by Vonnie Davis
The intensity of the rain increased. Thunder rumbled and shook the ground. Shards of lightning ahead slashed the night sky in two in just the same manner as the video had ripped apart her life.
Tyler took her hand again and gently squeezed it. “You never explained your remark about the friends you ran into while you were away from the table.”
“Sorry. Two of the friends I was with the night I threw the dart at you came into the restroom. They had no clue I was in one of the stalls. Anyway, they started talking about the video. One had seen it, the other hadn’t. It was a cruel reminder that people talk, even people you think you know.”
“Do you regret telling me?”
“No, you need to know why I can’t see you anymore. People will find out about the video and look down on you for being with me.”
His gaze swept over her. “Do you think I give a tinker’s damn what someone else thinks? Besides, there are two people in this relationship and, for damn sure, one of them is not ready to give up. Not until we see how this thing between us plays out. Because, Sugar, for the first time in years, I feel alive. And it’s because of you.”
“This is all happening so fast.” Her phone chimed again. She pulled the cell from her purse again and glanced at the display. Megan. “Maybe it’s just our hormones that are attracted to each other. I’m thinking once you find out if I’m any good in bed, the fascination will fade.”
He shot her an aggravated scowl, those dark eyebrows of his furrowed and jaw tensed. “That’s a damn stupid remark. Is that all you feel between us? Sex?”
Her phone rang, playing, “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.” She jammed the ringer off.
His gaze focused on her. “Who the hell keeps trying to reach you? A boyfriend? Are you seeing someone? ’Cause I don’t poach on someone else’s land.”
She folded her arms under her breasts. “That’s disgusting.”
“So’s a cheatin’ woman.”
She didn’t have the energy to reply. Out of the corner of her eye, Tyler’s profile was rigid, his hands gripped the steering wheel and anger vibrated from him. They rode the rest of the way to the Double-L in silence, their personal storm creating tension inside the cab of the truck while the storm outside unleashed its own fury.
When they reached the ranch and he turned off the engine, she grabbed the door handle to make a quick escape.
Tyler shifted in his seat and coiled his fingers around her arm. “You open that door, and I’ll paddle that sweet behind of yours. We’re not through talking. You want to explain to me why you made that remark about not seeing me anymore? Are you seeing someone else?”
“No, I’m not seeing anyone. I told you why I won’t go out with you again.”
“You gave me some lame, bullshit excuse. Look, if you can’t handle the age difference, then say so. Or if you can’t deal with coming in second after my teenage daughter, tell me straight out. But don’t hide behind something that means nothing.”
“Nothing? My bare ass is plastered all over the internet, and you call that nothing? You ignorant jerk.” She wrenched her arm free from his hold and opened the door. Just let him try to stop me. I’ll belt him a shot.
His truck door slammed a second after hers. Hurried footsteps followed as she charged for the back door. Two steps onto the porch, a band of steel wrapped around her waist.
“Let go of me.” She struggled to break free.
“Not until we talk.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk.”
“Fine, I can’t make you do something you don’t want. If you refuse to give us a chance, I have no choice but to walk away. But before I go, I have to get one thing through your stubborn and confused mind. I don’t care about that damn video, nor do I care what people say, except when it hurts you.” He kissed the side of her neck as he held her fast to him. “Then I care a lot. I don’t want anyone hurting you ever again. When you hurt, I hurt. Do you hear me?”
She stopped her feeble struggles. “Yes.”
“I’ve never felt this way before about a woman. I’ve never cared this much, and I’m guessing you feel the same way—happy, yet scared.”
Before she knew what she was doing, she instinctively turned into the warmth of him and sobbed.
“Sugar,” he breathed against her neck, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her against him. “Don’t walk away from me, from us.”
How could she drag this wonderful man into the darkness of her world? When she moved back home to the sunshine of this part of Texas, she never expected the shadows of her video stardom to journey here. Hadn’t she studied the power of the internet? Didn’t she work with it every day? She should have known better.
