Courting Her Rebel: (Taken by Cowboys: Part 2) A Billionaire Western Romance (2 page)

Gently he eased his fingers out of her. She leaned her head back against the door, still moaning. She felt wrung out as a wet rag. He lowered her shaking leg to the floor and, bracing her back with his arms, kissed her trembling mouth long and deeply.

He led her away from the door into the bedroom, where they both collapsed on the bed. Immediately he gathered her in his arms, as he had that afternoon after they’d made love on the boulder. She was already giving way to the oozy contentment of perfect satisfaction, about to doze off, when she was suddenly aware that she hadn’t reciprocated his favor. It felt a little selfish—and definitely not what any previous boyfriend of hers would have allowed.

“Can I—” she began awkwardly.

He cut her off. “No,” he said. “I wanted to pleasure you. Thank you for letting me.”

She breathed out a long sigh. All she wanted was for him to wrap his arms around her, take her into his warmth, and keep her there.

“I just want to hold you all night,” he whispered. “Will you let me do that, too?”

She felt her heart stutter. Without a word, she leaned into his arms. She had always been conscious of her body when a boyfriend was spooning her, since she was no delicate slip of a woman. Spencer, though, was broad-chested and muscular. Her body fit perfectly with his, making her feel feminine and protected. Finally, the sleep that had eluded her before fell over her like a warm summer mist, making everything else disappear.

Spencer was Nate’s best friend. They’d been around the block and back again, sharing highs, lows, and everything in between. They’d had their occasional squabbles throughout the years, but never anything that couldn’t be resolved with a joke and a beer.

Nate couldn’t imagine wishing anything but the best for his buddy and business partner—until he saw the way Spencer looked at Jess across the table that night at dinner, and the look Jess gave him in return. He’d felt hot, then cold, then something totally unfamiliar deep inside of him. The only thing he could compare it to was the awakening of an angry beast that had long been hibernating. He could almost hear the beast growling, and he didn’t like it.

He knew exactly what had aroused this predatory instinct. From the moment he’d laid eyes on Jess he’d been smitten. She was lively and vivacious, and he loved the adorable way her feelings played openly on her lovely face. Not to mention she had the most tempting, curvaceous figure he had ever seen—it was begging him to lay his hands on it and explore every undulation. He wanted her, plain and simple.

But Spencer had gotten to her first—if there was any question of that, the look they’d exchanged had made it clear. They had never fought over a woman before, and he didn’t want to start now. At least, that’s what he’d told himself when Spencer had told him that he’d kissed Jess the day before. Nate had pretended to be happy for him when he could feel his insides knotting.

He’d noticed his friend’s absence that afternoon after the hike. Spencer had chalked it up to one of the guests getting injured, but he’d noted the moment of hesitation in Spencer’s story. Spencer was good at a lot of things, but lying just wasn’t one of them. Nate had decided not to push it, though—he’d been too confused by his own feelings, and besides, the dining lodge full of guests wasn’t the place.

Any remaining good intentions disappeared when he’d saw Spencer steal away from movie night in the main lodge. At first, he’d wondered if something was wrong and was about to jog out after him when another feeling took hold—a kind of inner instinct. “Hold down the fort for me for a minute, will you?” he asked Caroline, and then slipped out into the night. Tailing his best friend would have felt sneaky in any other situation, but the green-eyed monster of jealousy was driving him.

He realized with a sinking feeling that his suspicions had been correct as he observed, from several hundred yards away, Spencer walk up to Jess’s cabin. He saw the door open and the dim silhouette of a woman, curvaceous and scantily clad as a noir film femme fatale, appear in the doorframe. He saw Spencer disappear inside and close the door behind him.

Something inside Nate burst into flames like a pile of dry leaves that only needs the slightest spark to start an inferno. He hurled all kinds of terrible names at Spencer in his mind. He turned away numbly, trying to push away images of what Spencer could be doing to Jess inside.

Then, walking on unsteady feet back towards the lodge, he made up his mind. He wasn’t going to take Jess—she was going to come to him willingly.

*

When Jess opened her eyes, she wasn’t sure where she was. She decided she must be dreaming. She was wearing her black lace nightie with nothing underneath and being held in a man’s warm, strong arms in a room that was decidedly not her cramped New York City apartment. The man’s chest was broad and hard against her back, and he made her feel safe, protected, and sexy at the same time. That certainly wasn’t her real life.

