“We have an extra toothbrush. You don’t need to bring anything.”
She removed the sling and put her coat back on and followed him out of the cottage. “I feel naked, or like I forgot something.”
He squeezed her cool hand in his grasp. “You’re an all or nothing girl sometimes, you know that?”
“I am?”
“Yes. You think if Whit is not with you or his caregiver he’s being neglected, like you’re not supposed to spare any time just for yourself. And if you do, then you must be a bad mother.”
“I’ve got to keep a handle on my responsibilities. If I let my guard down—if I let things slide…”
“You’re afraid you’ll fall back into old patterns?”
Her silence spoke volumes. He knew from past discussions that she hated the person she’d been prior to Whit coming into her life. She couldn’t see past the black and white of the good mother-bad mother myth to accept that there was room for her to care for herself and have a private life as well. He and Jared were determined to change that. The fact that he’d saved all the cardboard boxes from her move in the garage to hopefully be used very soon testified to that hope.
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I’m not grateful.”
Kendry held the back door open for her and then kept her moving toward the bedroom. “I know, and I don’t want you to think that I don’t understand how you feel. I don’t want you to feel guilty…I want you to feel good.” The fact that she was genuinely concerned about the issue told him she was a good mother.
She smiled at him as he tugged her into the bathroom and her concerns were silenced as he pulled his sweater over his head. He grinned when he caught her ogling him in the mirror. “Maybe I should’ve taken my shirt off sooner.” He turned the handle on the tub faucet and reached for the glass jar of lavender and eucalyptus bath salts he’d purchased when they’d gone Christmas shopping for her and Whit.
As the herbal scents flooded the steamy air he listened to her breath in and caught the shakiness in her inhalation. Sitting on the edge of the big tub, he reached for her and waited. The tension and fatigue still rolled off of her.
With a tender smile on her face, Presley Ann came to him and cupped his cheeks. “You are really something special, you know that, Kendry McCulloch?”
His cock swelled as he pulled her against him and nuzzled her breast bone. Her scent invaded his nostrils and he nudged aside the overlapping V-neck of her blouse to press his lips against her silky, abundant flesh hidden beneath. She trembled beneath his lips and he looked up at her. “Come into the tub with me.”
She slipped her shoes off and reached for the hem on her top but he stayed her hands and removed it for her. He rubbed his lips against her lace-covered breasts as he slid the elastic waist of her long knit skirt and the shaping garment she wore beneath it down, past her hips. With a chuckle, he removed the hand she tried to slide over the stretch marks on her abdomen and kissed her soft flesh before nibbling at her hip. Her fingernails grazed his scalp as she slid them through his hair, and he growled softly as she teased gooseflesh and shivers to ripple down his spine. No other woman had ever made him feel the way she did. In no hurry, he eased her clothing past her knees and helped her to step from them before sliding his callused palms up the backs of her legs. She let out a needy, shaky whimper, and he chuckled when he felt the goose bumps travel over her skin as well.
He slipped her panties down her legs, his mouth watering as the sensual, earthy fragrance of her arousal filled his head. The temperature of the room seemed to rise as she gripped his shoulders. “You make me shake all over.”
“Good. The feeling’s mutual.”
Her hair was a platinum halo around her head as he looked up at her while unhooking the clasp of her bra. He released the plackets at her back but didn’t rush to reveal all her bounty, drawing the moment out as she watched his face. Her skin was like satin under his palms as he traced them over her shoulder blades, gathering the straps of her bra and drawing them from her shoulders. Her sweet scent carried in the garment as it slid down her arms, and he closed his eyes as he kissed the underside of one breast and then the other, loving the firm, silky weight of her flesh against his lips.
Her breathing turned to panting as he tasted her skin, lapping at her with broad strokes, teasing her nipples with inattention until the peaks were tight and hard, before finally licking gently at her dusky mauve flesh.
