Julia gave a hard shake of her head and berated herself for dreaming about something more permanent. For one, it was her sister Coop had invited to the ranch, and two, she was pretending to be something she wasn’t. But she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed playing the part of a wild and wicked woman. How would she ever go back to dull and drab Julia?
Warm morning sun fell over the bed as Coop rolled onto his side, pulling the blankets with him. She smiled, and since they’d made love well into the wee hours of the morning, she decided to let him sleep while she went to the pond for an early-morning swim.
She made a move to climb from the bed, but his arm darted out to stop her.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
Taking in his rumpled, sleepy state, which made him look so damn sexy, Julia laughed and fell back onto the bed with him. “I was going to take a swim because I thought you were asleep.”
“You thought wrong.” His smile was devilish, full of mischief. “Now come here.”
He pulled her on top of him, and they exchanged a long, heated look before he gave her a kiss full of passion. As he took her mouth, he stole her breath, and her heart missed a beat. She’d just lectured herself on keeping this sexual, but when he kissed her like that, she had no idea how she was ever going to walk away when this was over. He inched back, and when she met his glance, the warmth in his gaze and the ache of desire in the depth of his eyes filled her with longing. She craved so much more from him.
Despite a long night of lovemaking, she wanted him again. As if he could read her thoughts, he grabbed a condom from the night table and rolled it on.
Not wanting to think about what this man was doing to her, or how hard she’d fallen for him, she sat up and straddled him, conveying without words what she wanted. With a sexy grin on his face, Coop touched her leg. Heat rippled over her sex when he began a lazy journey up her thigh. When he reached her hips, he lifted her up off him, and then settled her back down on his hard cock.
She took in a breath, and her whole body trembled as she let it out. The pleasure was intense, glorious, and so deeply intimate she found it difficult to keep her emotions in check. “Coop,” she cried out as he filled her, quivering as his cock reached deep.
He brushed his thumb over her, and turbulent eyes full of heat met hers. “I know, Julia. Believe me, I know.”
With that, they began moving together, their hands touching each other all over, like neither could get enough. His muscles rippled as pressure built inside her, and there was more going on here than just sex. At least for her.
He was everything she wanted, everything she craved. She pinched her eyes shut and berated herself, because this was supposed to be just about sex, and when she stopped pretending, Coop would be bored with the real Julia.
“Julia,” Coop murmured, powering his hips upward. He took her slowly, like he was savoring every second. “Look at me.”
When she opened her eyes, he slipped his hand around her head and drew her mouth to his. The thumb on his other hand moved between her legs, brushing over her clit as he kissed her softly and with such passion she began burning from the inside out.
As her body began trembling, Coop used slow, easy thrusts, pushing her higher and higher while he dragged his thumb over her sensitive bundle of nerves. Unlike their frantic lovemaking sessions, this was sensual, unhurried, and tender, but every bit as potent.
Her muscles clenched, and she was free-falling without a net. As she tumbled into climax, they both cried out in ecstasy, falling over the precipice at the same time.
A long time later, when she finally came back down to earth, she collapsed on top of him, and he circled his hands around her waist to hold her tight. She listened to his heartbeat, and as it pounded in his chest, she wondered how she’d ever be able go back to the way things were before this incredible week.
When her legs started to grow numb, she rolled off him, and he packaged her against his body. She savored every minute while she still could. A soft, contented noise sounded in his throat, and when she glanced up, Coop gave her a lethargic smile and lazily ran his thumb up and down her arm.
“You’re kind of rocking my world,” he murmured, before dropping a gentle kiss onto her forehead.
In need of a distraction—before she did something crazy like tell him how she felt—she began tracing the outline of his face.
He gave a rough moan of pleasure. “Christ, if you keep touching me like that, I’m going to pin you down and take you again, and I know you’re too sore for that.”
“Oh,” she said as a thrill moved through her. She loved how she affected him—how he affected her—but in two short days, when the plane came to collect her, she’d never see him again.
She ran her finger over his crooked nose, and even though this week was supposed to be about casual sex—not about her getting to know him on a deeper level—curiosity finally got the better of her and she asked, “How did you break your nose?”
But as soon as the words left her mouth, everything between them changed. Coop went silent and cast his eyes down in deep thought. As his bliss disappeared, his body tensed, and he gripped her hand to still her exploration. He angled his head toward the window, away from her view, and once again she couldn’t help but wonder about his secrets.
He didn’t answer her, and while the lawyer in her was used to getting answers, and she was never passive in the courtroom, she was a bit hesitant to pry with him. Getting personal wasn’t in her best interest.
“I know this week was about sex, and just having fun, so I get that you don’t want to delve into your personal business.” She shrugged, trying to make light of things, despite the rawness in her throat. She stole a quick glance at the clock and continued to ramble on. “Soon enough I’ll be heading back to the real world and leaving this fantasy behind.” She gave him a smile and plucked at the bedding, like she did this sort of thing all the time. “It was good while it lasted, though, wasn’t it?”
…
It was good while it lasted?
He swallowed against the tightness in his throat. How could she still not see what she meant to him? Her plane left in two days, and if he couldn’t convince her that it was her he’d wanted all along, he was damn well going to lose her. No fucking way would he let that happen. She was the one and only girl for him, and he damn well planned to fight for her until her eyes were wide open and she saw this for what it was. Love. He grabbed a fistful of hair and tugged, blood pounding through his veins. He needed to do something, and he needed to do it now. Never had he felt like he had more on the line.
“Coop?” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, come on.” He jumped from the bed and pulled her up with him. If he wanted her to trust him, to see that he wanted more than just sex, then he’d have to give more in return. That meant letting her get a glimpse into his life and opening up about his mother, no matter how painful it was to talk about it. He probably should have told her a long time ago he was a sports doctor, and that he usually only traveled to the ranch on weekends, but kept his mouth shut knowing it would lead to questions he wasn’t ready to answer. But it was that silence that was standing in the way of her seeing his real intentions. An uneasy feeling tightened his gut. When he opened up, would she be angry that he kept so much from her? Would she leave and never look back? Shit.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
This week had been about her, but now maybe it was time to be about him. “For a ride.” After a shower, they dressed and made their way outside. She kept casting curious glances his way, but he remained tight-lipped. Twenty minutes later they were in one of the ranch’s pickup trucks.