Never Say Never Again

by A. E. Easterlin

  And then, above the knee, thickly muscled thighs led to his aroused manhood. So beautiful in every aspect. A stunning creation full of passion and power.

  The impressive sight made other memories play in her mind. His hands on her body, his mouth tasting hers, the moment he entered her, making her a woman in every sense of the word. Even now she could feel the sexual magnetism that was as much a part of him as his gravelly baritone voice, or his piercing gaze, or his broad shoulders that bore the weight of lives saved, a life-altering injury, and a family’s burdens.

  “You through looking your fill?” he rumbled with his eyes still closed.

  Caught. No use to make a run for it now. She shrugged. “Sorry, I…um…thought you were in the guest room.”

  One eye opened. Then both, as his gaze started at her ankles and traveled over her legs before pausing at the place where her T-shirt met her lacy panties. “Don’t apologize,” he said, lighting a fire between her legs.

  Nervously, she pulled at the hem of her top and gestured toward the kitchen. “I got thirsty. Can I get you a bottle of water?” Geez, was that her voice squeaking as he continued his inspection?

  One eyebrow raised, Gideon fastened the prosthesis and grabbed for his jeans, but not before she noticed the bulge growing beneath his boxers. He pulled the denim up but left the top button open.

  “You okay?” he asked as he followed her to the refrigerator.

  She wanted to scream, No. That’s when it hit her. Her desire. Her want. Her need. All the pent-up emotion of the past weeks and the funeral. She had no clue why or what it meant, but right now, all she wanted was to feel those gifted hands exploring her body, devouring her confusion, erasing the perplexity of her muddled mind.

  She wanted his taste, his warmth, his strength, to make her feel again.

  Somehow, he must have sensed her need. One minute her back was to him, the next she was crushed to his chest. His mouth covered hers with a familiar hunger. Urgent, Exploratory. Maddie responded, giving herself freely to the growing passion between them. Regardless of the barriers, she surrendered to the heady sensations he aroused.

  What she’d felt for Harrison was nothing—nothing—in comparison to Gideon.

  He broke the kiss, and her lips stung. “Dammit, Maddie, do you have any idea of how much I want you right now?” he rasped.

  Shivers of heat ran up her spine at the same time goose bumps peppered her skin. “I know,” she panted. “Believe me, I know.”

  Gideon straightened, one hand sliding behind her neck, the other cupping her bottom. The intimate burn flamed hotter. There was no way to fight this, no way to deny it. No way she wanted to make the effort.

  “Gideon…” It was all she could do to whisper his name. Rising on tiptoe, she found his chin and tasted the salt of his skin. Kissing up toward his mouth, she was surprised when he pulled away.

  “Your first time was on the hard ground, but it was damned near perfect for me. This time, I’m taking you in your bed, the way it’s supposed to be, and lady, whatever doubts you have, you’d better resolve them tonight. Once I make you mine, you’re mine from now on. Do you understand what I’m saying, Maddie? No more avoidance, no more games. You know how I feel—you ready to admit you feel the same way?”

  Confusion puckered her brow. Was he asking for a commitment? The forever kind? Now?

  “I…I need you, Gideon. Tonight I want to feel your arms around me…”

  “No can do, sweetheart.” He took a giant step back and released her. “The days of love ’em and leave ’em are over for me. I want more. Did you ever ask why Pap concocted this scheme in the first place? Yeah, he knew he was dying, and he wanted to leave here knowing you were safe and cared for and loved. All that stuff about Emma telling him we were meant for each other, I don’t know…maybe it’s true and maybe it was just the addled desire of an old man who desperately wanted to do what was best for his granddaughter. What I do know is that he—and Emma—were right. I knew it the first time I laid eyes on you. The next time I make love with you will be the first of the rest of your life. Ball’s in your court, sweetheart.”

  Gideon stalked to the sofa and grabbed his shirt. Tugging it over his shoulders, he set his hat firmly on his head and stared in her direction. God, he looked so beautiful, chest heaving, body barely controlled, desire for her apparent in the bulge behind his zipper. But he was one purely pissed-off cowboy.

