by Kate Pearce
After unlocking the door, he drew her inside and relocked it, leaving the key in the door. Faith recognized the room, which had once belonged to her friend Avery Hayes before she married Ry Morgan and moved up to the ranch.
“This okay with you?” Danny asked. “I didn’t want anyone—”
She stopped his words with her mouth and with a stifled sound, his arms closed around her. He kissed her with such heat that she moaned his name. His hands came up to frame her face and he drew back a scant inch.
“You want this? Because once I start kissing you, I don’t think I’m going to want to stop until I’ve got you naked and under me in that bed.”
“I’m good with that,” Faith said breathlessly.
“You’re sure?”
“Danny—” She leaned in and bit his lower lip. “Just don’t talk.”
“But—”
She stepped away from him and, still holding his gaze, pulled her dress right over her head, leaving her in a cute matching bra and panties set that she kept for best. She carefully laid the dress over the back of a chair and advanced toward her suddenly dumbstruck cowboy.
“We’re going to have to be quick and make sure our clothes aren’t rumpled.”
“Yeah.” As if in a trance, he started unbuttoning his crisp green shirt without taking his eyes off her. “You look fantastic.”
She plucked at his belt buckle, eased the buckle free, and slid the leather out of the keepers. “So do you.”
“Don’t stop,” he murmured as she tackled the button of his pants and he ripped his shirt free. “Don’t ever stop.”
Two minutes later, she was pressed against his naked chest as he kissed her with such intensity that her knees went weak. Her hands were equally busy roaming over his perfect ass and the muscled line of his shoulders and upper arms. He backed up to the side of the bed and sat down, bringing her astride him. They both gasped as the silk of her panties grazed the hardness barely contained in his boxers.
“We need a condom,” Danny murmured as he kissed her neck, making her writhe against him.
“We don’t,” Faith said. “I’m good.”
He grinned at her. “You know that’s how we ended up in all that trouble in the first place, okay? Humor me.” He gestured at the internal door. “Tucker keeps them stocked in the hotel bathrooms.”
“And you know that how?” Faith inquired as she scrambled off his lap and headed toward the bathroom.
“None of your business.”
She returned with the foil packet in her fingers and waited as Danny checked the expiration date before climbing back on the bed and slowly unclipping her bra.
“Man . . .” he breathed, his gaze now fixed on her breasts. “You’re so beautiful.” He cupped her mound, his fingers seeking out the intimate places where she was already wet and wanting him. She leaned into him as he slid his thumb over her swollen bud and slipped two fingers deep inside her.
“Hurry,” she urged him, reaching out to trace a line down from his chest to the tight muscles of his stomach and then lower to slip under the band of his tight black boxers. He groaned as his hips instinctively rolled forward.
“Give me a second and I’m all yours.” He pushed his boxers down, scooted back on the bed until he was against the headboard, and rolled on the condom. “Come here.”
Faith gladly obliged, gasping with pleasure as her naked breasts brushed against the hair on his chest and his callused hands grabbed her hips.
“I should take more care—” Danny murmured. “I want—”
“Next time.” Faith raised herself over him and sank down, making them both catch their breaths. “This is . . . perfect.”
“God, yeah.” Danny claimed her mouth again as she rose and fell over him, his fingertips gently on her hip as his thumb continued to rub her bud until she came so suddenly, she bit his shoulder.
His grip tightened as he fought not to come with her. The scent and feel of him was so familiar and yet so different that she didn’t know what to do with all the sensations. He growled as he claimed her mouth again and rolled her onto her back, his narrowed gray eyes glinting down at her with feral possession.
“Now it’s my turn.”
She smiled up at him. “Then make it quick. We’ve got a wedding to get back to.”
“Quick I can do because I don’t have much choice right now.” His answering smile was crooked as he drew back his hips and thrust deep. “I’ve got this.”