Her eyes fluttered open and she realized where she was: in a cabin at a guest ranch in Wyoming, being spooned by a handsome, and very real, lover. For once her fantasy was real.

Spencer’s hand lightly tickled her rib. “Good morning,” he murmured in her ear.

“Morning,” she said. She sighed with contentment, grateful to be awake and feel his body against hers. Sunlight poured through the cracks in the curtains, a brightness that couldn’t contain itself. She closed her eyes again as her lips widened into a smile.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“Like a rock,” she said. “I didn’t kick you, did I?”

“Maybe a few foot twitches,” he said mildly.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes springing open again. She felt her face grow hot.

“Don’t be,” he said, pulling her on top of him. He smelled faintly of pine and musk.
Mmmm.
“Even if it means taking a few jabs, I’d rather be here with you than anywhere else.”

She flushed, this time with the pleasure of his words—and the full contact of her scantily clad body against his. He was still fully dressed in the same neat jeans and white cotton tee shirt he had been wearing the night before. He looked as handsome as a Levi’s model.

She leaned down and softly kissed his neck. He uttered a low moan and she kissed him harder, then nibbled on his earlobe. She could feel his manhood stiffen. She remembered from their encounter at the lake how large and powerful he was—and from the physical reminder, memories didn’t do justice to reality. She rubbed her pelvis against his, running her hand down to feel his hardness while his own hands raced to cup her breasts. He slipped them beneath the neckline, fondling her full breasts and teasing her nipples. The sudden, sensual contact was so intense that she felt herself explode with wetness. She rubbed against him harder, spreading her thighs slightly so she was straddling him with her legs.

He breathed in sharply. “You’ve got me all hot and bothered,” he murmured, then took his hands off her breasts and straightened the lace neckline of her nightie.
Hey! Come back!
she heard her desire cry. “But I need to stop myself while I’m still capable of some restraint.”

She moaned and slid off of him, landing on the bed on her back. She closed her eyes. Her breasts were aching for his touch and the spot between her legs was on fire. “You’re killing me with your ‘restraint.’”

He uttered a low laugh. “That makes two of us, beautiful.” She felt his hand in her hair and opened her eyes. He had rolled onto his side and was gazing down at her. “But when I make love to you again, I’m going to take my time and do it right.” He ran a hand slowly from her knees, up her thighs, and over her abdomen, lightly grazing her swollen cleft. Her body remembered how easily he had slid those fingers into her the night before, how they had drawn her pleasure out like a magician pulling a scarf from a hat. She shuddered and arched her back.
Take me, take me, take me!
her desire screamed.

“I’ve got to get going,” he said, placing a soft kiss on her lips. Before she could reach out and pull him back, he had rolled off the bed and was crouching to lace up his boots.

She rolled onto her side. “Where are you going?” she asked breathlessly.

“Just the beginning of another long day,” he said. “I’m already late for my morning meeting with Nate, and then I’m leaving the ranch for most of the day to get some business done in Cheyenne.”

At the mention of Nate, she felt something stir inside her. He seemed to notice, because his expression turned serious. “Jess, I want to get something clear,” he said.

“What’s that?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm. She didn’t want to betray her attraction to Nate—it would be hurtful and just plain
wrong.

“I care about you, and I want to get to know you,” Spencer said. He seemed to be considering his words carefully. “But I don’t want to hold you back from anything.”

Hold her back? What was he talking about? “What do you mean?”

“To be clear, I’m a faithful man,” he said. “But I’m not a jealous one.”

Faithful? Jealous? What was he trying to say? “I don’t understand,” she said, her brow wrinkling.

“I’ve seen the way Nate looks at you,” he blurted out. “And I’ve seen the way you’ve looked at him back.”

Her breath hitched. Had she really been that obvious? “I really didn’t mean to—“ she began.

He waved his hand. “You misunderstood,” he said. “I’m not calling you out on anything. I’m telling you that if you’re interested in Nate, you shouldn’t feel guilty about following your heart.”

Could he really be giving her
carte blanche
to pursue another man? Now this was something new. She was floored.

“That’s quite considerate of you,” she managed. “But I think one man is all that I can handle.”

His face broke into a smile. He looked so incredibly handsome, she could hardly believe he had spent the whole night in her bed. And now he was going to leave for a whole day?