  “You’re leaving?” she wailed.

  “Maddie, I don’t know how else to say it. I want you—forever. And deep down inside, I know you feel the same. When you’re ready to grow up and accept what your heart is telling you, give me a call. You know where to find me.”

  The slamming of her front door was an exclamation point she hadn’t anticipated. From somewhere far away, she heard a ghost of a laugh.

  “Pap, you old scoundrel, it isn’t funny.”

  She returned to her lonely bed, pulled the covers to her chin, and heaved a sigh, then softly sang the lyrics of an old Sunday School song about a warrior named Joshua and his strategy against a hostile town called Jericho.

  “And the walls came tumbling down…”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  As Maddie’s walls came tumbling down, Gideon’s grew higher.

  Two days after Pap’s funeral, he and Eli pulled into her drive just as dawn broke over the Snowy Ridge. The temperature promised to rise beyond normal—the morning had already hit eighty.

  Gideon stalked directly to the barn as his brother clomped up her porch steps and rattled the hinges on her door with his meaty fist. “Just wanted to let you know we’re here. Passed Russ and Buddy on the road. Me and Gid are going to exercise the horses and let them out to pasture, while the boys are going to tackle painting the house. You might want to close the windows to avoid the fumes.”

  Making a valiant effort at ignoring her tousled appearance and summer pajamas, Eli’s gaze roved her cleavage the entire time he talked. Feeling merciful, Maddie scooted behind the door frame, one bare foot resting on top of the other.

  “I don’t expect you and Gideon to take on extra chores by coming over here,” her froggy voice croaked. “You have your own place to take care of. I appreciate today, but Russ and Buddy and I can handle things from here on out, okay?”

  Eli’s midnight-blue eyes captured hers. “Not up to me, Maddie. Gideon says we’re helping—we’re helping. You got a problem with that, you need to speak with him. Oh”—he grabbed a long, round tube from its resting place beside the door—“this is from Rowdy. And this”—he pulled an envelope from his back pocket—“is a bill of materials you’ll need if you approve the plans for the cottages.”

  “Wow, that’s thoughtful. I’d anticipated having to come up with my own list.”

  “Yeah, well, Rowdy’s a thoughtful kind of guy,” Eli said with a lopsided grin. “And he liked you, Maddie.”

  Was he digging for some sort of reaction? Yeah. The Branch brothers were a fiercely loyal trio. Eli would want to know if she felt an attraction to the handsome architect. Tempted to throw out some sassy retort just to get a reaction, perhaps now wasn’t the time. Gideon confused her. She couldn’t put her finger on Eli’s motives.

  She walked the middle of the road. “He’s a good friend to you boys, and a nice man. I appreciate his help.”

  Eli let out a relieved breath. “About you and Gid…”

  “Don’t, Eli. I know exactly where Gideon stands. You don’t want to get involved.”

  “I can’t help but be involved. He’s my brother.”

  “I understand, but our situation is complicated. Your interference will only make it worse. He told me in no uncertain terms how he felt and what he expects. We both have some thinking to do, and now… I just buried Pap, and I have the camp to concentrate on. The river issue is settled, and you can relax. Give us some time.”

  “His mind’s made up—you know that, right?”

  “I know,” she quietly answered.

&nb
sp; Eli pushed his hat back on his head. “Don’t be stubborn, Maddie. I’ve seen the way you look at him—and the way he looks at you. Don’t mess it up. You two need each other.”

  Brows raised, she simply stared.

  “Okay. I was just told to mind my own business, but know this. Gideon seems like a patient man, but nothing could be further from the truth. When he wants something, he usually gets it. As far as helping with the camp, he’ll do what he always does. Take my advice and let him. He wants to be a part of this for Pap, as well as for you. Me, too, for that matter. You following me?”

  Maddie nodded. “I follow.”

  Eli squeezed her shoulder and scuttled off the porch. How nice it would have been to have siblings like the Branch brothers. Someone to stand by you and have your back when life punched you in the gut. The loneliness of her circumstances sat heavy on her heart as she poured a cup of coffee and watched the two brothers going about morning chores—Eli, tall and powerful, Gideon taller, thicker, pure harnessed energy. Limping.

