Notorious (20 page)

 

N
OAH HAD BEEN LOOKING
for an opportunity to get Keely alone all night, but she seemed determined to dance with every man at the reception except him, and when she wasn't doing that she was hanging out with B.J. or talking with Arch. Apparently she was still trying to avoid him.

As he was wondering how to work around that, lo and behold, she walked in his direction. He knew he'd better act fast before she veered off to ask some other cowboy to dance, or one of them trotted over to ask her. Striding forward, he caught her arm.

Sensation zinged straight to his crotch. It was the first time he'd touched her since Vegas, and his body certainly remembered what to do with the information transmitted by her warm skin.

He looked into her eyes and was encouraged by the glow he saw there. “Could we go somewhere to talk?”

“We could.” Her voice was low and seductive. “But let's not start any gossip like we did at the last reception.”

That had to mean her mind was on the same track as his. His blood heated.

“Let me leave first,” she murmured. “Give me five minutes or so before you leave. I'll tell people I'm going back over to Dad's to freshen up. I'll meet you there.”

“In your dad's house?” He wasn't so sure about that. He'd feel damn uncomfortable doing what he had in mind in her father's little cabin.

“Of course not, silly. I'll meet you by my car.”

Her car. Now, that had possibilities. “Okay.”

“See you in a few.” Then she walked away from him with that little swing to her hips that always drove him around the bend.

Noah had never spent a longer five minutes in his life. He had no idea what he said to the people he talked to during those five minutes, and he hoped nobody noticed how often he glanced at his watch. He checked his pocket at least twenty times to make sure the condom he'd stashed there earlier hadn't somehow disappeared. Once again he was wearing rented clothes, and rented pockets could have holes.

Finally he figured he could start after her. His excuse for leaving was to go find a bottle of aspirin. Consequently he walked in the front door of the ranch house and then slipped out the back. On the short trek over to her dad's, he recited instructions to himself.
Enjoy the moment. Remember the condom. Don't tell her you love her.

He didn't see her beside the car, but he sure as heck saw a pair of black lace panties dangling from the radio antenna. His heart beat like crazy. Softly he called her name.

“Back here,” she said in a low voice.

He could barely breathe as he peered into the backseat of the Mustang. The light wasn't very good, but good enough that he could see that she lay there naked, her dress rolled neatly and tucked under her head for a pillow, her knees bent delicately so that she'd fit on the seat.

Smiling at him, she cupped her breasts in both hands. “It's so hot. I could hardly wait to get out of those clothes.”

His tongue didn't seem to want to work.

“Is this what you had in mind when you said we needed to talk?” she asked.

Still unable to speak, he nodded.

“I thought so.” Then she slid one hand between her thighs and caressed herself. “This weather just makes you want to be bad, doesn't it?”

With a soft moan, he reached for the car's door handle.

“Wait.”

“Wait?” Now, there was a terrible word if he'd ever heard one.

“Not yet,” she whispered.

Not yet.
Two more words that should be wiped right out of the language. He gripped the handle and his voice was a harsh croak. “What do you mean, not yet?”

“What's the password?”

He felt like someone was trying to strangle him. “Password?”

“Tell me the password and you can come in. I'll give you a hint. It has four letters.” Her hand fluttered between her thighs. “Mmm, that feels good.”

“Keely.”

“
Four
letters, Noah.”

He gripped the door handle so hard his fingers hurt. And all the while he was drawn to the indistinct but riveting sight of her fingers gliding into the place that he'd had wet dreams about. “I'm thinking of a four-letter word, all right,” he ground out, struggling for breath. “What is this game, Keely?”

“It's a shakedown, Noah. Here's a big hint. The word rhymes with the name of a bird.”

His jaw clenched. “A duck.”

Her soft, musical laughter rode the night breeze. “Now, there's a man for you. Not a duck. A different bird.”

“Damn it, I don't know anything about birds. And I—”

“A dove.”

“A
dove?
” His brain stalled. Only one four-letter word rhymed with dove. And last he knew, she hadn't been interested in hearing that word. Hope surged in his chest. “Okay, a dove it is.” He opened the door.

“What are you doing?” she said. “You didn't say the password.”

“I will,” he said fervently. “Trust me, I will.” He nudged off his shoes, grateful that he wasn't wearing boots. Then he took off the rest of his clothes, heaving them piece by piece into the front seat of the car. At the last minute he remembered to take the condom out of his pants pocket.

