Conquering Love

by Willow Summers

  Greg raised his eyebrows in shock. “Jake got involved?”

  Noah tilted his head in what looked like smug delight. “Apparently she’s a part of his herd, as he would say. He doesn’t like people messing with his herd.”

  “He takes horses to a whole new level.” Greg checked his watch. “At least Paige is gone. If she was trying to hamstring Christie, it’s for the best.”

  “Except for covering shifts, but they’ll work it out.” Noah paused for a moment. “What changed your mind? About the job?”

  Greg straightened up. “A girl, mostly. You had been right about the size of the ranch and where I wanted to be.”

  “That money sure would’ve been nice, though, huh?” Noah laughed. “Looks like I have to look elsewhere if I want to move up.”

  “Unless you can force Jake out.”

  “Not a chance. I value my life.”

  Greg checked his watch again. “Time to go.”

  “All right, bro. Treat her well.”

  “Always.” Greg grabbed his jacket and then took a dozen long stemmed roses out of a cooler in the bed of his truck.

  “Whoa. Pulling out all the stops, huh?” Noah grinned at him.

  “Go big or go home, buddy.”

  “I hear ya.”

  Greg had to stop himself from jogging around the house to the staff entrance. If she were a normal girl, he would’ve arrived a little late, giving the girl just that little bit of uncertainty. It threw them off-center and inevitably gave him just a bit more leeway. Christie been through enough in life—she didn’t need any games—but he didn’t want to wait. He would’ve invited her over for breakfast if he could’ve.

  He knocked on the door softly. A moment later the wood slid away in a swirl of the most divine smelling perfume he’d ever experienced. His breath caught in his throat. His fingers went slack and the roses fell to the ground.

  Standing before him was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Elegant, sleek and impeccably dressed, it was like seeing her for the very first time.

  Her blond hair fell in a messy wave around her face. A tight red dress hugged her lean frame and drew attention to miles of glorious, mouth-watering cleavage. The dress stopped mid-thigh, showing bare, shapely legs until her high-heels. Jewels sparkled on her wrist and around her neck, matching the glimmer in her intelligent, brilliant blue eyes. Her makeup was just enough to enhance her beauty and offset the whole ensemble. It was like a down-to-earth fashionista in front of him. She was beautiful and classy and way too good for him.

  “Hi, handsome,” she said, stepping forward gracefully and pulling him down so she could kiss his cheek. She wiped lipstick away with her thumb. “You dropped your flowers.”

  “You’re beautiful, Christie,” he said seriously, looking her over a second time. Then a third. He wanted to follow his gaze with his hands.

  His hard cock pounded in his pants. Tonight was going to hurt, because he didn’t want to make love to her tonight. He wanted her to come to him, and he didn’t think she was ready yet. Not that he blamed her. But…he’d be in bad shape. Already was.

  “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself. How’s your ankle?”

  “Good. Nearly like new. It was an old sports injury, so it rolls easy, hurts like hell for a while, but doesn’t linger too long.” He retrieved the flowers and handed them over. “Sorry about that.”

  She beamed as she took them. “Thanks.” She deposited them on the dresser and paused, looking him over. “Is it cold outside?”

  “Not especially.”

  “Then why the jacket?”

  He grinned, clutching the sides. “It’s impressive.”

  “That you have one, or…?”

  He laughed, moving so she knew to get walking. “The girls like it when I wear a leather jacket. It makes me seem more macho.”

  “I think this is one of those times when you think a certain thing, and a different thing is actually going on.” She slipped her fingers through his. “But it looks good on you. It shows off your shoulders.”

  “See?”

  They turned to go through the staff door. “Sara fired Paige.”

  “I heard. She was trying to poison the guests or…?”

  “It was a laxative.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Pete fed it to Richard. He’s been on the toilet since.”

  “That poor kid.”

  “It’s okay. I got revenge for him. I put glue on the inside of Pete’s hat. But if anyone complains, it wasn’t me.”

