Hearts Are Wild (10 page)

BREEZY: What about you, Lily? How’s your love life going?

LILY_WHITE: I don’t think “love” life is the right word. Maybe “lust” life. :o)

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: Oooh, more power to ya, babe! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

BREEZY: Listen to Nic…she’s definitely in her element now! ::grin::

LILY_WHITE: You both need to give me hints on how to think of something
besides S-E-X! It’s very distracting.

NIC_LOVES_EM_ALL: That’s the whole point, remember? Bwahahahaha.

BREEZY: Well, Nic’s right. Just enjoy your time with your man, cuz. Something may come from it but in the meantime…at least you’re getting your exercise in. ;o)

LILY_WHITE: ::rolling in laughter:: You two are making my sides hurt! Well, I gotta go. Take care, girls, and see you in a couple of weeks.

Sabrina logged off the instant messaging system feeling a bit better. No, she wasn’t one hundred per cent but she could cope. Work was always a good outlet when one had too much time to ponder things too much. She logged into her email and checked it via the web. Yep, there were several messages waiting to be answered.

She spent the next few hours responding to emails, only pausing to rummage through Josh’s fridge and make herself some lunch. When her shoulders started to feel sore from sitting so long working on his laptop, Sabrina decided she’d worked long enough. She shut down the computer and looked at her watch. Frowning as worry crept into her consciousness once more, she realized four hours had passed and she still hadn’t heard from Josh. She moved to stand by the big picture window and stared out at the darkening sky and the trees blowing in the wind.

He could’ve called to reassure her he was okay and he didn’t. Man, she was going to rail at him as soon as he walked in the door, damn it. Well, after she held him close and gave him a welcome home kiss. The thought of something happening to him…her heart sped up and suddenly her rib cage felt too small for the wild beating that hammered against it. She put her hand on her chest, the sense of panic setting in as her breathing turned to short, choppy pants.

God, Josh better come home soon, or at this rate I’m going to pass out
, she thought with dread.

Chapter Nine

Sonofabitch, he ached all over. Josh stood under the hot stream of water in the firehouse’s shower, washing away the sweat, soot and general grime from the fire. After they’d put the fire completely out, he didn’t have a choice but to hitch a ride back to the fire station on the fire truck since his truck was gone. To save time, he’d driven his truck directly to the fire’s location and parked away from the burning building. But while he did his civic duty, putting out a five-alarm fire, his damn truck had been towed.

Josh poured the fire station’s antiseptic-smelling shampoo into his hair and winced as the soap ran over the cut on his cheek. He thought about Sabrina while he lathered the suds. Hell, for that matter he’d thought about her all the way to the fire. Only while he fought the raging inferno was he able to disengage his thoughts about the woman he’d fallen in love with. Yeah, he’d admitted it to himself on his way to the fire, but how the hell was he going to convince her living with a fireman wasn’t so bad, especially when he had a gouge on the side of his face and—thanks to Dirk—a nice shiner on his eye, both physical reminders of his career choice?

“Sorry,” his buddy had said as he accidentally elbowed him in the eye while they were pulling down the hoses. “See why it’s important to have all your gear on. Accidents happen.” Dirk had mock-scolded him as Josh rubbed his injured eye.

“Screw you,” he’d grumbled.

“Nah, you already took care of that,” Dirk tossed over his shoulder. Flashing him an unrepentant smile, Dirk continued, “Look at it this way…now we’re even.”

Josh shut off the shower and after he toweled dry, he touched his sore eye, chuckling even as he winced. Since the tow truck place closed at three, he had at least guilted Dirk into giving him a lift back to the Double K after he took a shower.

“Hey,
little
man,” Dirk smirked, purposefully glancing at Josh’s naked lower body as he poked his head into the locker room. “You’ve got a phone call.”

Josh grabbed his larger than average cock and faced his friend with an eat-shit-and-die grin saying, “Bite me.”

After he’d quickly dressed, he made his way to the front of the station house.

When he passed Dirk on his way to the phone, his buddy warned, nodding to his bruised eye, “I hope the reason she’s calling you is strictly business or I’ll have to give you a matching set.”

“It’s Renee?” Josh asked.

