He quieted some, reached around and squeezed her ass, pulling her against him as he thrust up inside her…harder, deeper…until she was hot and cold and close to shattering. Never had she been filled so completely before. It was both scary and wonderful, and as much as she was trying not to come yet, if he kept sucking on her tongue…thrusting into her…
Before she knew it, his thumb found her clit. She gasped and tried to evade his hand. She’d never been one to have multiple orgasms, and God, but she didn’t want it to end so soon. But he was too strong, too determined. No amount of effort on her part could get him to stop, and the pressure kept building until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Her body tensed, her climax swelled, the sensation so intense she had to press her lips together to keep from crying out as she convulsed so violently that she fell forward, and Cole wrapped his arms around her trembling body, hugging her tight, kissing her hair as spasm after spasm overtook her.
Long after the last sensual waved crashed over her, Jamie lay on top of his heaving chest. He stroked her back and pressed soft kisses to her temple. When she made a move to roll off him, he held her firmly and whispered words she wasn’t coherent enough yet to understand.
Vaguely she was aware that the storm outside seemed to have reawakened. Thunder clapped in the distance. The sound didn’t faze her. Encircled by Cole’s strong arms, feeling the steady beat of his heart, she felt safe and warm. Content to stay where she was, she buried her face in his neck, inhaling his musky masculine scent.
After their breathing evened out, and reality began to seep in, she blearily eyed the bedside clock. He was supposed to be outside keeping watch. “Are you going back out?”
“I can’t move.”
“You want me off?” She tried to push herself up.
“No.” He tightened his hold. “Stay,” he said in a raw, husky voice. “Right here.”
She lifted her head and smiled at him. “I’m too heavy.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re just right.”
“Cole?”
“Hmm?” His lips were now on hers, lightly brushing, nibbling, coaxing.
“I can’t breathe.”
He stopped, and loosened his arms around her. Then he started laughing, the rumbling in his chest teasing her breasts. “Better?”
She inhaled deeply. “Being smothered did have its upside.”
Without warning, he rolled over, taking her with him until she was pinned to the mattress. He was careful not to crush her, using his elbows to leverage himself while he gazed down at her.
“I don’t think Rachel would take kindly to me smothering one of her guests,” he said.
She flinched. Stupid, because she knew he hadn’t meant anything by the remark. He was just trying to be funny.
“What’s wrong?” He stared deep into her eyes.
“I’m a little drowsy. Aren’t you?”
“Nope.” He nibbled at her chin, then ran the tip of his tongue to her ear.
It tickled, and she squirmed, felt him getting hard again. “You’re kidding.”
“About?” He moved down to her breasts, flicking his tongue over her nipple, eliciting an immediate response.
When he wedged a hand between her thighs, she realized he wasn’t kidding at all.
* * *
“THE MOUNTAINS ARE BEAUTIFUL this morning. They look greener than usual,” Jamie said to Rachel, while lingering over her third cup of coffee and trying not to yawn.
Jamie had slept late and missed breakfast with the other guests who’d blessedly left on their preplanned excursions. Rachel had saved her a blueberry muffin and cubed cantaloupe, but all Jamie wanted was another gallon of strong coffee.
“That seems to happen right after a heavy rain. I don’t know why.” Rachel had finished clearing the dishes, and brought a cup of coffee with her to join Jamie at the dining room table. “You don’t look as though you slept well. After the night you had, I figured you’d crash hard.”
Jamie coughed, gained control of herself, then stared at Rachel, grateful that she hadn’t choked. Sure, Rachel had seen Cole carry Jamie to the truck and probably guessed something might have happened, but to make a remark like that…
Rachel hid behind her cup, but not before Jamie saw a grin blossoming on her friend’s face.
Oh, crap.
Embarrassment stung Jamie’s cheeks, made her wish she was sitting under the table instead of across from Rachel. She was talking about putting out the fire, not what had happened with Cole and Jamie in her room.
Jamie cleared her throat. “Yeah, I was pretty tired.”
