Callum turned back to her. “So what do you think?”
Gemma smiled. “I think I’m going to love it here.”
Eight
The next morning, after taking his shower, Callum dressed as he gazed out his bedroom window at the beautiful waters of the ocean. For some reason he believed it was going to be a wonderful day. He was back home and the woman he intended to share his life with was sleeping under his roof.
As he stepped into his shoes, he had to admit that he missed being back in Denver, working the ranch and spending time with the men he’d come to know over the past three years. During that time Ramsey had needed his help and they’d formed a close bond. Now Ramsey’s life had moved in another direction. Ramsey was truly happy. He had a wife and a baby on the way and Callum was happy for his friend.
And more than anything he intended to find some of that same happiness for himself.
As he buttoned up his shirt, he couldn’t help but think about the kiss he and Gemma had shared last night. The taste of her was still on his tongue. He’d told her that he wouldn’t kiss her again until she gave the word, and he intended to do everything within his power to make sure she gave it—and soon.
The one thing he knew about Gemma was that she was stubborn. If you wanted to introduce an idea to her, you had to make her think that it had been her idea. Otherwise, she would balk at any suggestion you made. He had no problems doing that. When he put his seduction plan into motion, he would do it in such a way that she would think she was seducing him.
The thought of such a thing—her seducing him—had his manhood flexing. Although his feelings for Gemma were more than sexual, he couldn’t help those nightly dreams that had plagued him since first meeting her. He’d seen her stripped bare—in his dreams. He’d tasted every inch of her body—in his dreams. And in his dreams he’d constantly asked what she wanted. What she needed from him to prove that she was his woman in every way.
Last night after he’d shown her the guestroom she would be using and had brought in their luggage, she had told him she was still suffering from jet lag and planned to retire early. She had quickly moved into her bedroom and had been sequestered there ever since. That was fine. In time she would find out that, when it came to him, she could run but she most certainly couldn’t hide.
He would let her try to deny this thing that was developing between them, but she would discover soon enough that he was her man.
But what he wanted and needed right now was another kiss. He smiled, thinking his job was to make sure she felt that she needed another kiss as well. And as he walked out of his bedroom he placed getting another kiss at the top of his agenda.
Gemma stood in her bare feet in front of the window in Callum’s kitchen as she gazed out at the beach. The view was simply amazing. She’d never seen anything like it.
One year while in college, during spring break weekend, she and a few friends had driven from Nebraska to Florida to spend the weekend on the beach in Pensacola. There she had seen a real beach with miles and miles of the purest blue-green waters. She was convinced that the Pacific Ocean was even more breathtaking and she’d come miles and miles away from home to see it.
Home.
Although she did miss home, she considered being in Australia an adventure as well as a job. Because of the difference in time zones, when she’d retired last night, she hadn’t made any calls, but she intended to try to do so today. Megan was keeping tabs on the bank situation involving Niecee. With the money Callum had advanced her, her bank account was in pretty good shape, with more than enough funds to cover her debts. But she had no intention of letting Niecee get away with what she’d done. She had yet to tell anyone else in the family, other than Megan and Bailey, about the incident and planned on keeping things that way until the funds had been recovered and were back in her bank account.
She took another sip of her coffee, thinking about the kiss she and Callum had shared last night. Okay, she would admit it had been more than off the chain and the climax was simply shocking. Just the thought gave her sensuous shivers and was making her body tingle all over. What Callum had done with his tongue in her mouth and his fingers between her legs made her blush.