“None other,” his buddy replied in a dry tone before he walked away.

Josh picked up the receiver from the front desk. “Hello.”

“Josh, hey, it’s Renee. Listen, I need to get a hold of Colt. You know where he is, right?”

“What’s this about?” he asked, his stomach tensing.

“I just need to talk to him, that’s all.”

He didn’t like the evasiveness in her tone. “This has to do with your investigation, doesn’t it? You still suspect Colt?”

When she didn’t reply, he ground out, “You going to tell me or not?”

“No.”

“Suddenly, my memory isn’t so good. I’m hanging up now,” he said as he pulled the phone away from his ear, ready to hang up.

“Wait!”

“Yes?” he replied into the phone in a calm tone.

“Time is of the essence here.” She sighed and said, “I got a call yesterday from a concerned woman. She’d heard about the fire at the Lonestar Ranch and that someone had been in the fire. She said she wanted to make sure it wasn’t Elise Tanner. She went on to say that she was out for dinner one night and overheard Colt tease his wife, saying that if he was ever really that hard up for cash, he could always bump her off and collect the life insurance money.

“Out of curiosity, I checked all the life insurance companies in town and a representative from the Oracle life insurance company confirmed Colt and Elise had recently taken out life insurance polices with their company.”

Josh snorted. “So. They recently just got married. Makes sense to me.”

“Maybe you’re right and I’m barking up the wrong tree, but several people have made the comment that Sabrina looks a lot like Elise, and from my notes the night of the accident, I know Elise leaving town was a last-minute decision. The fact that the barn was locked from the outside while an unconscious woman lay in danger of burning to death inside sounds pretty intentional to me. Even if the attack on Sabrina was intentional, at the very least, I’d say she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe whoever did this meant to attack Elise and not Sabrina.”

“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?” he fairly yelled into the phone as his anger rose.

“Josh—”

“Colt is with Elise right now. You know that from our conversation yesterday.”

“Wasn’t he originally planning to be out of town, though? Nice alibi,” Renee countered, leaving the implication dangling between them.

He took a couple of deep breaths. He might know Renee personally but she was still an investigating officer and she took her job very seriously. He decided to go in another direction.

“What about that escaped convict?”

“No dice. When we pressured him with an attempted murder rap on top of his other offenses, he finally confessed he’d broken into an empty house and stole some food around the time Sabrina was attacked. The house he broke into was two miles away from the Tanner ranch. The homeowner confirmed the timing of the break-in because they arrived home to see him running away from the house. There wasn’t enough time for him to have been in both places at the same time.”

Josh sighed, feeling like he’d been beat up twice today. He grudgingly gave her Colt’s cell phone number then said, “You’re way off base, Renee. Colt will set you straight.”

When he hung up the phone, he realized just how tense the ongoing investigation was making him. Sabrina meant everything to him. The need to be by her side rocked through him.

“Dirk, we’ve got to go!” he called out in an urgent tone.

* * * * *

Josh left Ace in his stable while he dashed through the pouring rain to his porch. He’d rub his horse down after he saw Sabrina. He had to see her, to hold her close.

Opening the door, he walked inside and quickly surveyed his place. Relief washed over him when he spied Sabrina curled up in the window seat, leaning against the glass. He shut the door against the gusting wind then turned, tossing his hat on the chair and started to say, “Man it’s raining like crazy out there—” when he was jolted back a step as Sabrina launched herself into his arms.

As she squeezed his neck tight and wrapped her legs around his waist, he held her close and closed his eyes, breathing in her arousing scent.

“Thank God, you’re okay,” she breathed out as she kissed his cheek, then his jaw and moved to his mouth.

Josh wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back before he said with a chuckle, “Now that’s a helluva welcome home. I could get used to this.”

Sabrina tensed in his arms and lowered her legs to the ground. Still holding onto him, she put her head on his chest and asked in a worried voice, “Why didn’t you call me to let me know you were okay?”

His brow furrowed at her other question. “What do you mean ‘why didn’t I call you?’ Didn’t you get my text message?”

She glanced up at him with a confused look. “What message?”

