World's Most Eligible Texan (15 page)

“Aw, shucks. I thought of something else we could do that would be more fun,” he said in a husky voice that made her instantly think of making love.

“I don't think so,” she whispered, unable to get her voice. He wasn't doing anything except flirting and looking at her as if he would devour her, but she was melting inside.

“We could order dinner sent in,” he suggested. He reached up to stroke her throat. “Hot kisses all over, letting go, doing what your heart wants—what mine wants. We could take all night, darlin', wild, hot loving.” His hand slid down her back and over her bottom.

“Aaron, stop,” she whispered in anguish.

“You're answering me without thinking. Why not, Mellie? Why not? You don't want to kiss?”

“Yes,” she whispered and saw a flare of eagerness in his eyes. “No!” She put her hand lightly against his chest as he leaned toward her. “No. That isn't wise or what I want.”

“Isn't what you want?”

“All right. I don't think we should whether I want to or not. Let's go to dinner,” she whispered, but her heart pounded and she wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and let him carry her right back to his bed.

She received another one of his searching gazes, and she was certain he could hear her heart pounding. He ran his finger across her forehead and she realized she was damp with perspiration.

“Hot?” he asked, arching a brow.

“On fire,” she answered, and his eyes darkened.

“How do you expect me to keep my distance when you give me answers like that? Lady, your heart wants the same thing mine does.”

“Not heart—our bodies. This is physical.”

“I won't buy that one. There's a lot more to it than physical attraction. Come on, I'll take you to dinner and tell you how much more,” he said, linking his arm through hers and starting down the hall.

“Aaron, don't make this harder.”

“Honey, I couldn't get any harder,” he drawled and looked down at her as she walked beside him. “Want me to prove it to you?”

“No! Stop teasing me.” A blush heated her cheeks.

“I can't resist. You're too solemn, and I know you're not always that way.”

“We shouldn't even be together.”

“Oh, yes, we should. Now and forever. You'll see.”

“Do you always get your way? Is that where all your optimism comes from?”

“Nope, I don't always get my way. This time my optimism
comes from being right and knowing that sooner or later, you're going to see the truth.”

She shook her head. “Where are we going tonight?”

“My brother's boat in Galveston.”

Knowing it would be another evening that would be an onslaught against her refusal to marry, she lapsed into silence.

They flew to Houston where a limo whisked them to Galveston, and they spent the evening on his brother's yacht. It was almost dawn when they returned to his home in Pine Valley. She was dazzled, so in love, and she knew she would have been bubbling with happiness if she could just let go and follow her heart, but wisdom still told her that this was all fleeting and temporary.

They kissed until both were on a ragged edge and she stopped him, hurrying to her room to spend the rest of the night in agony, wanting him, questioning her feelings over and over and still coming up with the same answers. At least this week, she was moving home and it would end some of the turmoil. It would also end his courtship that had been the most exciting, joyous, thrilling time of her life. She stared into the darkness and could see only Aaron.

 

Today she was moving home. Her new furniture had been delivered yesterday and now she could once again live at her own place. No matter what his arguments, no matter how persuasive, she had to stand by her decision and begin to break off this constant togetherness. It was the twenty-second of February. She had been with Aaron almost a month now. Forever. Minutes. Could she actually make the break with him and survive?

Over breakfast, looking into his green eyes, it was much more difficult to say the words that she had rehearsed more than a dozen times during the night.

“I'm moving home today, Aaron.”

He lowered his fork to his plate, leaving scrambled eggs uneaten. “You're safer here, and I'd like you to stay.”

She shrugged. “I can't stay here forever.”

“Yes, you can.”

She raised her chin and inhaled. “No, I can't. I'm going home where I need to be. Even if we were going to marry—which we aren't—I would want to go home. I need to be in my own place.”

He nodded. “All right. I'll take you home when you want to go. You'll still go out to dinner tonight, won't you?”

“Aaron, we're just postponing the inevitable. You're not changing my mind.”

“I'm patient,” he said, reaching across the table to touch her cheek. She couldn't resist, but turned to brush a kiss across his fingers. He caught her chin and turned her to look at him. “Why are you fighting what your heart wants?”

“Because I keep thinking ahead and know this isn't the marriage for you and I'm not the woman for you.”

“Don't you think you should let me make that decision?”

She shook her head and stood, picking up her dishes to carry them to the sink. “No. One of us needs to think straight. I'll get my things as soon as we clean the kitchen.”

“Leave the kitchen. I'll have someone here to clean this afternoon.”

