It had never been like this—never. And she knew she was going to want it again and again and again.

  Tiny throbs of pleasure continued to spark inside her long after. Gage still held her against him, stroking her and kissing her neck. She was out of breath and still shocked that it had happened.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed his shoulder and was certain she never wanted to let go of this moment.

  Finally, he withdrew and went into the bathroom, coming back with a washcloth to clean her up. He pulled her onto the sofa with him and they reclined there side by side, facing each other, not saying a word.

  She didn’t have anything to say, felt giddy and warm and . . . satisfied.

  Gage smoothed his hand over her hair. “So now you tell those other guys to shove it.”

  She laughed. “I suppose so.”

  “Feel better?”

  “I do.”

  He dragged his thumb over her nipple. It hardened.

  “There’s not a damn thing wrong with you, Brea. You’re hot, you’re sexy, and you can come just fine. But there was a lot wrong with those guys.”

  Her heart swelled with emotions she knew she needed to bury deep. This was just sex. Really good sex, but just sex and nothing more. “Thank you. I see that now.”

  He kissed her, and her toes curled. “Don’t thank me. Sex is always a joint effort. I got just as much out of it as you did.”

  And then he did something totally unexpected. He pulled her against him and just held her, stroking her back and kissing her softly. He held her like that for the longest time, talking to her about mundane things, as if he was in no hurry, as if this wasn’t just about the sex.

  Brea would have to guard her heart around Gage. He was truly someone . . . unexpected.

  Finally, they dressed and started back to the ranch. Once in the barn, Brea helped Gage remove the saddles from the horses and return everything to the tack room. It was still early enough that everyone else hadn’t returned from town yet, which was good. She wasn’t in the mood to answer questions from her nosy sisters. She wanted time to settle in her room and think about the incredible night she’d shared with Gage.

  “I guess I should head on back to the house.” She figured he’d want to get back to the bunkhouse before people started returning.

  “Wait,” he said, turning the light off in the barn. “I’ll walk you back.”

  Surprised, she waited, and was even more shocked when he slid his hand in hers as they walked the path back to the main house. He took her right to the front door, turned her in his arms and gave her a kiss that melted her to the wood porch.

  “I had a great time tonight, Brea,” he said as he pulled away from her.

  “Me, too.”

  “Good night.” He stepped off the porch and headed to the bunkhouse.

  Brea sighed and went inside, nearly floating up the stairs to her room. She took off her clothes, climbed into bed and shut off the light, staring out the window at the stars overhead and thinking about lying on that blanket with Gage.

  It had been an incredible night. One they probably wouldn’t repeat. She felt a wistful ache all over at that thought. But at least she’d had this one night. It had changed her, had shown her that those guys before Gage were totally and completely full of shit.

  Gage had shown her that.

  And he was right. There wasn’t a damn thing wrong with her.

  six

  gage wiped the sweat from his face and handed the reins of the unruly stallion he’d been training over to Grizz, who grinned and spit a wad of tobacco juice out of the side of his mouth.

  “That one’s gonna try to take a bite out of your ass,” Grizz said.

  Gage looked back at the stallion. “Many have tried. He’ll come around to my way of thinking soon enough.”

  Grizz just laughed and whistled for a couple extra hands to help him with the stubborn horse. Gage hopped over the rail and went to the cooler for a bottle of water. While bent down, he saw Brea coming out of the house with her sister Valerie. They were assisting John Dowring, one of the old-timers who had come to Valerie for medical care and needed some help getting back into his truck.

  Once John had taken off, Valerie went back inside. Brea lingered for a few minutes, her gaze skirting over to the corral. Gage stood, smiled at her, and she grinned at him before heading back up the stairs and into the house.

  She walked with her head held higher and a lightness to her step since they’d had their time together a couple nights ago. Unfortunately, since then, they hadn’t had any time alone together. Walker had brought in a new herd of horses that had kept Gage busy from sunup to sundown, and he hadn’t had time to do much more than just ogle Brea from afar whenever he caught a glimpse of her.

  Which didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about her. He had been ever since he dropped her off at her front door that night.

  Brea wasn’t at all like the women he was used to. They were all pretty forward, and much more experienced. While he liked that just fine, there was something about Brea that was different. Her shyness around men was cute, her lack of experience endearing, but it was more than that. She was fresh and sweet and soft and had an innocence about her most of the girls he knew had lost around age sixteen or so.

  But the other night he had a feeling he’d woken the sleeping tigress. And he wanted to explore that further. A lot further. Which meant getting some alone time with her, which wasn’t going to be easy on this ranch with all these people breathing down their necks.

  Brea stepped outside again, this time with Jolene, who as usual was going someplace in a hurry. That woman could eat up a stretch of dirt with her long strides faster than a cheetah on the hunt. Brea raced to keep up with her sister, and Gage enjoyed the view of her quick-stepping it down the path toward the barn. He especially liked the back view of her fine ass in tight jeans.

