For this moment, though, she could overlook the feud and the animosity to rely on the friendship and comfort he was giving her. He had saved her life and the dog’s and the pups’ lives, as well. For that, she would be eternally grateful to him. For the moment, she couldn’t think of Jake as the enemy. Actually, far from it. Jake’s arms felt wonderful around her, and when she had looked into his eyes, she had wanted him to hold her. In truth, she had wanted him to kiss her. That thought shocked her because kisses could only mean all kinds of complications in both their lives. There was another reason she didn’t want to be attracted to him. Jake had a reputation of loving and leaving the ladies. He’d had more than his share of female friends in his life, and he always was the one to break things off as far as she knew.
Between the feud and his reputation, she didn’t want to risk her heart with him at all.
Besides, they could never date. One date would bring out the animosity in both families. No, they had to remain adversaries.
She thought of their relationship thus far. The court battles they’d had. She recalled fighting him when he tried to divert two of the biggest creeks that provided them both with water. She had won in both cases, but then he had won a court battle over old boundary lines that gave him access to another creek that crossed her ranch.
Unfortunately, at present, his arms around her were the best feeling in the world. She knew she shouldn’t enjoy being held so much, yet at a time when she felt incredibly alone in the world, his embrace and reassurances were solace for her broken heart over the loss of her home. She’d never get that kindness from her brothers or her father, and her friends were scattered in Dallas and she didn’t keep up with them closely. She was close to some of the people who worked for her, but not close enough, since she was still their boss.
Right now, she relished Jake’s arms around her. He was sexy, handsome, broad-shouldered, exciting. He had saved her and the dogs—a man of action, able to get the job done quickly and efficiently—something her father and brothers had never done. She admired a man who could.
“Better?” he asked in a deep voice, and she looked into his dark brown, thickly lashed eyes that took her breath and held her immobile. She couldn’t look away and her heart drummed, and she wanted his kiss—which was total insanity, because it would only muddle their lives. Up until the past moments, she would have been certain he would never want to kiss her, but she couldn’t think that now. Not when she met his gaze.
The moment she looked into his sexy dark eyes, she knew he wanted to kiss her as much as she wanted him to do so.
She groaned. “We shouldn’t ever,” she whispered, and curiosity filled his eyes.
“We shouldn’t ever what?” he asked in a husky voice. “Kiss? We both want to. We’re adults, both single. Why not?” he added, and she was lost. The slight dark stubble on his jaw and chin added to his ruggedly handsome appearance. She felt as if his dark eyes could look right through her and that he knew every thought in her head.
She knew better, but his gaze was riveting and hot, stirring desire, something she didn’t feel for any of the local cowboys or ranchers or any other man she knew. Until now.
She felt caught and held by Jake’s gaze, and she also felt he could see the longing that was consuming her. Her desire was unwanted and unreasonable because they were deepest enemies, but she was ensnared and could barely get her breath. How long had it been since she had kissed a man or been kissed? How long since she had even been out with one?
Too long, she answered herself.
And right now, wanting to kiss him was all she could feel or think.
As his arm around her tightened, he leaned down the last few inches until his mouth covered hers. Excitement streaked through her, stirred by his mouth on hers, his tongue over hers. Feelings bombarded her, hunger for so much more of him, for his hands on her. She tightened her arms around him and kissed him in return, her tongue stroking his, hot, wet, so sexy. Desire shook her, and she held him tightly.
His kiss rocked her, building a raging response deep in her and making her want him more than she would have dreamed possible. She knew for certain that she had never been consumed by kisses that fanned the flames of longing the way his were. Even as her need intensified, she reminded herself that this was not the man to get deeply involved with. She shouldn’t be melting in his arms.
He shifted slightly so he held her pressed closer against him with his arms still tightly around her. When she leaned away a fraction, his dark-eyed gaze consumed her. Yearning for more of him swept over her, as they kissed again.
Time ceased to exist for her, and she didn’t know how long they kissed, but she finally realized that she had to stop kissing him as if they were the last two people on earth with only hours to survive.
With an effort, she shifted slightly and leaned away. Gasping for breath, she scooted out of his embrace, and he let her go. She couldn’t tell from his expression what was going through his thoughts. She fought a battle with herself to avoid reaching for him again. How could she feel as if his kisses were the kisses of a lifetime when he was the one man on earth who was a total enemy? Only he wasn’t an enemy at the moment. Right now, she just wanted to hold tightly to him and be kissed by him again and forget what she was losing.
Instead, she moved back, staring at him as if she had never seen him before in her life. She almost felt that way. She shook her head. “How do we—I mean, do we go back to the way we were and have always been—feuding neighbors?”
“Think what you will,” he said in a husky voice. “You can go right back to the same feelings about me, but there is absolutely no way I’m ever going to forget or regret kissing you.”
Her heart thudded again. “Maybe there’s no going back to the way it was, but we have to move on from this.”
“Yeah. I agree there’s no going back to the way things were. We’ve crossed that line. Our relationship just changed forever,” he added.
She shook her head. “I don’t think our relationship really can change. That old feud is too much a part of each of our lives. We’ve lived with it since we were toddlers.”
He raised an eyebrow and looked slightly amused. “I will never again see you the same way as I did before we kissed,” he repeated quietly in a voice that was as intimate as a caress. All the time he talked, he stared intently at her as if he had never seen her before in his life.
She felt her cheeks flush with heat. “You can’t turn off a century-old feud like tap water.”
“We just made a good start on it.” He slipped his forefinger beneath her chin to tilt her face up so she would look at him. “I’m willing to try. Are you?”
Her pulse jumped again as she gazed into his dark eyes and thought about their kiss. “Oh yes. I’ll try,” she answered, and it came out a whisper. She felt she had to move away from him, or she would be in his embrace and they would kiss again. While half of her wanted that, the other half warned she would regret kissing him. There was no way they could shake their past, their mistrust—actually, their dislike for each other. You couldn’t turn off a lifetime of feelings in a morning. You couldn’t really ever turn it off. Not when it had been part of their lives always. Deepest enemies.
This little flare of attraction wouldn’t last. She had taken Jake to court before and won against him. She had lost to him, too. But the battle was always there, and she didn’t think kisses would change everything between them. As fast as she thought that came another thought—his kisses were like no others she’d ever had in her life.
He wasn’t going to be easy to get over. His kisses might be impossible to forget.
