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  Lynn swallowed. “Not lately,” she whispered. “And certainly never from anyone who mattered to me.”

  “And I matter?”

  “Oh yes, you matter.”

  “Good to know.”

  Ransom filled his hands with her hair, tipped her head back and applied his lips to her throat. His breath fell warm on her skin as he tested its resiliency with the edges of his teeth. Scraping lightly, he took a breast in one hand. Lynn’s nipple filled, swelling against his palm, and the sensation pulled a sigh from her chest. “Yes,” she whispered. “More.”

  There was no need to ask twice.

  He took her nipple and sucked strongly, wrenching a cry from her lips and sending a blast of lust straight through her core. A pulse beat in her pussy as her clit filled. Still he sucked her, drawing hard then lighter until she was unsure exactly which of the two sensations she loved most. He moved to the other breast then sent his touch over her back and sides. When he slid his palm over her belly, she whimpered, sinking her fingers into his hair and holding on.

  “You’re wet. I love the way you feel.” Teasing her to the point ofinsanity, he drew a finger slowly over her slit, gathering the juices that wept from her body, then pushed deep into her pussy. She clenched against the delicious invasion, wondering how this man could get her so hot so damn fast. Not that she was complaining. She bucked against his touch as he added a second finger. Heat flushed her skin as she pressed closer. Her lust ratcheted higher, making her frantic for more of what Ransom could give her.

  He released her nipple, then licked it again before withdrawing his fingers from her cunt. Then he lifted her and carried her to the bed. As she’d done before, she watched him remove his clothes, marveling at the sculpted curves of his body, his broad, heavily muscled chest and the line of ridges on his abdomen. It was hard to think of leaving him and of not having the benefit of enjoying his delicious body, so she shoved thoughts of the future to the back of her mind. All they really had was now, and she planned to enjoy it.

  Ransom stood beside the bed, gripped his cock at the base and drew his fist over the heavy length. A drop of fluid shone from the tip at the head. Lynn licked her lips as she imagined taking him into her mouth. Moving into action, she scooted to the edge of the bed and quickly swept his hands aside. She looked up at him, saw his eyes widen then immediately narrow as he gathered her intent.

  When she took him into her hands and settled her mouth over the head of his cock, Ransom made a low sound of encouragement. He dipped his fingers into her hair, tugging lightly as she swirled her tongue over his flesh, then moved her stroking tongue lower over the thick stalk. Lynn took him deep, sucking hard as she carefully plied his balls. Needing to touch more of him, she trailed her fingers over his muscular thighs. Again and again she drew at his cock, but then Ransom cupped her cheeks and pulled her away.

  “I’m not lookin’ for a fast end to things tonight, darlin’. Let’s take it slow.”

  Ransom moved her to the center of the big bed then reached for protection before joining her. The mattress dipped with his heavy weight as he spread her thighs and moved between them. He leaned over her, pressing her into the bed, and Lynn knew she’d never forget the feel of him covering her in the darkness. When his mouth descended on hers, she wrapped him in her arms, sweeping her hands over his broad shoulders and down the back, tracing each muscle and curve. His chest pressed hers, flattening her breasts as he kissed her hungrily, sending his tongue deep into her mouth.

  Ransom’s hard cock rubbed repeatedly against her aching pussy, and response simmered inside her, hot and pulsing as she moved against him. In a slow rhythm, he slid his cock over her flesh, leaving her to writhe against the warm, slick length. Lust pushed wildly through her system, coiling deep in her cunt and making her legs tremble as she ached for more. Ransom’s lips moved low to settle over her heart as he reached between them and teased her pussy with the head of his cock. It was thick, pressing her clit, and she prayed he’d end the torment and fuck her hard.

  Knowing this might be the last time things would be this way made her frantic and yet caused her to yearn for delay. The conflicting emotions tore through her but with every pass of his cock against her needy flesh, she burned so thoroughly that thinking became impossible.

  “Ransom!”

