Christmas Cowboy Duet Read online

  Granted there were no husband and children gathered together in the wings, waiting to be abandoned, but the similarity between the two scenarios was impossible to miss. Her mother had run off with a younger man. Liam was younger than she was. She’d looked him up—public records were incredibly easy to access if a person knew what they were doing, and she did. She’d been right. He was close to being almost four years younger than she was. While the span wasn’t nearly as much as the one that had existed between her mother and Roy, it was still there, ready to haunt her if she took any more of a misstep.

  And yet—

  And yet, she just couldn’t find it in her heart to resist, to turn him away. Couldn’t force herself to get out of the truck and just walk into the hotel, leaving him behind her.

  She knew him well enough now to be confident that he wouldn’t follow her if she didn’t want him to.

  The trouble was she did.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You’re thinking too hard,” Liam told her just before he leaned in and kissed first one side of her mouth, then the other. “I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears,” he teased softly, brushing his lips across hers lightly.

  Even before he began to kiss her, Whitney was melting. It wasn’t just her body, but all her pep talks to herself that were dissolving right along with her.

  “That steam has nothing to do with thinking,” she whispered back.

  “Oh?”

  There was way too much innocence infused into that single word. She knew that he knew exactly what he was doing to her.

  Even so, Whitney could feel herself responding that much more.

  Wanting him that much more.

  “Yes, ‘oh,’” she said, doing her best to sound distant, or at least neutral. But she was failing miserably and she knew it.

  The only thing that could save her—from her own desires, let alone his—was actual distance. She needed to put real distance between them.

  “I’d better go in,” Whitney announced in a shaky voice.

  Liam nodded, understanding. He wasn’t about to push what was clearly going on between them if she was the least bit uncomfortable about it. He’d just go home and take a shower. An extra long, really cold shower, he told himself. Maybe one that lasted an hour...or two.

  Getting out of his truck, Liam came around to her side and opened the door for her. Whitney swung her legs out, went to stand, and her knees seemed to have liquefied.

  The second she began to sink, she made a grab for Liam to keep herself from hitting the ground.

  He was even quicker than she was. Steadying her, he closed his arms around her tightly.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, his eyes sweeping over her, taking their own inventory.

  Saying yes seemed ludicrous, given what had just happened, so she said, “Just a little wobbly.” Whitney looked at him, embarrassed. “Just give me a minute to get my land legs back,” she said, doing her best to make a joke out of the situation.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Liam said. The next moment, he scooped her up into his arms and began to walk to the hotel’s entrance.

  Caught off guard, Whitney cried, “What are you doing?”

  He merely smiled at her as he shouldered open the entrance door. Moonlight streaming in through the surrounding glass illuminated the lobby as he carried her to her first-floor suite.

  “I’m implementing my better idea,” Liam answered easily.

  “I can walk,” Whitney protested. When he gave her a very dubious look, she amended her initial statement. “Eventually. It’ll just take me a minute—or two,” she murmured, thinking of her last experience.

  One shoulder raised and lowered in a careless, dismissive shrug. “This saves time,” he said.

  She knew that Liam was just trying to be helpful, but unfortunately he was way too close to her. It was hard enough resisting the man when he was clear across the length of a room. Right now, she was close enough to him to breathe in the breath he exhaled.

  In addition, being so close to Liam wreaked havoc on her resolve, on all her resolutions to just view him the way she did any other performer she’d signed for the family recording label.

  Being close to Liam made her acutely aware of how drawn to the man she was.

  Anticipation began to surface, taking her prisoner. Desire and passion suddenly became united, making demands, causing her willpower to sizzle away in the heat that was swiftly taking firm control of every inch of her body.

  Whitney wasn’t altogether sure just when she had laced her arms around the back of his neck. All she was truly aware of was that when he reached her suite and brought her inside, she didn’t want to be here alone. Didn’t want him to go.

  Still holding her in his arms, he asked, “Are you okay to stand?”

  “Yes,” she answered much too quickly. When he began to set her down and one of her knees buckled, she had to change the “yes” to a “no” as she grabbed on to his shoulders.

  “Maybe I should just put you on the bed,” he suggested, indicating with his eyes the single queen-size bed behind her.

  She barely turned her head to look. Pulses in her throat and wrists throbbed. Hard.

  “Okay,” she murmured.

  But when he gently put her down, Liam found that she had wrapped her hands around the front of his jacket. When Whitney went down, so did he.

  Caught by surprise, Liam wound up on top of the woman he was trying to help.

  “Looks like you’re not the only one who’s lost their balance,” he said.

  She knew what he was doing. He was trying to give her a way out as a last resort.

  Whitney didn’t take it.

  Didn’t want to take it.

  What she wanted this very moment, more than anything, was to feel his mouth on hers again. Feel his passion unleashing.