“But that's the rule,” she said. “No password, no nooky.”

“That's what you think.” He put on the condom and climbed into the car, hoping she wasn't serious enough about this rule business to kick him in the balls. “I'm the kind of guy who breaks rules.” Kneeling on the edge of the seat, he braced one hand against the convertible's boot as he leaned over her. “And I happen to think that's the kind of guy who turns you on.”

“Is that right?” She gazed up at him, seeming disinclined to kick him. In fact, she seemed quite glad to have him there.

“Yeah, that's right.” If only he could see her face better. He tried to plan his next move, but he couldn't see much of her at all. His body was casting a shadow over the very spot he was aiming for. He drew back. “Put your foot down.”

“I was trying to put my foot down by making you say the password, but you're not playing by the rules, so—”

“I mean your actual foot. Put it on the floor.”

“Oh.” She followed his directions.

Okay. He had clearance
. It was cramped quarters, yet worth every charley horse he might get in the process. But as he leaned toward her, his shadow fell on her willing body once again and he fumbled a bit.

And then, wonder of wonders, she took his sheathed penis in her hand and guided him toward paradise. But right before he reached heaven, she stopped.

“What's the password?” she whispered. “You promised to say it.”

“Love,” he murmured, rolling the word on his tongue, tasting its sweetness. “I love you, Keely.”

“That's the password,” she said, guiding him forward. “Now you can come in.”

He slid home with a sigh. Nothing was equal to the feeling of being right here. Nothing. But a million questions buzzed in his brain. “Now what?”

She stroked his back. “I thought we had that part down. In, out, in, out. It works very well with us.”

In spite of the enormous significance of the moment, he couldn't keep from grinning. “I mean, now what do we do about us? You don't want to live here.”

“Yes, I do.”

He leaned down, trying to see her face better. “You do? Just like that? Why?”

“Because I love
you,
you big dope.”

“You love me?” Incredible. She'd said it. He decided to ignore the
big dope
part and focus on the
I love you
part. Besides, she was right. He was a big dope for not tracking her down years ago.

“Yes, I really, really love you,” she said. “And I know I stick out like a sore thumb in this town, but if you can deal with that, I sure can.”

“You love me.” He couldn't believe that a man could be this happy. What a perfect night. He began gently to rock. “If you love me, I can deal with anything. Besides, you're not a sore thumb. You're a Ferrari in a world of Fords. This town needs you in it. And I need to be in you. It all works out.”

“That sounds nice.”

“I'll think up more nice things to say when I'm not so busy. Oh, God, but you feel good. Let's have a small wedding.”

She picked up his rhythm and tightened around him in that special way of hers. “Let's have a big one. A blowout.”

“Fine.” He was through being chatty. He just wanted to revel in the sensation of pushing into the warmest place on earth while a cool breeze tickled his butt. “A big wedding it is.”

“That was easy.”

“You keep letting me do this and you can have anything you want.”

“Then stop right this minute.”

He froze in mid-thrust. “Stop?”

“Pull out a minute. Then I promise you can come back, and you'll have oh so much more fun. Please, Noah. If you love me.”

He did love her, so he pulled out.

Before he realized what she meant to do, she'd reached between them and slid the condom right off, slick as a whistle. Then she tossed it out of the car.

“Hey!” he said. “That was my only one! I thought you liked the ribbed kind.”

“Well, I did, but you said I could have whatever I wanted, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“I want babies, Noah. Now come to momma, big boy.”

With a groan of pure bliss, he did exactly that.

“
Y
ES
!
”
Keely grinned in triumph as she read an e-mail from her editor, Jim Stevens, at
Prime Destinations
magazine.

“That sounds like my cue.” Noah appeared in the doorway of the ranch-house bedroom he'd converted into an office for Keely. “Have you been downloading from that Kama Sutra site again?”

“Nope. This is better.” She glanced up as he leaned casually against the door frame and wondered how she'd ever imagined life on this ranch could be boring. She'd enjoyed more innovative sex and pure bliss in the past six months with Noah than in all her years of being single.

