Round-the-Clock Temptation (11 page)

Will nodded back, then picked up the controller and switched the television on. “See you in the morning.”

“G'night.”

Leaving Will alone in the family room, Connor headed up the stairs, vowing that, if he ever had a family, he would raise his children the way Will had. They would always feel loved and appreciated for who they were.

A wife and family.

For the first time in his life he realized he wanted that. He wanted those things with Nita.

And she didn't want them with anyone, not even him.

He stepped into his room, but before he could even switch the lights on, a pair of arms circled him from behind.

“Ready to play, cowboy?”

 

Connor turned and Nita rose up on her toes to kiss him. She loved the taste of his mouth, the softness of his tongue, the brush of his whiskers against her chin.
Most men kissed too hard or too soft, or too sloppy. Connor, no matter how he did it, was always just right.

Their lips still locked, he pulled her into the room and shut the door. She tore his shirt from the waist of his jeans, desperate to get him naked, before something else happened to sidetrack them. She grabbed the two sides of his shirt and yanked.

Button's flew everywhere and bounced across the hardwood floor. She pushed the shirt off his shoulders and down his arms.

“You are a wild one,” Connor muttered as she slid her hands up his bare chest, sank her teeth into his lower lip.

“Do mine now,” she said, kissing her way to his ear, sucking his lobe into her mouth. She wouldn't be happy until she licked and sucked every bit of him. “Rip it off me.”

Connor slipped his fingers into the gaps between the buttons of her shirt, lightly stroking the skin beneath. She liked foreplay, but she was so ready for him she felt like she would burst into flames if he didn't take her soon.

“Do it,” she said, and still he only teased.

“You in some kind of hurry?” he asked, and she could hear amusement in his voice.

“In fact I am. If we don't get this show on the road something is bound to happen that will stop us again. A meteor could hit the house or World War Three could break out.”

His fingers brushed the skin just below her bra and she shivered. “I thought you were exhausted.”

“Do I look exhausted to you?”

“I guess not.” With one quick yank he ripped the shirt open and a second round of buttons went airborne.
He pushed the shirt off her, then instead of reaching back to undo her bra, he gave that a yank too. Nita gasped as the garment ripped clear in half. It made her so hot she felt dizzy.

He cupped his warm hands over her breasts. “Better?”

“Oh, yes.” She sighed and closed her eyes. She liked a man who took charge every now and then. It wasn't often she found one who could keep up with her. One that wasn't intimidated by her aggressive nature.

“I want to see you,” he said. He backed toward the bed, pulling her along with him, and switched on the lamp.

Warm light poured over him and she took in the sight of all his thick, bulky muscle. The man did have a body to die for, and she was going to touch it all.

“You're beautiful,” he said, his eyes roaming over her as if the sight of her body amazed him.

Poor guy. He obviously didn't get out much if he thought she was beautiful. Not that she was ugly. She was always okay with her body. It didn't seem to turn anyone off, even though she didn't have much in the way of a figure. Small breasts, no hips to speak of—nothing special. She did have a few special skills that she planned to use on him as soon as she got the rest of his clothes off. And she could see from the generous ridge in the front of his jeans, she was going to have a lot to play with.

She unbuttoned his pants and was working on the zipper when Connor caught her wrist in his hand.

“Nita wait. Not yet.”

She closed her eyes and sighed.
Good lord, here we go again.

“W
ait for what?” Nita asked Connor.

“There's something I need to say to you.”

Was he kidding? They'd come this far and now he wanted to stop and
talk?
It just wasn't normal.

She pulled her hand free and slid it up his chest. “Would you mind terribly if we talked later?”

He grabbed her hand and held it. “In fact I would mind.”

The man was impossible! She blew out a long frustrated breath. “Okay, what do you need to say?”

“I need you to know that this isn't just sex to me. Today, when I thought about losing you…” He shook his head, as though he couldn't bear to say the words.

“I'm not lost,” she told him.

“Nita—”

She pressed her fingers over his mouth. “No more
talking tonight, okay? Let's just concentrate on making each other feel good.”

It wasn't that she didn't like to talk. She simply was afraid of what he might say. They'd both had a scare and their emotions were running high. High enough to make him say things he didn't really mean. Things she didn't ever want to hear from a man. Things that would tempt her to give more of herself than was wise.

He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her. A slow, sweet kiss packed with more raw emotion than she knew what to do with. More emotion than she could take right now. Despite what he thought, this was sex and nothing more. It's all it could ever be. She couldn't let herself fall in love with him.

She backed away and unfastened her jeans, pushing them down along with her panties. His eyes raked over her, so filled with heat she was afraid her skin might catch fire.

Now, this was more like it.

Connor shoved his pants down and kicked them out of the way. For a minute they just looked, devouring each other with their eyes. The lower half of him was just as amazing as the top. She couldn't wait to taste and touch all of it.

