Jesse (27 page)

“I don't want to hurt you,” she whispered, trembling as he hooked his fingertips in the waistband of her panties.

“You couldn't.” With a tug, she was naked from the waist down. He closed his eyes and let his hands whisper over the curve of her waist and around to her back, molding the apex of her sweet backside with both hands. The pain in his wrist and ankle faded, along with the ache in his head, and were forgotten as he lost himself in the satiny feel of her skin beneath his hands.

His lips followed the path his hands had forged. When they touched the baby smooth skin of her backside, he knew he couldn't wait much longer unless he reined back on his desire. Changing tactics, he traced the tip of his tongue along the lacy edge of her bra. With a glance up, he could tell she was right there with him, on the edge of reason.

He licked beneath the lace and let the tip of his tongue rasp against her nipple. Her body's response had him desperate to take her. “I thought I could take my time…”

“Don't.”

She was on the bed, her bra pushed down beneath the bountiful breasts he'd just set free. Feasting on first one and then the other, he sucked and suckled until she was writhing beneath him begging him to take her.

He tried to flip open the top button of his jeans, but his hands were shaking—he'd never trembled for a woman before. “Help me?”

Urgent hands freed him and shucked his jeans down his legs until he could step out of them. “Now!” she demanded falling back on the bed and pulling him with her.

He slid into her liquid warmth and lost himself in the overwhelming need to make this woman his. He set the pace, lightning fast strokes, delving deep, pumping hard, taking them higher and higher until he thought he'd go blind—and then he came, hot and fast. His lips captured her cries of ecstasy as he emptied his life-giving essence deep inside of her, triumphant knowing that it mingled with her honeyed warmth, as they tumbled over the edge together.

The knock on the door woke him. When he looked down, Danielle's beautiful blue eyes were watching him. “Hey, handsome.”

“Hey, yourself.” He had to remind himself just how good she tasted; dipping down, he captured her lips, tormenting himself with a long and lazy taste.

“Jesse, open up!”

“Go away, Tyler.” He wrapped his arms around Danielle and shifted so they were back to front… her delicious backside cuddled in his lap.

“Can't. Just got the phone call that company'll be here in fifteen.”

“It's too early—” he began until he heard his brother's laughter.

“You've been up here a couple of hours, Bro, time to get cleaned up… I'll hold them off till you two come downstairs.”

A hint of suspicion clouded her gaze when she asked, “Who's here?”

“You heard my brother—company.” He pushed her toward the edge, delighted that she was fighting him to stay in his bed.

“Maybe I don't feel like being around anybody right now.”

He laughed. “You will. Come on, let's get a quick shower.”

She finally relaxed against him and let herself be pushed out of bed. “OK, but under protest.”

Tossing her his T-shirt, he pulled on his jeans, zipping them partway so they wouldn't fall off while he was walking to the bathroom. “Come on, darlin', you're about to have a quickie in the shower.”

“I don't think—”

“Now you're talkin',” he said, tugging her along. “We don't have enough time for thinkin'.”

“What about your wrist?”

Jesse unwrapped his wrist and his ankle and grinned. “No problem, darlin'.”

They were slippery with soap and panting by the time someone knocked on the door. “Go away!” he grumbled, turning her back around to kiss her just once more.

“Everything's ready when you are.” Normally, Tyler's laughter would have irritated him, but making love to Danielle had taken the edge off.

“Be there in a few,” he promised. Turning off the water, he reached for a towel and started to dry her off. “Dani darlin', don't forget your promise.”

She picked up the other dry towel and started to dry him off. “Not to be mad?” She giggled. “Are you kidding? I'm way too relaxed to be mad. Besides, I've just beat my all time record.”

“For what?”

“That would be telling,” she said, pressing her lips to his neck and trailing kisses down to the shamrock tattooed over his heart. “Have I told you how sexy your tattoo is?”

He groaned. “God, woman—tell me later. There's a surprise waiting downstairs for you.”

