The Tycoon's Tender Triumph (18 page)

Sam kept glancing at Chloe, but the only reaction he could see was the shaking of her fingers as she spooned the chili into her mouth.  He wondered if she even realized how spicy it was, but she just kept on eating. 

After the meal, Jessy shooed everyone out of her kitchen but
Jim
plopped himself on a bar stool to finish his coffee.  Sam took Chloe’s hand and led her into the great room, determined to have it out with the little woman who had twisted him into knots for the last two days.

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“Hear what?” she asked, staring at the middle of his chest.

“Aren’t you going to argue with me?” he demanded, hands on his hips and bracing himself for her yelling at his highhandedness. 

She shook her head and looked up at him, then placed her hand on his stomach, her fingers moving across the muscles underneath the shirt.  “I’m really sorry you were worried about me.  It won’t happen again.”

“Damn right it won’t,” he agreed.  “You’re going to wake me up before you leave every morning.’

She laughed softly.  “Am I?” She stepped closer, her face pressing against his chest while her fingers moved upwards.  When she accidentally rubbed across his flat nipple and heard his intake of breath, her hand paused, then moved back again, gaining the same reaction. 

Sam’s hand came up to stop her teasing and he pulled her head back by pulling on her hair.  “Yes!”

“Am I going to be close enough to wake you up tomorrow morning?” she asked, then turned her head, biting his nipple gently just like he’d done to her last night. 

“Dammit Chloe!  Stop that,” he said and pulled her head back. 

“Why?” she asked, looking at him innocently, meanwhile, her now free hand moved downward, sliding down his stomach, and lower. 

When he tried to move out of her way, she laughed and shook her head.  “Sam, where is your bedroom?”

Sam wasn’t immune to her lovely eyes, or the sensuous smile she gave him.  “Woman, you’re driving me crazy,” he growled a moment before he swung her up into his arms and carried her up the stairs, kicking his bedroom door shut behind him. 

Back in the kitchen, Jessy opened a bottle of beer and placed it in front of
Jim
, then opened one herself and sat down next to her.  “Think they’ll finally figure it out?” she asked him as they clinked bottles.

Jim
shook his head and took a long swig of the beer.  “They’ve certainly mucked it up this long. 
You’d think they’d figure it out eventually.”

Jessy nodded sagely.  “Judging by the silence coming from the other room, I guess they’re getting closer.”

“Doesn’t mean
they won’t muck it up again.  Any ideas on how to stop them from being stupid this time around?”

Jessy sighed and shook her head.  “The wedding announcement was a step in the right direction.”

Chloe rolled over and looked out the strange window, sighing with happiness.  She hadn’t realized how miserable she’d been until now.  She’d been too tied up trying to avoid Sam that she couldn’t believe her good luck now. 

She glanced over at Sam and smiled, scooting closer to him and enjoying the way he reached out to tuck her against his side
even though he was barely awake
.  It had been two weeks since the night they’d spent together and she had already sold all of the photographs she’d displayed in
Joe
’s restaurant and he was asking when she would have more
ready for him
.  She was going to deliver
several
today and hoped that these would be as well received as the others. 

So many times she’d wanted to tell Sam about her venture.  But she was still too insecure about her pictures.  Soon though. 

She probably should give in on the wedding plans too.  Unfortunately, the stubborn, obstinate and ornery man hadn’t even asked her.  He’d simply told her they were getting married, so she didn’t feel as if she needed to answer.  No question asked, no answer needed.

She was secretly thrilled that he wanted her though.  And each night, he showed her how much, in more ways than she could have imagined back in her lonely, desolate apartment in New York.  She’d broken the contract on the lease yesterday afternoon but that was yet another thing she hadn’t mentioned to Sam.  She knew he was waiting for some sign that she was on board with all the plans, that she was committed to him. 

“I have to go,” she whispered to him, just as she did each morning before the sun came up over the horizon.  She wanted to be out on the
prairie
before the sun was fully up, to capture the different ways the light danced upon the earth. 

When she didn’t get a response from Sam, she nudged him in the ribs and repeated her statement. 

This time, he rolled over and opened his eyes.  “No you don’t,” he replied, his voice husky with sleep and desire.  “Come here.” 

Chloe laughed and scooted out of the way in the nick of time.  She jumped out of bed and headed to Sam’s enormous bathroom, turning on the shower and jumping underneath the warm water.  She was shampooing her hair when she felt Sam’s strong arms wrap around her, kissing her neck.  “When are you going to tell me where you go so early in the morning?” he asked softly, his hand stroking her skin and setting her body to tingling.

She took a deep breath, bracing for what she was going to say.  Words escaped her though when Sam took her hands and placed them against the shower wall.  “I want you,” he said, interrupting her admission of her secret. 

His hands slid upwards, the feeling enhanced by the soap and warm water.  When his feet stepped between hers, she didn’t completely understand but he spread her legs and she gasped when his hands moved down her body, preparing her.  “Sam?” she gasped, her bottom pressing backwards as her body came alive under his hands. 