He reached for her but she backed away.

“Uh-uh. Lay down.”

“What are you going to do?” He didn't sound worried, just inquisitive.

She ran her tongue across her bottom lip. “Things you've only dreamed about.”

He sat on the edge of the mattress, scooted back and stretched out in all his glory with his hands folded under
his head on the pillow. Not bashful, was he? “This what you wanted?”

“Perfect.” Nita knelt at the foot of the bed and crawled up between his legs. Starting at his ankles, she ran her hands up, through the crisp dark hair. She felt the muscle flex under her palms and his eyes grew heavy with lust.

She lowered her head and ran her tongue up the entire length of his erection.

Connor groaned and gripped the bottom edge of the headboard. Nita sure didn't waste any time getting to the good stuff. And he didn't doubt it would only get better.

For a while she only teased him, using her tongue in ways he hadn't even known were possible. He lay there in ecstasy wondering where she'd learned to do this, how many men had come before him, then realized he didn't care. He was here now. That was all that mattered.

When he didn't think he could take much more of her exploring, she looked up to make sure he was watching and took him deep in her mouth. It was so damned erotic he just about lost it. It wasn't the first time a woman had gone down on him but he couldn't remember it feeling this good. He couldn't remember feeling much of anything at all. He'd never let himself.

Now he couldn't stop feeling. The wet heat of her mouth, the soft scrape of her teeth on his skin, her hair slipping like silk across his thighs. Her palms were rough from handling the horses, but instead of it being a turnoff, it only excited him more. Everything about her excited him. Too much. His heart pounded, blood pulsed as desire took hold and wouldn't let go. He wanted it to last but it felt so damned good. He was almost there…

About half a second before he reached the point of no return, she gave him one more long, wet lick, then stopped. He groaned with both disappointment and relief.

She started kissing a path up his belly, slid herself over his body, touching and tasting everything along the way, until she was straddling him. For the rest of his life he would never forget the way she looked sitting there, long and lean and beautiful. He thought about what she'd said, about looking like a boy and nearly laughed out loud.

“See how wet you make me?” She rocked herself intimately against him, so hot and slippery. He groaned and dug his fingers into her hips. He didn't want to rush this, but he was so turned on he couldn't see straight.

“Connor, I need you inside me. I can't wait any longer.”

“Do I need my wallet?”

“I'm on the pill,” she said. “Is that okay?”

“Works for me.” He watched as, eyes closed, head thrown back, she lowered herself over him, took him deep inside of her. She was so hot and tight he was sure he'd died and gone to heaven. Nothing should ever feel this good, this perfect.

For several seconds she sat motionless, as if savoring the moment, then she began to move. If he'd expected slow and sweet, he could see right away that wasn't going to happen. She rode him hard and fast, whispering sexy words in a voice husky with desire. All too soon he began to lose himself in the exquisite sensations, but instead of trying to lock it down as he normally would, wring all the feeling, all the emotion from the act, he let go. He let himself feel it all—physically
and emotionally. It came from everywhere and nowhere, and was more intense than anything he'd ever felt before. And when he knew he was ready to tumble over the edge, his body didn't let go. The world around him became a blur as sensation like he'd never felt overwhelmed him. It drove him higher and higher, until it was almost too much to take.

Then Nita cried out and her body clamped hard around him and he lost it. Orgasm for him had always been swift and simple—a release of pent-up energy. What was happening to him now… It was as if every emotion he'd never let himself feel came crashing down around him all at once. It was almost too much to bear. Too painfully intense. He was still riding it out when Nita collapsed breathlessly in his arms.

That's when he knew what he'd told her was true. This wasn't just sex to him. He loved her. She was what he wanted, for the rest of his life, and he would do whatever it took to keep her.

 

Nita lay sprawled across Connor's chest, listening to his heart pound against her ear, feeling the deep rise and fall as he breathed.

Normally she didn't do the whole afterglow routine. It was too personal, too easy to drop her defenses and let those warm, fuzzy feelings mess with her head. But for some reason, she couldn't seem to make herself get out of his bed. She didn't
want
to.

She had known sex with him would be good, but they'd blown right past good the second he'd ripped her bra off. From there she couldn't even put into words what she'd felt because there were really no
words to describe it. He was definitely in a class all by himself.

For a fleeting moment she'd worried that, given his age, she might be too much for him to handle, but he'd had the stamina of men half his age—and then some. And while she'd expected him to be as reserved in bed as he had been in personality, he'd quickly proved her wrong. He'd arranged her in so many different positions—some downright scandalous—that by the time they were finished she'd felt like a human pretzel. Who would have guessed a man as reserved and quiet as Connor would have such an adventurous streak in bed?

Connor stroked her back with a large, warm hand—down her spine, over the curve of her behind and back up again. “Is it safe to talk now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You told me earlier, no more talking tonight. But I figured since it's 1:00 a.m., it's technically tomorrow.”

