Hearts Are Wild (7 page)

When he stopped speaking and wrapped his arms around her waist, saying, “We’re here,” she realized his horse had stopped walking and she opened her eyes, shaking herself out of the sexual web of desire he’d weaved around her.

With her body still quaking, Sabrina managed a shaky smile at the quaint house before her. His two-story wood-sided home with a bench swing off to the left of the front door and a couple of pale wood rocking chairs to the right created a homey look that surprised her considering he was a bachelor.

She noted that there wasn’t a big front yard and practically no backyard since the woods backed almost all the way up to the house. Nodding to indicate the front yard that blended right into the woods, she said, “Now I know why you didn’t drive me up here. Is there even a road to get to your place?”

Josh chuckled as he slid off the horse onto the ground. “Yeah, I guess the grass driveway you see appears to lead to nowhere. We used the road to bring up the materials to build my house and on the day I moved my stuff in. But I prefer riding my horse up here, so the driveway has grown over by forest underbrush over time.” Nodding to the back of the house, he said, “There are open pastures beyond the woods behind my house. I just haven’t cut a path to them yet.”

As he finished speaking, he reached up and clasped her around the waist. When he effortlessly lifted her off of Ace and set her on the ground, Sabrina’s unbuttoned pants must’ve decided they’d spent enough time hanging around her hips because they immediately fell to her ankles.

Despite the fact Josh had just had his hand in her underwear, heat infused her face. There’s just something totally mortifying about being caught with one’s pants down.

Josh didn’t miss a beat as he bent down and pulled her pants back up, saying with a grin, “I’d planned to get you out of your pants as soon as possible, darlin’, but this wasn’t quite how I envisioned it.”

His humor at the situation soothed her embarrassment, making her laugh as she zipped up and buttoned her loose pants then resnapped her bra.

Josh took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, his penetrating teal green gaze searching her face as he visually connected with her. Her heart hammered at the long, sexually charged moment that passed between them.

“Why don’t you go change into your own clothes while I put Ace away?”

Sabrina’s spirits perked up. “You have my clothes?” She was too thankful to have her own clothes to be peeved that Josh “assumed” she’d stay with him.

He nodded. “Yep, that’s where I was this morning—retrieving your belongings. Nan wouldn’t let me leave until I had assured her I would bring you to the ranch today so she could see for herself you were okay.”

Sabrina grabbed hold of the waistband of her pants, just in case, as she turned and walked up the steps to enter Josh’s house. She chose to ignore his good-humored chuckle as she closed the door behind her.

The contemporary design inside surprised her. Raised up on a couple of wooden steps, the kitchen and dining room sat on an “island” in the center of the room. Josh must put a large importance on cooking if his kitchen held the center of attention, she thought.

Geez, she sure hoped he didn’t expect her to cook. Eggs and toast were about all she’d learned to do. She’d always been in awe of her cousin Nicole’s ability to just “whip” up a meal from practically nothing. Sabrina’s creativity came in the form of advertising slogans and “understanding” the target market.

Even though Josh’s choice for where to place his kitchen seemed very modern and contemporary, he’d kept it warm with rich leather and polished wood barstools against the tall wood and slate counters. Spindle back chairs graced the oval oak dining table. Everywhere she looked, wood floors graced the house from wall to wall.

To her left was apparently a living room with its well-worn leather sofa and matching smaller sofa for two sitting on top of a rug with an Aztec design. Very few pictures graced the walls but the ones that did depicted horses. Oils and watercolor pictures decorated the living room while black and white photos of horses running decorated his office off to her right.

Once again, Josh had added an Aztec designed rug in deep maroons and blues in the center of his “office” room. A single mission style desk in a rich cherry wood and a tall black leather chair made up his office. A laptop, a printer/fax machine, and a telephone sat atop the desk.

Sheesh, except for the few papers she’d seen scattered on his desk, Sabrina just realized how utterly immaculate Josh’s place was.

The whole other back side of the main room in his house held a foosball table and a poker table. Must be the recreation room, she thought with a grin as her gaze followed the wrought iron spiral staircase against the wall in the center of the far back wall of the house. The staircase led to a small sitting area landing that overlooked the whole house and had a huge picture window that must have a gorgeous view of the woods behind the house.