  “I’m not on the clock. What you tell me now won’t be repeated to the boss. I have selective amnesia like that.”

  He stopped her just outside the door and faced her. “Date paused.” He kissed her, deep and sensual, the sparks settling deep inside of him. Her hands felt up his chest and looped around his neck, pulling him in harder. He opened her mouth with his, tasting her. Chasing her tongue around her mouth. His hardness pressed against her, and before he caught himself and pulled away, she moaned. The kiss turned hungry, more passionate. His hands slid down her back until they were on the hollow of her back.

  Unable to help it, losing control, they slid lower still until he cupped her firm little butt. He groaned, deep and needy, barely feeling her slightly stiffen.

  Warning bells went off. He’d prepared for the date with a stack of porn and a lot of lotion, but it hadn’t helped. He ached for her. He wanted her so badly he could barely think straight. But he wanted her the right way, and that could only be on her terms.

  “Dinner,” Greg said after he backed off, panting. “Date resumed.”

  Christie’s eyes were deep pools of loveliness as she looked up at him. Her tongue slid across her lower lip, drawing his eyes, and then his hands to her hips.

  “Stop that,” he said in a husky voice. “I can’t take it.”

  “I’m afraid.” She slapped his chest for no reason.

  “Why?” He rubbed the offending spot.

  “Because I’ve never really done this before. All I remember is pain. I’m afraid I might not be able to get around that.”

  Greg lightly traced her jawline. “I know, baby. And we’ll go as slow as you need to. No sex unless you’re ready. And if you’re never ready, then so be it. We’ll figure it out.”

  “But I want you.”

  His cock pounded like a jackhammer. “Oh Christie, please go easy on me. I really want to hear those things, but at the same time, I really don’t. You’re killing me. But what I meant was, why the violence?”

  “Oh. Why didn’t you say so?” She slipped her fingers into his and started walking again.

  Used to the speed at which she switched gears, he fell in beside her easily. “I didn’t want to interrupt your confessional. I’m glad you are telling me those things. It’ll help me understand where you’re at so I don’t push.”

  “Yeah.”

  That was it. Just that one word in a bland tone.

  At his truck, he opened the door for her then held out his hand.

  “Get it all in tonight, Gibson,” Christie said, taking his hand daintily. “Tomorrow you won’t get to be such a gentleman.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “On my date.” She folded her hands in her lap primly, waiting for him to close the door.

  Butterflies filled his stomach, something that hadn’t happened in a long time. Not able to stop his grin, he closed her door and walked too fast toward his door. Stupidly, he wanted to get tonight over with quicker so he could see what she had in store.

  He climbed in the driver’s side. “Being a gentleman lets me show you how much I care about you.”

  “And tonight is about you, so I will bask in your caring with a smile and a million evil plots.”

  He laughed. “Fair enough.”

  “So you keep the jacket on the whole time?”

  “You’ll see.” He put his truck in gear and got moving.

  “Date paused.” She scooted over to the middle seat and str
apped herself in. Her warm hand landed on his thigh.

  He wanted to groan in agony. Or move her hand up higher to the hard bulge. It might be a long night.

  He pulled into the parking lot of the local steakhouse. Christie slid over to the other seat and said, “Date resumed.”

  “This pausing is starting to get weird.” Greg got out of his side.

  “You are,” he heard her say.

  He opened her door a moment later and put out his hand.

  “Besides, you started it.” She took his hand and gracefully exited the truck.

  “Is that a new dress?”

  “Yes. I asked Jake to take me shopping. I don’t think he said two words the whole time. Wouldn’t even go into the store. He just sat outside in the truck. What’s nice about his silence is, he doesn’t complain about how long things take.”

  “He wants you to be happy.”

  “That was before I took two hours finding this dress. I bet now he just wants me to leave him alone.”

  “It…looks really good on you. Really good.”