“Kendry,” she whispered. A whimper rushed from her as he tugged ever so gently with his lips, not suckling, just wanting to excite her further. He could taste the sweetness on her skin but her milk was for her baby. He just wanted to feel her under his tongue. All of her. That thought sent his hand questing from her breast down her midline to the delicate, slick flesh between her thighs.
“Ohhh,” she moaned as he touched her, tracing the seam of her outer lips with his fingertips and teasing her liquid arousal from her. Her flesh was hot and ripe against his fingers, and satisfaction filled him when she drew in a sharp breath and dug her nails into his shoulders as her cunt trembled against his fingers.
“You get me so hot,” she whispered as her hips flexed, rubbing her pussy against his hands.
Unable to resist, he grabbed her ass cheeks to hold her steady and leaned down and slid his tongue between her thighs. Maneuvering was tight but he didn’t mind as he latched on to her clit and the slippery flesh around it, sucking and licking, and growling softly as her whimper reached its crescendo and she came on his tongue, panting and undulating as her sweet flavor filled his senses and hardened his cock even further. She looped her arms around his shoulders as she bent forward, panting in his ear. Taking advantage of her loosened posture, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her into the tub. She watched through half-lidded eyes as he stood and lowered the zipper on his jeans and a half smile curved her lips when she noticed that he’d gone commando. His cock jutted out from his body, hot and throbbing, wanting to sink into her sweet pussy something fierce.
He dimmed the bathroom lights a little more and then climbed in the tub with her, drawing another squeal from her when he lifted her into his lap. “I need you, kitten.”
She turned so that she straddled him, that same seductive half smile still on her lips. “What do you need?”
“I need your pussy wrapped tight around my cock.”
“Do you?” she asked huskily as she wrapped her hand around his dick, stroking it and creating ripples of hot tingles up and down his spine. She lifted to her knees as the pressure grew tighter in his balls. Sliding her hands up to her breasts, she held them for him, offering them to his lips as she arched her back and positioned so that her wet pussy kissed the head of his cock. It was all he could do not to thrust upward, sheathing himself inside her in one stroke. She wanted to play a little and that was fine…for now. She licked her lips and then bent forward to him so that her blonde curls caressed his shoulders as she licked and nibbled at his ear, all while working a circular grind over just the head of his shaft.
“Little girls who play with fire get burned, kitty-cat.”
“I’m not a little girl, now am I?” she dipped down, engulfing the head in her hot, slick cunt. “I’m a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Are you?” he asked, wishing like fucking hell she’d take just a bit more.
“Mmm. I know exactly what I want. I want you.” She slid halfway down and then started back up, giving enough to make the heat inside him flash into a blaze but not enough to satisfy.
“Tease,” he muttered and grasped her at her waist. She gave a husky chuckle as she arched her back, not allowing him to plunge deep. Yeah, he was definitely tying her down later for torturing him. “Just remember, turnabout is fair play.”
She circled her hips again, taking just the first few inches and swirling her sweet, tight flesh around his head again. Her cheeks were flushed and her spirit glittered in her eyes. “I’m counting on it. You’re so thick and I love the way you feel spreadi
ng my pussy open, stretching me, making it sting just a little. I can’t help but linger there.”
His heart pounded and his cock grew harder with each soft word she spoke, and he did his best to sit still, letting her have her moment. God, I love you.
He opened his eyes when she paused, and smiled at the surprise in her eyes.
“You love me?”
Caressing her cheekbone and her temple, watching as her cheeks filled with heat and color, he nodded. “Practically since the day I met you.”
She let out a soft breath and smiled, and wrapped her arms around his neck as she arched her back and slid down on his cock, all the way to the base, rewarding his patience with the hot, tight clasp of her cunt. Release tingled hotly in his balls, held at bay by self-control alone. Not yet. Make it good for her first.
Cupping his jaw, she leaned forward and began rocking on him as she kissed him, nibbling his lips and stroking at his tongue with hers, filling his head, his heart, and his soul with her silky sweetness. He slid his butt to the edge of the seat to give her more leverage and watched as she fucked him, holding on to his shoulders for balance as she rose on her knees and plunged back down, her eyes never leaving his.
