The First Kiss of Spring

by Emily March

  Josh dragged his hand down his face and stared at her for a long, silent minute. Then he glanced slowly around the room, his gaze landing on the thick featherbed that was covered with a beautifully stitched quilt in shades of crimson and gold—in the double wedding ring pattern. “A daycare.”

  “Yes. One is sorely needed in town.”

  “Did it really need to be next door to me?”

  “Celeste assured me that you like children.”

  “I do. One or two at a time. Not by the dozens.”

  “You really don’t need to worry, Josh. It’s not like they’ll be running in and out of your house or business. The whole idea of a daycare is to take care of children. They won’t be running wild up and down the street, and they’ll be gone by six o’clock.”

  “But you’re a textile designer with a dream job in New York. Why would you come to Eternity Springs?”

  “Now you sound like my mother,” Caitlin grumbled. She was beginning to get peeved. The man acted like she’d just killed his cat. “I told you this in Telluride. My job might be a dream job, but it’s not my dream job.”

  He dragged his gaze away from the bed. “And corralling little snot goblins is?”

  “Yes.” She waited a beat, then asked, “Do you make a habit of raining on parades, Josh?”

  He closed his eyes. “No. Not usually.”

  “So why are you raining on mine?”

  Now his eyes flew open, hot and accusing. “Because you’ve backed me into a corner. Or more specifically, lured me into a secret room.”

  “I didn’t lure you anywhere,” Caitlin fired back. “You crawled in here all by yourself.”

  “Yes, I crawled,” Josh said, a bitter note in his tone. He took a step toward her. “I crawled and I’m not proud of it. I knew better, but I did it anyway.”

  The look on his face turned brooding as he stared at her. “I’ve been kicking myself the last few weeks for the choice I made in Telluride. I should have taken you upstairs that night. Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t have haunted me ever since.”

  Caitlin’s heart went thud-a-thump. “I haunted you?”

  “Yep. You sing a siren song, Caitlin Timberlake. You threaten me.”

  Threaten him? Caitlin’s mouth went a little dry. That look in his eyes—he was a predator about to pounce. “What do you mean?”

  His gaze narrowed and began to smolder. “You know what I mean.”

  “No, I don’t.” She took a step backward and asked, “Where’s Celeste?”

  “Gone. You and I are here by ourselves. We’re all alone.” Josh took another step forward. “We’re all alone and you know exactly what I mean when I say you threaten me. I’m beginning to think you’re as witchy a woman as Celeste is.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  He snorted. “Am I supposed to believe that it’s simply coincidence that in all the neighborhoods in all the towns in America, you found the perfect location for your business right next door to me?”

  “Yes,” she snapped, retreating until her shoulder blades touched the wall. “That’s the truth.”

  “Not hardly. Like my nanny used to say, I was born at night, but not last night. I’ll tell you what it is, beautiful. Not coincidence, but my usual rotten luck showing its head again. Bad luck. It follows me everywhere. It’s my birthright, goes back generations. It’s my destiny. My own personal curse.”

  Caitlin believed there was an insult toward her buried in there—even if he had called her beautiful.

  “Now I seem to have my own personal ghost.” His arms shot out, his hands rested against the wall, trapping her between him. “Harriet was right. This place is a ghost story come alive, so of course you’d buy it. It’s perfect for you. Because you have haunted me ever since we met. In my sleep. In my daydreams.”

  Trembling and trying to hide it, Caitlin lifted her chin. “Are you trying to flatter me or insult me?”

  “Neither. I’m just telling you how it is. There was a time in my life when I denied myself nothing. You remind of those years. The need. The craving. You make me wonder why I denied myself in Telluride.”

  His gaze dropped to her mouth. Heat rolled off his body as electricity surged between them. “You know what, Caitlin? I’m tired of the question. I do believe I’m done with it. You don’t mind a little dust, do you? It’s not as thick in here as it is in the other room. Let’s do this. Let’s scratch this itch and be done with it.”

