“So you snooped!” She struggled and tried to roll out from under him, but he held her fast.
“I checked things out.” He raised his head and dropped quick, conciliatory kisses on her lips as he spoke. “I’m a careful man, Dallas. That’s what’s allowed me to survive this long in a dangerous profession “
She shuddered, even as she found herself responding to the warm kisses raining on her mouth. “I don’t like to think about that.”
“I know. We don’t have to. At least not now. don’t go away ” He levered himself away from her, got up and went into the bathroom. Moments later he returned. Lying beside her, he began working on the tiny buttons of her nightgown that reached down to the middle of her breasts.
“Have you ever come close to being killed?” she asked.
“As I said, let not think about that.”
Her breath quickened as he parted the lapels of her gown and cupped her breast in his palm. “What should we think about, then?”
“This : He stroked her nipple with his thumb and the firmness of his renewed desire pressed against her thigh. As he leaned down to run the tip of his tongue around the areola of her throbbing breast, she could think of nothing but his moist caress.
Then he took her nipple in his mouth; building the tension that caused her to move her hips in restless invitation In so many ways he was the wrong man for her, but at this moment, in this bed, nothing had ever felt so right.
GABE USED HIS teeth to scrape lightly over her nipple, and she arched her back in the age-old gesture of submission to her man. His heartbeat pounded loud in his ears as that simple gesture stirred the hot embers of his need to take her again. The sharp edge of the first time had been replaced by a deepening ache that frightened him just a little. But not enough to stop.
He slid an arm under her shoulder blades to support the arch that offered her breasts to his questing mouth. She tasted of honey, smelled like crushed wildflowers fermenting into a heady wine. He burrowed against her with his seeking mouth. Ah… the texture of her nipple against the curved pull of his tongue, the bounty of her breast drawn into his mouth, brought pounding tension to his groin. Yet he d already demonstrated impatience. Perhaps this time he had the strength to demonstrate restraint.
With a superhuman force of will he subdixed his own desire to fill her and settled his mouth between her breasts. While continuing to tease her nipples to erect ness with his fingertips, he kissed a path downward, stopping to dip his tongue into her navel. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as he continued his journey over the smooth skin of her belly and the soft tangle of hair between her thighs. When he reached his destination , she trembled. He wanted to hear her cries, now, when he wasn’t buried in her and deafened by the cannon fire of his own needs.
He nibbled and tasted the rare fruit of her passion, grasping her hips when he’d driven her beyond the ability to keep still. She moaned, and he probed more boldly, feeling her swell beneath him. Her first, small panting cries ignited a fierce happiness in him. He never remembered giving pleasure with this much joy. He kept on as her legs quivered and her cries grew stronger, until at last she bucked in his arms and gasped his name. His name. He was not some featureless lover.
Driven by a desire that left him no choice, he pulled the latex tight over his throbbing penis and claimed his due, sinking deep, deep into salvation. He felt her tighten again, and the spasms of her second climax drew the essence from him in one great rush. As he lay against her, dazed and panting, he knew that she’d seared his heart, changed his direction. After this night, he would never be the same man again.
“EVER BEEN MARquq, Gabe?” Dallas stopped placing strips of bacon side by side on the microwave rack and turned to where he was frying eggs in a skillet on the stove. She’d let Gretchen out to run in the yard, so they were alone. Early morning light gave the kitchen a soft focus look, which suited her blissful mood after the dazzling amount of pleasure she’d enjoyed the night before.
“Yes, I’ve been married.” He glanced up with those impenetrable eyes of his. “Why?”
“Why?” She shook her head. “Only a man would ask why a woman wants to know that. don’t you understand that it matters a lot?”
“To who? Or is it ‘whom’?”
“Now that doesn’t matter, but the fact of your marriage matters to anyone you ” She paused. Maybe she’d just backed herself into a corner. They’d spent the night together, shared the chore of feeding the horses this morning and decided on bacon and eggs for breakfast , but that’s as far into their combined future as they’d ventured. “Well, it’s important to anyone who wants to know more about you.”
His mouth quirked. “I assume that includes you: ‘
She nodded and went back to her bacon, pretending great interest in aligning the slices on the rack. “So, once or more than once?”
“Once: ‘
She cast him a covert glance and discovered his attention was on the skillet in front of him.
He eased the spatula under an egg and flipped it over. “That bacon going to be done soon?”
“Yes .” She shoved the bacon in the microwave and set the timer. “Will you tell me about your marriage?”
“Not much to tell : ‘
Dallas raised her eyes heavenward. If only some men had little buttons in their necks marked “communication mode.” Obviously it wasn’t this maris normal setting, but he definitely needed an override button for certain situations, and this was one. “You could start with a few facts, like when you got married, how long you stayed married, if you had any children, if you see them, if you see her, if she’s pretty.” That last was actually more important to Dallas than some of the other things she’d mentioned. But you couldn’t trust a man’s evaluation of pretty, either. Still, she’d like to know his opinion of his former wife. Was she living in Tucson? Did she repair bad haircuts?
Gabe flipped another egg. He’d obviously spent many years cooking for himself. “Eggs are ready.”
The microwave dinged and with a sigh Dallas took out the bacon. When theyd filled their plates and poured the coffee, they sat across from each other at her small oak table. She really had no right to pester him about his past loves, she thought, as she peppered her eggs. They d spent one night together, and even she had no idea where they were going from here. The question had popped out, and she’d better pay attention to what that said about her motives, conscious or unconscious The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to call her question back.
“Forget what I asked you a while ago; she said. “It’s none of my business : ,
“Are you going to be able to find your eggs under all that pepper?”
She stared down at her plate in dismay. Her eggs looked as if they d been directly under Mount Saint Helens when it erupted.
He reached over and took the pepper shaker out of her hand, keeping hold of her hand in the process. “It is your business; he said gently. “I’m not used to talking about my personal life, that’s all : ‘
“I understand: She tried to pull her hand away. “I was prying. I didn’t mean to.”
His voice was soft. “Didn’t you?”
“Okay. I want to know about you, Gabe.”
His thumb brushed her knuckles. “You were right last night. We are different. But in some ways we’re not. Neither of us is halter broke His smile was wry. “That’s why my marriage didn’t work out.”
She stiffened. “I have no intention of tying you down.”
“I know.” He continued to caress her hand. “But like it or not, sometime during the night we passed the point of no return. IVo matter what happens now, we’ll always be important to each other. We can’t change that. Not now.”