Chapter Nine
F or a few minutes after they left Bozeman behind them, it was silent in the truck.
It was dark, nearly half past ten. He hadn’t realized so much time had passed while they were having dinner.
He was bored easily but he’d really enjoyed spending time with Ellie.
She was easy to talk to even if she did ask way too many questions.
And she’d shared something about her past.
She seemed relaxed. He, on the other hand, was restless. Trying to keep things light—when all he could think about was getting his hands on her, touching her, making love to her until neither of them could see straight—was taking its toll.
Ellie seemed completely unaware of how captivating she was. It was so refreshing and so sexy. But then he found everything about her sexy. Keeping his hands to himself was fast becoming a problem. He had promised to behave, but if he didn’t touch her right now, he might just burst into flames.
Picking up her hand, he laced his fingers with hers.
“You need two hands on the wheel,” she said.
“I need to touch you.”
“Becket…”
He kissed her hand. “I love my name on your lips.”
She groaned out loud. “Enough with the corny lines!”
“There is nothing corny about the way you make me feel. Which brings me to my proposal. We haven’t talked about that yet.”
“What proposal?”
“About us.”
“Oh, Becket, stop it. You’re not interested in anything serious, everyone knows it, why…?”
“Exactly my point. You don’t want to get married and neither do I, but when we’re together, something happens…”
“Seriously…”
“You’ve felt it too, I know it. Your body reacts to me the same way mine reacts to you,” he said, his eyes on the road. “And it’s no use trying to deny it, I know how you react.”
“You can’t say things like that to me, Becket!”
Smiling, he glanced at her. “We can talk about other stuff all night and try to ignore what going on between us, but why do that? Come to think of it, there’s a country song for a situation like this, you know?”
“What situation?”
“One where I don’t want to waste time talking about ordinary things, just tell you how much I want you.”
For a moment, she just stared at him. Then she burst out laughing. “That’s lame, even for you.”
She might have laughed, but he’d seen the way her eyes had darkened.
Just for a moment, but that was enough for him.
“You should listen to the song sometime. The point is, Ellie Campbell, we like each other, there is something here. My proposition is that we spend time together. If it’s merely lust, it will run its course.
If not, we’ll need to have another conversation. ”
She was quiet. As they neared the entrance to the ranch, he glanced at her again. “The turnoff to the ranch is coming up. I can take you directly back to the guesthouse or we can swing by my house. There are two girls and a lad dying to meet you.”
He slowed down and stopped across from the entrance. “Ellie?”
Finally, she looked at him. She didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t hiding what she was feeling from him anymore.
“You’ll have to tell me, Ellie. I need to hear the words.”
Groaning out loud, she rubbed her face. “I’m going to regret this, I know, but I want to go to your house.”
Swallowing, he kept looking at her. For the first time in his life he wasn’t sure about a woman. “You do know we’re gonna kiss and make out, right?”
Smiling, she nodded.
His chest was fast becoming way too small for his emotions. “And I’m not going to stop there.”
She nodded again.
“I’m going to undress you. Slowly. Those very sexy naked shoulders have been driving me crazy all night.”
Her eyes flashed.
“We are going to make love and I’m not going to stop before I’ve tasted every inch of your very sexy body.” His throat was tight, his last words a mere whisper. “But only if that’s what you also want. If not, I’ll take you back to the guesthouse right now.”
Her eyes glittering like a thousand stars, she smiled tremulously. “It’s what I want as well. So, what are you waiting for?”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m not wearing a bra,” she breathed.
The punch of desire her words elicited had him reeling. The urge to touch her, to drag her closer to him, was overwhelming. But if he reached out his hand now, they would end up making love right here in his truck and that was not where he wanted their first time to be.
Cussing under his breath, he put the truck in gear and turned onto the ranch road. “You’re killing me, you know that?” he got out.
*
Ellie was going to burst into flames or stop breathing altogether.
What she was about to do was reckless, she knew it, but it felt so right.
Besides, every fiber in her body was egging her on.
Ellie tried to inhale, but either her body had shrunk, or all the oxygen had disappeared, because she couldn’t catch her breath.