A whirlpool of feelings swirled inside her, longing, desire, and desperation combining like currents eddying in a creek. “When will I see you again?” she said.

“As soon as humanly possible,” he said, pulling the knot of his right boot tight and standing up. He cast her a longing look, letting his gaze ride down her body from top to bottom so slowly and deliberately that it sent the same shiver through her body as his lightly grazing fingers had. “Don’t forget that promise.”

His promise to make thorough, sensual love to her? “Believe me, I’ll hold you to it,” she said.

*

“That’s
it
?” Jess held her iPhone away from her as her best friend screeched at her from fifteen hundred miles away.

“Yes, Dani, that’s it,” she said when it was finally safe to return her iPhone to her ear. When her phone had rung as she was rushing off to the main lodge to meet her riding instructor and she’d seen Dani’s name on the screen, she’d hesitated before picking up the call. So much had happened in the short time since she’d arrived at Getaway, and she wasn’t sure how much of it she was ready to reveal. It felt wrong to screen Dani’s calls, though—after all, they’d been best friends since they were nine years old—so she’d answered. Now she was regretting it.

“You leave your job and your life here to go sing campfire songs at some honky-tonk resort in the middle of nowhere, and you’re not even having a
Dirty Dancing
-esque romance,” Dani was haranguing her. At least her voice was now at a more reasonable volume. “I don’t know, Jess. I can’t say I really see the appeal.”

Oh, if you only knew . . .
, she thought, feeling at once guilty and slightly smug. “You don’t have to see the appeal,” she responded, rankled. “It might not sound very exciting to you, but
I’m
happy.”

She realized it came out a little defensive. It was lucky for her that Dani was not one to get easily offended. “If you say so. I’m glad you’re happy, of course,” Dani said. “I just hope this isn’t the beginning of one of those quarter-life crises you hear so much about. I was just reading in the
Guardian
. . .”

She zoned out as Dani launched into the summary of an article she’d read about twenty-somethings who decided to go Amish and get off the grid. Dani worked at a publishing house and was reading constantly, so she always had some “next big thing” to gnaw Jess’s ear with. It was just as well. The longer Dani talked, the less likely Jess was to spill the beans about Spencer. She didn’t feel good about lying to her best friend for life, the one with whom she had shared absolutely everything starting in fifth grade, from fears to crushes to two halves of a matching heart-shaped necklace. She didn’t know when she had last lied to Dani or withheld important information from her, if ever. But something had stopped her from gushing to her best friend about her dark, handsome lover. She didn’t quite know what it was. After all, Dani would probably be thrilled for her. She was always telling Jess that she needed more fun in her life.

As Dani continued to chatter, Jess almost dropped the phone. A devilishly handsome man in a plaid shirt, ripped jeans and a baseball cap, a large duffel bag slung over his back, was approaching her. Speaking of best friends.

“Gotta go Dani, callyoulaterbye!” she said in a rush, clicking the phone off as Dani screeched in protest on the other end.

“Please, don’t cut off your conversation on account of me,” Nate said. A lazy smile overtook his handsome features, his bright green eyes sparkling. The confusing conversation with Spencer from that morning came flooding back to her, and her heart did a little dance in her chest.

“That’s alright. I was finished anyway,” she managed, waving her hand in a way that she hoped looked casual.

Nate was still staring at her. She tried to keep the bright smile on her face as she searched for the right thing to say. Somehow all of the small talk had run out of her mind.

“Ready to go?” he asked finally.

She knit her brow in confusion. “Ready to go where?”

“Why, didn’t you sign up for a riding lesson?” he asked.

“I did, yes,” she said. She had arranged a beginning riding lesson with Caroline the day before, figuring she might as well test out her sense of adventure now that she had the chance. She had come here for an outdoorsy vacation, after all—she hadn’t been counting on any cowboy romances.

“You’ll love it!” Caroline had said, promising to set her up with an expert riding instructor. “Show up outside the main lodge ten o’clock tomorrow.” So there she was—and the only other person outside the lodge was Nate.

“Well, meet your teacher,” he said, taking his red baseball cap off with a flourish. “I’ll be your wrangler for the day.”

Nate
would be her riding instructor? Caroline had neglected to mention that part. Not that it mattered. “Well!” she exclaimed. “What a nice surprise.”