by Karen Anders
Austin let out a ragged, uneven breath and eased his hand up her back, then turned his head and kissed her temple. “Don’t, Maxie,” he whispered roughly.
Giving into his request, she swallowed hard and pinched him lightly on the arm. “You lost, Taggart. That means you have to give me the whole day.”
He chuckled and rubbed his hand across her hips, pressing her firmly against his groin. “My first mistake was making the bet at all. I should have realized what I was up against.”
Reaching down for a smile, she raised her head and looked at him, gazing into his eyes. “What was your second mistake?”
He grinned and slid his hand across her buttocks. “Pulling you on top of me.”
She gave him a dry, steady look. “Too bad because I think there’s another issue coming up between us.”
His gaze was warm and intimate; he stared at her, his eyes alive with delight. Then something hot and dangerous flickered in his gaze.
AUSTIN WAS TRULY at odds on how to resist this golden goddess straddling his hips, making his erection throb with the desire to sheathe himself in her to the hilt. She was simply everything he could ever want, and to a man who rarely took, it was torture.
They were at quite a huge impasse. She didn’t want to go back to Sedona and he had to take her back. She would never forgive him and he was sure she would never want to have anything more to do with him.
He was really beginning to chafe against the sense of honor that was keeping him from everything he wanted. His sense of duty warred with his need to protect Maxie from the law, from herself. He wanted to wrap her in a cocoon and stand guard so that no one could ever hurt her again. But he was going to be the one who hurt her the most. That thought tore at his heart and made him ready to agree to anything she asked of him, short of promising not to take her back. He could give her one more day. What would it hurt in the big scheme of things?
He pressed his thumb against her mouth, trying his damnedest to maintain the trace of a smile. “There’s nothing I want more than to deal with that issue, but what about the other issue?”
Cupping his hand against the angle of her jaw, he stroked her ear and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead. Smoothing down some spiky wisps of hair, Austin rested his head against hers, a solemn, thoughtful expression appearing. He stared off into the distance, then inhaled and spoke, gently caressing her ear. “The issue that I’m still taking you back.”
“Austin, why do we have to worry about that now? Why can’t we just live in the moment. Be together and have fun. Don’t spoil it.”
“I always do my job, Maxie, and it used to be easy.” His throat suddenly closed up on him, and he tightened his hold on her face, hugging her head against the curve of his shoulder. He had to wait for the tightness to ease, and then he spoke, his voice husky with emotion. “I didn’t bargain on you.”
“Why are you so responsible?” she asked, her voice subdued.
There was a brief silence, his voice oddly quiet. “I try to be what I think my father would want me to be.”
Maxie’s grip around his neck tightened, shock coursed through her. She had been sure Austin’s motives had nothing to do with monetary gain and everything to do with the support of his family, but she had no idea that his sense of responsibility was tied up with his need to be what his father expected of him. “Oh Austin, why do you have to be so unpredictable?”
“I am?”
Maxie closed her eyes, praying that she could keep her voice from breaking. “Yes, you are. You’re a much better person than I am.”
“No, I’m not. You’re doing all this to save your sister.”
“Jessica has this great opportunity to study in Paris,” Maxie said, her voice full of pain. “It could mean the beginning of a very lucrative career for her doing something she loves. But that’s not why you’re doing this. You promised her that she could go. You’d never back down from that promise and neither would your dad. Would he?”
He shook his head. It all became extremely clear to her. Austin did understand her need to help and protect her sister because he was doing the exact same thing. She couldn’t think badly of him for it. “You’ve done so much for your family, haven’t you?” Maxie whispered unevenly.
“I didn’t think about it. I just thought about what my father would do and whether it was hard or not, I did it. I wanted him to be proud of me.”
“I’m sure he is. Austin, what was the real reason you left to live with your grandmother?” She should stop asking because she felt this wad of emotion building in the back of her throat. This information would only make what she had to do harder.
