Marie Ferrarella - The Coltons - Nick, Clay & Jericho

His action was reminiscent of the rebellious youth he’d been rather than the man he had carefully and painstakingly evolved into. The man would have never given in to the moment, to the temptation shimmering before him.

No matter how much he wanted to.

But it was the rebellious teen, who hadn’t quite figured out how to harness himself, how to tame his impulses, who surfaced.

Nick cupped the sides of Georgie’s face in his hands and brought his mouth down to hers as if he had no choice in the matter. And it was that needy soul, the one who had never connected with anyone after his mother’s desertion, who silently cheered as sensations shot through him, causing him to deepen the kiss that was far from innocent.

My God, what’s going on?

The shell-shocked question echoed in Georgie’s brain before it showered down on her in shattered fragments. Before she embraced the wild feelings that had materialized out of nowhere. When Nick kissed her, she voluntarily fell headlong into it, losing herself. She could sooner stop breathing than pull back.

The ensuing rush was incredible.

It had been so long since she’d allowed a man to kiss her. The last few years, she’d lived her life almost exclusively in the world of men, but they were her friends, her mentors, her protectors. They looked out for her almost as if she were a beloved little sister. Once or twice, a new member had joined the circle and attempted to hit on her. But there was always someone to set the newcomer straight and he would obligingly back off.

As far as the men on the rodeo circuit were concerned, Georgie was family. Her boundaries were to be respected and not crossed.

And she had gone along, silently grateful for the protection, for being left alone on the complex romantic playing field.

She thought she was all right with that. She thought wrong.

This need that had sprung up from nowhere, exploding like a misstep taken in an active minefield, had to have had its origins somewhere, didn’t it?

The more Nick kissed her, the more she wanted to be kissed. The more she realized how much she’d missed being kissed, being treated like a desirable woman rather than just a mother, just a sister, just a worthy competitor. There was nothing wrong with any of that, but it didn’t begin to address the needs that had quietly been growing in the dark. Growing until they burst at the seams.

He should pull back.

He should get a grip and stop. Now , before he compounded the mistake.

But the feel of her soft body urgently pressing against his had set off all sorts of demands within him that were close to impossible to rein in.

He tried to talk himself out of it, using logic. It could all be just part of her plan to seduce him, to turn his head and make him oblivious to her guilt, to the con she wanted to put over on him.

God help him, he didn’t care.

He’d sort it all out later. Right now, something far more important was going on. And besides, deep in his gut, he felt she was innocent. That was supposed to count for something, wasn’t it? Gut feelings?

Or was he just trying to rationalize his behavior?

Breath short, pulse racing and adrenaline pumped up so high he thought he was about to plunge off the side of a cliff into a glass of water three hundred feet below, Nick still somehow managed to break contact and pull his head back.

Somehow managed to pull his lips away from hers. “Georgie—”

That’s all he said. That’s all he could say. Because she rose up on her toes, whispered a plea, “Don’t ruin this,” and sealed her mouth to his as she drove her fingers into his hair, anchoring herself to the sensation that thundered through her.

It was all he needed. The go-ahead signal. Had he been made of cardboard or metal, he could have called a stop to it. But he was flesh and blood and his flesh and blood called to hers.

As he tightened his arms around her, his mouth roamed Georgie’s face, her neck, the soft skin that peered out from where the first button of her blouse pulled against its hole.

As he kissed her, his mouth doing wild, wonderful things to her system she’d never experienced, Georgie felt his fingers freeing the buttons on her blouse.

And then her blouse was hanging open, exposing her lacy bra and showing off her tanned, firm skin to its best advantage.

His lips anointed her skin.

With unsteady hands, Georgie began to undress him, first pushing the damn black jacket off his shoulders, down his arms, then setting siege to his shirt. She yanked the edges out of his waistband, but as she began to free the buttons, she felt herself being picked up into the air.

Startled, she looked at Nick, a silent question in her eyes.

“Your daughter might wake up,” he told her, his voice husky with emotions that had yet to be spent.

Oh, God, Emmie. She’d forgotten about Emmie.

If she’d been thinking clearly, she would have been embarrassed that he was the one who thought of Emmie. After all, she was Emmie’s mother. But Georgie was grateful that he knew Emmie could come out of her room at any time, looking for her. Her heart swelled and an incredible wave of tenderness washed over her. That one simple act made her see him in a completely different light.

Again she sealed her mouth to his, kissing him long and hard. The only reason she broke contact was because he was depositing her on her bed.

And then he was helping her out of her jeans, pulling them down about her thighs and then her knees. His own knees felt almost weak as she raised her hips to help with the effort. Raised them so that they were closer to him.

Tossing the jeans aside on the floor, Nick reached for the soft, light blue bikini panties she still had on. Meanwhile, she had tangled her fingers in his belt, drawing it quickly through its loops. She didn’t even wait to have it hit the floor before she yanked on the zipper.

The button that fastened the trousers in place went flying. Momentarily distracted, Nick glanced to see where it had landed.

Georgie pulled his face back down to hers. “I can sew,” she told him just before she captured his mouth again.

She desperately wanted nothing to stop her. If she paused, if she thought, logic and her sense of self-preservation would get in the way and stop her.

And she didn’t want to stop.

She wanted to dash up to the highest pinnacle, to feel that rush through her veins just a moment before it was all over. She needed to feel that more than she could possibly ever put into words.

With a mighty tug, Georgie freed him of both his trousers and the underwear beneath them, bringing both down around his surprisingly muscular thighs and then off his torso completely. They fell into the shadows, along with the button.

“Learn that on the circuit?” he asked, trying to hide the desire that throbbed through his veins beneath a glimmer of humor.

“No,” she whispered, her breath lingering on his face, “but I could hog-tie you in a minute eight if you want a demonstration of what I did learn on the circuit.”

He framed her face with his hands, drawing the length of his naked body over hers. “Later.”

“Okay.”

It was the last thing she remembered saying before everything exploded within her. Before he made her feel beautiful. Before her skin went on fire as he branded her with his hands, his mouth, his tongue.

Georgie swallowed strangled cries as he made her climax and then continued, doing it again.

And again.

Until she thought she was just going to expire from exhaustion.

With her last ounce of available strength, Georgie wrapped her legs around Nick’s torso, stirring up temptation he couldn’t resist, couldn’t ignore or back away from.