Part 10 (1/2)

A s.h.i.+ver swept through him. ”I like it, too.” And then he showed her just how much when he parted her feminine folds and let his tongue go to work. Her taste stirred a yearning in him that could only be appeased this particular way and by doing this precise thing. And the sound of her moans, her whimpers, the tightening of her legs around his shoulders, and the sweet liquor her body was producing, sent what seemed like an unquenchable greed through him.

He knew it was only a matter of time before she came and when that thought raced through him the pressure of his tongue inside of her increased, lapping her up like his very life depended on it. And when he felt Chloe's body jerk beneath his mouth he held on tight, knowing her spasms would soon become his.

They did. And with as much pleasure as his mental state could take, he went for the gusto, using his tongue to push her even more so over the edge while keeping his mouth locked tight to her.

Chloe was convinced her mind was splintering under the intensity of the explosion that ripped through her. She breathed in sharply and felt the lower half of her body actually being lifted off the bed, but Ramsey was there, holding on tight to her, gripping her hips, keeping her bolted to his mouth.

His tongue was a.s.saulting her core as he continued to lap her up. She screamed out his name as spasms, as vicious as they could get, tore into her, spinning her senses out of control and into a turmoil or pa.s.sion.

It was only when the last tremble pa.s.sed through her that he released her and pulled back. There was nothing she could do but slump back on the bed. She felt weaker than water. She watched through partially closed lashes as he moved from the bed to remove his clothes.

She could only lay there, trying to get her breathing back to normal as she watched him lean over to take off his boots. He then straightened to unb.u.t.ton his s.h.i.+rt and then eased it off his muscular shoulders and tossed it aside. Sliding the bra.s.s buckle belt through the loops, he lowered his zipper before pus.h.i.+ng the jeans down his legs.

Even while lying there, with barely enough energy to breathe, Chloe watched as Ramsey removed every st.i.tch of clothing and then he stood, fully naked and all male. Her eyes latched on his erection, big and powerful, and upon seeing it, fiery sensations swept through her, giving her renewed energy while stirring desire within her all over again.

When he reached into the nightstand to retrieve a condom packet and tore it open with his teeth, before proceeding to roll it over his swollen shaft, she felt what amounted to fire raging through her veins. She exhaled a deep breath when he came back to the bed and with gentle hands he reached out and eased her legs apart.

Moments later, in position between them, he leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss so painstakingly tender that it almost brought tears to her eyes and made her fall in love with him that much more. When he tore his lips from her to pull back, he tilted her hips up to him before surging deep within her. The pleasure she felt with his entry sent a moan from deep within her throat. And then the mating of their bodies began as he eased in and out of her, giving her the pleasure her body was aching for.

”Look at me, baby. Feel me,” Ramsey said as his fingertips caressed her chin.

She did feel him. He was as deep as he could get and his need was raging just as out of control as hers. Then he picked up the tempo and she clung to him, determined to meet him on every level. Especially this one.

And when he called out her name in a guttural growl she knew that here, in bed, making love, the two of them were in the same sensual vibe. And when she cried out her pleasure, felt her body explode yet again, and knew he was following her over the edge, she could have sworn at that moment she actually felt his hot release shooting inside of her, all the way to the womb. But she knew that wasn't possible. She had watched him put on a condom. It was nothing more than her imagination at work, and when he continued to drive hard within her she knew the night was just beginning.

A long time later Chloe lay in Ramsey's arms in the position she'd discovered he liked the best: spoon style. Her backside was cus.h.i.+oned by his front and his muscular leg was thrown over hers. Her head was resting back on his chest and his arm was thrown over her middle.

She felt satiated, relaxed, secured. After their last lovemaking session, Ramsey had eased out of her and had gone into the bathroom to discard the condom and to put on another. He liked being ready and chances were today would not be any different than last night when they had made love, rested and made love again all through the night. However, at some point they needed to prepare something for dinner to keep up their strength.

They enjoyed each other and she couldn't see them not making love several more times before they finally drifted off to sleep. The thought that he desired her as much as she desired him made her heart thump rapidly in her chest.

She pulled in a deep breath knowing she had to level with him. No matter how he handled things she needed to tell him the truth. She would let him know she no longer wanted him to pose for the cover, nor did she want to do an article on him.

Knowing it was best to just get it over with, she turned into his arms. She could tell the move surprised him and deciding to just tell him and not waste any time, she took a quick breath and said, ”Ramsey, there's something I need to tell you.”

Ramsey quickly placed a finger to Chloe's lips. Knowing his sisters and how desperate they were for him to become involved with a woman, they had probably gone overboard, shaken her up by tossing her some ideas she wasn't quite ready to catch. So she was about to bail out. Let him know that for her things weren't quite that serious. He understood, but he wasn't ready to hear her acknowledge that yet.

