by Shana Gray
He walked around Selena toward Larson, Tucker and the others sitting around the center island still with stupefied expressions on their faces.
“Guys, I’d like to introduce you to Jimi. The new woman in my life.”
“The new woman in your life?” Selena’s voice shushed them all, and Dallas turned to her.
“Yes. It’s time for you to leave. Now.” He strode to the door and held it open. “This is the last time I’ll ever hold the door open for you again. The only reason I am right now is because I can shut it behind you.”
Selena stood for a moment, uncertainty clear on her face. Then she huffed and yanked on her purse strap. “All I can say is, thank God I didn’t marry you. The best thing I ever did was walk out on you or I’d be stuck with you crazy-assed people. Bunch of hillbillies.” And she flounced out the door, leaving everyone in stunned silence.
“Well, that was a fucking gong show,” Tucker said, which sent everyone into gales of laughter. “Who needs a drink?”
“I know I do,” Jimi answered, and took a stool at the island.
“What’s your pleasure?” Tucker asked her.
“Got any bourbon?” She smiled.
Tucker laughed. “My kind of woman.”
“Just one that needs her nerves calmed down.”
Larson spoke up first. “Okay, okay, this has been a slice, but explain please? Forget about that one.” She pointed at the closed door. “How long have you known Jimi, and where did you meet her?”
This time Jimi decided to ease the burden off Dallas. Her heart was smiling with love for him, and she knew now she wanted to try to work on a future together. She was going to do everything she could to make it right.
“First, Larson, I need to apologize to you for my behavior last week at the camp.” Jimi slipped off the stool and walked around to Larson and put out her hand. “I was not my best last week when I arrived for the wedding—”
“Oh, now I remember you!” Larson exclaimed. “Your suitcase, thinking you were in the wrong place.” She cast a glance at Dallas and then gave him a sly smile. “Oh, I get it. Somehow you guys hooked up during the wedding fiasco.”
He broke out in a wide grin. Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and instantly the tension in the room dissipated. “Guilty as charged.”
“I wondered about that,” Tucker announced. “You guys are pretty sneaky. But when I look back now, I can see it. We were just all too blind under the circumstances. What’s the goddamn secret anyways?”
Dallas shrugged his shoulders. “No secret. Just nobody’s business.”
“So, Jimi—” Larson sat down across from her “—tell us a little bit about you.”
Tucker put the tumbler in front of her and she took a long drink, loving the fiery burn as the liquid settled in her stomach. She was reminded of just how empty it was, so she pulled over a bag of chips and took a few.
The weight of Dallas’s hand when he squeezed her shoulder was welcome and matched the sizzle from the bourbon. She was warming up in more ways than one and shifted a bit on the stool. She looked up at him, giving him a smile that he returned. This time she saw more emotion in his eyes than ever before. Her heart swelled for this man, and she couldn’t wait until they were alone to talk... And more.
“You know what,” he said, “why don’t we just chill for a little while. We can have a chat later. We just came up for a quick visit here to discuss a couple of business items. Let’s get this meeting done with so I can get Jimi back down to her hotel.”
“I’m in no rush,” Jimi interjected. “I’m enjoying this drink.” She relaxed on the stool, sipping the bourbon.
“Not often a woman is a bourbon drinker,” Tucker complimented. “Bottoms up.”
He raised his glass and Jimi clinked hers with his. They both shot what was left in their glasses.
“So this is a new side to you,” Dallas commented before taking a deep swig of his beer.
Jimi smiled and murmured, “I guess there’s a lot we don’t know about each other, isn’t there?”
He nodded and put the beer bottle down. “Apparently.” Then he gave her a cheeky grin. “Discovery can be the most exciting part.”
“Okay, how about we leave all that discovery stuff for another time? Preferably when you’re alone...and not in a group setting?” Tucker suggested, and they all laughed, which helped to ease the lingering tension in the kitchen.
“Right then, since you both are here, as well.” Dallas nodded at the two guys in full cowboy gear across the island. “Jimi, these rascals are the lead wranglers. You might remember John from the camp. And this big bruiser here is Rourke. He’s family, of the blood kind. Came down to be a paniolo for a while from our spread in Wyoming.”
“You have another ranch in Wyoming?”
Dallas nodded.
“Texas, too,” Rourke added as he stood up. “I much prefer here and Texas over Wyoming any day. Warmth, sun and surfing.”
Surfing?
“Really, you surf? That just seems, um...” How could she say it without insulting him? So she let the thought trail away.
“Unexpected?” Rourke finished her thought. “Yeah, I’m big, but I ain’t no barney and can ride in the drop.”
Jimi blinked. What had he just said? She couldn’t get over the size of him. He towered over everyone and was a younger version of the actor Sam Elliott. He had the kindest and bluest eyes she’d ever seen, but they also held a mischievous glint in them.
“A’A, Jimi.” He emphasized the first A, Ah-ha, then leaned closer to her and whispered, “A Hawaiian greeting.”
