A Real Cowboy Knows How to Kiss Read online

  He lightly bit her lower lip, then traced the tip of his tongue across it. “You deserve to feel like you are the sexiest, most treasured, and most brilliant woman on the face of the earth.” He kissed along her jaw toward her ear. “You deserve to be kissed like the world will stop turning if the kiss ever ends.” He grazed his teeth over her earlobe. “You deserve to be kissed by a man who makes you feel like there is no woman on earth who will ever, ever, matter to him, except for you.”

  Her fingers tightened around his hand. “Steen.”

  He pulled back far enough to look at her. “Yeah?”

  “That’s how you make me feel.”

  He went still, his heart suddenly thundering through him. He knew then that he was going to have to tell her right then, right there, who he really was and what he’d done. It didn’t matter that he’d lose out on the way she looked at him. There was no way he was going to be one more black mark on her soul by betraying her. Swearing, he pulled back. “I’m not that guy, Erin. I swear, I’m not that guy. I can’t be what you deserve—”

  She put her finger over his lips, silencing him. “I know you have secrets, Steen. So do I. But right now, do they matter? Can’t this moment just be what it is? I know who you are in your soul, and you see me for who I am. Isn’t that enough?” Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “Can’t you just be who you are for now? Can’t we forget about all the baggage and secrets, and put them aside for this moment? Can’t you just kiss me? Please? I want this moment with you. It’s the only way I’ll ever know what it’s supposed to be like to be kissed by someone who actually wants me just for me. I don’t want anyone else. Just you.”

  Something shifted inside him, something that broke through his need to shield her from who he really was and made him want to be that guy, for her, right now. He knew that he saw in her things that no one else saw. He knew that. Yeah, he’d stand back and let her go home in ten days, but she knew she was leaving as well, so there were limits to what she could expect of this, and of him, especially when it came to a promise of forever. Could ten days change her life? His?

  She smiled and slid her hands behind his neck, gently tugging him closer. “Face it, Steen, you need this as much as I do. There’s always been something between us, and we both know it.” She traced her fingers on the back of his neck, a gesture so tender and seductive that it almost broke him.

  He had two choices right now. Get on his horse and get as far away as he could from her, or kiss her the way he wanted to.

  There was no way he was going to reject her, not when what she wanted from him was exactly what he wanted to give her. He slid his free hand behind her head, tangling his fingers in her hair. “If you had any idea how much I want you, you’d never offer yourself up like this,” he said softly, flicking the hem of her shirt aside so that his palm was spread on her bare skin.

  Her stomach shuddered under his touch, and she sucked in her breath. “The fact that you want to touch me is the most incredible feeling,” she said. “The fact you want me is…amazing.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea.” He finally succumbed to the need that had been coursing through him for so long, and he kissed her. It wasn’t a chaste, innocent kiss. He was long past being able to do that. It was a kiss with no boundaries, a kiss that shattered any last remnant of resistance, a kiss that promised every inch of his soul.

  Chapter 10

  The moment Steen kissed her, Erin felt like everything she understood about the world had shattered. His kiss was so intense, so demanding, so incredibly intoxicating that she knew instantly that she was being kissed by a man who had never lived behind walls like those that had constrained her for so long.

  He kissed her with an untamed, unashamed intensity that held nothing back. His lips were hot and demanding, coaxing her to let him in. The moment she parted her lips to kiss him back, he invaded her mouth with his tongue, a seductive, sensual assault that streaked through her body, tearing her from its protective, dead shell and catapulting her into a world of sensation and emotion that she’d never felt before.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on desperately as she kissed him back, swept into passion so intense she could barely even think, let alone resist it. As he kissed her, he slid his hand across her torso, caressing every inch. His fingers brushed against the underside of her breast, and she almost gasped at the intensity of the sensation.

