For the first time, Cady knew how it felt to feel beautiful, inside and out. To feel wanted past reason, and to want, as desperately and fiercely, in return.
Passion like this had always been denied her. But it was here now, spilling into their embrace until her bare toes curled and the sensations flowed. A desperate ache swirled between her thighs and she sighed at the exquisite torture of his fingers moving over her breasts again.
And still he kissed her, until she was straining against him, aware that nothing had ever felt so exquisitely delicious as his mouth moving on hers, or his hand sliding lower, across the plane of her ribs to her navel.
A snap and a zip later, and her shorts were falling to her ankles. As his hand moved even lower, her body dissolved in a white-hot glow. And then he had her, there, and she was so overwhelmed, the desire so powerful and all encompassing, she couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop.
Cady let go of his shoulders and found his belt. The zipper to his fly. The leanness of his hips and the flatness of his lower abs. Lower still, the silky, pulsing heat.
Her hand closed around him.
His kisses grew more ferocious, his mouth absorbing the hungry, impatient sounds that rose in their throats.
Shifting again, he lifted her to the top of the dryer and pulled her to the edge.
Cady opened her eyes, saw him looking down at her, eyes smoldering, body taut.
For the first time in days, she didn’t feel like a failure. Instead, she felt she was everything Jeb had ever desired.
She smoothed her hands across the handsome planes of his face. “I want you,” she whispered.
He shifted her closer, the tension gathering. “I want you, too.”
He opened her thighs, urging her forward, easing the way and possessing her with a subtle rhythm that had her body throbbing in every extremity.
Until there was no more holding back, no more careful friendship between them. It was all hot, long, out-of-control kisses and wet, sliding silk. All possession and need and want. Until finally the satisfaction came, and Cady slumped, spent and shaking, in the warm, protective circle of his arms.
THE LAST THING Jeb had meant to happen was this, but there was no denying the powerful force of their hot, passionate, adrenaline-fueled sex. Joy rose up inside him, followed by a masculine satisfaction that was soul-deep. “Damn, Cady,” he whispered against the sweet, slender arch of her throat. “That was amazing.”
She was silent, shell-shocked, still trying to catch her breath.
And he knew from the fleeting flicker of guilt in her eyes that as quickly as she had come into his arms, she would leave.
Unless he found a way to get past her dazed trepidation, to her heart.
He leaned back to survey her tenderly and give her the physical space she seemed to need. “But it could have been a lot more romantic.” Still caging her loosely in his arms, he gently kissed her temple.
Cady splayed her hands across his chest, keeping him at bay. “It was fine.”
Fine was never a good adjective for a woman to use in the midst of the afterglow.
But aware that the slow, tender courtship she deserved had been edged out by their skyrocketing desire, Jeb caught her wrist and lifted it to his lips.
“Let me take you to bed,” he murmured, inhaling the feminine scent of her skin, enjoying the just-loved way she looked. “And do it right this time.”
Cady released a shaky breath. She pushed him aside and jumped down off the dryer. While scrambling to pull on her clothes, she averted her glance and said, “That’s not a good idea. Because that would imply this could become a regular thing between us,” she finished stubbornly, pulling the zipper up and doing the snap. She pushed her bra back into place and tugged down the hem of her T-shirt before looking at him once again. “And it won’t be.”
Jeb took his cue from her and reassembled his own clothing. “Why not?” They were minutes away from making love like there was no tomorrow, and he could already feel her withdrawing emotionally.
Cady inhaled a jerky breath and shoved her hands through her hair, smoothing the messy strands. “Because we’re not in love with each other, and we’re headed down two very different paths.” She found her clip and put her hair back up. “I’m about to become a mother, Jeb.”
She certainly had the demeanor of one now. Responsible, no-nonsense, supreme defender of her turf…
Aware that she was scared by the intensity of what had just happened, but had no reason to be, he followed her out of the laundry room. “I know that.”
