Too Fast to Fall (Jackson Hole 1.10)

No, he gripped her hips now and pressed her closer. She was tempted to raise her knee. To wrap a leg around him. Just to get closer, to feel him between her thighs.

This was crazy. She hardly knew him. It was the first time they’d really touched. Which only made it more delicious, of course. The shocking press of their bodies together. The scandalous thrill as she realized he was hard. Hard for her. Turned on by the taste and heat of her mouth. Aroused by her fingers tightening in his hair. If she invited him to her bed, he’d oblige her. There was no doubt in her mind. She could tell by the way he pulled her closer. The way the thick length of him pressed into her belly.

Oh, God. The thick length.

She wanted that. Needed it. And if this was a mistake, if it was stupid…hadn’t she already been considering that it was time to go? Time to move on? She could leave Jackson. But first, she needed him inside her.

She turned her face away, meaning to ask, but before she could find her voice, he put his mouth to her neck and sucked gently at the sensitive skin.

“Oh, fuck,” she moaned. Her weakness. If he bit her, she’d be— “Oh, God.” His teeth pressed into her nerves with exactly the pressure most likely to make her arch her back like a stray cat in heat. Which she did, rocking against his erection with a gasp of pleasure.

She felt his breath shiver over her wet skin.

“Will you…?” she tried, not quite sure what to say or how to make her voice work properly. She inhaled a deeper breath, trying to ignore the careful scrape of his teeth down her skin. “Would you…?”

“Yes.” That one simple word and it tore through her, destroying any self-control. She hadn’t even finished the sentence. Yes to anything. Yes to whatever she wanted.

He stood straight, his hand sliding to fold her fingers into his.

“Do you want to follow me—?” she started, meaning to ask if he wanted to follow her home or ride in her car. But her words were cut off by the loud rattle of an approaching engine. She waited for it to pass, but the racket just got louder, and suddenly the headlights were sweeping into the lot of the Crooked R.

Jenny didn’t recognize the beat-up white panel van that turned in, but she watched it come to a rocking halt, anyway. A panel van was never a welcome sight in the middle of the night. It called to mind all the cautionary made-for-TV movies she’d seen about kidnappings and serial killers. Still, she had her own personal deputy standing right next to her. There was really nothing to fear. Nothing except…

The van door screeched open and out stepped Ellis.

Jenny groaned.

“Let me take care of this.” Nate’s voice had turned so hard and clipped that it seemed impossible he’d been kissing her neck so softly just seconds before. When he took a step forward, she put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“No, really. He’s harmless.”

“Jenny!” Ellis called with a goofy grin, as if she weren’t standing in the dark with another man. Good Lord. Nothing affected him. Ten years ago, she’d thought he was laid-back and sweet. He was. He was also vulnerable and way too open.

His eyes focused on Nate for a brief moment, and Ellis offered the same open smile. If he’d noticed the intimacy between the two of them, Ellis still wouldn’t be jealous. He never had been, which was why he hadn’t understood her reaction to his occasional slipup.

Nate seemed to accept the man’s harmlessness at that moment. The arm she’d been grasping lost a taut readiness she hadn’t registered until it disappeared.

“See?” she said under her breath. “He’s no danger to me.”

Well, not in the physical sense. But he was becoming a terrible danger to her love life.

Her heart sank to her stomach when she realized she’d have to send Nate away. Her body practically screamed its objection to that idea. It wanted him. Now. And it didn’t care what price needed to be paid for that privilege. But her brain was working with an unfortunate clarity. She’d asked Ellis to meet her at closing time, and he had, if a little late.

But maybe she could come up with some excuse. Maybe she could meet him another time. Then again, if she talked to him tonight, it might be done and over.

They stood in an awkward silence until Jenny finally made herself do the right thing.

“I’m sorry. I forgot I asked him to meet me. I didn’t know you’d be here. I should really… Damn. Maybe I could call you tomorrow?”

“Jenny, I don’t know.”

Ellis finally shrugged and approached with his familiar lope, so Nate lowered his voice. “I’m not comfortable leaving it like this.?

??

Neither was she. She was still reeling from that kiss. She was still wet and aching. But she pasted on a smile. “You’d better go,” she said, trying not to let her voice crack with grief.

Nate finally stopped watching Ellis and turned toward Jenny. She wanted to blurt out an apology right then. Wanted to explain or backtrack or something. But instead she met his gaze and smiled.