When he merely nodded, not saying anything, the doubt inched its way over her skin.
Had he come here to tell her in person that there was no future for them, and that the blog had only reminded him of that?
Then she thought the worst: what if Jeremiah was so scarred inside that he would never be able to bring himself all the way out of his past?
Ally prepared herself to fight for him—the man she wasn’t going to let go without a throw-down.
If those pictures that Mrs. McCarter sent Jeremiah had been the catalyst for his return, the reality of Ally standing in front of that patio door was breaking his heart all over again.
She looked so abandoned, with her skirt whispering around her as the morning wind fluttered the gray material, and it drove home that he’d already hurt her by leaving once. What if he poured out his heart to her, only to see that, during his absence, she had thought things over and he had been right to go in the first place?
Just as he reached his lowest point of doubt, she smiled that smile at him, as if she was telling him everything would be okay if he would just take this risk—the one he’d been so bent on tackling when he’d caught a flight out here.
The biggest one he’d ever faced.
With that smile, all his fears fell away from him, just like layers being peeled away until he was stripped to the bone.
He held up the phone he’d been clutching, making sure the screen was on and then offering it to her.
“So you’ve seen the first gossip column,” he said. “But I have a draft for the second one—a message I’d like to send that blogger.”
Ally ventured closer, and with every step, Jeremiah’s body beat for her, a battlefield of pounding blood and longing. Even being away from her for a few days had made him feel as if his insides were being torn out.
When she took the phone from him, their fingers brushed, and a strike of need hit him hard. But his reaction had nothing to do with lust. Not anymore. Jeremiah needed more from Ally than a notch on his bedpost or a boost to his ego.
He’d never needed anyone like this, and it should’ve been enough to unman him. Yet, he’d never felt more like a man than in this moment.
Her man, if she would just say yes.
Ally scanned the email on the phone screen. He’d already looked at it so many times that the words seemed embossed in his mind.
Jeremiah Barron here. Tell this to your readers: They can go ahead and let their daughters outside again, because I’m a one-woman man now. I’ll be making an honest man out of myself with Ms. Allison Gale, so the wolf is officially off the prowl.
Ally hadn’t glanced up from the phone screen yet, and as she kept reading, his head got light, screaming with the blood that battered the rest of his body.
This was it. Yes or no. She had his life in her hands, and he didn’t know what he would do if she gave back that phone and told him that she could never risk the security of her quiet life with her daughter for one that could change at any time if he blew it.
But, when she did look up, her blue-green eyes were bright, as if tears were on their way. “You’re telling the columnist that you’re off the market?”
Now his pulse was ramming at him, his adrenaline flashing, making it hard to say anything. But he was going to say what she needed to hear if it was the last thing he ever did.
“Ally, I was off the market the moment I saw you across the room that night at the Red Cross event.”
She bit her bottom lip, as if to keep back a swell of emotion, and he closed the final gap between them. Then, not caring about anything else, he cupped her face in his hands.
Her skin was so damned soft, and each time he touched it, it felt like a brand-new sensation, lighting his nerve endings on fire.
“I never knew what I was missing until I met you,” he said. “I spent too much time looking in the wrong places for the wrong things, and all along, the answer was so damned simple. You even tried to tell me what I was lacking back at the Howards’ ranch, when you saw me with those kids. You knew me better than even I did.”
“I knew there was a good man inside who was dying to get out.”
She leaned into him, pressing her palm against the back of his hand. He’d never experienced this before—a woman reveling in a mere touch from him. He’d never known he could do that to another person.
As she looked up at him with those beautiful eyes, he got lost—but it was in a good way this time. He was drowning in her, floating….
Becoming.
He bent to her, fixing his mouth to hers. A kiss—one that rearranged everything within him, bringing on a new era. A new Jeremiah.
Someone who had finally found the value he’d been searching for in the last place he’d ever expected.
In her arms.
He whispered against her lips. “I’m never going to let you down, Ally. Never again.”
“I know that.”
Standing on tiptoe, she wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer, threading her fingers through his hair as she sought more from him, another kiss.
Deeper.
Longer.
His mind spun as he gripped her waist, hardly believing that all he’d had to do was be himself with her. He’d never thought he would be able to accomplish this, but here he was, and the acceptance was making him reel.
When she came up for air, she ran her free hand over the back of his neck, around to the front, where she rested her fingertips over his jawline.
“I love you,” she said, every bit of her exposed in her gaze. “And I’m so glad you came back before I had to go after you.”
“You would’ve done that?”
She grinned. “I would’ve found a way.”
He was flying now. “I love you, too.”
But that wasn’t good enough, and he lifted her high above him as she braced herself against his shoulders.
“I love you more than I ever thought possible, Ally Gale.”
