He smiled and put his forehead against hers. “I didn’t care. I didn’t—and don’t—want anyone to touch you but me.”
“Explain exactly what you are saying. Use small words and short sentences.”
He laughed, remembering those were his exact words to her about what she wanted from their trip to the Sand Castle Resort.
“I. Love. You.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Is that clear?”
“And?”
“And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving it.”
“And?”
“And what? What am I missing?”
“Don’t you want to know how I feel?”
He got a self-satisfied look. “Don’t have to ask. You love me,” he sang out of tune. “You really love me.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Oh heaven help me.” She looked at him and shook her head with a smile. “I do love you. I love you more than I realized was possible.”
“I know exactly what you mean. I love you. I’m crazy about you.” He pulled her into his arms. “Marry me,” he whispered. “Marry me quick before you come to your senses.”
She chuckled. “Or before I get sober?”
“That too.”
She pulled back and looked into his shining eyes. “I love you, Drake. I think I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”
“I love you too. I’ve waited my whole life for you. There’ve been other women, you know that, but none of them meant to me what you do. Everything up to now has been practice.”
Snuggling next to him, she sighed. “Remind me to write them thank you notes.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I’d love to read those notes.”
They lay wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Drake?”
“Hmm?”
“Did Travis tell you to stay away from me?”
He pulled back until their gazes met. “He did. How did you know?”
“Because when I was about seventeen or so, he saw me mooning over you one day. He told me that you had more women at college than any guy he knew, and even though you were his best friend, I was to never ever go out with you. And if he caught me on a date with you, he’d make sure I was sent to an all-girls college.”
Drake laughed. “No kidding. He told me all the Montgomery women were off-limits to me. Of course, he rescinded that when Olivia needed me, but I suspect his hands-off order is still in effect for you.”
“Travis is going to kill you, isn’t he?”
Drake chuckled. “Yeah, probably so.” He pulled her snuggly against him. “Doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but you. He’ll get over it when I’m his cousin-in-law.” He stiffened and pulled away.
“What’s wrong?”
“You never answered me.”
“About what?”
“Marrying me? Remember?”
KC pretended to think about it. She frowned. She rubbed her chin with one finger. She let out a couple of loud and heavy sighs. Then she smiled. She leaned forward and kissed him. He tasted like coffee with cream and sugar. He tasted like her future.
“I love you so very much.”
“I’m counting on that.” He kissed her. “I need you, KC. I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up with you every morning. I want a family with you.”
His words brought a fresh round of tears, but these were tears of joy.
“Oh, Drake. You silly man. Of course I’ll marry you. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Next month. Just name a day.”
“New Year’s Eve. At midnight. We’ll start the new year as husband and wife.”
“I can’t think of a better beginning to the new year.”
He rolled on top of her. “What would you think about a little pre-honeymoon practice?”
She giggled. “Well, they say practice makes perfect.”
He kissed her and her heart sighed. Her soul had found its mate.
About the Author
Cynthia D’Alba was born and raised in a small Arkansas town. After being gone for a number of years, she’s thrilled to be making her home back in Arkansas living in a vine-covered cottage on the banks of an eight-thousand acre lake. When she’s not reading or writing or plotting, she’s doorman for her two dogs, cook, housekeeper and chief bottle washer for her husband and slave to a noisy messy parrot. She loves to chat online with friends and fans. You can find her most days at www.cynthiadalba.com or www.everybodyneedsalittleromance.com. Follow her at www.facebook.com/AuthorCynthiaDAlba, www.twitter.com/CynthiaDAlba or email her at [email protected].
Look for these titles by Cynthia D’Alba
Now Available:
Texas Montgomery Mavericks
Texas Two Step
Texas Tango
Their love never died, but her secrets could break his trust beyond repair.
Texas Two Step
© 2012 Cynthia D’Alba
Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 1
After six years and too much self-recrimination, rancher Mitch Landry is ready to admit he was wrong. He’d loved Olivia Montgomery but commitment wasn’t high on his list back then. That was his first mistake. He’s just divorced his second, and he’s set to do whatever it takes to convince Olivia to give him another try.
Through hard work, determination and more than a few tears, Olivia survived the break-up with Mitch. She’s rebuilt her life around her business and the son she loves more than life itself. She’s not proud of the mistakes she’s made—particularly the secrets she’s kept—but when life hands you manure, you use it to make something better of yourself…lest you get stuck in it.
At a hot, muggy Dallas wedding, they reconnect. Olivia’s first instinct is to play it cool, but after one devastating kiss things flare out of control, real fast. Maybe a quick roll in the hay will get him out of her system once and for all. Funny thing about hay though, once it’s tangled in your hair, getting it out risks revealing things that were never meant to see the light of day.
Warning: Contains hot sex, a vindictive ex-wife and hot chocolate-chip cookies.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Texas Two Step:
He kissed her and the world stopped revolving. She swayed into him. Ran her fingers into his thick, wavy hair. Stroked his tongue with hers. Tasted the champagne inside of his mouth. Sucked gently on his tongue. Soaked him up like an arid desert in an unexpected rainstorm.
