They were so in tune that no more words were necessary. He increased the momentum of his thrusts and she tightened her embrace outside and in, until their kisses took on a near wild abandon.
In the last moment, Noah pressed her against the fiberglass wall and gave her every bit of himself that he could, a harsh cry breaking from his lips. At the same time, Rylie sobbed helplessly, as a climax more powerful than the first shook her entire being.
* * *
The water sluicing off them was now only tepid, yet Rylie could feel Noah continuing to pulsate within her. “You’re lasting a long time.”
“That’s all you, darling. What you do to me.” He kissed her shoulder and said, “I want to do this again in bed—where I can use both hands.”
“Oh, yes, please.”
He chuckled softly and shut off the water, then reached for the bath sheet on the rack to dry them both. Rylie didn’t think he stopped touching her once, and by the time he lowered her onto the bed, she was aching to have him inside her again.
He already had another condom packet between his teeth and quickly put it on. “I wasn’t even in such a hurry when I was sixteen,” he admitted, wryly.
“Poor girl. I hope she wasn’t a virgin.”
“Believe me, she wasn’t, and hadn’t been for several years.”
Taking hold of her wrists with one hand, he drew her arms over her head and with his other hand, he stroked her slender length from arm to knee and all of the sensitive places in between. “Believe me,” he rasped, sliding between her thighs to seek a home in her again, “I’ve never wanted anything more than I want you.”
“It’s the same for me,” she whispered.
“Since it’s been some time, you might be sore.”
“Uh-uh.”
“I have a serious appetite.”
“So there’s no need to list today’s specials?”
“Heck, no. I’ll take the whole menu.”
And as he claimed her mouth for a deep, thirsty kiss, Rylie abandoned herself totally to the experience.
* * *
Long afterward, they lay replete in each other’s arms, absorbing the subtle sensations that trickled through their bodies. This time their skin was slick from exertion and determination to get every ounce of pleasure they could from each other, and Rylie felt a pleasant ache in muscles rarely used even in her physical job.
“You don’t want to nap?” Noah asked, his tone musing as he traced circles over and around her puckered nipples.
“Not possible with you doing that. Besides, your clothes aren’t going to dry if someone doesn’t get them into the dryer. I can also hear MG telling me that she’s been locked inside long enough. I could close the bedroom door so you can sleep, though.”
As she got up to get new panties out of a drawer, she felt Noah’s possessive gaze follow her every move. She’d been around nature and had been studying anatomy for too long to be self-conscious about her body or anyone else’s, but that didn’t mean she was desensitized. On the contrary, she reveled in the knowledge that even momentarily sated, he didn’t want to take his eyes off her.
“Get back in this bed and I’ll show you who’s tired,” he drawled.
Rylie chuckled but slipped on her panties and clean jeans, and then a T-shirt, leaving off the bra. The lack of lingerie was going to be obvious the way he was staring at her, but she figured she wouldn’t be wearing it all that long anyway. “Thirsty?”
“Dry as an old tree stump. I could handle a beer.”
“I’m going to have wine. This was too special for beer.”
“Special, huh? Make it wine for me, too. I want to taste like you do, so you’ll want to keep kissing me.”
“I don’t think you’ll have a problem there.”
“And you don’t mind if I’m in no hurry to leave? You’re not tired of me yet, are you?”
That was so incredibly opposite of what she was feeling that Rylie laughed all the way into the clinic.
* * *
By Thursday, Noah knew he was in trouble. He was glad he and Rylie had spent all of Sunday together because he hadn’t seen her since, and they’d barely had a chance to talk, except in the evening when they were both pretty worn out from the demands of their work. It was lunchtime and he was buzzing her cell, hoping she wasn’t having to work through lunch. Considering that more and more her assisting Gage was overlapping with her grooming appointments, that was entirely possible.
“Hottie Central,” came her lilting voice after the second ring.
