Long, Tall Texans: Calhoun (12 page)

The new furniture arrangement was fairly revealing. Why would she shift the bookcase there unless it bothered her to remember?

He laid her down on the bed and watched her curl up. "No, you don't," he murmured. "You can't go to sleep like that."

She yawned. "Yes, I can."

He pulled off her shoes, and after a moment's hesitation his hard fingers went to her skirt. He removed it and about a hundred layers of full underskirts, and then her panty hose and blouse. Under it all, she was wearing dainty pink lace briefs and a matching bra that was no cover at all over her Ml, firm breasts.

This, he thought as he looked at her, was a hell of a mistake. But she was the most delicious little morsel. Her body was perfect, the most beautiful he'd seen in his life. And when he realized just how innocent she was, how untouched, his body rippled with pleasure mingled with need.

She sighed then, and her eyes opened. She searched his face, watching where his gaze had fallen. "You undressed me,"

she said.

"You couldn't sleep in that rig," he replied tautly.

"I guess not." She knew it should bother her that he was seeing her like this, in those wispy pink things she'd been crazy enough to buy at Misty's insistence. But if the way he was staring at her was any indication, he seemed to like what he saw.

"Do you have pajamas or a gown?" he asked after a minute.

"A gown. Under my pillow."

He managed to make his legs move and took out a bit of material that would cover no more of her than her underwear.

"You'll freeze to death in this thing," he muttered.

"Misty said it was a sexy outfit," she said drowsily. She moved, her long hair framing her oval face with its delicate flush, her pale blue-gray eyes enormous as they searched the faintly blurred outline of his body. "I thought I'd seduce Ty," she added. "He likes me."

His face hardened. "Like hell you will," he said shortly.

"You did that to Shelby," she accused. "Shame on you, when Justin loves her."

"I didn't touch Shelby," he returned. "I left her at her front door and went back to the dance hall looking for you."

"I wasn't there," she murmured.

"Obviously." He didn't mention that he'd had to fight the urge to go looking for Tyler's car in case he and Abby were parked somewhere. The thought of her with Ty made him want to do something violent.

"Justin is going to beat you up when he can stand up again," she told him gaily.

"I guess he's entitled." Calhoun sighed. "I sure as hell made a mess of things." He sat down beside her, his eyes reluctantly leaving the long, sweet line of her legs and hips and the open seductiveness of her almost-bare breasts. "Do you know how perfect you are?" he said absently.

She was suddenly cold sober. Her eyes opened wide, searching his. "Me?"

"You," he said harshly. "From your legs to your hips to those sweet, pretty brea—" He stopped, hating his own vulnerability. "Come here." He put the gown in her lap and drew her into a sitting position, watching the tips of her firm breasts suddenly harden. He caught his breath.

She looked up at him curiously. "What's wrong?"

"This." He touched her delicately, only the back of his knuckles rubbing softly against her nipples. She pulled away, her breath audible, and he lifted his head to search her shocked eyes.

She looked back at him, relaxed from the alcohol, all her deeply buried longings surfacing without the restraint of a usually protective mind. She touched the back of his hand and intertwined her fingers with his.

And then she pulled gently, watching as she drew his hand across her breasts.

"Abby..." he ground out.

"I'm sorry, " she whispered. "About what I said that morning. About how I...reacted." She swallowed, searching for courage. She opened his fingers and pressed them hesitantly just underneath her breast, lifting them so that he could feel the swell against his skin.

"Don't, for God's sake," he groaned.

She moved his hand against her, drowning in the sweetness of his touch, arching toward it. Both her hands went there, pushing his fingers completely over her. "Calhoun," she moaned. She felt so weak that she thought she'd have to lie down again, but she couldn't let go of his hand.

"You aren't sober enough," he whispered roughly, although the feel of her was doing terrible things to his self-control. He was already going rigid with need as he followed her down.

"I'm not sober enough to be afraid," she whispered. Her eyes searched his glittering eyes. "Teach me."

He actually shuddered. "I can't."

"Why?" she asked. "Because I'm plain and unsophisticated, because I'm not blond—" Her voice broke.