  “Thanks.” She let go of his hand when they reached the door and waited while he opened it, before walking through.

  “So you can be a lady, you just choose when?” Greg asked with a grin.

  “Women that made history rarely did so by being ladies.”

  “That’s true. But I doubt they made history for eating dinner.”

  “Semantics.”

  He laughed as they stopped in front of the host.

  After the host, which was the owner in this case with his big gut and slow moving feet, had led them to the table in the corner, Greg striped off his leather jacket. Christie was about to say something when a look of awe came over her face. Her gaze dipped to his chest, and then slowly lowered to his stomach. As it moved over him, hunger flared in her eyes. Her hand drifted up to all that cleavage, lightly touching her skin as her eyes moved. It was as if she was tracing a line down his chest as her gaze kept roaming, down, down, until she stared at his bulge.

  He sat down stiffly, uncomfortable and not sure how to hide it. Her pink tongue licked across her lower lip. “I haven’t seen that shirt before,” she said in a throaty, sultry voice.

  “I only wear it on dates when I want to get laid. Not that I do!” He held up his hands quickly. “But you said to—”

  “I like it.” Her gaze traveled over him again. “A lot.”

  “I like you. A lot.”

  The fire burning brightly in her eyes turned into a smolder infused with softness. She smiled at him, enhancing her beauty. “Ditto.”

  They took the menus and studied them for a moment., “I’ll be more conscious of you opening doors and stuff. It used to make me feel weird, but it’s not fair on you. I know you like doing it,” she said.

  He shrugged. “I like besting you, too. I like when you have to take it.”

  She laughed and put her menu to the side. “Well. We’ll play it by ear, then.”

  After a grueling hour in which he had maintained a hard-on the whole damn time, he added the tip to the total and slipped his card back into his wallet. He pulled the chair back for Christie so she could get out, and then retrieved his leather jacket.

  “And you leave off the jacket now?” Christie asked, documenting his moves.

  “Yes. Unless it’s winter, in which case I wait until the door before I cover up the goods.”

  Back outside, she slipped her hand into his as they meandered back to the truck. Usually he would be taking a girl to a movie about now, getting closer. That, or out for a drink somewhere where he could dance slow and close. That didn’t feel right for tonight, though.

  At the truck, he turned to open the door in a way that showed off his back muscle. Then, holding the door for her, he did pops of flexing that seemed natural to the onlooker. He’d done it so often, he didn’t even have to think about it.

  Christie paused before getting in, her eyes roaming his body again. A sneaky grin curved her lips. “Dancing muscles, huh?”

  “Impressed?”

  “Very much so, yes. Doesn’t look contrived at all…”

  “Jaded.” He took her hand and helped her into the truck.

  “Realistic,” she replied, crossing her ankles and waiting for him to close the door.

  Once again she moved into the middle seat and put her hand on his thigh. Making a decision, he went to his favorite place. It wasn’t new to her, or original, but it was comfortable.

  “I thought you didn’t take girls here?” Christie said as they pulled off the road.

  “Date paused,” he said. She leaned against him. “But I took Paige the other day. I just…wanted to see, I guess. If she fit. If we fit together.”

  “How’d that go?” Remarkably, there wasn’t a hint of jealousy in her voice. Had the roles been reversed, he might have had a hard time staying relaxed.

  “She had no idea what we were doing here. I set out chairs, like I do sometimes, and she was uncomfortable the whole time.”

  Christie grunted in response.

  “I don’t have chairs this time, though. I was going to go for a drink.”

  “Maybe…since the date is paused…maybe we can…go to your house? Instead? Not for the usual reason you’d take women to your place after a—”

  Greg took his hand off the gear stick, ready to make a big circle immediately. But something held him back. In his gut, he knew why he was here. So instead he put it in park and turned off the engine. “In a little while?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  She nudged his arm, wanting him to move it around her so she could snuggle in. Instead, he opened his door, squinting with the harsh light of the cab. “Walk?”

