by Elle Linder
“Yeah, Miss Tori. Will you come back?” Rex gripped the back of her neck and reeled her in for a kiss. How could he act so relaxed in front of Lyla? Maybe Tori was too uptight.
“Maybe I will,” she said against his lips. She certainly wanted to come back. Truth be told, she didn’t want to leave, but she couldn’t expect her family to take care of her horse. Daisy was her responsibility.
“Yay!” Lyla bounced in her seat. “I like it when you’re here!”
“Aww, sweetie. I like it when I’m here too,” she said, her eyes on Rex’s glimmering with mirth. Everything about this scene gave her peace. Breakfast in the morning with Rex and Lyla, their smiling faces, the joy she felt being with them. She belonged right here, she was sure of it.
Tori disappeared into the guest room after helping Rex clean up. She needed to change and get home. It didn’t take long for him to follow. He knocked, then opened the door without waiting for her to answer.
“How are you doing?” He entered, making a beeline for her, and snaked his hands around her waist. He tugged her against him, and her entire body buzzed with need.
“Better.” She hooked her arms around his neck. “I almost freaked out when you brought her in here and then she climbed into bed with me.”
“Just pulling the Band-Aid off.” He winked, touching his nose to hers. “And how are you feeling after last night?”
She sighed. “Why do you have to bring it up?”
“Because I care about you. Your past matters to me, Tori. You shouldn’t be afraid to tell me anything. I want to know everything about you, the good and the bad. You can trust me with your secrets.”
“Fine. We’ll talk about it another time. I really need to get back to the ranch.”
“Fair enough. Don’t you feel better now that Lyla knows about us? We don’t have to sneak around anymore. And once you tell your parents, we can go out in public.”
“My mom knows.” She gave him a rueful grin.
“She does? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I guess I forgot. She said Dad will lose his mind, but eventually he’ll come around.”
“That’s great!”
“Hmm, not really… He can carry a chip on his shoulder for a very long time.” For a lifetime, she was willing to bet. She dreaded the day she would have to tell him her little secret.
“Ah, right. Like with the land.”
Tori arched her brow. “What happened with that? I’m beginning to think you’re deliberately avoiding telling me about it.”
“I’ll tell you all about it when you tell me about your first time.”
Tori rolled her eyes. He was not going to let up about Grant. “Great, that will be a grand time.”
“Sort of true confessions…” He drew her in closer and smothered her with kisses.
Another conversation she was not looking forward to but knew needed to happen. All Tori wanted was more time. Time to either deepen her relationship with Rex or discover they wouldn’t work together. She didn’t wish to have pandemonium break out in her family if she could avoid it. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her dad.
If she honestly thought she could announce that Rex Knolls was her boyfriend and her dad would accept it, she was a fool. And like the foolish idealist she was, she shoved the thoughts out of her head while she kissed Rex. Because kissing Rex was so much more enjoyable than thinking about the fallout that may ensue in the very near future.
Seventeen
THE NEXT TWO weeks flew by at lightning speed. Rex had never been so happy, and it had everything to do with Tori. They hadn’t made love yet, even though she spent the night a few times each week. He was okay with it because sleeping next to her helped him relax. She was better than the teddy bear he had when he was a kid, Mr. Grumpy. He’d given his stuffed bear the name, but really, Rex was the grumpy one after his mom had left them.
Their relationship was deepening on an emotional level but not the physical, which was a first for him. When they moved to the next level, he was sure they would become even closer.
Seemingly overnight, they’d become a team. Tori helped with Lyla, often bringing her home after school and fixing dinner while Rex finished working in the stables. Tori simply made everything better when she was around. Lyla preferred to stay in the house with Tori, which Rex welcomed. Having Lyla underfoot in the afternoons slowed him down. He tried like hell to not ignore her while he was working, but it was impossible when he was giving a lesson.
Now with Tori in the picture, Lyla seemed happier, much like himself.