She turned to look at him. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

She put down the dishes and left the room, and Aaron watched her go, wondering how long it would take to get her to listen to her heart and really listen to what he was saying to her. He knew she had been hurt badly when she was growing up, and old hurts were slow to mend, but he thought he was making progress. He looked at his knuckles and remembered her soft lips pressed against them when she had turned to kiss him. “Patience, man,” he whispered. “Patience.”

 

After dinner that night Aaron took her key to unlock the door to her apartment. He hadn't spotted a tail all evening, nor could he see anyone lurking in the shadows. “I'm going to look around,” he said, stepping inside and turning off the new alarm. “You wait here.”

Pamela hung up her coat and watched him prowl through the apartment. Tonight they'd driven to a honky-tonk outside Royal for some two-stepping music and barbecue. She wore jeans and a red sweater. He was in his black boots, a black wool shirt and jeans, and just the sight of him made her pulse race. She was going to miss him and knew in a few minutes he would kiss her good-night and be gone.

He came back and headed for the front door. “I'm going to look around outside. I have your key, so lock up behind me and turn on the alarm.”

“I'm not real happy to think about you prowling around out there in the dark.”

He crossed to her and brushed a kiss on her lips. “Uncle Sam taught me how to get around in the dark and take care of myself. And I grew up out here with the rattlesnakes, so I'll be careful.”

She couldn't laugh at his casual remarks that were meant to reassure her. She watched him leave and followed him, locking the door and resetting the alarm. She paced the floor until she heard the key in the lock and he stepped inside. It had been thirty minutes since he left.

“All quiet on the home front,” he said, tossing the key on a table, turning off the alarm and crossing the room to sweep her up into his arms.

“Aaron!” she cried, hugging his neck as he swung her around.

“You look far too solemn. I liked it better when we were two-stepping tonight and you were laughing and your dimples were showing.” He carried her to the sofa and in minutes they were locked in an embrace. She had stopped thinking about all the reasons she shouldn't kiss him, instead giving herself up to the kisses they shared, because usually he stopped sooner than she would have. This time when he did, he stroked her hair from her face while their erratic hearts slowed, and they caught their breath.

“Well, I wish you'd stay at my house, but if not—here we are.”

Startled, she stopped straightening her sweater and looked at him in surprise. “No.”

“We're not going to argue this one, lady. You're staying here. I'm staying here. Until I think you're completely out of danger, I'm your shadow.”

“Aaron, I don't have another bedroom.”

“You have a couch. We're sitting on it.”

“Look at it. It's not long enough for you!”

“Well, now there's another possibility,” he drawled, his green eyes smoldering.

“No way!” she snapped, knowing he was teasing, yet aware he was watching her closely. “All right, just stay on the couch and get kinks in your neck and back. This is crazy, Aaron.”

“Need I remind you that your apartment has been broken into?”

Her emotions churned as she had a vivid memory of her trashed apartment. Yet how could Aaron stay here in her tiny apartment? “Okay, stay. I'll get you a blanket and pillows.” She left, dismayed to find she was going to have him living with her. She knew the only way she would get him out of her apartment was to go home with him. At her place, more people were going to see them together and realize he was staying there. In some ways, she preferred the privacy of his place. Reluctantly, she gathered up bedding and took it back to him.

He had shed his shirt and boots and belt, the jeans riding low on his narrow hips. Her mouth went dry at the sight of his bare chest, and she paused, assaulted by memories of how his naked body had felt against hers, how he had felt inside her.

“For me?” he asked as if nothing had changed, yet his voice had dropped a notch and he was watching her with that hawklike intensity as he crossed the room to take the pillow and blankets from her. He tossed them onto the sofa and turned to pull her into his arms. “I'll win you over,” he whispered before he leaned down to kiss her, “because half of you
is already on my side. Your heart wants the same thing I do. Sooner or later your head is going to listen to your heart and to what I'm telling you and hear the truth.”

“Aaron—”

His kiss shut off the world and she was lost, melting into his arms and welcoming his embrace. She slid her hands over his warm, bare back that was smooth as silk. She hated the layers of clothing still between them. Then his hands slipped beneath her sweater. Swiftly he unfastened her bra and pushed away the lace, cupping her breast while his thumb moved in lazy circles over her nipple.

Sensations assaulted her, and desire became molten heat in her veins. Moaning softly, she arched against him, wanting him, her hands caressing his smooth back.

