More eyelash batting. “No! Why would I joke about something like that?”
He cleared his throat, shifting slightly on the sofa. “How about ‘The Fast and the Furious’?”
Frankie giggled, then snuggled against his chest. “Fine. That’s better anyway. Vin Diesel’s arms are… just wow!”
“Great. No Fast and Furious either!” and he turned to a spy movie.
As the opening credits began, Kade adjusted their positions so that she was more perfectly spooned against his chest. She felt his arms move around her and thought that this was the nicest dinner she’d ever had with a guy! It helped that Kade was the sexiest man she’d ever met, too!
“Nothing has to happen tonight,” he reminded her as the initial scene with guns blazing took over the screen.
She turned, looking at him over her shoulder. “I know,” she whispered. “But…” she twisted slightly and kissed him. Just a brush of her lips against his, but Frankie felt it all the way to her toes. “I don’t want to hold back tonight.”
He groaned, then nodded towards the television. “Why don’t we just…”
She kissed him again, this time pressing her lips against his and lingering, teasing him with soft, nibbling kisses. “Make love to me, Kade,” she whispered.
Still, he remained very still. It wasn’t until she let her hand drift over his chest that he reacted. And reacted fast! Lifting her up into his arms, he shifted their positions so that he was over her and they were both stretched out along the length of the sofa. He pressed his knee between hers as he kissed her. Deep, soul-melting kisses that primed the fire inside of her. The fire grew into an inferno and still, all he did was kiss her. She was pulling at his hair with frustration when he finally lifted his mouth to tease her sensitive neck, which only made things worse. Or better? Frankie couldn’t decide. But she let her hands slide down over his back, exploring the muscles through his shirt. But that wasn’t enough. She tugged the tail of his plaid shirt out. When she could finally run her fingers over his the heat of his skin, she moaned with triumph. But then, his mouth moved lower, kissing down the length of her collarbone. Buttons had somehow come undone and she wanted to scream at him to hurry.
Apparently, Kade wasn’t a man who took things quickly. He kissed and nibbled his way along her sternum, moving closer and closer to the lace of her bra, his fingers releasing one button after another, exposing more skin to his rough, callused hands. She loved it! She loved the feel of his fingers trailing over her skin, the sensation of his soft, teasing kisses along her breasts.
“More,” she begged, arching her back. A moment later, her shirt was gone, but he wouldn’t let her take the bra off.
“Not yet,” he insisted, his voice hoarse. “We’re going to take our time, explore this.”
“Why don’t we go slowly during the second round?” she offered, lifting her legs up to better cradle his hips. Every shift of her body against his felt like a lightning bolt of pleasure shooting through her. So she did it again. And again! Every shift brought her closer. The exact moment that his thumb brushed across her taut nipple, Frankie’s body exploded with pleasure so intense, she literally saw stars, holding onto him for dear life with her hands clenching his shirt.
When she finally remembered how to breathe, Frankie looked up into Kade’s silver eyes, opening her mouth to say something. She wasn’t sure what to say, overwhelmed by the beauty of the moment.
“Not fair!” he growled. Kade stood up and took her hand. “But it was also incredibly hot!” and he kissed her deeply, his hands circling her body and holding her up as her knees went weak. His kiss was harder now, more demanding. And shorter!
“We’re going to do that again,” he announced, already hurrying through the kitchen. Apparently, there was a staircase in the back of the house that she hadn’t known about. These were narrower, but led directly to the master bedroom.
Kade pulled her into the room and slammed the door as he pulled her into his arms. As he kissed her, he carried her over to the bed, not stopping until he set her down on the high mattress.
“I don’t think I can go slowly after that,” he warned, his hands moving to pull off her clothes, tossing them onto the floor haphazardly. He didn’t stop until she was naked, then his mouth closed over her breast, his teeth and tongue lashing at the peak as Frankie held on, not even able to speak. At this point, she could barely breathe!
