Part 19 (2/2)
”If you ask me, I think it's the men who can't take their eyes off you.” He touched her hand possessively. ”I must be sure to let them know you're taken.”
They smiled at each other, a smile full of intimate secrets that shut out everyone else.
While Tara tried on clothes, he put the rest of his plan into action. He made calls on his cell phone, speaking in a low voice and watching for Tara to appear. Things were coming together just the way he wanted.
By the time they stopped for coffee late in the afternoon, she was glad to have a minute to catch her breath.
”You must be out of your mind,” she protested again. ”I don't need all these clothes.”
”Yes, you do. You need more color, more...everything. Besides, I love buying things for you, so don't argue with me. I'm a man who knows his own mind. Or so they tell me,” he chuckled.
”I feel like a kept woman,” she smiled.
”You are,” he said. ”And I'm the one who's keeping you. For a very long time.”
”Where did you learn so much about women's clothes, anyway?”
”Watching my brother. And don't ask me for details,” he grinned. ”My lips are sealed.”
Cole had planned for dinner on the Riverwalk, but by the time they finished at the mall, he agreed with Tara that home looked a lot better. ”We can pick up pizza or something on the way,” he said. ”That okay with you?”
”You bet. I'll be glad to get home.”
It took both of them to carry the bags to the bedroom. Tara hung up the things that needed hanging and left the rest for the next day.
”Right now, all I want is a shower,” she said.
She was already standing under the streaming hot water, letting it work on her still sore muscles, when she felt someone beside her, a hand sliding the soap along her spine.
”I believe this is my bathroom now, too,” Cole said in a low voice. ”And my shower.”
Her fatigue dissipated as he slowly lathered her body. He made her lean forward, bracing her arms against the wall, while he covered her back from her shoulders to her ankles, up the insides of her thighs and into the cleft of her b.u.t.tocks, his fingers lingering there and moving in a gentle motion. Then he turned her around and did the same with her front, circling the nipples and sliding lathered fingers into her sheath, paying careful attention to the sensitive flesh inside.
As she began to shake with desire, he stopped and handed her the soap.
”Not yet,” he said. ”My turn.”
He stood while she moved the soap over his rock-hard body, covering every inch of it, rubbing his flat nipples until they were stiff, spreading the lather over his erection, running her finger over the tip, watching his face darken with desire. He turned off the shower, dried them both off and carried her to the bed. She had thought herself too tired to want this tonight, especially after making love that morning, but just his touch inflamed her and gripped her with a violent need.
He made slow, careful love to her, drawing out each o.r.g.a.s.m until she was sure she would lose her mind, bringing her to climax again and again before entering her.
”Tonight I want nothing from you except to enjoy what I do to you,” he murmured in a husky voice. ”You make me feel like a man possessed, Tara. I can't get enough of you.”
He was fierce and wild, at the same time gentle, claiming her with his love.
At last, he let her rest, tucking her in against him, her head on his shoulder. The last thing she remembered was saying, ”We forgot to eat the pizza,” and hearing his laugh rumbling deep in his chest. Then she slept.
Chapter Thirteen.
”I've been thinking,” Cole said the next morning. ”I want us to have some time alone away from this house. We never had a honeymoon. I guess it wouldn't have been too appropriate before, but things have changed.”
”Yes,” she grinned, ”they certainly have.”
”I'm not talking about some big trip here,” he went on. ”I just want to hide us away somewhere for a while.” He smiled at her. ”A client of ours has a weekend cabin up in the hills about an hour from here. Right now, he's taking his family to Bermuda for two weeks so he was glad to give me the keys.”
”How long will we be there?”
”Just two or three days. I wish it could be more, but Jake said the Colorado contract's been signed so I need to get back to the office.”
”But who will watch Molly?” She tried to think what arrangements she could make. ”An agency is out, Nicki has school and I think more than one night would be too much for my folks.
She's getting to be a real handful.”
”Already taken care of.” He sounded pleased with himself. ”She's going out to the ranch.
With Luisa and Emilio there, Lindsey can manage nicely.”
Tara's jaw dropped. ”You already arranged this?”
His lips turned up with a self-satisfied smile. ”Didn't think I could do it, did you?”
”I guess I think you can do anything,” she said, still flabbergasted. ”Oh, Cole, what a nice thing for you to do.”
”Think we can find something to occupy us?” he teased and laughed as heat crept up her cheeks. ”You can bring some of your new finery, although I might not give you a chance to wear much of it.” He looked at her with uncharacteristic nervousness. ”So, is this okay?”
”It's wonderful.” She jumped up and threw her arms around him, kissing him. ”When do we leave?”
”Today, as soon as we pick the baby up from your folks. We should pack now so we can leave right from there.”
Their arrival in Cibolo created a flurry of activity. Emilio, stolid and implacable as ever, carried in all of Molly's paraphernalia, and Luisa took the little girl off to find Jason. Jake gave Cole the key to the cabin and the directions he'd picked up the night before.
Then, at last, they were off.
If Tara had wished for heaven on earth, it would have looked like the cabin in the Hill Country. Although cabin couldn't begin to describe their vacation hideaway. Rising majestically on the crest of a hill, its limestone exterior looked as if it had been quarried out of the very ground on which it sat. Guarded by ancient oaks and sycamores, with crepe myrtles blooming in riotous profusion, it had the appearance of a painting on the cover of a western novel.
Deer roamed over the hundred acres that surrounded the house, along with wild turkey, rabbits and hundreds of birds flying in every direction. The air was redolent with the aroma of mountain cedar and Texas sage. A soft breeze rustled the finery of the oak trees and swayed the giant oleander bushes.
Tara gasped in wonder at her first sight of it, stunned by the magnificence the entire scene displayed. She wanted to capture it in a painting and hold onto it forever.
”Like it?” Cole grinned at her, helping her out of the car.
”You're kidding, right? What's not to like? My G.o.d, it's unbelievable.” She drew in a breath, her nostrils filled with the clean scent of outdoors.
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