“And you don’t?”
“I’ll always need you, Pop,” she said and tipped her head to rest it on his shoulder. “But I’ve got to stand on my own. This is my mess and I’ll either straighten it out or sink. One or the other.”
“My money’s on you, kid,” he told her and patted her hand. “Now, why don’t we go and take another look at the new plantings. Want to make sure everything’s in good shape before Tom Howard takes me to the airport tomorrow afternoon.”
“I can take you, you know. You don’t have to get one of your friends to make the drive.”
“We’ve been over that, too,” Mike told her with a shake of his head. “Tom’s going into Sacramento to visit his son. There’s no reason for you to make the trip. Especially,” he added slyly, “when there’s plenty going on right here.”
He was right, Ivy thought, walking with him through the rows of trees, headed for the back half of the farm. There was plenty going on. And a lot of it was inside her. Ivy wasn’t at all sure she was doing the right thing by getting even more involved with a man she was lying to. She only knew she couldn’t seem to help herself.
It had been too long since she’d been touched. Wanted. Desired. And it felt good to have a man’s hands on her again.
But that wasn’t entirely true either, she told herself firmly. It wasn’t just any man’s hands she wanted on her. It was Tanner’s. Her heart was falling for him and she couldn’t seem to stop that, either. Even knowing as she fell that eventually, her heart would break, as it had once before. Only this time, she thought, the pain was going to be even more deeply felt. How could it not be, when everything else about her time with Tanner was richer, deeper, more profound than anything she’d ever known before?
She glanced over her shoulder at the roofline of Tanner’s house. She imagined him in that glass and wood mansion, waiting for her.
And her body burned.
Three hours later, the burning had only intensified.
As if the entire world was collaborating against her, Ivy hadn’t been able to get away from the farm any earlier. Was it a karmic warning system? she wondered. Was someone, somewhere trying to tell her something? Trying to get her to step away from Tanner before it was too late?
Because if they were, she wasn’t listening. She shivered a little as she climbed the front steps to his porch. In fact, she was actively shutting down her own early warning systems. She didn’t want to think. Didn’t want to wonder or worry. What she wanted was sex. Mind-blowing, soul-searing sex. And she wasn’t leaving here without it.
Her conscience screamed at her that she should tell Tanner the truth. Tell him that she’d been lying to him. She should confess that she owned Angel Tree Christmas Farm and tell him all about her plan to soften him up so he’d stop causing trouble.
But, she argued with herself, if the did that, confessed all, then instead of an amazing night filled with what she hoped would be great sex and multiple orgasms…what she’d get would be an argument. Lots of shouting and hurt feelings and—no. She’d tell him the truth eventually. But she wanted this night with him first.
Adjusting the collar of her white cotton blouse, she flipped her hair back out of her face and then wiped her damp palms on the thighs of her best jeans. Not exactly seductive outerwear, she supposed, but she was who she was. And Tanner hadn’t seemed put off by her jeans and T-shirt earlier.
Her blood pumped a little faster at the memory of those two quick stolen orgasms. She wanted more. Wanted to feel him touch her all over. Wanted the warm slide of his skin against hers. She squirmed uncomfortably as liquid heat pooled at her center. Even the fabric of her jeans pressing against her was nearly torture.
She looked over her shoulder at the sunset staining the sky, and the roof of her home. If she had any sense at all, she’d turn around now, go back to her own bedroom and lock the door behind her.
Ivy took a breath, held it, then let it slowly sift from her lungs. She was hoping for control. Hoping for calm. What she got was a whiff of his scent as he quietly opened the front door.
Her head whipped around and her mouth went dry.
His black hair was thick and damp from a shower. His eyes smoldered with the promise of exactly what she needed so desperately. His broad—as she’d guessed—muscular chest was bare and a sprinkling of dark hair dusted his skin, then trailed down across his abdomen to disappear beneath his jeans. The top button of those jeans was unbuttoned, giving her a peek of paler skin and his bare feet were braced wide apart.
He looked her up and down quickly and Ivy was pretty sure she could actually feel flames licking at her skin under the intensity of his gaze.
“What took you so long?” he growled in a voice that was low and barely restrained.
She took another short breath and whispered, “Does it matter, now?”
“Nope.” He grabbed her hand, tugged her into the house and slammed the door behind her. In seconds, his fingers were undoing the buttons on her shirt. He threw the garment to the floor as she swayed into him.
Ivy lifted her hands and slid them over his chest, loving the feel of his warm, smooth skin beneath her palms. Her thumbs flicked across his flat ni**les and he hissed in a breath as he made quick work of the front clasp of her bra. When he slid the straps down her arms to let the damn thing fall on the floor, he filled his hands with her br**sts and Ivy groaned aloud.
“I’ve been wanting you to do that all day,” she admitted, beyond pride, beyond anything but the overwhelming need for him.
“Baby, I’m just getting started,” he said, then shifted his hands to the waistband of her jeans.
Ivy was way ahead of him. She toed off her sandals and then wriggled in place to get rid of the denim that was separating her from him. Now only her pale pink panties stood between her and Tanner—when he tore them from her, she could only be grateful.
“Oh yeah, this is how I’ve wanted you for days,” he murmured, dipping his head to kiss her, once, twice. His teeth and lips tugged at her mouth and delicious sensations spiraled through her in response. Her entire body was sizzling. She wouldn’t have been surprised to glance down and see that she was actually giving off sparks.
“Well, you’ve got me now,” she said and linked her arms around his neck, going up on her toes so that she could kiss him back more forcefully.
“Damn straight,” he said, undoing the buttons of his jeans to allow his really impressive erection to spring forth.