But she couldn’t think about that now.
“One thing at a time,” Josie told Gus firmly as she headed away from the drilling rig. “And right now I’ve got to help Wade plan a party.”
“I CAN’T BELIEVE we managed to take care of everything in under three hours,” Wade said. “Caterer, florist, orchestra, videographer, photographer, even parking valets. It’s all arranged.”
It wasn’t hard, Josie thought, when you knew exactly what you wanted and exactly who to call. She got up from the kitchen table and went into the adjacent laundry room to retrieve the second load of clothes from the dryer. “You’re right.” She transferred the warm, fragrant clothes from the dryer to the long rectangular worktable adjacent to it. Then added the clothes in the washer to the dryer, threw in a fabric softener sheet and switched it on. “We really lucked out.”
“It was more than luck,” Wade said admiringly as Josie moved lithely back to the worktable. “I watched you talk to those people. You’ve done this before.”
Josie knew she had inherited her mother’s talent for throwing one humdinger of a party as surely as she had inherited her dad’s talent for sniffing out oil, but it wasn’t where her heart was.
Deciding to go with her gut and tell him as much as she could about herself without revealing something that would get her fired, she smiled at him and said vaguely, “I made arrangements for a lot of parties and fund-raisers as part of my previous job.”
“Which was...?” Wade plucked a towel from the stack and folded that while Josie smoothed the wrinkles from a steady stream of warm T-shirts.
“Coordinator of special projects at a charitable foundation in Dallas.”
“But you weren’t happy doing that,” Wade observed, picking up another towel.
“No.” Josie untangled a lacy bra from a matching satin panty. “And I realized after putting almost seven years into my job there that I was never going to be. Don’t get me wrong.” She plucked a silk teddy from the mound of freshly laundered clothes. “I like being part of something that did so much good in terms of helping so many people in so many different ways. The foundation sponsored many wonderful things—school programs for indigent children, grants for starving artists, college scholarships, medical research. And they spent a lot of time bringing public attention to issues and raising additional money for the various projects, too.”
“Sounds like a challenging job.”
Josie nodded, aware on one level it had been very fulfilling. “It was,” she admitted softly.
“But?”
Josie grimaced as she mated the socks. “My mother worked at the same place.”
Wade raised a brow. Noting a lacy bra had slipped to the floor, he reached over and retrieved it. “Is that why you got the job?”
Josie tried not to blush as Wade folded the bra and added it to her growing stack of lingerie. “I’d like to say it was totally because of my own talent for dealing with people and making things happen, but my mother chairs the foundation, so she has a lot of say in what goes on there, so that was part of it, too.”
“Was it hard, working in the same place as your mother?” he asked.
Not nearly as hard as selectively editing what I tell you, Josie thought, pining for the day when she could simply tell him everything.
“As you saw by the pretty dress she sent me, she can be a tad overwhelming in trying to get me to do what she wants,” Josie said dryly.
Wade grinned in a way that reminded Josie he had some overbearing mother problems of his own. “Which is...?”
Josie made a rueful face. “Marry someone rich and pedigreed and settle down and have a family.”
Wade studied her, no expression readily apparent on his face. “But you don’t want that?”
Josie shook her head. “Not the rich, pedigreed part, no.”
“But you do want a husband and family,” Wade observed quietly, his brown eyes softening understandingly.
“Yes,” Josie admitted, surprised to discover how much she had begun to want just that in the last couple of days. “Someday—when I’ve proven myself in the oil fields—I do.” She paused, knowing she shouldn’t ask, but unable to help herself. “What about you?” she prodded softly. “Do you ever plan to marry?”
Chapter Eight
“You don’t have a problem asking questions, do you?” Wade said. He was so close she could feel the heat and tension emanating from his tall body.
Josie began piling the stacks of clothes into the bottom of the duffel-style laundry bag she had brought with her. “Do you have a problem answering them?”
