7
“O we you?” he repeated . Releasing her wrist, he rose from the bed, folding his arms across his chest and staring down at her. “Just how do you figure that?”
“You lied to me.” She glared up at him and crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking his stance.
“I explained about that,” he said, taking a step forward. Cat took a step back.
“What more do you want me to do?” He took another step forward. Cat took another back.
“I want you to make love to me,” she said, her voice gritty even to her own ears.
“Make love to you?” He took two steps forward. Cat took several back, until she felt the dresser at her back and knew she was stuck. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Yes, I do,” she argued, not a bit intimidated when he placed a hand on either side of her, trapping her. “Are you attracted to me, yes or no?”
“Cat, how can you even ask that?” he groaned, lowering his lips to her throat.
“You wouldn’t touch me because of your friendship with my brother,” Cat said. “Are you worried about your friendship now?”
“Only with you,” he muttered against the tender skin below her ear. “Cat, I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Shh,” she ordered, not wanting to hear the words. She wanted only touches between them. Words hurt and, for once in her life, she was tired of them.
“Then make love to me. Please, Jared.”
Her pleas were his undoing. Instinct and need overrode any honorable scruples he might have suffered. Primitive wanting pounded him. He couldn’t fight it any longer. In the span of mere days, she’d wrapped herself around his heart like no one else ever had.
“Sweet, so sweet,” he muttered as his lips descended to hers. She was so soft, so warm and fragile. He couldn’t get enough of her. He buried one hand in the fine tendrils of her hair and curved the other around her hip, pulling her up against him until she cradled him.
As though she was caught in the same haze of heat that consumed him, Cat melted in his embrace. Passion washed over him in great aching torrents, leaving him feeling shaken from the inside out.
As his fingers cradled her scalp, he plunged his tongue deeply into her mouth and wooed her into a response. Jared felt the deep trembles that racked her body. With a moan, she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his knee-wilting kiss with one of her own.
They broke apart with their need to breathe. Still holding her hips against his, Jared ran his other hand through her hair. He was fighting for control, but the feel of her curves pressing into him was rapidly doing him in.
“I’m sorry,” he said, trying to get his rioting desire under control.
“Oh, no you don’t.” She narrowed her eyes at him. They were green in passion, and Jared felt himself swallow nervously under her seductive gaze.
With the slow, deliberate movement of a woman who knew what she wanted, Cat buried both of her hands in his thick, blond hair and pulled his lips down to meet hers. Had she really thought she could deny her feelings for him? Had she really thought she could just shut them down? This was Jared. She could no more deny him, or her feelings for him, than she could stop breathing. Her hurt and her anger vanished like shadows in the dark. The only thing she responded to now was the stark need in Jared’s face.
She used every tool she knew. Every tool he’d taught her. As her tongue delicately traced the outline of his lips, she pressed her hips into his in an invitation he couldn’t mistake.
“Catherine,” Jared groaned and leaned into her. Cat found herself pinned between his hot body and the dresser, but she didn’t mind. His mouth savaged hers, and she arched into it, refusing to let him take charge of the kiss.
He ripped his mouth from hers and rested his forehead in between her breasts. She could feel his breath through her cotton nightshirt, and she shivered. She felt his body stiffen, and she decided to up the scales. She lowered her mouth to his throat and nuzzled a path up to his neck to his earlobe.
“Jared?” she whispered, her voice a husky alto.
“Hmm.” His response was little more than a deep groan.
“I want you,” she whispered into the shell of his ear. “Won’t you please make love to me?”
His control, which had been teetering on the brink of submission, went careening over the cliff, pulling Jared with it. Hauling her up into his arms, Jared let the raging need that had taunted him for days take over. There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t ache or throb to possess this woman. He gritted his teeth as he tried to stifle the lust coursing through him. He was determined not to let his greed for her consume his need to show her how much she meant to him.
With ease, he laid her on the motel bed. She was breathtakingly lovely with her pointed chin and luminous eyes. Her hair spread out on his pillow just as he’d imagined it a thousand times. He hoped to be the gentle, ardent lover her former fiancé obviously hadn’t been. But he hadn’t counted on his desire for her.
The need he felt was almost painful in its intensity. He didn’t know how long he could hang on or how good he would be able to make it for her. Especially if she kept looking at him with such tenderness and caring and...love.
