From This Moment On

by Debbi Rawlins

  He rearranged the long dark hair swirling around her shoulders so that he could see all of her. She had amazing skin, the slight golden color, the silky texture, her dusky rose nipples flushed with arousal... She was so beautiful he couldn’t breathe. “God, Nikki.”

  “Come on, Trace,” she said, putting her hands on his chest where his shirt hung open. She slid them up over his ribs and pecs and shoved the fabric off his shoulders.

  He shrugged out of the shirt while she unzipped his fly, his short jerky movements hindering rather than speeding things along. “Wait,” he said when she started tugging down his jeans. “I gotta get rid of the boots first.”

  “I’m not waiting.” Her impatient hands were everywhere. But it was the one she was trying to slide into his boxers that would be his undoing.

  “Okay, if that’s how you want to play it.” He took her shoulders and turned her around, ignoring her gasp, and forcing her to lean back against his chest and thighs. Banding an arm across her ribs, he held her in place and slipped his free hand inside her panties.

  * * *

  A FIERCE JOLT of longing rocked Nikki against his probing fingers. “What are you doing?” A moan punctuated her protest. His mouth was near her ear, his warm breath gliding over her sensitive skin. She clutched his forearm, intending to force him to let go, but all she did was hang on.

  “You’re so wet,” he murmured, his voice a gravelly whisper, and then he was kissing the side of her neck and if he said anything else she couldn’t hear, not when his fingers circled and plunged and made it hard for her to breathe.

  She had the vague thought that she should make him stop. Need burned too hot inside her and it had been so long since she’d been with a man. And to make things worse and better at the same time, this was Trace.

  God, he had great hands. She leaned back against his strong chest and closed her eyes, moaning when he cupped the weight of her breast. It took her a moment to realize that with both hands busy he was no longer trapping her body against his. But as soon as she tried to move, he released her breast and again banded his arm across her ribs. His fingers between her thighs hadn’t let up even a little.

  “Let me take your jeans off,” she said, her voice a notch above a whisper.

  In answer he intensified the pressure of his circling thumb on just the right spot to keep her submissive. The strength to argue was slipping away, replaced with an overwhelming need to let him take her to that surreal place where she couldn’t think. Only feel the amazing things he was doing to her body. And knowing that if her weakened knees gave out, Trace was a man she could count on. He would never let her fall.

  His sure and unrelenting fingers hit a new plateau, and the sound that escaped her lips was more whimper than moan. Heat surged through her, melting her bones and willpower and the last of her resistance.

  “Come on, baby, let go,” Trace whispered. “I’ve got you.” His warm lips moved over her skin, down the side of her neck and brushed her shoulder.

  She quivered, knowing it was coming, any second...any second...any...

  Her climax hit with such force she rocked back against him. Still he wouldn’t let up on the pressure. He tightened his hold around her middle, his other hand anchored between her thighs, his fingers steady and determined as the most breathtaking sensation rippled through her. Each new wave of pleasure pulled her in deeper, surrounding her in a soft sensual fog and threatening to rob her of air.

  His breathing came as fast as hers, racing over her fevered skin, making her want more and more. Wanting him to share the same dizzying experience. She was still weak but able to stand on her own. He didn’t fight her when she pried his arm away from her body, then moved her hips to disengage his fingers. She spun to face him and saw the desire burning hot in his eyes. She had the distinct feeling her stamina would be tested tonight. Well, she planned on testing his right back.

  She went for his jeans again, but Trace seemed set on kissing her. He used his tongue to part her lips, then slipped inside her mouth and palmed her left breast. Nikki managed to shove his jeans down to the lower section of his thighs, and then she remembered his boots. That’s what had tripped them up the first time.

  Her patience was gone. She broke away. “Sit down.”

  “In a minute,” he murmured, trying to capture her mouth again.

