The Color of Forever: Book Two: Forever Cowboys Series (14 page)

Deliberately, she tilted her face up to him, offering her lips. Ben drew her to him and placed both arms around her as he bent his head and kissed her lightly. She responded by putting her own arms around him and pulling him closer to her.

With a groan, Ben claimed her waiting lips again, this time in a deep kiss that spoke of hunger and need and raw sexuality. When his tongue flicked hers, she felt her blood turn to molten lava coursing though her veins, sending heat down to the center of her femininity. She moaned softly and moved a hand to slip it under his shirt in front, thrilling to his broad chest and latent strength.

He followed suit, sliding a hand under her sweater and pushing aside her wisp of a bra to cup a full breast. When his thumb rubbed against the swollen peak of a nipple, Samantha felt her bones turn to water. She melted into his touch, molding her pliant body to his, wanting even more closeness.

Ben kept kissing her, each kiss building in intensity until Samantha felt that he was somehow reaching deep down inside her to the secret places she had never allowed another man to enter. His warm breath and searching tongue as it explored her wet, open mouth brought her to a plateau of sexual desire she had never experienced. She felt her entire being begin to open itself to him, like a flower opening its petals to the warmth of the sun.

Drawing a ragged breath, Ben stepped away from her. “Samantha, you’re making me crazy.” He gave a shaky laugh. “We’d better say goodnight now. I’ve got a long day tomorrow and you said you were determined to write a whole chapter of your book.” His smile faltered and died on his lips as he stared at Samantha’s lips, red and swollen from his kisses. She saw desire flare in his eyes once more, but he deliberately stepped away from her—out of arm’s reach.

Samantha felt let down and somewhat disappointed. But she was shaken by the depth of her response to this man and felt the need to put some space between them. She needed to examine her feelings and try to figure out why he had such an electrical effect on her and she wasn’t capable of rational thought while in his arms exchanging passionate kisses.

“Um … yeah. You’re right,” she stammered.

“Yeah,” he replied, staring at her intently with those incredible whatever-color-they-were eyes. “So, I’ll just be going now and I’ll see you tomorrow evening if you think you might be up for a ride.”

Samantha’s heart lifted at the invitation. “Sure! I’d love to and after a day at the keyboard I’ll be ready for some fresh air.”

“Okay then,” Ben said with that million dollar smile that never failed to wow her. “See you then!”

She continued to sit out on the porch, gazing at the sky with its stars so much brighter and closer-seeming than she had ever witnessed in the city, lost in her thoughts. She felt that she was teetering on the edge of a precipice and if she lost her balance and fell it would be a long way to the bottom. Her feelings for Ben were new and disturbing. Sure, she had thought herself in love a few times before, but she had never felt the tumultuous emotions for any man that she was feeling for this one.

Always a player, even when she had lost at love Samantha had been able to shake it off and go her own way, basically heart whole. Truth be known, her pride had been more hurt than her heart when some man decided she wasn’t his dream girl after all.

But this time, something felt different. She was experiencing the faint stirrings of feelings she hadn’t even known she was capable of. Ben Connors made her want to be better than she was, or at the very least as good as she could possibly be.

In all of her other affairs of the heart, Samantha had held back and kept much of herself in reserve because regardless of what she told herself at the start of a new relationship, deep down inside she hadn’t expected it to work out. Exactly why she was such a defeatist about her chances of finding lasting love, she didn’t know. She only knew that somewhere along the line she had stopped believing or even hoping that her own personal Prince Charming would appear.

So, she had played the game with only half her heart engaged, afraid of being hurt and disappointed again as well as knowing that the man of the moment wasn’t capable of claiming all of her heart. Looking back on it, she she wondered if she had been merely marking time until the right man came along.

If that was the case, was Ben Connors the right man?

No! Samantha sat up straight and marshaled her wayward thoughts. Ben couldn’t be her Mr. Right. He was perfect out here in his natural habitat but this remote, wild land could never be her home. Sure, she had to admit that she had gained a deep appreciation of its beauty. But she was like a fish out of water here. She was born and bred a city girl. Bright lights, huge department stores, crowds of people and 24/7 traffic jams … that was her world.

Not here, regardless of how breathtaking the scenery or how pure and fresh the air, especially to someone like her who was accustomed to breathing exhaust fumes.

No matter how sexy and wonderful he might be, Ben was not for her. It was clear that he had old fashioned values and probably old fashioned ideas about the woman’s role in the family unit or society in general. He treated her with the utmost respect and consideration, granted. But Samantha was willing to bet that if their relationship got serious, he’d have very traditional ideas about what he expected of her.

Cooking, cleaning, having babies, keeping house … no doubt these were what Ben considered appropriate for his woman. She had discovered that she enjoyed learning to cook, but Samantha was far from being a domestic goddess and couldn’t imagine herself ever tied down to a brood of children and never ending loads of laundry, a female whose social life consisted of PTA meetings and the occasional get-together with local friends.

Ben Connors would probably insist on being the sole breadwinner for the family and be dead set against having a wife that worked.

She would smother, be buried alive in a life like that. Samantha was a free spirit, a modern liberated woman who believed that women were created to be more than household drudges and mommy drones. Her ambition was to be a successful author and write books … thought provoking, stimulating books that would be talked about at cocktail parties and formal dinners.

