When he traced her lips with his tongue and coaxed her to open for him, she gave up on trying to understand why she couldn’t resist him and lost herself to the myriad sensations flowing through her. Her blood pulsed through her veins and an empty ache began to pool in her lower belly when he moved his hand to cup her breast. Even through her clothing, his touch had the magical effect of making her feel as if he truly cherished her. But when she felt his hard arousal pressed to her, she had to cling to him for support.
“Have you come to any conclusions on what we should do about this?” he asked, easing away from the kiss.
Gazing up at his handsome face, she shook her head. She would like nothing more than to throw caution to the wind and live for the moment. But that wasn’t who she was and she wasn’t about to pretend otherwise.
“I don’t want you to think that I’m pressuring you, Taylor,” he said, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. “Nothing is going to happen unless that’s what you want. But I’m not going to hide the fact that I want you, either.”
They gazed at each other for several long moments before the ringing of the phone intruded. “I’ll get that in the office,” Lane said, kissing her forehead before he released her to go answer the call.
As she walked back into the kitchen, Taylor nibbled on her lower lip. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it was just a matter of time before they both reached the limit of their frustration and gave in to the chemistry between them. A thrilling hum vibrated through every part of her at the thought.
Taylor sighed as she removed a roast from the refrigerator and began to cut it into cubes for the beef bourguignon she’d planned to make for their dinner. She only hoped when the moment came that she could keep things in perspective and not let her emotions get the better of her. Otherwise she had a feeling there was a very real chance she could get her heart broken.
* * *
After another one of Taylor’s delicious dinners, Lane sat at the table watching Taylor glance at the five cards face up on the table between them, then at the two cards she was holding. For the first time since he’d started teaching her how to play, she wasn’t giving her hand away with her tells. He couldn’t help but be proud of her. She had caught on to the game quickly and her skills were progressing nicely. It wouldn’t be too much longer and they would be playing for the ranch. So why did that thought leave him with a keen sense of dread? That was what he wanted, wasn’t it?
The sole purpose of him teaching her to play poker was so they could engage in a game for control of the ranch. A game he had every intention of winning. But the thought of Taylor leaving the Lucky Ace to go back to California didn’t hold nearly as much appeal as it had a week and a half ago.
“I’m all in,” she said as she shoved all of her chips to one end of the community cards.
She was betting everything she had on the single hand and the odds were he had her beat. He had a full house, while the best she could hope for was a straight. He fleetingly thought about folding the hand and letting her win, but he’d never thrown a game in his life and she wouldn’t want him to do that now. She was determined to win on her own and he admired that. Besides, she needed to learn to consider all the possible hands he could be holding and place her bet accordingly.
Counting out the equivalent number of chips, he added them to the pot. “I call.”
He watched her take a deep breath as she turned over her two hold cards. “I have a jack-high straight,” she said proudly.
“Very nice hand,” he said, smiling. When she started to pull the pile of chips to her side of the table, he shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s not quite good enough.” He flipped over his hold cards. “I have a full house. Jacks full of nines.”
“Well, drat!” She frowned. “I really thought I had you that time.”
He nodded. “You had a good solid hand and a damned good chance of winning. But you also needed to consider that with two jacks on the table, I could be holding a jack and that the other community cards would give me the full house.”
“Which was exactly what happened,” she said with a sigh.
“Hey, don’t feel bad.” Standing up, he walked around the table to pull her from her chair and into his arms. “If I’d had the straight, I would have had to consider going all in, too.”
She tilted her head slightly. “But you wouldn’t have, would you?”
“It depends.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “In a tournament with other professional players, there are more cards in play and the odds are better that one of them would have the full house. But with just the two of us, the odds were in your favor of winning with the straight.”