A shiver swept through him. "I like it, too." And then he showed her just how much when he parted her feminine folds and let his tongue go to work. Her taste stirred a yearning in him that could only be appeased this particular way and by doing this precise thing. And the sound of her moans, her whimpers, the tightening of her legs around his shoulders, and the sweet liquor her body was producing, sent what seemed like an unquenchable greed through him.
He knew it was only a matter of time before she came and when that thought raced through him the pressure of his tongue inside of her increased, lapping her up like his very life depended on it. And when he felt Chloe"s body jerk beneath his mouth he held on tight, knowing her spasms would soon become his.
They did. And with as much pleasure as his mental state could take, he went for the gusto, using his tongue to push her even more so over the edge while keeping his mouth locked tight to her.
Chloe was convinced her mind was splintering under the intensity of the explosion that ripped through her. She breathed in sharply and felt the lower half of her body actually being lifted off the bed, but Ramsey was there, holding on tight to her, gripping her hips, keeping her bolted to his mouth.
His tongue was a.s.saulting her core as he continued to lap her up. She screamed out his name as spasms, as vicious as they could get, tore into her, spinning her senses out of control and into a turmoil or pa.s.sion.
It was only when the last tremble pa.s.sed through her that he released her and pulled back. There was nothing she could do but slump back on the bed. She felt weaker than water. She watched through partially closed lashes as he moved from the bed to remove his clothes.
She could only lay there, trying to get her breathing back to normal as she watched him lean over to take off his boots. He then straightened to unb.u.t.ton his shirt and then eased it off his muscular shoulders and tossed it aside. Sliding the bra.s.s buckle belt through the loops, he lowered his zipper before pushing the jeans down his legs.
Even while lying there, with barely enough energy to breathe, Chloe watched as Ramsey removed every st.i.tch of clothing and then he stood, fully naked and all male. Her eyes latched on his erection, big and powerful, and upon seeing it, fiery sensations swept through her, giving her renewed energy while stirring desire within her all over again.
When he reached into the nightstand to retrieve a condom packet and tore it open with his teeth, before proceeding to roll it over his swollen shaft, she felt what amounted to fire raging through her veins. She exhaled a deep breath when he came back to the bed and with gentle hands he reached out and eased her legs apart.
Moments later, in position between them, he leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss so painstakingly tender that it almost brought tears to her eyes and made her fall in love with him that much more. When he tore his lips from her to pull back, he tilted her hips up to him before surging deep within her. The pleasure she felt with his entry sent a moan from deep within her throat. And then the mating of their bodies began as he eased in and out of her, giving her the pleasure her body was aching for.
"Look at me, baby. Feel me," Ramsey said as his fingertips caressed her chin.
She did feel him. He was as deep as he could get and his need was raging just as out of control as hers. Then he picked up the tempo and she clung to him, determined to meet him on every level. Especially this one.
And when he called out her name in a guttural growl she knew that here, in bed, making love, the two of them were in the same sensual vibe. And when she cried out her pleasure, felt her body explode yet again, and knew he was following her over the edge, she could have sworn at that moment she actually felt his hot release shooting inside of her, all the way to the womb. But she knew that wasn"t possible. She had watched him put on a condom. It was nothing more than her imagination at work, and when he continued to drive hard within her she knew the night was just beginning.
A long time later Chloe lay in Ramsey"s arms in the position she"d discovered he liked the best: spoon style. Her backside was cushioned by his front and his muscular leg was thrown over hers. Her head was resting back on his chest and his arm was thrown over her middle.
She felt satiated, relaxed, secured. After their last lovemaking session, Ramsey had eased out of her and had gone into the bathroom to discard the condom and to put on another. He liked being ready and chances were today would not be any different than last night when they had made love, rested and made love again all through the night. However, at some point they needed to prepare something for dinner to keep up their strength.
They enjoyed each other and she couldn"t see them not making love several more times before they finally drifted off to sleep. The thought that he desired her as much as she desired him made her heart thump rapidly in her chest.
She pulled in a deep breath knowing she had to level with him. No matter how he handled things she needed to tell him the truth. She would let him know she no longer wanted him to pose for the cover, nor did she want to do an article on him.
Knowing it was best to just get it over with, she turned into his arms. She could tell the move surprised him and deciding to just tell him and not waste any time, she took a quick breath and said, "Ramsey, there"s something I need to tell you."
