Roughing It With Ryan

6

AT HOME, Ryan stepped into the shower, letting the hot spray hit his body. Treeing was hard work, and damn, but he was feeling every bit of that hard work in his aching muscles.

The day would come, soon, when he’d lay down his chain saw and ax for good. Instead, he’d spend his time over a drawing table, lifting only a pencil. He’d design all day long and come home after working still refreshed.

He could…well, date even half the women his brothers and sister thought he did, for one. That would be fun. Light and simple.

After raising a family he was looking forward to light and simple. He hadn’t thought he’d ever feel a need for any steady relationship, but he had to admit that had been before.

Before a raging stormy night, a shocking kiss and the most amazing woman had rocked his world.

Suzanne.

Maybe the problem was that he’d seen her too often since.

No, that wasn’t it. He’d seen Taylor often, too, and he didn’t want to make love with her all night long.

Maybe it was that he’d touched Suzanne. Kissed her. Held her. While she was wearing nothing but that little tank top and panties.

The picture filled out in his head, as if it had just happened, instead of having occurred five nights ago. It had been dark, with the rain and wind beating down on them. And yet she’d been like a light in the deep black of the night. He could see her rosy, erect nipples pressing at the thin material of her top, the way her panties had been sheer enough to outline the part of her he wanted to bury himself in. She had a body made for loving, all warm curvy planes, and as he soaped up in his hot shower, he gave his erection a few absentminded strokes.

That didn’t help matters any so he cranked the handle to the right, letting in the cold water.

That didn’t help, either.

“Ryan!” Angel yelled through the door. “I need the shower!”

“’Kay.” But he went back to thinking about Suzanne. What was it about her that drew him so fiercely? She sure wasn’t light and simple-which was all he’d thought he could handle right now-and she sure as hell wasn’t looking at him with stars in her eyes.

But what was in her eyes drew him-the tough vulnerability he wanted to know more about. She had a sharp wit and a will to survive. She buried her feelings behind both.

He’d never been a sucker for vulnerability before, much preferring a woman secure and strong and self-assured, so why now, with her?

It wasn’t as if she was falling at his feet, much less into his bed. He’d have to actually work at it, at her, if that’s what he wanted.

And yet, he’d come to realize, that was exactly what he wanted. And he thought maybe he’d known it from the second he’d laid eyes on her.

WITH AN HOUR TO GO before everyone descended on his place in all their rowdiness, Ryan opened his door to Suzanne. She smiled, a little nervously, he thought, and vanished into his kitchen. When he followed her, he found her bustling around, talking to herself as she loaded things into his refrigerator.

“The man doesn’t even have a loaf of bread,” she was saying as she bent over to fit a long tray of something that smelled delicious onto the bottom shelf.

Ryan leaned against the door to better enjoy the view her black skirt afford him as it tightened very nicely over her very nice rear end.

“I would have gone food shopping yesterday,” he said, grinning when she whipped around in surprise. “But I knew you were bringing a load of food over so I didn’t bother. Thank you, by the way.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re paying dearly for it.”

Had he thought her not strong or self-assured? She was sending him daggers that made him glad she stood across the room. She wore a long-sleeved white cotton shirt with a scooped neck. Though perfectly modest, it outlined her full breasts in a way that made his mouth water. The entire package made his mouth water. He’d seen her ruffled and undressed. He’d seen her casually put together in her loose and flowing sundresses. But he’d never seen her like this. Her hair was artfully piled on top of her head with a pretty beaded clip, though he had a feeling that with one tug of his fingers, the entire glorious mass would fall. Already long wavy tendrils were hanging in her face, which had flushed prettily.

Because of him? Testing that theory, he pushed away from the wall and moved close, cocking his head when she backed up a step and hit the counter.

Hmm. Interesting.

She put her hands behind her to grip the counter, which suited him perfectly because it thrust out her upper body very nicely. Specifically, her breasts.

“You’re crowding me,” she said.

“Am I?” Stepping even closer, he put his hands over hers on the tile and promptly got lost in the depths of her shimmering eyes, which displayed…nerves? “You’re…not afraid of me.”

“Of course not.”

“But I make you nervous.”

“Don’t be ridiculous-” She caught his lifted brow and let out a pent-up breath that blew a piece of hair off her face at the same time. “Okay, maybe just a little nervous, but only when you look at me like…like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re dying of thirst and I’m a long, cold drink of water.”

He decided he liked that, a lot more than he should. “What, exactly, are you saying?” he asked in a perverted need to hear her spell it out.

“I’m saying you fry my brain cells at an alarming rate. Clear enough?”

“Crystal.” And he was quite certain it shouldn’t arouse him.

He wanted to scoop her up and lose himself in her. How was it she was so completely irresistible to him after only days?

“I’m busy,” she said, clearly having not decided, as he had, that this attraction was a good thing.

Oh, yeah, he had a lot of convincing to do. He stroked his hands up her arms and felt her shiver.

“Go away and let me work,” she said, a little less forcefully. “Before I decide to charge you more for the conversation.”

“We’re not talking.” It took nothing to dip his head and inhale the scent lingering on the skin just beneath her ear. Shampoo and soap only, he thought breathing in deeply. No fancy perfumes for this woman. He loved that. “I fry your brain cells? Really?”

With another little shiver, goose bumps appeared on her skin, and proved he wasn’t alone in this attraction.

Good, because he couldn’t tear himself away.

“You know you do,” she whispered, gasping when he connected his mouth with the creamy skin of her throat.

She put her hands to his chest, probably to shove him away, but before she could, he slid his hands over hers, holding them against his chest because he liked the feel of them there.

“I said you fried my brain cells.” She swallowed hard, staring at her hands on him. “Not that I liked it.”

“If you don’t, why are you letting me touch you?”

She stared at him. Then laughed. “I…don’t know.”

“Are you going to deny you like my touch?”

“Ryan-”

He slid one of his hands up her soft throat to cup her jaw. “We never talked about that night, Suzanne. About what happened between us.”

“We were cold and wet. It was dark, and I was scared. We kissed. The end.”

“Not the end.”

“Okay, you’re right. You saved my life. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.