by Liliana Hart
He pointedly glanced at the collar she wore and found delight at the way heat flushed across her skin.
“You can fight this, but you won’t win,” he said. “Despite the circumstances that brought you to my attention, and no matter the intentions of either of us that night or the resulting outcome, there’s one thing that stands out in my mind. It only took one kiss to know that you were mine.”
Her eyes softened and her mouth parted with a sigh, but it was obvious by her visible effort she was digging deep to find the resolve to not open her arms to him.
“I decline,” she finally said with an arched brow and fire in her eyes. And something more—a challenge. He could see the outline of her nipples clearly beneath her shirt and the decoration that waited for him there. She couldn’t have made it any plainer that he was going to have to work harder for her forgiveness.
He opened his hand and held it out so she saw the tiny key that rested in his palm.
“Come with me and I’ll take it off.”
“I won’t be bribed, Cooper MacKenzie, unless you’re carrying that key between your teeth while crawling over shards of glass. I could probably be persuaded then.”
“You drive a pretty hard bargain.” He put the key in his pocket then lifted the pass-through in the counter so he could join her behind the desk. He’d seen Cat come in out of the corner of his eye, and he knew he and Claire had drawn a crowd from the library patrons. They’d be the hottest topic of conversation in Surrender before lunch time.
“W…what are you doing?” she asked, taking a step backward.
“I’m going to have to get tough, sweetheart. You and that smart mouth of yours don’t leave me any choice.”
“Cooper…really…this is getting ridiculous. Is it because I’m a challenge? Because you’ve never had another woman tell you no before?”
“Sweetheart, I distinctly remember you telling me yes several times. But we’ll get back to that. I’ve wanted you for a long time, Claire. I was lying to myself by denying the attraction. And I owe you an apology for the things I said to you last week. It was a defense mechanism, pure and simple. I was terrified because I knew you were the one person who could change the way I’ve been living. Come with me,” he said, holding out a hand. “Please.”
Her eyes were wet with tears, but they didn’t fall. She looked at his hand warily and shook her head in denial of the things he’d told her.
Her stubbornness would have been a thing of beauty at any other time. They’d be butting heads for sure in the future, but enough was enough. He grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder to the delight of the crowd.
Cat laughed as he passed by her and said. “Give him hell, Claire.”
“Thanks a lot,” Cooper said.
“Look on the bright side, Cooper. Your brothers are going to give you grief for the rest of your life over this. Thanks for inviting me to see the show.”
Cooper put a squirming Claire into the front seat of his truck and fastened her seatbelt for her. She stared at him mutinously, and he couldn’t help but grin. He’d never had another woman challenge him like she did.
They drove in stony silence until he turned on the road that led to her place.
“Why are we going to my house? How are you going to chain me in your dungeon and use all your whips and chains to bend me to your will from there?”
He looked over and smiled at her. For the first time in his life things were starting to feel right.
“I’ve got to tell you I’m crazy about that smart mouth of yours.”
“I think you’re just crazy period.”
The land her house was on was small, but it was heavily treed and private. The one-story house was white clapboard that had recently had a fresh coat of paint. A big wrap-around-porch surrounded it on all sides, and big ferns hung from baskets at even intervals.
When he opened her door and moved to carry her inside, she stilled him by putting her hand to his cheek. Her eyes were both pleading and apologetic.
“Please don’t do this, Cooper. If you have an ounce of kindness left inside you then don’t do this to me. You don’t have the ability to break my heart. You have the ability to crush it to dust. I realize now how naïve I probably seemed to you that night. I’ll readily admit that I weaved dreams as a girl about you. About being a part of something special with you. It was foolish to try to be what you wanted and expect to fulfill my own made up fantasies at the same time.”
Cooper closed his eyes against the pain of her words. He’d hurt her deeply, maybe deeper than he would be able to repair. He knew better than anyone that the dissolution of dreams in the adolescent years could shape a person—whether for good or for bad—for the rest of their life.
“Claire…”
He couldn’t help but lean in and rub his lips across hers—slow and soft and gentle—how their first kiss should have been. Her eyes fluttered closed and she deepened the pressure, and he felt like he’d been given the biggest gift in the world. He brought his hands to the clasp at the back of her neck and turned the key in the lock. The collar fell from her neck into her lap.
“I’ll only have you come to me because you want to,” he whispered. “Never because you think it’s what I might want or need. I’ll never own you, but I’ll always be a part of you. Just as you’re a part of me. The very best part of me.”
“Cooper,” she sighed and kissed him again. “Take me inside. Take all of me.”
He picked her up in his arms and cradled her against his chest as he made his way inside the house. The entryway was small and the house was open and roomy. The floors were wood and scarred but covered with rugs of vibrant colors. The whole house was vibrant—just as she was.