  He answered her cry with a low grating sound and, moving back on his haunches, he grabbed her up until she knelt astride his hard thighs. His stiff erection rose between them as they pressed belly to belly. His hands found her ass, gripping the mounds tight as he began to drag his erection up then down, slipping over her, rotating his cock against her clit. The brush of her breasts against his chest provided an agonizing press to her swollen nipples and in a moment of wild need she rubbed them as she speared the fingers of her other hand into his hair and held on for the ride. Heat swept from his big body to seep into her pores, tension radiating around them as they moved together.

  “I want to make it last but I can’t,” he whispered. “Fuck it.” He released one ass cheek then fisted his hand in her hair to drag her head back. Instantly, his lips found her throat as he thrust deep into her pussy. Lynn met the action with a cry, and she fell and lifted against his ramming cock, taking him deep. Working slick vaginal muscles, squeezing the stiff, steely rod as emotion swam heavily in her mind, she fucked him as though she were a madwoman, bucking against the tide of sensuality.

  A haze clouded her thoughts, leaving only the feel of Ransom fucking her as if she were the last woman on Earth and they would never experience this pleasure again. She held on, her breath gasping out in soft little pants as he sucked a nipple deep into his mouth. Each pull of his lips wrung a desperate cry from her as the counterpoint sensation of his cock driving into her pussy seemed conjoined, all desire connecting in her belly.

  It was perfect, the perfect storm of pleasure. Holding on to her tenuous control was no longer an option as the wicked thrill tightened and tightened, calling every nerve ending to quick attention. Lust spiraled and grew until every limb trembled as if buffeted by a blasting wind. The tension couldn’t last. Lynn flew apart with a raw cry, her muscles clenching and releasing as lust whipped wildly through her body.

  Before she could do more than whimper, Ransom had her flat on her back as he jammed deep and powerfully into her clasping body. Her legs grabbed his hips and with her heels digging deep, orgasm spiraled higher again until, unbelievably, Lynn reached yet another churning, spinning peak. Ransom’s heavy growl melded with her high-pitched wail as they clung together, lost in that singular, expansive moment of pleasure.

  * * * * *

  “Are you sure you can’t stay another few days?” Ransom had just tossed her bag into the backseat of the borrowed SUV. He gripped the open window of the car door and leaned in.

  Lynn shook her head, a lump clogging her throat, and swallowed hard. It killed her to leave him but he’d made no promises and she had a life in Dallas. “I wish I could but I’ve imposed enough.”

  “Imposed? Not hardly, darlin’.”

  “Are you sure you don’t mind my borrowing this vehicle?”

  Ransom shrugged. “I have others. When they’re finished with your car at the body shop, I’ll drive it to you in Dallas and we’ll switch out.”

  For the first time in her life she wanted to be impulsive. She wished she could just leap from the SUV, wrap her arms around him and tell him that he had changed her life. Maybe once she’d had dreams of fairy-tale endings, but a grown woman had to be realistic. He’d never claimed to love her. Yes, he was interested and she knew they churned enough sparks in bed to set it on fire, but could what they had now grow into something more? That was the million-dollar question.

  “I hate for you to go—”

  Ransom reached into the SUV, cupped the back of her head and brought her lips to his for a lingering kiss. “Stop that now,” he said against her mouth. “I won’t settle for banal conversation from you. You know how I feel about you and
this isn’t about delivering a damn car; it’s all about seeing you again.”

  “How can we even dream of making this work?”

  He drew back and stuffed his fingers into the front pocket of his jeans. Frowning, he shook his head. “You are a stubborn, pessimistic woman, Doc, and damn it if you don’t think too much.”

  Despite her need to linger, she knew she couldn’t. Finally she smiled. “You’ve really got my number, don’t you?”

  “Yep. Have it memorized.”

  Lynn turned the key in the ignition and gave him a final look. “Thanks for everything. Reconnecting with you again means more than you can imagine.”

  Ransom simply nodded. “Drive safely and give me a call when you get home so I’ll know you made it.”

