Wild Ride Rancher

She looked down at him and watched him taking her so intimately, and that only fed those dancing flames within. Chloe shifted, moved, rocked, all to ratchet up the expectation and the tightening coil of pleasure inside. Again and again, he licked her, nibbled at her, then he slipped one finger inside her and the combination was just too much for her.

She couldn’t hold on a moment longer, couldn’t stretch out the pleasure for a second more. When her climax hit, Chloe screamed his name and shuddered with the force of the release shaking her. It seemed to go on and on, and she rode those endless waves with a whimpering shiver.

Liam stood, shucked the rest of his clothes and was on her in an instant. He pushed his body deeply within hers while she was still trembling. Chloe wouldn’t have thought it possible for her to climax again so quickly, but Liam made everything possible.

She wrapped her legs around his hips, taking him as deeply as possible. He looked down into her eyes and she read the hunger there. She matched it, needing him more even than she had a moment ago. With sure, purposeful strokes, he claimed her, pushing her higher and higher until finally, her body exploded again, and this time she took him with her. While she held him close, while they were linked so intimately, they plunged into the shadows and made them shine.

* * *

After a long, satisfying night of sex, Chloe woke up wrapped in Liam’s arms, and just for a moment, she paused to savor it. As wonderful as the night had been, she knew that nothing between them had been solved. Nothing had been talked out or decided.

As intimate as they were, as closely joined, Liam was holding back from her and she didn’t know why.

“I can hear you thinking,” he murmured.

“Yeah.” She glanced out the window to where dawn was just streaking the sky with shades of rose and gold. Soon they’d be up and working, each of them doing what they were supposed to do, neither of them talking about what they were going to do.

And she couldn’t stand it.

Pushing away from him, she went up on one elbow to look down into his eyes. “What’s happening here, Liam?”

He reached to tuck her hair behind her ear. “We had a great night and now it’s morning.”

“Don’t do that,” she said, shaking her head. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I want to know what’s happening between us.” Cupping his cheek with her palm, she said, “I’m not talking about the camp or the ranch or anything else. Just us.”

He sighed and rolled out of bed. “I’m not doing this now, Chloe.”

“The problem is, you never want to do it.”

Liam glanced at her over his shoulder. “And yet you keep pushing.”

“Of course I do, Liam. I want to know.” Her gaze swept over his hard, tanned body. She knew every line, every scar. And yet, there was so much locked inside him that he was keeping from her.

“Maybe you don’t.” The words were enigmatic and only served to feed her need to hear the truth.

Sitting up, she tugged the sheet high enough to cover her breasts. “Why not? Like you said, we’ve only got a few days left in this bargain, so let’s at least have honesty between us.”

He grabbed a pair of jeans and yanked them on, not bothering to do up the button fly. His hair was too long, and he shoved it back from his face. “What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about this’ do you not get?”

“All of it,” she countered. “What part of ‘talk to me anyway,’ do you not get?”

He fired a hard look at her, then stomped out of the room. She knew he was headed for the kitchen. For coffee. So she grabbed his dress shirt from the night before, pulled it on and followed him.

He was standing at the sink, staring out at the ranch and gulping that coffee like it was the only thing keeping him alive. He didn’t even glance at her when she walked into the room. Chloe poured herself a cup of coffee because going into a confrontation without it was just unthinkable. And judging from the set of his shoulders and the hard line of his jaw, this was going to be a battle.

“Tell me,” she demanded. “There’s more going on here than just an issue with me. So why don’t you start with why you hate the wealthy so much. You’re rich, too, remember?”