by Susan Lute
Watch it, Gunny. Proceed with caution.
After he’d pulled them out from under the bull’s raging hooves, there were no further incidents of the life-threatening variety, but there were plenty of fireworks that had nothing to do with the ones signaling the end of the rodeo events for the day.
Certainly being highly attracted to the man one was contemplating getting to know a whole lot better was a good thing. Being bowled over by said man, to the exclusion of common sense, was not to be allowed.
She had a mission in mind, if Chase was interested. The look he was giving her said he was. This wasn’t love, just two consenting adults coming together by mutual desire. She hoped. Then thought, this is crazy!
“Your beer.” He placed a sweating glass in front of her.
“Thanks.” Forget wild monkey sex. For the rest of her leave it just would be nice to spend time with a man who wasn’t her therapist, and who didn’t think she was crazy. “Would this be a good time to tell you, you’re fired?”
His grin was spontaneous and sinful. “You don’t say.”
Jane relaxed into her seat grinning back at him. “I do say. I’m feeling better. More in control.”
She wasn’t sure how to put it into appropriate words, but she felt lighter somehow. Freer. Not so caged in or crazed. “Thank you.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Then, you’re welcome. You’ve made a lot of progress since coming here. You'll still have spots of trouble, but I’m okay with sending you back to light duty.”
“That would be great.”
He lowered his gaze to the glass he was twisting in slow circles. “So, you’ll be leaving.”
She should. There was nothing to be gained by flirting with danger. Except, she had the leave coming. And, she should take advantage of the fact that Chase’s ranch was the perfect spot to take a vacation.
There were also the kids’ future to see about. She definitely wanted to know if he could pull off his promise to help them.
“If you don’t mind. I’d like to stay for awhile longer.”
He looked up at her, his slow grin returning. “I don’t mind.”
A minor earthquake rumbled in Jane's chest. This was not wise. The man was just too tempting for her military discipline to be of much use.
Ignoring the internal warning, she stood. “Do you want to dance?”
“Absolutely.”
The band was good, but not as good as the moment he pulled her into his arms and in a slow shuffle, skillfully guided her around the outskirts of the other dancers.
Tonight, she wasn’t the soldier down on her luck who’d arrived at the ranch two weeks or more ago. She was a woman enjoying an evening with a wickedly handsome man.
Ripples of pleasure skipped up her spine. There was just one tiny little problem. If she wasn’t careful, she could stay here, moving around the dance floor with him forever. But tonight, she didn’t care.
She rubbed at the slight ache starting to bloom in her hip. Not an overt movement, but one that caught her dance partner’s attention nonetheless.
“Your hip’s bothering you.”
In the last few days, there had been no pain, no limping, no need for her to massage the ache out. “Too much exercise, I guess.”
“I have just the fix for that.”
At his audacious grin, Jane thought, I’ll bet you do.
*
Chase was pretty sure he wasn’t choosing the best course of action, but holding Jane close while she swayed loosely to the music had him thinking of something a little more energetic than dancing.
Of course ending up at a secluded hot springs wasn’t what he’d planned when he’d taken her to the bar. When Gus and Maxine had offered to take the kids to the youth dance, then home, he’d thought a quiet drink would take her mind off of the nearly tragic events earlier in the day. Then she’d fired him with that sassy smile, and all he could think about was all barriers had been eliminated.
From the moment he’d first set eyes on her, all dangerous-looking, furious at being forced to deal with what had happened, thinking she could take a swing at the world and forget the consequences, he’d wondered who the woman was beneath the tough Marine exterior.
He’d seen how being with Zach and Abby softened her in ways she probably wasn’t even aware of. And, he’d been slowly seduced by how she’d taken them under her wing, even though she didn’t want to. The way she’d become their champion when she was determined to be anything but, was the hardest to resist.
He parked by the hot springs he’d discovered on the BLM land bordering his ranch. Without taking his eyes off her, he reached into the back seat and grabbed the blanket he kept there. “Nature’s hot tub. A long soak will do wonders for your hip.”
Her elegant brows shot up. “If you say so.”
Her sky-blue eyes flashed another message entirely. His heart rate zoomed, flying high like a home run, hit out of the ball park.
When he climbed out of the rig, she was right behind him. A full moon softly lit the night, bathing her in a soft glow. He hesitated, wary of the reckless feelings that had driven him to bring her here.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t be tempted to do more than soak the lady’s sore hip. It was simply that he hadn’t engaged in recreational sex since he was a teenager. And, he had an uncomfortable feeling one fleeting, roll in the hay with Jane, or in this case, splash in the hot springs, wasn’t going to be enough.
She studied him for a long moment, as if to gauge his intentions. He didn’t know what they were either, but apparently making up her mind, she turned her back on him and began to strip off her shirt.
His response was automatic and instantaneous. In three long strides, he closed the distance between them, helping her pull the tank over her head. Taking his breath away, she faced him wearing a thin wisp of a lacy bra.
Curling her fighter’s hands in his tee shirt, with a sigh of pure womanly appreciation that knotted his gut with stirred-up passion, she returned the favor.