“Show me that pretty little pussy. Lean back and show me how your tight little cunt looks with my dick sliding in and out.”
A moan slipped from her lips as she parted them, and her eyelids went to half-mast as she wrapped a hand around his neck and leaned back just a little, trusting his grip on her hips to not let her fall backward. “Ohhh.” The soft vocalization had a vulnerable quality, tinged with the thickness of lust and need. Her head fell back as she reached down and spread her outer pussy lips for him, showing him the way her swollen inner lips stretched around his girth, allowing him inside her slippery wet pussy. His cock grew even harder as he watched her finger her clit.
“You’re so wet and hot. I love fucking you. Love everything about you.”
Her pussy rippled around his cock and she whispered, “More. Tell me more.”
Pleased that she liked dirty talk, he groaned as he began arching against her, unable to resist the motion. “Love getting this tight little cunt nice and slick so you can take us. Want to fill you up with my cock and get you even slicker with my cum.”
“Yes!”
“That’s how it has to be if you’re going to take two big men, kitten. I love teasing you and getting you so hot that your juices are dripping from you. Love to taste you but love to fuck you even more.”
“Yes,” she moaned as she quickened her pace on his cock and he could clearly see the swollen definition of her clit as she rubbed it. She was on the verge. He squeezed her ass cheeks harder as he followed her rhythm, gathering a little of her slick juices on his fingertips, and spreading her ass apart just enough that she—
“Oh, Kendry! Don’t stop!” she cried out as she threw her head back, her body growing rigid as she pumped up and down in hard, animalistic strokes.
“This snug little ass is gonna be ours, too, some day,” he said, inching his fingers ever closer to her sphincter, watching in awe as she flew up the precipice. “We’ll put you on your hands and knees and fuck your ass.” She kept flying higher, her cheeks rosy, her hand clenching on his neck as her fingertips rubbed her clit, and he doubted she was even breathing anymore as she rode him with uninhibited abandon.
A pleading sound came from her and his fingertip found its taut, clenching destination as he stroked her sphincter with tender but deliberate pressure. “Then, when you’re ready, we’ll fuck you together. My cock in you. His cock in you. Making you scream when you come.”
He pressed his slick fingertips against her back entrance and growled as his release boiled up inside him, exploding at the same moment she suddenly curled forward in a tight ball and screamed, riding his cock with milking strokes until she finally shuddered and went limp against him, her hair a wild tangle all around them.
The house was quiet, except for the occasional pop from the fireplace and Kendry eventually said, “I need to tend that fire and add another log to it. Do you want to stay in the tub a little longer?”
“No, the water is cooling off and I’m a little woozy from the wine and feeling so tired. I’m probably not the best company for you tonight.”
“Bull. This is perfect in my book.”
Drawing a deep, shaky breath, she lifted off of him and he immediately missed the heat of her soft clasp around him. The water felt positively icy. “I’ll get a towel for you.”
She washed her face and rinsed off and stood as he opened the towel and he could see the fatigue in her eyes.
“Have you always been this strong?”
She chuckled and peered into his eyes. “Why would you think I’m strong?”
“You’d have to be strong to make so many changes in your life and to stay the course with Whit. You could easily have given up.”
“No. It hasn’t been easy. But I think maybe I earned it. Karma is a bitch.” She blotted her face with the towel, looked around her and then smiled at him. “Huh,” she murmured, as if to herself.
“What’s the matter?”
“I always looked at the last ten months as payback for the way I’ve lived all these years. But…maybe this was all fate doing me a favor.”
He smiled at her, grabbed a hairbrush, and motioned to the bedroom. He wasn’t sure he believed in karma, fate, or the scales of justice, but he knew that life could be a balancing act.
He dropped the brush on the bed and went to the fireplace to add another log and stir up the embers a little.
