"It doesn't seem normal," she confessed in a small voice. "We just . . ." Her voice trailed off and she made a face. "I'm still upset with you."
"There's no reason to be upset, Emma. You misread what I was doing. I can understand, after our earlier conversation, why you thought that, but never think it again. You're mine, and I would never want you for my own if I didn't respect you."
He pulled a small box from his jeans. "This is for you. I had it made for you and if you put it on your finger, Emma, there's no taking it back."
He opened the box. The ring was unusual; brilliant golden diamonds shone up at her. They looked like a cat's eye, the way they were shaped.
She sucked in her breath and put both hands behind her back to keep from reaching for it. "Jake." She shook her head. "If I do this, you know you'll be worse. You control everything, you can't help yourself, and that's a serious red flag for me."
"I know I'm different, Emma," Jake said, his voice low. It held that same hypnotic note she found so sexy. He leaned toward her, cupping her chin in his hand and bringing her face around to look at him. "Is it so bad having me be in control?"
The question was so soft, so low, his voice moving through her body like a thick, molten lava. She felt her body's reaction and it frightened her--frightened her that she wanted to say no when she knew better.
"Have these last two years really been so difficult? Anytime you've come to me with a problem or a complaint, haven't I acted on it immediately?"
"What about the gate, Jake? I couldn't leave tonight. What about that?" She hated that she had a pleading note in her voice. She knew him. She knew he couldn't be any different, that control was a huge issue to him. Even if he promised her, how could he be anything but what he was?
"I should have explained to you, but I didn't want to scare you, Emma. That was wrong of me, but you've never wanted to leave the ranch before. When you did, you always told me well in advance and I could arrange for protection both for you and the children. I have enemies and they would hurt you and they'd take our children."
"What enemies? Are you certain you're just not being paranoid? You don't trust anyone at all, Jake."
"With good reason. No, I'm not paranoid. I wish I were. I've had to step up security over these last few months because evidence has come to my attention that someone plans to strike at me through you and the children."
She frowned. "Why would they try to use me to get to you?"
He sighed, his thumb rubbing across her lips as if to erase her frown. "You're the only person who would have to ask me that question. Aside from the children, Emma, who else do I care about? Everyone sees it but you."
"Jake." She looked at the ring. He just held it out there as if it were his heart. He looked so lonely. But . . .
"I need you far more than someone like Greg Patterson or even Andrew needs you. Look at me, Emma. I need you. I've never said that to another human being. It won't be easy. I have a high sex drive and I won't leave you alone. I'm protective and dominating--okay, controlling--and I don't have social skills. I can't promise you I won't be hell to live with, but I can promise you I'll do everything in my power to make you happy."
He took the ring out off the velvet and slipped the box back into his pocket. "Marry me. Spend your life with me. I'll spend my life making you happy."
He was putting the ring on her finger. She could feel the weight of it. He had been the one to take off Andrew's ring when she lay in bed and her hands were swelling and she was afraid they'd have to cut it off. He'd been careful and he'd wrapped it up and put it in her top drawer. He was just as gentle when he slipped his ring on her finger.
"Jake, are you certain this is what you want?" She reached up to his face and pressed her fingers against his warm skin. It was cold outside, but, as always, he was hot. It was as if his core temperature was so much hotter than anybody else's.
Jake's wrapped his hand in the red silk of her hair and pulled her head back to bring his mouth down on hers. Savage triumph whipped through him. He'd done it. He'd finally done it. Emma was his. He pressed his tongue into her mouth, sliding over hers, dragging the sweet taste of her into his own mouth. His hands found her top and dragged it from her body, uncaring that the material ripped. He unsnapped her bra and tossed it away. "Your jeans. Get rid of your jeans." He was already dispensing with his clothes.
Emma looked around carefully. "We're out in the open, Jake. There aren't any trees. What if one of the men . . ."
He kicked his clothes aside and dragged hers from her hips. "I'd know if someone came near." His voice went harsh and guttural as he lifted her up by her arms and deposited her on the hood of the Jeep, pushing her legs over his shoulder and dipping his head to the hot, wet core of her. She tasted even sweeter than he remembered. She was addictive.
She moaned and pushed against his mouth, seeking more, her body melting for him. Even with her as responsive as she was, he felt the small shiver that ran through her body and noticed the gooseflesh on her skin.