She had a mental image of herself and her lifestyle. That image did not, could not, mesh with what her life would be like if she stayed out here and married Ben.

Samantha snorted with derision at her own thoughts. Marriage indeed! They had shared a few kisses, nothing more, and here she was building it up to a trip down the aisle. Honestly, Samantha, she told herself firmly, you have got to get a grip and stop blowing this crush on a sexy cowboy into more than it is.

The best way to cure herself of these ridiculous, totally inappropriate thoughts about Ben was to get him into bed and scratch that itch. The only reason she was reacting like this to him was because he was different than the guys she was used to, who all started trying to hustle her into bed as soon as they met her.

Ben was old fashioned and maybe a little shy, so he was a challenge to her. She only wanted to have sex with him without imagining herself falling in love with him. That was all. Anyway, if he was like most men, he’d be horrified to know that she had blown a few kisses into thoughts of marriage and babies.

Sheesh. Next she’d be carving their initials into a tree or sending him notes with little boxes to check yes or no if he liked her or not.

It was time to put on her Big Girl panties and realize that she was infatuated with Ben because she found him so physically desirable. Nothing more. Once they had a few sessions of hot sex, she felt confident that her feelings for him would revert to something more normal and these ridiculous flights of fancy about marriage would be history.

Sighing, Samantha wished that Ben would soon shuck her out of her Big Girl panties and make love to her until he had satisfied her craving for him. She couldn’t think straight about him or keep things in perspective while she was filled with so much lust. Every time she was around him, her entire body tingled with desire. All this without even touching him! His presence across a room or like tonight—across a dinner table—was all it took to have her aching with need, ready and willing to be taken.

At least he had finally kissed her. That would have to do for a start. But Samantha renewed her resolve to bed Ben Connors before much more time had passed.

She’d just have to kick her seduction up a notch. The sooner she had sex with him, the sooner she’d get past this mushy, mawkish sentiment that was disguising itself as something more serious when it was nothing more than having the hots for a sexy cowboy.

Ben’s handsome face broke into a wide smile when he saw Samantha come out of the house the next evening when he showed up for their trail ride.

“Wow, Samantha, you’re a sight for sore eyes.” His own eyes traveled the length of her body from head to toe as he took in the picture she made. Clad in skin tight faded denim jeans and a skimpy top since the Spring day was reasonably warm, she looked to him like a picture from a magazine.

Her long, luxuriant waves of shiny black hair tumbled down past her shoulders and reflected the sunlight with every move she made. Ben had noticed that she wore little makeup and felt she didn’t need it. She was breathtakingly beautiful not just because of her pretty face and lush body, but because of the radiance that seemed to envelop her all the time.

An aura of joy and a zest for living seemed to follow her around wherever she went. Ben had never known a woman with such buoyancy, such spirit and fire. He found Samantha a source of endless fascination and knew if he spent the next hundred years with her, she’d still be every bit as enchanting to him as she was now.

Samantha saw the appreciation for her appearance in Ben’s eyes and inwardly congratulated herself on the choice of attire for their ride. She had chosen with care these well worn jeans that almost looked painted on. Ditto for the gauzy, semi-sheer little peasant top with its low neckline that showed her ample cleavage to its best advantage. Ben Connors would have to be made of stone to resist her in this outfit!

They strolled down to the barn together and Samantha called the horses in from the pasture while Ben brought out the saddles and tack. Marielle’s gentle gelding, Taffy, had won Samantha’s heart with his big liquid brown eyes and soft nose. She brought him and Trey’s black horse fresh apples, carrots and the occasional sugar cube every day and knew she was spoiling them, but they were so appreciative she went on doing it.

They soon had the horses ready to go. Samantha swung herself up into the saddle and felt a glow of self satisfaction that she didn’t need Ben’s help anymore either mounting or dismounting. Still, it was another opportunity to have his hands on her so maybe she’d go back to being helped. She congratulated herself on this tidbit of strategy and decided to let him help her down when they got back from their ride.

Instead of heading up into the forest today, Ben headed off in a different direction and they were soon riding abreast across a wide meadow. They rode along, chatting companionably about nothing in particular. They were each surprised to learn that they liked much of the same music and that they were both bookworms who shared a love of mysteries.

This led to a discussion of the best and worst of the genre as well as their favorite books and authors. Time passed pleasantly and soon they had ridden across the wide meadow, through a small copse of trees and were now emerging out into the bright sunlight again into a large clearing.

Samantha gasped in pleasure. “Oh, Ben! It’s amazing!”

Spread before them across the entire clearing was a carpet of wildflowers in every color of the rainbow and some in between. Samantha had never seen anything like it and was spellbound as she looked around.

“Can we pick just a few of them?” she asked, thinking what fabulous bouquets these gorgeous flowers would make.

“Sure, we’ll pick as many as you want,” he replied, smiling. They both climbed down from their horses and tied them to a tree so they could walk among the floral wonderland before them.

“Ben, isn’t this just the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” Samantha breathed, awestruck by this scene provided by Mother Nature.

“No, not really,” he told her.

Samantha looked at him, thinking how silly it was that a lot of men couldn’t admit they found flowers pretty for fear they’d be considered a sissy. She felt a sense of disappointment and realized that she had expected more from Ben.