“I…I think we both need time to think this through. If we start dating on a regular basis, people who have seen the video will come out of the woodwork, making it their God-given-duty to tell you about it. What if someone tells Olivia? She’ll be humiliated. Other people’s opinions matter to a teenager. This relationship isn’t just about you and me. It includes her, too. I won’t have her hurt because of me. I don’t want you hurt either. Can’t you understand the position I’m in?”
“I understand you’re a very caring person. That’s one of the things I admire about you. As for my daughter, she’ll be fine. She’s crazy about you. If people want to talk, let them. You think they didn’t talk when my ex left me for her boss? People looked at me as if I wasn’t man enough to hang onto my own wife.”
Could it all be as simple as he claimed? She moved her head so she could kiss him under his square jaw. “If they only knew how much of a man you truly are.”
Soft laughter rumbled in his chest. “You say things like that to me and then expect me to walk away from you? Ain’t happenin’, Sugar.” With two fingers tucked under her chin, he lifted her lips to his.
The kiss was so tender it pushed her closer to the edge of some unseen cliff. His lips took a slow journey over hers, nipping, tasting, making her feel as if nothing else mattered in this man’s life but savoring every nuance of her mouth. This was so different from all his other kisses; they’d been power and passion. Not this kiss, though. This kiss was a sweet, silent communication of the souls—a kiss that told her this man was the whole beat of her heart. And she slowly and sweetly tumbled the rest of the way into love. Not idolized, adolescent love, but the complex love of a grown woman.
He pulled back and stared into her eyes. His one hand rose to trail fingertips down her cheek. “Are you ready to walk away from what’s growing between us? Because I’m not. Hell, I don’t know if I could, even if you held a gun to my head. Every day you mean more to me.”
“We’re in trouble, you and I, aren’t we?”
She loved him. That much she knew. She also knew she wanted to make love to him.
“Come inside. Let’s see how explosive this trouble really gets.”
Chapter Thirteen
Tyler followed her inside the dark house. What was she up to? She held his hand and walked him though the kitchen and living room and back a short hallway. A small lamp on a table illuminated the way. His heart beat faster in his ears. Surely, she wasn’t taking him to her bedroom.
She opened a door. “This is my wing of the house. We built it after I came back from college. The project was the first thing Grandpa showed any interest in, and I was glad for any improvement with his depression.” The door closed and the lock snapped shut. “This is my office and sitting area. I watch TV here usually. Grandpa’s a news hound. I prefer chick flicks, as he calls them.”
“Is Frank here?” The old man would fill his hide with buckshot if he found him in his granddaughter’s private wing of the house.
“No, he’s playing poker with some old friends. It’s usually after midnight when he comes rolling in.”
“I see.” Relieved, his gaze swept her sitting area. A large desk sat in front of a wall of bookshelves filled with books, barrel racing trophies and family pictures. A sofa and chair faced a te
levision set. Potted plants filled the room. “You have a green thumb.”
“Yes. I love cooking and gardening.” She glanced at her collection of books. “And reading. Guess that makes me a bit of a homebody.”
His thumb swept across her bottom lip as he watched her eyes drift shut. Desire slammed into his system. “That’s not a bad thing, Lacy.”
He was falling in love with her, deeper and deeper with every word she uttered and every smile she shared. When her turquoise eyes opened, she stared into the depths of his soul, or so it felt.
“I’ve made a decision. Once I do, there’s no going back. I will not be deterred.”
“Okay.” What was she talking about?
She pursed her lips in that way he’d grown so fond of. “I’m going to make love to you tonight. If you end this relationship afterwards, I’ll deal with it somehow, but I won’t ever regret it.”
“There’ll be no walking away. Not for a long time.” If ever.
Her eyes sparkled along with her smile as she extended her hand for his. “Well then, cowboy, follow me.”
