“Tory, honey, you need to get in bed and get some rest. You can’t do anyone any good if you make yourself sick.”
Her big green eyes fluttered open. “I know.”
“You need me to help you get undressed?” Just saying it made him start to get hard, made him feel like a letch for even thinking about sex. Truth was he hadn’t stopped wanting Tory since the night he’d taken her on the porch.
“I can do it,” she said, and Josh gave an inward sigh of relief.
Leaving her to change into the long, white cotton nightgown she had brought with her, he went into his own room, stripped, and hit the shower. When he finished, he turned the water from hot to cold, hoping it would help cool the lust in his blood.
Back in his room, he dragged on his jeans and went next door to check on Tory. She was lying in bed, the covers pulled up.
“You okay?”
She released a tired sigh. “I guess. I keep thinking about Lisa, how terrible it must be for her, not being able to remember what happened. But Lisa’s really strong. That gives me hope she’ll be okay.”
Josh sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’re strong, too, honey. You’ll get through this. With any luck, so will your friend.”
“The police don’t think Damon did it.”
“So far there’s no proof he had anything to do with it. There are lots of crazies out there. Could have been any one of them.”
“I wish I could convince myself. In my head, I just keep seeing the look on his face when he was hitting me, kicking me. It was like he turned into some kind of monster. I can’t get the notion out of my head that he’s the guy responsible.”
He thought of what Bridger had done to her and his hand unconsciously fisted. He forced himself to relax.
“You can’t keep thinking about it, Tory. You need to leave it to the police.” Josh leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Get some sleep, okay?”
“I know you have to get back to Texas. I can’t expect you to stay here much longer.”
She was right. He couldn’t stay away from the ranch forever. “Let’s not worry about that now.” He stood up from the bed and started for the door.
“Why did you get two rooms?” Tory asked softly.
Josh turned, his gaze sweeping over her, taking in the fiery curls tousled around her face, the lips that tasted as good as the strawberries they reminded him of. Her eyes were sleepy but there was something else in them now.
“I wasn’t sure exactly where we stood. I thought I would leave it up to you.”
And he needed his own space. There was always the chance he’d have one of his occasional nightmares. He’d had a bad dream last night just before dawn, reliving a bloody battle to the death. He’d awoken covered in perspiration, his heart pounding like a hammer. He didn’t want to burden Tori with that.
On the other hand, having sex with her was an entirely different matter.
“So . . . does that mean if I asked you to stay, you’d be okay with it?”
His whole body tightened. “Baby, you have no idea how okay I’d be. But if I stayed, I wouldn’t want to sleep, and you really need to rest.”
“I won’t get any rest if I can’t fall asleep. I have a feeling you could help me with that.”
Hot need surged through him. His blood thickened, began to pulse through his veins, pool low in his groin. He wasn’t an idiot. The lady was issuing an invitation he wanted to accept more than he wanted to see his next sunrise.
He pulled a foil-wrapped condom out of his wallet and tossed it on the nightstand. Buzzing down his zipper, he stepped out of his jeans, turned to see Tory pulling her nightgown off over her head, letting him admire her luscious little body.
Josh took the gown and tossed it away, then slid naked into bed beside her. Her eyes found his. A slender finger ran over the muscles across his chest, trailed down over his abs, and he went harder than he was already.
“It seems like it’s always me making the first move,” she said. “I don’t know why that is. I was never this way before.”
He nipped her lush bottom lip. “I’ve never waited this long for an invitation before.” He kissed her, sinking into her soft, sweet fullness, feeling a wash of heat that burned through every muscle and sinew in his body.
He cupped a pale round breast, massaged gently. “From now on, I’m not waiting.”