  As she drove down the drive, she glanced in the rearview mirror to see that Ransom stood watching her. Alone now, she accepted the fact that her eyes filled with tears she simply could no longer suppress. When she drove out of sight, she braked to a stop between the two limestone pillars that lined the drive. Lynn leaned her head against the steering wheel and let sorrow wash over her.

  He’d only really known her for a few short days. It wasn’t possible that he could love her already, was it? Ransom wasn’t a frivolous man. He was closed-up and cautious as hell, but Lynn wasn’t blind. He was interested to see where they could take their affair. If he was game, then so was she.

  Chapter Twelve

  The hands had headed for their respective homes over an hour ago, leaving Ransom in the company of over three hundred beeves, a couple dozen horses and a barn cat or two. Crickets began to click away in the distance as the sun set behind the hills, making an end to another torturous day without Lynn.

  He didn’t like it a bit.

  After having her company, what had once been a comfort was now a harsh reminder of his loneliness, and it sucked. How quickly he’d become accustomed to hearing her voice or feeling her presence at the end of a long day.

  And the nights?

  Best not go there.

  Over the past two weeks, he’d taken more cold showers than he’d thought a man could endure, and when even those blasts of chill water hadn’t helped, he had resorted to enough self-pleasure to make his dick raw. For a grown-assed man, he sure spent a lot of time jacking off. He knew there were plenty of available ladies in Delight who would scratch his particular itch, but he didn’t want them.

  He wanted Lynn.

  His current problem wasn’t all about sex either. From the first moment he’d bumped into her at the honky-tonk, there had been an undeniable connection, an off-the-charts chemistry that he couldn’t ignore. Her body was a perfect fit to his and her mind? Well, he didn’t begin to have her smarts, but he sure enough loved talking with her. She was a woman who had come from nothing and, with little help or encouragement, had carved a life for herself. She had the kind of spirit and drive that was admirable in anyone, woman or man and, God help him…he missed her like crazy.

  What a damn mess!

  These days he thought less and less about the past and more about the future. The very idea amazed him, but how in hell was he going to fix this mess?

  Shaking himself from the thoughts crashing around in his brain, he carried a plate to the barbecue grill and tossed a thick T-bone onto it. It soon began to sizzle, sending a delicious scent into the air. Eating alone wasn’t his idea of enjoyment, but he’d have to take what he could get. Reaching into a fridge he’d had installed at the end of the grill, he pulled out a longnecked bottle from the stash he kept there and unscrewed the top. He’d just turned to sit for a minute while the steak cooked when Cooper and T stalked around the side of the house and stepped onto the patio. Both were in jeans and wearing Dobbs’ Construction tee shirts, and Ransom knew from their appearances they had come here straight from work.

  Cooper glanced at his beer, grinned and looked at T. “Looks like we got here just in time, bro. Got an extra one of those?”

  Without a word, Ransom grabbed two more beers and tossed them to his brothers, then sprawled back into his chair. “What kind of trouble are y’all in now?”

  “Trouble?” T grinned. “Not us. We are downright respectable these days. At least for the most part.” His daredevil baby brother took a long pull from his beer and promptly burped.

  Ransom grunted, ignoring him and nursing his own drink as the scent of grilling steak filled the air. “Y’all hungry? I’ve got a couple more steaks in there. It won’t take but a minute to throw them on.” He had a feeling the guys weren’t here for the food but decided to wait for it.

  Cooper glanced at the grill. “Nah. Smells great but the ladies are fixing dinner for us back at the house. Lord only knows what we’ll face when we get there. I’m guessing it won’t be T-bones.” He shrugged.

  Cooper and T were practically joined at the hip since Coop had married Harley and T had gotten engaged. Ransom took a pull of his beer and tried not to feel jealous and left out. It was a pitiful thing to look at his younger brothers, the men he’d raised, and know that he was alone while they were living out their dreams.

  He was an ass.

  Ransom had never felt more isolated from life. A taste of what things could be like whispered through his mind and, though he and Lynn hadn’t been together long, he knew she was the woman he’d been waiting for. “So what can I do for you guys?”

