His hand moved down her neck, following the neckline of the sweater she was wearing. He was going to touch her breast. What was she supposed to do about that?
When his hand brushed over her, his thumb circling until her nipple was erect, she forgot all about what she was supposed to be doing and just enjoyed. Because, wow, that was amazing.
“You just tell me when I need to stop, okay?”
It bolstered what little sprouts of confidence she had to hear his breathing as uneven and unsteady as her own. This wasn’t just excitement because she was such a novice, this was actually really good kissing. She nodded and then his mouth was on hers again and she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to stop.
He pulled away again. “Maybe I should go.”
“I thought you were going to come in.” She felt the heat move to her face, but then decided she wasn’t embarrassed. He was kissing her and liking it and wanting to go home couldn’t mean she’d done anything wrong. He was into this as much as she. It was too obvious to doubt.
“I want to come in. I do. Maybe…a little too much.”
“Oh.” Mia licked her lips. She really, really didn’t want this to be over. “Come in anyway?”
In his pause, a million insecurities tried to take hold of her brain, but then he kissed her again.
“Open the door.”
Hands not quite steady, a fact she’d blame on nerves and giddiness, Mia dug her keys out of her purse and unlocked the door. His hands wrapped around her waist as she opened it, and he propelled her forward, his mouth on her neck.
“Couch?”
Mia nodded, scurrying to move her laundry out of the way. Then they were sitting on the couch. Side by side.
If he didn’t kiss her soon she was going to say something stupid. She could feel it bubbling up, so she shoved her palms under her thighs as if it might stem the tide of idiotic rumblings.
“You okay?”
Mia nodded emphatically, realizing too late it was way too emphatically and now she looked like a crazed bobble-head doll.
But he looked at her and smiled. “You look really good tonight.”
She suddenly understood why women got stupid over men. A good chunk of her brain melted away at the compliment.
He leaned toward her, his fingertips circling a design on the inside of her wrist. It took every ounce of willpower not to whimper or squirm.
“You’re fun, too,” he said, his mouth close to her ear, his breath warm against her skin. “Easy to talk to. Who would have thought?”
“I probably could have told you that. You just wouldn’t have believed me. I might be awkward, but I’ve always been easy to talk to.”
He laughed against her temple, then kissed her there, her cheek, her mouth. It was awkward on the couch with their height difference and her neck would probably have a crick in it by the end of the night. But, jeez, who cared? His hand was venturing toward breast territory again.
Eek. Yay.
He shifted. She shifted. The ancient couch squeaked beneath them. It was hard to find a comfortable spot. Mia wasn’t about to complain when Dell’s lips were on hers.
Dell broke the kiss, frowning. “Why don’t you sit on my lap?”
Mia pulled back, nose wrinkled. “Isn’t that weird?”
“How is that weird?”
“I don’t know. I associate lap sitting with Santa, and in this context…weird.”
Dell shook his head, and then pulled her to him so she had to straddle his lap. Her knee pressed on either side of his thighs and, oh, holy moly, if she scooted just an inch or two forward she could press herself against him, very, very intimately.
His hands slid down her back, then slowly pulled her forward those last few inches. The jittery nerves in her stomach were no match for the fizzling heat of excitement. She planted her hands on his shoulders to keep herself from wiggling against him. Was that appropriate? Was that crazy? She really just wanted to know what it might feel like. The friction of him against her. With their clothes on, it didn’t seem scary at all.
One of his hands toyed with the ends of her hair, the other resting just to the side of her breast.
And then he grinned. “Still thinking of Santa?”
“Oh. No. Nope.” She couldn’t pick out Santa in a lineup at this point.
He kissed her again, his hands roaming down her back. She let her own glide over his shoulders to his chest. He was all hard muscle and when she moved a little against him he groaned.
She had just made Dell Wainwright groan. She was beginning to think this was all a very realistic dream. And then he moved against her, and the friction between them was a breath-stopping, thought-stopping pull of excitement and arousal.
Up to this point she hadn’t considered having sex with him tonight. Not on the first date. Not without some kind of mental preparation, but this was…was…
Really, really hot.
Maybe it would be best to do it without the mental preparation. To get it over with. Like ripping off a bandage.
His hands slid inside her shirt, his callused palms rasping against the smooth skin of her back. She wanted to do the same. To know what his skin would feel like. To test this theory that—
The door flew open. “I hate you, you stupid jerk!” Cara stumbled in, almost landing on her butt before kicking the door closed.
Mia tried to scurry off Dell’s lap but they got kind of tangled in the process.
Cara glanced over. “He broke up with me for his stupid ex-girlfriend.” The words were slurred as she stepped toward the couch. She squinted at them before her face went comically shocked.
“Oh, my God.” Cara stumbled toward them. “You were finally going to have sex and I totally ruined it. I’m the worst.” She dropped on the sofa next to Dell, who promptly stood up. “No wonder Kevin dumped me. I totally suck.”
“I’m gonna go.”
“Oh, God.” She smacked a hand over her mouth and made a run for it down the hallway. Mia covered her face with her hands.
