At the Rancher's Request. Sara Orwig
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lives, but I have to admit that I want to kiss you. Believe me, I haven’t felt that way about any woman since I lost Elise.” He leaned slightly closer and his voice dropped to almost a whisper. “We’re not going to fall into complications from one harmless kiss.”
“Why do I have the feeling that your kiss, even one, will not be—harmless?” she whispered, finding it difficult to get her breath. In the silence her heart drummed.
For a moment they gazed into each other’s eyes and she felt immobilized by his dark gaze.
“Savannah, we’re going to kiss. It might as well be now,” he whispered, slipping his arm around her waist and drawing her the last few inches to him.
She placed her hands on his chest, ready to voice her protest when his lips brushed hers lightly and her heart thudded.
At that moment she wanted his kiss with all her being. She couldn’t think about what was best or if she shouldn’t or that he really didn’t want this, either. It was impossible to walk away. Closing her eyes, she leaned into him and his arm tightened, his mouth coming down on hers as he kissed her hungrily in a driving force that took her breath.
His kiss drove away worries. Longing transformed the moment and she would never again view Mike in the same disinterested way.
Standing in his embrace, she kissed him back passionately, for the moment wanting his kiss, wanting to feel desired. She sought release from the tensions of the night as much as from the hurts of her past. Hoping to stir Mike out of his daily life of grief even if it happened only for seconds, she lost herself in kissing him. An intense need consumed her to an extent that shocked her.
The stubble on his jaw scraped her skin slightly while his warmth and strength, his lean, hard body heightened her pleasure. She wanted this. His kiss rocked her, stirring dormant responses. Time ceased and she had no idea how long they kissed, but it wasn’t long enough.
Finally, as she paused, he released her slightly.
“I guess we sort of lost it there,” she whispered. Both of them were breathing hard while she stepped away from him. “We can get back where we were.”
“Savannah,” Mike said, in a husky tone of voice and she turned to look at him. He hadn’t moved. He had one hand on his hip as he studied her. “We’ll never get back where we were.”
Startled, she blinked and her heart thumped faster. “We have to,” she said. “There’s no place in my life for you and there’s no place in your life for me.”
“A kiss isn’t a binding commitment,” he said, more as if to remind himself than inform her. “It was only kisses, Savannah. Warm kisses on a cold winter’s night—even beats hot chocolate.”
She suspected he attempted to make light of the moment, but that was impossible. He had a slight frown and she had complicated her stay at his ranch. They both had kissed away wise decisions.
“Savannah, we won’t fall in love—I promise you.”
“You can’t promise any such thing. No one can,” she said, realizing he had his heart locked away from any deep emotional involvement. “We’ve each had heartbreak and are vulnerable. I don’t need to make another emotional mistake on top of the huge one I’ve already made,” she said, feeling she should beware and guard her own heart because Mike was clearly warning her he would not fall in love.
He shook his head. “You won’t have even a tiny wrench to your heart because of one meaningless kiss. I’m not ready for anything serious and neither are you. We’re strangers who’ll be together only a day or two and never see each other again. Chalk it up to a stormy winter night and two vulnerable people. It was just a kiss that helped each of us on a cold winter’s night.”
Relieved that the moment was getting less intense, she shook her head. “What a line, Mike.”
Something flickered in his dark eyes and he shrugged. “Sounded good to me,” he said, continuing to make light of the situation.
“Well, maybe it put things in the proper perspective.”
“I think you did that,” he said.
“Let’s forget that kiss. Good night, Mike. See you in the morning and I’ll take care of Scotty if you’re out,” she said, shaking her head.
She stepped into her suite and closed the door, letting out her breath while she thought about his kiss. For just a few minutes Mike had made her forget her engagement, Kirk, everything else. Mike had made light of their kiss, but he had shaken her. His kiss had been sexy, spectacular, totally consuming.
She didn’t want any other complication in her life right now. She definitely didn’t trust herself to want to get to know any man better at this time. She had made a colossal mistake in judgment with Kirk, a man she had known when they were kids and yet she hadn’t really learned what she should have about him. She couldn’t know anything about Mike Calhoun, a man she had known hours when she had misjudged a man she had known well for years.
He certainly didn’t know the most important thing about her.
Frowning, she thought of what lay ahead. She placed her hand on her stomach and focused on the baby that she carried.
As Mike walked down the hall to his suite, he raked his fingers through his hair. Savannah had defused the moment, eased them both away from memories that hurt and put their kiss in a better perspective. Even though it was meaningless to both of them, he shouldn’t have kissed her. Her kiss had stunned him, but it had been a long, long time since he had kissed a woman other than Elise—or wanted to. Nearly two years. It was natural for Savannah’s kiss to rock him. Along with their kiss came guilt, a feeling of betrayal of Elise’s memory and most of all, horrendous longing for Elise, the love of his life.
He walked into Scotty’s room and looked at his sleeping son who was curled on his side with his knees drawn up. Dark curls framed his face. Mike’s love for Scotty overwhelmed him. He ran his knuckles lightly along Scotty’s cheek, feeling his soft, smooth skin while love for his son held him by Scotty’s bed. He wished Elise could be with him to look at Scotty. “Your baby is beautiful,” he whispered to the empty room, thinking of her. “Elise,” he said, missing her, wishing she could see her son, wanting her with him and wishing he hadn’t kissed Savannah, yet their kiss hadn’t carried any significance. He loved Elise and Scotty with all his heart and always would. Tears stung Mike’s eyes and he blinked them away, drawing a little blanket up over Scotty’s shoulder.
“I love you, Scotty,” he whispered.
He left the room, leaving the door between their bedrooms open. Ten minutes later Mike returned with a blanket and stretched out on the brown leather sofa to sleep near his son.
He thought again of Savannah. In spite of a twinge of guilt, he’d had fun just being with her tonight—something that hadn’t happened in a long, empty time.
* * *
Sunshine spilled into the bedroom through sliding glass doors that opened onto a balcony. Savannah stepped out of bed, surprised she had slept until the sun was up. She showered, pulled on jeans and a red shirt, slipping her feet into loafers. She hurried down the hall. Half a dozen mornings lately, she had had morning sickness and she prayed she didn’t this morning. At the moment she was hungry, but in minutes she caught the first whiff of coffee and her stomach tightened. Surprised when she heard voices from the kitchen, she debated going to her room and waiting until Mike and Scotty were out of there, but she suspected they would come find her eventually. With a deep breath, she entered the kitchen.
Mike sat at the table across from Scotty, who was in a high chair that was pulled up to the table. Mike came to his feet as soon as he saw her.
“Good morning,” he said, smiling at her.
Tingles increased her awareness of him. How