Her spine ramrod straight, Cady headed for the dishwasher and began unloading it. “Your ranch is in Laramie, and I live over two hundred miles away from here.”
Not about to let what they had just discovered go, Jeb moved in to give her a hand. “I know that, too,” he stated quietly, stacking clean plates.
Cady swung around to face him. “It wouldn’t work in the long haul.”
Jeb wasn’t so sure about that.
“And I’m not interested in the short term.” She lifted a hand, cutting him off. “It was good…you know that. But a one-time occurrence was all it will ever be.”
“WHAT’S WRONG?” Suki asked Cady, when she called to check in that evening, after the boys were in bed.
Cady pushed back from her laptop computer, temporarily putting her work email aside. “What do you mean?” she asked uneasily.
“You sound funny.”
Cady felt funny. Her lovemaking with Jeb had been so far out of the realm of possibility, she still didn’t know quite what to make of it.
The chemistry was there, of course. Wow, was it there! But nothing else about their lives meshed. And much as she wanted to, she couldn’t ignore that, couldn’t deviate from her long held plans for her future.
“I’m tired,” Cady fibbed.
“I’m sure you are, but I also know you’ve got something else on your mind,” Suki continued with sisterly intuition.
I’m afraid Jeb and I have permanently screwed up our friendship by making love.
“Like maybe your birthday tomorrow…”
Cady cringed at the reminder that she was nearly another year older. “I’m not upset about that.” Not like I normally am, anyway. Not when I have so many other things to wring my hands over.
“You sure? Thirty-four is…”
Cady guessed where this was going. “Getting up there?”
“Cady. Come on.” Suki was not entertained by her sister’s droll remark. “You know what I meant!”
“I do.” She forced herself to look at the bigger picture. “But I have a lot to be thankful for this year. A baby to adopt.” A man who made me feel like I’m beautiful and amazing… Even if that sensation was fleeting, she would always treasure the memory of that wondrous moment.
“You, Hermann and the boys.” Cady continued her gratitude list. “The present you had delivered today…”
“So if that’s all good, then what is it?” Suki insisted, her low voice reverberating with concern. “And don’t tell me nothing. I can sense it.”
Cady knew she had to tell her sister something, or the inquisition would persist forever. So she revealed what she felt she could. “The boys got into the colored markers in your studio.” Cady drew a deep breath. “They decorated damn near everything. I’ve tried every remedy possible, and it won’t come out.”
Suki was silent for a painfully long moment. Finally, she said, very calmly and gently, “Okay. Is everyone all right?”
“Yes,” Cady admitted in relief. “The kids are aware they did something wrong and they are sorry. They helped pick up the pens, but the damage they did appears to be as permanent as the ink in the markers.”
“Well,” Suki sighed, “if that’s all…”
Cady knew how precise her sister could be. How much she loved elegance. “We’re talking some major damage, Suki. Plus, they decorated your sketches for the film.”
“I’ve got copies of everything I’ve
drawn to date—it’s been scanned into my computer. As far as the rest…I’ve been wanting to redecorate in there, anyway. Paint again and put in a wood floor, maybe another kind of chair and drafting table.” She sighed. “And with the money I’m making on this job, I’ll have the funds—and now the incentive—to do it.”
Cady blinked, wishing all the problems in her life could be solved that easily. “So you’re not mad at me?” she asked carefully.
Suki laughed. “They get into stuff when I’m there, too, you know.”
No, Cady hadn’t. Her sister always behaved as if her life on the home front was absolute perfection.
“And they are probably a little ticked off at me for leaving them to go to Australia. It’ll be fine. I’m just glad it’s nothing worse.”
Cady sagged in relief. Maybe she wasn’t as inept at this mothering stuff as she had feared. Maybe she didn’t need someone like Jeb in her life, helping out, to be successful in the parenting department.
“Now…about your birthday celebration…” Suki continued in her usual, I’m-the-accomplished-older-sister-so-I get-to-take-charge manner.