Danny came hard dropping all his weight on Faith as he lost his bearings and floundered in a sea of lush sensations. With a groan he rolled away, one hand coming up to cover his eyes.
“Sorry about that. I’m usually better at this than my teenage self.”
She touched his shoulder. “Nothing to be sorry about.”
“Do you want to use the bathroom first?” Danny offered.
“No, you go ahead. I need a minute.” She smiled back at him, her mouth as lush from his kisses as her skin was flushed from their lovemaking. “That was wonderful.”
Danny cleaned up in record speed and came back into the bedroom to find Faith gathering clothes. She held up his boxers.
“You’ll probably need these.”
“Darn straight.”
“Although I have to say that covering up that body of yours is a sin.”
Danny mock frowned as his dick responded way too favorably to her comment. “Don’t get me all excited again or we’ll never leave this room.”
She cast a wistful glance at the door. “That sounds kind of nice right now.”
He took a step toward her. “Then, let’s do it. Let’s stay here. No one will notice I’m not around.”
She moved past him to the bathroom. “Yes, they will. It’s your sister’s wedding. Of course you’ll be missed.”
Danny doubted that, seeing as everyone else was too involved in their relationships to notice what he was up to, but the last thing he wanted was to upset Faith right now. He put on his boxers, retrieved one of his socks from under the bed, and slowly got dressed again, hating every second of it. All he wanted to do was take Faith in his arms, stay naked, and take a nap together in between the crisply starched sheets of the hotel bed.
Their timing sucked.
Again.
He walked over to the mirror to check out his appearance. Inside he was burning up with lust and need but he looked his usual calm self. And, even as he waited for Faith to reappear little doubts started to trash his mellow. What the hell had they done?
“No need to look so horrified.” Faith spoke from behind him, her reflection over his left shoulder. “If you think you made a mistake just let it out.”
He swung around. “I didn’t say that.”
“I saw your face.” She’d reapplied her makeup and looked absolutely beautiful, but somehow more remote. “I know you, Danny Miller. Jumping into bed with someone is so not you.”
“You’re not ‘someone,’ you’re Faith.” He met her gaze. “And this goes both ways. If you want to pick a fight with me then go ahead.”
She bit her lip but didn’t look away. “Maybe we should both just stop talking right now? We don’t have the time to sort this out properly. I really don’t want to spoil your sister’s wedding.”
“Okay.” Danny nodded as his happiness took a nosedive. “Can I just ask one thing?”
She regarded him carefully, her head on one side. “Okay, shoot.”
“What upset you earlier?”
She sighed. “Brandon called. He and Callie are splitting up, and he wanted me to talk to her.”
“That’s all kinds of screwed up.” Danny frowned. “Like, what’s it got to do with you?”
“Everything, apparently.” She shrugged like it wasn’t important, but he wasn’t fooled. “I didn’t give him an answer. I just ended the call, but as you might imagine it kind of threw me for a loop.”
“Enough of a loop to get back into bed with me?” The words were out before Danny could stop
them.
Faith raised her chin and walked over to the door. “As I said, maybe this isn’t the time to do this. How about I go down and you wait five minutes and then follow me? God knows, we wouldn’t want anyone to know we’d been together.”
Danny watched her leave and then let out a stream of quiet curse words while he berated himself for being an idiot. She’d kept her calm with him, but he knew at some instinctual level he’d hurt her, and that in the middle of a wedding he had no way of sorting it out. Was he jealous of Brandon? A man who apparently still occupied Faith’s thoughts enough to make her seek out the comfort of her old flame’s arms. Was that all he was? Some kind of security blanket?
“Jeez, Danny.” He addressed his reflection before shoving his hand through his hair. “Nice going, you fool.”
* * *
Faith reached the first landing and then forced herself to slow down. She should take her own advice and not put too much store in what Danny had said in the aftermath of an unexpected sexual encounter. It was way too easy to misunderstand each other and she’d had enough of that. There were things they needed to talk about and here and now was not the best place for them to get into it.
