Gotta Have It

by Lori Wilde

  Her father respected her in a way he never had before and she had learned to separate his wants and opinions from her own. They even argued politics now, which they never had before. Abby found the changes liberating.

  They never spoke about Durango, but Abby couldn’t stop thinking about him. She still felt a combination of emotions. Love, desire, anger, despair.

  She had come to realize that even though she’d gotten hurt during the course of their short-lived romance, it had been worth all the pain because she finally felt fully alive.

  Durango had given her the gift of her own passion and, for that, she would be forever grateful.

  But not a day went by that she didn’t look up in the sky, remembering.

  “You’re doing a great job, sweetheart,” her father said, coming over to where Abby was supervising preparations for the barn dance later that evening. “Harry Cornwell just pledged a quarter of a million and he credited you with charming him out of it.”

  “That’s wonderful, Dad.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Did I happen to mention that I hired a stunt pilot to put on a little aerial acrobatic show for the guests?”

  “No. Way to keep your campaign manager informed,” she chided gently. “I could have arranged to have bleachers brought in.”

  “I took care of that.” As he spoke a large truck bearing a section of bleachers rumbled into the driveway of the ranch.

  Her father checked his watch. “The plane should be here in twenty minutes.

  A crew set up the bleachers. The guests took their seats. Abby was busy chatting up supporters when the hum of a biplane engine drew everyone’s attention.

  For ten minutes, the plane swooped and dove and did acrobatics. Abby’s heart soared along with the plane. She wished she was in the sky, winging on air.

  And then the plane began skywriting.

  The sight of the white smoke brought back a poke of sharp memories as she recalled that day on the mesa when she’d seen the plane write “Freefall” above the red rock bluffs of Sedona.

  The crowd spelled out the letters as the plane looped out the writing.

  A. B. B. Y.

  It took a minute for her to realize it was her name being spelled across the sky. She put a hand to her heart and was surprised to discover it was beating erratically.

  A. R. C. H. E. R.

  All eyes turned to stare at Abby.

  What was up? It wasn’t her birthday or anything special.

  W. I. L. L.

  She shot a glance at her father. “What gives?”

  He grinned wide. “Keep watching.”

  Y. O. U.

  She felt her throat close off. Tears filled her eyes. Her stomach squeezed in anticipation of the next word.

  “M.” shouted the crowd.

  “A.”

  “R.”

  By the time the pilot got to the second R in marry, Abby’s knees buckled and she sat down hard on the ground.

  “You okay, darling?” Her father was at her side. She fumbled for his hand. He squeezed it.

  “Durango?” she whispered.

  “Who else?”

  “But…but, you were in on this together?”

  Her father nodded. “It’s going to be okay. Take a deep breath.”

  “You approve of him?”

  “You both have my blessings.”

  After the pilot spelled out M.E., he climbed higher into the sky and a man dropped out in a parachute.

  Two minutes later, Durango was on the ground, unclipping himself from the parachute. Once he was untangled, Abby flung herself into his arms.

  Here he was at last. Her soul mate, her life partner, the man she loved with every fiber of her being. The man she had always loved.

  His black eyes snapped with passion and his sexy lips were curled in a wicked grin. Her heart stuttered and she forgot to breathe.

  Their gazes coupled, locked.

  The warmth of his daredevil eyes filled her up. It was a look so hot and weighted with such meaning she felt as if he’d actually reached out and touched her in a spot so secret she hadn’t known it existed.

  “Well,” he said. “So what do you say? Can you forgive me enough to marry me?”

  Abby looked around and realized the crowd was holding its collective breath, waiting for her answer.

  “Yes,” she whispered with all the passion she had in her. “Yes, yes, yes.”

  The crowd burst into wild applause.

  He kissed her as he’d never kissed her before. He kissed her as if the very fate of the world depended on her.

  When he finished, they looked up to see her father smiling his approval and dangling a key on his fingers. “Feel free to use my trailer,” he said. “It’s parked at the back of the campground.”