It took his breath away, the realization that she did love him. He doubted she even realized it herself. But it was there, shining in her eyes as surely as the sun. He felt humbled by it.
He refused to examine his own feelings. To do so would be to shatter the beauty of the moment. He knew his feelings were deep. Deeper than they’d ever been for any woman, but love? He was afraid he was incapable of that intangible, evanescent emotion. Instead, he concentrated on the woman before him, with her arms open wide and willing.
The moment he lay between her thighs, Jared knew he was a goner. The steel control he’d always been able to maintain with the opposite sex evaporated like mist in the sun. His hands swept up her torso, his thumbs pausing to wreak havoc with her nipples, while his tongue once again claimed her mouth.
With a soft sigh, Cat surrendered as he advanced upon her. She beckoned him closer by tightening her arms about him. She arched her back, pushing her breasts into his hands while her fingers sought his flesh. She pushed at his boxers, until he let go of her long enough to shove them off himself. Cat sighed as her hands roamed and stroked and taunted at will.
Jared groaned at the feel of her questing fingers. He pulled his lips from hers and began to kiss a trail down her throat, while he unfastened the buttons to her nightshirt and yanked it over her head. He released a pent-up breath when at last his hands were able to caress the precious flesh that had been making his life hell for days.
Cat writhed beneath his touch. With callused fingers and a hot, wet tongue, he stroked her everywhere at once. As he ran his lips across one breast and then the other, she felt a liquid heat pool in her belly.
“Oh, Jared...please,” she begged, reaching for him, but he eluded her grasp.
“Oh no, honey, I’ve waited too long for this to be rushed. We’re just beginning,” he said and splayed one hand across her abdomen, holding her still, while he kissed his way down her body. He kissed the inside of her thigh, and laughed when she bucked against him. “You’re so beautiful, Cat.”
She whimpered and he lowered his head to the juncture of her thighs. He sought out her secrets with his tongue, and she thrashed against the bed.
Cat had never been loved like this before. No one had ever made her feel this brand of tormented pleasure before. Heaven help her, she wanted more.
“Jared!” she sighed.
“Come for me, Cat,” he coaxed, his mouth moving against her. “Come for me.”
She had no choice. An explosion of heat rolled through her, and she arched taut as waves of intense pleasure convulsed within her.
She was breathing through her teeth, hissing with pleasure, but Jared gave her no chance to loiter in her solitary splendor. Lifting her knees, he pressed himself against her hot, slick opening with a groan that could have been ecstasy or agony.
“Cat.” His voice was gruff with lust held in check. “Cat, look at me.”
She did. Sweat coated him, causing their bodies to sizzle and stick together. Why this made Cat’s insides knot, she didn’t know, but they did just the same. She lifted her legs and wrapped them around Jared’s waist, never breaking contact with his gaze.
“Hang on,” Jared ordered, sounding as if he’d rather die than wait. He reached for his shaving kit, and Cat suddenly knew what he needed. Grabbing the kit for him, she pulled out a foil packet and ripped it open with her teeth. Her insides were still shuddering, and she couldn’t think of any way to ease the throb except by having him come inside her.
She’d barely rolled the condom about him, when he shoved into her with one sure stroke. She tightened her legs about him while her body hugged his. Ah, this was bliss.
The scent of her, the softness of her, the feel of her skin beneath his. It ruined Jared. It beckoned to him like a siren’s call and left him wasted upon the rocks. He couldn’t get enough of her, and he thrust deeper and deeper into her tight, wet warmth.
Cat’s response was to pull him closer. It was as if she, too, suffered from this need to be one. When he felt her stiffen, the walls of her insides milking him with their contractions, Jared exploded into her heat with a final deep thrust that sent his spirit spiraling to meet hers. When he collapsed on top of her, he captured her mouth in one last searing kiss.
They lay entwined for a long while. Neither one wanted to break the moment by speaking. It wasn’t until Cat let out a yawn and snuggled closer to him that the ramifications of what they’d just done hit Jared like a sledgehammer.
What had he done? She’d gazed at him with those big eyes of hers, and his self-control had crumbled. He’d wanted her, and he’d taken her. But there was no understanding between them. She was still hurt and angry, and he was still uncertain that he could be the man she needed. What was he going to do now?
“Sweetheart,” he whispered, rising up on one elbow. “We have to talk.”
