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This had to be the worst idea ever.
As soon as Belle started taking off her clothes, Corbin should have gotten the hell out of there. Instead, he had watched as she’d peeled off her shirt to reveal the sexy-as-hell lavender sports bra that crisscrossed the pale skin of her back and was so thin he could see the points of her nipples.
But the worse agony had been watching her jeans slide down those mile-long legs and seeing the way her panties rode high on those two perfectly curved butt cheeks. He almost swallowed his tongue when she moved toward the springs and the satiny material rode even higher. Desire had punched him hard in the stomach and not even diving into cold water had softened the throbbing hardness between his legs.
He wanted Belle. He couldn’t argue the point anymore. He wanted her like he had never wanted another woman before in his life.
Not even her sister.
Liberty had been a teenage crush. The stunningly beautiful homecoming queen he, and every other hormonal boy at Wilder High, had fantasized about. But he realized now that he’d never known Liberty.
He didn’t know what kind of snacks she liked. Or what kind of movies she loved to watch while eating those snacks. He didn’t know what kind of ice cream she hated and what kind of tacos she preferred. He didn’t know if she sat a saddle like she had been born in it and if she could get people to do what she wanted with only a smile and a few kind words. He didn’t know if she was a sucker for starving dogs and a phenomenal kisser.
But he knew those things about Belle.
He had learned them over the past week.
And they only made him want her more.
But he wasn’t about to give in to his desire. He wasn’t about to fall under another Holiday’s spell. Especially when her friendliness and kisses were all a ploy to get back her family’s ranch.
And yet, there was a tiny part of him that didn’t believe that. A tiny part that, when he looked into her eyes like he was looking into them now, saw something real. Something warm and honest and giving. Something that drew him like a blazing fire in the midst of a blizzard.
He just wasn’t willing to trust that something.
Pulling his gaze away from her, he dipped under the water and started swimming. He didn’t count how many laps he did. He just swam until his lungs hurt and his muscles ached and his cock softened. And the belief that Belle felt something real for him disappeared.
When he finally grew too exhausted to continue and came up for air, he discovered Belle had gotten out . . . she just hadn’t gotten dressed. She was stretched out on a large flat rock at the edge of the springs drying in the sun like a breathtaking sun goddess. Her arms were stretched above her head and one knee was bent and her ebony hair spread out on the rock like spilled ink.
He got hard all over again.
Which pissed him off.
Uncaring that he had a boner he could hollow out and use as a canoe, he waded to the shore. “What the hell are you doing?”
Belle lifted up to her elbows and looked at him. “Drying off before I put my clothes back on. You should probably dry—” Her eyes lowered and she cut off mid-sentence. Her lips opened on a puff of surprise.
“Yes,” he said. “I have one hell of a hard-on and isn’t that what you were shooting for? Take Corbin Whitlock to Cooper Springs and see just how worked up I can get him.”
She sat up and stared at him as if he’d just sprouted horns. “That’s not why I brought you here at all. I brought you here because I thought you’d enjoy a swim after you worked so hard. I did not bring you here to be insulted.” She started to get off the rock, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Then explain the show you put on of stripping off your clothes, making sure to tease me just enough with your tempting hard nipples and sweet curvy ass. And then when that didn’t get my attention, you stretched out on this rock like some kind of seductive sun goddess.”
She stared at him. “Seductive sun goddess?”
He snorted. “As if you don’t know how seductive you are. You’ve been trying to seduce me since you got here—trying to use your flirty smiles and sultry looks to drive me crazy.” He pointed a finger at her. “But I’m telling you right now, Bella. You aren’t going to succeed.” As if of their own accord, his eyes lowered to her mouth. “I’m not going to give in and taste those sweet lips.” His gaze lowered even more. “I’m not going to touch those tempting breasts. Or cup your sweet ass. I’m stronger than that. Much stronger.”
But if that was so, why couldn’t he turn and walk away? Why was he just standing there with desire and need pulsing through his body and his heart thumping like a trapped rabbit’s?
“Well, I guess I’m not that strong,” she said in a soft whisper. When he lifted his gaze, her mismatched green eyes were dark and needy. He only had a chance to draw in a startled breath before she kissed him.
She kissed him like a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. Sliding both hands in his hair, she fisted her fingers and held him tight as she greedily stroked his mouth with her tongue.
Like a lit fuse that finally reached its detonation point, all the want he’d been holding back exploded and he realized he wasn’t strong enough either. He no longer cared that this was just part of her plan to get her family’s ranch back. All he cared about was keeping her sweet lips on his.
When her legs opened and encircled his hips, he groaned and slid his hands to her butt, caressing the full sweet flesh before he lifted her off the rock and pulled her flush against his needy body. He loved the way her bare skin felt on his, the brush of her long legs and the press of her hot center. He loved the melting of her breasts on his chest and the curve of her ass cheeks in his hands.
But he needed to feel more.