She laughed, clearly overcome, as he spun her around, down, into his arms again. She clung to him, her chest against his, their hearts beating at each other like they were using a code that Jeremiah was only now able to unravel.
“I’ve never said that to anyone before,” he admitted. “I never thought I’d get the chance.”
“I never thought I’d hear you say it. When you left, I thought you were gone for good. But something inside of me knew you were going to come back.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to leave you behind.” He was still holding her against him. “I want to spend every livelong day with you. With Caroline, too.”
She closed her eyes, smiling, and a tear leaked out.
“Would you…?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said on a breath, opening her eyes.
He laughed. “You know what I’m asking before I’ve even asked it?”
When she nodded, he wasn’t surprised. More than anyone on earth, she knew what he was about.
But he wanted to say what was in his heart anyway.
“I want to be here to see your face when Caroline takes her first step,” he said. “I want to see you coming down an aisle in a white dress…the look on your face as I watch my future moving toward me.”
She slid down a little farther, her breasts crushed against him even more.
“I want,” he said, “to fall in love with you all over again every morning when I wake up.”
She slipped the rest of the way down his body, never losing contact with his eyes. Their linked gazes spread flame through him, burning him from the inside out.
With care, he took the phone from her, pressed an icon that allowed for the message to be sent to that blogger.
She took him by the hand, marking the moment that he gave up the old life, coming into this new one.
“Let’s move forward right now,” she said.
The fire roared in him as she led him to the patio door. In his mind, he heard the echo of how she had used that door to
shut him out so many times. But that was when he’d been here for his own selfish ends.
Now he only wanted to make her happy, to see her face glowing as he gave himself over to her, too, as he’d never given himself to anyone.
She let him in, and he closed the door behind them. An urgent pressure built in him—anticipation.
An end…and a beginning.
From talking to Mrs. McCarter earlier, Jeremiah knew that he and Ally had the house to themselves, and it seemed like a haven as Ally guided him through the living room, then the long hallway.
They were alone with each other, but they were together, and that was what mattered above all.
Excitement consumed him as they came to her room, but the sight of the empty cradle nudged him.
Ally noticed. “This is our time. We’ll have all the rest later.”
She’d said it with a hint of shyness, even though she’d been the one to bring him back into her bedroom. But he’d seen how bold she could be when they had been at the winery, and the combination—the mix of goodness with a curious wild streak—stoked him even more.
Tucking a strand of long silver-blond hair behind an ear, Ally bit her lip again, then stepped toward him, initiating the kiss this time.
Barely a touch against his mouth, whisper light, but it was enough to send jags of desire through him.
He didn’t need any more encouragement, taking her face between his hands, worshipping her with his touch, his lips, sipping at her with desperate emotion. She pulled at his shirt, just as hungry for him as he was for her.
In fact, she was the one who started to undo his buttons. One, then another.
Air hit his exposed chest, followed by the light sketch of Ally’s fingertips as she explored him, parting his shirt even more.
His belly clenched as she went lower, over his ribs, his stomach, down to his belt.
But even though he was dying for her, he wanted to make this last, because it was their very first time. His true first.
He clasped his hands over hers, brought them up, kissed her fingers. She sighed, and that was all it took to lift him to an even higher level of wanting.
Licking flames. Hot spots.
A fire only she could put out.
He unbuttoned her blouse, taking the same care she had shown with him. All the while, she kept her gaze on his, her lashes so thick around those sea-hued irises that it pierced him, her lips parted, her breathing coming faster now.
When he was done, he coaxed back the material, and she did the rest, straightening her arms so that the blouse hushed to the floor.
She stood before him in her bra—white lace against pale skin. A sinful hint of dark pink under the innocent, delicate design.
He used his thumbs to circle her nipples, making them stand out against the lace. Her arousal bit into him, and his jeans started getting tighter.
“My beautiful Ally,” he whispered, bending to her, taking one lace-covered nipple between his lips, gently tugging on it. Then he licked it through the material, and she moved with him, groaning a little.
Her pleased sound jabbed at him, and he swirled his tongue over her nub, getting her bra damp. When he looked down, he saw that the pink was darker against the white now, the lace clinging, ramping up his desire even more.
She reached behind her, undoing her bra, allowing it to fall away. Her breasts were small, firm, perfectly round, and he cupped them, bending down to one so he could lavish it with his tongue, taking her in, out.
Clutching at his shoulders, Ally brought him closer, then grabbed at his hair.
“I knew you were going to make me feel this way,” she said. “So good…”
He eased her around to the bed, laying her down. Her arms curled above her head, making her breasts fuller.
She was everything—moon, stars, universe—and he had the rest of their lives to explore her, even though he was going to start now.
Tugging down her skirt, he found underwear that matched the pure lace of her bra. He tugged the skirt down farther, exposing her lean thighs, shapely calves, slim ankles.