Sitting back in his chair, Noah grinned. “Yeah, you are. I take it that you’re alone?”
“In the RV with MG and Humph, trying to have a calm few minutes before we return to the circus inside. How’s your day going?”
“It’s less physically demanding than yours, but also high theater. Hung jury on the Slattery case.”
Rylie offered a sigh of commiseration. “I’m sorry. People can’t see that lowlife for what he is? They need to throw the book at that slick con man, who found it easier to rip off old people and widows than actually work for a living.”
Noah knew that she’d followed the trial in the news enough to grasp the essentials of the case. “I told Vance it was a mistake to put those younger people on the jury panel. They think it compromises their religious beliefs to stick him in prison with such a hefty sentence when the victims are old anyway, and it’s only money.”
Rylie yelped in indignation. “That’s their reasoning? Obviously, they haven’t had to work to make car payments or pay rent or tuition. I don’t know how you’re keeping your cool. How do you reason with ignorance like that?”
“I remind myself that they’re Vance’s choices. He’ll have to live with the results.” Then Noah said, “Let’s not waste another precious second on that. Say something soft and sexy. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too. It’s starting to feel as though Sunday was a figment of my imagination.”
Noah frowned, not liking the inference of what he’d heard. He knew their relationship was in its fragile, early stages when outside influences could still steal her away. “We have to do something about that. Is there a chance we can have dinner tonight?”
She uttered a regretful sound. “I’m staying late to do two dogs. There was no way to fit them in otherwise. And Gage had asked me to do a dairy-farm call to do inoculations, so it would go faster, but Uncle Roy is filling in for me instead.”
“What about after your appointments? I could be coerced to spend the night...bring a change of clothes and head for work from your place in the morning.”
“Determined to send tongues wagging, are you?”
Noah was heartened by the smile he heard in her voice. “Frankly, my dear, I’d be proud to,” he said, hoping he sounded at least remotely similar to suave, who-gives-a-damn Rhett Butler. “I’m all for doing whatever it takes to make it clear that you’re taken.”
“Then I’ll see you later,” she said softly, only to utter an apologetic groan in the next instant. “But if you’re hungry, you’ll have to pick up something on your way down. My fridge is empty except for beer, wine and pickles. I haven’t even had time to think about the grocery store. If Gage didn’t carry dog food, MG would be begging for pizza and hot-link dinners from the musketeers.”
“I’ll handle the food,” Noah assured her. “Call you when I’m on my way.”
“Don’t call, just come. No cell phones while driving.”
“So I’ll text you before I head out there. This way you can start thinking of me kissing you—all over.”
* * *
By eight o’clock that evening, a cold front was pushing through. Strong winds with driving rain were battering East Texas, and temperatures were expected to drop thirty degrees. It was the first real pre
cursor of things to come, a signal to wildlife that hunting season had arrived, and that geese would be seen and/or heard for the next week or so as they headed south for the winter.
The dropping temperatures had Rylie’s teeth chattering by the time she locked up the clinic and waited on MG to do her business a last time. As soon as she got into the RV and towel-dried the dog, she ran for a hot shower.
She’d just changed into clean jeans and an oversize sweatshirt that she used as a sleep shirt and thick socks, when she saw lights play around the edges of the miniblinds. Not lightning, she realized, as Noah parked his BMW as close to her stairs as possible.
Quickly opening the door for him, he shoved a huge bag of takeout and a bottle of wine at her.
“Take that and I’ll get my suit bag,” he yelled above the howling wind and driving rain.
Worried that she would lose her hold of everything, she gave up trying to keep the wind from slamming the door against the RV’s outer skin and ran to dump her armload on the dinette table. By the time she returned to the door, a thoroughly soaked Noah scrambled up the stairs and yanked the door shut behind him. MG barked her approval of that move.
As he hung the clothes bag on the door frame so water would only drip on the rubber mat, Rylie ran to get him a towel. “You shouldn’t have been driving in such weather,” she called back to him. “The roads must have been treacherous.”
