He leaned close to her ear. “You look beautiful tonight. You always do.”
“I doubt I looked beautiful last night.”
He pulled back to look her in the face. “Even then. Listen, I’m sorry I was such a jerk.”
“You weren’t.”
“I was. And I don’t have an excuse. I just didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know if you wanted me there. I don’t have a great track record of reading women correctly.”
“I didn’t even know what I wanted. I felt a little Jekyll and Hyde last night.”
“But tonight is different?”
She looked up at him then with those stunning blue-gray eyes of hers. “Yes. Tonight I decided to take a chance.”
He caressed her cheek as they moved in time to a slow song. “What changed your mind?”
She smiled a little. “I went out to dinner with another man.”
Liam halted and stared at her as everyone continued to dance around them. “Wasn’t expecting that as an answer.”
India nudged him back into the dance. “Kevin had asked me out several times, and I finally relented earlier. I thought maybe I was getting all tied in knots just because I was lonely.”
Liam’s jaw tightened. “And any guy would do?”
“I considered that might be the case, but it wasn’t. He’s a nice guy, and we had a good time. But even he could tell that I didn’t truly want to be there.”
Liam recognized a flicker of selfish hope in his chest. “Where did you want to be?”
“Where do you think?”
“Tell me.”
“With you.”
Liam pulled India closer still and lowered his mouth to hers. The moment their lips touched, he realized he didn’t ever want to let her go.
Chapter Fourteen
India would swear her feet were floating several inches off the ground as Liam ended the kiss and met her gaze. Dancing in his arms, feeling the play of his muscles beneath her palms, was so intoxicating that she wondered why she’d waited so long to give in to her attraction to him.
That wasn’t true. She did know. Fear, pure and simple. Fear of being hurt. Fear of losing focus on keeping her business afloat. Fear of people thinking she was just like her parents, which wasn’t fair to Liam. He was nothing like Bob and Deena Pike, nothing. And yet somewhere along the line, she’d convinced herself that she had to end up with a certain type of man or everyone would think she’d not risen enough from her impoverished beginning. That she was okay with settling.
She’d been such an elitist fool, and shame washed over her.
She let her head rest against Liam’s chest and listened to his heartbeat. She found herself moving in rhythm to it instead of the music, and he let her. With his arms around her, she’d never felt so loved even though he’d not indicated his feelings for her went that deep. All those images of well-dressed, world-traveling, cultured men faded from her memory like dissipating fog. In their place, she saw the various sides of Liam Parrish. The dedicated father kissing his daughter on the forehead, the dressed-up version taking her to a nice restaurant as a surprise and the sexy cowboy who rode crazy, bucking horses and took kicks from those animals as if they were minor annoyances. She found herself wondering about yet another side of Liam, what he looked like under those cowboy duds and how magnificent he’d probably be in bed.
Heat flushed her body, and she stepped back from him. “I need a break. I think my throbbing feet are revolting against me.”
Really, she just needed a few minutes alone, to catch her breath, to think about how she wanted this night to end. Truth be known, she would dance in his arms until she couldn’t even feel her feet anymore.
Liam rubbed his thumb across her cheek. “I’ll go check on Ginny. Don’t run off. I’ll just have to chase you this time.”
His words made her go tingly all over. She didn’t think there was one square inch of her that didn’t want the feel of his lips and hands on her.
She smiled then hurried toward the ladies’ room. Once inside, she’d taken approximately two breaths before Elissa and Skyler came hurrying in like they had at many a high school dance, coming to squeal over how some boy had asked them to dance. India had never been the one asked, but she hadn’t begrudged her friends. Not when they’d always been there for her, more like family than her own parents.
This time the smiles they were wearing were for her, and she couldn’t imagine something feeling more surreal, as if she’d suddenly inhabited someone else’s body.
Elissa leaned her butt against the sink next to the one in front of India. “I swear, if you don’t take that man to bed tonight, I’m scheduling an evaluation of your sanity.”
“Elissa,” India said, then scanned the bathroom stalls behind her.
“There’s no one in here. Not that it would matter. Anyone in the building can see where you two are heading.”
India looked at herself in the mirror, but she didn’t see any big blinking sign that said, “I’m on the verge of pulling Liam Parrish out back and having my wicked way with him.”
“We’re just dancing,” she said.
“And kissing,” Elissa added.
“And falling in love.” Skyler sounded less like she was teasing and more as though her assessment of the situation made her deeply happy.
India looked over at Skyler and smiled.
“Or falling into bed,” Elissa said.
India pushed at Elissa’s shoulder. “You are impossible.”
Elissa pulled out one of her wide smiles. “Yeah, but you love me. And I’m right. Admit it, you’ve been thinking about getting that man naked.”
