Redneck Romeo: A Red Hot Valentine Story (2 page)

“Genny.” Nick captured her slender arm in his hand, careful
that his calluses didn’t abrade her soft skin. The impact of her being here
after all the years they’d spent apart hadn’t truly hit him. “Why did you
choose today to bring this to the ranch?”

Her brows lowered and her eyes shifted. “Today? What do you
mean?”

“It’s Valentine’s Day.”

Her eyes widened. “Is it?” Color flooded her cheeks. “I
don’t think I...” She shook her head. “I didn’t realize it.” She glanced away.

Eleven years before, they’d set Valentine’s Day as the day
they’d officially ‘go steady’, since they both would have turned sixteen by
then.

“We never made our big Valentine’s date. Remember?”

“I remember.” Her lips curled into a soft smile.

He felt an uncontrollable urgency to make her stay. “Maybe
we should try it again.”

When she met his gaze, he saw a reflection of his own
longing. “Nick.”

They came together in a crush of bodies and a surprising
rush of emotions. She’d been the one who got away. The one he’d compared all
other women to. The one he thought of far too often, wondering what she looked
like, where she was, and what she was doing.

“Goddamn, when you left, I...” He’d come close to pitching a
temper tantrum. “My parents said you’d just picked up and gone.” He spoke
against her silky hair, breathing in her soft powdery scent. “They said they
didn’t know where you went.”

She tipped her head back, her sea-blue eyes shadowed. “They
probably did it to spare you.”

His Jellybean. So beautiful, her lips like peaches, her
slender neck. She’d grown beautiful curves and long, graceful legs. This part
of Texas was hotter than average for February, and she’d worn a tank top and
shorts, sandals on her cute feet. “Spare me?”

“I’m sure they figured a clean break wouldn’t be as difficult
to mend.” She blinked a couple times and her eyes looked shiny.

After giving his parents the silent treatment for a week,
he’d overheard some of the ranch hands talking about the day they’d kicked the
Rileys off the ranch. He’d confronted his parents, but all they would say was,
she
comes from bad stock
. They’d assured him he was better off without her.

“They had no idea how I felt about you.” He hadn’t meant to
blurt it out like that, but he couldn’t let her walk out the door. Again.

Her eyes widened. “We were kids.” She glanced away.

Her words struck him like a slap. Taking her chin in his
fingers, he tipped her head up and locked eyes with her. “Is that all it was to
you?” Better to find out now, before he said anything else ridiculously
sentimental. “Is that why you never wrote?”

The blush disappeared as her cheeks paled. “I just assumed
your parents told you the whole story.” She pushed back from him, her head
dropping again. “At first, I was too embarrassed, knowing what you must think
of me.”

“Genny.” He let her go and leaned back against the counter.
“It was your father, not you.”

Her head came up, a wrinkle between her brows and a
half-smile on her lips. “Try convincing a fifteen-year-old girl of that.” She
walked toward the screen door and looked out at the ranch. “I was a mess for a
while. It took me nearly a year to adjust, and then I figured...” She turned to
look at him. “You’d probably moved on.”

He saw her vulnerability, the pain in her eyes. He needed to
tell her the whole story, even though it would leave him open to another
heartbreak. Hefting out a long breath, he crossed his arms over his chest. “A
week after you’d left, I found out the details.” He lifted a hand. “Not the
‘why’ but the ‘how.’ The way they’d packed you up and sent you off.”

She folded her hands over her stomach, and her face looked
pale.

“Confronting my parents didn’t help. They wouldn’t tell me a
damn thing and I...” Had he really been so willful back then? He was lucky his
dad hadn’t thrown him out of the house. “I looked for you.” He met her gaze. “I
needed to know you were okay.”

Her brows lifted. “You did?” Some of that worried expression
eased.

“Not personally, since I was too young to drive further than
into town. I pawned the watch my parents gave me for my birthday and hired a
private investigator.”

A real smile broke out on her face. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, I did.” He dropped his head and shook it as a burst of
laughter tumbled out of him. “And were the folks pissed when they found out.
The investigator looked for your family in Texas, but I didn’t have the money
to do a search of the whole country. It always bothered me that you’d just
disappeared.” He held his hand out to her. “Bothered me that I couldn’t keep
looking.”

