She said nothing for a few moments, and he watched the myriad emotions flicker across her face. Finally, something won out, but he wasn’t sure what. “I want that too, but I’m not ready to jump in blind. I’ll move in with you, but I’m keeping my place for a while. Just until we’re both sure this arrangement will work. Can you live with that?”
“Yeah. I don’t like it, but I can live with it. For now. Don’t think I won’t be working hard to convince you to make it a more permanent arrangement.” He resisted the urge to pout. Apparently the hardheaded woman didn’t realize that what they had was special. But he’d show her once he got her home. If he had to tie her to the bed, he’d make her see that she wasn’t going anywhere.
“I look forward to being persuaded.” A sultry grin curved her lips up.
“Well then, I should get started right away.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her like he’d never let her go-mostly because he wouldn’t.
Epilogue
Beth rose from her desk and wandered through the house she shared with Chance. Everything in her wanted to latch on to the man she loved and never let go. But despite the idyllic six months they’d lived together since their one-night stand, she hadn’t truly been able to commit. She was beginning to suspect that she could only do it if she let her apartment go. Though she had yet to say the words, she knew she loved him with all her heart. It terrified her that because of that love she was so vulnerable.
As for Chance, he’d been nothing but patient, wooing her over romantic dinners and with creatively erotic lovemaking. It seemed he’d left no stone unturned in his campaign to prove to her they belonged together. All except saying the words. Neither of them had strung those three most-important words together. She’d been as remiss as he in not being honest about her feelings. It was time to correct that oversight. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the house, determined to go find her man and stake her claim for the final time.
It was time to take her Chance.
The sun sat low in the afternoon sky, even as the heat of the day still simmered in the air. She plucked at her tank top and headed toward the barn. Inside, she found Chance bare-chested, spreading fresh hay in the stalls. Licking her lips, she resisted the urge to pinch herself. He belonged to her, and she to him. Now she needed to make sure that it would be a permanent arrangement.
“Hey there, cowboy.” Her voice came out thick and husky with desire.
He stopped and turned around. His smile alone sent moisture pooling between her thighs and made her knees weak. “Hey there, baby. How’s your day going?”
“It’s getting better and better,” she said and walked toward him.
“How so?” His eyebrow quirked up in question.
“Mmmm… Well, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a half-naked cowboy who looks like he could use a rub-down.” She pulled up in front of him and rubbed his rapidly hardening cock.
“Rubbing sounds good. But let me go clean up first.” He stepped back.
“I don’t think I want to wait. Beside, you smell good. Like sweat and man.” She flicked her tongue out and slicked it up his damp pectoral.
He groaned. “Woman, what has got into you?”
“Hopefully you.” She tangled her arms around his neck.
“You are playing with fire, baby. Are you prepared to get burned?” His voice sounded as though it croaked out of a throat as dry as dust.
“As long as you put out the flames.” She pulled his head down so she could plant her lips on his and proceeded to lay claim to him. Sliding her tongue inside, she tangled with his, battling for control.
Breaking the kiss, he pulled back. “Oh, baby, you’ve no idea what you started. But I’m gonna show you.”
“Please, Chance.” Her whimpered words were all she could manage after that blazing hot kiss.
“Strip. I want you naked. Now.” He stepped back from her and stripped his work gloves off. Leaning against a saddle stand covered with only a blanket, he watched.
She reached for her red boot.
“Leave the boots. I like you wearing nothing but those sexy red cowgirl boots. Besides, it’s safer in here to keep them on.”
She nodded, pulled her tank over her head, and dropped it on a nearby hay bale. Reaching behind her, she unhooked her bra and tossed it with her shirt. Then she unfastened her shorts and pushed them down her thighs along with her panties. Naked but for her boots, her heart raced in anticipation of what Chance would do.
His cock strained against the fly of his jeans, but he made no move to remove them. He raised his hand and curled his finger toward himself. “Come here, baby.”
She took the few steps needed to cover the distance between them, and he pulled her into his arms. Fisting his hands in her hair, he savaged her mouth in a fierce kiss that commanded and demanded as it took. She was lost, burning up with need for him. There wasn’t enough water in the stock tank to douse the fire raging through her.
The kiss deepened, devastating her ability to think. That was probably why she didn’t realize what he’d done until it was too late. He broke the kiss and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her as they straightened. “Chance?”
“Do you trust me, baby?” His gaze locked with hers and he looked so vulnerable, as vulnerable as she felt with her hands tied behind her back.
Did she trust him? The answer that screamed back at her was a resounding yes. He would never hurt her. In that instant she felt all her walls drop, and she knew she would tell him exactly what she had come out here to say. “Yes. I trust you, cowboy. I love you too much not to.”
He gasped. Seemed to stand unnaturally still and then he hauled her in for another kiss. Taking her mouth, he tasted her, stroked and nibbled until he was peppering kisses along her jaw and down toward her breasts. “Oh God, baby, I’ve been waiting months to hear you say those words. I love you so much I thought I’d go mad trying to prove it to you without scaring you half to death.”
“I’m sorry I waited so long to say it,” she replied, and then his mouth engulfed her erect nipple and all thought was lost again.
He suckled her nipples, rasping them with his tongue and nipping with his teeth. Hands bound behind her back with a tack rope, all she could do was feel. Her senses were on overload as he made love to her breasts. She moaned in pleasure and in need. “Please, Chance. Touch me.”
“Aww, baby, I am touching you.” He continued his sensual torture.
“My pussy. Please, between my legs.” The ache was so intense she was sure it would turn into physical pain soon.
Pulling away, he turned them around and bent her over the saddle stand so that her belly lay across the blanket covering the wood arch that normally held a saddle. She couldn’t see anything but the side of the stand. Then his feet nudged hers apart until she had a wide stance that left her open and fully exposed.
“Baby, if you want to stop at any point just say the word ‘dog’ and I’ll know you really need me to stop. Okay?”
“Okay.” Excitement rolled through her like a stampede.
“Your pussy is so pretty I can’t get enough of looking at it. And you taste so sweet. You’re mine, Elizabeth Torrence, and I’ll never give you up.” His warm breath wafted against her already heated flesh, causing her to squirm. Then his tongue slid from the front of her slit to her entrance and back. Her moan echoed through the barn and seemed to egg him on. He plunged a finger deep into her wet core and pumped it in and out as he licked her clit, just as he had done her nipples.
As she exploded around the single digit, he pulled it out and slid it into her anal passage. The sensual invasion seemed to fire off a second orgasm as he continued to work her pussy with his mouth, lapping at her juices. A second finger joined the first and worked in and out of her hole, using her own juices for lubrication. He’d done this before while buried deep inside her pussy, but this time he spread his fingers and stretched her more. She moaned as the pain of being stretched gave way to the pleasure his fingers brought, sliding in and out with a delicious friction. As he added a third finger, his tongue still drilling into her, another orgasm ripped through her. “Yes, Chance! Yes! Oh please, don’t stop.” Her cries mingled with his groans even as the powerful sensations ebbed. She heard him rise up behind her and walk away.