Relentless (24 page)

In a battle of man vs. beast, J.T. was just that, a man. No matter how strong he was, it wasn’t a fight he could win. “Just don’t do it,” she said quietly. “I don’t want you to ride anymore. Please.” She knew her fear was probably irrational, but she couldn’t help it. The thought of something happening to him left her cold and terrified.

“Relax, sugar. We don’t have to talk about this right now.” He smiled. “In fact, we don’t have to talk at all.”

She was ready to let him transport her to a place where time didn’t matter and fears didn’t exist. She wanted to pretend, for at least a little while, that the here and now was the only thing she needed. Pushing his jacket over his shoulders, she began to kiss the smooth column of his neck. “Hmm,” she said, inhaling his spicy scent. She needed to memorize every detail of him and this night, in case it was their last.

He chuckled, gripping her shoulders, as her fingers flew over the buttons of his shirt. “Easy, darlin’. We got all night, and I intend to make the most of it.”

She groaned, wishing real life didn’t have to impede on this fantasy. “I really should slip back into the house before my dad wakes up. I don’t want him to start asking all kinds of embarrassing questions about where I was and what I was doing.”

He grinned. “If you tell him you were with me, I don’t think he’ll have to ask what you were doing.”

She tried to hide her smile. The man was arrogant, opinionated… and she loved every damn thing about him. The fact her father didn’t intimidate him only made him more appealing. J.T. was obviously a man who didn’t back down from a challenge or stop until he got what he wanted. She could only hope he would still want her after months of being apart.

“I can’t believe you got him to back off,” she said, smiling. “How’d you do it?”

“I just told him the truth—that I fell for you the first time I saw you, even though I knew I’d have to wait a while to act on it.” He brushed her hair off her face, looking into her eyes. “I told him that I’m in love with you.”

She held her breath, afraid to say or do anything that might ruin this moment.

“Aren’t you gonna say anything about that?”

“I feel the same way,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to hers while his hands rested on either side of her face. “I need to hear you say it again, sugar.”

“I love you, J.T.” She’d never said that to a man before, never had the urge. “Which is crazy, given the fact I barely know you…”

“No, it’s not,” he said, kissing her lips tenderly. “When it’s right, you just know. Doesn’t matter whether it’s been five days or five years.”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience?” She hated to think that he’d felt this way before. She wanted to believe that what they had was special, though given his age, and experience with women, she suspected that was just wishful thinking.

“Not firsthand. But my mama and daddy got married after just three dates.” He laughed.

“They’ve been together almost fifty years, so I guess they got it right, huh?”

J.T.’s parents were the epitome of love and devotion. If they knew after such a short time, maybe falling in love at first sight wasn’t as improbable as she thought. When she first met J.T. five years ago, she’d assumed it was lust or infatuation, but that didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling today. There was only one way to describe it. “I’ll have to ask your mama about that sometime. I don’t think she’s ever told me the story of how they got together.”

He brushed his lips against her hair, whispering in her ear, “It’s a great story. Even turned a cynic like me into a believer.”

She tipped her head back, bracing her hands on his shoulders. “Do you believe that this is real? Or are we crazy?”

He slid his hand up her back, under the barrier of clothes. “This is as real as it gets, sweetheart. I’ve been around the block a time or two…” He grinned. “Or ten, and I ain’t ever felt like this.”

Her head fell forward, resting against his chest. “What the hell are we gonna do, J.T.?”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that, sugar?” He dipped his head, burrowing beneath the cover of hair to find the tender skin at the nape of her neck. He marked her, but she couldn’t summon the energy to protest; it felt too damn good.

“Mine,” he growled. “You’re mine. If another man even thinks about puttin’ his hands on you while you’re out on the road…”

“Josh will be there,” she whispered, trying to put his mind at ease. “He’ll make sure no one oversteps.”

“He better,” J.T. muttered. He began opening the top buttons of her shirt, slowly, carefully, as though they had all the time in the world. “Girl, the things I wanna do to you…”

She could hardly wait to find out. “Show, don’t tell,” she whispered. She knew taunting him would get the reaction she wanted, and she wasn’t disappointed when he tossed her over his shoulder, smacking her bottom soundly as he made his way down the hall.

“Hey,” she said, slapping his back. “Put me down. You’re gonna drop me.”

“Honey, I’ve lifted feed bags heavier than you. Trust me, I’m not gonna drop you.”

She did trust him, with her heart. She only hoped he wouldn’t break it.

Storming into the large bedroom, he threw her down in the middle of a huge, four-poster pine bed, making her squeal as she bounced on the mattress. The sound died in her throat as he climbed on top of her. With one hand on either side of her shirt, he tore the fabric open, the remaining buttons bouncing off the hardwood floor. Taking in the intensity in his eyes, she was afraid to utter a word in case she broke the spell. She wanted to know where this dark and dangerous-looking man intended to take them.

Taking her mouth savagely, he held her hands above her head, silently demanding her full and complete surrender. She knew he was trying to make a point, prove to her that he was in charge. Had it been any other man, she would have been offended, but with J.T., it felt right, letting him tend to her needs.

Giving into the pleasure, she wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him closer.

“You have way too many clothes on, baby.” He stood at the foot of the bed, pulling her high-heeled boots off one at a time, his eyes never leaving her face.