So did his control. He leaned down, his smoky breath mingling with hers as his hand cupped her. "Because you're a virgin," he breathed into her mouth as he took it.

She moaned. It was sweet, so sweet. Nothing like that other time, when he'd been rough and hadn't given her enough room to respond. He'd been impatient and demanding, but now he was gentle. His fingers stroked her body from her breasts to her waist to her flat stomach. His mouth teased at hers, probed it, traced it in a silence that was thick with sensual pleasure. Abby felt warm all over, safe and cared-about. She let her lips admit the probing of his tongue, admit him into the sweet darkness of her mouth. She didn't even protest when the kiss grew much deeper, much slower, or when she felt his hand slide under her to find the catch at her back.

The air was cool on her body. He removed the lacy covering that was no covering at all, and his hands were heaven on her hot skin. She moaned, helping him, pressing his fingers against her, drawing them over her hungry body.

"Abby," he groaned against her mouth, half-crazy with the hunger to make love to her completely, to salve the ache that was throbbing through his body.

She opened her eyes, letting her gaze fall lazily to his chest. Her hands went to his shirt, and she worked at the buttons, feeling him tense. But he didn't protest, even though his heartbeat was shaking his big body as it lay beside hers.

"There," she whispered when she could see and touch the thick wedge of hair that ran down to his belt. "I'll bet women love to touch you there," she murmured as she pressed her fingers hungrily against him.

"I've never let a woman touch me like this before," he said huskily. "I didn't like it until now."

Her eyes searched his, and she shifted restlessly on the coverlet, hungry, aching for something without a name, without an image.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly, searching her eyes. "Tell me. I'll do anything you want me to."

She swallowed, and her lips parted unsteadily. She took his head in her hands and tugged at it, lifting her body. And he understood without her having to put it into words.

"Here?" he whispered tenderly, and put his open mouth completely over the swollen tip of her breast.

She moaned helplessly. It was beyond her wildest imaginings of what passion would feel like. Her body was in control. Her mind could only watch, it couldn't slow down what was happening. She twisted the cool, thick strands of his blond hair while he smoothed his warm mouth over her breasts and stomach, her faint cries encouraging him, her body welcoming him.

His mouth slid back up to meet hers. And as she opened her own lips to welcome him, she felt his body slowly cover her.

Her eyes opened then as his mouth lifted fractionally, and she watched his face, hard with passion, as his body fit itself perfectly to her slenderness.

She barely breathed, her eyes wide and full of new knowledge as she felt him intimately and knew without words how badly he wanted her.

"Are you afraid this time?" he whispered quietly.

"I should be," she replied. She reached up and touched his face as he drew his chest slowly, teasingly over her breasts.

Her breath caught, but she traced his eyebrows, his cheeks, his mouth with fingers that trembled and adored him.

His big, callused hands slid under her back, lifting her up into the curve of his body. "I want you, Abby," he whispered, bending to her mouth as his body shuddered over hers. "I want you so much...."

She curled her arms around his head and held his mouth against her eager one. "I want you, too, Calhoun," she whispered into his mouth.

He almost lost control completely then. He kissed her until he had to stop for breath, his body shuddering rhythmically,

his knee between her long, soft legs, his hand low on her hips. He felt her trembling and heard her whimper. Oddly, it brought him to his senses.

Slowly, so slowly, he rolled onto his side, bringing her with him, cradling her against his damp body. He slid his hands to her head, holding her forehead to his throbbing chest.

"Lie still, honey," he whispered raggedly when she began to move again. He caught her hips and stilled them. "Just lie against me and breathe. It will be all right in a minute. Lie still, baby."

Her hands were flat against his chest, trembling there in the thick mat of hair, and she felt his unsteady breathing against her hair. He was as shaken as she was, but why had he stopped? She didn't understand. If he wanted her, then why had he stopped?

"Sweet thing," he breathed when the tremor was almost out of his big arms. "Sweet, precious thing, another few seconds and nothing on earth would have stopped me, did you know?"

She nuzzled her head against him. "Why did you stop?" she asked dazedly.

He tilted her head back on the pillow and smiled into her drowsy eyes. "Don't you know?"

