Timing Read online

  “Stefan,” he gasped, shoving me off him, breaking the kiss to capture my face in his hands, holding me still so he could look at me. “After the wedding, come home with me to the ranch for a few days, okay?”

  I was lost in the depth of his eyes. There was lust and heat and absolute, undeniable need.

  “Please, Stef,” he said, leaning me down into him, his lips closing on my throat. “Just come see the ranch.”

  “I’ll think… maybe,” I said quickly. Having him under me was making me dizzy. I just wanted to breathe him in, hold him forever.

  “I want you to see how beautiful it is there.”

  “Why?”

  “So maybe it’ll get you thinkin’.”

  “About what?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he sealed his lips over mine as he kissed me softly, tenderly, one of his hands sliding around the back of my neck, the other slipping down over my hip.

  I caught my breath, and he smiled against my mouth as he rolled me over on my back, settling his big, warm, naked body over mine, pressing me down into the bed.

  “You’re gonna be mine.”

  “Rand.” I sighed into his shoulder, my hands sliding all over him, touching the hard muscles under the silky skin. “This is only for—”

  “Stop,” he ordered me gently. “’Cause you have no idea what this is.”

  I stared up into his eyes, putting a hand on the back of his neck, my fingers massaging.

  “I wanna stay here with you.” He smiled before he bent and kissed me again. It was slow; he took his time, hands on my face, sliding over my brows, my cheekbones, and down my neck. “But what will Charlotte say when she walks in tomorrow morning?”

  I jerked under him, and his smile was huge.

  “I guess you should go,” I said without any conviction whatsoever.

  He arched a brow for me, and his eyes glinted with heat. “You know, you look really good under me. I knew you would.”

  “Rand—”

  “I never thought guys could be… but you….” He trailed off, his eyes dropping from mine.

  “Hey.”

  His eyes flicked back to my face.

  “Tell me.” I wanted to know everything he thought about me.

  He took a breath. “I just…. I bet folks tell you all the time how beautiful you are.”

  I arched an eyebrow for him.

  “I knew it,” he breathed out, and I saw how heavy-lidded his eyes were before he rose over me, parting my thighs with his knee. “You know you’re gorgeous.”

  “Rand, you gotta—”

  “I never knew that men could be beautiful, Stefan. Not like this, not like you.” He trailed off before he suddenly bent and took my hardening cock into his mouth. It was fast; I didn’t even have time to think.

  “Rand,” I almost yelled, trembling under his hands, nearly coming up off the bed.

  His mouth on me was ravaging, and as I stared at him, watching his lips move over my skin, feeling the hot, liquid heat swallow me, it was almost too much, too raw, too overwhelming. To go from nothing from the man to everything was making my heart hurt, my body throb.

  “You need me.”

  And it was pointless to argue, as the truth was there in my panting breath, the way I was writhing beneath him, and my soft begging. I had forgotten about anyone but the man who had me pinned to the bed, wanting only my desire sated.

  He laved my cock, sliding his tongue into the slit, tasting, sucking, and the simultaneous pumping of his hand was moving me quickly from fluttering heat to throbbing need.

  “Ohmygod.” I fisted my hand in his hair, yanking hard. “Come here.”

  His mouth came off me, and my wet cock tapped his cheek before he moved up my body.

  “Rand.” I licked my lips, squirming as he watched me. “I wish you could see your eyes.”

  “Why?” he asked as he hovered over me, grabbing the lube from under the pillow.

  “They’re so dark.”

  “’Cause I’m lookin’ at you.”

  “Jesus.” My voice was hoarse, low. “Since when are you—”

  He sealed his mouth to mine, and I felt the fierce, hot kiss roll through my whole body.

  I had to shove him off me so I could breathe.

  “Rand.” I panted out his name, arching up off the bed when I felt his slick fingers on my skin. He was fast with the lube, his fingers already slippery with it.

  “Scream my name, Stef… scream loud.”