Ramsey quickly placed a finger to Chloe"s lips. Knowing his sisters and how desperate they were for him to become involved with a woman, they had probably gone overboard, shaken her up by tossing her some ideas she wasn"t quite ready to catch. So she was about to bail out. Let him know that for her things weren"t quite that serious. He understood, but he wasn"t ready to hear her acknowledge that yet.
At the end of the week, right before she left for good, then they would talk. He would tell her of his desire to see her again when her work here ended. He wanted to take her out, make love to her, he wanted for them to continue what they had started here. He recalled what he"d said to Dillon earlier that day and knew that he did did want it to be that kind of a party. want it to be that kind of a party.
"Let"s not get into a serious discussion about anything. Not now. We can discuss any serious topics on your last day. I need to continue to have the peace I"ve found with you, Chloe. Could you hold your thoughts for a while and give me that?"
She slowly nodded. "Yes, I can give you that."
"And," he continued by saying, "with shearing wrapping up this week, the sheep that"s not pregnant will be taken to pasture and-"
"You have a lot of sheep pregnant?"
He smiled. "Yes, almost half my herd."
He saw the look of surprise on her face. "How did that many sheep get pregnant at the same time?"
"It"s timed that way. The female sheep, the ewes, are put out with the rams during mating season and five months later they deliver during what is call lambing. That"s when the lamb is born. Luckily ewes won"t deliver the same day, but typically they will all deliver within a two-week period of each other."
"Wow!"
He chuckled. In a way he was pleased with Chloe"s interest in his ranch. "The rams and the wethers are-"
"Wethers?"
"Yes, castrated male sheep," he explained. "While the pregnant ewes are lambing, the rams and wethers and the ewes that aren"t pregnant are taken to pasture by the sheepherders. And that is where most of them will be for the next few months out on the pasture grazing."
An idea popped into his head. "One of my men, Pete Overton, won"t be able to begin sheepherding until Sunday morning, so I"m going to drive his herd out to pasture early Sat.u.r.day morning and get things all set up for him. Will you come with me? We"ll be back here before noon Sunday."
Chloe smiled up at Ramsey. She had wanted to come clean and tell him the truth, but he preferred they hold off and not discuss anything serious until her last day. That was fine with her because she knew that once she told him the truth he would probably be upset with her.
She leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yes, I"d love to go with you."
Ten.
Over the next few days Chloe accepted the realization that she was falling in love with Ramsey. They would share a bed each night and get up before daybreak every morning and together they would prepare breakfast for the men.
It was during those times that he would share more information about his life as a sheepherder and had begun telling her about members of his family. Five of his siblings had been under sixteen when his parents had gotten killed-Megan, Gemma, the twins by the name of Adrian and Aiden, and his sister Bailey. Zane had been a senior in high school, ready to go off to college and Derringer had been about to enter his senior year of high school. His cousin Dillon had been placed in a similar situation with four siblings under sixteen.
From what Ramsey told her, Adrian and Aiden were now in their last year of college at Harvard, as was their cousin Stern. Another cousin by the name of Canyon was in medical school at Howard University in D.C. Brisbane was in the Navy. Micah, who was Zane"s counterpart in age, was a graduate from Harvard Medical School and was an epidemiologist with the federal government.
Just listening to Ramsey share information with her about his family"s turbulent years and the struggle that he and Dillon had had to endure to keep their families together, she had to admire the two men. Although she had yet to meet Dillon, she had met another one of his brothers, Riley, and found him to be just as handsome as the others.
And Ramsey had shared more information about sheepherding with her. One afternoon they had walked around his ranch. He had taken her to where the lambing stalls were and explained how next week more than a thousand of his ewes would be delivering. She had found the whole process fascinating. He had also given her a tour of the shearing plant and she was able to watch the men at work. She"d seen the dogs at work, too, and Ramsey had explained how important the sheepdogs were in managing and protecting the herds. You could definitely see that running a sheep ranch required maintaining a tight schedule and sticking to it.
