by Jo Leigh
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. What are you doing out here?”
He tipped the brim of his hat back and glanced up at her, his gaze dark and glittering in the moonlight. “I needed some fresh air.” He stared past her and pitched another shell. “What about you? Can’t sleep?”
“Actually—” She swallowed and gathered the courage that had brought her this far. “—I’m too busy thinking to sleep.” Her gaze caught and held his. “I can’t stop thinking about you.” She stepped toward him. “Us.” She dropped to her knees. “This.” She leaned over and kissed him long and slow and deep, leaving no doubt how much she wanted him.
He returned her kiss, but he made no move to reach out. She leaned back just enough to murmur “I want you, Rance,” and then she took his lips in another deep, purposeful kiss.
She waited to feel his hands at her waist, pulling her to him, but he didn’t touch her. He wouldn’t. He wanted her to want him, to initiate the contact between them.
He wanted her to make the same offer she’d made all those years ago.
The one he’d turned down cold.
He felt anything but cold now. Her palms rested against his bare shoulders, his skin blazing hot beneath her touch, his muscles bunched tight with sexual tension as he waited to see what she would do next.
She had no intention of disappointing him.
Or herself.
Deanie fought against one last wave of fear. Then she straddled him.
11
RANCE BLINKED, but Deanie didn’t fade and disappear the way she did in his fantasies.
Because this wasn’t a fantasy.
She was real. Warm. Here.
She sat astride him, her skin pale and silky in the moonlight. She shimmied her body and hiked her dress to her waist to give her legs some breathing room. With the material out of her way, she spread wider and settled more fully over him. Her bare sex rested atop his cock that throbbed beneath his shorts. She gripped his shoulders, stared deep into his eyes and rubbed herself against him.
She flung her head back and went wild for the next few moments and it was all he could do not to touch her smooth thighs or knead her sweet, round ass or slide his fingers into her wet heat.
But Rance had been waiting for this moment since that night on the river bank. He’d dreamed of it. He wasn’t about to hurry things up. He balled his hands into fists against the sand, braced himself and let her work herself up.
“You feel so good.” She hesitated then and her gaze met his. It was all he could do not to take her in his arms and chase away the doubt. “Do you like it, too?”
“Baby, you have no idea.” His words reassured her and she smiled, a brilliant slash of white in the moonlit darkness. His chest hitched and his breath caught. “You’re so beautiful, Deanie.”
“So are you,” she murmured, her smile fading into something more primitive and determined.
She kept riding him, rubbing herself up and down, creating a delicious friction before she finally leaned back and reached for the waistband of his shorts. He was already so hard that the zipper caught and refused to budge until his hand closed over hers.
He lifted his pelvis and together they slid his zipper the rest of the way down. He pushed his shorts down, pushing his underwear along with it, until his erection sprang thick and heavy toward her. Her fingertip was hot and arousing as she traced a throbbing vein up his rock-hard length, until she reached the silky-smooth head.
Deanie had seen a few male members in her time, but none of them had been near as impressive as Rance. Bold and beautiful, his penis jutted tall, throbbing beneath her tentative touch. She circled the engorged purple head and he sucked in a breath. The sound fed her confidence and she wrapped her hand around him. Heat scorched her fingertips and he arched into her grasp. His fingers curled into the sand. But he didn’t touch her.
Not yet.
Her gaze trailed up over a ridged abdomen, a broad chest sprinkled with dark, silky hair, a corded neck, to the chiseled perfection of his face partially hidden in the shadow of his cowboy hat.
She took his hat off, set it aside and stared deep into his whiskey-colored eyes. There was no mistaking the raw, aching need that gripped him. And the uncertainty. And the regret.
“I’m sorry I left that night. I never meant to hurt you.”
“You did the right thing.” Even as the words slid from her lips, she couldn’t quite believe she’d said them. Even more, she felt them. Deep in her heart. Beneath the pain and hurt. “I didn’t think so at the time, but I know now why you did it.”
“If I had touched you, kissed you, taken you, I wouldn’t have been able to leave, and I had to. I couldn’t stay. My granddad didn’t want me, and I didn’t want to. It hurt too much being around him.” As much as Rance had reminded his grandfather of the son he’d lost, the old man had reminded Rance of the father he’d lost.
“I know you had to go.” She felt the tears burn the backs of her eyes and she blinked against them. “But back then, I didn’t want to think about not seeing you every day. I was young and stupid and I offered myself to you for the wrong reason.” Not that she hadn’t loved him. She had. But she hadn’t stripped naked because she’d been eager to take the next step into womanhood. She’d done it out of fear. It had been her last ditch effort to keep him in her life. “I did it because I wanted you to stay.”
His gaze grew brighter, hotter. “And now?”
“Now I just want you.”
Before she could draw another breath, his mouth covered hers and his tongue thrust between her parted lips. The kiss seemed to go on forever and when he finally pulled away, Deanie couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
She fought for air while he reached down into the pocket of his shorts and retrieved a foil packet. A few seconds later, he slid the condom onto his erection, gripped her waist and pulled her closer.
