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She didn’t say anymore and Andrew stopped questioning, letting them slip comfortably back into the silence.
At sunset, they stopped again so she could capture the sun setting over the horizon. They pulled off the highway for dinner at a restaurant before checking in at the resort and spa for the night. The conversation had returned to light-hearted banter and easier topics than the heaviness of marriage and the shared anguish of lost children.
Chapter Twenty-Six
When it hit Andrew it hit him hard. So hard, he was sure he might have been knocked off balance if not for the large boulder he leaned on as he watched Jill photograph the stunning canvas of Big Bend National Park.
He loved Jill. He almost laughed at the realization of that. Laughed at the fact he hadn’t seen it until that moment. How could he have missed it?
In such a short time, Jill had crept into his heart and laid claim to it and he had been powerless to defend himself against her. The funniest part of it was that he didn’t mind at all. He wasn’t in a panic like he thought he would be. Andrew was completely calm while the emotion washed over him as he watched her.
Even so, he sure as hell couldn’t tell Jill he loved her. That, for damned sure, wasn’t gonna happen. And it surprised him to realize it wasn’t his own fears that stood in the way. He wouldn’t be afraid to tell Jill he loved her because of his own baggage. No. The problem was with her hearing it.
He knew Jill would run like hell if he mentioned love. She was too gun-shy after her marriage. But he did need to figure out how to convince her to spend the rest of her life with him without actually telling her the truth – any other result would leave him broken again.
He couldn’t conceive of a life without her by his side. Without her smile and those smoky, smoldering eyes and the laughter he loved to hear. Without her sexy, sensual kisses that knocked him on his ass and without waking up to find her in his arms.
She turned to Andrew with a smile that pulled him out of his musing.
“You must be bored to tears,” she said apologetically.
If only she knew.
“Nope. Not at all. I like the surroundings and the view is…exceptional,” he said as he looked straight at her. “Besides, I like watching you work. I can tell that you’ll pull images out of here that I wouldn’t have spotted for all the world. It’ll be incredible to see what you bring home and to know I was there and missed all the nuances you spotted. It’s like you have a different set of eyes and you’ll show me, let me in on all the secrets, when we get you home to your darkroom.”
Jill stared at him with eyes wide and her mouth forming a small O.
“What?” he asked with a laugh.
She shook her head. “You always say things that make me feel so special. How do you do that? You know the right thing, just the right thing, to say all the time – even if I didn’t know what I needed to hear until after it was out of your mouth.”
He grinned and pulled her into his arms for a long kiss then rested his forehead on hers. “What can I say? You bring it out in me,” he teased.
He wanted to keep things light as his mind churned up a plan to convince Jill to overlook her fear of love and stay with him forever.
With all the strength she could manage, Jill was fighting to keep from falling head over heels for Andrew. The man was not making it easy on her. He went hiking through the park with her, waited patiently for over two hours while she watched a family of black bears until they came close enough to capture photos through her telephoto lens.
Then he hiked higher into the hills with her to try to spot a mountain lion, based on reports of a sighting in that area the previous day.
And now, as she lay in his arms in bed trying to catch her breath and to steady herself, she could scarcely remember her name. He had tormented and tortured her in the most sensual, delicious ways.
He began with those hot, drug-like kisses that swept her under instantly, making her knees weak, her mind foggy. After bringing her almost to orgasm with his hands and tongue, he plunged into her, filling her for a few heady, perfect strokes and then pulled out only to begin his ministrations with hands and tongue all over again.
Andrew had played with her, repeatedly burying himself in her only long enough to have her begging for release over and over until she was coiled tight as a spring and ready to explode.
When he finally pushed her over the edge, she had tumbled into a climax that strummed and pulsed through her whole body in a way she never felt before and, was ashamed to admit, would beg for again and again.
She no longer thought about her ex-husband and how unsatisfying her sex life had been with Jake. Now that Jill had a point of reference, her only thoughts were on Andrew and the places he took her when they were in bed together.
She couldn’t allow herself to fall for him emotionally, but she would permit herself to wallow in the magic of his hands, his mouth, his body, for as long as she could. That much she could give herself. And him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Andrew lay holding Jill in his arms, his hands idly running patterns up and down the smooth, creamy skin of her torso. He had never experienced anything like the pleasure he found in her arms.
And as he held her, it suddenly became crystal clear. He knew how to convince her to marry him. How to build a life with Jill forever.
Andrew had to be clinical about it. Logical and practical. Because if the topic of love came up, he was confident she would run.
