catch in her throat. “Perhaps not the whole time,” he corrected.
Jemma looked away, shocked at how quickly he had turned this conversation into an invitation instead of a sale. “I’m not going to Italy. And I doubt any airline would allow you to bring a puppy on the plane.”
He chuckled. “I don’t fly commercially, Jemma. I have my own plane.”
Jemma stepped back, stunned. “Of course you do,” she said with irritation. Then she realized she was being irrational. “Fine,” she spat out. “Tell me about your niece.”
He shrugged. “Why do you want to know about her?”
Jemma refrained from rolling her eyes. “Because each of the dogs have their own personality. For instance, this little one,” she said, lifting the puppy to her eye level and receiving a sniff and pink tongue again, “is the most exuberant. He would need a lot of space to run around.” She put that one down, not having named any of them because she knew she couldn’t afford to keep any of them. “This one, on the other hand, is a bit gentler. Once he grows up,” she explained, snuggling with the new puppy, “he’ll be calmer, needing running time, but not as much. Someone who takes the first one I showed you, will need to run around, throw the ball for the puppy throughout his whole life. All of them will need daily walks, preferably twice a day, and even more when they’re puppies. But once they mature, their exercise needs change. Just like ours do,” she explained.
Damien was impressed. “And you can tell all that about each of them while they are puppies?”
Jemma shrugged one shoulder. “Sure. I get to know them. I understand them.”
He looked around, noticing all the horses out in the pasture. “You’ve built up a good reputation for horses as well. Do you understand them like you do the puppies?”
Jemma put the puppy down carefully and stepped towards the stall door. “Horses are different, but yes. I understand them.”
“What do you understand?” he asked when she was once more beside him in the dark confines of the center aisle.
She looked up at him defiantly. “I understand when one of the males needs to be put in his place,” she told him with a secret smile. “I understand when they are being too arrogant and need to be taken down a peg or two.”
He laughed softly, the sound vibrating through the air. “I bet the males love your soft, gentle hand stroking them.” He paused, his hand lifting her arm, his fingers tangling in hers. “I know that I liked it.”
Her blue eyes looked down at their fingers, her slender ones intertwined with his stronger ones. She was mesmerized by the sight, remembering their bodies intertwined in the same way. “You feel it too, don’t you?” he almost whispered.
Jemma tried to shake her head, but his fingers tightened slightly. “Don’t deny it. That won’t work because I can feel it right now.” His other hand moved higher, his fingers sliding against her waist, pulling her closer. A moment later, his lips were covering hers and he was kissing her. To Jemma, it felt like all of the passion and desire she’d been storing up after their last encounter was rushing out of her as she kissed him back. It was too much and she’d been without a man, without him, for too long. She couldn’t hold back any longer, her hands fisting in his shirt as she held him close, kissing him like she might just die if he stopped.
She felt his arms shift, lifting her up against him and she whimpered, afraid he would pull away from her. But he didn’t. He only lifted her higher into his arms. She felt the rough wood behind her and the heat of him in front of her and she thought she’d died and gone to heaven. It was just like it had been that one night.
No, she thought when he shifted against her again. It was better. She could feel more, knew what was to come this time and….
“No!” she gasped, her fingers changing from fists to pushing him away. “Damien, stop! We can’t do this!” she called out to him. She closed her eyes and groaned when his mouth moved to her throat, nibbling at the sensitive spot she’d forgotten existed. But she was able to pull herself out of that bliss. “Please!”
He heard the desperation in her voice and pulled back, his hands gentle but still merciless as his