Page 70 of The Cowboy Comes Home

He tilted her head back slightly, his hands gentle against her face, then he flicked his tongue across her lips. She opened for him, but also because she wanted to taste him in turn, because she had to know, now, if he was as hot and sweet and irresistible as she thought.

He was.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Tucker didn’t careany longer if this was a mistake, if he was letting himself in for some kind of hell in the long run. He didn’t even care if this was the start of a long run. All he cared about was right now, this moment, when she felt—and tasted—better, sweeter, hotter than anything or anyone he’d ever known.

Who she was, this woman with the tender and giving heart, was all that mattered, not what she did for a living. Or if the uniform did matter, it was overwhelmed by what he was feeling now, a kind of connection he’d never experienced in his life.

And all he’d done was kiss her.

But it was when she kissed him back, when her tongue began a slow dance with his, that everything else seemed to fade away. It didn’t matter where they were, or that a well-trained police K9 was now at their feet, looking up at them curiously. Nothing mattered except more of this, much, much more of this.

It took almost everything in him to break the kiss. He rested his forehead against hers and tried to find the breath to speak. It took him a moment. And when he could, all he said was, “Damn.”

“I was thinking something more…holy.”

“That, too,” he said, appreciating her humor. There was a long moment of growing pressure before he said, “If we keep this up, we’re going to overheat this place.”

She tilted her head back to look up at him. There was a smile on those luscious lips, and those golden eyes looked almost molten. “I think I mentioned my killer air-conditioning?”

And that easily, he was done even trying to hold back. He barely noticed the room she led him into, except that the nicely sized bed was in the same colors as the other rooms. Because that bed was sending images through his head that he hadn’t allowed access in a very long time.

It took every ounce of restraint he had left to ask, a little edgily, “Are you going to be upset if I’m…prepared for this?”

“Prepared?”

He pulled out his wallet and liberated the small pack of condoms he’d picked up yesterday. He’d told himself he was being careful, but knew all along what it really was was hopeful.

“That looks…new.”

“It is. I haven’t…needed those for a long time.” He closed his eyes, hating how awkward he sounded, admitting that.

She let go of him then, and he was afraid maybe she had taken offense. But she said quietly, “Neither have I, and yet…” She turned and pulled open the drawer of the nightstand beside the bed and pulled out a small box of the same thing. “Look what appeared after last Wednesday at the ice cream shop.”

He blinked, and suddenly everything was all right. Enough that he laughed as he said, “Same here.”

“I guess we both knew where this was going.”

He reached for her, pulled her against him and kissed her again, long, deep, and luscious. When he finally had to break it to take a breath, he glanced around the room, stopping when he spotted Lobo on the dog bed near the windows.

“Worried about my dog coming after you?”

He shook his head. “Just checking to see if he needs anything. Because this is going to take a while.”

“Is it, now,” she said, sounding as if she were almost purring. “Promise?”

“Oh, I promise.”

He kissed her again, reveling in the way she kissed him back, hungrily, showing him she wanted this every bit as much as he did. And then her fingers slipped to the snaps of his shirt. She had the third one undone before he thought to stop her. He’d been so revved up he’d almost forgotten.

“Em,” he said roughly. “I should…warn you. I’m…pretty scarred up.”

He blinked when she rolled her eyes at him. “You think I didn’t figure that out? You don’t get all those fancy parts installed without it leaving marks.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed. Yet another thing he had never, ever expected to laugh about.

And then she was kissing him as she tugged his shirt free. She ran her hands over his chest, and he could feel her tracing the path of those scars he’d warned her about. She broke the kiss but didn’t pull away as she said, “One day I’m going to trace every one of those, one end to the other. But not today. I’m in too big a hurry.”

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