“So you set off for Arizona by yourself to deliver the CD to Jeremy.”

“I did it to…” A pink tide ebbed across her cheeks. “I did it to protect you.”

“Black Cobra would’ve handled any fallout from that CD. Didn’t you realize Jeremy would go crazy when he saw you pregnant?”

Julia pushed a few grains of rice around her plate. “I didn’t think he’d care.”

“You really didn’t know Jeremy well, did you?”

“No. After the whirlwind courtship, I discovered I’d married a stranger. And he’s still a stranger. I can’t quite recall the night of the explosion.” She picked up his empty plate. “Would you like more chicken?”

“Yeah. That was great.” He noticed the crease between her brows. The events of the past few weeks had put her nerves to the test and she needed a break. And so did he. “Could you please bring me one of those beers and then tell me about Shelby? Show me her baby pictures. Tell me about her birth. Her first smile. Her first tooth. Her first word. Everything.”

She set his plate and a bottle of beer in front of him. “You really want to know?”

“Everything.”

He twisted off the cap on his beer and then sawed into his third piece of chicken, never imagining he’d ever eat anything Julia Rousseau cooked.

For the next hour and a half Julia filled him in on the details of Shelby ’s life. They’d moved from the table to the sofa where she pulled out photo albums and her laptop to show him hundreds of pictures of Shelby.

He studied each picture as if committing it to memory. He laughed, asked questions and marveled at Shelby ’s brilliance. In short, he acted like a proud papa.

Excitement fizzed along Julia’s veins like a fine sparkling wine from Rod’s cellar. Ryder wanted to be Shelby ’s father. Did he want more?

Only one way to find out.

Julia stood up and stretched, tousling her hair and raising her arms above her head. The light material of her sundress whispered around her thighs and pulled tightly across her breasts.

Ryder’s gaze, glued to the laptop screen for the past fifteen minutes, shifted to Julia, dipped to her legs and then skimmed up her body, catching on her breasts.

His Adam’s apple bobbed and his eyes widened.

A smile tugged at the corner of Julia’s mouth. She hadn’t lost her touch.

“Another beer?” She bent over at the waist, giving him an eyeful of her cleavage, and swept up his empty bottle from the coffee table.

“No, thanks.”

“That’s good.” She twirled around and headed for the kitchen, swaying her hips, feeling Ryder’s gaze hitched to every swing.

“Good? Why is that good?”

She plunked the bottle down on her kitchen counter and then sashayed her way back to the living room. “I don’t want you to be impaired while you…” Ryder’s eyebrows disappeared under a shock of sun-streaked brown hair “…drive home.”

Licking his lips, he dug his elbows into his thighs and hunched over the laptop again.

Julia dropped onto the sofa next to him, wiggling her hips to scoot in closer. Her fingers played across the broad slabs of muscle on his back outlined by his T-shirt. Then she flicked them through the curls at the nape of his neck. “It’s been a long time.”

He snapped the laptop shut on Shelby ’s dimpled smile. “You’re playing with fire, Julia.”

“Maybe I want to get burned.”

He twisted toward her, capturing both of her wrists in one large hand. “Prepare to get scorched.”

Leaning forward, he took possession of her lips in a kiss so hot that she could’ve sworn the coral nail polish on her toes melted. Did she really think she could call the shots and control the tempo with Ryder McClintock? The man always knew what he wanted…and took it.

Better yet, he knew what she wanted.

And right now, his warm hand with its rough finger pads moving up her thigh hit the spot precisely. He pulled her into his lap and angled his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss. Reaching beneath his shirt, she trailed her fingernails along his sides and splayed her hand across his flat, hard belly.

A breath hitched in his throat and he pulled her lower lip between his teeth. When Ryder kissed her, really kissed her, the sensation lasted for days. That, she remembered.

She slipped two fingertips just inside the waistband of his jeans. In response, he slid his hand into her panties, cupping her bottom. Always had to do her one better.

His mouth lingered on hers for a moment longer before his tongue teased her earlobe. Arching her back, she brushed her breasts against his solid chest. Ryder hooked a finger around the strap of her sundress and dropped it off her shoulder. He planted a path of kisses down her neck, sending a shaft of pleasure to her toes. She shuddered, a moan escaping from her lips.

“Do you remember everything now?” He caressed her cheek, his blue eyes darkening with passion.

“Everything about you,” she breathed out, curling her arms around his neck.

Apparently she had the right answer. Ryder pushed up from the sofa, lifting her in his arms as if she weighed as little as one of those kittens Shelby wanted.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her into the bedroom and tossed her on top of the new bedspread.

She snorted. “Are you in a hurry or something?”

“You had the luxury of not remembering what you were missing all these years.” He yanked his T-shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor. “While I dreamed about you every night.”

She drank in his bare chest, all hard angles and flat planes. His biceps bunched in knots as he reached forward and unbuckled his belt. It gaped open and Julia’s gaze snagged on the bulge in his jeans. Those must’ve been some dreams he had.

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off one boot. As he struggled with the second, she heaved an impatient sigh and scrambled off the bed. She landed in front of him and tugged at the stubborn boot. With a final pull she tumbled backward, landing on her bottom, Ryder’s boot in her lap.

Laughing, Ryder pulled off his socks and tossed them over his shoulder. “Never helped a man with his boots before?”

“You never wore cowboy boots in Paris.” She tossed the boot over her shoulder and prowled toward Ryder on her hands and knees.

His lids dropped half-mast over his eyes, as he leaned back on the bed on his elbows. Julia crawled forward and settled between his legs. She unfastened his jeans now tight over his crotch, and his erection tented his plaid boxers.

She ran her hand over his hard desire and swallowed. How could she have ever forgotten? He stood up, and she pulled down his jeans and underwear over his muscled thighs.

“Come on up here.” His husky voice sent a ripple of longing down her back.

He encircled her waist with his hands, and she stood on her tiptoes to press the length of her body along his. The warmth of his bare skin seeped through the thin material of her sundress.

“Did you learn modesty somewhere along the line?”

She shook her head, and Ryder reached around and tugged down her zipper. The dress fell from her body with a whisper, and Ryder pulled her back into his arms as if he couldn’t bear to have any space between them.

Then he fell backward on the bed, bringing her along. She shimmied out of her panties and straddled his hips. She leaned forward, her body hovering above his, and whispered, “I’m ready for my riding lesson now.”

“You don’t need lessons, babe, just a refresher course.” A big grin split his face. “But before you take me for a ride, I’m going to take you for a ride.”

Gripping her waist, he flipped her onto her back and skimmed his erection between her breasts and along her belly. His lips followed the same path, and Julia lifted her hips in anticipation of his sweet caress.

As his mouth met her heated flesh, she dug her heels into his buttocks. The memories flooded her mind as the sensations flooded her body. Ryder had put her first. He always had.