At the end of the week, right before she left for good, then they would talk. He would tell her of his desire to see her again when her work here ended. He wanted to take her out, make love to her, he wanted for them to continue what they had started here. He recalled what he'd said to Dillon earlier that day and knew that he did did want it to be that kind of a party. want it to be that kind of a party.

”Let's not get into a serious discussion about anything. Not now. We can discuss any serious topics on your last day. I need to continue to have the peace I've found with you, Chloe. Could you hold your thoughts for a while and give me that?”

She slowly nodded. ”Yes, I can give you that.”

”And,” he continued by saying, ”with shearing wrapping up this week, the sheep that's not pregnant will be taken to pasture and-”

”You have a lot of sheep pregnant?”

He smiled. ”Yes, almost half my herd.”

He saw the look of surprise on her face. ”How did that many sheep get pregnant at the same time?”

”It's timed that way. The female sheep, the ewes, are put out with the rams during mating season and five months later they deliver during what is call lambing. That's when the lamb is born. Luckily ewes won't deliver the same day, but typically they will all deliver within a two-week period of each other.”

”Wow!”

He chuckled. In a way he was pleased with Chloe's interest in his ranch. ”The rams and the wethers are-”

”Wethers?”

”Yes, castrated male sheep,” he explained. ”While the pregnant ewes are lambing, the rams and wethers and the ewes that aren't pregnant are taken to pasture by the sheepherders. And that is where most of them will be for the next few months out on the pasture grazing.”

An idea popped into his head. ”One of my men, Pete Overton, won't be able to begin sheepherding until Sunday morning, so I'm going to drive his herd out to pasture early Sat.u.r.day morning and get things all set up for him. Will you come with me? We'll be back here before noon Sunday.”

Chloe smiled up at Ramsey. She had wanted to come clean and tell him the truth, but he preferred they hold off and not discuss anything serious until her last day. That was fine with her because she knew that once she told him the truth he would probably be upset with her.

She leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. ”Yes, I'd love to go with you.”

Ten.

Over the next few days Chloe accepted the realization that she was falling in love with Ramsey. They would share a bed each night and get up before daybreak every morning and together they would prepare breakfast for the men.

It was during those times that he would share more information about his life as a sheepherder and had begun telling her about members of his family. Five of his siblings had been under sixteen when his parents had gotten killed-Megan, Gemma, the twins by the name of Adrian and Aiden, and his sister Bailey. Zane had been a senior in high school, ready to go off to college and Derringer had been about to enter his senior year of high school. His cousin Dillon had been placed in a similar situation with four siblings under sixteen.

From what Ramsey told her, Adrian and Aiden were now in their last year of college at Harvard, as was their cousin Stern. Another cousin by the name of Canyon was in medical school at Howard University in D.C. Brisbane was in the Navy. Micah, who was Zane's counterpart in age, was a graduate from Harvard Medical School and was an epidemiologist with the federal government.

Just listening to Ramsey share information with her about his family's turbulent years and the struggle that he and Dillon had had to endure to keep their families together, she had to admire the two men. Although she had yet to meet Dillon, she had met another one of his brothers, Riley, and found him to be just as handsome as the others.

And Ramsey had shared more information about sheepherding with her. One afternoon they had walked around his ranch. He had taken her to where the lambing stalls were and explained how next week more than a thousand of his ewes would be delivering. She had found the whole process fascinating. He had also given her a tour of the shearing plant and she was able to watch the men at work. She'd seen the dogs at work, too, and Ramsey had explained how important the sheepdogs were in managing and protecting the herds. You could definitely see that running a sheep ranch required maintaining a tight schedule and sticking to it.

Hanging the last pot back on the rack, she turned when she heard the back door open and smiled when Ramsey walked in. Closing the door behind him, and without missing a step, he crossed the kitchen floor and pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

Chloe returned the kiss, for the moment refusing to acknowledge that she was making it harder and harder to leave after this weekend, to walk away and not to look back. The thought of doing so caused her heart to ache, but that's what she would be doing. She decided she didn't want to think beyond it, so she tightened her arms around him as he deepened his kiss. His mouth slanted against hers and she could feel her knees weaken.

Moments later he broke off the kiss and pulled back slightly and whispered against her moist lips. ”Why do you always taste so sweet?”

His words further eroded her sensibility. He sounded so serious like there was truly an answer for his question. There wasn't one, so she shook her head, tilted it up and smiled at him. ”For the same reason you always taste so delicious.”

And to show him just what she meant, she took the tip of her tongue and licked a corner of his mouth. The instant she did, his long eyelashes swept upward to reveal the depths of his darkened gaze, and she could just imagine what he was thinking now.