But her hands could move! And her hands worked at the buttons of his shirt, although she wasn’t as efficient as he’d been. Finally, she got all of his shirt unbuttoned and pushed his hands away, needing his shirt gone. But the cuffs! Dear heaven, he couldn’t get it off because she hadn’t unbuttoned the cuffs of that damn shirt.
“Get it off!” she whimpered, then focused her attention on his chest, letting her hands explore the newly exposed muscles. He was tan and strong with rippling muscles everywhere! She’d known that Kade was packed, but good glory, he was stunningly gorgeous!
“You should walk around shirtless all the time,” she whispered, awestruck.
He looked down at her breasts, cupping them as his thumbs teased the sensitive peaks. “You too. Never cover up these amazing breasts!”
Frankie laughed, feeling surprisingly feminine, which was a rare feeling for her. “I’ll make a point of it when I’m riding with you tomorrow.”
He growled. “Okay, how about if I change that to ordering you to only be naked around me?”
Frankie started to say something, but he returned his attention to her nipple and…well, it was so intense that she couldn’t get her words in order. Not when he did that thing with his teeth! That was amazing. When he lifted away from her breasts, she felt his fingers on the waistband of her jeans. So, Frankie lifted her hips, helping him to get her jeans off.
That’s when she lifted up, resting on her elbows. He started to come back to her, but she lifted a hand. “No way, cowboy!” She nodded at his jeans. “Fair is fair.”
Kade looked down at her, obviously debating whether to listen to her, or explore her body a bit more.
In the end, he must have recognized the wisdom of taking his jeans off because his fingers flew to the button, almost tearing at the material as he unzipped. Then they were gone, along with his boxers.
For a long moment, Kade stood there, gloriously naked and utterly unselfconscious about it as Frankie stared. “You’re beautiful,” she whispered, staring at the rippling muscles of his stomach and his shoulders, not to mention his jutting erection that was almost alarming in size and width. She found she couldn’t look away. She wanted to touch him, to explore every inch of him. But he shook his head.
He climbed onto the bed beside her, moving between her thighs and looming over her. The first touch, the heat of him against her, was perfect! It seemed as if their bodies fit together perfectly.
“Damn it!” he muttered, abruptly pulling away and Frankie gasped at the loss of his body heat against her. But she realized he was only grabbing protection and tossing it onto the bed next to them.
“Hurry up!”
Kade laughed at her, shaking his head. “Not yet. I want to enjoy you.”
“Please!” she gasped, but he only slid himself against her. The friction felt incredibly good and she wanted that again. But if she arched her body as she’d been doing before, his erection was too close. Dangerously, enticingly close! “You feel so good!”
“So do you! But I’m not sure if…!”
She knew what he was about to say and smiled, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Don’t hold back, Kade. Please? Not this time! There will be other times when we can go slowly. But it’s been six months of foreplay for me. I don’t want to…!”
Kade muttered a curse and pulled back, rolling the condom down his length. A moment later, he came right back to her and…!
“Yes!” she sighed, arching to take all of him into her body.
“You’re so tight!” he muttered with clenched teeth.
“You’re just bigger than the average bear,” she teased. Frankie wrapped her arms around his neck, staring deeply into his eyes as he started the age-old dance. Every inch of him slid out of her body and Frankie’s mouth opened, wanting to tell him not to leave her, but she wasn’t able to form the words. When he pressed deeply into her again, everything was right with her world. Sort of. There was an ache, a need. Desire! It was rampant inside of her body and he was doing that slow-thing again.
“Faster,” she whispered.
“Slow and easy,” he countered, pressing deeply into her body.
Frankie felt as if her eyes were about to roll into the back of her head, he felt so good! But at that same moment, he began thrusting slightly faster. She wanted to scream, but every time she tried, he’d thrust into her and the sound came out as a mere gasp.
Frankie knew that she was close, so perfectly, precariously close and she rolled her hips and…that was all it took. Her body exploded into another climax that was so intense, she almost lost track of reality! Clinging to him, she vaguely felt him move faster, coming to his own release, which sent her into another, smaller, climax and she went limp in his arms.
