Free Sacrifice of Passion (Deadly Legends) by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez

from the beginning, he’d have been there for him. He hoped to hell it wasn’t too late.
    Delaney walked to the barn door. “We should go,” she said. Her quiet voice was all it took to propel his son toward the exit.
    In the doorway, Zach glanced over his shoulder at the horses. “Can I come back?”
    She smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “You have to ask your dad, but I don’t think Jasper would mind.”
    He turned to Vic. “Is it okay?”
    Vic nodded. “Of course.” He gently squeezed Zach’s shoulder. “Now go on, get in the truck. I’ll be right there.”
    Zach headed off. No sullen expression for a change. Just acquiescence. Vic watched him. It was as if he were a completely different kid. With a frown that was half frustration, half respect, he turned to Delaney. “How’d you do that?”
    She stopped next to him at the barn door and raised her eyebrows. “Do what?”
    He notched his chin toward the truck. “Get him to talk.”
    “He…doesn’t he usually talk?”
    “Not often.”
    “Hmm.” She pursed her lips.
    Vic’s attention lasered in on those lips. He was torn between wanting to know Delaney’s secret about how to deal with Zach and dealing with the burning remembrance of how her lips had tasted when he used to kiss her.
    Her arms tightened across her chest, her breasts swelling at the top of her shirt. Shit. His gaze slipped and he felt another hard pull in his groin. God help him, even as antagonistic and unforgiving as she was, he wanted her now.
    She dropped her arms and pulled her jacket closed, as if reading his mind. “I’m sure Zach will come around.” She started to turn. “I should go.”
    But he didn’t want her to go quite yet. He could be unforgiving, too, and right now he wanted to make her sweat. Like he was. If she wasn’t going to let him have sex with her to purge her from his system, he needed to exorcize those painful memories some other way.
    Like getting some payback for the hurt she’d caused him.
    He zeroed in on the last conversation they’d had before she ran away, when she’d finally wanted to make love with him—just before they were set to elope. They’d been in his truck. Her shirt had fallen open as she twisted her arm and tried to reach around his back to pull him closer.
    “Be still,” he’d murmured in her ear, knowing that his kisses made her heart skip and sent an explosion of tingling between her legs. She’d told him so.
    His thumb brushed over her white cotton bra as his lips brushed along her jaw, finding her lips again. His tongue explored her mouth and she moaned as one of his hands slid down the side of her body and found its way to her inner thigh. Higher. She cried out when he suddenly pulled away. Tried desperately to pull him back.
    “I’m ready.” She slid her hand down his abdomen, felt his erection, and quickly pulled her hand away. She was skittish, but determined. “I want you. Please, Vic.”
    Breathing hard, he closed his eyes. “Don’t…”
    She moved her fingers to the tip of him. “Is this right?” she asked nervously.
    He wrapped his fingers around her wrist, pulling her hand away from him. “Don’t, or I won’t be able to stop.”
    “Good,” she said softly. Enticingly.
    Vic shook his head, smoothing her hair back with fingers that nearly shook with want. “We’ve come this far. We have to wait, Laney.”
    “We’ll be married soon anyway.” She tried to tug free from his grasp, but he held tight. “Why not?”
    “Because you’ve said from the beginning that you wanted to wait until our wedding night. A few more hours. I don’t want you to regret anything.”
    She kissed him again and he slid his hand higher on her thigh until his fingers brushed her damp panties. She moaned again.
    He stopped. Pulled away. Leaned his forehead against hers, fighting his need. “Damn, I wish I had a ring for you.”
    “I don’t need a ring.” Lifting her hand, she shook her wrist. “The bracelet is