“Ooh, I see. A’A, Rourke.” Jimi took his outstretched hand. “You’re speaking a foreign language!”
With his other one, he swept off his cowboy hat and nodded his head, his long blond hair falling over his tanned face. “Ma’am, pleasure to meet ya.” His cowboy drawl was charming, and completely opposite to what must have been surfer lingo.
“What’s ‘barney’?” she asked him.
His bright smile was infectious, and she found herself smiling right along with him. “An inexperienced surfer, wahine.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Wahine?”
“Yeah, wahine is girl. I think you could be a surfer girl. Don’t you?”
“Ahh, I don’t know.” Jimi cast a glance at Dallas, who was standing there with an equally big grin on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.
“Up to you, hemahema.”
“Nooo!” Rourke shouted. “She’s not!”
“I’m afraid she is,” Dallas answered him, humor ringing in his voice.
Jimi was perplexed and then remembered. “I am not clumsy. I could surf. If I wanted to.”
“Just teasing you, wahine,” Rourke said.
“Now, boys,” Larson cut in. “I think there’s been enough drama for one day. So I have an idea. The meeting can be put off for a few days. That way these lovebirds can get back on their getting-to-know-you schedule.”
Murmurs of agreement to Larson’s suggestion were silenced by Jimi. “Please, don’t change your plans because of me. I understand business takes priority.” Jimi stood and held out her glass to Tucker. “How about you top me up, and I’ll make myself scarce for a while.” She could see Dallas was about to argue back. “No, really, Dallas, it’s fine. See—” she held up the tumbler “—full glass, and I’ll find something to do until you’ve had your meeting.”
Jimi lifted to her toes and gave him a kiss.
“Ooh, look at that,” Tucker teased. “Love is in the air, Dallas. Soon we’ll be planning your nuptials.”
“Now, don’t get ahead of yourself there. Who said anything about marriage? We still have to get to know each other.” He glanced at her. “On that note, catch you later.”
&nb
sp; She left through the same door Selena had, and wandered down the porch steps. Her thoughts weighed heavily, especially after Dallas’s resistance to the suggestion of marriage. He’d obviously been burned once. Did that mean forever? She wanted to try to make something work for them. And now she wasn’t sure that was what he would want.
16
“LOOKS LIKE YOU might have a little explaining to do, yourself,” Dallas said, when she led him up the steps to her suite at the Four Seasons.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m pretty sure that you need to have some kind of financial freedom in order to afford one of the top suites at this resort.”
She smiled and answered, “Do you think so?”
He nodded and followed her into the suite after she pushed the door open. Dallas whistled. “Impressive. I’ve never been in one of these suites before, let alone any of the rooms. But I heard they’re very nice. And now I can say for myself, they are.”
Dallas wandered over to the windows overlooking the deck, beach and ocean. He unlocked and pushed them open.
“Not quite the same view as from my place, but still pretty spectacular.”
“No, it’s not,” Jimi replied, as she came up and wrapped her arm around his waist. “I adore this view, but I certainly love yours, as well.”
He walked out onto the deck, bringing her with him. He let out a big sigh, glad the drama at the ranch earlier was over and done with. Dallas wondered if Jimi could ever see herself living on his ranch, his pride and joy. With him. He knew she had a successful business practically on the other side of the world. He blew out a heavy breath.
“What?” Jimi asked.
“I was just thinking about everything.”
“Everything?”
He laughed and stepped out of her embrace, wandering over to the railing to gaze across the waves. He breathed in the ocean air, liking how it rejuvenated him. He felt good. And a little worried.
“She was years ago. And, yeah, she broke my heart pretty bad by taking off before the wedding. But she did me a big favor—just like I said to her. If I’d married her, it would have likely ended up in a divorce.”
“She is beautiful.”
“I won’t deny that,” Dallas agreed, “but the beauty was only skin-deep.” He turned and took her shoulders in his hands. “Unlike you. Your beauty is not only skin-deep, it goes right down into your soul. The way you handled yourself back there was classic grace.”
Jimi looked up at him, and he fell into the softness of her eyes. She was his haven. A safe place. The way she gazed up at him, the open honesty on her face, gave Dallas a bit more assurance.
“I don’t know what to say,” Jimi whispered.
Dallas could see her confusion, as well. He wanted to alleviate any concerns she might have. “That’s okay—not everything can be said with words. Actions speak louder. And your actions back at the ranch came through to me loud and clear. I like you in my life, Jimi.”
“Your life? How so?” Her voice grew softer, and Dallas pulled her into a tight hug.
“I want to get to know you. Who you are and, yes, your commune days, too.”
They both laughed at that.
“I’m pretty much an open book, Dallas. The last days with you have been a whirlwind, just like when we first met. There’s been so much drama around us, complications and craziness, that we’ve only really had private time at your cliff house. We haven’t even started to scratch the surface of what our lives were like before each other.”
