Page 9 of Rainwater

Chapter

Four

H e turned around and she gasped audibly. Hunger, heat and loneliness stared back at her. She recalled his hot seeking mouth, so soft and demanding, and she remembered her response. Just as hot, just as demanding. Huskily, his voice full of need, he said, “Darlin’, come here.”

Panic clutched her heart. If it was a battle of wills, then she had an uncomfortable feeling she would lose.

He could crook that little finger at her and she would melt into a marshmallow.

She wanted to run; she could feel the need to flee inside her.

But when his face came into the light, she couldn’t.

His eyes glowed a pure aching turquoise so full of loneliness and need she felt as if she could cry.

She took a step forward and he made no move.

None whatsoever. He was so still he could have been a statue.

She took another, and when she was close enough to him, she stopped.

Very slowly, as if he knew she was frightened, he reached out and pulled her close against the lean hard length of him. Jennifer began to tremble, and she wanted so desperately for this man to be hers. That thought scared her down to her toes.

His eyes gazed deeply into hers as if he was searching desperately for something there. Something that his life depended on. She could feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest, her breasts crushed against him.

She thought he would kiss her. She was so sure that what he wanted was her body. But instead of taking her mouth in the hungry way he had this morning, he just moaned softly and laid his forehead against her shoulder.

Her chest filled and burned. This tenderness was unexpected. It was easy to say no when she believed that he wanted something physical. The way he held her spoke more clearly than his words could.

For a full minute he held her, just held her in the soft hushed night.

It seemed as if the bugs were awed by his magic, for even the chirping grew silent.

As awed as she was by his heartbreaking charm.

It felt so good to be cradled in his arms, so warm and safe. He smelled so good. So musky, so male.

Softly, almost a whisper of sound against her ear, he asked, “Can I touch your hair?”

“M-my hair?”

“Yes, darlin’,” he said patiently. “I’ve wanted to from the moment I first saw you.”

“Why?”

“It’s like fire in the sun and so silky-looking. May I?”

“Oh, God,” she whispered on a breath of air. Not meaning to say yes out loud, she did, anyway. “Yes.”

Gently he reached up and threaded his fingers through her hair, letting it flow through his hands.

“Where the hell is your husband?” he asked suddenly, harshly. He leaned closer, breathing deeply of her scent, and placed soft, warm kisses on her temple.

Jennifer was so surprised by his question, she couldn’t speak for a moment.

She didn’t want to talk about Sonny with this stranger, this man who had come to her rescue out of nowhere.

A guardian angel in a rough, dangerous package.

Trust came hard where men were concerned.

She wasn’t going to open up to him. He was leaving.

What could her answer possibly matter to him?

“I don’t know you. That’s a pretty personal question.” She evaded out of necessity. Out of self-preservation.

He nodded, bringing his face closer to hers.

Her eyes dropped to his mouth and she couldn’t seem to stop the overpowering need to feel him beneath her fingers.

Gently she traced the outline of his lips, touched his mouth, and the contact fulfilled something basic and female inside her.

The potent need to touch a virile, powerful male.

Yet, there were many other things about him she liked.

His integrity. His gentleness. His honesty.

He closed his eyes, and his voice was thick with desire and longing when he spoke. “Believe me, Jennifer, if it was only hot, mindless sex involved, I wouldn’t hesitate for one minute.”

Hot, mindless sex . She couldn’t breathe.

This man stirred feelings in her that she never knew she possessed.

Heated thoughts of Corey stripping her, straddling her, taking her, rushed through her mind.

The powerful attraction was unwanted, stunning in its potency, and so frightening. And all she had to say was, “Yes.”

“I want to get to know you, too,” he offered, instinctively answering her unspoken thoughts. Grabbing her hand, he pressed her palm to his mouth, then moved it to his face.

She swallowed convulsively and he watched her throat move, wanting to put his mouth there and feel her swallow against his tongue.

“Intimately,” he added, his eyes moving from the soft column of her throat to her face.

“I want to know what you’re thinking behind those deep green eyes.