It was official; he was in love with Tori. She was everything and so much more than he ever knew he wanted or needed. She was perfect for him, and he’d like to think the same was true for her with him.
He filled a glass with wine for Tori and two fingers of whiskey for himself, then took them into the den to wait for her. Lyla had asked for Tori to do storytime with her. His little girl had grown even more attached to Tori. Rex couldn’t blame her. He had too.
All around, life was beautiful and perfect. He couldn’t ask for more.
Well, except for one thing—Tori hadn’t told her dad about him, and he wasn’t okay with it. After Rex had lied to McMurray so he could get the property he desperately wanted, he didn’t want to lie anymore where Conway Hart was concerned. Granted, he knew hell would break loose at first. He just hoped for Tori’s sake that it was short-lived.
He quietly walked down the hallway to have a peek at the two most important girls in his life. His heart swelled at the sight of Tori lying next to Lyla on the bed. They were cuddled together, both smiling.
“I have three brothers. I’m the only girl,” Tori said. “I’m actually a twin. Do you know what that is?”
Lyla shook her head while she played with Tori’s fingers.
“I didn’t think so. Well, my mom was pregnant with me and my brother Tanner at the same time. That makes us twins, but we don’t look a lot alike.”
“Because he’s a boy and you’re a girl?”
“Sort of. I have green eyes and Tanner has brown. We both have brown hair though.”
“I have blonde hair like my mom. I don’t see her very much.”
Hearing Lyla talk about her mother put an ache in Rex’s chest.
“I know, sweetie.” Tori kissed her head.
“I have her picture over there.” She pointed to her bookshelf across the room. “I put it over there because I don’t need it close to me anymore. I have you.” She wrapped her arms around Tori. “Will you sing to me?”
Rex’s heart melted, both from Lyla and seeing Tori teary-eyed with his daughter.
“Of course I will. What song would you like me to sing?”
“The song Dumbo’s mommy sings to him!”
“Yes, sweet girl, anything you want.” She kissed Lyla’s head and started to sing.
Rex stayed as still as a statue, getting choked up as he listened to Tori’s beautiful voice. He didn’t imagine it was an easy song for her to sing, being from the saddest part in the movie when Dumbo was separated from his mother.
Tori had a tender heart, and it had made her sad to hear Raquel had left without Lyla. One night when they were in bed, she’d told Rex out of the blue, “I would have fought in court to keep my daughter. I wouldn’t have made it so easy for you to have full custody.”
He loved her fire and tenacity.
As the song neared the end and Lyla was asleep, Rex crept back into the den to wait for Tori. A few minutes later, she appeared.
“Lyla is sound asleep.” She dropped into his lap and crushed her luscious lips to his. They went at each other like two horny teenagers, pawing while their tongues twisted with the other.
Rex pulled back before Tori, needing air. She could always go without oxygen longer than him.
“Damn, woman. You astound me.” He pecked at her lips. “You’re a natural with her.”
“I adore her. I think the kids at school are starting to notice the changes between us.
I’m guilty of showing her favoritism. I can’t help it. I adore her,” she said with an unapologetic tone and sassy shimmy of her head.
Rex chuckled, loving this woman just a little more than ten minutes ago when he was lost in her beautiful voice.
For the next several minutes, they chatted about nothing important and enjoyed their drinks. Rex was waiting for Tori to relax a bit from her wine before he brought up the night she lost her virginity. Although the days had melted into each other, he hadn’t forgotten. The need to know what happened had grown in him like a rampant fungus.
“Let’s get on with it, darlin’.”
Tori blinked her stunning emerald-colored eyes as if confused.
“Don’t play that. You know what I’m talking about.” He softly pinched her chin between his thumb and finger.
She moved out of his grasp and kissed his neck once… twice. She was trying to distract him. It was working. He started to grow hard in his Carhartt jeans. Rex cupped her bottom, giving it a firm squeeze.
