Chapter 8
LILA FUMBLED TRYING to unlock the door. But as soon as she succeeded, her arms went right back around Clint’s neck.
Managing not to lose her bags, Clint pushed the door open with his elbow and backed into the room with her clutching his shoulders. Her lips clung to his lips, and her breasts, her nice, round breasts found a home against his chest.
A few steps in and they cleared the door. He let it close and dropped both bags just as she pushed her fingers through his hair. She had one hell of a touch. He’d never had a spine-tingling reaction to a woman rubbing his scalp before.
He put his arms around her and held her tight, keeping his boots planted until he was sure they weren’t about to take a tumble.
Everything had happened so fast he didn’t even know how close they were to the bed.
Not that he was presuming anything. But a man could hope.
And that hope was getting harder by the second.
No other woman had ever felt this good in his arms. Or tasted this sweet. She let out a breathy sigh as his tongue stroked hers, the intoxicating sound going straight to his cock. The sway of her hips, as if she were dancing to a song in her head, sorely tested his self-control.
He rubbed a hand down her back, stopping at the tempting curve of her bottom.
He didn’t want to stop. And he didn’t think she’d tell him to, but for some crazy reason, he decided Lila was a woman he wanted to go slow with.
He wanted to learn the contours of her mouth, see all her different smiles, make her eyes shine like they did when she was excited about something.
Even something as simple as a motel Christmas tree.
It made no sense. His wanting to woo her slowly. She wouldn’t be here long. Any time they spent together would be over in the blink of an eye. Lila was on the road to a bright future. She didn’t have room in her life for a cowboy stuck running the family ranch.
The thought rattled him.
He’d never felt trapped by his family or the Whispering Pines, and he sure couldn’t afford that line of thinking now. Not with the big decision he had to make.
Clint changed the slant of his mouth and kissed her more deeply.
Her fingertips dug into his scalp with just the right amount of pressure.
Her breasts pressed against the lower part of his chest, and he could feel her hardening nipples through the layers of their clothing.
What he wouldn’t give to see all of her, to feel the warm softness of her skin. ..
Her sweet, sexy moan almost undid him.
He broke the kiss. Slowly. As slowly as he could without dropping to his knees.
Lila gave a slight jerk when he moved his head back. He gently pried her arms from around his neck, and she blinked at him. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I don’t know what got into me.”
Wishing it had been him, he held back a groan. Ordered his cock to be patient. Hoped like hell his brain still had control over his mouth.
He put it to the test with a smile first. Reasonably encouraged, he stepped back and said, “I was afraid you’d trip over your bags.”
She frowned at the lame excuse.
“Look, Lila—”
She had a dark smudge on her left cheek. Or was it a shadow? He caught her chin, angling it so he could study the rest of her face.
“What are you doing?”
“You have something on your face.” He rubbed his thumb over a second smear.
“Oh.” She touched her cheek and grinned. “I know what that is. Come with me.”
Following her, he noticed it wasn’t a bad room. Done up in green-and-cream, it had a king-size bed, a table with two upholstered chairs, and a small dresser. The open drapes showed off a partial view of the Rockies in the distance.
Light flooded out of the bathroom.
He saw Lila standing in front of the sink. His gaze drifted back to the bed before he joined her.
Damn his one-track brain.
Washcloth in hand, she stared at herself in the mirror, dabbing at her nose. Even in the terrible artificial light, her skin was smooth and perfect. Before he knew what he was doing, he touched her cheek.
She turned her head and smiled at him. “Did I miss a spot?”
“I don’t know.” He laughed and lowered his hand. “Let’s see.” Of course he fixated on her lips, pink and damp from all the kissing.
“Okay, let’s take care of you.”
“Huh?” He met her eyes. Something crackled in the air around them. Did she mean...?
They just stared at each other for a long drawn out moment. Blood pumped hot and fast to his groin. She turned to rinse out the washcloth and then tugged him closer.
“I thought I’d gotten all of it,” she said as she dabbed at his chin. “Your stubble is already coming in so it fooled me.”
Clint finally understood what had happened. He took a quick look in the mirror but didn’t see any of the goop she’d used earlier.
“There.” She dropped the washcloth into the sink and cupped his chin. Mimicking his earlier move, she angled his face to the left, then to the right for her final inspection. “You’re good to go.”
“As in you want me to leave?”
