On quiet
footsteps, Wade approached. He knew she didn’t hear him. That’s
just how he wanted her—off guard.
Moving quickly,
he pressed his body against the back of the unsuspecting woman
who haunted his dreams, trapping her against the steel railing
of the corral. Her surprised gasp made him smile.
“Hello, darlin’.”
His voice sounded deep and hoarse even to him. But that’s the
effect Jessie had on him. She stripped him of control. Made him
weak in the knees, but he would never let her know. The man
inside him needed to dominate her. Prove to her that he could
take her or leave her—even if it wasn’t true.
To his surprise
she remained silent, unmoving. A cool breeze whipped around
them, threatening to steal her sensual scent away, a soft
feminine perfume that even distance hadn’t been able to erase.
“I’m back,” he
whispered against her ear, resisting the urge to nip the tender
earlobe adorned with a single diamond stud. Wade wanted to do
much more than to kiss and feel the earring pressed to his
tongue, between his teeth.
God, she felt
good against his body. He couldn’t wait to remove her clothes so
nothing lay between them.
Several tendrils
had worked their way loose of her braid and danced around her
neck in the breeze. He smoothed his lips along the exposed skin,
and then he blew lightly.
“Back?” Her
voice trembled, but she quickly repressed it as she gazed over
the acres of corrals. “I didn’t know you’d left,” she stated
calmly, even as she grasped the steel bar before her and the
tendons in her throat grew taut.
Well, that
hurt. But what had he expected?
To his
disappointment and embarrassment, Jessie had rejected him. Well,
she hadn’t exactly said no. It’d been more like hell no,
stating she wasn’t the marrying type.
Like an idiot,
he had run—hauled ass out of town, accepting an old school
chum’s invitation to join him for Christmas. When what he should
have done was made love to her until she changed her mind.
She glanced
smugly over her shoulder, hitting the rim of his Stetson with
her forehead. “What do you want, Peterson?”
Okay, this
wasn’t a good start. Yet he was like a dog with a bone when his
mind was made up. His mom called it stubborn. He called it
determined.
With her still
looking over her shoulder, Wade stared into her crystal blue
eyes, never breaking their connection, and pressed his lips to
her neck again. In slow, seductive swirls, he smoothed his
tongue over her skin before nibbling on the area. She jerked her
head forward and he felt the tremor that whispered through her,
reviving his confidence that she felt something—anything.
That’s what he
loved most about Jessie. She came apart in his arms, made him
feel all man when they were together. She had to care. He
couldn’t help the triumphant grin that tugged at his mouth when
she tried to pull away.
Sliding his arms
around her waist, he pulled her closer. “Tonight,” he breathed
against her neck, watching her skin prickle.
Jessie’s grasp
tightened even more on the railing, knuckles turning white. Then
her attention was stolen from him. “Poyo, not that gate—the next
one,” she yelled at the vaquero, a Mexican cowboy
straddling a sorrel horse. “Plans.” The clipped word was meant
for Wade. She pointed toward three bay geldings and hollered,
“Gilbert, move those three over to the next pen.”
“Clancy’s?” he
asked, slipping several fingers beneath her white down vest and
between the buttoned-space of her long sleeve shirt. Wade didn’t
quite understand Jessie and Clancy’s relationship. They were
close—intimate—but neither blinked an eye when Wade joined them
to make a threesome. In fact, Jessie and Clancy gave him the
impression there wasn’t anything deeper to their relationship
than sex.
When his fingers
met skin, she inhaled sharply and he smiled. Jessie had the
smoothest flesh and the greatest body he had ever held. Not to
mention she was a wildcat in bed. Callused hands from hard work
turned to silk during lovemaking. She knew what a man liked and
she never held back her own desires.
She was made for
him. He had known it the minute she allowed him to tie her up.
Their tastes ran alike—uninhibited and wild, both into multiple
partners and a little dominance and bondage. They were suited
for each other. Why couldn’t she see that?
There was a
pregnant pause before she spoke. “Uh-huh,” and then she
stuttered, “No. No. No. Back the Paint out of there. I want the
black filly next.”
Wade continued
to stroke her skin with his fingertips. “His house?”
The young colt
evaded Poyo’s grasp and headed the other direction. “Well
sonofabitch. Catch her,” Jessie yelled before turning her
attention back to Wade. “Yeah. His house.”
“I’ll be there.”
Already the thought of stripping her naked, of tasting the
sweetness between her thighs was making him harder. He shifted
his legs before pressing firmly against her to show her exactly
how much he was anticipating the evening.
Again she
glanced over her shoulder, raising a brow. “I don’t recall
inviting you.”
This time her voice was tight, strained, but he recognized the
sexual hunger in her eyes that had him responding, “I don’t
recall you saying, ‘No’.”
