He chuckled. “My intention from the start when I made that wager with you was always to obtain the recommendation no matter whether you resisted me or not. Even if you succumbed, I planned to help you get into art school. Your application was filled out and ready before you ever boarded the plane with me in Walnut Springs.”

He’d filled out an application for her? She wasn’t sure whether she was angry or pleased…but she didn’t like that he’d done it without talking to her. There was so much he hadn’t considered though, like how far away Weston was from Colorado, from the ranch, and from her father.

“Wes, you can’t just do things like that without first talking to me. Leaving my father and my life at the ranch for school is a huge decision that only I can make. That’s a personal boundary you crossed.”

His arms tightened around her waist, and his suddenly hard cock nudged her backside.

“I break down walls and leap over boundaries, darling. It’s how I operate.” His warm breath fanned over her cheeks and she shivered. Her temper and resistance apparently aroused him. The man was still a puzzle to her.

“You’re not getting off that easily. You have to talk to me about decisions that affect my life.” She tried to slide off his lap because this was definitely a face-to-face conversation. But he didn’t let her move, even when she thrashed and water splashed over the tub’s edge.

“Be still or I’m liable to fuck you into submission, so you’ll listen to me.” His harsh growl rumbled in her ear and she stilled. The most basic animal instincts deep inside her demanded she not fight him. He was the alpha male and she’d resisted him. If she wanted to calm him down, she’d better not make any more sudden moves.

Dominants were a lot like predators in the wild. The romance novels she’d read hadn’t been wrong about that. The question was how far would she dare to push him?

Chapter 14

When Callie went lax in his arms, Wes relaxed as well. She could feel the tension seep out of his limbs.

“Good. Now here’s our discussion. You said if money was no object, you would go to art school. I’m paying your way so you’re going. That’s the end of the discussion.”

The bristling inside her was barely containable, but she had to be careful. It also rankled her that he’d made some silly bet when he’d planned on giving her what she’d dreamed of all along. What had been the point of the bet then if there hadn’t been any real stakes?

“Why did you even bet me if you were already going to get me the recommendation?”

His face grew serious. “Because you were drowning, Callie. Your heart was breaking and I couldn’t stand to watch you suffer. I gave you a challenge, something to fight for. It kept your spirit from dying. Here you are, as feisty as the day I met you, recovering from your heartache. It’s because you had the strength to fight back for the bet. It was never about winning, but about the challenge.”

She was silent for a long moment. He was right. She’d been so focused on their wager, on his playful, intense seduction, that the pain in her heart from Fenn had eased and slowly started to fade. The unbearable pain of losing the first man she’d loved had begun to heal. Because of Wes. And now he was still helping her, offering to get her into art school.

“Wes, you are not going to pay for my art school.” Taylors didn’t like owing debts. If she was going to school, then she would pay.

Wes turned his head slightly and licked the inside of her ear. A bolt of desire so strong shot straight to her clit and she jolted in his tight hold. She arched her back, breasts jutting out, and he cupped them, squeezing them and kneading them with his elegant hands. They were strong looking but beautiful and Callie whimpered when he pinched her nipples.

“Wes, stop. We have to talk about this.” She gripped his thighs, digging her fingers into his legs as a building wave of need whiplashed through her.

“I know you’re sore, darling,” he murmured in her ear. “Can you take me? I’ll go nice and slow.”

Could he keep that promise? Hell, did it matter? She wanted him so much…

“Okay…” She was barely coherent now. Trapped between Wes’s hot body and the water, she could barely remember her own name. She ached for him. There was no other word for what she felt. Wes had to fill her, possess her, but it was the only way to ease the mind-numbing ache for him.

He lifted her up and placed her on her knees on the opposite seat in the large tub so that she faced the tub’s edge and Wes stood behind her, knee deep in the water.

“Bend over and rest your head on your arms,” he urged, his voice husky and soft.

She bent over, laying her hands on the marble platform that extended past the tub’s edge and jerked in shock when Wes wedged a knee between her thighs from behind and parted her legs farther.

The soreness between her thighs stung a little as the blunt head of his cock nudged her entrance. He used one hand to guide himself into her and his other hand gripped her left shoulder. He rocked forward, pushing in a few inches. She tightened and twitched around him.

“Relax,” he crooned. “Just relax.”

She breathed deeply and let herself relax. This time when he pushed into her, her body accepted him, even though it was still tight.

“God, I thought I’d imagined how good you felt. But it’s better than I remember.”

A wicked surge of pride filled her. She loved knowing that he thought she felt good. Having no experience with sex, she was afraid she wouldn’t know what to do to make sure he enjoyed himself, too.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

“Not so much,” she said, panting as he withdrew and waited. “I’m okay now. It feels better.” It felt really good actually, once she relaxed and focused on how it felt to be full and stretched by him, connected at such an intimate place.

“Thank God,” he groaned and began a leisurely but steady pace of thrusts. His hand on her shoulder tightened and his other hand slid down her belly to her clit. Fingering the sensitive pearl, he teased it, then pressed just hard enough that the stimulation with his penetrations was too much. The world blurred around her and a drugging fuzziness filled her head and the climax came but it was slow, drawn out, everlasting.

Ripples of pleasure, heat filling her, flushing her skin, her breath heavy. She’d never done drugs, wouldn’t ever do them, but this was what they had to feel like…only infinitely better. Floating on ecstasy. Wes collapsed over her, bracing himself on one arm beside her shoulder as he nipped her ear and murmured soft sweet things.

It was something she would never forget as long as she lived. The way they felt together, bodies as close as physically possible, hearts beating wildly, his scent mixed with hers, and the way he spoke to her. Hushed endearments, things that made her heart clench, and something inside her unfurled, like the petals of a newly blooming flower stretching for the sun. He was opening her heart up, forcing light and heat into places she’d attempted to darken with shadows. Soon she wouldn’t be able to keep him out. A man who could banish her inner darkness, make her feel alive again after her broken heart…There would be no stopping the love that would surely follow.

I’m falling for him. A man who keeps his women at a distance…And I promised myself I would never love anyone again…

It was her last coherent thought as she succumbed to exhaustion.

*  *  *

Wes realized Callie had fallen asleep seconds after he’d withdrawn from her body. She was worn out, the poor little thing. He shouldn’t have taken her again so soon, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself, not when she’d begged him to. He carefully cleaned her and then lifted her from the bath. She was wet, but he had a spare robe lying by the bathtub and he tucked her into the terry cloth folds before he carried her to his room. There had been only a brief thought that he should have taken her to her own bed. That had been his original intention all along. But now that he’d had her here in his arms, his bed was the only place he wanted her to be.