“I’m the one with one arm holdin’ you close, the other one pickin’ berries as fast as I can, and my lips on yours. When they’re all gone then the other cowboys can go home,” he teased.
Creed, with his hard muscles and his dreamy green eyes, had said she wasn’t cosmetically challenged but that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Had he not seen many women or was she really that special?
“Sounds like we’d best take advantage of the oven being hot and make a pan of biscuits to go with some sausage gravy for breakfast,” he said. “And then you mentioned us making more cookies today?”
The man was so frustrating that she could have thrown him out into the cold to freeze his toes the rest of the way off. One minute they were discussing things that made her heart thump; the next minute his mind was on food. The vibes that were making her jumpy as a virgin bride couldn’t have affected him at all or he wouldn’t be talking about cookies.
She stood up too fast, got tangled up in the quilt, and fell headlong toward the fireplace. Strong arms caught her and whipped her around away from the fire.
Creed’s deep voice said, “Whoa, darlin’. That ain’t no way to get warmed up.”
She hung on to him like he was a rock in the midst of a whirling tornado.
“That was scary,” she panted.
When he didn’t answer, she looked up. She barely had time to shut her eyes before his warm mouth wiped out any thought of food, cookies, or even Grand. Then he scooped her up and settled her back on the sofa.
She didn’t care if he was carrying her outside to roll her in the snow. As long as he kept kissing her, she’d be warm and safe. Forget that idea about a quilt to snuggle under. With the heat his kisses generated they damn sure didn’t need anything else to keep them warm.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you all morning. You are so damn sexy,” he whispered between lingering kisses that grew hotter and hotter.
She unfastened three buttons on his soft red and black plaid flannel shirt and slipped her hands inside. He wasn’t wearing the usual thermal undershirt so her hands landed on hard muscles, hot skin, and taut nipples; oh yeah, he had felt the vibes, all right.
“Your hands are like silk,” he said.
“Touching your skin makes them hotter’n the devil’s pitchfork,” she mumbled.
His warm breath created scorching waves up and down her whole body when he said, “Oh, honey, you don’t even know what hot is.”
Her pulse quickened and her heart raced with pure old sexual desire.
He unzipped her coveralls, reached inside, and unfastened her bra. She shifted when his hand moved from her back to the front to give him easier access to her breast. His sudden intake of breath said that he liked the way it filled his hand as much as she did.
His lips strung a trail of slow, steamy kisses down her long, slender neck and ended at the breast. She shouldn’t be doing this. It would only lead to the point of no return, and then she’d feel even guiltier after sex with Creed.
“You taste like heaven,” he said.
“How many times have you tasted heaven?” she gasped.
“Darlin’, a man only gets one taste of heaven in a lifetime.”
She didn’t care if she never found her way back. She wanted to be his one taste even if it meant a heartache when he drove away from the ranch. Her arms went around his neck and she grabbed a fist full of dark hair. She felt as if she were driving down into the canyon on ice with no brakes.
“I could die right here,” he mumbled.
“Please don’t. Not just yet.”
She let go of his hair and found her way back inside his shirt.
He grabbed her hand and brought her fingers to his lips, tasting them one by one. She’d never known that the tips of her fingers were erogenous zones until he licked each one like he was eating an ice cream cone on a hot summer afternoon. If it meant living forever if he stopped or dying if he kept on, she would have still wanted him to keep touching her.
He’d stopped abruptly and the message was loud and clear. He was gentleman enough to stop right there and make cookies the rest of the morning.
Flirting was done. It was her call.
The choice came down to two options. It was either mount up and ride or else put the horse back into the pasture and never saddle him up again.
The phone didn’t ring. April didn’t knock on the door. God wasn’t going to interfere. It was totally up to Sage, and she didn’t have cold feet. She wanted more.
His heart matched hers for speed, and one thumb made slow lazy circles against her cheekbone while the other one did the same on the soft skin on her wrist. Lord, where did all those sex zones come from anyway? Or was it just Creed? He could probably kiss the callused soles of her feet and send her into a tailspin.
She could feel his erection pushing against his jeans and into her belly. The heat of it would leave something akin to sunburn right above her bikini panties, even though two layers of denim.
“My heart is racing,” he said.
“I can feel it. It’s keeping time with mine.”
Creed tucked her hair behind her ears and cupped her face in both of his hands. His lips found hers in a passionate kiss that had a voice. It promised that he wouldn’t leave her. That the Rockin’ C really was his home.
That’s what she wanted to believe.
Sage wrapped her long legs firmly around his waist. Without breaking the kisses, he carried her across the living room floor and started down the hall toward his bedroom.
“Oh, no!”
“What?”
“Not in there. She would haunt me. Let’s go to my bedroom.”
He grinned and her heart pumped harder. He eased the door open with his toe and laid her on the unmade bed. He stretched out beside her, one arm around her tightly, the other one cupping her neck for better leverage.
