Samhain Publishing Ltd, Ebooks and Books in Print

Anticipation

Jonas’ hand landed on her hip. His fingers gripped her firmly. “Deidre, I—”

When he stopped himself, then took the bowl out of her hands and set in on the counter, murmuring, “The cookies can wait,” Deidre didn’t know what to think. Yes, she’d been brazen, teasing him like that, but Jonas was sending out very confusing signals.

Deidre let him lead her to the straight back chair next to the table. When he sat her down and turned to fill an empty bowl with water, she just stared in confusion.

She was surprised when he lowered himself to one knee and put the bowl of water on the floor next to her feet. Her pensive gaze tracked his sexy, hard-working hands as he withdrew a white handkerchief from his pants’ pocket and dipped the cloth in the water, his movements measured and precise.

The tense silence between them was killing her. “What are you doing?”

Instead of replying, his warm fingers wrapped around her left ankle and his gaze locked with hers, steady and sure.

Totally perplexed, she let him lift her foot above the bowl. When he glanced at her foot and began to wipe the warm wet cloth along her skin, bathing away the gravel dust, a lump clogged her throat at the personal, almost reverent act.

Tears formed as her emotions rushed to the surface once more. Blinking back the wetness, she swallowed hard and tried to keep her voice from shaking. “In the barn, you backed away from me. I don’t understand.”

“Let it be, Deidre.”

His voice was harsh, cold…almost angry, but his touch told a different story. While one hand gently bathed away the dirt, the other massaged her calf in a seductive caress, as if he couldn’t stop himself from touching her.

The man baffled her. She knew about his past…a past that she was certain caused a lot of hurt, but she’d endured her share of failures in relationships, too. If he didn’t want to talk, but instead wanted his hands to speak for him, then so be it. For now.

When he began to work on her other foot, her gaze scanned his crisp white shirt stretched across his broad shoulders. She acknowledged how much his sheriff’s shirt and black pants, combined with the sight of his gun strapped to his hip, turned her on. Yet there was one thing she’d wanted to do since she’d seen him yesterday. Pulling off his cowboy hat, she tossed it on the table.

He paused for a second, but he didn’t look up as he resumed his ministrations. Her heart swelled when his hands began to massage the curve of her calf. From the top of his black-as-sin hair to the tips of his cowboy boots, he might be a sheriff now, but he was still her cowboy. Goose bumps formed on her skin as her gaze focused on his short, dark hair. Thoughts of running her fingers through the thick, slightly wavy mass flashed through her mind.

He moved the bowl out of the way and his hands slid upward, pushing her skirt past her knees. When he spread his palms across the outside of her thighs, Deidre’s breath hitched. She gave in to the urge and ran her hands through his hair, enjoying the thick silk bending around her fingers.

At her touch, Jonas’ fingers gripped her skin in a possessive hold. His warm breath bathed her inner thighs as he ran his hands up her hips to grip her buttocks. The moist sensation of his warm breathing brushing the top of her thighs, so close yet so distant, only made her body pound for more.

Jonas set his other knee on the floor and finally spoke, his voice gravely and low. “Let me cherish you the best way I can.”

The torture and anguish in his tone burrowed deep in her heart, unlocking more than a physical response…so much more. Deidre bit back the swift desire to wish for more from him. No matter how strongly she felt for him, his words told her he wasn’t capable of giving on an emotional level.

In answer, she relaxed her thighs and gripped his shoulders. Gathering him close, she kissed the top of his head.

Tension eased from his shoulders at the same time he slid her short skirt even higher. The glide of the soft material against her skin, flanked by the heat from his palms, sent tiny tremors skittering through her body. Silence echoed around them, punctuated by an occasional faint naaaa of the goats through the open kitchen window.

Jonas bent to place a tender kiss on her inner thigh and Deidre’s pulse stuttered at the surreal moment. No amount of fantasizing had ever come close to the barrage of sensations his real-life action elicited within her. Her heart thumped and her belly tensed with skittish butterflies. Heat radiated from that one kiss and her skin tingled when the next one, wetter, hotter and more tender than the last, moved higher.

Her tense muscles began to relax, like a bowl of butter heated to its melting point. An unbidden moan rushed past her lips, so very primal it surprised her.

“Jonas,” she murmured.

His mouth moved higher and he nipped at the curve where her inner thigh met her body. “Say it again, darlin’, just like that. The need in your voice…damn, it makes me throb.”

Susanna’s Seduction

Only the hum of the car’s engine and the sound of Michael shifting gears filled the electric air between them as he drove to his home. It was as if neither of them wanted to talk—to break the magnetic attraction building between them.