Hesitating only a second, she reached out and took it in
hers. “I don’t know anything you could have told me that would have made me
happier.”

He tugged her back into his arms, her body pressed to his.
“I’ve missed you, Genny. You’ve been that burr under my saddle all these
years.”

Running her hands along his ribs, she sighed. “Funny, that
pretty much explains how I’ve felt all this time, too.” She tipped her head.
“Forgive me for not writing?”

He ran his knuckles along her jaw. “Forgive me for not
finding you?”

She nodded. Her eyes moved back and forth, staring deep into
his. “What now?”

Now, he wanted to pick her up in his arms, walk along the
hallway to his bedroom, and fall with her onto his bed. Finish what they’d
started when they were fifteen, but that wasn’t the right way to do this.

They’d been so close back then. If everyone had a soulmate,
she would be his. He needed to be sure they were still that way. That the
spark—the connection—was there. He gestured toward the kitchen table. “Sit a
while. Let’s catch up.”

Turning, she grinned and walked toward the table.

Nick took a minute to admire her shapely bottom and long,
long legs. He could spend a couple days re-learning every inch of them, sating
the craving deep in his gut. “Hungry.”

“What?” She pulled out a chair.

Clearing his throat, he repeated, “Hungry?”

“A little. I was too nervous to eat much this morning.”

He liked that she admitted it. “Tell me about your life in
Colorado.” Tugging open the fridge door, he pulled out a can of diet soda and
one of regular, and set them on the table. He found the sliced cheese and meat
his housekeeper had left for his lunch, and hauled it to the table along with
bread and all the condiments.

While she made them sandwiches, exactly the way she used to
do when they came home from school, Genny gave him the general details of her
new life.

He ripped open a bag of chips, poured it into a bowl, then
sat beside her, loving the sound of her voice. It had matured into a smooth,
light sound that filled him with the hope he’d lost eleven years ago.

“Now you.” He hadn’t paid attention to her last few
sentences, just ate chips and watched her face. Whatever she was talking about
made her eyes sparkle.

“Now me, what?” He grabbed his sandwich and took a bite.
Perfect. Pickles and mayonnaise, no mustard or cheese. “You remembered? After
all this time?”

She shrugged. “I remembered a lot of the little things about
you.” Her gaze ran over his face and hair, down his neck. “You’re a bit bigger
now.”

“You noticed.” In his jeans, his cock twitched.

Nodding, she bit into her own sandwich.

The story of his life over the last eleven years wasn’t
anything as exciting as hers. He’d lived on the ranch while attending college,
then eased into the management of the daily workings while his parents cut back
their hours.

“And you’ve never been married?” She bit into a chip and
chewed, then licked the salt off her lips.

His mouth watered for a taste of her. “No. Never been.” He
had come close. Painfully close, just a few months ago, before he broke the
engagement and called off the wedding. Genny didn’t need to know about that.
Not right now. If things went the way he hoped they would, he’d tell her one
day soon.

“Well.” She pushed back her chair. “We’re all caught up.”
She looked outside. “And I have a long drive back—”

He reached out and took her hand, pulling her sideways onto
his lap. It was just an impulse, but it felt so right. “We’re not all caught up
yet.” He threaded his fingers into her hair and tipped her head just right.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I saw you today.”

****

Genevieve melted against Nick’s hard chest and her heart
thudded behind her ribs. It’d always been like this, every time they touched,
heat swirled and pooled. Body parts tightened and throbbed, or swelled and
became slick. Now, she knew what it was, what it could lead to, and how to
reach out and take happiness when it fell in her lap. Or pulled her onto its
lap.

His hand in her hair gently tipped her head up to his kiss.

Oh God, the kiss. Just like all those years ago but more
intoxicating, more promising. His firm lips brushed against hers, his tongue
barely touched her before she opened to him, her tongue meeting his in an
exquisite reunion.

