Stone Cold Surrender - Brenda Jackson [22]
“You’re earlier than I expected,” she somehow found her voice to say. In the predawn light that encompassed him, she searched his eyes for any signs of decisions that he himself might have made and only saw the heated look of desire that had been there from the very first. And she knew if she was ever undisciplined enough to risk all and take a chance, this man would and could introduce her to passion of the hottest kind.
He was standing before her so utterly handsome in his jeans, flannel shirt, boots and Stetson. He looked nothing like an action-thriller author but everything like a rugged cowboy who made the unspoiled land surrounding Montana’s Rocky Mountains his home. But she knew there was something else about him that was holding her interest. It was what she saw beyond the clothes. It was the man himself. There was a depth to him that was greater than any man she’d ever met. There was a self-confidence about him that had nothing to do with arrogance and a kindness that had nothing to do with a sense of duty. He did things out of the generosity of his heart and concern for others and not for show. And she felt loyalty to him. He would be true to whatever woman he claimed as his. Cedric could certainly have taken a few lessons from Stone Westmoreland.
He smiled. “I thought we could grab something to eat on the way,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. She sighed, grateful that he had. She could have stood there and stacked up all his strong points all day.
She offered him a smile. A part of her was tempted to offer a lot more. He had just that sort of effect on her. “All right. I just need to grab my luggage.”
“I’ll get it,” he said, entering her cabin, immediately filling the space with his heat and making her totally aware of him, even more than she had been before. She watched as he glanced over at the luggage she had neatly lined up next to her bed. Then he looked at her and she heard him swear under his breath before moving—not toward the luggage but toward her.
“I don’t know what decisions you made about us,” he said in a low, husky voice. “But I thought of you all last night and I swore that as soon as I saw you this morning I would do something.”
“What?” she asked, trying to ignore the seductive scent of his aftershave as well as the intense beating of her heart.
“Taste you.”
Madison’s breath caught and, before she could release a sigh, Stone captured her mouth in his. As soon as their tongues touched she knew she would remember every sweet and tantalizing thing about his kiss. Especially the way his tongue was dueling with hers, staking a claim she didn’t want him to have but one he was taking anyway as he tried kissing the taste right out of her mouth. His tongue was dominating, it was bold and it left no doubt in her mind that when it came to kissing, Stone was an ace, a master, a perfectionist. She placed her arms around his neck, more to stop from melting at his feet than for support. He had a way of making her feel sexy, feminine and desirable; something Cedric had never done.
Moments later, when he broke off the kiss and slowly lifted his head to look down at her, she couldn’t help asking, “Got enough?”
“Not by a long shot,” he said hotly against her moist lips. Then he leaned down and kissed her again and Madison quickly decided, what the heck. Once she had told him of her decision about them he wouldn’t be kissing her again anytime soon, so she would gladly take what she could for now.
Her common sense tried kicking in—although it didn’t have the punch to force her to pull from his arms just yet. Her practical side was reminding her that she’d only met Stone two days ago. Her passionate side countered that bit of logic with the fact that in those two days she probably knew him a lot better than she’d known Cedric in the three years they had dated. Stone was everything