  He gave her no time to react, and before she knew what he’d done, he’d unhooked the front clasp of her bra. Her breasts fell free, and exhilaration rushed through her at the sensation of being utterly free from constraint. He cupped her left breast and thumbed her nipple. The bud became hard instantly, and she squirmed, barely able to stand the intensity of her response to him.

  “Sit up for a sec.” His voice was low and thick as he grabbed her hands and pulled her upright.

  She barely had time to find her balance before he’d grabbed her shirt and pulled it and her bra over her head. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks when his gaze went to her breasts, but before she could hide them, his face softened with such emotion that she was no longer afraid.

  “They’re beautiful,” he whispered as he bent his head and pressed a kiss to each breast, his kiss so tender that she wanted to cry.

  She ran her fingers through his hair. “How are you like this? How do you make me feel so beautiful and appealing? And wanted?”

  He sat up, put his hands on her hips, and pulled her onto his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist, faintly embarrassed to be sitting on his lap half-naked while they were outside in plain sight of anyone who happened by. At the same time, she felt wildly exhilarated to feel the breeze and the warm sun on her back, and the press of his erection against the juncture of her thighs through her jeans.

  “Because I think you’re amazing,” he said. “I’m just letting you feel what I feel.” Then, before she could talk more, he kissed her again, deeply, passionately, like a man who had been starved for her touch and couldn’t go one more minute without her.

  His hands were all over her upper body, tracing along her spine, cupping her breasts, and even sliding down over her hips to her butt. The sensation of skin on skin was incredible, and she wanted more. She wanted to touch him like he was touching her, to feel his skin beneath her palms, to taste him the way he was tasting her.

  “Go ahead,” he whispered against her ear. “Do it.”

  She realized suddenly that she’d been gripping the hem of his shirt, her fingers nearly shredding the material she was holding it so hard. “Is it okay?”

  Steen laughed under his breath as he pulled back from her. “Sweetheart, it’s more than okay.” He peeled her hand from his shirt and pressed it to the front of his jeans. “Feel that?”

  Her cheeks turned red. “Yes.”

  “That’s your green light. You can do anything you want to me.” He framed her face. “I’m not like Louis,” he said, searching her face. “There’s no chance on God’s green earth that I would ever prefer to have your hands off my body instead of on it. Do you understand? I want this. I want your kiss. I want your touch. I want you to feel how amazing you are and how much I want you.”

  She stared at him in wonderment. “You mean that.”

  “Hell, yeah, I mean it.” With a low groan, he released her face, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and ripped it over his head, just as he’d done in the barn. But this time, she wasn’t looking at him as a patient. She was seeing him as a man, a man she’d been in love with since she was fourteen years old, a man who wanted her to touch him.

  After growing up with parents who never hugged and living with a husband who’d banished her from physical proximity, let alone intimacy, it was so foreign to be with a man who didn’t shut her out.

  Tentatively, almost afraid he was going to stop her, she ran her fingers across his chest. His muscles were cut and defined, despite how lean he was, and she could only imagine the raw breadth of him when he hadn’t been
weeks from almost dying. She brushed her fingers through the hair on his chest, tracing its path toward the waistband of his jeans. His stomach tightened as she ran her fingers across his abs, and she felt the rock hard muscles beneath his skin. She glanced up at his face and saw he was watching her with smoldering eyes, as if he were doing everything in his power not to tear the rest of her clothes off and plunge right into her.

  Exhilaration rippled through her, and a heady sense of empowerment. She worked her way back up his chest, then lightly pushed on him. “Lie down.” His body was so rigid with need that she didn’t expect him to acquiesce.

  In fact, for a brief moment, all he did was quirk one eyebrow at her. “You’re bossing me around?”

  “I’m trying.”

  He grinned then, and stretched back on the rock, clasping his hands behind his head. “I’m all yours, sweetheart, but I have to warn you, at some point, you’re going to push me beyond my limit.”

  She grinned in anticipation as she straddled his hips. His erection was straining against his jeans, and she instinctively shifted so it was pressing into her exactly where she wanted it. She couldn’t quite contain her small gasp when she got her position right. “Then what happens?”

