The Colorado Kid Read online

  Matty heard the deep regret in his voice and realized he felt guilty about not packing along a bottle on the trip to town. “Sebastian, we’re going to make mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up about it. A late bottle isn’t a major problem.”

  “How do you know?” He started patting Elizabeth’s back.

  “Common sense. I think we’re going to have to rely on that sometimes, considering that we don’t have a lot of practical experience.”

  “Maybe so.” He kept patting. “But once we get the furniture together, I’m reading that baby book cover to cover. I want to do this right.”

  And that was another reason why she was crazy about him, Matty decided as she stood there watching him pat Elizabeth’s back. He might not have asked to suddenly have a baby plopped in his lap, but now that he’d been given the assignment, he’d do the best damn job possible. Sebastian was solid gold.

  He wasn’t bad to look at, either. A lock of his rich brown hair fell over his forehead as he adjusted his hold on Elizabeth. Matty wanted to reach over and brush it back for him. She wanted to wrap her arms around man and baby and give them both a kiss. She wanted to stay in this house with them, as snow pelted down outside and a fire crackled on the hearth, and give them all the love in her heart.

  But she’d have to settle for making lunch.

  “She smiled at me.” Sebastian came into the kitchen as Matty was flipping over the toasted cheese sandwiches.

  She glanced at him. “Really? Just now?”

  “After I put her in the drawer. I guess I must’ve smiled at her. I wasn’t really thinking about it, and then she smiled back, big as life.”

  “Cool.” Matty felt disappointed that she’d missed the moment, but there would be other chances. One thing she didn’t miss was that Sebastian looked like a proud papa standing there, telling her about Elizabeth’s smile.

  “What can I do?” he asked.

  “Set the table, I guess. Get out some chips if you want them.” She turned off the heat under the sandwiches and reached into the cupboard for a couple of plates.

  He opened a bag of tortilla chips and set it on the table. “The monkey was a good idea,” he said. “In fact everything you wanted to get was a good idea.”

  She was having trouble keeping the fondness out of her expression, so she chose not to look at him as she shoveled the sandwiches onto the plates. “You and Elizabeth were in there playing with that monkey, weren’t you?”

  “Oh, we might have been.”

  At the spontaneous note of joy in his voice, she glanced up and her heart clutched at the sparkle in his gray eyes. He was falling in love with that baby. She tried for a stern tone and failed miserably. “It’s a wonder she went to sleep,” she said, but there was no bite to the accusation.

  “I realized that could be a problem, so I toned it down. Then I stayed with her until her eyes closed, to make sure she’d be all right. I left the door open a crack, so we’ll hear her if she wakes up.”

  Matty would have given anything to see Sebastian crouched beside the drawer watching Elizabeth until her eyes drifted shut. Precious moments were slipping by, moments she had no right to be a part of. She was only the helpful neighbor. Good old Matty, who would soon just be a casual visitor in this house once her services were no longer needed.

  She hated self-pity, so when tears unexpectedly filled her eyes, she turned away from him, furious with herself.

  “Matty, what’s wrong?” He was by her side instantly.

  “Nothing.” Her hoarseness betrayed her. Dammit. She was about to ruin what little pleasure she could wring out of this bittersweet experience by letting him know how deeply it affected her.

  “Hey.” He took her by the shoulders.

  She tried to twist away from him, not wanting her raw emotions chafed even more by his touch.

  But he continued to hold her, gently yet insistently. “I’ve known you for ten years,” he said softly. “I’ve never known you to get teary-eyed over nothing.” He took her chin in one hand and turned her face up to his. “What is it, Matty?”

  Gazing up at him, her vision blurred with tears, she couldn’t speak.

  He gazed at her silently for a heartbeat. Then muttering an oath, he lowered his head.

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Shh.”

  At the touch of his lips on hers, tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. He gathered her close, wrapping those strong arms around her the way she’d dreamed it a thousand times. His mouth moved lazily over hers, offering comfort, warmth, caring. His arms created a safe haven from the world.

