To Claim a Wilde (Wilde In Wyoming Book 6) (11 page)

Chapter 14

“O
h, my, that was good!” Naomi sat back in the cracked leather booth and theatrically groaned.

“
That
good, huh?” Canton asked, chuckling outright at her look of satisfaction.

After the unexpected emotional turmoil he had inadvertently caused her, he’d lightened the mood purposefully. The sadness he saw creep into the depths of her pretty brown eyes was one he didn’t understand, yet desperately wanted to go away.

“Yes!” she squealed. “It was
that
good.” She licked a finger that held the “special sauce” the bar touted as being the secret to its one-of-a-kind egg burger. Canton bit back a groan at the simple action.

He wanted to lick it,
and
her, completely clean. Head to toe...and not leave a damn thing unlicked, he thought, suppressing a groan.

Something of what he felt must have shown on his face, as her creamy brown skin took on that hue that alerted him that she was blushing.

“So tell me, Naomi, besides the fact that you’re back to help your parents, I hear you’re joining Mason Pediatrics? Is that true?” he asked, although he knew for a fact it was.

Over the past few days, Canton had made it a point to find out everything his little beauty was up to, including her plans, how long she planned to stay in Wyoming...whether she had a man or not.

She tilted her head in acknowledgment. “It is indeed,” she replied, and wiped her mouth delicately, with the cloth napkin.

“How did that all come about? Was that because of your stay here with your folks?”

“Well, two things happened. As you know, the situation with my parents. When I found out what was going on, I started making plans to return immediately. The clinic I was associated with in Texas was closing its doors. So, such as it was, I couldn’t have asked for better timing. It made that particular move easier in that I didn’t have to worry about who would take my place,” she said. “Or who would take over my cases.”

As she spoke about her clinic, the children she served in the disenfranchised area of town, her eyes lit up. If Canton thought she was beautiful before, now she simply glowed as she spoke about her life work. He found himself smiling along with her, encouraging her to share that part of herself with him.

“Actually, my sorority sister told me about what was going on,” she said, shaking her head. “If it hadn’t been for Althea...” She stopped and shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea when my parents would have told me.”

A pang of guilt hit Canton; guilt that he could, with the stroke of a pen, rid her of all worries concerning her parents losing their land. But he couldn’t do that yet. If he did, he’d have nothing to hold over her.

The selfishness of what he was doing was overridden by his nearly pathological need to have her with him. For them to finish what they started seven years ago.

Guilt be damned, he thought.

Suddenly her eyes widened. “And speaking of Althea. She’s married now, to a rancher in Landers named Nate. Nate Wilde...are you related to anyone in that area?” she asked and Canton shook his head.

Over the past few years, he and his siblings had learned of a family of Wildes, all men, and apparently adopted brothers from what they’d gathered.

“Yeah, we’ve heard about them. More so recently. Brick was up near Landers on his spring break a few years back and he looked into it.”

“And?” she prompted when he fell silent.

“Before Dad passed away, he told us we had family scattered. Not close family; he was an only child. But we think we’re related to these Wildes some type of way,” he said, his mind not really on the other Wildes. From what his brother told them, these men were brothers, and Wildes, but not by blood.

Thinking of their youngest sibling and the only Wilde woman, Riley, he smiled. She too was adopted, and not Wilde by blood...not that it mattered, as she was just as wild as the rest of them. Sometimes too much.

“What are you smiling about?” she asked, watching him, a small frown of query on her face.

“Just thinking of Riley,” he said, and that brought up the subject of his sister after Naomi asked how she was doing.

It wasn’t long before the question of his relation to the Landers Wildes came up again.

“I’m just saying, uhh... I think it’s a distinct possibility that you all are related some kinda way, don’t you? I mean, how many Wilde men can there be?” she asked. There was such a look of incredulousness on her beautiful face at the possibility that there were more Wildes on the planet like him and his siblings that Canton threw back his head and laughed outright at her expression.

