Savior in the Saddle (17 page)

Or would they?

Maybe the scalding kisses were melting his brain because Brandon realized they couldn’t entirely go their separate ways.

Hell.

When had that happened?

When had he decided that he would want to see this baby after she was born?

He pulled back again, blinked. And he tried to gather the strength to stop this so he could think. But he saw Willa again. Her mouth was slightly swollen from the hard kisses, and her breath was fast and thin. But that wasn’t a “let’s stop” look in her eyes.

No way.

Those heavy-lidded eyes were sending out an invitation that his body had no trouble understanding. She wanted to have sex with him and she wanted it now.

Brandon wanted that, too, and there was no amount of willpower that would stop him from taking her mouth again. Willa made a sound of relief. Maybe even victory. And she melted into the kiss.

Her arms went around him, and she fought to get closer. Hard to do but not impossible. Brandon slid his hand between them and shoved up her sweater so he could touch her breasts. She was perfect. Full and round. He’d always been a sucker for a curvy woman, and the pregnancy had obviously left Willa’s breasts ripe for the touching.

So, that’s what Brandon did.

He shoved down the cups of her bra and circled her nipples with his fingers. Willa obviously approved because she made more of those sounds of pleasure and relief.

Brandon felt no relief. Every touch was like fire to his blood, and he felt that fire course through him. He was already hard and ready for her, but that need sky-rocketed when he lowered his head and took her right nipple into his mouth.

“Yes,” she mumbled.

That
yes
slammed through him as much as the kisses had done. Maybe more. His body began to demand that he do something about the powder keg that was building inside him.

His mouth went back to hers for a hard, punishing kiss, and he shoved his hand into the waist of her pants and into her panties.

He found her, hot and wet, and he groaned because that wouldn’t help any shred of resolve he had left. No. It told him what he already knew.

That he was going to have her.

Here and now.

It didn’t have to make sense. It didn’t even have to be right. But it would happen.

Brandon scooped Willa up into his arms and headed for the bedroom.

WILLA WAS AWARE THAT she was moving, but she didn’t care where Brandon was taking her. She only cared about one thing—finally making love with Brandon.

She’d been burning for him since the moment she laid eyes on him. Lust at first sight. But it seemed to be a lot more than just lust. She’d never felt this intensity. Never wanted a man more than her next breath.

However, Brandon seemed to have set a new benchmark.

Even though he hurried to the bedroom, he was gentle when he lay her on the bed. The old-fashioned feather mattress swelled around her, cocooning her in its softness. Brandon followed on top of her, using his forearms to keep his weight from bearing down on her belly. He wasn’t soft. He was all sinew and muscle.

All man.

He continued to kiss her, and he set fires wherever his mouth touched her. On her neck. On the tops of her breasts. He kissed her through the fabric of her top. At first. But she wanted his lips and breath on her skin so Willa fought to shove up her top and open her bra.

Brandon took her exactly the way she wanted to be taken.

This foreplay was sweet torture, but the kisses only made her want more.

Since it would almost certainly take some maneuvering for them to have more, Willa turned, shifting their positions so that she was on top. Her sweater had to go so she peeled off both it and her bra and tossed them aside.

In the back of her mind, she considered that she probably didn’t look very sexy, but that didn’t seem to bother Brandon. He pushed down her stretchy pants, exposing her belly and giving him access to her panties.

He touched her again. Watched her. And while Willa straddled him, she watched him, too. Brandon was lost in the fire, his eyes hot with need. And that need only fueled hers. He had on too many clothes for sex, and she wanted him naked.

His coat came off easily, but she struggled with his holster and gun. Brandon stopped his own attempts to get her out of her pants so he could help. His hands and fingers that had been so clever touching her now seemed rushed and awkward. Willa felt awkward and cursed when she couldn’t get his jeans unzipped.

Brandon placed his hand over hers, sliding down the zipper so that Willa could touch him the way he had touched her. Even though the lights were off, she could still see his face. She could see what her touch did to him, and even though she hadn’t thought it possible, she burned even hotter for him.

