is my niece. I would never threaten her.”
Cole drew in a breath. “I may well start spending more time on the ranch. My ranch.”
“Be warned, then, that this summer we’ll be doing a lot more with the working part of the ranch. Those packages are becoming very popular.”
Cole simply smiled, and Taylor had to give him points for not breaking. “We’ll see.”
He took Taylor’s hand in his and started back for the door.
“It’s in the agreement, Cole. There’s nothing you can do about it,” Miranda called pleasantly after him. Cole’s grip tightened on Taylor’s hand, but other than that, he didn’t react.
* * *
THE DRIVE BACK was silent.
Taylor stared out the windshield, processing what she’d just witnessed, making Cole wonder if she’d gotten a true enough glimpse of the real Miranda to understand what he was up against. She’d jumped in a time or two, but he didn’t know if that had been because she was showing support or because she truly got what a liar Miranda was.
Whatever her take, at least her presence had kept him from blowing up—a tactic that never worked with Miranda. As people got angrier, she got icier. It was her go-to defense, and a difficult one to deal with.
Finally, as he exited the highway at the Eagle Valley, Taylor took a deep breath and turned her head to look his way, an expression of concern in her blue eyes. But she didn’t say anything. Maybe she was waiting for him to lead the charge.
He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t know what he could say. Either Taylor got it or she didn’t.
When he parked the truck and turned off the ignition, neither of them moved. Then they reached for their door handles simultaneously, exchanging a look before they got out. Cole met Taylor at the rear of the truck.
“Thanks for coming along.”
“Do you…want to talk?” Judging from her tone, she already knew his answer—if he’d wanted to talk, he would have initiated—but since she’d asked…
“Not now. Maybe later.” Maybe never, but he was glad he’d brought her along.
“All right.” She started toward the bunkhouse, but made only a couple of steps before she reversed course, came to stand directly in front of him, reached up to take his face between her hands and kissed him. Not a soft kiss like the one he’d given her in the barn, just because, but a let’s-tackle-our-frustrations kiss. An I’m-going-to-eat-you-alive kiss.
Cole put his hands on her slim waist, telling himself he was going to end the kiss, but instead he gave her a small tug and pulled her body into his. “Are you doing this because you feel sorry for me?”
She shook her head, her hands still on his face. “No.” And then her mouth was back on his, and he decided that he didn’t care if she felt sorry for him or not. He wanted her any way that he could have her. He walked her backward a few steps, then when she almost lost her balance, he lifted his head and nodded toward the bunkhouse.
“Yes.”
Cole was rapidly becoming a fan of monosyllabic responses. He kept an arm around her as they covered the short distance to the place that neither of them had wanted to move into—a place that suddenly seemed perfect.
They were barely in the door when Taylor started working on his shirt buttons. No analysis, no “Are you sure?” Now he had his answer about what she’d be like—she took charge. He was good with that.
No—he sucked air in over his teeth as she finished with his shirt and started undoing his belt—he was great with that. But he also wanted his turn.
He covered her hands with his, and her gaze came up to his. He brushed a kiss over her mouth, nipped at her lower lip, took hold of the bottom of her T-shirt and pulled it up over her head, tossing it onto the chair.
“Nice undies,” he muttered as he took in the sheer mesh bra that left nothing to the imagination. If he’d known she wore stuff like this, well, this moment might have arrived sooner.
“You should have seen the things that got stolen,” she said, gasping as he lowered his mouth to suck her warm flesh through the sheer fabric.
“Yeah?”
“I haven’t been able to replace them.” Her voice squeaked a little as he pushed the mesh aside to allow himself access to her nipples, and then her hands fisted in his hair as he gave each perfect breast the attention it deserved.
“Do you like that?” he asked, swirling her nipple with his tongue, then slowly pulling it into his mouth.
Her grip on his hair tightened. “Oh, yeah.” He went to one knee, his hands skimming over her hips as his tongue trailed a path down her tight abs toward her jeans. He undid the button, lowered the zipper, and had started to work them over her hips when she said his name. He met her questioning gaze, and reality crashed through the haze in his brain. “I have to go to my place to get condoms.”
“I have one.”
“I think I love you.”
Something flashed in her eyes before she turned and went for her purse and soon held up the packet. “This is my one and only.”
“One’s enough.” For now.
“You’re sure?” She put a hand on his chest and moved him backward until his knees hit the edge of her bed. One last push and he toppled backward, reaching out at the last minute to pull her down with him. She gave a squeak as he rolled over on top of her, effectively trapping her beneath him. Her face was flushed, her eyes dark with desire, and her mouth…oh, that mouth. There were dozens of places he wanted that mouth to be.
“Is your knee okay?” she asked.
His knee had been steadily healing, and yes, it was up to sex if that was what she was wondering. He gave her a quick nod. “The wrist is fine, too.”
“So you’re a hundred percent now.”
“Maybe a little more.”
Her chest rose and fell beneath him. He propped himself on his elbows and brushed back her hair, needing to see her face, needing to know that she was 100 percent on board. She languidly reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and pull his mouth down to hers.
And he was lost.
When he’d imagined making love to Taylor, he’d thought it would be more desperate, more of a get-it-done-before-we-come-to-our-senses experience. He’d been wrong. Instead they embarked on a long, slow exploration. Clothing was swept aside, sweet spots found. And when he finally pushed inside her, he wanted the ride to go on forever.
Life didn’t work that way, nor did sex.
Especially sex with a woman who’d brought him to the brink so many times before he’d slid into her. Taylor came before he did—just barely—and as she arched into him, her breath catching, holding, he lost control, thrusting deeply one last time.
Then
