Page 14 of Taming a Heartbreaker

He wanted to wake her up to make sure she was alright since it had been her first time. He was a womanizer, but he wasn’t a thoughtless ass. At the end of their lovemaking, he’d gotten out of bed to run bath water to ease the soreness he was certain she would be feeling. However, when he returned to bed, she had fallen asleep and he’d decided not to wake her up. Feeling quite exhausted himself, he had gotten back in bed, taken her into his arms and joined her in sleep.

Even now he was tempted to snuggle her closer and doze off. Later, when they awakened, he would give her the hot bath he’d imagined last night. Then they would enjoy breakfast together before returning to the cottage to make love again...

What the hell!

Suddenly, he felt a panic attack coming on. Emotional overload. This was another first for him. He didn’t cuddle with a woman after sex. They went their way, and he went his. And had he actually referred to what they’d done as lovemaking? Then there was the fact that he never, ever, repeated the process, regardless of how enjoyable it might have been. His number one rule was to never have sex with the same woman twice.

Trying to regain control of his senses, he slowly untangled their naked limbs and eased out of bed. He rubbed his hand down his face. He needed to get the hell out of there. He breathed in deeply then wished he hadn’t when he inhaled Carmen’s scent. His erection throbbed, an indication of just how badly he wanted her again.

Redford backed away from the bed. Picking up items of clothing off the floor, he quickly slipped into his briefs and pants. Glancing around for his shirt, he recalled she had taken it off him in the living room. He was about to leave the bedroom when he stopped and turned around.

He had a feeling that thoughts of this night would remain with him for the rest of the day, whereas with other women, memories were forgotten the moment he left.

Tonight, Carmen had given him something she’d obviously kept sacred for over thirty years. He hoped like hell she hadn’t assumed doing so meant the start of a relationship between them because that was definitely not the case. Not understanding why he was doing so, he walked back to the bed and placed a kiss on her lips. A part of him wanted to believe there was a man out there who would make her happy. She deserved it.

Redford finally walked out of the room, retrieved his shirt and put it on. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was nearly four in the morning. There was no doubt in his mind—regardless of the weather, the Westmorelands, Outlaws and their friends had started a poker game at midnight and it was still going strong.

If he were to show up now, the guys would know why he was late. Hell, they might even suspect Carmen was the woman he’d been with, since he’d practically stayed by her side all night. He had even danced every dance with her. Sloan would definitely know what he’d been doing and with whom. Normally, Redford wouldn’t give a damn if the name of his conquest was known, but for some reason he didn’t want that for Carmen.

Fully dressed, he grabbed his jacket off the sofa and headed for the door, then something stopped him. It was a yearning that stirred deep within him. What was wrong with him? Why did the need to see Carmen again take over his senses? Unable to fight the craving, he headed toward where she slept.

Making sure the sound of his shoes was as noiseless as possible, he opened the door to the bedroom and looked at her still sleeping soundly. His breath caught at how beautiful she appeared. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there before he closed the door.

Nothing about this made sense. Tonight he had intentionally ignored red flags, and there had been a lot of them. Allowing a woman to push him over the edge the way she had was not acceptable.

As Redford walked out of the cottage, locking the door behind him, he knew he needed to put as much distance between him and Carmen as possible. That meant changing his plans to remain in Westmoreland Country. He needed to leave now.

His company had a corporate jet, which was how he’d gotten here. He would call a private car to take him to the airport, spend the night at the hotel and then have his pilot return him to Anchorage first thing in the morning. He would leave a message for Sloan that he’d left because something had come up that needed his attention. That wasn’t far from the truth.

What needed his attention was his common sense. For a short while tonight, he had lost it with Carmen.

Carmen came awake the next morning with a huge smile on her face. When she glanced around, it was apparent Redford had left. She was disappointed until she remembered the poker game. Evidently, he’d had the energy for other things after their lovemaking, but she had not. Multiple orgasms had worn her out completely. She’d heard about them but never in a million years had she thought her first experience would give her so much pleasure in rapid succession. Redford had definitely been worth the wait.

The last thing she remembered was drifting off to sleep in his arms. She couldn’t wait to see him today, hopefully this morning. Even dedicated, card-playing men had to eat sometime.

Easing up in bed she grabbed the pillow where she knew his head had lain the night before and squeezed it to her chest feeling over-the-top happy. By no means did she think last night would produce a marriage proposal, but at least they’d established a relationship.

A long-distance romance wouldn’t be easy with him living in Alaska and she in DC, but together they could do anything. Wishing on a star for each other had been the first move and uniting their bodies had been the second.

Getting out of bed, she felt sore, but she couldn’t expect not to feel that way since it had been her first time and it had been an explosive lovemaking session. Blushing profusely, she thought about her four orgasms with him. Five if you counted what he’d done to her while on his knees. Just thinking about it made even more color come into her cheeks.

She had showered and finished dressing when she heard a knock on the cottage door. She smiled as she quickly walked toward it, hoping it was Redford. More than anything she wanted a good morning kiss. The smile eased from her face when she opened the door and saw it was Leslie.

“Oh, it’s you,” Carmen said, taking a step back to let Leslie enter.

Leslie raised a brow. “Yes, it’s me. Who did you think it was?”

Carmen found no reason not to tell her. Besides, she was bubbling with so much happiness it was about to spill out. “Redford.”

“Redford?” Leslie stared at her curiously. “Why would you think it was Redford?”

Carmen couldn’t help the huge smile that covered her face. “Because Redford and I have forged a relationship.”

“What sort of relationship?”

“One where we agreed it was meant for us to be together.”

Leslie didn’t say anything. Instead, she stared at Carmen like she wasn’t sure she had heard it right. “Are you saying Redford committed himself to you?” Leslie asked in a disbelieving voice.

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