Rachel pressed her lips together. “Me, too. I almost bailed on Hilda this morning.”
Jamie glanced around the room. “So…”
After an awkward silence, Rachel burst out laughing. “Just remember, I’m not the one who brought it up.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just…you don’t know my brother. Well, yeah, obviously you do, but what he did last night by picking you up…” Rachel dabbed at her watery eyes. “Let’s just say every jaw hit the ground. Dutchy and the boys will be talking about last night forever.”
“Great.” Jamie sighed. “Cole will love that.” It probably meant he’d be staying clear of her for the next three days. As it was he’d left her room early, though she’d reasoned that he normally had his coffee and was out of the house by sunup. Still…
“That’s the beauty of it. For once in his adult life, my brother acted on impulse and didn’t give a rat’s ass about anything else.”
“God forbid I’m the one who ends up sullying his reputation.”
Rachel grinned. “It’s not like that. It’s not even that he cares what people think.” She shrugged. “He just never does anything that’s gossip worthy.”
“What about you?” Jamie asked, anxious to change the subject. “I bet you and Trace have set quite a few tongues wagging.”
Rachel’s expression changed in an instant. Her pensive gaze drifted toward the window, and then she smiled a little. “Trace hasn’t made headlines in ages. As a kid he was such a troublemaker, nothing he does shocks anyone.” Her eyes came back to Jamie. “People did love talking about me and Matt Gunderson. Then he left, two years later I went off to school and the town found someone else to talk about. More coffee?”
Jamie was dying to hear more but all she said was, “I’ll get it. How about you?”
Rachel was up in a flash. “Stay put. I’ll fill a carafe for us.”
Jamie drained her cup and thought about Cole as she waited for Rachel to return. If someone asked her to describe last night with him, she couldn’t do it. She’d written what seemed like a gazillion travel blogs in the past seven years, quirky ones, serious ones, balancing information with entertainment. They usually wrote themselves quickly, effortlessly; jeez, she could practically write them in her sleep.
But when thinking about last night? There were no words. Perfect was all that came to mind. Cole and perfect. The man didn’t even seem as if he could be for real. Hot, sexy, thoughtful, a body that wouldn’t quit, and those hands… The man had skills….
Remembering the sexy things he’d whispered in her ear when she’d come the second time, she felt her cheeks get warm. She’d never expected Cole to be a talker…. He’d shocked her, but in a really good way.
Rachel appeared armed with coffee and a basket of muffins. “Fresh out of the oven,” she said, setting down the plate, eyeing the one Jamie had left untouched. “Hilda insisted I feed you.”
Jamie sighed. “I love Hilda. I need a Hilda in my life. I’m so sick of takeout food.”
“Ah, call me crazy but you could cook for yourself,” Rachel suggested.
“Um, there’s a scary thought.” Jamie shuddered. “Ever hear of Rita Rudner?”
“The comedienne?”
Jamie nodded. “I like her take on co
oking. She says a recipe is like reading a science-fiction novel. She gets to the end and thinks, ‘that’ll never happen.’”
Rachel laughed.
Nodding sagely, Jamie picked up her muffin. “Rita knows what she’s talking about.”
Someone had let the back door slam, and Rachel turned her head to look toward the kitchen. “Gotta be Trace. Hilda’s smacking him upside the head about now.”
Cole walked into the dining room, yanking the black Stetson off his head, and Jamie’s heart about somersaulted out of her chest.
With raised brows, Rachel watched him approach the table. “Mom sees you walking with those boots on this floor and you’re dead.”
“You gonna tattle, pip-squeak?” He winked at Jamie, and snatched one of the muffins.
“Someone’s in an awfully good mood. Wonder why?”
Jamie glared in warning at Rachel, who looked far too pleased with herself. Let her rile her brother another time. Yes, he was in a damn fine mood, and Jamie wanted to keep it that way.
“You just start breakfast?” he asked Jamie, after glancing at the muffin she still held in midair.
She put it down. “Sort of…yeah.”
