“Thanks,” he whispered with his mouth still so close to Lily Rose’s that she could easily go back for seconds. Well, she could have if Jake hadn’t stepped away and let go of her arm.
Lily Rose had to level her breathing some just so she could speak. “You didn’t look as if you needed to be rescued from Nelly.”
His eyebrow came up. “She said she was thinking about making a homemade porn movie, and she wanted me to star in it.”
Oh. So, perhaps that’s why Jake had been laughing. Sheez. Maybe this hadn’t been a wasted trip to save him, after all.
“The kiss did the job,” he pointed out, sounding unaffected by the lip-lock. Unlike her. Lily Rose was certain she sounded asthmatic, and her whole body felt flushed. “But I need to come up with something else. Something that works. Because it didn’t work when I told Nelly I wasn’t interested in not only the sex tape but also her.”
Lily Rose shrugged. “You might have to be rude. I know that’s hard for you, though.”
He looked away from her, dodging her gaze. “I don’t like being mean to women.”
“Because of your mom.” His dad had been mean, both verbally and physically abusive, and Jake had been the one to try to soothe things over, and most of the time it’d worked. Though Lily Rose did remember his mom, Pam, once sporting a black eye. Jake had had a couple of those, too, before he’d gotten old enough to fight back.
“By the way, how’s your mom doing?” she asked.
“Good. She finally got it right when she divorced my dad and found a guy who’d treat her right. They’ve been married about five years now and live in Tennessee where he works.”
Yes, Lily Rose had heard that. Good for Pam. The woman deserved some happiness. Too bad, though, that Jake’s father had done so much damage, not just to Pam but to Jake as well. Even now, she could see the pain in his eyes when he turned back to her.
Jake forced a smile, and she could see him pushing all that old baggage down deep inside him. “Did Roman come to tell you to stay away from me?”
“Pretty much. My brother and cousins don’t think I can survive a broken heart, and they’re fairly sure that’s what’ll happen if we ‘date.’”
Jake lifted his shoulder. “If I can’t be mean to Marcie, why would I break your heart?”
“Because you did it before.” Oops. She hadn’t meant to just blurt that out. “You didn’t break it intentionally,” she quickly added. “I was just too young, got too close. You weren’t looking for Ms. Right.”
“You were eighteen,” he pointed out. “You weren’t looking for Mr. Right, either.”
“True.” Well, maybe it was true. The fact was that all men since Jake had paled in comparison so even if she hadn’t been on the hunt for the right guy, it was highly likely she’d found him.
And lost him.
She would lose him again, too. If she ever got him back, that is. Because she wasn’t in a good place to be in a relationship, and it was highly likely being with Jake would blow up in her face. Unless she limited it to just sex, that is.
Of course, sex with Jake didn’t seem like much of a limit.
“You had dreams,” he went on. “You wouldn’t have fulfilled those dreams if you’d committed to a ranch hand when you were just weeks out of high school.”
“Dreams,” she repeated. Yes, she’d had them all right. “Dream number one was not to work for my brother, Lucian.” She loved Lucian, but no way did she want to get sucked into running his cattle empire. “Even back then I knew I wasn’t an office person.”
“Then you probably shouldn’t have been born with a trust fund.” He added a smile to that, and Lily Rose quickly tried to smile right back. “Or you shouldn’t have been born a Granger. Family expectations and all that. I’d imagine it’s easy to choke on a silver spoon.”
It was. And that was what Lily Rose had done. Soon, she’d need to tell Jake all about that. But not until she’d finished working for him.
“So, what’s your dream these days?” he asked.
Lily Rose finally managed that smile, but she avoided looking him straight in the eyes. Too easy for him to see that something was wrong. Instead, she looked at his chest, the way his denim shirt stretched against all those muscles. Then, her attention drifted slightly lower.
“That’s your dream?” he asked, chuckling.
“At the moment, yes, but I think the kiss is responsible for that.”
He smiled, that incredible smile that somehow made her go even hotter than when he’d kissed her. “Other than that, what’s your dream these days?”
“To own my own cutting horse operation. Nothing big, but I’d like it to be where I not only supervise the cutters but also do it all from start to finish. That includes handpicking the horses...” She stopped when she noticed he was smiling again. “What?”
“Your eyes just lit up. The only other time I’ve seen that happen was when you...” Now, he stopped.
Good thing, too, because she was pretty sure he was about to say “have an orgasm.” Lily Rose didn’t need that reminder, especially coming so soon after she’d gawked at him. And kissed him. And thought about having sex with him.
“Are we going to fail at this fake stuff and end up in bed?” she asked.
But at the same moment Jake asked his own question. “Why don’t you just buy a cutting horse operation like that—”
He stopped, no doubt because he’d finally heard what she’d asked. Jake cursed, scrubbed his hand over his face. “Probably. But only after you no longer work for me.”
So, two weeks, tops. Part of her wasn’t sure she could wait that long, but the sane logical part knew that after the job was finished, she should just walk away.