  Limping?

  Definitely favoring his bad leg. He wasn’t taking care of it properly. That was going to stop.

  Maddie pulled on a pair of jeans and threw a T-shirt over her head. At the back door, she tugged on her barn boots and stomped toward the east corral.

  Gideon was just mounting King when she climbed up the bottom fence rail. At first, he ignored her.

  “Hey!” she chirped in a clipped voice.

  Gideon stared a moment, and then lifted his head skyward. “You need something?” he asked harshly.

  So that’s how it was going to be. “Yeah,” she yelled back.

  He walked King over to her and crossed his wrists over the saddle horn. “You got something to say to me?” His features hard, carved in stone, eyes like clear blue quartz, body ramrod straight. He waited.

  Gideon sat on King like the ruler of the prairie, and she breathed in the man smell of him, like summer and man-sweat and the aroma of musk and spice that was uniquely his. One of those tempting trickles ran down his neck and disappeared into the long-sleeved shirt that damply clung to his muscles, and she wanted nothing more than to lick the salt trail as it traveled to its destination.

  Her heart thumped, the fine hairs on her arms tingled, heat pooled between her legs. Even at this distance, Maddie felt consumed. Slowly, his chin dropped, and their gazes locked in a standoff. Electricity sparked between them, an unbreakable connection that belied the counterfeit anger sizzling beneath the surface.

  Her chest heaved, nipples drawing to hard points beneath her thin cotton tee, drawing his gaze. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, concealing the reaction his nearness caused.

  “Maddie?” he asked drawing out her name. “Don’t have all day here, sweetheart. Like I said, you got something to say, spit it out.”

  A shiver crept up her spine.

  The smug tilt of his mouth got under her skin as she narrowed her gaze, trying with everything in her to sever the sexual tension and return to reality.

  “You aren’t taking care of your leg,” she sputtered as disappointment flashed over his features and quickly disappeared.

  “My leg is a little sore, that’s all. Been on it a lot lately, standing around, getting things situated at Snowy Branch.”

  “You shouldn’t be coming over here. The boys and I can take care of things.” She raised her hand to shield her face from the brightening sky. “You have enough to worry about with your own place.”

  Walking King closer to the edge of the fence, Gideon leaned in until his face was inches from hers. It took everything she had not to fist her hands in his shirt and pull him in for a kiss. But she was the one who’d sent him away. How freaking crazy was that?

  “Remember when I told you I say what I mean and mean what I say?” His hot breath bathed her face, and she instinctively rose higher on her toes.

  Uh, yeah. How could she forget the night he made love to her, the night she became a woman? “You said you knew what you wanted and you always got it?”

  “Said a lot that night. Meant every word. You ready to grow up, Maddie?” His gaze held hers in such a way that she couldn’t mistake his meaning.

  Was she? If she said yes, there would be no turning back. She hesitated. Her entire life had changed in the last few days; she needed to get her bearings again.

  The moment came and went. Gideon straightened in the saddle and pulled on King’s reins.

  “Gideon?” Maddie’s voice halted his departure. “The end of summer. Give me until the end of August.”

  “For what?” he asked, staring straight ahead.

  “T…to make a decision,” she stuttered.

  Gideon pushed. “A decision about what, Maddie? I want to hear you say it.”

  It wasn’t that they weren’t both clear on exactly what he was asking, but he really hadn’t ever said “it” in so many words. Just what exactly did he want to hear?

  “What, Gideon? What do you want me to say?”

  A puzzled expression on his face, he turned the horse until King’s head was over the top rail and nuzzling her left arm, his body inches from hers.

  “Okay, you want the words?” His rough, gravelly voice cut through the steamy morning air. “Let me lay it out for you. No more misunderstandings. No more doubts. No more games. I fell for you the very first time I saw you. Something in me came back to life again that afternoon at Loretta’s. So I’ll say it as plainly as I can. I love you. I love your sexy, luscious body, your sassy mouth, your strength and courage. I admire the hell out of you, and the fact that you’ve chosen to help kids as your life’s work fills me with pride. Do I need to tell you how much I want you? The sight of your beautiful body drives me insane. I’d like nothing more than to get off this horse and demonstrate just what being near to you does to me. I want to marry you, build a life with you, have babies with you, and stand beside you until life is done. I want what Pap and Emma had—with you. Is that clear enough?”