On the far wall of the main floor, two doors led off on either side of the room, presumably to Josh’s bedroom and a guest bedroom.

She bit her lip, wondering where Josh had put her stuff. When her gaze landed on her small suitcase sticking out beside the sofa, she let out a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn’t be rifling through Josh’s bedroom looking for her belongings. Despite their instantaneous sexual attraction, she’d rather be invited into his room first.

Grabbing her suitcase, Sabrina went to find the bathroom and change clothes.

* * * * *

His cock throbbing and anticipation coursing through him, Josh forced himself to a slower pace as he walked Ace to the barn and opened the stall door.

After he pulled his horse inside, he rifled through the pouch in his saddle and retrieved his cell phone.

Dialing the police department, he asked for Officer O’Hara.

“O’Hara here.”

“Renee, this is Josh. Just wondering how the interrogation went on the escaped convict who was caught last night. Did he confess to attacking Sabrina?”

“Nothing yet,” she hedged.

Her evasive tone irked him. He had to know the answer for sure. “So are you saying you still think it was him but he just hasn’t confessed yet?”

“No,” came her concise reply.

“Wow, you’re just a fount of information, aren’t you?”

She sighed on the other end. “It’s an investigation, Josh. I shouldn’t even be talking to you about it. So I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait!” he called out, then cajoled, “C’mon, Renee. You can tell me.”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” she replied, her tone curt.

“Do you still skinny dip in the lake on the far side of the Masterson’s estate? Oh, I think that you do,” he said with a grin.

“That’s really low, Josh,” she hissed, then lowered her voice. “How do you know that?”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me?” he replied as he leaned against the stall’s doorway.

Another big sigh came across the line and Renee said in a low voice, “We have to look at all scenarios, all motives. Considering the fire occurred while Colt and Elise were out of town… Well, we have to investigate all possibilities.”

“Such as?” he prompted, anxious for her to get to the point.

“We checked to make sure their homeowners’ insurance hadn’t been increased on the Lonestar property, up to and including an rider for their fire hazard insurance.”

“You’re investigating insurance fraud?” he asked, incredulous. “I know we’ve determined that the fire was set by the lantern, but that could’ve happened by accident when Sabrina was attacked.”

“It could’ve been an accident,” she agreed. “But as I said, we have to look at the possibility the person who attacked Sabrina wasn’t the man we have in custody. The locking of the stable door begs the ‘premeditated’ question. Based on our inquiries, Colt and Elise are clean on any recent changes to their homeowners’ insurance, but we’re still probing to rule any other scenarios out.”

“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Renee,” Josh warned. “Keep me posted when the convict confesses,” he finished, letting her know just what he thought of her current turn of the investigation.

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t hold my breath. He’s not talking. Okay, Josh, your turn. Who knows I skinny dip?” she asked in an expectant tone.

“Dirk,” he replied, a grin riding his face.

“Dirk Chavez! Ohmigod, has he been watching me?” she asked, her tone horrified.

“I dunno. You’ll have to ask him,” Josh shot back, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. Renee had always been known as a prude in school, so the discovery she had a somewhat “freer spirit” side to her personality made him want to chuckle. Sobering, he continued, “Keep in touch with me on the investigation. I may be able to help.”

“Will do,” she said, her tone turning all business before she hung up.

Josh ended the call and left the stables, heading back to his house. As he mounted the porch stairs, his cell phone began to vibrate. Thinking it was Renee calling back, he was surprised to see Colt’s name on the caller ID. He flipped open the cell phone and put it to his ear.

“Heya, Colt. How’s it going? Nan told me about Elise’s dad. How’s he doing?”

“Hey, Josh,” came Colt’s deep, Texan drawl across the line before he chuckled. “He’s a tough bull. Elise and I wanted to see how Sabrina was doing.”

“She appears to be doing fine,” Josh replied, thinking Sabrina was more than fine. She was the best damn looking woman he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Actually, she’s staying with me for a couple of days. So if Elise needs to reach her, tell her to call my cell phone.”

