Page 63 of Kayla's Cowboy

And she wondered...if everything blew up with her dad, would Kayla let her live with them in Seattle?

* * *

KAYLA OPENED HER eyes and realized she’d fallen asleep on Jackson’s couch. She felt better, though her eyes were still scratchy from tears.

She yawned and stretched.

Across the room, Jackson put down his newspaper and smiled. “You look like a cat, content from an afternoon nap.”

“Except I rarely nap in the middle of the day, no matter how little I slept the night before. Sorry for conking out that way.”

“It wasn’t long, and you probably needed the rest. Are you interested in a swim now, or do you want to sleep longer? The kids won’t be back for at least another couple of hours—Morgan always stays at the meadow as long as possible.”

“Let’s swim.” Kayla shimmied upward on the couch. Being indoors alone with Jackson suddenly seemed a bad idea.

Jackson was waiting when she stepped from the pool house in her swimsuit. Diving in, she swam from one end of the pool to the other before turning over to float on the surface. She let herself drift, feeling oddly at peace.

The past few weeks had often seemed surreal. It was as if time had been suspended from the moment she’d learned Alex wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Or maybe it had been the long drive through the night, the sun finally rising over Montana’s vast reaches, making it seem as if she’d entered a dreamworld that held both good and bad.

Currents eddied around her as Jackson did laps, his powerful arms and legs slicing through the water. Kayla determinedly kept her eyes closed. She might have been celibate for a long while, but that didn’t mean she had to ogle.

A shadow fell across her face and she opened her eyes to see Jackson standing nearby. “Something wrong?”

“Just wondering if you’re wearing sunscreen. My hide is like leather—your skin isn’t.”

“Drat, I forgot.”

Getting out, she fetched the bottle from her bag in the pool house. It was smart to use sunscreen, though she didn’t burn easily. As for Jackson’s remark about having a hide like leather...? Kayla shot a quick look at him in the pool. He was tanned from long hours working outside, but hardly leathered.

There were comfortable chaises around the pool and she sat on the side shaded by black cottonwood trees, carefully smoothing lotion over the tops of her feet and calves. She’d poured more on her palm when she realized Jackson’s gaze was fixed on her.

Kayla swallowed.

Though it had been sixteen years, she recognized that look. She continued applying lotion to her legs, but she was paying little attention to the task.

Slowly he lifted himself from the water and walked toward her with the powerful grace of a wolf claiming its territory.

Heat and electricity burrowed deep into her abdomen.

“If you’re going to say no, I’d really appreciate you doing it now,” Jackson whispered, drawing her upward.

No?

Kayla’s thoughts scattered further when he cupped her bottom, pulling her flush against him. She didn’t want to say no—she wanted more. His fingers slipped beneath the edge of her swimsuit to the skin, stroking, massaging, driving her mad.

“We’re alone,” he whispered between kisses. “Come upstairs?”

Mutely she nodded, and let him tug her into the house and up to a large bedroom. Slowly he peeled the black suit from her shoulders, pushing it down to her waist, stopping as his eyes took in her breasts. His breathing quickened as he played with her sensitized nipples and sent ripples of sensation through her entire body.

A moment later they tumbled to the bed. His weight settled over her, his bare chest against her breasts and his lips hard on her mouth. After a long, drugging kiss, he eased away to tug the bathing suit down her hips, freeing the hot, damp space between her legs.

It didn’t take long before Jackson’s own swim trunks lay on the floor and his hard length was pressed against her.

“You’d better have a condom,” she gasped.

He nodded, then groaned and lunged across the room to grope through a drawer. It seemed to take an awfully long time, and she turned her head to see him tear open the package and roll the condom over his erection.

Then he dropped back down upon the bed to lay his mouth over her right breast, sucking, teasing, before edging between her legs. A thrust of pure pleasure shuddered through her abdomen as he entered and set up a rhythm, over and over until the climax shattered her thoughts.

* * *

JACKSON’S HEART SLOWED from its wild pulsing and he lifted himself on his arms to look at Kayla. Her auburn hair lay in damp ropes across his pillows, her intense blue eyes still reflecting the pleasure they’d shared.

---