She pulled back from him. “What kind of a surprise?”

“How the hell many kinds are there?” He couldn't believe she was going to make this difficult.

“Two,” she told him. “The good kind and the bad kind.”

“Oh.” He grinned down at her. “It's the good kind.”

With towels wrapped around them, they walked back to his room. She looked over her shoulder and said, “The bed's made.”

He nodded, urging her into the room. “Looks like it.”

“Someone left clean clothes… great! I didn't really want to put on the same clothes I'd been wearing since yesterday.”

“I, uh… thought you might be worried about that.”

“Is this dress Ronnie's or Emily's?”

“Emily's. Will it fit?” Hell, he hoped it would, or else the rest of his surprise wasn't gonna work.

Her hand froze as she reached for the pale blue sundress, and he realized she'd noticed the turquoise bra and matching tap pants. “Are these what I think they are?”

“Yes, ma'am.” He pulled her into his arms. “Will you wear them for me today?”

“OK,” she said, “but only because I keep my promises.”

Relief speared through him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a tongue-tangling kiss.

So far everything was going according to plan. Knowing he wasn't strong enough to watch her getting dressed without sampling the satin doll skin she'd be covering up, he put a hand to his temple, and before he could even say it hurt, she was saying, “You forgot to take the aspirin.”

He tried not to smile. “I got distracted.”

“I'll get it—”

He held up his hand. “I've got pants on, I'll go get it.”

He was out the door before she could protest. Tyler answered his text before he got the bottle of pain-reliever opened. He sent a reply, opened the bottle, dry-swallowed the aspirin, and smiled all the way back to his bedroom.

***

Danielle knew Jesse was up to something, but she was in too good of a mood to wrangle the truth out of him. If he wanted to surprise her… with the good kind of surprise… then she'd be willing to let him.

Stepping into the satin tap pants, she reached for the bra and was fastening it when he knocked on the door. “It's Jesse. Can I come in?”

She grinned and slipped the dress over her head and smoothed it into place. Amazingly, it hugged her curves and belled out softly around her knees. “Yes.” She was turning around when he opened the door.

“You're so damned beautiful,” he rasped, taking her into his arms, pressing his lips to her temple. Easing her out of his arms, he held out his hand. “Are you ready to go?”

She reached for his hand and smiled. “About your surprise—”

“You'll like it,” he promised, tugging her toward the stairs.

“Hey,” she said stopping at the top, “we're still barefoot.”

He grinned. “So we are. Come on.”

When they reached the foot of the stairs, she heard voices coming from the kitchen. “Are your cousins back from making their rounds?”

“Sounds like,” he said, tightening his grip on her hand. A few feet from the kitchen Tyler was walking toward them, calling out over his shoulder, “I'll go see what's keeping them.”

“We're here,” Jesse said.

His brother turned and smiled. “'Bout time.” Tyler paused and smiled down at Danielle. “Did my boneheaded brother tell you how beautiful you are?”

“Yes.” She grinned at Jesse.

Tyler nodded. “Everyone's waiting.”

She planted her feet. “Who's here?”

Jesse kissed her to get her moving again. Tyler walked ahead, and as soon as she could see past his broad shoulders, she started to smile. Her uncle and Lacy were standing by the table.

Before she could say anything, she noticed that Jesse's brothers and his cousins were awfully clean for having just finished a half-day's worth of work.

She tilted her head to one side as she stared up at Jesse. “What's going on?”

Lacy looked up at her uncle. When he nodded, she shouted. “Yes!”

Danielle shook her head. So that was his surprise, bringing her daughter her. “Yes what, sweet pea?”

“Please marry cowboy Jesse.”

The smiling faces surrounding them had her laughing. “You didn't have to go to so much trouble planning an engagement party.” She hugged Jesse tight. “But thanks.”

“Hold that thought, June bug,” her uncle said with a grin. “We're waiting on two more people.”