“I’m so sorry, Claire. I’ve wanted you for so long, but I have no excuse for treating something that could have been beautiful between us as if it were meaningless. I hope you can forgive me. Because this does matter. Every sigh that escapes from your lips will be treasured. You’ll know that every memory we make or experience we share will be something that has the ability to break through the walls I’ve built over the years. And if we build on the past we’ve had and nurture the future, I think we’ll have something very, very precious.”
The tears she’d been holding back fell from the corners of her eyes. “You are the most wonderfully confusing man I’ve ever met in my life. Now please take me to bed. I’ve waited a long time for you.”
“With pleasure, sweetheart.”
He tasted her lips and drew her tongue into his mouth, stroking and coaxing and building the flame that had existed between them from the first. Hands lingered and sighs were soft. They left their shoes in the entryway, and he circled her towards the bedrooms at the back of the house, a slow dance that made them dizzy with desire.
Her skirt was unzipped and fell to her ankles, but he just lifted her over it and kept up his slow descent to her room. Her shirt came next, and his blood spiked as he saw her in just a black bra and panties and the silk of her stockings.
“You are so beautiful,” he rasped, touching the swell above her breast reverently and drinking in her sighs of pleasure.
She pulled his shirt over his head and immediately noticed the absence of his nipple rings. She looked to him in confusion.”
“Why…”
“Because I wanted to give you nothing but myself. No enhancements. Just me making love to you.” The panic that normally accompanied the thought of making love was non-existent. Because with Claire that was exactly what he wanted it to be.
She brought her lips to his chest and kissed each nipple, swirling her tongue around the sensitive nerves until his head was thrown back in ecstasy and he was gritting his teeth to fight the need to throw caution to the wind and take her against the wall.
“I’ll gladly take you as you are, Cooper. And I’ll always find pleasure in every facet of your body.” She gave him a seductive grin and her dark eyes sparkled with mischief. “But don’t th
row away your jewelry just yet. I like them. A lot.”
He kissed her harder then, his body primed and almost past the point of the gentle seduction he’d wanted to give her. He lifted her in his arms and carried her the rest of the way to her bedroom. A large Queen bed dominated the room, and it was covered with a white down comforter and a mound of pillows.
Cooper folded down the covers while she watched him, her hands twisting nervously in front of her. Seeing her nerves calmed his own, and made him focus on making everything as pleasurable as possible for her. He kissed her lids and worked his way down to her lips as he flicked open the back catch of her bra. It fell to the floor and the feel of her against him—the cool touch of the gold from her nipples—had him moaning with pleasure.
He laid her back on the bed and rid himself of his jeans and briefs. His cock strained with the anticipation of release and his sac tightened as he saw her lying before him, her dark eyes feverish with need. He came over her slowly, enjoying the different textures as their bodies touched fully for the first time.
“Mmm, you feel so good against me. Heavy,” she said as she roamed her fingers over him with shy curiosity.
“You’re killing me, Claire.” He took her roving hands and pressed them to the bed, and then he kissed away her protest by moving down her body, his mouth paying homage to every dip and swell until he reached the panties that covered the very core of her.
He traced his finger along the outside edge and felt the dampness that had already gathered there. His lips followed the trail of his finger and the scent of her desire was the greatest aphrodisiac he’d ever known. He pulled the panties down slowly, wanting to savor the sight of the gift she was giving him.
“God, Claire.” His heart stuttered in his chest and his cock jumped in reaction to the tiny gold hoop that decorated her clit. She was waxed completely bare and the petals of her folds were open and slick with her honey.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. I love it.”
He lowered his head to the swollen nub and flicked the ring with his tongue, testing her level of sensitivity. Her hips lifted toward him and her head thrashed from side to side. She was very sensitive. Perfect. He lifted her to his mouth and feasted as if she were the sweetest banquet. He knew just where to touch. Just where to taste. And it didn’t take long at all for her body to begin quivering beneath his touch and whimpers of pleasure to escape her lips.
“Cooper,” she shouted as an orgasm racked her body. She stiffened against him as he felt the rapid pulses of her release against his tongue.
He moved up her body until his cock touched the quivering lips of her pussy. She was more than ready for him.
“Look at me, Claire. This is one of our memories.” Her eyes fluttered open, dazed with desire and already heating again for what was still to come—her lips swollen and her heartbeat thudding against his chest. He’d remember her just like this. Always.
He pushed against her opening and the feel of her moist heat surrounding him was almost his undoing. He’d never been with a woman without that thin layer of latex between them. Her arms came around him and she bit her lip as he worked his way back out, spreading her juices, and then pushed in another inch or so. Her eyes widened the farther the penetrated, and it wasn’t until he reached the barrier of her innocence that he understood why.
“God, Claire,” he said, dropping his head to her shoulder. His body was quivering uncontrollably with the need to take possession. To be the only one who’d ever take possession. He thought back to how wild her natural responses to his touch had been—how unrestrained and almost violent they’d been in their passion the last time. He thanked God he hadn’t taken her virginity that way, sitting in a chair in a room made for sex.
Why the hell hadn’t she told him?
