Hot for You (27 page)

He grinned. “Go out with me and I’ll tell you
whatever you want to know.”

She rolled her eyes. “Good try.”

“How about tomorrow night?” His green eyes
held hers and she knew exactly what a romance heroine meant when
she felt like she was melting. She felt like her bones had gone
soft and she was breathing a little faster.

Damn.

She pushed away from the bar and felt like
she had to physically break the connection with him to do so. “I’m
busy.”

“Is that right?” he said.

“My daughter has a kindergarten open house.”
Tess smiled at the thought of Jenny then felt an immediate stab of
guilt that she had to work so late when she should be home with
her.

Gage started to say something but to Tess’s
relief, a crowd of young adults pushed their way into Nectars.

“Excuse me.” She gave Gage a quick smile then
moved down the bar to where one of the young men had come up to
order. “I’ll need to see your ID,” she said to the guy. He pulled
out his driver’s license and handed it to her. The license had the
name Hal Johnson on it. When she returned it, she gave a nod in the
direction of the two young women and another young man who sat as a
nearby table. “Theirs, too, if they’re ordering drinks, Hal.”

Hal looked a little annoyed, but said “All
right.”

After checking everyone’s ID and making sure
they were at least twenty-one, Tess took their orders and served up
beers for them.

When she finished with that group, two
separate couples walked through the door. The evening crowd had
begun to filter in. She glanced back to where Gage had been sitting
and saw that he was gone, and that once again he’d left a generous
tip sticking out from beneath his beer mug.

Even though he’d left, she still felt as if
she could sense him watching her. Warmth spread over her skin as if
he was touching her now. Just thinking about the man was going to
drive her crazy. She shook her head. Damn.

There was something about Gage McBride that
intrigued her in ways she couldn’t begin to understand. She liked
solid, dependable men like the man she’d married. Steve had died
from a car accident some time ago and she hadn’t dated anyone since
he’d passed away. Pain still squeezed her heart when she thought
about him but the pain had faded enough that maybe she should start
dating again.

But
not
a sexy cowboy ladies man. That
was not smart. Not smart at all.

***

Cheyenne McCray

“I guess that will have to do for today.” Cat
brushed her hair out of her eyes as she started to organize the
papers on Blake’s desk. “We can work on this more another day.” She
glanced from the papers to him. He was sitting in the chair beside
her now, in front of the desk. “My schedule is still pretty open,”
she said. “When is a good time for us to get together again?”

He was studying her, his gaze so intense that
she felt the heat of it on her skin. “Friday night at seven,” he
said.

“Friday night?” It took a moment to register
that he was asking her out. “Oh.” She hesitated and he kept looking
at her with that same dark look. “I—sure.”

She felt warning bells going off in her head,
but too late. It wasn’t good to spend so much time with the man.
She was going to fall head over heels for him again.

If she hadn’t already.

She looked away from the intensity of his
gaze and got to her feet. From her peripheral vision she saw him
stand, then felt the heat of his body when he moved closer to
her.

“I think we made pretty good progress.” Her
heart pounded faster and she busied herself with making each stack
on the desktop perfectly neat. “We might be able to get everything
done in one more meeting.” She rushed her words, feeling like she
was babbling.

“KitCat.” His voice was soft and she went
still at the low, throbbing quality of it.

Slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet his. He
was looking at her intently. Her lips parted, but she couldn’t
think of a thing to say.

He took her by the shoulders, bringing her
face to face with him. “Damn, Cat. I don’t know how much longer I
can be around you without having you.”

Her eyes widened and her lips parted. He
wanted her?

He gripped her upper arms tighter, the
pressure of his fingers almost hurting her. “Damn,” he said again
before he jerked her up against him and brought his mouth hard down
on hers.

She gasped as he took control of her mouth,
kissing her hard. It was more primal than the night before, almost
wild. She didn’t remember him kissing like this before. It was as
if the man he had been before had matured, becoming more dominant
and decisive. She knew he’d decided he was going to have her. If
she said no, he’d let her go, but she didn’t want to say no. She
wanted him.

A groan rose up in him and she followed his
lead, letting him take the kiss to a level of passion she’d never
experienced before. He released her shoulders and slid his hands
over her blouse to her waist then cupped her ass and pulled her up
tight to him. The feel of his erection against her belly sent fire
through her straight between her thighs.

She breathed in his clean, masculine scent
and reveled in his taste and the feel of his hands on her. She
moved her hands up his chest, feeling the soft cotton of his
T-shirt beneath her palms, and then she wrapped her arms around his
neck and pressed her breasts against him.

When he broke the kiss, he moved his lips
along her jawline to her throat. His stubble felt rough against her
skin but something about the sandpapery feel of it made her even
more excited.

“I’m not going to be able to help myself with
you.” He groaned as he pulled her short skirt above her ass and
felt the silky panties underneath. The heat of his palms burned
through the thin material to her skin and it almost felt like she
was wearing nothing at all. “Hell, you’d better tell me now if you
want to stop.”

“Don’t stop.” She moaned, as he trailed his
lips and tongue from the hollow of her throat to the V in her
blouse.

He whirled her so that she was backed up
against the desk and she had to brace her hands on the stacks of
papers to either side of her in order to balance herself. She
arched her back as he moved his hands to the buttons on her blouse.
His big fingers fumbled with the buttons and he gave a low growl
and grasped the material.

Buttons flew and she gasped as he tore the
blouse open. She heard the ping of buttons but was barely conscious
of them as he pushed her blouse over her shoulders and down her
arms before she shook it the rest of the way off.

***

New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author Cheyenne McCray’s books have received multiple
awards and nominations, including

*
RT Book Reviews
magazine’s Reviewer’s
Choice awards for Best Erotic Romance of the year and Best
Paranormal Action Adventure of the year

*Three “RT Book Reviews” nominations,
including Best Erotic Romance, Best Romantic Suspense, and Best
Paranormal Action Adventure.

*Golden Quill award for Best Erotic
Romance

*The Road to Romance’s Reviewer’s Choice
Award

*Gold Star Award from Just Erotic Romance
Reviews

*CAPA award from The Romance Studio

Cheyenne grew up on a ranch in southeastern
Arizona. She has been writing ever since she can remember, back to
her kindergarten days when she penned her first poem. She always
knew one day she would write novels, hoping her readers would get
lost in the worlds she created, just as she experienced when she
read some of her favorite books.

Chey has three sons, two dogs, and is an
Arizona native who loves the desert, the sunshine, and the
beautiful sunsets. Visit Chey's website and get all of the latest
info at her
website
(http://www.cheyennemccray.com) and meet up with her at Cheyenne
McCray’s Place on
Facebook
(https://www.facebook.com/CheyenneMcCraysPlace)!

***