She tightened her grip, her nails scoring my back, and I jerked beneath her as the bite of pain fed my ever-building pleasure. With a cry, she clamped down tight around me, and I shouted as my own climax hit, her muscles quivering and prolonging our orgasms.
Julia collapsed on top of me, her entire body going limp. I struggled to catch my breath. Each new tremor from her was making me twitch and become overly sensitized.
That had been intense, possibly the most intense of my life, and if I had to guess, it had been the same for her. Her face was pressed into the side of my neck and I felt warm puffs of air coming from her. I needed to change our position before she fell asleep.
“Let me move us, sweetheart,” I murmured. I lifted her off me—instantly feeling the loss—and shifted so my back was in the corner of the sofa, before tucking her in next to me. I grabbed one of the blankets and draped it over us as our bodies cooled.
“Still raining,” she said in a soft voice a few minutes later. “Good thing we’re in here. I guess we’re staying the night.”
“Looks like it. Julia, I’m sorry you can’t have kids.”
“It’s okay,” she said, meeting my eyes. “I’d like to have a baby someday, but it’s probably not possible biologically. I try not to let it bother me. No point in mourning something I can’t change. Maybe someday, I’ll try adoption or fostering.” She shrugged. “We’ll see.”
“How long have you known?” It had to be a tough thing to live with. It also gave me another reason to admire her strength. She seemed to face the obstacles in her life with such grace and poise.
“Since high school,” she said as her head dropped against my chest. “I’m tired. Is it okay if I nod off?”
“Fine with me. I’m happy to hold you.” I stroked her hair, pressed soft kisses to the top of her head, and listened as her breathing changed when she dropped off to sleep.
I closed my eyes, feeling warm, satisfied, and strangely at peace. It wasn’t long until I slept, too.
SIX
JULIA
Iwoke, feeling completely disoriented at first. I was startled to find myself on a narrow bed in a cabin with… Jake Thorne. Right. The storm, the kissing, and then…oh, my. The whole encounter had been a surprise—but so was waking up somewhere other than the sofa where I now recalled falling asleep. He must have moved us to the bed at some point during the night and I slept through it.
I stretched cautiously, not wanting to wake him. I might not remember getting in bed, but what happened before I nodded off was crystal clear. We’d had mind-blowing sex, the kind that put a smile on my face just thinking about it.
As I stretched, I felt a delicious soreness in places that hadn’t been sore in way too long. I looked at Jake. In sleep, he was scruffy and sexy, but softened from how I usually saw him, maybe even a little vulnerable. Not his usual swaggering self. I liked him this way.
Still, I reminded myself that I shouldn’t get used to being this close to him. Our heated interlude the previous day was probably a onetime thing. For a second, I wondered if it had tobe. The thought that I could have sex with the guy next door whenever I wanted to made me feel absolutely lightheaded.
Of course, I’d have to relax my no-cocky-cowboys rule, but it didn’t really count as long as it was purely physical, right? As long as he kept things loose and fun and didn’t think he had any say over how I led my life, I might be willing to make an exception for a whole series of nights like the one we just had. It almost seemed worth it.
I might even be ready for another round right now. I considered waking him with kisses to see if morning sex with him was as good as it had been the evening before. As I moved to kiss him, my stomach growled and I suddenly realized that I was starving.
The day before, I’d eaten only breakfast and a granola bar on the trail. No wonder I was hungry. Hungry. I sat bolt upright, noticing how light it was outside the window. It was full morning, and I hadn’t cared for my animals since the previous day. I had to get back to my property as soon as possible.
“Wake up, Jake.” I shook his shoulder urgently. “We’ve got to get moving.”
“Huh…what’s the hurry?” he grumbled, opening one eye.
“I’ve got animals to care for and patients to see. It’s Monday morning, sleepyhead.” Even as I spoke, I was already up and moving around the room, pulling on my clothes, which were stiff and cold, and gathering his. When I was dressed, I took his things to him and sat down on the edge of the bed, knowing I had to say something about the night we’d spent together. “Jake, last night was so much more than I expected.”
“Yeah? That good?” he teased, a slow grin on his lips. He really was too sexy for this time of morning. If ever there was a cowboy who was justified in acting cocky…
“That good,” I confirmed and kissed him before scooting away so he could get dressed as well. He stood up, and I didn’t at all mind watching him as he stepped into his boxers. He clearly knew I was enjoying the show, since he seemed in no hurry to cover himself.
“I reckon I’ll take the credit for starting it all by kissing you.” He leaned closer, his lips hovering just over mine. “If I hadn’t, you’d probably still be talking. Spending a night in conversation with you would have been a hell of a lot less fun.”
My happy mood faded instantly. I pulled away and stared at him, but in that moment, I wasn’t seeing Jake. It was my ex’s face before me. Rodney had been a bronc-riding bad boy, and I’d adored him at first. An infatuation I now chalked up to youth and inexperience.
I hadn’t been savvy enough to realize how controlling he was. How he seemed to believe that he was the decision-maker for both of us and could run my life as he saw fit. I learned a lot from my relationship with him. The lessons were hard-earned and had guided me right when it came to men. Now, I knew exactly what I was and wasn’t willing to put up with.
But I’d ignored those lessons last night with Jake, even though I knew better. His comment about me talking too much was the slap in the face I needed. Rodney used to say things like that. He’d tell me to stop thinking so hard and rambling on about my concerns. He’d insist that I just let him take care of everything.
When we were first together, I’d been gullible enough to believe that meant Rodney cared about me. Eventually, I’d started feeling it was his way to get me to shut up because he wasn’t actually interested in hearing my perspective. He didn’t want a partner, he wanted an accessory to hang on his arm when we went out.
