Anticipation (3 page)

“Even through your panties your taste is driving me nuts,” he rumbled. His tongue traced the side of the soft material, flicking at the elastic edges, seeking entrance.

Deidre’s heavy breathing increased and her thigh muscles tensed once more. Her hips began to rock of their own accord. She wanted to tell him to tear the damn scrap of cloth off, yet her emotions warred. Something about the man using only his tongue to push the barrier away was incredibly primal, sending her libido into hyperdrive.

She waited, her body a taut bowstring. His tongue swiped past the barrier and along the moist edges of her sex, his groan reverberating against her soft folds.

Her nails dug into his scalp and her hips naturally canted toward him, her body frantic for his mouth to make contact. So close…so very close.

A loud intercom squawk caused her to jerk in surprise right before a disembodied voice said, “Sheriff Mendez, I know you just got off, but we need you down at the station ASAP!”

When Jonas raised his head and the pissed expression on his face changed to an apologetic one, she wanted to scream, “Hell no! You’re not going anywhere!”

Frustrated disappointment surged through Deidre, making her stomach ache, but if she didn’t make light of the situation, she’d cry. “Tell him you haven’t gotten off yet, but when you’re done, you’ll get right back to him.”

Jonas’ blue eyes crinkled with laughter. He gave her sex a hard kiss before he straightened and moved to his feet. “I’m sorry, but I need to respond,” he said as he grabbed his cell phone from his hip.

While he said into his phone’s walkie-talkie, “Be there in five, Jeff,” Deidre pushed her skirt down and stood beside him.

As he slid the cell phone back in its clip, she realized with shock that she’d almost let the man give her oral sex and she’d yet to kiss him. How had they managed to completely skip all the foreplay? She placed a shaky hand against her mouth, stunned at her wanton behavior. God, he must be exuding some kind of pheromone or something! That has to be why I’m acting like this.

Lowering her hand, she straightened her shoulders and composed her expression to what she hoped passed as a nonchalant, worldly one. “Well, I know you have to go—”

Before she could finish, Jonas lifted her chin.

Her heart melted under his penetrating gaze.

Cupping the back of her neck, he pulled her against his chest. His blue gaze, serious once more, searched hers before his line of sight dropped briefly to her lips.

His thumb brushed across the soft skin, the work-roughened texture making her knees wobble. “Never doubt it. I’m looking forward to exploring every part of your body in excruciating detail.”

The heated look coupled with his sexy tone completely dissipated her apprehension. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“Because you have some of the most expressive eyes I’ve ever seen, sweetheart.”

She let out a self-depreciative laugh. “Great, I guess I know why I’m never successful with April Fools pranks.”

Smiling, he kissed her on the forehead. “I have no idea how long I’ll be. Can I stop by later?”

Deidre wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder for a brief second. She inhaled his heady masculine scent until her lungs couldn’t hold any more air. His hard, well-built body made her ache all over again. With a heavy internal sigh, she nodded her assent.

Jonas folded his muscular arms around her waist and hugged her tight. He placed a quick kiss on her hair before he released her and started to walk through the swinging kitchen doors. He paused and his gaze returned to hers, laser sharp.

“Don’t plan on getting any sleep tonight. We’ve got ten years of anticipation built up, darlin’, and I sure as hell plan to make every moment count.”

* * *

As Jonas walked away from Deidre, his gut tightened. Sure he had a hard-on from hell, but the coiled tension inside his belly made him feel lightheaded, like a teenager on his first hormonal high. This woman with her sexy smile and sultry gaze had him wound up so tight—hell she’d done so ever since he’d laid eyes on her.

When Deidre said she came back to help her parents and didn’t act as if she’d thought about him at all, he wasn’t sure what, if anything, still lingered between them. Which was probably for the best, considering he’d vowed to keep their relationship professional while she was in Ventura.

Then she went and wrapped her lips around his finger, sucking hard, and he was done. There was no doubt that what had lingered between them a decade ago, that magnetic, white-hot attraction, was still there, waiting for the first match to be struck.

Once he touched her in the kitchen, he couldn’t stop, and her avid encouragement only fueled his libido. Deidre seemed to know he’d give what he could, but touching her like he wanted after all these years…he could get so caught up in her.

He shook his head to clear the raw emotions raging in his gut.

Candice had ruined him…had taken away his belief in eternal love and the sanctity of promises made.

