Page 25 of The Rancher's Cinderella Bride

“I don’t know how the hell it happened, but it’s magnificent, breathtaking and too big to walk away from and ignore,” he said, his voice lowering with each word as he leaned closer. She looked at his thick black hair that she wanted to tangle her fingers in. Her gaze moved to his mouth, his full, lower lip that she wanted to kiss.

A small voice continued to remind her that she did not want to fall in love. They had no future. She could really get hurt. She shouldn’t kiss him.

And then there was her heart, beating with desire for him. How could she resist the most fantastic, sexiest kisses ever?

“Oh, Gabe, this is just dreadful,” she whispered as he pulled her tightly against him and leaned forward to kiss her. His mouth was hard on hers, demanding, taking from her and then giving her a chance to kiss him in return.

Her world spun and she felt a dizzying plunge while at the same time, she wanted to hold him and be held by him, wanted his hard body against hers and his strong arms crushing her against him while he kissed her senseless.

Desire built as she fought the temptation to push away his shirt. Never had any other man made her respond the way Gabe did. How could this happen between them? They were buddies and had never been anything beyond buddies. Never before had there been this wild, insatiable attraction that threatened to consume her and turn her world upside down.

Pouring herself into her kiss, she clung tightly to him, aware of his strength, his arousal that pressed against her as they held each other. She let down her guard and kissed him passionately, lost in the moment and his kisses that melted all her resistance.

Gabe’s hands slipped over her back, caressing her bottom and then moving to draw down the zipper to her dress and push it off her shoulders. His hands slipped to her waist and he shifted slightly as they cupped her breasts.

In seconds her bra was unfastened and pushed away and his warm hands caressed her, holding her while his thumbs lightly circled her nipples and made her gasp with pleasure as she clung to him.

“Gabe, we have to stop,” she whispered, opening her eyes to look up at him. She didn’t want to stop, but that small voice became more insistent, forcing her to think about her future and how she could be hurt.

While he still caressed her, he stepped back. “You’re beautiful,” he declared in a husky drawl. “Darlin’, you’re so beautiful.”

She inhaled, holding his arms, closing her eyes and letting him kiss and caress her breasts for seconds before she shook her head. It was an effort to break away as she stepped back and caught his wrists. “Ah, Gabe. I can’t do this. I’ll fall in love with you. I never expected to want to kiss you or want you to kiss me. I didn’t even think about us kissing.”

She wiggled and shed her bra, pulling her dress up again. Gabe gasped for breath as much as she did.

“We should say good-night now.”

He stood breathing hard while he stared at her seconds before he shook his head. “We need to talk. I’ll sit out of reach and leave you alone as long as you want. Let’s go get a cool drink, cookies, crackers and cheese, whatever you want. We won’t kiss again tonight unless you want to. Come on. Let’s go to the kitchen.”

“I’ll join you in the kitchen. I’m putting on my jeans and a T-shirt and maybe you’ll see me more the way you always have.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” he said, leaning close and catching her chin between his thumb and forefinger, “but, Meg, darlin’, you could come out covered from head to toe in gunnysacks and I’ll never again in this lifetime see you the way I did before we kissed.”

“Try,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him while her heartbeat still raced and she fought walking back into his arms and going to bed with him tonight.

He smiled. “See you downstairs. I’ll go step into the walk-in freezer and see if I can cool down a little. I’ll try to stop thinking about you changing clothes, unless you want me to stay and help with that zipper.”

“No, I don’t. Aren’t you getting my message?” she snapped and then realized he had been teasing as he left laughing at getting her riled up over his suggestion. She crossed the room and closed the door because she didn’t want him popping back in. She let out her breath. How was she going to live in his house, go out with him, continue to kiss him and avoid falling in love with him?

Six

Gabe went downstairs and wished his body would cool down. From the moment she had opened her door to greet him for the evening, he had been in shock over her looks, on fire with wanting her in his arms and wishing he could make love to her all night long.

Why hadn’t he ever noticed her like this before? Her hair made a huge difference, but he should have been able to see beyond that. Makeup made a difference, too, but again, he should have seen her natural beauty and sexy appeal. He supposed he had known her so long, he never really looked at her. He did now and he didn’t want to stop looking. Blonde or brunette, headband or long, flowing hair, makeup or none, he would always see her as a beautiful woman now. She took his breath away and he ached to hold her and kiss her and seduce her.

Of all the women he knew, why did it have to be Meg who set his heart pounding? She constantly reminded him they were not well suited. That was an understatement. In too many ways, she definitely wasn’t the woman for him. Not the least of which was the fact that her whole family hated him on sight, equating him with his father and never giving him a chance to prove he was different.

At the same time, in some basic, essential ways, she was the most desirable woman he had ever known, and that’s what really scared him.

“Aw, hell,” he whispered to himself as he walked back to his kitchen. “Dammit, Meg. Why did you come back into my life like a cyclone ripping up my world?”

His little neighbor friend, dependable, sweet Meg whom he trusted with his deepest childhood secrets and disappointments, was the woman who suddenly made him weak in the knees, dazzled him with her looks, took his breath away when he saw her and set him on fire with longing to take her to bed.

She was a gorgeous woman with silky hair and enormous, thickly lashed brown eyes, a to-die-for body that could set him aflame with desire at just a glimpse. What would she be like in bed? He had a hard-on just thinking about it. How could she do this to him with just her appearance and a few kisses? The sexiest kisses of his entire life. Oh, if he had only known in high school. It was a good thing he hadn’t. He couldn’t lay a hand on her back then. Her dad and older brothers would have come after him. He wouldn’t have been able to live with his conscience, either.

But now she was a grown woman, over twenty-one and making her own decisions. This whole scenario of her pulling him back into her life had been because she was making her own decisions. She liked to kiss as much as he did and she couldn’t resist doing it, even if she didn’t like his lifestyle and knew he would never be serious no matter how much they made love or how long they lived together.

Would he have to deal with his conscience if he seduced her? He thought it over, mulling over the past hours he had spent with her, and once again, he told himself she was a grown woman, making her own decisions about her life. If she went to bed with him, it would be because she wanted to make love. She was mature enough to make her choices—otherwise she wouldn’t be asking him to carry off this fake engagement.

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