He was clearly ready for sex so Willa saw no reason to wait. She couldn’t wait. Her mind and body were racing, pushing her toward the relief that suddenly felt as necessary as life itself.

His hands were rushed again. So was his breath. His breath gusted, his chest pumping as if starved for air. Brandon got her pants and panties off, and he didn’t waste even a second of time.

Neither did Willa.

Since she was still straddling him, she was in the perfect position to move this to the next level. She lowered herself, taking him into her body. Inch by inch. Until she had him fully inside her.

The pleasure blurred her vision and sent her heart racing.

Over the past two days, her heart had been doing a lot of racing, but for the first time, it was due to pleasure and not fear. And there was no doubt about it—this was pleasure in its purest form.

She moved. Brandon did, too. He caught her hips to set the rhythm of the strokes inside her. It was too fast. Too frantic. Too intense to last. But Willa wasn’t interested in prolonging this. Not this time, anyway. Maybe some other time they could have a long leisurely afternoon of lovemaking. But this time, she needed him too much to want anything but completion.

Brandon didn’t try to slow things, either. He continued to take them both to the only place they wanted to go.

Willa locked gazes with him as their bodies found the perfect rhythm and pace to create exactly what they needed. He moved faster. Harder. The grip he had on her hips tightened and everything honed in on that one moment. That one prize that was just seconds within their reach.

“Do something about this,” she heard herself mumble.

Brandon did something about it all right. He lifted his hips, pulling her down onto him for one last hard penetrating stroke.

And that was it.

That was all it took.

It was exactly what she needed to go spinning over the edge. Her body closed around him, as he pulled her to him. Close and tight in his arms.

With her heartbeat echoing in her ears and her breath filling the room, she still heard him. She heard what he said at the moment of his surrender.

Brandon whispered her name.

Chapter Fifteen

Even though Brandon’s body wanted to stay put with Willa in his arms, the sane and logical part of his brain kicked in. Thank goodness. Because it just wasn’t a smart idea for them to linger there and enjoy the moment.

And what a moment.

Later, and probably a lot sooner than he wanted, he would regret this. The timing was all wrong.

Hell.

The sex itself was wrong, too.

He shouldn’t have taken Willa as if he had a right to do that. He had no rights. He’d given her no hope of a future, only the pity story of his biological father.

All of that seemed, well, pointless right now. But that was probably because he’d just had the best sex of his life. His body wanted to have her all over again. His body wanted him to stay inside her and stare up at her beautiful face.

But thankfully, his brain reminded him of the danger.

Brandon eased her off him, and Willa slumped onto the mattress. She was obviously trying to catch her breath, and he wondered if this had been too much for her. He didn’t know anything about having sex with a pregnant woman.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She smiled, maybe to soothe the alarm on his face and in his voice, and she slid her hand around the back of his neck to pull him to her for a kiss. It wasn’t a peck. It was the kiss from a woman who was definitely interested in round two. Because that couldn’t happen—well, not right now anyway—Brandon ended the mouth-to-mouth contact and got up from the bed so he could dress.

“We have to leave,” he reminded her.

Willa groaned, and that sound went right through him. Resisting Willa was next to impossible. Still, he resisted. And Brandon put on his shorts and jeans before his body talked him into getting back in that bed with her.

She got up, too, and the smile didn’t leave her face while she dressed. Well, it didn’t until she caught him staring at her belly.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, quickly pulling on her pants. “Sometimes, I forget just how big I am.”

“You’re not
big,
you’re pregnant. You’re supposed to be this size.”

And because he thought they both could use it, he slid his hand over her stomach, over the baby, and he kissed her. Like Willa’s kiss, it wasn’t a peck, either. It turned hot way too fast, but Brandon ended it before it became the start of more mind-blowing foreplay.

“After what just happened, you must know I’m attracted to you,” he said against her mouth.