  She couldn’t seem to stop the tears. She didn’t want comfort from Sebastian, and safety was the last thing she wanted to find in his arms. Resisting the urge to open her mouth, to invite him inside, to press her body against his in complete abandon, left her trembling.

  But he was setting the pace, and his embrace was more friendly than passionate, the touch of his body almost incidental. Not that she could ever think of body contact with Sebastian in that way. Still she made herself rest her hands lightly on his chest instead of clutching his shirtfront in her fists. And she swallowed the moan that rose in her throat.

  But the velvet pressure of his lips created the most exquisite torture she’d ever experienced. It was a sip of fine champagne, knowing she’d never have a full glass, a teaspoon of mocha-almond fudge ice cream, knowing she’d never have a full scoop. Yet she indulged. God help her, she focused on that sweet, not-nearly-passionate-enough kiss and memorized every second of contact.

  At last he left her mouth and gently kissed her damp cheeks. He rubbed her back, not unlike the way he’d rubbed Elizabeth’s back. Matty squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. She wanted his hands tearing at her clothes, cupping her bottom, kneading her breasts, slipping between her legs.

  But he wouldn’t do that. He was a man with incredible discipline. If he didn’t think it was right to cross the line with her, then he wouldn’t do it.

  Gradually her tears stopped. Instead of tears she battled the ache in her breasts, the quiver in her belly and the throbbing pulse between her thighs. She braced herself for the moment that she felt certain was coming, when he would release her, step back and ask if she felt better. She wondered how she’d be able to lie convincingly while she was shaking with need.

  She gulped air and tried to get her runaway heartbeat under control, but all she could think of was his mouth gliding over her face, lingering on her eyelids, feathering her wet cheeks. She wanted that mouth back on hers. And she wanted heat.

  His kisses slowed, then stopped. Disappointment sliced through her. It was over.

  His warm breath brushed her lips as he hesitated, probably trying to decide what to say or do that would ease them back into reality. She kept her eyes closed, knowing that one look into her eyes and he’d know everything there was to know about Matty Lang. She should slide quietly out of his arms now, but she didn’t have the strength. Once he released her, she’d have a big enough challenge staying upright.

  Then he groaned.

  Her eyes flew open to meet his gaze. She gasped. The usually calm gray depths had been transformed. Now his eyes reflected thunderclouds before a summer storm, clouds filled with wind and lightning. Clouds heavy with rain.

  “Dammit, Matty,” he whispered. He backed her against the counter.

  Her eyes widened. The press of his body was no longer friendly. He was completely aroused. Before she’d quite processed that information, his lips came down on hers with such force that she felt the scrape of his teeth.

  She was lost. If he’d started this way she might have summoned the strength to fend him off. She might have been able to remember all the reasons why this was a bad idea. But her mind was no longer in charge. His platonic kisses had teased her beyond endurance, creating a powder keg of desire.

  And he’d just lit the fuse.

  With a whimper she grabbed a handful of shirtfront and opened her mouth. She�
�d wanted heat, and he was wildfire, scorching everything in his path. She was a willing victim of the flames. Cupping both hands behind his head, she gave and he took, possessing her mouth with a thoroughness that left her gasping.

  Gone was the gentle touch that had fooled her into thinking he was in perfect control. He grasped her bottom firmly in both hands and brought her tight against his erection. When she opened her thighs and fit herself to that revealing bulge, he growled with satisfaction and nudged her back against the counter, wedging himself more firmly in the valley she created for him.

  They were going to make love. She knew it the moment he pushed against her with such purpose and her body responded with that hollow, desperate need to be filled—a need so great that resisting it would be impossible. She’d kidded herself that she had a decision to make. Her body had already decided.

  He didn’t bother with the buttons of her shirt. Instead he pulled it from the waistband of her jeans and slipped his hands up to the back-catch of her bra. He unhooked it efficiently and slid his hands around under the material until he cradled both breasts. His touch was firm, sure, eager.

