by Lori Foster
She’d been bold but now seemed shy, an odd reaction for her since she was usually balls-to-the-wall direct. He loved her. He’d wanted her forever. Somehow he’d make this good for her.
That started with putting her at ease. “Don’t be nervous.”
Nodding fast, she said, “Okay.”
He tugged her closer so he could hold her, so he could stroke his hands up and down her tense, narrow back, over her proud, rigid shoulders. “If there’s anything you don’t like, all you have to do is tell me and—”
Shooting to her tiptoes, she crashed her open mouth to his. It was awkward, a little desperate, and he cupped the back of her head to gentle her. They’d done a lot of kissing in the past week, and she’d caught on quickly to what he liked.
And he loved openmouthed, deep kisses.
Her tongue explored his mouth—her tongue, hot and wet—until he returned the favor, tasting her, knowing her.
Loving her.
They hadn’t discussed a future yet, but he’d bring it up soon.
When she sucked at his tongue, he lost the last of his control and brought both his hands to her breasts, feeling their weight, cuddling. Because she never emphasized her figure, even wearing a modest bathing suit, she was larger than he’d realized, full and heavy. Lush.
For as long as he’d known her, Kady had dressed femininely but modestly, and to know he was the only man to touch her like this was a heady thing.
With her breasts pressed to his lower chest, her thighs brushing his, she kissed him perfectly.
Tucker had planned to finesse her, to lead her carefully—but damn. Having her here now, in a bedroom, obviously enthusiastic, obliterated his intentions.
He readjusted, sliding his hands down to her trim waist, then to her plump backside, moving over the crisp material of her skirt, gathering it, raising it—until his palms encountered satiny skin.
Kady started against him, but didn’t pull away.
From what he could feel, her barely there panties were mostly lace and he wanted to see her, needed to see her, so he levered her back.
She panted, waiting.
Fingering the narrow dress strap over her shoulder, he said, “Let’s get this out of the way, okay?”
She shocked him by rushing to lift the dress up and off, baring herself without embarrassment. She stood there, arms at her sides, her beautiful breasts rising and falling in fast breaths.
He’d seen her in a modest bathing suit, but this was different. The flesh-colored lace of her lingerie did nothing to conceal the body beneath.
Even though her brows and lashes were a medium brown, she was a true blonde between her legs. Her dark-pink nipples puckered tight. Her skin looked creamy, her lips swollen, her eyes direct.
“God.” Deeply inhaling, Tucker let his gaze roam over her again. He could be happy just looking at her for an hour or two.
She licked her lips. “Good or bad?”
He was so hard he hurt. “It’s all I can do to keep from rushing you.”
Glancing down at his lap, she smiled. “You’re hard.”
“Honey, I’ve been hard since we got to my house.” He jerked off his shirt, tossing it aside, then toed off his shoes, all the while his gaze roaming over her as the tension built.
He bent to pull off his socks, then opened the snap of his pants and slowly lowered the zipper over his straining erection.
Watching him, Kady reached back for the clasp to her bra.
“Let me.” He closed the space between them and tipped up her chin. “Since meeting you, this has been one of my favorite fantasies.”
“You’ve fantasized about me?”
Visions of Kady had filled his spank bank—not that he’d tell her that. “Yeah.” With fantasy about to become reality, he sounded hoarse. “Too damned often.”
She touched his bare chest. “Then why are you hesitating?”
“I don’t want to shock you.”
“Shock me?”
With her scent wrapping around him, he opened the bra and eased it down her arms. “You’ve waited this long. You probably have romantic ideas of things.”
She grinned. “I have male cousins, remember? Shohn, Garrett, Adam. They’re not always discreet, and Lisa hasn’t been shy in singing Gray’s praises.” She paused as he cupped her breasts, his thumbs moving over her nipples. On a gasp, she said, “Did you know Lisa and Gray first met over a one-night stand?”
“No.” And he didn’t really care what others did in their sex lives. He cared only about Kady with him now.
Voice trembling, she promised, “I’m inexperienced, Tucker, but not ignorant.”
“Good. Then you won’t mind this.” He leaned down and licked her left nipple, circled it with his tongue, then drew her into his mouth to suck.
Her back arched, and her fingers tunneled tight into his hair. Putting an arm around the small of her back, he supported her and switched to the right nipple to treat it the same.
Shakily, she whispered, “I need to sit down.”
He bit gently, tugged with his teeth, and she cried out in surprise.
Such a beautiful sound.
Tucker stepped back to strip off his pants and boxers, then reached for her panties.
Kady helped, kicking them away before he could free them from her ankles, then making a beeline for the bed. She threw back the coverlet and sat, her attention on his dick.
Tucker started to join her, but she held up a hand.
“I want to look at you, too.” She reached out, her small, soft hand low on his abdomen. Her gaze flicked up to his. “Okay?”
Look—and touch, apparently. Another fantasy. “Yeah.”
“I’ve seen pictures, of course. But I haven’t seen—” she gestured at him “—this, not up close and personal.”
It’d kill him if he didn’t have her soon, but he said, “Look as long as you want.”
