To Desire a Wilde (8 page)

He grabbed her, lifting her and, straddling her legs around his waist, he turned.

“Shilah, what—” she began, and he slanted his mouth over hers and walked the few steps toward the kitchen table, and placed her down on it. Before she could ask anything further, with a groan he leaned down and captured one of the cherry-colored nubbins with his teeth.

He heard Ellie's moan, and the feel of her hand on his head, as she tugged his head closer. He bit down on
her nipple, not hard enough to hurt, but enough so that he knew she felt the sting.

She moaned and clutched at his head, dragging him closer as she arched her breast fully into his mouth.

Shilah glanced up at her through a haze of lust and sweat, watching her, her head thrown back, her fingers digging into his scalp, as he licked her breasts, alternating his attention from one to the other, before suckling one deep inside his mouth. Back and forth he laved her, greedy for her, her taste driving him out of his mind. The sight of her obvious pleasure enflamed him even more.

Without a word, he dropped down on his knees in front of her. He had to taste…more of her.

He kept his eyes fixed on hers as his fingers went to the fastening of her jeans, unbuttoning one, two, a third before Ellie came out of her sensual daze.

“Shilah…no…” she whispered, staring down at him, pushing away the greedy anticipation she felt after reading the clarity of his intent in his dark eyes.

 

“Let me do this, Ellie. Just for you.”

Ellie swallowed deep, her heartbeat thudding an erratic pattern against her chest. Her eyes fluttered closed when she felt the brush of his big hand over the silk of her panties.

She held her breath, expelling it in one long whoosh of air when she felt his finger pull at the side of her panties and one big finger ease inside.

When he eased a second finger inside, and grasped her clit, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger, her moans increased, the sound of her cries echoing in the room as he took her own moisture and, separating
her vaginal lips, spread it between her moist folds before slowly, God, so slowly, easing a finger inside her clenching heat.

When she felt his tongue lightly stroke across her mound, her eyes flew open and she stared at the top of his dark head, between her thighs. “No, Shilah…
nooo.
” Her denial ended in a long cry, as he ignored her pleas, ministering to her body as though he had every right.

In a slow, easy rhythm he paid homage to her body, licking and stroking her in languid turns, dragging his finger in and out of her core, while his talented, wicked tongue made almost lazy swipes between her drenched folds. He played and toyed with her until her body was at a fever pitch.

Every muscle tensed and she reared her body up, grabbing his head and helplessly moving her body against his.

Ignoring her pleas, he continued to minister to her, easing his finger in and out of her, his rhythm slow and easy, as he took his time with her, toying with her, until she could take no more.

“Shilah!” she screamed as she felt the beginnings of an orgasm unfurl. Her body strummed with pleasure, electrified and on fire…it no longer belonged to her. It belonged to Shilah.

She moaned, moving against his finger, as his nimble fingers and lips were busy catering to her in ways no man had ever done to her before, gifting her with a pleasure she'd never felt.

“Ohhhhh,” she panted, her breath coming out in painful gasps.

“So good,” he murmured, kissing her nubbin, drawing
it deeply into his mouth and slowly allowing it to pop out. “So, sweet,” he mouthed the hot words against her pulsing core.

“Oh, Shilah…” The words were a long hiss of pleasure from Ellie's partially open mouth.

The ache between her legs grew tauter, and her heart felt ready to explode from her chest when she felt his big hand press above her mound, at the same time his tongue captured her straining bud and tugged, hard.

With her eyes tightly clenched, a kaleidoscope of color bursting behind them, she gave in to the mind-blowing orgasm. With feverish abandon she rode the crest of the orgasm, barely feeling the tight hold he now had on her legs as he grasped her hips, his mouth nestled between her thighs as he continued his sensual assault.

When the last shuddering contraction left her body, she weakly fell back against the table, her body spent.

Ellie felt him move up her body, felt the tug of her jeans as he closed and fastened them for her, but unable to move, much less assist him, she lay on the table, eyes closed as reality came crashing down on her.

