Tex Appeal (17 page)

The fact that he looked a little embarrassed softened something inside of her. “No. I don’t think it’s crazy at all. Where’s the rule that you can only follow one dream?”

For a moment, neither one of them spoke. Then Cade gestured toward an archway. “You’d better check out the kitchen.”

When she stepped through the arch, her breath caught in her throat. There were acres of granite countertops, a set of copper pots hung from hooks, and a zero-degree refrigerator nestled snugly against a commercial eight-burner stove. Unable to stop herself, she moved forward and ran her fingers along the refrigerator door. In a moment she was going to drool over that stove. Someday, she promised herself.

“What do you think?”

When she turned to face him, nerves danced in her stomach. “You’re rich. What do you have—a few oil wells on the side?”

“Actually, my great-grandfather had them. I’ve only had this place for a little over a year. I started with a hundred head of cattle, but I’m going to double that in the spring.”

At the pride in his voice, Macy studied him more closely. “How do you juggle being a Ranger and running a ranch?”

“I hired a retired cowboy, Dix Hatcher. He hires on hands when he needs them and runs the place when I’m away. He lives in a flat over the stables and takes care of the horses.”

“You have horses?”

“Three.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you ride?”

“I haven’t since I was in college.”

There was a moment of silence as they studied each other.

“There’s a lot we don’t know about each other,” Cade finally said.

But Macy knew one thing for sure. Ranger Cade Dillon was way out of her league.

“Are you bothered by the fact that I have money?”

The man saw way too much. “I just never—” she made a sweeping gesture with her hand “—expected this.” It occurred to her then that whatever decision she’d made in her head about a temporary relationship with Cade, there’d been a part of her heart that had held on to a hope that she and Cade would continue to explore their relationship even after Leonard was in jail.

She glanced around the kitchen. This little reality check was exactly what she needed. “My grandfather worked on an oil rig once, I think. But my male ancestors all had wanderlust. My mother believed they had gypsy blood. I’m really a descendant of a long line of waitresses.” Now she was babbling. Clamping her lips shut, she reached overhead for one of the copper pots and tested its weight in her hand. “These are beautiful. I had no idea you cooked.”

Cade shrugged. “I don’t. My specialty is burning frozen pizza, but in a pinch, I can manage scrambled eggs and charred toast.”

She was staring at him as if he’d suddenly grown a second head. She’d been nervous on the ride out, but that had obviously increased tenfold since she’d entered the house. No other woman had ever made him so unsure of what his next move should be. He’d agreed to her damn ground rules, hoping to ease some of her tension. Besides, weren’t they the rules he’d always used with other women?

But Macy was different. What shocked him was there had been a moment in the car when he’d very nearly told her to shove her damn rules.

“If you don’t cook, then why did you buy all these marvelous pots?”

“They came with the house. The man who sold me the place built the kitchen for his wife. He claimed she was a great cook. When she died, he couldn’t bear living here anymore.”

Macy ran her hand along the side of the copper pot. “He must have loved her very much.”

Cade couldn’t have said exactly what it was—her tone or the way she looked standing there with the early-evening sun pouring over her. But he knew in that moment that this was why he’d brought her here. He wanted Macy here in his kitchen and in his house. And not just for a few days.

The realization left him shaken. It left him aching. This was what had made him run scared from the beginning with her. This was why he hadn’t contacted her for two months.

There was a part of him that wanted to tell her, but the words weren’t going to get past the lump of pure fear in his throat. He wasn’t ready to say them. And she wasn’t ready to hear them.

So he did what he’d been wanting to do all day. He closed the distance between them, yanked her against him and claimed her mouth with his.

O
H, YES
. Yes, Macy thought. This is what she’d been wanting all day. They might be as different as night and day, but this need was something they had in common. One taste of him had skyrockets exploding in her head and fire shooting through her veins. She couldn’t breathe. Didn’t want to.

The copper pot dropped to the floor. She barely heard the clatter above the pounding of her heart. There was another noise from further away, but she couldn’t make it out. Not when desperation had her rising on her toes and digging her fingers into Cade’s shoulders. She had to get closer.

