Let It Ride by Katherine Garbera Page B

Studying him and searching, he imagined, for some answer in his expression to a question only she knew.
    “I realized I’d been remiss earlier in the dressing room,” she said at last.
    “Remiss?” he asked. God, he couldn’t think when she ran her tongue over her lower lip. Everything masculine in him was on red alert. He was a heat-seeking missile and he knew the target was in sight. He inclined his head and settled his hands on her waist.
    She had about thirty seconds to say whatever it was she wanted to say before he was going to claim the kiss they both needed.
    “Yes, remiss,” she said. She bracketed his face with her hands and pulled his head a little closer to hers. Rising on tiptoe, she smiled at him and brought her lips to his.
    “Thank you,” she said against his mouth.
    He showed his appreciation for her gratitude with a kiss that left nothing to doubt. He tried to show her with his embrace all the things he’d never been able to say to her out loud. Because as she’d walked toward him, he’d realized why this one woman was making him sweat.
    It didn’t matter the cost; he’d gladly pay double just as long as he could be guaranteed she’d stay in his arms and in his life forever. And for the first time ever, he offered a silent prayer, wishing for the luck he’d always taken for granted to hold true.

    She was aware that Deacon took complete control of the embrace, his mouth moving over hers with a surety that brought every nerve ending to life. Her breasts felt full and aching, needing more than just contact with his chest. She slipped her hands down his chest, caressing him. His hands on her back shifted, sliding down to cup her buttocks and lift her more fully against him. She shuddered at the full-body impact.
    She knew he worked out twice a day. He’d brought her with him to the gym once and then took her to the jogging track on the seventeenth floor twice. But Kylie wasn’t a big fan of exercise, so she’d ended up just watching him.
    He worked hard for the muscles she loved to feel under her.
    This made the ordeal of shopping for a dress and becoming someone she didn’t recognize worthwhile. There was a genuineness in Deacon’s embrace that confirmed what she’d started to feel for him. Confirmed that her heart and her mind were on the same page, because Deacon had proved himself to be much more than a vacation lothario.
    Kylie had felt like Cinderella getting ready for the ball. But she remembered what happened to some princesses and knew that sometimes fairy tales didn’t work out.
    Suddenly he dropped his arms and pulled away from her. “Dammit.”
    Concerned, she watched him as he paced to the wall and muttered another curse.
    “You okay?” she asked. The man she’d come to know never lost his cool. And he also never stopped any physical embrace between them until they’d both been fully satisfied. She was still aroused, still aching and still very much in need of Deacon.
    “Yes,” he replied. “But I almost forgot my plans for this evening.”
    He shoved his hands in his pockets as she moved closer to him.
    “I’d say a change in plans is in order,” she said, wetting her lips.
    “Stay there. Everything has to be perfect.”
    Now he was confusing her. Deacon had shown himself to be flexible. What kind of plans did he have for tonight that he was afraid to break? “Why?”
    “I want this to be a night to remember.”
    “Every night with you is a night to remember,” she said. Deacon had changed the way she looked at men and relationships. He’d changed her in so many ways. There wasn’t another man who’d have gone the distance he had to make her feel this…precious to him.
    He gave her a half grin, for the first time tonight looking like the man she’d come to know. “We aim to please.”
    “And you do,” she said.
    “Come on. The evening awaits.”
    He put his hand under her elbow and led her back through the hotel and outside. “Where are we