The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,27

dance floor.

Elissa pulled back, not wanting to make a fool of herself. “Jake, really. I don’t know how to dance well. I haven’t done anything like this in years.”

He pulled her into his arms, one hand behind her back, the other holding her hand in his strong one. “Just follow my lead,” he said softly.

He gave her a short lesson on how to two-step off to the side of the other dancers. Once he felt like she had the hang of it, he swung her into the twirling other dancers. Elissa was overwhelmed at first. She had trouble concentrating on what she was supposed to do and where the other dancers were.

“Elissa, look at me,” he said, loud enough for her to hear him over the loud country music.

Elissa instantly looked up at his strong features.

“Relax,” he demanded. “Trust me.”

Elissa didn’t know if that was possible. She’d had so much experience not trusting men that his command was almost ridiculous. But she forced herself to pretend so he wouldn’t yell at her again. She relaxed her shoulders and smiled up at him.

“That’s better,” he said and within moments, they were twirling around the room. Jake spun her in circles, dipped and tucked, backwards and forwards while Elissa just followed his lead, loving every moment of the dances. She had never felt so alive in her life and she laughed up into Jake’s smiling eyes.

After several songs, the music slowed and Jake instantly pulled her closer, not releasing her from his embrace. The music swirled around their bodies, twining her feelings in his strong arms. Jake moved her hands up to his shoulders and she loved the way his body felt as it gently touched hers. Her fingers moved slightly on his shoulders and she could feel the muscles flex at her slightest movement.

Sighing deeply, Elissa wished that this night could last forever. Jake wasn’t yelling at her, there wasn’t any e-mail piling up, no clients demanding her attention and no brokerage firm demanding that she sacrifice her life and her intellect to their greed. All that was in the world was right here, in Jake’s arms, his heart beating strongly under her fingertips.

Elissa woke to the sound of someone banging on her bedroom door. She rolled over, noted that it was still dark outside, then rolled back under the covers to go back to sleep. In her dreams, she was dancing slowly with Jake and he was bending down to kiss her, slowly moving his lips over hers, his tongue dancing within her mouth and his hands sliding down her waist, then back up again to cup her breasts.

A few minutes later, Jake was leaning over her bed, gently shaking her awake. “Elissa, wake up,” he called to her.

“Mmmm, Jake,” she moaned, still mostly asleep. She wasn’t able to differentiate between her dreams and reality since both had the same thing happening. She pulled Jake closer and whispered a secret in his ear, then rolled back over, pulling the covers higher on her shoulder.

“Oh, darlin’ if only you were awake enough to realize what you just said, you’d be in a world of trouble,” he chuckled. He pulled the covers off her, instantly waking her up and sitting up in bed.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, instantly awake and reaching for the covers to pull back up over herself. She was only wearing a cotton camisole and bikini underwear to sleep in, both too revealing for Jake’s all-knowing eyes.

“I’m sorry, Elissa. But you’re a sound sleeper and Ronny needs you,” he said and lifted her into his arms. “Come on darlin’, we got to get you out of here before we both forget our priorities.”

He carried her into the bathroom, “Ronny is going to have her baby tonight. You have fifteen minutes before we take off,” he said and shut the door on her next question.

Elissa wanted to scream but then his words sunk into her sleep-drugged consciousness. Ronny was in labor! That realization spurred her to get moving. She took a five minute cold shower, cold only because she didn’t want to wait for the hot water to reach the faucet, then quickly dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt. She pulled her hair back and ignored her make-up. She was hopping down the stairs, moving as quickly as she could while pulling on socks and tennis shoes.

“I’m ready,” she said breathlessly to Jake who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, his hat in his hand, obviously ready