Hanging the last pot back on the rack, she turned when she heard the back door open and smiled when Ramsey walked in. Closing the door behind him, and without missing a step, he crossed the kitchen floor and pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
Chloe returned the kiss, for the moment refusing to acknowledge that she was making it harder and harder to leave after this weekend, to walk away and not to look back. The thought of doing so caused her heart to ache, but that"s what she would be doing. She decided she didn"t want to think beyond it, so she tightened her arms around him as he deepened his kiss. His mouth slanted against hers and she could feel her knees weaken.
Moments later he broke off the kiss and pulled back slightly and whispered against her moist lips. "Why do you always taste so sweet?"
His words further eroded her sensibility. He sounded so serious like there was truly an answer for his question. There wasn"t one, so she shook her head, tilted it up and smiled at him. "For the same reason you always taste so delicious."
And to show him just what she meant, she took the tip of her tongue and licked a corner of his mouth. The instant she did, his long eyelashes swept upward to reveal the depths of his darkened gaze, and she could just imagine what he was thinking now.
"Doing something like that can get you into trouble," he warned, as his arms tightened around her waist, drawing her even closer into the fit of his muscular form.
She smiled. "So you say."
"So I can prove." He took a step away from her. "But not now. First, I need to let you know that we"ve been invited to dinner."
She lifted a brow. "Dinner?"
"Yes, my cousin Dillon and his wife Pamela want to meet you."
Panic settled into Chloe"s bones. She didn"t want to pull any more of Ramsey"s family members into her web of deceit. She liked all of the ones she"d met so far and from what she"d heard about the oldest Denver Westmoreland, Dillon, there was no doubt in her mind that she would like him as well.
"Why do they want to meet me?" she asked, not sure she was ready to meet the man Ramsey was so close to.
"They"ve heard a lot of nice things about you and want to meet you for themselves."
She didn"t know what to say to that. She had heard a lot of nice things about them as well. "I bet it was Jason who told them how I could fix his eggs just the way he likes them," she said in a teasing voice, trying to make light of what Ramsey had said.
Ramsey chuckled. "Might be. Or it could have been one of my brothers or sisters. You"ve made quite an impression on them."
Chloe glanced down to study the floor. At any other time knowing she had impressed the family of the man she loved would have been a feather in her cap. But not now. When they found out the truth it won"t just be Ramsey who"d think she"d deceived them. Lucia had been right. Chloe had been around them long enough to know the Westmorelands stuck together and if you were to hurt one, then you hurt them all.
"So, will you go to dinner with me at Dillon and Pamela"s?"
A part of her wanted to come up with an excuse not to go. She should claim a headache or something, but she could not do that. Although she deserved nothing, she wanted it all. She wanted to get to know more about the man she had fallen in love with. As well as to get to know those he loved and those who loved him.
She pulled in a deep breath and then said, "Yes, I"ll go to dinner with you."
Ramsey could not remember the last time he"d brought a woman to a family function. Even with the annual charity ball they sponsored each year for the Westmoreland Foundation that had been established to aid various community causes, he usually went solo. For him it had been better that way and because there had been enough eager-beaver Westmorelands who enjoyed being the center on attention with beautiful women on their arms, he was left alone.
He couldn"t even recall bringing Danielle to dinner when they"d dated. He never had to bother because his mother had liked Danielle enough to invite her to dinner whenever she saw her at church most Sundays. He knew the main reason he had dated Danielle as long as he had was because his family had liked her. And then because she"d hung around waiting for him to finish college, he had felt marrying her was the least he could do.
The truth of the matter was that she hadn"t been idle while she"d waited. At some point she had met someone, slept with the person and had gotten pregnant. The sad thing about it was that the man never married her and she ended up being a single mom.
He glanced around the room thinking that this was not supposed to be a family function. Dillon and Pamela had invited him and Chloe to dinner and they had accepted. He had expected to see Pamela"s three younger sisters because this was spring break back in Gamble. But he hadn"t expected to see his three sisters who were smiling sweetly at him at every turn. Nor had he expected to see Zane, Derringer and Jason. He saw them enough around his place for breakfast and lunch. Callum was not a surprise because the man took advantage of every opportunity to hang around Gemma. Riley wasn"t a surprise either because he was known to drop in whenever and wherever there was a free meal.
"You might have disappointed me for not doing that magazine cover, but you"ve more than made up for it with Chloe, Ram. I like her," Bailey said.
Ramsey turned and met his baby sister"s gaze. "And just what do you like about her?" he asked, curious to hear what she had to say.