India turned toward the sink and braced herself on the edges. “All right, I admit it. It’s almost the only thing I’ve been able to think about since he walked in here tonight. I think I might be crazy to even contemplate it.”
“Nothing wrong with a little crazy.”
“I know this doesn’t sound like me, but I think Elissa’s right,” Skyler said.
India lifted her head to stare at herself in the mirror. She made the decision, then and there, that she was going to finally see what was on the other side of the walls she’d built around herself. She pushed away from the sink and turned toward her friends.
“I do, too.”
Elissa clapped her hands together in victory just as a couple more women walked into the restroom. Probably thinking that India might change her mind, Elissa pushed her toward the door.
They were almost to the exit when reality slammed into India. She turned back toward her friends. “We can’t. He’s got Ginny.”
“I think we can entertain one little girl for the night,” Elissa said.
“I’m thinking a slumber party at the inn might do the trick,” Skyler said. “I’ll say it’s for Mia before she has to start her treatments this week. We’ll get Lara, Verona, anyone else we can scrounge up.”
“Won’t it look funny if I’m not there?” India asked.
“We’ll just say you’re working,” Elissa said. “Workaholic that you are, no one will blink an eye.”
India stuck her tongue out at Elissa.
“Save that for the tall, sexy cowboy.”
As India rolled her eyes, she allowed Elissa and Skyler to spin her toward the door again. Before she could say anything else, they pushed her out.
She spotted Liam instantly, as if he were the only person in the room. Before she lost her nerve, she headed straight for him, weaving her way among the crowd without ever taking her eyes off him.
Liam saw her when she was a few feet away. Still, she didn’t avert her eyes, holding his gaze and trying to tell him without words what she was thinking. A moment before she reached him and took his hand, recognition flickered in his eyes.
“I can’t leave without Ginny.”
She turned toward Liam. “Ginny has other plans tonight. All night.”
It took a moment for what she was saying to sink in. When understanding hit, a slow smile started forming on Liam’s face. Then, just as slowly, he pulled her close to him.
“Will Ginny be spending the night with you?” he asked.
“No.”
He lifted a brow. “Will I?”
India licked her lips as she looked up into his eyes. “If you want to.”
Liam pulled her even closer, molding his body to hers. “Oh, I want to,” he said against her lips just before he captured her mouth with his. And this time, it wasn’t the type of kiss they’d shared on the dance floor. It was hot, deep and wet, filled with the sounds of longing coming from both of them.
“I better get you back to my bed before I lose my control right here in this parking lot.”
India had the craziest image of Liam taking her in the cab of his truck, an image that stole her breath and made her throb all over. To keep herself from dragging him there and having sex where anyone might see them, she ran her hand up his chest and pushed gently away.
“I was thinking more like my bed.”
Liam’s nostrils flared. “Why are we not there right now?”
His words made her heart beat faster. She broke contact as she started walking backward toward her car. “See you there.”
Her heart beat like hummingbird wings all the way to her house. Liam must have been as anxious as her because he pulled in right behind her car a mere second after she parked. When she stepped out, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. He walked with her suspended all the way to the front door. Then he captured her mouth with his and pressed her back against the door. His hand slid down to her waist then he pulled her firmly against him, making it obvious just how ready he was for what they were about to do if they ever got inside to her bed.
“You’re going to have to let me unlock the door,” she breathed against his lips in between kisses.
“Am I?”
The man was driving her mad with longing. She’d never felt this way, and if she didn’t do something to sate this hunger soon she felt as if her body was going to combust.
“As interesting as it might be, I don’t think I want to give my neighbors quite that type of show.”
Liam kissed his way along her jawline. “I’d make it more than interesting,” he whispered against her ear.
Her head spun with the possibilities, but she somehow found the strength to push him far enough away so that she could retrieve her key and unlock the door.
But once they were inside with the door closed and locked behind them, Liam simply stood there looking at her. Had she broken the moment and given him too much time to think? In the space of a few steps, could he have had second thoughts?
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“No.” He stared at her a couple more seconds. “Are you sure, India?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate because she was sure. In the back of her mind she knew he was leaving tomorrow, that she might never see him again. She tried not to think about how she’d feel when he drove away, but for tonight she wanted to be with him in every way possible. “I’m absolutely sure.”
In three excruciatingly slow strides, he was flush against her. “Then I hope you don’t have any plans for the next few hours.” He bent and scooped her off her feet, much like he had that first day they’d met.
If she were honest with herself, she’d started falling for him that day, when he’d shown the first sign of what she’d really always wanted in a man—one who put others before himself.
