Anticipation (7 page)

“Evening, Sheriff.”

Jonas didn’t say a word. Instead, he mounted the stairs two at a time until he stood in front of his woman. She’d tried to help him save his ranch. He could get used to the sight of her sitting on the stairs waiting for him to get home, the last remnants of sun casting a golden glow across her bare shoulders. When he stared down at her upturned face and her smile broadened, he realized just how much she’d come to mean to him, how much she’d always meant to him.

“Your dad offered to buy some of my land,” he said.

She tilted her head to the side. “He did, did he?”

Jonas nodded, his heart beating double-time as he waited for her to admit she’d had a part in it.

Instead, she stayed quiet and they just stared at one another for several seconds until she finally stood and brushed off her skirt. “I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”

Jonas’ stomach pitched. She was really leaving? Instead of saying what was in his heart, his self-preservation defenses kicked in, lodging the words in his throat. Stepping into her personal space, he rubbed a strand of her hair between his fingers. “I’d say our reunion warranted a personal goodbye.” The floral scent that rose from the silky strands made his groin jump to instant attention, rekindling memories of their night together. Jonas swallowed the lump that formed in his throat at the thought of her driving away, the idea he’d never see her, touch her or make love to her again.

Sliding his hand under her hair, he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her toward him until her chest touched his. Her lips drew his like a magnet. “I’m going to miss this sexy mouth.”

Deidre’s heart pounded against his chest and her smile faltered. When her gaze dropped to his mouth and her tongue darted out to wet her own lips, Jonas couldn’t resist her nonverbal invitation. “Dee, I—” His hand tightened around her waist and his mouth covered hers. He kissed her with all the love he felt but couldn’t put into words.

The passionate intensity of Jonas’ kiss thrilled Deidre. But she knew in her heart he was holding back.

Her heart also ached at the knowledge he couldn’t see beyond his past to tell her how he felt. She knew deep inside, hurt drove him. The fact he’d let her go instead of taking a chance on them, felt as if someone had just ripped her chest open. Placing her hand on his jaw, she broke their kiss and searched his hooded gaze.

Her stomach flip-flopped at the sensation of his evening whiskers brushing against her fingers. A pleasant burn remained on her lips from the recent contact. She wanted to beg him to ask her to stay, to trust his heart to her. She wanted to tell him she’d been in love with him for ten years, but the words wouldn’t come.

As if he knew she wanted more than he could ever give, Jonas’ dark, hungry eyes drank in her features. Was he trying to memorize them to keep them with him forever? He didn’t say a word, just lowered his head toward hers once more.

Before she blurted her feelings for him in an embarrassing emotional outburst, she stepped out of his embrace. “I’ll see you, Jonas.”

Deidre started to walk down the first stair, her legs shaking.

A strong hand encircled her upper arm. Jonas turned her around and hauled her against his chest. “You’re just going to walk away?” Anger reflected in his voice while bewilderment filled his deep blue gaze.

Deidre’s heart thumped at his adamant question. The man needed to let go of his past if they ever had a chance of a future together. She was willing to gamble. The question was…was he?

“You made it very clear you have little to give.” She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek then pulled free of his hold. “I’ll always remember our time together with a smile on my face.”

Jonas’ jaw ticked as he grasped her upper arms in a firm hold. “Don’t you want to find out where this goes?”

Deidre met his intense gaze, her heart racing in a full gallop. “Don’t you know that having a relationship means you take risks? That you open up your heart, fully knowing it could be broken?”

His grip on her arms tightened and an incredulous expression crossed his face as realization dawned. “Are you going to walk away from us?”

She just stared at him, letting him believe what he wanted. It took all her internal willpower not to throw herself into his arms, to make her body do what her mind demanded, while her heart screamed the opposite, but Deidre was fighting for her man…for a strong future together.

Emotions ranging from hurt to anger stormed in his gaze. Jonas shook her gently. “Don’t you know that I love you, Dee? I’ve always loved you. I want to spend more time together and see where this takes us.”

Her heart soared with happiness at his words. Tears filled her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. “Are you willing to take the risk and open up your heart again?”

He yanked her to his chest and cupped the back of her head, pressing her cheek against his neck. “God, yes. I’m asking you to stay. I don’t think I’d be a complete man without you, sweetheart.”

