Hard Break (Deadlines & Diamonds, #5)

by Morgan Kearns

  “He knows we were talking about him,” Sadie whispered to Pene.

  “How he know?” Pene whispered back.

  “How did you know?” Sadie asked.

  “Magic. Now go to sleep.” He hung up.

  “Ian magic.” Penelope clapped her hands.

  “You guys had better go to sleep so he doesn’t have to cast a spell on you,” Chase said.

  “So only a kiss wakes us up.” Sadie made the statement and Penelope laughed.

  “Come on, you guys, you need to go to sleep so Mom and Ian can have some private time together.” Sometimes her son’s maturity surprised her.

  “He’s right,” Sadie said in her know-it-all voice.

  “Shh.” Penelope made snoring noises.

  “No more talking,” Chase said. And then the talking stopped.

  “I guess they’re okay with us.” Ian walked over and started the CD player. Smooth, sexy sounds whirled around them. He approached, hand outstretched, she handed him the baby monitor. She giggled when he tossed it on the couch and tugged her to his body.

  “Yeah, it sounds like they are. Although I’m not sure how much they really know about us.”

  “They know enough.” He wrapped one arm around her waist and held her tight, giving her no choice but to move with him. Not that she’d have chosen anything else. Taking their other hands, he tucked them between their bodies. She rested her head against his chest. Heat warmed her. His heart beat in a steady rhythm beneath her ear.

  The song drifted into another and still he held her close, pressing sweet, tender kisses to the top of her head and her brow.

  For the first time in her life, she cursed being five-foot-five. Maybe she should be cursing his six-foot-three.

  Seriously? The top of her head? Like she were some kind of child? The chaste touch ignited a frustration she couldn’t ever remember feeling before.

  His lips came down again on her temple. And she stopped moving. “If you do that again, I’m going to kick you in the shin.”

  He cocked his head to the side and burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be romantic.”

  “Well,” she said, popping a hand on her hip, “it’s annoying. I am not a little girl.”

  “No, you’re not.” But then humor blazed in his eyes as he pointedly looked at her Little Teapot stance. He bit down on his lip, before pursing them tightly.

  She shouldn’t have been amused, but noticing she stood just as Penelope did when annoyed made her laugh. She shook her head. “Here’s the deal, Ian. I’ve felt your lips on my brow many times over the last ten months. That’s not where I want to feel them right now. Do you understand?”

  Obviously, he understood, loud and perfectly clear, because in the next second he had her flattened against his body, devouring her mouth. She opened her lips to allow his tongue entrance and moaned when it slipped inside.

  The cat and mouse enflamed her. She wanted this, wanted him, with a ferociousness that should’ve scared her. And yet, it didn’t. Not one bit.

  When her legs met the back of the couch—when had he guided her there?—she tumbled down. He descended, stretching out on top of her. She reached for the hem of his shirt, needing to touch skin.

  Holy crap! If she’d thought he was hot through his clothes…

  She slid her hand up his back. Damn, she wanted to taste him. She tugged at his shirt, bringing it up to his shoulder blades. He broke the kiss and tore the shirt from his body, tossing it across the room. As he leaned down to reclaim her lips she turned her face to bite his shoulder. He let out a hiss and returned the favor.

  Oh, hell! Excuse her while she melted into a puddle. Her eyelids drooped and her head fell back against the leather cushions. He didn’t stop. He sucked and nibbled and…

  For the love of all that’s holy!

  He licked her from shoulder to earlobe. He bit down on her ear. A jolt of desire shot straight to her dormant girlie parts. She’d always loved having her neck kissed. And Ian McCallister was a pro! Draft him to the Major Leagues. Holy crap, she hoped she lived through actually making love with the guy.

  And that was exactly where this was headed. Halleluiah! God Bless America!

  He ground his pelvis against hers and she arched up to meet him. His hand drifted to one breast and she stiffened. He froze. Ice water to their inferno. Dammit! She hadn’t meant to go two-by-four. He’d surprised her.

