Taming the Outback (19 page)

“No. I didn’t plan on taking it until now.” She watched the way the muscles in his throat moved with each swallow. Libby took the bottle from his hand, tipped her head back, and drank deeply. The taste of beer mixed with the smell of Nathan on the cool, glass bottle. She leaned down and put it on the step beside him. Straddling his legs, she settled herself on his knee, so she was facing him. She traced his square jaw with her fingers, circling his mouth before her lips touched his. The groan that escaped him urged her on. Touching his mouth with little flicks of her tongue, she teased his bottom lip before sinking her teeth into it. Curling her head into his neck, Libby rolled her back, reveling in the soft touch when he wrapped his arms around her body.

Slowly, he unzipped her dress, and her aching breasts were released. She cried out as he pushed her back and lowered his head, his tongue circling her nipple. He nibbled with his teeth, gently teasing her until she thought she would have her first orgasm in five years on his knee.

Pulling his face back up to hers, she roughly kissed him with all the pent-up passion welling inside her before she wriggled off his knee. Gathering her dress around her waist, Libby brushed passed him and stumbled on weak legs into the house. Letting the dress fall on the kitchen floor, she looked over her shoulder at him as she stepped out of it and headed down the hall, searching for his bedroom. Hearing him walking through the kitchen after her, she smiled. Finding his room, she leaned against the door frame in her knickers and high heels and waited for him.

Libby watched as he walked toward her. Nathan pulled off his boots, allowing them to fall to the floor with a loud
clunk
. His shirt followed, landing as a puddle of cloth. His bare chest was broad, and a smattering of dark hair ran down from his belly button into his jeans. She could see the shape of him better now in the light which shone above their heads, and the sight made her weak at the knees. She turned and walked into the dim room. The only light came from the hallway and the moon shining in from the opened windows. She stood by the bed, leaning on the corner post, looking back at him by the door, watching her.

“You had better be sure, sweetheart,” he said. “Once I walk into this room, we don’t stop until we’re both satisfied.”

“I told you I would use you for sex.” She held her chin high while her stomach churned with nerves. “I’m not leaving until I get what I want.”

He walked toward her, his eyes dark and his steps predatory. Gently taking her hands, he pulled her arms away to expose her body He leaned down, taking each nipple into his mouth in turn, while holding her hands captive at her side. Her breath came in gasps as she strained against him. His tongue toyed with the skin under each breast as he licked his way around the top of her body, dropping kisses on her warm skin. Then he slowly worked his way down past her stomach to her panties. He kissed her mound and traced his tongue lower until he found the damp spot between her legs where he worked her clit with his teeth and tongue through her silk panties.

Her body arched into his mouth, straining as her orgasm took over. She shattered as he held her, her body ruling her brain for the first time in five years. Before she could recover, he pushed the scrap of silk aside with his tongue and lapped and nipped at her until she came again. Only then did he release her hands and grab her by her hips. His fingers and tongue worked together until she sagged weakly against him.

He pulled her panties down and helped her step out of them. Motioning for her to leave her shoes on, he stood up and gently pushed her down on the bed. Standing in front of her, he undid the button on his jeans and pulled down the zipper. She sighed as he worked down his jeans and his erect penis sprang free. She pulled herself up, then reached out and stroked him. His breath caught as her fingers gently teased the tip. “I don’t have any—”

“Shh.” Libby shook her head, her finger against her lips.

Groaning, he pushed her back on the bed and parted her legs. Libby guided him into her body. She resisted momentarily while her muscles adjusted to the intrusion, and then she began to move with him. Her fingers raked his back as she wallowed in the pleasure of being filled by this man.

His kissed her face and then her lips, and she could taste herself in his mouth. Sucking on his tongue, she felt him tense and shudder just as her climax rocked through her body with such intensity, it left her breathless.

Lying spent beneath him, Libby marveled at how good sex with Nathan was. It had been too long, but waiting had been worth it. That was mind-blowing, brain-melting sex. He rolled off her and kept his arm over her body before snuggling into her side. She crossed her arms over her breasts as his gaze raked over her them again.

“Don’t hide yourself from me,” he commanded, moving her arm and leaning over to kiss her nipple. She felt a reaction deep in her gut as they hardened. “You’ll have to give me a minute if you want to do that again.”

“Out of practice, Nathan?” she teased, her gaze on his face.

“No more than you, sweetheart.” Leaning up on one arm, he ran a finger around her mouth, making her part her lips and wet them with her tongue. Nathan held her chin with one hand and plundered her mouth, their tongues exploring as their passion built up. Libby pulled him close and held his head to her, tasting and taking as much as she could.

“You are so beautiful, Libby.” His fore head resting on hers, he locked eyes with her.

“I’m not,” Libby said, trying to look away. “I’m saggy in places I wish I wasn’t, and that doesn’t make me beautiful.”

“You should wear your maturity with pride. You have two beautiful children who came from this body. Even I know that takes its toll,” he said, pecking at her lips. “You don’t see me whining about my gray hair, do you?”

“It’s not quite the same thing.” She tried not to grin.

“Hey, I could be the vain type, and it would crush me that you noticed.”

“But you’re not,” she said. “You are just the control-freak type.” She felt him stiffen and immediately regretted her words.

“I would rather think of myself as driven, not a freak.” His tone was icy.

“Okay, I used the wrong words, sorry. I guess this is where I say thanks for the sex, get dressed, and go home.” She pushed him away and rolled off the bed. She didn’t want to end the night with an argument. She wanted to remember the passion they’d shared without any angry words between them, and that wasn’t going to happen if she stayed.

