Billi Jean (11 page)

They seemed to melt into one another, then. He couldn’t get her close enough. She seemed to think the same thing and wrapped her small arms around his neck, leaning into him completely. Their tongues met and stroked, teased and lingered until he was breathless. He felt the beginnings of an orgasm building, and had to clench his thighs and pull back slowly, or he’d have to let it go and spill down his jeans like some teenager with his first date.

Breaking the kiss slowly, he looked down at her and realised two things. One—he could never get enough of kissing this woman. And two—he had pulled her down on his lap and she was sitting firmly on his erection. There was no way she couldn’t feel it. When her eyes opened, his cock jumped. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath, easing back to look down.

“Sorry, baby…”

“Oh, Russell, that was… That is… Oh!” She eased back even more and rubbed her hands over his shoulders and chest, while her face stayed hidden, looking down at his cock outlined in his jeans like some flashlight in his pants.

His heart was pounding so fast, she must have been able to hear it. She should slap him. Yell. Jump off him. He deserved it. He’d taken her out one time, asked—no,
told her
he was going to kiss her, then ground her down on his cock.

She raised her head and whispered, “Russell, I think you like kissing me.”

Relief flooded him. “Ah, hell…”

Her blue eyes danced with a mixture of excitement and mischief. He knew right then and there that he was a lost man. Leaning forward, she ran her hands over his chest and up, teasing him even more by leaning forward so they were a breath apart.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but I…I mean, we don’t have to do more.” God, that came out of his mouth and both his brains were screaming ‘yeah, we do, you idiot!’

She leaned in and kissed him again, gently caressing his mouth with hers. God, he was going to lose it. “Or we can go in…”

To the bedroom. Suddenly, an image of sex with her flashed through his mind, hot, wet and so good. Would she be upset afterwards? She might regret it. She was a little standoffish still, not as hot as he was by any means, and he sensed something else that his lust-filled brain was trying to tell him. She seemed shy with her kisses. They were driving him to a whole new level of arousal, but he needed to be the one to put a brake on this because she would be upset if this moved in the direction his body needed.

He pulled her head closer, cupping her beautiful face with both hands, and took her mouth again in a long, lingering kiss, but kept it soft and gentle even though it was killing him.

Raising his head, he tucked his face in her silky hair and inhaled. She smelt so good—a flowery, female scent that seemed to both relax him and make his cock jump. Her body moulded to his, soft in all the right places. She felt completely right in his arms. Perfect.

“We’d better call it a night, Sunshine. There’s only so much a man can take, and I want to hike with you tomorrow.”

She sighed, then sat back to smile up at him. Tilting her head, she blew out a breath, her fingers playing with the hair at his nape. Did she have any idea how much that was turning him on? He wanted her to do that while he thrust his cock deep in her pussy like this. On his lap. Only he wanted her moaning in pleasure right in his ear while he fucked her until she climaxed in his arms.

“Are you sure you can keep up? I like to go all day.”

Hell, yeah! Son of a—

Ah, she was talking about hiking. Suddenly, she giggled and he exhaled in relief. She reached up and cupped his face, kissing him sweetly, then crawled off his lap. There was no way she could know what a tantalising view of her ass she gifted him with in those cords. He ran a hand over his jaw when he caught a glimpse of smooth, creamy skin where her sweater had pulled up.

“You need to clean that mind up,” she murmured, and he couldn’t stop his hand from giving her cute ass a swat.

“Russell!” She jumped and glared at him. “You’re terrible.”

“Yeah, your ass is too damn hot in those cords, honey.”

“Huh.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder with a sniff and got out, jumping down before he could get his brain working enough to help her. Just as well. He was probably going to hobble for life. “I get up early—”

“I’ll be here. Now, get in the house.”

Frowning, she shut his door a bit too firmly and flung her hair back over her shoulder. Didn’t like orders, did she? He watched her bounce into her house. After a quick peek back at him, she disappeared through the door and closed it.