  “It’s fine. I’m fine.” Dang, the Big Bad Wolf had nothing on her huffing and puffing.

  Ian climbed off her, plopping down at the end of the couch. “I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair, then stood, very timidly, to cross the room. “I knew we should take it slow. I tried, Kay. I really tried.”

  She rearranged her own clothes, smoothing them as she stood. She padded over to him. Where the hell were her shoes?

  His hands shot up. “Give me a minute, Kayla. I’ve never been this out of control.” He scrubbed his hands over his face.

  She didn’t give him the minute he’d asked for. She couldn’t. If she let him run now, she might never get him back to this point. Unless she just showed up naked. On his doorstep. She smiled at the potential look on his face. She tucked the fantasy away for later.

  Sidling up to him, she tucked her fingers into the belt loops of his slacks. “It’s been over ten months since I’ve had an orgasm, Ian. I really would rather not wait any longer.”

  His eyes opened and focused down at her. He licked his lips, sucked the bottom one between his teeth. “I won’t rush you.”

  “You weren’t. You surprised me, that’s all. I want you to touch me, feel me.”

  One corner of his mouth lifted. “Lick you?”

  Her knees nearly gave out. “Oh, yes, I want you to lick me.”

  “Taste you?”

  She might find that elusive O before he even touched her again.

  “And we’re covered.”

  Nothing like a change of topic. “Covered?”

  “Protected. I bought the biggest box of condoms I could find. At Costco.” She laughed. He shrugged. “Call me optimistic.”

  “You do know I’m allergic to latex.”

  “Uh—” He frowned. “That sucks.”

  Her heart stutter-stepped as she opened her mouth to say, “I know I really don’t want to know this, but when was the last time you were with a woman?”

  He jerked back, almost as if she’d slapped him. “I don’t know.”

  “Not helping.” She really didn’t want to know about the plethora of women he’d been with, especially in the last few months. Was she having a heart attack?

  “Let me finish.” He stepped forward and kissed her nose. “I don’t know—” He paused to accent his point. “A year and a half, or so.”

  “Really?” A year and a half, or so?

  He tipped her chin with his knuckle and gently brushed his lips over hers. “Yeah, I might have been in love with you, but I’m not a monk.”

  “No, that’s a long time, I kind of expected an answer like—” Her voice plunged deeper. “—a week and a half, or so.”

  He reached around and swatted her butt, pulling her close at the same time. “I told you I wasn’t with Denali.”

  “I know. And I believe you. Now.”

  His eyes narrowed. “At the time?”

  “I wanted to. Really, I did, but I saw her and the way she looked at you and you were both damp from a shower and she needed a pair of underwear.” She slapped at his chest. “What was I supposed to think?”

  “Stop taking us off topic. I’m standing here at full attention and you want to rehash my nonexistent love life. I love you. I would really like to have sex with you. Right. Frickin’. Now. And since you’re allergic to condoms, what are our options?”

  “I’m clean, haven’t been with anyone since the night before… Yeah, it’s been a long damn time. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and if you’re clean, and if we’re going to be exclusive—”

  “We�
��re exclusive.”

  “I can’t get pregnant so—”

  “You’re on the pill?”

  She shook her head, not wanting to go there with him. Not now.

  “Diaphragm?”

  “Huh-uh.”

  He snorted, shaking his head. “Really, you’re gonna let me play twenty questions on your form of birth control?”

  She didn’t know why it mattered, why she wanted to avoid the topic. Hell, who was she kidding, she knew exactly why she avoided it, if he knew, she worried it’d make a difference.

  Playing the only card left in the deck, she sidled up to him, working his belt loose, then making quick work of the button of his slacks. She ran her hands over his skin, up his chest to his shoulders. His heat scorched her. He sucked in a breath. And she’d only begun.

  Until he stopped her.

  “I know what you’re doing.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, innocently blinking up at him.

  “What kind of birth control are you on?”

  “None.” That was honest enough.

  “And you can’t get pregnant?”

