growling with pleasure as she gave him what he wanted—her immediate and total surrender. She tasted the mix of her juices and his as she brought him off quickly. The room was silent as he came, except for her sucking sounds and the steady beat of his fist on the door that matched the hot ejaculate spurting into her mouth. As soon as she finished swallowing, he hauled her to her feet, dispensed with their clothes and threw her on the bed.
Renner ruthlessly used his fingers and mouth on her pussy, propelling her to the brink, pulling back and pushing her again and again until she begged. Then he let her come.
Before she’d caught her breath from the almost violent, mind-blowing orgasm, he dragged her into the bathroom. He spread her legs wide and pressed her hips into the towel he’d draped over the marble counter.
His warm mouth tickled her ear. “You’re mine. Understand? Mine. My hands on you. My mouth on you. My cock in you. No one else will ever have you the way I do. No one.”
Tierney’s mouth dried and her belly roiled watching him uncap the bottle of lube. He’d hinted at wanting this final virginity from her, and she’d demurred, so the fact he was taking it on his terms, and he’d make her enjoy it, ratcheted her lust a thousand degrees.
She attempted to relax as he worked a finger into her ass. Two fingers. Then the slick tip of his cock prodded her anus and slipped past the tight ring of muscle. Moving inch by inch until his cock filled her back channel completely.
His hand clutched her hair, forcing her gaze to meet his in the mirror. The strokes started out slow. The bite of pain was softened by the tingle of pleasure as the nubby fabric of the towel abraded her clit with his every thrust. When he couldn’t hold back, when he reamed her ass harder and deeper and faster, without pause, she came, staring into his wild eyes, feeling a connection beyond anything she’d ever experienced.
And when Renner finally reached that point, he sank his teeth into the sensitive sweep of her neck to muffle his cry. The sexy love bite was another sign of his total possession and Tierney climaxed again. Hard.
It was the most intense sexual interlude she could imagine.
But Renner was by no means finished with her. He flipped on the shower, filling the space with damp heat. He carried her into the glass enclosure. Soaping every millimeter of her skin. Kissing her. Caressing her. Muttering sweet nothings against her wet flesh as he reignited their passion. He pinned her to the tile with his strong body and slowly made love to her, creating a dense haze of pleasure that rivaled the fragrant steam enveloping them.
Only then did he dry her off and carry her to bed. Twining their bodies together, his proof that she belonged to him as unassailable as the fact she was completely in love with him.
Chapter Thirty-two
“Tierney? Baby, we’re almost home.”
She yawned and stretched. “I thought you were going to wake me up so I could drive part of the way.”
“You looked so cute and peaceful. Besides, I wore you out last night. You needed to rest up.” He smiled cheekily.
Tierney turned her head and kissed Renner’s knuckles. She loved the way he always had to touch her, even in sleep. Now that she’d gotten used to constant physical affection, she didn’t know how she’d ever live without it. She pushed upright, squinting into the darkness before she reached for her glasses. “How long before you have to hit the road again?”
“Depends on if Pritchett can find any help. If he can’t, then I’ll be gone soon.”
“I’ll hold down the fort while you’re loadin’ them doggies in the chutes.” She plucked his hand off the seat and held it between hers. His callused hands were a testament to his hard work. She loved how his hands felt on her body, gentle and teasing. Sometimes rough. But always loving. Every time he touched her or kissed her or made love to her she felt his love. She just wished he could give voice to it.
Maybe you should give voice to it.
Right then, Tierney decided to take the first step.
“I hear them gears churning, smart girl. What’s on your mind?”
“I don’t want you to laugh.”
“I won’t. Unless you put on a red clown nose and a rainbow wig.”
“Now who’s trying to make me laugh? But I’m serious.” She looked at him in the glow of the dashboard lights. “I don’t want to hide our relationship. Not at the Split Rock. Not anywhere else. Not for anyone.”
His body went very still.
She wondered if he would’ve said anything at all if she hadn’t prompted him with, “Renner?”
“Sorry. You just caught me off guard.”
“Why? Was our time in Denver ‘what happens at the National Western Stock Show stays at the National Western Stock Show’?”
After a while he let out a slow breath. “We’d be open about our relationship with everyone for the rest of the time you’re at Split Rock?”
Now Tierney understood his hesitation. He believed this was temporary—not that she’d ever led him to believe otherwise. “You think I intend to leave.”
“Don’t you?”
No. Because I love you. Because I never knew men like you existed. Because we have the start of something real.
