A Daddy for Dillon (18 page)

Awed by the sight of him, her hands settled against his ribcage, then slid slowly up and over his hot skin until they reached the bulge of pectoral muscles. There her fingers tweaked his nipples until they became two hard buttons.

“Oh, Leyla, honey, I can’t take this.”

His voice was thick with desire and the sound empowered Leyla even more. Just to know that she could arouse this man, that he could want her this much, filled her with a sense of confidence and gave her the courage to allow her actions to convey her wants.

She brought her lips against one of the nipples. “What about this?” she whispered.

Not waiting for his answer, she softly bit the tiny nub, then followed that with a moist kiss that left her tongue lathing his flesh.

Above her head, she heard a deep groan in his throat and then his fingers were in her hair, tearing at the pins holding the heavy coil in place. Once it was loose, he grabbed up fistful of strands and used them to draw her face back up to his.

With his lips against hers, he spoke roughly, “I can’t hold on, Leyla. Not like that.”

“I don’t want you to hold on,” she said in a rush.

He closed the space between their lips, but as soon as the kiss grew out of control, he broke the intimate contact and reached for her underwear. Once the scrap of material was out of the way, he placed her on the mattress and slipped off her sandals.

Her heart pounding with anticipation, Leyla watched him as he sat on the side of the bed to pull off his boots. After the second thump on the floor, he stood and quickly removed the remainder of his clothing.

As he lowered himself next to her on the mattress, Leyla realized she should feel some sort of embarrassment at seeing Laramie in an undressed state and especially at her decision to go to bed with him. But as he pulled her into the tight circle of his arms and the front of his body pressed against hers, she felt nothing but mindless pleasure.

Once his mouth fastened over hers and his hands began to urgently search the contours of her body, Leyla’s thoughts closed off to everything but him and the need to be closer.

When she slipped her leg over his hips and drew the bottom half of her body next to his, the silent invitation caused his head to ease back far enough to look at her. “Leyla, this is awkward, but do I need to wear protection? I wasn’t planning for this.”

Placing her palm alongside his face, her gaze delved deeply into his. “Ever since I gave birth to Dillon, I’ve taken oral contraceptives. Not because I needed them but because I was afraid. Afraid that I’d not learned my lesson. That I’d meet someone and have a weak moment. Or I’d meet someone who pretended to care but really didn’t.”

His roving hand stilled upon her hip. “You didn’t trust yourself. Or men,” he said knowingly. “What about now? Me?”

Her throat tightened with raw need. Not just to couple her body to his, but from the need to love him with all her heart. “I don’t have any choice, Laramie. I want you too much.”

Something gentle and caring flickered in his eyes and then his lips were against her cheek, softly mouthing her name. Her heart melting, Leyla wrapped her arms around his neck and urged him to make the connection between them complete. He didn’t deny her.

Rolling her onto her back, he braced himself over her and she parted her legs, inviting him to end the throbbing agony. With his head thrown back, his gaze holding on to hers, he pushed himself into the moist folds of her womanhood. The pleasurable shock rippled through her like gentle waves on a smooth pond.

“Leyla. My darling.”

His low voice vibrated with the intensity of his desire and the sound brought a sting of tears to her eyes. Quickly, she closed them and buried her face against his shoulder.

“Love me, Laramie. Love me.”

His hips thrust against hers. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. Leyla matched the needy rhythm and the friction acted like wind on a forest fire. There was no stopping the flames from tearing through their bodies. The only way to end it now was to let the fire burn itself out.

Leyla couldn’t hold back or hide her need for him. She clung to him while meeting his open-mouthed kisses with a recklessness that stunned her. And then as she fought to get closer, even as she found herself climbing higher and higher, she realized she was craving much more than this man’s body. She loved him. Loved him with every particle in her body.

The fact hit her at the same moment her body was splintering into a shower of lights, and the combination of her body and heart merging into one, loving and giving at the same time, caused her to sob his name over and over.

He responded by clasping her head to his chest and burying his face in the top of her hair. She felt herself floating off to a soft place where there was nothing but him and her together. Always together.

