by Jill Shalvis
Tim swiped at his eyes and looked over at the chocolate-covered Natalia.
She made a sound of bafflement and spread her arms wide, staring down at herself.
Tim stuck his tongue out and caught a drop off the edge of his nose. “Mmm.”
“Oh my God. It’s everywhere.” It was dripping off her own nose, her chin, and was plastered across the front of her shirt and down her jeans.
She looked very edible, and immediately he started salivating.
As if she could read his mind, she pointed a finger and glared at him. “This,” she said in a very royal voice, “is all your fault.”
“Mine!” He put his hand to his chest—his chocolate-splattered chest—and had to laugh. “How do you figure that?”
“You distracted me! I was trying to work and you wouldn’t stop…you just…”
He liked where this was going. “Yes?”
“Oh, never mind. It’s just all your fault.”
Oh, no. Not good enough. He wanted to hear it. “Because I distract you.”
“I just said so, didn’t I?”
“Because you’re attracted to me.”
“That I never said.”
“I’m attracted to you back, Natalia.”
She lifted her face and studied his. “Really?”
“You know I am.”
Her eyes closed. “Yes, but you hate to take advantage of a crazy woman.” She reached for a towel, wet it and started wiping her face. Her expression was a war of things, with annoyance topping the list, and for some unknown reason, it made him want to hold her.
Kiss her.
Because now it was in his head; the taste of her, the feel of her, the little murmur she made deep in her throat when he used his tongue. Taking her wrist, he pulled the towel out of her fingers. “Let me.”
“Don’t.”
“I want to help.” But he dropped the towel as he moved his mouth down just a little, to beneath her lobe. Then with his tongue lapped at the spot, taking in chocolate and the sweet taste of woman.
Natalia’s eyes fell closed. “Wait.”
“Why?”
“I’m still mad at you. I can’t stay mad at you with your mouth on me.”
“Oh, well, then.” He kissed his way down her throat to the pulse beating wildly at the base of her neck. “Good dessert.”
“Tim.” Her voice sounded satisfyingly weak. “I mean it.”
“Yes, you want to stay mad. Go ahead…” Another nibble. “Go right ahead.”
Her low moan aroused him, so did the way she tilted her head to give him better access, and he smiled against her delicious skin.
“I’m…famous for holding a grudge,” she warned breathlessly. “Ask…my sisters. Annie and Lili.”
“Ah, classified family information.” He wanted more, wanted to know everything. “I’d love to ask your sisters all about you. Tell me more.” His mouth had worked its way down to her collarbone, a very sexy spot that made him want to tear off her clothes and start the blender again, all over her naked body. Now that would be a worthy food fight. “Tell me, Natalia, about you.”
“You may not believe this, but people actually look up to me. Value my opinions.” Her eyes shuttered closed, her breathing still shaky, but she managed a smile. “My cooking.”
“And yet you didn’t want to call anyone.”
“I needed a break.” He blew on the spot he’d just wet with his mouth, and she sucked in a big gulp of air. “They like to smother me.”
“Your father?” His hands slid from her waist to her back, to just beneath her shirt where he could play with the soft skin at the base of her spine.
“Yes, my father.” A sound escaped her that managed to perfectly convey her reluctant arousal at what he was doing, but what really turned him on was the way she’d fisted his shirt in her hands, as if she couldn’t quite stand on her own. He wondered if she even realized how tightly she was holding him to her.
“He worries about me.” She tossed her head back, eyes still closed. “Thinks I’ll get taken advantage of in the real world.”
He lifted his head to look down into her face. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth opened slightly, as if she needed more air. On her cheeks where she’d scrubbed the chocolate off was the blush of arousal that he’d put there. Of their own, his hands tightened possessively on her, but suddenly he couldn’t take this any further. Couldn’t take advantage, no matter who the hell she was.
She was only here because he’d wanted to help her. He wasn’t sure that still applied, as he’d never met anyone more capable of handling herself—mud wrestling came to mind—but that didn’t change things.
Or did it? Even if she was who she claimed to be, did he really want to follow through with this crazy attraction? No doubt his body did, quite badly.
But his brain held things up. She was worth so much more than what a one-night fling would give them, and what more could he offer? What more would she want? Women hadn’t exactly clamored for what he could offer before, and he couldn’t say he blamed them.
In any case, he’d kept his mouth off of her too long, and she pulled back. “This is such a mess.” Hands on her sticky hips, she looked around with a stern expression completely overridden by the spatters across her face and entire body. “I can’t believe you did this.”
He grinned and she narrowed her chocolate gaze on him. “You laughing at me?”
“No ma’am.”
“This is going to take forever to clean up.”
“I guess you’ll have to stay longer.”
In the act of reaching for a sponge, she went utterly still. “How much longer?”
How much time do you have? “That would depend, I suppose.”
“On?”
“Well, you have that wedding to attend, for one.”
“I’m not going to the wedding. I tried to tell you the other day, but…” She lifted a chocolate-covered shoulder. “I called ahead, told them I was…”
“Covered in chocolate?”
“Something like that.”