  She turned her head, but that didn’t stop him. He settled for kissing her jaw. “Now,” she ordered, then gasped when he sucked in her nipple. She let him have his way for a few more seconds because, God, it felt so good. Then she lowered herself to the blanket and he followed her down.

  “Boots,” she said, shoving him away when he tried to lay her back. She grabbed one, and he tugged off the other boot.

  After that it was easy to strip him of his jeans. She reached for his black boxers at the same time he tried to pull off her panties. They got tangled up for a second and started laughing, though neither of them would give in and let go. Finally they were both naked, and Nikki just stared at him.

  How could he be so perfect? From the breadth of his shoulders to the thickness and length of his erection, to the ridges of muscle in his thighs and calves. She wanted him to stand up so she could get a better look. And his ass...she’d already felt it through the denim and knew it was perfect, too. She still wanted to see.

  “I don’t suppose you’d want to get up and twirl around for me?” she said, grinning at how his brows shot up.

  “Not as long as you’re willing to reciprocate.” His slow sexy smile distracted her.

  She jerked at the feel of his hand sliding between her thighs. Clamping her legs together she stopped him from going any further. “Condoms? We should be ready.”

  “Right here.” He reached behind to his jeans and produced a packet.

  “Wow, you’re good. I didn’t even see you—” She’d forgotten about his hand. The startling invasion of his fingers made her tremble. She bit down on her lip, too hard, but at least it brought her to her senses. “No,” she said, wiggling backward. “Not yet.”

  She came up on her knees and pushed on his shoulders, forcing him to lie back. He wouldn’t go down all the way, but braced himself on his elbows and watched her. She didn’t care. She had what she wanted. With the tip of her finger she lightly traced the hard silken length of his cock, then circled the crown. It leaped at her touch.

  “This isn’t gonna work.” His voice was hoarse and his expression strained. His body had tightened, so that it seemed every muscle across his belly and down his thighs was clearly defined.

  “Seems to be working just fine.” Nikki gave him a light squeeze then stroked upward.

  His laugh turned into a groan. He briefly closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Then he let out a slow exhale. “I’m serious.”

  “About?” She took her time exploring, grateful for the bright moonlight, and ignoring his low moans, the occasional hiss. She already knew from the day he was at the Lone Wolf that his belly, shoulders and back were as tan as his forearms and face. He obviously worked a lot without a shirt. But now she also knew exactly how low he wore his jeans. The tan stopped two inches below his belly button. Still, he wasn’t lily-white, and she wondered if the McAllisters had Native American blood in them.

  “Nikki.” He grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away while raising himself to a sitting position.

  “I’m not done.”

  Curling his fingers around her nape, he pulled her face toward his until he’d claimed her lips. The kiss wasn’t rough but neither was it anywhere close to gentle. It felt to Nikki as if a fair amount of restraint was required for him to keep himself in check.

  With his other hand, he found her breast and toyed with the nipple. She was sensitive there, always had been, but Trace doing the touching made her tremble like a butterfly caught in a windstorm. He switched to her other breast, then kissed his way down from her chin to her collarbone to the nipple he’d abandoned. She watched him take the pearled tip into his mouth,
sucking greedily for a few seconds, then lightly flicking it with his tongue.

  She let her eyes drift closed and arched against him. “I want you inside me,” she whispered.

  His fingers tightened on her neck, the slight pressure an amazing turn-on, even as his mouth stilled. She could feel his breath, though, warm and moist and seductive, skimming her hypersensitive flesh. He pressed a final kiss to her breast, released her neck and urged her to lie back.

  He knelt beside her to tear open the packet, recoiling when she touched his erection. “Not a good idea.”

  “Really?”

  His laugh came out shaky. “Really.” He sheathed himself, then spread her legs farther apart.

  She wanted to touch him so very badly but the desperate need to feel him hot and throbbing inside her won out. He positioned himself between her thighs, running his hands along the outside all the way to her calves, catching an ankle and bending her leg. He paused to kiss the tender skin just above her knee, and her impatience flared.

