by Gigi Moore
But I’m not a nine-year-old anymore. I’m not a kid. I’m a man. Surely she’ll take that into consideration.
A knock sounded on the door, and Jess leaped from the closed lid of the toilet where he sat to stare at the wooden door.
“Private party, or can anyone join?”
Jess slipped his cell back into its case before he opened the door and gave Tamara a big smile. “I wondered when you would wake up.”
She arched a brow. “You have some sort of plans for me?”
He slid his arms around her waist and leaned in to peck her forehead. If he told her the truth, he for darn sure had to make this charade worth his while before the bottom fell out. “I thought we could take a shower together.”
She returned his hug, pressing her cheek against his chest and making him shudder when her warm breath wafted across his bare skin. “Get clean so we can get all hot and sweaty again and then repeat?”
“Well, when you put it like that, most definitely.”
“I’m in.” She popped up her head to stare at him, stepping back so that he could get a full frontal view of all her naked glory.
She had the most stunning breasts he had ever seen. Round, full and pert, they invited his touch, her erect nipples and areole slightly darker and screaming for attention.
Jess licked his lips and anticipated tasting them as he closed the space between Tamara and him, barely touching her. He just wanted to look at her for a moment, admire her and cherish the moment for its quiet beauty because later on in the day? All hell would break loose.
He re-sat himself on the closed lid of the toilet and caught Tamara around the hips. He pulled her close enough to nuzzle his face against her belly, reveling in the feel of her soft skin and saturating himself with the clean sandalwood aroma of her.
She burrowed her fingers through his hair, fisting a handful before pulling his head back to look at his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, darlin’. You’re here with me.” He wanted to tell her that everything couldn’t be better because she had come back into his life, that he had been waiting for her all his life.
She cupped his face, frowning, and when she opened her mouth to respond, Jess just pressed his face to her stomach again, holding her tight.
“Make love to me, Tamara. Make love to me all night.”
She grinned. “Sure, Jay. We’ll make love until the sun comes up.”
Chapter 7
They showered again after making love and taking a short nap before their wake-up call came at eight a.m.
Relaxed in her own skin, but unexpectedly at ease around Jay, Tamara found herself walking around the bedroom naked as she searched her carry-on for something comfortable to wear. Or maybe exhibitionism ran in her blood. She definitely enjoyed Jay’s reaction as she swiveled her hips walking from one end of the room to the other once she’d dropped her towel and left the bathroom after their shower.
She caught him pausing in the middle of pulling his own jeans on, his mouth agape when he visually followed her to the bed where she sat to pull on a blue lace thong.
“You keep walking around like that, and we’re going to wind up back in bed.”
“Have to get downstairs for breakfast and checkout.”
“Yeah, right. Check-out.”
“We do have a home to go to right?”
“Of course.”
She felt his tension as much as he tried to hide it with a grin. Something went on with him, and she got the feeling that he hid something from her.
For the first time since she met him, Tamara realized that she didn’t really know anything about him despite the fact that she felt she had known him all her life. She realized she made excuses for not being more discriminating with a man she bedded. Sure she’d had one-night-stands before. She didn’t have anything against going to bed with a man on the first date either. When she appreciated something, she went for it, because she wasn’t into playing coy games of hide and seek. But she’d never been as reckless about sex as she had been with Jay.
She’d just met him.
Now is a fine time to wonder if he’ll respect you in the morning.
“Hey, you’re not nervous about going to the ranch, are you?” He sat down beside her, taking one of her hands in both of his and holding it as he stared at her.
Tamara returned his look, shoulders back, unintentionally pushing one of her best assets in his face. He didn’t move his gaze from her face. She had to respect the effort it took for him not to dip his eyes down to her breasts when she could tell how much he wanted to from the way the bulge in his jeans grew.
She ran her nails across his balls before cupping him and feeling his shaft twitch against her palm. Emboldened and determined to get his attention off of her nervousness, she asked, “Who were you speaking to on your cell earlier?”
For the first time since she’d met him, he averted his gaze and Tamara caught his chin to bring his gaze back up to hers. “Jay?”
“The boss man worried about why we hadn’t shown up as scheduled.”
“I can imagine explaining our delay embarrassed you a little.”
“A little.”
“So, what did you tell the boss man?” Tamara wasn’t sure if he referred to Jeremiah or her dad. The title described both men, officially and unofficially.
Jay shrugged. “I’m entitled to a personal life.”
“I agree.” Should she be concerned that he obviously mixed business with pleasure? Was she just business to him? And if so, what kind could she possibly be to him when they’d just met?
Or had they?
She considered his blue eyes, falling into them like a deep pool and almost forgetting why she needed to look into them, the mirrors to his soul.
He eased out of her grip and stood up to pull his T-shirt over his head. “We’d better start packing it up. Like you said, breakfast and then check-out.”
She stood before him in just her thong, placed both hands on his hips. She knew she turned him on and decided to use it in her favor. She hadn’t won more cases than anyone else in her firm the last two years running for nothing. “You’re not going to get into trouble for bringing me to the ranch so late, are you?”
