by Alexa Riley
“Well, my sister doesn't have a car yet.”
“Your sister?” I nod. “Is that who you were on the phone with earlier today?”
“Yes, I know you said to do it on my own time, and I’ve been gone all day. I’ll be fast, I swear. It’s just—”
“Stop.” His head drops for a minute, looking down at the floor. He takes two deep breaths before pulling his cell out of his pocket. He walks over, holding it out for me, and I grab it. “I’m an asshole. Call your sister whenever you want.” He releases the phone before turning to go into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
I call Kat and give her vague details about what happened but don’t bring up the wreck. That’s the last thing she needs to worry about when there’s nothing she can do. What’s done is done. When I hear the water in the bathroom turn off, I let her go, telling her I’ll call her tomorrow.
I put the phone down on the table, and I start to feel sleepy but know I can’t go to bed. This is going to be a long night. When the bathroom door opens, I’m struck still for a moment. Clay stands there with damp hair, gray sweats and no shirt. I knew he was built, but it’s one thing to know it and another to see it on full display.
“Like what you see?”
I gasp, covering my face with my hands. How long was I staring?
He chuckles. “I’ll get a shirt.”
I drop my hands as he slides on one of the white shirts I folded earlier. “You and those white shirts.”
“I have to tell you I’m not sure how this is going to be a temporary thing. You feeding me, making sure I have shit to wear, and how the house actually looks like a home. I’m spoiled.” His praise makes me feel warm inside.
“Well, I’m glad you like it because I wasn't sure. You have a tendency to yell.”
“Yeah.” He reaches up and grabs the back of his neck. “I was jealous earlier today. I thought you were sending him a picture.”
“Him who?”
“Your fiancé.”
“Oh yeah. I guess I could see that, but it was just my sister.”
He walks back over to the side of the bed. “I’ll stop yelling.” I lift an eyebrow, making him laugh. “I’ll stop yelling so much.”
“I’ll take it.” I point to the phone on the nightstand. “Just in case you need it.”
He waves it off and goes back to the dresser. I watch him, unable to look away. How is this man single? Furthermore, why is he jealous over me and why does that do all kinds of things to my insides?
“I don’t think a shower tonight is a good idea, but we should change you at least. Think you can wiggle out of those jeans under there?”
I undo my jeans and slide them down my hips while keeping the blanket over me. At the same time, he reaches under the blanket and takes my shoes off. I lift up as he grabs the bottom of my jeans and pulls.
“Oh wait.”
“What?” He stands there with my jeans in his hand.
“Panties.” I point to the jeans, and when he looks at them, I swear he blushes.
“I don’t think they are required.” He drops them at the end of the bed and looks up at me. “Are they?”
“Required? No, I don’t think it’s a law to wear underwear.” Gosh, I’m enjoying this way more than I should. It’s nice teasing him, and somehow it feels natural.
“Shirt.” He holds out the one he got from the dresser.
It takes a little wiggling, but I pull it off and pass it to him. After I put his shirt on, I lie back, feeling a million times more comfortable. I still when Clay’s hand comes up and he pulls another leaf out of my hair.
“Is it bad?”
“No, beautiful as ever,” he says softly and turns around. For a second I wonder if I heard him right. When he turns back around, he hands me a damp cloth. “For your face.”
Then he really shocks me when he takes another cloth to my arms and wipes them down. When he gets to my left hand, he pulls the ring off and places it on the nightstand.
Maybe I should say something, but right now I really don’t care. I don’t want to fight with Clay about it, and honestly at this moment, I really don’t want the damn thing on my finger. Not when I’m feeling all kinds of ways about Clay. In some weird way, it felt like I was cheating, not on Judge, but on Clay.
“You lose your cell in the crash? I can go look for it tomorrow, but I’m thinking you’ll need a new one. Use mine to call your sister until then.” He sits down in the chair beside the bed, and I notice he makes it a point to say only my sister. “Where did you go today?”
“My phone was already ruined. I broke it this afternoon and I went into town today to try and get it fixed. I wanted to get a new one if I could.”
“Did you?” I shake my head no. “How did it break?”
“I dropped it.” He stares at me for a long moment and I stare right back, getting more comfortable with his eyes on me.
“When I shouted at you,” he says and doesn't wait for an answer. “Fucking hell, I’m worse than an asshole.” He drops his head back.
“An asshole that saved me.”
“Yeah, well, you would have been at home if your cell hadn’t broken.”
“It’s fine, things happen.”