She wouldn’t just walk, of course.
When it came to Jake, she was never sane and logical.
“Marcie,” Jake said, adding more profanity.
It took Lily Rose a moment to realize he’d said the woman’s name because she had come out of the Longhorn, her attention immediately zooming in their direction. She was probably cursing Lily Rose under her breath for being with Jake, but she still came toward them.
“Your boyfriend just came in through the side door of the bar,” Marcie told her. There was some smugness mixed with glee in her voice. “He’s looking for you.”
Crud. She was so not in the mood to deal with Ian today. But apparently, Ian was in the mood to deal with her. Because he came out the front door, and as Marcie had done, he immediately started toward Jake and her.
Lily Rose was about to tell Jake that it was show time, but he was already one step ahead of her.
“Let’s stop Ian in his tracks,” Jake said.
That was the only warning Lily Rose got before Jake yanked her to him and kissed her. There was no leading into this kiss. And it was definitely no peck. It started off hot and quickly jumped to whatever temperature was beyond scalding.
The memories came. Of other kisses. Of other things they’d done together after the kisses. Lily Rose’s pulse revved up. So did her body, and despite the fact they were standing on Main Street, a certain part of her body thought she was about to get lucky with Jake.
Lily Rose had no idea if it truly did stop Ian in his tracks, but she was reasonably sure of one thing.
The kiss had melted her toenail polish.
CHAPTER FOUR
JAKE REINED IN his horse and climbed from the saddle to take a look at the creek. If anyone had asked him why he was there, he would have said it was to check the water level, but the truth was, he just liked this spot. If he looked behind him, he saw his pastures.
His.
Something he never thought he would have owned when he was growing up just a couple of miles away. As it always did, he felt the little catch in his heart. Good thing he
didn’t have to mention that to anyone. Cowboys didn’t have heart-catches.
It was hot, the air heavy with humidity, and it wouldn’t be long before rain moved in. The pastures needed it, but if he didn’t hurry back, he was going to get caught in what could turn out to be a downpour. Still, even with that threat looming, he didn’t budge.
He couldn’t wait for his mom to see the place, to know that he’d gotten exactly what he’d dreamed about as a kid. So many times he’d looked at the Granger Ranch and thought something like this was out of his reach. Now with the passing of his widowed grandfather and the inheritance the man had left him, Jake had reached it.
So, why did it feel as if he still had an empty spot inside him? Why did he still feel like that kid who was getting the hell beaten out of him while trying to protect his mother?
And why did he feel as if he needed sex?
The answer to the last question was easy. That was because he spotted Lily Rose riding out toward him. Seeing her always brought sex to mind. Probably because of the kiss that’d happened a week ago on Main Street. He should have never done that. Instead, he should have settled for a pretend kiss. If he had, he might be feeling pretend sex urges right about now.
“You’re gonna get wet,” she said. She was smiling, and she pointed up to the thick iron-gray clouds.
“I don’t see you carrying an umbrella,” he joked.
She shrugged, got off the bay mare and made her way to him. “I like getting caught in the rain.” Lily Rose glanced around. “So, are you out here surveying your kingdom?”
“Something like that.”
She turned, looked at the same view of the pastures that he’d just been admiring. Now though, he was admiring something else. Lily Rose, in those jeans. Mercy, that didn’t cool down his thoughts about sex.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said. Not a question. And it was true.
He could have lied and said he’d been busy. He had been, but he still could have managed to run into her. Jake had just made sure, though, that he was in his office around the time she’d be arriving and leaving.
“I thought we both could use some space,” he settled for saying.
She didn’t argue with that, but she certainly could have. After all, they were pretending to be a couple. Hard to do that when they weren’t with each other. But then, it’d worked for him. At least there hadn’t been any naked women turning up in his bedroom.
“Any contact from Ian?” he asked.
She sighed and re-gathered her hair into a fresh ponytail. “Daily emails and texts. In one of them he gave me permission to have sex with you so I could get you out of my system.”
There it was again. That word—sex. It made his groin tighten. Of course, Lily Rose’s butt in those jeans was likely responsible for that. He was thankful when she finally turned around to face him.
“Permission?” Jake repeated. “This guy does know that he doesn’t own you, right?”
“Ian has a problem with boundaries. And being faithful. Oh, and sharing. FYI, never take a French fry, even a limp greasy one, off his plate. You’ll end up getting a lecture about boundaries.”
This guy was sounding like an even bigger tool with everything Jake was learning about him. And Jake was feeling like a randy teenager with every passing second as well. The front of Lily Rose was just as groin-tightening as the backside of her.
“What about you?” she asked. “Any contact from Marcie or the other women?”
“Peace and quiet. I can thank you for that.”
“Well, actually you can thank the kiss outside the Longhorn. We might have broken a few laws doing that.”
Yeah, and they’d broken something else. Barriers that should have stayed in place. At least another week or so, anyway, when he was no longer Lily Rose’s boss.