He rose to his feet, and she felt him near her. Unable to open her eyes and face him…what she'd allowed him to do, she turned her face away. Emotions crowded in on her so tight she felt as though they were choking her, sucking out the very air around her.

She felt his hands beneath her body and tensed. Lifting her in his arms, he turned and sat down with her, cradling her in his lap.

“Shilah,” she began to speak, her voice raspy.

He placed a finger over her lips. “It's okay, baby.”

He laid his cheek on top of her head and Ellie felt tears burn her eyes.

As though he knew the emotions she felt crowding in on her were too much for her to handle.

She also knew that she wasn't alone in how she felt.

With her ear pressed against his chest, she heard the pounding of his heart, felt the hard ridge of his erection against her bottom, but he made no demands on her.

His kisses, the unselfish way he'd loved her…and now the amazing selfless way he held her, with no demand, made her feel more desired…beyond the physical, than she ever had in her life.

Later, later she'd think about the ramifications of what she'd allowed to happen. For now, she simply lay against him, cherishing the feel of his chest, and the feel of his body close to hers as her eyes slowly drifted down and she fell asleep.

E
llie returned home to an empty house. Walking into the kitchen, she found a plate of food, covered, waiting for her on top of the stove.

Next to the plate was a note from her mother, telling her not to wait up for them as they'd decided to go to dinner and a late-night movie with friends.

“Thank heavens for small favors,” she muttered, grateful to have the house to herself, if only for a few hours. She needed to decompress without having to put on a facade of nonchalance in front of her parents. Wearily she made her way toward her bedroom.

Not that she would have been all that successful if she'd had to. The type of acting that would require was way above her abilities, and her very discerning parents would have seen right though her.

Running strictly on autopilot, after taking a brisk
shower she rummaged through her chest, hunting out her favorite comfort clothes—flannel lounging pajamas, thermal shirt and the pièce de résistance…thick cotton panties, or what she liked to call her favorite granny panties.

Before leaving her bedroom she pulled a pair of equally ugly but no less comforting granny socks on her feet to complete the outfit.

Comfort clothes. Just what the doctor ordered.

After dressing she made her way back downstairs and headed toward the living room. Her stomach growled, reminding her of the food her mother had left.

After heating the dish, she lifted the lid and the aromatic smell of the seasoned pot roast and garlic potatoes brought a blissful smile to her face.

It was as though her mother knew she needed the familiarity of her favorite food.

Just like the clothes, the food would serve as the perfect comfort and maybe force the image from her mind of Shilah's dark head buried between her legs as he'd catered to her in the most intimate way.

“Fat chance that's gonna happen,” she said with a humorless laugh. She was just thankful she hadn't had a wreck on the way home, her mind not on the drive but what they'd done…what she had
allowed
to happen, occupying her thoughts instead.

With a self-directed growl of frustration, she ruthlessly shoved the heated memories to the side.

Grabbing a cola from the refrigerator, she placed it along with the plate of food on a tray and walked over to the living room.

She blew out a long breath and lay back against the back of the sofa. Lifting the fork to her mouth, she took
a bite of food before reaching for the remote and channel searching, looking for anything that would keep her mind busy, active and away from Shilah.

She gave up after going through every one of the 200-plus shows, wondering how there could be so many choices and nothing to see.

With a sigh, she gave up, tossed the remote on the table and lifted the fork, only to move it around the plate, before putting it, and the plate back down on the table.

As much as she enjoyed her mother's cooking, tonight even that didn't seem to give her the comfort she was looking for. She suspected nothing was going to do that for her.

With a heavy sigh, she lay back against the sofa, mindlessly watching
Judge Judy.
Even that didn't seem to give her the comfort she was looking for.

More than the memory, which seemed to be seared in her brain for all time, were the potential ramifications that could result from what she'd done. As her father was fond of saying, shit could seriously hit the fan after this.

She settled farther back into the cushions of the sofa, sighing.

She was going to have to face what she'd done, and move on. That was all there was to it. She could handle it. She was a successful, mature adult. A woman who knew her own mind, and one who didn't allow her emotions to rule her better judgment.

