Always (26 page)

      "With your permission and participation," he whispered, "I'd like to find out if the next time can be as incredible as this one was."

      "Next time?" She pushed aside thoughts of the future. So she was a hell-cat in bed. Taylor-Polyanna-Bowen? What a surprise. A giggle bubbled up from her chest as his mouth dipped to draw her nipple deep inside, making her laughter seize in her throat. "Gordon," she said quietly, gasping as his teeth grazed the tender nub.
 

      "Something tells me this time will be even better," she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment of total bliss.
 

      Rumbling low in his chest, Gordon lifted his face from her breast to cast her a look of promise and challenge all blended into one pithy glance. Then he pulled her to him and rolled with her until she sat astride his muscular form.       "I guarantee it," he promised in a rough voice, cupping both her breasts in his large hands while she leaned forward to meet his insatiable mouth.

      Groaning, he propped himself on more pillows. Taylor followed his lead, savoring the feel of his teeth and lips on her tender nipples as he tasted one, then the other.

      "Yes, even better." She arched her hips against him, realizing how very ready he was when his erection pulsated against her.
 

      He reached into the nightstand and retrieved a square packet, ripping it open with his teeth. A moment later, he was pressing against her again.

      Repositioning herself, she lifted her hips above him until she felt his heavy, throbbing manhood probing her softness. Hard to soft–man to woman. It was an ancient communication of him soliciting entrance and her granting it.

      A sense of power filled her as she pressed herself downward, enclosing him with a voraciousness that left her dazed. He moaned beneath her, obviously as stunned as she. Moving slowly against him, she tingled from head to toe as he continued his assault on her aching breasts. They felt heavy and swollen. She braced herself against the headboard and glanced down, noticing her rigid nipples seemed to have doubled in size. She couldn't resist the urge to watch his mouth cover and stroke her delicate flesh, making her insides contort, closing around his erection with even greater urgency.

      She'd heard of people who got their thrills from watching themselves with mirrored ceilings and such, but she'd never experienced anything quite like this before. Actually seeing his mouth open, then fuse to her breast made Taylor melt inside. It was so right–so stimulating. He seemed to belong with her...touching her.

      Was Gordon Lane still her destiny?

      Joy spawned deep in her core and spread throughout her. She became taut and anxious as she neared her completion, continuing to engage and press against his thrusting pelvis.

      Growling again, Gordon pressed himself upward and felt her response. He held his breath, hoping to prolong the exquisiteness of being buried deep within this beautiful woman. Taylor. His Taylor.

      She was so responsive it was downright dangerous.

      But what a way for a man to go.

      Slowly, rhythmically, he pressed upward, matching her movements, gasping each time her muscles contorted around him as if to drain him of everything he had. This woman was definitely a hell-cat in bed. He vividly remembered her adolescent passion, but had never suspected anything quite like this. She was made for loving. Made for him.

      Dangerous thoughts. He buried them as physical needs overpowered everything else like a volcano building to an eruption greater than any he'd ever known before, even more powerful than their very first time. Taylor had ignited something in him long ago, and now the flames fanned hotter and brighter than ever before.
Terrifying.

      
Fan-damn-tastic.

      Climbing, soaring higher with every plunge into her receptive body, Gordon knew he was lost. This woman had touched him right where it troubled most and comforted best. There was no doubt–his wound was mortal.

      His Taylor was home. Home at last.

      She cried out against him, leaning forward to sink her teeth gently into his shoulder. Elation filled him as he felt her contract around him. No longer struggling to hold himself back, he felt the pressure build. Her feminine muscles swallowed him tighter and deeper with her orgasm, claiming and devouring him as he clenched his teeth and drove upward and into her.

      Finally, devastatingly, he burst within her. Like a land mine that had lain silent since Taylor's departure, he'd
 
finally found the trigger to release his pent-up power. Only Taylor. There was no holding back. This was all-out surrender.

      He was in deep trouble.

      Taylor clung to him, wept against his shoulder. Sweat formed between them as his throbbing subsided, followed by her sigh of contentment that he shared tenfold.

      He groaned, releasing her soft breasts as she tightened around him again in a sexual vise that made him want to shout. He'd never experienced anything like this before. Taylor was hot and sweet, like apple pie fresh from the oven.

      Like only Taylor
could
be.

      She was everything rolled into one very neat little package. A surge of emotions threatened to evolve into words, but he bit the inside of his cheek to silence them. She slumped against him, showering him with little kisses.

      He couldn't let her go again.

Chapter 13

      Sue managed to reschedule all of Taylor and Gordon's appointments for the following week, and arranged for a doctor and a vet in Buena Vista to take call for human and animal emergencies. She was on a roll. With any luck at all, Gordon and Taylor were having a wonderful romantic interlude.

      During the full moon.

      She crossed fingers on both hands for a second, then decided to catch up on her filing while the office was so quiet. The phone rang and she answered on the first ring.

      "Sue, it's Priscilla."

      "Hi, is Ryan giving you fits already?" School was out today for some obscure reason, and Priscilla Lane was watching Ryan. He'd be out for the summer in two weeks. "Did he bring that mutt with him again? I told him–"

      "No, no, it isn't that." The older woman's voice sounded worried. "He ran home to get a video game for this Play Station Gordon set up over here."