  “Jesus God,” I moaned as he buried himself in me fast and hard and deep, grabbing my legs, wrapping them around his hips. I loved that he was rough with me because I craved the power and the dominance, wanting to submit but having never found a partner strong enough to make me or whom I trusted not to hurt me. I had to be careful, or I could fall really hard for my best friend’s brother.

  “Look at me,” he ordered, and when my eyes drifted open, he fisted his hand again on my cock at the same time as he pressed deeper inside my body.

  The first pulse of my orgasm beat at the base of my spine as I pushed up into him, watching the muscles in his abdomen contract, his chest heave, and his jaw clench.

  “I have to be closer,” he said before he suddenly sank down into me, wrapping me in his arms, molding his hot, sweaty body to mine.

  Never had anyone held me crushed to their heart as they were buried inside of me. I felt exposed and vulnerable, hot tears blurring my vision.

  “You fit me just right,” he growled before he turned his head and kissed me, his voice low and sexy.

  The sizzling heat tore through my body as I clung to him, arms wrapped around his neck, legs around his narrow hips. He lifted his head to breathe and thrust forward at the same time, filling me, finding his release as he clutched me tight, my name spoken over and over like a chant. We were frozen for long moments, both of us spent, heaving, just lying there, unable to do anything more.

  “Are you okay?” I asked when I could.

  “Yes,” he breathed out, his face buried in the side of my neck. He had not pulled out of me, content to lie there between my thighs. “Are you?”

  I nodded, sighing deeply, content not to move for the rest of my life.

  “Stefan,” he said before his mouth closed on my skin.

  I understood the need to bite and lick, suck and bite again. He needed marks on me, his marks, compelled by some primitive desire to brand what was his. The slow, languid kissing that followed was almost too much to bear.

  “You’re shaking,” he said finally, his breath warm on my face.

  “’Cause of you.”

  He pressed his bicep against the side of my face, leaned my head close to his, and held me tight. “Is that bad? I didn’t hurt you or—”

  “No,” I breathed out.

  His sigh was long and loud. “I can’t seem to let go.”

  “Fine, don’t.”

  His smile was gentle, tender, one I had never seen before, just for me. I watched him, taking in the long lashes, the slight dimple in his chin, and the laugh lines in the corner of his eyes. He had always been gorgeous but was suddenly now breathtaking.

  “You’re looking at me funny.” He chuckled, biting the side of my neck, licking it to take the sting away before biting again, harder. I made a noise of pure pleasure, and he sucked the spot, making it tender, sensitive as he bathed it with his tongue.

  “I can’t help it.” I was in a daze from his attention.

  He slid slowly out of my body before collapsing beside me.

  “Tired?” I teased him.

  Instantly, I was reached for and tucked against his side, one hand buried in my hair, the other on the small of my back, holding me gently. “You get that I’m not leaving your bed, right?”

  I smiled at him as he reached behind his head and turned off the light on the nightstand. With the way the moonlight filled the room, it wasn’t dark, but it was soothing and cool.

  “Unless you want me outta here,” he said, and I
heard the catch in his voice. He didn’t want to go, but he would if I asked him to.

  I rolled to my side, drawing his arm around me as I did it. Instantly, he was spooned me and I was engulfed in hard muscle and warm skin. I never before wanted anyone to hold me after, sleep with me against their heart, nuzzle their face into the crook of my neck. I always leaped out of bed after sex and took a shower. Being covered in sweat and semen had never been something I cared for. But the man I had always thought hated me wanted to sleep with me wrapped in his arms, so I didn’t care that sticky fluid was drying between us, cementing us together. The smell of our lovemaking, of his skin, was a tangible reminder of what we had just done, the consummation of years of yearning. The revelations of the day were phenomenal.

  “Stop thinking and go to sleep already.”

  I was going to ask a question, but the soft kisses on my shoulder stilled me, and my mind went blank. While I was trying to think of it, with his hand stroking over my hip, I fell asleep. It had been a really long day.