She slowed her steps and walked down onto the main landing, which overlooked the doors into the dining area, the reception rooms, and the hotel lobby. Music still boomed from the dance floor and a constant stream of people gravitated between the bar, the restrooms, and the supper buffet, which was currently being laid out.
Even as she went to descend the stairs a flash of motion near the door into the staff area of the hotel caught her attention. From her elevated position she could clearly see Dave and Dr. Tio kind of dancing together, their faces alight with laughter. Somewhere in Faith’s head a penny dropped with a resounding clunk. Maybe Dave didn’t want a girlfriend for a very good reason.
She continued down the stairs, pausing at the bar to pick up a glass of iced water, and went toward the supper room. Through the doorway she noticed the dance floor was full of real-time cowboys strutting their stuff in a line dance, hats on, fingers in their belts whooping to “Achy Breaky Heart.” In the snug opposite the bar a group of old timers including Jeff Miller and Ruth Morgan were swapping stories and amicably arguing about valley stuff.
Her parents would’ve loved it. Faith found herself smiling. She loved it; the sense of home was palpable.
“Hey.”
She looked up to see Evan Miller at her side. He didn’t look very happy.
“Are you having a good time?” Faith asked politely.
“Have you seen Danny?”
“Not recently, why?” Faith hoped she wasn’t blushing.
“Weird, because I saw the two of you creeping up the back stairs together a while ago.”
“What’s it got to do with you?” Faith wasn’t into playing games with anyone called Miller right now.
“I don’t want him getting hurt again.” Evidently Evan wasn’t playing either. “When you left last time you nearly destroyed him.”
“Surely that’s between Danny and me?”
“He deserves to be happy and hanging around waiting for you to come home hasn’t been good for him.”
Faith stiffened. “I never asked him to wait for me.”
“Oh, that’s right! You never even bothered to talk to him again, did you?” Evan wasn’t letting up. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Faith, it’s just that if you get my brother’s hopes up and then run out on him again, I’m not going to let you forget it.”
Faith made herself meet Evan’s gaze. “All I can say is that I have no intention of hurting your brother. But maybe you should be talking to him. I’m not the only person in this relationship, Evan.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll remind him,” Evan said grimly. “He’s my favorite brother. I’m not going to allow him to fall in love again with someone who doesn’t reciprocate.”
“That’s really not up to you,” Faith said. “We can’t always control whom we love, and we certainly can’t make those kinds of decisions for others.”
Evan nodded and turned on his heel leaving Faith feeling like she really wanted to find Danny, go back upstairs, and hide under the blankets like they’d done when they were teenagers.
After a quick glance around, she went through the front lobby and out onto the wooden verandah that fronted onto Main Street. It was still hot, and she didn’t need to wrap up. The air was heavy, and rumbles of thunder echoed among the peaks of the distant Sierra Nevadas. She took a seat on one of the cast-iron benches that faced out over the street and briefly closed her eyes.
“Hey.” Nancy slipped into the seat beside her. They’d fallen back into their earlier relationship much more easily than Faith had anticipated. “What the hell was Evan Miller lecturing you about?”
“Messing with his brother again?” Faith was too tired to pretend that everything was okay. She’d already told Nancy the basics about her relationship with Brandon and her divorce and wasn’t averse to discussing the Millers. “That if I hurt Danny’s feelings Evan would never let me forget it.”
Nancy snorted. “What a big man.”
“I get that he’s worried about his brother, but how come I’m the one who has to make everything right?” Faith asked.
“Because you’re the woman,” Nancy said. “Evan seems to have forgotten that his bro is quite capable of making up his own mind about stuff. Danny might be sweet, but he’s definitely no pushover. In fact, I bet if you told Danny what Evan said to you, he’d be pissed as hell.”
