I’m fine. My car is fine .”
Tracy crossed his arms across his broad chest, his biceps doing their best to distract her. “Your car is a fifteen year old heap of junk on wheels. The windows don’t work, you have one taillight, you may have fixed one tire but two others are bald and you’re leaking oil all over my driveway. Doesn’t sound like you know what ‘fine’ means.”
Before she could respond he turned and headed into the barn.
“Wait a second,” she called as she followed him in, fuming. “I may have given you the wrong impression last night. Just because I listened to your advice about Jinny and accepted your invitation to stay until morning doesn’t mean I enjoy being bossed around.”
“Too bad.”
His back was to her and he was in hidden in the shadows of the dimly lit barn. She moved closer. “Excuse me?”
He turned, gripping her hips and lifting her until her back was against a wooden stall before she had time to shout her surprise.
“I said,” he murmured close enough that she could feel his breath against her cheek. “That’s too bad. Because I think you need a little bossing around. In fact, just between you and me, I think you’d love it.”
“Wh-what?” His words sunk in and she felt something wholly feminine flutter inside her stomach. “You’re not talking about the car anymore.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Are all cowboys this forward, Mr. Reyes?” If they were she was moving here immediately, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud.
“Not if they’re gentlemen.” He pressed his forehead to hers, his grip tightening on her hips. “I didn’t mean to scare you, and I was planning on approaching you differently, but you kept me up all night, Alicia Bell. The least you can do is call me Tracy.”
“I did?” Alicia sounded breathless because she was. He was so close it was hard to think. “You didn’t scare me.”
“Yes, I did.” He nodded against her head, his hands splaying so his thumbs pressed against her lower belly over her green sundress. “But I kept you up too and there’s no use denying it. For the same reason, I’m guessing. I usually have more patience than this, but I’m not a man who likes to waste time, Alicia. When I see something I want, I go after it. And I see something I want.”
He looked into her eyes for one tense heartbeat. Then another. Waiting. The hands she’d placed on his chest flexed and she licked her lips. Tracy groaned. “I think I’m going to take that as a yes.”
The first brush of his lips against hers was light. Teasing. He waited until she moved closer before deepening the kiss. Alicia’s bones turned to butter and she melted into him, loving how his body felt against hers.
He pulled back, just enough so their lips were barely touching as he spoke. “You haven’t asked me what I want. Wouldn’t you like to know? I do have something specific in mind.”
“What, specifically, do you want?” Other than to kiss her brainless.
His fingers tightened in reaction. “You’re in town until the baby is born, right? Well, as long as you are, I want you to stay here, in my house. With me.”
She whimpered when he pressed one thickly muscled thigh between her legs, rocking her sex against the rough fabric of his jeans. He bit her lower lip gently. “Your body is already agreeing to it and you wouldn’t even have to unpack, so this is where you say ‘Yes, Tracy’.”
“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” she moaned, her hips moving instinctively against him, unable to help herself. “We shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”
“Stay with me.”
“Yes,” she gasped, unable to deny the command.
He stopped her movements with a bruising grip. “Yes, Tracy,” he repeated in that voice that made her start to tremble.
This wasn’t fair. It was coercion. But she couldn’t find a single reason to deny him. What harm would staying at his house do? Especially if he was going to keep doing what