“Good morning.”
Startled, she looked up and found those bright hazel eyes open and looking right at her, and he had a lazy smile on his lips. His arms tightened and he pulled her closer.
“No. I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she said, turning away.
That didn’t stop him. He chuckled, and then his hand was tangled in her mussed hair and he was pulling her on top of him and bringing her mouth to his. Within seconds, she forgot all about her morning breath, and she was lost in the intoxicating scent of his masculinity.
When he released her mouth, she felt the hard evidence of his desire pressing against her core. “Mmm,” he purred as he slid his hands down her back and pressed them against her behind, letting her feel the effect she had on him — in full. But she still tried to wriggle away.
“I can’t, Colt. I have to get up.”
“I’m already up, darling, so let’s play.” He flipped the two of them over so she was lying on her back with his arousal firmly — oh, so firmly — between her legs, his h*ps moving against hers in the most pleasurable way. If they hadn’t both been wearing pajama bottoms, he’d already be inside her, and why not? She was wet and ready.
“I really can’t. My father will be here soon, and I don’t want him to find me in bed and tussling with you.”
“You’re an adult. I’m sure he knows you have sex, Brielle.” He began nibbling on her neck.
“You obviously don’t have a daughter. I don’t think any father wants to believe his daughter ever has sex,” she said with a small laugh as he moved down her neck and kissed the spot right between her br**sts.
He paused and she nearly groaned in frustration, but pausing was what she needed him to do. She had to climb from this bed, get him out of her house, and take a nice long hot shower. It would take her the entire hour to work up the courage to face her father.
Yes, she had learned more about the ranch, but not enough. She was so afraid he was going to deem her a complete failure. She could tell herself that it didn’t matter, but she knew it did. She knew that she didn’t want her dad to look at her like the spoiled brat he thought she was.
For years she’d done everything she could to make him and her brothers believe she didn’t give a damn, but after only a couple of months in Montana, she was rethinking her entire life. What people thought about her mattered. What her dad thought about her mattered.
This visit had to be a good one. It just had to.
“Please, Colt. I…” She didn’t want to beg him, but she was so close to caving in and that would be disastrous.
He must have read her body language, because he stopped and rolled off her, then sat up, pulled her onto his lap, and held her close. The sweet embrace was almost her undoing.
“I’m sorry, Brielle. You’re right.” He kissed her temple while rubbing along her spine. After a few moments, he let her go, sliding out from beneath her and standing up.
“I’ll get out of here so you can have time with your dad.”
Was that hurt in his voice? Did he think she was ashamed of him? She would never want him to think that. “Wait, Colt!”
He had put on his jeans and was moving toward the bedroom door, but he turned and looked at her. She couldn’t read the expression in his eyes, but she needed to say something. She feared that if she didn’t, he might walk from the room and then she’d never see him again.
“I…” She paused, at a loss for words. “You know that I don’t care that you’re a ranch hand, right?”
His eyes widened as he looked at her for a second and then took a step closer. “Are you sure about that, Brielle?” His gaze seemed to burn right through her.
“Of course that doesn’t matter. Your working for me has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t want my dad to find you in my bed. You could be the prince of a foreign country, the president of the United States, a lawyer, doctor, anything. It wouldn’t matter. All that would matter was that you were in my bed. My dad already thinks so poorly of me. I just…”
Why was it that she always revealed too much of herself to this man? He, however, was oddly quiet about himself and especially about his emotions.
Heck, she didn’t even know where he slept when he wasn’t in her bed. Maybe if he wanted to climb into her bed again, she should make him begin sharing more with her. Yes! He was definitely going to have to start telling her things about himself, or they weren’t spending one more night together.
“I think I actually believe you,” Colt said as if surprised.
“I would hope so,” Brielle replied, her eyes narrowing. She was sick of people judging her and thinking she came up short.
Walking back to her, he lifted her from the bed, and pulled her into his arms. “Brielle Storm, you are not what I expected,” he told her with a real smile, then leaned in and gave her one solid kiss. Then he dropped her back onto the bed.
She was speechless.
“I’ll leave now before I lose my good intentions and begin ravishing you,” he said. Before slipping through her door, he looked back at her one more time. “I’ll be back later.”
And then he was gone. Brielle didn’t quite know what had just happened, but she sat there in a daze as she listened to him humming all the way down her stairs. It was several minutes after she heard the click of her front door closing before she managed to get up on her wobbly legs and drift into the bathroom.
A twenty-minute shower cleared some of the cobwebs from her brain, but not nearly as many as she needed for a visit with her father. Oh well, ready or not, the time had come. She was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when her doorbell rang.
Chapter Twenty
There’s a great diner in town where we can have lunch.”
Brielle was exhausted after spending the first half of the day with her father, showing him the ranch, and all that she knew about it. She’d had a fake smile plastered on her face all morning, and it was really beginning to wear on her.
Her father hadn’t been judgmental, hadn’t made her feel like less of a person, but she was trying so desperately to impress him that her shoulders were tight and her body was on full alert. What if he decided right now that she just couldn’t do this?
It wouldn’t take much for him to pull the plug on the whole operation. Yes, the business was in her name, but he supplied the money to run it, and she’d never be able to get that kind of capital on her own.