“Oh my,” he said. The way he said it and the way he looked at her made her forget her clothes. All she could think about were his hands on her, his warm body against hers and the fact that she wasn’t fully dressed. Stepping back slightly, he looked at her. His gaze went over her again, slowly, making her think about his hands and mouth going where he looked now.
“With legs like you have, you shouldn’t ever hide them,” he said, his gaze lifting to meet hers. “I have never seen you in shorts on your ranch. I’ve never seen your legs before. Not like this.”
“Well, no, you haven’t,” she said, barely aware what she was saying to him. “You haven’t because neither one of us ever gets close to our mutual boundary if we can avoid it, and I don’t wear shorts to work on the ranch. Rattlesnakes, for one thing. Cockleburs, weeds, sunburn, thorny bushes for others.”
“You have the best-looking legs in Texas.”
She had to laugh at that one, and it helped put her more at ease. “Thank you, kind sir. But you need to get your eyes checked. I have scars from my barrel-racing days. I don’t think my legs are quite that spectacular, but right now I need to cover them with my jeans, so if you’ll excuse me,” she said, hoping to hurry past him. She took a step closer to pass him.
When he didn’t move, she looked up and met his dark, hot gaze. She couldn’t get her breath, and her heart pounded. Desire filled his brown eyes. She had never before in her life felt as wanted by a man as she did right now with Jake.
When his gaze lowered to her mouth, her pulse jumped.
“Claire,” he said softly, his voice coaxing and filled with so much obvious longing that the tension she felt heightened.
“I need to go,” she whispered, more to herself than him. “Jake, we’ve got to stop this. We don’t have a future. We can’t even have a lunch date. We can’t go out together, and kisses just add to the problem.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, sounding as if he meant it.
She shook her head. “Don’t look at me like that.”
She took a couple of steps to the side, and he placed his fingers lightly on her arm, barely touching her. “Wait a minute,” he whispered.
As she paused, she drew a deep breath. She was only inches from him, starting to pass him, and he had barely touched her, but she stopped in her tracks and his voice played over her like a caress.
“Jake, don’t hold me,” she whispered. “You know I can’t resist you.”
“I’m not holding you,” he answered, slipping his arm around her waist lightly. “You’re free to walk away and you know it. Admit it, Claire. You want to kiss as much as I do.”
“I might want to, but I know we shouldn’t. I can’t stop thinking about my brothers. I don’t want you hurt by them.” She didn’t add that she didn’t want a broken heart. He had left some of those behind. She knew that much about his past, and she didn’t want that pain in her life.
“I’m definitely not afraid of your brothers, and they won’t hurt me, I promise you. They’re not in town anyway and don’t know what the hell is going on here.”
“We can’t kiss. I’m not even dressed.”
“You think I don’t know that? And I’ve never heard that for a reason to avoid kissing,” he said with amusement in his voice as he leaned in to place light kisses on her throat. “You’re gorgeous, Claire,” he whispered, and all the amusement was gone from his voice. His earnest compliment drew her closer, and his wet kisses on her neck made her tremble. She ran her fingers into his hair, and when he looked up at her, she found his eyes hooded with an undeniable desire. A desire she knew was reflected in her own gaze.
“This is so foolish. I’m vulnerable and you’ll break my heart,” she whispered as his head dipped down and his lips continued their foray on her throat. She didn’t know to whom she was saying those words—him or herself. “You’re the real danger. Not my brothers. My heart is at risk.”
He ran one hand so lightly on her nape, caressing her and arousing her, making her long for more. She moaned as an inner battle raged between what she wanted to do and what she knew she should do.
She should walk away from him. She was going to get hurt emotionally because if they kept touching and kissing, she would be in his arms, in his bed, and, worse, she would fall in love with him.
She couldn’t afford that. He would never love her in return, and even if he did, they could never, ever have a future.
She didn’t want an affair with Jake, and it would never be more than an affair, because he was not a marrying man. He’d never even kept his series of women in his life for long. They were seen with him for months, and then they were gone.
Even as she argued with herself, she thought about his kisses, to-die-for kisses that set her heart pounding, that made her want hours of sex and his hands and his mouth all over her.
Could she stand being one of the many women whose hearts he had broken in this little corner of Texas?
She knew the answer and knew she should walk away right now, but then he slipped his hand so lightly beneath the too-big T-shirt, his hand caressing her bare back and leaving a trail of fire that nearly consumed her.
His hand slipped around her waist, drifting up beneath the big T-shirt, pushing away her bra and then cupping her breast. She sighed with pleasure as his thumb stroked her nipple, and for a moment she gave herself over to his loving. She was vulnerable, lonely, hurt by the loss of her house, and Jake was stirring all the longings she tried to suppress, the craving for a strong man to hold her, to make love to her. And she could never find one better than Jake.
“You’re gorgeous,” he whispered. He cupped both breasts in his hands, toying with her, making her want more of him.
That nagging inner voice wouldn’t be denied, however. Its warning echoed in her head until she wriggled away and stepped back, looking up at him and shaking her head. “We can’t do this. I’ll get hurt.”
