“Through what?”
“Hello? Sexual frustration! I don’t care to watch your sexy buns warming the seat of your saddle if the bakery is permanently closed, okay? Let’s just give up on this whole program. We’ll muddle through the wedding as best we can under the circumstances.”
Giving up wasn’t something Jack favored in any instance, let alone one where everybody and his brother — or rather everybody and her brother, would know about it. “Giving up isn’t an option.”
“I’m sorry, but you don’t have control of whether we give up. May I remind you that I have that control.”
“But Josie—”
“Don’t but Josie me! Maybe if you hadn’t kissed me, I’d have an easier time of it, but the fact remains that you did kiss me, and now I’m primed and ready to rumba. However, if I stay away from you for the next week or so, I’ll get over it.”
If he lived to be a hundred and fifty, Jack would never understand women. He let go of Destiny’s bridle and gestured with his hat. “Now let me get this straight. The other night, you thought I was some kind of horn dog to show up on the spur of the moment. You made it clear you were finished with me and my sex-crazed behavior. Now you’re perfectly willing to get horizontal. What’s changed?”
She blew out a breath. “I’ve already told you, but apparently it didn’t make an impression. You kissed me.”
“And you can’t just forget about that?”
“No, I can’t.” She folded her arms. “Can you?”
“I don’t know, but I’m willing to try, for the good of all concerned. We need to demonstrate we can co-exist, and the riding lessons are supposed to—”
“Have you considered that there’s another option?”
“Like what?”
“First of all, we continue with the riding lessons and expand them to two hours. You can tell everyone I’m a slow learner.” Her grey eyes sparkled.
He knew that look, and it usually meant he needed to be cautious. “You’re not a slow learner. You have natural athletic ability, and it won’t take much instruction for you to be a decent rider.”
“Good to hear. Because, unbeknownst to everyone else, we’ll be using all our spare time for sex.”
If only she had a camera. His expression was absolutely priceless. Jack had always been proud of his ability to keep his reactions to himself, and consequently she liked making a game of trying to shock him into revealing his true feelings.
She’d succeeded this morning. His dark eyes widened in obvious disbelief, but that disbelief soon gave way to excitement. No doubt his quick mind was already imagining the possibilities. Still, he was Jack, the guy with a stubborn streak a mile wide. So of course he had to throw up some resistance.
“That isn’t the way everything was supposed to go.”
“But we can change the plan, can’t we?”
He looked down at the hat in his hand and brushed a leaf from the crown. Then he glanced up. “You’re planning to keep this a secret from your brother?”
She didn’t feel great about that, but telling Alex would only cause more problems. “I don’t see any reason for him to know. I don’t think anyone has to know, actually. That way we won’t get any unsolicited advice on whether this is a wise move or not.”
“It probably isn’t.” Yet he hung his hat on Destiny’s saddle horn and moved toward her.
“Probably not.” She held his gaze, knowing he intended to kiss her again and knowing that she needed that more than she needed air.
“So would you call this a stop-gap measure?” He advanced another step.
“Exactly.” Her heart beat faster the nearer he came. “It’s a temporary fix to get us through the wedding, so we don’t have a bunch of messy sexual tension going on. After that…” She wasn’t sure what came after that.
“Maybe we shouldn’t worry about what comes after that.” He stood barely a foot away, his heat calling out to her.
“Good idea.” The intensity of his gaze made her quiver. “Our goal…” She swallowed. “Our goal is to make it through the wedding. Then we’ll see.”
“And in the meantime we’ll fit in as much sex as we can.”
“That was my thought.”
Slowly and deliberately, he pulled her into his arms. “I like the way you think.”
But when his mouth came down on hers, she wasn’t thinking at all, just feeling. For six months kissing Jack had been among her favorite activities, and she’d missed it terribly. She loved the way he kissed, loved being held in those strong arms, and especially loved the melting sensation as he drove her slowly insane.
When she kissed Jack, she forgot everything but this — the wanting and the promise of pleasure. Her body hummed with delight as he cupped her bottom and pulled her close. Mmm, yes. She wanted what was under that soft denim, and she wanted it now.
He lifted his lips a fraction from hers, and his warm breath carried the scent of the mint toothpaste he liked. “It can’t be now.”
She wiggled against him to demonstrate that they were both prepped for this encounter. “That’s not what the rest of you says.”
He nibbled at her mouth. “The rest of me has nothing to wear for the occasion.”
She couldn’t hold back a sigh of disappointment. “But I thought you always carried—”
“Not since we broke up.”
“Now I feel special.”
“You are.” He ran his tongue over her lower lip. “I could do something nice for you, though.”
“Nuh-uh.” She reached between them and caressed the length of him through his jeans. “I want the whole enchilada, so to speak.”
He nuzzled behind her ear. “Then you’ll have to wait.”
She groaned. “Maybe… maybe you could unbutton my blouse.”
“I could do that.” With practiced ease he unfastened the snaps and slipped his hand inside to cup her lace-covered breast. He stroked her through the fabric. “Feels like the cream-colored one.”
She arched into his palm as she reveled in having his hands on her again. “Wrong. You’ve never seen this one. It’s pink.”
“Then I have to look.” Drawing back, he opened her shirt. “Very nice.” He fingered the front clasp and looked into her eyes. “Still holding out for the whole enchilada?”
“Maybe you could undo my bra.”
His mouth curved in a slow smile as he flipped the catch.
“Don’t look so superior, Jack Chance, like you’re all that and a bag of chips.”
He shook his head as he moved the bra aside and lifted her breasts in both hands. “I’m not, but you are.” He brushed his thumbs lazily over her nipples and watched them tighten. “I’ve missed touching you, Josie.”
She closed her eyes as sensations shot from her nipples to her womb. “I haven’t missed you at all.”
“Liar.”
“But as long as you’re here, maybe you could…”
“I was hoping you’d ask.” Leaning down, he circled her nipple with his tongue.