Redeem Me (28 page)

“Butch and Joanie’s son?”

“That’s the one.” I try to sound nonchalant as a tiny chill runs down my neck.

“I haven’t seen him since Joanie’s funeral. Poor boy. She was lovely. Do you remember her?”

I nod and take a bite of the toast. “From Sunday school.”

“Jack, do you remember Joanie Leer? Died of cancer about a year ago.”

“I remember,” my dad says, and appears to be ignoring us, but I know he’s not. He always hears everything.

“If you don’t want to be with Brian, that’s fine, but please not a rodeo cowboy,” my mother pleads, not missing a thing.

“I only said I saw him. What’s wrong with a rodeo cowboy?”

“Nothing. For someone else’s daughter. I really want you to marry someone with a job. Someone who can take care of you.”

“Can’t a cowboy do that?”
From what I’ve seen, he can take very good care of me.

“Charlotte, please tell me you’re not serious. They’re always on the road. Their income’s not steady. It’s a very difficult life.” My mother’s stern warning is delivered while she fills the dishwasher, as if we’re discussing a fairy tale, a situation so absurd it barely warrants a discussion. She’s still beautiful, even when she’s lecturing me. “I know safe choices aren’t attractive to the young, but believe me you do not belong in that world and he’d wither up and die in yours. Do not underestimate the power of safety in this crazy life.”

“How do you know so much about rodeo cowboys?” I ask.

“Yeah, how do you know so much?” my dad asks. He stares at her over the newspaper.

“Is your stomach flipping?” she asks, and gives him her beautiful smile she’s flashed to quell him my entire life.

“Yes,” he says, and winks at her.

I
pull my robe tight around my neck and sit at the head of the table. Right in front of the most glorious breakfast I’ve ever seen…or smelled. I am spoiled. I inhale the warm, sweet syrup’s aroma that conjures every perfect memory still left in me, and study Noble Sinclair. He might be the human equivalent of syrup—warm, sweet, and perfect.

“So what do you have to get done today?” I ask as he pours himself a cup of coffee. He slides the glass pitcher back in the coffeemaker and takes a sip from the steaming cup. He looks so young, shirtless and in his pajama pants, incapable of running this farm on his own. But he does. Noble can do anything. My eyes linger on his shoulders and I wish he never wore a shirt; it covers my favorite part of him.

“Plowing something? Planting something?” There’s an endless list of things to do now.

Noble keeps his back to me as he lingers at the counter. He rubs a ribbon between his fingers and looks out the window at the fields on the side of the house. The ribbon is blue with silver wired edges and is wrapped around five bridal magazines my friend Violet gave me when Noble proposed, almost a year ago. The fabric facing out is dusty and faded now.

Why didn’t I ever open them?

“I want you to go to the shore with me.” Noble breaks my contemplation. I’m surprised. He’s barely had time to sleep lately, let alone take the day off. We’ve both been busy.

“I would love to.” My eyes traipse across Noble’s chest. He and the shore are two of my favorite things. “Will you promise to keep your shirt off the whole day?”

“If you do the same,” he says, always so naughty.

Noble sits on the table near the Belgian waffle he made me. He sips his coffee as I cut through the Jersey strawberries and let the syrup waterfall throughout the waffle. It’s as close to heaven as possible on a plate. Giving Noble a waffle maker last year for Christmas was a stroke of genius.

He notices the whipped cream and exchanges his coffee for the canister. Noble tilts the whipped cream can at my waffle and raises his eyebrows to me.

“Let me have it.”

He forms a perfect whipped cream heart and places the canister down next to my plate. My heart rate spikes as I grab his hand and hold his whip-cream-covered finger in front of my smiling face. I lick the tip and take his finger in my mouth. His whole finger. I slide my teeth down the side before sucking the tip as I run my tongue over it. Noble never takes his eyes off his hand and my mouth.

When I release his finger from my teeth, Noble stands and drops his pajama pants to the floor. He takes the whipped cream and sprays some on his now-hard penis with the naughtiest look ever.

“You missed a little,” he says.

I take my tongue to the cream and raise my eyes to Noble as I lick the tip and then my lips. I take him in my mouth completely, and he closes his eyes and raises his face to the ceiling. The sight of him pleasured spreads the heat through my body and I shift in my seat, wanting him in me.

I hold Noble’s balls in one hand as I stroke him with the other. My mouth finds him again and with only a few minutes of attention, I finish my lovely off.

“Aaah. You have no idea how good that feels.”

“Oh, I think I do,” I say, trying to ignore the throbbing between my legs.

In one swoop, Noble lifts me to my feet and pulls my shirt over my head. He shamelessly caresses my breasts with his eyes. They rise under his stare, wanting his familiar touch. “Yes, that’s exactly how you should ride to the shore with me.”

“We’ll get arrested.”

“It’ll be worth it. I’ll spend my days rotting in the cell, imagining you topless.”