Confused, she looked in the direction her uncle had, and had to shake her head. Mavis was walking in the back door with a man dressed in a black robe. “Sorry, Jesse,” Mavis said. “Judge Gambling just finished sentencing someone.”

“Judge?” Danielle said looking first at her uncle and then Jesse.

He took her hands in his and lifted them to his lips. “Lacy said yes, Dani darlin'.”

Everything clicked into place. “But I thought we were going to wait—”

“Life's too short, darlin'.” He pulled her back into his arms. “Marry me.”

Bruised and battered, the cowboy she hadn't wanted to fall in love with waited for her answer. Love filled her to bursting. “Well,” she drawled, “since Lacy said it was all right with her…”

Jesse tilted his head back and laughed. “I've just gotta have another taste of your smart mouth. Come here, darlin'.”

“But the judge didn't say the words yet,” her uncle reminded her.

Jesse's kiss made her head spin and her knees weak. “He's got five minutes to get it said.”

“Do you, Jesse Garahan—”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

The judge chuckled and turned to Danielle. “And do you Danielle—”

“I do.”

“You may kiss your bride.”

Jesse sealed their promise with a kiss that had her forgetting all about their audience. Deep rumbling chuckles brought them back to Earth and the reality that they couldn't escape back upstairs just yet. There were hands to shake, people to hug, and cake to eat.

“What do you mean they can't go on stage shirtless?”

Emily and Jolene Langley stood with their hands on their hips and fire in their eyes, but Sheriff McClure wouldn't budge. “I told you ladies, SIPs lead to FIPs. This is a family celebration, and I'm not having anyone stripping in public.”

“But they're not stripping,” Jolene told him.

“They're just shirtless,” Emily added.

“And not getting on this stage until they've put their shirts back on.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest and frowned down at them.

Danielle hadn't wanted to step in, but in order to avoid the possibility of a fight breaking out and her new husband aggravating his injuries, she spoke up. “Sheriff McClure is right. This is a family event.” She stared at Emily and then slowly winked.

Emily nodded. “All right, Sheriff.”

“You win,” Jolene agreed.

Backstage, Danielle pulled Emily and Jolene aside and told them, “We've got a couple of options: we could have them wear their shirts unbuttoned, or we could have them wear form-fitting white T-shirts that we cut a big slash in, so all of the ladies can see their matching shamrock tattoos.”

Jolene and Emily looked at one another and started to laugh. “Either of those ideas will work,” Jolene said, “but I think we should give Sheriff McClure a run for his money and have the guys go out on stage shirtless.”

“The sheriff's going to be really upset,” Emily warned.

Jolene laughed. “Cousin, did you forget that my give a damn's busted?”

Their laughter had the guys looking over at them. Tyler was shaking his head when he walked over. “All right, ladies, what are you all up to?”

Jolene just smiled up at him. “Nothing to worry your pretty head over, cowboy.”

He laughed at the nickname she'd given him when he worked at her club.

“What did the sheriff want?” Dylan asked, joining them.

“We're already married,” Jesse said to Danielle. “So I can't invoke the Donovan Marriage Ordinance to keep you out of jail.”

“Who's going to jail?” Matt and Ben motioned for Tommy and Mike to join them.

Surrounded by a wall of testosterone that had her fanning herself, Danielle slipped her arm around her husband. Lord, she was a lucky woman. “It seems we have a problem with your portion of the show,” she told them.

“The sheriff has strict rules about no SIPs—”

Matt and Ben were shaking their heads. “But we're not stripping.”

“How did you know what that meant?” Danielle hadn't.

“We're not acronym challenged,” Matt told her.

“Like some people,” Ben added.

“Is it against the law to go shirtless in Pleasure?” Mike asked. “It isn't in Central Park… for men or women.”

“Yeah, but there's a time element involved,” Tommy reminded him.

“I'm not sure,” Ronnie answered. “But we can insist the sheriff look it up while you boys get on with your show.”