“You’re sinfully gorgeous in the morning,” he whispered in her ear, then nipped her ear lobe.

His hand moved around to the front of her, sliding downward at the same time he entered her.  One hand cupped her breast while the other teased her body to the same rhythm of his thrusts.  The triple assault on her body sent her reeling over to a climax so fast, she screamed and braced herself against the shower wall.  Sam continued to drive into her and even though her body had already climaxed once, his hard body and his expert hands continued to entice and she couldn’t believe it when she rode the cliff again, this time bringing him with her as she groaned and would have fallen down if Sam hadn’t been holding her with his muscular arms. 

“Sam,” she whispered, trying to slow her breathing and still her spinning mind. 

Apparently he was in the same position since she found his hand against the shower wall above her and his body leaned into hers.  “I can’t believe that it only gets better the more we do this,” he said.

She laughed and turned around so she was facing him. “It had better not get any better.  I don’t think I can handle anything more intense than that.  My knees are barely holding me upright as it is.”

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her neck. 

As they dried off, she watched him, worrying about telling him, but not wanting to hide anything from him anymore.  She loved this man.  Not with the childish infatuation she’d felt for him when she was sixteen.  This was a strong, mature love that she was almost afraid of, so powerful did she feel for this man. 

“I love you,” she said and kissed him on the cheek.

She was just about to rush away, embarrassed for saying the words and not sure if it was what he wanted.  But she felt she had to say them, needing to scream it out to everyone.

She rushed out of the room and raced down the stairs.  She grabbed a biscuit and the thermos of coffee that Jessy had ready for her, then snatched her keys off the hook before waving goodbye. 

“Chloe, if you get into that car and drive off so help me I’ll beat your bottom so long you won’t be able to sit for a week!” he called out just as her hand reached the door handle. 

Chloe turned around and leaned against the front door.  “What’s up, Sam?” she asked, smiling up to his furious features. 

“You don’t say something like that and then rush out of the bedroom!”

She laughed softly and took a sip of coffee. “Okay.  What’s the etiquette, since you’re so up on the ma
nners of that kind of situation?
”

Sam ran his fingers through his still wet hair and glared at her.  “You wait until I’ve reacted at least.  Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to hear that from you?”

She shrugged her shoulders.  “At least two weeks, I’m guessing.”

“At least!” 

“Sam, I really have to go.  Can we have this discussion later?  I’m losing the morning light.”

“Why in the world do you need the morning l
ight?  What do you do out there?
”

“How about if I show you when I get back?  I won’t be gone long today.  It’s too warm.”

Sam still looked confused but he sighed.  “Okay.  But we still need to talk.  There’s a lot we need to discuss.”

Chloe smiled and reached up to kiss him lightly.  He didn’t allow that, pulling her close and kissing her thoroughly.  It wasn’t until she was clinging to him
and pressing her so
ftness against him
that he released her.  “Okay, go on and do what you need to do,” he said, smacking her lightly on the bottom.

Chloe let out a long, shuddering breath and turned around, not as quickly now, and headed towards the
stable
and Nutmeg.  She’d need a long, hard ride after that kiss, she told herself. 

Four hours later, Chloe rode back into the corral and rubbed Nutmeg down.  They’d had a good ride and she’d gotten some good shots.  She was eager to show these to Sam and she hurried through the cool down period, giving all the horses an apple as she passed by them. 

She was waking quickly up the path from the
stable
to the house when she spotted Sam.  She waved but he didn’t see her.  He was coming around the side of the house, his footsteps eating up the distance from the side of the house to the patio. 

That’s when Chloe spotted the other woman and she couldn’t believe the pain she felt shoot through her stomach at the sight.  It was just like all those other times, but before, the women hanging onto Sam’s arm were in the pictures and she hadn’t just slept with him.  This was real, up close and person
al
.  And the woman was stunningly gorg
e
ous with strategically coifed blond hair and a sophisticated black suit that hugged her figure in all the right places.  When Chloe saw the blond woman place her hand on Sam’s arm and look up at him, just like all those other women had been doing in the pictures, Chloe saw red.

“Back off!” Chloe heard someone
called out loudly
as her feet carried her quickly across the path to the house
. 

Sam and the blond looked over in her direction, both with a startled expression on their faces. 

When the woman’s hand was still on Sam’s arm, she walked right u
p to her and tossed it off.  The
n turned to face Sam, fire in her eyes and she pulled her hand back to take a swing at him. 

Sam was so surprised by her anger that he didn’t react at first.  But instincts, and years of experience in bars trying to extricate his ranch hands from trouble, had him spinning around at the exact right moment, grabbing Chloe by the waist a moment before her fist could land on the middle of his stomach. 

“Whoa!” he soothed just as he would a startled filly but with more emotion since this was the woman he was going to marry as soon as he could get her down the aisle.  “Chloe, what’s going on?”