like this for town driving.”
“Most people would not consider this a town vehicle.”
“I’m not most people.”
She looked at him…dressed more casually than she’d seen him to date, in a pair of jeans and tight-fitting ribbed T-shirt under a black-and-navy-checked flannel shirt…and had to agree. He was more man than any other male she’d ever known, except maybe her brother who was a mercenary…and then it was a tie.
It took a few hours to reach the ranch and they talked the whole time. His father had died only a few years ago and from all Jake said, Bella couldn’t grieve the man’s loss. He sounded like one of the coldest human beings she’d ever heard of. Way different from her own affectionate and caring father.
When she told Jake so, he nodded. “The ranch was the only thing that ever really mattered to him. He would have had a heart attack if he’d lived long enough to see me signing drilling rights over, but it’s made me enough money to keep the ranch a going concern despite the shaky beef market.”
“You really like living on a ranch?” She couldn’t imagine being raised in such isolation. Miles from the nearest neighbor.
“You’ll love it too.”
Maybe. She’d had her fill of people, especially in the past weeks when the tabloids had done their best to assassinate her character along with the bad-girl reputation Lexi valued so highly.
“I’ll only be there for a week or so.”
“We’ll see.”
She tried not to read too much into those two little words, but she liked the sound of them and she smiled. “Yes, we will.”
The ranch house was big, but not ostentatious. The wrap-around porch was painted white and so was the trim, but the rest of the house was a soft, buttery yellow.
Roses grew along the front of the porch, though they weren’t in bloom. It wasn’t snowy or anything, not like back home around Christmas, but it was winter…even in Texas.
Jake came around and opened her door, lifting her from the SUV with two hands around her waist. He didn’t put her down, but held her up, her face close to his, her feet dangling six inches off the ground.
“I have to kiss you.” The stark need in his voice acted like an aphrodisiac on her senses and she didn’t even think about playing hard to get.
It had been there in the car, shimmering between them the whole way here. This wrenching hunger to connect on an intimate level.
“ Yes .”
Jake bent his head, blocking out the winter sun and mesmerizing Bella as his lips came closer to hers, the sunlight creating a halo-like glow around his head. His green eyes, turned dark by the shadow, stayed open too and they watched each other as their lips met for the first time.
His hard mouth pressed gently against hers and passion flared in his eyes, while pleasure radiated from her lips outward in wave after wild wave of sensation. Her whole body shook even though he’d done nothing more than touch her lips with his. Oh, but how he used those lips.
He hadn’t even invaded the interior of her mouth with his tongue, but she felt her body changing and preparing for an intimacy she’d never known.
His hands were hot brands on her waist and he tasted like every dream she’d ever had.
If she weren’t experiencing it, she would have thought such a reaction from something as basic as a kiss was impossible.
Her nipples stung with needle-sharp prickles as they tightened into hard buds and her breasts swelled against her bra, aching with an unfamiliar need to be touched. Her feminine core grew damp and needy and she pressed her thighs together, but all that did was to increase the throbbing sense of emptiness.
He backed her up against the SUV, his big body pressing into hers with insistent demand.
He was aroused again. The evidence was hard against her stomach and unlike the night before, she didn’t attempt to pull back. The primitive woman inside her was glad she could excite him like this. If she was going ballistic
“Most people would not consider this a town vehicle.”
“I’m not most people.”
She looked at him…dressed more casually than she’d seen him to date, in a pair of jeans and tight-fitting ribbed T-shirt under a black-and-navy-checked flannel shirt…and had to agree. He was more man than any other male she’d ever known, except maybe her brother who was a mercenary…and then it was a tie.
It took a few hours to reach the ranch and they talked the whole time. His father had died only a few years ago and from all Jake said, Bella couldn’t grieve the man’s loss. He sounded like one of the coldest human beings she’d ever heard of. Way different from her own affectionate and caring father.
When she told Jake so, he nodded. “The ranch was the only thing that ever really mattered to him. He would have had a heart attack if he’d lived long enough to see me signing drilling rights over, but it’s made me enough money to keep the ranch a going concern despite the shaky beef market.”
“You really like living on a ranch?” She couldn’t imagine being raised in such isolation. Miles from the nearest neighbor.
“You’ll love it too.”
Maybe. She’d had her fill of people, especially in the past weeks when the tabloids had done their best to assassinate her character along with the bad-girl reputation Lexi valued so highly.
“I’ll only be there for a week or so.”
“We’ll see.”
She tried not to read too much into those two little words, but she liked the sound of them and she smiled. “Yes, we will.”
The ranch house was big, but not ostentatious. The wrap-around porch was painted white and so was the trim, but the rest of the house was a soft, buttery yellow.
Roses grew along the front of the porch, though they weren’t in bloom. It wasn’t snowy or anything, not like back home around Christmas, but it was winter…even in Texas.
Jake came around and opened her door, lifting her from the SUV with two hands around her waist. He didn’t put her down, but held her up, her face close to his, her feet dangling six inches off the ground.
“I have to kiss you.” The stark need in his voice acted like an aphrodisiac on her senses and she didn’t even think about playing hard to get.
It had been there in the car, shimmering between them the whole way here. This wrenching hunger to connect on an intimate level.
“ Yes .”
Jake bent his head, blocking out the winter sun and mesmerizing Bella as his lips came closer to hers, the sunlight creating a halo-like glow around his head. His green eyes, turned dark by the shadow, stayed open too and they watched each other as their lips met for the first time.
His hard mouth pressed gently against hers and passion flared in his eyes, while pleasure radiated from her lips outward in wave after wild wave of sensation. Her whole body shook even though he’d done nothing more than touch her lips with his. Oh, but how he used those lips.
He hadn’t even invaded the interior of her mouth with his tongue, but she felt her body changing and preparing for an intimacy she’d never known.
His hands were hot brands on her waist and he tasted like every dream she’d ever had.
If she weren’t experiencing it, she would have thought such a reaction from something as basic as a kiss was impossible.
Her nipples stung with needle-sharp prickles as they tightened into hard buds and her breasts swelled against her bra, aching with an unfamiliar need to be touched. Her feminine core grew damp and needy and she pressed her thighs together, but all that did was to increase the throbbing sense of emptiness.
He backed her up against the SUV, his big body pressing into hers with insistent demand.
He was aroused again. The evidence was hard against her stomach and unlike the night before, she didn’t attempt to pull back. The primitive woman inside her was glad she could excite him like this. If she was going ballistic
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