“You’re right, but I’m going to fix it. I don’t want you worrying about a damn thing, you got that?” He gives me a hard look.
“Yeah.” Wow, it feels good to have someone say those words to me. Too good and way too tempting. For a second I want to ask if he wants to lie in the bed with me, but my shyness wins.
“Now, let’s get two things straight here, One, you never leave this damn house without a functioning phone. Ever. That can get you killed out here.”
“I know, I wasn't thinking clearly. It won’t happen again.” He relaxes some at my response. “What’s the second?”
“No more hiding shit from me. You had no intention of telling me about that phone, did you?”
“No.”
“Are we good on those two things?” I nod. “Good, now why don’t you tell me how the hell you made those biscuits taste like heaven?”
I smile as I settle back into the covers and he listens to my cooking secrets.
Chapter Eight
Clay
“I can see how you dirty up so many dishes.”
I look out of the corner of my eye at Dotty and pretend to scowl. “This is my first time.”
“Oh, I can tell.” She tries to cover her laughter as I flip the pancake, but she’s doing a terrible job at it.
Around four in the morning her stomach began to rumble, and I insisted on cooking for her. The only problem was I had no clue how and I refused to let her do it. So the compromise was I’d carry her to the kitchen table and she’d supervise my efforts.
“We clearly agreed you’d give me directions, not make fun of me.”
“Am I making fun of you?” She cocks her head to the side, and my shirt slides off her shoulder a little.
The bare skin forces me to look away. “You’re teasing me.”
“Maybe a little.” I flip the pancake in the air, and it comes down on the floor beside me with a splat. “Okay, so that one’s yours.”
Her giggles make me smile as I clean up my mess, and I think for the millionth time how much I like her being here. I also glance at her bare finger and think about how much I like that too. Well, maybe not bare, but free of his ring.
“Look who's up early,” Shane calls as he walks in the house and sees us in the kitchen.
I straighten and suddenly Dotty being in only a T-shirt in my kitchen isn’t enough. Needing to cover her up, I walk over to the sofa and grab a blanket. I go back to where she’s sitting, and her eyes widen as I wrap it around her.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude,” Shane explains as he respectfully turns away.
“It’s fine,” Dotty says, and I scowl. She purses her lips at me, and I feel her poke my side as she keeps talking to Shane. “I was feeling hungry, so cowboy over here i
s making me flapjacks.”
“Oh god, and you agreed to eat them?” Shane laughs, joining us.
“Well, it was this or starve,” Dotty jokes, and the smile she gives me could melt butter.
“I’m not sure you made the right choice.”
“You can leave,” I say, and Shane tries to cover his smile.
“Just coming by to check on the little lady here.” He holds up his medical bag I didn’t notice before, and I nod. “How are you feeling?”
“Good, a little tired though,” she says as Shane sits in the chair beside her and takes out his small light to shine in her eyes.
“Did you manage to get any sleep at all or did the big bear over there talk your ear off?”
I grumble, taking the bacon out of the pan like Dotty told me to and making a stack of the pancakes I didn’t mess up.
“I think I did most of the talking, but he wasn’t so bad.” I look over at her, and as Shane reaches down to get something out of his bag, she winks at me.
The gesture is so simple and easy, I don’t know what to do about it. Is this what it’s like to have a crush? God, it feels like so much more than that.
She did spend most of the night talking, but she would ask me about my life too. I told her about the farm and Otis, and she told me about her sister and parents. I never asked about the fiancé, and she never volunteered the information. It was like we both agreed to not mention it at least for tonight.
But as the sun rises outside the kitchen window, I can see that a new day is beginning. Will everything that we shared last night make it in the light of day? Will my heart stay open once she puts the ring back on? I’m afraid seeing her like this, in my shirt and in my kitchen, will haunt me for the rest of my life if she marries him.
Shane is talking to her now, and I stare out onto the pasture. An image of her in a white dress walking across that same field to where I’m waiting enters my mind. Then another one of my ring on her finger sparkling in the sunrise as she lies in my bed, skin against skin. I can almost taste the apple pie she feeds to our baby girl on a picnic blanket, years from now under the willow tree by the pond.
“Clay?”
The sound of Shane’s voice scatters the images like fireflies in late summer, and they disappear through my fingers. Suddenly I’m angry that it was only a dream and I toss the spatula in the sink a little too hard.
“You okay?” he asks, and I nod. “She’s good to go, but make sure she takes it easy for the next few days.”