  Chapter 6

  RAND WAS gone when I woke up in the morning, but there was a note under my cell phone telling me why. The ranch needed him, but he would see me that evening for the rehearsal dinner. Until then, I was to miss him and not be too mad about my neck. The last part of the note made no sense until I passed the mirror in the bathroom.

  “Oh… shit,” I groaned, leaning forward, looking at all the deep purple marks on my collarbone and the sides of my neck. There was one right at the base of my throat, but it was small, barely noticeable. Between my bruised eye and the hickeys, I looked like somebody beat me up.

  After I showered and changed, I put on a dress shirt and left only the top button undone. I looked like I was ready to go to a business meeting instead of downstairs for breakfast.

  “What’s with the shirt?” Charlotte asked as I took a seat beside her.

  “I’m running out of clothes,” I lied, smiling at her.

  “You didn’t pack enough clothes?” she asked skeptically. “You didn’t… you?”

  “Yeah,” I snapped at her. “I miscalculated.”

  Her eyes, a darker version of the ones her brother had, narrowed.

  If for any reason I flinched, she had me. She knew me too well for me to be able to hide things from her.

  “What?”

  “I dunno, something’s weird… different.”

  “Just hurry up and eat,” I ordered her. “We’ve gotta go pick up the dress, and I’ve gotta check the wedding programs, and—”

  “The programs are here. Nick and Clarissa picked them up.”

  “Where are they?”

  She got up and brought me back the huge box, and the second I removed the lid, I saw a problem. It turned out to be only one of many, the least of which was that my name was not Stephanie.

  “Who proofed these?” I asked her softly, slowly, my eyes lifting from the program to her face. “It wasn’t you, was it?”

  “No,” she answered warily. “Why?”

  I turned it around so she could see that her wedding was still more than a month away. I was surprised that all the glasses in the room held up to the scream instead of shattering right there on the spot.

  “What’s wrong?” Ben yelled as he came flying in from the kitchen with Nick behind him. He looked like he was ready to kill someone.

  But it was impossible to understand Charlotte between the sobbing and intermittent shrieking. The wedding was making her crazy.

  “Jesus,” he yelled at her a few minutes later, finally understanding what she was crying about. “Could you save that particular bloodcurdling scream for when you’re being murdered? Christ, Charlotte, you scared the shit outta me!”

  The wailing continued as she collapsed into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck, sobbing into my shoulder.

  “Tell me where there’s a printing place around here,” I said to Ben, standing up with his fiancée clinging to me like a vine.

  “Sure,” he said, his eyes wild, concerned about the bride-to-be’s state of mind.

  “Now,” I said flatly.

  At which point he finally understood the magnitude of her breakdown.

  Calming Charlotte took time, but once I got my laptop, she and I sat down and redesigned the program, and I e-mailed it over to the local copy shop, she was once again able to breathe. The glasses of white wine helped a lot, as did the amazing job the seamstress had done updating the dress. It was not Vera Wang, but neither was it the horror it had first been. The lace had been shortened to the bodice, and without the scary beaded sleeves, it fit like a mermaid gown, and her silhouette was stunning. My friend would be radiant, the train long enough to be elegant but still short enough to dance in, and the veil was enchanting. I was certain that there would never be a more beautiful bride.

  In my room later, I tossed her a small, black velvet box.

  “What’s this?”

  “It isn’t a ring,” I teased her.

  “Well no.” She giggled. “I didn’t think it was.”

  “Open it.”

  “Stefan Joss, what did you… oh my God.” She caught her breath when she lifted the lid.

  Between the bridesmaids and her mother and mother-in-law to be, Charlotte had the old, borrowed, and blue all taken care of. They were missing the new, but I had supplied that.

  “Oh Stef.” Her bottom lip quivered as she stared down at the diamond earrings. At a carat each, it was not a small gift. But she was the only woman in my life, the only family I had, my touchstone, and my dearest friend. She deserved a medal for putting up with me.

