by Lynn LaFleur
“I have a couple of different kinds in the refrigerator.”
He smiled. “Perfect.” He removed the last plastic container from the sack. “Peanut butter cake, still warm.”
Her stomach rumbled again, even louder this time. Cort chuckled. “Good. You’re hungry.”
“Starving. I had snacks at work, but that’s not the same as a real meal.”
“That’s for sure.” He clapped his hands together once. “So, where’s that pot? I’ll start the spaghetti so we can eat.”
She hadn’t seen him since she left his bed Sunday morning. She’d assumed he would call her, but he hadn’t. Perhaps he’d been busy getting settled in his new job, the same as she. Neither of them had mentioned seeing each other again when they made love.
“How did you know I’d be home?” she asked, reaching into a cabinet for the pot he requested.
“I called Spencer’s to find out when you got off. Lesa told me when you left. I allowed you enough time to get home before I came.”
“And how did you know where I live?”
“Emma told me.” He placed the pot of water on the stove, turned on the burner. “You don’t mind that she gave me your address, do you?”
“No, not at all.” She smiled. “You brought food. How could I be mad?”
He ran one finger over her cheek in a sweet caress. “Good.” He leaned toward her and she met him halfway for a soft kiss. “I brought more than food, if you’re interested.” He bobbed his eyebrows and gave her a wicked leer.
Paige laughed. “Now you have me curious.”
“Supper first. Then I’ll satisfy your curiosity.”
Twenty minutes later, Paige sat across from Cort at the kitchen table. She’d snitched a piece of garlic bread as soon as it came out of the oven to stop her stomach from making noise. And because she loved garlic bread. She selected her second piece from the napkin-lined basket in the center of the table. “This is so good.”
“That’s a talent I don’t have.” He also selected a piece. “Making bread. I’ve tried all different kinds of recipes, but it never turns out as good as I’d like it to.”
“My grandmother makes the most amazing yeast rolls.” Paige rolled her eyes in pleasure at the thought of biting into the soft, buttery bread. “They are so delicious.”
“Would she share her recipe?”
“I doubt it. She won’t even give it to me. She said she’ll leave it to me in her will. Which, as healthy as she is, means I won’t get it for a long time. And that’s fine with me. I’m not in any hurry to lose her.”
Paige ate a bite of her spaghetti and rolled her eyes again. “Who cares if you can’t make bread when you can create food like this? Cort, this is amazing.”
He smiled. “Thanks. I’m glad you like it.”
“Like it? I love it.” She took another bite and moaned. “I want to hire you for my personal chef.”
Laughter flashed through his eyes. “Think you can afford me?”
“I just got a raise. I’ll match whatever Emma is paying you.”
“You don’t know what she’s paying me.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll match it. And …” She leaned closer to him. “I can give you benefits she can’t.”
Now she bobbed her eyebrows, which made Cort laugh. He speared a grape tomato in his salad. “Your offer is very tempting. How about if I keep my job and cook for you whenever you want me to? That way you won’t have to pay me, but can tip me with those special benefits.”
Paige grinned. She really liked the playful side of Cort. “Deal.”
She’d taken a bite of her salad and another of the spaghetti before Cort spoke again. “I want one of those special benefits now.”
Paige looked at him to see a devilish gleam in his eyes. “While we’re eating?”
“Yeah.” He motioned toward her polo shirt with his fork. “Take off your top.”
She couldn’t believe he’d ask her to do that. “You want me to sit here and eat without my shirt?”
“Yeah.”
Paige didn’t want to take off her top. She’d worn a plain bra today that supported her breasts nicely in the polo shirts she had to wear at Spencer’s, but didn’t qualify as pretty by anyone’s definition. Vain, perhaps, but she and Cort had only been together once and she’d worn her nicest set of lingerie then. She wanted to be wearing something pretty beneath her clothes when she took them off.
His eyes narrowed. “Is there a problem?”
