A Cowboy's Temptation

Then they were skin to skin, her breasts pressed up against his chest, heat, friction and moisture rising between them. He smoothed his palms along her bare back, kneading her muscles with the heels of his hands. He kissed the arc of her shoulder, working his way along the curve of her neck, back to her mouth, devouring her with deep, long kisses.

She explored his bared torso, the six-pack of his abs, the definition of his pecs, the breadth of his shoulders, bunched steel under her fingers. She stretched up to kiss his neck, tasting the salt tang, suckling his heated skin, while her hands stroked the expanse of his back.

He lifted her, perching her on the table, stepping between her thighs. His head bent to draw one nipple into his mouth. The heat and moisture made her gasp. His tongue was rough and sure. She arched for him, gripping his shoulders, as he stroked her sensitized skin. Waves of desire built within her, peaking to crests, meeting between her thighs.

She dragged oxygen into her lungs, inarticulate moans rising from the tension in her chest. Her thighs tightened around him as she pressed herself against his aroused body.

“Seth,” she gasped.

He lifted his head, eyes smoke-blue, glazed with arousal. He seemed to blink her into focus. His hands gripped the table on either side of her.

“If it’s a no,” he rasped, “better tell me now.”

“It’s not a no,” she managed. She lifted her hand to his cheek. It was trembling slightly from the effects of her passion.

She stroked his strong jawline, tunneled her fingers into his hair. “You’re not…” She didn’t know how to finish the sentence. He kept surprising her. He wasn’t what she expected.

“Neither are you,” he said softly.

Then he met her lips, gently at first, then hotter and deeper, starting the raw, ravaging kisses all over again.

His hand skimmed her stomach, moving to her waistband, releasing the button of her slacks and dragging down the zipper, stripping them off. His fingertips caressed her bare hips, her thighs, moving to the apex, until he met her moisture.

He lingered there, and she arched her spine. He pressed his fingers inside, bracing her bottom with his free hand, moving in and out until she squirmed against the tabletop, biting her bottom lip.

Something banged in the yard outside. The sound was followed by shrieks and giggles.

Seth jerked back, eyes wide as he stared down at her.

“Do not stop,” Darby ground out from between clenched teeth. “Don’t you dare stop.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His hand continued its motion.

She let her arousal build as high as she dared.

“Now,” she cried out. And it was her turn to grip the edge of the table as he shucked his own pants and retrieved a condom from his pocket.

He was gorgeous naked, tough, toned, tanned and glorious. Their gazes locked together as he stepped forward.

For a split second, sanity took a toehold inside Darby’s brain. Marta’s cool tones echoed through her memory.

She moistened her lips, struggling to find her voice. “Would this be a good time to ask you to cancel the railroad?”

Seth’s mouth flexed in a crooked smile, and he grasped her thighs, easing them farther apart as his thumbs slid up their slickness, meeting in the middle. “Would this be a good time to ask you to endorse the railroad?”

She gasped in a breath, and her hips reflexively bucked. “Yes.”

He bracketed her hips and slid her to him, holding her precariously on the edge of the table. “Then let’s both let each other off the hook.”

He bent to her lips in an openmouthed kiss, simultaneously sinking inside her. She wrapped her arms around him, sliding their moist bodies tight together. Her ankles locked as his rhythm started, his hand cupping her bottom, stretching her body, hitting every erotic nerve ending she possessed.

“Seth,” she gasped.

“Darby,” he groaned in return.

Sensation inched its way through her body, slow-motion intensity buzzing from her core to her limbs to her fingers and toes.

“This is—” she gasped, feeling as though she was losing her grip on reality. “It can’t—”

“I know.” His voice was guttural between kisses. “It’s nothing to do with anything else. We can’t use it against each other.”

“We can’t,” she agreed.

His pace increased, slamming fireworks to every corner of her body. A roaring started in her ears. Orange sparks turned to a glow behind her eyes. Her world contracted to Seth, his heat, his scent, his shallow breaths, to where their bodies joined.

She struggled to stay silent. There were other people in the building. But she lost the battle, crying out as lightning jolts of pleasure flashed through her body, convulsing her around Seth.

He covered her mouth with his own, absorbing her cries. Then his body shuddered with completion, and he squeezed her to him, lifting her right off the table, gasping her name over and over in her ear.

* * *

Seth blinked the world back into focus, gazing dazedly into Darby’s beautiful face. He couldn’t believe he’d done it. He couldn’t believe they’d done it. He’d all but torn off their clothes, making frantic love to her in the middle of her office, in the middle of the day, in what was essentially a public building. They hadn’t even locked the damn door.

“That—” Darby sucked in a few gasping breaths “—may not have been a good idea.”

The jury was still out for Seth. It was likely a very bad idea, but he couldn’t deny that he felt fantastic. His world felt completely centered for the first time in months.

“I know I feel a lot less tense and antsy,” he told her, gently easing her down to rest on the table.

“I guess I do, too,” she agreed, her luminous green eyes gazing up into his. “At least for the moment.”

He couldn’t bring himself to let her go, so he tightened his arms around her and kept their bodies firmly locked. He didn’t want to lose any of the sensations wafting through his brain: her warm, supple limbs, the sweet scent of her hair, the exotic taste of her skin.

He kissed the closest spot, the top of her head, while his fingertips stroked the length of her back. “You know, I think we might have hit on something here.”

She didn’t push him away. In fact, her body seemed to soften around him. He reveled in the stolen moments, even as reality percolated its way back into his brain.

“How so?” she asked softly against his chest.

“I don’t feel like fighting,” he observed. “Do you feel like fighting?”

She gave a weak laugh. “My brain went blank about fifteen minutes ago.”

Seth couldn’t help but like the sound of that. Because, for sure, she’d blown every circuit in his own brain. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman this way. He sure didn’t remember sex completely blotting out all time, space and reason.

“Darby—” he stroked her hair back “—I can understand why you’d prefer to maintain the peace and tranquility of Lyndon Valley.”

She stilled, silent for a dozen heartbeats. “Seth,” she said softly, and there was a thread of a smile in her voice. “I understand why you think the train is a good idea.”

She tipped her head back to look up at him.

He smiled. “There you have it.”

“Have what?”

“The next time we’re scheduled to debate in public, let’s do this first.”

“You mean rock each other’s world?”

“If you want to put it that way.”

She laughed, dropping her forehead to rest against his chest. “You’re out of your mind.”

“It’s the only thing we’ve found that works.”

She shook her head against him, pulling back. “You don’t particularly like me, really.”

Something contracted inside Seth’s chest, leaving him feeling hollow, regretful. “I like you, Darby,” he told her softly. “I disagree with you, and I’m a little intimidated by you. But I like you just fine.”

“I don’t intimidate you,” she stated with conviction.

How wrong she was there.

Then curiosity crept into her tone. “How do I intimidate you?”

The air was cooling their damp skin. Sounds from outside, a voice, a bird, the wind, began to filter into the room.

“You’re smart,” Seth told her, easing slightly away. “You’re feisty. If I dare to make one wrong move, you pounce like a puma.”

He reached to the floor, handing her the bra and tank top.

“You intimidate me back,” she told him. “You’re a brick wall. And if I’m not careful, I’ll break myself against you.”

She took the clothing he handed her, shrugging into the white, lacy bra.

His brain took a snapshot of the acutely sexy picture, filing it away for later. She was beyond incredible, all smooth, honey-toned skin, mussed hair, swollen lips.

She pulled the tank top over her head and slid down from the table.