“Want to go for a ride with me? We can take some muffins with us.”
“Sure.”
Rachel snorted. “You’d rather go riding with him than sit here with me?”
Before Jamie could give her a snarky answer, Cole said, “Make yourself useful, pip-squeak, and fix us a thermos of coffee.”
Rachel gave him a one-finger salute that made Jamie grin.
Cole shook his head in mock disgust. “All that tuition and that’s what you learned.”
“Actually,” Rachel said sweetly as she got up from the table, “I learned that for free from you and Jesse.”
A guilty smile twitched at the corners of Cole’s mouth. “You have me mixed up with Trace.”
“Good to know he’s a lousy liar, huh?” Rachel said to Jamie as she picked up the basket of muffins and the carafe. On her way to the kitchen she gave her brother a long look. “Wow, you are in a good mood. It’s almost annoying.”
He popped another piece of muffin into his mouth and chewed, looking faintly amused with Rachel. As soon as she left, Cole came around the table, his gaze steady on Jamie.
Her erratically speeding pulse nearly jumped the track when he bent over and kissed her mouth. The kiss was brief but so unexpected that for a moment she stopped breathing.
“Mornin’,” he whispered.
“Morning back at you.”
“Do you remember me leaving?”
“Of course.” She sounded calm and cool, when all she wanted to do was wrap her arms and legs around him. Drag him down to the floor and replay everything they did last night.
“You were pretty groggy.” He lowered himself into the chair next to hers, angling his long lean legs so that they grazed her calves under the table.
“Did I say something weird?”
“Nope,” he said, touching her cheek, one side of his mouth hiking up in amusement. “Just begged me to—” Abruptly he stopped, withdrew his hand and glanced toward the parlor.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his mother coming from that direction. “To what?” Jamie taunted softly, holding his dare-you gaze for several seconds before turning to give Barbara a smile. “Hi.”
“Good morning, Jamie. Heard you had quite a night.”
In spite of herself, Jamie blushed like a virginal bride. Under the table, Cole bumped her knee with his leg. She couldn’t decide if she should ignore him or glare. “I have a feeling I was more a hindrance than a help.”
“Not from what I heard.” Barbara’s warm smile reached her eyes, and then she ran a speculative gaze over Cole. “What are you doing here this time of day?”
“I’m taking Jamie for a ride to Elk Valley.”
“Oh.” Barbara blinked. “Well, good.”
“If Rachel will hurry up with our coffee and muffins,” he called loudly over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen.
Sighing, as only a mother who’d refereed her share of childhood battles could, Barbara checked her watch. “As much as I’d love to stay for the fireworks, I’ve got to run. Need anything from town?”
“No, thanks.” Cole glanced at Jamie.
So did Barbara. “And you?”
Her reaction to the simple meaningless gesture took Jamie by surprise. Confusing emotions surged through her and welled up in her chest. To them the other women were clearly paying guests. Jamie they consistently treated as if she were one of the family. In big ways and tiny ways she shouldn’t even acknowledge, she’d been drawn into the fold, and it touched her, big-time. God, she must be hormonal.
Jamie cleared her throat. “No, thank you. I’m good.”
“Can I save you a trip into town?” Cole asked his mom. “I’ve got to run in for a haircut and to pick up some lumber later. Figured I’d take Jamie for a late lunch, if she wants,” he said, turning to Jamie.
She just nodded, and looked to Barbara for her reaction.
Apparently she didn’t find it odd that her son wanted to take Jamie out for a meal. “Thanks, honey, but I’m meeting Thelma and Liz.” Barbara started up the stairs, and without looking back, added, “If you wear your work boots in here again, I will tan your hide.”
Grimacing and grinning at the same time, Cole rubbed the back of his neck. To Jamie he mouthed, “Eyes in the back of her head.”
“Told ya.” Rachel, who’d obviously overheard, came from the kitchen with a wide grin. “Here.” She passed Jamie the thermos and a brown paper sack. “Dole out the muffins as you see fit.”
