Jake stiffened and ice ran through his veins at the thought of the topic of her marriage with another man even coming up.
"He keeps asking me to marry him. Repeatedly. I don't want to at all. It scares me to think of tying myself to him for life."
She looked up at him. Jake was entranced with the beauty of her face. She was lushly exotic, provocatively so. Her eyes were slanted, like a cat's. Jake felt their effect blaze through him. His body hardened against her. He was beginning to crave her sweetness continually. Her softness tantalized him. This goddamn need for her wasn't going away. He put his hands on her face and lifted. She raised her arms and grasped his wrists as their eyes tangled. He tried to fight it, but his head slowly lowered and he tasted her lips.
Becky hu
ng in fascinated suspension as his lips touched hers. Pleasure, unlike anything she had ever felt rushed through her veins. Her world spun. Her breathing quickened. He pressed his lips firmly on hers and moved them back and forth.
Jake kept a tight leash on the lust that held him. He wanted to give her the kiss she so obviously wanted. But he couldn't take the kind of kiss that he needed so desperately. She was young and innocent, and he absolutely would not terrorize her with his uncontrolled desire.
Excitement and passion slid through Becky as she hung onto his wrists for dear life. His scent filled her lungs, and he took sips and licks of her mouth. Her nipples tightened when he opened his mouth and took her bottom lip and sucked on it. She felt dazed as her hips, of their own volition, moved toward his torso. She pushed into him. He pulled his mouth away.
They stood together, their breathing labored. Her body was soft, pliant in his arms. "Do you see now why you can't keep coming here?" His arms tightened around her.
"I guess so," she said miserably. "But I d-don't want to go back East. I like it here. I like cleaning for you, doing everything for you--"
"You don't do everything for me, Becky." His words were harsh. "But I don't want you to leave town, either." He swore under his breath.
"I'm going to have to. You don't want to marry me, and--"
He cut her off with a perplexed snort. "You don't want to marry Kyle, but you want to marry me?" His words held a touch of amazement. "What the hell for?"
Becky struggled to answer. "I--I--"
"Do you know what marriage to me would entail?"
Silence met his words.
"Do you, Becky? Do you understand what it would mean?"
Becky felt her legs tingle as a shocking wetness gathered between her thighs. Oh God, yes, she did. The same thing that repelled her so much when she thought about doing it with Kyle, had just the opposite effect on her when she thought of doing it with Jake.
She wanted to marry him more than anything else in the world. She loved him beyond belief. He fascinated her like no one else. He was such a harsh man, and yet he captivated her completely. She had to convince him that she wasn't a child anymore.
She boldly raised her eyes to his. Their bodies were still entwined, with his arms around her and her hands clutching his chest. "Yes." Her fingers played with a button on his shirt. "It means that I would keep cleaning for you, and washing your sheets just like I've always done." Her fingers came dangerously close to touching a hard, masculine nipple. "It means I would cook your favorite foods." She looked at the window and back at him. "It means that I could sew curtains for the windows, and pick wildflowers for the table." She hesitated. "And--"
Jake listened to her spin a delicious picture of blissful domesticity around them. He wanted to hear more. His grasp on her tightened unconsciously. "And? And, what else, Becky?"
Becky worked up her nerve to say what he wanted to hear. "And it means that I w-would sleep in your b-bed at night." She finished with a demand of her own. "It means that you would never be l-late for supper again."
Heat slammed into him as desire pierced him. His grip tightened on her as his hands caressed her spine. Her words and her hands on his chest were drugging him. "Jesus Christ, do you actually know why I come home late?"
She nodded her head and a vision of what she was promising him made sweat trickle down his spine. But he needed to clarify that she understood. That he understood. "And if we were to get married, you wouldn't want me to be late? Is that what you're saying, sweetheart?" He lifted her chin and his eyes blazed into hers. "You're promising to give me everything I need right here at home?" God, he wanted that with her.
Her hips swayed into his. "Oh yes, Sheriff--"
"Jake. Say my name," he growled.
"J-Jake. I wouldn't like it at all if you were late." Her fingers continued to play with the buttons on his shirt. Her eyes flashed up at him. "I promise, I swear I'll make a good wife, Jake. If--if you t-teach me w-what to d-do, I promise you won't w-want to be late."
Jake felt like he had taken three shots of whiskey at once. Her effect on him was that strong. That potent. He felt her sorcery surround him and her allure bewitch him. He knew he was on the precipice of the biggest decision he had ever made. He had ached for her so long, for so many years, he had waited for her to grow up. Her ethereal beauty titillating him, her tender care surrounding him.
His conscience battled against the need he had for her. She was so young, so sweet, so damn innocent. He was a hardened lawman, constantly engaged in a ruthless fight to keep the town safe. Any softness he might have ever had, was long since gone. Too many years of fighting in a relentless, never ending war had hardened him. Years of trying to enforce the law with not enough help and too few resources had left him feeling older than his years. He didn't feel like he deserved her goodness, he didn't want to rob her of her wholesome youth.
In his heart, he knew she wasn't too young for marriage. He was so conditioned to thinking of her as too young, to protect her from himself. She was on the cusp of womanhood, and her beauty was exquisite. Other girls were getting married at her age, even younger. And he knew with her looks, it was only a matter of time before Bolton or some other man caught her. He couldn't take that chance. Resentment and jealousy surged through him when he thought of someone else marrying her. Touching her. It couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it happen.
He had to have her. She was his. And nobody would take her from him.