He stood in the doorway to her bedroom, fighting awkwardness. Hadn’t he dreamed of taking her to bed and loving her long and hard? Yet, now as he watched her light candles here and there in her room, all he felt was an overwhelming tenderness. He wanted to take care of her, protect her, cherish her. His gaze swept to those red heels he fancied and the shapely calves above them. He hardened as a vision of her wrapping those legs around him slapped awake his libido—as if it ever slept around Lacy.
“Did you plan this little seduction scene? Candles. Blanket turned back.” A slow grin spread. “Two condoms on the nightstand. I feel so cheap.”
She stepped toward him, her hair shining golden in the candlelight. Her hands slid up his chest and began unsnapping his shirt. “Oh, cowboy, that’s not all you’re going to feel.”
Her luscious mouth caressed his, her tongue swept across the seam of his lips, and he opened for her. Warm fingertips pushed the shirt off his shoulders and lips kissed his neck. He trembled with need. “I’ve never been seduced before.”
“Relax, you might like it. Although I have to admit, I’ve never done it before either. I’m going to go easy on you with your injuries and all.”
She scraped a fingernail over his nipple sending shocks through his system.
“Damn the injuries.” He could do this. He would do this.
He enveloped her in his arms and lost himself in the essence of her sweetness. Lips fused to hers, he walked her backwards to the bed, his concerns over his recent injuries fading with every step he made. What had started as a sweet seduction slipped into a haze of razor-sharp need. He couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t get to her fast enough. Hell, he felt if he wasn’t soon inside her, he’d suffocate. How and when had she become the very air he breathed?
There was no time to question his insane need; there was only Lacy.
He laid her on the bed and settled beside her. His fingers forked into her hair and held her head as kiss after kiss, sigh after sigh, moan after moan drew him closer to sensual madness.
A fierce possessiveness took hold. “I don’t share, Lacy. While you’re with me, I don’t want you seeing anyone else. It’s important to me you understand that.” He’d been through that betrayal with his ex-wife. He’d not do it again. qct
“We’re going to be exclusive?” Her voice hitched as he kissed her ear and bit her earlobe.
“No one touches you, but me.”
He tore his lips from her long enough to remove her lace top and camisole. The red lacy bra that greeted him for his efforts nearly sent him over the edge of sanity.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
His hands slowly slid from her waist to her breasts. She shivered under his touch, and a moan escaped her lips. He ran fingertips over her ample cleavage and followed their touch with kisses. One twist of the front closure of her bra, and her breasts were free. “Sweet Jesus,” he breathed before leaning down to capture one puckered nipple.
She cried out when he drew the beaded peak into his mouth. His hands stroked her as he sucked and nipped and circled it with his tongue. This woman had curves a man could love forever. She was sweet softness he would desire with his dying breath.
“Don’t stop,” she begged.
Hellfire and brimstone couldn’t stop him now.
Satin skin glistened in the candlelight and trembled beneath his touch. He watched the contrast of his tanned fingers trailing across her pale skin. Would he ever get tired of touching her? Looking at her? Loving her?
His hand cupped her breast and he tore his gaze from it to look into her passion-hazed eyes. “We need to get these clothes off. But not those red heels. Keep them on.” He gave her a wink, and she giggled.
Somehow, in seconds, their clothes formed a pile beside her bed. On his knees between her legs, he wrapped his hands around her ankles, admiring the view of those sexy-as-hell heels. “A man loves a woman in high heels. Something about the sight stirs his guts and sets him on fire.”
“Gee, do they make stiletto cowgirl boots?”
He tugged her big toe. “Quit making fun. A man needs his fantasies. And, Sugar, if I’d known you had on a red thong tonight, my hand would have trembled so bad, I wouldn’t have been able to get a single bite of food in my mouth.”
She pulled him to her and kissed a trail down his neck. “Cowboy, you talk too much.” She rolled him over and took a long, slow journey with her fingertips. “I want to touch you.”
“I’m all yours. Touch whatever you like.”
