Page 57 of Pure Temptation in Cowboy Boots

Mac rolled up the window and crossed the intersection. Fate must have stepped in to make him take this necessary step. Here he’d been thinking of what he needed to do, and along came some help in the form of Rhino and Hammer. If he ended it with Tess tonight, the brothers would never find out about the wild activities going on under their noses.

Even Tess probably needed some time to regroup before she went to New York. She might not realize it, but she’d probably have a tough time giving up what they’d shared this summer.

The rest of the way to Tess’s house, Mac ran through all the reasons to end the affair. They were all good reasons, yet he felt as if someone had dropped a load of copper ore on his chest as he walked up the steps to her porch and opened the door. Walking away from another night of wonderful lovemaking and knowing he wouldn’t make love to Tess ever again might be the hardest job he’d ever given himself. He’d have to be strong.

Exotic music with a pulsing beat drifted from Tess’s bedroom, and automatically Mac became aroused just wondering what she had in store for him. Whatever it was, he’d resist.

Not that resisting would be easy. With each rendezvous they planned, he always wondered what she’d come up with that would surprise the hell out of him. And totally turn him on. He and Tess had tried stunts that had never crossed his mind with any other woman.

Yet now that he thought about it, sexual adventure suited Tess perfectly. She’d tempted him with bold ideas when they were kids, too. The raft they’d built and almost drowned trying to ride, the wild-horse roundup, the cave exploration trip — Tess had thought of every one of those.

God, it wouldn’t be easy walking back out of here tonight and giving up the excitement of loving Tess, the pure fun of just being with her. But that was short-term thinking. For the long term he needed to start learning to do without Tess’s soft mouth, her warm, moist body, her...

He stood in the bedroom doorway and felt his resolve slip away.

Tess was dancing. And not just ordinary dancing, either. She wore the filmy, hip-hugging pants from her Jasmine costume when they’d gone as Jasmine and Aladdin for Halloween. The bra was from that outfit, too, but now it dripped with gold coins and sparkling jewels.

She’d added a gold armband and covered her nose and mouth with a thin veil. Tiny cymbals attached to her fingers kept time with the music as she rotated her hips in the most mesmerizing rhythm he’d ever seen.

“Surprise.” Her grin was faintly visible behind the veil. “I’ve been practicing for weeks.” She continued to dance as she motioned him to a straight-backed chair in the corner of the room. She’d obviously placed it there for her audience of one. “And now I’m going to dance for you and drive you insane. Enjoy.”

The light veil had the most incredible effect, emphasizing the sultry look in her eyes and making him hungry for her mouth simply because he couldn’t see it very well. By covering her lips, she made them seem more exciting and forbidden, more of a prize when they were finally claimed.

Not that he would be claiming them. He had something to say, and that would eliminate the chance of kissing those temptingly disguised lips of hers.

But he couldn’t make his announcement immediately. After all, she’d been practicing this dance for weeks to surprise him. He ought to at least let her show him what she could do. Courtesy demanded it.

Besides, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the circular motion of her hips. He wondered what that would feel like if... no. He wasn’t going to make love to her tonight, so it didn’t matter what that would feel like. Fantastic, probably. But he was ending it. Definitely. Once she’d finished her dance.

He slouched in the chair and tried to look slightly bored as she danced slowly around him. When the beat became faster, so did the motion of her hips. He swallowed. Then she began adding a new dimension, a gentle shimmy of her breasts that made the dangling coins dance. He licked his dry lips.

She drew closer, brushing his arm with her hip as she danced. Her shimmy increased in speed, and she leaned forward, shaking her breasts so close to his face he could see the tiny drops of perspiration in her cleavage. The pearl necklace rested there, as it had all summer. And looking at it never failed to get a response from him.

“Unfasten your jeans,” she whispered.

He glanced quickly into her eyes. This wasn’t going at all the way he’d thought it out. “No, Tess, I⁠—”

“Do it,” she whispered more urgently, dancing around him, her hips keeping that maddening, erotic rhythm. “I want you now, Mac. And I can tell you want me.”

“But—”

“Now.”‘ Still dancing, she took off the finger cymbals and reached beneath the snug band around her hips for a small package she’d obviously hidden there earlier. She swayed closer, her arms undulating with the music, and tucked a condom in his shirt pocket.

He was lost. If he didn’t go along with her plan, she would be very disappointed. She had this scene all worked out and had gone to a lot of trouble to make it happen. Besides, he was so aroused he was in pain. He couldn’t walk out of this room now if his life depended on it.

He worked clumsily at the buttons of his fly, his heart pounding as he focused on the fascinating shimmy of her breasts and the amazing rotation of her hips. He took the condom out of his shirt pocket. Then he nearly dropped it when she reached between her legs and somehow made the crotch of the filmy harem pants come undone without missing a beat.

“Are you impressed?” she asked softly.

“Oooh, yeah.” And shaking with need. He managed to get the condom on as she danced closer, the coins jingling from the quivering rhythm of her breasts.

“Hold perfectly still,” she whispered. “I’m going to do it all.”

Incredible as her body looked as it moved, he was completely captured by her eyes. Emphasized by the veil, her eyes seemed to smolder with more fire than ever before. He couldn’t look away.

Still keeping time to the music with her hips, she braced both hands on his shoulders and straddled the chair. Then she slowly lowered herself in a sensuous, rotating movement that made him gasp with pleasure. Yet he wouldn’t, couldn’t close his eyes. As she used all the sensuous dance movements to make unbelievable love to him, he focused on the blazing heat in her eyes, searching for the depth of emotion that rocked him whenever they came together like this.

And he found it. As her rhythm increased, her eyes told him that yes, she felt what he felt, that her heart had been branded as surely as his.