Never Too Much Read online

  His concern, his flirtation, felt both nice and bothersome. Nice because she hadn’t felt it in far too long. There’d been few men in her life who ever showed her concern.

  But it was bothersome because she was independent, and she intended to stay that way—despite the unfortunate circumstances of the night. She was emotionally and physically depleted after the long day, but she managed to dredge up a credible sneer. “What’s the problem, Ben? You expect a little female like me to be afraid of a storm? Or do you think I’ll trip in the dark and crack my head open?”

  Rather than take offense at her surly tone, his gaze dropped south of her belly. “I dunno. You did fall once already, and I’m not sure how bruised you might be.” He grinned, making her belly flip-flop. “Not that you don’t have a nice cushion there on your backside, but it still had to hurt.”

  Sierra wasn’t sure if he’d insulted or complimented her.

  “Want me to check it out?” he offered. “Maybe kiss it and make it better? We could play . . . doctor.”

  She almost laughed. But she’d encouraged him enough for one day so instead she gave in to a yawn. “I’d prefer to get done so I can get to bed.”

  “You always have the best ideas.”

  “Alone.”

  He surprised her by leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Be right back.”

  For a man she’d only just met, he was too forward, always touching and kissing her.

  But she stupidly went weak in the knees every time he did.

  It was another hour and a half before they had the window covered and the boxes moved and partially unpacked. Ben helped her spread things out around the small building so they would dry by morning. All the while he was there, he chatted with her, asked her questions about her business, laughed with her. He pitched in without complaint and seemed happy to do so.

  Sierra didn’t know what to make of him.

  The rain continued to rage down on them. She got a headache thinking of how far behind the weather would put her. She couldn’t very well plant in the pouring rain, so unless it let up real soon, and the sun really came out in force, her first few days on the job were doomed.

  Add to that the additional expense of replacing a window and trimming the enormous tree, and she knew her finances were going to be very tight. For now, she wanted to sleep and save her worrying for the morning.

  Ben had removed the large branch blocking her front door, and they left the house together. He’d not only slipped a slicker over her head, but he shielded her with an umbrella too. As they crossed back to his motel, she aimed the flashlight and saw that her yard, orderly and neat just that morning, was now littered with fallen debris. She prayed the storm hadn’t damaged any of her nursery stock.

  Ben tightened his arm on her shoulders and led her around a large puddle in the road. Sierra gave him a sideways look, but he appeared to be concentrating on where she walked. His touch now was . . . protective.

  She had the feeling he’d have treated any woman in her position the same way. He’d have given assistance without complaint, never mind that he’d put in a full day already, and it was now the middle of the night. And he’d have been just as protective whether she was nine or ninety.

  The big difference in her situation was that he’d also told her he wanted her. She couldn’t quite get over that.

  At least he’d put on a shirt when he’d gone for the staple gun. Once she’d gotten over the shock and humiliation of being found naked, she’d absorbed the sight of him. Ben, shirtless, had left her in a stupor. He was naturally dark, but also tanned. His shoulders had looked sleek and strong. She’d had to fight the urge to touch him. Crisp hair lightly spread out from the center of his chest, then angled in a thin line down his muscled abdomen to disappear into his pants.

  She could have looked at him for hours and not minded in the least.

  “You’re eating me up with those eyes, honey, and it’s making me nuts.”

  Sierra started, and felt her face heat. Eating him up? She went on the defensive and said, “Don’t call me honey.” Then, because she felt compelled to apologize, she added, “Sorry.”

  “I kind of liked it.” They stepped into the lobby, scattering any attempt she might have made at replying. Two employees looked at them with identical expressions of curiosity.

  “Gary, how about a key for an empty room?”

  The young man shrugged in apology. “As you predicted, key cards aren’t working as of about half an hour ago.”

  Sierra groaned. She was dead on her feet, aching to be in bed, and she wasn’t at all certain she could make it back across the street, even if she could find a place in her new home to nest. She’d been up since four-thirty, almost twenty-four hours now, and she desperately needed some rest.

