Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (27 page)

She needed more.  And more is what she got as Cade reached around to undo the clasp of her bra.  He worked the straps over her shoulders and slid them down her arms, tossing it to the floor.

Ending the kiss, he leaned
back to look at her
.  His
gaze mov
ed
slowly downward
as he assessed
her hungrily.  Then, he cupped her breasts, caressing them tenderly with the sides of his thumbs.  “S
o s
weet
.” 

She
closed her eyes
, moaning
softly as his thumbs moved
across
her aching nipples, teasing them until they thrust eagerly into his awaiting palms.
  Liquid heat pooled between her trembling thighs. 

“
Look at me, Lacy.
  I want to see the fire burning in
your eyes
when I take you over the edge.”

She did as he asked,
finding his blue eyes watching her.  She
arched
into
his touch
, gasping softly as he lowered his head to flick his tongue
over a sensitive peak. 

The warmth of his breath brushed across her skin
, making her shudder with need
.  Cade moved to l
ie
beside her, his hand skimming her stomach until his fingers brushed the lacy top of her underwear. 
Slipping his fingers beneath the slender elastic, he
eased her panties down
over her hips.

She
lifted until he’d pushed them down far enough for her to kick free
of
her
lace panties. 
Then his hand was there, his fingers parting her to his touch. 
Her body was on fire and Cade was stroking the flames.  He took her to the
‘
edge
’ he was clinging to
and
pushed her
beyond as her body quaked beneath his fevered touch. 

“Cade, please.”

He dragged in a long breath.  “We need protection.”  

“I don’t have any.”  She hadn’t been with anyone in a very long time.

“Me either.”  He muttered a curse.

Her body ached for more.  For him.  He couldn’t stop.  Not now. 

Suddenly, his head shot up.  “Burk.”

“Burk?” 

“He’ll have some in his room.”

Just when she hadn’t thought it possible, Lacy’s cheeks grew even more heated.  “But he’ll know...”

He
shook his head.  “
Burk
won’t know anything.  He headed out to the barn about an hour ago.”  That said, he moved away from her and slipped from the bed. 

Lacy’s gaze traveled the length of him.  Cade Tyler was magnificent.  “Hurry.”

He smiled at her.  “You can count on it.”

True to his word, Cade returned a moment later, foil packet in hand.  He strode toward the bed, his erection still straining against his briefs. 

“I can see you haven’t changed your mind,” she teased with a grin.

“Have you?”  Though his tone was just as teasing, she knew he would stop if she asked him to. 

“Not on your life, cowboy.”  She reached out from the bed to tug at his briefs.  “One of us is wearing a few too many clothes.”

Grinning, he shoved them down his lean hips and stepped out of them. 

She
reached out, her hand closing around his erection as she sought to pleasure him as he had done her. 
Hi
s
hips lurched and a low moan escaped him as she stroked his hardened length.
 

He
reached between them to stop her
.  “I need to be in
side
you, Dalton.  And I need it now.”  His hand shook as he ripped open the foil packet giving credence to his huskily whispered words.

“Let me.”  She took the package from his hand and slid the condom from it, sheathing him with urgent but gentle hands.

Blue eyes blazing with desire, Cade
joined her on the bed, moving
over her.  “It’s been so long.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.”

“You don’t understand,” he said his voice hoarse with desire as his lips sought the flesh just behind her ear.  “I wan
t to
bury myself inside you until there’s no beginning, no end.”

“Then do it,” she whispered. 
She
opened for him, lifting her hips in urgency.  She needed him.  All of him.

Her name came out a pleasured moan
as he
buried himself deep inside her.  It was flesh against flesh, heat against heat, need against need.

Lacy
wrapped her legs around his lean hips,
taking all he had to give. 
He
filled her to completion, drove her to madness.  Each powerful stroke push
ing
her closer
and closer
to the edge
she’d already gone over once
.

She trembled beneath him.
  “Cade...”

“Don’t fight it,” he said, his strokes growing bolder. 

She
cried out, her body shattering into a thousand fiery pieces. 
Her nails dug i
nto
his flesh as she clung to his
broad shoulders, her body quaking.

“
Your turn,” she said, pushing him off her so that she could settle on top of him.  Slowly, she lowered herself onto his length and
began rocking her hips.

He
squeezed
his eyes
shut as if in pain. 
“
D
on’t move.”

“Forget it, cowboy. 
You’re going over the edge.
”  Lifting her head, she ran the tip of her tongue over the flat, male nipple.

“I’m warning you,
Dalton,
” he ground out through tightly clenched teeth.

Ignoring hi
s husky threats
,
she
drew the beaded tip into her mouth and suckled gently.

That was all it took.  Cade
rolled her onto her back and thrust into her once, twice, the third time going
over the edge
with a low groan.  Then he eased off her and collapsed on the mattress beside her.  “Damn.”