He found his way to her bedroom as if he’d been there before and went straight to her bed. He laid her down across it and followed her. When he stretched his long body along hers, a powerful heat flushed all through her like a flash fire. His mouth captured hers again, and she tossed his hat somewhere across the room before running her fingers through his hair, pressing him closer.
Liam’s arm circled around her and pulled her close as his mouth started a journey from her lips to her neck and down between her breasts. He pushed the fabric aside and kissed the swell of her right breast, then the left. When his tongue darted out and followed along the path his lips had taken, she rose up against him, wanting more.
“Too much clothing in the way,” he breathed.
“I agree.” Even the sound of her own voice, breathless, needy, made her want him more. With fumbling fingers, she started unbuttoning his shirt. When it was open to his waist, her mouth watered and she couldn’t help but run her fingertips along all that toned, smooth flesh. Before she could talk herself out of it, she lifted her head and kissed him there like he had her.
It evidently pushed a new button in Liam because the next thing she knew he’d urged her back against the bed and was making quick work of undressing her. She helped where she could with her own clothes then helped him free first his belt, then the button at the top of his fly, then his zipper.
Her body vibrating at some new frequency, she slid her hands into the top of his jeans and pressed his hips against hers. The throbbing in the lower half of her body grew in intensity, demanding to be satisfied.
“I’m going to make love to you, India.”
“Good.”
With a chuckle, Liam slid off the rest of his clothes then lifted her so she was lying the right way on the bed instead of crossways. When he slid alongside her, she captured his mouth, taking the initiative. Words of love were on her lips, but something held her back from saying them, maybe fear that if she spoke them he would stop and she’d never know what it felt like to have him inside her.
Liam rolled on top of her and took a moment to stare at her face, to gently push her loose hair back. Then as he held her gaze, he parted her legs and slid slowly inside her.
Of their own accord, India’s eyes closed and she pressed her head back into her pillow. She gasped when Liam slid all the way in, filling her like she couldn’t have ever imagined. Even so, she wanted more. Instinct had her pushing upward, prompting him to move.
Liam moaned, a sound that set her desire ablaze. He pulled almost all the way out before plunging back in. With each stroke, he moved the tiniest bit faster than the time before, driving her mad. She couldn’t decide if she wanted him to speed up or continue the beautiful agony of slowly building to completion.
India ran her hands up and down his back, loving the play of his muscles, ones he used to stay astride powerful animals.
When she opened her eyes, she saw him watching her.
“My God, you’re beautiful,” he said. “I love watching how you react to me.”
His words and the sight of him moving above her threw even more fuel onto the fire. India slid her hands slowly down his back until she reached his hips. She dug her fingers into that flesh, urging Liam to increase the pace. He complied, causing her to breathe in ragged gasps. Her body flooded with heat, a delicious tingling, and in that moment when they found their almost simultaneous release, a love so pure and real filled her that she hung on to Liam for fear it was all a fantasy.
Liam collapsed against her, shifting his weight so she wouldn’t be crushed by his bigger body. He pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her, guiding her head to lie on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his breath wafting across the top of her head.
She flattened her palm against his chest and smiled at the warmth of that taut flesh. She’d caused that heat. “Yes. Are you?”
He laughed a little. “At the moment, I’m the kin
g of okay.”
They lay there in silence, and India couldn’t remember ever feeling so happy. The fact that Liam was leaving in the morning tried to spoil everything, but she pushed it away. All she wanted was to live in the moment. Well, that wasn’t all she wanted. As she shifted her body onto Liam’s and trailed her lips from his chest to his neck and eventually his mouth, she felt him harden against her thigh.
They made love again, slow and sweet and beautiful. As their bodies cooled afterward, Liam grabbed a thin quilt and draped it over them both.
“You’re incredible,” Liam said, his voice already sounding drowsy.
She smiled as she lay her cheek against his chest. “So are you.”
And I love you.
* * *
INDIA STOOD AT THE END OF Main Street as the sun rose. In the distance, she saw Liam walking away from her, heading north. She reached out to him and called his name. He wasn’t so far that he couldn’t hear her, but he didn’t turn, didn’t acknowledge her in any way. She screamed louder, but it only seemed to make him move faster. He grew smaller by the moment, prompting her to cry out louder still.
She tried to run after him, but her feet wouldn’t move. “Liam!” She mouthed his name, but this time nothing came out. She tried again, but her voice was gone.
Cruel laughter from behind her drew her attention. Even though she knew it was a mistake, she turned to look. Celene Bramwell laughed at India’s futile effort to keep Liam at her side.
“Stop laughing.” This time, the words came.
“But it’s funny,” Celene said. “You actually thought someone cared about you enough to stay. When has that ever happened?”
Her Perfect Cowboy Page 18