The Key To Micah's Heart (Hell Yeah!) (15 page)

“Micah, this is amazing.” She ran her hand over the thick brown linen-look duvet. Everything was first-class but none of it was feminine, it was just right.

“This is nothing, you ought to see my bathroom.”

Nothing?

But to her shock, she agreed with him. When she ventured inside his bath, her eyes widened. “Oh, my gosh!” The big tub looked like a woodland grotto, surrounded by stone. In wonder, she walked around the spa-like room. “I’ve never seen a shower this big.” It didn’t even have a door, you walked in and through it, the walls were covered with jets and a bench big enough to have a picnic on, ran along one wall. “Two sinks,” she touched the stone vanity with its copper bowls sitting on top of the surface. She put one hand on her hip and turned to look at him accusingly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were rich?”

Micah stopped, taking in the look of dismay on her face. “I have rich friends, but that’s not me. I’m comfortable.” He gave her a big smile. “Come on, tour’s over. Let’s go outside.”

“Well, if you’re just comfortable, then I’m very uncomfortable.”

He stopped. “What did I tell you earlier?” Taking her by the shoulders, he looked her square in the eye. His fingers weren’t still, he kneaded her shoulders, it was hard as hell to keep his hands off of her.

Madison looked past him, over his right shoulder. “You said you were interested in me, not what I have.” Good thing, since she had diddly-squat.

“And don’t you forget it.” He stunned her, by picking her up, hoisting her over his shoulder and popping Madison right on her rear end.

“Micah!” she squealed. “Put me down!”

“In a minute,” he cajoled. “I’m having a good time.” He gave her bottom a sweet caress.

“But I’m not!”

“Oh, yes you are.”

“Micah, please.” He patted her ass again, then let her slide slowly down his body. There was no way she could miss how he felt about her–his cock was hot, hard and ready. She blushed, but didn’t say anything about it. “What am I doing here with you?”

“That’s simple–this.”

A scant second later, he placed a hand on the small of her back, urging her forward. Her mouth was just a breath away from his. She had to shift or fall against him. Bringing her hands up between them, she let them rest on his chest, his cock settling warmly against her. She rocked her hips to his and Micah groaned, a sound she never dreamed she could draw from him. Her breath caught as his mouth pressed against hers, his tongue slipping between her lips, teasing the moist inside. She felt so close to him in that moment. Madison hadn’t kissed many guys and none of them this way. This wasn’t a peck–it wasn’t sordid–it was like he was giving her a window to his soul. Her heart was open and this kiss gave him access to everything she possessed.

Melting against him, Madison knew she wanted him more than anything. She wanted his taste, his passion, she wanted to meld his body to hers. And the longer he kissed her, the more the need escalated until she framed his face, taking control–nibbling, licking, sucking his tongue until he was the one who was gasping.

“God, baby,” he growled in a deep voice.

And with that, the passion rose between them–hotter and hotter. He slid his hand down her back to cup her ass, squeezing the sweet humps, digging his fingers in and hugging her close. Micah deepened the kiss until it was burning out of control. His cock was about to burst and he wanted to strip her, lay her down and take everything she was offering. When her nails dug into the back of his neck and her little moans became whimpers, he knew he had to be the strong one. He didn’t want their first time to be on the bathroom floor, so he pulled back, kissing one cheek, then the other and pressed his lips to her forehead as they breathed long and hard, in perfect harmony.

“Why did you stop?” she whispered, looking up at him with big bright eyes.

“Anticipation, baby, it makes everything sweeter.” His cock was cursing him like a sailor.

Making love to Madison was easy to imagine. He’d slowly strip the clothes from her beautiful body, kissing a trail from her lips to her breasts, pushing them together so he could suck both nipples at the same time, tongue the tips until they were swollen and distended–nip on them until she begged him to take her completely. “Oh, yea anticipation can be so good.”

Madison wasn’t so sure about all of this. He might not want her as much as she wanted him. As they moved down the stairs, she tried to remember who did most of the kissing. She knew she’d almost attacked him at one point.

