Eight
The moment he closed the door to the master bedroom in the foreman’s cottage, Blake took Karly into his arms and captured her mouth with his. The hour-and-a-half drive from the Rusty Spur Ranch had taken its toll and he was wound up tighter than a two-dollar watch. Every nerve in his body was on high alert and he ached with the need to once again claim her as his wife.
His wife. Even the words felt right and if he’d had any doubts about marrying her before, they had been erased this evening. Watching her with his friends—seeing her play with little Aaron—had been enough to convince him that Karly was the woman for him. She fit in perfectly and he could tell that she and Tori would end up becoming best friends.
If this was even a glimpse of what their lives would be like as husband and wife, he’d be the happiest man alive for the rest of his days. And he fully intended to make sure she was the happiest woman.
Deepening the kiss, he gently stroked her tongue and explored her soft, sweet recesses. Her taste and eager response to the caress were all he could have hoped for. Reaching down, he tugged the tail of her T-shirt from the waistband of her jeans.
Her warm, satiny skin was like a fine piece of silk beneath his calloused palms. Easing away from the kiss, he skimmed his lips along her jawline and down her neck to the fluttering pulse at the base of her throat. “Sweetheart, I’d like to go slow and love every inch of you. But I need you so much right now, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible.”
She caught his face with her delicate hands and lifted his head until their gazes met. “You can go slow the next time, Blake. I need you now.”
“Thank God,” he said, burying his face in her silky blond hair. “I don’t think I could wait much longer, even if my life depended on it.”
“I feel the same way. I thought I would burst into flames when we were on the dance floor and I felt how much you needed me.” She shivered and he knew it had nothing to do with being chilled. “But I want you to do something for me.”
Without a second thought, he nodded. “Anything for you, Karly.”
“Let me make love to you,” she said, giving him a look that sent his hormones racing through his veins at the speed of light. “Do you mind?”
What man in his right mind would turn down a beautiful woman doing incredibly sexy things to his body?
“I need you to promise me something, Karly,” he said, pulling her close for a quick kiss.
“Wh-what’s that?” she asked, sounding a little short of breath.
“If I tell you to stop whatever you’re doing, can you give me your word that you will?”
She looked confused. “All right. But I don’t understand—”
“I want us to finish this race together,” he said, grinning.
He could tell she understood his meaning when she smiled. “I want that, too. I promise.”
“Good.” Stepping back, he held his arms wide. “I’m all yours, sweetheart.”
Karly wasted no time in pointing to the side of the bed. “If you’ll sit down, I’ll take your boots off.”
Looking forward to seeing what she had in mind, he did as she requested. He swallowed hard when she turned her back to him, straddled one of his legs and bent over. But when she started tugging on his boot and her delightful little bottom bobbed mere inches in front of his face, Blake was pretty sure he was going to have a coronary. By the time his boots and socks lay on the floor beside the bed, sweat had popped out on his forehead and his upper lip, and he felt like he just might need CPR.
“Sweetheart, why don’t we take off our clothes and get into bed,” he said, forcing himself to breathe as he stood up to unbuckle his belt. “Otherwise, I’m not going to last long enough to get to the main event.”
“I think that would be a good idea,” she said, sounding a little winded herself.
“I give you my word that I’ll let you take my clothes off me another time when I’m not so revved up,” he said, making quick work of his clothing.
He made it a point to keep his gaze averted while she removed hers. If he hadn’t, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have gone up in a blaze of glory.