“I don’t want to.” Cat pushed his elbow and he collapsed onto the bed, stunned. Resting her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and sighed.
“You don’t want to talk?”
“No.”
Jared leaned over and pressed his lips to her forehead. It wasn’t a kiss. Cat swatted him away and sat up. “What are you doing?”
“Checking for fever,” he said. “When you don’t want to talk I worry.”
“I don’t have a fever,” she said and then grinned. “Unless you want to give me one.”
“Cut that out,” he chided her, pulling her back down into his arms. “This is serious.”
“Oh, phooey.” She burrowed her nose into his neck.
“Cat, why did you come to me tonight?”
She stilled against him. His already deep voice had dropped an octave, and she knew her answer was very important to him. She guessed he was worried that she’d fallen in love with him. Well, she had. She’d known that since the van broke down, but there was no need to burden him with her feelings.
She knew him well enough to know that by making love with her, he was going to feel that he’d betrayed Cameron. He didn’t need the added burden of worrying about hurting her. Besides, even though she loved him, she wasn’t ready to relinquish her independence just yet. And she had no doubt that, if she declared her feelings for him, if for no other reason than honor, Jared would pursue a relationship with her.
She sought safety in a partial truth. “Because I wanted you,” she said, her voice as low and gritty as his. She didn’t say anything more.
“Why?” Jared felt his heart buck, and he cupped her chin with his hand. It was there in her eyes, but he wanted to hear her say it. He didn’t analyze why her words of love were so important. He just knew that his desire to hear those words outweighed even his desire to have her body.
“I don’t know. From the first moment I saw you, I wanted to hook up with you.” Her gaze shifted from his.
Jared felt his heart constrict at her words. What had he expected? That he would take her to bed, and she would suddenly declare her undying love for him? Disappointment rocked him, but he buried it where he’d buried every other emotion. He buried it in silence.
“I felt the same way about you,” he said, lightening his voice. He traced patterns at the base of her spine and kissed her hair. Patience, he coached himself. She would open to him in time, he just needed patience.
She rose up on one elbow and placed a hand on his chest. “Your heart is thumping as loudly as mine. Hold me, Jared?”
Jared saw the damp shine in her eyes, and he knew he was lost. Pulling her on top of him, he buried his hands in her hair and kissed her with all of the desperation and longing he felt. What the future would bring he had no idea, but for the moment she was his and that was all that mattered.
“We’ll be crossing the Arizona border in a few minutes.” Jared glanced at the woman beside him. She glowed this morning, and he was more than willing to take full credit. Every time his gaze rested upon her for more than a moment, she flushed a beguiling shade of pink, and he was charmed all over again.
“So soon?” she asked, pulling her gaze from the jagged, scrub-covered mesas surrounding them to look at him.
“We should arrive at your new home by early evening,” Jared said, trying to gauge her response.
“All of a sudden, this seems very real to me.” She bit her lower lip and glanced at the harsh scenery.
“You’re going to be fine,” he reassured her, placing a hand on her thigh. “You always have been.” Cat shifted in her seat away from Jared’s touch. His touch made her think of sweat-slick bodies and soul-deep shudders. His touch was not conducive to calm, rational reasoning. And that’s just what she needed right now—calm, rational reasoning.
Last night had been the single most incredible experience of her life. Making love with Jared had been like running at top speed off one of those mesas and soaring. She’d never flown so high or so free.
Unfortunately when she landed, she’d landed with a thump. A thump of reality. She could try and ignore her feelings as much as she liked, but the fact was, she loved him. Heart, soul, mind and body. And last night had only made it worse.
She’d thought she could be a woman of the new millennium, one who could have an affair with a man and then forget him. What a crock! If she had a lobotomy, she couldn’t forget Jared, and now she’d be living as his neighbor for the next year!
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“That a year is an awfully long time,” she answered.
“I’m willing to keep you occupied,” he offered with a wolfish grin.
Cat felt a swirl of heat coil inside of her. The man was pure devil, and he knew it. But somehow he’d made her feel better.
They stopped at a Denny’s in Holbrook at midday. Cat was too nervous to eat. She sipped an iced tea while Jared ordered a grand slam something or other. They were just hours from her new home and the anticipation was killing her. With three thousand miles of road behind them, it was hard to believe they were here.
The restaurant doors opened and Cat gasped. What were the odds? She grabbed Jared’s arm and pulled him down under the booth.