“I’m fine waiting until after you get back from Australia. In fact, I would much prefer to celebrate it after I bring the baby home.”
Cady suddenly had the feeling she wasn’t alone. She turned to see Jeb standing in the kitchen doorway, looking as if he was upset about something. What, she couldn’t fathom, since he’d already made it plain that birthdays were nothing he lost sleep over.
“Suki okay?” he asked after she finished her conversation and hung up the phone.
Noting that whatever concern he’d had seemed to have vanished, Cady explained Suki’s reaction to the damage to her studio.
He nodded, apparently not surprised that she had taken the marker catastrophe in stride. “That’s good. Listen, I’ve got to go over to my ranch for a while, to take care of a few things there, and then briefly stop by my mom’s after that. You going to be okay here?”
Was that guilt on his face? Unease? Regret? All Cady knew for sure was that he wasn’t being completely open with her about his plans for the evening.
But then maybe that was to be expected, she told herself. Maybe, after their impetuous lovemaking, he wanted to resurrect the boundaries between them, as surely as she did. And she could hardly blame him for that.
“YOU’RE LATE,” Avalynne said, when Jeb emerged from his pickup truck.
He crossed to where she was sitting on his darkened front porch, a thick manila envelope in her lap.
“Sorry.” He worked to mask the impatience in his voice. “It couldn’t be avoided.”
Avalynne handed him the package. “It’s all there.”
Jeb knew it was.
“You can check if you like.”
He shook his head.
“Which means we only have to do this…what?” Avalynne rose. “Two more times?”
“I’ve been thinking about that.” Jeb unlocked the front door to his ranch house and led the way inside. “Maybe we should just call it a day.”
She vetoed that suggestion, stubborn as ever. “I told you. A promise is a promise.”
He opened the wall safe and stuck the envelope inside. A couple of weeks ago he would have agreed. Now his attitude was different. There was too much at stake for any of this to be misconstrued. And if people knew… “It’s time we moved on with our lives.”
“Like you are now?” Avalynne watched him replace the painting in front of the safe.
When he didn’t reply, she told him, “Everyone is talking about the bet you made with Cady Keilor. For the record, no one thinks it is all about the kids.”
The last thing Jeb wanted from his ex was advice on his private life, well meant or no.
He turned around, ready to walk her out. “Then for the record, they are wrong, because Finn, Dalton and Micah are exactly why I agreed to help out. Those three boys are a handful, even when their parents aren’t out of town.”
Avalynne fell into step beside him, still skeptical, and laced her arm through his. “Cady’s got a crush on you, you know. She’s always had one.”
Jeb wished that was the case. It would give him a boost in his pursuit of her. “Cady and I are friends,” he said quietly, extricating his arm. Although I wish it was more. I wish she would let me pursue her the way I want to, full out, with no holds barred….
“Mmm-hmm.” Avalynne waited on the porch while he locked the front door. When he turned back to her, she looked at him seriously and said, “Listen to me, Jeb. If Cady has what you’ve decided you want, don’t ignore this chance. Give it—give her—the best you’ve got.”
Jeb knew his former fiancée wanted him to find the kind of happiness she had apparently found for herself. “Thanks for the advice.”
“You’re welcome, pal.” She touched his face, then stood on tiptoe and kissed the side of his jaw with the affection of an old friend.
Jeb waited while his ex drove away, then headed for his parents’ ranch. As he expected, nothing was as simple as he would like it to be. But given the fact he had made the request, and his parents had agreed to assist, he was honor bound to help out. So, lamenting the time apart from Cady, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
TO JEB’S SURPRISE, Cady was waiting for him when he returned. She did not look happy. Tensing, he dropped his keys on the hall console. “What’s the matter?”
She folded her arms in front of her. “We had a visitor while you were gone.”
Jeb blinked. “This late?”