“My stepfather wasn’t a tolerant man, especially with someone else’s kid. I think he was jealous of the attention my mother gave me, and he made her feel as if it was making me a weak boy and, therefore, a weak man. She withdrew quite a bit. It hurt so much. I resented him and deep down I resented her for loving someone who wasn’t my father. This man could never take his place. When we came to blows, I saw how that affected my mother. So I left to live with my grandmother.”
Maxie closed her eyes, trying to get her brain around the sheer selfless acts of the man she clasped to her.
She reached out and touched his face, a swell of emotion rising in her. “You humble me, Austin. You truly do.”
There was a brief pause, and then Austin spoke again. “I was devastated when my father died. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over it.”
She tried to clear a cramp in her throat and that wad of emotion expanded. “When you loved your father as much as you do, you never do.”
“I’ve never told anyone what I just told you. You are a formidable woman.”
Her head came up and she stared at him, trying to infuse some humor back into the conversation. “Little ol’ me?”
A warped smile appearing, he ran his hands over the tantalizing spikes of her blonde hair. “Yeah,” he said, his voice husky. “You.” She kept looking at him, and Austin ran his thumb down her cheek, a tight feeling unfolding in his chest.
“It’s time we were on the road back to Sedona.”
She reached out and captured his forearm. At her touch, he stilled, the muscles bunching beneath her palm. She smiled and said, “What’s your hurry? You lost a bet, pal, and I intend to collect.”
“Maxie…” was all the protest he got out as she cut him off.
“I’d much rather deal with this hard issue right now.” Sliding her hand down his body, she took a hold of his erection and squeezed. “Then we’re going to have some fun today. Right?”
He looked up. Something painful happened around his heart when he realized that turning her in would tear him apart. That after he did so, his life would be very bleak and empty. He wished there was a way he could keep his honor intact and get her off the hook. He wished for a way out of this horrible mess. He wanted Maxie in his life, but with the act of turning her in, he would seal his fate and hers. She would hate him and he’d be alone and loving her for the rest of his life.
It was the kind of love that his father had had for his mother. He recognized it in him and knew there was no way it would fade. Not this time.
Moving his hand along her jaw until his fingers were buried in her hair, he drew her head down, the fullness in his chest making his throat cramp. With minimal pressure, he brushed his mouth over hers in slow sweeps. “I want to be inside you,” he whispered unevenly against her mouth. “Deep, deep inside.”
Releasing her pent-up breath in a rush, Maxie pushed away from him.
She rose up, and the pressure on his erection made him turn his head, releasing something raw and uncontrollable inside him.
She peered into the bedroom and snagged the condom box from the floor where it had been dropped.
Gasping raggedly, he clasped her against him. A tremor coursed through her, and she drew her knees up and pulled out of his hold. She sat back, sliding her hips from side to side, then lifted up enough to roll a condom do
wn his erection.
Becoming aware of what she was going to do, he snatched her hand away. “Not on the floor, Maxie.”
She rotated enough to free her wrist, forcing his hands down by his head. She shuddered as she rose up, and then lowered herself upon him, taking him deep inside her. Deep, deep inside her.
Feeling as if he was going to come out of his skin, Austin hardened his jaw against the breathtaking rush of feeling. His shoulders lifted off the floor as she moved her hips in a slow, sliding dance, causing his heart to beat hard in his chest. With his pulse thick and heavy, her hands now moving to intertwine with his fingers, he turned his head against the hardness of the floor.
“Maxie, not on the floor. The bed…wait.”
With a deliberate movement she lowered her breasts in a silken, erotic glide across his chest. “No,” she whispered brokenly. “I can’t wait.” Another tremor shook her body and the movement of her hips increased in tempo. She tightened her hold on his hands. Curving her hips against him, her breath caught as she rose then sheathed him with her hot, wet tightness.