“Got it,” Colt acknowledged. “Elise will be glad to know Sabrina has a protector watching over her. Tell her we’ll be home in a couple of days. Oh, and Josh, do me a favor and keep an eye on the ranch, will ya? I don’t like being gone with no one there watching the place. You know Jackson’s ways.”

“Sure thing, Colt,” he promised before hanging up.

Chapter Six

Sabrina slipped into her rayon miniskirt. Smoothing her hands over the silky black and white floral pattern, she then pulled on a white fitted v-neck sleeveless summer sweater. Its vee plunged quite low, revealing her cleavage, small as it was. She inhaled, turned sideways and shrugged at her less-than-voluptuous silhouette. If the man wanted large boobs, he’d have to look elsewhere. With her petite stature, nothing on her body fell in the “supersize” category.

Checking her image in the mirror once more, she slid the rubber band out of her long braid and shook out her hair. As she ran her brush through the thick, black-as-midnight mass, she smiled at the sensation of her hair flowing behind her. Because her hair was waist-length, she usually pulled it back to keep it out of the way. Running her fingers all the way to the tip ends of her hair caused her mind to shift to one of the last conversations she had with her old boyfriend.

“Why don’t you just cut it all off?” Jeremy had asked while she pulled her hair up one day.

She’d shrugged as she let the clip lock onto the hair piled atop her head. “I just can’t bring myself to part with it, I suppose.”

“Seems like a nuisance to me,” Jeremy had grumbled.

Shaking herself out of her reverie and the memory of just how irritated his comment had made her, she met her own green gaze in the bathroom mirror and said, “Ready to go headlong, Bri? No reservations, no hang-ups. Just you and Mr. Sex-on-Wheels…doing well, sex-on-a-horse and wherever else we can think of.” Which wasn’t such a bad idea, she thought with a grin as she turned and walked out of the bathroom.

The pep in her steps slowed as she made her way back into the main living area of Josh’s home. With its rich earth tones, deep blues and shades of maroon, it really was a very homey house—the kind of house she could see herself living in.
Don’t even go there, sister
, she told herself. But somehow thinking about having guilt-free sex with Josh would make more sense in a hotel room, not his warm, cozy home.

She almost turned around in her high-heeled sandals and hightailed it back to the bathroom to change clothes to something less revealing until she spotted Josh leaning against the fireplace.
Whoa baby!

His elbow rested on the wood mantel and he was staring out the large picture window when she walked into the room.

Josh turned his head and his teal green gaze burned a slow, lingering path down her chest to her legs and then back up. As his gaze met hers once more, he lowered his arm, pulled off his hat and tossed it on the coffee table. Then he started walking toward her, his pace sure, unhurried. He looked entirely too sexy for his own good with his chambray shirt untucked and unbuttoned.

With each step he took, the open flaps of his shirt revealed glimpses of his sculpted chest and the fine blond hair that swirled all the way to a seductive vee into his jeans. His belt’s large gold and silver buckle brushed against his tanned washboard stomach with his movements, making her mouth water.

Sabrina swallowed and her heart rammed in her chest at the sight. God, was she in trouble.

Josh’s expression shifted from determined to intense as he closed the distance between them, stepping right up to her. Sabrina took a few steps back, enjoying the out-of-control feeling of being stalked by this too-delicious-for-words man.

When the backs of her shoes hit the wooden baseboard, she put her hands against the wall and tried her best to control her rapid breathing.

Josh put a hand on the wall above her head and pressed up against her body, sliding his jean-clad thigh right between hers as if he had every right to put it there.

Sabrina stared at his rock-hard chest until his finger lifted her chin so she had to meet his gaze.

As his thumb traced her lips, her chest rose and fell to her rapid heartbeat. But when his fingers slowly feathered down her chin and then her throat, continuing to descend lower, she held back the urge to pant, but damn it that’s exactly what he made her do. Pant!

The sensation of his work-roughened finger tracing the vee of her sweater, touching her bare skin while his gaze held hers, made her weak in the knees.

