Disobedient Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (13 page)

“You’d be surprised at some of the things I can do.”

Like completely hypnotize her with those unbelievable violet-gold eyes. She looked away before they seized control of her will completely.

“Thought you weren’t supposed to stop in the middle of a jog,” he said.

She shot him a hard look and started up again. After several feet, he pulled her arm gently to bring her farther off the shoulder. Then he switched places so he was closer to the road.

“There’s a car comin’,” he said to her questioning look.

A glance over her shoulder brought a frown. “No, there isn’t.”

Sure enough, however, the faint sound of an engine caught her attention several moments later. “I can’t believe you heard that so far away.”

“Told you you’d be surprised what I can do.”

The car passed, and then only her heavy breaths and the footfalls of sneakers and boots against pine needles and dirt. Silence pressed heavier on her, and she knew she had to admit the truth to herself. Plenty of men had made plays for her—some rather aggressively. Unlike a certain other woman in her family, she’d become very adept at shooting down male hopes. Obviously, the reason Caleb wasn’t getting the hint was because she wasn’t trying hard enough to thwart him. Part of her was secretly enjoying the attention.

She needed to get over it.

“Look, Caleb,” she said, “I have to be honest about this thing you think we have. The truth is, we don’t.”

“We don’t,” he echoed with skepticism.

“I’m grateful to you, of course. You carried me to a hospital and watched over me—and rescued me again when I ran down the road during a wild delusion. You seem like a really nice guy, and I won’t even bother denying how attractive you are.”

“Mighty kind of you.” The sarcasm was thick and clear.

“But you have to understand that what happened between us, well, it wasn’t real. I’m sorry for the part I played in it. I didn’t mean to.”

A muscle was pulsing in his jaw, but he didn’t reply.

“I let you touch me, and that was entirely my fault,” she went on. “I was completely punch drunk from the accident. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Maybe you were, and you just didn’t know it.”

“No, I was behaving completely the opposite of normal. And normal is what I need to get back to.”

She stopped again, but kept jogging in place. “It looks like you and Stephen have a good thing going, and I’m happy for you. Really. I’m just not part of that equation.”

“That isn’t true,” he said, and something glittered in his gaze. “Not nearly.”

“Yes, it is. You and Stephen knew I’m a virgin, right? Silly for a woman my age, maybe, but that’s who I am. My actions gave a different impression, but getting fired brought me back to my senses. I’m cured of the need to explore a physical connection with either of you. I’m immune.”

Liar! her thoughts screamed.

Caleb pulled off his hat and ran a hand through sweat-dampened locks. “So let me see if I’m understandin’ this right.” He turned and used his hat to point out a copse of nearby trees. “If I were to take you into those woods right now, you’d be immune to me?”

She halted her jog entirely. “Is that a threat?”

“Not by force, darlin’. I meant theoretically. So let’s say we go off together into those woods.” He took a step closer, and her hammering pulse skipped. “Suppose I pushed you up against one of those trees and looked deep into your eyes. Would you be immune to me then?”

Her stomach began a slow simmer. “Yes,” she said, but the breathless whisper betrayed her.

When he leaned in close enough for her to feel his breath on her cheek, she froze stiff. “Prove it,” he murmured in her ear.

“I don’t have to prove anything to you,” she stammered. “The point is, I don’t want to be with you that way.”

“Yes, you do.”

She pulled away. “No means no, cowboy. Or hadn’t you heard we’re not in the Old West anymore?”

“I mean, you ain’t bein’ honest with either of us. I can sense what you want. For instance, your pulse rate is up.”

“I’m jogging, which tends to do that.” She eyed his calm stance. “To normal people, anyway.”

“And those magical silver-blue eyes of yours go dark whenever I’m close by,” he went on. “The scent of your pheromones sweetens the air until I’m near to drunk with it. That, my beautiful mountain Rose, is desire. And it’s what you’re fightin’ right now.”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong.”

“Then kiss me and prove it.”

“You’re not listening. When I say I don’t want you, that means I don’t want to kiss you, either.”

He put his hat back on and studied her for a moment while she struggled to get her breathing under control. “Surely one kiss to send me packin’ ain’t a big deal. How many men have kissed you, Rose? I know damn well others must have tried.”

“A few, if you must know.” She hugged herself, grasping her elbows. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“And did you feel anythin’? Were you numb? Frustrated?
Immune?
”

She paused at his prodding, but figured what the hell. “All of the above.” Excluding Stephen.

“Then so be it. If you’re immune to my kiss, too, I’ll leave you alone. If not, have the good grace to admit it.”

“Why is it so important to you?” She wandered farther from the road, intending to gain distance from his compelling eyes and beguiling scent. Then she realized where she was headed.

“Because I know the truth, even if you ain’t willin’ to admit it to yourself yet.”

His words came from right behind her, and she spun around in alarm. “Make some damn noise when you walk, would you?”

“Sorry. So, you’ll do it? You’ll prove your immunity with one simple kiss?”

“If that’s the only way to get you off the subject, fine.”

She marched into the woods, where the ground was springy and the wild blend of nature filled her nose completely. The heavy pine smell was mixed with the rich aroma of damp earth and tree bark. Good. Maybe Mother Nature would help tone down Caleb’s virginity-stealing scent.

He took her hand when they were partway in, and the feel of that strong, warm palm closing over hers sent a jolt up her arm. Things weren’t off to a promising start.

“This way,” he said, veering right. “There’s somethin’ you have to see.”

Why did she get the feeling he was trying to drag her farther off the beaten path?

“This is far enough,” she said, glancing back to make sure he wasn’t pulling her completely out of view of the road. That wouldn’t be smart. Not at all.