  “It’s you who deserves the hazard pay,” she said as she put the earrings on, finally releasing me after long minutes to screw on the backs.

  “Happy?” I asked her.

  “I’m never going to take them off.”

  “Good.” I smiled at her, turning back to face the armoire, trying to figure out what else I could wear to hide the purple blotches on my neck. Rand Holloway was a dead man when I saw him.

  THE AFTERNOON rehearsal was crazy. One of the groomsmen was AWOL, Reverend Ellis could not wrap his brain around Charlotte having a Man-of-Honor, and everyone was stunned at the very revealing dress that Ben’s mother showed up in. It plunged in the front, and it plunged in the back, and I was simply speechless. The groom was mortified.

  “Aw, c’mon, that’s probably why they’re still married,” Nick consoled his best friend. “’Cause your mom still fires up your dad’s engine, if you know what I mean.”

  Ben’s stunned expression as he looked over at Charlotte and me made me snort out the water I was drinking. The bride just sounded like she was gagging.

  “This is what I’ve been telling you.” She smacked her fiancé in the back of the head. “The man’s a pig.”

  “Stef,” he whimpered.

  “Char,” I said, trying not to laugh.

  She made the disgusted noise again.

  “So, how are we all getting out to the ranch?” Tina asked as she arrived at my side.

  I wasn’t sure who she was talking to.

  “Stef?”

  I turned my head slowly to look at Charlotte.

  “Hi.” She smiled widely, looking guilty as hell.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Well.” Her voice went way up high, squeaking like it did when she was really nervous.

  “Aren’t we going out to Rand’s for the rehearsal dinner?” Nick asked, confused.

  Ben waggled his eyebrows at me. “Oh yeah, buddy—we’re both in hell.”

  I scowled at Charlotte.

  “Your face is gonna freeze like that.”

  “I’m not staying out there,” I said so she wouldn’t know it was all I wanted.

  “You have to,” she moaned. “I think it’s in the best friend contract.”

  Ben could not contain his cackling laughter.

  We ended up in a ten-car caravan driving out to the Red Diamond Ranch, and even though my stomach was ful
l of butterflies, I made sure that my tradition with my best friend was observed. The second we got into the Mustang convertible that Ben had given Charlotte when they got engaged, I plugged in my iPod, and we got “Cruisin’” cranked up as loud as it would go.

  “Aww,” Tina gushed from the backseat. “How cute are they?”

  “Adorable,” Ben groused from behind Charlotte.

  “You’re just jealous because her boyfriend is so hot,” Kristin taunted the groom.

  “Not one person in this car is sane,” he assured us all.

  But he ended up singing along with us under the hot Texas sun as we went through an hour’s worth of oldies.

  The closer I got to the ranch, the more nervous I got. What if Rand ignored me when I got there? What if he had invited a woman to be his date? What if he was kind and warm but wanted me to stay only because of Charlotte? He would be engaging and charming, and then, at the end of the night, retire alone to his bedroom, allowing Charlotte and me our time together, our last night as Will & Grace.

  “Oh, lighten up.” Charlotte cuffed my arm as I took the first turn off the highway, and the down the driveway that would eventually lead to an enormous Folk Victorian house.

  “Oh, look at this.” Tina was in awe as she got out of the car. “There’s a huge porch and a swing…. Is this where you grew up, Char?”

  “Yes, it is.” Charlotte inhaled the scent of wildflowers, grass, and freshly cut wood, just like I did. For whatever reason, the ranch always smelled good, everything mixed together on the breeze. “Don’t you just love it?”

  “I do,” Kristin chimed in. “I love it. The huge porch and the swing and… oh….”

  It was the long, drawn-out oh, said with such absolute, breathless wonder, that caught my attention. As the other cars began to roll up around us, parking wherever they stopped, I watched, along with everyone else, as Rand rode toward us. He was doing it on purpose, and I didn’t appreciate it.

  “Wha… ha… oh,” Kristen gurgled out beside me, one long string of vowels emanating from her mouth, which she seemed unable to close.