  Scratch this itch and be done? She tried to put some venom in her tone, but he was so close. So hot. “Just so you know, you’ve definitely managed insulting.”

  “So tell me no. Shove me away.” Deliberately, he leaned forward and fitted his body against hers. “Tell me I don’t turn you on and you don’t want to have sex with me and we’ll go on about our business being nothing but neighbors. Chances are that would work too, because I don’t go where I’m not wanted. But this haunting can’t go on, not with you living next door.”

  Caitlin caught her breath. His erection pressed against her, hard and thick and obvious, even through the layers of their clothing. “Tell me no, Caitlin.”

  She should. She should absolutely tell him to take his itch elsewhere. Instead, when he slowly lowered his head, she lifted her face toward him.

  At the first feather light touch of his lips against hers, Caitlin knew. She’d come home. He was her home.

  This was right. She’d made the right decision. Josh Tarkington was the man she’d dreamt of finding.

  Her heart soared. He groaned low in his throat as he deepened the kiss, licking into her mouth, and their tongues danced. He tasted of cinnamon and chocolate, and Caitlin’s knees went weak. If she hadn’t been clutching his shirt with both hands for support, she’d have melted to the floor. His left hand slid down the wall to grip her hip. The right thrust deep into her hair as he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her with slow, savoring deliberation.

  Her body throbbed with arousal. Her heartbeat slammed against her chest wall. Her blood turned to steam.

  Yet, even as they exchanged what had to be the hottest kiss of her life, Caitlin sensed the resistance within him. Despite the way he’d advanced on her, he wasn’t all in.

  So she wasn’t surprised when he broke the kiss and lifted his head to gaze down at her, his enthralling gray eyes gleaming with heat and challenge. His voice low and gruff, he said, “Just so we’re crystal clear, this doesn’t change anything. Moving next door to me doesn’t change anything. I swore off relationships years ago. Sleeping with me won’t change that, Caitlin.”

  And here comes the cold water to douse my fire.

  Pride made her lift her chin. “Wait a minute. I haven’t said yes yet.”

  He smirked. “Sure you have. You’ve been saying yes since the moment we met.”

  Caitlin opened her mouth to protest, but he stopped her by swooping in and nipping at her lower lip.

  “You want me. You broadcast it with the gleam in your eyes, the knowledge in your smile, the sensual stroke of your touch.” As he spoke, the hand on her hip skimmed up and down her back. The rough, husky note in his voice reverberated through her, strumming her nerves, rekindling the heat that his words had banked. Everything within her seemed to swell in response to him. She wanted nothing more than to abandon herself to the sensual spell he wove.

  And he dares to call me witchy.

  “I’m not the only one who’s been sending out signals,” she defended, not yet ready to surrender.

  She spoke the truth. Nothing about the sexual chemistry that flowed between them from the very beginning had been one-sided. The air fairly crackled with it whenever they were together, and there was no mistaking the signal pressed up against her right now.

  And she wanted to feel the hard, thick heat of him inside her with a desperation that frankly shocked her.

  “I won’t argue that,” he murmured, something dangerous glittering in his eyes. “It’s definitely mutual.”

  His hands on her
hardened. His hips pressed her, pinned her against the wall, his intent unmistakable. “I want you more than I want to breathe and I’m through fighting it. We’re alone in a private hideaway that comes complete with a bed. Like the saying goes, There’s your sign. I’m through fighting fate, Caitlin. It’s wasted effort. I will never win. So, I’ve offered terms of surrender. Do you accept them? Yes or no?”

  This was all happening way too fast. He’d caught her off guard, caught her unprepared. Caitlin was accustomed to being in control of the pace of her relationships. She wasn’t in control here. Not at all.

  The man had waltzed in here, taken one look at her, and was ready to throw her on the bed and have his way with her.