“What? No. I’m a grown man. My time’s my own. As long as you don’t have a problem with it then there’s no problem.”
She didn’t say anything, just stared up at him, and he finally asked, “You don’t, do you?”
“Have a problem?”
“Yeah.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “I told you if I didn’t like what you did to me, I’d let you know.”
“You did.” He kissed her back, burying his fingers in her hair. He pulled her up against his body and ground his hips into her. The rough fabric of his jeans and the hard bulge behind them tantalized her like a mouthwatering meal she wanted to dig into.
Damn, the guy had her throwing caution to the wind and forgetting all her senses and sensibilities.
The ranch, at this point, would be a welcome distraction, something to help her get a little perspective and distance from this situation. She certainly wouldn’t be so preoccupied with getting inside Jay’s jeans once she came face-to-face with her father for the first time in eighteen years. She wouldn’t have time to be preoccupied with much of anything else at all. Her father and the situation with him demanded all her attention. Even away from him all this time, he occupied most of her thoughts and feelings.
She hadn’t wanted to admit that to anyone, not even to herself, before now. But being back in Colorado, a little under an hour away from her only real family and the most important man in her life, she couldn’t deny she had missed her dad all this time. She’d missed his strength, his wisdom, his firm hand guiding her when she veered into treacherous territory. She missed his gentle support and admiration when she achieved her goals.
Tamara deepened the kiss, letting her tongue forage inside Jay’s
hot, demanding mouth. She wrapped her legs around his waist and gently pumped her hips to feel the solid crest of his arousal rubbing her slit, the friction delicious and irresistible and enough to eradicate her morose thoughts, at least for the moment.
He tasted so good, pure and raw and honest like the earth on which they stood. He wasn’t like James with hidden agendas and motives, using her to further his career and climb up the social ladder. He was an uncomplicated, young cowboy who wanted her for her and for now, nothing else mattered. She wouldn’t let it.
After several long moments, she unwrapped her legs and let herself slide down the front of Jay’s body to the floor, enjoying every delectable, hard inch of him along the way as he loosened his hold.
She looked into his eyes, shaken at the penetrating look he gave her, not sure she wanted to know more about him than she did right then. She wasn’t sure she could handle it. The look in his eyes made him seem so much older than the twenty-five she had him pegged, made him seem more serious, like so much more trouble than a one-night-stand.
“I’ll wait for you to get dressed, and then we can go down for that breakfast,” he whispered, squeezing her ass as if for good measure and to give her something to remember him.
“Okay.” She turned from him and silently finished putting on her jeans from the day before and a fresh T-shirt, all under Jay’s watchful gaze. By the time she got to her socks and boots, her flesh quivered, making her want to strip all over again, thrilled to the idea of him watching her, wanting her. He didn’t seem the least bit interested in taking her though, seemed perfectly content to just sit and watch her.
Tamara didn’t know what unnerved her more, knowing he wanted her, but that he willfully refused to take her, or having him take her just for the sake of a conquest. The former spoke of the type of maturity and self-control she envied in a man, especially a man as young as Jay. In her experience, guys his age had one thing on their minds—sowing their wild oats with any available female they could find. She’d seen her share. But of course the playboy mindset wasn’t just unique to the young or single.
Married guys trolling bars without their wedding bands no longer surprised her. Younger guys claiming advanced years didn’t shock her either.
She wondered what tales Jay told, what roles he played when the mood or situation struck him.
I don’t play.
The memory of his words replayed in her mind, but she told herself she didn’t need to worry about it, because once they got back to the ranch, this would all be over. She had other things to think about than her next lay. Although depending on how things worked out with her father, in particular, and her stay, in general, a distraction like Jay could be welcome.
They ate their deluxe continental breakfast in silence, Jay periodically glancing at his watch as if he couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch and ditch her, Tamara looking at her watch, dreading their forthcoming departure and separation.
At a little past ten-thirty a.m., they finished their leisurely breakfast then headed back upstairs for Tamara’s bag.
Jay sent her ahead to the elevator while he stayed behind in the room to make a phone call on his cell.
Tamara wondered if he called that beautiful blonde he’d spoken to at Joe’s the night before then realized she had no reason to be jealous. He’d left with her, after all, and didn’t seem to be interested in the blonde beyond the time it took him to dismiss her.
After only a couple of minutes, Jay came out of the room with her bag, pulling the door locked behind him and heading toward her and the elevators with a grim expression on his face.
Well, if he had spoken to the blonde, it couldn’t have been anything remotely good or romantic, not with that look on his mug.
Tamara didn’t know whether to be relieved or upset at the fact and didn’t understand where her sudden lack of self-confidence came from. It wasn’t like she and Jay fostered a long-term relationship.
They took an elevator down to the lobby where Jay turned their keycards into the desk clerk and got a print-out of his receipt to sign before they headed out to retrieve his truck from in front of Joe’s.