  Matty thought she might pass out from the pleasure of having those work-roughened hands, hands she’d fantasized about for years, caressing her at last. Sebastian’s hands. She arched into the pressure from his fingers, and a low sound of delight hummed in her throat. Oh, yes, they would make love. Wonderful, magical love.

  As his thumbs grazed her nipples, bringing them to aching peaks, he lifted his mouth a fraction from hers. His breathing was ragged, his tone urgent as he kneaded her breasts. “I have to see. Undo those buttons.”

  Thrilled by his terse command, she fumbled with the buttons while he released her long enough to shove dishes aside. Their lunch clattered into the sink. She was only halfway done when he grasped her by her waist and lifted her to the counter.

  He fumbled with the next button, couldn’t get it, and in frustration pulled the shirt apart. Buttons popped, hitting sink, counter and floor as he pushed the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms. Her bra followed.

  She had little time to worry whether he’d be pleased with her, but brief memories of being less than another man wanted, once upon a time, gave her a moment of anxiety. Still, there was no turning back now.

  With a sigh he cupped her breasts reverently and…just…looked.

  The expression on his face told her all she needed to know. This man, at least, was pleased. Well pleased. She took a trembling breath and arched her back. “Kiss me there, Sebastian.” she whispered.

  He settled in, and oh, how he kissed her. The brush of his lips, the slide of his tongue, the rasp of his teeth drove her slowly and surely crazy. She leaned her head against the cabinet door and tunneled her fingers through his hair while he worshiped at the altar of her breasts.

  She’d been blessed with extreme sensitivity, and with Sebastian’s mouth at her breast she quickly became drenched and ready. Ready to beg.

  He kissed his way from her breasts up the column of her throat and found her mouth again. When he plunged his tongue inside she groaned. As if he understood, he wrapped her legs around his hips and lifted her from the counter.

  “Hang on,” he murmured, and carried her out of the kitchen, through the living room and down the hall.

  “The baby,” she whispered when he edged open his bedroom door with his foot.

  His voice was a low rumble in her ear. “We’ll be quiet.”

  She didn’t think so. But she had no will of her own as he followed her down to the bed, kissing her and tugging off her jeans. She’d waited ten years to feel Sebastian deep inside her. She might never have the chance again, and she’d hold nothing back. Some things were worth the risk of waking a sleeping baby.

  11

  SEBASTIAN HAD SEEN the power of an avalanche, and the need sweeping through him had the same ability to wipe out everything in its path. His only hope for survival was joining with Matty, who was caught in the same wild force of nature.

  He lost all interest in finesse as he tugged off one of her boots and one leg of her jeans. That was all he needed for what he had in mind, except for the barrier of her plain cotton underwear. He learned that white cotton drenched with the passionate moisture of a lady who wanted him was a hundred times sexier than black lace on an indifferent woman. The aroused scent of her made the blood surge through his veins.

  But serviceable cotton didn’t rip, and he was in the mood for ripping. He ended up pulling off one leg of her panties, too, which required that he pay even more attention to that part of her anatomy to get the panties off. And he was lured by her warmth, her female scent and her moist blond curls. Before he knew he meant to do it, he began kissing her there.

  She tasted deliciously rich and he wanted more, but she’d begun to moan. A small part of his mind still remembered the baby sleeping beside the bed.

  Easing up beside her, he covered her mouth with his, absorbing her small cry as he stroked between her thighs. He quivered and throbbed as he separated the dewy folds of her femininity, hot and swollen with passion, and found the pulsing nub guarding the entrance to paradise.

  To his joy she arched her hips, meeting his questing fingers with an excitement that made him dizzy. And to think he’d wondered if she was passionate. She was the most responsive woman he’d ever held in his arms.

  He pushed deeper with his fingers and his erection strained against the confining denim of his jeans. The need to free himself warred with the ecstasy of stroking her with deep, penetrating movements until she was panting against his mouth. When he rubbed his thumb across the sensitive nub, she dug her fingers into his back.