      Gordon was spoiling Ryan. Sue would have to speak to him about that. "All right."

      "He hasn't come back, Sue, and it's still pouring rain."

      "Maybe he decided to wait out this latest downpour." Sue worried her lower lip even as she tried to justify Ryan's tardiness. "Did you call the house?"

      "Yes, and there was no answer."

      "Nobody's here today, so I'll go track him down." Ryan was barely ten–old enough to move around town unsupervised, but young enough for his mother to worry. "I'll call you as soon as I find him."

      "And I'll call your house if he shows up here. You know, now that I think about it, he got real quiet after I mentioned Taylor and Gordon being stranded at his cabin."

      "Oh?" Sue rubbed her temple, wondering why that information would bother Ryan. Of course, her son thought of Gordon like a father. "Oh, no, I hope he didn't–"

      "I'm sure Ryan wouldn't do anything foolish, dear," Priscilla said. "I'll call your house if he turns up back here."

      "Leave a message. Thanks."

      Sue hung up the phone and grabbed her purse and umbrella just as the cat bells sounded.
Let it be Ryan,
she thought, then looked up and saw Jeremy Cole's smiling face. Another man stood behind him, dripping on the waiting room floor.

      "Jeremy." She warmed with pleasure at seeing him. "You're a day early."

      "I hope that's all right." He gave her a sheepish grin and a shrug. "I wanted to see you again. I've been making some plans I wanted to discuss with you."

      Sue's heart skipped a beat, though she made certain her curiosity didn't show. At least, she sure as hell hoped it didn't. Love at first sight was impractical and downright foolish, but where Jeremy Cole was concerned, she couldn't help herself. She was madly, head-over-heels, hopelessly in love.

      "Sue Wheeler, is that you?" The other man stepped around Jeremy and stared at her with wide hazel eyes. "I don't believe it's really you, all grown up."

      Salt and pepper hair, moustache, something about his eyes... Sue squinted and shook her head. "I have a terrible memory. Can you enlighten me, please?"

      "You don't remember?" The man held his hand against his chest and sighed. "I'm crushed, Red."

      
Red
? Gasping in recognition, she hurried around the desk and threw her arms around Taylor's big brother. "Mike, is it really you? With that caterpillar under your nose and all that gray hair, I wasn't sure."

      He kissed her cheek and held her at arm's length. "The one and only. Taylor gave Jeremy here my number, and I decided to come up for a visit while my wife and kids are visiting her parents in Texas. Speaking of my kid sister, where is she?"

      Sue stood back and stared in wonder at Mike Bowen. She hadn't seen him since he'd come back from college for Taylor's graduation. After that, the Bowens had moved to Florida, and Taylor... Well, that was history. They were friends again now.

      "I went by the house, but she wasn't home," Mike continued. "She here?"

      "No, she went up to Gordon's place and there was a mud slide."

      "She's all right?" Mike's eyes darkened.

      "Fine, she's with Gordon."

      In unison, he and Jeremy both said, "Oh?"

      Sue's cheeks warmed and she wondered if Jeremy was really over Taylor. That would be just her luck.

      "I gather there's some history between those two," Jeremy said thoughtfully.

      "Oh, yeah, big time," Mike said, rolling his eyes. "Taylor never would talk about why she left home so suddenly, and she wouldn't listen when Mom tried to talk to her about Gordon later." He shrugged and met Sue's gaze. "They on again?"

      Sue shot Jeremy a questioning look, then sighed. "I...I'm not sure, but I hope so."
 

      Jeremy gave her a nod so slight she thought for a moment she might have imagined it. "I wish Taylor only happiness," he said.

      Relieved, Sue smiled at both men. "I have a missing son to track down."

      "Missing?" Jeremy grabbed her arm.
 

      Quickly, Sue explained the situation, trying to make light of it, though her worry was growing.

      "We'll help you look for him," Mike said. "I didn't know you had kids, Sue."

      She smiled. "One ornery ten-year-old boy who's going to be in deep doo-doo if he doesn't turn up quick."

      Jeremy slid his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Ryan's lucky to have you for a mom." He kissed her cheek. "Let's go find the little urchin."

      Sue met Mike's gaze and he winked at her. What was it about his eyes...?
 

      Jeremy and Mike had driven up in Mike's Toyota Land Cruiser, anticipating bad weather. Much better than a BMW, Sue decided, and she really liked this side of Jeremy. He'd thoroughly embraced Colorado casual and seemed totally at ease now in Digby.

      And with her.

      They went to Priscilla's house first, but she still hadn't heard from or seen Ryan. Worried, Sue gave Mike directions to her house, which was eerily silent, meaning Patches wasn't there either. On a hunch, she went to the kitchen to check the dry marker board she and Ryan used to leave messages for each other.

      "Aha," she said, turning on the light so she could read her son's printing. "Oh, no."

      "What is it?" Jeremy stood beside her and read the message. "He went to Gordon's. How far is that?"

      "It isn't far, but there was a mud slide. The road's blocked."

      Mike frowned. "We'll find him, Sue," he said. "Don't worry."