Realizing how it must have sounded, she joined in his laughter.

“Baby, I don’t know if we are or are not related to them,” he said, not realizing he’d called her the endearment. “Really, you’d have to ask Brick. He’s the one that has taken to this. A lot lately, ever since he came back from Landers. As soon as he knows, I’ll tell you.” He paused, his gaze softening as he held hers.

“I’d rather hear more about you and less about any possible distant relatives,” he murmured, fascinated and turned on when his statement, for whatever reason, made her blush.

Haltingly at first, she began to answer his barrage of questions. The waiter came and left, refilling their mugs with coffee. Had it been up to Canton, he could have stayed forever, listening to her melodic voice, watching her cute mannerisms as she spoke about the kids and her love for pediatric medicine. Eventually, he feared they’d shut the place down. With a laugh she agreed, and they left the establishment.

Neither one was ready to bring the evening to an end, however.

* * *

“Oh, wow, is that what I think it is?” Naomi murmured the question, breaking their companionable silence, making Canton turn his glance away from the light traffic to look at her.

After dinner, they strolled along the streets until the cold had forced them to return to his truck.

After driving for long moments she’d spoken, breaking their silence.

“What?”

With a small nod, she pointed out the back of the window. “Mingles,” she replied, and it was then that Canton realized what she was referring to.

A small sign he would have missed, with the name of the club and an arrow pointing which direction to go in order to “get your party on,” was off the side of the two-lane highway.

In all of his time coming to Wellsburg, he’d never noticed it. He hadn’t returned to the club after she’d left Cheyenne.

“It’s still open?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, clearing his throat. “Think so. I heard they turned it into a Chinese buffet a few years back, though,” he said.

“Seriously?” she asked.

“Seriously, they did. At least that’s what I heard.” He shrugged. “Like I said, I haven’t been there since...you left.”

She turned to him; their gazes locked. For a fraction of a moment, time transported them back to that night when they’d first met, and both remembered those initial feelings.

A car honked behind them and Canton turned his attention back to the road.

Again, silence reigned until Naomi cleared her throat and spoke. “Would you mind if...could we drive by there?” she asked, and he heard the hesitancy in her voice.

Not questioning the whys of her request, Canton simply expertly flipped a U-turn and drove down the nearly deserted road that led to what was once a club and now...

“‘Mingles Chinese Buffet...and Laundry,’” she supplied, reading the bright neon sign above the former nightclub, unclicking her seat belt so that she could move farther up in the seat and peer through the front window to get a better visual.

The ridiculous of it all had them both laughing hard.

“Oh, my God...you can do your laundry here, too?” she asked, giggling, which set them both off into fresh laughter. This time when their chuckles ended, Canton heard her gasp.

As they’d shared the moment of humor, he realized that she sat very close to him after she’d unbuckled her seat belt. Unconsciously as she’d laughed, she’d moved closer to Canton.

His gaze was focused on her beautiful mouth, the remnants of the smile still lingering on their full lusciousness.

“Uh, I, uh, suppose we’d better get back on the road,” she murmured, her eyes on his mouth as well, making no move to go back to her side of the truck.

Before she could, Canton acted.

Moving so quickly, so smoothly that she didn’t have a chance to react, much less protest, Canton had the seat moved back into its farthest position, and her straddling his lap.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all night,” he murmured, his hot gaze on her mouth.

Again before she could react, he’d tilted her head, angling her for his kiss.

With a moan she sank into it and him, her legs opening to accommodate the position he’d placed her in, her arms rising so that her hands rested on the back of his head, her fingers immediately tunneling into the hair at the nape of his neck. The times they’d been together, from the first time seven years ago to the most recent time just a few days ago, Canton loved the habit she had of gripping his hair, tugging him closer to her embrace.

Her feminine machismo was a hot thing to a man like him, a man who often had to temper his wilder side; with a woman like Naomi, he didn’t.

She gave as good as she got.

