“It isn’t,” she broke in.
“Okay, then. Great. But just for my own edification, what changed your mind?”
She finally, hesitantly, came away from the door and closed the space between them. Anticipation almost made him pant.
“I thought I had all the time in the world.” As she spoke, she put her hand on his bare chest, watched the motion of it as she stroked her palm over his lightly furred pectoral and the thundering heart beneath it.
His whole body quivered.
“I already made one mistake. I didn’t want to make another.” Her fingertips traced the arc of his nipple.
He thought his knees would buckle.
“But then you got the offer,” she went on, watching her hand as it moved down, one fingertip following the thin line of dark hair disappearing into his jeans. “And I realized if I didn’t do something, you’d leave and I’d never know.”
She was killing him, and she didn’t even seem to care. “Know what?”
Her hand stopped. She stared at the puckered scar by his waist. “Iraq?”
“Hay baler. As you were saying? You would never know about what?”
Her hand stopped its exploration.
“About us. This.” She looked up. Her gaze moved over his face, settled on his mouth. “I don’t want you to leave, Dalton.”
“This is an inducement to stay?”
“Yes.”
“It’s working.” He decided he’d better move this along before his heart gave out. “Do you want to take off your robe, or should I?”
“You can.”
It was like unwrapping every Christmas present of his whole life all at once. Times ten.
Neither of them were virgins, but since there would be only this one first time together, Dalton resolved to go slow and do it right. But as soon as her robe slid in a whisper to the floor, and she reached for the zipper on his jeans, he lost focus and sank into pure sensation.
Nerves jumping under his skin when she slowly pulled down his jeans. The softness of her skin against his palm. The flowery scent of her hair. The way her breathing changed to match his when he touched her breasts.
Great breasts. Amazing breasts. And a perfect fit for his big hands. Soft and firm at the same time, and so smooth it was like stroking sleek, warm satin.
Which he did. While she stroked him.
Then they went wild. Too long without, too long waiting for this to happen. Mouth open against his, she climbed him like a cat up a pole, her long, strong legs wrapping tight around his waist as he lifted her up and held her against him.
The kiss went on and on. Until his arms started shaking and they were both out of breath. And still, it wasn’t enough.
“We have to stop,” he whispered against her lips.
He felt her smile. “This isn’t working for you?”
“It’s working too well. But I’d need a third hand to get on the condom, and soon, or it won’t matter. This time.”
“I’m on the pill.”
He drew his head back and looked at her. “Is that wise?”
“Are you worried about STDs? I’m clean. Are you?”
“I’ve been in prison.”
She nipped his nose. “I know. That’s why I asked.”
He tried to get his head around that. Couldn’t. Took it as evidence of her bizarre sense of humor and played along. “You trying to pick a fight?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you are.” And in a single twisting movement he dumped her across the bed, followed her down, and pinned her to the mattress. “I win.”
She laughed. He felt the vibration of it all through his body.
Then they got busy. And because it was their first time together, everything was new and a little tentative, until she started snapping out instructions like his old drill sergeant—different instructions, of course—and like any good soldier, he followed orders.
It was the best he’d ever had.
Bar none.
The second time was even better because of the learning curve. By then, he knew just how she liked to be touched, and what she wanted most, and how to keep her on the edge of it until it became too much for both of them.
When it was over, Raney slid off onto her stomach beside him, both of them breathing hard, Dalton sprawled on his back, too drained to move and already thinking about another encore.
“That was amazing,” he said between gasps. “Ten best for sure.”
She muttered something, but her voice was muffled by the pillow.
He rolled onto his side and ran a finger between her shoulder blades, tracing the knobby bumps of her spine in the dip between the long, rounded muscles of her back, all the way down to the dished dimple at the top of her butt. A rider’s back. Strong and supple. Leading to a perfect butt. “Definitely top three. You’re a seriously sexy woman.”
She lifted her head and stared at him through a tangle of curls. “Top three what?”
“Fantasies.”
“Seriously? I didn’t even make the finals?” She started to push upright.
He pulled her back down. “Relax, sweetheart. All my fantasies are about you. I have an insatiable, endless imagination where you’re concerned. It’s like you were created in a lab somewhere just to prance naked through my mind.”
She blinked at him. “A lab? That’s not very romantic.”
“Heaven?”
“Better.”
She settled back down and got comfortable again, this time tucked against his side. “And I don’t prance.”
He thought of her dancing and smiled. “Stomp, then.”
He had almost drifted off to sleep when she said, “What are one and two?”
He kissed the top of her head and yawned. “You’ll see.”
CHAPTER 19
Dalton woke with his heart racing and Raney’s voice whispering through his mind. He cracked open an eye. The clock on the nightstand read seven minutes after eight. Which made no sense. He never slept past six. Struggling to bring his mind into focus, he rolled onto his back and saw the empty space beside him.
Had he dreamed it all? He looked around. Saw no evidence of Raney ever being there, in his room, in his bed. How
