He grinned. “Not so much. A few years back, a rookie had made the mistake of comparing Win to Chuck Norris and wound up regretting it. Win made the kid work the worst shifts...he never, nor has any other rookie since, made the same reference again.”
She laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever meet him.”
If? No, more like when. He wanted to introduce Valentina to his family. He wanted them to love her and appreciate her like...nope. This wasn’t love. This was a very strong like. Then again, what the hell did he know about love? All he knew was whatever he had with Valentina sure felt right.
“Anyway,” he said, in an effort to segue from his thoughts. “I asked Win to do a little checking into Jonas’ background. I’m hoping he can come up with something we can use to combat his threat.”
“If not?” she asked, and ran a finger around the rim of her wine glass.
“I’ll go to the producer.”
“But Jonas could still use his copy of the tape.”
True. “Well, what if we use his spy cams against him?”
“What do you mean?”
“I could buy one of my own, you know like those pens they advertise in magazines, and maybe you could catch him harassing you. We could take that to the producer, then—”
“Again, he could still use his copy in an act of revenge.” Sighing, she set her glass on the coffee table and rubbed her palms against her temples. “I like your idea, but unfortunately there’s no telling what Jonas will do.”
She had a valid point. Setting his own glass on the table, he pulled her close to him. As he did, she shifted her legs onto the sofa, and rested her head in his lap. While he wanted to offer her comfort, with her face practically in his groin, he had a hard time concentrating on anything.
“I had a great time tonight,” she said, and curled her hands under her chin. “I can’t believe the people you know.”
He stroked her hair. “They’re regular people, just like you and me.”
“Yeah, right. Reggie and Shawna combined make more than I’d see in a hundred lifetimes.”
“Money isn’t everything,” he countered, and moved his hand down her shoulders. Tension lined her muscles, and while he worked the knots loose, he pictured beating the ever living shit out of Jonas. He should have come to Valentina’s rescue rather than stand across the street with his thumb up his ass while Jonas had berated and threatened her. Her safety was more important than the jobs of Pick Me’s crew.
She sucked in a breath when he honed in on a major knot just below her shoulder blade. “It is if you don’t have much. Ouch, okay, you’re torturing me.” She gripped his thigh when he pressed his thumb against the balled up muscle.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Yes...no,” she grunted, then relaxed again when he finally smoothed the knot.
“So the show is important to you because you need the money, have no job, and now you’re crusading for the crew and their impending unemployment.”
“Stop or you’ll bring that knot back to life.”
Chuckling, he ran his hand down her back. “Honey, I don’t understand why you have to carry all of these burdens yourself. If it’s about the job, Ruger told me about an open position at an elementary school just outside of Sunny Springs. You could apply and walk away from the show.”
She tensed, and shoved off of him. Now sitting with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, she mumbled, “I can’t.”
“Can’t what?”
“Look, let’s just drop this. You’re leaving tomorrow and we won’t see each other for a few days, so let’s enjoy the rest of the evening. I don’t want to talk about the show, or Jonas.” Offering him a smile, she nestled her head against his chest and ran her hand down his stomach. When she reached his belt, she toyed with the buckle.
He stiffened and swore the knots he’d just smoothed from Valentina’s back found their way into his. At the same time, his cock stirred. Damn it, he hated when she shut down on him, changed the subject and thought sex would make it all right. Not that he didn’t want to have sex with her. Hell, he wasn’t a fool. He’d never found a partner as sexually in tuned with him, but he needed more from her. He wasn’t exactly sure what more was, but he wanted to explore the possibilities without sex being the basis of their relationship.
She unclasped his belt buckle, then ran her hand along the inseam of his trousers. His body reacted, as it always did when he was near her, but he didn’t want sex right now. Okay, he did, his erection hard evidence to that fact. Call him crazy, but he actually wanted to finish talking first. “I don’t want to talk about Jonas anymore, either, but what about the teaching job I mentioned? Do you want me to get the principal’s contact information?”
“Um, no.” She stilled her hand, then released a deep breath. “Thanks, but I found out this morning that I have another job lined up.”
“Really? That’s great. Where? Will you be able to keep the apartment or is it too far of a commute?”
“I’d say it’s a pretty far commute. The job’s in Los Angeles.”
His momentary excitement vanished and left him hollow. “LA, huh? I see. That’s...great. Congratulations.” Frowning, he added, “But I thought you said you were going back to Chicago.”
She shifted her body, hiked up her dress and straddled his legs. Cupping his face, she leaned in and gave him a soft kiss, then drew back. As she stroked his jaw, a small, sad smile played along her lips. “Chicago was my last resort. Even without a job, at least my family is there. To be honest though, as much as I love them, they can be a bit overbearing.”
He gripped her hips and tried to channel his irritation elsewhere, but knowing she’d up and run all the way to LA without giving him, or rather Dallas, a chance had him disgusted and pissed. Still, she’d opened up the dialogue and had given him an opportunity to find out why she seemed to be running from everyone.
“How so?” he asked, and eased his hold on her, running his hands over her bared thighs.