When a Marine took on an assignment, she followed it through to the end. Suddenly, more than life itself, Jane wanted this man’s lips on her and then some.
She laughed at herself. Some things in life were just too delicious to ignore. This moment with Chase Russell was one of them. She was done being the good girl. If life could wink out in the space of one heartbeat, then before it was her turn to go, she was going to break her own rules and be bad. Very bad. She would worry about the fallout later.
Quickly unlacing her boots, she sat to pull them off, stripped down to her underclothes before sliding into the steaming water. Welcoming the mini-wave that lapped her skin when Chase joined her, she sank up to her neck, leaned against smooth rock and closed her eyes for one blissful minute as the heated water gurgled along aching muscles.
A large, bare foot slowly slid up her leg. Her eyes flew open. She fell straight into a smoldering look that spoke directly to the heart of the ravenous hunger growing inside her belly.
“Nice skivvies.”
Tilting her head, she grinned. So, she liked sexy, silky underwear when she wasn’t on duty. “Great hideaway you’ve got here.”
“I’ve always earned high marks for finding creative solutions to problems.”
Jane believed him. “Is there a girlfriend somewhere out there we should talk about?” She waved a distracted hand in the general direction of out there. Since she was about to do her best to ravish him, it would be a shame if she couldn’t.
“Not anymore.”
“What happened?”
“She broke it off after Nate’s attempted suicide.”
“I’m sorry.” What woman in love would kick her man when he was down?
The narrowing of his eyes signaled he wanted to be done with talking, which was okay with her, except it was his turn. “Any chance of a reconciliation?”
“No. It was my fault. I wasn’t so easy to get along with right after.�
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Taking hold of her ankles, he gave a tug that had Jane gliding through the water and settling provocatively on his lap. In the name of that living she’d decided earlier was top priority, she caught his shoulders for balance, anticipation digging her nails into hard muscles.
Strong hands skimmed her face, then advanced to the pulse point at the sensitive place where her jaw met her neck. She stretched to give him better access, which he took full advantage of with plundering lips.
Craving the feel of him, she was glad of the quick movements that had her bra and panties gone, tossed haphazardly beyond the edge of the steaming water. He cupped her bottom, bringing her closer to his unmistakable erection. Her breath caught as her most intimate place slid along the hard length of him.
“Chase?”
He settled her snugly on his lap, his grin reaching out to her from those sinfully sexy, cinnamon eyes. “Jane?”
When he flattened a hand between her breasts, testing the swell on each side, coherent conversation became nearly impossible. She gave it a shot anyway. “I should warn you. I take prisoners.”
“So do I. Now, shush.”
“Yes, Sir.” When his lips took hers, she was ready.
Rational thought was long gone by the time he broke the kiss off to reach for the pants he’d discarded. “I have protection.”
“Let me.” She took the packet from him. Despite the heat of the water, a shiver worked its way over her skin. “I want you. Now.”
“Not yet.” With both hands around her waist, Chase lifted her until he could leisurely love each breast in turn, his tongue making magic, taking her close to the edge, but not quite setting off the fireworks she was craving.
Denying her what she wanted - him buried deeply as possible inside her - skillful fingers dove into her center. Jane gasped at the pleasure ricocheting to short circuit what was left of any intelligent thinking.
“My. Turn,” she rasped, initiating her own plundering. She wanted to make him groan, pay him back for making her lose her mind.
Reaching between them, she found the length of him and applied her own brand of magic until his eyes blazed and his breath came in quick puffs. When they were both close to the flash point, she sheathed him, then tantalizingly slow at first, slid him into her warmth until he was buried as deep as she could take him.
He groaned.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she began a slow pump that escalated with need and purpose, until delicious, mind-blowing spasms stole her breath and shot them both out into the cosmos.
Oh. My. God! It was the last sane thought she had.
As she floated the last mile to earth, Chase rested his forehead against hers. His voice rasped, his breath not quite even, “Okay. Now that you’ve taken me prisoner, what are you planning to do with me?”
Her muscles robbed of all strength, she leaned against his chest, until his thick words penetrated the fog of scattered reality enveloping her. For the first time since she’d let him drive her to this place, she began to wonder what in the Sam Hill she was doing?
They were supposed to be passing ships in the night. Anything more lasting couldn’t...wouldn’t work. She took a deep breath, then forced herself to leave the comfort of his lap.
“What’s wrong?”
She hadn’t meant for tonight to feel like something that could last longer than the rest of the leave she had left. “I-”
“Jane?“ Her name came out in an understandably confused growl. She was just as completely thrown by the feelings rolling roughshod through her.
Like an unlucky lightening strike, it hit her. Instead of taking a prisoner, the Marine had been captured. Wasn’t that a hilarious joke.
Chase reached out to her.
She pushed away. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I thought I could do this-” She waved a hand that included them and the indulging hot springs, hiding her ballooning fear behind a shallow chuckle. “But, I gave up one night stands a long time ago. What the hell do you say after?”
