The connection to his body left her heart thumping fast and hard, making her voice sound a bit breathless. “We’re walking on sand, Lex. If I fell, I’d hardly hurt myself.”
“Hmm. Don’t be so practical. I have to have a reason to keep my arm around you.”
“Do you? Have to have a reason?”
She didn’t know why those teasing words had come out of her mouth. Something about being alone with this man, away from his family and home, was doing strange things to her thinking. Or was it her body that was doing all the thinking? Either way, she couldn’t resist his touch.
With a grunt of pleasure, he tugged the front of her body up against his and settled his hands at the small of her back. “It doesn’t feel that way to me. Not tonight.”
She started to tell him he was taking a lot for granted. But the words didn’t have a chance to form on her tongue before he was lowering his head and fastening his lips over hers.
He tasted like chocolate and coffee and Lex. An utterly sinful combination and one that quickly squashed what little resistance she’d been trying to hold on to. Her mouth opened and slanted against the hard curve of his lips; her hands slipped up and linked at the back of his neck.
The strong trade winds crashed against their bodies, but they weren’t nearly enough to cool the heat rushing from the soles of Christina’s bare feet all the way to the roots of her hair. Unconsciously, she pressed herself closer. His eager kiss left her feeling as though he was lifting her completely off the ground.
His hands swept across her back and down the length of her spine until they reached the curved swell of her buttocks. Once there, they urged her hips forward until she was clamped tightly against his swelling manhood.
The fact that he was reacting so strongly to her and letting her know it somehow fueled her desire even more. For the next few minutes, she forgot that they were on a public beach, forgot that she was supposed to be guarding herself against this man’s charms.
It wasn’t until her dazed senses noted nearby voices that she was finally able to gather enough strength to pull her lips away from his and step out of his arms.
He tugged on her hand and murmured huskily, “Christina, come back here.”
Unable to meet his gaze, she whispered, “Here comes a group of people. We have an audience.”
Muttering an impatient curse under his breath, he started down the beach, tugging her along with him. “Don’t they know this is our little strip of beach?”
“Guess they didn’t see the Private—Keep Out signs,” she tried to joke, but even to her own ears, her voice sounded strained and odd. Their embrace had gone far beyond just a kiss, and they both knew it. Her next question probably sounded inane, but she asked it, anyway. “Where are we going now?”
He glanced down at her, and she was surprised to see there was no sexy, teasing grin on his face. Instead, his expression was quietly serious as his gaze intently probed hers.
“To the hotel. To my room. Are you…agreeable to that?”
All she had to do was say one little word and everything would stay the same. She’d wake up in the morning with her world safely on its axis. But the night ahead would be cold and empty. Just like the nights of the past three years, since she’d walked away from Mike, had been.
“Lex, I—”
With a hand on her shoulder, he stopped her forward progress long enough to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t spoil this night by thinking too much, Christina. I want you and you want me. That’s enough for now, isn’t it?”
It had to be, Christina thought. Because she couldn’t seem to stop him from leading her wherever he wanted to go.
She silently nodded, and they walked the rest of the way to the hotel without exchanging another word.
Chapter Seven
Inside the hotel, they went straight to the elevator, and once the doors cocooned them inside the small, private space, Lex used the opportunity to pull her back into his arms and kiss her.
The contact, though brief, was enough to overwhelm her all over again, and she was barely aware of her surroundings when they left the elevator and walked down the quiet hallway to his room.
The nicely furnished space was a replica of hers, but unlike her, he’d left the drapes pulled back on the glass doors leading out to the balcony. Beyond, stars were hanging over the gulf waters, sparkling the beach with diamonds.
With the door shut behind them, Lex took her by the hand and led her over to the sliding glass doors. “Let’s step out on the balcony,” he said softly, “where I can look at you in the starlight.”
They stepped outside on the small balcony enclosed by black wrought iron. From this height, the wind seemed even stronger, and it whipped Christina’s hair across her face as she gazed out at the rolling surf.
“It’s beautiful,” she said wistfully. He was standing directly behind her, and the bare skin on her shoulders was sizzling where his fingers rested. “And I’m glad we’re here. Even though the reason for the trip isn’t a pleasant one.”
Turning her toward him, he cradled her face with his palms and lowered his lips toward hers. The idea that they were well and truly alone and about to make love made her whole body ache with anticipation.
“This trip was meant to happen, my sweet. Just like a lot of other things.”
She didn’t know exactly what he meant by that. But the moment his mouth touched hers, it stopped mattering. Nothing mattered but his touch.
They kissed for long moments, until the connection was no longer enough to satisfy their needs, and Lex led her gently back inside and over to the king-size bed.
With nothing but the starlight filtering through the glass doors, he found the zipper at the back of her dress and slowly pulled it downward. Christina closed her eyes and bit down on her bottom lip as his hands followed the garment down her curves, then onto the floor.
Shivering, she carefully stepped out of the pool of fabric, and he tossed it toward the armchair sitting in the corner of the room.
“Are you cold?” he whispered, with concern.
Daring to meet his gaze, she felt her heart squeeze with inexplicable pain. “No. I—I’m just not sure I—we—should be doing this. That I should be…wanting you this much.”
