by Linda Conrad
Afterward, Merri lay back on her bed and tried to catch her breath. Suddenly, something seemed very wrong. This was the time when she needed Ty’s arms to hold her close, to cuddle her up and softly stroke her hair.
But he wasn’t here. She was all alone and beginning to feel cold and ridiculous. How could she have let her hard-won reality slip away like that and do something so much like fiction?
“Ty?” she breathed into the phone.
“Right here, darlin’. You okay?” His voice sounded rough and she took a small solace in knowing that he was not unaffected by what they’d done.
“Not really,” she admitted. “Ty?”
“Yes, love. I’m still here.”
“Come home.”
The low chuckle she heard coming through her phone from faraway places was stark and bordered on bleak. “Oh, yeah,” he growled. “My sentiments exactly.”
Ty was edgy and grouchy when he finally made it back to Texas a few days later. Frustrated by not being able to resolve any of the oil trade issues he’d been sent to negotiate, he was beyond frustration whenever his thoughts turned to Merri. Which was more or less constantly.
Ever since the night they’d spent hours on the phone, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to talk to her at all. He knew the sound of her voice would just seep inside him, turning the continual hum of his desire into an immediate drumbeat of desperate arousal. He wouldn’t have been able to handle that across the distances separating them.
Throwing his dirty laundry into a heap on the utility room floor, Ty gulped down his growing hunger to see Merri and headed for the shower. He’d actually managed to tie things up a day early so he could come home for her, and he wasn’t about to ruin their reunion by being a smelly pig.
But standing in the shower, with the water beating down on him like a million tiny fingertips stroking and caressing his body, was too difficult. He found himself growing hard and panting, so he immediately toweled off and got dressed.
Not another minute. Ty couldn’t stand it until he held the real woman and not the dream in his arms.
A few minutes later he barged into the Foundation office and let the door slam shut behind him. “Merri?”
She didn’t answer and he felt a stab of raw nerves from not enough sleep. Within three seconds, he determined that she wasn’t at the office, and a low irritation began to settle over him. Where the hell was she?
Ty picked up the phone and cursed under his breath. Why hadn’t he insisted that she let him get her a cell phone? He hated not knowing where she was—or if she needed him.
He dialed her house but gave up after twenty-four fruitless rings. Next he called Jewel, who answered on the second ring.
“Where the hell is she?” he growled at his dumb-founded aunt.
“Hello to you, too, Tyson,” Jewel said with a sniff. “Welcome home. Now, when are you leaving again so the real Tyson can come back?”
He huffed out a breath and scowled, but Jewel had managed to stick a pin in his anger. “Sorry. I’m just tired…and I really need to talk to Merri. Do you know where she is?” He had to see her and the splitting shaft of panic when he couldn’t find her had left him shaken.
“I take it you’ve been to your ranch. If she’s not out there getting ready for tomorrow’s barbeque, she’ll be at Nuevo Dias Ranch working with the kids. Try there.” Jewel stopped talking for a second and he wondered if she was going to hang up on him.
“And try to calm down before you see her, son,” Jewel said in a softer tone. “She has seemed a little vulnerable to me over the last few days. I’m worried about her.”
Vulnerable? His Merri? Not a chance in the world.
The woman he knew and was beginning to love was strong and true and…
Love?
The word tumbled over his heart and niggled its way to his brain.
He told his aunt goodbye and then began going over his own thoughts from the last few days. Ty realized that he’d actually begun to think of the future. A future that included kids and pets and houses that were never empty when you came home.
A future that centered around Merri.
He waited for the spurt of panic to drive up his spine, but it didn’t happen. Why wasn’t he afraid this time?
The answer came in a dawning sense of golden glory. He wasn’t afraid because he trusted Merri not to hurt him. Drawing a deep, cleansing breath, he actually smiled.
