The Cowboy's Way(39)

Hearing Heather enter the room, he turned to watch her and his heart stalled. She was without a doubt the most desirable woman he had ever seen.

“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are, Heather?” he asked.

When she walked over to where he sat on one of the high-backed stools at the bar he didn’t think twice about wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him.

“I...um, never really thought a lot about being attractive,” she said, her cheeks coloring a pretty pink.

She was clearly unused to receiving compliments and that was an oversight he intended to remedy every chance he got. “You are, sweetheart. You’re also damned amazing in others ways, too.” He nuzzled his cheek against the soft waves of her long strawberry blond hair. “You’re a great mom and one of the strongest, most intelligent women I’ve ever known.”

“Thanks, but what brought this on?” she asked, sounding delightfully breathless.

Leaning back to look into her brilliant blue eyes, he smiled. “I’m just stating the obvious.”

“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked, frowning. “You wanted to tell me that you think I’m amazing?”

Smiling, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Nope. But I do think you’re amazing.”

He rose from the bar stool and, after walking behind the bar to throw his empty beer bottle away, he took her by the hand and led her over to the sofa. As soon as they sat down, he watched her place an electronic receiver with a small video screen on the coffee table. He hadn’t noticed her holding it, and when he looked closer he realized it was a baby monitor like the kind he had seen his sisters-in-law use for his niece and nephew.

“Now are you going to tell me what you wanted to discuss with me?” she asked.

Pulling her close, he smiled when she automatically brought her arms up to his shoulders and tangled her fingers in the hair at his nape. “We can get to what I want to talk about later,” he said, lowering his head. “Right now, I’m going to do what I’ve been wanting to do all evening.”

When he covered her mouth with his, T.J. reacquainted himself with her perfect lips. Soft and sweet, they were the kind of lips that a man couldn’t resist and he didn’t even intend to try. Instead he coaxed her to open for him. Teasing and exploring her with a thoroughness that instantly had him shifting to relieve the pressure building in his jeans, he laid her back on the wide couch without breaking contact.

Thankful that the sectional was extra wide, he stretched out with her. He half covered her body and his thigh came to rest against her feminine warmth. The moist heat radiating through the layers of their clothing sent his own temperature soaring and without a second thought, T.J. slid his hand from her back to her chest, cupping her full breast with his palm.

Her mint green T-shirt and bra quickly became intolerable barriers. Slipping his hand beneath the hem of the garment, he slid it up her abdomen to the valley between her breasts and unfastened the front clasp of the scrap of lace holding her captive. When he took the weight of her breast in his hand, his body burned from the feel of her satiny skin and hardened nipple. As he chafed the tight tip with the pad of his thumb, Heather moaned softly and arched into his touch. The movement sent fire racing through his veins and as impossible as it seemed, his body tightened further. No matter what she’d said, no matter how hard she’d tried to push him away, he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. The thought was almost enough to send him spiraling out of control.

Breaking the kiss, he nibbled his way along her cheek to her temple. “Heather, I swear I only meant to kiss you,” he said, his voice raspy with passion. “But I need you more right now than I need my next breath.” He paused to raise his head and stare into her pretty blue eyes. “If you don’t need me just as much, tell me now. Otherwise, I can almost guarantee you that we’re going to make love.” He kissed her soft, warm lips. “And when we do, I don’t want you regretting one moment of what we share.”

She stared at him for what felt like an eternity. “There are a lot of decisions I’ve made lately that I’m not sure of and some that I know I’ll regret. I don’t want to add—”

“I understand, sweetheart,” he said, wondering if dead-lifting a horse or two would take care of the abundance of adrenaline coursing through him.

Removing his hand from her breast, he started to get up and head for the barn, but when Heather’s arms tightened around his neck to hold him in place, he looked down at her and his heart started thumping against his ribs like a bass drum in a marching band. The desire he saw in her blue gaze was electrifying.