by Lynda Chance
He wanted her exclusively. He wanted the right to have her in his bed night after night and do whatever the hell he wanted with her body. He needed her body. And for that, he needed her to lose the asshole in Dallas. That was the first step. And he was ever the planner. Something that wasn’t worth fighting for wasn’t worth having. So he’d have to fight for her. He could do that. Beginning now. But he couldn’t stop himself from touching her.
He held her immobile while he reached up and ran his fingers through the softness of her hair. He attempted to gentle his movements, and cupped her cheek with his hand. Her heard her quick intake of breath, and prepared to lie his ass off in order to calm her nerves. He wasn’t crazy about the deceit he was going to use, but sometimes you had to do what you had to do. And with her, he was finding he would do just about anything. “You want my money, and I need another write-off. I’d like it to be a worthy write-off.” He allowed his gaze to run over her trembling mouth before coming back to her eyes. “We’ll call tonight business, okay?”
He felt her move her weight from one foot to the other, noting the slight tremor that went through her body. Anticipation lanced through his guts. Patience, man. He saw the determination in the tilt of her chin and heard her voice shake slightly when she answered. “It is business.”
Fuck no, it wasn’t business. This didn’t have a damn thing to do with business. “Absolutely. Just business, okay?” He kept his voice even; he needed her agreement on this. He needed the opportunity to seduce her into his way of thinking. One step at a time.
“Okay.”
The softly spoken consent sent anticipation and victory rushing through his veins but he was careful to keep his expression neutral. “Good. I’ll pick you up at five.”
****
Ten minutes later, John lingered in the yard close to the barn. He watched her pull out and head slowly down the road. He pulled out his phone and called Beth. “She leave the directions to her house?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I won’t need supper tonight.” He ended the call and lit a cigarette. He might as well enjoy the tobacco while he could. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting the pleasure of smoking for a while. She obviously hated it, and he’d been trying to quit anyway.
He stood under a shade tree and looked out over his manicured acres while he inhaled a few more times. After a few moments, he turned and put the cigarette out. He made his way back to the house, deep in thought. He needed to prepare for tonight. He needed some time on the Internet to learn a few basic things about what she was proposing and what it would take to actually have a retirement home built. Not that he was planning on doing it, but he at least needed to be able to convince her he was interested.
****
Sarah sat on the old swing on the front porch and waited for him to arrive. The tension she was feeling was forming knots in her stomach. Why was she so scared and why did she feel so damn guilty? The fear, she realized, was coming directly from the guilt she was feeling. Did that even make sense? She wasn’t scared of him—well, not entirely. The trepidation he made her feel was another matter. What she was afraid of now was that she would do something morally wrong. She was afraid she would do something that a woman who was engaged to another man shouldn’t do.
Every time she saw John Garrett, the man got sexier. Every time she heard that deep voice, his sensual aura wrapped around her and became stronger. And every time she thought about him, the temptation to give in to him crept stealthily up on her.
She shouldn’t be having these feelings for him while she was engaged to Randall. If she really and truly loved Randall, she wouldn’t feel these things for John.
And that’s when she knew. The engagement was a mistake.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Randall was a successful lawyer; he cared for her and was completely laid-back. He wasn’t like Greg had been, he wasn’t selfish and he didn’t try to control her. And she seriously doubted he’d be a cheater like her ex-husband had been.
That was all she’d thought of when she had agreed to his marriage proposal. That her heart would be safe from being broken again and that Randall would care for her and be trustworthy. They hadn’t dated all that long before she’d left for the summer, and he’d seemed determined to get her agreement before she left.
But now she knew it was a mistake. She twirled the diamond around her finger and lifted it to catch the rays of the late afternoon sun.
John would be the kind of guy who would hurt her. He was so much larger than life than even Greg had been.
And he only wanted to sleep with her. He’d made no bones about it. And from their one kiss at the dance hall, she had a small inkling of what kind of lover he’d be. Fantastic, but ruthless. He’d sleep with her until he tired of her, then he’d move on. That’s what men like him always did. They moved on. She certainly didn’t have what it would take to hold him. To put it in a nutshell, he was way better looking than she was. She couldn’t compete on his level, and that put her at a disadvantage.
John would want to have a quick, casual affair and there wouldn’t be anything casual about it to her.
Why was it that men always believed that woman should be hard-wired the same as they were? Why did they believe that the act of sleeping together, sexual intercourse, could be casual? Maybe she was judging all men alike, grouping them together, not giving any of them the benefit of the doubt. That’s the reason she’d said yes to Randall. He seemed different. Softer, kinder, somehow. But she didn’t love him and didn’t think she ever really would. She liked him and respected him, of course. But Jaime was right. A marriage needed to be firmly entrenched in sexual chemistry. And she didn’t have that with Randall.
She had to call him and break it off with him, before this dragged on any longer. She needed to be as fair to him as possible. No matter what did or didn’t happen with John, she wouldn’t be unfair to Randall.
She took a deep breath and felt somewhat better. At least she’d made the decision in her head. That was a start.