That tone—a little rough, a little edgy—sent a zing straight to her clit. And a little chill through her body. She didn’t believe Cort would do anything she didn’t want him to, yet she barely knew him. The anal sex on Sunday proved he liked things in the bedroom on the kinky side. She’d never been with a guy who wanted to fuck her ass the first time they had sex.
He openly stared at her breasts. Paige’s nipples puckered. Deciding that he couldn’t care less about which bra she wore, she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it on one of the extra chairs.
“Nice,” he said, still staring at her breasts. “The bra you wore on Sunday was hot, but there’s something about a plain white one that makes me wonder what it’s covering.” He raised his gaze to her face. “Show me.”
Not a question, but a command. Looking into his eyes, she reached behind her, unhooked the bra, and drew the straps down her arms. She tossed the piece of lingerie on top of her shirt.
Cort laid his napkin by his plate and rose. Paige glanced at his fly as he circled the table, noting the large bulge. She swallowed with the desire to slide his cock into her mouth, take his essence down her throat.
He dropped to his knees before her, took one nipple between his teeth, and bit gently. Paige gasped at the combination of pleasure and pain. He palmed her other breast, flicked the nipple with his thumb while he licked the one he’d bitten. Each swipe of his tongue sent another zing to her clit.
Taking gentle nips along the way, he moved up her neck until his lips covered hers. Her hunger for food disappeared, to be replaced by a stronger hunger for Cort. She grasped handfuls of his hair and returned his kiss.
“Bedroom?” he asked against her lips. “Or somewhere else?”
Her little house didn’t have a lot of options like Quade’s house. Draping herself over the table would be hot, if their supper didn’t still cover it. “Bedroom.”
Standing, she took his hand and led him to her room. She cringed at the basket of unfolded clothes on top of her dresser, then realized Cort probably wouldn’t even notice it. She suspected he thought of nothing but getting her naked.
Which is exactly what she thought, too.
She stopped by the side of her bed and switched on a lamp. Before she could face him, he slipped his arms around her waist. “I’ve been anticipating this ever since you left my bed Sunday.” He nuzzled behind her ear as he unfastened her pants. He slid his hands inside the opening, splayed them over her tummy. “I’ve thought about how free you were with me, how good you felt in my arms.” One hand dipped into her panties. “I’ve thought about this shaved pussy and how wet it got for me.”
Paige whimpered when he pushed two fingers into her channel while he tugged her pants and panties down to her thighs. He withdrew his fingers to spread her cream over her clit, then pushed them in again. He repeated his action over and over, massaging her clit longer each time.
“You gonna come for me, Paige?” he whispered in her ear. “I love it when you come.”
The combination of his caressing and sexy voice drove her to an orgasm. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against his shoulder and bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out as pleasure flowed through her body. Little pulses continued to shoot through her, each one a bit weaker until they faded away.
“My God, you’re an amazing woman.” Cort turned her around, gently pushed on her shoulders until she sat on the bed. “I don’t think I’ve ever known a woman as sexy as you.”
His compliment sent w
armth through her, almost as delicious as the orgasm she’d experienced.
Almost.
He knelt before her, removed her shoes, socks, pants, and panties. She didn’t wait for his instruction, but moved to the middle of the bed. She sighed softly when he began to undress. He tugged off his T-shirt, exposing his smooth chest and the sexy trail of hair that ran down from his navel. He removed two condom packets from his back jeans pocket and placed them on the nightstand before he pushed the denim over his hips.
No underwear.
Paige propped up on one elbow so she had a good view of his body while he finished undressing. She waited until he climbed on the bed before she pushed on his chest to urge him to lie on his back. Once he did, she straddled his hips and settled over his cock.
Cort hissed. “Damn, your pussy is hot.” Gripping her waist, he surged upward, which brushed his shaft over all the sensitive nerve endings. “Climb up here and sit on my face.”
