Thorn's Challenge - Brenda Jackson [35]
“That’s not the only thing you will be up against, Tara.”
She heard the little hitch in his voice and followed the path of his gaze downward as it settled on his midsection. She shuddered when she saw his arousal straining against the zipper of his jeans.
“But there’s no doubt in my mind that you can handle me.”
Tara blinked. She wasn’t so sure when she saw how large he was. A mixture of desire and anticipation rammed through her mind as well as her body. It didn’t do any good to try and convince herself that she didn’t have a thing to worry about since she and Thorn would never make love. Seeing him standing before her with a determined look on his face made her realize just what she really was up against. His mind was pretty made up. He would be competing in the race, and he would have her at the end of four weeks and nothing would deter him from his goals.
She would have to see about that. She needed to test his control and let him know just what he was up against as well.
Determined to make a point, she leaned up on tiptoe and placed her mouth to his. After overcoming his surprise, he immediately captured her lips with his. At the first touch of his tongue to hers she began to shudder, and he placed his arms around her and brought her closer into the fit of him to thoroughly taste her and devour her mouth. A keen ache throbbed deep within her. She slipped her arms around his neck and held on as his kiss became more demanding. Arching against him she felt the hardness of his erection more firmly against her belly, igniting heat and a deep sense of yearning.
He was giving her just what she wanted, and she suddenly pushed aside her need to make a point. At the moment nothing mattered to her, except the sensation of him against her stomach, and the feel of his hands cupping her backside to secure a closer fit.
Breath whooshed from her lungs the moment he broke off the kiss, and he held her in his arms as they both panted their way back to reality. For the longest moment, neither of them moved. Instead they stood there, on Westmoreland land, with their arms wrapped around each other trying their best to breathe and regain control of their minds and bodies.
Doing so wasn’t easy and they both knew, for totally different reasons, they were in deep trouble.
“I understand you were once engaged to be married.”
Tara stopped eating abruptly and glanced up at Thorn, startled by his statement. There was a serious glint in the depths of the dark eyes looking at her. Trying to keep her features expressionless, she met his gaze and asked. “Who told you that?”
Thorn contemplated her for a long moment before saying. “One of my brothers. I can’t remember which one, though. Was it supposed to have been a secret?”
Tara gave him a considering glance. “No.”
He studied her. “So, what happened?”
Tara figured he already knew the full story and wondered why he was asking. The night of Delaney’s wedding she had been the one to catch the bouquet, and when the Westmoreland brothers had remarked that she would be next, she’d immediately told them she would never marry and had ended up telling them why.
She sighed. “Derrick, the man I was to marry decided on my wedding day at the church, in front of over three hundred guests, that he loved my maid of honor instead of me. So he stopped the wedding, asked for my forgiveness and he and the woman I’d always considered my best friend took off. They drove to Georgia and got married that same day.”
“He was a fool,” Thorn didn’t hesitate in saying before taking a sip of his coffee. He met her gaze then asked, “Are you over him?”
His question and the way he was looking at her quickened her pulse. “Yes. Why?”
“Curious.”
Tara continued eating, wondering why Thorn would be curious about her feelings for Derrick. Deciding she had given him enough information about her past, she decided she wanted to know about the woman who’d been in his past. The one