When he stepped away, desire was blatant in his hungry gaze. “To prove a point to you, I'll wait to make love to you. I love you, Mellie, now and always.”

“Aaron,” she said, hurting, wanting him, knowing he was as tormented as she, yet still certain she was right. “You shouldn't stay here, and we should stop kisses that can only lead to heartache.”

“I'm staying, lady. There's only one way to get me out of here.”

“Aaron, this is insane. We'll bump into each other constantly. I only have one bathroom.”

“Want to go to my place?”

“No!” she cried in exasperation. “You'll get tired of this fast,” she muttered darkly.

“Never as long as you're here,” he answered with such cheer that she gritted her teeth.

Within ten minutes she had decided she might have been better off going back to his place. Her apartment was tiny and didn't give them the privacy his spacious mansion had. She yanked on her fuzzy robe, remembering his elegant navy velvet robe and headed for the bathroom only to stop when she heard the shower running and Aaron singing lustily.

Visions of him taunted her because they had showered to
gether that first night. She ground her teeth together and rushed to the kitchen, getting down cups and fixing hot chocolate and trying to stop thinking about Aaron naked in her shower.

“Can I help?” he asked.

He wore jeans again that rode low on his hips. His chest and feet were bare and her mouth went dry. She couldn't stop her gaze from drifting down over his muscled chest tapering to a slim waist. Her gaze flew back up to meet a mocking look in his eyes as he crossed the room with deliberation. Narrowing the distance between them to inches, he took a cup of chocolate from her hands and set it on the sink without taking his eyes from hers. Her pulse drummed as he moved close. She was pressed against the kitchen counter, looking up at him. His green eyes held such blatant desire that her knees weakened. He ran his fingers through her hair and framed her face with his hands and she knew from looking into his eyes what he was going to say before he ever uttered a word.

“I
've waited, Mellie. I've waited damned long so you'd have to know it isn't just sex driving me.” His voice was hoarse and low, almost a whisper and his eyes sent a message that scalded her. “I want you and I love you. There's love in my heart or I wouldn't have waited. Love and respect, Mellie, love as enduring as the Texas sunshine.”

“Aaron…” she whispered. She should say no. He placed her hand against his chest, and she could feel his racing heart, and she knew her own was racing equally fast.

“Feel my heart—you excite me in a way no woman ever has. I want you forever, my partner, my friend, my wife. I know this is right and good. And I know, deep in your heart, it's what we both want.”

“It can't be,” she whispered, his words becoming etched in her memory and her heart. She was lost, knowing she couldn't resist him this night, and that she didn't want to.

Tossing aside all wisdom and caution and reserve, she let go. “For now, Aaron, I can't tell you no.” She slipped her
arms around his neck and turned loose all her pent-up frustrations and longing.

Before his head lowered and his mouth covered hers, she saw the flare of eagerness in his eyes. Their tongues met and stroked and she gave in to all the impulses and desires she had fought for so long. Her hands slipped over him, rediscovering his marvelous body, lean, muscled and hard. She tangled her fingers in the mat of hair on his chest, then let her hand drift down over his flat belly.

He made a rough noise deep in his throat and crushed her in his arms, leaning over her and kissing her deeply. Their tongues stroked and then his plunged in an age-old rhythm, stopping and teasing, flicking against the tip of her tongue. She moaned with pleasure while her roaring pulse shut out all other sounds.

She pushed back to look at him. “This doesn't change anything.”

“Yeah, sure,” he drawled in a husky voice as he pushed her robe off her shoulders and peeled away the cotton nightie. She knew her words were only a half truth. His loving couldn't change what she thought she ought to do, but it would change the depth of her love for him. More than ever, her love for him would deepen.

“You're beautiful,” he whispered while his hands cupped her breasts and he bent his head to stroke her nipple with his tongue. As he kissed and teased, his thumb drew slow circles on her other nipple and delicious sensations tormented and rocked her.

When she unbuttoned his jeans and shoved them away, her fingers shook with urgency. She pushed away his briefs and freed him, taking him in her hand.

Aaron's pulse roared, and his heart pounded violently. He knew that for tonight, she had thrown aside her refusal to love.
Now, now…
The words played in the back of his mind.
Now I can show you how I love you.
He wanted to say the words to her, but his voice failed him, and only a low growl in his throat came as her hand stroked him.

He knew she had no idea how she affected him. That she could turn him to jelly, scramble his thoughts all during the day when she was completely across town from him. He knew she didn't think of herself as beautiful, but to him, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever known. He loved her slender, soft body with its curves and feminine secrets. He loved her wanton passion, her eager responses to his slightest caress. He loved her laughter, her caring.