  Whoa! She felt her chin drop about halfway through his soliloquy. Marriage? Her heart pounded as adrenaline pumped through her veins, while shock, excitement, and glorious eagerness filled her.

  Uncertain of what he expected, Maddie morphed into a mute. A white-knuckled grasp on the newly painted boards, her body went into full alert as Gideon bent, his big hand cupping her nape, and claimed her mouth with a lightning kiss so hot it arced through her and scorched the ground beneath.

  A hard kiss.

  A hot-as-the-fires-of-hell kiss.

  Unquenchable, undeniable…unbelievable. Magic, and oh, so sexy.

  The world tilted on its axis and stopped time as he paused, his firm lips barely touching hers. When Gideon sat back in the saddle, a self-satisfied expression covered his face as he said three words before Maddie had a chance to say any.

  “End of August.”

  She watched her cowboy ride away, shirt clinging damply to his massive shoulders, one with the animal he rode, Stetson pulled low, worn boots controlling the spirited horse.

  Lord, that man can sure fill out a pair of jeans.

  Maddie returned to the house, rinsed the dishes, and took a shower. All by rote. Her mind in a whirl, Gideon’s words dancing through her mind, she twisted the old fixture from warm to cold. It had been that kind of morning. Her second marriage proposal—nothing like the first.

  How could she have been so blind about Harrison, and how could she have said such hurtful things? She’d loved the boy and then the man all her life, and the truth was, she loved him still…as a friend—her best friend. Back then, she’d had no idea about true love, what it meant, how it felt.

  After Gideon, she had no doubt.

  Pap had told her to settle things with Harrison, and her grandfather was rarely wrong. She had until the end of August—Gideon’s word. Now, life got real. Now, it was up to her to make things right with Harrison, do as much as she could with Emma’s Camp, and decide if she wanted to live an entire lifetime with Gideon Bran
ch.

  It was going to be a busy summer.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Gideon, Eli, Buddy, Russ, and four strange men gathered in front of her barn on the first day of July. Again, the sun burned hot as blazes. Again, Maddie stealthily observed through her kitchen window as eight huge men in various stages of undress labored under Wyoming skies. Mercy, but the Branch brothers had some mighty fine friends.

  She grinned. It was all for the children.

  The unmistakable sound of a tractor-trailer rig drowned out deep male voices as she flew to her bedroom, dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, and pulled on her barn boots. Peeking out Emma’s lace curtains, Maddie felt her eyes grow large at the amount of building supplies loaded on the flatbed.

  All the men and the driver began the process of unloading. It was better than watching an MMA event as the hot, sweaty men stretched and heaved the lumber and roofing supplies down and carted them to the designated location of cabin number one. She and Loretta sat on her back steps, root beers in hand, and watched the show.

  “Stan should thank his lucky stars I’ve got Peanut in my belly. If I still had my girlish figure, one of those guys would give him a run for his money.”

  “It’s a tempting sight, I’ll grant you that. But you’re talking to the wrong girl if you’re trying to convince me you’d be satisfied with any man but Stan.”

  Loretta smiled. “Yeah, he’s pretty much got any one of them beat.”

  Maddie laughed. “That good, huh?”

  “What do you think?” Loretta grinned.

  “Trying not to go there.” The girls giggled. “They look hot and thirsty.”

  “If you’re going to get to work, I’m headed back to town.” They hugged goodbye.

  Maddie hastily emptied all the ice in her freezer into a five-gallon thermos and added water. Even early in the morning the dry heat would take its toll. Dragging the thermos out to the shade by the barn, she set cups beside it, gave a wave to the men, and went back inside.

  While they stacked and organized, she cooked. Emma’s sweet rolls always made every task easier. The aromas of yeast and cinnamon announced the treat, and the men took a break. Later she had a hearty lunch ready for them, and more cold water for the afternoon.