She wrapped her hand around him, her gaze intent with fascination. Not since he was sixteen and exploring his sexuality for the first time had a female looked at him quite that way.
To help keep them on even ground, his fingers returned to her breasts, playing lightly over her nipples. Pausing, she inhaled and her eyelids half lowered. Her small hand remained wrapped around him, and now she squeezed in reaction to how he touched her.
At the end of his rope, Tucker pulled her hand away, ignoring her small protest, and pressed her back on the bed. She started to readjust, bringing up her legs from where they dangled over the side, but he stopped her. She was just where he wanted her.
And he knew exactly what he wanted to do. “Relax.”
“But—”
“Shh.” Stroking his hands down her thighs to her knees, he parted her, opening her legs wide, then knelt between them.
Going tense all over, she fisted her hands in the bedding, but otherwise she didn’t move, barely even breathed.
Looking at her, Tucker whispered, “So pretty.” He kissed the inside of one tender thigh while reaching up to her breasts again, teasing her nipples, rolling, tugging.
When her hips lifted, he took the invitation and nuzzled against her heated sex. She was already wet, hot, and he breathed her in, in his mind claiming her as his own.
She stirred restlessly until he brought one hand down to touch her, moving his thumb over her, then turning his hand to work a finger into her, slowly stroking, pulling out to touch her clitoris, then sinking in again as far as he could.
Her soft moan told him that she liked that—but he knew what she’d like more.
When he closed his mouth over her, her whole body went taut, her breath laboring. With satisfaction, he felt wetness slick his finger more, felt her clenching tight. Loving the taste of her, her scent, he worked her relentlessly, determined that her pleasure would be a fact before he to
ok his own.
Suddenly she broke, groaning harshly, twisting, gasping, and at the last, as her climax faded, she whispered, “Tucker.”
He stood, but she lay lax, her legs still over the side of the bed, eyes closed, cheeks flushed and damp, hair tangled.
The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
Feeling beyond possessive, Tucker scooped her up and put her properly in the bed. She got her heavy eyes open just a bit, watching him as he grabbed the condom he’d put on the nightstand earlier. He rolled it on in haste, the blood pumping through his veins, throbbing in his dick.
Without a word, he settled over her, bracing on his forearms, kneeing her legs wider apart.
She lifted a hand and touched his jaw, still looking slumberous and sated, and maybe a little awed. He kissed her mouth—and guided himself into her.
The last thing he’d ever want to do was to hurt her, but she was slick, swollen and hot, and he had to believe it’d be okay because he couldn’t wait a second more.
Reaching down between their bodies, he parted her, nudged against her and pressed in.
She freed her mouth on a gasp...that turned into a soft groan. Tucker paused, but she put her legs around him, her heels digging into his back with invitation.
He looked into her eyes and thrust again, burying himself in the soft grasp of her body.
“So tight.” Knowing he wouldn’t last, he began a slow rhythm that quickly accelerated until he felt his release boiling up. He was about to let go when her eyes became dazed. Her legs tightened, and she arched into him.
Loving the sight of her pleasure, he held off by sheer force of will. She put her head back, crying out, and seeing her like that finished him. He thrust deep one more time, then held himself there as he shuddered with his own release.
Their breaths mingled as he sank against her, cushioned by her soft, full breasts, held in the cradle of her slender thighs.
She pressed her lips lightly to his shoulder, then let out a long shaky sigh.
Coming back up to his forearms, he took in her sated gaze, that lush, soft mouth. “You’re okay?”
Somewhat shy, she nodded.
A sudden, frantic barking came from the hallway, and Kady choked out a laugh. “I think we scared her.”
Tucker couldn’t smile yet, could barely form words. He turned his head toward the door. “It’s all right,” he called out. “Promise.”
There was a pause, as if the dog had stopped to listen.
“It’s all right, Mama.”
She barked one more time, somehow managing to sound very put out, then all went silent.
Limp beneath him, Kady whispered, “You were wrong, you know.”
Tucker stayed still, his body no longer connected to hers. He’d have to rid himself of the condom soon, but he didn’t want to move yet.
He drank in a deep breath and smoothed back her hair. “How’s that?”
Shifting, she put her arms around his neck and sighed again. “That was the most romantic thing ever.”
Tucker grinned, a deep sense of satisfaction filling him. “Yeah?”
“Oh, Sheriff.” She pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. “You surpassed my wildest dreams.”
* * *
TUCKER COULDN’T KEEP his eyes off her. Now that they’d all finished their burgers, potato salad and corn on the cob, she stood across the yard with a few of her female cousins, smiling at something Amber said.
She glowed. From her blond hair to the tips of her toes in casual sandals, she appeared happy, carefree...and replete.
Of course, they’d had sex before coming here today, and he was feeling pretty replete himself. It was a hell of a pleasant surprise to discover that Kady’s sex drive matched his own. She was confident enough that inhibitions had quickly fallen away over the past few days, and now they took every opportunity to be together. She’d spent the night twice and waking with her, sharing morning coffee, was a unique pleasure. In fact, now that he’d had those special times with her, he couldn’t imagine ever giving them up.
