She wore a faint smile and nothing else, and the sight stalled the air in his chest.A damned crazy reaction considering the fact that he’d seen her naked more times than he could count. But damned if it didn’t feel like the first time all over again. He swept a gaze from her head to her pink-tipped toes, pausing at all the mouthwatering spots in between, like a hungry man eyeing his next meal.
The sun’s last rays caressed her body and made her skin glow. She wasn’t a thin woman by far, but her weight was proportioned in all the right places, giving her delicious curves that made his hands itch for a touch. Dark, ripe, red nipples tipped her full pink breasts. Her small waist flared into full, rounded hips and a shapely ass. A narrow strip of blond hair covered her fleshy mound and disappeared between her long legs. Trim ankles led to small, shapely feet.
“I…” He licked his lips and forced his gaze back up. The hunger that gleamed in her eyes hit him even harder than the sight of her naked body and need tightened his gut and twisted it into a knot. “I, um, thought we were going to the—” The words stalled as she took a deep breath, her breasts heaving and her nipples reaching out to him, and he forgot what he’d been about to say. “What is this?” he finally managed to utter after several frantic heartbeats.
Her smiled widened. “This is the house special.” And then she pulled him inside, reached for the edge of his T-shirt and began to strip him down right there in the foyer. He wanted to ask for some specifics, but things were getting too hot, too fast. She peeled his clothes away with an urgency that was contagious, and so Josh followed her lead. He pushed her up against the wall and thrust deep inside.
Josh went completely still as he buried himself deep inside her hot, tight heat. He’d expected it to be good—it was always good. But he wasn’t prepared for the sudden rush of feeling, so strong and overpowering, that went through him and threatened to knock him on his ass.
He braced himself against the piercing, sweet sensation, every muscle in his body locked tight.
His gaze caught and held hers and she didn’t close her eyes the way she had their first time together when he’d been on top. She looked back at him, into him and he saw everything he felt mirrored deep in her eyes. Something passed between them, like a rope slipping around his body, winding tight and pulling him closer, until they were fused, connected.
One. It was a crazy notion. Sappy and sentimental and romantic and plumb loco.
Even so, it was there. Intense. Unexpected. Real.
She leaned forward and licked his pulse beat and he couldn’t help himself, he slid his arms around her and simply held her for the next few moments. His heart beat against hers and their breaths mingled. His dick throbbed inside her and her insides tightened, flexing around him, holding him tight.
One.
Before he could dwell on the notion, she shimmied, drawing him deeper. A rush of pleasure pierced his brain and he forgot everything going on in his head and focused on his body and the need gripping him so tight he could hardly breathe.
He started to move, plunging into her with a fierce rhythm. He dipped his head and caught her nipple, sucking it into the wet heat of his mouth and feasting on her like a man possessed. He moved faster and harder, and sucked longer and deeper, until she thrashed wildly in his arms.
He released her breast and caught the exquisite cry that burst from her lips. Her muscles clamped around him, milking him greedily as her climax vibrated through her body. The sensation pulled him in for another fierce thrust and held him rigid as he exploded inside her.
He wasn’t sure how he made it to her bedroom. He just knew that one moment he was resting his forehead against hers, his hands kneading her luscious bottom, and the next he was easing her onto the bed and following her down.
He spooned her, pulling her up tight against his body. He smoothed his hand over her hair and kissed her temple, and tried to come to terms with what had just happened.
Sex, his brain screamed. But it felt like something altogether different. And when he heard the steady sound of Holly’s breathing and realized that she’d fallen asleep, he knew beyond a doubt.
He wanted to think about what the realization meant, but he couldn’t seem to keep his own eyes open. He closed them and gave in to the exhaustion tugging at his senses. He’d think about it tomorrow and then he’d figure out what the hell he was going to do because no way could he walk away from her.
At the same time, he couldn’t not walk away. Holly wanted the big L. The real thing. She deserved it. She deserved a man who could love her back totally, completely, beyond a doubt. And as much as Josh felt for her, he just didn’t know if it was enough.
“IT’S ABOUT TIME you answered your phone.” Mason’s voice carried over Josh’s cell phone when he pressed the talk button.
“What time is it?”“Time to rise and shine. It’s six in the morning, bro. You should be on your second cup of coffee by now.”
Josh blinked and adjusted his eyes to the dimly lit bedroom and the woman snuggled up against him. A faint breeze blew through the open window, stirring the curtains and sending a shiver up his arm. The heat wave was lifting just a little, although the days were still hot. But the nights had started to cool down and the sun had yet to rise.
“Josh?” Mason’s voice drew him back to the present.
“Hold on a sec,” he said. He eased his arm from beneath Holly’s head. She stirred a moment before snuggling down into the pillow. Josh pulled the blanket up over her naked body and tucked the edge around her bare shoulder before turning to pull on his jeans. A few minutes later, he walked out onto the front porch and sat down on the porch steps.
“Hello?” Mason’s voice slid into his ear.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“It’s about damned time. I’m in a hurry.”
“Another dinner date?”
