“Caroline Ruth,” Mikayla thoughtfully repeated. “I don’t think I know her.”
“She’s taken a part-time job for Vivienne Shuster. So as you start making more wedding plans you’ll probably meet her. She’s very pretty. Just not too smart. She has this funny idea I’ll be next in line for a wedding.”
Mikayla chuckled. “What gave her that idea?”
Josselyn grimaced. “She saw Drew and me having lunch at the Gold Rush the other day.”
“You haven’t told me about any of this.”
Josselyn sighed. She hadn’t told anyone about her growing relationship with Drew. Not any of the staff she worked with at school, or her family down in Laramie. It was all too new and private. And mostly, too fragile. Why announce something when it was probably going to end as quickly as it had started?
“Well, I haven’t had time to talk with you. I haven’t even had a chance to tell you about our night in Kalispell.”
Mikayla looked at her in surprise. “He asked you out?”
Josselyn nodded, hoping the memory of that night wasn’t turning her cheeks pink. After almost four long days she’d expected the memory of being in Drew’s arms would’ve dimmed to a foggy memory. Instead, it was still burning vividly in her brain.
“He did. And we had a very nice time.”
Mikayla’s eager expression fell flat. “That’s all? Just nice?”
Josselyn let out a short awkward laugh. “Isn’t nice enough?”
“Not as far as I’m concerned. I want to hear about fireworks. I want to hear you say you’ve found the man of your dreams.”
There had been fireworks and Drew was everything Josselyn could ever want or hope for. Yet she couldn’t get enthused about their relationship. Not after the way their date had ended. She was still feeling the sting of rejection.
Restless now, Josselyn rose to her feet and began to move aimlessly around the small room.
“It’s too soon for any of that, Mikayla.”
“What about his wife? Or lack of one, I should say.”
Josselyn said, “She died in a car accident. It obviously was tragic for him. Dillon was only twelve months old at the time.”
“Now that I have Hazel, I can’t imagine not having Jensen in our lives. He’s my future. My little girl’s future. Without him, I’d be...well, so devastated I’m not sure how I could go on. I can’t fathom the pain that Dr. Strickland must have gone though.”
Sighing, Josselyn paused to look at her. “It clearly hasn’t been easy for Drew. His wife has been dead for six years and he’s just now starting to have a social life again. But even so... Well, I can see I’m competing with her memory, Mikayla. And as far as I can tell, I’m losing the battle.”
Mikayla instantly pushed herself to her feet and crossed the short space to Josselyn. “Honey, you sound miserable. Have you gone and fallen in love with the guy or something?”
“I don’t know. It sure feels like it. Even though I know it’s hopeless.” Her short laugh was mirthless. “My family always said I was the champion of lost causes. Well, they couldn’t have been more right.”
Mikayla patted her shoulder. “You’re putting the cart before the horse. The way I see it, you haven’t known Dr. Strickland long enough to know whether things between the two of you are hopeless or just beginning. Besides, you’re not a woman who throws in the towel at the first hurdle you come to. You’re the kind that fights for what she wants.”
Josselyn gave her a sardonic smile. “Let me guess. You were a cheerleader all through high school.”
“No. But I believe in having a fighting spirit. And after little Hazel was born, I kept praying that she had a fighting spirit in her, too.”
The thought of the thriving baby tilted the corners of Josselyn’s lips. “Hazel is a fighter—a survivor. Just like her mom. So I guess you’re telling me that I should find my inner strength and put it to use.”
“Exactly. And on that happy note, what do you say I go make us some coffee? I’m dying for a cup.”
Laughing, Josselyn slipped her arm around the back of Mikayla’s waist and urged her toward the kitchen. “You’re in luck. I just bought a pound of fresh beans. I’ll let you do the grinding.”
* * *
The two women had finished their coffee and Mikayla had left to return to the big house when Josselyn’s phone rang.
The instant she spotted Drew’s number, her heart leaped into her throat. She hadn’t heard from him since their date and a part of her had started to wonder if he’d decided to end things without a word or any kind of explanation.
“Hi, Josselyn. Did I catch you at a busy time?”
She swallowed and prayed her voice would come out sounding like a normal woman’s instead of a frog with pneumonia. “Um—no. I’m not busy. Just sitting around the cabin.”
There was a slight pause and then he asked, “Would you mind if I came out for a while and sat around with you?”
The question very nearly caused her to stagger backward. In fact, she did steady herself by grabbing on to the kitchen table.
She had to make herself breathe. “No. I wouldn’t mind. If that’s what you’d like.”
“I would like.”
“Great. I’ll see you in about a half hour.”
He hung up the phone and Josselyn wilted into the nearest chair.
The night they’d returned from Kalispell, she couldn’t have pulled him into this cabin with a log chain and a one-ton truck. Tonight he wanted to come out for a visit. What was going on with the man?
The question whirled through her mind as she forced herself out of the chair and hurried to the bedroom. Yet as she changed into a soft camel-colored skirt and white sweater, she decided she wasn’t going to try to analyze Drew’s motives. He wanted to see her again. And that was all that mattered.
