He was hungry for her?
He was hungry for her.
Well, that was good because she was hungry for him as well.
Seven
The ranch house was quiet and dark when JT let himself in at two in the morning. He’d cut his night short, unable to concentrate on business with thoughts of Violet bombarding him. He liked that she’d shown up at the barn today. Watching her overcome her anxiety about Milo had demonstrated that her interest had been genuine. Having her gaze follow his every move in the arena had been a pleasant distraction. He’d stepped up his game and showed off for her like a smitten teenage boy.
What he’d seen in her eyes made him want to throw her over his shoulder and carry her straight to his bedroom. Was she reconsidering the arrangement? He hoped so. But if she needed more convincing, he was ready for that as well.
Taking the stairs two at a time, JT headed down the hall to her bedroom. The door stood ajar, the room beyond dark. He let his eyes adjust and saw that the room was unoccupied. Reaching in, he flipped on the light. The room wasn’t just empty. It showed no sign that anyone was staying there.
If JT hadn’t seen Violet’s car in the garage, he would’ve assumed that she’d changed her mind and returned to Fontaine Chic. Perhaps she’d chosen a different room. There were four others she might prefer. But none showed signs of life. So where was she?
JT headed for the terrace outside the master suite. As soon as he stepped outside he heard the sound of splashing. She’d gone for a swim. He grabbed a set of swim trunks from a drawer and changed. It wasn’t until he entered the closet to hang up his suit that he realized which bedroom she’d decided to sleep in.
His.
What had once been the empty half of the enormous his-and-hers closet w
as now filled with black dresses, casual daytime wear and several pairs of jeans. The shoe racks overflowed with pumps and sandals. He returned to the bedroom and discovered half his drawers filled with lacy lingerie, knit tops and scarves. The countertop in his bathroom bore perfume bottles and creams.
Holy hell.
He marched down the stairs at a deliberate pace, formulating how to approach Violet about this new development. It was one thing to perpetuate the myth of their happy marriage by living together. But sharing his room—his bed—with her was taking the playacting way too far.
JT stalked through the living room and stepped onto the pool deck. Violet stroked through the water, naked limbs breaking the surface and plunging back in again. Damn, but she was beautiful. Her movements were lazy, content. The exact opposite of the riotous emotions surging through JT.
He was standing at the edge of the pool before he even realized he’d moved. “I found all your things in my room. What’s going on?”
“I got to thinking your dad might have spies in your employ. I don’t want to give him any ammunition against you.” She didn’t meet his gaze, which made him wonder what she had to hide.
“I think you’re giving him too much credit.”
“Come for a swim. We can talk about it later.”
He wanted to get it resolved right now. JT dove in and swam underwater toward her. With just the pool lights to see by, he didn’t realize that she was naked until he was close enough to touch her.
He came up coughing.
“Are you all right?” She set her hands on his shoulders and peered at him.
“I thought we had an understanding about your skinny-dipping.”
To his immense shock, she hooked her fingertips into the elastic waistband of his swim trunks and pulled it a couple inches away from his stomach. Her touch against his bare skin brought him to a swift and fierce arousal. He clenched his teeth to contain a groan.
“You should try it,” she murmured, her smile come-hither. A second later he felt the snap against his belly as she let go. In a flash she was gone. Water splashed against his cheeks and blinded him as she dove sideways, swimming beyond his grasp in seconds.
Sputtering, he shook his head to clear his eyes and took off after her with a growl. It wasn’t until he caught her at the edge of the pool and pinned her against the wall that he remembered she was naked. Her thighs tangled with his and she hooked one foot around his calf to anchor herself to him.
“Kiss me,” she demanded, sliding her palms up the side of his neck and latching onto his hair. “Soft, slow, hard, deep. I don’t care. Just make me lose myself.”
His lips captured hers in a relentless assault that definitively declared that this time there would be no backpedaling, no stopping, no mercy. She accepted every stroke of his tongue, every nip of his teeth and gave him back frenzied desire and impatience. Her nails bit into his skin, her moans heightened his already explosive hunger. She writhed against him, her hips moving rhythmically against his erection, driving him wild.
He sucked the water from her neck, tasting chlorine and below that the sweetness of her skin. His breath caught as she threw her head back and offered him even more access. He wrapped his fingers around her delicate ribcage and lifted her until her perfect breasts bobbed above the water’s surface. She wrapped her thighs around his waist as he locked his mouth over one hard nipple. With her wet heat pressed tight to his abdomen, he sucked and nibbled first one breast, then the other until her breath came in short, tight pants.
Her lithe body trembled in his arms as he grazed his fingertips down her spine and splayed his hands over the firm planes of her butt. She’d been working her hips in an ever-increasing rhythm. What she wanted, she wasn’t getting and she unhooked her ankles from around his waist and let her feet drift to the pool bottom.