An unexpected sense of completeness settled over him—a sense of finding something he’d been searching for his whole life—and he didn’t want the kiss to end. He didn’t want this maddening arousal to end.
If he’d had any idea that it would be like this again he wasn’t sure that he would have started it. But now that he had he didn’t want to stop. Ever. She tasted so sweet. So silky. So good.
He made a sound low in his throat when she circled her pelvis against his in an age-old request and he couldn’t think after that. Could only grab her hips and smooth his hands over her firm backside to mould her against him. ‘Yes,’ he whispered roughly against her mouth. ‘Kiss me, chiquita. Give me everything.’
And she did. Without reservation. Her mouth devouring his as if she too had dreamed of this over and over and over. As if she too couldn’t live without—
‘Ow!’
Her sharp cry of pain echoed his deeper one as something pushed the back of his head and bumped his forehead into hers. He pulled back and glared over his shoulder to where the horse he had just agreed to purchase snorted in disgust.
Aspen blinked dazedly, rubbing at her head. Then the stunned look on her face cleared and he knew their impromptu little make out session had well and truly finished.
‘You bastard.’
She raised her arm and slapped his face. The sound echoed in the cavernous stall and he worked his jaw as heat bloomed where her palm had connected.
About to tell her that she had a good arm, he was shocked to see that she had turned white and looked as if she might pass out.
‘Aspen?’
She looked at him as if he had hit her. ‘Now look what you made me do!’ she cried.
Well, wasn’t that typical of her—to blame him?
‘I didn’t make you do anything. You hit me. And if I’m not mistaken all because you enjoyed my kisses just a little too much.’
‘Oh!’
She pushed against him with all her might and he was only too glad to step away from her.
‘I’ve already turned down one slimy rat today and now I’m turning down another.’ Her glare alone could have buried him. ‘Now, get off my property before I have every man available throw you off.’
‘I’m flattered you think it would take that many.’
‘Oh, I bet you are.’ Every inch of her trembled with feminine outrage. ‘But I’m not prepared to take chances with a bully like you.’
‘I didn’t bully you, chiquita. You were asking for it.’
‘Don’t call me that.’
Cruz rubbed his jaw and scowled. ‘What?’
‘You know what.’
His brain must still have been on a go-slow because he couldn’t recall what he’d called her. The thought irked him enough that he said, ‘Maybe you should think about the way you act and dress if you don’t want men thinking you’re free and easy in bed.’
‘Oh, my God. Are you serious?’
‘Silky dresses that outline every curve, killer heels and just-out-of-bed hair all tell a man what’s what.’
Fascinated, he watched her pull herself up to her full five feet and four inches—six in the heels.
‘Any man who judges me on the way I look isn’t worth a dime. You and Billy—’
Cruz raised his hand, cutting short her dramatic tirade. ‘I am not like him,’ he snarled.
‘Keep telling yourself that, Cruz.’ She tossed her head at him. ‘It might help you sleep better at night.’
‘I sleep just fine,’ he grated. ‘But if you should decide to change your high and mighty little mind about my offer I’ll be staying at the Boston International until tomorrow morning.’
‘Don’t hold your breath.’ She reefed open the stall door and stomped past him. ‘I’d have to be crazy to accept an offer like that.’
Cruz ran a shaky hand through his hair and listened to the staccato sound of her high heels hammering her ire against the stone floor.
Her words, ‘don’t hold your breath’ rang out in his head. Hadn’t he told his brother the same thing a few hours ago?
Hell. If he had, he couldn’t remember why.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘DAMMIT.’ ASPEN CURSED as her hair caught around the button she had just wrenched open on the front of her dress. ‘Stupid, idiotic hair.’
She yanked at it and winced when she heard the telltale crackle that indicated that she’d left a chunk behind. Then the pain set in and she rubbed her scalp.