Sucking in a breath through clenched teeth, an agony of sensation coursed through him. He wanted to get up and move them to the more comfortable bed. Maxie deserved better than this raw sex on the floor.
Maxie took him deeper inside her and all his thoughts shattered like glass, the hard wave of sheer bliss took him. He groaned and twisted beneath her, loosening his hands he grabbed her hips.
Maxie sobbed into his mouth, “You on top,” her hands clutching at him, and she lifted her hips, rolling her pelvis hard against him.
“Maxie. The bed.”
“No. Please, Austin.”
Giving in, he rolled. She cried out when he pulled out of her and all but dragged her from the bathroom onto the cushioned carpet of the bedroom.
She writhed beneath him, her arms coming up to hold him in place, but like smoke, he wafted down her body, his hands sliding along her inner thighs. He opened her wide and clamped his mouth against the wet, hot bud of her sex.
She cried out and bucked against his mouth. Finding her sensitized nub, he pleasured her with his mouth until she was moaning and writhing, moving wildly against him. Her movements grew frantic, her muscles coiled tight and rigid. Reflexively she pressed her legs against his face. She moaned and her inner muscles clenched. He took her all in a deep, wild kiss, at the same time probing more deeply with his tongue. She whimpered at the dual assault.
His control shredded when he felt her delicate convulsions against his tongue. He surged up her body and thrust into her before she finished climaxing.
She made another wild sound, and her counter-thrusts turned reckless and uneven. Austin pulled her to him, his body on fire, his senses overloading. Moving now on pure instinct and need, he kept thrusting into her, fighting the rising, expanding tide inside him.
Maxie wrapped her legs around his hips, drawing him deeper inside her. His body throbbed with a hunger of its own as she exploded with a soft, low cry. Unable to hold out with the feel of her pulsing around him, he released a ragged groan, going stiff and letting go, emptying himself deep inside her. Clutching her to him, he held her head against him, her face wet against his neck. Shredded inside, he pressed his mouth against her forehead and closed his eyes, his pulse irregular and jerky, and the feelings in his chest unbearable. He didn’t know what he was going to do without her.
With a slow and comforting touch he softly stroked the soft, damp tangle of her hair. Drawing in a deep breath, he cupped her face with his hands. Realizing that she needed something to lessen the intense emotion, he tilted her head back and trailed a light kiss across her lips, letting a touch of humor surface.
“Okay, you convinced me. How do you want to spend the day?”
9
AUSTIN EYED the white beast with the black coloring around his eyes.
“Go ahead, pet him, he doesn’t bite.” The guide urged.
The soft humming of the animal was very soothing and Austin reached out to touch the animal’s neck. He twitched his ears and the humming increased. The wool was soft and springy.
“Maxie, when you asked me if I wanted to take a llama to lunch, I thought you were out of your mind.”
“Bandit is going to carry our gourmet lunch while we hike along and enjoy the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.”
The guide began speaking telling the day hikers to watch out for wildlife especially black bears, elk, mountain lions and rattlesnakes. The guide indicated that the llamas would alert the hikers to any dangers with their high-pitched cry.
They started out walking side by side up the slope, the trail worn by many feet, both two-legged and four-legged. To either side of the path a carpet of wildflowers bloomed. Austin stopped and squatted. He fingered a delicate yellow flower. He looked up at Maxie, who’d stopped when he did. “These are buttercups, also called columbine—any flower in the buttercup family. The Apache used the seeds of this flower to cure headaches and fever.”
Intrigued, Maxie walked over to a small daisylike flower. “What’s this?”
“Groundsel.” Austin rose and walked over to stand next to Maxie. The curious look on her face reminded him of a young child, free and inquisitive, reveling in the wonder of nature. “Apaches used this to treat open wounds.”
“And this?” Maxie toed a clump of small blue to purplish flower with the toe of her new hiking boot.