“Just a little farther.”

“And what exactly do I have to see?”

“A tree.”

She stopped. “There are plenty of trees all around us.”

“Not like this one.”

As she and Caleb shuffled through rotting leaves and needles, birds called to one another excitedly through the branches as though eagerly awaiting the show. When she was about to call off the whole thing, he stopped and pointed. “There.”

Her eyes widened at the anomalous tree standing in the clearing. The tree was large and fat, with numerous low branches that reached out to her, more stretching for the sky, and what seemed an infinite number of pale, pink blossoms.

“Is that a dogwood?” she asked.

“Cherry.”

“How? Cherry trees aren’t native to this area.”

“No one knows. Someone obviously came along years ago and planted it here.”

“And it survived in this climate?” She wandered closer in amazement. “Unbelievable. It’s so pretty.”

Caleb followed her beneath the tree’s delightful pink canopy, where he turned her around gently to face him. Without warning, he gripped her around her waist and lifted her up. She gave a little gasp of surprise as he sat her in the middle of a low, V-shaped pair of branches that made quite a convenient seat. Hoisting her that small amount brought her lips just above his, and she swallowed when he moved closer, pushing himself between her thighs.

He put his hands on her shoulders and just looked at her, silent. She ignored the damning simmer in his gaze, focusing instead on the brim of his hat. The heartbeat that hadn’t finished settling from her jog sounded battle stations. If the searing warmth of his hands wasn’t bad enough, he was eyeing her with an intensity she couldn’t risk being sucked into.

“Let’s get to it, then,” she stuttered out nervously, her sweaty palms tightly gripping the branches she sat on. “And don’t try seductive mind tricks like staring me down that way, either.”

The smile in response parted his lips with the promise of things to come, and her stomach jumped. “Surely the other men who kissed you actually looked at you first?”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Looking into your eyes was part of the deal, remember?”

She shook her head and frantically tossed up every mental shield she could devise to keep his model-hot looks and piercing gaze from consuming her.

“Let go and respond to me naturally, Rose.” His lips came closer. “No fair clenchin’ that tree with your fists and forcin’ yourself to hate every second.”

“I’m holding on so I won’t fall. Besides, why should I play fair? You aren’t.

“I won’t let you fall. And how do you figure I ain’t playin’ fair?”

“For one thing, you’re trying to capitalize on this whole romantic, blossoming tree thing. And you’ve perfected what is no doubt a well-practiced eye smolder.”

“I confess to the first, but I can’t help how my eyes look. And you sittin’ there stiff as a board wasn’t the bargain. Give me the same shot as anyone else.”

“This is pretty much what I do anytime a guy wants to kiss me.”

“Not the last time I kissed you. You can open those pretty lips to claim the concussion was responsible for that. Trouble is, I don’t buy it.”

The heat of his body penetrated her thighs, and while he kept himself a decent span away from the part of her that was beginning to pulse restlessly, standing inside her legs felt sinfully intimate. She was damn vulnerable to him this way, and he knew it.

He leaned closer. She jerked, almost swaying off balance. Damn him, he probably stuck her in the tree for precisely that reason—to keep her off balance. Those eyes were scant inches away now, too, and she had to stare at his pink, moist mouth to avoid them. She licked her lips unconsciously at the sight.

Caleb paused there, his lips so close that her mind was screaming at him to take his kiss already and be done with it before she went mad. Still, he held back until her breath came in tiny, ragged gasps.

He took the sides of her face in his hands. “Rose,” he said in a faint but compelling whisper.

Before she realized what she’d done, she’d given in and flicked her eyes to his. The electricity was nothing shy of magical, extending the moment between the smile he gave when their gazes connected and him closing the small remaining space to claim her lips.

She expected him to mash himself to her mouth desperately, like she’d experienced in the supply room the day before. But this wasn’t Stephen. It was Caleb, and his soft, light kiss branded her just as it had on the couch. One kiss technically became many as he nipped and tasted every part of her lips separately, as though he were experiencing an exotic new cuisine for the first time.

Oh, shit, she thought. Her pussy was starting to tingle. Her lips were responding of their own accord, too, puckering in an attempt to mimic what he was doing to her.

His tongue flicked out gently over her lower lip, and when her body jerked this time, she let go of the branches supporting her and gripped his broad shoulders to steady herself. This had the opposite effect, however, and she felt more unsteady than ever. Her thoughts swayed into dangerously sensual territory.

“Open for me,” he breathed, sweeping his tongue in the cleft between the lips she was desperately trying to keep closed.

“I thought this was supposed to be a simple kiss?” she asked.

“Why should I play fair? You ain’t.”

His tongue breached her mouth before she got a chance to respond. In the span of one breath, the kiss went from Caleb-light to Stephen-desperate, and he let go of her face to circle his hands around her waist. His tongue writhing seductively against hers completely obliterated the barriers she’d erected around herself. Her hands slid up from his shoulders into his hair, and the hat she’d forgotten about hit the ground. He pushed himself closer until his stomach rubbed right against the crotch of her stretch pants. Warmth flooded between her legs, some of it internal but the rest from moisture seeping from her cunt. She couldn’t help it, she wriggled herself against him and let out a whimper at the flare of pleasure.

Their kiss fired hotter when Caleb felt her obscene motions, and his grip around her waist tightened. He sucked on her tongue, eliciting delighted shudders that traveled down her body, making calculated stops at her hardening nipples and throbbing clit. Jesus, kissing him felt good, and his groan when she raked her fingers through his dark hair sharpened her desire until it threatened to knock her right over the edge.