, he moved it gently down and pressed inside her.
Bree gasped and bowed her head, tightening her muscles to let him feel how much she wanted him. Her encircling heat made Rylan’s own desire burn brighter, the intensity building and flaring.
“Oh, please, Rylan.”
Her sigh was the signal he needed. Tipping Bree onto her back, Rylan lay across her and reached for a condom. Moving a hand down between their bodies, he kissed her as he sheathed himself. Slowly, he eased into her welcoming warmth. With each inch, Bree contracted her muscles, gripping him tightly. Rylan’s breath quickened, and his eyes closed. Was it possible to experience a feeling beyond perfection?
When he was fully inside her, he opened his eyes. She looked so beautiful that his throat tightened. Picturing the connection between them almost tipped him over the edge. His hardness throbbing inside her soft pink flesh. Stretching her as she cradled him...
He circled his pelvis. “Tell me how that feels.”
“So good.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
He pulled out a little, then drove back in.
“Yes. More.” Bree lifted her hips to meet him.
Rylan took his cue from her. Gazing into her eyes, he drew back again, tensing his hips this time before slamming hard and fast all the way back in. Bree cried out, gripping his shoulders and digging her nails into his flesh.
Her gasps matched his heavy breaths as they settled into a rocking motion. Wrapping her legs around his waist, Bree met his firm thrusts with upward jerks of her hips. Each movement became faster, more intense, less controlled...
Rylan could feel her thigh muscles quivering, see the look of concentration on her face coming apart. “Ah.”
When she arched beneath him, he thrust hard and held still. As she tightened around him, the first pulse of his own release began. He remained in that position, looking into her eyes as they trembled uncontrollably. Rylan’s own orgasm was made more intense by the glow in Bree’s eyes, the sheen of sweat on her forehead and her warm breath on his cheek.
When his muscles relaxed, he slumped forward, taking his weight on his elbows, breathing into the curve of her neck.
Bree wound her arms around him. “Tell me this beats sleeping in your car?”
“This beats everything.” He laughed huskily as he rolled to one side. “Although I have to do two things before I can sleep.”
“You do?”
“The first is...uh, take care of the condom.” He pointed toward the bathroom. “Then I need to call home.”
Bree raised a brow. “Is this where I find out you’re married with three kids?” Although the words were light, he sensed a current of insecurity beneath them.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “No. This is where you find out I have a very unique collection of animals. I have to check in with Dinah, who helps me on the ranch, to make sure they’re okay.”
“Rylan
—” Bree placed a hand on her heart “—are you...could you be...softhearted?”
“Yeah,” he growled, as he placed a kiss on her forehead. “But don’t you dare tell anyone.”
* * *
Bree was fascinated by the way Rylan slept. She was a light sleeper, tossing and turning, and waking at the slightest sound. Whereas, he lay on his stomach, breathing deeply, so still and peaceful she envied him. She wondered what he was dreaming about, where his subconscious was taking him.
Was it considered creepy to watch someone sleep? Particularly when it was the first time they’d spent the night together? It didn’t look as if he was likely to wake any time soon, so she figured Rylan would never know.
Bree herself was wide-awake, her thoughts flitting back and forth between the show, the stalker and the gorgeous man at her side. Focusing on Rylan made her feel safe. His presence was like a warm, cozy blanket wrapped around her. With him beside her, it would be easy to let the emails and the knowledge that a stranger had been inside her apartment fade into the background.
Unfortunately, even the delicious memory of being in Rylan’s arms couldn’t keep the fears at bay for long. She had to consider the truth of her situation. The person sending those emails wanted to harm her. Even if the attacks remained threats and never became physical, there was someone out there who hated her so much he was relishing causing her pain. And Bree had no idea why.
Her biggest fear, aside from the immediate risk to her personal safety, was the impact on everything she’d worked so hard to achieve. Stepping outside the Colton sphere of influence had not been easy for Bree. But breaking free to pursue her art as a career, making a success of her business, those things belonged to her. They were all Bree and, contrary to what her tormentor claimed in his emails, they owed nothing to her family name.
Whatever this person’s motive was, she couldn’t let him succeed in driving her away. This was her gallery, her home, her life. Having Rylan at her side made her feel more secure, but she needed more than protection. She wanted a resolution. Whoever was behind this had to be stopped.
She had told Rylan that her family had been having a few problems lately, but she hadn’t gone into any detail. As it turned out, it wasn’t a great time to be a Colton. Her cousin Wyatt had been through a tough time when a body was found on his ranch and he was briefly under investigation. He had also been dealing with a rival rancher vandalizing his stock. Another cousin, Sloane, had been the subject of a hit, when the grandparents of her young daughter took drastic steps to try and gain custody. As if that wasn’t enough, Decker’s wife, Kendall—the same person who had been hit in the face by glass when the gallery window was broken—had been the subject of an attempted kidnapping prior to their marriage.
Bree had been over and over it in her mind, and couldn’t see any way that these things were linked to what was happening to her. It was just a family run of awful luck.
There was no doubt that the tone of the emails had changed over time. Initially, the focus had been that she was a Colton, using her wealth to take advantage of local people. Lately, the emails had become more personal. They were about Bree, how she looked, the color of her skin and, more specifically, what the sender would like to do to her.
She shivered and drew closer to Rylan, pulling the bedclothes tighter around them both. From the detail in the messages, it was obvious the author had seen her. Possibly, he was someone she knew. The thought troubled her. How could she have upset another person so much to incite such a powerful grudge?