“I know,” Dallas agreed. “We have a lot to learn about each other. After what happened today, I feel like it was a pretty big step in the right direction.”
“Me, too. I’d like to tell you a little more about me, as well. This—” Jimi waved her hand back toward the hotel suite behind them “—and how I can do it. Yes, I have my own business in New York City. A high-fashion design house and it’s doing very well. Well enough to afford this and other luxuries. I don’t want to ever forget my childhood, and it had its challenges, trust me. But now isn’t the time to get into all that.”
She took a breath. “What I do want you to know is my time with you has given me a new outlook on life. I no longer feel the need to shield myself behind clothes and makeup, like when I first arrived and all those years before meeting you. You accepted me for who I was, disheveled, in borrowed clothes. And you have no idea how special that is for me.”
“That’s what I love about you. The way you were able to roll with the complications put in front of you. And with no complaints.”
Dallas heard the word love fall out of his mouth and he watched her carefully to see if her facial expression indicated she’d heard it, as well. He saw her eyes light up a little bit, and then her lips curved into a sweet smile. His heart welled with emotion. An unfamiliar feeling, so different from what he’d felt as a young man when he thought he was in love. Did he even dare to entertain the idea of marriage again? Of love? But if what he was feeling now was any indication, he’d better accept that it was entirely possible.
“It certainly was a growing experience for me. Strangely, I’m really glad everything happened the way it did. Otherwise, I would never have found you.” The honesty he heard in her voice affected him deeply.
“And me. Had none of this happened, you wouldn’t have come into my life and showed me that there is hope.”
Jimi wound her arms around his neck. He tipped his head back, liking how her fingers thrust into his hair. She pulled his head down and Dallas stopped a hairbreadth from her. The air between them crackled to life, and his body reacted in a way that wasn’t only sexual, it was with a deep desire to claim her as his own. She looked up at him with her wonderful eyes. Dallas groaned, overcome with emotion. He crushed her mouth under his, running his tongue along her lips until she opened for him.
The way she moaned into him was more than he could resist. He swept her into his arms, taking her back through the living room.
“In there,” Jimi murmured next to his mouth. She pointed to the door off to the left.
She knew exactly where he wanted to go. The bedroom.
Setting her on the large bed, Dallas leaned over her. “Now, for the first time since we met, I’m going to make love to you properly.”
“You’ve always done it properly.”
He took a scarf sitting in a heap on the bedside table and covered her eyes. Lifting her head gently so he didn’t catch her hair, Dallas secured it so it wouldn’t slip off.
“No, I mean like this.”
* * *
JIMI LAY ON the bed, trembling. This man did it all to her. And in all the right ways. He hadn’t even touched her other than covering her eyes and she was a quivering, panting mess. His hands, gentle yet firm and warm, traced the path over her cheeks and down her neck. She moaned as he moved farther down, and goose bumps rose along her flesh. She felt her nipples rise up into aching points, desperate for his touch. Squirming under his stroking only made them rub more deliciously against her top.
His hands stopped at her waist and, circling it, gently pushed her top up. The sensation of being blindfolded and the mystery of his touch had her turned on to a fever pitch. She couldn’t lie still, and she tried to sit up.
“No, ho’onanea. Let me.”
“Wh-what does that mean again... I can’t remember. Ooh.”
“Relax. Lift your arms up.”
She did as she was told. The whoosh of fabric over her arms meant she w
as bare to him now.
“You are so beautiful. I can’t get enough of looking at you. Tasting you.”
A warm wetness sealed around her nipple and Jimi cried out in sheer delight as desire fanned over her body and straight down to her pussy. She ached for him to fill her and squeezed her thighs together, restless on the bed as his lips suckled her and his tongue rasped across her nipple.
“Oh, Dallas, don’t make me wait for you.”
Coolness washed over the nipple he’d just given such sweet attention to as he moved across her chest. “Mustn’t forget this one.”
Jimi moaned and shoved at her shorts, desperate to get them off. Dallas pushed her hands away and ran his palms down her hips, taking her shorts with them until she felt them pulled off over her feet. He touched her ankles and slid his hands higher, past her knees, to her thighs. Gently pushing them apart. Jimi melted. Knowing he was looking at her nakedness—but unable to see what he was doing—and hearing his hitched breathing was one of the most erotic moments of her life.
The blindfold disappeared and she blinked in surprise. He reared above her, magnificent, his eyes full of his desire and hair wild about his head. She gasped, unable to believe such a gorgeous man was here with her. She knew she would never tire of looking at him, his dark ruffled hair that rested against his neck, wide shoulders and unbelievably muscled chest and arms. She wanted to touch the whisper of hair on his chest and reached for him. Pressing her hands on his muscled belly, she closed her eyes as desire raced through her. She slid them up as far as she could reach.
He took hold of her hands with his and wrapped the scarf around them.
“What are you doing?” she asked, breathless.
“Tying you up.” He looked at her and she drew in a shaky breath when he asked her, “Is that okay?”