Finally, Becket stopped the truck. It was dark, so she couldn’t make out much, but a porch light was on, illuminating the front of the house.
“Don’t move,” he said as he jumped out of the truck.
No problem. She couldn’t move even if she’d wanted to. Her legs had turned to jelly, her insides were a quivering mess. She wasn’t sure any messages from her brain would reach the rest of her body while she was in this state.
Becket opened the door and held out his hands. As if she’d done this a hundred times, she put a hand in his and as earlier today, he picked her up and gently put her down.
“Welcome to my home.” With a warm hand at her back he steered her toward the front door. From inside came excited barks and yelps. “Let me go inside first, if you don’t mind. I’ll have to introduce you.”
He unlocked the door and entered the house. Ellie stayed where she was, watching the scene. Crouching down, Becket greeted the dogs. A Labrador and two Golden Retrievers if she wasn’t mistaken. The dogs stood for a minute to be petted before they turned to look at her.”
Becket held out a hand toward her. “This is Ellie.”
Slowly, she entered the house and took Becket’s hand.
“Now behave,” Becket said as all three dogs moved toward her.
“Hello, guys,” she said, holding out a hand as she knelt next to Becket.
The Labrador took the lead and sniffed her hand.
“This is Harper,” Becket said.
“Hello, Harper,” she crooned and petted the dog. Harper sat back on her haunches and barked.
Ellie dropped her hand. “What did I do?”
“One bark is a yes , usually a happy bark,” Becket chuckled. “She likes you and she’s telling Jack here,” he petted one Golden Retriever, “and Sadie,” his hand caressed the other one behind the ears, “they can accept you.”
Ellie waited. The two Golden Retrievers moved closer, also sniffing her hand. Laughing, she stroked their heads. “Am I accepted?” she asked them.
All three barked joyously.
Taking her hand, Becket helped her up. “They smelled you on me last night, so they know you already.”
She turned away quickly, but not before he’d seen the question in her eyes.
“This is the first time I’ve brought anyone home,” he said.
Sighing, she bent down to pet the dogs again. “You don’t have to lie, Becket, your love life is no secret.”
“Ask the dogs if you don’t believe me.”
She gave him a look. “Oh, really.”
“Really.”
“How do I do that?”
“Talk to them.”
Rolling her eyes, she groaned. “Becket, really…”
“One bark is a yes , two barks a no .”
With another skeptical look, she finally faced the three dogs who had been watching them like spectators watched a tennis match. “Okay, you three. Has Becket here ever brought a woman home?”
All three barked twice.
She still wasn’t happy, though. “How do I know that two barks mean no?”
“Ask them a question with a yes answer.”
“I don’t know what to ask!”
“Ask them if they want to go for a walk.”
“Do you want to go for a walk?”
All three gave a joyous bark and stormed toward the front door.
Impressed, Ellie looked at Becket. “Do all the animals on this ranch talk to people?”
Chuckling, he opened the front door and let the dogs out. “They’ll be happy outside for a while. Can I get you something to drink?” With his eyes on her, he closed the door.
Her heart missed a beat. She shook her head.
“I really want to kiss you now.”
While she could still function, she turned. “Where’s your room?”
His groan gave her goose bumps. He reached her before she could take her next breath. Picking her up in his arms, he cuddled her close. “I’ve dreamed about doing this ever since I caught you in my arms.”
Tentatively, she touched his face. “I’m still not sure why I’m here. You can have any woman you want.”
The muscle in his cheek twitched. “Let’s take this to my room and I’ll show you why you’re here.”
As he walked down the corridor, she swallowed. “I… I have to warn you. I’m… I’m not very good at this.”
“You, Ellie Campbell, kill me with just a look. If I survive the next few hours, you’ll know exactly how good you are at this .”
“And I… I’m not thin. Or tall. I’m short and very curvy for my size. Basically, I’m fat.”
He grinned. “What you are, Ellie, is perfect. And gorgeous. Those curves you’ve mentioned have been driving me nuts. Plus, you have no idea how refreshing it is to take someone to dinner who actually eats her food.”