He was going to have to stop her caresses because he wanted to last far into the night, to make love to her until she was wild with need—until she felt the way he did. He wanted to devour her, to kiss every inch of her, stroke and love her and try to show her in a million different ways how he loved her.

And he wanted to bind her heart to his irrevocably, drowning all her foolishness and convincing her that his heart was in his words and that he had thought everything through. Damned if he didn't know his own feelings!

She was the woman for him. He didn't have a shred of doubt, and every kiss made him want her more than ever. She was a marvel to him, a mystery, as necessary as breathing for him to survive. He couldn't think about life without her. He wouldn't accept defeat in this affair that was the most important thing in his life.

In government, he had had irrevocable rejections, stalemates, severing of ties, and he knew how to pick up the broken pieces and go on with life. But not here, not when the pieces were his heart and when his life and future were at stake. Here he couldn't accept defeat. Especially not when he thought his lady really wanted the same thing he did, but was afraid to let go and trust. Old hurts tormented her and jaded her views, but she would see the truth.

Too much was at stake for him to give in to her steady refusals: their future, their baby, their lives together. This passion that was beyond his widest imaginings.

With a groan he picked her up, sweeping her into his arms to carry her to her bed. The only light was a small lamp on a
bedside table that shed a warm glow over their naked bodies. He lowered her to the bed, shoving the mound of lacy white pillows to the floor as he moved to her feet. With deliberation, watching her, he trailed kisses along her slender foot and ankle while his other hand stroked her smooth leg.

Tingles radiated from each kiss and caress, and Pamela gazed into his eyes while he kissed her.

“I love you,” he said hoarsely. “Every inch of you.”

“Aaron,” she gasped, reaching for him and tangling her fingers in his hair. She started to sit up, to try to pull him to her, but he gently pushed her down.

“Let me kiss you, Mellie. I want to kiss you all night long. I want you to want to make love as much as I want to make love.”

Her heart thudded at the look in his eyes and the words he whispered to her. His green eyes held a hunger that made her feel every word he spoke was the truth. Trailing kisses along her inner leg, he moved higher to the sensitive inside of her thigh.

“Aaron,” she said, her eyes closing while passion rocked her. She grasped his shoulders, tugging to pull him to her, but he continued brushing kisses along her thigh while his hand lightly caressed her, touching the sensitive center of her femininity between her legs, driving her crazy with need. He watched her steadily, while he kissed her inner thigh, the stubble of his beard faintly tickling her.

“Aaron,” she cried his name again, trying to sit up to reach him, but he pushed gently.

“Let me kiss you the way I want to,” he urged, and then his head dipped between her thighs, his tongue following where his hand had been, his tongue stroking, driving her to an even higher threshold of need. She moaned, losing awareness of anything except his touch while she moved against him and all she knew was his hands and his tongue.

As her hands slid over his broad shoulders, she spread her legs, opening herself to him completely, yielding and clinging to his shoulders. She wound her fingers through his short, thick
hair and she arched her back. His loving drove her closer and closer to a brink.

“Aaron, please,” she gasped, moving against him, on fire with need, taut and trembling.

“We've just started,” he whispered. “Before this night is over, you'll want to love as badly as I want to.”

“I do want to. I want you!” she cried, in a frenzy already, wanting him desperately, driven to such urgency she thought she would fly apart any minute. “Aaron!” she gasped, coming up to shove him down and move astride him, pressing her knees against his hips. She leaned down, taking his manhood in her mouth, to kiss and drive him to the same brink of desire. He lay beneath her, watching her, his hand tangled in her hair and his other hand stroking her hip. She looked at his tanned body against the snow-white comforter covering her bed, his masculinity so blatant, so marvelous.

He was so out of place in her bed and in her life. Yet how wonderful to have him here, beneath her, his hands touching her. He was bare for her, letting her kiss and touch him, explore and memorize, letting her love him as she had dreamed of each night since their first time together.

For only seconds more he let her caress him, and then she was in his arms, looking up at him as he leaned down to kiss her more hungrily than before. She wound her arm around his neck, running her fingers through his hair, her other hand resting on his waist.

Aaron cradled her against him, caressing her with his free hand, cupping the soft fulness of her breast. His mouth muffled her moan. Sweat dotted his forehead and he shook with the effort to maintain his control because he wanted to keep loving her far into the night.

“Aaron, love me,” she whispered, wanting him completely.