He wanted her with him, always, but he didn’t want to rush her.
Sawyer put the last burger on a platter, not even looking at him when he asked, “Have you told her that you love her?”
That drew his attention away from Kady. “What?”
“Love,” Sawyer repeated, as if it wasn’t a very personal, intrusive topic. “Anyone can see that you do, so have you told her?”
Tucker frowned at his near-empty can of cola. Talking to them about dating Kady was one thing, but this was another. He wouldn’t discuss his feelings for her with her family before he’d discussed it with her.
The gathering was almost at an end, so he’d be able to do that soon.
A thwack to his back took him off guard, sending him stumbling forward. He glared over his shoulder at Morgan. Despite being in his sixties, the man was still a brick wall and didn’t seem to know it.
Morgan laughed. “He hasn’t told her, I can tell.”
“I think you’re right.” Jordan lifted his drink as if in a toast. “I’ve seen that look before.”
Gabe, quieter than the others since this was his daughter they discussed, shook his head. “Do it, and soon.”
Tucker could barely believe their gall. “You’re demanding that I tell her?” He almost laughed. They had some serious misunderstandings about him if they thought they could direct his personal relationship.
But Gabe shook his head. “Trying to save you some misery, actually.” He leaned against a tree, his arms folded over his chest. “I’ve been where you’re at, and let me tell you, denial sucks. Better to lay it on the line and see how it goes. If my daughter loves you back—”
“She does,” Jordan said with confidence.
She did, Tucker silently agreed. He glanced at her again and found her staring up at the darkening sky.
“—then it’ll all work out, right?”
She was so pretty, vivacious, outgoing—and he’d given her a taste of lust. Would she now be content with him, only him, for the rest of her life?
God, he hoped so.
The overcast day kicked up a heavy breeze, rustling the leaves of the trees around them.
The men had sent the women off to relax, and they were quickly gathering up the remains of the grill out.
“Is a storm rolling in?” Tucker asked. The weather had been unpredictable for more than a week, a fact that concerned Kady since it was her responsibility to share the forecast.
In the middle of loading a tray, Morgan looked up. “Damn.”
Staring at the clouds, Jordan asked, “Are you avoiding the question?”
“No.” He’d already lost enough time because of avoidance. He should have pursued her from the beginning, instead of making stupid, and wrong, assumptions. “You’re right that I love her.” He didn’t have a problem admitting it. Hell, there were times when he wanted to shout it. Only consideration for Kady and the newness of their relationship kept him silent. “But it’s a little more complicated than you think.”
The men looked at each other, then barked with laughter.
Asses.
Garrett, Kady’s cousin, approached without Tucker noticing, and he slung an arm over his shoulders. “Course it’s complicated, but I figured you’re smart enough to maneuver through it.”
“And we like you,” Shohn said, joining the others so that they surrounded him.
Tucker rolled his eyes. “Am I getting your collective stamp of approval?”
Gabe stared at him, his expression oddly calm but his blue eyes almost incendiary. “Think you’d be here now otherwise?”
“Probably not.” He shrugged off Garrett’s arm. “This is between Kady and me, so my recommendation is that you all back off.”
“Got you running scared, huh?” Shohn s
hook his head. “You surprise me, Sheriff.”
“I love her,” Tucker said firmly. “I’m not going anywhere. But I’m handling it my way.”
Morgan’s brows went up and he looked at Gabe. “Damn, I like him.”
Gabe nodded. “I think he’ll do.”
Leaning in, Garrett added, “Just don’t blow it.”
“Don’t plan to.” With that all settled, Tucker excused himself to join Kady. She saw him approaching and gave up her scrutiny of the green-gray sky. Beside her, Lisa and Amber grinned, then moved a few steps away.
When he reached her, Tucker cupped her chin and, in front of one and all—because he knew they were watching—he kissed her softly. It was a claim. A statement. And a promise.
As he drew away, she blinked, then frowned toward the cluster of male relatives. “Did they pressure you?”
That she felt protective of him made Tucker smile. “They approved me, actually.”
Her eyes widened, but quickly narrowed with a scowl. Hands on her hips, she demanded, “How exactly did that come up?”
“They love you, that’s how.” Still holding her chin, he looked into her eyes and smiled with confidence. “I’ve got you now.”
Her lips parted. She started to speak, but her cell phone buzzed, making her jump. “Sorry.” She quickly dug it out of her skirt pocket and glanced at the screen. “It’s Cleets.”
“Weather issue?” He looked at the sky again as it grew darker still, and the clouds became turbulent.
“Probably.”
“I’ll go help with cleanup. Take your time.” Now that he’d somewhat cemented things with her family, it was time to work on Kady.
He’d handle that as soon as they were alone.
CHAPTER SIX
WHAT A WAY to interrupt a day, Kady thought as she drove away from the family gathering. She had a feeling Tucker had something special to say to her, whether prompted by her family or not, she didn’t know. But with the weather taking such a nasty turn, the station wanted her and Cleets to do a live broadcast update to the townspeople.