Deidre wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight as she sobbed with happiness against his neck. “I’ve always loved you, and I always will.”

Stepping back, she wiped her tears and pulled out a piece of paper from a pocket in her skirt. “Here’s my schedule. Can you pick me up?”

Jonas took the paper and read over the flight itinerary, then jerked his gaze to hers. “This is a round trip ticket.”

She nodded. “It is. I’m going home to close up my apartment through the winter. My parents have decided they want to do a lot more traveling, and they want to spend their Christmas in Texas.” She smiled. “They can’t do this without me, so I told them I’d help out and even spruce up their menu during my stay.”

His gaze narrowed. “You weren’t really leaving?”

“My return to Ventura will only be temporary.”

Jonas’ dark eyebrows drew down in a stern look. “Unless someone convinces you to stay, right?”

Deidre shook her head slowly. “No, unless someone gives me a reason to stay.”

Jonas stepped close. Unrestrained love welled in his chest. “I’ll spend the rest of our lives together making up for all the lost years.”

She laughed and brushed her lips softly against his. “Don’t make promises unless you plan to keep them, cowboy. Then again,” she unsnapped his handcuffs from his belt, and stepped away, continuing in a light tone. “There’s something to be said for anticipation.”

Jonas watched in surprise as she pulled a baggie of cookie dough out of her pocket and waved the handcuffs and the sweet treat suggestively in front of him.

He reached for her, but she evaded his grasp and took off down the stairs, casting a flirty, come-hither look over her shoulder. In a swirl of a chambray prairie skirt, she disappeared around the corner of his home.

He glanced at the flight itinerary in his hand. Deidre had a couple hours before she had to be at the airport.

“And when I convince you to say ‘I do’, I’m going to enjoy chasing and catching you for the rest of my days,” he said with a wicked grin as he took off after his woman.

Anticipation… Hell yeah!

About the Author

Born and raised in the Southeast, award-winning author Patrice Michelle gave up her financial calculator for a keyboard and never looked back. Thanks to an open-minded family who taught her that life isn’t as black and white as we’re conditioned to believe, she pens her novels with the belief that various shades of gray are a lot more interesting. She’s a natural with a point-and-shoot camera, likes to fiddle with graphic design and, to the relief of her family, strums her guitar to an audience of one.

To learn more about Patrice, please visit www.patricemichelle.net.

Look for these titles by Patrice Michelle

Now Available:

Susanna’s Seduction

A bad marriage is like a fierce thunderstorm on a fragile field of wheat. Will a proud Texas cowboy and a stubborn Boston-bred lawyer find shelter from a real summer storm long enough to rebuild their love?

Second Wind

© 2007 Dee S. Knight

Available now at Samhain Publishing

Cocky cowboy Rafe Walker doesn’t plan to meet a beautiful woman in designer jeans and ostrich boots at the rodeo, but the beauty catches his gaze just before the gate opens for his bull ride. Talk about losing focus! With one glance, his thoughts are of sex-scented sheets, not hard, sawdust-covered dirt.

A city girl like her would never fit in on his ranch, but a weekend in Dallas? Yes, Ma’am, she’ll do just fine. Little does he expect a ride wilder than with any bull. She grabs hold of his heart and his hottest fantasies and holds on tight.

Cathy Fitzgerald, raised in a wealthy eastern family, half falls in love with the rakish cowboy after one impulsive weekend of wild sex. She returns to Boston, breaks off her near engagement and waits to hear from Rafe. After months of silence, he surprises Cathy with a proposal. It’s a shock to both of them when she accepts, and moves to his ranch in nowhere, Texas.

They soon find that passion alone can’t sustain a marriage. Rafe’s pride and Cathy’s long hours at work breed distrust and broken hearts. Giving their marriage its second wind will take an act of nature.

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex and graphic language.

Enjoy the following excerpt for Second Wind:

“I’m going to kiss you, Miss Catherine Fitzgerald. Is that all right?”

He stepped closer before she had a chance to say yes. She set her cup on a stack of boxes. He tossed his into a nearby trash can, never having taken a sip. Her hands walked up the front of his shirt and over his shoulders to meet at his nape. His hands fit neatly at the small of her back. He pulled her to him.