  What the hell, there’d been a crapload of confessions tonight, what was one more? “I had my tubes tied after Penelope was born.”

  “Oh.” He tried for a no big deal, but regret flickered in his eyes. She saw it, hated it, even though he covered it quickly and grinned. “Well, that’s the best birth control there is.”

  He scooped her up, holding a butt cheek in each hand, striding across the room until her back hit the wall. She wrapped her legs around his hips, feeling him hard as stone against her core. Excitement hummed in her blood. This was all so new, so wonderful, so exciting. She’d had sex, lots of sex, of course she had—she’d been married for twelve years—but she’d never had sex pressed up against a wall before.

  When it came to intimacy, she and Leon had been vanilla. Not to say it was bad. In fact, Leon was quite talented and could make her body sing, but it was always in the bed and he always finished on top, looking into her eyes. Always.

  But it’d never been this overwhelming.

  She fought for breath, panting like a dog in heat. She needed this. Needed him like nothing she’d ever known before.

  “Now. Oh, Ian. Take me, Ian.”

  No need to tell him twice.

  Ian ripped her blouse open. Buttons flew. He growled, going straight for her breasts. For years he’d dreamed of tasting her. He licked at the swell peeking over the top of the cup. Using his nose he moved the bra down enough to get at her nipple. He sucked it into his mouth and Kayla hissed. Her fingers dug into his hair. Her nails stabbed at his scalp. Her hips ground against his.

  He was never going to make it to the final inning. Holy shit, he’d be lucky to keep from losing himself in his boxers.

  He’d been waiting so damned long to take her, make her his. Now was the moment. Fast and furious was all he had in him. Slow would come next. But right now…

  Holding her perched on one forearm, he reached down to free himself. His slacks hit the floor and his boxer briefs hugged his thighs just below his butt.

  She clung to him, kissing, nipping, moaning. Her nipples scored his chest without breaking skin. He wished they’d leave permanent marks. He wanted to remember this moment forever.

  Sliding a palm up her thigh, he paused for a split second flash of conscious. Hot and heavy, heat of the moment was one thing. He did not want her to regret.

  “If you stop now, I swear I will kill you in your sleep.” To punctuate her promise, she slipped her hand between them and took hold of him, squeezing lightly. “You ready?”

  He nodded dumbly.

  “Me too.” She kissed him, more like she branded him. Lip to lip, tongue to tongue and groin to…

  “Oh, damn!”

  She echoed his sentiments. He moved against her, in her, nailing her to the drywall. Her head and moans tapped out a constant rhythm. Release came hard and fast and Ian sent a thank you skyward when Kayla screamed his name.

  His name.

  “Yes! Ian. Don’t stop. Y-y-yesss!” She thrashed against him. “Ian!”

  That was when he lost himself in her.

  Reality wrapped around them, but instead of being cold and smacking of holy-shit-what’d-we-just-do, it surrounded them like a warm blanket. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. Having this wonderful woman skin to skin was the single most amazing experience of Ian’s life.

  Until she eased away to look in his eyes. There were tears there. Had he hurt her?

  She gripped his face between her palms and kissed his lips. “Stop. Don’t go there.”

  “But—”

  “I love you, Ian.”

  “Oh, baby, I love you, too.” He searched her eyes for answers. “Why the tears?”

  She grinned, wiped at the tears with the back of her hand. “Because I—” She laughed through a sob. “Because I’m finally happy again. Completely happy. I love you. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have you love me back, but you do and I’m going to take it.” She brushed a chaste kiss over his lips. “Thank you for loving me, Ian.”

  He clutched her to his chest. “My pleasure.”

  She bit her lip and looked at the floor.

  “Hey.” He tipped her chin. “What’s wrong?”

  Her smile let him know there wasn’t a damn thing wrong. “When can we do that again?”

  Twenty-Two

  Kayla jerked awake. Disoriented, she glanced around. Through the darkness, she realized she was still in Ian’s house.

  Holy crap!

  Ian’s house.

  She jumped off the couch, scrounged around for her clothes and put them on while hurrying for the door.