“You’re not going to win by distracting me, Miss Hart.”
“Is that a challenge?” Her teeth bit down on the skin below his earlobe. Rex felt the pinch of it all the way down in his boxers.
“You don’t play fair, but I’m older and wiser and also a parent. I’ll win this match.”
“Challenge met.” She climbed off his lap and extended her hand toward him. “Come with me.”
The mischievous glint in her eyes said she was up to something. His growing erection was proof his body had an idea of what it could be.
“Let’s stay here,” he said, quite aware that she might win this round if they didn’t stay in the den where Lyla might stumble upon them.
Tori narrowed her pretty eyes. “Fine. You stay here. I’ll be naked in the bedroom.” With that cunning statement hanging in the air, she left the den.
Rex groaned, pressing the back of his head into the sofa, and covered his face with his hands. She was going to win. Dammit! When did he become so weak for a woman?
Well, Tori Hart wasn’t just any woman. She was the woman he was in love with, and by all accounts, that meant she had the power to control and devastate him. And right now, she was tempting him with sex, the one thing they hadn’t shared together.
He wasn’t a fool, so he stood from the sofa, turned off the lights, and made his way to the guest room.
Just as promised, Tori was in her undergarments and about to remove her bra when he entered. His breathing hitched as he raked his eyes over her ivory skin. He’d only had the pleasure of blindly touching her curves, but to see them? He must have died and gone to heaven. She was so beautiful.
“You don’t have to do this, you know.” He stepped in front of her, grasping her face between his hands. “I want to know your past, Tori. And our first time shouldn’t be born out of avoidance or manipulation.”
“Don’t you want to make love to me?”
“More than anything.”
“Than stop talking and get to it.”
“But—”
“No, Rex.” She cut him off. “Before I tell you what happened, I need to experience your touch. If I’m going to drudge up those memories, I need something good, something exceedingly better than what I went through.” The pleading in her eyes did him in.
Rex dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her. “I promise I won’t hurt you. After I’m through with you, you’ll be addicted to my touch.”
“I’m betting on it.” She buried her fingers in his hair and massaged his scalp. “I just have one request.”
“Anything.”
“Don’t take me from behind.”
His heart slammed into his chest. Did Tori mean what he thought she did? God, he hoped not.
“Absolutely, sweetheart.” He hugged her again.
“Okay, let’s get started.” She unhooked her bra and dropped it onto the floor beside Rex.
He took her hand before she could remove her black satin panties. “I’ll take care of those when the time is right.” Rex got to his feet and guided her to the bed. Gently he eased her onto her back in the middle of it, his heart pumping like an oil rig.
He took his own clothes off, down to his boxers. At Tori’s feet, he lifted one and slipped her boot sock off. She smiled as he kissed her ankle. He did the same to the other, then brushed his lips across her delicate skin up to her knee.
She shivered and sighed. “That feels wonderful. Don’t stop.”
“I’ve only just begun.” Rex planned to caress and kiss every inch of Tori before removing both their underwear. He wanted her relaxed and writhing on the bed with need, begging for him to enter her. Until he heard her asking for his dick, he wouldn’t give it to her.
After kissing both legs and teasing her with his tongue, he made his way up her torso. He licked a path from her belly button up to her dusty-rose-colored nipple and swirled it around.
“Oh… oh my… Rex.”
He grinned, pleased with himself. He squeezed and kneaded her other breast as he drew on the other. Tori’s hips bucked forward and she arched her back, pressing into his face.
“You’re perfect, so perfect,” he cooed, laving his tongue over her nipple. He moved to the other one, giving it equal attention.
Tori squirmed on the bed, sighing and moaning. He could tell she wanted more—this wasn’t his first rodeo—but he wouldn’t move down to the promised land until she asked him to.
She panted and mewled while he continued worshiping her body. He was so hard, he worried he’d come without being inside her.
“Rex?”
“Hmm?” He released her nipple.
“What are you doing?”