Wade rested a hip on the edge of the worktable. “I’m not necessarily interested in marriage per se. I’d like to have a personal life as satisfying as my professional life, but it could be a lifelong love affair.”
Josie had never imagined herself satisfied with that. Maybe it was because she had come from a broken home, but when she committed herself to a man, she would want him to make the commitment of marriage and then stick with it, through thick and thin.
“What about kids?” she asked softly, trying not to feel too disappointed that Wade was not as oldfashioned as she was in that regard. “Do you want them?”
He watched as she shifted the duffel bag to a far corner of the table. Half his mouth lifted in a rakish smile. “Do you?”
Josie could tell by the way he was looking at her that a lot was riding on her answer. And indeed everything she said and did. “Someday,” she replied honestly. Still holding his eyes, she amended with a shrug, “I don’t know how easy it will be to work out, given the career I want, but yes,” she admitted slowly, thoughtfully, “I do.”
Wade studied her. Pleasure lit his eyes. “I imagine if anyone can work it out, you can,” he told her in a low, husky voice.
“Thanks,” Josie murmured, wishing she didn’t recall quite so vividly just how well he kissed or how gallantly he held her in his arms. She wished she didn’t want him to kiss her again, but she did. And judging by the way he was looking at her, he wanted to kiss her, too.
Josie cleared her throat and edged away from him. “And you didn’t answer my question,” she said mildly, as she led the way back into the kitchen. “Do you want kids?”
Wade followed her, his steps long and lazy. “Up until now, I haven’t, no,” he replied candidly. But that was beginning to change now that Josie was in his life. And no one was more surprised about that than he.
Disappointment glimmered briefly in her eyes. Wordlessly she turned on her heel and returned to the kitchen to rinse out her coffee cup.
Determined to lighten the mood and return to their previous camaraderie, he followed her to the sink, plucked the coffee cup from her hand, and put it in the dishwasher. He shut the dishwasher, then turned to face her. “Of course if you’re going to be a mom,” he drawled playfully, “you’re going to have to improve your skills in the kitchen or your babies are going to starve.”
Josie leaned a slender hip against the sink. She folded her arms in front of her. “Back to reforming me again?” she taunted mutinously.
Wade noted that even though her arms were crossed tightly in a defensive position in front of her, she wasn’t trying to get away from him anymore. He took solace in that. “I’d like to think the process is ongoing and mutual,” he murmured, stroking his hands from her shoulders to her elbows.
Josie studied him but didn’t pull away. “And how am I reforming you?” Josie challenged softly.
By helping him open up. He’d barely known her three days and had already told her more about himself and his feelings than he’d told anyone else in his adult life. That alone was nothing short of a miracle. And there was a part of him—the part that was starved for true intimacy with another human being—that very much wanted to find out just how much closer, how much more open with each other the two of them could get.
But figuring that was a little much to lay on her so soon after they’d met, figuring it might even sound a
little fake, as if he were trying to feed her a line to get her into bed with him, Wade merely shrugged and said, “Teaching me how to go more by my gut.” In matters of the heart, he thought, and—“When it comes to finding oil.”
Again something flashed in her eyes. Hurt—disappointment that he wasn’t more forthcoming—then was gone. “I probably should get going,” she said. She brushed past him, her head tipped up regally. “Maybe I could come back later and get the clothes from the dryer?”
“Sure.” It was all Wade could do not to catch her by the waist and bring her back to his side. Then again, maybe they’d gotten close enough for one afternoon, anyway, he thought. He glanced at his watch, murmured thoughtfully, “I need to check today’s stocks and bonds, anyway.” He couldn’t believe it was as late as it was and he hadn’t checked once. Usually by noon he had already tracked his investments and possibly done some trades, several times.