He pressed his hard sex between her legs. The plump head pushed into her just a fraction until she felt her body pulse around his thick shaft. A shiver ripped through her and she slid her hands around his neck and threaded her fingers into his hair. Her nipples tightened, pressing against the thin material of her dress and her thighs trembled.
He kissed her slowly, deeply, before he finally drew away. His heated gaze held hers as he lifted his hips again, pushing into her a fraction more. But it wasn’t enough. There was still too much between them.
She braced her hands against his chest and climbed to her feet. She backed up just a few steps and reached for the edge of her dress. Bunching the hem, she pulled it up and over her head. Her nipples hardened against the sudden breeze blowing in off the water and she trembled.
Her breath caught and her heart stopped as a memory rushed at her and for the next few seconds, it was that one night all over again. She heard the ripple of the river behind her and the buzz of crickets. She felt the soft grass beneath her bare feet, the whisper of a breeze against her skin, and the nerve-racking sense of expectancy in the pit of her stomach as she’d waited for his reaction.
His rejection.
Rance’s gaze swept the length of her. Fire flared in his eyes, chasing away the sudden chill of self-consciousness that suddenly gripped her. There was no mistaking the emotion in his gaze as it met hers—a mixture of open hunger and fierce possessiveness that told her he wouldn’t dream of walking away from her this time.
Or ever again.
She forced aside the ridiculous notion. She wasn’t silly enough to believe there could be a happily ever after with Rance. They were even more different now than they’d been way back when. They had different lives. Different futures.
No, this wasn’t about tomorrow.
It was about right now.
She watched as he stood and shed his shorts completely. He spread his discarded clothes on the sand before settling back down and motioning for her.
“Come here,” he murmured, his voice raw and husky and stirring.
Anticipation rippled along her spine
and every nerve in her body tingled. She straddled him again, her knees and calves cushioned now by the soft cotton of his T-shirt.
She slid the swollen bud of her clitoris against his engorged penis until she reached the head. She rubbed from side to side feeling him pulse against her most tender spot. She gasped when his teeth caught one nipple and he closed his lips over the sensitive peak. He drew her deep into his mouth and sucked so hard that she felt the tug between her legs.
She moved a fraction higher and pressed the wet opening of her body over the head of his erection. His hold on her nipple broke as a ragged gasp escaped his lips. She pushed down slightly, letting him stretch her, fill her just enough to make her insides tighten and then she withdrew.
He bucked beneath her and she did it again, pushing down just enough to make her body crave more before pulling back and gasping for air. His hands slid down her back and his large fingers pressed into her bottom as if to pull her back down. But he didn’t. While he was now an active participant, this was still her ride and he obviously intended to let her set the pace.
She kissed him then, sucking at his tongue the way her body sucked at the head of his erection.
Over and over.
His muscles bunched tight beneath her fingertips, his body hard and stiff beneath her, until she knew he couldn’t take any more.
With a shudder, she slid down over him until she felt the base of his shaft fully against her. His pubic hair teased the sensitive lips of her vagina. He pulsed inside her for a long, heart-stopping moment before he gripped her bottom with both hands and his hips lifted.
He slid deeper. The sensation of being stretched and filled by the raw strength of him stalled the air in her lungs for several heart-pounding moments.
The pressure between her legs was sharp and sweet. But not half as sharp and sweet as the sudden tightening in her chest when he looked at her, his gaze so fierce and possessive, as if he never meant to let her go.
As if.
Deanie dismissed the thought and fixed her attention on the desire coiling tight in her body. She rocked her hips, riding him with an intensity that made her heart pound and her body throb.
She held his gaze with each movement, determined to brand his every expression into her memory. Until sensation gripped her, so wild and tantalizing, that her breath stalled and her heart all but stopped beating. She couldn’t help herself. While she wanted to watch, the only thing she seemed capable of in that next instant was feeling. Her eyes closed and her head fell back.
He held her tight as she pushed down around him. Her body released a warm, sucking rush of moisture. He groaned then, his hands digging into her bottom as he bucked beneath her. His eyes blazed a feverish gold. The muscles in his neck tightened as he surged one last and final time, burying himself deep as he exploded.
She collapsed against him, her head in the curve of his shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. His arms tightened around her and he simply held her then, stroking her back and her bottom as her heart slowly returned to normal.
Oddly enough, it was those stroking, soothing moments afterward that stood out in her mind long after Rance had helped her to her feet and into her clothes, and led her back to his hotel room. While her orgasm had been earth-shattering, what had followed had been life-changing.
Because Deanie had never felt as beautiful, as cherished, as loved as she had when Rance had cradled her on the moonlit beach and the water had whispered behind them.
She grasped the feeling close and refused to acknowledge the small voice in her head that told her she would never, ever feel that way with any other man.
It wasn’t about the future. It was about making the most of the next few hours and storing enough memories to last her for the rest of her life.
A life without Rance McGraw.
RANCE HAD BARELY OPENED the door of his hotel room when Deanie backed him up against the nearest wall, dropped to her knees and reached for his shorts. The door rocked shut and the room plunged back into darkness. The only light came from the French doors that opened out onto a large balcony filled with potted palms.
