Page 20 of One Wild Texas Night
And then came Jake. Never had kisses excited her the way his had...
But he definitely wasn’t the man for her—a Reed, like the other Reeds.
She should get out of his house, go into Dallas to her condo and never look back. But how could she do that when she was needed at the ranch? Her home had been totally destroyed. She had called her insurance agent briefly, but he couldn’t do anything while the area was still burning and off-limits. She’d called the sheriff, her employees, her builder—the list was long. She had to stay and, once the fire was totally out, work with people to get her land cleared and, eventually, her house rebuilt.
There were so many things to do, but dominating her thoughts were memories of being in Jake’s arms, holding him and kissing him as if they shared the last kisses of their lives.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. She wanted to shut off the memories, stop thinking about him and his kisses and his hands on her, incredibly gentle, sexy and breathtaking. She needed to move on with her life and get back to her routine, where Jake had no part in her day.
But right now, that wasn’t going to happen.
At least not as long as she was living in his house, kissing him, spending time with him and getting to know him and getting more obligated to him. She was wearing one of his shirts right now. How was she going to get free of him when she needed to stay in the area, take care of her business and live at his house because she had none?
She shook her head again and raked her fingers through her hair. She had to get Jake out of her thoughts. She was sure when she was out of his house and away from him, she would be able to bank these memories of him. She had to, because he was consuming all her thoughts now.
She groaned, tossed her head to get her long red braid away from her face and tried to think about what she needed to do, getting out a list she had made and retrieving her phone. She went to a desk in her room, got a notebook and her phone, and called her insurance agent to talk to him again about her ranch house. As she waited, she glanced down at a picture on the desk. It was in an old-fashioned wooden frame with flowers and held an old black-and-white picture of a little boy. She picked it up and looked at it and recognized the tousled black hair—this must be one of Jake’s childhood pictures. He’d been a cute little kid. She stared at it. “You’re messing up my life,” she said. “Don’t kiss me again.”
“I can’t make that promise,” came a familiar deep voice behind her.
Seven
“Good grief, don’t sneak up on me,” Claire exclaimed, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment at him overhearing what she’d said about his kisses.
He looked amused with a faint smile as he came into the room. “I don’t think I was too sneaky in my boots. They make a bit of noise on the wood floors,” he said, and she could hear the laughter in his voice. She knew he was teasing, but he was annoying her again, and her embarrassment deepened.
“Well, I didn’t hear you, and I wish you hadn’t heard me.”
He kept walking toward her, and her pulse beat faster as he came within inches and tilted her chin up with his finger. She felt opposing reactions—she was annoyed that he was laughing, but she was turned on by his nearness. He was inches away, and that made her heart race and made her want him to lean close and kiss her even though she shouldn’t. She was accustomed to controlling a lot of things and the people in her life. She couldn’t do anything about the weather and fires, but people she could usually manage. But she couldn’t manage Jake. He didn’t work for her. He was independent, doing what he wanted to do, and he was a wild card in her life. She didn’t know what he would do next. And she was far too drawn to him physically when she should avoid him, because they were still and forever would be feuding neighbors. How had she thought they could be friends? They were steeped in their family feud that would never change.
“You know, if looks could kill, I’d be stretched out on the floor,” he said, and she heard the laughter in his voice that just made her more embarrassed and more angry.
“I think we need a lot more distance between us,” she said, but the words came out breathlessly and she was lost gazing into his dark eyes that made her heart beat even faster and her desire more obvious. She couldn’t get her breath because she knew he was going to kiss her, and she knew she was going to kiss him in return when she shouldn’t. She should resist and get a wall between them.
She couldn’t stop the anger she felt toward him, but desire was there just as strong. She couldn’t understand her own reactions to him. She had never felt this way about any other man before. And then she didn’t care. She just wanted his kiss, and her gaze went to his mouth as his arm slipped around her waist and he drew her to her feet.
His lips brushed hers lightly. She moaned softly, winding her arm around his neck and leaning into him, feeling his strong body against her. His fantastic body. Her heart pounded as she kissed him in return. “I wasn’t going to do this ever again,” she whispered.
“Yeah, I know,” he said as he brushed another light kiss on her lips and then her ear. “I wasn’t going to do this again, either,” he whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her, making her want his mouth on hers more than ever. “You want to kiss me as badly as I want to kiss you.”
“You and I are bitter enemies, Jake,” she said, knowing she meant those words as a reminder to herself as much as to him. Even as she declared them enemies, she ran her fingers into his thick hair and brushed a kiss on his mouth. She should step away, stop him now, but she wanted him with all her being. From the moment he touched her to slip his arm around her, it didn’t matter that he was a Reed. It didn’t matter that she was angry with him. Her decision to avoid kissing him had vanished like smoke in the wind.
What was important was that she was in his arms and he was showering her with light kisses, and in a minute, they would really kiss, another one of his heart-shattering kisses that she wondered if she would ever get over. At this moment that’s all she wanted, more than anything else.
“We’ve always been enemies, but there’s one place where we’re in sync, compatible, consumed with mutual desire and intent. Right here. In each other’s arms,” he whispered, showering kisses on her face and throat. “You want me. I know you do. I can feel it, Claire.” As he talked and kissed her lightly, he caught the red T-shirt in his hands and pulled it off to toss it away.
“Oh, Jake,” she whispered, and he covered her mouth, stopping her protest that was only a whisper. Her arm was tight around his waist, and her other hand was tangled in his hair.
She moaned softly, longing raging for all of him. Common sense was a dim whisper, warning her that she was going to regret every minute of kissing and caressing him and letting him kiss and fondle her. She knew she should stop him now before she was hopelessly lost and in love with him and needing his hands and mouth and body as part of her life.
“Jake, I’m not going to do this.”
“You want to kiss as much as I do,” he whispered, still showering kisses over her breasts as he unfastened her bra and tossed it away. He straightened to cup her breasts in his large, warm hands, and he was incredibly gentle, stroking her nipples so lightly with his thumbs, slow, light circles around the pink tips, stirring sizzles that she felt to her very core while he gazed at her with obvious desire.
“You’re gorgeous, Claire. Absolutely beautiful, so perfect and soft,” he said in a gravelly voice, his words just a whisper, but she heard him.
“You can’t imagine what you do to me. I want you in my arms, in my bed,” he said, still caressing her breasts while he leaned down to trail kisses down her throat.
Her heart pounded. Desire swamped her, heating her until she felt as if she stood in a blaze of fire. His hands, his mouth, his words, his kisses—all of them were seduction.