She found her underwear and scrunched them in her hands, blushing furiously as she remembered the way his tongue had felt through the scrap of silk and walked out of the bedroom with as much dignity as she could muster, wearing nothing but her high heels. She stopped at the end of the hallway and stepped into her dress, wriggling it up over her hips and zipping it up as she passed through the kitchen. It wasn’t until she was driving into her own property that she let go of the sigh she’d been holding in.

_***

Nathan lay on the bed listening to Libby leave
. Control freak...where the hell did that come from?
He would admit he liked things to go to plan and bedding Libby hadn’t been one of them, not his anyway. She obviously had other ideas, and he wasn’t about to knock them
.
She was sexy as hell, and he wanted her, but sooner or later, she would cave and go running back to town because she couldn’t handle the pressure.
I know she will, and I won’t go there. I can’t.
He shuddered at the memory of the last woman he had loved and lost before shifting off the bed and walking into the bathroom and turning on the cold tap in the shower stall. Stepping under the icy jets, he lifted his face and let the water run over him. Nathan remembered the feel of her hands digging into his skin, pulling him deeper into her body. Despite the cold water, the twitching of his now firm penis annoyed him.

Can I trust her? Should I
? His body responded, but that was lust not love.
Who am I kidding; it could easily turn to that.
Nathan turned off the water and reached out, grabbing a towel before furiously drying himself and throwing it on the floor. He headed to bed, but the smell of sex and Libby haunted his dreams, and he woke in a foul mood the next morning.

C
HAPTER
T
WELVE

Tom had left the kitchen light on, and Libby slipped her shoes off before she went inside. She turned it off and headed for her own room, shutting the door behind her. She threw her knickers in the wash bag and dropped her dress on the bathroom floor before pulling her sleep shirt over her head. She wanted to sleep with Nathan’s smell on her skin and dream about what could be if they were both different people.

He wanted her farm, not her, and she wanted someone who would take on her and her family for what they were, not what they now had. It was all well and good saying she would use him for sex. But at the end of the day, all that did was scratch the itch. But, damn, it felt good. She rolled over in her large, lonely bed and hugged her pillow as she fell into a satisfied sleep.

She grimaced as the kookaburras gave their usual early-morning wake-up call. She didn’t want to face the day. She wanted to go back to sleep and remember her night with Nathan. What she would rather do was to drive over there and throw herself in his arms, but she wasn’t prepared for sex in broad daylight, not yet. Not until she got over the insecurities about her body.

He’d had the night to rethink what she meant to him, and if he were only bedding her because of what she had, she didn’t want to see his face. The best thing to do was to carry on as if nothing had happened. Libby threw back the covers and grinned before climbing out of bed and heading for the shower.

Tom was sitting at the table eating toast when Libby walked into the kitchen.

“Hi, handsome,” she said, dropping a kiss on his gray head.

“Someone is happy this morning,” he commented.

“It was a great night,” Libby said. “We all had a good time, didn’t we?”

“I think you had a better one after you got home from the dance,” Tom said. “Want to share?”

“You know what happened.” She leaned her hip against the kitchen bench as she turned to talk to him. “I went over and seduced Nathan. Happy now you know?”

“Don’t take that attitude with me, young lady. Thought you’d be happy now that you got what you wanted.”

“I’m sorry.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down beside him at the table. “Truth is, I don’t know if I did get what I want.”

“You mean he didn’t...um...you know...” Tom blushed and cleared his throat.

“Yes, he did.” Libby smiled at the memory. “But I don’t know if that’s enough for me now. I think I want more and all he wants is the station.”

“Did he say that?” Tom asked.

“He’s told me more than once I don’t belong here and should go back to the city. We both know my uncle had promised him the station, and he’s told me he wants it. I’m not going to let him use me to get it.”

“I don’t think he’s like that,” Tom protested. “I’ve known him since he was a kid and his father ran the place. He’s ambitious, I’ll give you that, but I don’t think even Nathan would try to use you to get this station.”

“I’m not going to give him the chance. I’ve had my fling, and that will do for now.”

Libby got up and started to prepare breakfast. Bacon came out of the fridge, along with eggs. She took a half-dozen tomatoes from the windowsill and sliced them thickly. When the pan was heated, she dropped the bacon rashes in and let them brown. She was turning the rashers into a pan to keep warm when she heard the boys coming down the hallway.

Bella raced for the back door and ran outside for a sniff around the backyard before coming back in to prance around the stove at the smell of the breakfast cooking.

“Give her a bone and put her outside, Josh,” Libby said.

Josh went to the freezer and found his pup a small bone before heading outside, mumbling under his breath.

“Don’t even bother starting,” she called after him. “Winton, can you go and bang on Holly’s door, please?”

Winton looked from Libby to Tom and shrugged his shoulders before sauntering down the hallway to wake Holly.

She could tell he was confused by her by her mood, but she wasn’t about to explain it to them.
Don’t take it out on the kids, just don’t.

“Anything I can do to help,” Tom asked.

“Yeah, set the table if you don’t mind. And just ignore my moods for a bit. We can blame it on me not knowing what I want for now, woman’s prerogative. Just please go with me on this until I can sort myself out.”

“Right.” He got up and started to set the table while Libby cooked and reflected on her night and wondered if there was any way she would be able to have Nathan on her terms.

_***

Joan McNally called in the following day just after Libby had seen the kids off on the bus. Stepping out of her car, Joan looked around and nodded her head.

“About time a woman had a hand in this place again,” she said as Libby came down the stairs to meet her. “It was looking a bit sad there for a while.”