Moonlight fell across her face as she stared up at him, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to see every expression, every reaction, every thought.
Groping to his left, he found the light switch. The lamp on the nightstand turned on. His gaze snagged on the phone that sat next to it. The message light blinked and he felt a twinge of guilt. He knew it was Shank with a reminder about tomorrow. The man had already left two others on Rance’s cell phone and there were sure to be many more because Rance had yet to call him back and reassure him that he would be on his way to the Land Down Under by noon the following day.
He would, he reminded himself. It wasn’t as if he could just walk away.
Even if he suddenly wanted to.
He vowed to call Shank first thing in the morning, hit the erase button to kill the blinking light and turned his attention back to Deanie.
The pale yellow glow pushed back the shadows and illuminated her face. Her cheeks flushed a bright pink and her lips trembled. Her blue eyes glittered with desire as she reached for him again. He didn’t stop her this time. The air stalled in his lungs as he waited. Watched.
She slid the button free and worked the zipper down.
His erection sprang hot and greedy toward her. A drop of pearly liquid beaded on the ripe purple head and she reached out. She caught his essence and spread it in one sensual stroke of her fingertip from tip to root. A growl vibrated from deep in his chest.
She wrapped her hand around him and he arched into her touch, his iron-hard sex dark and forbidden against her slender, pale fingers. She smiled up at him before she leaned forward. Her expression faded into one of serious intent as she lapped at him with her tongue, once, twice, before taking him into her mouth.
Her hair brushed against his belly. The soft, sweet-smelling strands teased his skin and stoked the fire that burned inside of him. Rance caught her long, silky hair and pulled the dark curtain away from her face. He watched as she suckled and licked and caused a pleasure so fierce he didn’t think he could stand it.
He did.
He grew harder, hotter, heavier, and she relished her effect on him. He saw it in the confident way she held him and the purposeful slide of her mouth up and down and…Christ, she felt good.
She took all of him, relished him, until he came so close to exploding…
“No!” He gasped and jerked back, catching himself just in time. He drew a shaky breath that did nothing to calm his thundering heart and everything to stir his hunger that much more. The scent of her—so potent and sweet and sexy—filled his nostrils, stirred his nerves and shook his already tenuous control. “Not like this.” His cock throbbed, the feeling just this side of painful, and his balls ached, but he drew on what little control he had left. He grasped her shoulders and set her away from him.
She stared up, her eyes hot and luminous, mirroring the desperation he felt inside. But there was something else—the insecurity she tried so hard to hide with her makeup and her new clothes and her high heels.
It was still there because she was still there.
Still the same Deanie.
Still hopelessly and desperately in love with him.
The thought struck and his heart missed its next beat.
Yeah, right, buddy. She’s all grown up now. She’s out of here tomorrow and there isn’t a damned thing you can do about it.
Like hell. He could change her mind if he wanted to.
If.
But Rance had his own commitments. He couldn’t just walk away.
He knew that, but it didn’t stop him from picking her up and striding to the large bathroom. He wanted to touch every inch of her luscious little body in ways no man ever had or ever would.
Because Deanie Codge was his.
At least for tonight.
He set her on her feet and turned on the water. Hot steam rose in the marble and glass e
nclosure. But the heat didn’t come close to touching his rapidly soaring body temperature.
“I’m already wet,” she told him with a smile. “You don’t have to go to this much trouble.”
“This isn’t about trouble, darlin’. It’s about erogenous zones.” He grinned. “We still have one workshop left. Now,” he said as he reached around for the straps of her sundress, “the female body has lots of hot spots.”
“And you know this because of your vast experience, right?”
“That, and I read the course description posted on the internet. They give several examples.” He knew she’d probably read the same, but she played along.
She arched one perfectly-shaped eyebrow. “Such as?”
“Your neck for starters.” He unfastened the halterlike top and let the straps fall away. The material fell to her waist, exposing her full breasts and rosy nipples. His gaze remained fixed on hers as he trailed his fingertips down either side of the smooth column of her neck, to where it curved into her shoulders.
She trembled. “What else?”
“Well, there are the obvious hot spots.” He plucked the ripe tip of one nipple and drew a gasp from her passion-swollen lips before trailing a fingertip under the fullness of one breast, over the few inches of exposed skin until he reached the material bunched at her waist. He eased his fingers inside and pushed the dress over her hips until it slid down her legs. He stroked her bare mound with the pad of his thumb and watched her gaze darken.
“And then there are the not-so-obvious.” He dropped to his knees and unfastened her shoes. His fingers lingered at the tender arch of one foot after he removed her shoes. “The feet are packed with nerve endings.” He stroked the inside from her ankle to her toes before cupping her ankles with either hand and massaging gently.
“That does feel good.”
“Just good?” He worked his way up her calves, the backs of her knees, her thighs, until he reached her sweet ass. He kneaded her, teasing the seam with his fingertips until she moaned.
“I’ve thought about touching you like this so many times since that night down by the river,” he told her. “Too many times.”