“I’m not telling Danny anything.” Faith sighed. “The last thing I need is to set them against each other. I’m already tired of being enemy number one in Morgan Valley. I wish none of this had ever happened.”
Nancy settled back against the seat, her shoulder comfortably against Faith’s, and looked up at the stars. “Why did you leave, then?”
“I was pregnant. I nearly died having the baby.”
“Ah . . .” Nancy nodded. “Makes total sense now. I guess you had the baby adopted?”
“Yes.”
“Did Danny know?”
“Some of it, although our parents went all Romeo and Juliet and decided to keep us apart. Part of the deal was me not coming back here to screw up his life anymore, so we only got a chance to talk it through last month when I came back for good.”
Nancy whistled. “That’s a lot of shit to deal with.”
“Tell me about it,” Faith said. “I just wish everyone would keep their noses out of our business and let us deal with it in our own way. The Brysons hate me, half the valley thinks I ran off with a rodeo cowboy, and the other half keep asking me when my dad’s coming back so they can consult a real vet.”
Nancy made a stifled noise and Faith turned to look at her.
“Are you laughing?”
“Yup.”
Faith sat back and found herself laughing as well. It was way better than the alternative.
“So is Danny better than he was when you were teens?” Nancy asked idly.
“Better at what?”
“You know.” Nancy nudged her in the ribs. “I saw you heading upstairs with him.”
“God, did everyone see us? We might as well have sold tickets!” Faith threw up her hands. “We should’ve stayed up there all night and enjoyed ourselves.”
“Well?” Nancy prompted her.
“None of your business,” Faith retorted.
“If you’re going to claim the Fifth, you’d better cover up that bite mark on your neck,” Nancy commented. “Not sure you can do much about that ‘I just got laid’ look on your face, though.”
Faith slapped a hand over her throat. “I should’ve stayed home and let Danny bring Sonali.”
“Sonali isn’t really into Danny,” Nancy said very definitely. Faith remembered they worked together at the Red Dragon, so Nancy should know. “She’s got her eye on someone else.”
“Not from where I’m standing. She’d be perfect for
him.”
“Except he’s not interested.”
“That’s what Danny keeps telling me, but she sure wasn’t happy with me earlier.” Faith groaned. “Like I need another enemy in Morgan Valley.”
“If Sonali’s mad at you, it’s probably because of Red Ramirez,” Nancy said thoughtfully.
“What?” Faith sat up straight.
“She’s definitely keen on him, but she’s playing so hard to get that the poor guy is totally oblivious,” Nancy said. “I think she was flirting with Danny to make Red jealous, but of course it went right over his head. Think about it from Sonali’s point of view, Faith. You waltz back into town and take out her two top choices.”
“No wonder she doesn’t like me,” Faith said glumly.
“You can’t help being a femme fatale, babe.” Nancy patted Faith’s hand. “Stay here, I’m going to get us some wine.”
Chapter Fifteen
When Danny’s alarm went off at five a.m. the morning after the wedding he winced as the sound hurt his head. He wasn’t normally much of a drinker, but in an effort to keep away from Faith he’d hung around with a group of ranchers who were intent on dancing until the music stopped and drinking the bar dry. Evan had been by his side all night so they’d helped each other home after making sure the rest of the family could handle their dad.
He opened his eyes into the predawn darkness and tried to remember which parts of the day had been real and which the product of his dreams. He’d definitely made love with Faith; he couldn’t forget that—and then argued with her until she’d walked away and not come near him for the rest of the night. He’d seen her sitting out on the porch with Nancy, both of them cradling large wineglasses in their hands, and had decided to leave well alone. If she didn’t want to go home with Dave, Nancy definitely had space to put her up at the Red Dragon.
The thing was—had what happened with Faith been the natural end of something? Or was it a beginning? And how did he begin to ask that question when he didn’t know what answer he wanted to hear even from himself? They were different people now, but somehow, they still connected at a deep level. Did a shared painful experience bond you with someone for life, or was there something more?