* * *
By the time Drew knocked on the door of the cabin, twilight was settling over Sunshine Farm and with the darkness came a sharp drop in temperature. When she opened the door to let him in, cool air rushed into the room.
“Hi,” he said.
The one-word greeting was all it took to put a smile on her face.
“Hello, Drew. Come on in. It’s getting cold out.”
The scent of fried chicken wafted from a large paper sack resting in the crook of his arm. The aroma drifted across the threshold and her mouth instinctively watered. Although, she wondered if the reaction was more for the taste of him than the food.
“The weather tonight reminds me that winter is coming soon,” he said as he stepped inside.
Josselyn closed the door, then turned back to him. And all of a sudden her little living room seemed overloaded with his presence and the vivid memory of being in his arms, kissing his lips.
Seemingly unaware of her rattled nerves, he gestured toward the sack. “I hope you haven’t yet eaten. Dillon thought you might like a picnic today. But I had a pair of emergency calls to the clinic this afternoon. The best I could do was bring a meal with me.”
He’d been planning to take her on a picnic? The mere thought lifted her spirits. “It smells yummy. And I’m very hungry.” She motioned for him to follow her. “Let’s take it into the kitchen and I’ll make us some drinks.”
Inside the small room, he placed the sack on the planked pine table. As she moved over to a short row of cabinets, he looked around at the checkered curtains on the window and the copper pots hanging near a gas range.
“This is homey,” he said. “It looks like a real cook lives here.”
She laughed. “I am a real cook. I started helping my mom in the kitchen when I was probably seven or eight years old.”
“So why do you settle for peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches?”
Pleased that he remembered such a trivial thing, she smiled. “Cooking for one isn’t as m
uch fun. Neither is eating alone.”
He moved away from the table and crossed the two steps that separated them. “That’s what Dillon says, too. He likes to eat in the dining room with all the other boardinghouse tenants.”
“And you?”
His lips twisted to a guilty slant. “Let’s just say I’m beginning to appreciate the company.”
Her gaze slipped over his face, then downward to the green-and-blue-plaid flannel stretched across his broad shoulders. Even dressed casually in jeans and boots, he managed to look better than any man had a right to.
“That’s good.”
“Until it gets so loud you can’t hear yourself chew.”
She chuckled. “That’s bad.”
Josselyn started to turn toward the cabinets to fetch a pair of glasses for their drinks, but his hand was suddenly on her forearm and she paused, her heart beating wildly.
“No. I’m the one who’s been bad, Josselyn. I’ve been thinking about you and the way things ended the other night. I want you to know that my leaving had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.”
The awkward tension between them caused her gaze to drop to the floor. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice small and stiff. “You—uh—obviously didn’t want to get that close to me.”
His fingers tightened ever so slightly on her arm. The reaction caused her gaze to rise back to his face.
“You’re wrong,” he said. “I did want. Very much.”
Her throat was suddenly so thick she could hardly breathe. “But you were overcome with guilt.”
He grimaced and then both hands were on her arms, sliding upward until they latched onto both shoulders.
“You’re wrong—again. You’re very young, Josselyn. And I want—”
She drew in a shaky breath as she waited for him to finish. When he didn’t, she decided to do it for him. “You want to keep our relationship platonic. Is that it?”
Amazement paraded across his face and then, without a word, he tugged her forward until the front of her body was pressed against his. “I thought by now that my feelings were obvious. I thought you could see that when I look at you—touch you—nothing feels platonic.”
Wondrously, her fingers softly touched his cheek. “Oh, Drew. I’ve been thinking you probably wanted to end things.”
His lips took on a wry slant as his hands slipped down her back. “In a way you’re right. I want all these cautious baby steps to end. I want to run and leap right into this fire that’s ignited between us. But only if you’re sure about me, Josselyn. And about your own feelings.”
Josselyn was sure about one thing—she wanted this man with every fiber of her being. And for tonight, that was enough.
The sigh that passed her lips came from the deep yearning in her heart. “I am sure, Drew. So sure.”
A warm light was suddenly glowing in his brown eyes. “Do you think we could put off eating for a while?”
Even as he was asking the question, his head was dipping toward hers, and she wasted no time in wrapping her arms around his neck and tilting her face up to his.
“Right now the only thing I’m hungry for is you,” she whispered.
Groaning with triumph, he brought his lips down on hers and Josselyn met his kiss with a ferocity that shocked her. In response, his arms tightened around her until her breasts were flattened against his chest and her hips were aligned with his.
Wild, primitive desire took hold of her senses until nothing mattered except having this man make love to her. With the taste of his lips driving her onward, she reached for the snaps on his shirt.
She’d managed to release three of them before he finally tore his mouth from hers. Beneath her hands she could feel his heart pounding and his chest rising and falling with each rapid breath.
“We—uh, need to—”
“Go to my bedroom,” she finished in a whispered rush.
“I’m glad one of us can talk.”
He murmured the words between a series of tiny kisses pressed upon her cheek. Josselyn grabbed him by the hand and led him out of the kitchen.