What if she’d gone too far?

“Okay,” she said weakly.

She wouldn’t argue or try to explain how she felt. It was hard for Madison to ask for things. She’d been told ‘no’ so many times in her life, she’d learned not to expect much from anyone.

Despite the turmoil in her head, when Micah took her hand and started off with a cheery, “I can’t wait to show you the view I have of the Pedernales,” she went with him, with a smile on her face. 

Once they were out the doors, she couldn’t quit looking around. “You must have had a wonderful childhood on this ranch.” There were big trees to climb, horses to ride, a hay barn to explore and a creek to swim in. “I grew up in small apartments with no yard at all.”

Micah didn’t answer her at first. He wove their fingers together and started toward the barn. “Before my mom died, things were good. She seemed to be able to keep my dad on an even keel.”

“I’m sorry,” she squeezed his hand. “What happened to your mom?”

“Cancer,” he muttered lowly. “The sad thing was that she didn’t have to die. She didn’t drive, never learned how.” When he heard Madison’s gasp, he laughed harshly. “Yea, I know how odd that sounds, but she was a homebody. When she started having pains in her stomach, she ignored it. She didn’t want to bother anyone by asking them to take her to the doctor.” He cursed. “Can you imagine? She didn’t want to bother her family, so she let the symptoms go unchecked until she couldn’t stand the pain anymore. When we finally got her to the doctor, it was too late.”

“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, feeling a little odd because she knew she had the same type of personality. “I’m sure she loved you very much.”

“I was angry at first. If she loved me so much, she should’ve taken better care of herself so she could be with me longer.” They came to a fence and he gave a low whistle. Far out in the pasture a beautiful red Appaloosa with white spots raised her head and whinnied. “Come here, girl, let’s take a ride.”

“Her death must have really hurt you.” She placed a comforting hand on his arm.

The horse he’d summoned came running up. The animal looked much bigger up close than it had at a distance. Madison found herself trembling at the idea of getting on its back.

Micah put one booted foot up on the bottom plank of the fence. “It did. I blamed my father for not seeing the situation for what it was. He should’ve seen the pain in her eyes and made her go, hell–he should’ve thrown her over his shoulder and taken her to the doctor.” He hung his head. “I was young, but I should’ve seen it too.”

“At least you and your father had each other.” Micah was such a good man; she couldn’t imagine his father being any other way.

“Let’s saddle up.” He went toward the barn, the horse following him along the fence line. “We lost each other after that. Like I said–I blamed him and now I can see he blamed himself. He just didn’t know how to say he was sorry.” Madison held the gate as he slipped a bridle over the horse’s head. “We never were able to talk about her or anything else,” Micah confessed in a low voice as he led the mare into the barn and slipped a saddle on her back. “One evening I came home from college and found him hanging from that rafter over there.”

Madison recoiled in horror, not only from the gruesome image but from the pain she could sense in his voice. “Oh, Micah, I can’t believe…” They were standing about three feet apart, but she couldn’t stay away. Coming up next to him, Madison wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to give him all the comfort she could.

Micah let her hold him for a minute. “I’m all right. It was a long time ago.”

“We’ve both had a hard time, haven’t we?”

He remembered what she’d told him about her own mother and the abuse she’d taken at Rudy’s hands. “I guess we have a lot in common.”

Well, not a whole lot, Madison thought–but opposites attract–sometimes. Right? “This horse sure is tall.”

He mounted with ease, then held his hand out. “Put your hand in mine and your left foot in the stirrup.” He pulled his own foot out, leaving room for her to step into the stirrup. With one powerful smooth move, he picked her up and sat her in the saddle in front of him. She was wedged in between the saddle horn and…him–a very nice but intimidating place to be. Madison placed her hands on the horn and held her back as straight as she could. “Relax, Fellows.” Micah put an arm around her waist and tightened it, drawing her close.

Relax. Easy for him to say.

“How’s work going?” he asked, then clicked his tongue. 

