Chapter Nine
Nine
Drawing Esme toward his bedroom after their dinner at the club, Jesse didn’t want anything to ruin their last night together in Royal. She was excited about returning to Houston, though he wasn’t sure he shared that excitement.
Hell, who was he kidding? He wasn’t happy about her departure at all, even though he would make the trip with her to review the new clubhouse.
Having her here on the ranch had felt too damn right, increasingly so every day they spent together.
In spite of what she seemed to think, she fit here.
From the way she helped with the ranch to how she blended in with the community, she belonged.
And when she’d looked at the children in the club’s childcare center with such tenderness and even a hint of longing, his last reservation had slid away.
He wanted her to make that audition for the role of wife to be a permanent one.
Which meant he would have to persuade her to come back to Royal.
If not permanently, at least for a while.
One step at a time.
Closing the door to his suite behind them, he flipped on the sconces near the headboard, dimming them low as he turned to soak in the sight of Esme shouldering off the sleeve of her green velvet dress.
She looked so beautiful tonight and for a moment, he let himself be mesmerized by the sight of her undressing, until she stood barefoot in a black lace bra-and-panties set.
It had been all he could do to keep his hands off her during dinner.
With careful precision, she laid the green velvet dress over the back of the chaise longue as he shrugged off his jacket. Before he laid it aside, however, he pulled an envelope from the pocket and stepped closer to her. “I have something for you.”
“A gift? Thank you.” She looked up in surprise as she took off her chandelier earrings, the jewels throwing multicolored prisms onto her creamy skin. “But it isn’t Christmas yet. I don’t open my presents until the actual day.”
Doing nothing more than standing with her jewelry cupped in her delicate, manicured hands, she made his heart beat faster. A blonde goddess set against the warm brown tones of his bed. Where he longed to be with her.
“It’s a ‘just because’ gift, something you’ll need before the twenty-fifth.” He pulled out two tickets and fanned them between his fingers.
She set aside her earrings on the mahogany chest of drawers. “Tickets?”
Her voice was neutral. Not a good sign, but he pressed ahead all the same.
“To A Christmas Carol. Royal may not be Houston, but we have a good community theater. I thought we could go this weekend after we return from Houston.”
And he waited.
“I’m surprised.” She smiled, stepping into his arms and wrapping her own around his neck. “This is very thoughtful. Thank you.”
She kissed him, long and deep, with a familiarity woven from their past two weeks as lovers. The caress of her fingers along the back of his neck was cool, the press of her breasts a sweet temptation against his chest.
Much longer and he would have her against the wall before he’d locked in her return to Royal.
He angled back, stroking her blond hair over her shoulders with a caress down her spine. “Would you rather do something in Houston? I have no problem going back to the drawing board. We could make the plans together.”
“You’re asking me to come back here for Christmas?” Blue eyes searched his.
He couldn’t quite make out the hesitation or confusion he saw brimming in her face.
He prided himself on being an adept observer of body language.
Except he couldn’t hold on to a thought long enough to press his agenda, not with his mind scrambled by Esme’s touch, the press of her breasts against his chest.
“Yes, I’m asking you to come back.”
“Let’s worry about the future later. You’re welcome to pamper me right now any other ways that come to mind. I’ll be much nicer about accepting your present,” she said with an unmistakable invitation in her siren’s voice as she tugged him toward the bed, walking backward.
And he didn’t need any encouragement to follow, his gaze drawn like a magnet to the sway of her hips.
The narrow indent of her waist. The long, smooth line of her thighs.
By the time he tumbled with her onto the mattress, he couldn’t think about anything but pleasuring her.
Making her remember how this connection they shared could burn away everything else.
Tunneling his fingers into her hair, he angled her head to kiss her long and slow, deeply and thoroughly.
He took his time lowering the strap of her bra, cupping each breast in turn, savoring the shivers that went through her.
He liked the feel of her hands on him as she peeled off his shirt, stripped off his belt.
By the time he moved lower to kiss his way down her shoulder, they were both breathing hard, the whisper of exhales mingling with the slide of fabric across the duvet as they swept away the rest of their clothes. Fevered touches gave way to more demanding kisses. His. Hers.