“Cade, you’re home. On a Monday. I never expected—oh!” The excited voice trailed off.

Thankfully, the counter was at her back or Macy might have slid to the floor as Cade drew back and she focused her gaze on the tall, beautiful woman who was standing on the other side of the kitchen.

“M
ACY
, meet my sister Lonnie,” Cade said.

“I am
so
sorry for interrupting,” Lonnie apologized.

Cade’s sister didn’t look sorry. She looked as delighted as a cat who’d just swallowed a canary.

“Wait a minute.” Lonnie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re Macy Chandler—the chef everyone is talking about. Mom caught your first show on the
News at Noon
and we’ve been watching the segments ever since. You’re wonderful.”

“Thanks,” Macy said.

Lonnie glanced at her brother, then back at Macy. “And you run that personal chef business, Some Like It Hot. Is that how the two of you met? Cade’s an abominable cook.”

“Thanks, sis.” Cade’s tone was dry.

“He’s protecting me,” Macy said.

“Really? What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Cade said discouragingly.

Lonnie turned to her brother. “The reason I dropped by is that I have curtains for your guest bedroom. Why don’t you go out to my car and get them while Macy fills me in.” She flashed him a mile-wide smile. “In fact, you can even take them upstairs and hang them while we chat.”

There was a resigned look on Cade’s face as he left the room.

Lonnie climbed up on one of the stools at the counter. “Tell me everything.”

That’s exactly what Macy did. Then Lonnie had questions. Fifteen minutes later, when she’d finished answering all of them, Lonnie sighed. “I really am sorry I interrupted. But I’m happy to have met you.”

“Same here.” Macy liked Cade’s sister, and she’d learned a lot about his family. His parents had divorced when he was in high school, and after that he’d taken on the role of looking after his two younger sisters. Lonnie was three years younger than Macy and ran a small interior decorating firm, and Lissa was in her last year of college.

“He’s never brought a woman here before,” Lonnie said. “It’s about time.”

Macy felt heat rise in her cheeks.

Lonnie leaned close and pitched her voice low. “And my sister and I would know. There’d be evidence.”

Macy’s eyes widened. “You spy on him?”

Lonnie grinned. “Payback for all those years he spied on us. Believe me, Big Brother was always watching.”

“You shouldn’t get the wrong idea. The only reason he brought me here is to keep me safe.”

Lonnie shook her head. “I don’t think so. Cade is a straight-and-narrow, follow-the-rules kind of guy. And I’m sure there’s some big rule against getting involved with a material witness. Besides, if all he wanted was to protect you, he could have stashed you in a safe house. The Texas Rangers have a number of them in Austin. You’d be assigned to a couple of his men and he’d be back at his office working. He’s a bit of a workaholic, you know.”

Macy smiled. “I’ve noticed.”

“The curtains are hung, Lonnie,” Cade said as he strolled into the kitchen. “And if you’re through talking about me…”

“That’s my exit line.” Lonnie winked at Macy, then slid from the stool and walked over to hug her brother. In the archway to the foyer, she turned back. “Have fun, you two.”

Cade waited for the sound of the outer door closing before he said, “Did she fill you in on all the family secrets?”

Macy arched her brows. “I don’t know. How many are there?”

“Knowing Lonnie, you’ve probably learned the lion’s share of them. She’s on her cell phone right now catching Lissa and my mother up on what she walked in on. All three of them will find an excuse to drop by now that they know you’re here.”

He loves them, Macy thought. She could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes, and she felt something soften inside of her.

“On the topic of what we were doing when she walked in…” He moved toward her, took her hands and pulled her close. “I like to finish what I start.”

Macy grinned at him. “I think we were about to use the counter—and not for cooking.”

“Ah, yes.” He brushed his lips over hers, then took them on a journey down her throat. “I need you, Macy.”

It wasn’t just the words, it was the intensity of his tone that sent her heart into a free fall.

He brought his mouth back to hers, and whispered against her lips. “I’ve been thinking of doing this ever since I left your bed this morning.” Then he began that delicious journey down her neck again.

“You seemed to be totally focused on work.”