  She considered sleeping in her truck, but one look at Ben and she knew he had other ideas.

  He nodded to his employee. “No problem. Thanks.” He kept a hold on Sierra’s arm and led her around the desk. Sierra felt both employees watching after them with interest.

  “Do you do this often?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Scandalize your employees by dragging women here?”

  “I live here, so yeah, they see me with the occasional woman. But I don’t drag them.” He looked down at his hand on her arm. “Am I dragging you?”

  “No.” She imagined most women would be more than willing to go with him. More likely than not, they dragged him off to bed. “But in about another two minutes you might be. I’m shot.”

  Ben smiled at her. “I’ll carry you if I must, but if you can manage a few more steps, I’ll have you to a bed.”

  It was iffy, but she’d try. “Whose bed?”

  “Mine.” He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked a door, then motioned her inside. “My humble abode.”

  Sierra peeked in, saw nothing but shadows, and balked. This whole night would have to go into the files of not-to-be-believed, but this was a little too much. “Do you have two bedrooms?”

  “Yes.” She started to relax when he added, “But I turned one into a sitting room.”

  Oh boy. One bedroom. Probably one bed.

  And one devastatingly handsome man.

  Sierra considered her options, but as usual, there weren’t any. She needed to sleep, and unless she wanted to drive out of the area and try to find an empty motel that hadn’t been affected by the storm, she was stuck. “Lead the way.”

  Ben chuckled softly to himself as he steered her inside. “No reason to look like you’re headed to the gallows. I have a nice roomy couch I’ll sleep on—if you insist.”

  “Of course I won’t insist,” she said around another yawn.

  He was dragging a little himself, but at her words, his heart skipped a beat in anticipation.

  “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

  Well, damn. He closed the door with a firm click and turned the lock. Sierra was so tired, she looked wilted. He didn’t like it. It made him feel that strange, elusive emotion again. It was something like lust, but softer, deeper.

  “Here. An extra flashlight for you.” He would control himself, damn it. “I’ll show you around.”

  She trailed next to him, using the flashlight to briefly explore as he showed her the way to the bathroom, the phone, the tiny kitchen.

  “It’s small, only the two rooms.”

  “It’s wonderful.” She saw the couch and made a sluggish beeline for it. Ben caught her elbow to sidetrack her and headed her toward the bed.

  Her eyes, barely visible from the expanded glow of the flashlight, stared at him in exasperation.

  “Just hush, Sierra. You’re in no shape to argue with me. My place, my rules. And I say you sleep in the bed.” In my bed.

  She surprised him by agreeing. “Fine. Whatever.” They reached the unmade bed and she dropped to the edge of the mattress, then almost toppled over the side when she bent to remove her sneakers.

  Amused, Ben w
ent to one knee in front of her. “Let me.”

  She did a double take, then shook her head as she watched him remove her ratty-looking sneakers. “You’re too much, you know that?”

  She sounded drowsy and warm and he wanted her. “It’s no big deal.”

  She watched his every move as if fascinated. “No one’s taken my shoes off since I was a baby.”

  “Yeah?” He encircled her slim ankles in turn, slipped her shoes off her feet, and then swung her legs up into the bed. “Consider it a new experience. Maybe one of many to come?”

  Chuckling, Sierra sprawled back on the bed, boneless, and then just lay there, her attention fixed on his face. Was this a come-on? An invitation? Ben wished like hell he could see her better, to judge her thoughts. “You’ve really had a long day, haven’t you?”

  She continued to scrutinize him as she answered. “Too long. I’m used to hard work,” she explained, her tone defensive, “but I guess the excitement of starting the business was wearing, too.”

  “Plus just moving in,” he offered, willing to give her her due.