Her eyes widened when the horse began to move. The clicking noise must be some secret horse whisperer language. “Uh…I only have a few more weeks in this temp job, maybe two and then I’ll be hunting something else.”

Micah headed Shoshone out the barn door and into the sunlight. “Giddy-up,” he tightened his knees and guided the horse through another gate, opening and closing it without dismounting. “You’re a smart girl. Why don’t you go after your dream job?”

Madison cleared her throat. “I wish. I’d love to be a nurse someday. I know it seems like I’m wasting my time with the temp jobs, but I’ve actually learned a lot of skills that I think will help me in the long run. I’ve taken some college level classes and when I get a little more money saved, I’m going to take more.”

“I wasn’t judging, honey. I just want to know all about you.” He gave his horse free rein, knowing she knew where he liked to go when he just wanted to relax.

“What about you? I know you ranch.” She spread her hands out, taking in the bounty that surrounded her. “Do you do anything else?”

“Well…” Micah chose his words carefully. He didn’t especially like to talk about himself, that was one reason some thought he was a sarcastic joker. They just weren’t around him long enough to see the real person he hid inside. “I do okay here.” He wasn’t quite ready to mention his writing, which was the source of what he called his ‘gravy’ money. It bought the extras he might not have otherwise. “I also work with a fine group of men that call themselves the Equalizers. Some of them I’ve known since childhood and some I met in Afghanistan.”

“You were in the military?” She was surprised for some reason.

“Yea.” He moved her hair to one side, kissing the side of her neck. “For a while. I was in intelligence.”

“Like James Bond?” she asked, half-way kidding.

Micah chuckled. “Not exactly, I just knew how to find out what we needed to know. And I collected people along the way, made connections so I’d have sources and resources when I needed them.”

“You’re very intelligent,” she stated the obvious. “Tell me about the Equalizers. I think I’ve heard of the name on the news.”

“We have a high-powered leader. Kyle, our Governor, is Thunderbird. He brought us together. We’re all different, we all have a specialty. We’ve done everything from rescuing hostages to locating missing persons. We don’t always get paid for our efforts and that’s okay. None of us do it for the money. We all have side jobs that keep us going. Destry is a lawyer, he used to be a clerk for one of the Supreme Court Justices. Now, he’s Kyle’s Secretary of State. Jet is an MMA fighter and hunts sunken treasure, he’s found some too.”

“Treasure? Like pirate treasure?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Yea, we actually helped him bring some up off the coast of Florida last year. Damn near got killed by a boat load of pirates funded by a drug cartel.” When she shivered, he laughed and took the opportunity to hold her closer. “Saxon is a computer whiz. He’s builds software for companies and specializes in creating virtual machines to run bots to accomplish whatever it is the company needs.”

“I don’t have a clue what you just said,” she admitted, “but it sounds complicated.”

“He’s a geek, we don’t understand everything he does either. Tyson plays the markets, knows how to work the system with foreign currencies, so he understands how everything works–how foreign companies get involved with terrorists, stuff like that. So, he’s a handy man to know. And Kyle…well, Kyle is Chancellor Industries in addition to being the Governor of this great state. And he’ll be President someday, he’s already considering it.”

“Hearing all of that makes me very nervous for some reason,” Madison confessed.

“Don’t be,” he whispered, as he stole a kiss from her cheek. “I’m really just a simple rancher who has a few outside interests. And right now,” he kissed her again, “my main one is you.”

She pressed her hand over his as it rested beneath her breasts. “I’m so glad you are and I’m proud of you. I think you’re grand.”   

Micah smiled while he rubbed his mouth against her hair. “Thanks, that means a lot.”

They rode up one hill and down another and although Madison enjoyed the view, she loved being held by him even more. “What’s that?” She could hear a faint roar.

“That’s the river, the Pedernales.” He guided Shoshone up a ridge and then she saw they were on top of a high cliff. Below them flowed a river that looked to be about fifty yards wide. White water dashed on rocks as it flowed wildly from a waterfall upstream. “Isn’t it beautiful?”