“Don’t look but the Bickersons are here,” she whispered.
Jared lifted his head and smacked it on the booth’s table. “Ouch!”
“I told you not to look,” she whispered.
“Why are we hiding?” he asked, rubbing his head.
“Because I think they’re following us,” she said.
“Why would they do that?” he asked. “That makes no sense.”
“Well, neither does the fact that they keep turning up when they’re supposed to be going to Florida, and yet here they are,” she said.
“Good point,” Jared said and tossed his napkin aside. “Come on.”
Jared took Cat’s hand and led her over to the Bickersons’ table. Fly was wearing his usual fishing cap and Mabel was wearing a denim shirt that sported a hot-pink fringe topped with magenta rhinestones. For a second Cat had trouble looking away from the dazzling sight.
“Hello, Fly,” Jared said. “Mabel. What are you two doing here?”
Fly yelped and frowned at Mabel. “What’d you do that for, honeybunch?”
“Do what, sweetie?” She blinked.
“Kick me,” he said. “You probably broke my leg.”
“I did not,” she snapped. “You big sissy.”
“Sissy,” he yowled. “Why I ought to—”
“Ha!” Mabel snorted. “You haven’t got the nerve.”
Cat squeezed Jared’s hand. This was getting ugly.
“And you two are in Arizona because...” Jared interrupted them.
“Fly wants to see the Grand Canyon,” Mabel said and glared at her husband. “Don’t you, pookie?”
“Yeah, buttercup,” he sulked. “That’s right.”
Jared looked at Cat with a raised eyebrow.
“I have to tell you that for a moment we were wondering if you were following us,” he said.
Mabel choked on her tomato juice, spewing it across the table. Fly thumped her on the back none too gently.
“Why ever would you think that?” she gasped.
“You said you were going to Florida,” Cat reminded her.
“We...uh...changed our minds after talking to you two,” Fly said. “Isn’t that right, peanut?”
“Yeah.” Mabel barely acknowledged him and narrowed her eyes at Cat. “Where was it you were moving to again?”
“Surprise. It’s just outside Phoenix,” Jared lied, squeezing Cat’s fingers as if to get her to play along.
“Maybe we’ll see you again.” Mabel smiled.
“Yeah, maybe,” Cat agreed, hoping not.
“We’d better roll,” Jared said.
“Good luck to you,” Cat said to the Bickersons as Jared pulled her away.
“It’s official,” Jared said when they were out of earshot. “They’re weird.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Cat said.
“I’m with you,” he agreed.
They drove southwest from Holbrook, and Cat watched the scenery roll by. The dusty, scrub-covered hills rippled all the way to the horizon where she could see dark clouds looming ahead of them.
“Oh, no.” She nudged Jared’s arm. “Look ahead.”
“Stormy weather.” He nodded. “That’s pretty typical during monsoon season.”
“Monsoon season?” she echoed.
“Didn’t your friend tell you that?” he asked. “July and August are the rainy season for Arizona.”
“No, Sally didn’t mention that,” Cat admitted.
“Be careful,” he admonished her. “We have a lot of dried-up riverbeds, called washes, that fill up during a storm. People get killed when they misjudge the washes and are swept downstream. They drown.”
“I’ll be careful,” she promised, even though she suspected Jared was exaggerating.
The road they followed became mountainous, and Cat kept a watchful eye on the storm to the south of them. Occasional bolts of lightning lit the darkening sky, and she gasped at their brilliance.
“This is nothing like Massachusetts,” she marveled. “Do you realize the sky above us is still blue, but I can see that storm as clear as if it were overhead?”
“There’s a lot of sky out here,” he agreed. “It gives you a nice feeling of space.”
“I’ll say,” Cat agreed and then jumped when another brilliant bolt ripped through the sky. “Whoa? Did you see that? Are we going to drive through the storm?”
“No, it’s moving south of us.”
“Hey!” Cat sat up straight. “Isn’t that the Bickersons?”
Jared looked at the white-and-black RV chugging along behind them.
“I can’t tell. It sure looks like it.”
Cat stuck her head out of the window to get a better look. The RV abruptly switched lanes.
“I’m sure it’s them. I can see her sparkly shirt from here,” she said. “And they’re in a different RV. Something’s not right. I think we should try and lose them.”