Damn was right, she thought with a smile. 
Never in her life had she ever experienced anything quite so incredible. 
She
sank back onto the pillow, her body still shuddering
in the aftermath of their lovemaking
. 

*
             
*
             
*

Cade
s
miled as he looked down at
the woman in his arms.  Lacy had fallen asleep and his didn’t have the heart to wake her.  Instead he studied her beautiful face. 
Wisps of honeyed hair veiled the sweet lips he had
so thoroughly
ravished. 
T
hick
, black
lashes
brushed her c
heeks.  Beneath
which
were tawny eyes that
saw through the defenses he put up. 
 

Reaching up,
he
p
ushed the silken strands from her face
and then traced t
he gentle curve of her cheek.  Then he bent, brushing his lips lightly across hers. 

She
stirred, her eyes fluttering open. 

His smile widened.  “Morning.”

“Mmm,” She looked up at him with sleepy eyes a
s she r
eturned his smile.  “Morning.”

Lord, she was beautiful.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Never better.”  She stretched, her
naked
body still pressed against his.  “And you?”

He chuckled softly.  “Worn out.”

Color dotted her cheeks.  “I wonder why?”

“Yeah, I wonder.” 
He
pressed a kiss to her lips.  “I’m going to the bank today.”

She lifted her head.  “Why?”

“To see about getting your money back.”

“Cade, I’ve already told you I don’t want my money back.”

“Look, Dalton, I appreciate what you did.  But I can’t let you do this.”

She rose, propping herself up on an elbow.  “It’s already done.  I don’t think there’s anything you can do to change that.”

“Maybe not, but I’m sure gonna try.” 

“But I thought...”

He pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her protests.  “You sold your grandfather’s car to get that money.  I know how much that ‘Vette meant to you.”

“
You
mean a lot to me.
  More than some car.
”

He hesitated, trying to come to grip with the emotions Lacy had awakened in him.  It had been one hell of a long time since he’d felt anything.

She reached out to touch his lips.  “Stop frowning.  I don’t have to have material things to help me remember my grandparents.  They’ll always be right here,” she said, pointing to her heart.

A knot lodged in his throat.  “Lacy...”

She leaned forward to brush her lips over his.  “I’ve discovered since coming here that there are more important things in life.  Material things are meaningless without someone to share them with.”

He knew that all too well.  Life had meant nothing to him after Karen died.  But that all changed the day Lacy came into his life, all trouble and smiles. 

“
Cade!  Y
ou planning on working this morning?”  The magic of the moment was broken as Burk’s voice rang out from the kitchen.

“Get out,” Lacy whispered in a panic.

Heavy booted footsteps moved across the linoleum of the kitchen floor and into the hallway outside.

Cade cursed Burk’s lousy timing under his breath.

Lacy shot up in the bed,
dragging the twisted sheet up over her bare breasts.  “You have to get out before he finds you in here
,” she said in an anxious whisper.

“Why?  We’re both adults.”

“Please.”

How could he resist those beautiful, pleading eyes? 
He
sat up and hurried to work free of the sheets.  It was
as if
he
’d been
hog-tied.

“Hurry!”

“I’m trying
,” he said with a frown.

She
gave him a shove that merely sent them both toppling from the bed in
the
tangle of sheet
s
.  They landed
half on the
hardwood floor
, half on the throw rug.

Cade groaned
as he took the brunt of the fall
.

Lacy giggled.

T
he bedroom door burst open
for the second time that morning
and Burk flew inside.  “Lacy, are you...”  He stopped mid-step, his gaze dropping to the floor.

“
Morning
,” Cade greeted with a smile.

His friend’s eyes rounded. 
“
Everything okay?”
 

“Yep.  Now go away.”  He kept Lacy behind him, determined to hide her nakedness from his friend’s assessing eyes.

Lacy
poked
her head around his shoulder.  “Morning, Burk.”

He tipped his hat.  “Morning.”  Then, he cast an accusatory look at Cade.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Cade said as he dragged the sheet further up his bare waist.

Burk’s expression was skeptical at most.  “So, what you’re trying to tell me is that the two of you didn’t really fall out of bed without your clothes on.”  He shook his head, tsk-ing as he did so.

Cade growled.  “Shut the hell up.”

“Whatever you say.  You’re the boss,”
his friend
replied with a cocky grin.  “I’ll just leave you kids to your fun.  I’ve got work to do.”  He started for the door.  “Someone’s gotta keep this place afloat.”  

T
he door clicked shut behind Burk
and Cade dropped back onto the floor with a groan
.  The enormity of the situation hit him
full on
.  He had made love to Lacy.  No, he’d done more than that.  He
had allowed himself to fall in love
with her.  A woman he could never have for two reasons.  She was a reporter, and, more importantly, she deserved more than a has-been rodeo star that
barely had
two
dimes
to rub together.