Without breaking the kisses, she removed her shirt and bra and tossed them onto the floor and then closed the space between them, pressing tightly against his chest. She reached a hand between them to undo his belt and unzip his jeans.
He gasped when she wrapped a hand around his erection.
“Soft as silk and hard as steel,” she whispered close enough to his ear that she could nibble on it.
“My God, Sage.”
“Looks like you are ready,” she said. It was a heady feeling, knowing that she affected him the same way he did her.
“Ready as hell.” He unfastened her jeans and tugged them away from her hips.
“Take them all the way off,” she whispered.
She’d never in her life had sex in the house before. Would lightning flash through the roof and strike her dead?
He propped up on an elbow. “Sage, this is it. If you are going to say no then do it right now and we’ll walk away from this bedroom. Because if you are completely naked in this bed with me, I won’t be able to control a damn thing.”
She didn’t even hesitate. “I can get mine off in thirty seconds. What about you?”
“Darlin’, if you aren’t going to say no, I can shuck out of these jeans in ten seconds.”
She jumped out of bed and removed her jeans leaving only a pair of red silk bikinis, which soon joined the shirt in the corner. “Ten, nine, eight,” she counted.
All of his clothing was lying in a pile on the floor and he’d pulled the covers up over them when she reached the final number. His hands were both tender and demanding. His hands and mouth searched out her body for new territory to build the fire hotter and hotter until she couldn’t bear another minute.
She’d touched, tasted, and returned his moves until she could feel the aching desire in both of them. She arched high against him and wrapped her legs tightly around his body as he pushed inside her. She wanted him worse than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. Sh
e rocked with him, his mouth on hers, his tongue making love to her mouth and his hands gliding over her sides and down her thighs at the same time.
“You like this?” he asked.
“Yes, sir! Please don’t stop.”
“I couldn’t if I wanted to,” he said.
There were no words to describe what she felt. A taste of heaven wouldn’t come close. She wanted to last all day, but her body screamed for release. He took her as high as possible without giving her the ultimate satisfaction, then slowed his rhythm to let her cool slightly before he increased the speed once again. Finally, she was so frenzied she could take no more. She had to have the whole thing or her ribs were going to crack from her heart’s fast pace.
“Please,” she said.
“Right now?”
She nodded.
He increased the rhythm.
“Oh. My. Sweet. Lord.” She could force out one word at a time and panted hard between them.
She might not be a virgin, but she was damn sure in virgin territory because the minute he gave a hard thrust and settled his face into her neck, she realized that this was a whole new game. Her brain was totally numb. Her body was totally satisfied. Her hormones purred like a kitten. Her skin finally felt cool.
He shifted to one side and drew her close, pulled the covers that had gotten kicked away up over them, and kissed her on the forehead.
Was that it? Would he turn over and snore now?
“Sage, I’d tell you how that felt and what I feel right now, but I can’t find the words,” he said softly.
She had gone to places she’d never been. She’d hit highs she didn’t even know existed. Her heart and soul were so full that they were about to explode. She understood what he was saying.
“Just hold me, Creed,” she said hoarsely.
He pulled her even closer, nuzzling his face into her neck.
She shut her eyes and snuggled up, her body melting against his.
And the two shall become one.
She’d heard that at weddings but she’d never understood it until that moment. Bittersweet as it was because Creed could still leave her if he decided not to buy the ranch.
Chapter 11
In those moments just before Sage opened her eyes, she smelled coffee and something sweet. Then her bed bounced and she couldn’t hold on to the dream, but she was sure it had to do with Creed Riley. And there he was, holding a tray with toast, scrambled eggs, cookies, and coffee.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Creed said.
“Good morning, cowboy.” Sex had not taken away his deep Texas drawl, and it sounded even hotter than it had when he first barreled his way into the kitchen.
“Hungry?”
She sat up and he quickly propped pillows behind her and set the tray on her lap.
“It looks wonderful. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, ma’am. Did the chores. Milked the cow and cooked breakfast.”
She put a fork full of eggs into her mouth. “Good!”
“Good that I got the chores done or good eggs?”
“Both.”
“Temperature dropped another five degrees. It’s down to thirteen, but I saw the trucks from the electric company making their way down the road this morning. We might get our electricity back soon.”
Not a word about the day before. Nothing about staying in bed and making love until dinnertime and then all the sexual innuendos that went on while they made sugar cookies in the afternoon.
“Should we talk about it?” she asked.
“Nothing to talk about. Either we get electricity or we don’t. We’ve managed to live without it a week now. Would be nice to have lights and if it’s not on tomorrow, I’m definitely going to have underwear and socks hanging all over the living room.”
“I’m talking about sex, not electricity,” she said.
“Oh, nothing to talk about there either. It was out-of-this-world fantastic.”
“Creed, I don’t do this kind of thing. I don’t jump into bed with a man I’ve only known a week. I’m not that kind of person.”