* * *

Moments later, his body drenched in sweat and his lungs still working hard to return to normal, Laramie shifted his weight off Leyla but kept a firm hold on her waist. Even now with his senses slowly returning, she was the most solid thing in the room. And he didn’t want to let her go. Ever.

He wasn’t sure what had just happened between them. Even though he’d thought about making love to Leyla a million and one times, he’d certainly not planned or expected it to happen today. Hell, he figured it would take a miracle for her to ever fall in bed with him. But from the moment they’d left the ranch to drive over here, he’d sensed something different in the way she’d looked at him, touched him. And then when they’d kissed it was like the world around them had exploded. She’d not held back then and she sure hadn’t held back just now. Merely thinking about the way she’d responded, giving every part of herself to him, was enough to curl his toes and stir his exhausted body.

Admit it, Laramie, it was more than her body that rocked you. When you held her, when you poured your seed into her, your heart opened and she slipped inside it. You love her. If you hadn’t known it before, you know it now.

Laramie didn’t try to suppress the little voice going off in his head. There wasn’t any use in trying to deny what it was saying. The question now was what he intended to do about it.

“I’m so sorry, Leyla.”

His words came out on a strangled sort of whisper, but she heard them and turned her head to look at him. Her dark eyes were glazed with moisture, her lips swollen from the kisses he’d placed upon them. Drops of perspiration dotted her forehead and dampened her hairline. She was so lovely, he thought. So soft and gentle. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman and it amazed him that she was here beside him like this.

“You’re sorry because this happened?”

He turned onto his side so that he was facing her. “That’s not what I meant at all. I’m sorry that it happened here in this dusty old house instead of someplace special. You deserve that, Leyla.”

A faint smile tilted her lips and Laramie couldn’t stop himself from bending and placing a soft kiss on one corner. A musky, sensual scent drifted from her hair and mingled with the womanly smell of her body. Laramie inhaled and reveled in its pleasure.

“You make it special for me, Laramie. Don’t you know that by now?”

Laramie often received praise for his work, his horses and the dedication he showed to his friends. But Leyla’s remark was something totally different, something he’d never heard from anyone before, especially a woman. The fact that it was coming from Leyla made it even more incredible.

His chest swelling with tender emotion, he nuzzled her cheek with his lips. “I can’t begin to tell you how you make me feel, Leyla. These past few hours—they’ll be forever burned in my memory. I’ll never forget them. Ever.”

She didn’t say anything and he eased his head back so that he could look at her face. To his dismay tears filled her eyes and were very close to spilling over onto her cheek. The sight of them cut him deeply. He never wanted Leyla to cry or hurt over anything. She’d already suffered too much in her young life.

“Leyla! What’s wrong? I’ve messed everything up, haven’t I? I’ve hurt you—”

The emphatic shake of her head halted the remainder of his words and he stared, bewildered by this sudden change in her.

“You’ve not hurt me. I was just thinking about—things. About this. You and me. And Dillon.”

Suddenly she closed her eyes, then quickly rolled away from him and sat up on the edge of the bed. “We’d better be going, don’t you think?” she said, her voice low and stiff. “Sassy will be expecting us back very soon.”

He didn’t want to go. He wanted to pull her back into his arms and make love to her all over again. He wanted to hear her whimpers of desire, feel her body telling him how much she needed him. The way she was at this moment made it feel as though there was a deep, rocky canyon between them.

Pushing himself up from the mattress, he raked both hands through his tousled hair and tried to compose his rattled senses. In a matter of minutes he’d gone from euphoria to confusion.

“If that’s what you want,” he said.

“What I want has nothing to do with it,” she reasoned. “I have a son—responsibilities.”

A spurt of anger suddenly rifled through him. “I have plenty of responsibilities, too. And I figure when I turn my phone back on, I’ll be blasted with calls and messages from people needing me. But that doesn’t mean you and I don’t deserve a few minutes together. We are human.”

Blinking at the tears in her eyes, she bent over to retrieve her sundress from the floor. “We just proved we’re human, Laramie, and I wish we had a few more minutes to share like this, but we don’t.”