She was looking at him, searching for something in his eyes, only he didn’t have a clue what she saw when she looked at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure about it.”
“Because you wanted to go.”
“Because I wanted to stay.”
Something deep inside him reacted at that, and instead of panic, he felt a surge of yearning. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said carefully.
“So now I have a few extra days…if you still want them.”
Oh, he wanted them. “And then?”
“And then I go home.” Averting her face, she busied herself at the sink, wetting towels. “And that’s that.”
“Sounds pretty final.”
“It is.”
Did it have to be? What was so wrong about seeing this thing through? Hell, if he was willing to try, why couldn’t she? “Natalia…” He took a step toward her, then hit a particularly slippery puddle of goop. Before he could blink, he was sliding, backpedaling…and bouncing on his butt.
“Tim!” Natalia dropped to her knees, wrapped her arms around him and pressed his face to her chest. Specifically to her breasts. “You okay?” she demanded.
He opened his eyes to take in the soft, lush curves cushioning his head. “I think I’m a little dizzy,” he said truthfully, and she pulled him closer, close enough to feel her nipple in his ear. He could have turned his head, opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and licked it. Even as he thought it, the nub hardened, pressing against the material of her shirt as if perfectly in tune to his thoughts, making him groan.
“Tell me what hurts, Tim.” She bent a little so that her hair fell all around him like a silk curtain, tickling his face, poking him in the eye. She held her body—a chocolate-covered body, he might add—against him so tight he could feel her every curve and nuance. Her flesh was hot, her hair—still poking him in the eyes—s
weet scented. And he wanted to haul her close, shift their positions until she was beneath him, until he was buried deep—
“Tim?” She leaned closer, bumping their noses together, her eyes wide with concern. “Talk to me.”
“I—”
“Yes?” Worried, she blinked, and her eyes were so close he could feel her lashes over the skin of his cheek.
“Butterfly kiss,” he whispered inanely.
“You need a doctor.”
He thought about the erection threatening the buttons of his Levi’s. “I doubt he could help.”
Brow furrowed, she ran her gaze down his body. At the juncture of his thighs, that gaze widened briefly, then narrowed. “You’re not hurt.”
“No.”
“You’re…”
“Yeah. I’m…”
She didn’t move for a long moment, still staring, during which time his condition worsened.
“Is it because I’m…you know, touching you?” she whispered, as if it were a state secret she made him hard by just being.
“Well…partly.”
“What’s the other part?”
“You’ve got your breasts in my face, for one.”
“Oh!” Startled, she pulled back so fast, withdrawing her arms from around his neck, that he fell back and hit his head on the tile floor.
Flat on his back, he stared up at the ceiling. “Okay, now I’m hurt.”
At his side, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes dancing, she let out a sound that came suspiciously close to a laugh.
He cranked his head to the side and stared at her, into her sweet, smiling face and thought you’re it for me.
“I’m sorry,” she said behind her hand.
“Now who’s laughing at who?” he wondered, wincing as he sat up. “We’re still covered in chocolate.”
She took her hand off her mouth and put it on his chest. “It was going to be a great dessert.”
It still could be if he licked it off her. Which brought the next thought…which one of them really needed rescuing here?
He was starting to think it was his own heart.
“I could make another batch,” she offered. “After I clean up.”
The kitchen door opened. Sally took a step in, then stopped short. “What the hell?”
“We had a little accident,” Natalia said.
Sally took in all the mess, then Tim prone on the floor with Natalia all cozied up to his side, her hand still on his chest. “Uh-huh. Accident.”
Tim sat up and rubbed the back of his head, eyeing his sister. “You’re not feeling the need to start another mud-wrestling match, are you?”
“No, I’m feeling the need to load the shotgun and have you put out of your misery.” She walked up to Tim, swiped a finger over his cheek and inspected it. “Do I want to know why you’re covered in chocolate?”
“No.”
“I miss all the fun.” She stuck the finger in her mouth. “Hmm.”
“Good?” Natalia asked.
Since their little tussle, there had been a definite shift in his sister’s bad attitude toward Natalia. It was almost as if she was forcing it now, as if she wanted to hide the fact she’d accepted Natalia. Respected her. Even…she’d probably deny this to her dying day…liked her.
“It’s…okay,” Sally decided.
Natalia shook her head. “Liar.”
“Hey, it’s okay.”
“It’s perfect. Or it would be if wasn’t on the floor.”
“Stop acting like such a princess.”
“I am a princess.”
“Whatever.” Sally rolled her eyes at Tim and took another lick.
Natalia came to her feet and cocked a hip. “Why do you keep eating it if it’s only okay?”
Sally took another finger swipe. “Well…maybe it’s slightly better than okay.”
“It’s way better.”
“It’s better than the stuff Seth supplies me with, that’s for sure.”
Tim quickly stood, not ready to explain to Natalia how they were all slowly starving to death, not when she’d actually forgotten she was mad at him. “Sally—”
“Seth’s supply?” Natalia asked very quietly.
“Yeah. Make more of this and I might not feel the need I’ve felt all week to supplement my meals with outrageously priced candy bars and junk food.”