“I know,” he said softly, “and we were supposed to be slowing the wagon down, weren’t we?”
Did that mean he was sorry they’d gone over the barbed wire fence into territory they had no business exploring?
“Yes, we were, and hell’s bells, this is supposed to be awkward.”
He grinned. “But it’s not, is it?”
“No, it feels right.”
“I thought so too.”
She reached out and touched his cheek. “Now that we got that out of the way, what’s on the agenda for today?”
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “First of all, you have breakfast and then we’re going out for a drive in the big tractor to see how things are on the rest of the ranch. Bundle up good or you’ll freeze your cute little butt off.”
“Heater only works part of the time,” she said.
“Then put on two pair of socks.”
* * *
Creed picked up a sugar cookie and nibbled on it while Sage finished her breakfast. She’d said that the powdered sugar in the recipe was what made it melt in his mouth. He didn’t agree. It was her hands in the dough that made it so special.
When she’d finished with her breakfast, he dropped a kiss on her forehead and headed out of the room, tray in hand.
“I’ll brush my teeth and get dressed. I’ll be there in five minutes,” she said.
“I want to check the pastures to see when we can turn the cattle out of that feedlot. They’re getting bitchy.”
She laughed. “Most of them are cows and they’ve been cooped up for a week. They’ve got reason to be bitchy.”
“You aren’t.”
“You callin’ me a heifer?” she teased.
He turned at the doorway. “No, ma’am. This cowboy wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like that. I’m saying that you’re female, the prettiest kind of female, and that you’ve been a real trouper during all this. I didn’t hear you whining about your curling iron or hair dryer not working. You barely even mentioned not having a washing machine.”
“Well, then, thank you, Mr. Riley. Now if you’ll move, I’ll get ready to go straighten out those bitchy cows.”
He took a step out into the hall and watched her all the way to the bathroom. She looked adorable in his red and black plaid flannel shirt hanging halfway to her knees.
* * *
Sage spent an extra few minutes brushing her hair and gathering it into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She liked it higher up on her head, but that got in the way of her knit hat. If it was only thirteen degrees she’d need something to warm her ears. If she hadn’t put the skids on the wagon, she could have depended on Creed to heat her up. Of course, sitting beside him in the narrow confines of a tractor cab could do the trick without him doing a blessed thing except being the sexy cowboy he was by nature.
She pulled on her last clean pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, and then started to unbutton his shirt.
“No,” she said aloud.
She pulled the shirt up over her head, dug around in her drawer for a bra and a thermal knit undershirt, and put them both on. Then she put his shirt back on over that. It was soft. It smelled like him and she liked that.
When she reached the living room, she drew a rocking chair up to the basket of squirming kittens and picked up the yellow one. “Good morning, Rudy.”
“You better name the other two or they’ll feel left out,” Creed said.
She picked up the bigger of the two black ones. “These two should have reindeer names too. Look, Creed, there’s a little white blaze on his hip that we didn’t notice. He is definitely Comet. And the solid black one is Donner.”
“What if they’re all girl kittens?” he asked.
> “Then we’ll take them to cat therapists when they are teenagers and get help for the complexes they’ll have because they have weird names.” She laughed.
“You about ready?” he asked.
“Almost.”
She went over to Noel’s blanket and squatted down to pet her. “Did Creed run your legs off this morning doing chores, girl? You look like you could sleep all day long. You take a good nap and we’ll be back in a little while. In a couple of days we’ll go up to Claude and get you some of that fancy dog food in cans. Will you like that?”
Noel wagged her tail and licked Sage’s fingers, but she didn’t move from her blanket. Sage straightened up and went to the kitchen where she put on her old work boots. “Who would have thought I’d be attached to a dog and a bunch of cats or that I’d let them come into the house?”
“You have a good heart, Sage. You wouldn’t deliberately let something stay out in the cold and freeze to death,” Creed said.
“And besides, who’d take in something as cosmetically challenged as Noel?” She giggled.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he quipped.
“She does grow on you, don’t she? I thought she was the ugliest mutt I’d ever seen when she got here, but she gets cuter by the day.”
He settled his felt hat on his head and handed her a black knit stocking cap. “Yes, ma’am, she does.”
The tractor didn’t move fast, especially through snow. He turned on the radio and picked up a station out of Amarillo that played all country music.
“You like that kind of music?” Sage asked. She’d been to bed with him, kissed him until her knees were weak, and tried to accept the fact that he’d be living on the ranch, but she didn’t even know what kind of music he liked.
“Yes, I do. What do you like?”
“Rap,” she said seriously.
He jerked his head around so quick that his hat fell off and landed in her lap. She picked it up and handed it back to him.
“I’m teasing. I grew up on country because that’s what Grand likes. So yes, I like that station. It does seem strange after a whole week of nothing but silence to have music again. I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed it.”
Christmas at Home Page 15