  Still holding the front of his jacket, she yanked hard and managed to throw him off balance again just enough to get him to cover her body with his once more.

  Coming in contact with the hardening contours of his torso sent a hot thrill all through her body.

  At the same time, she raised her head and captured his lips with her own.

  The kiss had surrender written all over it. Whether that was intended for him or a message to herself wasn’t really clear, but since neither of them wanted a way out any longer tonight, it really didn’t matter.

  All that mattered was that they were right here, right now, and there was no one to argue them out of their feelings for one another.

  She knew better than to be here...with him. But the chasm between knowing and doing could be leagues long and, right now, all she wanted was for Liam to make her feel wanted.

  Feeling loved would have been even better, but she wasn’t a child. She knew that this wasn’t happy-ever-after. That happened in fairy tales. She only wanted a little happiness that existed for a few hours.

  Liam would appreciate that. After all, what man Liam’s age was looking for forever, anyway? A golden evening, or stellar weekend, was the longest period of time she felt she could possibly hope for.

  It was enough.

  Or so she told herself. The world she came from didn’t have lasting relationships. All she had to look to were her parents to know that.

  * * *

  THE MOMENT SHE pulled him down onto her, the second she locked her lips with his, Liam realized that he was essentially a goner. He was utterly, hopelessly intrigued by this woman. Noble instincts could only last for so long and Whitney had melted his away in the heat of her mouth as it went questing over his.

  His head spinning, his lips completely occupied, Liam began to caress her body. With each pass of his hands, he became more and more possessive of her, making her his own.
/>   Rather than shrink back, Whitney pushed herself against his hands. The small noises that escaped her lips, the tiny catches in her breath, all urged him on to greater plateaus.

  He peeled her out of her clothing, one garment at a time, one side at a time.

  For every item that he pulled away from her twisting, damp body, one was dragged away from his. She became as bold as he was and it only heightened his desire for her.

  Their bodies became more and more entangled with one another.

  Her breath grew shorter and shorter. She just couldn’t seem to get enough of him. But still, a distant image of her mother wrapped up in Roy’s arms haunted her. Haunted her to the point that even now, in the middle of their communal explorations, she lifted her head and asked, each word an effort, “Are you sure that you’re just twenty-seven?”

  The question took him aback, but only for a moment. With his heart hammering wildly, he told her, “I’ll be anything you want me to be, any age. Whatever makes you happy.” Framing her face with his hands, he looked into her eyes and whispered, “It’s just a number, nothing else.”

  Then, to make his case and to get her mind off something that should have had absolutely no bearing on what they were feeling at this moment, Liam began to stroke her body, really stroke it, his lips softly trailing in the wake of his fingers, kissing every part of her that he had just touched.

  He could tell by the way her breathing became more labored, more shallow, that he had succeeded in stirring her up even further.

  Liam caressed and made love to each and every part of her for as long as he could hold himself in check. He brought her to her first climax by deftly using both his mouth and his fingers to stimulate her and bring her up and over to the ecstasy they both craved.

  Her pleasure only intensified his own.

  * * *

  IT WAS AT THAT moment that Whitney realized that while she’d had sex before, she had never experienced lovemaking until just now. What her body was going through—what she was going through—felt so very different from those other times.

  It felt so different that had anyone asked her to describe what was happening to her, she would have been hard-pressed to find the words to properly—or even improperly—describe it.

  The closest she could come was to say that fireworks were going off inside, the kind that created rainbows and light shows in the sky.

  The kind that had her holding on to him for dear life, wanting more, afraid of having it all end.

  Did anyone die of ecstasy?

  It was, she discovered, exquisite agony—and she was gripping it as hard as she could, by just her fingertips.

  Liam finally drew the length of his body up along hers. She wiggled beneath him in heightened anticipation. With his eyes locked on hers, Liam balanced his weight between his elbows, and then he entered her.

  The second he did, her breathing became more audible, her body tensed for a split second, then instantly became more fluid. Her mouth curved beneath his. A surge of excitement coursed through her veins.

  Liam began to move his hips.

  Whitney mimicked every move, grasping his shoulders so hard it was almost as if letting go would suddenly cause her to slip away from the earth’s gravitational pull and she would go drifting through space.

  The urgency within her made the rhythm more frantic as they both scrambled toward the peak that they knew waited to be claimed.

  When they finally reached it a fraction of a moment later, a shower of euphoria rained on them, drenching them both.

  “Incredible,” Liam said, smiling and holding on to the feeling, holding on to her, for as long as he possibly could.

  “Incredible,” she echoed.

  Something within him hoped the moment would last forever.

  But it didn’t.

  And as it slowly faded away beyond their grasp, reality was there, waiting for them, waiting as they came spiraling down to earth.

  He knew the second it happened for her. Her heart abruptly ceased pounding hard in double time.