“What?” Suddenly he was unsure of his sexual prowess. “Don’t you like it?”
“Yes, I like it a lot. But I thought we were going to have sex. I’m so wet and throbbing. I need you to take me… you know, there.”
“First off, we’re not having sex. I’m making love to you. Secondly, if you’re sure about me taking you there, all you have to do is ask.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she was smiling. “You are incredible. So gentle and loving. Thank you for going slow with me. I’m ready. I want to feel you inside me.”
Rex moved up her body and captured her full lips for a passionate kiss. Then he broke away and reached for a condom.
She grabbed his hand. “Don’t use one… please.”
“But I thought…”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to but if you do, it’s okay. I bought them thinking it was the right thing to do, but… Well… He wore one.”
Ah, she didn’t want to be reminded of him. Rex didn’t want her to think about that guy either. “But I thought you weren’t on birth control?”
“The Monday after I broke down, I got the shot. My doctor said to wait seven days before having sex or use a condom as backup. It’s been ten days so we should be in the clear, but I understand if you don’t want to risk pregnancy and want to use extra protection.”
It surprised him that she hadn’t told him about getting on birth control. Tori seemed to keep a lot to herself. He’d told her last week when he got a clean report after getting tested for STDs. Now that he thought of it, she must have gotten tested the same day she got the shot. He hadn’t required her to get tested, since she’d only been with one guy. Although he’d been with quite a few women back in his rodeo days, he hadn’t been with anyone since he divorced Raquel. But Tori had insisted they both get tested, which was okay with him.
“I wouldn’t mind getting you pregnant.” Hell, those words sounded crazy to him, but it was the honest truth. If he made a baby with Tori tonight, he wouldn’t be disappointed. He wanted it all with her, marriage and more children.
She stroked his cheek with her thumb. “Me either.”
He kissed her again, more deeply than the last and moved his hand down between them. His hand moved over her mound as they kissed frantically. He w
asn’t going to hold back anymore. Tori made it clear she wanted this and he would give her anything she asked for.
“Oh, yes,” she whimpered, lifting her pelvis to his hand like a silent plea for more.
He broke the kiss and moved down her body to remove her bikini underwear. After doing so, he tossed them on the carpet and stared at her. She was so beautiful he could hardly stand it.
“At any time, you can stop me.”
“I appreciate that. But I feel like I’m going to combust. Please, Rex.”
“Just a little more preparing, baby.” He lowered his head between her legs. “I just need a taste.”
“Um, okay. I’ve never had that before.”
He didn’t reply. Instead, he swiped his tongue slowly over her and groaned. Perfect.
“Oh, Rex!” She gripped the comforter. Her legs shook as he continued lavishing her with his tongue. “I’m so close!”
He focused on her clit, swirling his tongue over it and flicking as he inserted a finger into her.
Tori shot off like a rocket and stifled her scream of pleasure with a pillow. She was a quick thinker. Rex hadn’t even thought about Lyla potentially hearing them.
He waited for her to calm before taking his boxers off.
“That was spectacular. You can do that anytime you want.” She smiled, looking down at him. Her eyes went wide as she took him in.
He didn’t move, so she could study him all she wanted. He might be forty with silver speckles in his hair and beard, but he ate a healthy diet and lifted weights a few times a week. He was in decent shape, or so he thought.
“Wow…” she said on a sigh. “Can I touch it?”
He grinned, pleased she appeared to like what she saw. “Of course.”
Tori got to her knees on the bed lickety-split and lightly ran her fingers over the head of his cock. It twitched with excitement, but it didn’t frighten her away.
Her gorgeous eyes swooped up to his. “Do you like to be touched?”
“Very much so.”
She wrapped her small hand around it and pressed her body into his. He loved that she was taking control, though he wouldn’t always let her take the lead in the bedroom. He liked to be in charge too. She squeezed and stroked him, then rubbed the head of his dick against her entrance.