“It's up to you,” Emily said. “But we'd hoped to raise enough money to help pay down Zeke's feed bill and put a dent in old man William's mortgage.”

“Isn't that why we're getting out there and dancing?”

Jolene spoke up, “It is, but there's a busload of women who arrived just to see the Garahan clan and their hunkalicious cousins flexing their fabulous glutes, pecs, and abs while showing off their Irish pride, matching tattoos. I want them to get their money's worth.”

“It would be false advertising otherwise,” Emily reminded everyone.

Jesse eased his arm free, and using his good hand, pulled his shirt over his head. “I'm in,” he ground out. “Who's with me?”

His brothers and cousins pulled their shirts off and Danielle's mouth went dry.

Seven of the best-looking cowboys she'd ever had the pleasure of seeing stood shoulder-to-shoulder, each one six foot tall or taller. Blond-haired and blue-eyed on one end, auburn-haired with green eyes on the other, and three handsome-as-sin, dark-haired, dark-eyed cowboys in the middle. Lord help her, their form-fitting jeans cupped glutes to die for. Shirtless, their abs distracted, but it was their pecs that she could not look away from; every last one of them had an emerald-green shamrock tattooed over their hearts, calling attention to their sculpted muscles.

“Well?” Jesse demanded, obviously not happy that she was looking her fill.

“There's just something about a tall, dark, and handsome cowboy,” Danielle said, walking over and pulling him out of the line up. “That just gets a lady's heart pumping.”

“Quit looking at my cousins,” he grumbled yanking her against him.

She smiled and lifted her lips until they were a breath apart, the devil in her teasing, “I was looking at your brothers.”

He swore and when he would have let her go, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, kissing him till his eyes crossed and she heard his low moan of pleasure. “Just so you never doubt which Garahan brother I love.”

He slid his hand down the curve of her spine and held her pinned against him. When their eyes met, his darkened, desperate with desire. He dipped his head until their lips were a whisper apart. Every fiber of her being cried out for him to kiss her; when he didn't, she opened her mouth to protest, and that's when he laid claim to her mouth. Plundering then savoring, devastating then worshipping—until her knees gave out and she clung to him.

“Danielle!” Jolene called out. “No manhandling allowed until after the show.”

“You're just jealous,” Jesse teased, steadying Danielle until she got her balance.

She drew in a calming breath and brushed the hair out of her eyes. Her man packed a lethal, sensual punch that had her body tingling with awareness and begging for more.

He pulled her close and whispered, “You all right, Dani darlin'?”

Love for this man filled her to bursting. She leaned her forehead against his heart and heard the steady beat of it. Pressing her lips to his tattoo, she rasped, “I will be, as long as you love me.”

He hugged her tight. “I love you more than yesterday—”

“People,” Jolene grumbled, interrupting him.

He pressed his lips to her forehead and Danielle looked up at him and smiled. “But less than tomorrow.”

He grinned and they both said, “Forever.”

“Can we please get on with this?” Jolene sounded seriously peeved, but everyone laughed until Jolene reminded the guys not to forget the steps they'd been taught.

Tyler nodded. “Relax, Jolene, we'll remember.”

“Come on, ladies,” Emily said. “There are a couple of front-row seats waiting for us.”

Danielle, Ronnie, Emily, and Jolene sat front and center waiting for the curtain to go up. When it did, Danielle's jaw dropped and her blood started pumping; standing center stage was the cowboy of her dreams.

He picked her out of the crowd and tipped his hat to her. Her husband was the best-looking one in the lineup.

When the music began to play, all eyes were glued to the long-legged, broad-shouldered cowboys while the crowd went wild, singing along about saving a horse and riding a cowboy.

Danielle's eyes filled with tears as Jesse struggled to dance on his sprained ankle. The Garahan brothers and their cousins were small-town heroes who set aside their reservations to get up in front of the crowd to fulfill their promise to help their neighbors.

Jesse was her hero—Danielle couldn't wait to get her cowboy home.