Despite his physical attraction to Deidre when he’d met her over ten years ago, he’d tamped down his reactions. He’d been on the verge of marrying a good woman…or so he’d thought. Little did he know Candice had been cheating on him since even before their engagement.

Had he subconsciously known about Candice’s deceitful nature all along but refused to believe it? he wondered as he got in his car and drove away. Seeing Deidre again made him question the past—to look at it with a different pair of eyes—a past he’d refused to examine under the microscope. Until he came face to face with a pair of familiar dewy green eyes that had jerked at his soul and haunted his dreams for a decade.

Setting his jaw, he gripped the steering wheel tight. Despite his powerful feelings toward Deidre, he refused to allow himself to trust another’s or his own judgment when it came to relationships. He was glad Candice and Jake had left town right after they got married so he wouldn’t be constantly reminded that one failed engagement peppered his past and hurt him deeply. He should count himself lucky he never got to the point of saying, “I do”. As far as he was concerned, he would never utter those two words.

Deidre twisted her hair up and away from her face for the fifteenth time then finally let it fall in frustration. With just a bit of wave, her blonde locks never had the softness of perfectly straight hair or the lively bounce of curly hair. Instead it always looked as if she’d finger-combed it to death. She finally gave up and focused on her outfit. After the fall in the barn had stained her yellow dress, she’d changed clothes, picking out a soft cotton, spaghetti-strapped tank top in a sea foam green and a white crushed cotton skirt.

A commanding, heavy knock at the front door reverberated all the way down the hall and into the guest bedroom, making her heart skip several beats. Her skirt swirled around her ankles as she turned and left the bedroom, excitement causing goose bumps to form on her skin.

Biting her lip, she glanced at her watch. An hour and a half had passed since Jonas had gone back to the office. The last remnants of the day’s sunlight shined on the hall’s oak flooring as she made her way to the front door.

When she opened the door, her stomach dipped and spun at the mouth-watering sight before her. Jonas’ old weathered brown Stetson was pulled low over his brow. He propped his forearm on the doorframe and stared down at her with his intense blue gaze, while she took in every mouth-watering detail. His heather gray T-shirt and worn jeans fit his muscular frame, and a wide silver belt buckle and scruffy brown boots rounded out his devastating, born-’n-bred cowboy personality.

Dear God, he looked every bit the man who’d stolen her heart and ruined her for all men so long ago. His uniform might’ve turned her on, but seeing him like this again made her entire body quake.

“Evenin’, Deidre. The house smells like fresh-baked cookies.” His respectful nod, combined with the seductive sweep of his gaze up and down her body in an openly frank appraisal, had an overwhelming effect she hadn’t thought possible. Her knees actually gave way.

Grabbing the doorknob to keep from making a complete fool of herself, Deidre ground her teeth at the rush of embarrassed heat that crept up her cheeks. “I…um, didn’t hear you drive up.”

“You okay?”

At the concern in his tone, she straightened and released the doorknob with a quick nod. “Never better. Would you like a cookie?” How dull was that? Sheesh, I need to sign up for conversation lessons.

He shook his head slowly. “Maybe later.” A wide grin spread across his face as he turned to let her see his horse tied to the porch behind him. “You didn’t hear me drive up, because I brought a quieter ride. Remember Admiral?”

Admiral snorted while nodding his head.

Deidre glanced around Admiral, looking for another horse. “Where’s my mount?” She met Jonas’ steady gaze once more and her lips tilted in amusement. “I’m much more confident riding now than I was back then.”

Jonas’ jaw flexed and desire flashed in his deep blue eyes. “I’m sure you are.” He held his hand out to her. “Come ride with me.”

She didn’t miss the edge in his lowered tone, and something about the possessive look in his eyes both surprised and thrilled her. How many times had she wished to see him gaze at her just like that? She ran her hand across her skirt and took a step back. “Let me go change first.”

Jonas reached out and grasped her hand, bringing her fingers to his mouth. “You’re perfect just as you are.” When he pressed his warm lips against her skin, his stare enticing and persuasive, she lost all ability to banter. Or was it his kiss that sent a tingling sensation sliding down her arm and shooting straight to her nipples?

“I…um…I’ll lock up the house.”

His low chuckle seemed to follow her as she turned and headed for the kitchen to retrieve the house key off the counter.

Once she’d locked the door and walked down the stairs to stand beside Jonas, the air around them grew strangely quiet. He slid his hands around her waist. She relished every second of his warm palms touching the bit of skin below her tank top as he easily lifted her up on his horse.

