to speak or think.
When she turned and smiled at him, he couldn’t move.
“Good evening, Michael,” she said shyly. She lifted the towel and put it around her back, leaving her front still open to his view. “I thought we’d have a quiet dinner and talk.”
She began to wrap the towel around her, but his hand shot out to stop her. “Later,” he said, staring into her eyes. “First, I have to hold you.”
She tugged away from him and crossed the towel over her. “No, first you have to take a bath. Like all ranchers, you smell like a horse.”
He would have argued, but she began unbuttoning his shirt. He just stood as if stone while she removed his shirt and gun belt. When she began unbuttoning his trousers, he stopped her. “I’ll bathe,” he said. “Alone.”
The pouty lip he’d spent hours thinking about came out, but she turned and headed to the door.
He had stripped and slid into the tub and was already thinking of what he wanted to do with her when the door to her room opened. She was still wrapped in her towel, but she was dragging a stool behind her.
“What do you think you are doing?” he asked with a smile.
“Watching,” she answered.
“I should have locked the door.” He blew out all but one of the candles beside the bath.
“There’s no lock on your side, only on mine.” She sat down as if waiting for the play to start.
He gave up. He scrubbed off a layer of dirt as fast as he could and then asked for a towel.
She pointed to one three feet away and didn’t make a sound when he stood and grabbed it. Looking at her was one thing, but having her stare at him was quite another. He planned to tell her so over breakfast.
“What’s all this about?” he asked as he dried.
“I’ve decided to change the rules a little. You seem to be having so much fun touching me, I thought I’d touch you tonight, if you don’t mind.”
He studied her trying to figure out what she was up to. They both knew that tonight might be their last night together. Tomorrow they’d confront Raymond and run him off the ranch. Michael knew several men working for her who would be great bodyguards just in case Raymond decided to come back.
When he left her, he’d leave her well protected.
It occurred to him that she must want tonight to be a memory they’d both take with them.
He crossed the room and stood above her, his towel now draped low around his hips.
She looked up at him without fear. She might never learn to love him, but she’d learned to trust him.
His fingers slid along her slender throat as they had when they’d first met. For a moment, he tightened his grip as he had in the chapel, holding her firmly, but not hurting her. Then he lowered his mouth and kissed her.
It wasn’t a hungry kiss, but a slow, loving kiss that warmed them both. His fingers moved down her throat and over her shoulders, then shoved her towel away. “I love the way your skin feels,” he whispered into her mouth as he pulled her up and kissed her again. “I don’t think I could ever get enough of you.”
Every moment, every move, he expected her to tell him to stop, but she didn’t and he couldn’t shake the feeling that tonight he was a part of her fantasy.
She didn’t say a word. She opened her mouth, welcoming him as his hands branded across her body. Timidly she brushed her finger over his chest and along his arms. Her touch was so tender it was almost painful. He knew he was lean with a few too many scars across his body, but she didn’t seem to notice as she touched him.
He turned her toward a long mirror, pressing his body against hers as he watched his hands move over her. She leaned her head back and kissed his throat as her hair tickled across his chest.
He had to try one more time. “Love me, tonight,” he whispered in her hair. “Be mine for one night.”
She turned in his arms and kissed him as she pressed against him silently, giving him the answer he’d waited for.
When he rubbed his chin against her cheek, he felt her tears and pulled away enough to meet her gaze. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t think it could be like this. I didn’t expect it . .