“It’s not even sunup. Besides, I haven’t had a dinner date since I went all out and put the moves on the teacher. I figured I’d come on strong and scare her into submission like you suggested.”
“And she slapped you and ordered you out of her house?”
“She practically tied me to the bedposts. It’s a wonder I got away with my virtue still intact. I’ve been in hiding ever since. But thankfully, I’m home free now.”
“You’re finished?”
“And how.”
“When do I get to see you?”
“If you hop in your truck and get your sorry ass home, I’d say in about fifteen minutes.”
HOLLY WATCHED from the kitchen window as Josh’s truck disappeared down the road before turning her attention to the note he’d left her.
Last night was incredible.
Josh
He’d tried to wake her, but she’d pretended to be asleep. She hadn’t wanted to face him. She couldn’t. She closed her eyes and tried to swallow the sudden lump in her throat.“You’re home?”
She could still hear Josh’s voice through the open bedroom window from the front porch below. While Josh hadn’t mentioned a name, she’d known who it was and the truth had jerked her back to reality.
They’d sampled the last and final menu selection last night and his brother had come home. Their relationship was now officially over. She’d accumulated enough research to make the recipes more than credible. Josh had fulfilled his obligations to his family. It was over.
Despite last night.
She could easily understand why the uncomplicated, no-nonsense-style sex had been her grandmother’s most popular offering. There’d been something so intense about it, so different, so special. Staring into his eyes—the key ingredient in the recipe—she’d felt connected to him in a way she’d never felt with any man before. It had only been a few hours and already she wanted to feel the sensation again.
She wanted to feel him.
Tears burned her eyes and she reached for her notebook. She needed to distance herself from what they’d shared. But writing down the details didn’t help her gain any
perspective this time. Things were different now. She was different.
She was in love.
But Josh McGraw didn’t love her back.
Last night was incredible.
That’s all he’d written. No I love you. I can’t live without you. Come away with me….
She nixed the last thought. He would never ask her such a thing because he knew she would never do it. She couldn’t. She’d been moving her entire life and she’d finally settled down.
And settled in.
A truth that should have hit home a half hour later when she heard a knock on the front door.
“You win,” Delivery Duke declared when Holly found him standing on her doorstep. “Now just stop it, wouldya?”
Her gaze shifted to the stack of boxes beside him and relief rushed through her. “Is that my late delivery?”
“Actually, it’s today’s delivery. I sort of misplaced the late one. But I’ll find it and get it out to you as soon as possible. Just promise you’ll stay away from my dad.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s a diabetic and his sugar has been three times the normal amount since you and your desserts moved to town.” He frowned. “I know what you’re up to. You think if you get him all worked up in a sugar frenzy, that I’ll be too worried to make my deliveries and somebody else will take my place. But it ain’t gonna happen ’cause I got your number. I know all about you city people. All hustle and bustle. You never take time to smell the coffee in life and you think everybody else ought to rush around just like you. Why, it’s people like you that suck the life right out of folks like me.”
“Actually, the desserts were for you. I was trying to be neighborly.”
He looked startled for a second before he seemed to dismiss the notion. “That’s the craziest thing I ever heard. Why, I can’t do dairy or strawberries or oats. Everybody—”
“—knows that,” she finished. “I know. Your dad told me. He also said he was going to feed the desserts to his hogs. I had no idea he was diabetic, or that he was eating what I dropped off.”
He gave her a do-I-look-like-I-just-fell-off-the-turnip-truck look.
Ahem. No comment.
“Look, just keep your fancy desserts away from my dad and I’ll make sure I get out here every day with your deliveries.”
“First thing in the morning?” When he shook his head, she added, “I’ve got a Warm Fudge Foreplay and I know how to use it.”
“All right, all right.”
Score one for Holly.
No more late deliveries. No more bending over backward to fit in. No more feeling like an outsider.
She was home. Really and truly home.
But as she went about her day, the old farmhouse didn’t seem nearly as warm and welcoming as it had the day she’d first arrived. Rather, it felt cold. Lonely. Empty.
The way she now felt inside.
Holly had known it would be hard to say goodbye to Josh, she just hadn’t realized how hard until she’d fallen asleep in his arms.
Until she’d awoken without him and realized that she would do so for the rest of her life.
14
THEY NEEDED TO TALK.
The truth echoed in Josh’s head as he drove the dirt road leading to the Farraday Inn. It had been a week since she’d met him at the doorway for their last recipe and his brother had rolled back into town. Seven days since she’d pretended to be asleep to avoid having to talk to him.She’d thought she’d fooled him, but he’d known by the shallowness of her breathing that she’d been awake. And afraid. And so he hadn’t pushed her for answers then.
Hell, he hadn’t had an answer of his own. He’d needed to think. To understand what it was that had him tied up in knots.
He’d spent the time since then catching up on old times with his brother, finishing up the restoration of the GTO and trying to get a grip on the strange feelings that rolled around in his gut and kept him thinking that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t half as excited about the prospect of leaving as he was about staying.