“I was trying.” In a smooth movement, he lifted her into his arms and with a few long strides, they were climbing the stairs. She was sure her heart stuttered.

“This is what I was thinking of doing as soon as Alan left this morning. You, on the other hand, were hunched over your laptop as if the world hung in the balance.”

She fisted her hands in his hair and brought his mouth to hers. “I was thinking of this, too.”

“Great minds think alike,” Cade murmured as he settled her on his bed. Sitting beside her, he pulled her T-shirt off and dropped it on the floor.

When she reached for the snap on his jeans, he captured her hands and set them back on the bed. “We always seem to be in such a hurry. Why don’t we try something different?”

It already was different for her. The heat in his eyes as he inched the jeans down her legs had her insides melting and her mind starting to fog. He unfastened her bra without taking his gaze from hers. She’d never had a man strip her, look at her in quite that way—as if she were all he wanted to see. Her body trembled.

“Panties today, I see.” He ran a finger along the band at the top of her thigh. “I much prefer imagining you without them.”

“Then get rid of them.”

“We’re on the same page again.” When they were off, he spread her legs and leaned down to press quick kisses along her inner thigh.

“Cade.” She arched upward as heat arrowed through her.

He settled on top of her then, stilling her movements and linking her hands with his.

“You have all your clothes on,” she objected.

“I’ll get to them. But first I want to do this.” He explored her mouth, slowly, thoroughly, until she was drowning in his flavor.

The gentle movement of his lips, the weight of his body trapping hers was an erotic torment she’d never experienced before.

“And this.” His lips were so soft, a featherlike brush as he moved over her cheek, then down her throat.

“And this.” He sampled the skin on the swell of each breast, then lingered over each nipple as if there was some flavor there he couldn’t get enough of.

Her heart pounded, her vision blurred as he took that clever mouth and tongue on a slow, patient journey down her torso, only to linger at the tops of her thighs.

He’d released her hands, but what he was doing to her had turned her muscles to water. “Please. Cade, I want you. Now.”

“You’ll have me. I promise. But first I need more of you.” He shifted until he could cover her mouth with his again. She was so generous, so responsive. So captivating. He felt the heat that she always ignited begin to build, but he kept it banked. More than anything, he wanted to draw out the pleasure—for her, for him. Finally, with great reluctance, he moved away from her mouth again, only to be equally enchanted with the curve of her cheek and the pulse that thudded at the base of her throat. As he absorbed the knowledge that it was beating for him, he felt the desire move through him and clamped it down.

He wanted to go slowly, to savor each taste, each flavor. Seeing her in his kitchen, watching her talk with his sister had opened a well of tenderness inside him that he’d never tapped into before. Even now, steeped in her scent and in the silken texture of her skin, he needed to cherish her. What he hadn’t expected was to drown in a whole new world of sensations, and to have his own excitement build in a way it never had before.

As his mouth once more roamed lower over her thudding heart and the damp, trembling skin on her stomach, he felt his own blood begin to pound and his own need escalate.

“Cade, now. Please.”

The desperation in her voice was nearly his undoing, but he fought for control. Spreading her legs apart, he began to sample the one flavor that he hadn’t yet indulged in. Using teeth and tongue, he drove her higher and higher, absorbing each separate sensation—the catch of her breath, the tightening of her muscles, the helpless arch of her body. Finally, there was the hoarse cry of his name as she reached the peak.

A feeling of power shot through him, along with a need to give her even more. Rising, he watched her as he rid himself of clothes and put on a condom. Then he covered her body with his and framed her face with his hands. “Macy, look at me.”

She opened her eyes.

“I’m going to take you again.”

“Yes. Now.” She wrapped her arms and legs around him.

With his blood pounding in his ears and burning through his veins, he kept the rhythm slow and easy—until his control finally slipped and he surrendered everything.

“M
ORE
wine?”

Macy shook her head. The moonlight picnic on the living-room floor had been her idea. She’d taken one look at the frozen pizza he’d managed to overcook and announced that it needed a good bottle of wine and some ambience. He’d provided a nice merlot, and she’d lit candles in the fireplace and spread a cloth on the floor in front of the hearth.