****
John pulled his Cadillac Escalade SUV into her drive at precisely five o’clock and didn’t bother to look around the yard. His eyes went to the house, and he spied her immediately, sitting on a porch swing. She’d been slowly swinging, but when she glanced around and saw his vehicle, her legs landed on the cement and stopped the motion of the swing. He remained in his vehicle and watched her as she slowly stood up.
She picked up a small bag from a wicker side table, and hung it across her shoulder and over her chest as if it would offer her some protection. She began moving toward him, and he sat behind the wheel and let the vehicle idle as she approached. He pushed the passenger door opened from the inside and she pulled it open the rest of the way and stood in the entrance. Her hand fiddled with the strap of her bag, and the diamond on her finger caught the sun and glistened brightly.
His ire grew to the boiling point and his patience all but disappeared. He’d have that fucking ring off her hand tonight. “Get in.”
He knew his voice was rough, and the hesitation he could see in her only confirmed it. She paused in the act of climbing up. Her foot on the running board was as far as she got before her eyes lifted to his with a look of extreme caution.
He tried to control his voice, but he knew it was a futile attempt. “Get in the damn car, Sarah.”
He watched as she licked her lips and took a deep breath. Then she lifted herself onto the plush leather seat and pulled the door closed.
He activated the locks immediately.
Her eyes flew to his and he leaned over and pulled the seat belt strap over her shoulder. He could feel the subtle trembling of her body and knew she was out of her element and probably even scared. He couldn’t find it within himself to care; she had him on a knife-edge and had since the first day he’d seen her. He was purely pissed off by the ring on her finger and felt the need to punish her for it. He snapped the seatbelt in place with a discernable cl
ick and then lifted her chin and gripped it between his fingers. “You don’t think I intend to let you go now, do you?”
The sleek hiss of the locking mechanism, the click of the seatbelt and the connotations of his actions sent an arrow of alarm through her. She felt the heat that came off his body as he hung over her. Her breath hitched when his callused fingers spread through her hair and her eyes were caught in his snare. His words were a verbal threat meant to intimidate her.
She stiffened her spine. What the hell was he playing at? She expected some kind of crap move from him tonight, that was practically a given, but she absolutely hadn’t expected it this soon. They hadn’t even left her house yet. She took a deep breath and hissed, “What the hell do you mean by that?”
His thumb touched her bottom lip firmly and lightning speared through her. “Exactly what I just said.”
His words told her nothing. She had no choice but to argue. “You promised. You said that we’d talk about keeping the school open.”
“We will.” His words became business-like, but he continued the slow swipe of his thumb over her bottom lip. “You’ve come up with a good plan. Did you think of it yourself?”
His compliment sent a sharp feeling of pleasure through her, but she couldn’t take credit for the idea. “Not at all. There have been several counties across the state that have done the same. And it seems to work.”
“We’ll talk about it over dinner.” His words were dismissive and before she could agree, he slid his hand through her hair and lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss so devastating she almost forgot who she was.
His mouth opened over hers completely and forced her lips apart. His tongue invaded her mouth as if he owned it and she was completely swamped by his sensual energy. He moved against her as if he couldn’t get enough; his hand angled her head so the kiss could be deeper.
Her thought process failed completely and she hung in a balance where sexual awareness gave way to deep-seated sexual need. She tried to kiss him back, but all she could really do was sit in the leather seat and experience the kind of kiss that she knew was rare. Extremely rare. Her heart began to beat wildly; her knees started shaking and just when she had the sharp realization that every kiss she experienced in the future would be compared to this one, he lifted his head.
His eyes tangled with hers and she realized his breath was coming just as roughly as hers was. His hand still cradled her head, and his forehead dropped to hers as he took huge drags of air. His voice was gravelly when he spoke. “I needed that.” The words sounded exposed, almost naked to her and they sent her already decimated thought process into even more confusion.
Before she could even attempt to get her act together, he placed a single kiss on her forehead and leaned back in his seat and put the vehicle in reverse.
He pulled onto the unpaved county road, and drove slowly until he reached the paved highway, where he accelerated.
It wasn’t until they had been driving for a good ten or fifteen minutes that Sarah’s brain began functioning again.
And when it did, it wasn’t good.
She was nothing but a muddled mass of nerves but she knew one thing. She was in deep shit. That abbreviated embrace at the dancehall hadn’t prepared her for the punch that John Garrett’s kiss could hold when he wanted it to.
She was going to lose this sexual fight that raged between them. She was suddenly sure of that. So now there were only two questions left. Did he know she was going to lose? And how long could she hold out?
She was lost in her own thoughts and as silence filled the air, she realized that he was lost in his, as well. She turned her head minutely to watch him. His eyes were on the road and his jaw was clenched, his profile sharp. He looked as tense as she felt. What was he thinking about?
When they were about fifty miles out of town, in the middle of nowhere, he pulled into a secluded picnic area. Sarah looked around as apprehension filled her. It wasn’t a rest area where other travelers stopped frequently to use the facilities or to buy something from a vending machine. This was only a small pull-through, large enough for one or two vehicles, and it contained only a picnic table and a trash receptacle.
