* * *
“It’s a perfect day for a ride. Don’t you think?”
Jackson’s head snapped around at the sound of her voice. The woman who’d swept into his life, turned him inside out, and then disappeared without so much as a goodbye.
“Jillian.” He cursed himself for sounding so happy to see her.
She slipped between the corral rails where he was working with a colt.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, drawing on the anger he’d felt when he came home that day to find her gone.
“Would you believe I was looking for a dude ranch and got lost?”
“I’ll drive you there.”
“Jackson, I know you’re angry with me. I shouldn’t have left the way I did, but−”
“Then why did you?” he demanded, cutting her off.
She noted the lack of color in his knuckles as Jackson stood clutching the young horse’s reins. Was it possible? Could his anger be his way of covering up a much deeper emotion? Had Jackson thought about her like she had him everyday since they’d been apart?
“Damn it, Jillian, I need to know.”
And he had every right to. She swallowed hard, trying to clear the knot of emotion that seemed to have wedged itself permanently in her throat. “I left like I did because I knew what we had together was too good to be true,” she confessed, meeting his dark, unrelenting gaze.
“It was good,” he said, jaw clenching.
“I knew what I was getting into,” she explained. “Hot sex for a week, nothing more. But that didn’t stop me from falling in love with you.”
“You what?”
“I knew I was setting myself up for some major heartache, because I never felt for my ex the way I felt−”
He closed the distance between them in two strides and captured her mouth beneath his, effectively silencing her explanation.
She felt the tension leave his body as he deepened the kiss.
When the kiss ended, he pulled away to look at her. “You love me?”
She nodded. “Which is why I left the way I did. I knew how you felt about any sort of long term relationship. I’m so sorry.”
“No, Jillian,” he replied, kissing her nose. Her brow. Her lips. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have told you how I felt instead of waiting until that last day.”
“The way you felt?”
He looked down into her eyes. “I had gone into town to buy you flowers that morning. Figured they might help when I told you I loved you and asked you to stay.”
“You love me, too?” she said, her eyes misting over with tears of happiness.
“More than I ever thought it possible to love a woman.”
“And you wanted me to stay?”
“Forever,” he said. “I think I lost my heart to you the first time I saw you standing there in that gawd-awful tattered pink skirt, dirt-smudged face, walking toward me in those mangled Louie Whoever’s.”
“Louis Vuitton,” she corrected and then her gaze snapped up to meet his. “You didn’t like my skirt?”
He gave a husky chuckled. “I like what was under it a whole lot more.” He ran a hand along her cheek. “I’ve missed you, darlin’.”
“Not as much as I’ve missed you. So what happens now?”
“Seems to me the only sensible thing to do is make love. We do that so well.”
She gave his arm a playful smack. “Be serious, Jackson.”
“I am. I’m gonna make love to you, Jillian. Right here. Right now.”
“And what happens after that?”
“Then you’ll go home and pack up the rest of your things and come back home to me.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Move in with you?”
“I’ll see you one better. Marry me.”
She gasped. “Did you just propose?”
“I figure it’s about time I make an honest woman out of you.” Dragging her up against him, he covered her mouth with his for a slow, tender kiss.
Too slow. She needed more. Needed fast and hard. Needed to burn like only Jackson could make her burn. She backed him up against the corral fence, her hands working the button on his jeans.
“I hope you’re ready to be ridden hard,” she whispered near his ear.
“Try me and find out.” His hands worked with equal fervor to remove her clothes. Soon, they were both standing inside the corral wearing nothing more than lusty smiles.
Jackson settled back onto a fence rung, his legs parted, and pulled her between them. She went willingly.
“What if one of your men or even Brady sees us?” she asked, looking around.
“What if they do?”
The thought of someone watching them make love excited her even more. “Then let’s give them a show they’ll never forget.”
“Ah, Jillian,” he groaned, burying his face in her hair. “I’ve missed you like hell.”
She settled herself astride his lap, guiding his straining cock into her eagerly awaiting pussy.
He dropped his head back with a low groan as she seated herself onto his rigid flesh completely. Stretching out his long legs, he buried his fingers into the silken strands of her hair and kissed her, making love to her mouth.
Jillian clung to the railing above him, lifting and lowering herself onto his cock, grinding her hips against his in a slow, seductive rhythm.
“Stop,” he demanded, teeth clenched.
“What’s wrong?”
His hands shifted, holding her hips immobile. “Nothing’s wrong. It just feels so damn good to be inside you again. I’m gonna fucking lose it.”
“Good.” Jillian managed another grind, eliciting a low growl from Jackson. “What’s the matter cowboy? Afraid of losing control?”
“Don’t make me bring out my rope again,” he warned with a grin.
She flashed him a hundred watt smile as her fingertips sifted through the hair at the back of his neck. “Promises. Promises.”
“I promise you this, darlin’. I’m never letting you walk out of my life ever again.” He sealed his promise with a kiss. One that pledged a lifetime filled with never-ending love and burning ‘cowboy’ passion.
Table of Contents
COPYRIGHTS
Praise for author McKenna Chase:
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
Leather and Lust Page 6