Page 22 of Forbidden Ride
“God, are you a flirt. Wow. Babies?” He only nods and stares me down, and I tell you, I haven’t laughed so hard, or had this much fun, in years. “Can we please just toast? Because at this point, Ineeda drink,” I blurt, feeling my neck get hot and the blush spread to my cheeks. “How ’bout this?” I raise my glass dramatically. “To my cowboy mountain man, who’s warmed me up more than I could’ve possibly imagined.” I grin, touching my glass to his.
We both take a sip, and he sets down his drink. He drops his voice down low along with his hand. “Anytime... anywhere...” He slowly glides his hand up my thigh. We lock eyes, and I hold my breath as his fingers slowly creep closer to my pussy.
“You’re making me so wet, you’re going to need to wash these sweatpants.”
“You think I’d wash them?” He comes in close. I can feel his breath in the curve between my neck and shoulder, one of my most sensitive places. Surges of heat skip down to my toes. “What makes you think I wouldn’t wear those damn sweatpants over my head, where I can smell you, day in and day out?”
He kisses my shoulder and then sucks. “I think I like these on you,” he whispers, sliding his hand over my stomach. “They’re so easy to get off.”
I hold my breath as he, as inconspicuously as possible in a bar full of patrons, pulls on the waistband and peeks inside. I’m not wearing any panties. He moans hungrily and tugs the fabric out further. For a moment, I think he’s going to rip them right off me.
“Christ,” he groans, burning a hole through me with his dark gaze. “You expect me to behave when you’re not wearing any panties? Or did you forgo the panties purposely so I wouldn’t?”
“Why don’t you just think about that for a while, cowboy?” I tip my glass against his, giggling. One lusty growl from him and I go from scaredy-cat neglected mom to wanton woman in three seconds flat.
“Oh, I’ll be doing more than thinking...” he says thickly, letting go of my pants.
I laugh and pop a fry in my mouth. Someone cranks up Chase Rice on the jukebox, and the crowd starts to move to the dance floor.
We tuck in to our hamburgers for a few minutes, until William asks, “Are you ready for another confession?”
I quickly swallow. “Hold up.” I take a sip of my wine for fortification. “Okay, now I’m ready.”
“I don’t like the fact that you’re going back to your cabin. I don’t want to think of you sleeping alone. You should be with me, where you belong.”
I’m sure he’s just giving me another line, but the wine is making me brave, so I push, even though our situation is impossible. “You mean for more than just a few days?”
He brings his hand to my face and brushes a knuckle over my cheekbone. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
My heart skips. I narrow my eyes at him, looking for a sign that he’s playing with me. His dark eyes lock on mine, and it looks like he’s serious. The teasing is over.
“But... I thought you were clearing out and moving to Bozeman?”
“That was before I found you.”
“And our families? You ready for a good old-fashioned family-feud showdown?”
“What other people think doesn’t concern me. The only thing that matters is how we feel about each other. I can handle whatever comes our way.”
I flinch, thinking about Chase, or any of my brothers, getting into a fight with William. They’re all probably equally matched, but I don’t want to see it, don’t even want to imagine it. “You’re not worried?”
“No. The job doesn’t start until spring. I was going to move early and get settled, but I don’t have to make a big move. The job itself won’t take more than three months. I’m not selling my cabin, or my place in West Palomino. We can rendezvous here or there while I’m on the job, and when the project is over, I’ll move back.”
My heart is doing all kinds of crazy palpitations. My brain glitches with a million different thoughts, trying to catch up and make sense of what he’s proposing. “Rendezvous here in the mountains, or Bozeman, or wherever? With three kids? Remember, I’m a mom. Even getting this time off alone was huge for me. It never happens.”
He runs his thumb over my lip. “I haven’t forgotten about your kids, darlin’. And I know what a good mother you are. That’s one of the things I like most about you. Does it embarrass you when I say it makes me want to pump you with so much seed that you’ll make my baby? Don’t you know it yet, Jenny? You’re mine. I know for damn sure I’m yours.”
In a word,yes. Yes, I do know. On some level, he’s right. I feel connected to him deep down in my bones. But I’ve never been the kind of person who just goes with their feelings. I need time to analyze them and pick them apart. “Are you sure it isn’t just the endorphins or hormones speaking?”
“Well, my cock’s speaking pretty clearly, that’s for sure.” He takes my hand and runs it up his leg. I feel the hard bulge under my fingers. “That’s what you do to me, baby mama.”
“I swear, I think you’re going to make me pass out.”
He laughs. “But you’re so much more than a turn-on. Somehow, I always knew that if we ever met, we’d hit it off.”
“From all the way back to your teenage cheerleader-watching days?” I snicker, before sipping my drink.
He nods. “I was a perceptive teenager.”
