Bachelor Untamed

by Brenda Jackson

  He smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” And then, after a brief pause, he said, “So, is there anything I can get you from town?”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to hold you up, and—”

  “I’m in no hurry. In fact, why not come with me? That way you can get everything you need, and you’ll probably see a few things you don’t know you need.”

  She blinked. “You want me to ride into Gatlinburg with you?” she asked in an incredulous tone.

  He lifted a brow. “Yes, I believe that was the offer I just made. You have a problem with it?”

  Considering the slight frown appearing on his face, she figured he didn’t get it, so she said, “No, I don’t have a problem with it, but I’d hate for your girlfriend to hear about it and get the wrong idea.”

  His frown was replaced with a sexy smile. “That’s nothing you should concern yourself with, because I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  He studied her features for a moment before asking, “What about you? Is there some serious guy for you that I need to be worried about?”

  The only serious guy in her present was Grant Hatteras. The man had been playing with both her and Tamara’s emotions for the past eighteen hours. “No, I’m not involved with anyone. I’ve been too busy with school.”

  “In that case, there’s no reason you and I can’t share the same vehicle to go into town and get supplies. Besides, even if we were seriously involved with other people, you and I go way back. We’re nothing but friends, right?”

  Ellie quickly forced last night’s dreams from her mind. Friends didn’t do all the things they had done. “Yes, of course. If you don’t mind waiting while I grab my purse, it won’t take me but a second.”

  “No problem. I’ll wait right here. I don’t need to come inside.”

  She nodded, and then she rushed off to get her purse, leaving him leaning in her doorway.

  Chapter 7

  “I can’t believe you actually eat that stuff.”

  Ellie couldn’t help but smile at how Uriel had scrunched up his face at the asparagus she had placed in the plastic bag. Upon entering the grocery store, they had gotten their own individual carts, but by silent, mutual consent decided to shop together.

  “It’s good, Uriel. You need to try it.”

  “I’ll pass.”

  She laughed. “No, honestly, it’s all in the way it’s prepared. The next time I cook some I’ll be sure to share. I think you’ll be surprised.”

  Ellie then glanced at the items accumulating in his basket. She didn’t want to sound like a busybody, but she couldn’t help but say, “You do know there’s a lot of sodium in those microwave dinners, don’t you?”

  A smile touched the corners of his lips. “Yes, just like I’m sure you know how many fat grams are in that half-gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.”

  Ellie couldn’t help but laugh. “Point taken. From now on I’ll just worry about what’s going into my cart.”

  “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

  Ellie couldn’t help but inwardly smile. There was something rather intimate about going grocery shopping with a man. She was getting an idea of the foods he liked and those he didn’t like. And she was discovering other detailed personal information, like the brand of soap he used, what shaving cream and that he liked peppermint candy.

  “Are you planning on checking out a movie?”

  His question reclaimed her thoughts. She looked over at him with a confused expression. “You’ve got a lot of stuff in your grocery cart that’s symbolic of movie night,” he explained.

  She couldn’t help but smile when she saw she did indeed. In addition to the microwave popcorn, she had gotten a bag of gummy bears, a big bag of nachos and a canister of the melted cheese. Then there were the sodas as well as the wine coolers.

  “No, I hadn’t thought about it actually. These are things I figured I’d treat myself to at least some time during the month I’m here. I couldn’t tell you the last time I watched a movie or went to one. Schoolwork came first.”

  A look of disbelief appeared on his face. “You mean you haven’t seen anything?”

  He then went through a list of recent movies.

  “Afraid not.”

  “Then I’m going to have to fix that. You decide on the night, and then you do the popcorn and wine coolers and I’ll bring the movie. I have a collection of DVDs I’ve brought to the lake with me. We’ll make it a movie night.”

  Ellie reached for a bottle of Tabasco sauce, refusing to look over at Uriel. She wondered if he realized what he’d just suggested sounded like a date. Probably not, she figured as they kept walking, sharing space in the aisle. After all, he had defined their relationship as being nothing more than friends.

  A half hour later, with their carts fully loaded, they had left the store but not before several people who’d recognized her as Mable Weston’s niece approached her to convey their condolences.

  Uriel was very organized when he arranged everything in his SUV, making sure her items were in the back so they could be removed first. “Are there any other stops you’d like to make before we head back home?” he asked.

  She wondered if he’d noticed that he’d asked the question as if they were a married couple who’d just done grocery stopping together and was returning to the same house. “No, I’m fine.”

  “Do you mind if I stop by Logan’s hardware store? I need to get some more hooks.”

  “No, I don’t mind.”

  After making the stop at the hardware store, Uriel suggested they grab something to eat at one of the diners in town, since it was so close to lunchtime.

  “What about your frozen dinners?” she decided to ask. “And the ice cream?”

  “Thanks for reminding me. We’ll get our orders to go,” he said, as he pulled into Buddy’s Diner.