Staying, for chrissake. He still couldn’t believe he was even considering such a thing. But he was. He would. If she felt even a fourth of what he felt for her—love or lust or a combination of the two. He wasn’t sure since he’d never felt anything like it. He just knew it was strong and he needed to know if she felt the same.
He needed her to admit it to him.
If not…
He shook away the notion and turned into her driveway. He’d given her some time to think, to see if she missed him the way he’d missed her, but he’d had enough. He was through worrying and wondering. It was time to come clean. One way or another.
As he stepped up on the porch, a strange prickle worked its way up his spine. Something was wrong. He knew it even before he knocked on the door and no one answered.
He tried the knob. It turned easily in his hand and a few moments later he found himself standing in her kitchen.
An empty kitchen.
No countertops cluttered with flour and sugar. No mixers. No measuring cups. No bakery boxes.
Dread churned in his gut as he walked from room to room. The original furniture was still there, but the extra touches that had made the house Holly’s were gone. There were no vases here and there, no freshly picked flowers, no cooking school certificate hanging on the wall, no Home Sweet Home quilt draped over the sofa—
The last thought stopped him cold and turned the dread to full-blown panic as the truth hit him.
She was gone.
Fear hit him then like a two-by-four smacking upside his head. Every bone in his body went rigid. His muscles tightened. His heart pounded. The air rushed from his chest. His stomach bottomed out. Josh nearly doubled over from the pain of it all and he knew then that this was the feeling he would face every day for the rest of his life if he walked away from Romeo.
This…emptiness.
The truth crystallized in his brain, his heart as he stood in the cold, lifeless kitchen. What he felt was real, all right. So real it hurt to breathe. His chest hitched as he tried to draw some air into his lungs. Anxiety washed through him and he turned, forcing his legs to move. He walked back out, climbed into his truck. The tires kicked up dirt and gravel as he turned the vehicle around and peeled out of her driveway and headed for town.
There was no way he was letting her go now, whether she admitted her feelings or not. If he had to, he would wait for her and give her as much time as she needed to come to her senses.
And if she didn’t?
Well, he still wasn’t going anywhere. He loved her, dammit. Josh McGraw, a man who didn’t believe in love, was stuck smack-dab in the middle of the emotion. Lost in it. Driven by it.
He had to tell her.
But first, Josh McGraw had to find her.
“WHERE IS SHE?” he demanded as he burst into Mike Davidson’s office a frantic twenty minutes later.
The attorney glanced up from the stack of documents in front of him and frowned at the intrusion. Old Mr. Perkins sat on the opposite side of the desk, a startled look on his face.“Good God, boy, you scared the bejesus out of me, and right before I signed my Last Will and Testament. What in tarnation is wrong with you?”
“I have to know where she went,” he told Mike. “You know, don’t you?”
The lawyer frowned a moment more before he finally shrugged. “Give me a minute.” He handed Mr. Perkins the documents in his hand and a pen and left him signing the papers while he ushered Josh into the outer office. “She doesn’t want to see you.”
“She’s still here?” Hope blossomed in Josh’s chest and his heart pounded faster. “She didn’t leave?”
“She found a little place in town. Moved in yesterday. I guess living out at Rose’s place wasn’t what she’d hoped.” He walked over to a file cabinet and pulled a set of blue bound papers from inside. “She asked me to give you this.”
Josh stared at the deed to the land. Not the agreed upon twe
nty-five acres, but all fifty. And the house.
“It’s back in McGraw hands again, the deed free and clear, just like your granddaddy always wanted.”
Just like Josh had wanted for the past six months. This was the last of it. The final act to right his grandfather’s wrongs and, in the process, ease Josh’s own guilt over lying to his mother.
He hadn’t wanted to believe that he’d been trying to exorcise his own demons, but he knew now that Holly had been right. It hadn’t been about making up for his grandfather’s mistakes. It had been about trying to fix his own. Or at least live with himself a little easier.
But Josh had already forgiven himself. He’d done that the night he’d opened up to Holly, talked about his past and admitted his mistake.
You were just a kid.
She’d been so understanding, so forgiving and so right. He’d been young, naive, stupid. But he hadn’t meant to hurt anyone. He knew that now and he felt, deep inside, that somehow his mother knew it, too. And that she understood.
“I thought you were crazy offering all that money for twenty-five acres. But for the whole spread, it makes a lot more sense. I’ll need you to sign a few papers for the purchase,” Mike started, but Josh cut him off.
“Later. I’ve got something I have to take care of. Tell me where she is.” He turned expectant eyes on Mike. The attorney gave him a stubborn look before he finally shrugged.
“I’ll have you know that this violates the confidentiality clause in my contract.” He scribbled an address on a slip of paper and handed it to Josh. “I hope for the both of us that you know what you’re doing.”
“So do I,” he said as he took the paper. “So do I.”
“YOU FINISH UP with a dollop of sweet whipping cream,” Holly said as she held up the gourmet dessert, “and bingo, you’ve got yourself an Ultimate Orgasm. Slice and serve, and your man will melt. Guaranteed. Of course, wearing nothing but an apron and your best smile is sure to speed up the process.”
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