What was he thinking? He could have been in that house. With her. Tonight. In her bed. Resting his head back on the seat, he stretched his legs, adjusting himself so his erection wasn’t as strangled. Soon. Soon he’d be in there, and not for some quick tumble or two. Susan Fielding was someone he wanted around. He’d seen it the first day they’d met. Now? After days of chasing her, then actually talking with her, he wanted a great deal more. His mind struggled with that, but it was catching up to his body. At this rate he’d not even get a hard-on for another woman, because thinking of tasting someone other than Susan was enough to make his cock shrink. He wanted her, warm and soft in his arms. He used to have dreams of a life after service. What man didn’t? It was hard as hell to actually think of reaching for them. But he wanted to. With her.

The question was, did she? Or was she after sex like all the other women?

He was close to the point of it not mattering. He’d take the sex, work it so that he was in her life, create routines—he’d park himself here and not leave. He could feed his horses as easily from here as from up at the ranch.

And if she tried to kick him out? At this point, he doubted she’d kick him out. But she might try running. She looked the type to make herself so busy she didn’t have to face things. Or pack up that perfect home and leave as quickly as she’d arrived.

Russell was a good judge of people. She was scared. She was alone. She’d lost her dad, but had no pictures of him or anyone else up in that house of hers. A house that looked cosy, but wasn’t filled with anything personal. Nothing that seemed to reflect her. Not the neutral colours, not the bright airy kitchen. Not that he knew her well enough to judge what she would like, but still. Something in his gut said that that house was that. A house. Not a home.

The woman was starting over.

People who started over had several reasons. One could be because they didn’t like their life and picked up and left it, not willing to stick it out and face the problems.

He should know.

His mom had done it. Moved here when he was barely old enough to understand why she was frightened, scared and wary of any and all men. But he’d known she was running. Even as a young child, he’d known his mom was afraid. She had come clean ten years from the night she’d taken him across the country and started all over again in the mountains of Montana. His mom had run to protect him from an abusive SOB. Her first husband, a man Russell had hunted down his first year in the Navy and beaten senseless, had abused his mother for years. He’d hit Russell once, and that had been all it had taken for his mom to leave. She’d packed her bags in the middle of the night and driven across the entire country to protect him.

Was Susan running to protect herself? And if so, from what? An abusive ex-boyfriend? The thought made him mad. Was that how she’d got the scar on her face? The scared look in her eyes the first day he’d met her? The wariness he still saw in her eyes?

He hoped dinner and their hot kisses proved she was softening to him.

His mom had taken years to trust another man. And she’d chosen right. His stepdad had been a keeper. A good man. He’d found what he’d wanted in Russell’s mom, and Russell had been a bonus. The man had taken Russ, a half wild boy used to protecting his mom and being the man of the house, and shown him what being a real man was all about. And he’d taken good care of his mom, too.

His mom had taken years to recover from the abuse. Would his little Sunshine need that? Should he ease off a bit? Slow down?
Could
he slow down? Glancing down at his aching cock, he groaned. No, no, he couldn’t. He’d be of no use to either of them if he didn’t get some relief from her soon.

Sighing deeply, he started forming a plan. This might be more difficult than it had first appeared. He might end up in that bed, but he wanted a great deal more. He wanted into that heart. She might smile, she might even tease, but she was holding herself firmly apart. Protecting her little heart. And she looked to be firmly guarding it, too.

No matter. He was the Ace. He always got what he was after. And protected what was his, too.

Lacey’s heart was still pounding when she finally heard Russell’s truck back out of the driveway. He’d sat there for a long while, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been as lightheaded and on fire as she was. She felt like she couldn’t even stand, let alone walk. Her legs were wobbly and she was breathless.

It wasn’t simply his kisses that had her heart skittering against her ribs. Or his lean, strong body. It was
him
. All of it—the kiss, the way he’d held her as if he was half fearful she’d pull away, the feel of him all strong and powerful against every inch of her body, the way he’d said her name, listened to her, watched her. He did something to her. Russell. He was simply potent.