  His eyes were hooded as he watched her. “Then I’m the boss.”

  Oh, wow, she kind of liked the sound of that. Grinning, she braced her hands on either side of his head and kissed him. She’d meant for it to be flirty and teasing, but the moment their lips came together, the kiss turned ravenous. She immediately forgot about being the seductress, and could think only about how much she wanted to be close to him.

  He cupped her breasts, then broke the kiss and pulled her upward, so that he could take her nipple into his mouth. Desire rushed through her as he sucked and bit, and she tipped her head back, drinking in every feeling he was awakening in her. This was Steen, the man she’d idolized for so long. It was surreal to be touched so hungrily, by a man she craved so deeply. It was beyond anything she could have imagined, and she’d spent a lot of time imagining what it could have been like if she’d married someone else, anyone else, other than Louis. But never had she imagined it could be like this.

  Still kissing her breasts, Steen’s hands went to the fly of her jeans. She sucked in her belly when he unbuttoned them, and her heart started racing as he slowly unzipped them. Could she do this? Sleep with Steen? “I don’t think—”

  She cut herself off when he slid his hands over her hips, dragging her jeans and underwear down. His hands felt amazing on her hips, and the way he slid them over her thighs, like he wanted to own them, was exhilarating. She felt his possessiveness in every move he made, and she loved it.

  Excitement rushed through her, and without thinking, she began to unbutton his jeans. He helped her, and within moments, the sensual kissing had been consumed by a frantic need for bare skin, without clothing in the way. She was vaguely aware of jeans going flying, and boots thudding off the rock to the ground below, but the sheer strength of Steen’s presence obscured everything else from her mind.

  This time, when he sat up and pulled her onto his lap, there were no thick pieces of denim between them. Just the unbelievable sensation of skin against skin, of his body against hers. His erection pressed against her belly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him so desperately, as if she could pour her entire soul into his. His response was equally intense, his hands spanning her lower back, then her hips, then her rear end, as if he needed to touch every part of her at once just to survive.

  “I want to be inside you,” he whispered.

  Her heart leapt. Really? Was this really going to happen? “Me, too.”

  “I don’t have any condoms.”

  She pulled back, her cheeks flooding. “I’m on the pill. Not because I’m having sex with anyone, because I’m not, but it’s for cramps.” God, did he think she did this all the time?

  His expression softened, as if he’d read her mind. “Sweetheart, you could carry around entire cartons of condoms and sixteen different sexual aids, and I still wouldn’t think you slept around.” He grabbed her hips, pulling her closer. “I’m clean. When I was dying in the hospital, they tested me for every disease known to mankind. One of those invasions of privacy they do in pris—” He cut himself off, his face suddenly going hard.

  She didn’t know what he’d just thought of, but her heart wanted to cry for the sudden flash of torment in his face. She pressed a kiss to his mouth, refusing to give up until he responded. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed her hair and turned the kiss carnal, as if he were running from whatever memory had just flared up. It was bruising, almost overwhelming, but instead of turning her off, his desperation seemed to ignite something inside her, something feral and wild, a side of her that she’d never before allowed to be free.

  Their upper bodies were crushed against each other, her breasts smashed against his bare chest, her legs tight around his hips. She was trying to keep her thigh away from his injured side, but she could barely keep her focus as the kisses and touching intensified. Finally, desperately, she tried to break away to speak, but he barely gave her room to get the words out. “Me, too,” she managed, before he kissed her again, so deeply and intimately it felt as if he were a part of her soul. “After Louis cheated…” Another kiss, deeper, more intense. His hands on her butt, gripping her. “I had to know. I got tested…”

  “I don’t give a shit if you have a thousand diseases,” Steen said as he grabbed her hips and lifted her up. “Whatever happens after this moment doesn’t matter. I’d give my life if it was the only way I could have this moment with you.”

