Snapped (37 page)

“Gimme your best shot.”

She looked him up and down and pursed her lips. Then she reached out and smacked his chest.

“Aw, come on. You hit like a girl.”

“I am a girl.” This time she made her hand into a fist and gave him a solid thunk on the chest.

He shook his head. “Didn’t your brothers teach you anything?” He lifted her hand in his and adjusted her fist. “Thumb out. Now pop me one.”

She hesitated. Then took a lightning-fast swing at his jaw and caught it with the palm of her hand.

He grinned down at her, and she eyed him suspiciously. “You’re getting turned on by this.”

“Honey, everything you do turns me on.”

“I’m still mad at you.”

He decided to quit while he was ahead. He reached down and laced his fingers through hers. “Come on. I want you to see something.” He tugged her toward his truck, but she kept her feet planted. “Come on.”

She followed. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He opened the passenger’s-side door and resisted the urge to cop a feel as she slid inside. This woman had his number. He wasn’t sure if it was the jeans or the shoes or the attitude, but he couldn’t be around her and not think about sex.

He got behind the wheel and made a bumpy circle around the camper to loop back to the road. The sun was getting low now, and even the small rocks cast long shadows on the gravel road. He hooked a right onto an
overgrown path and then loosened his grip on the wheel and let the tires find the ruts in the dirt.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll show you.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes past scrub brush and boulders and clumps of prickly pear. The grade started to get steep as he maneuvered north.

It felt good to be out here in familiar country with Sophie riding beside him. He hadn’t realized how much of his stress was about her being out of his sight, and now that she was right here—even though she was still in a snit—he was finally able to ratchet down his tension level from an eleven to maybe a nine-point-five.

He spotted a familiar tree stump and skirted around it before rolling to a stop.

Sophie stared through the windshield. “Wow.”

They looked out over a meadow. From their vantage point on the edge of a ridge, they could see straight over a line of trees to a thick carpet of grass.

“The row of trees there, that marks the creek. It’s the lowest part of the property, so it stays pretty wet.”

An orange longhorn stood in the shade of an oak on the far end of the meadow.

“This is a cattle ranch?”

“About a hundred head. He’s got about five thousand acres, manages it remotely from San Antonio. Caretaker lives on a few acres across the highway. That bull there, he’s a troublemaker. He gets his own separate pasture.”

They looked out over the field. The high grass was golden in the fading sunlight. It was the nicest spot on the property. Jonah had been coming out here all his life, and this was his favorite place.

He turned off the engine, and everything got quiet and still. The only sound was the low hum of cicadas.

“I’m sorry I told Woods to bring you in.”

Sophie looked at him. She looked down at her lap. “I shouldn’t have hit him. He was just doing his job.”

She was right. And she’d deserved to get arrested. But Jonah wasn’t about to point that out right now.

“I need to apologize to him at some point.” She gazed out the window.

Jonah reached over and rested his hand on the back of her seat. He stroked his thumb over her neck. Her cheeks were pink, as was the tip of her nose. Looked like she’d spent most of the day outside.

She turned and gave him a curious look. “Did you bring me here to make out?”

“Yep.” He brushed her hair off her shoulder.

“Isn’t that a little high school?”

He let his hand trail down to her waist and tugged at her jeans to reveal a strip of skin and a narrow band of lace.

“Purple.” He looked at her.

“Yes. And thanks, by the way. Your clothing selections were very interesting.”

“Just trying to help.” He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “You’re not really still mad at me, are you?”

“very.”

He brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Really?”

She nodded, and the hurt on her face made his chest tighten.

“Sophie.” He kissed her forehead. “I need you to forgive me.”

She looked at him for a long moment and he waited, anxious. He could hardly breathe for wanting this girl, and he realized he’d never had so much riding on one apology.

“I’ll think about it,” she finally said, and leaned forward to kiss him.

His arms tightened around her, and he lifted her right out of her seat and into his lap. She fell against his chest, and he shifted her legs so she was straddling him.

“Wow, you really put the moves on.” She settled onto his thighs, and he was already tugging up her T-shirt.

“Hey.” She slapped his hand. “We aren’t even to first base yet.”

Heat sparked in his eyes, and he jerked her against him. His mouth was hard and hungry. His tongue swept against hers, and she melted into the familiar taste of him, the familiar feel of his arms around her as he kissed her. She’d thought about this last night from her spot on the floor, and it was all she could do not to swallow her pride and crawl into bed with him. But she’d wanted an apology first, and now he’d given it to her, and she knew him well enough to know it hadn’t been easy, because he was every bit as stubborn as she was.

As evidenced by the fact that his hands were still sneaking under her shirt. He cupped her breasts and moved the lace aside with his thumbs, and she decided she didn’t care if he was rushing this. They could take
it slow later, when they’d gotten this blinding lust out of the way. He squeezed her gently with his big hands.

She loved the way he touched her. Tipping back her head, she pulled the shirt off, and he helped her free it from her arms. He flung it on the floor and locked his mouth on her breast.

She closed her eyes and combed her fingers into his hair. It was thick and surprisingly soft, and she liked that he had so much of it. She hoped he wouldn’t be one of those men who lost it all early. And then she pushed the thought away because it was way, way too long range, and she couldn’t let herself think like that. She just wanted to think about the here and now, and how amazing his mouth felt against her skin, and how everything he did to her made her blood rush.

She shifted on his lap, and he groaned, deep in his chest. She did it again and watched his eyes drift open. He glanced down at her breasts and froze.

