скачать книгу бесплатно
She jerked her head back as if he’d slapped her.
“This is not about getting another man into my life,” she told him. “This is about getting a man out of my life. You, Justice. We’re not together. We’re not going to be together. You made that plain enough.”
“You leaving wasn’t my idea,” he countered.
“No, it was just your fault,” she snapped.
“You’re the one who packed, Maggie.”
“You gave me no choice.” Her voice broke and Justice hissed in a breath in response.
Shaking her head, she held up one hand as if for peace and whispered, “Let’s just finish this, okay?”
“You think a signed paper will finish it?” He moved in, dragging his hands from his pockets so that he could grab her shoulders before she could skitter away. God, the feel of her under his hands again fed the cold, empty places inside him. Damn, he’d missed her.
“You finished it yourself, remember?”
“You’re the one who walked out,” Justice reminded her again.
“And you’re the one who let me,” she snapped, her gaze locked on his as she stiffened in his grasp.
“What was I supposed to do?” he demanded. “Tie you to a chair?”
She laughed without humor. “No, you wouldn’t do that, would you, Justice? You wouldn’t try to make me stay. You wouldn’t come after me.”
Her words jabbed at him but he didn’t say anything. Hell, no, he hadn’t chased after her. He’d had his pride, hadn’t he? What was he supposed to do, beg her to stay? She’d made it clear that as far as she was concerned, their marriage was over. So he should have done what exactly?
She flipped her hair back out of her face and gave him a glare that should have set him on fire. “So here we are again on the carousel of pain. I blame you. You blame me. I yell, you get all stoic and stone-faced and nothing changes.”
He scowled at her. “I don’t get stone-faced.”
“Oh, please, Justice. You’re doing it right now.” She choked out a laugh and tried to squirm free of his grip. It didn’t work. She tipped her head back, and her angry eyes focused on his and the mouth he wanted to taste more than anything flattened into a grim slash. “Our fights were always one-sided. I shout and you close up.”
“Shouting’s supposed to be a good thing?”
“At least I would have known you cared enough to fight!”
His fingers on her shoulders tightened, and he met that furious glare with one of his own. “You knew damn well I cared. You still left.”
“Because you had to have it all your way. A marriage is two people. Not just one really pushy person.” She sucked in a breath, fought his grip for another second or two, then sighed. “Let me go, Justice.”
“I already did,” he told her. “You’re the one who came back.”
“I didn’t come back for this.” She pushed at his chest.
“Bullshit, Maggie.” His voice dropped to a whisper, a rough scrape of sound as the words clawed their way out of his throat. “You could have sent your lawyer. Hell, you could have mailed the papers again. But you didn’t. You came here. To me.”
“To look you in the eye and demand that you sign them.”
“Really?” He dipped his head, inhaled the soft, flowery scent of her and held it inside as long as he could. “Is that really why you’re here, Maggie? The papers?”
“Yes,” she said, closing her eyes, sliding her hands up his chest. “I want it over, Justice. If we’re done, I need all of this to be finally over.”
The feel of her touching Justice sparked the banked fires within and set them free to engulf his body. It had always been like this between them. Chemistry, pure and simple. Combustion. Whenever they touched, their bodies lit up like the neon streets of Vegas.
That, at least, hadn’t changed.
“We’ll never be done, Maggie.” His gaze moved over her. He loved the flush in her cheeks and the way her mouth was parted on the sigh that slipped from between her lips. “What’s between us will never be over.”
“I used to believe that.” Her eyes opened; she stared up at him and shook her head. “But it has to be over, Justice. If I stay, we’ll only hurt each other again.”
Undoubtedly. He couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted, so he had to let her go. For her sake. Still, she was here, now. In his arms. And the past several months had been so long without her.
He’d tried to bury her memory with other women, but he hadn’t been able to. Hadn’t been able to want any woman as he wanted her. Only her.
