Then he moved his hips against hers and all thought fled from her mind. As he thrust into her, she was nothing but tingling sensations and breathless gasps.
He was utterly in control, moving against her in a way to give her the most pleasure possible. He didn't just stroke into her, but moved in circular motions that all too quickly had her spiraling up and up until there was no place else to go but climax and crash down with his name a cry of pleasure on her lips.
It was as if her orgasm snapped something inside him. He began to move faster against her, pistoning his hips in a frenzy of driving need.
She loved it, the wildness in him, the focused desire to finish what they had begun. And when he reached his own climax, he released a low, deep moan that resonated in her very soul.
For long minutes they remained locked together. She could feel the pounding of his heart against her own. It was one of the sweetest sounds she'd heard in a very long time.
He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "I didn't even think about protection."
"It's okay. I'm on the pill." She raised her head to gaze at him. "Although I haven't been with anyone for years."
"And I haven't been with anyone since my wife," he replied.
Just that quickly, it felt as if there were three people in the bed: he, she and the wife he'd never forget. Crowded. The bed suddenly felt crowded. She had no idea if he felt it, too. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then rolled away from him and out of the bed.
She had to get a little breathing room. It had all been too intense, far too wonderful, and she needed some time to gain some perspective.
"I've got to get moving," she said as she grabbed her pajamas and robe and left his bathroom.
"Yeah, me, too. I'll see you downstairs."
She left his room and went to the bathroom in the hallway. She took a quick second shower, hoping to wash away the scent of him, the very feel of his touch against her skin.
She'd only borrowed him for a minute, that's what she had to remember. Hopefully she'd be gone from there in the next couple of days and he would be a checkoff on her bucket list. He would definitely be a memory to carry with her, a memory that would last a very long time.
By the time she had dressed and come down the stairs, Daniel was heading out to work in the barn. When he was gone, Lizzy puttered in the kitchen, where she made a tuna salad for their lunch and kept her head as emptied as possible of thoughts.
Lunch talk consisted of ranch things. He told her about future plans to rebuild the barn, to add a stable. His eyes sparkled as he spoke, and Lizzy almost wished she'd be there to see all his plans come to fruition.
But, she couldn't think that way. She'd made her promise to her mother, and she was determined to carry it through. She had places to go and things to see, adventures to complete before she finally thought about settling down into one place.
By one o'clock she was dressed in her Cowboy Café T-shirt and preparing to leave for work.
"I'll drive you to work," Daniel said as he came into the kitchen.
"That's not necessary," she protested. "I can drive myself there and home." What she needed more than anything was some distance from him. He was already under her skin. She didn't want him too deeply in her head, in her heart.
He frowned. "I don't like the idea of you leaving work at midnight and being on the road all alone to come back here."
"Daniel, I'm a big girl. I've been taking care of myself for a long time. It's just a fifteen-minute drive. I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Yeah, and it was just a two-minute walk from the back door of the café to your cabin, and that didn't work out very well for you."
"I'll be fine," she said curtly. Making love to him had been beyond wonderful, but it had also complicated things between them. She saw a new softness in his eyes that threatened to pull her in, and that hadn't been part of the deal.
She picked up her car keys. "You'll probably be in bed when I get home. Would you mind giving me a house key so I can just let myself in when I get home?"
She could tell she'd irritated him by insisting that she drive herself, but he pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and took one off to hand to her.
She put it on her own key ring. "Guess I'll head out. I'll see you in the morning."
She walked out into the hot afternoon air and drew in a deep breath. She had to get Daniel out of her head, get the familiar scent of him out of her nose. Making love with him had made him dangerous to her, because she wanted to do it again … and again.
It was time for her to leave. She hoped Sheriff Evans came in this afternoon and she could get the okay to leave town. She never liked staying anyplace where she might get involved with somebody, anyplace that might seduce her into making it a permanent home.
She feared that Grady Gulch and Daniel were dancing a slow seduction around her, and that frightened her as much as Candy's murderer and her unknown assailant.
Chapter 8
Daniel told himself at dinnertime that the only reason he wanted to head into the Cowboy Café was for dinner and to find out the latest news about Candy's murder and whoever had attacked Lizzy.
But, the truth of the matter was the house had grown quiet … dead without her energy, without her life force in it. If he were perfectly honest with himself, he'd admit that even though it had been only four hours since she'd left, he missed her.
He was doomed, he thought as he got into his truck to make the drive into town. He had that helpless feeling of not her, not now. He was falling for Lizzy, and he knew in his heart she was the wrong woman at the wrong time.
But, it felt so right when he was with her. She made him laugh and she made him think. When she looked at him, he wanted to be the man he saw reflected in her eyes. And it had definitely felt better than right when he'd had her in his bed, when he'd made love with her.
She'd made him look outward again, when he'd been trapped looking inward and mired in his own guilt and feeling of responsibility for Janice's and Cherry's deaths. He still felt that when he had a moment of silence in his mind, but Lizzy was beginning to fill up those silences, and when she looked at him he felt as if he was a better man.
But she didn't know the truth of the night of Janice's death. She didn't know the agonizing details of the fight that had driven Janice out that night to meet her death.
He shoved away these thoughts, not wanting to dwell on anything he couldn't change. Instead he thought of seeing Lizzy again.
It was crazy, how quickly she'd gotten to him, had opened up his heart in a way that made him both wary and exhilarated. He'd like to believe that any woman who had entered his life at this time would have had the same magic as Lizzy, but his heart told him otherwise.
In the past eight months or so there had been several attractive single women who had made it clear they'd be interested in pursuing something with him. But none of them had been able to pierce through the shell of isolation he'd built around himself until Lizzy.
He couldn't help the smile that curved his lips as he found a parking place in the Cowboy Café lot. The smile wavered slightly as he saw Denver Walton's pickup. If Denver was inside the restaurant then Maddy was probably with him, and there was nobody on earth who hated Daniel more than Maddy Billings.
She would always believe he was responsible for Janice's and Cherry's deaths. The two had been on their way to pick her up, and it was only by the grace of God that the wreck had occurred before Maddy got into that car.
As he walked in the door he noticed two things: Maddy and Denver were at a table on the far end of the room, and Lizzy was working the counter.
She flashed him a surprised smile that warmed his heart more than it should. He hung his hat on a hook and then walked to an empty stool at the counter.
"Hey, cowboy, what's your pleasure?" she asked.
He gave her a lazy grin. "I had my pleasure earlier this morning, so I guess I'll just take whatever is on special for now."
Her cheeks pinkened as she charmed him with a blush. "The special is spaghetti and meatballs, and you're a wicked man to talk about your conquests."
He raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, you had a conquest at the same time, and spaghetti and meatballs will be fine."
She wrote his order on her pad. "I'll rustle that right up for you." She turned to the pass window and then turned back around to face him.
"So, what's the news?" he asked.