Morgan Hill, they’d decided to stage one last event for their friends.
He had left the party early, hoping to find some peace and quiet before his parents and sister returned to the ranch. He’d been living in the guest house then. A consideration, his father’d called it. A necessity was how Jake had thought of it. Even though working the family ranch was all he’d ever wanted to do, a thirty-year-old man needed more privacy than living in his parents’ house could afford.
He’d walked through the dark guest house, not even bothering to turn on a lamp. In his mind, he could still hear the echo of his own footsteps in the empty rooms. He remembered feeling a little sorry for himself that the twins—and Casey—were moving away.
In his bedroom he’d plopped down onto the mattress to tug off his boots. He’d gotten one off and had just started on the other when her voice stopped him.
That so familiar voice had sounded different that night. Throaty, deep, filled with unspoken promises and just a quavering hint of nerves.
“I think you should know you are not alone.”
Three
Jake had jumped to his feet, taken two quick steps to the bedside table and fumbled for the lamp switch.
Soft light dazzled the darkness, spilling over the woman waiting in his bed. Propped up with pillows behind her back, Casey lay beneath the covers. The sheet-topped quilt folded neatly across her breasts, she displayed just enough creamy flesh to let him know she was naked.
Jake drew one long unsteady breath, then deliberately took a step away from the bed. “What are you up to?”
She looked at him, then let her gaze slide to one side nervously. “Jake, I—”
“How did you get in here?”
“Annie gave me a key.”
“Annie?” Damn, his little sister was in on this! Was this setup some kind of a joke? But no. Instinctively he knew that whatever else she was up to, Cassandra Oakes wasn’t kidding.
He flashed her another quick look and had to swallow back a groan. Her long blond hair lay across her shoulders and bare arms. Her green eyes shone with a passion he hadn’t expected and didn’t know quite how to handle.
Oh, he knew how he’d like to handle it. For months he’d been noticing his younger sister’s friend—much to his disgust. God, he’d known Casey since she was ten! She was just a kid. At least he’d always thought of her as one. And yet lately, every time she showed up at the Parrish ranch, he was drawn to her. He’d found himself looking for her, hoping to see her.
And that worried him.
Hell, he was thirty years old. He was ready to settle down. He’d been to college. He’d had a chance to taste the rest of the world and had finally realized that the life he wanted was here. On the ranch.
But Casey Oakes was only nineteen—and barely out of high school.
What did she know about life? Or herself, for that matter? She didn’t need him cluttering up her future just when it was beginning to open up in front of her.
So he had made up his mind to keep his desires in check. To keep a watchful distance from Casey until she’d had a chance to explore the world a bit.
But he’d never counted on having her ambush him in his bedroom.
“You’d better get out of here,” he said past the hard knot of need lodged in his throat.
“But I’ve been waiting for you,” she said. Jake watched as she held the covers to her and came up on her knees. She looked at him and shook her hair back away from her face.
He dragged a short harsh breath into straining lungs. Almost unwillingly his gaze shot to the swell of her breasts, where her armor of quilt and sheet was beginning to dip. Every breath she drew tantalized him, pushing him closer to the limits of his own endurance. His palms itched to cup her breasts. He could almost taste her sweet warmth.
Deliberately he clenched his hands at his sides and let his angry frustration color his voice.
“Well, now that I’m here,” he said, “you can go.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Oh, Jake…” She leaned toward him, unknowingly letting that quilt drop another inch or two until the tops of her breasts were bared to his view. She held out one hand to him. “Don’t you see? I’ve wanted this to happen for so long—and now we’re moving away. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
That had occurred to him, as well. In fact, it was the main reason he’d left the party early. He hadn’t felt like celebrating the fact that the one woman he was interested in was being spirited out of town. He wasn’t a big believer in the old adage “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” No doubt, Casey would forget all about him in a year or two. As would he forget about her.
Which made it even more imperative that he got her the hell out of his bedroom.
“Casey, you shouldn’t be here.”
“This is exactly where I should be,” she countered, and scooted to the edge of the bed, dragging the bed-clothes with her. Climbing off the mattress, she walked to him and laid one hand on his forearm.
His skin seemed to burn at her touch, right through the fabric of his shirt. He clenched his jaw tight, determined to ignore the almost electric feel of her so close to him.
“I couldn’t wait for you to take the first step anymore,” she said softly, breathlessly. “I’m out of time. I had to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Say it, he pleaded silently. Say it and go.
“I love you.”
Like a powerful fist to his midsection, Jake felt the blow. He stared into her eyes and saw everything he’d ever hoped to see shining back at him. Lord, how he wanted to tell her the same thing. He wanted to grab her, pull her tightly against him and lose himself in her. He wanted to slide into her warmth and hear her quiet moans of pleasure as they discovered each other. But he couldn’t. It didn’t matter if she claimed to be in love with him.
Nothing had changed. She was still too young. Too inexperienced to know what she wanted. She was still the kid who had followed him around the yard, peppering him with questions until he’d wanted to lock her in Annie’s bedroom.
Despite the fact that she didn’t look or feel like a kid at the moment, he couldn’t take advantage of her feelings to ease the ache throbbing inside him. And he certainly couldn’t expect a kid her age to make some kind of lifelong pledge of love.
Although he thought it might kill him, he forced himself to say, “Thank you, Casey. I appreciate it.”
Her eyes mirrored the questions racing through her brain.
“You appreciate it?”
“Casey, I know you don’t want to hear this—”
“Then