  Yes, it felt good, but she wanted him pushing inside and filling her to the hilt. The need was so great it was crazy, completely irrational, igniting sparks of both longing and panic she didn’t understand.

  He pulled her legs around his waist, and she lifted her hips and clutched two fistfuls of the wool blanket. The big bright moon was behind him so she couldn’t see his face. It didn’t seem fair that he could see hers.

  “God, look at you,” he murmured, and teased her opening with his cock. He’d barely dipped inside when he leaned back again.

  “Dammit, Trace.”

  “Don’t you want this to last?”

  “No. Later, yes.” She probably wasn’t making any sense. Too bad. “Now, no. Come on. Please.”

  He moaned her name and plunged inside her. The force behind his entry shocked her even though it was exactly what she wanted. She couldn’t catch her breath. Couldn’t form the words to tell him to keep going when he slid partway out. But he knew and pushed back in, slower now, but just as deep. She tightened her legs around him, clenched his cock, daring him to withdraw.

  Trace shuddered. “I can’t hold back.”

  “I don’t want you to.”

  He surprised her by pulling out. The next thrust nearly rocked her senseless. She let go of the blanket. It wouldn’t help her. Instead she clung to him, lifting her hips to meet each thrust, the fire raging inside her growing out of control.

  “Open your eyes, Nikki,” he whispered, still gripping her hips, but the pressure of his fingertips easing.

  She lifted her lashes. Even though his face was in shadow, she sensed he was staring into her eyes. The thrusts had subsided, too, but he was still moving inside her as he lowered his head and kissed her parted lips. At this new angle, his erection sent a jolt of sensation that shimmered through her entire body.

  Trace stopped moving. The earthy cry that exploded from his throat raced along her nerve endings. It seemed impossible that she could be triggered by a sound, but the climax that washed over her was stunningly real. So was the hot openmouthed kiss consuming her.

  It struck her as funny that he could be kissing her with this much hunger, as if she was the first woman he’d encountered after being celibate for a year. She knew that wasn’t true.

  He lifted his head. “You’re laughing?”

  “No. Uh-uh.” She bit her lip. “Just a little.”

  After a long silence, he said, “I’m gonna need some serious therapy.”

  “No, you don’t.” Nikki giggled and hugged him. “I’m not laughing at that part.”

  Bracing himself on one elbow, he tenderly brushed aside the strands of hair that clung to her cheek. “Will I hate myself for asking?”

  She heard the smile in his voice and decided she needed to see his face. “Roll over,” she said, giving him a gentle shove.

  He did, and took her with him.

  Soft moonlight lit his features. Much better. Sighing happily, she stacked her hands on his chest, rested her chin on them and stared into his darkened eyes. “Am I too heavy?”

  “Not even a tiny bit.”

  “Good answer.” She shivered when he cupped her backside with his large callused hands. He looked serious. “What are you thinking about?”

  A faint smile curved his mouth. “I knew from the get-go that you, Nikki Flores, were gonna be a heap of trouble.”

  13

  “WHAT DID YOU DREAM about, Nikki?” Trace asked out of the blue. He shifted his gaze from the glowing moon and stars shining against the dark sky to her face. “When you were a kid, what did you want to be or do?”

  She lay beside him on the blanket, both of them looking up at the stars, completely naked. Her left palm was pressed to his right palm, their fingers intertwined. “When I was really little, like second or third grade, I wanted to be an astronaut.”

  “A what?”

  “Hey. It could’ve happened.”

  “I’m sure you could be anything you set your mind to. It just wasn’t what I expected, is all.”

  “Remember I lived in Houston. NASA wasn’t far and was always in the news. Turns out I didn’t really want to be an astronaut,” she admitted. “I thought if I had a big important job, then my father would love me.”

  Trace touched her cheek. “He didn’t even deserve you.”

  She smiled, shrugging. “I guess every kid with divorced parents or who was abandoned has an ‘if only’ version floating around in their heads. It’s no big deal.”