  Abby blushed, but did not sneeze and accepted the key. “Thank you, Daddy.”

  Her father kissed her cheek. “Thank you, darling, for teaching this old dog a few new tricks. Now go on. You two go talk things through. I can handle the fund-raiser from here on out.”

  Abby sprinted ahead of Durango, making him chase her.

  Before the door even closed behind them, Durango had her in his arms, kissing her again.

  Abby shut her eyes and dissolved into him. Hugging him around the neck, she mewled softly in his ear.

  He was her fire, she thought dreamily. Her flame. With Durango beside her, she could never lose touch with the passion that burned deep inside her.

  His fingers deftly unbuttoned her blouse and it seemed to magically fall away. He inched a hand up underneath her bra to unhook it.

  Her breasts engorged and her nipples flowered at his touch. She opened her eyes and looked into his face to convince herself this wasn’t a dream, that Durango had actually asked her to marry him.

  “I’m not a dream, Angel. This is happening for real,” he said, reading her mind.

  “Why did you wait two whole weeks to come to me?” She playfully swatted his arm. “You deserve to be punished for torturing me like that.”

  “It was torture for me, too, but your dad thought it would be much more romantic for me to ask you this way even if it meant I had to wait two weeks for the right occasion.”

  “It was pretty spectacular,” she said. “It’ll make a great tale for the grandkids.”

  “No second-rate proposal for my passionate lady,” he said.

  “So, it appears that you’ve mended fences with my father.”

  “And mine.”

  “That’s so wonderful. You’ve forgiven everyone who wronged you?”

  “And they’ve forgiven me. All that’s left is you. Can you possibly forgive me for treating you so shabbily?”

  “Of course I’ve forgiven you. Besides I was the one who wanted nothing more than a red-hot fling. Remember?”

  “I guess I sort of put a crimp in those plans,” he teased.

  “Hey, babe, crimp away. The only reason I wanted that red-hot fling is because even after ten years I couldn’t stop having midnight fantasies about you. I thought I could sex you out of my system, but I was wrong. Turns out I’m hooked and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

  “Just my luck,” he murmured, still studiously kissing her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks.

  “So where are we going to live? Here or Sedona?”

  “I’m helping my dad get back on his feet so it’ll work out best all the way around if we stay in Phoenix,” he replied, “but I’m not giving up my place in Sedona. So we can have a getaway spot anytime we’re in the mood for vortex sex.”

  “Did I ever tell you, I like the way you think?”

  “Not nearly often enough.”

  Her heart thumped beneath his hand. He buried his mouth against her neck and her pulse fluttered from the searing heat of his naughty tongue.

  He smelled of man and rich red Arizona soil, and his skin was toasty warm beneath her fingers.

  Her blood streamed feverishly hot through her veins. She wanted him so badly she couldn
’t stand herself. She wriggled her slacks past her hips and viciously kicked them off.

  Then she took his big masculine hand and guided him where she wanted him to go. When he found her slick, ready wetness, she hissed in her breath and bit down softly on his bottom lip.

  “Make love to me, Durango. Two weeks without you is too long.”

  He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. She felt as if she had at last roused from an infinite slumber to discover her real life had finally began.

  Swiftly, wordlessly he tossed off his flight suit and then the clothes underneath. He kicked off his underwear and she shimmied out of her panties.

  Once naked, he tugged her bottom to the edge of the mattress while he stood on the floor. He separated her thighs and greedily plunged into her, groaning as her slick heat encased him.

  They’d been apart too long for foreplay.

  Abby hissed in her breath at the swiftness of their impact. They were both so desperately hungry. Arching her back, she raised her hips up to welcome his eager thrusts, urging him on.

  “Yes, yes,” she cried.

  This was what she had been longing for, what had been missing. This vibrating connection, this electromagnetic force far greater than either him or her. This vast, wonderful, forgiving love.