Spying his cell phone on the coffee table, he let her go and walked over to it, picking it up. As he looked at the settings, he said, “That’s right. I forgot I left it on vibrate mode. You wouldn’t have heard it ring.”

He set down the phone as she approached, saying in a suggestive tone, “I just asked you to meet me in the stables. I figured that was one place we hadn’t christened yet. Plus, I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you,” he finished with a wink as he faced her.

“Ohmigod, look at your eye and that gash on your cheek! What happened?” she asked as she put a shaky hand to her mouth.

“The cut was dumb luck at the fire and the black eye was Dirk deciding I needed a little payback for my transgressions against him,” he joked, but then he saw all the color drain from her face and he tried to reach for her. “What’s wrong, Sabrina?”

She backed away saying to herself, her gaze glazed over, “I thought I could handle…but I just can’t.”

“Sabrina?” Before he could reach her, she’d turned on her bare feet and dashed to the front door. Pulling it open, she ran out into the pouring rain.

“Sabrina,” he called out again as he took off after her.

* * * * *

Sabrina’s heart rammed in her chest as she ran down the steps into the rain. Her dress was immediately soaked through while she tried to decide where to run. Her heart hurt as if someone had tried to rip it from her chest. She couldn’t put herself through another loss. Losing her father was enough. Not another man she cared for. She knew it was crazy to run out into the rain, but she just needed to get the hell out of there…away from Josh. If she reacted this way to something as simple as a black eye and the ragged cut on his face… God, she felt so sick to her stomach.

She fought through the cramps gripping her belly as she heard Josh call her name from the porch. Thankful she was barefoot, she dug her toes in the grass and bolted toward the woods. Twenty-five feet. If she could just get there, she could have some time to herself. Get away from Josh and every deep-seated emotion his handsome face and endearing ways caused to churn within her.

Sabrina’s heart broke at the realization of just how much she cared for Josh and just how wrong they were for each other. Warm tears streamed down her face only to be washed away by the unrelenting cool rain.

Her breathing turned choppy and her lungs felt like they were on fire as she pushed herself to the limit to get to her destination as fast as she possibly could. Josh’s heavy footfalls sounded not far behind her. The noise both comforted and scared her.

When she was within ten feet of the entrance to the woods, she felt a hand around her ankle and she went down, hard on her stomach.

Sobbing, she clawed at the grass, trying to free her ankle from Josh’s grasp, but he was too fast and before she could move another inch, he’d rolled her over on her back and had pinned her to the ground with his body.

“No,” she wailed as she swung her arm, doing her best to free herself from his touch, his attentiveness, his damned sexy heat. Her arm accidentally hit his jaw, causing his head to snap sideways.

“Sonofabitch, Brina,” he hissed out as he grabbed her arms and slammed them to the ground above her head, his teal gaze narrowing on her. “Why are you running and why the fuck are you trying to break my jaw?”

“I’m sorry, Josh. I didn’t mean to hit you,” she replied, feeling suddenly hemmed in and vulnerable, her heart out there flailing in the wind. The knowledge had self-preservation kicking in full-force.

“Let me up,” she panted, resuming her struggles as she bucked to get him off of her. God, she needed to get away from this man before she had a complete breakdown.

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong,” Josh insisted as he pressed his hips to hers, holding her firmly to the ground. Her heart raced at his deep concern for her while at the same time she couldn’t mistake the hard flesh that nudged against her mound.

She jerked her surprised gaze his way and he ground out, “Hell yeah, I still want you even when we’re fighting…
over God knows what
!

“What’s wrong?” he asked again, a look of utter confusion and frustration crossing his face.

“I guess I need some space,” she mumbled as she looked away from him, her chest constricting.

Josh cupped the back of her head, turning her to face him once more. Water ran in rivulets down his ticcing jaw as his piercing teal gaze met hers, willing her to listen. “Why? So you can run from us? Run from what you know is right?”

She blinked away the pouring rain, thankful the pounding water made it harder for her to meet his intense gaze.

His grip on her head tightened as he rasped out, “I love you, Sabrina. I won’t let you shut me out.”

Surprise jolted through her at his words. Sabrina raised her hand to hold onto his wrist. Her heart hammered out of control, in complete disregard for her earlier worries over her feelings for Josh. “Wha-what did you just say?”