For the first time in my life, I want to explore a woman emotionally as well as physically.

” He felt her stiffen against his body. He was baring a part of himself uncharacteristically, but he was so tired of running.

Was he trying to scare her off? Most likely. He didn’t want to explore his feelings for this woman, but already the attraction was so strong he thought seriously of seducing her right here in her driveway, and once a physical tie was established, he could then garner an emotional one.

What the hell was he thinking? He could only hurt her.

Hadn’t he promised himself he would never get involved with a forever kind of woman?

Jennifer was the type of woman he’d always steered away from, and with an unreasonableness that astounded him, he wanted her.

“But you’re a conservative little cowgirl, aren’t you?

You don’t sleep around. Certainly not a one-night stand with some drifter moving through town.

That would be—” he leaned down and whispered in her ear “— reckless .”

A quivering tingle trickled through her whole body, striking a chord deep down.

Reckless . That was what she’d been with Sonny.

Sonny, who’d cared more for the rodeo than for her.

Sonny, who’d taken any woman he could seduce into his trailer.

Into their trailer, into their bed where her daughter had been conceived.

Anger hot and burning hardened her heart, and she erected barriers for sheer protection. She couldn’t trust him. Ha, she couldn’t trust herself.

She raised her chin and met his molten green gaze.

“Why are you doing this?” she challenged, dropping her hand and narrowing her gaze.

“Because I like torturing myself. Or maybe because a sweet, beautiful, rich—” his eyes shifted from her face to look up at the house, where he could see the patio and the pool “—Anglo woman wouldn’t be interested in a man like me, so I’m safe.”

“Don’t put words into my mouth and thoughts into my head. You’re only doing this to unnerve me. Why don’t you just get on your bike and leave? That’s what you want to do, so go ahead. Stop baiting me.”

“I’m leaving so you won’t get a chance to be reckless.” With his fingers buried in her hair, he cupped the sides of her face. “I just want to know if he’s dead. Only a fool would ever walk away and leave you.”

“ You’re leaving,” she said more contemptuously than she felt, trying to ignore the distracting movement of his thumbs that left a tingling fire over the skin of her cheekbones.

It was frightening, this sense of wanting a man she didn’t know.

Frightening and powerful. Yet, looking into his tortured eyes, she almost felt closer to him than anyone else.

“I’m a fool,” he said simply, with a shrug of his impossibly broad shoulders.

The thought of him leaving brought back the unreasonable panic. God, she didn’t want him to go, but she surely wouldn’t let him know that. This was crazy, and she thought she’d put her crazy days in the past. Crazy days when she had let Sonny woo her and use her and throw her away.

No matter how much she wanted this man, no one was going to throw her away again.

Her anger at the remembered treatment by her husband lent her the strength to step away from the dark seduction of Corey. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know you.” She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her flesh. She would not touch him. She would not.

His arms dropped away from her and he smiled without humor in the darkness, his face in shadow beneath the brim of his hat. All she could see was his beautiful mouth, and all she could think was that she wanted it pressed against hers.

He sighed a mournful sound that went sharply through her leaving in its wake a sudden aching emptiness.

She tightened her resolve. She couldn’t let her heart sway her mind.

He was leaving. Yet another man who didn’t want to make a commitment.

Yet another rodeo rider who would break her heart and she’d only known him for one damn day.

You can really pick them, Jen, but good , she chided herself.

His mouth was on hers before she could fend him off. The kiss spoke volumes, the aching sweetness almost unbearable.

Then he hugged her hard and close for a few agonizing minutes.

When he pulled away, his face was ravaged with pain. Without looking at her, he straddled his bike. He sat there for a few moments as she watched him war with himself for composure, for control. It made her feel powerful that he would have to fight himself. Just as she fought herself.

Abruptly he turned and looked at her. “Thanks for the delicious dinner. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in a very long time, and never by a beautiful woman with fiery hair.”

His words released the heartache that had just begun to stir, and she bit her lip, tasting the intoxicating essence of him.

She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to ask him to stay, because standing here in her driveway, she realized how terribly lonely she was.