Standing, she stepped into the garment and Laramie reached to zip the back of it together. Once the task was finished, he rested his hands on her shoulders.

“Leyla, I’m going to ask you the same question you asked me a few moments ago. Are you sorry this happened?”

Groaning with anguish, she turned and buried her face against his chest. Laramie closed his eyes and held her tightly.

“No! I’m not sorry, Laramie.” Tilting her neck back, she looked up at him. “I think I’m scared. Scared of what you’re starting to mean to me.”

He shook his head. “There’s no need for you to be afraid. I’ve told you before, Leyla—I’ll never hurt you.”

Biting down on her lip, she glanced away from him. “That’s not exactly what scares me. You’re not like Heath—I can see that. But I can see that your life is on the Chaparral. And that’s so far away from nursing school and all the things I’d planned for myself, my son and aunt.”

Laramie wanted to set her down, to explain that what they’d shared on the bed behind them had been more than just incredible sex to him. He needed to tell her that he’d fallen in love with her, that his future wouldn’t be complete unless she and Dillon were in it. But something told him that now was not the time or place. When he did reveal his feelings to her, he wanted them to be on the Chaparral. Because the ranch was his home. It was who he was. And if she couldn’t accept it as her permanent home, too, then there was little hope for their relationship to flourish.

“Okay. We’ll talk about that later. We’ll get you back to Dillon now.” Bending, he placed a kiss on her forehead. “If you want to freshen up before we leave, there’s water in the bathroom. It works on gravity flow.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, then grabbed her sandals and quickly left the room.

* * *

On the drive home, Leyla sat quietly gazing out at the landscape, seemingly lost in her thoughts. It was clear their moments of closeness were over. At least for the time being. Before they’d left the little stucco house, Laramie had turned his phone back on and now, as he negotiated the truck over the rough dirt road, it began to ring incessantly.

At first he ignored it. Like Leyla, he wasn’t really in the mood to talk, but after a moment she looked at him and said, “Something must be wrong. Maybe you should answer it.”

Deciding she was probably right, he reached for the phone and immediately spotted Quint’s number illuminated on the ID. “I’m here,” he answered. “What is it?”

“Where the hell is ‘here’?” Quint demanded. “I’ve been trying to reach you for the past hour!”

Laramie didn’t let the other man’s ire get to him. He’d learned long ago that Quint was wired to a different gear than Laramie moved in. Whereas Quint grew hot and bothered in the flash of an eye, Laramie normally remained cool and steady.

“I had something personal to do. I turned off my phone for a while.”

A stretch of silence passed and Laramie figured his explanation had taken the other man aback. It wasn’t often that he took time away from the ranch for “personal” reasons. And no one was more aware of that than Quint.

“Oh. Well, I’m here at the Chaparral waiting on you. I’ve got to drive up to the Pine Ridge ranch and try to smooth his hackles. I need you to go with me. You can talk to the bastard more sensibly than I can.”

“Yeah, you probably should take me. Otherwise you might wind up in jail on assault charges.”

Quint chuckled, then after a pause said, “Sorry for barking at you. I’ve had a lot on my plate here lately.”

“Forget it. I know your plate is overloaded right now. Bark all you want. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“You can find me at the vet barn.”

After punching the end button on the phone, Laramie tossed the instrument into an open storage cavity on the console. As he pushed down the accelerator and sent the truck speeding on down the dirt road, Leyla asked guardedly, “Is someone in trouble? You mentioned something about jail.”

He shot her a patient grin. “That was a joke. The trouble isn’t that bad. At least I don’t think it is.”

“I hope not,” she said with concern.

He let out a heavy sigh. Before Leyla came into his life, he never resented the interference of his work. But she was changing him, making him realize he needed more than keeping a crew of ranch hands busy and a few thousand cattle healthy.

“One of these days we’re going to find out who’s responsible for all this sabotage,” he said flatly. “And then there’s going to be some hell to pay.”

From the corner of his eye he saw her frown. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything about the problem, he thought. But if he ever expected her to understand his life, she needed to know everything it entailed. And right now some of it wasn’t pretty.