Chapter Five #2
She hadn’t been to Tony’s ranch house even though she had seen pictures of it on the web, along with a map of his ranch land.
As she approached, she looked at the sprawling two-story ranch house that appeared even larger than hers.
A porch ran across the front and a wide circle drive joined a walk leading to the front porch.
Flower beds surrounded the house with rock and cactus gardens, plants well adapted to the drought that usually hit West Texas.
As she approached, Tony crossed his porch, coming to meet her, his long legs covering the distance.
His hair was combed and he had on a clean short-sleeved blue-and-red-plaid shirt, tucked into his jeans. She smiled, happy to see him again.
Tony opened the door of her truck and watched her step out.
“Oh, lady, you do look great,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her and making her tingle and momentarily forget why she was here.
“And hello to you. Thank you.”
“You’ve never been to my home, have you?”
“Nope, I haven’t. And you haven’t been in mine, yet. Not really,” she amended, as she thought about last week and how he’d barely made it through her back door before he left.
“Well, I hope to remedy that soon,” he said.
“We’ll see.”
They stepped into an entry foyer that held a full-length mahogany mirror, two hat racks, hooks for coats, shelves that housed several pairs of boots.
Stepping through the hallway, they came to a huge kitchen with state-of-the-art-equipment and luxurious dark wood cabinetry.
The adjoining family room held a stone fireplace, a big-screen television, a game table, as well as a desk with two computers and other electronic devices.
“All the comforts of home, huh?” she asked. “It’s a marvelous home.”
“I suspect you have one to match,” he remarked.
“Odd that we’ve never been in each other’s houses in all the years we’ve known each other,” she said.
“There’s a lot we didn’t do in all the years we’ve known each other,” he said, setting her nerves on edge. “C’mon, I’ll show you more.”
They walked down a wide hall with Western paintings and beautiful tapestries that surprised her. The hall held finely crafted furniture, double front doors where floor-to-ceiling windows let in light and offered a grand view of the front of his property.
“Very beautiful, Tony. And a little surprising.”
“You probably pictured me in a log cabin with brass spittoons and bawdy paintings,” he said grinning.
She smiled. “Not that extreme, just maybe a little more rustic than this. After all, you’re a rancher at heart. This fancy home could belong to a Chicago stockbroker.”
He shrugged. “It’s comfortable, what I like and a haven when I come home.”
“That I understand.” She followed him as he directed her down another hallway.
“I don’t really know much about you as a person,” she said when he stopped outside a closed door. “Just as an annoyance in my life—until this month,” she said.
“I’m glad you added that last part. Here, Lindsay,” he said, ushering her into a suite with a sitting room that held floor-to-ceiling windows affording a panoramic view of a terrace and fields beyond it where horses grazed. “Here’s my living room. Want to see my bedroom next?”
Smiling at him, she shook her head. “I think we’re skirting the edge of temptation too much as it is. Thanks, I’ll pass.”
“Okay, then, on to the study.”
They went down the hall to another room, as elegant as the last, with leather furniture, oils on the walls, heavy shelves and polished cherrywood floors.
As she looked around, he said, “We can finish the tour later.” He glanced out the window. “Because I want you to see one of the pumps before the sun goes down.”
“Good idea,” she said. She wanted to see it in daylight, too, because if it really was his old pump, it would have rust.
“I’m ready.”
He placed a hand on the small of her back. “So am I,” he said in the husky tone he’d had when making love.
She stepped back. “You’re not helping the situation. We agreed that we were not pursuing...” She searched but couldn’t find the word she wanted. “Not pursuing this,” she said, “any further.” She tried to sound forceful, but her words sounded hollow, even to herself.
Tony must have thought so, too, because he said nothing. He merely stepped close and placed his hands on her waist. Her breathing became shallow and erratic as his steady gaze met her eyes and then lowered to her mouth.
Dimly the thought nagged at her that it had been a mistake to come here, but she wanted to see if he had been truthful with her.
She couldn’t step away or protest. She saw the desire in the blue-green depths of his eyes and her mouth went dry. She wanted his kiss just one more time.
He leaned down to kiss her, a hot, possessive kiss that made her feel he wanted her with all his being. Her heart pounded as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, once again trying to make him remember this moment and be as conflicted as she was.
Her world spun away, lost in Tony’s kisses that set her ablaze. She felt his hands drifting up her back, then moving forward to lightly caress her breasts.