But it hadn’t been how tough Russell was; the lean, mean Navy SEAL. Nope, it had been how careful he’d been with her. He’d been aroused. She’d have felt his erection even if he hadn’t ground her down on it—she would have felt the heat. It had been very impressive, and so long and thick that at first she’d thought he had one of those big, black flashlights in his pocket. It’d taken her a second or two to realise what it really was. And then a second or two to recover from the surprise of making him that way by kissing him. Well, that and rubbing herself all over his rock-hard body. The thought make her wet and achy.

Then he’d apologised, as if he were to blame. And that was probably the most endearing thing she’d ever heard of, let alone experienced. To realise this huge, fierce man was so affected by her that he couldn’t control his own body, but didn’t want to offend her, was so silly but thoughtful, she shivered and hugged herself. His hands had actually been trembling when he’d cupped her head again and kissed her afterwards. It was as if he’d been afraid she might leap away and start yelling at him. The way he’d held her gently, his head tucked against her neck? It’d made tears sting her eyes. Her throat tightened with emotion, just remembering.

Russell might look like the typical tough guy, but he was as alone as she was.

He’d not wanted to come in, and she knew exactly why. At least, she thought she did. He wasn’t after sex. Oh, he wanted that. She felt heat rise up to her face at the thought of how much he’d wanted that. But he seemed to want a great deal more. At least, she thought so. It was difficult to tell.

And now he was hiking with her tomorrow.

And having his buddies install a system that probably cost a great deal more than a few hundred dollars.

He was good, she would give him that, but her dad had been a great deal like Russell Ryland. Big, overprotective, and secretive when it served him right. Like the time she’d wanted to go to Mexico during her sophomore year of college. Her dad had agreed after very little argument, then sent down a whole unit to watch her. Not that she’d done anything more than soak up the sun with her friends and hop over to look at some ruins. She wasn’t into the kinds of drinking and drugs some were; and she’d never done casual sex. So Mexico had been great—scuba diving, hiking, beaching it up and sleeping in the sun.

That had been the year she’d learned her dad had cancer. He’d not told her for six months. By then, it had been so far gone he’d been hurting all the time. She’d dropped out of her day classes at the university to take online classes and care for him full-time.

Did she want the kind of man who wasn’t honest with her because he thought he knew best? If her father had only told her, if he’d only been honest, she might have been able to have more experienced doctors look at him. Specialists. Better physicians than the base could provide.

Sighing, she checked to see if Russell was gone before heading off to change into her PJs and head to the U-Haul. She couldn’t sleep out there for much longer, but the house seemed so empty. Like her old home when she’d returned after the attack, after learning her father had died thinking she might never wake up from the operations it had taken to put her back together. Guilt and pain filled her at the memory. Her dad had died thinking he’d failed her. He’d died two days after her attack. Two days, and then he was gone. She’d hoped at first that he’d not known she was hurt, but one of the doctors had told her he had, before someone had shut him up. An agent. Another man who’d thought she shouldn’t know the truth.

So, was Russell like that? Did he say a couple of hundred dollars for a security system when it was a great deal more? Most likely.

Tired and restless from so many emotions, she left her clothes on the back of a chair and headed off to bed. Tomorrow she’d find out the truth about the security systems out there, then she’d ask the major.

Russell.

She scooted under the covers in the U-Haul, freezing at first, but warm inside from the kisses and memories of Russell’s hands. Hot, firm hands. But gentle.

If he had lied, she could straighten that out, too.

A man couldn’t be changed, but he could be educated. At least her dad had always thought so. Or, some could. Others, he’d said, had to be kicked to the kerb early.

Could she kick Russell to the kerb? Her stomach fluttered. Maybe it was already too late to kick big, handsome Russell Ryland anywhere. She had a suspicion that maybe it had been too late the first time she’d met him.

Chapter Seven

Today, Russell had expected to see some smoke in the chimney. Susan had been here for over two weeks.