His body was hard and tight and aching so badly it was all he could do not to groan with the pain of needing her. The past didn’t matter anymore. The future was a hazy blur. But the present buzzed and burned with an intensity that shook him to his bones.
“If we’re really done, then all we have is now, Maggie,” he said, bending to touch the tip of his tongue to her parted lips. She hissed in a breath of air, and he knew she felt exactly as he did. “And if you leave now, you’ll kill me.”
She swayed into him even as she shook her head. Her hands slid up over his shoulder, and she drove her fingers up, into his always-too-long dark brown hair. The touch of her was molten. The scent of her was dizzying. The taste of her was all he needed.
“God, I’ve missed you,” she admitted, her mouth moving against his. “You bastard, you’ve still got my heart.”
“You ripped mine out when you left, Maggie,” he confessed. His gaze locked with hers, and in those pale blue depths he read passion and need and all the emotions that were charging through him. “But you’re back now and damned if I’ll let you leave again. Not now. Not yet.”
His mouth came down hard on hers, and it was as if he was alive again. For months, he’d been a walking dead man. A hollowed-out excuse for a human being. Breathing. Eating. Working. But so empty there was nothing for him but routine. He’d lost himself in the ranch workings. Buried himself in the minutiae of business so that he had no time to think. No time to wonder what she was doing. Where she was.
Months of being without her fired the desire nearly choking him, and Justice gave himself up to it. He skimmed his hands up and down her spine, sliding them over the curve of her bottom, cupping her, pressing her into him until she could feel the hard proof of his need.
She groaned into his mouth and strained against him. Justice tore his mouth from hers and lowered his head to taste the long, elegant line of her throat. Her scent invaded him. Her heat swamped him. And he could think only of taking what he’d wanted for so long.
He nibbled at her soft, smooth skin, feeling her shivers of pleasure as she cocked her head to one side, allowing him greater access. She’d always liked it when he kissed her neck. When his teeth scraped her skin, when his tongue drew taut, damp circles just beneath her ear.
He slid one hand around, to the front of her. He cupped her center with the palm of his hand. Even through the fabric of her tailored slacks, he felt her heat, her need, pulsing at him.
“Justice…”
“Damn it, Maggie,” he whispered, lifting his head to look down at her. “If you tell me to stop, I’ll…”
She smiled. “You’ll what?”
He sighed and let his forehead drop to hers. “I’ll stop.”
Maggie shifted her hold on him, moving to cup his face between her palms. She hadn’t come here for this, though if she were to be completely honest, she’d have had to admit that she’d hoped he would hold her again. Love her again. She’d missed him so much that the pain of losing him was a constant ache in her heart. Now, having his hands and mouth on her again was like a surprise blessing from the suddenly benevolent fates.
When she’d first left him, she’d prayed that he’d follow her, take her home and make everything right. When he hadn’t, it had broken her heart. But she’d tried to go on. To rebuild her life. She found a new job. Found an apartment. Made friends.
And still there was something missing.
A part of her she’d left here, at the ranch.
With him.
Looking up into the dark blue eyes that had captivated her from the first, she said, “Don’t stop, Justice. Please don’t stop.”
He kissed her, hard and long and deep. His tongue pushed into her mouth, claiming her in a frenzy of passion so strong she felt the tide of it swamp her, threaten to drown her in an overload of sensation.
From the top of her head to the tips of her toes, Maggie felt a rush of heat that was incredible. As if she were literally on fire, she felt her skin burn, her blood boil and her heart thunder in her chest. While his mouth took hers, his clever fingers unzipped her slacks so that he could slide one hand down the front of her, beneath the fragile elastic of her panties to the swollen, hot flesh awaiting him.
She shivered as he stroked her intimately. She parted her legs for him, letting her slacks slide down to pool on the floor. She didn’t care where they were. Didn’t care about anything but feeling his hands on her again. Maggie nearly wept as he pushed first one finger and then two deep inside her.