  “Yes. Normally I’m in bed long before now. I like to get up early. I guess that’s why I fell getting out of the shower. I’m not really clumsy. But it was dark and my feet were wet and the noise from the storm startled me.” She shrugged.

  Ben touched her bare foot on the bed. It was small and cool and he was beginning to feel like a pervert, getting aroused over a damn foot. “Anyone can slip, Sierra. I wouldn’t call you a klutz.” Just the opposite, she moved with a very fluid, relaxed grace, a woman comfortable with her body and aware of her feminine strength.

  She sighed and rolled to her side, then reached out and set the flashlight on the nightstand. She clicked it off, adding to the shadows, intensifying the intimacy of the moment.

  It took all Ben’s considerable effort to lift the sheet over her. “Good night, Sierra.”

  “Night.”

  Ben was so horny he could barely walk, and it appeared she was already half asleep. He watched her snuggle into his pillow, and he swallowed a groan. Her shape made interesting swells beneath the sheet—the length of her legs, the rise of her hips, the dip of her waist . . .

  It was the first time he could ever remember tucking a woman into his bed when he didn’t intend to join her.

  Best to get out of the room now, while he still could. Without really thinking about it, he bent and pressed a kiss to her temple. She was curiously still, her breath held until he straightened away. He went to the window and pulled the drapes, then headed toward the adjoining room, stripping off his shirt as he went. At the last second, he decided to leave her door open. She was in an unfamiliar place and might wake disoriented. He could sleep in his pants for one night. It wouldn’t kill him.

  “Ben?”

  He paused with one hand on the door, one on the doorframe. So she wasn’t asleep yet. Maybe her silence had been more thoughtful than slumberous. “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for everything. I really appreciate it.”

  “No big deal.”

  He heard the mattress shift with her movement and knew she’d turned her back again. “No really, it is. I . . . well, if I’ve seemed ungrateful it’s because you aren’t what I’m used to.”

  Ben crossed his arms and lounged in the doorway, wondering what type of man she was used to. “Meaning?”

  Long seconds passed, filled only with her uncertainty. “I’m not thinking straight,” she finally said. “I’m too tired to make sense and I don’t want you to think I’m coming on to you.”

  Now a statement like that was just too damn provoking to ignore. Ben sauntered back into the room, moving slow to avoid colliding with anything, and sat beside her on the bed. She stiffened as he did so but didn’t move away.

  He filed away that small reaction to his nearness, along with everything else he’d learned about her so far. “We made a deal, remember?”

  “We did?”

  “Yeah, so no matter what you say now, I won’t go back on my word. You said no sex, and that’s that.”

  With the drapes drawn, blocking out the lightning, the inky blackness was impenetrable. Ben couldn’t see a thing. But the darkness only made his other senses more alert to the fact of a desirable woman in his bed. He knew just where Sierra was beside him, how close his thigh was to her hip, where her shoulders would be. Where her breasts were.

  But it was the feel of her vitality, her warmth, and her anxiety that had his muscles all tightening.

  “You really mean it, don’t you?” She sounded a little awestruck, as if the idea of a man keeping his word was foreign to her. “You really wouldn’t take advantage of having me here?”

  “For as long as you know me, Sierra, you can trust that I’ll always keep my promises.” This particular promise might kill him, but he began thinking she wasn’t playing a game at all. She’d meant it when she said she didn’t want to get involved sexually. Not because she wasn’t interested; she’d been clear on the fact that she found him attractive, and Ben had seen the reciprocal awareness in her pretty green eyes whenever she looked at him. But she was confused by him, and apparently she expected the worst just because he was male.

  He wondered what experiences had given her that perspective on men. He’d known women who’d gone through nasty divorces, who’d had men cheat on them or otherwise mistreat their feelings. Most were venomous in their complaints; they liked to talk and because he adored women, he listened.

  But he had the gut feeling Sierra would be different in this too, that she’d never share her burdens, past or present. She’d told him she wasn’t interested, but she wouldn’t tell him why.

