up a tab, then going further into debt by placing bets with a man suspected of being the town bookie, Max Sweeney. Sheriff Kemp had often looked the other way, just to spare Robby, who, from an early age, had so often dragged his dad out of the bar and home for the night.
Manslaughter had been too much to overlook, though. And while Ellie was glad her own father, Daddy Eddie, had intervened and offered Robby a job at Lee Polls after high school, her heart had broken when she’d seen just how hard Robby had worked, losing too much sleep, not to mention nights and weekends, always sweating the smallest details.
His determination had earned Daddy Eddie’s trust, and he’d often claimed Robby was more valuable than all his own sons combined. Not that Ellie’s ne’er-do-well brothers had minded, not even when Daddy Eddie had sent Robby to college and graduate school. Robby had worked odd jobs, too, not wanting to take charity and trying to make clear he was pulling himself up by the bootstraps. Now, no matter how successful he became, Robby seemed to think he owed Daddy Eddie something, which he didn’t.
Yes, that was the problem. Robby idolized her dad, since Daddy Eddie was the exact opposite of what Robby’s had been, but it was sure putting a damper on romance. Robby feared Daddy Eddie’s reaction—despite all that he’d achieved, was he good enough for the man’s only daughter?
Robby had turned out to be loyal and hardworking, whereas every one of Daddy Eddie’s sons—Gil, Cordy and Kyle—was worthless when it came to running Lee Polls. They preferred to hunt, fish, play golf and chase women. So, although it was a family business, Ellie and Robby, who reported directly to Daddy Eddie, did most of the work.
“You’re really going into the office?” she asked.
“You’re not?”
“Only after I meet Susannah for breakfast.” Saturday breakfast was usually set aside for her best friend.
Robby’s voice was low, sexy. “Then we’d better get a move on. Kiss me, baby.”
She wiggled her eyebrows as he pushed a lock of hair away from her eyes. “Where?”
“Here.” Leaning, he gingerly toyed with her breast, brushing the gold charm that hung from a chain around her neck. Engraved on the metal were the words Remember the Time. She and Susannah had the matching necklaces made years ago, and both still wore them always.
Robby palmed a breast, bending and roughening the sensitive skin with his chin stubble before flicking a tongue across the nipple, sending a shock of longing to her core. Her hips arched, her chin tilted back and for a moment, she simply got lost in the pleasure. Easy enough, as both hands found her, pushing her breasts upward from beneath. As he squeezed hard, her mind spun dizzily, her nipples tightening further, straining for the touch.
Throatily, she whispered, “I thought I was supposed to kiss you, not the other way around.”
He merely locked his lip to a bud and kept suckling, the silken wetness making her shiver. With a sigh, she pressed her thighs together tightly, as if to hold in the delicious sensations he was soliciting. Soon, he’d be on top of her, she knew. Or she’d be on top of him. And then…
He blew on the flesh he’d just dampened, then caught a nipple and rolled it between his fingers, causing goose bumps of anticipation to rise all over her skin. “Oh, Robby…”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.” But she wanted to say she could come from nothing more than this kind of sweet teasing. She gasped as his huge, warm hand slid downward, over her ribs, then her belly. Arrowing his fingertips, he urged apart her smooth thighs as his mouth found her neck. He was all tongue now—stroking the column beneath her chin as she shifted her weight and let him untangle her legs.
“Wider,” he drawled softly.
Was this really happening? she wondered vaguely as she gave him increased access. Was she really sharing a bed with the heartthrob of her adolescent years? It had become clear the relationship was headed for so much more. Already, they were in serious terrain. Inseparable and intense, their lives completely intertwined.
A soft senseless murmur escaped her lips as his fingers grasped her curls, toying with them. He tugged playfully, then a slick finger slid open her lower lips completely, and she could only suck another breath through clenched teeth as he circled the nub of her clitoris. “You’re so good…” she whispered. “But it could be better…”
“Better?”
His voice was catching now, and the one word was nearly lost in his throat, since his breath was quickening. Yes, she thought hazily, as he probed where she was growing so slick and damp for him. As he thrust a finger inside, testing the moist heat, preparing her, she arched once more, turning in his arms, her nipples peaking, becoming painfully taut, every fiber of her being craving his mouth once more.
Instinctively, her hand rose, threading in his hair, her heart stuttering as the wild, bed-tossed strands of jet-black ran through her fingers feeling like water. As he pushed another finger inside her, she gasped, her fist tightening, closing around the wisps of his hair, pulling his face closer so her mouth could brush his. Electrifying, she thought. Heavenly.
Then for another moment, she shut her eyes. Sensations cascaded over her like a waterfall. Tension built, climbing, threatening to shatter. When she opened her eyes again, he was watching her, his blue eyes as warm as summer, his smile inviting. “Feels good, huh?”
His hairy chest slowly rising and falling with the pace of his increasing breath. “Yeah,” she whispered as he visibly shuddered, then slid a finger from inside her and moved on top of her.
She loved him. That’s all she could think as she looked into his eyes, her heart racing. But she had to get him to commit. She’d wanted him her whole life, and this past six months had been pure torture. Always, he’d been the only man for her. Sure, she’d fooled around at college, but no one could hold a candle to Robby. She wanted more…
“Honey,” she began, her voice a soft drawl, her heart hammering harder as his legs fell between hers. She could feel the heat and power of his erection now, touching her through the sheet that had tangled between them.
He rested on an elbow, a hand beneath his cheek and flashed a bad-boy grin. “Yes, honey?”
“I want to ask you something.”
“Anything.”
“When are we going to tell my dad?”
“Tell him?”
“You know. About us.”
They were at a crossroads. Daddy Eddie was retiring in just one more week, and he’d already told her he was naming her head of the company. President, she thought now, with a sigh of happiness. It was more than she’d dreamed possible. Robby aside, running Lee Polls had always been her dream, too. The venerable company had been housed in Banner since 1898, and a Lee had always been at the helm. Never a woman, of course.
Until now. That was mostly due to the fact that none of Ellie’s brothers had possessed an interest in facts and figures, nor the knack for math that it took to analyze statistics. By contrast, Ellie could eat and breathe mathematics. And so, it had been she, not her male siblings, who had spent hours visiting her dad at work.
By age five, she’d picked out her own office, right next door to Daddy Eddie, and on her tenth birthday, he’d placed a gold plaque on the door, engraved with her name.
“How ‘bout that, Ellie girl,” her dad had said. “One day, all this really will be yours.”
Now that same office was stacked high with statistical manuals and files of client information. Soon, as her father had always promised, that old plaque would come down and the new one would replace it. The one that said, “President.”
“Daddy’s retiring in a week,” she suddenly whispered in a rush. “We don’t have much time, Robby. I want him to know…how things are between us.”
Dammit,