Chapter 50
Garrett grinned. He tossed back his shot and set the glass on the table.
He told Meredith, “You sip that daintily, stallin’ anymore, and I’m gonna take exception to it.”
She downed her tequila and held up her shot glass. “Satisfactory?”
“Damn,” he whistled under his breath. “Just when I think I might be able to challenge you on somethin’…”
She deposited her glass as well and let Garrett pull her to her feet.
He headed to her bedroom, with Meredith in tow.
She told him, “I didn’t get to change before we started our date, cowboy. So, uh…I’m not exactly wearing anything sexy under this sweater and these leggings.”
“Meredith Jane.” He pinned her with a piercing look over his shoulder. “Much as I admire the lingerie I’ve seen on you thus far, my personal opinion of it—when it comes to you—is that the only lingerie I want to see are the items I’ve stripped off you. Therefore…Naked is my preference.”
He wagged his brows.
She laughed softly. And blushed.
That got him going.
She was a dozen things all at once, and at the moment, she was sassy and shy at the same time.
She didn’t even toe off her boots, or reach for the hem of her sweater. Rather, she stood at the end of the bed and seemed to debate her next course of action.
Always thinking. He liked that about her.
He also liked when she caught herself overanalyzing a situation and veered away, charting a different path for herself.
Case in point, she held up one finger and said, “Gimme a sec.” She headed off to the bathroom.
He sat on the edge of the mattress and worked off his boots and socks. Unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside.
She returned before he’d reached for his belt buckle.
His jaw fell slack.
She crossed the room, heading toward him—wearing nothing but a smile.
She’d obviously put her contacts in. And she’d fluffed her hair. Added a glossy sheen to her lips.
She was…sensational.
He was hard in a heartbeat.
His gaze slid over her striking face, along the graceful column of her neck, across her prominent collarbone. Then his eyes drifted to her breasts, nicely firm and round, her nipples puckered tight.
Garrett let out a low groan.
“I figured I’d save you a little time and undressed myself,” she lightly teased.
“I actually like doing it myself. Least you could do is allow me to watch. Then again…” His pulse pounded in his veins and his breaths turned a bit labored. “This is perfectly acceptable, too.”
He crooked a finger at her.
Meredith closed the gap between them, standing in the V of his parted legs.
He whisked his fingers through her plump curls, getting tangled in her silky strands.
Against her lips, he murmured, “You can’t even begin to imagine how hot you make me.”
Her hand delicately cupped his erection. She whispered, “I have some semblance of an idea.”
He chuckled, quietly, then told her, “I do like how you always catch me off guard.”
“So you won’t mind if I rid you of this belt and the jeans and take full advantage of you?”
“Darlin’, I’d be downright disappointed if you didn’t take full advantage of me.”
She did precisely as she said she would by way of getting him naked. Then she crawled between the sheets and he joined her.
Meredith snuggled close to him, her hand splaying over his chest, her lips grazing his neck, her leg twisting with one of his. She rubbed against him and muttered, “Would you mind repeating what you said on the dance floor? Just so I don’t make the mistake of potentially having misheard you.”
“You know damn well you didn’t mishear me, misinterpret me, misunderstand me, Meredith Jane. But if you need me to say it again for the record, I will happily do so.”
“I’d appreciate that, cowboy.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her tighter against his body.
His lips brushed her skin as he told her, “I am very much in love with you, Meredith Jane Carlisle. I won’t ever, in a million years, be able to explain what it is—exactly—that hooked me so fiercely from the beginning—and won’t let go. It’s everything about you, darlin’. Even the stuff I don’t even know about yet. You are just too amazing for words.”
A long, wispy breath blew between her teeth and teased his flesh.
She took a moment to respond. Then she said, “My natural inclination is to request that you actually do define all the things that hooked you. But you might realize you’re naming every day, ordinary stuff and start thinking I’m every day and ordinary.”
“Not a chance in hell, Meredith Jane. Never.”
“Well, I did blow up a chem lab,” she said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Not too many women can make that claim, now can they?”
That she finally joked about her college snafu made Garrett grin. Perhaps she’d finally forgiven herself and could move on from that debacle. Not be shackled to it, as she clearly had been all this time.
“Honey, there’s plenty about you that you can claim, which other women cannot. Including the fact that I want to be spending my nights with you—and only you.”
Granted, he hadn’t quite figured out how that was going to work, once his stint at Chase’s ranch was through.
That was most definitely an obstacle to overcome. Something he’d have to address with Meredith, without doubt.
For now, however…
He had other thoughts on his mind.
He said, “I’m damn curious as to how you want me to start out this particular part of our evening…”
She shifted, sliding onto him, straddling his lap. Her palms flattened over his pecs. Her hair fell over her shoulders and her long bangs framed her face.
She told him, “I want to start by telling you that I can’t for the life of me work out in my brain how this happened, how you’re in my bed. But you know what?”
“What?” he queried as his brow arched.
“It was exactly what I wished for on my birthday. The very second I saw you, I wanted you. I even told Lacey. No…I asked her how I could possibly land you in my bed. And…here you are. Not only that…”
Meredith leaned into him and nipped his bottom lip, sending adrenaline through every inch of him, and making his cock throb. Her hands glided up to his shoulders and her breasts grazed his chest, her nipples taunting him, making his fingers itch to toy with them until they tightened and tingled.
She told him, “I want you desperately. In ways I still don’t know about, still can’t fathom. But I have faith you’re going to show me all the ins and outs. And more than that, Garrett…I am hopelessly in love with you.”
“Ah, there it is,” he said with noted relief. “I’ve only been waitin’ all damn night for you to say that to me, Meredith Jane.”
“I had to make sure I wasn’t fabricating anything in my own mind, misleading myself.”
“I promised you that you weren’t. I mean every single word that I say to you, honey.”
“I believe that, Garrett. I just…” She inhaled deeply. Exhaled slowly. Then she said, “I can’t for the life of me logically explain how this all happened, and so damn fast. Like, lightning fast.”
“Sometimes that’s the way of it, darlin’. Who can ever tell when that sort of lightning is going to strike?”
“I agree. Only…When I look at you, Garrett, I realize that I don’t need a logical explanation for all of this. I don’t care about the logical when it comes to us. I’m fascinated with the cosmic, or the fated, or the completely instinctual explanation. Chemistry is chemistry, after all. Cause and effect and positive reactions…They all captivate me. This captivates me.”
“This is only the beginning, darlin’.” He wound his arms around her waist and rolled her onto her back. One arm remained there while the other shifted upward, so he could sweep strands of hair from her forehead with his fingertips.
She smiled softly. Beguilingly. Drawing him in. Making him forget all the periphery details, like that obstacle he’d thought of earlier, pertaining to his transient lifestyle.
All that mattered to him at this very moment was Meredith Jane Carlisle.
Staring deep into her tawny eyes, he said, “Now…Let me tell you precisely what I intend to do to you tonight, honey. And how many times I’m going to make you come…”