It was her turn to stay silent. Grateful for the darkness, she watched the snowy mounds zip by as she gazed out her window.
Evidently Renner needed to finish their conversation. He pulled the truck to the side of the road, threw it in park and shut it off. “Don’t start playing games with me now, Tierney.”
“I’m not.”
“Then look at me and tell me what’s goin’ on.”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
She gritted her teeth against the stupid tears that accompanied her dry mouth, sweaty palms and churning stomach.
“Do what?” he repeated.
“I don’t know how to tell you I love you, okay?” she blurted. “I don’t know how to tell you that I don’t ever want to leave the Split Rock. I don’t ever want to leave you.”
Every bit of air in the cab seemed to vanish.
Tierney was suffocating in her own overheating skin. She fumbled with the door handle. Between the height of Renner’s truck cab and the steep incline of the shoulder, she slid gracelessly into the ditch. Snow went down her pants and scraped her palms. She scrambled to her feet and climbed up by the back end of the truck.
Of course Renner was there, grabbing her upper arms and getting right in her face. “Why did you bail out like that?”
“Let me go.”
“Like hell. Where were you goin’?”
“To get some air. I can’t breathe.” She kept her face pointed at the ground and twisted out of his hold. “Just let me breathe.”
He let her be. But he didn’t leave her.
Tierney wrapped her arms around herself, concentrating on dragging fresh air into her lungs. The icy wind whipped her hair around her face and she welcomed the sting that cooled the burning in her cheeks. She kept her eyes closed and simply breathed.
When she started to shiver, Renner was behind her, tugging her in his coat. He murmured, “Better?” against the whistling wind.
She nodded.
“You ready to get in the truck?”
She shook her head.
“Okay. We’ll just... stay like this. For as long as you want.”
She lifted her chin to look at the sky. Too much reflection from the snow didn’t allow for the night to be pitch black. The stars were silver spatters in a swath of indigo stretching as far as the eye could see. No light. No sound except for the wind. This land was breathtaking in its austerity. Humbling in its magnitude. She loved it here. Even if Renner rejected her, she couldn’t return to the life she’d led in Chicago.
Her legs were feeling the effects of the cold. Renner’s probably were too, but he hadn’t moved or complained. She turned her head into his chest and said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what? For saying you love me?”
Her
heart raced.
“Are you sorry you love me, Tierney?”
She wiggled until he released her and she spun around to look him in the eye. “No. I’m not sorry I love you.”
“Then are you sorry you told me that you love me?”
Why was he pushing her? “I don’t know.”
“I’m not sorry you told me.” He attempted to push her hair out of her face—a losing battle against the never-ending wind. “It just caught me by surprise. But I should’ve known.”
“Known that I love you?”
“No, known that you wouldn’t play games. That you’d tell me how you felt about me as soon as you figured it out.”
Renner smiled so softly, so wistfully her breath stalled. She feared he was about to tell her that as much as he liked her, he didn’t feel the same way.
“You’re very straightforward. That’s what I love most about you.”
A beat passed and then she blurted, “Wait. You love me?”
“Yep. And darlin’, you’re a lot braver than me, because I’ve known how I felt about you for a while and didn’t have the guts to tell you.”
“Define a while.”
“Since before Christmas.”
They stared at one another.
She said, “Now what?”
“First, this.” Renner pressed his cold lips to hers and held them there. “And then this.” Their lips moved against each other’s. Warmed each other’s. Although they kissed for a good long time, the kiss never caught fire. It stayed easy. Sweet. Tender. Loving. Perfect.
Then he rubbed his cold nose into her warm neck and she shrieked. “Omigod, that’s cold!”
“Now can we get in the damn truck and go home? I’m freezin’ my ass off.” Renner took her hand and helped her in the driver’s side. As soon as she put her coat on he reached for her hand again. And he didn’t let go once on the drive to the Split Rock.
They crested the hill leading to the main lodge and noticed the lights were on. And a Land Cruiser was parked in the front.
He frowned and pulled in behind it. “We weren’t supposed to get guests until tomorrow, right?”
“Right.”
“Let’s see what’s going on before we unload the luggage.”
Tierney’s feeling of unease increased with every footstep. Renner held the door open and they both froze upon seeing the man sitting by a roaring fire, drinking out of a brandy snifter and conversing with Janie.
Hands shaking, she took off her coat and crossed the room. “Hello, Father. What are you doing here?”
“Enjoying the ambiance and the delightful company of Miss Fitzhugh.” Gene Pratt stood and held his hand out to Renner. “Good to see you again, Jackson.”