Deidre tried to sit sidesaddle, but Jonas squeezed her waist. “You’ll have to sit astride, darlin’, or it’ll make for an uncomfortable ride.”

She squirmed nervously at the idea of sitting astride in a skirt. “I really should go change clothes—”

Before she could finish, he gripped her hip with one hand and slid his other hand up her calf, pushing her skirt up until her thigh was bared. “Lift your leg over.”

At his soft command, she did as he asked and moved her right leg over the horse’s back. Without a word, Jonas swept up on the saddle behind her.

“Comfortable?” She tilted her eyebrow, casting a quick gaze over her shoulder.

“Not quite,” he whispered in her ear. At the same time, he used his thighs and hips to slide her body forward until her bunched skirt was all that sat between her pubic bone and the saddle horn.

Molding his chest to her back and his thighs around her hips, he put his arms around her waist and unwound the reins from the top of the saddle horn. “Now I’m ready.”

The sensation of the hard horn between her thighs and the cowboy’s muscular body surrounding hers sent her heart rate soaring. Deidre gripped the top of the saddle horn and let out an edgy laugh. “Just don’t gallop, ’kay?”

Jonas urged the horse into a walk toward the trails behind the B&B. “We’ll take it nice and slow, I promise.”

As they entered the darkened woods, Deidre shivered at the change in temperature. Even though the evening sun slanted through the canopy of trees, bathing her skin in ribbons of diluted golden warmth, the forest’s shade brought an exciting coolness in contrast to Jonas’ body heat radiating against her back. She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensual combination.

“Does this trail lead to the Mendez property?” she asked.

“Mmm, hmm.” His chest rumbled against her back as he rubbed his nose along her neck. “Do you want to know how many times I’ve thought about you?”

She jerked her eyes open, surprised by his question. “How many?”

His left hand spread across her exposed thigh and his fingers tightened around the bare flesh. “I’ve lost count.”

Jonas’ sincere admission caused the butterflies in her stomach to stir in haphazard abandon. Earlier today might have been about emotional limitations, but tonight was about confessions, she realized. “I’ve never forgotten you.”

He gripped her thigh harder. “I never cheated on her.”

Deidre understood the anguish in his voice. She placed her hand over his, her heart tripping at a rabbit’s pace. “I know. Your integrity was one of the things I admired so much about you.”

His body tensed behind her. “I’ll never say the words ‘will you marry me’ again.”

The vehemence in his words told her just how much his ex-fiancée’s betrayal had hurt him. Deidre’s heart went out to this strong, self-contained man. Even though his statement tore her up inside, she admired him more for being honest with her upfront.

Running her hand across his warm one, she laced their fingers together and let out a soft sigh. “We’ve both had our share of disappointments in life. I just want to feel your arms around me. I don’t have any expectations beyond that.”

Jonas brushed her hair to the side and buried his nose against her neck. “I’m sorry, Deidre. You blew me away the moment I saw you again after all these years. There needs to be pure honesty between us.”

“No expectations, Jonas….just anticipation,” she said at the same time the tiny niggling voice in her mind dared to rear its ugly head. I hope I haven’t built you up in my mind to be a bigger-than-life, beyond exceptional lover. But the throbbing ache between her legs reminded her that the man definitely knew how to leave her wanting.

“Anticipation,” he said in a husky tone as he laid the reins across Admiral’s neck. The horse continued to plod along without guidance as if he knew the trail well.

Deidre’s pulse thrummed when he placed his hands on her legs then slid her skirt higher, exposing her thighs completely.

He cupped his fingers along the bend of her legs and began circling his thumbs on her muscles just above her knees. She bit her lip to keep from moaning at the sensations rocking through her.

As he moved his hands higher, massaging her muscles in small circles, tiny tremors started in her inner thighs and slowly wound their way to her sex. With a low growl rumbling in his chest, Jonas shifted his weight forward in the saddle, forcing her body fully flush against the saddle horn until she literally rode the hard surface.

Each dip and sway of the horse’s movements caused her mound to rub and bump against the saddle horn. Agonizing friction built and ricocheted through her sex, tensing her lower muscles. Deidre tightened her thighs around the horse and swallowed a moan.

“I feel your tension. I know you’re holding back. I want to hear your excitement,” Jonas said at the same time he gripped her inner thighs and forced her legs open wider. His action no longer allowed her to stop the constant pressure against her sensitive parts. Deidre began to pant then gasp each time the horse’s movements made her body meet the molded surface.