Noble kisses me, gently at first. He’s in control, as usual. I, however, am not. I wrap my leg around his waist and grind against the front of him. I pull myself up him and want him inside of me. Immediately.

“What am I going to do with you, Charlotte? You’re insatiable,” he whispers in my ear as if it’s our little secret. I cannot get enough of Noble Sinclair.

He bends slightly and hoists me over his shoulder. He practically runs up the stairs, jolting me with each step, my arms holding on to the back of him. Noble carries me to the bedroom we’ve been sharing most nights of the week and throws me onto the bed. The devotion in his stare, always filled with the same promise—my home is with him—sends heat to every fraction of my body and I acknowledge the depth to which I need him. It’s still profound. I rise up to my knees and wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer to me. I grab him and try to quiet the throbbing between my legs with him in my hand. I kiss him, my tongue telling him I won’t wait any longer, and when I’m sure he’s gotten the message, I lean back and pull him down with me. I want him on top of me. I need the weight of his love to settle me, now and forever.

He wraps each arm under my shoulders as he pulls me toward him. Noble finds me more than ready as he buries his lips on my neck and slowly enters me. He lowers his naked chest to mine and we are one. He is touching me everywhere. He rocks back and forth, never leaving the top of me, always connected. Again, and again, and again I take Noble, wanting more of him every time. He is controlled, deliberately driving me to my breaking point. It’s his rhythm that is his gift. I take in air and acknowledge Noble has many gifts.

I tilt my pelvis and let him stroke me as he comes into me and I remember to breathe. I thread my fingers through his hair and bury my face in his shoulder and release every thought from my mind except the touch of Noble Sinclair. My notched breathing conveys my diminishing hold and I can feel him smiling on my neck.

“Come for me, Charlotte,” he whispers, and I oblige, crumbling around him. He doesn’t stop, though; he’s in me again and I close my eyes as he gives himself away and I again pull him to me.

He anchors me. I hold Noble close, not a chance of something getting between us. Sometimes it feels as if he’ll never be close enough.

Forgive Me

“The thing he loves most in the world will kill him. It’s only a matter of time…”

College student Charlotte O’Brien is lost and she can’t find her way home. Devastated by her parents’ tragic deaths, she aches for any kind of connection…and finds it in a man who is all wrong for her. Jason Leer is a rough-hewn steer wrestler from Oklahoma—and the hottest thing Charlotte has ever laid eyes on. Yet he has his own dark secrets…

Burying herself in Jason, Charlotte soon discovers that life doesn’t have to be so painful. When they’re together, their passion eclipses everything—and Charlotte can finally begin to see a way out of the darkness of her past. Fighting for a future with Jason won’t be easy, but for the first time since her parents’ deaths, this lost soul might have finally found a place that feels like home.

One long, hot summer would never be enough…

Attorney Hannah Sterling lives a life she’s worked hard for. So when she unexpectedly inherits an inn, Hannah decides to take that long-overdue holiday and settle her eccentric grandmother’s estate. She knew there would be challenges, but what’s hardest about returning to Mirabelle, Florida, is facing the man who gave her the most passionate summer of her life—and then broke her heart.

Nathanial Shepard never forgot the redheaded goddess who lit up his world and got away. Now that she’s home, Shep vows to make up for their years apart—and if the fire in her kiss is any indication, they’re well on their way. But when a devastating secret from their past threatens their future, Shep must fight to heal Hannah’s heart. Because this time, their love will truly be unforgettable…

She knows the rules of the game…but she can’t resist his moves

Publicist Abby Fields’s career is on the rise. And with failed romances in her past, she has no time for men. When a job opportunity opens up with a sports team in Florida, Abby eagerly packs up and heads south. Yet after a work event in Mirabelle, Florida, Abby finds herself in the arms of a hockey player whose heart-stopping smile leads her to the steamiest night of her life…

Logan James is hot on and off the ice. With his team on an epic winning streak, life couldn’t get better…until he meets Abby, the fiery redhead assigned to protect his team’s image. Now Logan’s finding it difficult to concentrate on anything other than getting Abby undressed. But after a secret is leaked to the press, the taste of betrayal opens old wounds. If they can’t learn to trust each other, they may risk losing more than their hearts.

Can a secret crush…

Jo Walsh has loved Cameron Mitchell for as long as she can remember. Whether front and center in her life or on the periphery, the tall, brooding artist has made his presence seductively and irresistibly known. But whenever they start to get close, Cam pulls away. Jo’s tired of keeping her feelings in a box Cam is afraid to open. If he wants her, he’ll have to prove it. And if he doesn’t, Jo will need to know the
real
reason why…

…become the love of a lifetime?

How do you walk away from your soul mate? Cam wishes he knew. No matter how far he runs from Jo, he can’t resist looking back at the silver eyes that seem to see right through him. But as well as Jo thinks she understands Cam, the dark truth about his past is something she shouldn’t have to handle. Cam’s sure that setting Jo free is the right thing to do. Too bad his heart has other ideas…