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.He knew she’d…had a good time, if only by the fact that she lay gasping for air atop him.He had the strangest urge to bury his face in her hair and thank her.Dodge felt sure he’d had better, more satisfying sex, but at the moment he couldn’t think when.And as he fought the urge to tell her, she seeped farther into the blood that still raged within him.It was just sex, he told himself.Really, really good sex after weeks of fighting their attraction.But something about that didn’t ring true.Just sex, his head repeated in the same rhythm his hands ran up and down her body and she let out a purr of satisfaction.She felt so small in his arms.Somehow it didn’t seem possible for the feisty woman who’d just taken him on the ride of his life to feel so slight.Not just sex, his heart whispered.He should be able to walk away now, pull himself away, but he couldn’t.He lay with her, still inside her, and listened to her breathing return to normal.Something inside of him teetered as he caressed her into slumber.He wanted her again.He knew his need for her would only be worse now that he’d touched her, and yet they’d only scratched the surface of what they could be and do to one another.He wanted more with an intensity that left him spooked.###Sarah lay atop Dodge and listened to the steady beat of his heart, fast at first, so fast, and then slower, almost in rhythm with her own.She gloried in the feel of his hands on her, running up and down her body.She wanted to weep with the joy of having had him, having experienced something so powerful and so different.Part of her expected him to have leapt off the bed by now, leaving her to wonder about the implications of what they’d done.Part of her felt amazed he laid as he was, touching her, caressing her with such gentleness.She stayed sprawled on top of him, afraid to lift her head and start the dialogue that was too soon in coming.What would she say? Could she tell him how it had felt to be loved the way he’d loved her, with teasing and care and passion? Tell him how he made her feel like a woman worth desiring? How she hadn’t felt that way in so long? Could she tell him that she wanted to stay wrapped in his arms and that no matter how he intended to deny the meaning of what they’d just done, that they would do it again, damn the consequences?###Dodge heard his cell phone ring, muffled in the pocket of the jeans he’d discarded on the floor.Sarah was awake now; he felt her stiffen in his arms when the ringing began.“I need to get that.” He gently pushed her aside and reached for his pants, thinking an interruption was as good a way as any for them to face the music of what they’d done.“Dodge.” He listened as Miguel explained that he and the boys were on their way back to the barn and needed instructions for the afternoon.He had to get out of the house.Fast.“I’ll meet you at the barn.Keep the boys with you until I get there.”Sarah sat up at mention of her sons.“Are they coming home now?”“No, but they’ll be at the barn any minute.” He brushed her cheek with his palm, let his eyes glide over her.“I don’t think they need to see my truck here, do you?”She kissed his palm.“No.I don’t.”Between the feline look in her eye and the feel of her lips on his hand he was hard again.He quickly shifted on the bed, grabbed his jeans and began dressing so she couldn’t see how she’d affected him.Sarah watched him dress, dared him to resist her as she lay sprawled naked on the bed.“Dodge, I …”He leaned down and kissed her, slow and soft, then gently nipped at her breast before heading out the door with a groan.Chapter 18Benji paced the rug in his office while his fingers clutched the pen, whose glistening surface of cool metal had turned hot in his grip.He’d begun to regret his face-to-face meeting with the man he’d hired to execute his plans.In hindsight, the meeting sat like a brick on his chest.He’d never forget the look in the stranger’s eyes; they were cold, like the eyes of a dead man.The memory of his eyes had Benji in a panic about what he’d put into motion.He wanted to convince Mrs.Woodward it was too dangerous to live alone on a large ranch, show her the worst of what could happen.When she saw the light he’d swoop right in for the sale, no fuss, no muss.But he kept flashing back to the man with the dead eyes.He’d given him instructions, along with a hand drawn map of the Woodward place, and told him no one was to get hurt.Benji told him to scrap the whole thing if there was even a chance that someone might get injured.While the stranger had nodded in what Benji took as acknowledgement, the furtive look in his eyes betrayed him.Benji searched his desk for the antacids that he’d downed like candy in the last few weeks.He found the bottle in his top drawer and washed a few down with what was left of his morning coffee.If everything went according to plan, tonight was the night he’d seal his fate as the new owner of the Woodward ranch, thereby granting Saxton all the water he’d need for the Cooper development and get the monkey off Benji’s back.Ever since he’d made implications to Kimberly about vandalizing the Woodward place, she’d been watching him and keeping her distance.He’d had a weak moment, going on about his plans in front of her like he had.He’d forgotten, as he so often did, her humble beginnings.She was too young and naïve to understand that sometimes he had to get his hands dirty in order to keep his constituents happy.In politics, keeping people happy by whatever means necessary was the name of the game.Trouble was, he’d gotten so used to Kimberly being his yes man that it never occurred to him that she’d have a conscience.Hell, he thought as he rubbed away the pain in his chest, it never occurred to him he’d have a conscience too.Whether it was Kimberly’s reaction or looking into the eyes of a man willing to do anything for money, he wasn’t sure, but the combination of guilt and fear clung to him like a stench to a dog
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