  “I reckon you’re right. Even after my dad died I kept thinking if only I hadn’t argued with him over that stupid dance...”

  “You don’t still go there, do you?”

  “No, not for a long time. We had a great relationship and I focus on that.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Look at my poor brother. After all he went through he never completely let go of wanting to please Wallace. In February Matt found a stack of articles going back to the beginning of his rodeo career. They were hidden in Wallace’s desk, but did he have the decency to say a word to Matt?”

  Nikki breathed in the fresh Montana air, unwilling to let the old man ruin her night. He was gone and couldn’t hurt them anymore. Unless she allowed it.

  Trace shifted so that he could put an arm around her, providing a nice comfy spot for her head to lay on his shoulder.

  “You know what, though...? I scored because I ended up with having Matt for a brother. I’d trade a father for him any day.”

  “Matt’s a good guy. I’m glad for both you and my sister.” He kissed her hair, then smiled at her. “I’m not doing too badly, either.”

  He did look happy.

  But for how long?

  The unwelcome thought sneaked in before she could block it. Tonight was about tonight, and that was it. One brief moment in the whole scheme of things. They’d had sex, so what? She’d only hurt herself if she started confusing hormones and unjustified feelings for Trace with a future that would magically fall into place.

  “So,” he said, “once you nixed the rocketing into space thing, what then? What did little Nikki have a hankering for?”

  She sighed. “Little naive Nikki woke up and figured out dreaming was for fools or people who had time and money to spend.”

  “Come on now, you don’t mean that.”

  “I do,” she said with a laugh, mainly to tone down her pessimistic words. “What about you? What haunted your dreams?”

  “Haunted, huh?” He rested a cupped hand on her breast. Somehow instead of being suggestive, it was a casual, comfortable touch. Still, it made her pulse race. “In eighth grade,” he said, “I decided I wanted to go to college and study modern ranching techniques.”

  “Did you?” she asked, and he shook his head. “Why not? Rachel and Jesse went.”

  “Lack of money and bad timing.”

  She pulled back to look at him, then found a position lying on her side that made it easier to watch his face. The Sundance was the second largest ran
ch in the county. The Lone Wolf beat them by only a hundred acres. She’d figured the new dude ranch operation was helping to bring in cash, but mostly to avoid layoffs while times were tough. At least that had been her assumption. It was hard to imagine the McAllister family having serious money problems. Severe enough that Trace couldn’t afford school.

  “What do you mean by bad timing?” She decided to lead with the less touchy issue.

  “After Jesse finished college he joined the air force. None of us expected that. My father had passed away two years earlier and Cole was running the ranch. He did a hell of a job. I helped as much as I could but I was still wet behind the ears. Man, I would’ve felt like shit taking off for college and leaving him to shoulder everything. I figured I still had time, even if I had to wait until Jesse got out of the military.” He lifted a thick lock of her hair, then watched it sift through his fingers and fall behind her shoulder.

  She thought the gesture sweet until she realized he was simply preserving his view of her bare breast. It made her smile.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” She scooted closer and rested her hand on his waist. “And?”

  “Rachel was coming up behind me and I knew she was itching to go to that fancy college in Dallas. Tuition wasn’t cheap, although we didn’t have money problems back then. Several years later, yeah, big hurdle. But nearly everyone around here was in the same fix, and we’re still meeting payroll so no complaints from me.”

  “Except Jesse is home now and you should be able to go to school if you want.”

  “Money is still tight. Anyway, no point in learning about a bunch of new techniques we don’t have the financial resources to implement. Maybe someday.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I read a lot and try to keep up on what’s out there or what might be coming down the chute. Let everybody else be guinea pigs.”

  She hated that he’d been held back, and was stunned to learn the McAllisters weren’t the family of power and means she’d imagined. They’d compromised and worked their butts off so their hired hands could keep their jobs. She liked them all the more.