“There are some trees down,” he admitted, shrugging out of his soaked suit jacket. He hung it over the back of an iron barstool. By the time Rylie handed him the towel, he had his tie off, too. As he mopped his face and hair, he added, “I heard on the radio that sections of the county are without power.”
“At least the tornado warnings are about to expire,” Rylie replied, “otherwise, I’d insist we ride this out in the clinic. Did you check on your mother?”
“She and her two attack-dog guardian angels were ready to get into the storm room.” Noah had shown it to her, behind the pantry, when he’d given her the tour. “And if they lose power, Ramon knows how to get the generator system operating.” He gave her a tender look. “She was equally concerned for you.”
“How sweet.” She accepted the towel back and hung it in the bathroom. “Can I have my hug now?”
“I’m still drenched,” he warned, working on the top few shirt buttons and the ones on the cuffs.
“That’s how I like you best.”
With a deep-throated sound of pleasure, he enveloped her in his arms and kissed her eagerly. “God, what a relief,” he said between eager kisses. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me, too, you.”
“This is nuts. The weather...our schedules...”
“At least we don’t have to be concerned that we’ll get bored with each other anytime soon.”
That earned her a one-word expletive from him, and his next kiss was meant to prove that there wasn’t going to be any talk about boredom as long as she was in his arms. Even when MG nudged his thigh, wanting some recognition for herself, Noah wouldn’t break the kiss; he only reached down blindly to pat her.
When he finally took a moment to catch his breath, Rylie planted a kiss in the V of his opened shirt, only to discover his skin hot to the touch. “You aren’t coming down with something, are you? You’re practically feverish.”
“I should be. I was in foreplay mode driving here, aching to touch you and feel your hands and mouth on me.” His gaze was as intent as his touch was urgent. “Are you absolutely starving, or can you wait fifteen minutes before we eat?”
With a graceful leap, she wrapped her legs around his waist. “How’s that for an answer?”
With a husky, “Bless you,” he took the few strides necessary to reach the bedroom, and kicked the door on MG. From the other side came the dog’s indignant “woof.”
“She’ll pay you back,” Rylie said, as Noah laid her amid the pillows. “We may emerge from here to find whatever you brought already devoured—or splattered around the room like a Pollock painting.”
“A small enough price to pay for this.” As he peeled off his clothes in record time, he clearly enjoyed watching her watch him. “You’re adorable in that getup.”
“Pinocchio. At best I look shower fresh. You got here before I could at least put on some mascara.”
“With lashes like that you don’t need it...but you are still wearing too many clothes.” Naked himself, he went to work on getting her out of her things. In the process, he kissed and tasted every inch of satin-smooth skin that he exposed, until she kicked off her panties to speed up things.
“God, I’m crazy about you.” He pinned her against the bed with the lower half of his body. “Kiss me again before I explode.”
She did, eagerly giving herself up to this spontaneous reunion. As long and hard as the day had been, she felt renewed in his company. She also liked that she could reduce Mr. Cool and Confident to a state that was anything but. Having such power over a partner had never mattered to her before, but if you were going to turn to mush whenever you were anywhere near the man whom you couldn’t put out of your mind or heart, it was a huge relief to know that he felt the same way about you!
As he ran his hands over her, she arched into the caresses, and when he duplicated the journey with his lips traveling down her throat and over her breasts, then her stomach, she raked her short nails over his back, his tight buttocks and hard thighs. It was she who reached for the condom and slipped it on him. Outside, the massive front continued to push through, but inside she and Noah created their own force to be reckoned with.
When he entered her, Noah moaned near her ear. “Baby, you’re going to hate me for how fast this is going to be over. But I want you so badly. I can’t—”
“It’s all right,” Rylie whispered, bending her knees and digging her heels into the bedding to aid him. “As long as it’s you, it’s good.”
