Bind Me Close: 3 (Knights in Black Leather) (6 page)

“How you doing on your drink?”

“Fine.”

“I need another beer.”

“Right. Go ahead. Get one.” She shooed him along. “I’m good
here.”

“Tomorrow.”

“At seven.”

“Don’t be late.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. You’re doing me a favor and—”

“And you’re on a tight schedule, I know. I got it. I’m
helping.”

“I’m grateful.”

He nodded, leaving her alone to watch him go. His broad
shoulders and his nice tight ass were a scrumptious sight for her hungry eyes.
Relief washing through her that he had left, she yearned for less tension
between them. Almost kissing him twice had electrified their relationship,
taking it from attraction to obsession. At least for her it had, damn it.

“Hi, Willow.” Giles Benedict appeared before her. With large
hazel eyes and soft, brown hair, he was built lean and tight as a baseball
player. So different from the big-bear physique of Sheriff Wade Saxon, he was
only an inch taller than she. “I hear you had your car stolen out near Boerne
today.”

“I did. Right from under my nose. Or rather while I was
powdering it in that little ice house.”

“That’s rough. Do you need a car?”

“I have one, thanks. Wade loaned me one of his.”

He whistled. “That’s one for the books. Saxon doesn’t let just
anyone have a turn at those wheels of his.”

“Valuable.” She nodded. “I know they must be. I have the ’48
Chevy.”

“Classy. Still, I’d love to show you around town. There’s a
great barbeque place and the Two Step.”

“A dance hall?”

“And dinner I did not cook.” He nodded, a grin lending an
easy charm to his angular face. “Interested?”

With you?
“Definitely sign me up for barbeque. And as
for dancing? One thing I like about the South is men who dance.”

He knit his brows, a painful glee faceting his hazel eyes.
“Okay, but many of us aren’t championship material.”

“At least you get out on the floor.” She sighed, happy as a
clam that she had moved from Boston years ago. In Oklahoma she felt
comfortable. Here with these people she felt the serenity of home. “More than
many men up north.”

“I’ll be happy to show you my two left feet.”

She wanted to applaud his modesty. “I’ll match them to my
own.”

“Oh, wonderful. We’ll be a fright on the floor!”

“Now, now.” She shook a finger at him. “Don’t knock it ’til
we try it. We might be great together.”

He smiled with twinkling eyes. “And if we’re not, practice
makes perfect. I’ll call you.”

“Please do.” Willow grinned, surprised she’d found not just
one man here who was interesting but two. More excitement than her little heart
had had in years.

“Attention everyone!” Cara called from the behind the long,
rough-hewn kitchen table, Harry by her side, his hand on her shoulder. “Dinner
is served! We’re doing buffet style tonight so that each of us has a chance to
sit and talk with Willow.”

“First, a toast,” Jed said, beaming at the crowd and raising
his glass. “To Willow, our cousin who has come home to write the story of how
we all began and how we all survived and prospered, welcome home!”

* * * * *

Hours later Willow stood at the front door bidding good
night to the three MacRae brothers and Cara. “I had an absolutely wonderful
time. You are terrific hosts and great cooks too.”

Cara waved off the compliment. “Jed does the barbeque pit
like a pro. Harry’s specialty is dessert.”

“Mine,” said Will with a roll of his eyes, “is cleanup.”

“Necessary,” Willow said, “for any party. I love them. This
was super. If I can give a party at the B&B I might come looking for a few
cooks and a cleanup man.”

“Call me. I’m ready!” Will joked as he slipped a hand around
Cara’s waist. “Only thing that might delay me is if we are all called to the
hospital.”

Jed grinned. “Our son is due in three weeks.”

Our son.
The very way he said the words made the
impending birth sound extraordinary. To think that three men shared so much and
so well they would even share paternity astounded her.

“And our lady here,” added Will, “has to call an end to her
working days soon. Right, Mrs. MacRae?” He widened his eyes at Cara, pressing
home his point.