Josie stopped dead in her tracks. She pivoted slowly to face him with a tomboy’s feisty grace and her own inherent style. Though she’d been going for hours now, she still looked as lovely as she had that morning. Her dark hair was caught in a high bouncy ponytail on her head. Her face bore the golden glow of the sun and her cheeks were flushed pink. She’d never had time—or opportunity—to put on a bra, and her breasts moved softly beneath her T-shirt whenever she did. She didn’t seem aware of it, though, any more than she was aware how enticingly her jeans cloaked her slender hips, waist, thighs and calves. But he was aware of it. So aware he’d been aching with the desire to make her his all day.
“How do you do that?” Josie asked, almost too casually. “Do you call your broker?”
Wade tried not to let on how restless and edgy he felt. “No. I do it myself—on the Internet. Here,” he continued matter-of-factly. “I’ll show you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Josie said hastily, suddenly beginning to look a little panicked. “In fact, if you could just take me back to the site—”
Wade didn’t want her to go. In fact, for reasons he didn’t want to look too closely at he was damn near desperate for her to stay.
He took her gallantly by the wrist and led her over to the desk where his laptop modern was plugged into the phone line. “It’s no problem,” he told her easily. Wade guided her onto the seat of the chair. Standing over her, he reached around from behind her and switched the computer on. Seconds later the icons representing the various computer programs popped up on the screen. Wade guided the computer cursor to the icon that characterized Internet services and clicked on it. Seconds later, the front page of that day’s edition of USA Daily newspaper popped up on screen. But Wade barely saw it, so immersed was he in the alluring fragrance of Josie’s hair and skin.
JOSIE’S HEART took a giant leap as she scanned down rapidly and saw the sixth headline of the day. Major South American Oil Strike. Knowing fast action was called for, she accidentally-on-purpose hit the power button on the side of Wade’s laptop. Without warning, the screen flashed a brilliant emerald green, then went black.
“What the—?” He started to reach for the power switch again.
Josie moved between Wade and his arm. Surging gracefully to her feet, she stood between Wade and the computer screen. “You know what?” she said in a light, flirtatious tone she had used a lot in her debutante days. She flattened her hands on his chest and toyed with the button on his shirt. “I don’t think I need to see that.”
Wade grinned and reached around her, letting her know with a sexy once-over she had successfully commanded his full attention. “But I wanted to show it to you,” he said.
And chance the same headlines coming up all over again? Josie thought. No way.
“What I want you to show me,” Josie said, moving forward, into his arms, as she continued to impede his reach, “is this.”
Desperate times, Josie thought as she pushed Wade back against the wall, called for desperate measures. And heaven knew, she thought as she went up on tiptoe and laced her hands around his head, she was desperate to keep Wade from reading the day’s headlines. So she put everything she had into the impromptu kiss, fitting her lips to his, slanting her head at just the right angle, and ?gently—experimentally—caressing his tongue and teeth. She expected gentleness, acquiescence. She got none. His lips were hard and hungry, his tongue hot and wet and unbearably sweet. He swept the insides of her mouth, languidly at first, then with growing passion, until she was lost in the touch, taste and feel of him, lost in the ragged intake of his breath and her own low, shuddering moan.
As the kiss deepened, Josie tried to convince herself she was merely coming on to Wade to buy time and achieve success. Merely trying to quench her desire and satisfy her curiosity about the sexiest, most compelling man she had ever met. But even as she rationalized her behavior and made excuses for her unprecedented wantonness, even as her hands curled in his rumpled hair, she knew it wasn’t true.
She had fallen in love with Wade McCabe, even if she wasn’t the woman of his dreams. And though her cautious side would dictate waiting to make love until she knew his feelings mirrored hers, the more reckless, lonely side of her could not walk away from the opportunity to be with him like this. She had wasted too much time in her life already, doing what everyone else wanted her to do.
She’d made the decision to follow her dreams, to start taking risks, and now that she had finally started taking them in her professional life, she was going to follow her heart and take them in her private life, too.