“We've just started loving,” he whispered, showering her with kisses along her ear and throat and then moving her, rolling her onto her stomach. “Let me kiss you all night,” he whispered, trailing kisses on the back of her leg, up behind her knee while his hands stroked her. She moaned and spread
her legs for him as he kissed her thighs and his hand slid over her bottom.

She flung herself over and pulled him down. “Come here, Aaron. You're driving me wild,” she whispered fiercely, pulling his head down to kiss him as if it were the last kiss of her life.

It was almost an hour before she leaned over him, caressing him, her hand closing on his thick, hot manhood. She moved closer to trail her tongue over the velvet tip, to take him in her mouth as his hand caressed her legs and then touched the magic center of her, rubbing and driving her into oblivion again, pushing her to another brink as he had countless times during the night. She moved against him, kissing him and yielding to abandon.

“Don't stop,” she whispered. “I want you. I want you…” Her voice trailed away and she gasped, her body tightening as an explosion of release came, her hips moving convulsively, and then she wanted him more than ever, desperately needing him.

She shifted, moving over him. “Now, Aaron. I won't wait.”

His eyes were dark as obsidian. Glittering green turned black by hot desire. He rolled them over so she was beneath him as he moved between her legs.

She looked at him poised over her and knew she would never forget this moment. He was hard, his shaft thick and dark, springing from a mass of thick hair. Short hairs covered his strong thighs and his body glowed with vitality. Love surged in her along with a consuming physical need. “Come here, Aaron,” she said, pulling on his hips, running her hands over his tight bottom, hard and smooth. She wrapped her long legs around him and tried to pull him down.

His gaze ran over her slowly. “You're so beautiful,” he said roughly, lowering himself.

As the tip of his shaft pressed against her, she reached to hold him, to guide him, but he caught her hands and teased her while her hips thrashed and arched. “Aaron!”

“You want all this, don't you?” he whispered. “And it's good, isn't it?”

“Yes! Oh, yes.”

Then he slipped into her, filling her slowly, hot and hard. She cried out in eagerness, her hips rising to meet him as he came down over her and kissed her, stopping her cries.

They moved together, united at last, and she relished it, giving completely, wild with wanting him. Her world narrowed to his marvelous body that drove her to a frenzy. And beneath all the passion was the knowledge that she was once again in his arms, loving him and being loved by him, united with him with no restrictions.

Eternity was now, this moment only. Thought swirled away, lost in the most urgent, primal dance. “Mellie!” Aaron cried, his voice guttural and hoarse. “My love.”

“Ah, Aaron,” she whispered. “How I love you!”

He kissed her as they moved together until she crashed over a brink, climaxing with a cry of ecstasy while he thrust hard and fast and she could feel the hot burst of his climax within her. And then she was carried away on another wild, swift climb into another burst of rapturous release.

Her return to reality was gradual while their pounding hearts slowed. She was aware of Aaron showering her with light kisses, holding her close in his arms. He rolled onto his side, taking her with him, while he stroked her hair away from her face. Their bodies were damp, sated with love. How perfect it seemed to be with him.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Aaron—”

“Shh.” He placed his fingers on her lips. “Let's let tonight be something special like that first night was.”

She tightened her arms around him and placed her head against his chest, willing to do what he wanted for now. She agreed with him to drop worries about the future. Tomorrow would come soon enough. At the moment she would take tonight like that first night as something very special and unique and unforgettable. His heartbeat was steady and strong. His
arms held her close, and their legs were entwined. She was wrapped in bliss.

“You're magic in my life,” he whispered. Relishing the words, she knew she would remember them always. “I've wanted this every night since that first night.”

“You couldn't have!” she said, surprised and questioning.

“I did. Why do you think I came back from Spain? Why do you think you were important to me when the only time we had been together was that one night?”

She wanted to believe him, yet she couldn't. Their first night was a night of passion that they both got caught up in, and she still couldn't believe that it had been important to him. He hadn't tried to call or get in touch with her except right after the plane's forced landing.

She kissed him, wanting to keep touching him, to stay in his arms forever, wishing the moment they would have to separate would never come.

“I wish I had you all to myself, and we could stay here all day tomorrow without any interruptions. We could fly to Dallas—”

“Stop planning. No, we can't. You said we'd take tonight as something special. Tomorrow you and I both have things we have to do.”

“Maybe. But I know what I'd prefer.” He shifted away and stood, scooping her into his arms. “Let's try out that shower of yours again.”