Men to Trust: Boss Man / The Last Good Man in Texas / Lonetree Ranchers: Brant. Diana Palmer

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СКАЧАТЬ her wet eyelids. “First times are traumatic,” he murmured, drying her eyes again with the tissue.

      “Was yours?” she asked, curious.

      He laughed. “The first time I tried to have sex, I was seventeen. I was dating an older girl and we were in the back seat of my parents’ car at a country drive-in, one of the last few in Texas,” he recalled. “We were going at it hot and heavy when my zipper stuck.”

      She stared at him, fascinated.

      He laughed again. “I couldn’t get it to budge. I couldn’t get my jeans off with it zipped. And if I broke the zipper, I’d never have gotten past my mother to my room.” He shook his head. “She was experienced, and furious. She called me a clumsy fool and said she couldn’t imagine why girls went out with me. I took her home and never phoned her again. She didn’t know it was my first time, which was all that saved my pride.”

      “I can’t imagine you being clumsy,” she said, fascinated by him.

      He kissed the tip of her nose. “We all start somewhere,” he mused lazily. He traced around her soft mouth. “But you were my first virgin,” he whispered, holding her eyes.

      Her lips parted. “I was?”

      He nodded. He pushed back her disheveled hair. “I wasn’t sure I knew enough to spare you the pain.”

      “You did, though,” she whispered, and averted her eyes, flushing.

      He’d noticed. He felt ten feet tall. He knew that she’d climaxed, and not just the one time. He’d given her fulfillment, despite the rough beginning. It made him proud.

      He cradled her close, wrapping her up in his arms with her face in his warm throat. He rocked her hungrily, his body still tingling with remembered pleasure. “I’d forgotten how it felt,” he whispered. “I suppose I’ve been half-alive, without knowing it.”

      “So have I,” she replied drowsily. She curled closer into his powerful body.

      He kissed her hair. “I’m sorry I made you sore,” he whispered. “It was unavoidable.”

      “I know.”

      He sat holding her for a long time, so contented that he didn’t realize how late it was getting until the automatic lights outside began to come on.

      “Goodness,” she exclaimed when she noticed, sitting up on his lap. “I have to get home. Mama will be worried.” She stopped, aghast when she remembered her mother and her responsibilities. She remembered what she’d done with Kemp and she felt self-conscious and uncomfortable.

      He knew that. He could see it in her expression. He didn’t know what to say to make things right.

      “If anything happens, we’ll handle it,” he said softly. “Don’t beat yourself to death worrying. Okay?”

      We’ll handle it. Did he mean he’d pay for a termination? She felt sick at her stomach. What in the world had she been thinking? She’d just had sex with her former boss and he wasn’t a marrying man. He wasn’t going to start hearing violins if she turned up pregnant. He was going to suggest a practical solution. But she wasn’t going to be able to agree with that. It just wasn’t possible.

      “I can see the thoughts in your mind, Violet,” he said abruptly. “Let’s not face problems before they appear.”

      She swallowed. “You’re right, of course.” She got to her feet unsteadily, and looked around as if she didn’t quite know where she was.

      Kemp got up, too. “Do you want me to follow you home, just in case?” he asked.

      She looked up. “In case of what?”

      “You don’t drive at night much,” he said. He scowled. “There are drunks on the roads at night around here.”

      “I won’t have any trouble,” she assured him.

      “Except when it comes to living with what just happened,” he remarked.

      She picked up her purse and sweater and turned to look at him. “What?”

      He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’re a Puritan, Violet,” he said somberly. “You weren’t a virgin by accident.”

      She colored. “I don’t date much…”

      He waved away the rest of the reply. “You’re in love with me. I’ve always known it. There isn’t any other reason that would make you give yourself to a man without marriage.”

      She glared at him. She hated being so transparent.

      He moved closer, taking her gently by the shoulders. “You’ll work for me until we find out, one way or another, if there are going to be any consequences.”

      “I should never have…!”

      He kissed her mouth closed. “We’re both human.” He searched her eyes. “I love the way you were with me,” he added huskily. “It was the most exciting encounter of my life, Violet. I think I could live on it, if I had to. You were…extraordinary.”

      “I didn’t know anything,” she blurted out.

      “Instinct must go a long way, then.” He bent and kissed her again. “Try not to be ashamed of something so beautiful,” he added quietly. “We have a lot in common. I think we’ll find even more, as we go along.”

      He was saying something incredible. She stared up at him, fascinated.

      “I was happy being alone until you came along and shook up my life,” he murmured absently, watching her closely. “I can’t go back.”

      “You can’t?”

      He brought her soft palm to his mouth and kissed it hungrily. “In a few days, I think we might go and look at rings,” he said hesitantly, and his high cheekbones took on a ruddy color.

      “Rings?”

      His thumb rubbed over her ring finger. “Rings.”

      She couldn’t manage a single word.

      His blue eyes were somber. “Today was a beginning. Not the end.”

      Her lips parted as she studied him, with love radiating from her face. He saw it, and felt humbled by it. He’d never been with a woman who was so violently in love with him. He felt cosseted, valued, possessed.

      He drew her against him, aware that he became aroused the instant he felt her soft breasts against his chest. That hadn’t happened even with Shannon, when he was much younger. Violet lit fires in his body.

      “Feel that?” he whispered as he bent to her mouth. “You arouse me so much that it hurts.”

      She opened her mouth when she felt his lips on it. He built the kiss, lifting her free of the floor in his embrace. “I would still let you,” she whispered.

      “I know,” he whispered back. СКАЧАТЬ