Slow Burn (18 page)

The green-eyed redhead was so sexy that he’d damned near gone hard when he’d clasped her hand. She had a cute grin and shapely body and her nipples were hard, poking against the light cotton of her T-shirt.

She wasn’t wearing a bra.

For one moment Zane thought about carting Jessie off to the ranch house and taking her six ways ’til Sunday.

Well hell. He mentally shook his head. He had no business thinking about another woman and his body had no damned excuse to react the way it had.

Except that Jessie Porter was one hell of a woman. And he was a red-blooded American male and he’d just had a natural reaction to her.

Keep telling yourself that, Cameron.

“Congratulations,” she said. Her smile was enough to make him crazy.

For a moment he didn’t know why she was telling him congratulations, but then he regained his senses.

“Thanks.” He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops, feeling like he needed to anchor them to make sure he kept his hands off of her.

She tilted her head to the side, which caused her dark red hair to slide away from her elegant neck. “Is the bride-to-be here?”

“Phoebe’s at her place.” He dragged his hand down his face then gave a nod in the direction of the house. “You can photograph anything you’d like to around here. Danica wants to give the album to our aunt.”

Jessie nodded. “Danica mentioned that your aunt took care of the two of you along with your three brothers. Raising five kids is quite a feat for one woman.”

“Sure as hell was.” He glanced at Jessie as she fell into step beside him.

“Danica said two of your brothers are twins,” she said. “Wayne and Wyatt.”

Zane nodded. “Yep, and our youngest brother is Dillon.”

Her smile was pure sunshine as she looked at him.

God only knew why he found himself comparing Phoebe with Jessie.

He’d begun to feel a little uneasy about his relationship with Phoebe and he’d managed to put off the wedding another couple of months, but here it was, creeping back up. To him Phoebe had been the picture of sweetness and intelligence, but lately it seemed that there had to be another side of her that others had seen but he hadn’t, but then maybe it was the pressure of the wedding. It did concern him, though.

Ah, hell. Maybe his concern was just a case of pre-wedding jitters. Although he had a good mind to move the date again.

He glanced at Jessie and thought how different she looked from Phoebe who was pale blonde and petite at five-one. Jessie, on the other hand, was no shorter than five-eight. Both women were beautiful as hell, just as different as sunrise from sunset.

He ground his teeth. He’d never been one to compare women, especially not now that he was about to be married. It was time he settled down and had a couple of kids to carry on the Cameron name. No one else in the family seemed to be inclined to head down that road. Someone had to do it.

“Riding Tall” series

by Cheyenne McCray

Branded For You e
book available FREE at all major ebook retailers

The afternoon was cooling off as it turned to dusk and then darkness descended on them. They each grabbed a light sweat jacket from the camper and slipped them on.

Ryan took a couple of steaks out of the cooler to cook over the fire. Megan sliced the potatoes and wrapped them in foil with butter and seasonings and put them in the coals first. Ryan buttered, salted, and peppered the corn on the cob and wrapped them in foil, too. When it was time, they placed the corn along the edge of the fire. Ryan had cored out the onion and put butter in the center and wrapped it in foil and put it in the coals, as well. The steaks went on last, when everything else was just about finished cooking.

When it was ready, they sat on the camping chairs in front of the fire and ate dinner.

“This is unbelievable,” Megan said with a smile.

Firelight flickered on her pretty features, casting shadows in the darkness as they ate. He thought about what he’d said to her earlier.

“I might be falling for you, Meg.”

He didn’t regret his words. He’d dated a lot of women in the past but there’d just been something missing. Something intangible that he hadn’t been able to name.

He’d never been a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy, but some thought so. He just wasn’t going to hang in there with someone if he knew she wasn’t the right one.

He’d never felt the same way with anyone that he did with Megan.

Last night he’d taken her hard and rough, and the memory caused his groin to ache. Damn she’d been amazing. But she needed to know that he wanted more from her than a night of good, hard sex.

When they finished dinner and had cleaned up, he brought a blanket from the camper and handed it to her before he put out the fire. After he extinguished the fire, he lit a candle within a glass and metal hurricane lantern.

He took her by the hand. “I’ve got something I want to show you.” Her hand was warm in his.

She smiled up at him, her smile causing something deep inside him to stir. He led her into the forest, candlelight from the hurricane lantern lighting the way. The candlelight was much gentler than a regular camping lantern and the shadows from it bounced from tree to tree.

“I saw a place somewhere over here,” he murmured as they walked through the forest then came to a stop. “Here we go.”

A small clearing lay on the other side of a fallen tree, a bed of leaves at the center of the clearing. They stepped over the tree and then he found a sturdy place to set the hurricane before taking the blanket from Megan and spreading it out on the leaves.

He slipped out of his jacket and set it on the fallen tree. “I’ll keep you warm,” he said as he held out his hand.

She looked up at him, slid off her sweat jacket, handed it to him and he set it on top of his own.

He sat on the blanket and beckoned to her. She eased onto her knees beside him and he cupped her face in his hands and lowered his head and kissed her.

Her kiss was sweet and his desire for her kicked into full gear. He wanted to take her hard again, right now. But more importantly, he wanted to show her that it wasn’t only about rough sex with him. It was all about her.

When he drew away from the kiss, her lips were parted, hunger in her pretty green eyes.

“You’re an incredible woman.” He brushed his thumb over her lips, which trembled beneath his touch. “I’ve loved every minute of this weekend.”

“So have I,” she said, her voice just above a whisper. “I wish it didn’t have to end.”

“It doesn’t.” He nuzzled her hair that was silky now that it had dried. “When we return, we just pick right back up where we left off.”

She smiled and he kissed her again. She felt so soft and warm in his arms. He slid his hand under her T-shirt, pleased she didn’t have her bra on as he cupped her bare breast and rubbed his thumb over her nipple. He watched her expression as her lips parted and her eyes grew dark with need.

He drew the T-shirt over her head and set it on the fallen tree. Candlelight flickered, gently touching her bare shoulders and chest.

“You know how much I love your body and how beautiful I think you are,” he murmured before stroking her nipples with the back of his hand.

He cupped her breasts, feeling their weight in his hands before he lowered his head and sucked a nipple.

She gasped and leaned back so that her hands were braced behind her on the blanket, her back arched so that he had better access to her breasts. He pressed them together and moved his mouth from one to the other, sucking one nipple before moving his mouth to the other one. Her nipples were large and hard and he loved sucking on them.

“I want you on your back, looking at me.” He adjusted her so that she was lying on the blanket. Her eyes glittered in the light, desire on her features.

He was surprised at how she made him want to go slow with her, to be gentle and show her how much he cared. She stirred things inside him he’d never felt with another woman.