Feigning annoyance, Cole picked his hat up off the table and settled the Stetson on his head. “In the end, you women always stick together.”
Jamie groaned. “You did not just say that.”
Rachel gave him a haughty look and tossed her long auburn hair. “It’s more like—cream always rises to the top.”
“Come on. We’re outta here.” Cole slid an arm around Jamie’s shoulders and ushered her toward the front door.
His arm fell away as they walked toward the stables, mostly because it was hot and awkward maneuvering on uneven ground, and clearly not because he was tense. Her heart did a little happy dance.
The whole morning had seemed surreal. From the moment he’d left her room, she’d expected the worst. That he’d avoid her like crazy, and stay away from the house from sunup until dark.
But no, he was taking her riding.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked, stopping in front of Ginger’s stall.
“It’s a beautiful day. Why not?” She patted the chestnut’s nose and turned to Cole. “See, you’re smiling, too.”
“I am. I’m taking a gorgeous woman with me to one of the prettiest places on earth. We might even sit awhile. Watch the eagles. I mean, a man can’t be on duty 24/7, right?” With a finger, he pushed back the brim of his hat and lowered his mouth to hers.
She wasn’t sure if it was his eager kiss that had her trembling down to her toes, or the fact that he’d actually listened to her. And that he’d thought what she had to say had merit. It took a rare kind of man to admit such a thing. But then she’d already known he was ten kinds of special.
He hauled her body against him, his arousal pressed to her belly, his fingers digging into her bottom. That he was already so hard made her wonder where his mind had been from the house to the stable.
“I want you right now,” he whispered, his low husky voice an intimate murmur in the dim cavernous building.
A laugh bubbled up in the back of her throat. “Here?”
“Yeah, here.” He nuzzled her neck, and she could feel his smile. “Problem?”
“Um…”
His gravelly chuckle made her tingle. “We’ll wait. But not long.”
16
THAT EVENING, ALONE in her room, Jamie lay back against the pillows she’d double-stacked and close
d her eyes, wondering if she had time for a quick nap. Twenty minutes tops and she’d be good, ready for anything. She shivered with delight, because with Cole anything really meant anything.
The man was creative and insatiable, and certainly not shy about where he spread a blanket. Their morning horseback ride had ended at a shady green spring not far from the ranch. He’d been concerned about her being sore from getting back in the saddle too soon, while she’d been more worried about someone discovering them frolicking in the raw, her riding him. Hells bells, wouldn’t that have been the icing on the cake?
Morning had stretched to afternoon, and they hadn’t made it to town because he’d gotten a call that he was needed in the north pasture, but all in all it was a ridiculously excellent day.
Soon to be resumed after Cole finished payroll. She glanced at the bedside clock. Even if she did sleep longer than twenty minutes, he’d come in and wake her. She only wished he’d lie down, sleep, no monkey business. He had to be dead-tired after the fire, then last night and working most of the day. Even his dinner had been eaten on the fly because of an emergency phone call. But knowing him, he’d consider sleep a waste of time.
Jamie smiled at the ceiling. Maybe if she thoroughly and utterly exhausted him…
She heard a soft knock and pushed up to a sitting position. Too soon. Couldn’t be Cole. Maybe Rachel. “Come in.”
The door opened. It was him, in his ubiquitous jeans, though these weren’t so faded, no Western-cut work shirt. Instead he wore only a black T-shirt that snugly fit his lean body, and his hair was damp and slicked back.
“What happened? You can’t be finished with payroll that fast.”
He closed the door behind him. “Jesse’s doing it for me.”
“Oh.”
“You disappointed I’m early?”
“No. It’s just…why does Jesse think you can’t do it?”
A roguish smile curved Cole’s mouth as he stretched out beside her, sliding his hand under her top. “I told him I had too many wicked things I wanted to do to you and we’d end up with no sleep.”
“You did not.” She studied his face, not sure what sort of secrets brothers exchanged. Well, hell, she told Linda, Kaylee and Jill a lot.
Barefoot Blue Jean Night Page 17
