Chapter Ten #3
“I never want to promise what I can’t give.”
“Nor do I.”
“Which makes us a perfect pair.”
She continued to rub Betty’s ears as if she hadn’t heard him, but he was certain she had. The dog’s eyes were almost closed.
“I don’t believe in the one, Jordan. I think life can be lived quite well in the solo state.”
“Me, too. That doesn’t mean I don’t want companionship …” She met his eyes as his voice trailed.
“For a while?”
He nodded, then put out a hand.
Lil stared at it for a moment before she slowly put her hand in his and he pulled her to her feet. “We’re good?”
“We’re good,” he said, keeping hold of her fingers. They were surprisingly soft given the work she did. “You should head in.”
“Yes.” But instead of moving, she tightened her grip on his hand.
“What are you thinking?”
She closed her eyes, and he swore she gritted her teeth before saying in a low voice, “I’m thinking about sleeping with you.”
And suddenly his brain was getting very little blood.
There was no doubting the honesty in her quietly spoken, almost challenging, words, so he managed to push out a few of his. “How do you feel about putting thoughts into actions?”
She answered with a look that made him wonder if he they would make it to the trailer.
They did and once the door closed behind them, Lil took his face between her hands and pulled his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. A promise of things to come.
“You sure?” she asked, her mouth hovering millimeters from his own.
He answered by running his hands up over her back beneath the loose hoodie, her skin soft and warm beneath his touch.
Her breath caught as his thumbs caressed the sides of her breasts.
He loved that she hadn’t bothered with a bra and the kiss that followed melted any lingering doubts he had about the wisdom of sleeping with his tenant.
Lil’s fingers went to work on the buttons of his shirt, and Jordan watched as the fastenings slipped free, her fingers brushing over his taut chest muscles.
She pulled the shirt out of his waistband and made short work of the last two buttons before pushing the fabric off his shoulders.
She forgot about the cuffs, and he had to wrestle his wrists free.
Lil rolled her eyes at the mistake. “Rookie error,” she said.
“There’ll be a penalty for that later.” He cupped her face and took over, kissing her the way he’d wanted to for days, losing himself in the taste, the softness, of her mouth against his.
And then her mouth left his, tracing over his chest, licking his skin, circling his nipples until he clutched his hands in her hair.
She brought her lips back to his, her hands skimming over his body, stopping at the obstacle that his jeans imposed.
She fumbled with his belt, but he covered her hands with his, stopping her.
She glanced up, and he eased her away from him, taking hold of the hem of her hoodie and pulling it over her head, then dropping it on the sofa.
“I need you naked,” he said.
Her smile was slow and deliberate. “Wish granted.” She undid her jeans and pushed the denim over her hips, sidestepping as she pulled her feet free of the fabric. Jordan had no idea how exactly he got out of his own jeans, but he was definitely naked when he backed her to the bed.
“Show me what you got, cowboy.” Her breath against his ear almost did him in.
Never one to say no to a lady with a reasonable request, Jordan did as he was told, losing himself in the exploration of Lil’s perfect body.
When he pushed into her and felt her gasp against his mouth, it was all he could do to take things slow—for a while anyway.
Need got the best of him, but he managed to hold strong until Lil cried out, her fingers clutching his shoulders as she arched against him.
And then he surrendered.
*
Jordan stroked her hair from the side of her face. “Will I see you again?”
“You might bump into me on the property.” Lil propped herself on her elbow.
Loving this man had been breathtaking. Having him not only understand her stipulations, but also share them, even more so. Maybe they were a perfect pair.
“You’ve taken on a lot since your dad got sick,” he said.
“Had to. Meg was in college and Maya was in Chicago starting her career. They did their part.” She rolled over onto her back. “We had a rehearsal of sorts when Mom died. Dealing with hard situations wasn’t new.”
He brushed his fingers over her shoulder, then planted a kiss.
She smiled into the darkness. “After my mother died, we were able to grieve together, but by the time Dad got sick, and we found out about his financial problems, we were headed in different directions. So I took over.”
“And dropped out of school.”
“I’m doing okay without a degree. Even if I had one, I’d be doing the same thing as now.”
“Ranching.”
“It’s in the blood. The thing is that I’d thought my sisters and I would continue the family ranch. We had a little over a section. Four hundred cows. Alfalfa. It looked good from the outside looking in. Not so good on paper. Dad made some errors.”
He pulled her into his arms, and she snuggled against him feeling remarkably sheltered. There was no cow shooting. No one was messing with the place. It was just the two of them in this tiny trailer in the dark, sharing bits of themselves.
For now, she’d take it.
And she had questions. “How did you come to know Burke?”
“Excuse me?” His chest muscles tightened beneath her cheek as he craned his neck to look at her. She did not raise her gaze, but she did smile. “Aubrey said you guys rodeoed together. What event?”
“We were not in the same event.”
“Let me guess, Burke was a bull rider.”
“Steer wrestler.”
“And you?”
“Rough stock, of course. Saddle bronc.” His muscles relaxed and he stroked her shoulder with his fingertips, sending little waves of pleasure through her.
She hadn’t been caressed and held for a long, long time.
“I was good, you know.”
“I don’t doubt it.” She pulled in his scent, closed her eyes.
“Got myself into trouble a few times.”
She raised her head and then shifted her position to get a better look at him. “You got injured?”
His chest moved as he laughed. “No. Other kinds of trouble.”
Lil propped herself up on her elbow again. “Name one.”
He brought his hands up to frame her face, then pull her down for a kiss, making her lose her balance midway and collapse on his chest. “You’re trying to distract me,” she said.
And he was doing a pretty good job of it.
“Yes. I am. Those days are gone.”
She propped herself back up again. “Give me a category.”
“You are relentless.”
“Determined.”
His gorgeous eyes narrowed at the corners at her correction. “I’ve seen signs of that.” But he didn’t answer the question.
She cocked her head, waited, until finally he let out a resigned breath.
“Fine. Let’s just say I escaped arrest for disorderly conduct on more than one wild weekend in some unnamed Montana towns.”
“Did you dance on tables?”
“I have done that.” He surprised her then, taking her by the shoulders and rolling her over, putting just enough delicious weight on her to make her want more of what she’d just had.
“Do you want to keep discussing my past? Or”—he sweetened the deal with a kiss, his tongue teasing hers—“the here and now.”
There was no contest.
“I’ll go with the here and now.”