  Yes, please. Total fantasy-come-to-life.

  Except … he didn’t want to want her. Also, he appeared more ready to conquer than surrender.

  So why was he rolling out surrender? Surrender meant defeat. There was nothing defeated about the Josh Tarkington who’d just demanded sex. Sex with terms!

  “I’m confused,” she breathed.

  “About what?”

  “Terms.” Terms of surrender that felt more like a declaration of war than capitulation. In that moment, Caitlin felt like her back was against the wall in more ways than one. “Your terms. You’re offering me sex and nothing more?”

  He studied her face with unnerving intensity. “I’m offering great sex—here. Now.”

  She waited. He’d definitely put a period at the end of the sentence.

  So, sex … great sex … and nothing else.

  “How do you know it will be great?”

  “Honey, trust me. We will be great together.”

  Yes, she wouldn’t argue that. Okay, then. She couldn’t fault the man for being upfront and forthright, could she? Just because she didn’t like what he was saying didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate his honesty.

  At any other time in her life, with any other man, Caitlin would have said thanks, but no thanks, and gone about her business. This time was different. Josh was different. She was different.

  She wanted him. She intended to have him. Not just for sex. Not just for today. She wanted Josh Tarkington for great sex—and everything else.

  The war metaphor didn’t work for her. Chess made much more sense. She needed to be thinking two or three moves beyond the moment.

  Unfortunately, she could barely think at all because he’d slid his hand upward and cupped her breast. His thumb scraped across her nipple and she felt it clear to her toes.

  “What say you, Ms. Timberlake?”

  “I’m thinking.”

  “Think fast.”

  Think. Yes. She needed to think. She needed to think strategically. She needed to concoct a strategy of her own. It was a mistake to let him define the narrative here, which was exactly what he’d done by declaring both war and surrender from the outset.

  Think, Caitlin. Think. But, oh, that was difficult to do with his hard body pressed up against her.

  She forced herself to concentrate. She had grown up with two older brothers. She’d learned the science of battle tactics long ago. But the restless glitter in his eyes told her she was running out of time. This was not a moment for negotiation, but for action.

  Caitlin wanted to act. With every fiber of her being, she wanted to act right now. But natural caution caused her to hesitate. “We don’t have protection.”

  “In that respect, I’m a Boy Scout. Always prepared.”

  Okay, then. Well, good. Sleeping with him now, like this, would be a big enough risk as it was. Josh Tarkington wasn’t one of the pliable men of her past who fell for her quickly and allowed her to call all of the relationship shots. He might be in lust with her, but he wasn’t in love with her.

  I could lose this war. He could break my heart.

  “Tick tock,” he murmured. He shifted his head and nipped at her ear. “Time to make your choice.”

  Her choice. Yes, that summed it up nicely, didn’t it?

  He was her choice.

  Caitlin licked her lips and decided to trust her instincts. She loosened the hold she had on his shirt and skimmed her hand upward until she cradled his stubbled jaw in her hand. “You, Josh. I want you. Here. Now.”

  The gray eyes blazed. He turned his mouth into her hand and deliberately nipped the inside of her palm.

  She went woozy with need. He made a low growling sound and swept her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing at all. He carried her the few short steps to the bed and deposited her in the middle of the quilt. He put a knee on the featherbed, paused to give her a slow once-over, and the carnal gleam in his eyes almost caused her to let the rest of her words die on her tongue.

  But the man had been honest with her. She could do no less than return the favor.

  As he lowered himself atop her, she stalled him with a hand against his chest. “Just one thing. I heard what you said. I accept that you consider this surrender, but it’s only fair to tell you that I see the situation a little differently.”

  He narrowed those steaming gray eyes. “I don’t think I want to hear this.”

  No, he probably didn’t. “I’m giving you fair warning, Josh. I want you here and now, but I also want forever. You can throw down surrender all you want, but I’m declaring that you are under siege.”