Canton made a rough growl deep in the back of his throat, drawing her deeper into his embrace, glad he invested in the auto controls on his custom truck, which gave them even more room to maneuver than a typical truck cab.

She offered no resistance to his silent, rough demand, simply opened her mouth and allowed her legs to further relax...as she gave his tongue entry into her mouth.

He kissed and licked her, biting her full lips, hearing her helpless little mewling kitten-like groans as he teased and sucked the small injury.

As he kissed her, his hands swiftly divested her of her coat, and with her help, he drew it from her body, tossing it carelessly into the backseat.

As soon as his hands were back on her, he brought them back up to shove them under her sweater until he came to her bra.

A few deft movements and her beautiful breasts bounced free.

He broke their kiss, brought her blouse up and lowered his head.

The moment he made contact, brought her nipple deep into his mouth, sucked and tugged on it until it became fat and pulsing in his mouth, she cried out, moaning her delight. Her head rolled to the side as she bit her lip and began to move and gyrate on him, her hands frantically grasping at the back of his head.

In the small, warm confines of his vehicle, her smell was intoxicating. Her scent, her taste, and the way she was moving and grinding on him was all driving Canton insane.

His erection was a painful, stabbing muscle that pulsed and throbbed inside his jeans, yet he gave little thought to his own discomfort.

She was the only thing that mattered.

“God, you smell so good, baby, so good,” he mumbled against her mouth, his tongue and lips trailing over her neck, down her collarbone.

She moved her head to the side to give him better access.

“Ohhh, yeah?” she whispered the question, giving vent to her pleasure.

“Yeah,” he breathed the words roughly against the softness of her skin. “Like chrysanthemums and lilies on a warm summer day.”

* * *

Naomi’s breath was locked in her throat, as the atmosphere in the truck grew heavy, the air seemed moist and filled with sexual heat. The things he said to her, what he was doing to her, his touch, everything about him turned her on, including the way he smelled.

God, he smelled good!

His aftershave was an expensive one, she could tell, yet not overpowering. It was mixed with his natural odor; the combined scent was unique, heady, enticing and masculine. Just like the man who wore it.

She inhaled deeply.

“You...you smell good, too,” she whispered, and blushed.

She was new to the feelings he was generating, new to being this...turned on by a man. She felt inadequate, not sure how to respond.

The only thing she could do, in the end, was to simply give in to the feelings he was generating in her.

“You like this, baby?” he asked, his tone little more than a guttural whisper.

As he licked and kissed her, stabbing her nipples with the flat of his tongue as his other hand massaged the other breast, Naomi was on fire with need.

“Yes, yes,” she answered, her own hands as busy as his.

She brought them up beneath his sweater and groaned when she encountered his tightened male nipples.

He growled low when she squeezed one, and she laughed a feminine sound of delight.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, his breath on her breast warm as he spoke, and she paused.

She felt his body tremble, yet his hands remained still, waiting for her to give him the okay.

God, she was so needy for him. On fire for his touch.

She could no more say no than she could stop breathing.

“No,” she breathed. “Don’t stop.”

He licked the tip of her breast, making his way down the front of her chest, licking and kissing every sensitive spot and nerve along the way.

Naomi squirmed, caught between his big body and the press of his hands bringing her into tight contact with that part of him she had longed for, dreamed of, for seven years since she’d had him the first time.

When his hands went to the hem of her skirt and hitched it up, she lifted her bottom to help him. He yanked down her tights until they were completely out of his way.

When her nearly bare ass tapped against the rough denim she moaned, squirming against him, feeling his erection against her bottom.

He stilled her gyrating hips, growling against her mouth a warning, “Careful.”

She laughed, breathless, feeling a sense of feminine power at what she could bring out in this man.

“Think that’s funny, huh?” he asked.

His arm tightened around her lean waist, and he brought her into close contact with his shaft. Both of his hands moved to her hips and lifted her up just enough so she cleared his lap, only to bring her back down.