Sucking in a gulp of air, she let her head fall back as she rode his hand, rocking her hips, seeking the release only he could give her. The passion she’d only ever found with him. She heard his own breath coming hard and fast as he continued to stroke her body inside and out. His thumb worked that so sensitive bud of flesh at the heart of her, and Maggie felt her brain sizzle as tension coiled inside her, tighter, tighter.
“Come for me, Maggie,” he whispered. “Let me watch you shatter.”
She couldn’t have denied him even if she’d wanted to. It had been too long. She’d missed him too much. Maggie held on to his shoulders, fingers curling into the soft fabric of the long-sleeved shirt he wore, digging into his hard muscles.
Her mind spun, splintering with thoughts, images, while her body burned and spiraled even closer to its reward. She’d never felt anything like this with any man before him. And after Justice…she’d had no interest in other men. He was the one. She’d known it the moment she’d met him three years before. One look across a crowded dance floor at a charity event and she’d known. Instantly. It was as if everything in the world had held utterly still for one breathless moment.
Just like now.
There was nothing in the world but him and his hands. His touch. His scent. “Justice—I need…”
“I know, baby. I know just what you need. Take it. Take me.” He touched her deeper, pushing his fingers inside her, stroking her until her breath strangled in her throat.
Until she could only groan and hold on to him. Until her body trembled and the incredible tension within shattered under an onslaught of pleasure so deep, so overwhelming, all she could do was shout his name as wave after wave of completion rolled over her, through her, leaving her dazed and breathless.
And when the tremors finally died away, Maggie stared up into Justice’s lake-blue eyes and watched him smile. She was standing in the living room, with her pants down, trembling with the force of her reaction to him. She should have been…embarrassed. After all, anyone could have walked into the ranch house.
Instead, all Maggie felt was passion stirring inside again. His hands were talented, heaven knew. But she wanted more. She wanted the slide of Justice’s body into hers.
Licking her lips, she blew out a breath and said, “That was…”
“…just the beginning,” he finished for her.
Chapter Two
Sounded good to Maggie.
Yet… She glanced around the empty room before looking back at him. “Mrs. Carey’s not here, but—”
“Nobody’s here,” he said quickly. “No one’s coming. No one is going to interrupt us.”
Maggie sighed in relief. She didn’t want any interruptions. Justice was right about one thing—their past was gone. The future was gray and hazy. All she had was today. This minute. This one small slice of time, and she was going to relish every second of it.
Her fingers speared through his thick, soft hair, her nails dragging along his scalp. He always kept it too long, she thought idly, loving the way the dark brown mass lay across his collar. He had a day’s worth of dark stubble on his jaws, and he looked so damned sexy he made her quiver.
Her breasts ached for his touch and as if he’d heard that stray thought, he pulled back from her slightly, just far enough so that his fingers could work the buttons on her pale pink silk blouse. Quickly, they fell free and then he was sliding the fabric off her shoulders to drop to the floor. She stepped out of her slacks, kicked off her half boots and slipped her lacy panties off.
Then he undid her bra, tossing it aside, and her breasts were free, his hands cupping her. His thumbs moved over her peaked nipples until she whimpered with the pleasure and the desire pumping fresh and new through her system. As if that climax hadn’t even happened, her body was hot and trembling again.
Need crashed down on her, and at her core she ached and burned for him.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, drawing his mouth from hers, glancing down at her breasts, cupped in his palms. “So damn beautiful.”
“I want you, Justice. Now. Please, now.”
One corner of his mouth tipped into a wicked smile. His eyes flashed and in an instant he’d swept her up into his arms, stalked across the room and dropped her onto one of the wide sofas. She stared up at him as he tugged his shirt up and over his head. And her mouth watered. His skin, so tanned, so strong, so sculpted. God, she remembered all the nights she’d lain in his arms, held against that broad, warm chest. And she trembled at the rise of passion inside her.