  The vigor of their union raided her mind of rational thought. She could do nothing but travel the ripple of scrumptious delight, urging him on by clamping her legs around his hips and pulling him deeper inside her.

  More. More. She had to have more.

  He matched her frantic thrashing and she knew this first time would be fast and frenzied. Durango tried to control himself. Abby saw the tussle screw up his features as he battled to slow their lovemaking.

  “Let go,” she whispered, and he gave up the struggle. With a feeble moan, he dropped into ecstasy.

  His reckless sounds, his headlong thrust exploded into her own climax.

  Shuddering wave after shuddering wave rippled through her body, lifting her up to glorious peaks. A keening wail ripped its way up through her throat and mingled with Durango’s harsh noise. Their sounds reverberated sexily around the small space.

  He collapsed onto the bed beside her, wrapped his arms around her and brought her along with him. After flipping Durango onto his back, Abby rested astride his waist.

  She sprawled against his chest and he tightened his arms around her.

  “I love you, Abby.” He breathed, a heady catch in his voice.

  She pressed her lips to the hollow of his throat. “I love you too, Durango,” she whispered.

  They stayed locked together for a long time. Abby realized she’d never felt so complete, so content, so whole.

  Love for her shone in his eyes, and in Durango’s eyes she saw her own passion flow. He loved her for who she really was deep inside.

  She kissed him. Slow, soft and languid. There wasn’t any hurry. They had the rest of their lives.

  Epilogue

  “YOU KNOW WHAT you need?”

  “What?”

  “Something blue.” Tess held up a lacy blue hanky. “I’ve got two.”

  “Haven’t you heard? I don’t need a hanky. I don’t sneeze anymore.”

  “Not since you learned to embrace your passion and stop denying your true self.”

  Abby stared at her best friend who looked resplendent in her wedding dress, Abby thought the same about her own.

  In the church, the guests waited as did their anxious grooms.

  Six months ago, when they first arrived in Sedona, neither one of them knew—that discovering the power of the vortex was an event that would change their lives forever.

  The pianist played “The Wedding March.”

  “I guess we’re up,” Tess said, as they hugged each other.

  Then together, they turned and walked down the aisle on the arms of their fathers.

  A double wedding. Two best friends had found their true loves at the very same time. Abby’s heart filled to overflowing.

  The governor-elect squeezed her hand. “I’m so proud of you,” her father said. “And of Durango.”

  “Thanks, Daddy, that means a lot.”

  Cassandra and her young boy toy waved to them as they walked past. Her mother was unique, a one-of-a-kind character. Abby was glad for the Gypsy blood that kept her excited, but just as appreciative of her father’s steady, calming influence. She had the best of both worlds.

  Cassandra winked and mouthed, You gotta have passion.

  Abby looked down the length of the aisle and caught Durango’s gaze. Oh, she had passion. In spades.

  Then she was standing beside Durango. A smile lit up his face. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered reverently.

  He squeezed her hand while the minister married Tess and Jackson. I’m here, that squeeze told her. Now and forever.

  Abby’s heart hitched, her gaze fixed on the strong-willed, adventuresome man who had helped her define the person she had yearned to become.

  The well-rounded person she was whenever she looked into his loving eyes. They complemented one another, each bringing something vital to the relationship. Together, they had found the perfect balance.

  After the minister pronounced them husband and wife, Durango swept her into his arms and kissed her with a heated fever she had come to joyfully anticipate.

  This was what she’d been craving all those years. Closeness, intimacy, love.

  As Durango held her close and the crowd applauded, Abby pressed her lips to his ear and whispered, “Let’s slip off someplace private before the reception.”

  “Angel.” He chuckled. “What are you suggesting?”

  “You know.” She felt her face blush hot.

  “Come on.” He winked. “If you want it, you’ve got to ask for it.”

  “All right, Durango Creed, drag me off and make wild passionate love to me because I want you to and well, I’ve just gotta have it.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7071-2

  GOTTA HAVE IT

  Copyright © 2004 by Laurie Vanzura.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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