The Texan's One-Night Standoff

She grabbed his hand and tugged. He landed on his butt in an upright position on the bed. “Do it, Brooks. But first take off your clothes.”

He grinned. “How did I get so lucky?”

“Judging by the cut of your cloth, you were probably born lucky.” She was guessing.

He grunted. And that was all the reply he gave her.

Sitting up on her knees, she helped him lift his shirt over his head and pull off his boots between kisses. Her hands sought his chest, all powerful and rippled with muscle, smooth and hard, like the planes of a solid board. She reveled in touching him, her fingertips toying with his flattened nipples.

That move landed her on her back, her arms locked by one strong hand above her head. “Two can tease,” he said.

And then he was pulling her panties down and touching her where she’d prayed he’d touch. Her body instantly responded, and soft moans rose from her throat. She undulated with each stroke of his hand, each caress of a fingertip. He kept her pinned down, covering her with his body, the soft flesh of his palm applying pressure at the apex of her thighs.

“I’m... I’m going to lose it,” she moaned, the pleasure unbearable.

“Don’t fight it, honey,” he rasped.

And then she shattered, and spasms wracked her lower body in beautiful jolts that electrified her body. Her hips were arched, and she didn’t remember how they got that way. Slowly she lowered herself and finally opened her eyes to swim in Brooks’s deep blue gaze. He watched her carefully, a satisfied smile on his lips as he unzipped his pants and removed them.

“Your turn,” she said.

He shook his head. “Our turn.”

And then he fitted a condom on his erection and moved back over her.

His hands molded her breasts. His kiss went deep, his tongue delicious and probing. “Tell me when you’re ready, sweetheart,” he murmured before kissing her again.

She ran her hands through his longish blond hair, her fingers curling around the locks at the back of his neck. Then her gaze drifted to his eyes. “I don’t think I’ll ever be more ready.”

He made a caveman sound, raw and brash, and then braced her in a protective way to roll them over on the bed. She found herself on top of him. “Set the pace, Ruby. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She bit the corner of her lip. Sure, she was petite, but Galahad worried that he was too big for her small frame. She could actually fall for a guy like this. She gave him a nod and straddled his thighs. “You won’t hurt me,” she said, fitting herself over his shaft, tossing her head back and shuddering from the feel of him inside her.

Then she began to move.

* * *

Spooned against Brooks’s large frame, with his arm resting possessively around her torso, Ruby slowly opened her eyes. It was past midnight and she’d promised Brooks she’d stay the night with him. She didn’t doubt her decision but instead smiled as he snuggled her closer and brought his hand to rest just under her breast.

“Are you awake?” he whispered, his breath warm on her neck.

“Just,” she answered. “I dozed.”

“Me, too. I haven’t been this relaxed in a long time.”

“Had a lot on your mind lately?” she murmured.

“You have no idea. But I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

His hand made lazy circles around her breast, his fingers feathery light over her nipple. Her body heated instantly. He had the ability to make her yearn, and the longing was potent. His leg moved over both of hers, and she was locked to him now, the soft flesh of her thighs meeting with legs of steel.

“I don’t want to talk at all,” he said, fisting her hair and planting kisses at the back of her neck. “Do you?”

“No.” Oh God, what he was doing to her? Her body flamed. She was going up in smoke. “Talking is overrated. Not when we could be doing better things.”

Ruby had never given herself so freely before. She’d never really been the bad girl, and everyone who knew her well knew that for a fact. She’d had only three relationships in her twenty-six years, and only the last one had really meant anything to her. The last one had hurt her.

She’d been in love.

Or so she’d thought.

But tonight with Brooks was different. It was all about having a man appreciate her. Give to her. Excite her and make her feel like a woman.

He rolled over on top of her, careful of her small frame, his hands bracing the bed on both sides of her head. She gazed into his deep blue eyes. “I want you again, Ruby.”

Ruby smiled. “I want you, too.”

He nodded and let go of a deep breath. “I was praying you’d say that, honey.”

He bent his head and touched his mouth to hers. Already the taste of him, the firmness of his lips, seemed familiar and welcome. She’d never see him again. She wasn’t in the market for a man. But Brooks would leave her with a good memory.

And then his mouth moved from her lips down her chest toward her navel, streaming kisses along the way. Her hips lifted; she was eager and willing, waiting. She didn’t have to wait long. He touched his tongue to her center and suckled her sweetest spot. She whimpered and moved wildly as his mouth performed magic. It was a torturous, beautiful few minutes of pleasure. And when she was on the brink, ready for a powerful release, he rose over her and joined their bodies. Oh...it was bliss, the best of the best as he moved inside her. And then, moments later, his eyes darkened, his body stiffened and every sensation between them intensified. He moaned her name, an utterance of pleasured pain, and then he broke apart at the seams. It was enough to turn her inside out, and she, too, shuddered with an incredible release.

“Wow,” she said once her breathing returned to normal.

“Yeah, wow,” he said, keeping her close. He kissed her forehead, stroked her hair and tucked her body into his.

She closed her eyes and waited for the exquisite hum of her body to ease her into sleep.

* * *

Brooks tiptoed back into the room, holding two cups of coffee and a white paper bag filled with muffins and buttered biscuits from the café at the inn. There wasn’t a croissant to be had in this hokey Texas town, and he liked that about this place. Clean, simple and... He glanced at Ruby asleep in the bed, her hair smooth black granite against the pillow. Beautiful. Yep, Cool Springs left him with a good impression.

The mattress groaned as he sat down.

“Is that coffee I smell?” a soft, sultry voice whispered from the other end of the bed.

“Can’t fool you,” he said, turning to find Ruby coming to a sitting position. “Leaded and dark as mud.” Apparently that’s how they made coffee in Texas. He showed her the two cups.

“I think I love you,” she said, reaching for one. She’d worn one of his shirts to bed. The thing hung down to her knees and covered most of her up, but she still looked sexy as sin.

Her lips pursed as she blew on the rising steam.

He shook his head and talked down his lust. “Got biscuits, too, all buttered up, with honey.”

“I adore you even more,” she said. He handed her one and she wasted no time. She took a big bite, chewed with gusto and then took another bite.

“You’ve got an appetite.”