“Even with the pregnant belly?” she questioned.

Especially with the pregnant belly. But since that made him sound like some kind of pervert, Brandon just settled for a nod.

“I need to pack us some food,” he hurriedly added.
Keep your mind on the task and get your hands off Willa.
“When we leave tomorrow, there might not be any stores or restaurants open.”

He put his holster and jacket back on and headed to the kitchen. Willa could probably use a few minutes alone anyway. To freshen up.

To deal with her regrets.

Brandon was sure she would have them eventually. After all, he might be her baby’s father, but he had more baggage than she needed.

He grabbed a plastic bag from beneath the sink and filled it with some granola bars, apples and bottled water. It was hardly the makings of a Christmas dinner, but he hadn’t planned on holiday food. If things had been normal, he would have settled for a turkey sandwich while covering the office so that Pete and Sheila could spend the day with their families.

Families.

That word caused him to take a deep breath. Soon, very soon, he had to work out what that meant to him as far as Willa and the baby were concerned.

While he slapped together two turkey sandwiches, Brandon glanced out the kitchen window above the sink. The sun had just set, but he could see and hear the sleet pinging against the glass. It would be a slow, hazardous drive out to the cabin, but there was no way he would make Willa walk the two-plus miles in this weather.

He heard a sound and first thought it was the rustling of the trees in the wind, but he looked closer. Despite the sleet, the oaks near the house were practically still.

An uneasy feeling went through him, and he set the bread aside so he could get a better look. However, he stepped back from the window. Far back and kept in the shadows. And he waited.

Brandon saw it then.

The car.

It was just up the road, probably no more than a hundred yards from the house. There were no headlights, and the car was dark colored. With the clouds covering the moon, he might not have spotted it at all if hadn’t been for the vehicle’s parking lights.

His stomach went to his knees.

This couldn’t be good. If Sheila, Pete or any of the other townsfolk were coming to see him in this weather, they wouldn’t have turned off their headlights. No. There was only one reason to do that.

So the driver could sneak up on them.

“Willa?” Brandon softly called out to her. He tried to keep his voice calm while he kept an eye on the car. It was definitely moving closer, inching along at a snail’s pace.

But eventually the driver would arrive at the house.

Brandon was betting whoever that driver was, he or she would be up to no good.

“Yes?” Willa answered.

He heard her footsteps leading out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen. But what he didn’t hear were the dogs. If anyone or anything had gotten close to the house, Butch and Sundance would have alerted him. They’d be barking their heads off.

So, why hadn’t his dogs sounded the alarm?

Brandon wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer to that.

“Are we ready?” Willa asked, walking into the kitchen. But she froze the moment she saw Brandon. That was probably because he’d drawn his gun. “What’s wrong?”

He really hated to tell her this. She’d already been through too much. But he couldn’t exactly keep this from her, either. “Someone’s out there.”

She gasped, hurried to him and followed his gaze out the window. “Who is it?”

Brandon shook his head. “It’s my guess that the driver isn’t paying a friendly visit.”

“Oh, God.” And she frantically started looking around the kitchen.

For a moment Brandon thought she might on the verge of panicking, but he soon realized she was looking for a knife. She found one in the drawer and pulled it out.

“There’s a gun on top of the fridge,” he let her know. And while he didn’t like the idea of Willa being armed, he didn’t like the alternative any better.

Besides, things could turn ugly fast, and she might need to defend herself.

She fished around on the fridge and came up with the Smith & Wesson. It was loaded, and thankfully she treated it that way. She kept it pointed toward the floor.

“Where are the dogs?” she asked.

Brandon had to shake his head again. “I didn’t hear any gunshots,” he added. Though Willa likely knew that someone could have used a silencer.

It cut at Brandon’s heart to think of someone harming his pets, but right now he had to put all his focus on protecting Willa.

“Check the security system panel by the front door and make sure the red light is on,” he told Willa. “And stay away from the windows.”