“Seriously?” Jared looked at her as if she’d suggested they pull down their pants and moon them.
“I mean it. They’re following us. We need to make a getaway.”
“You’re joking,” he said.
“Humor me,” she asked and batted her eyelashes at him.
Jared sighed and hit the accelerator.
As they distanced themselves from the RV, it sped up. Like a game of cat and mouse, they stayed just out of reach, swerving to block the RV when it got too close.
“It has to be them,” Cat said. “But why are they after us?”
Jared frowned. There was something awfully odd about this.
They left behind the high desert and were enveloped amidst large pine trees. The road became steep and curvy as it wended its way through the mountains. Drop-offs punctuated every turn, and Cat held her breath while Jared navigated the steep climb. The van’s engine was running at maximum. Their so-called high-speed getaway was going an absurd thirty-five miles per hour up the steep incline.
“This is ridiculous,” Cat said. “I could run faster.”
“You may have to,” Jared said.
The road leveled off and they sped up. The RV followed. The road began to wind into hairpin turns and Jared lost sight of the RV in the third turn. He hauled the van into a small pullout and parked behind a thick cluster of pine trees. The RV rolled on by.
“Did we lose them?” Cat asked.
“I hope so,” Jared answered, easing back on the accelerator. “I’m going to backtrack and take another route south. It’ll take longer, but we won’t be seeing them again.”
Brooding about the Bickersons, Cat didn’t notice that they’d left the mountains behind until Jared nudged her with an elbow.
“Cat,” he said. “Take a look.”
Cat pulled Lucy from her perch in the open window and glanced out at the hills surrounding them. The air coming in through the open window was hot, but she was too engrossed in the scenery to notice. The land to her right was covered with tall, green, multiarmed cacti.
“Saguaro?”
“Yes.” Jared laughed at her surprise. “We’ve finally reached their latitude.”
“There are so many of them!” she exclaimed. Her gaze ran over the view, and she noticed several other smaller cacti also dotting the hillside. “I always pictured the desert like the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, you know, one cactus in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t like that at all. It’s beautiful.”
“You really think so?” he asked her sharply.
“Yes,” she answered with a note of awe in her voice. “Look, you can see the mountains in the distance. Aren’t they amazing?”
“Sure are,” he agreed, stretching in his seat, looking more relaxed than he had all day. “I’m glad you like the desert. Not everyone does. It’s hot and rugged and leaves no room for ambivalence. You either love it or hate it.”
“I think I’m one of the former,” she assured him. The dimples in his cheeks deepened, and the grin he sent her was blinding.
They passed over a bridge, and Cat noted the narrow stream that trickled in the vast riverbed. She wondered what it would look like after a storm. Large wispy green trees sat along its banks and she noted in surprise that even their bark was green, or so it appeared.
“What kind of trees are those?” she asked.
“Palo Verde,” Jared replied. “It’s Arizona’s state tree. The name means ‘green stick’ or ‘branch’.”
“So they really are green?” she asked.
“Yes,” Jared laughed.
“Whew, I thought I was seeing things,” she confessed with a chuckle.
“No, but you will in a moment,” he promised. “We’re about five minutes out of Copper Creek.”
“Really?” She felt her stomach flutter with anticipation, and she guided Lucy back to her seat, clipping her in. “I think I’m actually nervous. I mean this is going to be my home for the next year. It doesn’t seem like a long time, and I know it will pass quickly, but what if it doesn’t? What if no one in town likes me? What if I don’t like the town? What if...”
“Cat.” Jared reached over and gently tugged at the wayward curls that danced on her shoulders. “You’ll be fine.”
“Sorry.” She grimaced. “I’m just a little nervous.”
“I know, honey.”
Cat’s heart flipped over at the endearment. She knew it shouldn’t mean anything to her. This was supposed to be a fling, with no strings attached and no emotional commitment. But Jared wasn’t playing by the rules, and she couldn’t stop the warmth that flooded her at the tenderness in his voice.
As the van wended its way through town, Cat and the puppy kept their faces pressed to the window, eager to see their new home. Cat was delighted by the western flavor of the town. Most of the buildings sported square false fronts or were stucco with red tile roofs.
Compared to New England, she felt as if she’d landed on another planet. Prickly pear cacti were planted beside a few of the stores, and Cat was pleased to see several leafy green trees, creating shade here and there. If it weren’t for the cars parked along the side of the street, she’d almost think she’d stepped back in time.
