“I like that.”
“There’s more,” I said, pushing up my T-shirt so he could see the bra underneath.
His green eyes warmed and seemed to darken. “I think there’s only one thing better than seeing you in that.”
“What’s that?”
“Seeing you without it.”
He reached out and grasped my T-shirt and pulled it off, then found the front clasp of the bra and unlatched it, warm, strong hands descending to cup my breasts. The need was building in me now, strong and insistent, and I let out a sigh as he lifted his hands from my chest just long enough to tug the underwear down and toss it to one side. Then his fingers were there, touching me, stroking me, and I let myself surrender to him, to his touch…to everything about him.
Somewhere deep inside I’d worried a little about making love with him here in Great-Aunt Ruby’s old room, but her spirit was long gone, and, as Connor had said, I’d made the place mine. It felt right now, to pull him down onto the bed next to me, to touch him, feel his strength and heat, have him inside me, filling me again as I sank down on top of him, watching the heavy lashes brush against his cheeks as he closed his eyes in ecstasy.
And it felt even more right to have him hold me afterward, to lie in the strength of his encircling arms and know that he loved me, loved me enough to come to the heart of his enemies’ territory, to risk my family’s retaliation, just to show that when it came to the two of us, it was just as Sydney had said.
We weren’t Wilcox and McAllister, but only Connor and Angela.
And that was as it should be.
11
Cold Shoulders
We dozed off, then groggily got up about an hour later and went in to brush our teeth, taking turns because the antiquated bathroom only had a small vanity with one sink. Then we fell asleep for real, snuggled up against each other, letting the dying fire lend its own warmth to the room. My wistful fantasies had come true; I finally did have Connor lying here next to me in the big king-size bed.
The next morning I was awoken by a metallic buzzing sound. Connor’s phone. He’d left it on the nightstand, and apparently it was set to vibrate.
I reached out and picked it up without looking at the screen, and dropped it on his chest. “For you.”
“Wha — oh.” He sat up, grabbing the phone before it fell down in the depths of the rumpled bedclothes. “What time is it?”
“A little past eight,” I replied after a quick glance at the clock on the mantel.
A sound of disapproval escaped his throat, although I thought it was directed more at whoever was contacting him so early in the morning. He brushed his finger across the screen to unlock it, then scowled.
“That good, huh?”
In response, he angled the phone so I could read the text displayed there. Just four words, in all caps.
ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?
“I guess Damon finally figured out where you were,” I commented. It was a lot easier to be blithe about one of Damon’s rages when he was safely miles and miles away. “I thought you said he doesn’t like using phones.”
“He doesn’t. But since this is pretty much the only way he can get hold of me right now….” A little light began dancing in his eyes as he started tapping in a reply.
I craned my head to see what he was writing, but the angle was wrong, and all I caught was a glare off the screen.
When he was done, Connor helpfully turned the phone so I could see what he had just typed in. Crazy, yeah…crazy in love. Talk l8er.
The “crazy in love” line sent a warm shiver down my spine. Even so, I grinned and asked, “So which part of that message is he going to hate more…the ‘in love’ part or the text-speak?”
An answering smile lit up Connor’s face. “Hard to say. But I figured I’d throw both in, just to really piss him off.”
I leaned over and kissed him. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“I have a vague idea, yeah.”
“So what are you going to do about Damon?”
“Nothing.”
Shooting him a dubious look, I said, “Nothing?”
His shoulders lifted, and I let myself admire the shift of the muscles under his smooth, warm-toned skin. “Well, it’s not as if he’s going to come down here and get into it with me. So he can stew in his juices until we get back to Flagstaff.”
“And what then?”
“We’ll deal with it then. But I’m thinking it’s about time I told him to back off and butt out.” He leaned across me and dropped his iPhone back on the nightstand.
This display of bravado surprised me. No, I didn’t exactly think Connor was under Damon’s thumb completely, but their previous interactions had seemed to indicate that Connor usually let his older brother get his way. Where this new confidence had come from, I wasn’t entirely sure. I didn’t want to take all the credit myself, but….