Meeting his gaze, she said, “I’m the baby in my family, and the only girl on top of it. I was coddled, but never spoiled. Smothered is the best word I can come up with to describe my childhood. Everyone knew what was best for me. Everyone knew what I needed only they never asked me what I actually wanted. And while I wanted control of my life, I still wanted to please everyone around me. Oh God,” she half-laughed, “we’re not going to see each other for a few days, and here I am wasting time on all of my woe is me crap. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I think I understand.”
“You do?” she asked, her eyes widening.
He shrugged, and brushed the hair from her face. “You’ve spent so much time worrying about everyone else, you’ve forgotten about yourself. About what pleases you.”
Her dark eyes flickered with appreciation, and maybe regret. He understood. He’d worked his ass off to please his father, but because he had no interest in ranching, his dad had given the support and love Colt had craved to Ruger and Barrett instead. Those two would keep his dad’s hard work and legacy alive. If only his dad had understood, if only he and his father had been able to make amends before he’d died. Before his mother’s death, she’d tried. She had been the glue of their fractured family. Unfortunately, the glue hadn’t hardened enough.
Smoothing his hand over her hair, he cradled her neck. While Valentina was a pleaser, he was a fixer. A fixer with an acute obsession with the beautiful woman straddling his thighs. “So now you’re trying to discover what that is, what you want most out of life, but it seems to me like you’re running in all sorts of directions without a map.”
“Well,” she said with a rueful smile, “all my running led me here.” She emphasized the word by grinding her panties against his erection. “I guess I didn’t do too bad without a map.”
He gritted his teeth and wanted to fight like hell to not cave into her tempting body. She was running, and right now, attempting to divert
him from a serious conversation. He could understand her need for freedom and independence from her family. There had been times when he wished his siblings weren’t his neighbors. What he couldn’t understand was why she was running from him. Why it seemed as if she only looked at him as a guy who could warm her bed—make that the sofa or living room floor considering she hadn’t allowed him into her bed. Deciding to challenge that theory, he pulled her head close to his and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. When he drew back, he said, “Let’s take this to the bedroom.”
“Why?” she asked, then reached behind her back and unzipped her dress. She shimmied her shoulders, the dress gaped and her breasts spilled forward—right in front of his face. “What time does your flight leave tomorrow?”
He stared at her nipples, contemplating whether or not he should push their conversation until he received some satisfying answers, or simply succumb to the ultimate satisfaction and take her the way he’d been aching since leaving her last night. “I have to be at the airport by six in the morning.”
She raised her head to the gay pride clock on the other side of the living room. “Well, it’s almost midnight, so...” She clenched her thighs around his, cupped her breasts, then brushed a nipple along his lips.
Her strawberry scent surrounded him, and his mouth watered for a taste. He resisted...barely. Skimming his hands up her back, he reached her hair and tugged. “So,” he mimicked, and rubbed his lips against her nipple. “Does this mean I’m spending the night?”
She tensed, her breath coming in small, short gasps as she shot her gaze from his lips to his eyes then back again. Knowing sex was on the forefront of her mind, but also knowing they shared something deeper, something she, for whatever reason, didn’t want to admit to herself, he grazed her nipple with his teeth. Tugged gently, and when her entire body shuddered, he almost hated himself.
Just like her, he was falling back on what they did best—sex—to weasel his way deeper into her heart. He wanted to spend the night, even if he’d have to wake up at the crack of dawn. Hell, before he’d picked her up for their date, he’d packed his bag for the Miami trip and stowed it in his Corvette with the hope she’d let him stay the night. Yeah, he wanted to have sex, but he also wanted to hold her as she slept. He hadn’t done that since Denver, and missed the curve of her body against his.
After what seemed like forever, she cupped his jaw, her nipple still against his lips, and stared into his eyes. Their dark depths held an emotion he couldn’t name, but one that brought hope to his weary heart. “Were you serious about staying here, you know, because of Jonas?” she asked with a hitch to her breath as he licked her nipple.
“Yes. I want you safe. If it means I crash on your couch—”
She jumped off his lap, her gorgeous nipples no longer within reach, and moved around the sofa. Toward the bedroom. “If you’re staying here, it won’t be on my couch.”
Hope flared in his chest. She’d just given him permission to share her bed until the show was over. By then, hopefully she’d realize it was time to stop running. That whatever map she’d been following was leading her straight to him.
Chapter 9
Valentina clenched the sagging dress to her breasts and headed toward the bedroom, while the control freak in her sought for a way to keep this situation—their relationship—in check. She could tell Colt to leave, that she didn’t want him shacking up with her for the next three and half weeks. She could, but damn it, she didn’t want that, either. He made her feel safe, protected...cherished.
As her mind circled through all of her options, a deep exhaustion that had nothing to do with the show’s demanding schedule, or Colt’s late night visits, caught up with her. No, she knew in her heart it was her constant need to maintain total control over every aspect of her life which had left her worn out and tired. All the coddling and direction her parents had given her had seemed so suffocating when she was younger. Now, though, for the first time since she’d broken away from her folks’ relentless hold, she suddenly realized she wanted to share her burdens. She needed someone to lean on, to help her talk through the tough choices, to listen when she needed to vent. But after years of going at it alone, fiercely coveting her freedom, she wondered if she could actually relinquish any semblance of control.