Kade felt Frankie’s lips against his chest and shivered slightly. He was wiped out after that explosion. He curled his arm around her, spooning her against his chest, smiling when he felt her breath against his skin.
Damn, that was the most incredible experience of his life. Frankie. Six months. He closed his eyes, needing to savor this moment. Frankie. He should have looked for her five and a half months ago. Then they could have gotten here sooner.
Before he drifted off to sleep, he wondered how long it would take him to find a ring. He’d known her for only a couple of days, but Kade already knew that he wanted Frankie in his life. Forever.
Chapter 5
Her stomach hurt. No, “hurt” was too tame of a word for what she felt as she slid into the booth at the diner the following morning. Last night had been…incredible! It had been the best sex of her life, but…it had been more than just sex. It had been…there were no words.
Which was why she was here, in the diner, instead of trying to teach Kade the best way to make coffee.
“Hi darlin’,” the waitress in the pink uniform and white apron called out, setting a cup of coffee on the Formica table. “What can I get you for breakfast? We have a special today of eggs and toast, with bacon or sausage. Your choice.”
The idea of eating made her stomach lurch worryingly and she smiled politely at the waitress. “I’ll just have coffee for now. Thank you!”
The waitress shrugged and walked away.
She shouldn’t be here, Frankie thought. She should be back at the ranch, waiting for Kade to wake up. She should be snuggled up against his side, smiling into his silver eyes and begging him to do that all over again.
But no! She couldn’t do that again! No way! Last night had been…last night had terrified her! It had been too amazing. Too beautiful! All of her justifications about how she could ignore her “code” were shot to dust this morning. Her code helped her protect herself.
But there was no protection from how she felt about Kade. Not anymore. Even walking away from Kade was going to hurt.
Frankie curled her fingers around the ceramic cup, ignoring the burn from the hot coffee as she accepted that she was afraid.
Afraid of what? Kade wouldn’t hurt her. He’d gone out of his way not to hurt her! So, what was she so afraid of? Why wasn’t she back in bed with Kade, excitedly doing it all over again with him?
Another customer came in, but Frankie barely glanced in his direction. The morning rush in this town started early, around five o’clock in the morning. Sitting here at eight o’clock, she was basically the only one left. There were a couple of guys over in the back, but they’d already finished their breakfast and were talking over cups of coffee.
Frankie pulled her laptop out, but couldn’t focus on work. There were several databases that she wanted to check, hoping to find more information on this woman who had done such deep research on Kade.
Instead, she toyed with her coffee cup. She checked her e-mail, but ignored the new messages. Looking around, she pushed her curls off her face, wishing that she’d taken the time to grab a hair clip so that her curls would be out of the way. Frankie sighed, running a hand over her forehead. Her hair wasn’t the issue. Her cowardice was.
Why was she so scared?
Because of what she’d felt last night. It had been overwhelmingly beautiful and that scared her to death! Plus, she’d enjoyed the past two days with Kade. Too much! Which seemed absolutely ridiculous. Could a person enjoy something too much? No! Life was beautiful and she should be holding onto what she felt for Kade with both hands.
Not running away and hiding.
She’d left a note. Just a brief note, letting him know that she was going to grab something from the inn. The implication was that she would return once she’d grabbed the item. But the reality was, Frankie had contemplated packing up her SUV and driving right back to Seattle.
Because she was a pathetic coward!
Raised voices drew her attention from her mental self-flagellations. The guy in the hoodie, who hadn’t even sat down yet, snapped at the waitress. The waitress pulled back and…
Oh crap! The guy in the hoodie pulled out a gun.
“Just open the damn register, lady!” he yelled, brandishing the gun menacingly. The guy nervously glanced over at the two guys in the back of the diner but completely dismissed Frankie. That happened a lot. She was short and her red hair tended to make her appear more benign than threatening.