She was still puzzling about it when Rylan turned to face her. “Can’t sleep?”
“How do you do that? Comatose to wide-awake in the blink of an eye?”
“Years of practice.” His gaze scanned her face. “What’s troubling you?”
“Right this minute?” She snuggled closer to him. “Absolutely nothing.”
Chapter 6
It was 10:00 p.m., and the Diamond was full of people who were determined to party hard despite the sub-zero temperatures. Live music poured out from various bars, along with delicious food aromas and the mingled scents of cocktails and beer.
Bree and Rylan, having bundled up warm, were content to soak up the atmosphere. Walking hand-in-hand through the crowd, pausing to sway in time to a favorite track, or try a sample from one of the street vendors, they were too focused on each other to care about much else.
“Who’d have thought a Hungarian sheepdog would be so squeamish about the cold?” Bree was referring to Papadum’s reluctance to accompany them. When he realized they were going out, the dog had attempted to cram his large body under Bree’s bed. Trying to get him out had turned into something resembling a scene from a slapstick comedy. In the end, they had given up and left him in the apartment.
“At least I have two hands free to do this.” Rylan caught her around the waist, drawing her tight against him.
Decorative iron street lamps were set at regular intervals around the perimeter of the Diamond, and colored lightbulbs were strung between them. They had halted beneath the glow of a yellow bulb, and as Rylan bent to kiss her, golden highlights touched his hair and cheeks. Bree’s eyelids fluttered closed as she clutched his lapels. The things this man could do to her...
They had been lovers for two days, and every minute had been as magical as the first. The only problem was that reality kept intruding. She wanted to spend every moment with Rylan, but she had a gallery to run and a show to prepare for.
Just as her lips touched his, the high-pitched crack of a gunshot jolted them apart. It was followed by an explosion as the glass bulb over their heads shattered.
Bree barely had time to utter a startled exclamation before Rylan moved. Grabbing her arm and pulling her down so she was hunched over next to him, he propelled her into a zigzagging run. When he dragged her into the nearest bar, Bree expected him to dive for cover in one of the booths. Instead, he kept on going, straight through the public area, into the kitchen and out through an emergency exit at the rear.
“Rylan, what...?”
They were in the parking lot. Ducking behind the nearest car, Rylan reached inside his jacket and withdrew a gun from a shoulder holster. Still holding tight to Bree with one hand and the weapon with the other, he dodged from vehicle to vehicle, his sharp blue gaze constantly taking in his surroundings.
Releasing Bree’s hand, he reached into the pocket of his jeans and withdrew his keys. A nearby vehicle beeped, and Rylan opened the passenger door before gesturing for Bree to go ahead of him. After another quick scrutiny of their surroundings, he joined her and gunned the engine.
As he maneuvered fast onto Second Street, he cast a quick glance in her direction. “Are you injured?”
She raised a hand to her forehead, feeling a thin trickle of blood. “Not seriously.”
Lapsing into silence, she gazed out the window for a few minutes as the built-up area thinned and they left the center of Roaring Springs behind. Finally, when her thoughts became too much to bear, she turned to look at Rylan. At his muscular body and the strong determined lines of his profile. She thought about the speed with which he’d moved. As soon as that gunshot was fired, he’d been all action. A total professional.
“You are not an art promoter.” It wasn’t a question.
“No. Until recently, I was a personal security consultant. I ran my own agency.”
Bree swallowed hard. She should be glad he hadn’t lied, right? So why did she feel like her whole world had just come crashing down around her? The happiness she’d felt in his arms minutes earlier had been an illusion. It had shattered like the golden bulb above their heads when it had been hit by a bullet.
“I guess it was my parents who hired you.” She forced the words past the choking sensation in her throat. “If you’re not still in business, how did they find you?”
“I was in the army with Blaine.”
> Bree had always been slow to anger. Her mom used to say her daughter lived in the wrong state. She didn’t see life’s highs and lows. Instead, her emotional landscape was easy and even, more like rolling pastures than dramatic mountains. But Rylan’s words triggered a spark unlike anything she had ever known.
“You listened to me. You let me tell you what it was like when my family takes over...and the whole time...” Her hands curled into fists. “Take me home, Rylan.”
“We’re going to my ranch—”
“Take. Me. Home.” Although she tried to disguise it, anger, hurt and sorrow quivered in each word.
Rylan must have heard it too. After a brief sidelong glance in her direction, he checked for oncoming traffic. The road ahead was clear, and he swung the car onto the opposite side of the highway. They completed the return journey in stony silence.
When Rylan halted the vehicle in the Diamond parking lot, he turned to face Bree. “I respect what you must be feeling right now, but I can’t let you risk your personal safety. Someone fired a shot directly over our heads. Because we left the scene fast, I have no way of knowing what happened next. Was that a single incident, or was it an active shooter situation? I have to find out if we were the only target, or if other shots were fired.”
Through the fog of her competing emotions, Bree’s initial reaction was fear for his safety. What if the person who fired that shot had intended to kill one, or both, of them? What if he was waiting for their return?
“Can you shoot?” Rylan’s question jolted her attention back to him.
“I grew up on a farm. My father insisted on teaching me how to handle a firearm.”
“Good.” He held out his gun. “Take this. Go up to your apartment. Don’t open the door unless you’re sure it’s me, or the police.”
Bree’s feelings were in free fall. Rylan had deceived her. She wanted to cling to her anger, to wrap it around herself like a security blanket as a defense against the pain. Instead, the fear that this might be the last time she saw him pushed everything else aside.