“We have been talking,” she said. There was no way he could accuse her of being quiet during sex.

“By talking, I mean having a conversation, not, ‘Do it harder, Connor,' or ‘Faster, Connor.'”

She laughed and pinched him playfully. “Yeah, okay. What do you want to talk about?”

“I don't know. What do you usually talk about after sex?”

“I don't. Unlike most women, I'm the first one off the bed and out the door.”

“Why is that?”

She shrugged. “Never seemed much point in hanging around. You do and a man starts to get the wrong idea.”

“But you're here now.”

“You wore me out. I'm too tired to move.” It wasn't a complete lie, and it was easier than the truth. Hell, even she didn't know why she was still lying there. It had to be temporary insanity.

“Have there been many before me?”

She could swear she heard a sour note in his voice. She got up on her elbow and peered at him though the dark. “You jealous, Connor?”

If he was, his face didn't reveal a thing. “Just curious.”

“Well, it's less than you'd probably think. Three not including you.” She propped her chin on his chest. “How about you?”

“More than three.”

Meaning he wasn't going to tell her. That was okay, because if it was an astronomical number, like two hundred, she didn't even want to know. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” she asked instead.

“We were both seventeen.”

She tried to imagine Connor at seventeen, before life had hardened his face, what a heartbreaker he must have been. The girls must have flocked to him. “I'll bet you drove the poor girl wild,” she said.

He chuckled. “I wish. I was so nervous I could barely get the condom on and I lasted all of about ten seconds. I doubt it was a memorable experience. How about you, when was your first time?”

“I was nineteen.”

He looked surprised. “I would have guessed younger.”

“Jane had hammered into me for years that I should save myself for marriage. Not that I didn't do my fair share of fooling around.”

He stroked a big hand up her arm, across her shoulder. “Your curious nature?”

“Exactly. But I got to thinking that maybe I didn't ever want to get married. So, it was either die a virgin, or have some harmless fun.”

“Makes sense I guess.”

“And it's not like I went to a bar and picked some stranger out of the crowd. I was particular when it came to choosing the right man. A couple of months went by and I thought maybe I would never find him, then Jimmy hired a new hand and the second I saw him, I knew he would be the one. He was twenty-nine.”

Connor raised an eyebrow. “Twenty-nine, huh?”

She grinned. “What can I say, I've got a thing for older men. We got serious for a while. I even thought I loved him.”

“What happened?”

“He inherited his granddaddy's ranch in Montana. He wanted me to marry him and move there.”

“I take it you said no.”

“At first I thought about going, even though I would miss Daddy something fierce. We talked about it, and he encouraged me to follow my heart. Ranching sounded like fun and I figured I could start up a horse training business. Until this man made it clear that he would run the ranch and
I
would cook and clean and become a baby machine. He wanted six kids! Can you believe that?”

“You don't want kids?”

“Maybe one or two. But
six?
I said no way, I wasn't going to be anybody's domestic slave.”

“Good thing,” Connor said. “One week of your cooking and he'd have sent you straight back to Texas.”

Some women might have been offended by his remark. She only laughed. “I'm just not cut out for domestic life. Even though people in town don't think that's right. They think being raised without a mother messed me up somehow.”

“What do you think?”

“I don't care what they think. I was born this way and if they don't like it they can all go to hell. The more they push me, I push back twice as hard. I'm sure you've heard things.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I've heard a thing or two.”

“How about you?” she asked. “Ever been married?”

“Nope.”

“Ever come close?”

“Never.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“I never let myself get that close to a woman,” he said, reaching up to stroke her cheek. “This is different.”

A tangle of emotions she didn't want to feel wrapped themselves around her heart and squeezed. She didn't even want to know what he'd meant by that.

She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes, afraid of what she might see if she dared look at him again. Somehow the conversation had gone from casually playful to solemn and profound and she just couldn't deal with it right now. “It's late, I should go to bed.”

“I thought you were too tired to move.”

“I've had time to recover.”

His hand wandered down to stroke her behind. “Guess I'll just have to wear you out again.”

“I think it's better if I just go.” She made a move to leave and his arms went around her, holding her close to him.

“Don't go, Nita.”

There was world of feeling packed into those three little words. She wanted to hate it, wanted to run and hide, but then he started kissing her, started touching her, and all she could do was melt.

One night, she decided as he rolled her over, started kissing his way down under the covers. She'd give him one full night.

He parted her legs, touched her with his mouth and she groaned with pleasure.

One night together, then things were going to change.

 

Nita endorsed the checks that had arrived in the mail that afternoon and set them in the top drawer, ready for her weekly trip to the bank. She swallowed the knot of anxiety that had lodged itself in her throat and tried to convince herself things would be okay—she could hold it together. With so much of their business lost, compounded by the vet bills from the poisoned feed, things were even worse than she'd thought. The worst they'd ever been.