She scooted back on the sofa until her head was resting on a pillow. Maggie held her arms out toward him. “What’re you waiting for, cowboy?”
His eyes gleamed, his jaw went tight and hard. He finished undressing in a split second but still Maggie thought he was taking too long. She didn’t want to wait. She was hot and wet and so ready for him that she thought she’d explode and die if he didn’t take her soon.
He came to her and Maggie’s gaze dipped to his erection, long and thick and hard. Her breath caught on a gasp of anticipation as Justice leaned down, tore the back cushions off the sofa and tossed them to the floor to make more room for them on the overstuffed couch. The dark green chenille fabric was soft and cool against her skin, but Maggie hardly noticed that slight chill. There was far too much heat simmering inside her, and when Justice covered her body with his, she could have sworn she felt actual flames sweeping over them.
“I’ve missed you, babe,” he told her, bracing himself on his hands, lowering his mouth to hers, tasting, nibbling.
“Oh, Justice, I’ve missed you, too.” She lifted her hips for him, parting her thighs, welcoming him home. He pushed his body into hers with one hard stroke. She groaned, loving the long, deep slide of his flesh claiming hers. He filled her and she lifted her legs higher, hooking them around his waist, opening herself so that she could take him even deeper.
And still it wasn’t enough. Wasn’t nearly enough. She groaned, twisting and writhing beneath him as he moved in and out of her depths in plunging strokes that fanned the flames engulfing her.
It had been too long, she thought wildly. She didn’t want soft and romantic. She wanted hard and fast and frantic. She wanted to know that he felt the same crushing need she did. She wanted to feel the strength of his passion.
“Harder, Justice,” she whispered. “Take me harder.”
He looked down at her and his eyes flashed. “I’m holding back, Maggie. It’s been too long. I don’t want to hurt you.”
She cupped his face in her palms, fought to steady her breath and finally shook her head and smiled. “The only thing that hurts is when you hold back. Justice, I need you. All of you.”
His jaw clenched tight, he swept one arm around her back, holding her to him even as he pushed off the couch. With their bodies locked together, her legs wrapped around his waist, he eased her onto the oriental carpet covering the hardwood floors. With her flat on her back, he levered himself over her, hands at either side of her head. Grinning down at her, he muttered, “Told you when you bought ’em those damn couches were too soft.”
She grinned right back at him. “For sitting, they’re perfect. For this…yeah. Too soft.”
She lifted her hips then, taking him deeper inside. When he withdrew a moment later, she nearly groaned, but then he was back, driving himself into her, pistoning his hips against hers and she felt all of him. Took all of him. His need joined hers.
He lifted her legs, hooking them over his shoulders, tipping her hips higher so that he could delve even deeper, and Maggie groaned in appreciation. She slapped her hands onto the carpet and hung on as he moved faster and faster, driving them both to a shuddering climax that hovered just out of reach.
“Yes, Justice,” she said, her voice nothing more than a strained hush of sound. “Just like that.”
Again and again, his body claimed hers, pushing into her soft, hot folds, taking everything she offered and giving all that she could have wanted. She looked up into his eyes, saw the flash of something delicious wink in their depths and knew in that one blindingly clear instant that she would never be whole without him.
Without him.
That one random thought hovered at the edges of her mind and filled her eyes with tears even as her body began to sing and hum with the building tensions that rippled through her senses.
He touched her at their joining. Rubbing his thumb over that one spot that held so many incredible sensations. And as he touched her, Maggie hurtled eagerly toward the enormous climax waiting for her. As her body exploded with the force of completion, she screamed his name, and still she heard the quiet voice in the back of her mind whispering, Is this our last time together?
Then Justice gave himself over to his own release, her name an agonized groan sliding from his throat. When he collapsed atop her, Maggie held him close as the last of the tremors rippled through their joined bodies and eased them into oblivion.