“Pennyroyal. It’s more than a pretty little flower. The oil found in the flower is an excellent insect repellent and a tea made from the plant was once thought to be a cure for a variety of illnesses.”
“Your grandmother taught you this stuff, didn’t she?”
“As I told you,” he said, looking off into the background of a variety of spruce, fir and aspen trees rising up against the blue mammoth of Wheeler’s Peak. It was breathtaking scenery, where the mountains met the sky, a bigger, bluer and more fascinating living canvas than any other place Austin had been. He admired the scenery for a few more moments then turned his face back to Maxie. “She was a medicine woman for my tribe.”
“The connection you have to your family and your ancestors must make you feel grounded.”
“I never thought of it in those terms, but it does make me feel secure.”
“The only person in my life who made me feel grounded was Dorrie.”
“That’s sad that your parents didn’t know who you were. They missed out.”
Maxie slid her arm through his, and it made him feel grounded, too. She smiled up at him. “What else. Tell me more of your mystical grandmother’s wisdom.”
“I will if you tell me more about your family.”
“There really isn’t much to tell. My father is a really boring upper-middle-class accountant and, as I told you, my mother a social butterfly that is more important than anything in her life, even her daughters. Even if we had some interesting family ancestors, my mother wouldn’t care about sharing that with me. Once she realized that I wasn’t going to be what she wanted me to be, she gave up on me and focused on Dorrie. She did use it against me, though.”
He nodded as they caught up to the group, who were admiring a spectacular view of Taos and the valley beyond. “I’m sorry. I know how you feel. My stepfather wasn’t too keen on me either.”
Soon they continued their journey through the mountains, the guide pointing out places of interest.
No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get Bandit to leave his side. She kept leaning over and rubbing her nose against his face, which was the equivalent of a llama kiss the amused guide informed him.
It was almost noon, the third time the animal did it, and he heard Maxie laugh softly.
“You think it’s funny?” he asked, amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth when he gave Bandit a quick pat on the neck. The animal began to hum louder in contentment.
“I think she likes you, Austin,” Maxie said, moving closer to him and companionably sliding her arm around his waist. Her e
yes were alight with a twinkling amusement, her face animated.
But when hadn’t she been bubbly and happy. Even when she was fighting with him, she had that same animation. The woman loved life, lived it to the fullest extent. Whereas he…well, he didn’t. He might be a bounty hunter facing danger in his job, but had he really lived or just existed? From the moment he’d met her she’d made him feel alive.
His chest filled and he put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close, thinking that a woman like Maxie would stop the years stretching out in front of him from seeming bleak.
The sudden intrusion of Bandit’s nose between him and Maxie, then her head, which effectively pushed Maxie away and separated them, made not only laughter bubble from her, but from the other hikers, as well.
“It seems that Bandit’s jealous,” the guide said.
Austin laughed with good nature. What did he care if the beast showed her affection? It had made Maxie laugh and he was sure that he cared about that. The sound of it made his chest tighten. It was his own fault if he felt as protective of Maxie as the llama felt protective of him. For the first time, he allowed the idea of letting her go become a full-fledged thought in his head. Yet, the consequences of his action would compromise not only his principles, but also Jessica’s plans. Not that he could compare Jessica’s trip to France to the trouble that Maxie faced in Sedona. They were not the same things at all.
But could he let her go? Could he really loosen some of his ironclad principles? It was his father who had instilled such traits in him and it was a way he could keep him alive. A heaviness settled on Austin’s heart when he thought about his father. Would he be proud of a son who threw his resolve into the wind and relinquished his responsibilities to his family and his job?
It was something he contemplated the rest of the day as they made their way back to Taos and a night out on the town.
AS THEY ENTERED the pueblo-style adobe restaurant the walls made from sun-dried clay bricks mixed with grass for strength, mud-mortared and covered with additional protective layers of mud, Maxie slipped her arm through Austin’s. He smiled down at her as if they were a couple enjoying the nightlife.