What she hadn't thought of he had. They'd made love in every room inside and most of the secluded areas outside. A major bathroom remodel had resulted in a large whirlpool bath plus a huge shower with nozzles at interesting levels and bench seats at an appropriate height for fun and games. Mirrored closet doors in the bedroom reflected a four-poster bed dressed in satin sheets.

They'd also enjoyed some spectacular, sensual episodes when he'd gone along on some of her travel assignments. But he'd never encountered an assignment like the one she'd landed this time. She smiled and hit the print command on her computer.

“Better, huh?” His gaze warmed as it slid over her. “Am I going to need props for this one?”

“Only a suitcase.”

His eyebrows lifted. “If I'm going to make love to you on
top of a suitcase, we'd better look around and see if I have any hard-sided ones left. Those soft-sided jobs will cave in for sure.”

With a laugh she reached for the hard copy of the e-mail. “I don't know what benefit we could get from making love on a suitcase, but I'm willing to give it some thought. In the meantime, take a look at this.” She handed him the piece of paper.

He scanned it before meeting her gaze. “A nude beach resort?”

“I've always been curious about those places, so I proposed the idea to Jim. I just got clearance.” She challenged him with a bold glance.

“And I suppose as the writer covering this you will have to be…”

“Naked. Yes. But that's okay. Then I won't have to buy any maternity beachwear.” She paused. “Wanna come along, cowboy?”

She watched him struggle with the concept of a nude vacation destination. No doubt he would always approach unusual sexual ideas with some hesitation. That made him Noah, after all, and made his eventual capitulation even more exciting. She'd also learned that once he embraced a new idea, he gave it all he had.

“I double dare you,” she said softly.

His eyes sparkled in response to her taunt, yet still he hesitated. “I don't know, Keely. I mean, walking around without any—”

“Don't think of it as walking around. Think of it as lying on a towel on soft, warm sand, rubbing oil all over my body, me rubbing oil all over yours.” She stood and moved toward him.

“I'd have to spend the whole vacation on my stomach. I'd have to dig a little hole in the sand for my—”

“A private stretch of warm sand.” She began unbuttoning
her blouse. When they weren't expecting visitors, like this afternoon, she skipped wearing a bra. “I checked out the site online, and they have all sorts of intimate spots where couples can be alone.”

“They do?” His attention drifted to her unbuttoned blouse. “You're not playing fair, Keely. You know I can't think when you do that.”

“Don't think. Use your imagination. Picture a secluded little cove, soft sand, thick towels, each of us warm and slick with oil…every where….” She pulled her blouse from the waistband of her jeans. Lately she'd had to leave the top button of her jeans unfastened to accommodate the baby growing inside her. Noah liked that, because then she was even more accessible to him. He loved to pull the zipper of her jeans down and stroke her round belly whenever he had a chance.

With a gusty sigh he reached for her, slipping his hands inside the lapels of her blouse and caressing her breasts. “Okay, you win. I'm going.”

“Good.” She tingled with anticipation of pleasures to come, both long range and more immediate ones. He would make love to her now, because he was surely thinking about that nude beach and getting hot. She closed her eyes the better to enjoy his touch. “I promise you won't be sorry.”

“Easy for you to say.” He pulled her close and leaned down to nuzzle her neck. “I'll probably sunburn my ass and won't be able to ride for a week.”

His mouth could make her crazy, no matter where on her body he chose to place it. “And that would be bad because…?”

“Because then I wouldn't be able to work. I'd have to let Jonas do everything while I hung around here, and—” He paused and began to laugh. “I see your point.”

“I thought you might.” She drew him toward her desk. “Now let me emphasize it.”

“On the desk?” His voice vibrated with excitement.

“On your big, old executive desk.” With a sweep of her hand she sent pages flying. “After all, it's on the list.”

He unzipped his jeans. “I love that list,” he said in a voice roughened with desire. “Think we'll ever get through it?”

She shoved her jeans and panties down and stepped out of them. “Not if we keep adding to it like we've been doing.”

He lifted her to the polished surface of the desk. “Think the baby will slow us down?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither. Now open your legs for me, woman. Time to cross this one off the list.” As she complied, he cupped her bottom in both hands and held her gaze as he slid deep. “Ahhh…that is so sweet, Keely. Every time. Every blessed time.”

“I know.”

He settled in tighter. “Think we'll be this crazy when we're eighty?”

“Crazier,” she murmured. “Now love me, you wild man. Love me good.”

And he did.