And it was empty. Theirs was the only vehicle around, and although it wasn’t dark yet, the sun was sinking rapidly in the sky and the threat of darkness was all around her. A slight sense of panic infiltrated her being.
He pulled in, put the car into park, and let it idle. Putting both arms over the steering wheel, he turned his head to look directly at her. She turned warily and put her back against the door to face him. His skin pulled taut over his cheekbones and his nostrils flared at her defensive move.
He watched her in silence for a moment more and then said in a deep, resonating voice, “I know you liked the kiss.”
She didn’t attempt to deny it; it would be useless. “It can’t happen again.” Even as she said the words, she knew she was only saying them in an attempt to delay the inevitable.
He ignored her as if she hadn’t spoken. “We have two issues here. We’ve got the personal, sexual issue between us, and we’ve got the business with the retirement home to figure out. Here’s the way I think we should handle it. The two issues stay separate.”
Sarah fought back. “We don’t have a personal, sexual issue between us. I’m engaged to someone else.”
He gave her a withering stare. “Don’t even attempt that shit with me, Sarah. I’m telling you I think we should keep the two things separate. I think I can do that. I’m asking you if you can?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. “Yes.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Fine.” Her voice remained even.
He glanced down at her left hand. “Have you seen him again?”
She watched him warily. “No.”
“How’d you get the ring?” He didn’t even attempt to control it; he knew he sounded territorial.
“U.P.S.”
With her answer, he felt himself relax a small degree as he continued to watch her across the darkened interior of the car. “You know I’d never physically hurt you?”
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat and then took up at a cadence that was far too frantic. What the hell did he mean by that? Why the hell would he ask her that? If that question was supposed to set her at ease, he had failed miserably. His words had the opposite affect. Her face blanched of all color as she continued to watch him from her side of the vehicle.
Like a lightning strike, he reached out and snagged her left wrist in his hand and pulled it away from her body and held her arm up in the air between them in a grasp that was meant to subdue her and bring her under his will. “Take the ring off, Sarah.”
Tendrils of shock and anger slid down her spine. “No.” She would break her damn engagement when and how she wanted. Not when he told her to.
His grip tightened on her arm and his face came closer to hers. “Take the goddamn ring off now.”
“No.”
“I find it pretty damn insulting that you’d kiss me like you did and wear another man’s fucking ring!” He blasted the last few words at her.
“I didn’t kiss you. You kissed me!”
“You kissed me back.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He reached out and grabbed her other wrist and pushed her arms up and away from her body. His face came within a few millimeters from hers. “You don’t think? You need more proof?” His voice was low yet lethally intense.
Sarah started panting. Good God, she couldn’t help it. He was dominating her physically, his body threatening hers sexually. His scent was all around her, intoxicating her into doing something stupid. She’d never in all her life met anyone like him. She knew in that instant that she never would again.
He transferred both of her wrists into one strong hand, unclipped her seatbelt and pulled her until she was in the middle of the vehicle, hanging over the console. Their breathing was ragged as they came
face to face. Slowly, methodically, he reached down and claimed her breast. He squeezed it firmly and ran his thumb over her nipple until it pebbled against her will and she gasped for air.
His mouth landed on hers and as she tried to catch her breath, his tongue invaded her mouth and dueled with hers.
His mouth moved to her ear, still holding her captive. “He can’t make you feel what I can. If he could, you’d be in Dallas with him.” He tugged her earlobe between his teeth and Sarah felt coiled heat travel from her ear to her breasts and land between her thighs.
Her breath mingled with his and they panted together and then his mouth came back to hers. Sarah couldn’t deny his kiss any longer and opened her lips to him as they shared a connection more intimate that anything she’d ever known before.
He released her breast and Sarah whimpered from the loss of the caress. He pulled her left hand between them and as he lifted his mouth away from hers, he began to take the ring from her finger.
Her hands trembled and she tried to make a fist. But she couldn’t do it, her energy was gone, her hands shaking so much she couldn’t control them.
“Give me the ring, babe,” he cajoled. “You don’t belong to him.” He looked down between them, and pried her fingers apart. The ring was not as tight as it should be, and it slid off her finger with ease.
He held it between his fingers in front of her face as if in question. Sarah licked her dry lips and watched him warily, her body shaking.
“Engagement is over. Understand?” The answer he demanded made Sarah feel as if she was about to fall over a precipice. She needed that engagement if only as a buffer to stand between them. But she knew that wasn’t fair to Randall. But she needed something to keep John at bay a bit longer. But evidently, she wasn’t going to be able to have that.
“I’ll have to tell him.”
At her words, John felt like an iron weight had been lifted from his chest. With sure movements, he opened the glove compartment and shoved the ring inside. He made sure he kept his face expressionless, and turned back to face her. “Yeah, you’ll have to tell him. You’ll do it tomorrow, and then you won’t speak to him again, understand me?”