“This is wonderful. I half expect the local sheriff and his faithful deputy strolling down the center of the street, looking for a shoot-out.”
“I can’t wait to tell my sister that.” He laughed.
“Why? I don’t think that’s so funny,” she chided him.
“It is, trust me, it is.” He chuckled. “I’m not laughing at you, Cat, I’m laughing with you.”
“But I’m not laughing.” She tried to frown at him, but failed and turned her face back to the window before he saw her answering smile.
They left the center of town and turned onto a bumpy, narrow back road. Cat tried to ignore the nervous flutter in her stomach and restlessly reached back to scratch Lucy’s head. She was sitting up on the seat, her ears perked up, as if she knew they’d arrived someplace important. Either that, or she had to take a leak.
Jared made another turn onto a short side street, and Cat held her breath as he pulled in front of the third stucco house on the right. The houses on the street were well spaced, and Cat was relieved to see that although she had neighbors on each side of her, they were far enough away to allow her some privacy.
“We made it.” Jared switched off the engine and turned to face her. She didn’t move. “Are you planning on getting out, Cat?”
Cat glanced at him and forced herself to pull it together. “I’m going. I’m going,” she said. “I’m just a little stiff from the drive.”
“Uh-huh.” He looked dubious.
“Come on, Lucy.” Cat fastened the leash to the puppy’s collar and opened the door. “Let’s go see our new home.”
To Cat’s delight, the quaint, stucco house boasted a red tile roof. A stone walkway led through an arched doorway into an enclosed courtyard. Cat promptly fell in love with it. A small fountain sat in one corner and wrought-iron patio furniture filled the other. On each side of the wooden front door were two flower boxes. Each was filled to bursting with scarlet vinca.
“Oh, my,” she gasped.
Jared heard Cat’s sigh of appreciation when she walked into the courtyard and sent a silent thank-you to her friend for her good taste. He hoped the interior of the house was just as nice. It was important for Cat to love it here, more important than he cared to think about at the moment.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked. “I think every house should have a courtyard like this. I can’t wait to see the inside.”
Jared felt the tension inside him ease. It was going to be all right. The nervous Cat had vanished and the daredevil was back. He watched her unclip Lucy and stretch her sore muscles. She put her fist in her back and arched against it. Jared felt his mouth go dry. The hot breeze drifting through the courtyard played havoc with her already disheveled hair, and she stopped stretching to push her curls out of her face.
Lust rooted Jared to the spot. Every cell in his body swelled with heat. It left him shaken and close to gasping for breath. The realization that he’d be leaving her soon only made his desire sharpen with an edge of panic.
Without pausing for thought, he left the archway and strode toward her. She’d paused in the doorway, as if uncertain. Jared was determined not to let her have any doubts.
Pushing both Cat and Lucy into the front room of their new home, he watched as the puppy began to sniff with blatant curiosity around the southwest interior. Satisfied that Lucy was occupied for the moment, Jared grabbed Cat’s hand and scanned the layout of the house. Finding a hallway to the right, he strode down it with a determined step, pulling a befuddled Cat behind him.
“Jared, where are you going?” she asked as she hurried behind him.
He didn’t answer her. She’d know soon enough. Besides, he didn’t want to give her a chance to think about it and reject him.
He strode past two bedrooms, stopping at the third and largest bedroom at the end of the hall. Not realizing he’d stopped, Cat plowed right into his back with a surprised “oomph!” Jared reached back to steady her with a hand. Glancing over his shoulder into the room, she smiled with delighted surprise.
The room was decorated Santa Fe style. The blond furniture was cut with jagged patterns and decorated in rich browns, reds and blues. The enormous bed in the center of the room matched the rest of the furniture with its carved wooden headboard. Jared liked it immediately.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” she asked from behind him.
He didn’t answer. He turned and before she could utter a sound, he lifted her up and tossed her onto the mammoth bed. Her mouth popped open in surprise, but his actions must have given him away, because her quick-changing, mercurial eyes flashed from angry blue to seductive green on a blink.
He advanced toward her, and she reclined on the bed, her arms outstretched and welcoming him. Jared felt a peculiar knot tighten in his throat. She thought this was goodbye. He had yet to inform her differently, but he would. Oh yes, he certainly would.