He reached up, covering her breasts with his hands, tweaking and tugging at her nipples until she groaned and twisted her body in response. That movement sent shock waves rippling through her system and made her want to feel more, to feel it all.
Unable to wait a moment longer to experience the release clamoring inside her, Isabelle moved on him, rocking up and down in a slow, rhythmic dance that created tingles that rose up and burst and rose up again. She lifted her arms high over her head, giving herself over to what was happening, and the feel of his hands on her breasts only fed the fire that burned brightly inside her.
Then his hands dropped to her hips and guided her into a faster pace. His gaze locked on hers, they stared into each other’s eyes as they claimed each other in the most intimate way possible. The tingle at her core became an incessant burn that ached and ached, pushing her toward the release she needed. And when Isabelle felt she couldn’t take it a moment more, the needing, the desire, he shifted one hand to her center and rubbed that sensitive nub at her core.
“Wes!” She cried his name but kept moving on him, kept rocking, twisting her hips in a blind effort to take him higher, deeper. That bone-deep ache intensified as they moved together in a dance as ancient as time, and when her body exploded, shattering into a fusillade of color and sensation, Isabelle clung to his forearms and rode the wave to the end.
Only then, when she was shaking and shivering, did Wes let himself follow. She stared into his eyes and watched as he surrendered himself to her. Gave himself to her.
And she wished, from the bottom of her heart, that that surrender was complete.
Seven
An hour later, they were lying wrapped together beneath the comforter. There was a bottle of wine on the nightstand, thanks to Wes making a trip down to the kitchen. He’d had to wait until he was sure his legs would work—but he’d needed those few minutes away from Belle. Away from what they’d shared, to try to think. Hopeless, though, since there wasn’t enough blood flow to fuel his brain. All he knew was that what he’d just shared with Belle had been so much more than he’d expected. So much more than he’d been ready for. He’d have to take the time—later—to examine it all from every possible angle. But for now, he was only hoping to experience it all again. Soon.
Outside, snow fell again in soft, white puffs that danced against the window and slid down the glass. Inside, the room was warm, the wine was cold and firelight tossed dancing shadows across the walls.
“Well,” Belle said on a sigh, “that was...”
Wes smiled to himself, then took a sip of his wine. “Yeah, it was.”
Belle tugged the edge of the comforter up to cover her breasts as she leaned back on the pillows propped against the brass headboard. Then she pushed one hand through her hair and sipped at her own wine. “So, do we need to talk about this?”
Why did women always want to talk? He grinned and shrugged. “We’re both naked, lying here drinking wine, and I don’t know about you, but I’m already thinking about round two. What is there to talk about?”
She shifted, sliding one leg over his. “Well, I thought I should try to explain why we had round one.”
He ran his hand over her thigh and smiled when she shivered. Wes didn’t want her thinking too much about any of this. Better that they simply accept what happened and build on it. Why ask too many questions? The answers might not be what either of them wanted to hear.
“Oh, no explanation necessary.” He winked and said, “I understand completely. You couldn’t fight off your desire for me any longer, and in a rush of lust, you surrendered to the urge to fling yourself into my manly arms.”
She blinked at him, then smiled, then laughed as she shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“That’s been said before,” he told her and moved, taking her wineglass and setting it on the table beside his. He wanted her off balance with no time to think, to consider, to second-guess the decision she’d already made. Because there was more that he wanted and now that he’d made this much headway, he didn’t want to backslide.
He cupped her face in his palm, stared into her eyes and said, “I have to go back to Texas, Belle. Tomorrow. The day after, at the latest.”
Surprise flickered in her eyes. She covered his hand with hers. “You’re leaving?”
“I have to get back.” That was true. His company was trying to fight its way out of a scandal. He had to try to save that merger. And they were getting ready for the big toy launch. And that was just dealing with TTG. He had any number of other companies he had to check on. “There are things I have to be on-site to handle. I’ve already stayed longer than I should have—not that I’m sorry about that. But I’ve got to get back.”
Her eyes mirrored what she was thinking. They always had. That’s why he had known five years ago that she was falling for him. Why he’d let her go. And why right now, he knew she didn’t want him to leave.
“Caro will miss you.”
He kissed her. “Only Caro?”
She sighed. “I will, too, damn it.”
He laughed, enjoying the irritation on her face. “I can fix that. Come with me.”
She blinked at him. “To Texas?”
“Why not?”
“How many reasons do you need?” She inched away from him, scooted higher on the pillows and pushed her hair back from her face again.
“Come for a week, Belle.” He talked fast, knowing he had to drive his point home and make it count. “Come home with me. Let me show Caroline where I live, let her see some of Texas.”
“I can’t just pick up and go, Wes.”
She wasn’t saying no outright, so that gave him some wiggle room. He’d take it. “Give me a reason why not. One good one. We’ll start there.”
“Caro’s school.”
He almost laughed. “Pre-K, Belle,” he said, shaking his head at the sad attempt at an excuse. “It’s not like she’s in med school. You could pull her out for a week. Call it an extended field trip.”