  She glanced at her shoes. “Maybe?”

  He walked around to her door, and instead of helping her out, he reached in and took her in his arms. She squealed like a little girl, something that brought a smile to his face, and then felt the familiar hum as her arms wrapped around his neck. Her head rested on his shoulder.

  On the top of the hill, he set her down and balanced her so she could figure out her spiky heels in the grass. Once stable, he slid his hands around her waist, low on her hips. Her arms ran up his chest and hooked around his neck, her face angled up to him.

  “Christie, I wanted to tell you…” He cleared his throat as his heart clattered against his rib cage. “I don’t want to scare you, and it might be too soon, but I need to get this out.” He took a deep breath. “I love you.”

  Her breath caught. And stayed. And didn’t come back.

  “It’s too soon for you to hear that. I realize this is probably a shock. But I’ve loved you for months. Really, I fell in love with you soon after we started hanging out. You are the best part of my day. When I know I’m going to see you, I want to hurry up and get to it. So, while this is all new for you, it’s not so new to me. So I just wanted to tell you. But you don’t have to answer, obviously. You—”

  Christie pulled his head down so she could kiss him, intense and needy. Her mouth opened and she tilted her head before clutching him to her, spurring the deep fire in his gut into a roaring flame. He picked her up without thinking and carried her back to the truck. Once in, and without a word, he drove straight to his house.

  Chapter 15

  “I want tonight to be sensual,” Greg said as he opened the door to his house. “Not sexual.”

  “What’s the difference?” Christie asked, a fluttering in her stomach that might’ve been fear, but just as easily could’ve been excitement. Her heart felt too big for her chest after his admission. She had not heard those words since her grandma died. She didn’t want to tell him how she felt yet, though. She wanted to wait until her night. When all her walls came down.

  “In short, we keep our underwear on. We won’t be having sex tonight, Christie.” Greg stopped her in the entryway, looking deeply into her eyes. She saw a feeling there that surged her heart. “We might do other things—whatever you feel comfortable
with—but no matter how much I want to, no sex. I want you to know that I can abstain. That I will abstain even if it kills me. Okay? I am in complete control. No, that’s a lie. Sorry. I don’t want to lie to you. I can’t think straight around you. But I know that I can, and will, hold back, okay? That’s my promise.”

  “I trust you.” And she did. Whenever his arms came around her, a feeling of safety wrapped her up and eased all her tremors and worries away. She believed that he would do what he said, especially as he hadn’t been with anyone in a long time, for no reason other than he had been waiting for her. He’d taken that upon himself, without putting it in her face. What mattered most wasn’t what a man said when people were around, it was what he showed when they weren’t.

  He led her by the hand up the stairs and into his bedroom. “Now. Prepare to be delighted. I would tell you to shout out when you’re bored with something, or don’t like it, but you’re not in the habit of sparing my feelings, so just do what you always do and kill my dreams.”

  “With pleasure.”

  “Hopefully.” He went into his nightstand drawer, a shabby thing with duct tape on the corner, and grabbed something out. Next he visited the dresser, another piece of furniture that could’ve been picked up off the street it was so dinged and battered. He put a small bottle on top, and then took out a blindfold.

  “I don’t know about that, Greg,” she said quietly, inching away.

  “It’s not for you, love.” Next he went into his closet, where shirts hung in a color-coded array, straight and organized.

  “So…you’re furniture looks like you got it at a thrift shop, and your clothes are all pristine. Do you have a split personality?” Christie lifted the edge of the mattress and peered under, wondering why the state of his furniture hadn’t rung a bell before. She’d been completely blind to it in the past, even though she’d passed through this room to the bathroom a few times.

  “I haven’t kept my nudie magazine there since I was fourteen,” Greg said with a smile, ducking into the ensuite bathroom. When he came out, he was holding another little bottle. Finally, he walked out of the room and returned with an arm-sized pink feather.