  As she resettled in the truck, she couldn’t help but appreciate how easily they seemed to get along. They teased each other mercilessly about their purchases, but it had all been in fun.

  “Next time we decide to ride into town together to pick up a few things, we’ll grab lunch before hitting the grocery store,” he said, glancing over at her and smiling.

  She didn’t say anything, just let the words flow between them while fighting the flutter in the bottom of her stomach. That was the third time today he’d said something that made them seem like a couple. Were they words spoken between friends with no hidden meaning? Or was he throwing around some type of hints of possibly something more?

  When Ellie snapped her seat belt in place she decided not to put more stock into something that really wasn’t there. The little innuendos Grant would occasionally say to Tamara were getting to her, making her dissect Uriel’s every word for some hidden meaning. She had to pull her mind out of fantasy land and back into reality. They were not the hero and heroine in a hot and steamy romance novel. The man sitting beside her was Uriel and she was Ellie. And the conversation they had been exchanging was merely words spoken between friends. Nothing more.

  As he tightened his grip on the steering wheel, Uriel muttered a curse that was too low for Ellie to hear. What was with all these slip-ups he was making?

  Damn. He was getting too comfy with Ellie. Letting down the guard he usually kept up with most women. It could possibly be the result of his dream last night and the visions that keep popping up in his head. In his dream, she had been sitting cross-legged in the middle of his bed. Naked. And waiting for him to tear off his clothes and join her there. The dream had been as erotic as any dream could get, and before he could join her on the bed, something had awakened him.

  Unable to resurrect the dream, and with no sleep in sight, he got up at 2:00 a.m. for the second straight night and had gone outside to sit on the porch. He had fervently hoped he would be lucky and she’d be standing at the window, half-naked again, with her glass of wine. To his disappointment, she hadn’t been.

  He gripped the steering wheel even tighter,
and kept his focus on the road while trying to come up with one good reason he shouldn’t pursue a relationship with Ellie. She was no longer a minor, but a full-grown woman who could make her own decisions. He was attracted to her bigtime. She didn’t have a significant other and neither did he.

  Something else he needed to consider was that their families knew each other, which in a way wasn’t a bad thing, but it wasn’t necessarily a good thing, either. She already knew more about him than he would have shared with a woman, especially the situation with his parents. He was sure she had heard the story about his mother and her boy-toy. Hadn’t practically everybody?

  He loosened his hold on the steering wheel when the thought of an affair with Ellie began to take shape in his mind. A month was long enough to indulge in an affair. Hell, that was longer than most of his affairs.

  “Are you still into photography?”

  Her question made him glance quickly over at her, before returning his gaze to the road. He was surprised she remembered that. “Not as much as I used to be,” he responded. “That was something I outgrew, especially when I found out that I would be responsible for buying my own film. Too much out of my allowance. So I got another interest that didn’t cost as much.”

  When he came to a stop sign he glanced over at her. “What about you? Did you ever write your book?”

  Ellie blinked, and then she couldn’t help but chuckle when she remembered. Gosh, how long ago had that been? She was probably no more than twelve that one summer when she’d decided after reading a Nancy Drew Mystery that she would pen one of her own. She had interviewed everyone for her book, including him, and she hadn’t gotten past the first chapter when she decided writing was too much work.

  “No, but when I got to college I did enough writing, with all those term papers.”

  He nodded. “So, are you through with school, or will you go ahead and get your PhD, like your parents?” Both of her parents were college professors.

  “I’ve had enough of school. I’m hoping my entrance into the workforce this time is better than the last. I only had the job a year before I got laid off. That’s why I went to grad school.”

  “What is your field of study?”

  “Finance.”

  As he rounded the lake, he said. “Hopefully, with the economy improving, you won’t have a problem finding a job and keeping it.”

  “I hope not.”

  The SUV came to a stop in front of her house. “I’ll help you get your stuff inside. Just unlock the door for me.”

  “Thanks.”

  While he unloaded her purchases, she quickly walked ahead, unlocked the door and pushed it open. When he strolled by her she got a whiff of his aftershave, the same one that had played havoc on her senses during the ride home. The same one that reminded her of what a strong male he was—not that she could forget.

  She followed him into the kitchen where he sat her bags on the table. “I’ll go get the rest of the stuff,” he said, before walking out. She began going through the bags, immediately taking out the ice cream to place in the freezer. She was putting away items in the pantry when he returned after a couple of trips.

  “Okay, that’s everything that’s yours.”

  Ellie moved away from the pantry to where he’d placed the other bags on the table. She hadn’t realized she bought so much. “Thanks, Uri, for everything.”

  “No problem. I’ll check you out later.”

  Uriel turned to leave, almost got to her kitchen door when something stopped him. It could have been a number of things. It could have been the dream he’d had last night, or the memory of the kiss they’d shared all those years ago that had been playing on his mind a lot lately. It could be something as simple as the fact that he was a man and she was a woman, and the chemistry between them had been more potent today than ever. It could have been any one of those things or all of them.