Tomorrow she'd face Shilah and explain to him, rationally, that what happened could…
would,
never happen again. She was there for one reason and one reason only, and that was to complete her investigation,
and she wouldn't allow anything to get in her way of doing that.

Even if that something came in the form of six feet three inches of smoldering masculinity with enough crazy hot sexuality to make a nun reconsider her vows.

“Oh, shut up,” she mumbled aloud to her mocking inner voice that promised it would take a heck of a lot more than a few Hail Marys for her to accomplish that goal.

 

Shilah lay alone in bed, staring up at the skylight in his ceiling, thinking of what had happened between him and Ellie with his shaft still semi-erect. A state that seemed to be a regular for him, since Ellie had reentered his life.

Making love to her wasn't something he'd planned, but neither was his life turning upside down and inside out the way it had since her return.

With a low growl he turned back on his side, as even the damn skylight reminded him of Ellie.

He'd had the skylight built into his ceiling when they'd begun the renovations on the house, several years ago. All because of an off comment Ellie had made when they were teenagers.

It had been the end of spring, and an unusually warm day. They'd been outside, lying on the grass staring up at the moonlit sky. Ellie had driven up with her father as he'd been inoculating the animals and, when Shilah had asked her to stay longer, she'd given him a shy smile and gotten permission from her father.

That night stood out for him for two reasons. One reason was that it had been the last time the two of them were alone together.

Secondly, because it was then that Shilah realized that he cared about her in a way that went beyond mere friendship. But he'd never told her.

Now as he lay in bed he wondered if fate had intervened and given him a second chance with her. If he could find out whether the feelings he had were strong, real, and if she felt anything for him, a small glimmer of the wild way he felt about her.

Or, if as before he'd allow the fear of rejection, a rejection that seemed to follow him around like some sort of wounded dog, would again prevent him from telling her how he felt.

He laughed humorlessly, thinking how he'd pushed thoughts of her aside all these years, afraid to examine his feelings for her.

Restless, he turned over in bed again, punching the pillow into shape.

The semi-erect state became a full-blown hard-on as his mind filled with images of her beautiful body, partially exposed to him, the feel of her perfect breasts filling his mouth…the taste, the fragrance of her femininity still in his nose…his breath.

He inhaled a low, shaky breath.

The erotic images, coupled with the state of his arousal, promised for a long,
long,
restless night.

“I
'll take the rest of these to the men, Ms. Lilly,” the young girl said, lifting the heavy basket in her thin arms.

“Anna, you can't do that alone! I'll get one of the men to help you,” Lilly said with a frown. She watched the girl lift the basket filled with food to take to the canteen.

“Yaz, baby, go on and get Holt. Tell him we need help…. I know that boy ain't too far away. Unless he's working, he's usually within yelling distance from you.” Lilly turned to Yasmine, who was in the process of pulling a tray filled with an assortment of goodies from the oven. “I swear, the way you two act around each other, it's a wonder either one of you ever gets any work done.”

“Uhh…kinda busy with this, Aunt Lilly,” Yasmine said, as she placed the cooking pan on top of the large double oven.

“Ohh, that smells delicious…gimme gimme gimme,” Althea said from across the kitchen without looking up.

“None for you!” Yasmine said in her best “Soup Nazi” imitation from a long-running sitcom.

“No, really, I can handle it,” Anna said, and before Lilly could stop her, with only a slight stumble to her walk, she rushed from the kitchen.

“Yaz, you don't want to mess with a woman on the verge of a breakdown!”

“Breakdown from what?”

Lilly spread her hands over the food-filled basket, indicating the cause of her mental state. “Need I say more? Why so many choices, each one as pretty as the next. I'll never decide!” she groused. “Now, just hand over the brownie and nobody gets hurt,” she said in mock menace, and Ellie laughed along with Yasmine as she handed her the gooey confection.

Ellie's glance ran over the women gathered in the kitchen, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Unsure of her reception by the others because of her involvement with the investigation, she'd been surprised yet pleased when Yasmine had come out to the field today and invited her to have a late lunch with the other women.

It had been a long time since the two women had seen each other, and Ellie had eagerly accepted her invitation, hoping the time spent with Yasmine and her aunt would help to keep her mind and thoughts away from Shilah.