For the first time in his memory, he’d found a woman who could be perfectly truthful and trustworthy. That frustratingly wonderful time on the telephone the other night had proven it to him. How many others would open themselves up like that and let every raw emotion hang out for another person to see—or hear.
He’d turned over his soul to her on the telephone that night and she’d given him back her own. She was brilliant and kind, beautiful and so very real. And he wanted her for his own…for forever.
And right this minute, if he couldn’t put his hands on her, he was going to spontaneously combust.
With his thoughts a jumble of hopes and promises, Ty jumped back in his truck and headed for the children’s ranch. He wanted to tell Merri how he felt. But first…first he had to actually touch her and feel the beating of her heart under his palm. He was tired of dreaming…and needed…and needed…the real thing.
When he arrived at the Nuevo Dias Ranch, he whisked past a couple of members of the staff and brashly insisted they direct him to Merri. One of the administrators sent him outside to the playground and told him she was working with some of the younger girls.
He didn’t care what she was doing now. Only what she would be doing later, when he finally had her alone in his arms. He couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think of anything but her.
Slamming the back door and rounding the corner of the building, Ty was nearly running by the time he got to the playground. But when he caught his first sight of her, he froze in his own footsteps.
The sun was high in the sky and painted the background an astonishing shade of cobalt blue. His breath caught in his throat.
Merri was standing there, letting the warm yellow sunshine wash over her, and she looked like an angel. Her hair was pulled back in a smooth ponytail and positively glowed. It seemed a lot blonder this afternoon than he remembered. Maybe it was bleaching out from the sun.
Her face was slightly flushed as if she’d just been kissed senseless. And her green eyes gleamed and twinkled and simply dared her bright blouse to compete for attention.
Dressed in soft jeans and a Kelly green sleeveless top, Merri laughed at two of the little girls who danced around her. Ty’s insides turned to mush. He wanted her so badly he could barely breathe.
She was the most gorgeous creature that had ever been put on this earth. Why hadn’t that fact managed to sink into his thick skull before now? It didn’t matter how she was dressed, the woman was a positive stunner.
Speechless, he stumbled toward her. Merri, Merri, his brain kept repeating. Be mine, Merri. Want me the way I want you.
Somehow, she must have heard his silent prayer, because she suddenly turned to him. “Ty,” she mouthed from a distance. “You’re finally home.”
Holding his breath, he reached out a hand in invitation. “Come with me,” he mouthed back.
After a second’s hesitation, her eyes lit with a sexy gleam and then she smiled at him. She held up one finger to let him know she would only be a moment, then she turned to talk to the girls around her.
Ty felt as though his chest would burst. He stood quietly watching and waiting as the anticipation rumbled through him.
After what seemed like an eternity, Merri said her goodbyes and headed in his direction. Every step brought his dreams closer to reality.
“Hi, Ty,” she said almost shyly when she got close enough to hear.
He couldn’t stand it. Reaching out for her, he dragged her to his chest and encircled her in his embrace. Ah. The warmth of her body felt so welcoming. So right.
Not able to wait another minute for a more private reunion, he brought his mouth down on hers and feasted on the honey that was all Merri. He poured everything he’d been feeling into the kiss, telling her without words how much he needed her.
She melted into him and gave back every passion he had been dreaming about. Then she lifted her head.
“It’s a little public out here,” she laughed. “Can’t this wait until tonight? I’ll make you dinner…”
He took her hand and headed off toward the truck, dragging her behind him. “Now,” he growled over his shoulder. “We’re going home…right now.”
Ten
“Do you really know how to cook?” Ty asked as they sped down the back roads, heading for her cottage.
“I’ve been practicing making eggs and boiling water,” Merri told him with a wry smile. “Maybe you could call that cooking.”
Grinning, Ty kept one hand on the steering wheel and took her hand with his other. “You can cook me, darlin’. That’s all we need for the time being.”