  His eyes were intense and heated as he stared at her, and her heart tightened when she realized he meant every word. “Steen—”

  “You’re mine, Erin, and you always have been.” And with that statement, he lowered her down onto his erection.

  He slid inside perfectly, and she gasped when he filled her. He was so deep, deeper than she’d ever felt, and it was incredible. Tears filled her eyes as he moved her hips in a rhythm that brought him deeper and deeper, locking them together in a way that she knew would be imprinted upon her soul forever.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, a searing kiss that consumed them both. She began to move on him, and his hips moved as well, tantalizing her with each thrust and tease. Desire pooled in her belly, building and building until she felt like her body was going to explode. She was gripping his shoulders, her entire body tense. “You can go ahead,” she said, even as she was gasping for air. She didn’t want him to wait for her, for the orgasm that would never come. What she was experiencing was beyond what she had ever expected, and she didn’t want it ruined by both of them trying to get her to have an orgasm that would never happen. “I never have them.”

  “Never?” There was a low chuckle. “You’ve never been with me, sweetheart.” He somehow managed to thrust even deeper, despite the fact that he was sitting up and she was on his lap.

  She gasped, her finger digging into his shoulders. “Please don’t put that kind of pressure on me,” she said. “It will just ruin it. I want it to be perfect—”

  He moved his hand between them and touched her clitoris. She yelped at the rush of sensation, and suddenly, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t do anything but hold onto him as he rubbed the taut bud, his fingers sliding over the nub again and again, until her whole body was screaming for release.

  “Now,” he whispered, just before he lifted her up and thrust deep inside her again.

  The orgasm exploded through her, a searing release that seemed to ignite every cell of her body. She gasped his name, but he swallowed her yelp in a blistering kiss as he came, his hips pounding into her as he poured his seed into her body, his arms wrapped so tightly around her she didn’t even bother to hold herself up. She just gave herself completely over to the orgasm, to him, to the utter capitulation of her soul, until there was nothing left but one
final shudder as she collapsed against him.

  For a long while, they didn’t move. They simply stayed entwined, with her leaning against him while he held her up. He laughed softly, nuzzling her neck as he locked his arms around her back, not letting her go. “Never?” he teased. “Did you say you never had them? Because I’m pretty sure that’s what you said.”

  She sighed, smiling into his neck as she rested her hands limply on his hips. “Apparently, I lied.”

  “Apparently. I forgive you, this one time.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, and she could feel the laughter rumbling in his chest. “But never do it again.”

  “Have an orgasm?” she teased. “Or lie?”

  He slid his hand beneath her chin, lifting her head so she was looking at him. “Sweetheart, if I have anything to say about it, there are going to be a lot more orgasms in your future. Hundreds. Thousands. Maybe even millions.”

  There was no way to stop the thrill of anticipation. “A million? How am I going to take care of all the animals?”

  He grinned. “We have time.”

  At his words, her smile faded. “Ten days,” she said. “We only have ten days.”

  His smile faded as well, and for a long moment, there was only silence between them. Finally, he brushed the hair back from her face. “A million in ten days is going to take a lot of work.” His voice was rough, now, almost hoarse. “We better get busy, don’t you think?” He tugged lightly on her hair. “I know it’s just a bunk house, but I think you should stay with me tonight.” His smile was completely gone now, and his expression was serious. “I mean it. Stay with me tonight.”

  The thought of crawling into bed with him, and waking up in his arms was intoxicating, but instead of excitement, Erin just felt a deep sense of loneliness settling down around her. She knew she had to leave in ten days. It was her choice to do so. It was her career, and her life. She didn’t want Steen trying to stop her from living her life, but at the same time, she realized she was a little bit crushed that he hadn’t issued even the slightest hint at having this thing they’d started go beyond the ten days, not even a whisper of remorse that it would have to end. Just a request to spend the night so that they could make the most of the ten days before it was over.