Gambling On a Heart (32 page)

He met her gaze. “Wyatt got a call this afternoon.”

She pulled back. “My cousin?”

He nodded. “Rachel was wounded today and airlifted to Germany. I don’t know much more than that, but I know from personal experience only the seriously wounded get sent out that quick.”

The breath whooshed out of her and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh God, no. She came home just this past May. We went honky-tonk hopping one night, and she told me she was hoping this would be her last deployment.” She jumped off the stool, spun away from him and paced the tile floor. Her heart ached with the news of her cousin. Rachel McPherson had been one of her closest girlfriends after she moved to Texas. “Dear Lord, how many more people, who shouldn’t even be over there, will get hurt?”

“What do you mean?”

Halting in mid pace, she stared at him. Unable to stop the tears, she let them slide down her cheeks. “You, Dylan, and now Rachel. She only joined the Army because Lance decided he wanted her sister instead of her. Dylan was over there because Leon forged Granddad’s will and stole Oak Springs Ranch out from under him. And you...” She stepped closer and took a shaky breath. “You were only there because of–of what happened between us.”

* * * *

Zack’s gut twisted when she covered her face. He got off the stool and pulled her to him. “Shhh...”

He held her tightly against him as she sobbed into his neck. Her arms wound tightly around his waist, and he buried his nose into her hair at her temple. She was too tall for him to rest his chin on top of her head as he’d always done when he’d held Lisa. The thought of his dead wife brought him up short. He tried to ease out of the embrace, but Tracy clung to him tighter than before.

“I was so afraid, Zack, when I heard about you getting shot.”

She looked up at him with rivulets of tears running down her cheeks. Pain and fear reflected in the depths of her eyes and his heart twisted. Had she cared so much about him?

“Then the news came that you were in a coma and the docs weren’t at all sure if you’d live. I prayed every day, every minute, that God would let you be okay.” Her lips twitched as if she was trying to smile, but never quite worked up the effort. “I even made deals with Him.”

She shook her head and laid it on his shoulder. As she trembled in his arms, she held on to him so fiercely the shudders ricocheted through his own body.

“I know if–if things had been different, you wouldn’t have joined the Marines. I’ll never forgive myself for you enduring all that you did while over there. It was my fault, and I would have given up anything and everything...” She hiccoughed on a sob. “I knew you could never be mine again, but the world would be a much darker place without you in it.”

Her confession and raw emotions rattled him. He rubbed her back and sucked in a breath, catching the light scent of flowers and honey. Tracy had always smelled this way. Her unique fragrance had haunted his dreams while he slept on the hard desert sand a half a world away.

“Aw, baby, I joined up because it was the right thing to do. As cliched as it sounds, I joined out of love for my country, not for any other reason.” He was surprised at how right that answer was. He couldn’t blame Tracy’s betrayal or Lisa’s hatred of the rodeo any more.

Tracy looked up at him again with shimmery eyes. He stroked her wet cheeks, drying her tears with his thumbs. How many times had Lisa cried for him? But never had her tears ripped him apart as much as Tracy’s did now. “It may not have been the Marines, but I would’ve joined something after Nine-eleven.”

“Zack...I...”

Her voice trailed off, and she held him captive in her gaze. When she leaned in, he met her lips. He responded to her and caressed her upper lip with his tongue. She opened her mouth under his and they drank each other in. He needed her, wanted her.

She yanked his uniform shirt out of his pants and unbuttoned it, all the while kissing him with desperate passion. Her hands slid between them and up his chest. When her soft fingers found the sensitive buds of his nipples, he hissed and eased out of the kiss.

With a smile, she simply took his hand and led him upstairs to the master bedroom. He didn’t protest the invitation, despite her son and his daughter sleeping down the hall.

As she locked the door, he shrugged out of the shirt and took stock of the dim room. Only a small lamp was lit on the dresser between the windows. His impression of the room was a mismatch, an indication that she hadn’t done much redecorating after her step-uncle vacated the house. The walls and carpeting were masculine shades of tan and blue, while the bed was piled high with lacy white pillows and feminine floral linens.

Her turning to him to caress down his chest to stop on his belt had him forgetting everything but her. He’d taken off his service belt and locked it in the truck, which reminded him of the last time they’d been together and his feverish trip to the drugstore. “Are you sure about this? I don’t have any condoms on me.”

She swallowed and glanced away. “I bought a box the other day after you were here to pick up Mandy. If you hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve dragged you upstairs then. The only thing that stopped me from doing so anyway was the fact I didn’t have condoms.” Her cheeks pinked slightly, and she shrugged as she slid the zipper down and pushed the pants and briefs over his hips. “But now I do.” Her wicked smile was completely at odds with the soft blush. “And I intend to use ’em.”

“Good, because I’m up for the challenge.” He leaned in and captured her lips again.

His pants tangled around his boots, and she pushed on his shoulders until he sat on the bed. She stood before him as he caressed her smooth, silky legs from her knees to her hips, lifting the hem of the old t-shirt to reveal plain blue cotton panties. No woman had ever fired his blood as she did, and though he hated to admit it, that was the real reason he hadn’t sought someone else out after he’d recovered from his grief after Lisa died. The guilt he’d never get over.

He pulled the shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. All thought evaporated from his overheating mind like rain on the hot pavement of Highway 6 in mid August. His mouth went dry and his groin ached with need. Cool air kissed her skin, tightening her nipples into hard raspberries ready for devouring. He pulled her to him and flicked his tongue over one of the points, while he plucked at the other with his fingers. With his other hand, he stroked up and down her spine.