“Damn, Sophie.”

She followed his gaze to her line of bruises, green today. He traced his finger over her abdomen, and she saw his jaw harden.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she whispered, reaching back to unhook her bra. She tossed it away and distracted him by kissing him.

Her fingers trailed over the bristles along his jaw as she licked into his mouth and he played with her breasts. She rolled her hips against the hard bulge in his jeans.

He pulled back and gave her a desperate look. “Are you trying to kill me?”

She smiled and reached for his shirt. He pulled it over his head and dropped it on the floor. Man. Jeans. Gun.
She sat back and sighed contentedly as he unbuckled his belt and loosened it from his holster. She watched his muscles ripple as he pulled the belt loose and stretched his arm back to stow the holster in the space behind the seat. Then he reached his arms around her to adjust the steering wheel, and she felt a shiver of lust as their bare skin touched. He racked the seat back, giving them more room.

“Seems like you’ve done this before.”

He pulled her hips, and she tipped forward and fell against him.

“True,” he said. “But I think I was about sixteen.”

She braced her hand against his shoulder, and he glanced down at her breasts.

“Sixteen, huh? I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be. It lasted maybe two minutes.”

His lips moved down her neck, and he shifted lower in the seat until she was leaning over him. He kissed her and licked her until she squirmed away from him and scooted back. She undid the snap of his jeans, then slid her hand inside and smiled at the very male groan he made as she touched him. The next thing she knew, he’d rolled her onto her back, swapping their places, and he was working on her zipper. There was an urgency now, and she could tell he was done playing around. She kicked off her sandals. Together, they wrestled with her jeans, and he ended up in the seat beside her so she could stretch her legs out while he tugged the cuffs free. Now she was down to a skimpy bit of purple lace, and he moved it aside impatiently so he could touch her.

She closed her eyes and gasped, gripping his shoulders as he hovered over her. It was too good, too much, and
she started to see stars behind her eyelids. She felt the last bit of fabric being slipped down her legs, and then he moved under her, rolling her on top again, only this time she was naked. She glanced around and couldn’t believe she was doing this out in the open this way.

“Jonah, do you think—”

“No one can see us.” He hurriedly unzipped his jeans, and then grabbed her hips and—

She gasped. He moved beneath her, and she gasped again. And then he clutched her hips and pulled her against him, hard, and she yelped. As she gripped his shoulders and ground herself against him, she felt the heat building and building between them. His eyes were closed, his face taut. He looked almost in pain, and she felt the exact same way because that full, perfect feeling she wanted stayed just out of reach.

“Jonah. Oh my God.”

“Tell me when, honey.”

She grasped his shoulders and closed her eyes and strained to get closer and closer and … he shifted beneath her. “
Yes
. Oh, yes. I love that. I love you.
Jonah!
”

He plunged deeper, and suddenly everything was too hard, and too bright, and too intense. A wave of pleasure crashed over her, and she shuddered in his arms and went to pieces. She slumped against him as he squeezed her tight and finished riding the same wave.

The truck went silent. The only sound was the buzz of insects outside. Her cheek was pressed against his shoulder. Their chests were glued together with sweat. She felt his arms, draped heavily over her back, anchoring her against him.

Her words came back to her, and she felt a flush all
the way to her scalp. Maybe he hadn’t heard. Maybe he’d been too caught up in the moment to notice. Or maybe he’d think it was one of those things she said in the throes of passion.

Only she’d never said it to anyone. Not like this. She didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or panicked.

His arms slid off of her and he groaned.

She was crushing him. She pushed back from his chest and brushed her hair out of her face. His eyes were still shut, and he looked totally blissed out. She took advantage of the chance to compose herself. Her bra was draped over the gearshift, and she pulled it on.

“How did we manage to steam up the windows? It’s ninety degrees out.”

He opened his eyes slightly. “It’s hotter in here.” He reached out and pulled her against his chest, and she tentatively settled her head there.

“You’re sweaty,” he said.

“Um, hello? So are you.”

“Just an observation.”

“This was your idea.”

He wrapped his arms around her and sighed heavily. “Best sunset I ever saw.”

They lay there for a while and she listened to his heart slow. She traced her finger over his chest and hoped this wasn’t going to be awkward now. She could handle him ignoring what she’d said, but she didn’t know if she could handle his rejection. She imagined him giving her some line about how he liked her, he just didn’t want a commitment, and her stomach twisted into a knot.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Starving. How’d you know?”

“You were starving last time, too. I figured maybe it’s a thing.”

She sat up, and this time he sat with her. She slid into the passenger seat and tried—with as much grace as she could—to locate and reassemble her clothes. She glanced up and caught him watching her as she leaned back against the seat and zipped up her jeans.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

She tossed his shirt at him, and he pulled it on. Another sideways look.

“What?” she demanded.

He shook his head and started the truck. He blasted the A/C and pointed a vent in her direction. “How about steaks and potatoes?”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll fire up the grill.” He looked at her. “And then we need to talk.”

Gretchen opened the door to her sister’s condo and wasn’t surprised to see Sean.

“Long way from San Marcos, aren’t you?”

“I’ve left you three messages. Why haven’t you called me?” He stepped inside without an invitation.

“I was about to. I’ve been busy all afternoon.”

“With what?”

“I met with an attorney. He’s a friend of my sister’s. I wanted to get his advice, make sure I’m not breaking any laws here.”

“And what’d he tell you?”