"I'd spend all night here with you, honey, but you're cold and I need to get you home. I've never taken you in a bed before."
He lifted her again, positioning her over his thickened shaft. "Hold on, honey," he managed to growl and he dropped her hard right down on him. The large mushroom head drove through her tight folds as she encased him, and he threw back his head as pleasure streaked through him like fire. She was so tight. So hot. He felt as if she were strangling him, gripping with a silken fist whose center was a fiery inferno. He felt like he'd come home.
"Ride me. Arch your back and move, Emma. Yes, just like that. Slow and easy until you get the rhythm. You were made for this. We fit. I swear, baby, I feel like we've done this a million times and yet every time is the first."
Emma moved over Jake, choosing a leisurely rhythm, but when he caught her hips to urge her faster and harder, she shook her head and framed his face with her hands.
"Look at me, Jake," she said softly.
Jake's fingers bit into her hips, determined to take control. Her long waterfall of hair cloaked them, the breeze shifting the thick waves around their bodies like a living, silken cape. He could feel the soft strands sliding over his bare skin, adding to the erotic feel, heightening his pleasure, but the physical pleasure paled in comparison to the emotional, and he couldn't have that. He couldn't face that. He didn't want to know the truth about what she was doing to him. He couldn't give what she was taking from him. He had to distract her--had to distract himself so he was lost in the fire of their bodies, so their joining was the greatest sex and had nothing to do with making love.
Emma shook her head. "No, Jake. Look at me." Her voice was soft. Persuasive. Insistent.
The muscles of his stomach bunched into hard knots. He didn't dare look at her, because if he did, right at that moment, when he was buried deep inside her and his world was magical and pleasure ripped through him, he knew he wouldn't be able to hide the truth from either one of them. She would see. He would have to face it.
"Jake." She whispered his name and her voice slid over his skin like warm honey. This time there was a catch in her voice. A question.
He felt that soft little sound deep inside his chest, wrapping around his heart and squeezing like a vise. There was no resisting. There was no stopping the truth from pouring out of him. It rose up like a tidal wave. He raised his gaze slowly to hers. He saw her swift intake of breath. Felt her body relax into his, felt the giving of herself pouring into him, body and soul.
Tears burned behind his eyelids. Love. So this was what it felt like. Not just emotional, but physical too. Everything wrapped together until it was all in one bundle, one tight package, one woman. Until that one woman was everything. He stared into her eyes as eternity ticked by, letting her see, knowing that for the first time in his life he was truly vulnerable to another human being. She could destroy him, and now she knew that she could. He swallowed hard and buried his face in her neck.
Emm
a wrapped her arms tightly around Jake, holding him close, protectively, knowing how fragile he was. She had everything she needed to stay strong, to guide them through. Jake would be difficult and he'd fight hard to keep any control from her, but he'd given her everything in that one moment.
Where Andrew had been sweet and kind and reverent with her body, Jake was just the opposite. And he was right--he needed her more than a man like Andrew did. Jake's life was a storm of intensity. He used sex to control her, yet now, after she'd seen true reverence in his eyes, she knew the truth. He worshiped her. He looked at her with his heart in his eyes, as if she were the very air he breathed, the ground he walked on.
"You're safe with me," she whispered, and threw her head back as she felt the tightening of her inner muscles, felt pleasure streaking through her body like fire and heard roaring in her ears. She held him to her, giving him everything, letting him know in the only way he could understand--by her absolute surrender--that she was fully committed to him.
Jake dragged in his breath, fighting the waves of intense emotion that seemed to shake him every time he was near Emma. He couldn't ignore the truth anymore, or at least he couldn't hide it from himself. In trying to force her to love him, he had become tangled in his own web. She was wrapped around his heart, his soul, even his mind. She was so entangled inside of him, there was no way to get her out. He would have to find a way to live with it. Emma. She made him so vulnerable, he was terrified. Terrified she could destroy him. Terrified of losing her. Terrified of what she made him feel.
Shaken, he allowed her feet to drop to the ground, although he held her, feeling the tremors running through her, knowing she was still unsteady. The wind shifted. One moment he was surrounded by the scent of his woman, of their combined lovemaking, potent, heady, an aphrodisiac in itself, and the next he was smelling--rival. Enemy. Trouble.