The silence didn’t stop Michael from casting his hooded gaze her way a few times. At the heated look she saw reflected in his eyes from an approaching car’s lights, Susan gave him a sly smile.

They both knew what they wanted, and they’d damn well waited long enough to get there, she thought when he returned his gaze to the road. Why had he waited so long? The man had made his attraction to her very clear from day one.

In so many ways, from the very beginning, she knew Michael was a wonderful man. He’d sympathized with her over Melanie’s “errand”, had championed her in front of the whole rehearsal dinner crew and had basically been an all-around gentleman since she’d met him—like the fact he’d been the one to slow things down between them.

Susan furrowed her brow and cast her gaze out the window. Michael had said he wanted to get to know her. And in many ways he had, but did he know the real Susan? He’d seen a little of her tonight when she picked Charlie’s lock, but as much as Susan abhorred being called “Sensible Susan”, she knew she subconsciously worked hard to maintain that image…to keep an emotional distance.

The strong front she put on had given her a sense of authority over her kid brother throughout their years alone together. Her outward demeanor also demanded respect from her superiors and co-workers, not to mention it put a barrier around her heart six inches thick.

The reality was…as excited as she was by their upcoming evening, Michael scared her on many levels.

He was so confident and self-assured. She would have never propositioned him if the situation had been reversed. But he didn’t hesitate…not once. He saw what he wanted and he became a part of her life…almost as if he’d always been a part of it. She wished she could be so carefree with her feelings.

What would he think when he finally met the real Susan? If they continued to spend time together, he would eventually see every facet of her personality, right down to the insecure and doubtful angles. She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders, forcing herself not to worry about the future and what-ifs. Tonight was about an enjoyable evening with a sexy man, not a lifetime commitment.

Right. If that was true, then why did Michael’s spicy, seductive aftershave make her think how nice it would be to wake up to that scent every morning? She banished the indulgent thought from her mind, refusing to get attached to him.

She was so deep in her thoughts she lost track of time and place until Michael pressed a button on his steering wheel and the iron gates in front of them began to open. Susan sat up a little straighter as he drove through the gates and proceeded up the long drive. She smiled as she realized where he’d taken her. She should’ve known he lived in the Village.

When he parked his car in the circular driveway in front of his Manor-style home, Susan took in the huge white columns on either side of his front porch, the nice-sized balcony above the porch’s roof and the plethora of windows on either side of the porch. Trees sprouted all around the cobblestone circular drive and a brick-lined fountain graced the center.

Once he cut the engine, the lone spotlight on the side of the house gave off very little light from the angle he’d parked, and darkness surrounded them. She unbuckled her seatbelt, and while electric silence stretched between them, the sound of the ocean’s surf filtered through the closed windows, making Susan’s skin prickle and her smile falter. Her dream came back to her full force.

I was about to go to a wedding, I love the beach…and Michael really wound me up that night before I went to bed. That’s all it was, she told herself. “You have a beaut—”

Michael unbuckled his seatbelt and laid his hand on her neck, causing her to pause. She trembled as his thumb moved up the side of her throat to rub behind her ear. His heated touch soaked through her skin, igniting a fire within her. Susan let out a steadying breath before she finished, “—iful home.”

“Welcome, Susanna,” he said in a desire-filled voice before he pulled her close and covered her lips with his.

The sensuous slant of his lips devouring hers melted Susan’s insides. She opened her lips and cupped her hands around his jaw, enjoying the sensation of his rough, evening stubble against her palms.

Michael’s tongue slid deep into her mouth, aggressive, but not forceful. He set a seductive, assertive pace that made her want to linger in the car and allow him to explore every crevice, every dip and hollow inside her mouth and beyond.

His hands darted in her hair and found the clip she’d secured it with. She felt it give way and heard a clatter as her clip hit the console before it fell to the floor.

“Impatient, are you?” She smiled against his lips as his fingers tunneled in her hair, unwinding the twist.

“I believe that’ll be the understatement of the evening,” he mumbled right before he gripped her shoulders and pulled her closer.

Susan let out a surprised yelp, but continued their kiss. Instead she nipped at his bottom lip and said in a husky voice, “Well, if you wanted me to come over, all you had to do was ask.” She broke their kiss and climbed over the console. Michael tilted his steering wheel upward to give her room as she squeezed in front of it to settle on his lap.

The console dug into her left calf and she had to lower her head to keep from hitting the roof, but Susan didn’t care. She chuckled as she moved her head beside his and whispered in his ear, “Hmm, this is a bit cozier than I expected.”