“You also, Pratt.”
If Renner or Janie was surprised by the lack of affection between father and daughter, neither showed it. Tierney went straight for the bar. She grabbed two bottles of beer, popped the caps, and handed one to Renner.
Her father frowned.
Janie said, “I was just telling Mr. Pratt how lucky it was, Tierney, that Renner was able to give you a ride back from your trip to Denver.”
“What were you doing in Denver, Tierney?” her father asked. “Janie was a little vague.”
Now she felt guilty keeping Janie in the dark about their relationship. Tierney didn’t want to make the woman look incompetent, but not at the expense of maintaining a lie to her father about her relationship with Renner.
She stopped in front of the fireplace. “Actually, I was with Renner the whole time. At the National Western Stock Show.”
“Ah. Doing a little word-of-mouth advertising for the resort?”
“No. Renner’s livestock contracting company had business meetings set up with rodeo promoters. It was partially a working vacation for him as well as a getaway for us.”
Janie’s gaze flicked between Tierney and Renner. “Us?” she repeated. “What does that mean?”
“It means that at some point my financial manager has become intimately involved with the man who’s borrowed a whole pile of money from me.” Her father stared at Renner. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Involved? As in the two of you are . . . together?”
Tierney nodded.
Janie leapt off the couch and got right in her face. “How long has this been going on?”
“For a while,” Renner said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Janie whirled on Renner. “Either of you?”
“Yes, Tierney, why didn’t you share the good news with anyone about your new relationship?” her father taunted.
“Because it’s private and has no bearing on our business relationship.” She locked her gaze to Janie’s. “Since you had no idea that Renner and I were anything but business associates, you can reassure my father that our working hours were solely devoted to business.”
Janie looked at Gene Pratt. “Sir. I assure you that I had no inkling more than a business relationship existed between them.”
“I believe you. I see how upset you are by all this, and I don’t blame you.” He smiled empathetically at Janie. “I’d like to talk to you in more detail about what we spoke of earlier. I’ll be here all day tomorrow and I leave on Tuesday morning for Denver.”
Another day and night with her father?
“Thank you. There’s stuff in the office I need to take home.” Janie started up the stairs.
Tierney’s father stood. “I’ll be in the lounge area. Dodie prepared dinner for us. You’ll have to serve, as I’ve sent her home.” He had his BlackBerry in his hand as he wandered away.
Renner mouthed, “Serve?” as they scaled the stairs.
“Yes. God forbid if he ever had to fix himself a plate.”
The door to the office was ajar. “Janie?”
“Don’t worry, I was just leaving.”
“Stay a minute and talk to us,” Renner said.
Janie dabbed her eyes with the tissue in her hand. “Why? So you can explain? Save it. I don’t want to know.” She sniffed. “Jesus. I’m such an idiot. And I’m sure you both got a huge laugh putting one over on me.”
Renner touched her arm in a show of support, but Janie flinched like he’d slapped her.
“Don’t be nice to me. I trusted you. Both of you. And it hurts like hell that you couldn’t be bothered to tell me what was going on between you.”
Rather than continue to coddle her, Renner got mad. “Really, Janie? You didn’t notice that every time Tierney came near me I couldn’t keep my eyes off her? You didn’t wonder why we locked ourselves away in this office so often?”
“I thought it was about business,” she said petulantly.
“After you moved in with Abe? You never once asked me how I spent my nights. Or who I was with. You didn’t question why we went away to Denver together? Don’t blame us for you bein’ oblivious.”
“Janie the idiot. It’s probably a sign that I should move on,” she muttered, slipping on her coat.
“A sign you should move on?” Renner demanded. “What’s that mean?”
She gave him a cruel smile. “It’s my private business and has nothing to do with you.” The door slammed behind her.
He swore.
Tierney walked to the window and watched it snow. Was it really only an hour ago she’d never been happier? That everything she’d ever wanted was finally within reach?
Now she just wanted to cry.
Chapter Thirty-three
Supper, aka dinner in Gene Pratt’s world, was a stiffly formal affair. With no table staff, Tierney served the food, poured the wine and acted like the uptight Tierney he’d first met months ago.
Renner didn’t like the reversion one bit.
But her father didn’t notice because he talked over her. Lectured her in the guise of discussing business. Not once during dinner did Gene Pratt ask a single personal question of his daughter.
As they lounged by the fire, acting ridiculously
civilized, Renner topped off Tierney’s wineglass. He didn’t care if she rebuffed his