  He also noticed that despite nearly running to keep up with Jolene, Brea took a second to glance his way as they passed the corral. He tipped his hat and winked and even from across the fence he saw her cheeks turn pink.

  “You’re wading in dangerous territory, my man.”

  Walker had come up and laid his forearms across the top bar of the corral fence.

  “Yeah? How do you figure?”

  “Brea is one of the owners of the Bar M now.”

  “So?”

  “So her, Jolene and Valerie are our bosses.”

  Walker always was a little too worried about that kind of thing. “Again, so?”

  “You mess around with Brea and piss her off, your job is history.”

  Gage shrugged and grabbed the rope hanging from the hook on the outside of the fence post. He climbed over the fence, then looked at Walker. “Wouldn’t be the first job I was fired from. I can always get another. Besides, it’s not in me to stay in one place too long anyway.”

  Walker frowned. “Being fired over fucking a woman is a shitty reason to lose a job.”

  Gage laughed. “You got that wrong, Walker. Being fired over fucking a woman is the best reason to lose a job.”

  * * *

  * * *

  “good gravy, brea. pay attention.”

  Brea turned her focus on Jolene and a couple of the other hands. How she had gotten roped into working the calves in the pen today was beyond her. She supposed she’d spent entirely too much time holed up in the house working on her computer. She knew she couldn’t hide from Jolene—or chores—forever. She had been helping Valerie, until Jolene dragged her outside and said since she was part owner she could damn well earn her share.

  Not that she had considered herself an owner of the Bar M. She intended to put her time in because Jolene had insisted, but she had a life—and a job—in Tulsa. While it was true that she had a computer and could do her job pretty much anywhere there was an Internet connection, it didn’t mean she intended to do it on the ranch. This wasn’t home for her anymore. It was Jolene’s place. Okay, and now that Valerie had settled in with Mason again, she supposed the two sisters could split ownership of the ranch.

  Brea’s life was computers and programming and books. Not horses and cattle.

  Though one horseman sure had caught her interest.

  She helped push the cattle down the chute and looked across the yard at Gage, who over the past few days had managed to sweet-talk one unruly stallion into doing what Gage wanted him to do. No small feat, considering the stallion had strongly objected to the bridle and bit and then the saddle.

  But Gage had an infinite amount of patience and had worked diligently with the horse until the stallion had finally acquiesced and given up the fight. And all without a whip or any damage to the horse’s beautiful spirit, which still showed through when the stallion tossed his nose up in the air.

  The way Gage broke a horse—or trained it—was one of the things she liked most about him. He always let the horse keep its dignity, but Gage made it clear he was the one in control.

  “You know, Brea,” Jolene said, huffing and puffing as she managed cattle that didn’t want to be led where Jolene wanted them to go, “if you’d quit drooling over Gage and pay attention to what we’re doing here, we might be able to finish this job before midnight.”

  She snapped back to Jolene. “What?” Realizing the cattle were trying to mutiny and head in the other direction, she wrested control back and started moving them again. “Sorry.”

  “Uh huh.” Jolene closed the chute gate and leaned on it. “If you’re going to be useless, I’ll just call someone else over.”

  Brea followed Jolene toward the opposite end of the corral. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  Jolene glared at her. “Physically, yeah. Mentally, not so sure. I think your mind is across the way, undressing Gage.”

  Brea looked over at Bobby, who was standing on the other side of the corral. Bobby grinned at her and Brea blushed a hundred shades of crimson before turning a livid look on her younger sister. “I was doing no such thing.”

  “Please,” Jolene said. “Lust is written all over your face.” She nodded at Bobby. “Let’s take a lunch break and we’ll get back to this in half an hour. Tell the others.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Bobby said before heading off. Jolene and Brea went into the house and grabbed sandwiches that Lila had made for them. Brea poured two glasses of lemonade and they pulled up chairs at the kitchen table. They ate in silence, Brea realizing she’d worked up an appetite. Typically she picked at food, but since she’d been on the ranch she’d done more physical work and it made her hungry. Getting outside and back to doing what she used to do before she’d moved into the city was . . . fun. Even if it wasn’t what she was going to spend the rest of her life doing, it was nice to get back to her roots again.

  And also nice to watch Gage.

  “You’re doing it again.”

  Brea lifted her head to stare at her sister. “Doing what?”

  “Getting that dreamy, moony, sickly sweet look on your face. It’s disgusting.”

  Brea rolled her eyes. “I am not.”

  Jolene pushed her empty plate to the side and picked up her glass of lemonade. “I’m serious. You must have it bad for Gage.”

  She refused to answer.

  “Did you fuck him yet?”

  “Jolene!”

  Her sister didn’t look apologetic in the least, instead tapped her fingers on the table. “Well?”

  “I’m not going to discuss my sex life with you.”

  Jolene smirked. “That means you have one. Good for you. Just don’t drag him off behind the barn to blow him while I need him working.”

  Brea rolled her eyes. “You’re such a tart.”

  Jolene waggled her eyebrows. “Don’t I know it. Now if only I could get Walker to see just how much of a tart I am.”