He shifted his hips, his arm across her lower back held her
as he bent her slightly, taking the kiss to a higher level of intensity. He
tasted her, every crevice of her mouth, tangling their tongues, sucking hers
into his mouth.

Breathless, she hauled in air as her belly heated with
desire and between her legs, she felt the slick warmth of her own juices
escaping.

He gave her room to breathe, trailing his kisses across her
cheek to her ear. “You were my first.” He whispered it into her ear.

They hadn’t had sex. Was he mistaking her for some other
girl? “First?” Her word was barely audible.

“First kiss.” He nipped her earlobe, tasted the sensitive
skin just below it. Then he drew back and looked into her eyes. “First love.”
His pupils dilated, darkening his eyes.

Against her thigh, his hard cock felt hot, even through
layers of clothes.

He seemed to be waiting for her, waiting until she made a
decision.

She wanted this man, now, even if it was just once, a final
chapter to the sweet love story they’d begun years ago. “Nick.” She stood,
urging him to his feet next to her. Fisting her hands in the shoulders of his
T-shirt, she tugged it up.

He took the hint, backed her against the kitchen table, his
hips and thighs pressed tight against her, then hauled off the shirt and threw
it. His gaze immediately found hers. “Genny, are you sure?”

She nodded. He’d asked her the same question when they were
teenagers, exploring each other through their swimsuits. Tentative, fascinating
brushes of fingertips. “Are
you
sure?”

He tipped his head back with a single laugh. “I’ve thought
of you too damn often over the years. This feels like you’re…” That gorgeous
wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. “Like you’re finally coming home.”

Her heart raced with joy. “It’s the same with me.” She
glanced at his bulky chest, so much stronger than the bare chest of the boy
she’d known. Now, his firm muscles were furred with dark hair. She ran her
fingers through it. “I loved this ranch. Missed it so much it hurt.”

He groaned and slipped his hands under her top, easing them
along her back until he found her bra strap. “Sweet Genevieve.” He unfastened
her bra, she lifted her arms and let him remove her shirt, then he slid the bra
straps down her arms and stared at her breasts. “Where did these come from?”

She chuckled as her nipples pebbled and tiny shivers of
desire coursed downward, creating lovely havoc between her legs. “I hated it
when you teased me about my little bumps.”

He palmed her C cup breasts. “No teasing now, Genny.” He
kissed her lips. “You’re beautiful.” He bent and kissed the swell of each
breast, then lower, until he reached a nipple. Sucking her tight bud into his
mouth, he let loose a long groan.

Heat broke lose inside her, slamming a blast of desire deep
in her belly, contracting her core and tingling along her pussy lips. She felt
herself falling back and grabbed his shoulders to stay upright.

He laved each nipple, suckled and nibbled as his hands
skimmed along the length of her back. The rough scrape of his calluses reminded
her of the strength and maturity of the man who held her, who made love to her
just like she’d always fantasized.

His kisses trailed down her breast and along her ribs as he
knelt in front of her. From each spot he touched, ripples of desire expanded
along her skin.

She ran her fingers through his hair, freeing the sides
where his hat had matted it down. Soft and thick, it took her back to the days
when he’d ask her advice on hairstyles, combing it in different ways for her
approval.

“How’s my hair today?” He looked up from kissing her belly
button.

How had he read her thoughts? She smiled. “You remembered?”

“I’ve never forgotten a moment, Genny.” His gaze turned
serious. “I’m glad you came back.”

It was hard to draw breath for the depth of emotion his
words evoked. She cupped his cheeks. “I’m glad you caught me breaking in.”

His crooked grin nearly sent her spinning. Focusing on her
belly again, he nipped at her skin just above the waistband of her shorts. He
unbuttoned and unzipped and with a glance up at her, he slid her shorts and her
pink panties down and off, tossing them aside.

Exposed, bared to him, voracious for his kiss there, she
fought her hesitancy by reminding herself he wasn’t a stranger. He was her
first love, and—oh heavens, how amazing—she was his, too.

“You’re beautiful, Genny.” The words rumbled from his chest.
He leaned forward, slowly, making every muscle in her body tense, crave his
touch.

When his lips brushed her trimmed mound, he groaned and she
whimpered.