Jonas moved his thighs behind hers, keeping her sex flush with the horn. The sensation of his hard cock pressing against her backside made her want to whimper.

“Your sweet ass rubbing against me is a helluva cock-tease,” Jonas said in a husky tone. His hands slid up her rib cage until they covered her breasts. “Do you feel how much I want you?”

As his fingers brushed across her hard nipples, exquisite pleasure shot through her breasts and down her center. Deidre let her head fall back on his shoulder, shutting her eyes tight. The heat radiating from his hard erection seeped right through their clothes. She’d never been more stimulated.

“Yes, and it’s definitely mutual,” she managed to babble out while a multitude of arousing sensations battled within her. The horse had slowed, but each step became a sensual punctuation to the built-up emotions roiling inside her. Her panting turned rampant as her sex began to throb, ready for release. “Jonas… I’m…”

“I know, sweetheart. Let go. I want to hear your scream,” he said at the same he slid his fingers forward and pinched her nipples hard.

Deidre barely registered his warm breath on her neck and his tender kiss grazing the sensitive spot below her ear. Her body took over and she cried out, arching her back. Sexual tension had built to a fevered pitch within her, refusing to back down.

Jonas’ sexy growl preceded an aggressive thrust of his hips, which forced her to grind incessantly against the horn. Her breath hitched in eager response to his dominant action. Deidre knew his lovemaking would be this raw and primal, and just as exhilarating. Unable to move back, she rode against the hard surface, seeking release from the coiled arousal spiking within her.

Her body tensed and her heart seemed to skip several beats right before her climax spiraled within her. She gripped the back of Jonas’ neck and turned slightly, burying her face against his throat and jaw as the waves of her orgasm began. Body-rocking, heart-stopping splinters of pleasure rolled through her. Her thighs clenched the horse’s sides and she drank in Jonas’ sexy masculine smell while reveling in each sensual quiver that flowed through her body.

Once her heart rate began to slow, Jonas cupped her breasts and pulled her back against his chest. “Damn, woman. That has to be one of the most erotic experiences…” His voice broke and he laid his forehead on her shoulder, exhaling a shuddering breath.

Now that her senses were returning, Deidre realized the horse had stopped walking. Jonas was breathing hard…harder than she was at the moment.

She glanced around her and noted they’d stopped at the very same spot Jonas had lifted her down from his horse ten years before—the same day he’d said, “In another life…”

When he lifted his head, she kissed him on the jaw and smiled. “Does this place look familiar?”

“We’re on Mendez property now,” he said in a tight voice before he lowered himself from the horse.

“I never knew that.” Deidre didn’t know what to think about the brief change in his mood when he lifted her down without a word. Once her feet touched the ground, she laid a hand on his chest, her stomach tightening in worry. “Jonas?”

His hands moved to her shoulders and then to the back of her neck, massaging the muscles. He pulled her close and his lips hovered over hers. Deidre’s heart began to hammer all over again.

“Now I can finally do something I’ve wanted for a decade,” he murmured.

The banked tension in his shoulders conveyed just how much restraint he employed. Jonas’ fingers trembled ever so slightly as he slid them into her hair. Cupping the back of her head in a firm hold, he covered her lips with his.

As his mouth slanted across hers and the dominant thrust of his tongue demanded the same instant response, Deidre fell deeper into his strong embrace. Every warm, wet nuance of their tongues’ seductive slide against each other, their bodies melding into one another while their hearts thumped in tandem staccato beats, sent a heated flush of thrilling erotic vibrations all the way to her toes.

Jonas’s kiss was so thorough and mind-numbingly sexy as hell. He blew through her expectations—he was decadent, chocolate sin. She relished every rasping movement of his mouth over hers, craving more.

She wrapped her arms around his trim waist and kissed him back with just as much fervor. From his shoulders’ bunched muscles, to his tight grip on her, to the hard press of his mouth against hers, his kiss had a possessive undertone, as if he feared she might bolt any second. Deidre wasn’t going anywhere. The man fulfilled every fantasy she’d ever had about him, ten times over. And all this before he ever slid inside her.

He lifted his head and his breathing came in heavy pants as he leaned over her shoulder to pull something from his horse’s saddle bag.

Jonas’ intense expression sent a shiver down her spine as he released her and held out a jean jacket. He seemed to be waiting for her to put it on. Deidre raised an eyebrow, but slipped her arms inside the material without question.

As soon as she’d pulled on the jacket, Jonas lifted her in his arms and carried her off the path to set her feet on the ground in front of a tree.