He was tall, but on tiptoe her body meshed with his in all the right places. Firm, warm lips met hers. When his tongue demanded she open to him, she did. His flavor burst in her mouth, spearmint and heat, as he boldly explored.

Raising his head, he looked around with heavy-lidded eyes. He walked across the yard, dragging her beside him. After a quick glance, he threw open a stall door and slipped inside. Moments after closing the gate, he lifted her, fitting her over his erection, scraping her breasts against his chest. She dug tunnels through his hair with her fingers, knocking his hat on the straw where he’d dropped her Stetson. Hungrily, she pulled his lips back to hers.

She whimpered. He moaned, licking the inside of her mouth as though she were the sweetest treat he’d ever had. The grind of his hips suggested what he wanted and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He took two steps to back her up to the inside wall. She twisted, rubbing her crotch into the bulge that seemed ready to burst through zipper and button and double stitching the jeans ads bragged about.

Rafe tore his mouth away even while they dry humped against the stables. She buried her face in his neck, oblivious to anything around them, ignoring all but the rising tide of incredible sensations spiraling outward from low in her belly. Her hips had a life of their own, slamming into his, grinding, rubbing, stroking, denim to denim, heat to heat.

His breath bellowed against her ear, sending tendrils of hair flying. “God, I want you.”

He smelled of dirt and animal and raw masculinity. His neck was gritty with dust. She didn’t care. Her tongue streaked a path up the cords of straining muscle to his earlobe. She nipped it.

“Yes.” One word escaped, all she could manage as he shifted slightly and hit the right spot to send her over the edge. She gasped and held her breath, her head thrown back. Pinpricks of light flew across the blackness inside her lids.

Her nipples, sensitive and erect, pushed against the confines of her chambray shirt. The softness she’d admired when she bought the shirt that morning now seemed rough as sandpaper on her breasts. She should have worn a bra, but her small breasts rarely needed the support. Now the additional sensitivity helped prolong what had been an intense orgasm all on its own.

Finally, she came back to herself. Rafe’s labored breathing matched hers, though the bulge in his jeans hadn’t diminished. He let her slide down his body and then rested his forehead on her head. The sounds of people walking by penetrated her hearing and bright flames of mortification heated her cheeks.

“You’re hot, Catherine Fitzgerald. I think I was in high school the last time I did what we just did. And unlike you, Becky Thomson didn’t get off on it back then, though I shot off like a firecracker.” He grinned down at her. “Guess turnabout is fair play, though I sure would like to feel a little relief too.”

She’d never done anything like that before, never. Not with her high school boyfriend to whom she’d lost her virginity, and not with the society lawyer to whom she was practically engaged back home. She’d had orgasms before, sure, but not with the primal passion she’d just experienced with this man she’d known about fifteen minutes. A piercing blaze had ripped through their clothing, without any touching or foreplay.

“I hardly know what to say, Mr. Walker. This should be so embarrassing.”

He stroked her hair, twirling a strand between calloused fingers and staring at it in awe. “Call me Rafe. I think it’s accepted etiquette for two people who humped like rabbits to use each other’s first names.”

“Humped…?”

“Umm-hmmm.” He held her hair to his nose and breathed in. “Like rabbits. Though I think usually Mr. Rabbit isn’t still hard and aching when they finish. Jesus, you smell good. Really good.”

“You smell like bull, Rafe.”

He burst out laughing and stared down at her, his dimples like shining beacons, calling to her. “You are all dusty and mussed. And so pretty I can hardly stand it. Come back to the hotel with me?”

“I don’t even know you.”

“I think we knew each other the minute you smiled at me across the ring just before the gate opened.”

“I did not smile at you.” She fingered his collar, thinking how much she’d like to be touching him instead of his shirt.

“Oh yes you did. I never flirt with strange women.” She cast him a doubtful look so he added, “Not when I’m about to bull ride. But you…you were different. I knew right away we’d get together.” He leaned down to her ear. “And I’ve never done this before. My partner’s pleasure has never been so important. Come back to the room with me. Let’s do it again only right this time. Let me make you feel good, Catherine Fitzgerald.”