"She fits you."
Because he"d been expecting a long, drawn out discourse, he was surprised by those three words. This was definitely a night for surprises, but then he thought he would not let Bailey get off that easily. "She fits me in what way?"
Bailey shrugged. "She"s pretty. You"re handsome. She can cook. You can"t. She"s an extrovert. You"re an introvert." She lifted her brow. "Need I go on?"
"No."
"Because we all know you have a tendency to stretch things out, Ram. If you are interested in her, you probably want to step up your game a notch."
Now it was his time to raise a brow. "What makes you think I"m interested in her?" he asked, glancing across the room to where Chloe sat talking to Pamela. The two women were getting along like they were old friends.
"She"s here isn"t she? That in itself says a lot." And without saying anything else, Bailey strolled off.
He was tempted to follow Bailey and tell her that no, nothing said it all. They were seeing things that weren"t there. Seeing what they wanted to see. But when he glanced back over at Chloe, he was beginning to wonder if perhaps everything that Bailey had said just now made sense. If so, that was real scary only because it was Bailey and she never thought logically.
Not for the first time tonight Chloe quickly glanced over at Ramsey before turning her full attention back to the conversation going on around her. The topic of conversation had shifted from just how good the First Lady had looked at a nationally televised event last evening to what was happening overseas.
More than once he had caught her gaze and the smile he"d sent her way was enough to send heat escalating through every part of her body. And memories of his touch would wash over her, make her wish they were someplace else. Someplace private.
"So you"re an only child, Chloe?"
Chloe glanced up at Gemma and smiled. The Westmorelands had been asking her questions about herself. Getting to know her. She had been wording her answers so they wouldn"t be outright lies. "Yes, I"m an only child but not for long. My father is getting married in a few months and the person he"s marrying has a son and daughter."
"And you don"t have a problem with that?" Bailey asked.
Chloe chuckled. "Not at all. Dad"s been single long enough. My mother died when I was two, so it"s about time he tied the knot again."
The conversation shifted to Megan as she told them how her day went as an anesthesiologist. Chloe glanced back across the room at Ramsey. He was talking to Dillon. There was no mistaking the two men were related. Dillon Westmoreland was also a good-looking man.
Ramsey caught her eye and like before, the look he gave her made her heart thump erratically in her chest. And as she continued to look at him she could actually feel his heat, reaching out across the perimeters of the room and actually touch her. And then he whispered something to Dillon before walking across the room toward her.
When he reached her side he tucked her hand in his, something that wasn"t missed by his sisters. "Thanks, Pamela, for a lovely dinner. It"s time Chloe and I left."
Chloe glanced up at him, not surprised by what he said. It was either leave so they could go somewhere private or put on a real show for his family.
Pamela glanced at her watch. "It"s early yet. Are you sure you have to go?"
Ramsey smiled. "Yes, trust us, we do."
Later that night Ramsey was wide awake as he watched Chloe sleep. They had barely made it through the front door before they began stripping out of their clothes. They hadn"t thought about making it up the stairs to the bedroom; instead they had been satisfied just to get to the sofa. By the time he had slid his body into hers, all the restraints he"d held in place over the past twelve hours came crashing down.
He had made love to her with an intensity that had even overwhelmed him. She had writhed beneath him, filled with the same turbulent need as she strained against him, meeting his strokes, his single-minded thrusts as if her very life depended on it.
She had dug her nails into his shoulders and on one or two occasions, had actually bit him. He had growled and then had increased the pace as his control and hers had continued to get shot to h.e.l.l. He gave it to her hard, and at her encouragement, even harder. She had transformed into a wildcat, a woman who knew the degree of pleasure she"d wanted to experience. A woman who intended for him to give her just what she needed.
And he had. The more she"d wanted, the more he"d given. And by the time their world exploded into one h.e.l.l of a combined o.r.g.a.s.m, he was barely holding on the edge of sanity. He had known the moment pleasure had ripped his soul apart that this was not just a normal lovemaking session between two consenting adults. It was a h.e.l.l of a lot more than that. The word normal normal didn"t even come close. There had been nothing ordinary about their joining. It had been the most atypical thing he"d ever experienced. didn"t even come close. There had been nothing ordinary about their joining. It had been the most atypical thing he"d ever experienced.