Oh, damn, Tim thought, and turned to Natalia. “Nat—”
“What are you talking about?” she asked Sally.
“Oh…nothing. Right, Tim?”
With four eyes on him, Tim could have cheerfully strangled Sally. He didn’t want to lie, but how could he tell the truth without purposely, cruelly hurting Natalia?
“Tim?” Natalia turned and looked at him.
“Did I mention I hear my horse calling me?”
Natalia stared at him, then reached for a sponge. “And you guys think I’m crazy.”
“Yeah.” Sally grabbed Tim’s hand and pulled him toward the door. “Don’t get too close. It’s contagious.”
NATALIA FOUND herself watching Tim often. And though she didn’t catch him at it, she felt him watching her back.
He did nothing about the yearning shimmering between them, which was fine. She could resist him, too, and still enjoy being here. And enjoy it she did. Cooking was her greatest pleasure.
To her shock, Sally had come back into the kitchen after the dessert fiasco, right after Tim had left. Without a word, she’d helped clean up.
Then, casually as she pleased, had asked about Natalia’s family and background. This time, as Natalia talked about her father, the Crown Prince, and her sisters Annie and Lili—both princesses in their own right—Sally didn’t scoff or scorn.
Now Natalia sat on the porch swing watching Tim feed his menagerie of pity pets by moonlight. He’d had a long, long day, and still he didn’t stop, not until everyone and everything was taken care of. She knew he had to be tired. Misty, the horse, kept drooling on him while Pickles knocked him flat trying to get to his food. And Mrs. Pig…she stood at Tim’s feet and put up a fuss, bouncing as high as she could on her three good legs, looking like a Mexican jumping bean.
Natalia couldn’t figure out what the thing wanted until Tim scooped her up and held her like a puppy, stroking her belly.
In ecstasy, the pig’s head rolled back.
Propelled by a force she didn’t try to fight, Natalia got off the swing and walked to the gate. “You don’t have to feed them,” she said.
Surprised at her voice, he looked up. Then smiled a smile that warmed her. “I’m late. They’re starving.”
“No.” She shrugged, embarrassed to have been caught in a chore that had been pure pleasure. “They looked hungry, so…”
He put down Mrs. Pig, who promptly started wailing at his feet. “So…you what, Princess?”
Oh, wasn’t he ever so smug. “I go by Your Serene Highness, thank you very much.”
His grin widened, and damn him but he looked good enough to eat. “You’re changing the subject. What did you do with the animals?”
“You know what I did. I fed them. I admit it, I feed them when you’re not looking.”
He picked Mrs. Pig back up, who immediately stopped her ruckus. “Why?”
“Because they’re there, okay? Because I’ve…” Lost my fear. Somehow. I’ve become attached.
God, it was going to hurt to leave. Maybe she should rethink these extra few days and hightail it out of here right now. Right this minute, in fact. She had enough for her bus fare. But she’d given up on that idea from the moment she decided to forgo the wedding in order to have this adventure.
She should still leave. All she had to do was pick up the cell phone and call Amelia, and she’d be out of here within the hour.
But she was afraid of the strange, and oddly new, tugging on the strings of her heart.
Texas—the huge, wide-open place—had grown on her. So had the people, and the wonderful ranch hands who were so hardened on the outs
ide, but sweet as kittens on the inside. Even Sally, the tough female cowboy she’d never forget.
But most of all it was Timothy Banning; also rough and tough, and able, and…staring at her with a heat in his eyes and a three-legged pig in his arms.
10
“WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?” Natalia whispered by moonlight, her eyes large and luminescent.
“You,” Tim said, and once again set down Mrs. Pig.
When he straightened, Natalia took a step back.
It made him smile grimly, for he knew exactly how she felt. She didn’t want to feel anything for him any more than he wanted to feel something for her. But it didn’t seem to matter. They’d tried to ignore it, but this…this thing was far bigger than that.
“Stop it,” she said. Since it was dark all he could go by was the tone of her voice, which was saying “back off” loud and clear.
But he knew her now, or at least he wanted to think he did. She was scared, and he of all people understood that, too. He’d never really felt this way about a woman, had never worried about getting her out of his system. The women in his life had always washed him out of their systems first.
Natalia didn’t seem eager to wash him out of her system.
It was incredibly arousing. She was arousing.
“You’re still staring,” she pointed out.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “You’re so beautiful. I know that’s not very original, and you’ve—” He started to say she’d probably heard it a thousand times before, but suddenly her eyes misted, threatened to spill over. “Natalia?”
“No.” Clearly embarrassed, she stepped back, not anticipating Pickles, who’d come up directly behind her. Her foot came down on the blind goat’s front hoof, startling the thing into a noisy riot.
The other animals pitched in, as well.
“Oh!” Natalia turned, held her hands out. “I’m sorry.” Awkwardly she stroked the goat, trying to reassure it, and also, face averted, swiping at a few tears glistening on her cheek.
“Hush, Pickles,” Tim said, stepping around the animal who didn’t hush at all. He took Natalia’s shoulders in his hands. “Talk to me.”
“Your horse is frisking you.”