  Even so, it slowly settled down to a normal beat, although that took some time.

  The euphoria created in the wake of their lovemaking might have been gone, but the feelings he’d had when this had all begun were still very much with him. Feelings of protectiveness, of tenderness, still flourished within his heart.

  But along with those, there was another feeling, one that was entirely new to him.

  It was a feeling that he’d thought he’d experienced once or twice in his life. But even so, when he tried to examine that feeling, it would suddenly just fade away, disappearing entirely as if it had never existed at all.

  But this time, as he tried to explore it, the feeling remained just where it was, as strong as it had been at its inception. Liam had a very strong feeling that this time, what he was experiencing wouldn’t disappear no matter how much time he gave it.

  So many sensations were slamming into him, making him want things, tugging him in all different directions at the same time. He took a breath, trying to pull himself together so he could sort things out.

  Gathering her to him, he kissed the top of her head. He could feel himself wanting her all over again. “See? I told you,” he said softly.

  She twisted so that she could see at least part of his face, her cheek rubbing against his hard, bare chest. “Told me what?”

  “That age didn’t matter.” And then he grinned, mischief gleaming in his eyes. “You kept up just fine, granny.”

  Doubling up her fist, Whitney punched his arm.

  “Ouch!” he cried, pretending that her punch had actually hurt.

  “Is this the part where you say love hurts?” he asked, tongue in cheek.

  The word pulled her up short. “Love?” she repeated in stunned disbelief.

  Was he implying that he thought she loved him—or was he saying that he was entertaining stronger emotions than those made of wet tissues? Either way, she knew she couldn’t ask him. That would put both of them on the spot no matter which answer he gave.

  Most likely, he’d lie to hide the truth—or tell her the truth and hide it amid a joke.

  One way or the other, she wasn’t going to get to the truth of the situation tonight. Quite possibly never.

  The only path opened to her was to just brazen it out.

  “Who said anything about love?” she asked as flippantly and nonchalantly as she could.

  “Well, since the voice was rather deep, I’m guessing it was me,” he said, doing his best to keep a straight face. “Gonna hold it against me?” he asked.

  “No, of course not,” she said quickly. The last thing she wanted was for him to say anything he didn’t want to say.

  How had this gotten so complicated so quickly?

  “You just said it in the heat of the moment,” she reasoned.

  “It wasn’t the moment that was hot,” he replied, his eyes slowly assessing the length of her. All that accomplished was to make himself crazy all over again, Liam thought. “It was me—and it was you. And if I get a vote in this, I was kind of hoping you would hold it against me—right along with that delicious body of yours,” he said.

  Whitney was certain that she wasn’t understanding him correctly. Her brain felt muddled and all she could really think of was making love with him again—she had to be losing her mind.

  Where the hell was her sense of self-preservation? she silently demanded.

  She shook her head as if to try to clear it, even though she knew that wouldn’t accomplish anything. “What?”

  “Guess I’m not making myself clear. Looks like I’m just going to have to show you,” he said out loud. “I’m better at showing than telling, anyway,” he told her just before he went on to demonstrate just what he meant by sealing his
mouth to hers.

  Whitney slipped willingly back into the land of ecstasy—right alongside of the man who took her there.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The rhythmic buzzing noise wouldn’t stop.

  It wormed its insistent way into Whitney’s consciousness like a malcontented intruder, ultimately dissolving her sleep.

  Reluctantly, after several tries, Whitney finally managed to pry her eyes open. Only when she finally succeeded did she realize that she’d fallen asleep. The next moment, she became aware of the fact that she hadn’t fallen asleep alone.

  Bolting upright, her heart racing, she found herself looking down into Liam’s peaceful face. He was still asleep—or at least it looked that way to her.

  However, the next moment, with his eyes still closed, she heard Liam ask, “Aren’t you going to get that? I think it’s your cell phone. I turned mine off last night.”

  Disoriented, Whitney scanned the room, trying to home in on where the sound was coming from so she could find her phone.

  “It’s okay, you can get up,” he murmured, barely opening his eyes so that they formed slits. “I won’t peek if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

  “It’s a little late for that,” she murmured under her breath. He was right, though. She couldn’t spot her phone if she stayed in bed. Whitney got up.

  “Glad you feel that way,” he responded, opening his eyes all the way. He made no attempt to pretend that he wasn’t looking at her. Seeing her like that stirred him all over again. “You’re just as beautiful in the morning light as you looked last night,” he told Whitney.

  The compliment both pleased her and upset her at the same time. She loved making love with Liam but even so, she was annoyed with herself for not having enough inner strength to resist him.

  Playing a hunch, Liam leaned over the side of the bed and looked under it. The phone was there, having somehow been kicked under her bed during the initial frenzy last night. Retrieving it now, Liam held the phone out to her.