Page 38 of Her Cadillac Cowboy
“You’re still shivering. I need to make you warmer.” The words were slow and dreamy. The look in his eyes pulsed a hot, blue stream.
“I don’t think you can.”
“Let’s find out.”
Their lips met.
For a moment it was enough. Just to feel, just to taste. The soft pressure, the subtle flavor. Then the urge to move stirred her, to lick, to nip, to open. Her whole body surged at the rhythmic thrust and retreat of Josh’s tongue.
She braced her hands on his chest, feeling the muscles bunch as she lifted herself and dragged one leg across so that she straddled him. The heat doubled. Josh angled his mouth. The kiss deepened. He groaned and broke away. Her breath came in shallow gasps. Between her thighs, his hips shifted. The friction started an ache. She was starved for this.
Her shaking hands swept up and around to grasp his neck. She pulled his head toward hers, his lips to her lips. She covered his face in kisses. She nibbled his ear, small delicate strokes of her tongue on the sensitive flesh of his lobe.
“Holy Christmas, Sara. I need you; lord, how I need you.” His hands climbed her sides to her shoulders. He tenderly pushed her backward till she rested against the rim of the steering wheel. His rough fingers traced her features and stroked the column of her throat, resting a brief moment on her hurried pulse.
Her eyes followed his fingers as he unbuttoned her shirt and worked the front catch of her bra. Like a supplicant, he raised his hands to touch the glowing flesh. She felt his shudder in his hands on her breasts, in his body between her thighs. He caressed the soft globes. She shuddered too.
Yet she was afraid. Afraid she would shatter with the intense delicacy of his touch. Afraid he would stop and shattering would be denied her. His fingers plucked at the deep pink nipples that rose from the center of each breast. She lifted her gaze to his.
“Please.”
His lips suckled her in answer. Longing tugged at an empty, aching place within her. She needed Josh, not just his body, but Josh himself, all of him. His mouth pulled hard on her breast. He moved beneath her, and she bucked. The car horn blared. Josh lifted his head.
Dear heaven, what am I doing?
“Sara, don’t...”
Before he could finish the sentence, she released the door latch, grabbed her purse, and sprang out of the car.
???
Sara unlocked the door to the ranch house. Why didn’t Josh just drive away? He couldn’t be thinking of coming into the house. Daddy would wake up, and he’d be mad enough to crack an ice flow. When it was all over, he’d know where she’d been and whom she’d been with. She hurried to close the door and douse the porch light.
From the window, she watched Josh pull his truck around and head down the driveway. She put her purse on the foyer table. Rubbing at her scalp to ease the tension in her head, she started down the darkened hallway only to see a light click on in her father’s room. Darn, he’d heard her heels clacking on the corridor’s slate floor. She’d have no excuse for not stopping to say goodnight.
No one called out as she approached. Maybe it was just K.C. checking on Dad while he slept. She stopped and slipped her shoes off. Then on tiptoe, she eased by her father’s room.
“Sara.” The moan wheezed out the doorway she’d just passed and knifed her in the back with surprising strength for such a feeble sound.
Caught. She stopped and turned. She straightened her shoulders and sucked in a deep breath while she hurriedly buttoned her shirt. A smile pasted on her face, she strolled into her father’s bedroom.
He frowned and plucked at the blanket that rested around his waist. “That dang male nurse ain’t good for nothin’. Can’t even put the covers on me straight. Come here, girl, and help me with these.” His voice gained strength with every word.
“Dad,” she forced brightness into her voice, “I didn’t expect you to be up so late.”
“I wouldn’t be awake at this hour if my daughter weren’t out carousing and leaving me at the mercy of an ignorant, insensitive, no ’count hooligan instead of taking care of me herself like family should do for family.”
She leaned against the doorjamb, her shoes abandoned in the hall. Her smile firmly in place, she soothed, “Now, Daddy, you know I’ve been working late nearly every night for two weeks.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen you take your hair down when you worked late.” He smiled, as if he’d just laid out the bait to lure a customer into switching to a higher priced vehicle.
“I had a slight headache, Daddy.” Thank heaven it was the truth. “I really need to get to my room and take some aspirin.”
“I got some a’ that right here on the nightstand. Even got a spare glass. You sit next to me and take your medicine while we talk.”
Unable to deny his invitation, Sara approached the nightstand and stubbed her toe. She couldn’t restrain a grimace.
“What’s the matter?”