She watched him strip her pants off, his mouth leaving a hot, moist trail up the inside of her thigh as she quivered, silently begging to feel his mouth where she needed it most. “Please, J.T.,” she whispered, hating that she sounded so needy, so desperate.

“Relax, honey,” he said, sliding her panties down her legs. “I’m not gonna make the mistake I made last time.” He shook his head. “I was a damn fool. Our first time together should’ve been…”

“It was amazing,” she said quietly. “Just being with you was amazing.” She sat up, allowing him to take her shirt and bra off. “After fantasizing about it for so long…”

He grimaced as he toed his cowboy boots off. “I’d like to think I lived up to the fantasy, but I know I didn’t even come close.”

Was he serious? If it got any better, she just might pass out. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’…”

Before she could finish the thought, he was making her most delicious fantasies a reality. Buried between her legs, feasting on her as though he were ravenous, he gave new meaning to the word thorough. By the time he was finished with her, she was a hot mess. Her heart was racing, skin tingling, legs trembling, hands clenched…

He finally came up for air, a sexy grin on his face as he licked his lips.

“I’m not even gonna ask where you learned to do that,” she said, struggling to catch her breath.

He threw his head back, laughing. “It’d probably be best if we went with a don’t ask, don’t tell policy in the bedroom, darlin’.”

As she watched him take his clothes off, her heart started pounding all over again. He was perfection: bronze skin from too many hours in the sun and big bulky muscles, developed after working sunup to sundown while running a ranch for so many years. J.T. might have a reputation as the carefree son, but from what his mama told her, she knew he’d come through for them when it counted. He put his goals aside for years to run the ranch when his father was no longer up to the task. A man who could be counted on to take care of those he loved. Now that she was a member of that select club, she knew he would do the same for her.

“What’re you smiling about?” he asked, easing his body down on top of her.

“Just thinking about you, the kind of man you are.”

He winced. “Do we have to go there right now?”

She stroked the stubble on his cheek. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, you know. You are a good man.”

He shook his head, smiling. “I don’t know about that, but if that’s what you want to believe, who am I to argue?”

She had a feeling this was a topic they would be revisiting until she convinced him she was right. She knew he wasn’t proud of his past, of some of the choices he’d made, and a result, he judged himself too harshly. “Tell me something. Did you buy the bar just ‘cause you have something to prove?”

He rolled off of her, throwing his forearm over his eyes. “I’m not gonna lie. I want you to be proud of me for somethin’ other than stayin’ on the back of a bull for eight seconds. God, that sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?”

She pulled his arm away from his face, leaning over him. “What are you talking about?”

Sighing, he said, “Darlin’ you’re a risin’ star. You need a man who isn’t threatened by that.”

She looked down at him, trying to read his expression. This had to be his idea of a joke, only he wasn’t laughing. In fact, he looked miserable. “Are you telling me you’re intimidated by my success?”

“Come here, sugar,” he said, pulling her down into his arms. He held her tight against his chest, stroking her hair. “All I ever wanted was to be a world champion bull rider. Never thought about what would happen when I couldn’t do it anymore. Hell, I never wanted to think about who I’d be without it.”

She stroked his chest, trying to put herself in his position, but it was impossible for her to imagine her life without music.

“I guess in the back of my mind, I figured I’d come home to stay, marry a rancher’s daughter…”

Her hand stilled on his chest. “You mean someone like Lindsay?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess. I never thought much about it.” He sighed. “At the end of last season, I knew it was time for me to pack it in, but I wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone, including myself. Then you…”

She looked up, but his eyes were closed, as though he was afraid of revealing too much. “What about me?”

“I was dyin’ to hook up with you. Even if Ty hadn’t asked me to come to the awards with him that night, I would’ve found a way to make sure we were in the same place, at the same time.”

She pressed her cheek to his chest, smiling. She was gratified to hear that he had been thinking about her almost as much as she’d been thinking about him. Every time she saw Ty, she was reminded of his handsome brother.

“But you won that award, and it made me…” He paused, shaking his head. “Forget it. You know what? Now’s not the time to get into this shit. I should be making love to you, not whinin’ about my insecurities.”

It was hard for her to imagine a man like J.T. being insecure about anything. He always seemed so capable, so sure of himself. “I want to talk about this,” she said quietly. “Please, tell me how you’re feeling.”

“Honestly?” He chuckled. “I’m scared out of my mind.”

“You? Scared? Of what?”

“Losin’ you. Not measurin’ up, makin’ a fool of myself, bein’ an embarrassment to you… Hell, take your pick.”

She was dumbfounded that a man like him, who had women throwing themselves at him all the time, could ever question whether he was good enough to measure up. “I can’t believe this,” she muttered.

He scowled. “It may sound stupid to you, but I’ve seen what my brother has had to deal with. Women are forever comin’ on to him.”

“So?”

“So it’s gonna be the same for you, darlin’. You’re gonna be a household name soon enough. You’ll have your pick of men. Why the hell would you wanna settle for a washed-up cowboy like me?”

Grabbing his jaw, she said firmly, “Look at me. If you’re worried about me finding someone else, don’t be. You’re all the man I’ll ever need.”