Once Tempted (26 page)

Wrapping an arm beneath her hips to support her, he rubbed the broad head of his cock against her, gliding ever more easily as she coated him with wet heat. His brilliant gaze never left hers and he held her fast even as she writhed and bucked in need.

“Please, Ward, I want you. I want you in me now.” Her voice was frantic and she was beyond caring.

His smile was primitive. “How about this?” He pressed an inch forward.

She hooked her boots together to draw him closer. “I have it on good authority that these are kick-ass boots,” she warned.

“Then, in the interest of self-preservation—”

With a single powerful thrust he embedded himself. Crying out with pleasure, she arched off the bed, drawing him even deeper.

For a second neither of them spoke. She knew he, too, was absorbing the incredible sensations rolling through them.

“Better?” he whispered, brushing her lips slowly.

“Oh, yes.” It wasn’t just better, it was magical. On fire for him, she shimmied her hips and clenched him tighter.

“Christ, Tess. You are incredible.” His sensual teasing was at an end. His face, all hard planes, was stamped with fierce arousal. With a flex of his hips, he withdrew and then rocked into her, penetrating her more. He did it again, driving deeper still.

She moaned as her core began to contract helplessly about him, her entire body trembling with need. “Ward, please, I—”

He grabbed her hands and pulled them above her head. Linking their fingers together, he whispered hoarsely. “I’ve got you. Hold on.”

He moved with a controlled force that thrilled, fulfilling every sensual promise of his strong athletic body. Each surge had her moaning in ecstasy, her body arching beneath his, her toes curling inside her boots as her hands clutched his fiercely, frantically; each withdrawal had her whimpering at the loss.

His kisses, wickedly plundering, as irresistible as the barely leashed wildness of his body driving into her, consumed her with equal passion. He took her higher and higher, filling her with undiluted ecstasy.

Together they climbed, coming ever closer, their whispers turning to broken moans and helpless gasps.

“Ward?” she managed to gasp.

“Yeah, babe?”

“Whatever you do, don’t ever stop.”

He brushed his lips over hers. “Never, Tess.”

He was as good as his word.

Much, much later, Ward removed Tess’s cowboy boots, too.

Naked, they slept as they’d made love, bodies pressed together and entwined. Breaths mingling, hearts matching beat for pounding beat.

W
ARD AWOKE A
happy man, a very happy man.

Hard not to be when Tess was sleeping half-draped over him, her bare leg sandwiched between his and her breath sending her long, dark bangs tickling his chest with every exhale. He lay with his arm looped possessively about her, listening to the nesting birds stir outside his still-darkened window and herald the March dawn with energetic chirps. Spring was sweeping winter away. Change was in the air.

Ward definitely approved of the changes that had occurred last night. He shifted, drawing Tess even closer against him, and smiled when her nipples pebbled against his chest. She was so beautiful and so incredibly responsive.

It came as no surprise that the sex between them had been fantastic. The sight of Tess with her long legs and deliciously lush curves clad in nothing but the cowboy boots he’d bought for her, had nearly blown his mind. The pleasure they’d found in each other’s bodies had been equally stunning. Tess was a passionate woman, generous and uninhibited.

But there’d been something else he discovered. When he’d been deep inside her body, their gazes locked as she
trembled convulsively around him, he’d felt somehow like they belonged to each other. It was a sense of connection that went beyond the merely physical. The memory made him shift slightly so he could press a kiss against her head and breathe in the scent of her sleep-warmed skin.

Whether Tess would admit what had happened to them was anything more serious than a long, thrilling bout of five-star sex was another question. Actually, he was pretty sure she’d deny it with her usual tough-cookie sass. Now that he’d begun to put together the pieces of the puzzle that was Tess Casari he understood why she might be even more commitment shy than he was. Though there were still some gaping holes in the picture, certain details were becoming clear. The most troubling one was how hurt she’d been by her late husband.

Tess was the sort of woman who should be looking for the warmth, joy, and love she’d enjoyed in her marriage. It was becoming terribly clear that her marriage had provided few of those things. Her words to him the night before had made it plain her marriage had destroyed the hopes she’d carried in her heart entering it. The evidence had been there, audible in the strained catch of her voice, visible in the shadows lurking in her eyes.

It had made him want to draw her into his arms and kiss away the hurt, soothe her with murmured words.

But then she’d continued her speech, informing him that she didn’t need his pity, nor did she want promises of forever. And another part of him, the part that, ever since Erica had returned his engagement ring with a “Thanks, but no thanks,” was determined to avoid emotional entanglements, had heard Tess’s words with a surge of relief. He was off the hook, messy emotion–wise.

What man determined to remain single wouldn’t feel
like he’d been given a prettily wrapped gift were a beautiful, desirable woman to tell him she wanted only to have sex with him, no strings attached?

Guilty as charged, he’d been more than willing to agree to a plan that so neatly meshed with his own MO.

But after last night he didn’t think that what they’d shared could simply be described as two people having a bang-up time scratching each other’s itches. Sex with Tess went way beyond that, into a new territory.

In case he needed yet another sign that whatever had happened last night wasn’t nearly as simple as Tess had decreed it should be, he wasn’t remotely ready to utter the words “Thanks for the great time last night. Let’s do it again sometime.”

He wanted more with her.

It was still early but Ward, taking care not to disturb her, rolled out of bed and pulled on his jeans. In the kitchen, he flipped on the coffee maker and then decided to go one better and fix her some toast from a loaf of seeded whole wheat.

As he waited for the coffee to finish dripping and the toaster to ding, he looked out the window. There was just enough light to make out the roof lines of the barns, the fences demarcating the corrals, and the jagged outlines of the mountains in the distance. His home. His life.