Olivia could have blamed the dim lights, or the romantic setting, or even Mitch’s raw animal magnetism for her response to his kiss. Instead, she admitted she wanted this night, this man, his touch, his kiss. All of her fantasies started this way.
Could reality be as good as her imagination?
What would it be like to be with him again? Make love with him again?
There was curiosity, but that wasn’t what was driving her response to his kiss. Desire ran rampant through her veins. A soul-deep lust consumed her.
Their love story was history, so she’d waste no time planning a future that would never come. She’d take what he offered, take what she wanted. Here and now, not a future. Tonight was all there was. She’d not walk away from his arms until she’d gotten what she needed.
Mitch’s mouth scorched her lips as he took her mouth with a rough passion that left no doubt of his intentions. He pulled the pins holding her chignon and threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her head in place as he plundered her mouth with his tongue.
Returning his kiss with a fervor matching his, she allowed the all-consuming yearning to fill her. The desire to touch him, be close to him, make love with him overwhelmed her.
She flattened her hands against his chest. His heat seared through the shirt’s material and burned into her flesh. She stroked hard muscles sculpted from years of physical labor. His nipples stiffened to her caress. The soft cotton of his shirt teased the nerve endings in her palms.
He leaned his huge body over her and cupped her breast in his work-roughened hand. He squeezed and flicked her now distended nipple.
Ripples of sexual longing echoed through her. She moaned into his mouth and, arching her back, pressed her breast firmly into his palm, wordlessly begging for more.
Mitch gave her what she wanted, fondling and stroking her breasts until she wanted to rip her clothes off. She groaned, burning with a frantic desperation to feel skin against skin.
Olivia slipped the buttons on his shirt through the holes with ease. She separated the shirt’s edges until she could feel the crinkle of his chest hair and the direct hot flesh of his chest beneath her hands.
The tantalizing scent of Mitch filled her nose. She’d probably smelled the same cologne on other men, but the cologne’s interaction with Mitch’s body chemistry produced a bouquet unlike any other on Earth. She lowered her head to his chest, first kissing then flicking her tongue on his turgid nipple before wrapping her lips around it. His skin was a dichotomy. Sweet and salty. Dangerous and comforting. Past and present.
There’d be no turning back for her now. She’d had a sample of her addiction, and she had to have more.
When she sucked his nipple between her lips, he groaned and slid his hand under the hem of her dress. Her abdominal muscles danced and jerked when his thick fingers touched her inner thigh.
He stroked fingers along the inside of her thigh, the silk of her stockings tickling and enflaming her flesh at the same time. “Your silk stockings drive me wild,” he said, nibbling along her chin. “Your skin was always silky and smooth. I love to touch you. I’ve always loved to touch you. I loved the way you moaned and twisted at my touch. The way your eyes would glaze over when I stroked you.” His hand moved higher, stopping at the top of the stocking. “But tonight, I want—no, need—to see you in these stockings. These stockings, my necklace and nothing else.” His voice was coarse and guttural and harsh.
Olivia quivered at his words. Emotional fires she’d suppressed since finding out she was pregnant with Adam flared. She’d believed them stomped out and dead. She’d been wrong. She was dry tinder to his lit match.
He stood, took her hand, pulled her to standing.
Her legs were weak and rubbery, threatening to collapse under his relentless assault.
Gazing intensely into her eyes, he said, “I want you. I want to be deep inside you. If you want to stop, say it now, because in a minute I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”
He waited. Gave her time to say no. Gave her time for rationality to return.
But she didn’t want rational thoughts. Didn’t want to think about tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. Didn’t want to let go of all the sensations surging through her.
She’d made up her mind when she’d unbuttoned the first button on his shirt. For her, there was no going back.
She shook her head. “Don’t stop. Please.”
Their wedding might be fake, but there’s no faking the mutual attraction.
Texas Tango
© 2013 Cynthia D’Alba
Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 2
Dr. Caroline Graham is happy with her nomadic lifestyle fulfilling short-term medical contracts. No emotional commitments, no disappointments. She’s always the one to walk away, never the one left behind.
But now her great-uncle is gone and her grandmother is on her deathbed, more concerned about Caroline’s lack of a husband than her own demise. What’s the harm in a little white lie? If a wedding will give her grandmother peace, then a wedding she shall have.
Travis Montgomery has one dream left—to build the ranch he and his wife planned before he lost her to cancer. There’s just one thing standing between him and the last bit of acreage he needs—a last living heir who has one traveling foot out the door…and an unusual request that challenges his determination to never again place his heart at risk.
The land he wants in exchange for a faux marriage. Everyone wins. Until things start to snowball…and the hearts they stand to lose are their own.
Warning: This book contains a tortured widower who doesn’t want a wife and an independent doctor who doesn’t want a husband. Hot stuff between the sheets and failed efforts to avoid emotional involvements.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Texas Tango:
If she kissed him right now, would he be shocked? Back away? Return the kiss?