His expression softened and he let go of her arm and then rubbed his thumbs along her jawline, saying in a husky voice, “I said I’m hopelessly, madly, deeply in love with you.”

Emotions swirled within her…emotions she hadn’t acknowledged and refused to identify. She didn’t know how to respond to his declaration—to tell him his mere touch made her melt like no other man’s did, but she couldn’t handle being with a fireman.

“Josh, I—”

Josh didn’t give her a chance to reply. He pulled her close and covered her mouth with his lips, his kiss tender yet dominant.

As his tongue brushed against hers, Sabrina wondered why all rational thoughts fled her brain every time the man’s lips met hers. She kissed him back with all the passion she felt but couldn’t express in words.

Thunder rumbled overhead, then lightning slashed, splintering the dark sky above her half-closed eyes.

Josh broke their kiss, glancing up at the sky. He quickly pulled her to her feet, saying as he put his arm around her shoulders, “That lightning was a little too close for comfort with us near these trees. Come on, we’re closer to the stables. We’ll wait out the storm there.”

Sabrina followed him inside the structure, the smell of rain, hay, horseflesh, and faint smell of manure assailing her nostrils.

Ace neighed as Josh shut the stable doors against the driving rain. Sabrina smiled and walked over to calm the horse, noting all the empty stalls. Rubbing her hand down the animal’s neck, she spoke to him in a soothing tone, “It’s okay, boy. We’re here to wait out the storm with you.”

The horse snorted and pawed the ground as if in agreement. She smiled as she patted his jaw.

“You’re got the touch with horses,” Josh commented right behind her as he pressed his chest against her back.

“So do you,” she commented as his heat radiated, seeping into her pores and warming her, despite the wet clothes on his body. She inwardly acknowledged her desire to push thoughts of walking away from Josh out of her mind for the time being. Why did he have to feel so right standing behind her, protecting her, loving her and damn it, seeming to understand her better than she understood herself?

“As much as you love horses, I’m surprised you don’t have more on your own land. You’ve certainly got the room for them,” she said, trying to get her tumultuous emotions under control.

“Right now I work too many hours to give them the attention they would need.”

Josh pushed her wet hair out of the way, then trailed his lips down her throat. “Hmmm, the way you smell makes me so horny, I can’t think straight,” he ground out as he nipped at her neck.

Heated and hungry were the only two words she could think of to describe the intensity in his voice. And the sound caused her body to react in swift unadulterated arousal. Her nipples hardened, her stomach tensed and her sex pulsed while she turned to face him with bated breath. Josh had taken off his shirt and now stood there in front of her in his wet jeans. His biceps flexed while he kept his hands down by his side—as if it took supreme effort to do so. Man, did he know how to make her feel like the most desirable woman in the world.

His jaw ticced as he reached out and ran his finger across a nipple through her thin dress. Soaking wet, the material clung to her skin and without a bra, the combination did nothing to hide her pink nipples underneath.

“I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight in my life, Brina,” he whispered as he clasped her around her upper back and pulled her to him to clamp his mouth over the hardened bud he’d just touched.

Sabrina arched her back and dug her fingers into his shoulders as he bit down on the cloth-covered dark pink bud and sucked it into his mouth.

After he’d managed to arouse her even further by sliding his thigh between hers and moving his lips to her jaw, she relished the feel of his hands unzipping the zipper on the back of her dress. The distinctive sound only seemed to accentuate the heated silence in the stables.

As Josh’s lips found hers once more, he pushed the straps of her sundress down her arms, then to her waist.

While she shrugged out of her dress, Josh rubbed his thumbs across the taut peaks. The hard-working, rough surface of his fingers grazing across her sensitive nipples distracted her, setting her on a ragged edge.

Sabrina moved close to his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, purposefully rubbing her breasts against the hard surface. The warm, taut skin, stretched over well-defined muscles and covered with fine hair only made her want more. Clasping his neck tight, she lifted herself and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Josh grabbed her ass through her underwear and squeezed while his teal green gaze seemed to penetrate straight to her soul. “I want to be inside you so bad, baby.”

In answer to his comment, she threaded her fingers through his thick, wet, blond hair and kissed him.

