The Cowgirl's Secret (The Diamondback Ranch Series #) (7 page)

Sam bent his head and kissed her again, this time seeking a deeper connection, a more intimate penetration. His tongue thrust in a primal rhythm, mimicking the sensual act of making love.

Tori wound her arms around Sam's powerful neck and gave herself up to the sensations flooding her system. All rational thought left her brain as she focused on the pleasure of this man's kiss.
This man's touch
.

Sam Garza made her want things she'd only dreamed about.

A siren blared in the distance, breaking the sensual spell Sam had woven around them. He'd encased them in an invisible cocoon, cutting them off from the everyday surroundings of the very public, albeit deserted, park.

Sam ended the kiss and gently tugged Tori's dress back in place, his fingers fumbling a little over the task. "Oh babe, I want you so bad you have me shaking. We've got to stop, or we're going to end up naked." His hand lingered on her breast, his touch tender and warm, his dark eyes languid with pent-up passion.

He exhaled a deep breath and kissed her forehead one last time. "Okay. Enough. If we don't stop now, I won't be held accountable for my actions." Resolutely, he set her away from him, but kept his hands on her shoulders.

"And that would be a bad thing?" Tori focused her attention on standing on her own two legs, hoping they would hold her upright. Sam's strong arms had supported her during their earth-shattering kiss. She was glad he'd kept his big hands on her shoulders, helping her to find her bearings, because the world was floating around her in an ethereal cloud; the only reality was Sam right here, right now. She'd never felt anything remotely like this before. Then again, she'd never been kissed like that, either

His hands tightened their grip on her. "It wouldn't be a bad thing," he said. "Just a little premature. Yes, I want you. And now I know you want me. But neither of us wants to rush into something . . . complicated."

"Right. We don't want complicated." She couldn't afford complicated, but Tori still felt dazed and a little hurt that he could dismiss the kiss so easily.

Sam put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. "You okay?" His dark brown eyes held concern and worry.

No, she was not okay.
It was her turn to take a deep breath. She blew it out slowly. "Yes, of course. I'm fine." She adjusted the crumpled red silk over her breast, then smoothed her hand down her stomach and hips trying to straighten her skirt. How could she have let him practically undress her out here in the park? Thank God, he'd pulled them beneath the wooden play-fort, away from prying eyes. Although, the park seemed deserted. Thank God for that, too.

Tori summoned a smile even though she was having such a hard time figuring out how the kiss had escalated so quickly. She licked her lips and tried not to let Sam realize how affected she was by his touch. He didn't want complicated, so she would try like hell to keep it simple. "I'm fine, but . . .
wow
." When his eyes continued to hold hers, she felt a ribbon of need cascade through her bloodstream.

"Yeah. Wow." Sam placed another quick kiss on her forehead, then stepped away from her, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his slacks. As if he didn't trust himself not to reach out and take her in his arms again.

Would she have had enough strength to resist? Resisting had
never
been a problem before.

Tori had to admit, she wouldn't mind continuing where they'd left off. She wouldn't mind taking that kiss to the next level. She'd never gone beyond second or third base with a man. The fact that she was twenty-one and still a virgin . . . it was almost laughable.

Except she wasn't laughing. All the boys she'd dated--which, by the way, she could count on two hands with several fingers left over--those boys had either been life-long chums, or they'd turned out to be first-class jerks.

No one had ever affected her like Sam Garza did. She'd never met anyone quite like him.

It wasn't much of a stretch to imagine making love with Sam. She didn't know why exactly, but she felt safe with him. Vulnerable, yet protected. It was hard to explain. She hadn't been the slightest bit embarrassed when he'd partially undressed her. Even now, thinking how quickly things had escalated, she wasn't embarrassed by the intimacy, only by the fact that he'd been the one to call a halt.

Under Sam's gentle guidance, Tori was certain she could explore uncharted territory and discover what being a woman was all about. She knew instinctively that she could trust him with her body.

Now whether she could trust him with her heart was an entirely different matter. He was right when he'd said neither of them wanted to start a relationship that might become complicated. Tori had to focus on getting into vet school. She couldn't get sidetracked. But Sam Garza sure tempted her to take a walk on the wild side.

He quirked a grin. "Yeah, that kiss spiraled into the stratosphere really fast. The chemistry between us is very strong . . . and that's a very special thing. Believe me, very rare and very special."

Sam watched Tori finish the task of straightening her dress and finger-combing her hair. She looked at him with eyes still heavy with desire. "It
was
special, wasn't it?"

He very nearly grabbed her again, but stood his ground. The chemistry between them was more than special, more than awesome. "Yeah, babe. It was."

Hell, they'd only shared the one kiss, and he was still trembling with a need so strong he ached with it. Even now, hot blood raged through his veins, protesting the suppressed passion throbbing in his groin, begging for release. Inside his pockets, his hands curled into fists.

Tori pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and inhaled deeply. Sam couldn't keep from gazing at the rise and fall of her chest. Her lips trembled in a smile. "I . . . I think it's time to call it a night. I need to get home. I have a mountain of notes to study for a test on Monday, and I'd like to get an early start tomorrow."

"You really are a serious student, aren't you?"

"Yes. Everything rides on good grades, if I'm going to get into A&M. It's one of the best vet schools in the country. And only the best will do for me."

"Only the best, huh?" He flicked her nose with a careless finger.

Her blue eyes glittered in the fast-gathering darkness of night, and she raised her chin a notch. "You bet."

Sam extended a hand toward the young woman looking at him so intently. "I'll walk you to your car, and on the way, we'll discuss when I can see you again."

She raised her eyebrows. "I thought we weren't going to start anything that could get sticky and complicated."