She moaned, and he watched her long lashes veil darkened pewter eyes. He teased until she pulled back and knelt before him. After undoing the lacings of his work boots, she pulled them off, then tugged off his socks, and removed his pants. She slid between his legs, her fingertips scorching him on their slow trek up his legs to his groin. Anticipation kicked his heart into high gear, as she closed her warm, smooth hand around his erection and gently stoked. He held his breath when she leaned in to place a kiss on the tip, then she slid her lips along the length. The feathery touch was blissfully excruciating.

She looked up at him. “Remember the very first time I did this?”

His breath hissed out between clenched teeth, and his hands tangled in her hair when she took him completely into her hot, soft mouth. Fighting for control, he gasped for air and rasped, “Yeah. You told me...it was my...Christmas present.” His head lolled, and he struggled with wanting her to continue and wanting her to stop. “Tracy...damn... It’s too much. Stop, baby.”

She caressed his sac as she sucked him. Watching her was almost as hot as what she was doing to him.

“Tracy...I’m...” He groaned and was lost. Tightening the grasp on her hair, he held on and growled a curse as light exploded through him.

At last, he slowly opened his eyes and met her gaze. She wiped her mouth and the cum off his belly with her discarded shirt. When she stood, slowly pushed her panties over her hips, and stepped out of them, she amazed him by how sexy she was without ever trying to be. She placed her hands on his shoulders and peered deeply into his eyes. A fire burned deep in her gaze, but also an emotion he didn’t want to analyze blazed in the depths of her gray eyes.

“This time it was for coming back to me.”

He wanted to argue that he hadn’t come back to her, but she applied pressure to his shoulders. He lay back with his head on her pile of pillows and with her in his arms. When she straddled him, he huskily said, “It might be a while. I’m not eighteen anymore.”

She leaned over him, her breath hot on his ear as she purred. “We have all night, Zack.”

She kissed him, thrusting her tongue against his. A shudder quaked through her body when she pressed and ground herself into his spent cock. He moaned because she felt so good, hot, and soft–and wet.

He broke the kiss and shifted her over him until she was over his face. “Better hang on. You’re in for one hell of a wild ride.”

She put her hands on the headboard and let out a long breathy moan when he took her into his mouth. The first orgasm came fast. The second was slower and more powerful. She bucked on him with each shudder. He looked up to her face. She bit her lip to keep the squeal from escaping. He nibbled on the inside of her thigh. Then he ran his tongue over her clit again before circling it. When he stroked up her belly to her engorged nipples and plucked them between his fingers and thumbs, she shuddered.

“Zack, I–I need you in me now.”

And he couldn’t have agreed more. With a little maneuvering, he had her on her back and kneeled between her legs.

“The condoms are in the drawer,” she rasped.

He ripped the package open and suited up. Entering her to the hilt, he groaned and his eyes fluttered closed. He kept the rhythm slow while he caressed her flat belly to her breasts. At first, he kneaded the small mounds, then plucked at the puckered nipples.

“Oh, that feels so good.”

“One of these days, I’m gonna make you come by playing with your breasts.”

She lazily smiled and opened her eyes. “That’s not possible.”

He knew his grin was cocky and didn’t care. “Oh, I think it is, and I’m more than willing to try.” He kissed her and then dragged his lips down her neck to one of her nipples. He licked the bud, and she wrapped her legs around him and tried to move against him. She begged him to take her where she wanted to go. He held himself still, filling her but not thrusting for as long as he could, but his own need was too much. Soon, he brought his mouth back to hers, pulled out only to plunge back in, and set a pace that would give them what they both wanted.

He stared down into her glazed eyes and clenched his teeth to keep the growl contained as his release boiled through him. She moaned his name as her own orgasm quaked through her.

And he lost his heart to her all over again.

She’d always had his soul.

* * * *

Tracy woke with her head on Zack’s shoulder and his arms around her. Was she dreaming? Soft morning light glowed around the heavy drapes at the windows. Then the past night came back to her. She’d sensed a subtle change in him when she broke down; the wall he’d built around himself began to crack. If she hadn’t felt it, she’d never have been able to seduce him as she had.

He shifted beneath her, and before she knew how it happened, their positions switched. Smiling, he leaned over her and said in a sexy, deep Southern drawl, “Good mornin’, gorgeous.”

She patted the upper arm on which he supported himself. The muscle was a solid mass. She may not have been born and raised in Texas, but she was Texas bred and could drawl out her words as well as the best Southern belle. “You already have me in bed, sir. And I’m more than willin’, so there’s no need to flatter me.”

He laughed; the deep rumble skittered across her senses. “You have no idea, do you?”

“About what?” She held her breath, unsure of what she was expecting. Her pulse fluttered as he skimmed the backs of his fingers up her arm.

“I think you are the sexiest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

A tremble shook though her, and she stared up at him with wide eyes. Did he honestly believe that? Could she believe it?

With a lopsided grin and a shake of his head, he leaned over her and kissed her senseless. When she thought she’d succumb to either asphyxia or desire, he pulled away, leaving her achy with want. “As much as I’d like to stay in bed and show you exactly how damned sexy you are, I think we’d better get up. I’d like to be dressed and down stairs before the kids are up.”

She smiled up at him, and her heart swelled with so much love it hurt. Even while her body protested the idea, he was right. “Forever the voice of reason.”

“That’s me.” He nuzzled her neck, then sat up on the end of the bed. “Do you think you can find a sitter for Bobby tonight?”