  She ran out of his house, tripped over a toy of some kind on the journey to her yard, and all but took her own front door off the hinges. She took the staircase two steps at a time, stopping at Chase’s room. Her son was sound asleep, lying on his side. Her pulse slowed a tad. But the need to make sure the girls were okay had her sprinting to their room, only to skid to a stop just inside the door.

  Penelope’s sweet snuffles mingled with steady snores. The Hello Kitty clock on the dresser read two-thirty. She searched Sadie’s bed. Empty. Not only was the child missing, but the pillows, bedding and dollies were all missing as well. Her heart jumped into her throat. Until she glanced at the floor.

  Sadie was snuggled into Ian’s side, her head resting on his huge bicep. His hand curled around her waist. Kayla grinned, loving them both just a little bit more. She plucked an unused blanket from the floor and crawled onto Sadie’s bed, letting sleep claim her like a champ.

  Ian’s alarm jolted him into consciousness. He grabbed his phone and silenced the noise. His arm was asleep, completely dead. He couldn’t feel his fingers. And his shirt was damp. Drool. Not his.

  He reached down to find Sadie tucked into his side. He shifted her, trying to free the dead weight of his arm and her eyes popped open. He put his finger to his lips. “Shh. I need to go to work. Let’s get you in bed.”

  She scurried to her feet.

  He would’ve liked to have picked her up, but didn’t trust his dead arm to hold her weight. Painful tingling flooded into his fingertips and he flexed to get the blood flow going.

  On the bed, Kayla slept on her side. She looked adorable, so young and fragile.

  Sadie giggled. “I bet she’ll wake up if you kiss her.”

  “Probably. Now get your little butt in bed, so I can tuck you in before I go.”

  Sadie climbed up on the mattress, careful to not wake her mother. “Love you, Ian.”

  His heart warmed at the declaration. “I love you, too, Sadiebug. Now, you go back to sleep and have a good day at school. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  He checked on Penelope, pulling the blanket back up over her body. Then he quietly made his way to Chase’s room. He cracked the door and peeked inside. Chase laid spread eagle on the bed, his mouth open wide. Ian chuc
kled and closed the door.

  He needed to hurry if he was going to make it to work on time. In his house, in his bathroom, he turned on the shower and shaved while the water warmed up. He didn’t know what it was about this house, but his bathroom took forever and a freakin’ day to get hot water. It was hot once it made all the twists and turns, but…damn.

  There was a lot of damn! in his life right now. He’d never imagined Kayla as a closet sex kitten. But man, his girl had claws. And as he stepped into the finally warm shower, he hissed as the water hit the scratches on his back. War wounds. And he’d gladly fight that battle every day of his life.

  Last night he’d taken her against the wall, on the floor and then very slowly on the couch. He’d offered to take her to his bed, but she’d shaken her head and taken him into her mouth. Holy shit, that’d been good.

  He immediately rose at the memory. He didn’t have time for that, though. His morning routine was very structured. It had to be. He had twenty minutes to get ready and forty minutes to get his ass to the station. No room for deviation. This morning was no different.

  If it were, he’d still be dead to the world on the girls’ bedroom floor. When Kayla fell asleep last night, he’d taken up the torch and checked on the kids. Kayla needed her sleep, deserved the out cold. He’d donned a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and headed over.

  He thought back to how Sadie had come to sleep next to him and had to admit to not having a clue. Although, he liked that she was comfortable enough to snuggle up close. Yet another reason to love the kids. He turned off the water, got out and screamed like a little girl.

  Kayla held the towel out to him. She glanced down at the cotton button-down she wore, the same one he’d been wearing last night. “Do I look that bad?”

  “No, you scared me that bad.” Actually, she looked so damned good. He drank in the sight of her as he snatched the towel and wrapped it around his hips. “You’re supposed to be next door sleeping.”

  Kayla watched a droplet of water make its way over his pectorals and licked her lips.

  His moan said the, You’re killin’ me, Kay, that didn’t cross his lips.