Santa Fe Fortune & How to Marry a Matador

raspy.
    In answer, she kissed him again, pressing her fingers under his shirt and up the length of his chest. Heat rushed through him, tightening his thighs and firing his groin. Her hands seized his waist, then slid south, thumbs hitching on either side of his belt. He had to stop this. Dan had to stop this now, or there’d be no turning back.
    “Gwen,” he said, pushing back. “Wait.”
    She glanced up at him, eyes questioning.
    “Not now, sweetheart. You don’t want to do this.”
    “I don’t?” she asked, arching her eyebrows.
    Dan stroked her cheek sweetly. “Not here, not like this.”
    She seemed to collect herself, her face flaming bright red.
    “I’m sorry, Dan. I…practically attacked you!”
    Dan repressed a smile. “Darling, it’s not that I minded. It’s just that I want you to be in your right mind when you make your next move. Tonight, you’re tired and you’ve had a little wine. You’re not used to drinking at this altitude.”
    “No,” she said, flushing anew, this time from her breastbone to her toes.
    “So, tonight we’ll rest, okay? Tomorrow we’ll have a talk about how we’ll plan to get together. How we’re going to make this relationship work.”
    “You’re really such a nice man.” She whimpered as if she was going to break down bawling.
    Dan ran his fingers through his hair, hoping she wouldn’t cry, even from tears of joy. He was flat-out exhausted. Plus, he had some serious planning to do.
    “Good night, Gwen,” he said, pulling shut her bedroom door.
    “Good night, Dan,” she said shyly, her cheeks and temples aglow.

Chapter Thirteen

    Dan sat on the edge of his bed, knowing he’d done the right thing. As much as he loved Gwen and was desperate to have her, tonight hadn’t been the right time. Despite her fiery kisses, she hadn’t been ready. In fact, the poor darling had been a wreck. Something had changed between the time he took Rascal down to the barn and had come back here. He guessed she’d been thinking things over and had decided she couldn’t go through with it. She’d been as nervous as a filly in a rainstorm when he’d helped her off with her boots. Kissing was all she seemed to want to do, and that was a-okay with him, because he’d come to the advance conclusion they shouldn’t let things get too heavy as well.
    Then, after a bit of wine and a little nap, she’d turned into this sexy siren who was ready to strip him right there in the hall. But Dan believed it would have been wrong to take advantage of her. He didn’t know if that was what she really wanted any more than she did. Dan had sensed the conflict Gwen was facing and had seen it play out firsthand. She wanted to be with him but was afraid, and he understood that. The men in her life she’d mentioned hadn’t exactly been the most reliable. First, her father had run out on her, and then her ex-husband had been an absolute jerk. It was no wonder she had mixed feelings about taking this final step in closeness. The people she’d trusted had let her down. Dan understood that when a woman like Gwen slept with a man, trust was of the utmost importance.
    While some women thought casual sex was no big deal, and Dan had enjoyed the company of a few of them, he understood that Gwen was of a different ilk. Because of who she was and what she’d been through, he couldn’t ask something so intimate and personal of her without granting her assurance they had a future. She was far too vulnerable from her last disaster to take sleeping with a man cavalierly. Dan was trying to remain sensitive to that. He could tell it had helped when he’d told her they would discuss their relationship tomorrow. That was exactly what Dan wanted with Gwen, something long-term that would last beyond her short stay here.
    Dan recalled the faint glow on Gwen’s cheeks as she’d slipped behind her door, saying good night. It was hard not to imagine her coming to his room instead. In fact, he’d imagined it so hard he’d taken a ten-minute cold shower to dampen those illusions. Dan stared at the wall that separated their rooms, thinking this didn’t seem natural. What felt natural was holding Gwen in his arms. It would be natural to love her in an even more complete and physical way. His entire countenance yearned to give itself to Gwen and feel her respond in kind. Dan wanted that more than anything.
    Fire welled in his throat as he thought of Gwen going away. He couldn’t keep her here forever.