He kept one eye on the road ahead and lifted her hand to his mouth. A whisper of his breath across her palm had her wet and ready long before he placed the gentle kiss against her skin. The hungry sound he made seemed to suggest that her hand was the best thing he’d ever tasted.
The flat of his tongue snaked out as he licked a wide path across her palm—slowly, erotically. The sensation shoved through her—beginning right there, racing up to her breasts and finally bouncing down between her thighs.
She could no more hold in the gasp that escaped her lips than she could’ve moved away from him. Paralyzed with need, she blinked her eyes and tried to remember how to breathe.
“Shoot,” Ty muttered as they jostled over a bump in the road that he hadn’t seen coming. He dropped her hand and left it lying across his thigh so he could hold the steering wheel with both hands.
The bump intensified the sizzle between her legs and had her squirming in her seat. “I’d like to get home in one piece, please,” she gritted out. “And I’d like to do it—soon.”
He managed a rather self-deprecating grin, pressed his lips together in a determined scowl and drove on like a race-car driver. An electric hum of arousal filled the truck’s cab with the silent music of profound desire.
This didn’t seem real, this desperate hunger she was feeling. But she’d been blindsided by the obvious need in his eyes when he’d first spotted her out on the playground. The man was driven wild by lust for her and the very thought had turned her on with such a frantic lust she was stunned by it.
No one…not once…had ever needed her that way before. It was thrilling…intoxicating…tempting beyond all reason.
Reason…
Merri pulled her hand away from the stretched denim that covered his thigh and crossed her arms under her breasts. She needed to think…to plan…to be reasonable.
Yes, she wanted him—was desperate for his body to salve her aching needs. But it wasn’t right, not when he didn’t know who she was. Their realities were out of sync and if she gave in to her lust again it would no doubt ruin any chance of their being together for the long haul.
Tell him the truth. Janie’s warning, sounding loudly in her brain, agreed with her own common sense. Both internal voices vied for her attention. But it was hard to think while Ty’s breathing had become so shallow and ragged in the seat beside her.
The truck flew down her gravel drive and Ty jerked it to a stop by her front door. Without a word, he slammed his driver’s door and stalked around to her side. Pulling open her door before she had a chance to do it herself, Ty didn’t waste a minute reaching for her.
“Merri.” He dragged her from the truck and hauled her up to his chest. “I’ve dreamed of this…of you. I’m sorry, I…”
He caught her mouth in a crushing kiss. Feeling his hunger, Merri wrapped her arms around his neck and melted into him.
One kiss, she thought. What would one kiss hurt?
She knew what it could hurt. Knew it was wrong to lead him on, but she simply couldn’t stop him just yet. Not while his tongue plunged so invitingly inside her mouth. In and out, the rhythm of his kiss left her breathless, achy and light-headed.
His hands swept up her back, glided over her tender breasts and made the nipples harden, while the rest of her flesh went all soft. The exquisite sensitivity moved lower along her spine, heading to the tenderest of spots.
The faraway moan she heard must’ve been her own because Ty jolted like he’d been shot. She felt him long, hard and throbbing right through the material of both their jeans.
Cupping her bottom with both hands, he pressed her belly tighter against his erection as the heat blazed through their bodies. Wildfire erupted in her veins; sparking, singeing, searing.
All reason and resolve burnt to a crisp and the ashes blew away in the flaming conflagration. As if they had a mind of their own, her hips repositioned themselves so that she could touch him to her center, to the pulsing desperation at her core.
“Key,” he gasped.
It took her a second before she understood. But he scooped her in his arms and was flying toward the front door before she could dig in her purse. She held on to him, not wanting this to end but vaguely remembering that it should.
In a whirlwind of hands, groans and kisses, Ty dumped out her purse, found the key and had her inside the cottage and half undressed before she could take another breath. He seduced her mouth with his tongue, backing her down the short hall to the bedroom.