“Touch me, Brina,” he said, his tone gruff and full of desire, the teal green shade of his eyes turning the color of a churning, stormy ocean.

Sabrina lifted her hands from the wall and slid them under the flaps of his shirt until her palms rested on his pectorals. The muscles flexed underneath her palms, the power behind his hard working-man’s body more than intoxicating. It was addictive, she thought as she explored his corded chest and ab muscles.

At the same time she slid her hands around his waist, Josh’s finger brushed the swell of her breast, then slowly dipped in between the cleavage her bra created.

Sabrina sucked in her breath at his intimate touch and saw the corner of his lip quirk upward as he added another finger. He moved them in and out of her cleavage in a slow, rhythmic movement…letting her know exactly what he planned to do to her.

Unconsciously, her hands on his waist lowered to his belt loops and she held on as she lifted her lips to his descending mouth.

Josh’s lips brushed over hers once, twice, three times in a teasing, sexual dance before his mouth claimed hers in a hot, passionate, possessive kiss. While his tongue slid against hers, his hand spread over her breast, cupping it. She sighed at his touch and he took advantage of the break in their kiss, biting at her lower lip as his thumb rubbed across the hardened bud, teasing her, taunting her, making her want him more.

Desire swirled from her breast down to her sex and Sabrina gripped his hips, pulling him closer, moaning against his mouth. Josh obliged her by dropping his hands to her rear and cupping the cheeks. Sliding his thigh harder against her mound, he yanked her against him, breasts to chest, hips to hips.

She cried out when he pushed her against the wall and replaced his thigh with his cock. He rubbed his erection against her entrance through their clothes, rocking his hips in a slow, erotic thrust as his lips lowered to her throat.

“Damn, I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I want you,” he groaned against her throat, his fingers flexing on her rear as he lifted her body off the ground so he could fit himself fully against her mound. She gasped in pleasure as he ground against her, buckle, jeans and all.

When his waist and hips connected with hers, the cold metal of his buckle pressed against her lower belly. The cool pressure of the buckle against her skin, the roughness of his jeans rubbing against her while his knowing hands slid over her…ohmigod! The tactile sensations combined with the smell of leather to create an ultimate sensory aphrodisiac for Sabrina. Her sex throbbed and her breasts ached as she moved her hands to clutch his shoulders. Wrapping her legs around his trim waist, she met each jerk of his hips with counter pressure ones of her own.

“Oh God, Josh, I’m going to come,” she moaned out as her body tightened with her impending climax.

“It’ll be the first of many today,” he said, his voice husky, dark and promising. She felt his hot breath on her neck as his own breathing increased.

When he bit lightly on her throat, Sabrina clung to his shoulders as her orgasm slammed through her. Never before had having sex with her clothes on been more erotic and sensual in her life. Josh didn’t stop thrusting until her gasps of delight stopped and the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing.

Sabrina laid her head back against the wall while Josh put his head on her heaving chest. She ran her hands through his thick, wavy hair, holding him close. He’d surprised her in that he didn’t immediately want her naked and in his bed. Instead, he’d taken her against the wall, giving her what she desired without taking what he obviously needed. The unselfish gesture melted her heart. Without thinking, she bent and kissed him on the top of his head.

Josh pressed his lips against the swell of one of her breasts and lifted his head with an intense look on his face. Straightening, he walked with her over to the sofa, his hands clasping her buttocks to hold her against him. He kissed her on the jaw before he put his knee on the couch and lowered her body onto the cushions.

Standing up, he held her gaze as he yanked off his shirt. Sabrina’s breathing kicked up at her first sight of his fully naked chest in the light of day. Wide-shouldered and lean-hipped, the man just made her drool. There was no way around it. As he started to lower his body over hers, she put her foot up, pressing her sandal’s heel against his chest. She said with a grin and a lift of her eyebrow, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Josh looked down at her shoe and with a sexy smile ran his fingers up her leg until he reached the buckle of her sandal. Removing it, he worked on her other shoe. While he did so, Sabrina put her bare foot back on his chest.

There was something so sensual about her foot resting on his chest—skin to skin. She wiggled her toes against the hard surface and smiled when he winked at her.

