Brenda Jackson The Westmoreland Collection: ZaneCanyonStern

by Brenda Jackson

  But then she had come back to town. As far as he was concerned, her return had been a game changer. Especially since he’d found out she’d given birth to his son. Now he couldn’t help raising his hand and smoothing out the frown that had settled around her brow.

  “What are you doing?” she asked in a quiet tone.

  He smiled. “You’re working yourself into another headache by thinking too much, about all the wrong things.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes.”

  Several moments of silence hovered between them. He felt it, that physical chemistry that was always there. They could try to ignore it, try to put a cap on it or they could give in to it. No need to think it would ever get out of their system because that wasn’t possible. No matter the time or the situation, he would always want Keisha.

  He felt the pounding in his heart and, of their own accord, his fingers moved from her brow, brushing a lock of hair from her face before slowly sliding down to her lips. The tips of his fingers grazed softly across her mouth, and he heard the breathless sigh in her throat when her lips parted.

  Old habits die hard. In the past, whenever her lips would part on a breathless sigh, he’d known just what to do about it. The same thing he was about to do now.

  Shifting his position, his arms slid around her waist as he lowered his head and took her mouth with a possession that rocked him to the core.

  * * *

  Acting on instinct and insatiable hunger, Keisha’s tongue mated passionately with Canyon’s. For now, she was willing to do what he suggested, let go and move on. And she refused to question why something she’d thought impossible was now feasible. Canyon made sure she continued not to question by kissing her such that her yearning for him came back into focus. Her desire for him manipulated her emotions in a way she couldn’t combat. He was reducing her to a ball of urgency and need. An entreaty for more escalated through her. He deepened the kiss, taking control of her mouth with firm strokes, making even more intense moans flow from deep within her throat.

  Canyon stood and drew her up with him, not breaking their kiss. His hands moved to her backside and eased her closer to the fit of him, flexing his hips against her. She could feel the hardness of his erection, pressing against the juncture of her thighs, triggering more greed within her. It was a greed she’d kept dormant for three years, and the slow yet urgent strokes of his tongue were bringing that greed back to life.

  He slowly pulled his mouth from hers and she knew the need to breathe was the only reason he’d broken off the kiss. She saw how his handsome face was bathed in the moonlight and the way his gaze held hers hostage while her body churned and blood rushed hotly through her veins.

  Suddenly, as if neither of them could withstand the lust overtaking them, Canyon swept her into his arms and carried her back into the house and upstairs to his bedroom.

  * * *

  No man should want a woman this much, Canyon thought, putting Keisha down. She looked like a tempting miniature morsel in the ocean of covers on his huge bed.

  While he watched, she scampered to her knees to remove her robe and then her nightshirt. He couldn’t help but stand and watch her undress. When she had tossed aside the last piece of clothing, leaving her naked and totally exposed, the bulge in his pajama bottoms hardened, swelling to gigantic proportions.

  When she eased up, stretching her body, she showcased a pair of firm breasts, a small waist, a flat stomach and curvy hips. His gaze dipped lower to the juncture of her thighs and his mouth watered.

  Growling with primitive savagery and a feverish hunger, he eased his bottoms down his thighs as his gaze remained focused on her. He knew every measure of that body. Had touched it. Tasted it. Devoured it. Emotions clogged his throat when he saw where her interest lay as he stood before her totally naked.

  “You’re still the Grand Canyon, I see.”

  He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips. At that moment, it didn’t matter what she believed or didn’t believe. Tonight his sheets would get scorched to oblivion when he made love to her. “Glad you think so.”

  He moved over to the bed and joined her, pulling her into his arms and easing her onto her back against the pillows, intending to lick every inch of her skin, starting at her lips. He whispered, “I missed you and I intend to show you how much.”

  And then he began his feast, holding her hips when she squirmed in pleasure beneath his mouth. By the time his tongue reached her breasts and supped on the protruding nipples, he felt them harden even more in his mouth. She called out his name but he only continued his sensuous assault, determined to remind her how good they were together and what they had once meant to each other.

  * * *

  Keisha shuddered with sensations as Canyon’s mouth moved across her body, leaving no area untouched. His hand moved from her hips and drifted lower. She gasped at the feel of his fingers settling between her legs, sliding through her curls. At the same time, his mouth licked circles around her naval, causing a moan to rise in her throat.

  And just when she thought there was no way she could take any more, he parted her womanly folds, slid a finger inside of her and began stroking her intimately. No woman could survive his skillful hand and she closed her eyes against the sensual torture.

  Moments later, when she felt his tongue replace his finger, her eyes flew open. “Canyon!”

  If he heard her scream his name he didn’t let on, instead he deepened the kiss and intensified her agony, stroking his tongue in the right places, using his hands to lift her hips off the bed to get his mouth closer to her. Every nerve ending in her body strummed with intense pleasure.

  Her body jerked when an orgasm tore through her and she screamed his name again and again. When the last spasm left her body, she slowly opened her eyes and watched Canyon reach into the nightstand and pull out a condom pack. He quickly sheathed himself, eased his body over hers and gazed down at her, his eyes filled with absolute possession and passion.