“Tempting, but I have another idea.” She opened one of the packets, slid back on his thighs to give her room to roll on the condom. After she sheathed him, she impaled herself on his cock.
“Oh, yeah, you have good ideas.” Once more holding her waist, he arched his hips to drive himself farther inside her. “Really good ideas.”
She soon established a rhythm with him, lowering her hips as he raised his. Since she’d already experienced a toe-curling orgasm, she was content to do whatever she could so Cort could have one now.
He must have wanted more. He thumbed her clit while they fucked, apparently not satisfied to be the only one to come.
Her second climax hit only moments before Cort moaned loud and long. She could feel his cock jerking inside her as his cum filled the condom’s reservoir. She waited until the sensation stopped, then lay on top of him.
He wrapped his arms around her, kissed the top of her head. “Yep, really good ideas.”
Paige smiled against his chest. “You started this with telling me to take off my shirt.”
“Yeah, I did.”
The smug tone in his voice made her lift her head so she could see his face. “You could’ve let me finish my supper first.”
“You could’ve left your shirt on.”
“How could I have done that when you sounded all … alpha?”
Cort frowned. “What the hell is alpha?”
“Bossy. Confident. Used to getting whatever you want.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Is that how I sounded?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you like it?”
“Kinda.”
His eyebrows lowered again and his eyes took on that slumberous, I-want-to-fuck-you look. “You into the whole Dom/sub thing?”
She drew a circle on his chest with one forefinger. “No.”
“I hear a ‘but’ after that no.”
“I’ll admit I’ve thought about maybe, possibly, being tied to a bed.”
His cock jerked inside her. “Yeah?”
He sounded entirely too eager at her confession. “I said I’ve thought about it, not that I want to do it.”
“Well, if you decide you want to play …” He slid his hands down to grasp her ass. “I’ll be happy to assist.”
“What would make me happy now is more of your spaghetti.”
“Do you have a microwave?”
“I’m a single woman and you have to ask that?”
He grinned. “Sorry. Lost my head for a minute.”
Although very comfortable lying on top of him, Paige reluctantly moved. “Bathroom is to the right.”
“Thanks.” He gave her a quick kiss before he walked out of the room.
Paige donned a large T-shirt and faded jeans and headed back to the kitchen. Cort had finished everything on his plate, so she warmed hers first. The microwave dinged with her hot supper as he came into the room, once again dressed. He’d even put on his shoes, which Paige thought strange. He’d just have to take everything off again when they went to bed.
He picked up his empty plate from the table, carried it to the stove, and refilled it with spaghetti and sauce. Out of politeness, Paige knew she should’ve waited until his plate had warmed before she started eating again. Her growling stomach won over politeness. She leaned against the cabinet next to him and took a large bite of the pasta.
Cort smiled. “I’m glad you like my cooking.”
“It’s incredible. But I’m going to have to either taper back or add more time to my exercise routine. If I keep eating your wonderful food, I’ll be the size of a barn in no time.”
“I have lots of low-cal recipes, too. I’ll prepare one of those next time. I’ll bet you won’t be able to tell the difference.”
He threw out “next time” like it was a done deal they’d continue to have meals together. Paige didn’t want to rush anything or make Cort think she expected more than he wanted to give now, but she couldn’t help the thrill that ran through her at the thought of spending more time with him.
She suspected she could easily fall in love with him.
He warmed a couple more pieces of garlic bread before they sat at the table. Paige assumed he’d been busy with his new job and that’s why she hadn’t heard from him. “Is Emma keeping you hopping?”
“And then some. But I love it. I’ve already learned some shortcuts from her that I can incorporate into my cooking.”
“What have you been doing after work for the last two days?”
He shot her a sharp look, one that froze her in the act of chewing her bite of bread. “Why do you ask that?”
Paige swallowed the bread that felt three times as big as the bite she’d taken. “This meal is wonderful and I’m glad you’re here, but we had a very nice Sunday. I thought you might call me before now.”
