He closed his eyes on her forceful oath. “You won’t have to, Pippa. Because I will.”
* * * * *
Pippa felt as though someone had clubbed her over the head and dragged her into a pitch-black cave. No light shed on the problems she was facing. And no shadows meant she didn’t know what to hide from.
There was also the huge problem of Ross.
His declaration of love blindsided her—shocked her to the depths of her soul. It was the only thing she wanted to hear from the man, and yet it terrified her. Their lives were too different, and loving each other only complicated things more.
He was married to his work. She was too. Yes, they were so alike it was scary. That should give her some hope that her feelings could actually go somewhere, but she knew better. What was she going to do? Give up her important life’s work, a life she was willing to sacrifice in order to share her finds with the world on her own terms, so she could live on the Wynton Ranch and support Ross’s dreams?
Not that she didn’t care about his dreams—far from it. The edges of their universes hardly touched, though.
The Seattle hotel felt cold and without personality after the motels they’d stayed in on their journey. The four white walls, king-sized bed piled with pristine white bed linens and down pillows, and the stark modern furniture in the room had nothing on those bear cubs playing in a creek on the motel wall.
She was also alone. Ross had installed her in this room with her bag and a promise that he or one of his team would be outside her door at all times. After the closeness they’d shared of hours in the truck, being alone left her hollow.
On those miles of road, they’d shared so much of themselves. They’d been trapped in two whiteouts. Been shot at and hunted down. But she’d been alive.
Coming from a sterile lab and now being dropped in this lonely white room, she had to ask herself how she’d journeyed so far from the things she loved. The outdoors. Her family. Ross’s family. Personal connections. The one person she managed to retain a relationship with was Meredith, and she was lucky to have her. She hoped her evasive responses to Meredith’s kindness over the past few days hadn’t pushed her friend away too.
Her room towered over Seattle, and she had a great view of the skyline. She also had a wall of glass doors leading to a private balcony. Growing up in Seattle, she knew the weather fluctuated all over the place at this time of year, but suddenly she wanted nothing more than some fresh air.
She walked to the French doors, but stopped short of touching the handle. Ross told her not to go out there alone. At the time, she asked how anybody would get to her so high and with huge spans between her and the next balcony, but he only gave her that hard look that brooked no arguments.
Turning from the balcony, she looked at the other set of glass doors, these partitioning off the bathroom suite from the rest of the space. She already had a shower today, but maybe a nice soak in a hot bath would ease her nerves and help the icy cold dread of what would come in the morning when she took that podium as keynote speaker.
Right this second, Ross was organizing an army of security to protect her. But she’d studied too much about security breaches in American history—just looking at the US Presidents. Things could slip.
She walked through the glass doors and locked them behind her. Then she paused at the long teakwood vanity to pull the elastic out of her hair. From beyond the glass, she heard a knock on the outer door. She was too exhausted to deal with more information Ross would give her about MIZR or her colleagues, so she ignored the sound.
He knocked more insistently until he pounded the door.
She turned from the vanity to face the entrance as it burst inward. Ross stood there like a brick wall, head jerking right and left in search of her. Her heart tripped as his stare landed on her.
Through the glass, she saw raw desire spelled over his rugged features. She sucked in a sharp gasp. When she backed up a step, she hit the vanity.
He took a step toward the doors, muscles rolling, the denim pulling taut over his chiseled thighs and his fists curled.
Giving herself up to him now would tear her apart. Her heart already halfway belonged to him—if he took her body right this minute, she’d give up her entire soul.
As she watched him cross the white carpet, his cowboy boots leaving divots in the plush fibers with each stride, she started to shake.
She wanted him. All she had to do was open the door and invite him in.
He already loves me.
She clasped the vanity to keep from going to him.
“Pippa.” He peered through the glass at her.
Her gaze dipped to his chest that pillowed her head so perfectly to the front of his jeans. His erection swelled his fly outward. Shivers hit her core, and her nipples hardened in reaction.
If she let him in, would she win or lose? Would she give up or gain everything?
She swallowed hard as their gazes locked once more.
His jaw firmed, and he reached out to a nearby table, ripped the heavy stone lamp off it, tearing the cord from the wall, and smashed it through the door.
She cried out as glass shattered. Ross stepped through it as though he walked through a wall of cloud. In two steps, he grabbed her into his arms and kissed her, whirling to set her on the vanity with her legs spread to fit his muscled hips as he claimed her mouth, her senses, her heart, in one scorching kiss.
He straightened to stare at her. “Don’t try to hide from me. You can’t.”
Raising trembling fingers to his chiseled jaw, she whispered, “No, I can’t. I need you, Ross.”
“Damn right you do.” He swooped in, slamming his mouth over hers. She moaned in surrender as he lifted her, crunched through the glass shards to the bed and lay her down. Following her with his body, his chest heaved against hers.
“Say it, Pippa. I can see it in your eyes.”
Could she? They were only words, right? They weren’t vows, and she could still walk away afterward.
A voice deep in her mind gave a short, dry laugh. Go ahead and try.
His jaw firmed more and his eyes glittered with what appeared to be banked anger. “Say. The. Words.”
She gulped. “Ross, I… I…”
Say it.
“I love you.”
His eyelids slipped shut and when he opened them again, intense love poured from his green gaze. When he lowered his lips to hers, a new tenderness leaped between them.
Passion rose inside her. Locking her legs around his hips, she dragged him down so his weight pinned her. Need hummed through her veins, flickering hotter with each stroke of his tongue.
In a swift jerk, he removed her top. Finding her braless, he let out a groan a split second before he leaned in and lightly grazed her right nipple. She arched, and he bit her left. The dark need his love bites rose inside her shook her to the core.
She yanked at his shirt buttons. When she issued a noise of frustration, he took over. She shoved off her jeans and panties and then reached for his belt.
Slipping a hand under her nape and one beneath her ass, he drew her into his lips and cock. She melted at the passion transmitting into their kiss, combusted at the way he lifted her into him again and again until she thought she’d die from the pressure.
She tugged at his hair. He buried his face against her neck, kissing and licking her to a frenzy. As if him hurling a lamp through the glass door in order to reach her hadn’t already done enough to turn her on.