Page 27 of Her Bachelor Cowboy Billionaire
Her knees buckled.
He didn’t let her fall.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You are a wicked, wicked man, Mr. Sullivan.”
“I am, Miss Kirby, and I don’t know how I’ll manage to keep from taking you to bed for the next hour and a half, but I will prevail…for you.”
Jessica had never felt more cared for or more turned on in her life, but she wouldn’t act on it. She wasn’t interested in jumping into the sack for one night and perhaps losing a lifetime of love. And she felt that was where this could go. Maybe. If she could get over him being so wealthy.
“You’re thinking. What are you thinking about?” He didn’t release her, but the kisses stopped and a wrinkle bridged the expanse of his forehead.
“I was thinking about us…down the road…and what I want from this relationship. First, I guess I need to figure out if we have a relationship at all.”
His gaze slipped to hers as he held her close. “Jessica, my darling, we have a relationship, or at least a good start on one. Neither of us has ever been knocked over by a kiss before like we were that first time, and for me at least, every time since then.”
She lowered her gaze to his chest for a moment and then looked up. “Me, too. I’ve never felt like that.” She brought a hand away from his neck and motioned between them. “Like this. But I don’t want to ruin it by moving too fast. I want to make sure it’s the real thing.”
“So do I. So, what would you like to do? After I get a cup of coffee.” He set up the machine again.
“Do you have cards on board, and do you play poker?” She sucked in her lower lip before grinning.
He lowered his eyelids to half-staff and cocked an eyebrow. “I might. What are the stakes?”
“Well, I’d say strip poker, but that’s not taking it slow and I don’t want the first time I see you naked to be because of a game.”
“I agree. I want to undress you slowly and kiss every inch of skin that I reveal.”
She let out a breath and fanned herself. “Whoa. Did it suddenly get hot in here?”
He laughed.
So did she. “Do you have matchsticks or a lot of change?”
He opened a couple of drawers under the counter across from the stove and pulled out a box of kitchen matches. “Here we go. We use them for the candles in the bedroom. How many do you want?”
“Let’s say fifty each. That way there are enough sticks left, we can make withdrawals—because you will definitely need to. I’m going to beat the pants off you, so to speak.”
He laughed and dug the cards out of another drawer and grabbed his coffee. Then they went to the dining room and played.
The time went by so fast; it startled her when the captain’s voice sounded. “We are starting our final descent into Bozeman. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.”
He gathered the matches and placed them in the box. “You weren’t kidding about your expertise with poker. You should have nearly two hundred matches, since I had to get into the bank twice.”
She laughed as she gathered the cards and put them back in the pack. “Maybe I should have played strip poker, after all. Who knew you were such a terrible player?”
His mouth formed a flat line. “I’m better when I’m playing for something that matters. Matchsticks don’t.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.”
When everything was set to rights and returned to its home for landing, Jessica and Roark went back to the living area. This time they sat together on the sofa, buckled up, and then Roark took her hand. He seemed to enjoy touching her—almost as if he needed it.
Jessica’s stomach turned over, and it had nothing to do with the plane’s descent. It had everything to do with her trepidation about this week. What if things went wrong and she and Roark discovered they were too different? So many other questions ran through her mind, each one landing with a thud in her stomach. She had to stop this and trust that they would like each other.Please let us continue to like each other.