  “Look at me, Keisha,” he said in a low command. “Look at me and see the man I am, the man you’ve always known. One day you’ll know that I could not have betrayed you. Not when I have loved you from day one. Not when after all that’s happened between us, I still love you.”

  She held his gaze and her heart pounded. And as she read the truth in his eyes, she felt her own fill with tears. Because she knew at that moment she had been wrong. “Oh, Canyon...”

  He leaned down, licking the tears that flowed down her cheeks before taking her mouth in another ferocious kiss. Cupping her hips, he lifted her and entered her in one long, hard thrust, going deep, all the way to the hilt. And then he began moving, stroking, thrusting in and out—making love to her with an intensity that snatched her breath from her lungs.

  Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around his waist, tightening them in a firm grip as another orgasm ripped through her. She knew the exact moment the pinnacle of a climax consumed him, as well. He released her mouth and threw his head back. His growl permeated the air as he continued to stroke deep inside of her.

  Then his mouth returned to hers and blood surged through her veins. He kissed her with an intensity that made her shiver inside. Moments later, he released her mouth and she whispered, “I’m sorry,” in a broken tone. “I am so sorry.”

  He cupped her face in his hands, kissed the side of her lips and said softly, “I accept your apology, sweetheart.”

  * * *

  Canyon wasn’t sure why he awoke in the middle of the night. But when he opened his eyes and shifted in bed the clock on the nightstand indicated it was almost four in the morning. And the spot beside him was empty. He would have thought he’d dreamed last night had it not been for Keisha’s feminine scent that was infused in his bedcovers.

  When he heard a sob, he glanced over at his bedroom window. Keis
ha stood there, staring out into the night. She was crying. Concern tugged at his heart and he slid out of bed, walked over and put his arms around her. As if she needed his strength, she turned in his arms and buried her face in his chest, wetting his skin with her tears.

  He tightened his arms around her. “Shh. Don’t cry. It’s okay. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  She pulled out of his arms and looked up at him with tearstained eyes. “Why did she lie, Canyon? Why did she deliberately tear us apart?”

  He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her again. “The only person who could answer that is Bonita, sweetheart. Unfortunately, she took the reason to the grave with her. We might never know.”

  She tossed her head back and looked up at him. “How?”

  He lifted a brow. “How?”

  “Yes, how can you stand the sight of me after all I did, all I said and believed? How can you forgive me when I’m having a difficult time forgiving myself? How can you think you love me?”

  Canyon sighed deeply while tracing a path up and down her back with his hands. He wondered what he could say to help her understand. “I was hurt and angry for a long time, Keisha. I convinced myself that I hated you for what you did to us. And then when I found out about Beau, and realized what you’ve deliberately denied me for two years, I became furious.” He paused. “But Dillon made me realize a few things.”

  “What?”

  “First, that you had a choice. You didn’t have to keep Beau when you found out you were pregnant. You hated me and thought I had betrayed you. He was a reminder of what you thought I did. Yet you chose to have him and for that I am grateful. And Dillon made me see that if the roles had been reversed, and I had come home to find another man in bed with you coming out of the bathroom in just a towel, I would have thought the worst, as well.”

  “But Bonita lied through her teeth. She intentionally wanted me to believe the worst about you.”

  And you did. He forced that thought to the back of his mind. “Doesn’t matter, you know the truth now. I had convinced myself I didn’t love you. I even thought I hated you at one time. But all it took was kissing you, holding you in my arms and making love to you to show me what my true emotions were. I discovered the truth that there is a thin line between love and hate.”

  Not giving her a chance to say anything, he swept her off her feet and into his arms. He carried her over to the bed.

  “I checked on Beau, and he’s sleeping peacefully,” she said, looking at him.

  “Good, because for the next hour, you won’t be.” Then he captured her mouth with his.

  Eleven

  The next morning, Keisha rushed downstairs. She had woken up in Canyon’s bed and upon realizing how late it was—after eight already—she’d quickly slid back into her nightgown, grabbed her robe and fled from the room. Beau was an early riser, and from the moment he opened his eyes, he could be a force to reckon with. He was at that age where he assumed food should be at his beck and call.

  As she rounded the corner leading to the kitchen she heard voices. Canyon was standing at the counter sipping a cup of coffee while Beau sat at the kitchen table eating eggs, bacon and toast, and drinking milk while talking nonstop, telling Canyon about the big horse he wanted.

  When he detected her presence, Canyon turned sensual dark eyes on her. Immediately, her nipples puckered beneath the robe, the juncture of her thighs tingled and shivers of desire raced through her. After a full night of hot-and-heavy lovemaking, one would think sex would be the last thing on her mind this morning. But it wasn’t. And from the look in Canyon’s eyes, it wasn’t the last thing on his mind either.

  “Good morning, Keisha,” he said in a voice singed with a sexiness.

  She swallowed. “Good morning.” She then moved to the table and kissed the tip of Beau’s nose. “And how are you, Beau?”

  Beau smiled. “Beau good. Food good. Daddy-Dad good, too.”