His wife leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled. “I’ll
stop work next week when I finish the latest set of financials. I don’t let
these guys boss me around too much. But why not come in tomorrow around
lunchtime and let me find you a few more lovely items for your stay here? I
have loads of delicious things to choose from. French. Italian. Thai.” She
winked at Willow.

“You don’t have to invite me twice, Cara. I’ll do it. This
time, though, I am using my own money. No gifts. But I can’t come tomorrow
until later.”

Cara tipped her head. “Okay. Maybe at four? I’ll have Duke
Cummings send over a few appetizers from his restaurant and we’ll have our own
happy hour. Say a few fried oysters and mini crab cakes?”

The three men chuckled.

Jed said, “Ever since she got pregnant Cara’s had cravings
for Duke’s crab cakes. Hope you like Creole, Willow. Do you?”

Willow nodded. “The best!” She tucked her purse under her
arm and gave each of them a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for a great
introduction to the family.”

“You haven’t met them all yet,” Jed warned.

“Stay tuned for more names to remember,” Will said.

“I’ll need that family genealogy chart PDQ.”

“Good thinking,” Harry agreed. “Listen, take it easy on that
road. The deer are always jumping out of the woods along that last mile stretch
into town and you’d be shocked at what damage one little fawn can do to your
fender.”

“Especially because she’s driving Wade’s ’48 convertible,”
Jed added.

“That’s right, she is.” Wade had come right up behind her.

Willow was surprised he was still here. She hadn’t seen him
for the last hour or more and assumed he had gone home. She did not want to be
leaving at the same time as he. The opportunity for her to feel awkward and
schoolgirlish around him was not a welcome one. If she rushed she might zip
away before he came too close. Again.

She waggled her fingers at the MacRaes and got the heck out
of the house. Luck and her high heels had to be on her side because she got
into the car, turned the engine over and wheeled it out of the driveway without
hearing Wade’s footsteps.

The night wind swirling her hair, the Texas sky like a
blanket of navy velvet above her, she marveled at the brilliance of the moon.
The route from the MacRae ranch was a straight shot into town. She was doing a
cool forty when she saw a pair of headlights zoom right up in back of her
trunk.

She bit her lip. Wade, acting macho and sheriff-y.

And damn if he didn’t turn on his popcorn lights.

Well, hell.

She pulled over. Killed the engine. Crossed her arms and
huffed.

When he stood beside her door she didn’t honor him with a
look or a word.

“Get out.”

“I will not.”

He yanked the door open so fast she was hauled up right
flush to his body before she could say, “Forget you.”

“I said, I want you out here.” One of his arms clamped her
around her waist. His other went straight across her ass and his hand landed
right there where he could press and get a good idea of how her pussy wept at
his command over her.

Better, standing next to him made her nipples peak. She
loved being crushed against him like this, overwhelmed and manhandled by a
colossus. So few men with the build and the power to haul her around had a
personality that had any charm to it. This was a controlling man bending her to
his will but she had seen his soft spot. He could melt for his kids. A good
trait. Could he get weak in the knees for her? She wanted that but had to go
slowly, be safe and erect boundaries around herself until she knew he was
honestly interested in her as well as her pussy. Controlling men could be
dangerous. She didn’t mind that. In fact she had often looked for a strong man
to whom she could safely surrender. Could Wade Saxon be that man? Until she
felt protected and whole with him she needed to stand her ground and show him
she could rebel. Refuse. “Let me go.”

In the moonlight his gaze grew narrow and feral.

Her heart thumped.

Her pussy too. Damn it all.

His magnificent lips spread in a grin, like a lethal cat
ready to eat her for dinner. “You were speeding.”

She grunted. The action rubbed her aching breasts against
his very solid chest—and sent her temperature higher. “I was doing forty.”

“Going too fast.”

For what? The car? Or their fascination with each other?
“How can that be?”

“You’ve got to treat this car gently.”

“You should have given me instructions.”

He cast his eyes down at her heaving breasts. “I should
have.”

He agreed? She tipped her head, searching for what his
problem really was. She hoped it was his need to erase this ridiculous tension
between them.
Like I’m not to blame myself for delaying the inevitable?
“Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

He worked a muscle in his jaw.