A bead of sweat rolled down his throat. She ached to lick it, taste his saltiness, draw his flavor onto her tongue. Her tongue flattened against the roof of her mouth. Her mouth opened. But he didn’t give her the chance to kiss or taste him.
Forearms thick with muscle and sinew wrapped around her legs, swept her up and carried her over to the soft blanket holding their lunch. He knelt, letting her legs slide onto the ground.
“I am so embarrassed.” She dropped her head against his shoulder, not wanting to look into his eyes.
“Why? I’m the one who should have his ass kicked. I should have remembered what a first horseback ride can do to legs.” Putting two fingers under her chin, he lifted her head until their gazes met. He shook his head, looking disgusted. “I’m sorry, Caroline. Feel free to call me a few choice names. Dunderhead. Idiot. Whatever.”
She stared into his steel-blue eyes, her breathing coming in deep draws. For a minute, neither of them moved, and then she placed her hand on his face. “Here are my choice names for you. Wonderful. Thoughtful. Caring. Do those work?” She smiled, ready to move on. He didn’t need to know any more about what she really thought about him. She dropped her hand from his face and made a point of looking around the picnic area. “This setting for lunch is perfect. I’m glad we rode over. I can’t believe how much of Uncle Angus’s ranch I’ve gotten to see today. It’s beautiful. I can see why you wanted it.”
He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth, leaving a kiss in the palm. For what seemed like eternity, they stared into each other’s eyes, neither making the move to come closer nor to move away. His warm breath blew on her face. With each inhale, she breathed in his scent, a mixture of woodsy cologne, leather and something that was just Travis. She’d made up her mind to kiss him just as her stomach took that exact moment to rumble loudly. He smiled, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.
“Sounds like you could use lunch.”
She dropped her face into her hands and shook her head, laughing away her sexual frustration. Travis moved away far enough to get a hand on the basket handle and dragged it over.
“Let’s see what goodies we have in here.”
Strapped on the inside of the lid were two plates, knives and forks and two red-and-white plaid napkins.
“I’ll get the food out,” Caroline said. “See what we’ve got to drink.”
Travis stood and retrieved the cooler. Looking inside he said, “Looks like ice tea, water and some Cokes.” He grinned. “And I do believe there is a container of potato salad. You are going to love Henree’s potato salad.”
Caroline was pulling a container of hot biscuits out of the basket to set alongside the fried-chicken strips. “This all smells heavenly.” She drew in a deep breath. “And I’m starved.”
They loaded their own plates, grabbed bottles of water and settled in to eat. For the first few bites, Caroline couldn’t help but moan. Travis had been right. Henree was a wonderful cook.
“So, Travis,” Caroline said, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “Tell me about growing up here. Your family seems so close.”
He nodded and then washed the large bite of chicken and biscuit down with half the bottle of water. “We are. You know everybody except my brother, Cash, right? The one who’s on the PBR tour?”
“Never got a chance to meet him. Is Cash his real name?”
“No. A nickname, and Mom hates it.” He grinned. “Everybody thinks he got that name from all the rodeo winnings, but that’s not it at all. When we were growing up, there wasn’t a dare Cash wouldn’t take, as long as there was money involved.” He laughed. “He got pretty fast evading bulls, rolling unmanned tractors, you name it.”
Travis contin
ued on with his stories as Caroline set her empty plate off the blanket on the grass and lay on her side, her head propped in her hand. She watched his luscious lips move as he talked. Watched his Adam’s apple slide up and down with each pull on his water. Enjoyed ogling the muscles in his arms as they bunched and flexed and showcased their beauty with each movement. As she watched him talk and gesture and laugh, her insides tumbled like clothes in a dryer…jumbled and hot. He was pure raw male, and the female inside her roared her approval.
Above, birds sang and flew from tree to tree. The sun painted muted stripes on the blanket and across Travis’s lap. With each breath, she drew in both the earthy scent of the grass beneath them mixed with Travis’s masculine aroma. The combination hit her like a powerful aphrodisiac. She licked her lips and tried to slow her runaway heart.
This wasn’t real life, she cautioned. This was a temporary arrangement known only to her and him. He was being a class act, a real friend today. Don’t do anything that could put a roadblock on that friendship.
Satisfied she’d talked herself down off the I-am-going-to-jump-him ledge, she drew in a deep breath and sighed in total contentment.
Travis set his plate inside the basket and then lowered himself onto his side, lying face-to-face with Caroline. The end of his lips lifted into a smile as he brushed a few wayward strands of hair off her face. The roughness of his fingers ignited the nerve endings in her skin, reviving all those emotions she’d just squashed. She pressed against his hand and allowed her eyes to drift shut. She wanted to experience his touch without any visual distractions. Wanted to lock this feeling into her memories.
His scent grew stronger seconds before his full lips touched hers. She angled her head, wanting to get as much lip-to-lip flesh touching as possible. He wrapped his hand around her head and held her as he plunged his tongue through her open lips. She gave him full access to her mouth, welcoming his tongue’s touch in every nook and cranny. Powerful electrical surges flashed through her body. The area between her thighs grew hot and damp.
Texas Fandango: Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 3 Page 10