Josh returned her kiss, then breathing heavily, he set her down beside Ace and ordered, his tone tight, “Turn around.”

Excited by the barely controlled tone his voice had taken on, Sabrina turned around.

When Josh lifted her hands and clasped them around the horse’s saddle horn, she wondered what he was doing as she elevated her heels off the ground a bit to get a full grip. Expecting Josh to slide her underwear down, she was surprised to see him slowly unwind Ace’s reins from the post. As he began to wind the leather straps around her hands on the saddle, her heart rate kicked up to a thunderous rhythm.

“What are you doing?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as he leaned over her to complete his task. She’d tried to keep her tone calm, even though she felt far from it.

After he’d cinched the reins into a knot around her hands, Josh gave her a devilish smile as he patted Ace on the neck and said, “Hold boy,” in a commanding tone.

“Josh!” she said, getting a bit miffed. “I’m not—”

He pressed his back to hers once more and reached around, cupping her breasts in his hands while he kissed her neck saying, “Shhh, baby.” His tone was dark, aroused and determined as he slid a hand down her hip and gave a hard tug on her underwear, ripping the wispy material right off her body.

Goose bumps formed on her arms and her nipples tightened as hard as diamonds at the evidence the man had very little hold on his desire. She couldn’t help but squirm when he skimmed his fingers up her spine and said in a knowing tone, “You like it when you don’t have all the control, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question. It was an assured statement.

She felt the brush of his knuckles against her ass as he unbuttoned his pants and bit back a moan as blood rushed straight to her sex.

“I’ve seen the way you react when I’ve held your arms while I thrust inside you. It turns you on.”

In the dimness, Sabrina stared at the stable’s far wall, not wanting to admit he was right. Hell, for that matter, she didn’t even know if he was right. “No, I—”

Josh clasped her hips and rasped against her ear as he easily nudged her stance further apart with his booted foot. “I want to feel every part of you, Brina. Do I need a condom?” he finished as he pressed his erection against her wet entrance.

She shook her head. “No, I’m on the pill. Trust goes both ways—”

He entered her as she spoke, a swift, hard, deep thrust. The decadent sensation of being taken from behind caused her to scream out in pure pleasure. The fact she didn’t have a sure-footed hold while Josh had to bend his knees slightly to accommodate the differences in their heights made her feel protected and cherished. Her suspended-in-the-air position, where their bodies were joined, felt seductively erotic and so very intimate.

Josh stayed buried deep within her as he moved his hands up to cup her breasts then roll her nipples between his fingers, applying pressure.

“I can touch you anywhere I want,” he murmured as he slid his palm slowly down her stomach. Once he’d reached her curls, he rubbed a finger against her labia until he found her clit. Circling the hard bit of skin, he finished with a satisfied tone, “And all you can do is come.”

As much as she loved what he was doing to her body, Sabrina couldn’t help but give him some of his own medicine. “If my hands weren’t tied, I’d grab that nice ass of yours and pull you deeper, darlin’,” she mocked.

Josh groaned at her words and in response tilted her pelvis as he ground his hips against hers, thrusting upward even deeper. “Like this?”

Sabrina could’ve sworn she saw stars with his last aggressive move, but she was determined to let him know how much control she still did have. “No, like this,” she said in a smug, seductive voice as she clenched her inner muscles, contracting her walls around his cock.

He tensed behind her, then lowered his head to her shoulder. He didn’t move or say a word. All she could hear was his shallow breathing and the rain hammering the roof above their heads. Seconds ticked by as she waited for him to move.

Then his fingers flexed on her hips, letting her know…she’d gotten to him.

Her last action made him shudder and his body break out in a heated sweat despite his wet skin. Josh had a hard time keeping his cool. He’d never felt these bone-deep, body-jarring sensations with anyone like he did with Sabrina. Loving someone as fiercely as he loved her must somehow intensify the pleasure. He wanted to take his time with her, bring her to peak with his hands first, but seeing her gorgeous naked body, discovering more about her responsive nature and feeling her wet, warm sheath wrapped around his cock holding him tight…damn, it was taking all his willpower not to just fuck her senseless like he wanted to.