This was almost as embarrassing as blurting out she was a virgin.
“Now that I have your number, I’ll call you, okay?”
The sound of Cara puking echoed down the hallway. “Yeah. I’ll hold my breath.”
Dell squeezed her arm, leaned far enough to kiss her cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” And then he left.
She was going to kill Cara. D-e-a-d.
But Dell had said he would call her and while she might not have a lot of dating experience, she had been on the receiving end of more than her share of brush-offs, all those times she’d tried to insinuate herself into a group and been denied. This didn’t feel like one.
Still, if Cara hadn’t come home, maybe things would have progressed. Maybe…
Well, maybe didn’t matter. It hadn’t happened tonight, but the next time he asked her out, it was going to happen. Nerves or no nerves, she was going to take that final step, and it was going to be damn good one way or another.
Chapter Thirteen
Usually Dell took it easy on Sundays, but not only was he still recovering from the hail storm, if he didn’t throw every last muscle into work he was going to think about Mia and last night and need to take another cold shower.
Or five.
He could kill Cara. Or Kevin, for dumping her at the completely wrong moment. Or himself for going into the apartment at all.
Mia was a virgin. They should be taking things slowly. Not that she seemed all that interested in going slow. She was twenty-six, after all, and—
Dell pushed the tiller with more force than necessary. He could not let himself keep going in this idiotic circle.
But he’d started this circle. How many outs had he had? How many times could he have backed away from pursuing Mia in any way shape or form? Too many to count. But something kept bringing him back for more.
Damn it.
The rumble of a truck down the main drive from the house caused Dell to pause. The sign on the side
of the car caused him to freeze.
Ed Stevens Real Estate.
Fuck.
There were two real estate companies in New Benton, and Ed’s was notorious for selling farmland to developers.
Double fuck.
Then Dell noticed Charlie walking from the main house toward him.
Triple fuck.
Dad only sent Charlie to do his dirty work when shit was really bad. Dell couldn’t believe Dad would outright sell without his agreement, but there it was on a white sedan. Undeniable.
Too many emotions swirled in his gut to name. They all hurt like hell.
“How’s it going?”
Dell ignored his brother’s greeting. He didn’t feel much like dancing around the issue or pretending Charlie wasn’t the middleman.
“He’s just feeling things out,” Charlie said in a low voice, kicking at a clump of overturned dirt. “Nothing’s a done deal. You can take the pissed off and dial it down a notch. Come up to the house. Be an adult.”
Dell bit back the angry retort, clenched his hands harder around the handle of the machine to keep from acting it out, too.
“Mom’s almost got lunch ready. Come on up to the house.”
Dell returned to pushing the tiller. “Not interested.”
“Don’t be a baby about this.” Charlie was all put-upon sighs and eye rolls. “Dad’s doing what’s best.”
“You can both take that best and fuck off.” Dell let go of the throttle, considered throttling Charlie, but where would that get him?
While Dad was “feeling” selling out and Charlie was telling him to be an adult, Dell was working his ass off. No one cared. No one gave a rotten damn.
“You can go back there and tell Dad I’m done. I’m not playing nice and I’m not pleading my case for the millionth damn time. He wants to sell? Fine. They’ll be prying me off this land with a gun to my head.”
Another long-suffering sigh. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“Yeah, well, you’re being a selfish prick.” Dell started the tiller up again even though he was finished. He’d just till the patch over and over until Charlie went away.
It took all of two minutes. Once his brother was out of punching range, Dell turned off the machine. Then he gave in to the childish desire to kick the shit out of something and stomped his boot through a big pile of dirt.
He didn’t feel any damn better. Oddly enough, his mind turned to Mia. He had a few ideas of what could make him feel better.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should back off until the frustration and sadness and hurt wore off, but he ignored it. He pulled up her number, hit Call, and when she answered, didn’t take a second to beat around the bush.
“Hey, you busy tonight?”
“Um.” She paused. “Not after dark.”
“Come over.” He winced at the urgency he felt. This was stupid. But Mia either made him forget or made him not feel like the biggest loser on the planet, so screw it. It was urgent.
“Come…over?”
“Yeah. Over. To my house.” He wouldn’t read too much into finding himself smiling already.
“Oh.” In the long pause he had time enough to berate himself for being an idiot and an asshole. Then she let out an audible breath. “Okay.”
Thank God. “Good. See you then.” He hit End before the surprise and uncertainty in her voice could bother him. Then he ignored his grumbling stomach and threw himself into work.
When he was finally done for the day, all machinery cleaned and put in its place, his usual satisfaction at the end of a long, hard day was muted by the niggling worry this would be the end. His last time tilling this earth, planting seeds where his great-great grandfather had planted seeds.
It was a physical, searing pain in his chest, like someone had punctured his lung. The fact that his own family was doing this to him twisted it deeper.
Dell walked out of the barn and came face-to-face with Mom. He hated lumping her in with Charlie and Dad, but he could tell by the look on her face she wasn’t here to throw her hat into the ring with him. “Sorry, Mom, I’m busy.”