Ward would be the first to acknowledge what a great life it was. He lived in one of the most beautiful places in the world. He loved the people around him. His family was healthy, supportive, and remarkably nondysfunctional. He could handle their bouts of nosiness and interference knowing they were fueled by love.

Perhaps that was the reason he’d been able to resist Erica’s demands, her however-many-step plan to transform him from a rancher and hotelier into someone who tended his financial portfolio and God knows what else.
After Erica moved on to far greener pastures, he’d taken stock and recognized that, all things considered, he was still one lucky bastard.

He wondered whether he would have come to the same conclusion had it been Tess who walked out of his life.

A few days later, Tess was in her office, clicking through the sample wedding portraits the photographer-videographer had sent to showcase her talent. Tess had already booked an appointment with Liz Reading, the photographer, so that Liz could meet Carrie and Brian, but as their visit approached—they were due to arrive Friday midday—Tess was compulsively double-checking all the vendors and merchants she’d preselected for the couple.

She felt fairly confident about Liz Reading, though. The photographer used settings to great effect in her pictures. That would mean a lot to Carrie and Brian, since their wedding would be held in such a beautiful place. Tess clicked on a night shot. Locked in a tender embrace, a bride and groom stood at the edge of a lake where a flotilla of votive candles bobbed in the blue-black water. Liz Reading had caught the moon’s reflection so that its path led across the water, waiting for the couple to take their first steps together.

How lovely, Tess thought a little mistily.

A lot of things were striking her as lovely, and it was easy to pinpoint when she’d shed her disenchanted attitude. It coincided with the hour she’d removed her clothes for Ward and stepped into his arms, naked except for the cowboy boots he’d given her. Funny that a man she’d labeled as proud and rude should be the reason for the glow that now seemed to touch everything around her, illuminating herself as well.

Her cell rang and she answered with a distracted “Hello?,” her gaze still fixed on the computer screen in front of her.

“Oh my God, your cowboy’s gone viral!”

She straightened in her chair in surprise. “Anna?”

“Who else? Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit about the video going viral, but it’s pretty sensational. Have you checked the numbers, the reach?”

“No, I haven’t. Phil, who handles reservations and is a big back office numbers cruncher, likes to be in charge of that stuff. And things have been pretty, um, busy around here. Lots going on.”

In all honesty, Armageddon could have been unfolding and Tess probably wouldn’t have noticed. In the three days since she and Ward had first made love she’d yet to catch her breath. She lost it every time Ward kissed her, touched her, or simply looked at her. That lazy gleam in his eyes drove her wild. Even when he wasn’t nearby, he occupied her thoughts—invaded them with the same confidence he did everything else. It left her dazed and happy and smiling.

She hadn’t smiled so much in … never.

“Well, I think your boss is gonna be pleased with the buzz you’ve created. And let me tell you, now that I’ve seen him in action, I’ve got to admit the raw material is mighty fine. Who knew watching a guy on a horse keep a cow away from its buddies could be so darned exciting?”

Tess could list a whole bunch of things Ward could do that were even more exciting. For instance, watching him walk toward her and knowing he was going to take her hand or perhaps slip his arm about her waist and draw her close while his lips unerringly found the pulse at the hollow of her neck could cause her heart to skip and desire to flutter deep inside her. Not just desire but bone-deep happiness—the feeling as beautiful as a flock
of birds taking flight, their beating wings caught in a ray of light.

She was so happy she was loopy with it, but at least she had the sense not to blurt out how incredible Ward was. She didn’t want to be charged with deviating from the “It’s Just Sex” route, which anyone listening to her—Anna especially—might quickly suspect.

She wasn’t deviating so much as skirting, a fine but important distinction. She was doing her best to navigate the treacherous territory she found herself in, enjoying every moment with Ward yet still keeping her head and heart. Not an easy task when he made her feel so special, when he was so much more than she’d expected as a lover.

Of course he was stupendous in bed. Anyone who could move as he did, who was graced with his hands and mouth and who possessed any kind of appreciation for the female body, would be pretty hot between the sheets. Or against a wall. Or on a dresser, driving into her to the accompanying beat of the metal handles jangling against the drawers. But Ward could probably blow a woman’s mind in a tent on the lumpy ground—he was that talented.

Though wonderfully impressive, his sexual prowess wasn’t what truly made her have to work so hard at remembering the ground rules she’d laid out for them. It was the little gestures that most likely anyone else but Tess would have assumed was her due, such as bringing her coffee in bed. He would not only do that, but after passing her the steaming cup, he’d stretch out beside her and talk, sharing bits about what he had to do that day on the ranch and at the guest lodge and then asking what was on her agenda. And while they talked, his arm would find its way around her shoulders to caress them. Then his fingers would comb through her tangled hair,
stroking it and toying with it. Simple sharing, simple touching.

No man had ever thought to bring her coffee before, not even David. In hindsight she saw that all too soon he’d been far more interested in orchestrating and controlling their time together. He’d always needed to be the star, the bright focal point. Dazzled as she’d been, it hadn’t occurred to her to question the dynamic.

“Ward’s good at a lot of things,” she finally answered, knowing she had to say something in response to Anna’s comment. Though she tried to make her tone stoutly loyal rather than dreamy, her friend was too perceptive.

“Oh, boy! You did the deed, didn’t you? Oh, I am so proud of you,
cara
! So maybe it’s time to say
‘Mille grazie,’
for sending you to a place where you’d find a cowboy dude to tear up the sheets with.”

Anna was never going to let her forget the role she’d played in landing Tess in Acacia. “Thank you, Anna,” she said obediently.