Smiling, he rested his forehead against hers. “Hang on, baby. If this is a mistake, we’ll be making it together.”
This couldn’t be a mistake, Christina thought moments later, as Lex gently peeled away her undergarments and lifted her onto the massive bed. Even without the touch of his hands, she was on fire for him, mindlessly needing to feel his skin, his body against her.
She waited patiently for him to shed his boots and clothing, but once he lay down next to her, she reached for him eagerly and sighed with contentment when his mouth once again came down over hers. The stroke of his hands, the hungry plunder of his lips were enough to push her senses over the edge, and soon she was writhing against him, urging him to connect their bodies.
If anything, she’d thought that Lex would be a smooth, practiced lover, that his moves would be controlled and predictable. But nothing about his ragged kisses or the shaky, erratic movements of his hands showed a man on automatic pilot. He kissed her, touched her as though each time was a new experience and he could hardly wait for the next one.
His eagerness left her breathless, her body coiled with a hunger that ached deep within her. Like a warm rain shower, he kissed her cheeks, nose, chin and eyelids. Then on a slower track, he moved his attention behind her ear and down the sensitive side of her neck.
She felt like the bud of a flower, and each time he touched her, one more petal opened to expose the very center of her being. When his lips found a nipple and pulled it deep within his mouth, she was certain she was going to break apart. A broken cry gurgled in her throat, and she wrapped her legs around his hips.
“Make love to me, Lex.” She whispered the plea. “Now. Please!”
He lifted his head. “Are you—”
Guessing his question, she finished for him. “I’m protected.”
Whispering her name, he touched her face with the tips of his fingers, then slid them into her thick hair. At the same time, he lowered the bottom half of his body down to hers and entered her as slowly and gently as his raging desire would allow. But once the sweet, damp folds of her womanhood enveloped him, his control crumbled.
A hot ache gripped his loins, forcing him to thrust deeply and rapidly as he searched for relief, for something inside her that would quench the flames threatening to consume him.
At some point, he became aware of her hips driving up to meet his, her open mouth exploring his chest, her tongue teasing his nipples. She felt small and fragile beneath him, yet her abandoned movements told him that she wanted everything he was giving her and more. The idea aroused him even more than the feel of her body, and before he could stop himself, he was blindly pounding into her.
Time seemed suspended as sweat slicked his body and dripped onto hers. His hands raced over her smooth ivory skin, cupped around her breasts, then finally anchored themselves at the sides of her waist.
From somewhere far away, he could hear her soft cries, the whisper of his name, but the sounds faded as his heartbeat roared louder and louder in his ears. The ragged breaths he sucked into his lungs did little to ease their fiery pain, until suddenly breathing didn’t seem to matter at all. He’d been flung to paradise, and Christina had taken the journey with him.
Long, long moments passed before Christina drifted back to the quiet room, and even then her awareness returned only in increments. Everything was still spinning, but she could feel Lex’s cheek resting on hers, his heart pounding against her breast, his legs tangled with hers. Sweat was stinging her eyes, while her lungs were straining to draw in another breath.
Her eyes fluttered open just as he rolled his weight off her. Groaning softly, she shifted to face him, then sighed as he reached to tuck the front of her body up against his. Her lips curved into a satisfied smile as he pressed tiny kisses across her forehead.
“It has to be a hundred degrees in here,” he said.
The unexpectedness of his words deepened the smile on her face. “The air-conditioning must have gone off.”
He chuckled lowly. “Or maybe all this heat is coming from the firebrand in my arms.”
Feeling like more of a woman than she’d ever felt in her life, she trailed her fingers along his damp cheek. “I didn’t think it would be this way with us,” she said lowly.
In the dim light of the room, she could see the corners of his mouth tilt upward.
“How did you think it would be?”
In spite of the wild ride they’d just taken together, Christina could feel a blush creeping over her face. “I—I’m not sure. More reserved, I suppose.”
That brought another rumbling chuckle up from the depths of his chest, and Christina realized it was a happy, soothing sound. One that made her glad to be alive.
“Honey, nothing between us will ever be lukewarm.”
His hand slid slowly from her shoulder to the curve of her hip. Desire stirred deep within her, shocking her with its quick reappearance.
“And that scares me, Lex.”
Groaning, he cupped his palms around the sides of her face. “Oh, Christina, nothing about this—about you and me—should scare you.”
He would think that way, she thought dully. This wasn’t a life-changing event for him. And she’d be naive and childish to think it could be.
Doing her best to push away the raw ache in her heart, she said, “You’re right, Lex. Nothing should worry me tonight.”
With a groan of pleasure, he crushed her body even closer and brought his lips to hers. Christina thought she was too exhausted to make love a second time, but Lex proved her wrong, and as the moon rose over the bay, she clung to him and wondered where this night was going to take her. And how soon it would be before her heart was broken all over again.
The next morning Christina woke at the sound of a door opening and closing. When she cracked her eyes open, sunlight smacked her in the face.
“Good morning, beautiful. Ready for some coffee?”