“Tony,” she whispered, unable to tell him to stop, yet knowing they should.
She caught his wrists and leaned back. “This isn’t why I came,” she whispered, and then stepped away. “Water well pump, remember?” she asked, unable to get any firmness in her voice.
“When you’re ready, we’ll go,” he said. He stood so close that her heart pounded and it took all the willpower she had to move away.
“We both have to do better than this tonight.”
“I intend to do a lot better,” he said, teasing and leering at her, causing her to laugh.
“You’re hopeless and headed for trouble, and you’re taking me with you.” She smoothed down her shirt and stood tall. “I’m ready to look at that pump now.”
“One thing—in case you think I might have one old pump for moments like this and the rest are new, I’ll let you select which one we go see,” he said.
She went with him to his desk, a massive cherry table.
He opened a drawer and pulled out a map, which he unfolded.
“This is a map of the ranch with the water wells circled in yellow. You can select one. If you want to look at all of them, we can.”
She gave him a searching look. “I’m beginning to believe you and feel really foolish.”
“This is why you came. Pick the wells, Lindsay,” he instructed.
She looked again and pointed to one the shortest distance from the house.
“Is that all? I want you totally satisfied when you go home.” He said the last words in the tone of voice he used when he was flirting with her. He was back to sexy innuendos, which kept her thinking about his kisses and lovemaking.
“Tony, you’ve got to stop that,” she said, unable to suppress another laugh. He grinned and took her arm.
“I don’t think you really want me to. You say those words, but your body, your eyes, your voice are giving you away, darlin’.”
“Time to go, Tony,” she said, trying to resist him, the sensible thing to do.
They drove to the well and she could see the rust on the pump from yards away. She turned to place her hand on his arm. “Tony, I’m sorry. I’ve misjudged you and accused you of things you didn’t do.”
He turned to face her. “You don’t want to see another well?”
She shook her head, “No. I apologize.”
“Apology accepted.”
“I’ve already taken your advice and called to see about digging my wells deeper.”
“Good. C’mon, let’s go home and have some juicy steaks.”
She knew she should say no, but she couldn’t. She had been wrong about him—he had been telling her the truth all along.
She thought of all the times she had been told not to trust a Milan. Her grandmother had practically drummed it into her head. But her brother had married Tony’s sister and trusted her fully. Shouldn’t she have learned anything from Jake?
They rode back in silence, but when they stepped into his kitchen, she had to apologize again. She felt that bad.
“Tony, again, I’m so sorry. I—”
He turned to her and put his hands on her waist. “Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t matter now. This is all that matters.”
He tilted her chin up, and she saw the flicker in his eyes and knew when the moment changed.
He drew her into his embrace and kissed her, holding her tightly and kissing her thoroughly until she was breathless.
With a moan of pleasure, she slipped her arm around his neck and another around his waist to hold him tightly, wanting his kiss in spite of all her intentions of resisting him.
When he released her, he smiled. “That’s better,” he said. “Let’s have a drink and I’ll start the steaks.”
Though she knew she should go home for a quiet dinner alone, she nodded instead. She tingled from his kiss and wanted more. Each kiss was a threat to her heart and she promised herself she would stop seeing him after this evening. It was just one more night.
She drew a deep breath as her throat went dry. “We weren’t going to do this.”
“So we’re together three times instead of two. Seeing each other will end and we both know it, so what does tonight hurt?” he asked.
“You make it sound like something silly for me to protest.”
“You know I want you to stay. It won’t be a big deal, Lindsay.”
With her heart drumming, she watched him walk to a bar.
Who would have thought it? A cowboy who could turn her world upside down, who had become the sexiest, most handsome man she had ever known.
How could Tony have become important to her, able to set her heart pounding just by walking into a room where she was?
What seemed worse, the more she knew him, the better she liked him and the more she thought of him.
That realization scared her. She didn’t want to respect him, admire him and like him.
He was still Tony, who had to run everything all the time.
Physically, she was intensely attracted to him, but it was beginning to spill over into other aspects of their lives and that scared her.
Never in her life had she been attracted to someone who could put her way of life at risk—until now.
To protect her own lifestyle, she had to make tonight the last time she would socialize with him. She had to break off seeing him before her life was in shambles and her heart broken.
Could she adhere to that...or was it too late?