For two entire weeks, they’d spent their days with him showing her how to run the ranch, and then the two of them played games during the evening and long into the night. Sometimes it was playful, sometimes passionate, and sometimes mellow. But, for those fourteen nights, Brielle had slid easily into Colt’s arms without a thought of telling him no.
“It’s time for bed,” he murmured after this latest cat-and-mouse game, and trailed his mouth down the side of her neck.
“I was thinking about watching a movie,” she teased.
He carried her the couple of hundred yards back to the house, all without breaking a sweat. Once inside, he kissed her again, and then walked to the living room couch, and the only movie playing was the one they created… All without lights, camera, or…wait, there was an abundance of action.
The next morning, a rare occasion when Brielle woke before Colt, she gazed down at him while he slept. She’d never actually told Colt he could stay over, but she’d also never told him he couldn’t. He somehow just ended up there in her bed every night without fail.
Yes they made love — a lot of it. But some nights they sat in the living room and played board games or, yes, actually watched a real movie, or talked for hours on end. And then it was time to sleep and he was walking her up the stairs.
Neither of them had defined their relationship. Neither spoke about a future — or even a present, when it came down to it. Brielle was terrified to open herself up to this man any more than she already had, but it seemed much too late even to think about closing herself off.
She’d never actually been in a “relationship.” Yes, there was the guy from college, her first lover, but that had only been a few times, and they were never a real couple. They’d just dated, and because all of her friends had gone on and on about how great sex was, she figured she ought to experience it.
When it still wasn’t spectacular after a few tries, she’d decided that pairing was over and done with. The guy hadn’t been heartbroken. He’d just moved on. Later, there was the man she’d met in Paris. Now that had been better sex, but afterward she’d still felt almost hollow inside. Sure, her body had been satisfied, but nothing like this. What she shared with Colt...it was something she couldn’t put into words.
And so she was in bed with a man in what most would term a relationship, but she had no idea where the two of them stood. It wasn’t as if she’d change her life for him. She wouldn’t stay in Montana after she’d made a success of the ranch, and he was a country boy through and through.
Just thinking about this filled her with panic. She wasn’t ready to put a label on what the two of them had together, but she also wasn’t willing to let him go.
As she glanced at the clock and realized it was nearing nine in the morning, her heart began racing. Her father was scheduled to arrive in less than an hour, and no way in hell did she want him to come in and find Colt.
She couldn’t even explain to herself what the two of them were; how could she explain it to her dad? She’d finally been speaking to her father over the phone, was finally losing some of the resentment she’d been holding on to, and she didn’t want to ruin their fragile new beginning by having him think she was shacking up with a man she’d known such a short time. But the bed was so warm, and she was having a difficult time untangling herself from her lover. Wait. Was that the right word?
“Good morning.”
Startled, she looked up and found those bright hazel eyes open and looking right at her, and he had a lazy smile on his lips. His arms tightened and he pulled her closer.
“No. I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she said, turning away.
That didn’t stop him. He chuckled, and then his hand was tangled in her mussed hair and he was pulling her on top of him and bringing her mouth to his. Within seconds, she forgot all about her morning breath, and she was lost in the intoxicating scent of his masculinity.
When he released her mouth, she felt the hard evidence of his desire pressing against her core. “Mmm,” he purred as he slid his hands down her back and pressed them against her behind, letting her feel the effect she had on him — in full. But she still tried to wriggle away.
“I can’t, Colt. I have to get up.”
“I’m already up, darling, so let’s play.” He flipped the two of them over so she was lying on her back with his arousal firmly — oh, so firmly — between her legs, his hips moving against hers in the most pleasurable way. If they hadn’t both been wearing pajama bottoms, he’d already be inside her, and why not? She was wet and ready.