The cabin possessed only one bedroom and it was located on the left side of the structure, directly behind the living room. The small space was dark as the two of them entered and Drew paused on the threshold of the open doorway, while she switched on a small lamp near the head of the bed.
“Sorry about the mess,” she said as she straightened away from the lamp and turned back to him. “I pulled out half the closet trying to find something to change into to impress you.”
Looking like a man about to set out on an important mission, he walked toward her. “You’d impress me in burlap. But I have a feeling you’re going to impress me the most when you’re wearing nothing at all.”
When he reached her, his hands cupped around both sides of her neck and her heart jigged with wild anticipation.
“You might be disappointed. You see a lot of women without their clothes on.”
He shook his head. “Not the way I’m seeing you.”
Her arms slipped around his waist as his mouth dipped closer to hers. “How are you seeing me?”
“Like you’re mine,” he said in a husky voice. “All mine.”
“Oh, Drew, I’m so glad you’re here. So glad that you want to be with me. Like this.”
Her hands tenderly cupped his face as she rose onto the tips of her toes and brought her lips to his.
He drew her so close she could feel his heart beating against hers, feel the bulge of his erection pushing against the juncture of her thighs.
Instinctively, her mouth opened beneath his and his tongue swiftly pushed its way past her teeth. As it teased and tempted, her fingers tightened on the back of his neck.
Using his tongue and his teeth, he kissed her until her knees grew so weak she was forced to grab the front of his shirt to keep from wilting in a pile at his feet.
Tearing her mouth from his, she gulped for oxygen. “Much more of that, Doctor, and you’re going to be picking me up from the floor. I hope you’re good at resuscitations.”
Chuckling, he stepped far enough back to allow himself to grab the hem of her sweater. When he started upward with the fabric, she raised her arms to allow him to pull the garment over her head. Once it was out of the way, he removed her skirt, then tossed her back onto the bed and tugged off her boots.
Resting on her back, wearing nothing but two scraps of pink lace, she watched through lowered lashes as he began to remove his own clothing. Throughout the chore, he didn’t pause to touch her, but that hardly cooled her desire. Just looking at his lean, masculine body left her totally aroused and desperate to connect her body to his.
Once he was stripped down to a pair of dark boxers, he joined her on the bed and she rolled toward him. They reached for each other at the same time and the sensation of his bare flesh sliding against hers was enough to send her senses skyrocketing. His body felt so warm and hard against her soft curves. His skin held the mysterious scent of dark forest mixed with the erotic fragrance of a man in his prime. She couldn’t touch him enough. Nor could she quench her thirst for the taste of him.
“You’re so lovely, Josselyn. So warm and soft beneath my hands.” With his mouth nibbling an erotic path down the side of her neck, he reached to the middle of her back and deftly released the clasp on her bra. As soon as the lacy fabric fell away, his fingers went on a slow expedition across her breasts, lingering at the nipples.
Seeming to know what she needed without asking, he dipped his head and lathed one throbbing bud with his tongue. When he finally pulled it fully into his mouth, a white-hot fire swept through her, scattering her senses to the shadowy corners of the room and beyond.
She thrust her fingers into his mussed hair and pressed them tight against his skull, as though she could stop his head from mo
ving and break the incredible spell he was casting over her. But eventually, he raised his head and she opened her eyes to see his dark orbs studying her face.
“You taste sweet. And perfect.”
“I’m not perfect,” she murmured huskily. “I’m just a woman who wants you. Very much.”
“Not any more than I want you. All of you,” he added, and with a low groan, he bent his head to the valley between her breasts.
His lips began to mark a blazing trail downward until he was circling her navel, like a hawk readying himself for the main meal. When his hand slipped between her thighs and gently touched her, she whimpered with anticipation.
He lifted his head, and then with a smile on his face that she’d never seen before, he dropped his mouth back to the hollow between her hip bones. Certain the walls of the room were spinning around them, she tried to anchor herself by latching onto his shoulders. It did little to steady her because suddenly his tongue was inside her, teasing, taunting and promising the best was yet to come. Liquid fire shot through her veins, and just when she thought she would shatter into a thousand pieces he pulled back and slipped off the bed.
Confused, she opened her eyes to see he was fishing something from the pocket of his jeans. When she spotted a small packet in his fingers, she realized he’d paused to deal with protection.
“I’m already protected with oral birth control,” she said, her voice thick with desire.
His brow arched with wry speculation, causing hot color to sting her cheeks.
“Not because I’m sexually active.” She felt the need to explain. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
Grinning now, he tossed the unopened packet onto the nightstand. “I’m not thinking anything of the sort. I’m actually thinking how fortunate I am that Dillon was brash enough to introduce me to you that day in the park.”
A soft laugh eased out of her. “And I’m glad you decided to take your matchmaking son to the school picnic. Otherwise, you might not be here with me. Like this.”
He rejoined her on the bed, and as he positioned himself over her, she looked up at him, her eyes full of yearning and her heart brimming over with something that felt dangerously close to love.
The Little Maverick Matchmaker (Montana Mavericks: The Lonelyhearts Ranch Book 3) Page 12