"Because I'm not blond, I guess," she sighed, almost weeping with frustration and disappointment.

"Because you're not lucid," he corrected. He brushed the long, soft hair away from her face. "Abby, you're half lit."

"I want you," she moaned.

"I know. I can see it. Feel it." He hugged her close for a minute, because he was almost in control now. Then he let go and quickly and efficiently slid her into her gown. "Sit up, honey."

She did, and he eased back the covers and helped her get under them. She lay quietly beneath two layers of fabric and blinked at him sleepily. "Calhoun, stay with me," she whispered.

He smiled gently, his dark eyes possessive on her flushed face. "Justin would love finding us in your bed together.

He'd probably make me marry you."

"And I guess that would be the end of your world," she replied.

His expression hardened. He drew in a slow breath and touched her cheek gently, thoughtfully. "I've been alone a long time. I like being my own boss, answering to no one. I've been a rounder, and in some ways I still am. I'm a bad marriage risk."

"One woman wouldn't satisfy you, I guess," she murmured, hiding her eyes from him. All her dreams were dead now.

Every last one. He wanted her, but not enough for marriage. He was telling her so.

He shrugged, confused and feeling faintly hunted. "One woman never has," he said curtly. "I don't want to be tied."

"God forbid that I should try," Abby said, forcing a smile. "Don't worry, Calhoun, I was just...experimenting. I wondered why you were so rough with me the other morning, and I wanted to see if passion made people rough. I guess it does, because that's how I felt tonight. Thanks for the...the lesson."

He frowned slightly, searching her eyes. "Is that all it felt like. An experiment? A lesson in making love?"

"Tyler said I needed teaching," she said with a yawn, missing the flash of fury in his face. "But I don't anymore." She closed her eyes and turned her face against the pillow. "I'm sleepy."

Calhoun sat watching her, his eyes stormy. She'd used him. That was all she'd wanted. She'd been experimenting, seeing how it felt to be touched. Damn her!

He got up, glaring at the lacy bra he'd removed from her soft breasts just before she'd let him touch them. Let him!

God, she'd helped him! His blood ran hot at the memory of how uninhibited she'd been with him tonight. Had she been competing with Shelby, or had it been curiosity alone? Could she care about him and be hiding it? And how did he feel? Did he just want her physically, or was it more than that? Could he bear the loss of his freedom? Because it would come to that if he took her. Marriage. Trap.

He tossed the bra onto the chair beside her bed and took a long last look at her sleeping face. She didn't need to be blond.

She was exquisite. Her long hair was spread out around her, her lashes were feathering her flushed cheek, and her parted lips were pink and faintly swollen because he'd been hungry. She was delicious. Virginal and sweet-tasting and exquisitely beautiful without her clothes. He wondered if he'd ever get over the taste of her—if he'd be able to forget.

Hell, would he ever be able to have another woman, or would the memory of Abby always stand in the way?

He opened the door and went out, closing it quietly behind him. He should never have touched her in the first place, he thought furiously.

He had to get away for a while. Far away, so that he could think things through. Now that he'd touched Abby, it was going to be the purest kind of hell keeping his hands off her. And Justin wouldn't like having that sort of loveplay going on, not if it threatened Abby. Calhoun knew that if he took Abby into his arms again, it wasn't going to end with a few kisses. He wanted her too badly, and she was too responsive. He aroused her as no man ever had. That meant she'd give herself to him with hardly any coaxing. Calhoun was terrified that he might lose his head and take her.

He didn't want marriage. He didn't want ties. Abby wouldn't understand that. In her world, lovemaking meant marriage. Maybe in his, too, when the woman was a virgin. He didn't like the noose she was tying around his neck, but he hated the thought of never touching her again almost as much.

She was heaven to love. Her mouth was young and sweet and so eager to learn. Her body was nectar. Just the sight of it made him drunk, not to mention the exquisite feel of it between his hands, under his skin.

Abby, he groaned inwardly as he made his way to his own room. He couldn't have her and he couldn't give her up. He didn't know what in hell he was going to do. Maybe when he got back from wherever he wound up he would have reached a decision.