  She noticed she hadn’t heard the back door close behind him, so she glanced over—at him. Met his gaze.

  He stood there with his focus directly on her, while trying to figure out what there was about her that made him want to strip her naked, right here in this kitchen, but not before he got to taste her again, to see if the flavor of her mouth had changed, and to see if she could still work her tongue like she had before.

  His eyes slowly shifted lower to her breasts. He pulled in a choppy breath when he saw her nipples start to harden right before his eyes. Hell, if just a look could do that to her, he wondered what would happen if he were to touch her, taste her kiss.

  He could feel his own eyes darkening with heat, and he knew the moment she saw it as well. She continued to hold his gaze, then asked, “Is there something else?”

  He couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips. She could ask the damnedest questions. This time he would give her an answer, and he hoped she was ready for his response. “Yes, there is something else,” he said, walking back toward her.

  He came to a stop in front of her, and because of their difference in heights, she tilted her head back to look up at him. He figured, at some point she must have figured what this was about. He had to kiss her. For no other purpose than to appease the curiosity between them, harness this sensuous pull, take control of the sexual attraction. And that was precisely what he intended to do. Now.

  He lowered his head toward hers, and when their mouths were mere inches apart, when he could feel the heat off her lips radiating toward his, he paused. He was giving her a chance to pull back, resist what he was about to do. But when she darted her tongue out of her mouth to moisten her top lip, he decided it was too damn late.

  Before she could put her tongue back, he sank his mouth down on hers, taking it all. He immediately grabbed hold of her tongue with his and began sucking on it, as he had in his dream. And when she moaned deep in her throat and wrapped her arms around his neck, every nerve in his body began to flicker, his erection began to throb. To let her know just how aroused he was, he pulled her closer into his arms, and pressed the lower part of his body to hers.

  It didn’t take long for Uriel to see that this kind of kiss could turn dangerous, especially if he listened to what his aroused body was begging him to do. It wouldn’t take much for him to push everything off the table and take her there. Hell, taking her against the refrigerator sounded even better. The bottom line was that he wanted to take her. Somewhere. Now. Standing up in this very spot would even work. All he had to do was pull her shorts and panties down, undo his zipper and get to work.

  But he realized that the first time he entered her body he wouldn’t want it to be a quickie. He would want to savor the moment, enjoy the buildup. So, until that time came, he would enjoy this, the meshing of their tongues, while he got aroused by her taste. It was nothing like he remembered. The flavor was more intense, her tongue more controlled.

  The kiss was everything he’d known it would be, everything he’d imagined as well as dreamt about. Every lick sent sensations rushing all the way to his toes, had blood rushing through his veins and made something in the pit of his stomach stir to the point where he couldn’t help but deepen the kiss, pull her closer to his body and begin backing her up toward the refrigerator after all.

  The moment Ellie felt the refrigerator against her back she pulled her mouth free from Uriel’s and whispered, “Wow.”

  Her mind began reeling, her pulse was racing and tingling sensations were having a serious confrontation between her legs. She gazed into Uriel’s eyes that were so close to hers. He hadn’t backed up any. It was as if he just wanted her to get her breath, since he wasn’t quite through with her yet.

  The intensity in the gaze holding hers said as much. She could only stare back, transfixed. Pressed against the fridge, she should have felt trapped. Instead, she felt provoked into seeing just how far he would take this.

  Ellie pulled in a deep breath. She needed to think, and then quickly decided that, no, she didn’t. What she seriously needed to do was play this out, see
where it would go and put a stop to it if it became too much. This was Uriel. He wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to do. Although he had initiated the kiss, she hadn’t fought it, because she had needed it. Seeing him naked, and then seeing him every morning working out, had been too much for a woman who hadn’t had sex in quite a while to handle.

  Staring into his face, she knew he was waiting for her to make the next move, since she’d been the one to end the kiss. She detected patience in him and knew he would wait, give her time to make up her mind. But she also understood, and very clearly, that if the decision didn’t go the way he wanted, his untamed side, the one she detected he possessed, had no qualms about using seduction to sway her to what he wanted. The very thought of being seduced by him had her drawing in another breath, just seconds before she leaned closer and touched her mouth to his again.

  And he took things from there—immediately deepening the kiss, to make up for lost time. In a way, she wasn’t the least bit surprised or shocked by the intensity of the kiss. He was kissing her with the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. A man who knew what he wanted, with no qualms about getting it, but making sure he enjoyed it in the process. A man who knew how to combine an ample measure of warmth with his hunger, an enormous amount of sensuality with his greed, and who had the ability to ignite passion around with a force that made her weak in the knees.

  When she felt his hands move to the waistband of her shorts, felt his fingers inch lower, tracing a path past her panties, seeking hot bounty, she pulled her mouth away. “We have to stop.”

  His brow lifted with an arrogance that she found totally captivating. “Do we?”

  The man was too much. “I think we’d better,” she whispered.

  He held her gaze. “You think so?”

  “Don’t you?” she countered.