“Taste you,” he moaned between kisses. “I want to taste…”
Merri tumbled backwards onto the bed as she continued her inner struggle. She should… She shouldn’t…
With two quick tugs, Ty dragged her top over her head then pulled her jeans down and off her legs. She lay back on the bed in her skimpy white teddy and stared up at him.
“Dang.” He shook his head in amazement. “I wondered what that contraption would look like on you. I like it.”
He stripped off his own shirt and kicked off his boots. “But I’ll look later. Take it off. I want…” He reached out and slid the straps down her arms to speed up the process. “I have to see you.”
The look in his eyes drugged her with an urgent warning. His passion had become irresistible.
Reality suddenly broke apart, leaving her in a fraudulent fog of dreams. Dreams of what he could do to her with just a slight touch—or the simple sound of his voice. The sensual images took over her everyday world.
Merri shimmied out of the one-piece garment and let it glide to the floor. She was naked in her need, lying before him now and it almost slapped her out of the erotic trance.
Almost. Ty’s eyes darkened, his jaw set and his nostrils flared. His obvious pounding lust was the biggest turn-on in her life.
Her nipples tightened unbearably and stretched up, begging for his touch. “One of us has too much on,” she squeaked as she held out her arms to him.
“Oh, sweet mercy,” Ty groaned. He dug in his pants’ pocket for the foil packets he’d put there earlier and tried breathing through his mouth to stem the need.
It took two tries, but in sixty seconds the packets were on her night table and his jeans were flung into a corner. He loomed above her, silently praying for enough strength to make this good for her.
“A taste,” he mumbled. “Just let me…”
He bent, meaning to lightly brush her lips with his own so he could build the tension inside her to a slow burn. But the tension between them was too hot. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders and pulled him down.
Rolling to the side, he let his hands range over her smooth skin, while his lips teased, lathed and nipped everything within reach. He tasted lavender on her shoulders and neck, vanilla as he drew a puckered nipple into his mouth. And finally, he tasted the salty musk that was all Merri as he allowed his tongue to roam down the crevices of her body.
Turning her flat on her back, he nudged her
thighs open and fit himself in between. He felt hot and heavy and damn near gone as he maneuvered a hand between them. She was pooled and slick, a sexy invitation he couldn’t resist.
Leaning over her, he used the fingers of one hand to roll and tug the bud of her breast until she cried out. His other hand feathered lightly across the wetness at her most sensitive area.
The pad of his finger opened her to his exploration. Until he found her tight little nub and flicked his thumb.
She jerked, her whole body arching up to his hand. He gazed down into her lust-filled face and saw a wanton, wild look in those green eyes that absolutely undid him.
“Damn it,” he muttered. He sat up and grabbed for a packet. “I meant for this to go on all night. I wanted to drive you totally insane first.”
“Later,” she said with a husky voice that mimicked his. “Look. Taste. Insanity. All later. I promise.”
The honeyed sound of her voice traveled across his nerve endings and made his hands shake. He struggled with the foil and cursed as Merri reached out.
“Let me,” she soothed. Using one finger, she traced a line up his length and absently licked her lips.
Ty ripped the packet in two with his teeth and sheathed himself in an instant. Near explosion, he flipped her over on her stomach, raised her hips and flattened his palms against her groin.
“Mmm. Just like that,” he said as he moved behind her.
Merri grasped the bedspread with both hands and held on as he began to pulse at her entrance. She went up on her knees as he tilted her hips, sliding inside easy and deep.
They both gasped with the pure pleasure of it—of finding the one place that felt like home. Ty began to run his hands over her body, fingertips to knees, as if he were a blind man and wanted to learn every inch.
He was driving her higher with his hands…wilder as his fingers glided along her skin. She ground her hips against his groin and took him deeper still. Ah.
Kissing the back of her neck, Ty began to rock. Slow and steady. He eased out so that only his tip teased against her.
“No…” she sobbed. Merri wanted hard and fast. Needed an ending to all this tension.