  She had the grip of a woman used to riding and roping, and she was not gentle. He didn’t want gentle. He wanted her mark on him, and his on her. As he continued to tease that flash point, she began to shake.

  He released her mouth and nipped her shoulder, hard enough to make a bruise, and her breathing quickened, straining toward orgasm. He sucked on her breasts, raking her nipples with his teeth. Then he returned to her full mouth, drinking in her ragged breath.

  Desperate though he was to plunge into her, he knew the force of his response might blind him to hers. He wanted to know Matty in the whirlwind of climax.

  So he continued to caress that slick, swollen nub while he muffled her whimpers with long, soulful kisses. A moan low in her throat told him she was nearly there, and he was so wild for her that he wondered if her release would bring his.

  He clenched his jaw, determined not to cheat himself of the satisfaction of sinking into her. As completion came for her, bowing her upward, he muted her cry with his mouth and probed deep, glorying in the ripple of her convulsions against his fingers.

  Only when she slowly settled back to the mattress did he withdraw his fingers, trailing them up her moist body. He lifted his mouth from hers and she gulped air, her eyes still closed. Slowly he traced the outline of her mouth with a finger still moist from being deep inside her.

  Her tongue edged her lips, following the path he traced. Finally the tip of her tongue slid along the length of his finger. Her eyelids fluttered open, and her eyes were the deep blue of a summer sky. Her gaze locked with his as she deliberately closed her mouth around his finger and began to suck.

  A strangled sound worked its way from his throat as the pressure of her mouth and tongue blew his mind. While she licked and sucked his finger, she brought trembling hands to his shirt.

  She managed to get all the buttons undone, and then she tackled his belt buckle, all the while playing games with his finger. It took her several tries to get the buckle open and an eternity to unfasten his jeans and pull down the zipper. He closed his eyes as he was hit with a wave of sensual anticipation so strong his skin felt scorched, then chilled, then scorched again. He broke out in a fine sweat.

  And at last, after what seemed like a lifetime, she pushed the elastic of his briefs down and took him in both hands. He groaned, long a
nd loud.

  She lifted one hand and laid her fingers against his lips. He knew she meant to warn him to be quiet, but he began to nibble on the tips of her fingers, still needing to taste her, experience her, be with her in every way he could imagine. He’d never been so absorbed in a woman.

  Slowly she eased to her side. “Lie back,” she murmured in a voice so sultry he barely recognized it as Matty’s.

  As he rolled to his back, she came with him, rubbing his shirt aside with her silken breasts and creating an unbelievably arousing friction.

  He touched every inch of bare skin he could reach while his heartbeat galloped out of control. He kissed her mouth, her breasts, her throat, as she worked herself into position astride his heat-packed body. He could barely breathe. “Condoms…in the bedside…table,” he said.

  “Sure thing,” she murmured, brushing her breasts across his face as she reached for the drawer and pulled it open.

  At the sweet contact, he moaned.

  She paused, braced her hands on either side of his head and stroked her breasts across his cheek again. “Like that?” she said in a throaty whisper.

  “I love that,” he said hoarsely.

  “Want more?”

  “I want everything. Everything.”

  “Lift your head.” She tucked another pillow under him. Then she rotated her upper body, drawing her tightly budded nipples over his lips, his eyes and his jaw while he closed his eyes and shuddered with each delicious pass. Finally she paused and fit one pert nipple between his parted lips, blatantly asking for what she wanted. He drew her in, sucking greedily.

  While he enjoyed the texture and taste of her breasts, she eased her smooth bottom back and forth over his erection, coaxing him to ever higher levels of arousal. He’d never dreamed Matty could be like this. She overwhelmed him with her uninhibited lovemaking, and he was drowning in pleasure, moaning and panting shamelessly with desire.

  She pulled back gently and feathered his mouth with hers. “Shh.”