“Mrs. Stone felt it couldn’t wait.”
Avalynne’s mother? Jeb felt a sinking sensation in his gut. He worked to keep from overreacting. “Was she looking for me?”
A muscle worked in Cady’s jaw. “Actually, she knew where you were, since she had followed Avalynne from town to your place, and then waited while you two met up and slipped inside the Flying M ranch house.”
Clearly, Cady imagined the worst.
Jeb lifted a staying hand. “I can explain.” Part of it, anyway.
Cady glared at him. “Then perhaps you should do so to Mrs. Stone, because she thinks you are still leading her daughter on. And worse, keeping Avalynne from getting involved with anyone else.”
Stiffening with resentment, Jeb met Cady’s level glance. “That’s not true.”
She stepped closer, arms still clamped beneath her breasts. “But you were with Avalynne tonight,” she ascertained, an accusing edge in her low tone.
While the male in him relished Cady’s jealousy—because it meant she cared more than she wanted to admit—the stand-up guy deplored the implication that he would hop from one woman’s arms into another’s.
He grimaced. “Yes. I was,” he replied honestly.
Cady leaned toward him, the fragrance of her perfume teasing his senses. “You knew you were going to see her but said nothing to me?”
He averted his glance. “It was private.”
“I’ll bet,” she sniffed, a riot of pretty color flooding her high, sculpted cheeks.
Jeb turned his attention back to her face. How had he gone from making hot, wild love to Cady this afternoon, to dwelling on his past with another woman tonight?
Yet he knew enough about Cady to realize that until she was satisfied she was the only woman he wanted, nothing more would be possible between them. Probably not even friendship…
“Avalynne and I…”
“I gather the two of you still have a thing?” Turning away, she tossed her hair haughtily. “It really doesn’t matter.”
Like hell it didn’t. He caught her by the shoulders and spun her back, willing her to listen to him. “It does matter if you’re upset.”
Cady scowled. “Why should I be upset? Just because you went from my bed…” Her cheeks turned even pinker, as her eyes blazed. “Well, we weren’t exactly in the bedroom this afternoon. Were we?”
Now she was going to blame him for the eroticism of their encounter? “Only
because you didn’t want to go there.” In fact, if it had been up to him, if they hadn’t had other obligations—like the kids—they would still be there, wrapped in one another’s arms. And maybe then she wouldn’t be doubting him this way.
She lifted a hand dismissively. “You’re free to hook up with anyone you want.”
“I’m not involved with Avalynne.”
“Then why are you meeting her secretly at your ranch late at night? Apparently, not just this time, but every time she comes to town.”
Jeb rubbed his hand across his jaw. “There’s a reason we meet up that way,” he said finally. “And it has nothing to do with romance or sex or anything else remotely like that.”
Cady wanted to believe him; he could see it in her eyes. “Then what’s it about?”
“A promise I made to her, many years ago.”
Cady stared at him. “Is this some sort of payback for you leaving her at the altar?”
“More like the reverse,” Jeb said reluctantly, torn between his own sense of honor and his need to keep Cady in his life.
Anxiety clouded her eyes, and she raked her teeth across her lip. “I don’t understand.”
Suddenly, the burden he had carried for years was unbearable. Jeb had to confide in someone. He wanted that person to be Cady. “I didn’t leave Avalynne at the altar, Cady. She left me.”
IT TOOK A FEW MOMENTS for the information to process. Cady stared at Jeb. “What are you talking about?”
Looking as if he wished the conversation had never started, he said, “Avalynne’s the one who decided she didn’t want to get married that day.”
Cady made no effort to conceal her shock. “Why?” How was that even possible?
Jeb stepped closer, exuding heat and strength. “She found the whole idea of making a lifelong commitment suffocating.” His handsome features tautening, he kept his eyes locked with Cody’s. “She wanted to forget about the life we had planned here in Laramie and see the world…to use those experiences to inspire her creativity as an artist.”
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