Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Mac played abysmal poker the following night, and the Blakely brothers finally figured out that a woman must be distracting him.
Although they teased him about being lovesick and pestered him for the name of his latest conquest, he managed to outmaneuver their questions.
By the end of the evening no one was the wiser.
His latest conquest. He chuckled at the irony of that as he stuffed a blanket and two beach towels in his saddlebags Thursday night in preparation for his ride with Tess.
Tess had conquered him, more like it. He was afraid to put a name to what he was feeling in relationship to Tess, but he craved her nearly every waking minute, and that wasn’t a good sign.
He’d thought tonight would never get here.
No other woman had ever made him come unglued so fast. Maybe it was all the reading she’d done, or maybe she was a natural when it came to exciting a man.
In any event, her instincts would do justice to some Hollywood sex kitten, and yet she had no real experience with men other than him.
Oh, how he loved knowing that. He loved it way too much, considering that the status quo would change.
More men lived in New York City than in all of Arizona.
She had a damn good chance of finding at least one who was to her liking.
He pushed that notion out of his head, not wanting to ruin the night.
And it was one hell of a beautiful night.
The moon sat just below the mountains, creating a glow that threw the familiar ridge into stark silhouette.
Any minute now the moon would poke its head over, looking huge and golden as it crested.
Mac hoped Tess would get here before that happened, so she could see it with him.
He’d always liked sharing stuff like that with her because she was so passionate about the beauty around her.
He should have known that she’d transfer that passion to anything she did, especially making love.
Passion and curiosity—it was quite a combination.
He wondered if she’d remember to bring any of her books.
The sound of her car pulling in beside the barn made his pulse rate go up. She rounded the barn just as a sliver of the moon eased up over the ridge.
“Come over here and see the moon,” he said.
She quickened her steps. “I hoped I’d get here in time.” She reached his side and leaned her forearms against the top rail of the corral as she watched the sky. “Oh, wow.”
He leaned casually against the rail next to her, his arm barely brushing her arm, as if to prove to himself he could be alone with her and not grab her, as if he were in no hurry to leave and go down to the river. As if he didn’t want her with every fiber of his being.
When she’d hurried toward him, he’d figured out from the lovely jiggle under her T-shirt that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
If he had to make a guess, she’d skipped the panties under her shorts, too.
She held a book and a small flashlight in one hand.
All of that made a potent combination, and he was more than ready to forget about the moon.
But he’d promised her they would always be friends, and Tess was the sort of person who remembered promises like that. She’d expect that someday they’d be able to stand here and watch the moon rise as friends, the way they’d done many times before. He might as well start practicing now.
But the air was filled with her scent, and his heart raced as he thought of holding her soft body again. He hungered for the taste of her lips, although he wouldn’t dare kiss her here. Either one of his parents could come out and catch them.
“How was poker?” she asked.
“I lost every hand.”
“Mac!” She turned toward him. “That’s not like you. In fact, you usually come out ahead of everyone else.”
“Your brothers were extremely happy about it. They wanted the name of the girl I was seeing, so they could thank her. They figured that was the only thing that would make me completely hopeless at cards.”
“But it wasn’t really me that was the problem, right? It was having to face my brothers after having sex with me.”
“I guess so.” Although he wasn’t quite sure about that.
He’d suffered some guilt pangs for the first half hour or so of the poker game, but after that, the guilt had seemed to wear off.
From then on he’d lost because he was daydreaming about Tess, but revealing that might give away more than he wanted to right now.
“So what did you tell them?”
“Nothing. I just let them speculate.”
“Do you think they’ll try to find out who you’re seeing?”
“Oh, they’ll ask around, but I don’t think anyone will think of you. As I’ve said before, no one would ever suspect what’s going on between the two of us. We could probably kiss in the middle of the park in front of the whole town, and they’d think it was brotherly and sisterly affection going on.”
“Do you feel like kissing me now?”
He stared at the moon. “Yeah, I do.”
“More than kissing?”
His groin tightened. “Yep.”
“I just wondered. You seem so cool and collected. Weren’t you the one who told me not to get all prissy and pretend I didn’t want you so much I couldn’t see straight?”
He looked at her and saw a beautiful face silvered by moonlight, sparkling eyes that drew him like a moth to flame, moist lips that made him crazy to taste her again. “I want you so much I can’t see straight.”
“Then what are we doing standing here gaping at the moon?”
“Beats the hell out of me.” He pushed away from the fence. “Let’s go.”