Chapter Five #4
“Bella.” He called her name reverently, his tone humble and seemingly surprised. His hand cradled her face as his lips became more demanding. Kissing him was like a balm to her internal wounds, a safe haven where she could forget. “Tell me to stop, Bella. If you don’t want this.”
“Don’t stop,” she whispered.
A pent-up groan rose from Jared’s throat and he took her into his arms, wrapping her in an embrace. The glow of the fire, the twinkling stars and the fresh bite in the air together gave her a sense of amazing peace and comfort.
She felt safe with Jared. It was as simple as that.
And she ignored all the warnings screaming at her to be careful. To be wise. To be smart.
She’d needed solace and Jared was providing it. Her body was slowly awakening from a yearlong slumber. How good it was to feel alive again.
Jared kissed her deeper now and she accepted him into her mouth.
The touch of his tongue on hers changed from sweet sensations to pulse-pounding heat, and she gave in to the yearnings to touch him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and the blanket separating them slipped away, bringing her body up against his.
Her breasts crushed his chest.
“Oh, man, Bella,” he muttered. “I wanted to be conscious if you ever brought your mouth to mine again, but this is better than I’d ever imagined.”
It amazed her that he’d been imagining kissing her.
She sighed into his mouth, the temptation to touch him further, to unsnap his shirt and feel the heat pulsing in his chest was battling with her sense of decorum.
So far, they’d only kissed, but if she was bold enough to undress him, it would be an open invitation for him to do the same and she didn’t know if she was ready for that.
A buzzing rattled in her ears.
The timer to her soufflé was going off.
They both froze and Jared backed away first. “My breakfast,” he said, heat glimmering in his eyes.
“Your breakfast,” she repeated, the burn of his lips imprinted on her.
Jared rose first and gave her a hand up. She took it and they faced each other. “Bella, promise me you won’t be sorry about any of this.”
He stared into her eyes, her answer important to him. “I promise. I won’t be.”
He nodded and took a gulp of air. “Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night, Jared.”
And as if he meant to hold her to her promise, he bent his head and kissed her once more before opening the door for her to reenter the house.
The next morning she and Sienna strolled hand-in-hand along the path next to Jared.
Good on his word, he was taking them to see the horses.
“Cooper’s got a bigger string of horses at his place, but I kinda like our stable.
And we’ve got a new foal, a filly to show Sienna. I think she’s gonna like Pumpkin Pie.”
Sienna’s ears perked up. “Punkin.”
“Yes, baby girl. That’s the horse’s name,” Bella said. “It’s a little one, just like you.”
Sienna stared up at the tall rancher. “Tared’s horsie.”
“That’s right, Sienna,” he said to her, smiling.
Sienna smiled back and reached for Jared’s hand, her fingertips touching his knuckles. Jared’s blue eyes melted for an instant as he folded her daughter’s hand into his. He glanced at Bella, shrugging, an awed expression on his face.
Her instincts were telling her this wasn’t a good thing, but she couldn’t dismiss seeing the joy in Sienna’s eyes as they approached the corral.
“Here we are.” Jared stopped at the fence, where half a dozen horses were frolicking around the perimeter of the corral.
“Let’s take a better look, Sienna.” Bella lifted her daughter up, setting her little boots on the second rung of the fence to give her a better view of the animals.
“Mommy!” Sienna pointed to the filly, the smallest creature in the corral with a reddish-bronze coat.
“That must be Pumpkin.”
“It sure is,” Jared said. “She’s sticking close to her mommy.”
Sienna took it all in, fascinated.
“It’s a big corral,” Bella said. “How many horses do you have here?”
“About a dozen. Make that thirteen,” he said, tipping his hat back on his forehead. “If I’m counting the new filly.”
“Do they all get along?”
“Seem to. But we build our corrals oval, which keeps the horses from bunching up in corners and getting too territorial. Makes everyone happy.”
“If only people were like that,” she said, thinking aloud.
Her cryptic comment brought Jared’s head up and he stared at her, his brows raised in question. She swallowed hard, condemning herself for letting down her guard.
“You all right, Bella?”
She looked into his eyes, wishing she could tell him the truth.
As much as she thought things might’ve gotten weird between them this morning, they hadn’t been at all.
Jared had been as earnest and forthright as usual and she’d sort of fallen into a sweet ease with him.
Slowly her qualms about the kiss they’d shared had disappeared, though it helped that she had Sienna as a buffer.
Bella was still wondering what that kiss had meant to Jared.
For her, it was a gentle release of anxiety, a grasp at something solid and real amid the lies she’d told. It was a way to relieve her fear about her father finding her. But a part of her felt as if she’d been cheating on Paul. She was not all right, but she couldn’t tell Jared that.
How had her life become so complicated?
“Sure, I’m good,” she said, nodding, doing her best to convince him.
He nodded back. A beautiful black-and-white mare strolled over to the fence and Sienna began flapping her arms. “Horsie! Horsie!”
“I see it.”
“Say hello to Jubilee, Sienna,” Jared said. “She’s just a little older than you. She’s a sweetheart, just like you. You want to pet her?”
Before Bella could stop him, Jared lifted Sienna higher and leaned over the fence. Her daredevil daughter didn’t protest at all. Jared’s hand covered Sienna’s as he carefully guided her toward the horse’s flank. “There you go, Sienna. How does that feel? You just have to treat her nice.”
“Nice,” Sienna parroted as she stroked the horse over and over.
“That’s it,” Jared said. “Maybe one day you’ll get to ride one of these sweet girls.”
“Not on your life,” Bella said, her inner mama bear coming out.
Jared slid her a sideways glance. “Don’t worry, Sienna. Your mama will change her mind.”
“I don’t think so. She’s too young.”
“I was one when I took my first ride.”
“You grew up on a ranch.”
“What difference does that make?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t, I guess.”
“Where did Sienna grow up anyway?” he asked. “I don’t think you’ve told me.”
“Not on a ranch.” Bella reached for Sienna, taking her out of Jared’s arms, rattled by his question. She didn’t want to lie to him. As far as he knew, she’d been living in Dallas.
Jared flinched.
And she felt like an uncaring jerk for being abrupt with him. “Did she hurt your ribs?”
“No, she didn’t.” Jared thought about that a few seconds.
“She didn’t hurt my ribs,” he repeated, looking stunned by the revelation.
Then he grinned, the smile consuming his entire handsome face.
Again, a little jolt of joy streamed through her system at Jared’s healing.
Each day he was getting stronger. “I can lift this little peanut without any pain.”
Bella put her hand on his forearm and squeezed. “That’s good.”
Jared glanced at her hand on his arm and his eyes shuttered closed as if relishing her touch. She was suddenly self-conscious, her mind instantly flashing back to being in his arms last night, however briefly, and kissing him.
“It’s not just good, it’s damn near amazing. A few days ago, I was having trouble breathing.”
The hopeful gleam in his eyes chipped away at all her internal warnings.
“I’m glad, Jared. That’s wonderful news.”
“Yeah,” he said, ruffling Sienna’s dark mop of hair. “It is.”