The Cowboy's Pride and Joy

Relief coursed through her as she looked up into his eyes. “Really?”

“Really.” He stroked the tip of one finger down the center of her chest and she shivered. “Remember me? The recluse? The guy who likes privacy?”

“Privacy’s good...”

With the edges of her shirt still hanging open, it was easy for him to flick open the front clasp of her bra, baring her breasts to him. The kiss of the cool air on her skin gave her a chill, but the heat of his touch followed so quickly after, Cass hardly noticed.

Now that she knew no one could see them, there was almost a thrill to standing in front of those windows while he touched her. She could see their reflection in the glass and was mesmerized as his hands covered her breasts. His thumbs moved over her erect nipples, stroking, pulling, teasing, and everything in her lit up in reaction. Her heartbeat sped up, that throbbing ache between her thighs became more insistent, and her breath puffed in and out of her lungs in short, sharp gasps.

Then he bent his head and took one of her nipples into his mouth and what was left of the slippery threads of her control disappeared. All there was, was this moment. This man. His incredibly talented mouth.

Crazy or not, she was really going to do this. She was going to have sex with her boss’s son and she wasn’t going to regret it later, either. “Jake...”

“Yeah.” He lifted his head only long enough to take her mouth again in a brief, hard kiss. “We should move this upstairs and—”

In the distance, the front door slammed and they both jolted.

“Jake?” A man’s shout, echoing throughout the house.

“Damn it,” Jake muttered, “that’s my foreman, Charlie. Something must be wrong.”

“Go,” she whispered frantically, “go.”

He did, stalking from the room and down the hall. His boot heels sounded fainter and fainter the farther away he got. Fingers shaking, head still a little buzzed from sensation overload, Cass quickly hooked her bra and then did up the buttons on her shirt. Running her hands through her hair, she took a breath and nearly groaned as reality came crashing down on her.

For those few wonderful, amazing stolen moments, she’d forgotten about everything but what it had felt like to be touched by Jake. But now the chill of the room was overtaking the residual heat inside her, and clarity was also rearing up its ugly head.

That skank alarm she’d heard so distantly was now clanging like church bells, reverberating through her brain. What had she been thinking? Well, that answer was easy enough. She hadn’t been. Not at all. She’d given in to what she was feeling without a single thought for what would inevitably come after.

Now, with a few moments to actually have a thought and recognize it, she knew that what they’d almost done would have been a colossal mistake. She was here for one night. What if Elise found out? Her boss had sent her out here on business, not to jump into bed with her son. Oh God, this was just so humiliating.

Before she had time to really revel in what an idiot she was, Cass heard Jake coming back to the study. The man’s boots pounded against the floor in obviously hurried strides. She couldn’t be standing here waiting to be ravished when he arrived, either. Cass bent down, scooped up the signed papers from the floor and clutched them to her chest like a medieval shield.

She would have to let him down nicely. Tell him that she’d done some thinking—finally—and that it would be better if they both forgot about what had happened.

“That’s it. Easy,” she whispered and hoped when she talked to Jake she sounded more confident. Because even she didn’t believe her.

He stopped in the open doorway and the shadows hid most of his expression. All she could really see was the grim slash of his mouth as he stared at her.

“Look,” he said tightly. “I’m needed out in the barn, so I can’t be in here with you.”

Disappointment and regret bubbled up inside her in spite of the fact that she’d been about to give him nearly the same speech. He was cutting her off before she could do the same to him. Why that bothered her, she couldn’t have said. “Is there a problem?”

He walked farther into the room and now she could see his eyes. They were flat and cool, and absolutely none of the passion she’d seen moments ago was visible now. He stood stiffly, shoulders squared, like the marine he had been. It was as if he’d already distanced himself from her and was now only going through the physical motions.

“Yeah,” he said. “There is. One of the mares is in labor. Not going well. The vet’s on her way here now.”