  Keisha chuckled. Yes, Daddy-Dad is definitely good. Better than good, she thought. She had indulged in hours and hours of lovemaking last night and he had proved that he hadn’t lost his edge. In the bedroom, Canyon Westmoreland was still the best. She glanced down at Beau’s plate. It seemed Canyon had also improved his cooking skills since the last time they’d been together.

  She glanced up at him. “You did a good job dressing him.”

  Canyon smiled and his dimple oozed with rich sensuality. “I’ve been getting a lot of practice with Denver. I’ve been known to babysit a time or two.”

  She nodded. “And who taught you how to cook?”

  His smile widened. “Chloe. When Ramsey’s cook Nellie decided to move away last year, Chloe took on all the cooking for Ramsey and his men and let Lucia run the magazine company. Chloe enjoys getting up at the crack of dawn and the men loved her cooking and enjoyed seeing her pretty face in the morning.

  “Chloe also felt all the single Westmorelands without cooking skills could benefit from a basic cooking class. Ramsey and Dillon seconded that notion, so now I can fend for myself.”

  He moved away from the counter and pulled her into his arms. “Now to kiss you good-morning properly.”

  By the time he released her mouth, Keisha was weak in the knees.

  “Daddy-Dad, you bit Mommy!” Beau exclaimed.

  Canyon chuckled as he rubbed the top of his son’s curly head. “No, Beau, I kissed Mommy. You’re going to see a lot of that around here.”

  Keisha swallowed. Canyon had said it as if he expected her to be hanging around a lot. Maybe this was not the time to tell him that although she now knew how wrong she’d been about him and he had admitted to still loving her, she couldn’t rush into anything. She still had to return to her home when the seven days were up. She and Canyon needed to restart their relationship but rushing into things was not the way to do it. They had a lot of history to work through. They should take things one day at a time.

  “Eat up, Beau. Aunt Pam is on her way.”

  She glanced up at Canyon. “Pam is coming for Beau?”

  “Yes. We have a lot of business to take care of this morning, and I called and asked if she’d mind watching Beau. She thought it was a wonderful idea. The other day Beau and Denver played well together.”

  “Yes, but she has one in diapers. Three might be a lot for her to handle.”

  “Not for Pam. Dade isn’t walking yet so he doesn’t get in as much trouble. She mentioned that Chloe would be coming over later with Susan and Rembrandt and they plan on making it a fun day for the kids.”

  “Oh.”

  Canyon didn’t say anything for a long moment. He just stood there studying her with intense eyes. Finally he asked, “You don’t have a problem with the plans I made for Beau today, do you?”

  A part of her did. She hoped she could make him understand. “I’m just used to making decisions about Beau on my own. Before, it’s just been me and him.”

  He nodded. “I understand, but now there’s the three of us. And if I ever do anything you don’t agree with or that you’re not comfortable with, let me know.”

  Keisha knew she was being silly. There wasn’t a single mother out there who wouldn’t want the father of her child to take an active role...especially if that role was a good one. And there was no doubt in her mind that Canyon and his family would be good for Beau.

  “Keisha?”

  She saw the concern in his eyes. “No problem. I’ll just go upstairs and change. What time are we meeting with the attorney?”

  “At noon. But I need to take you home first to get Beau’s birth certificate.”

  “All right. I’ll go upstairs and get dressed and be right back.”

  * * *

  She was quiet, Canyon thought, glancing over at Keisha. They were in his car, on their way to her place and she hadn�
�t said much. Keisha had been okay when Pam had arrived for Beau, but it seemed that once they’d driven away from Westmoreland Country, she’d withdrawn into her own thoughts.

  He’d been trying to keep the conversation going by talking about the man who’d been elected mayor of Denver during the time she’d been gone, and what a great job the guy was doing. He’d even brought her up to date on his great-grandfather Raphel and how Megan’s husband, Rico, was involved in investigating his great-grandfather’s past. It seemed Raphel had been involved with other women before marrying their great-grandmother, and one of those women had borne him a child. That meant they could have more cousins out there somewhere. Westmorelands were big on family and they hoped Rico’s investigation would shed light on who those cousins were and where they were now.

  “You okay?” he asked her.

  She glanced over at him. “Yes, I’m fine. Just feeling a little disgusted again about my house and the condition it’s in, and worried because the police are still clueless about who did it.”

  He heard the frustration in her tone and understood it. He hadn’t mentioned that he’d spoken to Pete this morning because there hadn’t been anything new to report. “Well, I think we have the best police force around, if that makes you feel any better,” he said, reaching over to take her hand in his when they came to a traffic light.

  A small smile touched her lips. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  His hand returned to the steering wheel when the traffic light changed. “So tell me how your mom is doing. Is she still a radiologist at that hospital?”

  “Yes, and she doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon.” She then told him about her mother’s breast cancer scare and how she was glad she had been with her during that time. “She took a leave of absence when Beau was born because she refused to let anyone else keep him while he was so young,” she added. “So she kept him for eight months, and I appreciated it.” She paused a moment and then said softly, “I think she might be seeing my father again.”