  T and Cooper glanced at each other then went quiet, which was never a good sign. T stared at his brown bottle as if mesmerized. “Let’s just say this is an intervention.”

  What the fuck?

  Ransom looked at them both and nodded. “That’s honest. You could have blown smoke up my ass and told me you missed me or something. I like a man who can get straight to the point.” When Coop and T just looked at him, he shrugged. “State your business, drink the goddamn beer, then get on about your evening with the ladies. Believe me, nothing’s going on around here but more of the same.”

  Cooper shook his head. “It’s just like everybody in town says. You have a big bug up your butt.” Ransom raised a brow and waited. Cooper leaned forward in his chair, set his beer on the table and pointed at him. “You are mean as a rattlesnake, bro.”

  “Mean as a caged cougar,” T added.

  “Yeah, you, big brother, are like a damn wounded bear.”

  Ransom laughed. “Damn, boys, why don’t you include the whole zoo?” Since he liked his steak rare, he got up and flipped the meat while his brothers watched him carefully. Finally he turned and lifted a brow. “Listen, just tell me what’s on your minds.”

  Cooper stood and faced him as T lazily raked his thumbnail down the beer bottle label. “Everybody in town says you are mean as hell these days, Ransom. Just the other day, the boys over at the Feed and Seed said you were snappish.”

  “Snappish?”

  “Yeah, they said you had hardly a word for anybody.”

  “Well, ya know, Coop, I’ve never been a big talker.”

  “Don’t I know it. You shut down like a turtle.”

  “Back to animals, are we?”

  “Fuck you!”

  Ransom smiled and looked at his younger brother. “T? Do you share the same opinion?”

  He nodded and finally glanced up from the label-shredding in progress. “Yep. Had coffee at the diner the other day and everybody says you’re quieter than usual, and since you’ve never been much of a talker to begin with, Cooper and I figured maybe we needed to do this intervention.”

  “Huh.”

  Ransom turned away to attend to his steak as his brother yammered on and on about the sad state of his personality. Once he’d slid his dinner onto a plate, he turned to them. “What do you want from me?”

  Cooper walked up and it was impossible to miss the sincerity in his eyes. “You were like a different man when Lynn was here.”

  “You like her?”

  “Hell yes.” T went to his feet and joined Cooper in the stare down. “She’s great. We haven’t seen you
this happy since—”

  “Since Cassie.”

  “I’m sorry,” T said instantly. “I shouldn’t have mentioned her.”

  “And why not?” Ransom let out a breath. “You’re both right. I’ve been living with a ghost for the better part of ten years. Cassie was a huge part of my life and I loved her but damn it, a man has to move on. I can’t live like this anymore.”

  Ransom was purely shocked by his own passionate outburst.

  Cooper laid a hand on his shoulder and T moved closer. Compassion burned in their eyes and he knew he’d never loved them more than at this moment. “I don’t want you to worry about me,” he said. “I still have some things to figure out, but maybe you can help me.”

  Coop stepped back and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned. It’s another red-letter day when you ask us for help, Ran. You know you only have to say the word.”

  “What do you need?” T added to Cooper’s sentiment, and Ransom noted his sincerity. His heart warmed that Cooper and T had become such fine men. Mom and Dad would be so damn proud.

  Ransom sighed and carried his plate to the table, but suddenly his thoughts were more on the beer than on the food. “I know you two are here for me and I appreciate it. I’m a guy who likes to handle his own problems, but I could use some help with something. I know when I’m out of my element.”

  Cooper and T both returned to their chairs and eyed him steadily. “Anything,” Cooper said as T nodded.

  Ransom frowned. “I need to get some new furniture for the master bedroom. I already got rid of the old clothes, but I’m wondering if you guys could impose on Harley and Melanie for me. I don’t know shit about decorating. I just want all that old stuff out of there. Think they’d help me change the room up some?”

  Cooper grinned. “They are pretty good at that, Ransom. Bet they’d get right on it too. We’ll talk to them both tonight.”