Her words echoed in his mind as he tried to frame a reply, hoping he wouldn’t come off sounding crass or unfeeling. “I didn’t do anything to deserve a bad heart, at least I don’t think I did. And I don’t think Patterson did anything to deserve his ‘number’ coming up and…being the heart donor. I needed, and Patterson provided. It’s unfair in so many ways to so many people, any way you look at it. But it happened, regardless. Maybe karma, or fate, or whatever brought us into your life for the sole purpose of giving you a shoulder to cry on, someone to be a rock for you. And to believe in you.”
He pulled back the covers on the bed as she returned her towel to the bathroom and then sat down on the bed and beckoned to her with the hair brush in hand.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she came to him on the bed.
“I want to brush your hair.”
Disbelief showed in her eyes. “You do?”
“Correction. I would love to.” She inched closer and turned her back to him. He gathered the silky mass and began brushing through it from ends to scalp. In the light of the fireplace, her skin glowed golden and every so often he felt her shudder as she leaned back against his calf. “Feel good?”
“I love it. I’ve never known a man who liked to brush hair.”
Kendry chuckled and said, “I’ll have you know I can even braid your hair.”
“No.”
“Yes, ma’am. Nothing fancy or anything, but I can braid.”
“I love having my hair brushed. It’s relaxing and your hands feel good. It’s kind of sexy that you don’t mind doing things like that.”
She turned to him and glanced down at the scar on his chest. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” He smiled encouragingly, already having an idea what was coming.
She turned to him and he continued brushing, smoothing the hair back from her face and drawing the long shining mass into a tail over her shoulder that curled around his hand.
With a fingertip, she brushed the long scar that ran the length of his sternum, and the touch sent a tingling wave down his spine that ended in a slight shudder. His heart responded by pounding a little harder at the way she affected him.
“Is everything okay here, now? Will you…”
“Will I be all right for the long haul?”
Her eyebrows drew together and her look was almost guilty as she nodded. He closed his hand around hers and
flattened it over his heart. “I take a daily medication, and I see my specialist a couple of times per year. Life’s always a crap shoot but he said I’m a good bet. Patterson and I were a good match.” He dropped his gaze, and then added, “I hope it doesn’t sound bad for me to say that. I know he was loved and is missed. I don’t mean it to sound disrespectful toward that loss.”
She shook her head. “I was afraid you would think I was asking you if you were a good bet for the long haul. A question I don’t even have the right to ask.”
Oh yes you do, kitten.
“Then neither of us should worry because I didn’t take offense. It’s not a big deal to talk about that with you. Besides, my heart’s yours now.” Unable to resist, he brushed his fingertips through her hair one more time and said, “You look like a Christmas angel with all this pretty blonde hair.”
She chuckled and said, “Trust me, I’m no angel, unless it’s a fallen angel.”
“But even fallen angels are still angels to someone.”
Her cheeks turned pink and she sniffled and then chuckled as she pushed playfully at his shoulder. Then she suddenly turned serious. “You need to know something. Two things, actually.”
“What’s that?” he asked as he laid the brush aside and pulled the covers out of the way and motioned her to get into the center of the bed. He slid in beside her, resting on his side and watched as she tried to collect her thoughts and she brushed her hands across her cheeks again. He grasped her hand gently and felt the moisture there, kissed it and held it to his chest. “Hey, none of that. Just tell me.”
She turned her face to his, and his heart ached at the way she smiled but her chin also trembled, looking so vulnerable. “I love you, too.”
With a chuckle he brushed his lips against her warm brow. “That’s a good thing though, right?”
“Uh-huh,” she whispered. “But, I think you need to know the whole truth about Whit’s father.”
His heart thudded and he felt a curious falling sensation.
* * * *
Presley Ann broke out in a cold sweat. The wariness in Kendry’s eyes increased her anxiety and she suddenly lost the words she was about to say. He’d told her he loved her and she wanted him to know the truth. All of it.
Absentminded Angel [Divine Creek Ranch 20] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 19