Wade hadn’t expected Josie to kiss him. He hadn’t expected any of this, he thought as he continued to claim her, and her soft, delicate hands caressed his shoulders and chest with slow, seductive strokes. But given what he knew about her, maybe he should have, Wade thought, as the sweet urgency of her tongue swept through him in hot, undulating waves. Josie was an inherently adventurous woman who until now, by her own admission, had been keeping herself—her ambition, her lust for life, her need for passion and the physical side of love—under tight wraps.
Now that she was finally allowing herself to take some risks, to meet him boldly kiss for kiss, she was as eager to please as she was reckless in her quest for success. Unfortunately she was also stubborn in her methods and—if his instincts were correct—woefully inexperienced when it came to men. And that, more than anything, gave the gentleman in Wade pause. He’d been brought up to never ever take advantage.
Conscience stinging, he lifted his head.
Josie gasped and clung. “Don’t stop.”
Wade groaned, reveling in the soft surrender of the lithe body pressed against the rock-hard demand of his.
“You say that now,” he murmured, hauling her against him just long enough to make his point. But something happened when his mouth touched hers again. Maybe it was chemistry. Maybe it was love. He didn’t know. He only knew he had never felt like this before. So connected—so quickly. So free of heart. He’d never wanted so very much to please. Never known he could delight so in a woman’s soft body pressed against his.
The blood thundered through him, pooling low. Much more of this and there would be no turning back, not for either of them. Determined to do the right thing, Wade tightened his grip on her and tore his lips from hers. “Josie.” He caught his breath and warned, “If you keep this up—”
Too far gone to care, Josie pressed her breasts against his chest and kissed him again—not just in surrender—but with an urgency and a need to please him that rocked him to his soul. “What, Wade? What will happen?” she whispered against his mouth.
“This,” Wade said. He swept her against him and kissed her until he felt her tremble in response. Delighting in his victory, in the sweet vulnerability of her response, Wade pressed his sex into the cradle of her legs and covered her breasts with his hands. Her nipples peaked and she moaned against his mouth. Desire thundering through him in waves, he flattened the hard length of his body against the softness of hers. The contact wasn’t enough, not nearly, Wad
e thought as he slowly, reluctantly, ended the kiss and gazed down at her. Her lips were wet and swollen from their kisses. Her eyes glowed with a soft, ardent gleam. “I’d give anything to be able to invite you up to my bed,” he whispered huskily. He’d give anything to make her his woman—now—this afternoon. But it was too soon.
Josie sighed, her breath coming every bit as raggedly and erratically as his. “So why don’t you?”
“BECAUSE,” Wade said, struggling between his desire to protect her and his desire to make mad, passionate love to her, here and now and damn the consequences. “You’re not the kind of woman who has flings.”
“But I’ve dreamed of being this kind of woman, dreamed of being swept away,” Josie protested softly.
Wade frowned. “Everyone does—to a point. It doesn’t mean it should happen here and now.” Because that left them open to the kind of regrets that could put a halt to everything. But Josie apparently did not see it that way, he noted.
“But not everyone is brave enough to follow their heart’s desire.” Josie’s chin jutted out stubbornly. Wade didn’t have to be a psychic to know what was on her mind. Worse, the same thing was on his, and had been all day.
Aware his lower half was still throbbing hotly, Wade backed her to the wall. Hands braced on either side of her, he spread his legs on either side of hers, aligned his lower half with hers and slowly pressed his chest to hers. “For good reason.”
“For no reason.” Josie clutched at his shoulders like a woman who was in full command of her destiny. “And I meant what I said earlier, Wade.” Color flooding her cheeks, she threaded her hands through his hair and swiftly, purposefully brought his head down to hers. “Don’t stop,” she murmured passionately as she stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. She moved her hips against his insistently and delivered a deep, demanding kiss. “For once in my life, I want to be swept away. And I want you to do it.”
Wildcat Cowboy (The McCabes of Texas #2) Page 12