She grasped his arms, studying his eyes. “Only if you’re all right now.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t all right. That’s why I waited. I’m always all right when I come to you.”
“Then do that. Come to me. I only like making love to the Jake who is in the present, not the past, but I can help the old Jake when I need to, and you know that.”
He drank in the sight of her. “Woman, I am definitely in the present.” He picked her up and laid her on the bed, then threw aside his jacket and unstrapped his guns. He sat down on the bed and pulled off his boots. “You want to know what Gretta told me?” He stood up and unbuttoned his shirt, taking it off.
“I’m not sure I want to know,” Randy answered, pulling the covers over her nakedness. She could see the strong, loving Jake moving back into his eyes, the one who loved to sometimes tease her relentlessly and use just the right words to make her give in, even when he’d done something to upset her.
Jake unbuckled his belt and pulled off his pants, taking his underwear off with them. He removed the sleeveless undershirt and crawled into bed.
“I am waiting for your answer,” she told him. “What did that woman say to you?”
He moved on top of Randy and braced his elbows on either side of her, grinning. “She said I reek of sex. How’s that one for you?”
Randy couldn’t help responding to the masculinity that was Jake Harkner, nor to the way he was smiling at her now. The Jake she loved most was back, and that was all that mattered. “Reek?”
“Reek.”
“Interesting description.”
“Her word, not mine. I just wondered what you think of that.”
Randy smiled slyly. “You reeked of sex that first time I found you lying wounded in my bed back in Kansas. Actually, you reeked of sex when I saw you in that store the first day we laid eyes on each other. I could feel the man in you as you moved around, picking up the things you needed. That little store was filled up with Jake Harkner.”
“I felt the same thing in you.”
“That I filled up the room?”
“You know what I mean. The woman in you signaled to me like a damn warning bell. I should have heeded that warning.”
“I felt a signal, too—but it was more like the deep, long whistle of a locomotive, telling me to stay away. I should have heeded that warning.”
He grinned even more. “You did. You shot me.”
“Yes, well, we know how that worked out. Here we are almost thirty years later, lying naked in bed together, when I really should have slapped you when you came in for taking so long, let alone spending time with a prostitute. In fact, I should have sent you over to her place of business, but then when you came back, I’d have to shoot you again for actually going there.”
“I wouldn’t have gone, and you know it. Why would I leave the bed of the most beautiful woman in this city? I don’t deserve her, but if she’s willing to be with me, I’m sure as hell not going to say no. What man would?” He leaned down and kissed her throat in the ticklish, butterfly way he had.
“I am supposed to still be mad at you,” Randy reminded him.
“What can I do to change that?” He kissed her throat again.
“You’re already doing it.” She felt his penis pressing in that crevice where the top of her leg met more private places. “And I hate you for it.”
He moved to her mouth, groaning as he ran his tongue deep in a long, delicious, passionate kiss. By the time he finished, she felt as though he’d already invaded every part of her body. He had a way of making love to her mouth that completely undid her. He left her lips only long enough to kiss her cheek, her ear, her neck, then back to her lips yet again, searching deep. His kisses sometimes made it feel like he was already having intercourse with her. Again he left her mouth, kissing her eyes gently. “If this is hate, I can’t wait till you decide you still love me.”
Randy grasped his hair. “I’ll always love you, even when I hate you, if that makes any sense.”
He moved to her throat again. “Sure it does.”
“Maybe it’s because you do reek of sex.”
“Whatever works.” He kissed his way to her breasts, savoring the taut nipples as though they were sweet cherries, making her groan and arch toward him. He ran an arm under her neck and moved to her side so he could run his other hand over her belly and down to the place that had always belonged only to Jake Harkner.
And you damn well know it, Randy thought as he moved his fingers inside her suggestively, drawing out the silken juices that prepared her for what was to come. He moved his lips over her belly then. She parted her legs as he found his mark. It made her feel wanton as he kept teasing her with his fingers while his tongue worked its magic in private places that truly did belong only to this man.