He looked down at his plate as he wrapped spaghetti around his fork. She didn’t understand why a simple question would make him react the way he had.
A tingle niggled at the base of her neck, a warning that Cort wasn’t being completely honest with her. “I would’ve called you, but you didn’t give me your phone number.”
“No, I guess I didn’t.” He looked at her and smiled. “Sorry about that.”
His smile didn’t reach his eyes. Nor did he offer his phone number. Paige opened her mouth, ready to ask him another question, when she heard her cell phone ringing from inside her purse in the living room. She couldn’t ignore it since it might be Clay. “Excuse me.”
Locating her purse where she’d dropped it on the couch, she dug out her cell phone to see a local number she didn’t recognize. “Hello?”
“Paige, it’s Talia.”
“Where are you? This isn’t your number.”
“I’m with Dylan at China Palace. I let my cell phone battery die again, so I’m using the restaurant’s main phone line. I didn’t want to wait to get home to call you. Lonnie and Brad and a couple more deputies are here, too. Lonnie told me there have been two more convenience store robberies—one in Walnut Springs and one in Tolar. The owner of the Tolar store surprised the burglars and was shot!”
Paige gasped. “Oh, no!”
“He’s okay. The bullet went through his shoulder. He’s in the hospital in Granbury.”
“So how many thieves are there?”
“There were two. The owner didn’t see their faces because they wore ski masks. I wanted to tell you so you can let Clay know, and to be careful at work.”
“I’ll call him right now. Thanks, Talia.”
Paige got Clay’s voice mail. Preferring to tell him what happened herself, she left a message for him to call her as soon as he could.
She returned to the kitchen to find Cort spooning the rest of the sauce into one of her plastic bowls. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“That was Talia. There have been two more convenience store robberies in nearby towns. The owner of the one in Tolar was shot.”
She sensed a tenseness in Cort that she didn’t understand. The churning in her stomach
told her it was more than just concern for the man who had been shot.
He snapped the lid on the sauce, picked up the empty slow cooker. “Dishes are in the dishwasher. The cake’s in the fridge. I bought some of those throwaway containers, so you don’t have to worry about returning anything to Quade.”
Those comments sounded like ones someone would make who planned to leave. “Are you going?”
“Yeah. I have to be at Café Crystal at six tomorrow morning. Emma’s giving me a lesson in making her giant cinnamon rolls. I don’t want to wake you when I get up.”
“I don’t mind.”
He smiled, and this time it looked genuine. “And I’d like nothing better than to wake up next to you, but not tonight. Maybe this weekend, okay?”
It appeared she didn’t have a choice but to agree. She couldn’t force him to stay. “Okay.”
Paige followed him to the front door, where he gave her a soft kiss. “Bye.”
She watched him walk to his motorcycle. He stashed the cooker in the storage bin, donned his jacket and helmet. After starting the bike, he waved before he took off.
Leaving her alone and confused and full of suspicion.
And still without his phone number.
9
Cort refilled Brad McGuire’s and Lonnie Atwater’s mugs with hot coffee. “I think Lanville is next.” He topped off his own mug before setting the carafe on a hot pad at the side of the breakfast-nook table. “It fits their pattern of hitting the smaller stores first before they hit a major one.” He tapped the map of Lanville spread on the table, directly over the spot of Spencer’s location. “There are six other gas stations in Lanville, but they’ll hit Spencer’s. It’s the biggest and busiest, so logically will have the most money in the safe. Plus there’s a music festival in town this weekend, which means a lot more people spending money.”
“I have my deputies making more drive-throughs, ever since I heard about the robbery in Glen Rose,” Brad said before taking a sip of his coffee. “I don’t have the manpower to post a deputy at every station. Besides, we don’t know for sure they’ll strike here. They may decide to move on and not hit anyone in our town.”