Outside, a beautiful spring day greeted them, the air crisp and clear, the sky the color of Jay’s eyes with cotton-candy clouds, and the surrounding foliage bursting colors of burnished gold and green.
The traversed the relatively empty streets to Jay’s truck in no time, creeping closer and closer to the moment when they would part company.
The silence between them weighed heavy on her shoulders so ponderous Tamara felt as if she would soon face a firing squad.
Her feeling of impending doom only intensified when Jay turned onto The Double R’s acreage, slowing down several yards from the main house.
She glanced out her window, admiring the rustic façade and thinking lots of improvements and expansions had been made to the main house and its grounds since she’d left.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
I knew this too good to be true. “That sounds ominous.”
“It’s nothing bad. Just something I should have mentioned when we first met. You’ll probably have a laugh once you know what it is.”
“Hey, you know me. I’m always up for a laugh.”
Jay turned in his seat, sliding his arm across the back of hers just as the front door opened. Three men burst out of the house. One she recognized as Jeremiah, the other hobbling on crutches with one leg in a cast she identified as her father. The last one looked suspiciously just like the man sitting in the truck with her.
Oh…my…God!
“We couldn’t wait anymore and figured we’d bring the celebration out to you two! Welcome home, gal!”
Tamara gaped, looking from the three men coming toward the truck to Jay, or rather to—“Jesse?”
“Tamara, I can explain.”
She shook her head, a bitter taste in her mouth as she backed away from him, reaching for the door handle behind her. She got the door open and stumbled from the truck to face the three men coming toward her, two with their arms outstretched.
Jesse followed her, running around the front of the truck to catch her by the arm.
Guilt and a pleading edge tempered the familiar intense look on his face.
“You have to listen to me. Give me a chance to—”
“Explain?” She jerked out of his grasp and backed away from him. “You had an entire night and morning to explain!”
“It’s not as bad as it seems.”
“Right, because I’m supposed to be having a laugh at this.” She poked him in the chest with a finger. “Let me tell you something, Jesse. I don’t think lying is a laughing matter at all. In fact, I find lying quite a serious and unforgivable offense, especially when it’s done to me. And you know what I hate worse than being lied to? It’s liars, Jesse. Liars like you.”
“Uh-oh,” Jax murmured.
Tamara spared him a look and watched the grin slide off his face with great pleasure but didn’t give herself a chance to really appreciate the effect of her withering glare before she turned back on Jess.
“Tamara—”
“You sleazy son of a bitch!” Good manners and modesty went right out the window when her arm swung out, and she felt the palm of her right hand collide with Jess’s cheek. The impact sent a satisfying current of electricity straight up her arm all the way to her shoulder and adrenaline shooting through all her limbs. “How could you?” Tamara marched toward the house, pushing through the three dazed men blocking her way and not stopping until she made it inside and halfway to the circular stairs leading to the upstairs bedrooms. She stopped only to avoid the petite, brown-eyed brunette she almost collided with coming out of the kitchen. “Whoa! I’m so sorry!”
“Ay no, which one of the men is causing you heartache? Young or old?” The woman wiped her hands on the apron she wore and reached for her. “They are all a handful and headache to deal with, no?”
“Yes.” Tamara went int
o the strange and wise woman’s arms without further words and held on, the only positive about her arrival so far. Far from a substitute for Jeremiah’s dear departed wife, Paula, she did help alleviate some of the shock of Tamara’s recent discovery.
She’d slept with Jesse Reynolds!
If she wasn’t so angry, she thought she might be sick. Sure the sex had been good, better than good as a matter of fact, and she’d enjoyed his company all the way up until the exact moment she’d realized his identity. But nothing could erase the fact that she’d spent the night and morning screwing a younger man she used to babysit as a teen. Ewwww.
She didn’t know which was worse and didn’t know what made her angrier. The fact that she hadn’t recognized him and had allowed his good looks and her hormones to rule her actions, the fact that he had lied to her about who he was, or the fact that she was so turned on by him!
He just couldn’t be one of the little boys she used to bathe and read bedtime stories to because he turned her on, and anything else just made her feel plain icky, like a pederast or something.
Oh, let’s not forget the worse thing of all that she had fallen from grace once again right before her father’s eyes, not to mention Jeremiah and Jax’s eyes.
She guessed this would all teach her a lesson for not wanting to know Jay’s last name.
God, when she thought of all the things she had done with him, to him. She never went down on a guy so early in a relationship, if at all, never felt the inclination. But with Jess, she’d wanted to taste him so bad, and taking him into her mouth—all big and hard pulsing heat—had just felt so right, felt so good.
Damn it, he had grown up to be just like all the other men she dealt with on a regular basis—a liar, and a player only interested in one thing.
To think she’d thought about checking his driver’s license, curious to see how far off the mark she had been about his age, not that it mattered to her, obviously. Little had she known he harbored a secret far greater than the gap between their ages. He lied about his very identity.
Bastard!