He felt the taut need in her movements as her hips nudged his thighs. Obliging her unspoken demand, he curved a palm over her hip and traced his way to the juncture of her thighs, and he teased her there.
Fingernails bit into his shoulders, a welcome counterpoint to his own need firing through him. He sensed how close she was to finding her release, so he stayed right with her, whispering into her ear how much he wanted her.
When the soft shudders racked her body, the sense of triumph was almost as fierce as his own desire. He didn’t let go for long moments, helping her find every last sweet sensation from her orgasm.
As she stilled, he angled back to glimpse her, to memorize this moment. Her flushed cheeks. Her lips swollen from his kisses. A protective surge fired through him.
He never tired of seeing her in his bed.
Her bed, too, now.
For how long?
He brushed aside the thought that threatened to steal this perfect moment from them both. He refused to accept it could be the last time he had her in his home. Having her stay in Houston was unacceptable.
All the same, there was a frenzy between them tonight. She reached into the bedside table and passed him a condom, urging him to hurry, her voice breathless and encouraging as she sheathed him. Her touch was slow and deliberate. Knowing and tempting.
“Jesse…”
She didn’t need to ask him twice.
He rolled her under him in a smooth sweep, sliding inside with a sense of home. Her legs glided up and around his hips, holding him, syncing them both into a perfect rhythm. Flesh against flesh. Heartbeats racing against each other.
They’d made love in every room of his house in every position and still each time with her was as exciting as the first. And while he wasn’t a romantic, there was something special between them. Something unique. He would be a fool to let it go. To let her go.
Purring her pleasure, she urged him to his back and straddled him. She rode him, fanning the blaze inside him that begged for release.
His hands dug into her hips, guiding her faster as he thrust upward.
Even as his eyes grew heavy with the need to seal in this moment, he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the sight of her over him.
Her blond hair over her shoulders and along her breasts.
Her chest rising and falling faster. Her pale flesh flushing.
Her release was close. He knew her body that well now.
And seeing her orgasm was the sexiest thing he’d ever experienced.
So much so, it sent him crashing into his own climax, sensation surging through him as he plunged into her. It was more than sex. It was—He stopped the thought short, too dazed to let his mind travel that path. She’d already rocked his world beyond measure in a few short weeks.
His life had been forever changed by the rainstorm that had landed her on his doorstep. And now everything was riding on their trip to Houston and being able to persuade her to leave it all behind.
Because he couldn’t imagine his life without her.
Tatiana was seething over the board meeting about to take place, bigwigs from Royal in Houston to represent the charter chapter of the Texas Cattleman’s Club.
And she wasn’t welcome.
She tried her damnedest to scrub out any trace of the woman she was before she rose to power in Perry Holdings.
She’d shed family mementos. Opted for all new things.
Posh designer fixtures. Symbolic, partly, of creating the life she wanted.
It still counted for nothing. Got her nowhere.
As if not being born into the world of the Perrys meant she could never fully enter the rarefied realm of Houston’s wealthiest society.
Angela called herself a friend, but hadn’t gotten Tatiana a ticket to the inner circle.
No matter how much money she made, how high she rose in the Perry firm, she was still an outsider.
She’d never felt that more than today. Her fist clenched around a crystal paperweight.
Waterford. For once, though, her designer-decorated town house brought her no comfort.
She struggled against the urge to hurl the paperweight through the window.
Instead, she strode over to her white Christmas tree decorated with monochrome lights, with silver tinsel and pale blue ornaments. Normally, the twinkling delighted her. An anchor in an ocean of chaos. Today, even as she straightened the ornaments, Christmas magic held nothing for her.
Her doorbell rang, the high-pitched bell chimes cutting her thoughts short and launching a wave of panic through her. Could it be the police? She had spent the past nine months looking over her shoulder. She wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.
With a deep breath, she steadied her nerves and scraped her red hair back into a sleek ponytail. Not a strand of hair out of place.
She looked through the peephole.