When she wrapped her fingers around his erection and stroked, he thought the top of his head would blow off.
“Lacy,” he exhaled on a moan. Did she have any idea how good it felt to have a woman touch him again?
“Shhh,” she whispered. “Relax, lay back and enjoy. You’re still recovering from your injuries.” She kept stroking, slowly driving him mad.
“I’m enjoying, but I’m not relaxed. Not with you doing things like that to me.”
Her eyebrows rose, and he could have sworn her smile took on an evil quality. “Would you relax if I did this?”
She lowered her head, stuck out that sweet pink tongue of hers and swirled it around the tip of his erection. He curled his toes and watched in fascination as she slowly took him into her mouth.
“God, Lacy.” If he allowed her to continue, he’d embarrass himself, but, damn, what she was doing felt amazing. Just a couple more strokes with that fabulous mouth. No, he was being selfish. His aim should be to please her. “Come here, Sugar. I can’t take anymore.”
He pulled her on top of him, and his hands swept down her back to settle on her bottom. “I’ll carry the vision of your fabulous behind in that red thong until I die. You’re beautiful.”
Large turquoise eyes swept to his. “Do you really think so?” Her smile was hesitant.
She needed him, needed him to build her back up after the damage that video created. If it took him forever, he’d show her how desirable and precious she truly was.
“Every time I see you, you take my breath away.” He fingered her hair. “I have a confession. I have one of your hairs in the band of my Stetson.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, and she crossed her hands on his chest as she lay sprawled on him. “What do you mean? How did you get one of my hairs?”
“Remember our first kiss at the Lonesome Steer?” She smiled and nodded in response. “I had my fingers in your hair and must have pulled one of them out. When I got in my truck afterwards, I found it wrapped around my finger.” His hands massaged her most excellent ass. “I kept it. Slipped it under my hatband.”
Her gaze swept to his hat he’d hung on the corner of her headboard a few minutes ago. “And you still have it?”
He kissed her neck. “Oh, yeah. That beautiful hair of yours goes wherever I go.” His hands swept up her sides and cupped her breasts. “I can’t recall any woman who’s charmed me the
way you have.” His thumbs flicked over her nipples.
“Really?” Her voice hitched in that charming way she had.
He slid her higher so he could kiss her breasts. “You’ve become my fantasy in the flesh.” Her beguiling fragrance filled his nostrils as he continued kissing her skin. “And what beautiful flesh you have.” Pain snagged his attention for a mere second when he rolled her over and stared into her eyes. Once more, he ignored it. “It’s important you know I need you in my life.” Then he set to showing her how much he needed her, with touches, kisses, love bites and words of praise.
When he had her on the painful edge of completion, he reached for one of the condoms and slipped it on.
He rested on his forearms above her, his hips settled between hers. “Keep your eyes on mine as I enter you. Look at me while I make love to you.” Slowly, he pushed his way into her moist warmth. “God, Sugar, you’re so tight.” He gritted his teeth and trembled with the need to rush to completion.
“You feel…so good.” Her hips slowly rose and fell with his. “I…I feel…”
“What? What do you feel?” He was fighting to hang on and not come too soon. She deserved to feel as much as he. More. She deserved more.
“I think I’m going to…” Her muscles clenched, and she cried out his name in climax.
Three more hard strokes, and he was there, too. Forehead to forehead, gaze to gaze, fingers entwined, he called her name and found all the answers to the secrets of the universe—contained in the spirit of the woman in his arms.
He collapsed against her, gasping for breath and ignoring the pains in his body.
“Oh, wow.”
He smiled at her comment. “Yeah.” Rasping the way he was, he was lucky to get one word out.
“Oh, wow.”
Somehow he mustered the strength to open one eye and gaze at her. She pursed her lips, and he fell the rest of the way into love.
“So, that’s what a climax feels like.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No, I’ve read about it in my romances, but never experienced it before. Just now I felt as if I was shattering into beautiful colored shards of glass. Oh, wow.”