“I want more than one night from you.”
The words shocked Jane. She couldn’t lie to him, so she opted for a cold splash of truth. “Don’t make this into something it’s not. In less than two weeks I’m heading back to my unit.”
“They’re your family.”
She swallowed, then nodded.
A muscle jerked in his jaw. He stared at her with those flashing eyes that said more than she wanted to hear. Then, his expression cleared, which was scarier still.
He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I get it.”
Did he really? She’d just had the most incredible, wild sex with the guy, but becoming attached was something she couldn’t risk.
“What are your plans for Zach and Abby?”
He climbed out of the hot springs. Moonlight glinted off his wet, naked body, quickly stirring her up again. When he straightened, he cast her a look that no longer invited her into his world. “Get legal custodial guardianship. See if I can adopt them. That hasn’t changed.”
Her heart hurt as she slowly followed him out of the pool. “That won’t be easy.”
He pulled on his jeans. His eyes flashed. “That's not your problem.”
Jane grabbed her clothes. He knew where to stab to do the most damage, but he was right. It was no concern of hers. Hadn’t she told herself that all along?
She dressed quickly, keeping her eyes averted from the ripple of hard muscles as he dragged on his shirt. Sucking in a painful breath, she did her best to ignore how incredible being with him had been.
Refusing to let him see, she crossed swiftly to his truck, climbed stiffly inside and waited until he joined her. In reality, the drive back to the ranch took a mere fifteen minutes. In the charged silence, it felt like forever.
CHAPTER
XIII
Chase didn’t shout or swear. He didn’t kick anything. He wanted to, but he didn’t.
Instead, he wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt sleeve, staring at the neatly stacked wood he’d just chopped for the fireplace. It wasn’t enough to keep his mind off the woman who was turning his world upside down. And, not in a good way, if you asked him.
He headed for the barn and the bales of hay that needed to be re-stacked.
Sleep was non-existent, since all he could think about was the satiny feel of Jane’s skin, the vanilla scent that was all hers, and the way she tasted like cotton candy and an out-of-control roller coaster ride, all mixed together.
He climbed the ladder into the hay loft to begin moving the haphazardly piled bales closer to the trap door in the floor that was just big enough to allow one to be dropped through to the main floor.
Getting Jane out of his system, if that had been the idea behind their encounter last night, wasn't going to be possible. A brief, casual affair was no longer the answer. The discovery had kept him rooted to the spot when she’d gone into full retreat.
He heaved the bale he was carrying. It was his own fault, the predicament he was in. She’d always been totally up front about her intention to get well enough so she could return to her real life.
He was the one who’d let things get out of hand. But, when she’d slipped off her shirt, his good sense had taken a hike and his brain had, literally, quit working.
Narrowing his eyes, he suddenly stopped, the next bale he’d grabbed straining his muscles. Could he talk her into staying? Not for the kids, but for him? Did he want to?
He snorted. It was a long shot. And, since he’d never considered himself stupid enough to buck the odds, why was he trying to work out how to convince the woman, she should change her whole life for him?
She wasn’t a brand new, shiny Mustang he could take home from the showroom. She was a living, breathing, sexy...Marine. And, therein lay his problem. She had a right to the life she loved so much.
He put the bale on the stack he was building. With an uncomfortable sense that some things were just inevitable, he closed his eyes and rubbed the brid
ge of his nose.
For the first time in his life, he wanted to fight for someone. And that someone was a brooding, controlled, edgy Marine.
He needed to have his head examined. Still, there was no denying it. He was taken with the lady. It’d ambushed him. The staggering feelings not what he was searching for.
She was dangerously appealing in every way possible. Too intelligent for her own good. A fighter for what she believed to be the right thing. And, she had a heart so gentle and loving.
He’d probably been lost from the first moment out by the punching bag, temper running hot, chin jutted out, eyes fired up with determination. He should be ecstatic he’d found a woman who could complete the rest of his life. He wasn’t. His lady love was planning to get on the fastest train out of Dodge.
“Mr. Gus says the mommy cat and her babies are in the hay loft and I’m not to go up there by myself.” Abby’s announcement broke into Chase’s disconcerting revelation. “Will you go up there with me?”
“Sure thing.” Jane.
The barn was the size of a small house, the hay loft spanning the whole length. The sound of kittens mewing came from the farthest corner.
Anticipation tugging sharply at his gut, Chase reached down to pull the little girl the rest of the way up the ladder into the loft, pointing her in the right direction. “Over there in the corner.”
At the sound of Chase’s spine-tingling baritone telling Abby where to look for the barn cat's babies, Jane nearly missed the next rung on the ladder. Blindly, she grabbed the male hand offering assistance. It wasn’t until his fingers closed around hers, and a fiery reminder of the night before raced up her arm, that she asked herself what she thought she was doing.
With the hope she could escape the shocking way her body lobbied for a repeat of their sexy interlude at the hot springs, she'd come out to the barn looking to work on the motorcycle. On the way, she’d gotten waylaid by Abby.