She scowled at him, clearly realizing that she hadn’t offered much of a reason. A second later, she tried again. “Fine. Then there’s my work. I have donations to line up, plans to finalize...”
He was prepared for that argument, too. Wes had been thinking about this for a few days now, and tonight had sealed it all in his mind. He had to go back home, and he wasn’t going to leave alone.
“And in Texas, you can visit the company, meet with the PR team, and they’ll help you come up with ways to drum up more donations.”
“I don’t need help—”
“And,” he interrupted, “you can go through the toy catalog at the company and choose which toys of ours you want to add to your project.”
“I hate when you interrupt me.”
“I know. Maybe that’s why I do it.” He gave her another smile and she rolled her eyes.
Then she bit her lip and her gaze slid from his as if she didn’t want him to see what she was thinking. He knew she was considering it, and he also knew enough to let his adversary work through everything without another interruption. Adversary. That word stuck in his brain until he mentally erased it. She wasn’t an enemy. She was—hell, he wasn’t completely sure what Belle was to him. He only knew that he wasn’t ready to be without her.
“Say we do go with you. Then what?” she finally asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
“What do you mean?”
She half turned on the bed to meet his gaze. Firelight played over her skin and flickered in her eyes. “I mean, say we spend the week together, all of us. What happens after that? Caro and I come back home, you stay in Texas and we all go on with our lives like before?”
He smoothed her hair back, more because he couldn’t stop himself from touching her than for any other reason. His fingertips tra
ced along her jawline then dropped to where her hand lay on the comforter. He took it in his and held on. He thought about it for a second, considered his options, then went with honesty.
“I don’t know, Belle. Neither of us can know. All I’m sure of is that I want you and Caro to come with me. To be with me. Give me that week, Belle.”
Her gaze never wavered. She looked at him for several long, tense seconds as if trying to see past his reserve to what he was really thinking. If she knew, he told himself, she would never come with him.
He wanted her in Texas not only because he wanted more time with Caro. Not only because he wanted Belle in his bed. But because if the three of them presented a united front, the scandal driven by Maverick might disappear entirely and Teddy Bradford could get back on board with the merger.
His people were no closer to finding the mysterious Maverick, but he had learned that Bradford wasn’t in talks with anyone else. So the odds of him being in on the scandal eruption were really low. And that meant that the merger might still be salvageable. If he worked this right.
He swallowed his impatience and let Belle see only what he wanted her to see. A man unwilling to let go just yet.
Finally, she nodded. “Okay. A week. After that, we’ll talk about what comes next.”
He squeezed her hand and smiled. “We’ll work something out,” he promised her and meant it. No matter what else happened in his life, he knew he’d find a way to keep Caro, and maybe her mother, in his life.
She smiled, but it was barely more than a slight lifting of her lips. Wes knew she wasn’t sure of this decision, but he wasn’t going to give her a chance to change her mind, either.
“Good,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “Now that that’s settled...” He pushed the comforter down and cupped her breast, thumb and forefinger rubbing her hardened nipple until her eyes glazed over and she gave a soft sigh. Smiling down into her eyes, he quipped, “I think it’s time to think about round two. I’m feeling the need to fling myself at you. How do you feel about that?”
She held his hand to her breast and with her free hand she reached up and drew his face to hers. “Fling when ready.”
He grinned. Damned if he hadn’t missed her. He hadn’t allowed himself to acknowledge it before now. He remembered all the nights they’d stayed awake talking, laughing, making love. He’d never had that in his life until Belle, and when she left Texas, she’d taken all of it with her.
No other woman had given him what she had. Now she was back in his life, and he wasn’t going to let her go anytime soon.
He bent his head to kiss her and instantly lost all thought under the rising tide of need. Tomorrow could take care of itself. For tonight, all he wanted was this.
* * *
Two days later, the three of them were on Wes’s private jet. Edna had urged her to go, to see where this thing with Wes would lead, and with that tiny bit of encouragement, Isabelle was going to give it a try. Of course, it didn’t help anything to know that Chance, Eli and Tyler were less than thrilled at her going off with Wes. Though they’d changed their initial opinion of him mainly because of the way he was with Caro, Isabelle’s brothers were still not ready to trust him not to hurt her or her daughter.
Neither was she, when it came right down to it. But if she didn’t try, she’d never forgive herself. Still, Isabelle knew she had to approach this time with Wes carefully. If not to protect her own heart—then at least to guard Caroline’s.
Because her little girl was thrilled with this new adventure. Caro loved the plane, loved flying above the clouds and loved the limo ride from the airport to Wes’s home just west of Royal, Texas.
Five years ago, Wes had been in the process of building his home. Isabelle had seen the blueprints, they’d talked about different design features and she’d suggested quite a few changes to the original plan. Now, seeing it finished, Isabelle thought it was breathtaking.