He felt the first few drops of rain and started for his horse. He didn’t make it far, though, because Lily Rose caught on to his hand when he went to walk by her.
“Look, a rainbow.” She pointed to the spot on the horizon where there was just a sliver of colors. That wasn’t a sliver of a smile, though. It was dazzling, and when she turned that smile on him, Jake thought maybe he’d forgotten how to breathe.
Hell.
He reminded himself of why they needed barriers. Lily Rose had already done the deed of sleeping with her boss, and that hadn’t worked out so well. Even though it was something he’d never done, he had seen it create some very sticky situations.
Like now.
They were standing there in the drizzle, staring at each other, and the fire was already snapping at him. The best thing he could do was get on his horse and ride back to the house.
But he didn’t.
The rain was already falling on her face, but despite that she wasn’t moving, either, and she was still smiling. A smile that now seemed to say “take me.”
So, that’s what Jake did. He kissed her, knowing that it was a dangerous thing to do. Unlike when they were on Main Street, there was no one around to make him put on the brakes. But the only saving grace was that he didn’t have a condom with him. That and that alone might stop this from turning to full-blown sex.
Lily Rose kissed him right back, and she didn’t pull any punches. She went deep from the start, and she grabbed on to handfuls of his shirt to drag him closer. Not that she had to work hard to do that. Jake was already moving in her direction, and that direction ended up with her back against a sprawling oak.
The tree was full enough to give them some cover from the drizzle, but even if it hadn’t been, that wouldn’t have stopped them. The kiss seemed to have a momentum of its own, and it fired up a heat that was already too hot.
Jake figured that heat was why this turned into some kind of race. A race where speed mattered, because the kiss became frantic pretty fast, and with frantic kisses came frantic touches, and he slid his hand between them to cup her left breast. She was wearing a bra, but her nipple was easy to locate since it was puckered, and he swiped his thumb over it. That caused a nice reaction.
She cursed him and made a silky sound of pleasure. So, he did it again. When he got a similar reaction, he gave her other breast the same attention.
And more.
He pushed up her top, shoved down her bra and replaced his thumb swiping with his tongue. Now, that got a very special reaction from Lily Rose. She cursed him again and ran her hand down into his jeans. He got a reaction of his own.
Jake cursed, too. And he went rock-hard.
Since rock-hard made it impossible to think straight, he took hold of her, gripping both of her wrists in one hand, and he pinned her to the tree. She protested, of course, whimpered, and tried to grind her zipper against his. Not a bad place to do some grinding, and again, it wasn’t helping with that whole thinking straight thing he needed right now.
Jake quieted her by kissing her neck and pushing his leg between hers. It was a high school move because it basically meant she was riding his thigh, but it gave him a moment to regroup.
The moment didn’t last.
She got one of her hands free and went after his zipper.
“We can’t,” he assured her. “Even if that’s what we want really, really bad.” He could have added a few more “really’s” in there, too. “I don’t have a condom.”
Lily Rose stared at him, blinked. And her hand went between them. Not to go after his zipper this time. But to take a foil-wrapped packet from her pocket.
“I wanted to be prepared,” she said. She said it tentatively as if she weren’t sure if it’d been the right thing.
It wasn’t.
Because that condom was a massive temptation right now.
“One of us would get splinters on our butt,” he reminded her. Or bruises from the rocks on the creek bank. Plus, there was t
he rain. It was coming down harder now, and it wouldn’t be long before they would be soaking wet.
“The splinters might be worth it,” she said.
In other words, she was giving him the green light. A light he couldn’t take. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t do something about this fire. Well, about the fire inside her, anyway. Jake did a repeat of what Lily Rose had done earlier and slid his hand into her jeans.
“The condom,” she said, but it only took him a second to find the spot that hushed her protest.
It wasn’t a pretty way to finish this, but it was a way that would get him into the least amount of trouble. It also didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy it. He kissed her, letting the taste of her slide right through him. Of course, the heat was doing some sliding, too, and urging him to make use of that condom.
He didn’t.
Jake kept touching her. Kept up the kissing, too, and when he felt her getting close, he eased back so he could watch her face when she came.
It was a mistake.
Because her face was even more amazing now with that dreamy look of pleasure. It made him harder than he already was. Made him curse himself for having a stupid-assed rule about not having sex with someone who worked for him. Because this was a hundred notches above that long kiss they’d shared on Main Street.
And that was when he knew that he’d just screwed up big-time.
“I’m sorry,” he said, resting his forehead against the tree.
“Regrets already?”
Yeah, but not for the reason she thought. “I’m sorry because next time I’m going to put that condom to good use.”
* * *
LILY ROSE KNEW there was a surefire way to kill an orgasm buzz. It wasn’t the rainy ride back to the ranch or even that Jake was seeping with sullenness over what had just happened. No. It was the fact that she saw Ian in the barn when Jake and she rode up.
Jake’s sullenness was a drop in the bucket compared to the riled look that Ian was giving them.
“Nice ride?” Ian asked in a tone laced with sarcasm.
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