"We're not, but I do want to see you again." Sam laced their fingers together as they walked back to the restaurant where they'd parked their cars. "So we'll just have to keep it simple, now won't we?"

***

Two weeks passed before Tori and Sam found time to go out on another actual date. They talked on the phone and texted every day and snuck in a few lunches together.

Sam's mother had started another round of chemo, and that kept him busy chauffeuring her to and from the hospital. The rest of the time he was taking care of her. Tori really admired how he never complained, how he joked about things, how he managed to wring a little joy from the whole sad experience. His mother had taught him well about finding that silver lining.

For Tori, the semester was turning out to be a bitch. She really had to hit the books hard. There was a lot at stake, a lot riding on this semester. She
had
to get accepted to A&M. Impossible to think otherwise
.

It was Raenell who arranged the next date between Tori and Sam. After that initial meeting at the dance club, Raenell and Joe Salinas had really hit it off. They were going after it hot and heavy and often.

Raenell was much more experienced than Tori when it came to men. She flitted between them like a butterfly searching for nectar. She didn't sleep around exactly. She optimistically embarked on monogamous relationships with guys, yet they never lasted more than several weeks or a few months. Once she'd dated a guy for a whole year, but that had been in high school.

Tori and Raenell had been best friends since they'd shared a dorm room their first year at UTD. Tori didn't know why they'd hit it off, since they were poles apart in personalities, but Raenell was proving to be a true and loyal friend. Their differences were what made their friendship interesting and special.

Tori sat on her bed with her laptop, reading over an assignment for her biology class.

"Knock, knock!" Raenell gave a perfunctory knock on Tori's door before coming in and flopping down on the end of the bed. "Guess what?" She had a big smile on her face, and her green eyes twinkled merrily.

"I don't know. What?" Tori saved the file and closed the laptop. Conversations with Raenell were never short; the girl did love to talk.

Raenell twirled a long tendril of auburn hair around her finger. "Joe and I are going to White Rock Lake on Saturday. And you and Sam are going, too."

Tori blinked. "
We are?
"

"Well, Joe and I hope y'all are. Joe's going to call Sam, and I'm inviting you. We'll take a picnic lunch and watch the boats, play a little Frisbee, walk around the arboretum. Come on, it'll be fun. You've been studying way too much. You need to get out in the fresh air. Soak up a little sunshine. You told me you liked Sam, but you've only gone out that one time."

Tori set the laptop on the bedside table. "I do like Sam. I like him a lot. We've both been busy, that's all. And I told you, we don't want to rush things."

"What the hell, Tori! It's been two weeks,
more
than two weeks, since you went to dinner with the guy. I'd say your relationship is moving along slower than a snail's pace. It won't hurt to have another real date. Let's see . . . a real date twice a month. Surely, that's not rushing things even for you."

Tori's cell phone buzzed. She picked it up and glanced at the name. Her stomach dipped in that now familiar way whenever she talked or texted with Sam. "
It's him
."

Raenell hopped up from the bed. "Hot damn! He must be free on Saturday. Now don't you dare put him off, Tori. You and I've never double dated before. Just wait and see. It'll be fun."

***

White Rock Lake was situated in the very heart of Dallas, Texas. Tori had never been there. She'd been meaning to go, but had never made the time. Now she was looking forward to not only seeing the lake and the park surrounding it, but her heart thumped wildly with the prospect of spending the day with the handsome, sexy guy she hoped to God she wasn't falling in love with.

She didn't have time to fall in love or to be in a serious relationship. She had her future all mapped out, planned to the nth degree. Sure, she wanted to get married some day and have a couple of kids. But that would happen sometime in the far distant future, after she'd finished school and established herself as the resident veterinarian in Salt Fork.

Sam and Joe picked up the girls in Joe's truck. When they pulled to a stop outside the apartment building, they got out and Joe texted they'd arrived.

"Hey, good-looking!" he called to Raenell, as she and Tori ran down the steps to meet them. "How's about a little kiss?"

Never one to bother with hiding her feelings, Raenell launched herself at Joe, who caught her to him and swung her off her feet, kissing her soundly.

Tori stared at her friend who stood lip-locked with Joe Salinas near the pickup, then shot a peek at Sam to gauge his reaction to such a public display of affection.

He walked over, stopped in front of her and smiled. Her stomach clenched with yearning. The sensation was getting stronger every time she saw him.

"If only I had Joe's way with women," he said, shaking his head. He bent down to give her a quick kiss, and Tori's heart flip-flopped. Sam looked deeply into her eyes. "Oh, what the hell?"

He pulled her close and kissed her like a starving man. Tori could totally relate to the feeling. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, suddenly glad she'd agreed to Raenell's plans. She resolutely pushed away her worries about school to the back of her mind. She would try to relax and enjoy an afternoon spent with the utterly delectable Sam Garza.

And delectable he certainly looked. She'd thought him ruggedly handsome in jeans and cowboy shirt at the dance club. He'd been even more attractive in slacks and a button-down when they'd dined at the sushi bar.

Today, he was dressed in cargo shorts that hinted at his powerful thighs. His muscular calves were shown to their naked perfection, and his black t-shirt strained taut against his broad chest and biceps. He was an absolutely gorgeous specimen of a sexy male in his prime.

Her insides went all mushy.

Sam hugged Tori, burying his nose in her hair, inhaling her delicious scent. The past couple of weeks had been hectic. He'd been in constant attendance on his mom driving her to all of her appointments.

When his mother found out about the proposed outing to White Rock Lake, she insisted he go and spend time with Joe and that new girl he'd had told her about when he'd tried to keep her mind off the chemo treatments. That had pretty much backfired on him, because now his mother wanted to meet the girl one of these days.