“Dammit, Claire. You came to me at that club as a virgin? Do you know how badly I might have hurt you? Just the thought sickens me. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You make me forget,” she said, soothing his temper by running her fingers along his spine. “Could you maybe yell at me later? I’m trying to make a memory here.”
His body shook with laughter at her impertinence, but the movement shifted him inside her and the laugh turned to a moan. He kissed her softly and fed her hunger until her hips were jerking against him, looking for completion.
“Thank you for what you’re giving me,” he said, moving his hand between them so his fingers rubbed against her clit. Her breath caught as he moved his finger faster.
“It was always yours to begin with,” she said.
She clamped around him, and he felt the gush of moisture around his cock and the spasms that sucked him farther inside. He took advantage of her pleasure and impaled himself to the hilt, breaking through her innocence and shattering his control with one motion.
He kissed her deeply and stroked once…twice…three times before he was coming with her. He swelled inside of her and spurt his seed to the deepest part of her. He’d never experienced anything like it before in his life. He’d been as much of a virgin as she had.
When Cooper got his breath back, he pulled out of her slowly, watching as their bodies separated. He went to the bathroom and cleaned her blood from his body, and then wetted a warm rag. He knelt beside her and wiped away the evidence of his pleasure and hers, cherishing her with every touch.
He lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms, and he didn’t know if they stay that way for minutes or hours, just touching and kissing.
“Already I want you again,” Cooper said. Her leg was thrown over his hip, and the moist lips of her vagina teased him.
“Mmm, I hope so.” She stretched languorously against him, and then her eyes found his, suddenly serious.
“You didn’t use a condom the last time we…ah…you know. I thought that was something you never did.”
“You’re the first woman I’ve ever felt flesh to flesh, Claire. And you’re the only woman I ever want to feel that way. I don’t think there are many people in this world who have the feelings between them that we do. I know my brothers have it with their wives, and I understand the possessiveness they have around them. Knowing I’ve been the only man to ever slip inside your body makes me very possessive. You’re mine, Claire.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” she asked, grinning.
“I’m going to marry you, of course.”
Chapter 6
Six Months Later…
Marriage changed a man.
Cooper MacKenzie’s stomach knotted as he reached the top of the hill that looked down over Surrender. He put his black Tahoe in park, teetering on the edge of the point of no return, and ran his hand through his thick length of black hair that was long overdue for a trim.
Nothing had changed in the sleepy town of Surrender for the past three days. It was still tucked safely in the hollow of rolling green hills and calm blue lakes. A narrow row of shops and businesses lined each side of the bricked street. It was postcard perfect, with wooden sidewalks, matching black awnings, and antique light posts already flickering with a yellow glow. Hand painted signs sat in the windows and little pots of bright flowers were arranged neatly by the doors.
Three thousand people—give or take a few—relied on him to keep them and their livestock safe. Depending on who was doing the talking, the livestock were often more important than the people. Ranching was a way of life, and most of his time was spent looking for bobcats, bears, and wolves searching for food. The rest of his time was spent dealing with drunk and disorderlies and the occasional domestic dispute. Long winters and blizzards made people do some awfully strange things.
Fall was hanging on by a thread—the air filled with a biting chill and the smell of the first snow on the horizon—but the orange and red leaves still clung to the trees with perseverance.
It was past four in the afternoon, and with the change of season came an early darkness. The clouds were full and gray and it wo
uldn’t surprise him if those first flakes of snow came within the next day or so.
His hands rested on the wheel and his foot hovered over the gas, but something kept him from moving forward.
“Shit,” he breathed out, disgusted with himself. And then he put the Tahoe in drive.
He’d only been gone three days, but thoughts of Claire had taken his mind off the mission and invaded his dreams at night. The lack of focus could’ve gotten him killed. Almost had.
It didn’t take a psychologist to tell him he felt guilty for lying to her. Or at least lying by omission.
But he’d taken his marriage vows seriously. He’d promised to love and protect her. And sometimes protecting her meant keeping the darker side of his life to himself. He had military skills that went unutilized as sheriff, but the DEA had found plenty of use for him. He was helping to cripple one of the most dangerous drug rings in the country. At least a small arm of it. He was the good guy. So there was no reason he should feel so guilty.
Except for Claire.
He’d spent his adult life never having to explain himself to anyone or account for his actions. Not even the voters who’d appointed him Sheriff had the privilege of knowing what he did on his own time or outside the office. That wasn’t to say they weren’t curious. But most of them were polite enough to keep the thoughts to themselves. He was a damned good sheriff. No one could argue that.
But his life had changed the moment Claire had slipped the simple gold band around his finger. He felt the weight of it there and the significance of what it meant. And he began to realize that coming home to Claire was a hell of a lot more important than taking reckless chances because he’d been bored for the past six years.
He beeped his horn and waved as he passed Charlie’s Automotive. His sister-in-law owned the place, and it was a blue metal building with white awnings and big bays for the cars she and her mechanics worked on. The bays were open, and it looked as if things were still busy close to the end of the day.