  Journal Entry

  Women.

  Enough said.

  Chapter Eight

  Josh froze. “Under siege?” “I also want forever?”

  Of course she does. Isn’t that just my luck?

  Every ounce of self-preservation he possessed clamored at him to stop this immediately, to drag himself up and away and save the life in Eternity Springs that he’d been building for almost two years now.

  Because no way would he come out of this unscathed. Caitlin was an Eternity Springs princess with ties on her mother’s side going all the way back to the founding of the town. Sleeping with Caitlin Timberlake beneath her father’s and brother’s noses was bound to earn him a beating or twelve. Hell, even Brick might line up against him.

  And the women in town …

  I might as well put a For Sale sign in the windows of both the garage and the house right now.

  But no matter how loudly his better sense talked to him, other parts unfortunately screamed a whole lot louder. Sometimes, a man’s base nature drove the bus and good sense simply had to hang on for the wild ride.

  This apparently was one of those times.

  He was going to do this, and he was going to regret it. The outcome had been all but inevitable since the moment that gondola ground to a halt. At least he’d been honest with her about his lack of intentions. He could hold his head high and give her father and brother—maybe a few others too—a good angle for the shot to the jaw they’d surely want to give him. Once word got out—and it would—they’d line up to do the deed.

  As far as they knew, he was nothing but a grease monkey from Oklahoma. If they found out the truth … no. That wasn’t going to happen.

  Under siege, my ass.

  “You’ll change your mind,” he told her right before his lips met hers in a deep, slow, hungry kiss.

  His hands went to work, and her blouse and front-snap lacy peach bra fell away to reveal full, coral-tipped breasts. He paused for a reverent moment in order to fully appreciate the sight. “You are so beautiful, Caitlin. You take my breath away.”

  Her eyes softened with pleasure at his words and she smiled.

  Josh realized he’d made a tactical mistake. Perhaps he could salvage the situation yet. “You’ll change your mind about me. I’m really not very good at sex.”

  The stubborn woman dared to laugh. “I’ll just bet.”

  “It’s true.” He stroked her silken skin. So soft. He bent his head and traced the path of his touch with worshipful kisses. “I’m a selfish lover. I worry only about pleasing myself.”

  Then he set about doing exactly that.

  Unfortunately, what pleased Josh w
as to drive her insane with pleasure. He loved slowly stripping off her clothing piece by piece, revealing her glorious form to his hungry gaze. He adored touching her, using his fingers to stroke and caress, to play and explore and find and fondle that exact spot that roused her to a fevered pitch. He enjoyed using his mouth to lick and nibble and suck a scream right out of her.

  The flush of passion on her face pleased him. The arch of her back and press of her soft flesh against the hardness of his own pleased him. The way she clung to him and squirmed against him and kissed him like she simply couldn’t get enough of him pleased him. He found the way she gripped his shoulders and whimpered with need until he joined his body with hers to be more pleasurable than anything he’d experienced in a very long time.

  So pleasurable, in fact, that he drew the moment out and made it last. He delighted in the tremors of completion he coaxed from her and decided it suited him to make it happen again.

  The next time she literally wept, and Josh finally gave into his own needs. He savored every second of his release before collapsing on top of her, needing to catch his breath, too spent to be careful that he didn’t squash her.

  The scratch had been well and truly itched.

  They lay without speaking for a full minute, Josh’s head buried in the curve of her neck and shoulder, his face planted in the center of one of the rings on the quilt. Eventually, Caitlin wriggled out from beneath him saying, “You weigh a ton.”

  “See? I’m selfish.”

  Her snort wasn’t at all ladylike.

  He sensed that she’d rolled onto her side and lay with her elbow propped up, her head resting in her hand. He didn’t have the energy to lift his head to confirm that, however.

  Another minute ticked by and then two. He was drifting toward sleep when she lifted her hand and trailed a finger from his shoulder, down his side. “Josh?”