Rolling to her back, she saw Lex holding a paper carrier with four cups nestled safely inside it. He was already dressed in the clothes he’d worn yesterday, and when he pulled off his hat, she could see his blond hair was brushed smoothly back from his forehead. He couldn’t have looked more sexy or handsome, and she felt her heart flutter like a lost leaf in the wind.
Clutching the sheet to her breasts, she quickly scooted up in the bed. “Four cups of coffee! Were you planning on jolting me awake with caffeine?”
Laughing, he sat down on the edge of the bed and placed the cups of coffee on the nightstand. “No, I wanted us to have plenty. Besides, I was going to kiss you awake before too long. I have a surprise for you.”
After taking the lid off one of the foam cups, he poured in cream, then handed it to her. She thanked him, then took a careful sip of the steaming liquid. “A surprise?” she repeated groggily. “What sort of surprise?”
He left the bed and moved across the room, to where a small desk was positioned a short distance away from the balcony door. She watched with complete dismay as he lifted a shiny silver gift bag from the desktop and carry it back to the bed.
“Where on earth did that come from? A shop in the lobby? I didn’t see anything last night,” she said.
“The coffee came from the hotel lobby. But not this. While you’ve been sleeping, I’ve been out shopping.”
“Why didn’t you wake me? It’s late, and we need to be getting to the bait house. You need to get back to the Sandbur and—”
He held up a hand. “Quit worrying. We’ll be back to the Sandbur soon enough.”
He was certainly right about that, she thought. Soon this time they’d had together would end, and she didn’t have a clue what the future would bring for the two of them. Last night his pillow talk had been light and playful, and she’d taken his cue and kept hers the same. Yet deep down she was scared to death that she was falling head over heels for the man, and she didn’t have the courage to even give him a hint as to how she was feeling.
Gently, he took the coffee from her hand and pushed the gift bag toward her. “See if you like it. I picked it out myself.”
Christina peeked inside the bag and saw some sort of garment neatly folded at the bottom. With a cry of pleasure, she forgot about holding the sheet to her naked body and concentrated on pulling the item out in the open.
Ice-blue fabric spilled across her lap, and she quickly discovered it was a dress fashioned from polished cotton. The waist was nipped in with a belt edged with white piping, the top was V-necked and sleeveless, while the skirt flared out in deep gores, which would swish against her calves as she walked. It was very pretty and even more sexy, and she couldn’t wait to try it on.
“Oh! Oh, how sweet of you, Lex! It’s beautiful! I love it!”
“I thought you’d like something fresh to put on this morning.”
She couldn’t believe he’d done such a thoughtful, romantic thing for her. She wanted to believe that she was the only woman who’d ever received this sort of treatment from him, but that was highly unlikely. From what she’d heard, the man had made a career out of women since he’d been old enough to flirt.
You knew that beforehand, Christina. So don’t think about it now. Just enjoy this moment with him.
“I do,” she murmured, then leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he simply touched her cheek and gazed at her as though he were watching the sun rise. Every word, every intimate touch that had passed between them last night replayed in her mind, and after a few moments, Christina was so overwhelmed with emotions that she had to clear her throat and ease back from him. Otherwise, everything she was feeling was going to be there on her face for him to read.
; “I’d better shower and get dressed,” she said huskily.
Wrapping the sheet around her, she scooted off the bed and headed toward the bathroom. She was about to step through the door when Lex called out to her. Glancing over her shoulder, she arched her brows at him.
“Christina, I just wanted to say—in case you’re wondering—the dress wasn’t meant to be any sort of…payment.”
She stiffened. “I never thought it was.”
Suddenly he was across the room, reaching for her hand and drawing the back of it to his lips. “Forgive me, Christina, if that sounded coarse. I—I know you think I do this sort of thing often. That I go through women the way I buy and sell cattle. But that’s far from the truth. And if I’m not doing any of this right, well—” One corner of his mouth turned upward in a hapless grin. “I’ve just ruined the hell out of my reputation.”
Softly, she touched her fingers to his cheek. “Lex, you bought me the dress because you wanted me to have it. You were being sweet and thoughtful and nothing more.”
Relief flooded his expression. “You’re a special woman,” he murmured.
Was being special the same as being loved? she wondered dismally. No. She didn’t think so. But being special to a man like Lex was probably the most she could ever hope for.
Tears suddenly stung the back of her eyes.
“I’ll be ready in a few minutes,” she told him, then hurriedly shut the bathroom door between them.
A half hour later, after checking out of the hotel and grabbing a bite of breakfast at a seaside grill, Lex drove the two of them back to Ray’s Bait.
Unlike yesterday, the bait shop was busy with several customers. Christina and Lex waited to one side until the store emptied and the stocky man behind the counter was alone. Then they stepped up to introduce themselves.
Ray Pena had salt-and-pepper hair, a broad face, a thick neck and shoulders and enormous hands to match. A faded tropical shirt was stretched tightly across his belly. He smiled affably at the two of them before settling his appreciative gaze back on Christina.
“You two don’t look like you’re goin’ fishin’ today. What can I do for you?”
Cowboy to the Rescue Page 10