She'd spent much of the morning as well as the
last few days in the field, continuing her work, firmly shoving all thoughts of Shilah aside when they pressed into her mind. Not that he'd made that task easy to accomplish, although he'd kept his distance from her.

It had been his nightly invasion of her dreams, some of the most erotic dreams she'd ever had, that kept him front-row-and-center in her thoughts. Dreams of herself and Shilah together, wrapped around each other, taking their passionate act to levels that even now made her blush.

The dream images of them together, bodies intertwined, locked in passion, had made sleep a restless venture at best.

The day after their encounter, hoping not to see him, Ellie hadn't known if she was relieved or disappointed when Jake, the ranch's foreman, had shown up to help instead.

For the remainder of the week Shilah had stayed away from her…and she'd been even more hyperaware of him, knowing to the
second
whenever he was anywhere in her vicinity.

Whenever he was around, the back of her neck would tingle, a slow heat invading her entire body, something she'd come to understand signaled that he was near.

She'd stop whatever she was in the process of doing and turn, seeking him out. Unable to look away, her heart would thud slowly against her rib cage as she stared across the distance at him, watching as his muscles bunched beneath his work shirt, as he handled the cattle…or the way the muscles in his throat stood out in sharp relief when he tilted his canteen to his mouth, his strong throat working down the liquid.

It was like some invisible thread connected them together—whenever he was within her general vicinity, that tingling awareness would sweep over her, and her body would respond on cue.

Her nipples would constrict and embarrassing moisture gathered in her panties.

It seemed as though even her own body was set on sabotaging her.

More than once she'd had to ask Jake or one of the other ranch hands to repeat a question they'd asked.

She had it in a bad way. And no amount of ignoring, pretending or anything else was going to make whatever she and Shilah had between them…chemistry, lust…whatever it was, go away by pretending it wasn't there.

A living, breathing entity of its own, it seemed to grow, despite her desperate attempts to pretend otherwise.

And she knew Shilah was just as aware of her. She'd felt his glance on her, more than once.

Earlier in the day she'd felt that weird tingling, one she now associated with Shilah, and had turned to see him watching her. His hot gaze brazenly skimmed over her as she sat astride her horse, the intensity, the focused way he was looking at her, bringing a wave of electric heat through her body, and she'd gasped.

Her name being called finally broke into her attention and she turned, placing a trembling smile on her face, shaken by the small encounter.

“Hmm, I don't know about the new girl, Anna,” Lilly said, forcing Ellie out of her own thoughts.

“What's wrong, Aunt Lilly?” Althea asked from across the room.

This was the first time Ellie had met Nate's fiancée, Althea. From her father, Ellie had learned of Althea's history and how she'd come to Wyoming Wilde.

From what she'd learned, Althea came from money, yet her warm smile and easy personality made it seem as though Ellie had known Althea much longer than the hour they'd spent here with the women.

“Just something about her…” Lilly said, shaking her head as she dusted the flour from her hands onto her apron.

“Like what?” Althea asked, her voice distracted as she glanced over at Lilly.

Yasmine raised a brow at her aunt. “Now, Aunt Lilly…you're starting to sound like Nate!” she said, referring to her future brother-in-law and his previous mistrust of the women who worked at the ranch.

“No, it's not that,” Lilly said, making a motion with her hand. “I can't quite put my finger on it.” She frowned and shook her head. “Something about the way she's always sneaking around where she has no place being.”

Althea bit down into the brownie, and licked away the ooze of chocolate that had escaped. “Well, if she can keep on making brownies like this…she can't be half-bad!” she said, and Ellie laughed.

“Hmm. I guess,” Lilly said, her voice doubtful.

Ellie was seconds away from biting into the dessert when she felt Lilly's scrutinizing eyes on her.

“And now…why don't you tell us what's going on between you and Shilah?” she asked, and Ellie felt like
a deer caught in headlights as all three women turned and looked at her, sly grins crossing their faces.

She swallowed the bite she'd taken, trying to gather her scattered wits, wondering how…what the women knew.