Now Macy sat there wearing one of his shirts and nothing else. That was ambience enough for him. Cade studied her in the moonlight. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. He wondered if it would always be that way. Setting his wineglass down, he said, “I have a favor to ask.”

There was just a touch of wickedness in her eyes. “If what you want is another chocolate tattoo, I’d be happy to oblige. The recipe isn’t quite right yet. I really need to test it again.”

“It worked for me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “The rule was to wait until I licked the tattoo completely off. You broke it.”

Unrepentant, Cade chuckled. “I got distracted.” And he certainly had. “I think it was a placement problem.” She’d brushed it onto his stomach, then straddled him and started fanning it to help it harden. But the chocolate wasn’t the only thing that had hardened. Somehow in the process of brushing the tattoo onto him she managed to trap his erection in very nearly the right place. How he’d managed to wait until she’d licked off half the chocolate, he didn’t know. But one torturous moment longer and he might not have gotten the condom on.

Macy pointed a finger at him. “This time we stick to the rules.”

He took her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. “Deal. But another chocolate tattoo isn’t the favor I had in mind. Will you go horseback-riding with me tomorrow morning?”

He watched the play of emotions on her face—surprise, pleasure and finally wariness. The last had his temper flaring.

“Why?” she asked.

He could read her like an open book. She was reminding herself of her ground rules and pulling back. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He reached for her hand and raised it to his lips. “Please come with me. I’d like to show you the ranch.”

More than that, he wanted to see the ranch with her at his side. The realization sent fear sprinting through him again. He was almost getting used to the sensation.

“Okay. Sure.” She reached for their plates and wine glasses as she rose. “It’ll be fun. I haven’t been riding in years.”

Patience was a virtue he’d had to hone as a Ranger. And all he needed was a little more of it, he told himself as he followed her to the kitchen. How could he fault her for wanting to keep a little distance when he was still hesitating to tell her how he felt?

She poured chocolate bits into a bowl and placed it over a pan of simmering water. He’d let her draw away for now. She was under enough pressure, what with her final TV show to film and a crazy man trying to kill her. For the time being he’d let her believe that he was still playing by her ground rules.

M
ACY WAS
careful to keep her back to Cade as she stirred chocolate and adjusted the heat. She heard the rattle of silverware as he placed it in the dishwasher. The silence was companionable. Almost.

He’d asked her to go riding with him. Surprise and pleasure had been her first reaction. But it wouldn’t do to read too much into it. He simply wanted her to see the ranch. But why? The question was dancing at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t afford to let herself explore the possible answers. She was not going to waste a moment of the time she had with Cade wishing for something she couldn’t have.

“There. It’s ready.” She poured melted chocolate into a small bowl, then nearly jumped when she turned to find Cade standing right behind her.

“This time it’s my turn to be the tattoo artist,” he said.

“Okay.” She barely kept her hand from trembling as she handed over the chocolate.

“I get to choose the body part and the position, right?” He snagged her wrist and drew her with him toward the sofas.

“Yes. But you have to stick to the rules.”

He glanced at her as he set the chocolate and the stencil on an end table. “I will unless you change your mind and tell me to break them.”

“I won’t.”

“We’ll see.”

When she started to unbutton her shirt, he stilled her hands. “You can leave that on for now.” Gripping her by the waist, he turned her so that she was facing the arm of one of the sofas. He slipped his hands under her shirt and pushed it up. Then with one hand on her back and the other pressed against her stomach, he lowered her until the upper part of her body was resting against the leather seat of the sofa and her derriere was raised up over the arm.

Perhaps it was the fact that she couldn’t see him, or the fact that her feet were dangling several inches above the floor, leaving her feeling exposed and vulnerable, but her blood had already started to pound, and she could feel herself beginning to thaw.

He ran a hand over her right buttock and positioned the stencil low near the top of her thigh. “Perfect.” By the time he’d finished brushing the chocolate on, the heat battering her system was brutal. Then he drew her thighs apart, and began to blow on the chocolate.

She tried to raise herself up, but her arms were so weak. “Cade, please.”