“No.” She shook her head, smiling. “Unless you want to.” She let go of his chin and dried her hands on a towel. “I mean you did your good deed, and I’ll be fine.”
“Actually I was wondering if you were hungry.”
She gave him a tentative look he couldn’t read.
“I’d like to take you to dinner,” he continued. “There’s a new steak house down the street. I haven’t been there yet. It opened only a couple months ago.” He paused, leaving her time to say something, but she didn’t. “I heard it’s pretty good.”
“I was pushy,” she said, staring at her hands. “You know...before. I swear I’m not usually like that. I’m really not.”
“Lila?”
“I’m just saying you can leave, and it won’t hurt my feelings.”
“Hey...”
She glanced up.
“I didn’t think you were pushy. After our talk last night, I thought I had to wait until Saturday to take you out, so believe me when I say I’m as happy as a flea in a doghouse—” He stopped.
Had he just sounded like his granddad? “I have no idea where that came from, so if we could just forget that bit of down-home whatever...”
Lila’s laughter put the sparkle back in her eyes.
He found himself smiling back at her. And oddly, it seemed as natural as breathing for him to put his hands on her waist. “I’m going to make it real plain,” he said. “You know what’s going to happen between us if we stay here, don’t you?”
Her smile wavered a bit. “I really like you, Clint,” she said, and he knew what was coming next. “I don’t think I’d mind if something did happen...”
Not what he’d expected. “You don’t look all that sure,” he said, “so how about we wait until you are?”
Her lips lifted in a soft smile that he brushed with a brief kiss.
He’d done the honorable thing, and it felt good. And at the same time so goddamn disappointing.
Go figure.
And now he had to take a giant step back before he screwed up everything by stealing the kind of kiss he really wanted.
LILA WOULDN’T HAVE minded walking the few blocks to the steak house if the air hadn’t been so chilly. Clint found a parking spot in front of a bakery that Lila had missed earlier.
“The Cake Whisperer,” she said, reading the sign as she slid out of the truck. “How cute. Looks new.”
Clint nodded as he closed the passenger door. “The Full Moon Saloon opened sometime back in July. Then the bakery and steak house opened right after. Nice to see the town thriving, especially around this time of year. Speaking of which, don’t you have a jacket with you?”
“Not so much for this temperature,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself and trying not to shiver. Her black sweater was made of a decent weight cashmere blend, but she was foolish to have paired it with a short denim skirt in this weather.
She was sick of wearing jeans all the time, even though Clint assured her the steak house wasn’t anything fancy and they would do fine. But mostly she’d wanted to look nice for him. Yeah, her chattering teeth were probably so attractive.
Looking out of place, the restaurant’s flashing pink neon sign lorded over a row of early-bird specials handwritten with black marker and taped to the window.
She didn’t stop to have a look but hurried into the welcoming warmth of the dimly lit steak house.
The heavenly smell of sizzling meat woke up her taste buds.
A middle-aged woman wearing a Frosty the Snowman sweatshirt came bustling from the back. “Evening, folks,” she said, grabbing menus from a basket next to an old cash register. “Anywhere in particular you wanna sit?”
Clint glanced around. Only two tables were occupied; it was still early. “How about the corner booth? Should be fairly quiet back there.”
The woman laughed. “Well, I hope it’s not too quiet,” she said over her shoulder as she led them to the booth. “We could use the business.”
“Has it been slow?” Clint sounded surprised.
“Nah, not too bad considering it’s so close to Christmas. Having them movie people in town helps a lot. A few of ’em eat here almost every night.”
Lila bet she could name which ones and prayed they were held up on the set until she and Clint were gone.
“That’s good,” he said. “Good for the whole town I imagine.”
Lila slid into the booth. The woman passed her a menu, narrowing her eyes as if she’d just seen Lila for the first time.
“You must be one of them,” the woman said.
“Yes, I’m with the crew. And by the way, cute sweatshirt.”
The woman glanced down. “Oh, my grandkids surprised me with it last year. I like it. Get a lot of compliments, too.” The door opened, and she glanced in that direction. “You folks take your time looking over the menu. I’ll be back in a jiff.”
“See?” Clint said. “I don’t know everyone in town.”
“Just every woman under forty.”
He snorted a laugh. “Now why would you say that?”
“Because you’re hot,” she said and laughed at his exaggerated eye roll. “If you slide a little closer, I promise not to maul you under the table.”