  Perversely, that only made Ben more determined to get her to open up.

  He reached out and found her elbow, trailed his fingers down to her wrist, then to her hand, and entwined his fingers with hers. Her hand remained stiff in his. He could feel the rough calluses on her palm and fingertips, testimony to the hard work she did.

  “When I kissed you at your door, you liked it.”

  Though he couldn’t see her clearly, Ben knew her chin had lifted. “I imagine you know women well enough to know I did.”

  “Don’t be cynical,” he chided. “All women are different, and it’s safe to say I’ve never met a woman like you.”

  She snorted, disbelieving, then went on to say, “It doesn’t matter.”

  “What doesn’t?”

  “That I . . . liked it.”

  “No?” They were in his bedroom, in the darkness, in a bed, and he was touching her. Of course it mattered. “How come?”

  Rather than answer, she shook her head and started to pull away.

  “I know we’ve only just met, but I like you—and you like me a little too, don’t you?”

  She hesitated a long time, lacerating his ego before finally saying, “It’s strange, but I do.”

  He managed to swallow his laugh. “What’s so strange about that? I’m a nice guy. Lots of people like me.”

  He felt her restless movement. “You mean lots of women like you.”

  She tried to edge her hand away from him again. Ben pretended not to notice and she gave up. “What are you thinking, Sierra?”

  “That this is too damn awkward.”

  “Why?” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, hoping to help her relax. “I won’t take advantage of whatever you tell me.”

  He could feel her warring with herself. So much caution, he thought, further intrigued. She was so gutsy and outspoken one moment, but now very timid.

  Everything she did, from the way she walked and her brash honesty to her shyness now, struck him as sexy. “Come on, Sierra,” he urged her, eager to know her thoughts. “It’s dark, quiet. I promise you can trust me.”

  She drew a deep breath, as if for courage, then blurted, “I’m sort of . . . excited.”

  Totally misunderstanding her stammered admission, Ben asked, “About what?”

  The bed shook as she snickered n
ervously. “You.”

  She wanted him? His first thought was thank God, and then desire pierced him. “Ah.” He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm, smiling to himself, relieved. “That’s good.”

  “No, no it’s not. Not for me and not for you.”

  Heart beating too fast, Ben murmured, “You want to tell me why, Sierra?”

  She shook her head. “No, not really.”

  He locked his jaw over her continued stubbornness. “Tell me anyway.”

  With a long annoyed sigh, she said, “The reasons are obvious. For one thing, we barely know each other.”

  “But we will.”

  That made her laugh in exasperation. “You are so damn pushy.”

  “I don’t usually need to be.”

  “I can believe that!”

  Ben wondered if it was the darkness that had made her less inhibited. Or maybe it was the fierceness of the storm, the natural forces of nature. Maybe the overwhelming chemistry that gripped him had taken her as well. Whatever the reasons, he relished this moment to get closer to her.

  Her humor faded into the gloomy darkness and she groaned. “This is nuts.”

  “It’s sexual chemistry, that’s all.” But it felt like more, damn it. No. Ben shook his head. “It happens all the time. You’ll get used to it.”

  She yanked hard and got her hand away from him. “It doesn’t happen to me all the time and I don’t want to get used to it. I didn’t want to feel it in the first place.”

  Her disgruntled tone almost made him smile. He could count on Sierra to give it to him straight. “You know, this is the strangest conversation I’ve ever had with a woman, especially with a woman in bed.”

  He could almost hear her mind working. “My life is just too complicated right now.”

  Suspicions rose, and Ben braced himself on stiffened arms at either side of her hips. Though she hadn’t worn a ring, she could still be involved with someone. He never poached and despised men who did. But if she was involved, he’d . . .

  His sudden flare of anger was out of proportion to the amount of time he’d known her, yet he couldn’t seem to rein it in. In his mind, he’d already laid claim. He wanted her and refused to be thwarted now. “You’re not wearing a wedding ring, Sierra.”