As she stepped into the bedroom, she tossed her hair and glanced over her shoulder. Colt followed a few short steps behind, his strides determined and purposeful. An intense edge lined his jaw, while his eyes glittered with lust, desire...and, oh God, tenderness that had nothing to do with casual sex. Their relationship had moved well past that point. She’d been a fool to think she could spend time with a man like Colt and not fall into a well of emotions that had her heart ballooning with an overwhelming desire to love and be loved.
As she crossed the bedroom, her heart rate kicked up another notch, and her inner thighs grew slick with anticipation. She’d fallen hard for him in Denver. At first, she’d figured she had a bad case of obsessive infatuation, her feelings had simply resonated the loneliness that had been consuming her and making life difficult to endure. That cold night, he’d warmed her heart, and had filled a void she hadn’t realized she’d been missing. Now he stood in her bedroom. Offering her his body, and maybe a piece of his heart, she wasn’t sure. At the same time, though, she had realized she’d already lost her heart to him. Apparently, falling in love wasn’t something she could control. As much as she’d denied it to herself, she was, and had been, in love with Colt since the first time she’d laid eyes on him. Now, though, that love had grown tenfold. He’d become her protector, her rock. She drew strength from his solid comfort, and trusted him as much, if not more than her own family. He’d also become her friend.
Her throat tightened at that last thought. Friends don’t lie to each other, yet she’d done nothing but spin lies and give him half-truths. She’d have to rectify that. Now.
The lone lamp resting on the dresser cast shadows across his chiseled face as his lean body and broad shoulders filled the doorway. She stared at him for a moment, in awe of how good he looked. His crisp white shirt made his tanned skin appear darker. His trousers rode low on his hips, and revealed his erection. Licking her lips, she desperately drew off his strength in an attempt to find her own. To admit the absolute truth. While she cared about the people who worked for Pick Me, the thought of ruining something that could result in a happily ever after with Colt took priority.
Her head grew dizzy with worry and anxiety as she tried to muster the courage to admit she’d been lying. But what if he walked away? Shunned her? Told her to go to hell?
Before she could chicken out, she drew in a deep breath, then blurted, “Before we—”
“Let go of the dress,” he said in a low, husky tone, keeping his gaze locked on hers, as he leaned against the door jamb.
Just when she was about make her ultimate confession, he had to go all sexy and commanding on her. Not that she was complaining. She loved this dominating side of him. Sex had been one area where she had relinquished control. While she might have chosen when and where they’d have sex, he’d always been in the lead. Wanting to see his eyes flare with lust, and happy for the diversion from her unpracticed confession, she uncrossed her arms. With the back of her dress already unzipped, it gaped at the front, her breasts exposed and resting above the soft fabric.
“Move it over your hips...slow.”
Eyeing the bulge beneath his trousers, she did as he asked, gliding the material until it pooled around her feet. At the same time, guilt niggled at her conscience. She should stop. She should tell him the truth before they went any farther.
“Now your panties.”
Ready to come on the spot under his smoldering gaze, with shaky hands she removed her underwear, then kicked them and her dress off to the side. Naked, she felt no vulnerability, only a deep-seated desire to please him.
His gaze raked over her body, from her legs to her breasts to her lips, then finally settled
on her eyes. He shoved off the door jamb, and in two quick strides, cupped her face. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he asked, his breath fanning along her lips before he kissed her with a possessiveness that stole the air from her lungs.
She clung to his biceps, his shoulders, his neck, his back, then finally settled on gripping his hair in an effort to capture every part of him. God, she didn’t want to lose him. She knew in her heart she needed to talk to him before they shared her bed. After tonight, they’d be practically living together, and she owed him the truth.
He broke the kiss, nipped and licked his way to her ear, then picked her up and set her on the edge of the bed. As he began to unbutton his shirt, he stood between her spread legs, and slowly shifted his gaze over her naked body.
“You said you’d fantasized about Denver.”
She nodded, watching every button slide free, anxious to see his bare chest. She ached to skim her fingers through the hair, to kiss and caresses his nipples.
“Show me.”
“What?” Startled, she shot her gaze to his.
He shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it to the floor, then leaned in, his biceps caging her as he rested his palms on either side of her hips. “You’re a highly sexual woman, Valentina.” He skimmed her jaw with his lips. “You said you haven’t been with anyone since our night in Denver, and I want to know how you’ve been...taking care of yourself.”
“Oh,” she breathed against his lips, until she realized what he’d meant. She’d touched herself for him before, but that was during the heat of the moment, while they were already having sex. This was different. This was a whole new level of intimacy. Masturbating in front of a man...that was way too personal. “I...uh...okay, but let’s get you out of this first.” She reached for his pants, hoping to distract him by taking his thick erection into her mouth, but he stepped out of reach.
“Uh-uh,” he grunted. “Show me.”
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