Once he’d removed her shoes, Josh encircled her ankles with his fingers, easily encasing them. His action reminded her just how much larger he was than her. His teasing expression turned serious as he slid his hands back down her legs. When he reached her thighs, a hungry look crossed his face as he cupped the insides of her legs and slowly pulled them apart.

Sabrina saw his nostrils flare as he stared down at her panties. She held her breath and her heart began to hammer in her chest as his fingers brushed against her damp underwear. The expression on his face, one full of desire and thoroughly focused as he touched her clit through her underwear, made her pulse thunder in her ears. When his thumb rubbed the highly sensitized flesh in small circles, her stomach tensed in anticipation.

But she wanted him to feel as out of control as she felt, so she lifted herself up by pulling on his belt buckle with one hand while she clasped his sac through his jeans with the other hand. Josh’s breath came out in a ragged hiss at her aggressive action. Closing his eyes for a brief second, he placed his hand over hers, moving it to slide over his rock-hard erection.

When she applied pressure to his erection through his jeans, he opened his eyes and bit out, “No, not yet.” He pulled her hand away from him, then reached around her hips, saying in a gruff tone, “Lift your hips, baby. I have to taste you.”

“Josh,” she said while she complied with his request. Touching his hair as he slid her underwear down her legs, she finished, “You’ve got to be ready to explode. Enough. You’ve proven how easily you can make me fly apart.”

Taking his hand, she pressed his fingers against her naked flesh, then slid one of them inside her channel and finished with a breathless whisper, “I’m ready for you, Cowboy.”

Josh’s head snapped up and a muscle ticced in his jaw as he withdrew his finger from her body and quickly unbuckled his belt, pulling it through the loops then tossed it on the floor.

When the belt’s buckle clattered against the hardwood, her stomach tensed and blood rushed to her sex at his I’ve-got-to-have-her-now jerky actions. As he leaned over her, the muscles in his arms flexed and she couldn’t resist touching them before she reached a hand between their bodies to unbutton his jeans.

The phone rang, causing her to pause.

Josh shook his head, silently telling her to ignore it. His expression took on a tortured, ravenous look as he glanced at her lips. He leaned closer, his mouth a breath away from hers and said, “You’ll never know the benefits of taking it slow if you don’t let me show you, darlin’.”

He moved away from her lips and instead planted a kiss on the curve of her breast. The phone continued its incessant noise, each ring seeming to punctuate his seductive descent down her body as he lifted her shirt and kissed her belly, then moved to brush his lips against her navel before he slid lower to nuzzle the dark hair between her legs.

Before he lowered his head to taste her, his gaze met hers once more. “I want to enjoy you before I lose total control. God knows once I’m inside this warm, sweet body of yours, it’ll take all the concentration I have to take it slow with you, Brina.”

His answering machine picked up, but Sabrina was too caught up in his make-me-melt declaration to pay much attention to it. She nodded as she relaxed her thighs, giving him full access to her body.

Josh didn’t say another word as he slid his hands behind her naked cheeks and clasped the firm flesh. Lifting her hips slightly, he lowered his mouth to her damp flesh.

Just when Josh’s tongue made a long swipe from her opening all the way to her clitoris, a voice came across his answering machine, interrupting the sexual tension between them.

Josh lifted his head and listened as a man’s voice came across the line. “Kelly, get your lazy, good-for-nothin’ ass over to answer the damn phone so I can chew it off. Why the hell did you tell Renee I’ve seen her skinny-dipping? I just got this phone call from her…” His friend then proceeded to mimic an upset female voice.

“
Dirk Chavez, keep your peeping-Tom eyes to yourself. I
can
arrest your sorry ass, you know.
”

Switching back to his own voice, Dirk continued, “Thanks for rattin’ me out. Just because you pull all kinds of extra hours at the station doesn’t mean I can’t convince the chief to give you hose cleaning duty the next time you’re at the firehouse.”

Once he’d finished his rant, Dirk sighed and said with a low chuckle, “Better get that bristle brush ready. Call me, ya freakin’ turncoat.” Then he hung up.