  Thankful to turn the topic away from her and Gage, Brea leaned forward. “What about Walker?”

  “I’ve got the major hots for him and he’s running scared.”

  “Why? He doesn’t seem the wimpy type to me.” Walker was gorgeous. Tall, lean, one hell of a hot cowboy, filled with testosterone and 100 percent male.

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t think so. But he won’t give me the time of day.”

  “Maybe he’s not interested in you.”

  Jo gave her a sideways look of disbelief. “Please. If he wasn’t interested, I wouldn’t bother. I know when a guy’s interested. Trust me, he is.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I’m his boss. He seems to think that’s an issue.”

  “Oh.” Brea leaned back in the chair. “Well, you do basically run this ranch. I can see why he’d think that might cause a conflict.”

  “Too bad. I want him. He wants me, I know he does. We’re going to tussle.”

  “Just because you say so?”

  Jolene grinned. “I always get what I want.”

  “Must be nice to be that confident.”

  “You should try it.”

  Brea laughed. “I’m not you, Jo.”

  “You don’t have to be me. You just set your sights on what you want and go after it. And don’t let anything or anyone get in your way. Life’s too short, Brea. Get what you want while the gettin’s good.”

  * * *

  * * *

  brea spent the rest of the day thinking about what Jolene had said, and realized she’d been patient long enough waiting for Gage. She wanted him again and was bold enough to at least admit that to herself.

  But she wasn’t Jolene, didn’t have the self-confidence her little sister had.

  Still, maybe it was time to stop assuming Gage would come after her.

  When she was finished with the calves, she hung out near the barn and watched Gage train the horses. When he was done and climbed outside the fence, she took a deep breath and headed in his direction. She’d made it halfway before he spotted her, wiping the back of his neck with a rag as he watched her approach.

  His lips lifted in that smile that made her toes curl in her boots.

  “Afternoon, Miss Brea.”

  “Gage.”

  “Saw you working the cattle today.”

  “Jolene made me.”

  He laughed. “It’s your ranch, too.”

  “So she keeps telling me.”

  Silence. Say what you came to say, Brea. He isn’t going to make the next move.

  “I want to see you tonight, Gage.”

  One brow arched. “Is that right?”

  If he shot her down, she was going to run to her room and hide in the closet until she died. “That’s right.”

  “Where?”

  “In my room. Late.”

  He propped one arm on the top of the fence and leaned closer. “You want me to sneak into your room tonight?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  His lips quirked. “I’ll be there.”

  She shuddered her next breath, her nipples tingling at the thought. “I’ll be waiting.”

  Before she embarrassed herself by kissing him right there in front of God only knew who was watching, she pivoted and walked away, feeling his gaze on her the entire way back to the house.

  She liked knowing he watched her.

  Now could she be brave enough to let Gage into her room tonight, right under the noses of her family?

  She was going to have to be, because she’d just invited him.

  * * *

  * * *

  gage kept an eye on the goings-on at the house. He’d come in and had supper with everyone earlier. Jolene gave him a knowing smile—Brea must have told her the two of them had something going on. Fortunately Valerie had eyes only for Mason, so he didn’t think he’d have to be too concerned about the two of them. They had remarried at the justice of the peace a couple weeks ago, and were practically honeymooning again, so absorbed in each other they didn’t notice anything going on around them. Walker just shook his head.

  Gage knew Lila went to bed early. Valerie and Mason had left in the truck earlier. Jolene took off out of the house and headed toward the barn, then rode off and hadn’t come back, no doubt seeing to the cattle farther out on the property, because Walker had gone with her.

  That left Brea alone in the house except for Lila.

  Gage left the bunkhouse, the other hands occupied with a game of Texas Hold Em. They didn’t even notice him leaving. He went up to the house, careful to come in through the back door instead of the front. No one locked doors on the property. No reason to, first because they were remote and knew everyone within a hundred miles, and second because everyone who lived on the ranch was plenty handy with a shotgun in case of intruders.

  Gage wasn’t intruding. He’d been invited, which had surprised and pleased him. Brea had finally been bold enough to be the one to do the inviting. Besides being busy as hell the past week, he’d also purposely held off instigating anything with her. He wanted her to realize she was worthy of having a man in her life. If she wanted him, she was going to have to come to him this time.

  He climbed the stairs, inching his way quietly on the toes of his boots. He sure as hell hoped Lila was a sound sleeper, though he knew her room was on the first floor and on the east side of the house, far away from where the sisters slept.

  Brea’s room was down the hall, at the end. No light shined there. He hoped she hadn’t chickened out and headed into town. He reached her door and turned the knob, easing the door open.

  Soft candlelight bathed the room.

  He moved in and shut the door behind him, making sure to lock it. As he turned to face the bed, his breath stuttered.

  Brea sat on the bed, one leg curled behind her. Her hair caught the flickering candlelight and looked like waving flames in the semidarkness. She wore a silky dark slip that molded to every one of her lush curves.