“Okay. What do I need to do to take better care of the car?”

He laughed then grabbed a fistful of her hair and cupped her
nape to draw her face closer to his. “Forget the car. I want to take care of
this.”

His lips seized hers. Torrid, demanding, his kiss was a
brand, a brutal declaration of domination.

“No.” She tore away, gasping for air.

“No,” he objected and caught her back. This time when he
brought her mouth to his, his claim was a firestorm of flaming kisses. They
were too many, too fierce, too scalding to refuse.

She swooned, all his.

“You can’t say no, baby.” And he proved it by brushing her
lips with his own and wrapping her closer still.

Baby. How many men had ever thought she might like that
word? Need it? How many men could think of her as something small and compliant
and theirs? None. Her head swam with the way he took her will and molded it to
his.

“Bend to me, Willow.” His voice was an order and a plea.

She melted against him, her arms winding around his broad
back and rising up to taste more of him.
God, please, give me more of his
ravishing assault.

His lips were as plush as they were silky. His tongue was
insistent as it pushed inside the cavern of her mouth and took and took.
Holding her head so that he could devour her, he ended one madness only to
spread tiny kisses along her cheek and then take her mouth again, all animal
sensation.

They broke apart at the same instant, chests heaving. She
curved against him, languid with the passion he aroused but oh so hungry for
more of him.

She rose on her toes, just as she had in the B&B that
afternoon, and reached up to curl a hand around his nape to bring him down for
another kiss. This one, led by her, was all soft surrender, her to him, him to
her, both to the moaning need to savor the other. She rejoiced that this time
he let her lead. Maybe this wild man could be tamed after all.

He drew back, eyeing her skeptically as he put his index
finger to her lower lip to trace the outline. She caught the tip between her
teeth, her gaze on him as she gave him a glimpse of how she could be brazen. He
sank his finger inside her mouth and she knew he wanted her to suck him.
Snagging him with her teeth, she sank her lips around his flesh and with
languid swipes of her tongue, she caressed his finger inside her mouth just as
later she would caress his cock inside her pussy. She was talented, had lots of
practice in the art of the great BJ and she got soaking wet just thinking about
how she wanted to blow his mind with her skills.

Gasping, he tried to extract his finger and she nipped him.
Licked him. Showed him that two could play at seduction…until she decided to
let him go. Then, when she was ready, she withdrew and licked her lower lip
with a slow swipe of her tongue.

His nostrils flaring, his cock lodged right up tight against
her mound, he crushed her closer to him. “We’ll do more of that.”

She rubbed the tip of her nose against his nicely pressed
shirt and smiled. “We will. Soon.” She pushed at his chest and leaned backward
out of his embrace. “But not tonight.”

His eyes half-lidded and disappointed, he gave her a little
nod. “That’s best.”

She turned out of his arms and even though she moved on
shaking legs she managed to slide back into the front seat. Patting around to
find the keys, she saw them on the floorboard and snatched at them. Coming up,
she felt his hands cup her head as he led her to meet his lips in a sultry
joining. The melding was tender, so tender.

“Can’t stop kissing you,” he said, his voice rough.

She swallowed her need to rise up and capture his mouth for
more of his affection. “Have to, Sheriff. We can’t have anyone find us out here
necking along the road.”

He brushed his fingertips over her mouth. “We better get to
know each other quick.”

“Why’s that?” she asked as he caressed her throat and
shoulders.

“Because just to look at you is a hard, hard thing.”

Ditto.
“Is that so?”

“Damn straight.”

She grinned at him, grabbing a handful of his collar to haul
him near and kiss him lavishly.

“Hell.” He threw back his head and surveyed the night sky.
“I feel like a girl.”

She caught his jaw and led him down to gaze at her. “Trust
me, a minute ago when I stood next to you, you did not feel like a girl.”

He seized her hand, crushing her bones in his intensity. “I
look at you and all I do is quiver. It’s embarrassing.”

“Sort of like Jell-O, huh?”

He leaned over and bit one earlobe. “Jell-O, my ass.”

“Oh, honey, to quiver is my job. Yours is to—”