“Honey, don’t be—”
“I’ve had enough of people telling me what not to be. I love you, but you’re not going to convince me I’m wrong. I haven’t given a shit about much in my life, but I give a shit about this and I’m not letting anyone try and tell me I’m wrong about that.”
So, he’d spend his time with someone who didn’t.
* * *
Pulling up to Dell’s cabin, it was hard to take in a full breath. Nerves squeezed and squeezed her lungs, birds with giant wings flapping around in her stomach.
“He invited you here. It doesn’t mean anything special. You’re fine. It’s fine. Having sex will be fine, too…if that’s even on the table.” She hopped out of the truck.
As she crossed the yard she suddenly felt stupid for going home and showering and putting on a skirt. She should have just come over dirty and in work clothes and—
Mia paused and squeezed her eyes shut for second. You are an adult. You are confident. You are in charge.
With a firm nod she finished the walk up to his porch and forced herself to knock on the door before she had a chance to let any negative thoughts creep in.
Dell opened the door and she was only a little disappointed he was actually wearing a shirt. “Hey.”
She smiled. “Hi.” And then silence descended. It was impossible to battle nerves in silence.
He stepped away so she could move inside. The lame greeting hung in the air like its own entity. Mia clasped her hands together. What the hell was she doing? “So…”
Dell scratched a hand through his hair, the faded T-shirt he wore stretching across his chest. She had the distinct impression she would not be seeing what lay underneath that shirt tonight.
Pity. When she looked at his face, though, Mia frowned. There was a hard edge to him today, and that was weird. Even when they were fighting at the market he never looked so…gloomy. So tense. “Are you okay?”
His forehead crinkled with creases and his brows drew together. Some of the weird, agitated energy dissipated. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to come.”
Mia tried not to show the little prick of hurt, the slight heat of embarrassment. She didn’t know what could have changed between his phone call and now, but she was not going to blame herself for it. Obviously something was wrong with him, not her. She straightened her shoulders. “I can go.”
“No.” He crossed to her, then cupped her face with his hands. “I just meant I’ve had a shit day and I shouldn’t have dragged you into it, not that I don’t want you here.” Then he kissed her.
And people said women didn’t make sense.
He pulled back, grinned. “Shit day getting better.”
Mia smiled in return. He had the easiest way of being…sweet. That was probably really dangerous, but she’d worry about it later. Or never. Maybe she’d end up with a broken heart, and maybe that was just a life experience everyone needed to go through.
“So, what made the day so bad?”
His grin dissolved. “I saw Ed Stevens leaving the house today.”
Her heart sank for him. “Oh, Dell.”
“Charlie says they’re just feeling things out, but…he didn’t even tell me or warn me. Dad didn’t say a damn thing to me. He’s not even giving me a chance. He’s…” Dell plopped himself on the couch. “I shouldn’t have called you. I’m sure you didn’t come here to listen to me bitch and moan.”
Tentatively, Mia took a seat next to him on the couch. “You really think he’d sell out from under you?”
He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees. “More every day.”
On the coffee table he was staring at were haphazard stacks of papers. Seed lists and prices. Sloppy and in an almost illegible chicken scratch, but so like what she had on her kitchen table at home it was a jolt.
So often she thought of Dell as some m
ythical creature. Confident and gorgeous and perfect. But he had problems and paperwork and ground to till just like her.
She picked up one of the papers, scanned the to-buy list, barely making out the writing but finding the contents almost identical to her own. She picked up another paper with figures scribbled all over it.
“I know what I’m doing. I know you’re a genius and everything but you don’t need to double-check my work. Doesn’t matter what I do, anyway. Dad looks at me and sees a screwup. Might as well sell to developers.”
“I’m not a genius and I’m not checking your work. It’s just, we’re ordering the same seeds.”
“Not surprising.”
“No, it’s not. But if we buy in bulk we get a better price, right?”
“Right, but I prefer buying what I need season to season. I’m not organized enough to save seeds, and I don’t have the cash flow to—”
“We could go in together. Split the costs. I know it doesn’t save us hundreds of dollars or anything, but at this point doesn’t every bit help?”
He stared at her for a while, forehead creased and mouth pressed into a line. “Mia…” He took the papers from her hands and put them back on the coffee table. “You don’t need to split costs. You’ll be fine.”
“Fine, yes, but I don’t want to be fine. I want to be good. Saving money, cutting the corners I can without compromising product, that’s good business sense.” She hesitantly touched his hand. “It doesn’t make sense not to help you if it’s helping me, too.”
“Yes it does. It makes total sense not to help me. Business sense. Helping your competition is…”
Mia wrinkled her nose. “Softhearted?” She pushed off the couch. She was good at math and growing and plans. She was not good at turning her back on someone who needed help, regardless of how in competition they were. But it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. She’d rather be a little softhearted than be ruthless. “It’s my one weakness. I let myself have it as long as I’m getting something out of the deal.” She faced him, pointed a finger at his chest. “This would save me money, too. So it’s not terrible business sense. I’m helping you and me, and that is not the worst thing in the world. They say competition is good for business.”
Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire Page 36