Her body quickened and her hips undulated. She made a desperate sound, tightened her thighs around his and arched, but she couldn’t get close enough. Oh, God, had she ever needed anything so badly? Her breath came in heavy pants, and she tore her mouth from Josh’s. His dark eyes reflected the same passion thrumming through her veins.
“Josh…” Confusion and wanting thickened her voice.
“Shh…” Tangling his fingers into her hair, he lowered his head to feather more kisses over her lips, her jaw, her throat, drawing a moan of pleasure from her. “We’re just kissing and touching,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck, then lapping his tongue over the pulse fluttering at the base. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
Better than good, she thought. Closing her eyes, she cradled his face in her hands and brought his lips back to hers, answering his question with a lazy, openmouthed, tongue-tangling kiss. The hand on her hip roamed, sliding upward over silk. He pushed aside the thin strap of her chemise, eased it down her shoulder and cupped the heavy weight of her breast in his palm.
She sucked in a sharp breath when his thumb flicked over her taut nipple. Her breasts felt swollen, heavy, too sensitive. He lightened his touch, brushed his knuckles over the velvety crest to soothe the ache, but even that simple caress electrified her nerve endings. She couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her throat.
He lifted his head and looked at her, concern knitting his brows. “Are you okay?”
She bit her lower lip and nodded, unwilling to voice her suspicions about why her breasts ached. Remembering what had happened the last time they’d been in such a compromising position on a bed, she lifted the strap of her chemise back where it belonged and said, “I don’t think this is such a good idea.”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “I think it’s a great idea, but I understand.” Reluctantly, he moved back to his side of the bed. “I guess we ought to call it a night.”
She nodded her agreement, already missing the warmth of his body next to hers. Regretting, too, that the evening had to end this way.
Picking up his plate, he headed for the door. Hand on the knob, he hesitated and glanced back at her. His gaze was fierce as it held hers. And incredibly warm. “I meant what I said earlier, Paige. I love you.” Then he was gone.
Emotion welled inside her and she tried not to cry at the hopelessness of their situation, but lost the battle. A one tear trickled down her cheek and she whispered to the empty, lonely room what she couldn’t bring herself to say to Josh. “I love you, too. More than friends. More than acquaintances.”
She always would.
“SO, YOU WANT to tell me what’s going on between you md Paige?” Nick asked the question as they each saddled up a horse for the early-afternoon ride Josh planned to take Paige on before they headed back to Miami. “Besides you guarding her until the case is over?”
Josh slanted his father a wry look, wondering where that insightful question had come from. Since Paige was up at the house helping his mother clean up after lunch, he felt relatively safe in discussing the subject. “Are my feelings that obvious?”
Nick shrugged his broad shoulders as he fitted a saddle onto Desirée’s back. “I know you’ve always cared for her, but your mother and I were talking last night md we both sense something between the two of you has changed. Has it?”
“My feelings for Paige have grown over the years,” he admitted, unable to deny the truth to his father. “But I never would have acted upon them with her being married to Anthony. Now that he’s gone, I think we’ve ooth realized there’s more to our relationship than just being friends.” Coaxing Paige into admitting those emotions, though, was another thing. The kiss she’d instigated last night spoke volumes, but it wasn’t enough, not when he wanted forever with her.
“What are you going to do about it?” Nick asked after a quiet moment had passed.
“I honestly don’t know.” Josh tightened the girth on Lacey’s saddle, then gave her an affectionate rub along her sleek neck. “Anthony didn’t leave Paige with the best impression of being a cop’s wife, and I’m finding it difficult to compete with those bad memories.”
Understanding glimmered in Nick’s gaze. “Not everyone is cut out to be a cop’s wife. You know that as well as I do.”
“Mom did it,” Josh stated, not wanting to think about the high divorce rate within their profession.
“Your mother could have been a sergeant herself.”
Josh chuckled. Despite his father’s grumblings, there was no doubt in Josh’s mind that Nick’s comment was spoken with respect and adoration for the woman who’d put her husband and family above all else. And Nick had been just as loyal and dedicated. Their marriage had been a mutual compromise, a case of giveand-take.
Not so in Paige’s case. She’d given and Anthony had taken, leaving Paige empty and stung by several different forms of betrayal. Was it no wonder she was so distrusting of her feelings?
“Your mother and Paige come from two different backgrounds,” Nick went on as they led the two mares from the stable and out into the warm sunshine. “Anna grew up the oldest in a household. She was only ten when her mother died, and raising her younger brothers and sisters made her older and wiser than her years. By the time I met her, she’d already developed that take-charge kind of personality. She has an inner strength few women possess.”
Josh firmly believed Paige had that emotional fortitude within her as well. It might have withered from Anthony’s manipulative abuse and neglect, but hadn’t she demonstrated that courage when she’d made the decision to leave Anthony and demanded a divorce that last day they’d been together? She hated the situation Anthony had unwittingly dragged her into, but she’d dealt with Carranza and Bridget with an intrepidness that had made him proud.
Oh, yeah, she had more courage than she realized, or gave herself credit for. But it was up to Paige to see that strength within herself. Embrace it. Believe in it. It wasn’t something he could force upon her.
Nick looped Desiree’s reins around the second rung of the fence bordering the corral as they waited for Paige to arrive. “Your mother and I have gone through our share of problems,” Nick went on, gazing up at the house. “Some of them stemmed from my job as a cop, but when you love someone as much as I love your mother, you put your priorities in order and make it work.”
Josh had watched Paige struggle to keep her marriage to Anthony together, but without two people striving toward a common goal, it had been impossible. And as the old saying went, she was once burned, twice shy.
Lacey snorted softly and nudged Josh in the shoulder for some attention. Josh scratched her behind the ear. A few minutes later, Paige came out of the house and headed toward the stable, a relaxed smile on her face. Black stirrup pants molded to her slender legs, and an over-sized T-shirt reached to mid-thigh, hiding the more generous curves of her body. She’d pulled her auburn hair into a ponytail and wore little makeup. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked so refreshed and beautiful, and knew the easy, unhurried atmosphere was the reason.
Having grown up with horses, Paige slid gracefully into Desirée’s saddle. Josh followed suit with Lacey.
“Have a good time, you two,” his father said with a wave, then headed back toward the house.
Josh guided the horses toward a dirt path that led to the edge of the wooded area surrounding his parents’ house. The sun shone bright and warm, the air fresh and sweet as it carried on the slight breeze.
Paige drew a deep breath and let it out on a blissful sigh. Her body rocked in the saddle, flowing with the horse’s movements. “Can we stay here forever?”