Free Secret Love by Brenda Jackson Page A

wanted to mate.
    Diamond saw his smile and frowned. “This isn’t funny, Jacob. Since we know it won’t work, what are we going to do?”
    Jake’s smile widened as he studied her for a long spell. The woman was too open and too straightforward with her feelings. She wasn’t acting coy about anything or trying to place the blame at his feet. She was acknowledging that whatever was going on between them was mutual.
    “I could say it’s just an overabundance of lust in our system, and one surefire way to get it out of there is one quick roll in the hay,” Jake finally said, his gaze still locked on hers. “But a part of me, Diamond, the part that’s aching right now, refuses to let me believe that anything I do with you can be quick.” He let hisgaze travel over her slowly. He saw her watching his eyes, knowing she saw the heat and the desire in them. Then he saw hers darken likewise. In addition to his ache, he suddenly felt this horrendous pull in his gut. That need he’d recognized earlier became fierce and took his senses away.
    “I want you,” he said, following her lead by being open and straightforward. “I want you, too much to be quick. I’d want to savor the moment, to feed on it and prolong it. I doubt very seriously if I’d be able to stop with having you just once. I’d want you again and again and again.”
    Jake’s voice had the honesty and sensuous warmth Diamond wasn’t ready for. The texture of his words, as well as the words themselves, seeped through to the very core of her. Her body became electrified, sensitive and achy to his words. In her mind, she saw them rolling in the hay. And like him she didn’t see them being quick about it. She saw him taking his time and making slow, hot, unadulterated love to her. She saw his body mating with hers over and over again, taking no time out in between to rest, using all his strength, all his physical exertions, his keen focus and abundance of energy to pleasure her.
    “Jacob, I—”
    Diamond didn’t finish what she was about to say. Jake didn’t let her. He leaned over and captured her mouth with the heat of his. Effortlessly lifting her from her seat into his lap, he continued to kiss her. His tongue entered her mouth, mating with hers, generating more heat. The kiss grew hotter, urgent.
    Jake knew he should pull back, but when his hand touched her breasts, all thoughts of ending the kiss lefthim. Even through the material of her dress, her breasts were a perfect fit in the palm of his hand. It was as if they were made for him. He heard her groan in his mouth when his fingertips touched them. He deepened the kiss, wanting and needing to feed off her groans and her moans.
    Aching for more torture, he reached down to the hem of her dress and lifted it up partway. He needed to touch her thighs, he wanted to feel the heat and the need in her. But first, he had to breathe. He was dying a suffocating death of mind-killing arousal. He suddenly broke off the kiss, his breathing forced, labored, exerted.
    Jake knew he had to do something to regain control of his mind and his senses. If he stayed around her any longer, there would be no choice in the matter. He would be tasting her everywhere, he would be making love to her each and every day she remained on the ranch. He wouldn’t give any thoughts to Whispering Pines. His only thoughts would be to stay inside her body, mating with her, seeing her features flushed with his heat, knowing that the skin covering her body was entrenched in his scent.
    He knew that getting involved with Diamond would demand all that he had, and he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let his lust for a woman be this strong, this addictive. Even with Rhonda it wasn’t like this. It didn’t even come close. He hadn’t seen Rhonda in over eight months, and he hadn’t felt a potent urge to call her. He hadn’t experienced such raw longing until Diamond’s arrival on Whispering Pines. Somehow he had to fight this