Under the soft Texas winter sun, the massive two-story house sprawled across a beautifully landscaped property. There was a tidy lawn that seemed wider than a football field. Young trees ran the perimeter of the property with a few older live oak trees that had been left standing during construction. Flowers in wildly bright and cheerful colors hugged the base of the house and lined the brick walk that led to the long, inviting porch.
The house itself was a gorgeous blend of wood and stone and glass. Tall windows lined the front of the house and glinted in the sunlight. Stone walls made the house look as if it had been standing in that spot for decades. The porch was filled with rocking chairs and a swing that hung by thick chains from the overhead beams. A white wood railing completed that picture, along with the baskets of flowers that stood at either side of the double front doors.
Isabelle was used to seeing mountains, and the land here was flat, but for a few rolling hills in the distance. And still, it was beautiful.
It seemed strange, Isabelle thought. They’d left Colorado in the middle of the latest snowstorm. There were snowdrifts four feet high all over Swan Hollow. And here in Texas, there were winter flowers blooming under a mild sun. Kind of a culture shock for Isabelle, but Caroline didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
The little girl, clutching her new favorite doll, bolted from the limo onto the grass. She spun in a circle, holding her head back and laughing. When she stopped, she looked at her mother, wide-eyed. “There’s no snow, Mommy!”
“I know, baby.” Isabelle tossed a glance at Wes to see him smiling indulgently. Looking back to Caro, she asked, “Do you like it?”
“I like making snowmen,” she said thoughtfully, taking another slow spin to look all around her. “But I like this, too.”
“I’m glad you do,” Wes said, using sign language as well as speaking. “We don’t have snow, but we have other fun stuff.”
“Like what?” Caroline asked, eyes bright and interested.
Put on the spot, he seemed to flounder for a minute and Isabelle waited, curious to see how he’d recover. She shouldn’t have doubted him.
“Oh, we’ve got a big zoo that has a carousel and we’ve got lakes. We can go out on a boat—”
“I like boats!” Caroline grinned. “Uncle Chance has a boat and it’s fun!”
“Good to know,” Wes said wryly. “There’s an amusement park in Houston where we can go on rides, and there’s a trampoline park, too.” He reached out and gently tugged one of her pigtails. “Texas has a lot of great stuff.”
“But no snow.”
He shook his head. “Not usually.”
She thought about that for a second then shrugged. “It’s okay. Home has snow, so it’s okay you don’t.”
“Well, thanks,” Wes said, slanting a look at Isabelle. “You know, your mom used to live in Texas.”
“Really?” She looked up at her mother. “Did you have fun with Wes, too?”
Before she answered, she saw the speculative expression on Wes’s face and smiled to herself. The man was impossible. “I sure did, honey. So will you.”
At least, Isabelle really hoped so. Looking at her little girl’s excitement right now, she could only pray that nothing happened to dampen that enthusiasm. Shifting her gaze to Wes, Isabelle tried to see beyond the facade to the man beneath. What did this trip mean to him? Was it simply to get a little extra time with his daughter? Was he considering a future for all of them? Or was there another reason for this trip altogether? Impossible to know.
“Why don’t we go inside,” Wes said to Caroline. “Then you can see your room.”
“My room?” Caro asked, her mouth wide-open in pleased surprise.
“Yep, and it’s special just for you.” He took Caroline’s hand, winked at Isabelle, then walked to the front door, the little girl skipping and chattering happily alongside him.
Isabelle followed, shaking h
er head. The man never ceased to surprise her. Of course he had a room for Caroline. He’d had two days, after all. No doubt he’d made a few calls and had everything taken care of just the way he wanted it. It probably should have bothered her that he was so obviously planning on more than just a week with Caroline. You didn’t go to that kind of trouble for a child who would only be spending a few days there. But on the other hand, how could she be upset with a man who went the extra mile to make their daughter feel special?
“A dog! You gots a dog!”
Caroline’s squeal of delight reached Isabelle as she stepped up onto the porch, and she couldn’t quite hold back a sigh of defeat. Caro had been asking for a dog for months, and Isabelle had kept putting her off. Now Caroline would be even more determined than ever.
Isabelle stepped into the entryway and immediately noted the warm oak floors, the pale misty-green walls and the thick oak trim everywhere. There was a table near the stairs where a vase of flowers stood and several doors leading off a long hallway that stretched to the back of the house. Later, she’d have time to explore. But for right now, Isabelle’s gaze was fixed on her daughter and the golden retriever currently adoring each other.
“What’s his name?” Caro demanded as she buried her face in all that soft, golden fur.
“Her name is Abbey,” Wes said, signing as well as speaking.
Isabelle had to admit that his signing had really come a long way in a week. Clearly he was practicing a lot.
Abbey, reacting to her name, abandoned Caroline briefly to welcome Wes home, her nails clicking on the hardwood floor. Then the big dog shifted her attention to Isabelle, coming up to her and leaning against her, giving Isabelle the opportunity to stroke that sleek golden head. But when the hellos were done, the dog shot straight back to Caroline. She plopped to the floor in front of the little girl and rolled over to her back to allow for a good belly rub. Caro complied with a delighted laugh.
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