He uttered an indecipherable something, and then his thrusts grew harder and faster. “I promise to make it up to you,” he uttered between gasps.
“I promise to remind you,” she whispered, tightening inner muscles around him.
With a raspy oath, he lost control and found his release.
* * *
It was almost ten before they ate. By then they were beyond ravenous. Sweetly forgiving MG had behaved, and her good manners and calm demeanor earned her a few slivers of Noah’s steak. Rylie watched, looking amused and pleased that her beloved pet wasn’t seen as a nuisance to him.
“I think you’re a fraud,” Rylie chided, when he gave MG his last bite of meat. “You like dogs. You probably had one when you were a boy.”
Taking a sip of his wine, Noah thought back to those days. “There were a few cow dogs on the place—still are—but they’ve always lived with the hands. Ramon’s uncle had the job back then. My father wasn’t big on animals in the house.” Seeing her disappointment, Noah reached across the table and took hold of her hand, stroking the soft back with his thumb. “I had a great childhood, a privileged life. No regrets. Traveled through two continents, and Japan. There isn’t much that I couldn’t afford if I wanted it.”
“But if your father hadn’t died, you wouldn’t be here. We would never have met.”
Noah hated that her usually optimistic attitude had stumbled on that thought. Sitting forward so he could bring her hand to his lips, he kissed each finger before saying, “I have a feeling that on one of my visits home, I would have come upon you with a flat tire in front of the house, and I would have noticed that irresistible little tush as you stubbornly tried to put on the spare yourself. No, no, too mundane. You’d be driving this monster and accidentally cut me off as you tried to pull over to recheck your directions to the clinic. I’d be so beguiled by your sexy self, that I would borrow one of Ramon’s dogs as an excuse to come see you.”
“You w
ouldn’t need an excuse,” she said quietly. “Not if you came smiling the way you are now.”
Noah shook his head. He couldn’t get over how quickly her sweetness and honesty went straight to his heart, and groin. Pushing aside his glass, he rose and drew her to her feet as well, then lifted her into his arms. “Say good-night to MG.”
“Night, pretty girl.”
It was midnight when they made love the last time. Using his shoulder as a pillow, Rylie had slipped off into a deep, contented sleep, but Noah was still reveling in what they’d shared—and listening to the wind continue to blow in cold air.
Hearing another sound, he saw the door ease open and MG quietly approach Rylie’s side of the bed. After observing the situation for a moment, she hopped up and curled in the V created by her mistress’s bent knees.
As he felt himself drifting off to sleep, Noah reached over to fondle the dog behind her ears.
* * *
“If no one needs me, there’s something I need to do on my lunch hour.” Friday morning was proving to be as busy as Thursday had been, but Rylie made her announcement just before noon, determined to take care of an important matter. “Uncle Roy, you’re okay with monitoring MG and Humphrey, right?”
“Sure, sweetheart. But is it anything that I can do for you, instead? You’re looking a little tired. Did the storm keep you from getting much sleep?”
He wasn’t fooling her for a second. Uncle Roy had arrived this morning just as Noah was leaving, and he had acted disappointed in her ever since. She knew he felt she should hold a grudge against Noah, just as she knew he understood that any fatigue she exposed had little to do with last night’s storm. At least Rylie could take comfort in the fact that they were in the back of the clinic and the old-timers weren’t hearing any of this.
“Shame on you,” she replied, albeit gently. “If I’m not allowed to ask about Jane Ayer, you’re not allowed to needle me about Noah.” Rylie had been itching to bring up the redhead’s name ever since Brooke happened to mention observing Roy and Jane entering the grill across the street from the flower shop last Saturday. During the quiet hours between lunch and dinner, when it was least likely that that they’d run into anyone they knew, Rylie suspected. She was dying to know how their date went and when her uncle would ask Jane out again. He deserved to be happy.
Groomed for Love Page 16