What the guy didn’t know was that Frankie was very dangerous. Standing up, she pretended to be searching for something. She even feigned a bit of a worried expression.
“I’ve lost my contact!” she announced. Inching her way closer to the guy, she covered one eye, making a big show of looking around.
“Lady, forget about your contact and sit down!” he snarled.
Since her back was to him, Frankie wasn’t sure, but she assumed he was pointing the gun at her. Good. As long as he wasn’t pointing it at the waitress, and kept the gun over the countertop, then her plan was working.
“You don’t understand!” she whimpered, bending her back, rounding out her shoulders. “I can’t see without my contacts!”
“Honey, you should just…!”
The guy was becoming too flustered, and a man with a gun should never get flustered. Bad things happened when gunmen became nervous. So, she didn’t hesitate as she spun around, then with momentum on her side, she grabbed the man’s gun hand and twisted while pulling him over and across her back. She twisted, snatching the gun out of his hand and pointing it at him as he looked up at her from the floor, stunned and not sure what had just happened.
“Don’t move!” she ordered, stepping back so that he couldn’t swing his legs out and knock her down.
“I’ve called the sheriff,” the waitress announced.
Frankie didn’t look away from the guy on the floor. “Let the sheriff know that I’m holding the gun on the perp. Otherwise, they’ll think I’m the person they need to take down. Inform the sheriff that I’m a private investigator with a concealed carry permit.”
The waitress, still on the phone, relayed the information quickly. A second later, they heard the sirens scream just outside the door, and the sheriff’s car, lights flashing, skidded into the diner’s parking lot.
The sheriff and his deputy raced into the diner, weapons drawn. The waitress waved them over, slowing them down. “She stopped him, Dan!” the waitress explained in a rush. “She did a karate chop thing and plucked the gun right outta his hands!”
Frankie backed up, keeping the gun aimed at the guy on the floor that was glaring daggers at her.
“Sheriff?” she called out, still looking at the perp.
“Yeah?” he moved behind her, tapping her shoulder just as any good law enforcement officer would do
to announce their presence.
“My name is Francesca Winward. Frankie to everyone. I’m a private investigator here doing some research for Kade Wilson. My license is in my back pocket, if you need verification.”
There was a soft chuckle. “Honey, I don’t care if you work as a clown. You just saved Sally’s receipts. You’re the town hero for the day!” He stepped around Frankie to turn the guy roughly over before he slapped cuffs on him.
When the guy was no longer a threat, Frankie released her hold on the guy, flipping the safety on then extending the weapon to the nearest deputy who took it carefully, nodding his appreciation.
“We’ll need you to make a statement, Ms. Windward,” the sheriff announced as he hoisted the would-be burglar up from the floor. “Same for you, Jerry and Mike. Just come on down to the station whenever you have time and I’ll take your statement.”
One of the guys from the back laughed, his hands in his pockets as he watched the scene. “Not much to tell, Dan. This little lady took care of it!”
Dan laughed as well, and Sally clapped her hands, rushing around to give Frankie a big hug. “We’ve already called Kade for ya honey. He’s on his way.”
Frankie’s stomach, already in knots, lurched dangerously at that announcement. Kade was coming here? He was making the hour long drive from the ranch? But…why?
“I’ll call him back. There’s no need for him to come all this way for nothing.”
Sally chuckled, shaking her head. “When I told him what had happened, his first question was if you were okay. He seemed a bit shaken up.” She smiled. The knowing, “we’re gonna have fun” smile.
The dread in Frankie’s stomach intensified. What was she going to do?
“Ma’am?” the sheriff asked. “We’re going to need that statement. Would you mind following us down the street to the station?”
Frankie nodded, knowing that she should just get it over with. “Right,” she finally replied, then walked back over to her table. The coffee was still there, still hot. Frankie realized that less than five minutes had passed since the guy had walked in. Packing up her laptop and papers, she pulled a five dollar bill out of her wallet and put it on the table.
After Hours Desire (Forsaken Sons Book 3) Page 9