He slipped off her sandals, then slid his hands back up her leg, raising it just enough so that he could kiss his way over her body.
Her ankles…
Her calves…
Then behind the knee…
She bucked as his lips made contact with that soft spot.
Grinning, he traced the tip of his tongue over the same area, just as lightly.
Just enough to bring her hips off the mattress again.
She was clutching at the quilt now, pulling the material off the corners.
“No one’s kissed me there before,” she said.
Jeremiah paused. What had her past boyfriends spent all their time doing with her if not trying to find her sweetest spots?
But he didn’t want to think about before—not when he and the woman he loved had a whole lifetime ahead of them.
“Then how about this, too?” he asked.
He turned her over so that she was lying on her stomach, and he planted his lips on the small of her back, dragging his mouth up her spine, concentrating on each bump. Kissing, nipping.
She arched against his lips, and another delighted sound escaped her.
Relishing her, he spent a lot more time testing hidden areas, bringing her to new places merely with his mouth and fingers.
She’d brought a new man out in him, and he was damned sure going to bring a lot more out of her than she’d ever imagined.
Ally had only fantasized what it would be like with Jeremiah, who was so much more experienced. She’d even wondered if he would find her lacking.
But with every sip at her skin, every new erogenous zone discovered, she could see how it pleased him to introduce her to new delights.
And that brought out a straining need in her. A pushing, ticking time bomb that was going to make her explode before this ended.
He had doffed his shirt and footwear, wearing only those jeans now, and she couldn’t stop looking at the gorgeous contours of his body: the cut arms and chest, which had a trail of hair that disappeared into his belt line, just begging for her to follow it. The ridges of his abs. The lines of his waist and slim hips.
All of it caused a prickle of desire between her legs. But that wasn’t the only thing going on in her awakening body—there was also a wonderful sinking sensation in her belly, a wanting that went beyond the physical. A torrid knowledge that she had been meant to find Jeremiah, just as she’d found so much else this past month.
He was drawing her panties down now, revealing her slowly and gently. And when he had the material all the way off, he took a moment, looking down at her.
The love in his eyes told her everything, but when he spoke, he obviously wasn’t afraid to voice what was in his heart anymore.
“Where were you all my life?” he asked with a tender grin.
“Waiting,” she said. And she was waiting now, for him to come into her, fill her, complete her.
He rested his hands on her thighs, sweeping his palms up, separating her legs until she was open to him. She gasped at the vulnerable sensation, and when he ran a thumb through the middle of her, she couldn’t breathe at all.
She was already primed for him, but as he pressed against her most sensitive spot, her gaze went bleary—star-filled and glittery with a needled craving.
“Jeremiah…” she said.
And he knew exactly what she wanted, too, because she heard the rustle of his jeans coming off, hitting the floor. Felt the mattress shift and creak softly as he climbed onto it.
Then…
Oh, the tip of him, nudging her, stroking up the middle of her folds, then back down.
She rocked up against him, inviting him in.
Done with the teasing, he slid into her, and she sucked in a breath.
Full, so full…
He pushed farther inside, moving with a slick, deliberate rhythm, and she wrapped her legs around his, trying to get e
ven closer to him.
Closer…
Her mind turned into a pool of water. As the calm surface waved outward with gentle ripples, she went fluid, too, her body malleable, all his.
But then it started—a simmer under the surface, a bubbling sensation rolling to the top, and soon, she was boiling, faster, hotter, rising like steam that tumbled over itself, light as air, lifting to—
As she came apart, she felt like a mist that was dissipating. The shape of something ethereal falling into a million molecules and becoming a part of the air.
She felt as free as that air, too, as she moved underneath him, churning, helping him to his own release….
He climaxed with a groan of pure happiness, then one last, laboring strain just before he sank against her, his skin heated, coated with sweat that mingled with her own.
Hot and cool, she thought as he buried his face in her neck. One extreme meeting the other and exploding into something she’d never experienced in all her life.
She held on to one of his arms, feeling the muscle, the strength. It seemed as if there was so much humidity between them that it would weigh everything down.
But she was on a high, and she could tell that he was, too.
“I think,” he said as he tried to catch his breath, “I’d better get you to the altar soon.”
“There’s a rush?”
He grew serious, brushing back a damp tendril of her hair from her forehead.
“Our kids,” he said.
And she understood. He wanted children with her, and he wanted them to know that they would always have security. Marriage would do that.
A commitment from a man who’d never made them before.
Bliss balled up in her chest. She’d been so sure that she wouldn’t have the chance to have her own children before it was too late that she’d gone ahead and adopted, and here Jeremiah was, giving her everything she’d ever wanted before she’d made her big decision.
But there was also no doubt a reason that she had been blessed with Caroline, too.
The world worked in mysterious ways.
“You’d better get me to the altar pretty fast then,” she said.
Taming the Texas Playboy Page 16