“Okay,” I answer, not looking at him or Dotty. I’m too busy mourning the loss of something that was never mine.
After Shane talks to Dotty for a quick second, he grabs his bag and leaves. The kitchen that was once warm and filled with laughter is now cold and quiet. The sun is streaming in fully now, and I need to get out to the barn. I know I don’t have to be there, but being here might not be the right place either.
“Hey?” Dotty says softly, and I finally look over to where she’s sitting. “You going to feed me or not, big bear?” Her smile is soft and easy, and even though she can see I’m in a dark mood, somehow she pulls me out of it with just one look.
“You think you’re cute calling me that?” I grab her plate and silverware and bring it over to her.
“Mhh-hmm,” she mumbles around a bite of pancakes.
God, could she be any more beautiful? “You can call me whatever you want. Long as you keep talking to me.”
I nudge the syrup toward her, and she grabs it at the same time. Our fingers meet around the bottle, and for a moment we stay like that, our fingers entwined around the maple goodness and our eyes locked. I think about the hand I had on her stomach last night and how much I didn’t want to pull it away. What kind of spell have I been put under since I laid eyes on her?
“Clay,” she begins softly, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get over how much I love the way she says my name. “I’m really glad I took the job here.”
Her thumb brushes over mine, and all I can do is swallow as I nod. I want to tell her that she’s somehow changed my life just by being here and that if there’s a chance she feels even a fraction of what I do, then she should let me have her. I want her to give me a chance to put a ring on her finger and see how that one fits. I know I can be better because she makes me want to be more than I ever have been.
When I open my mouth to tell her all of this, the phone between us rings. It’s my cell, and the number on the screen isn’t one I recognize.
“That’s Kat,” Dotty says, pulling her hand away.
The moment I’ve lost her touch I feel like I’ve lost a part of her, and I don’t want that to happen again.
She answers the phone, and I try not to listen as I clean up the kitchen. She worked so hard on it that I don’t want to mess it up again. A few times I hear her whisper and I wonder if it’s about me or about him. I don’t want to know, so I try to put it out of my mind.
“Everything okay?” I ask when she hangs up.
“Yeah, great.” She smiles at me, and I have the urge to cup her face and hold her close.
“How about I show you around today? Shane said you have to take it easy, but we can take the Gator out in the pasture. It should be an easy ride.”
“Really?” She sits up straighter, and the blanket falls around her waist.
It’s then I notice her breasts pushing against the white shirt and how hard her nipples are. I should be a gentleman and look away, but goddamn it, I’m not that strong.
I openly stare at her, drinking in my fill as I lean back against the counter and sip my coffee. Yeah, a man could get used to this.
Chapter Nine
Dotty
I close my eyes as the sun warms my face. Why does the air feel so much freer here? It’s light and even smells different, or maybe I’m different now.
I smile when the breeze picks up, making my hair tickle my face. I open my eyes to push it away and see Clay staring at me. He’s smiling now, too, and I’m surprised, but I’m never sure how he’ll react to something. One moment he’s the sweetest man and the next he’s a bear with a thorn in his paw. I actually enjoy both, but maybe that’s because I always had a thing for bears.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.”
I suck in a breath, an excited stir blooming in my chest. He looks a little surprised himself that he said it out loud, and I suddenly feel shy.
“Fuck. I mean… Damn it.” He pauses, going back to looking grumpy. He takes his hat off and tosses it on the small dash of the Gator. “You’re beautiful, period, no curse words.”
“I don’t know, Clay, I think fucking beautiful sounds better, to be honest.”
“I’ll remember that.” He smirks, his eyes dropping to my mouth.
They've been doing that all day, and each time my heart starts to race while I wonder if he’s going to kiss me. I wish he would. I want to know what it would be like to kiss him, even if I only get to do it one time.
“No one’s ever called me beautiful other than my sister. It feels different coming from you.”
“Are you shitting me?” His expression turns to a scowl. I try not to laugh at his sudden change of mood. “What about—” I reach up, pressing two fingers against his lips to stop him.
“No, he hasn't, and I don’t want to talk about him right now.” I start to drop my hand, but he snags my wrist.
“Some people are stupid and don’t know what’s in front of them.” I know he’s talking about Judge, but those words hit home for me too. He turns my hand over and kisses my palm.
He slowly releases my wrist, his hand sliding up to take mine. We lock our fingers together and my heart is starting to beat harder. It’s so loud I wonder if he can hear it. How can something so small as our fingers linking together seem so big?
“Clay?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?” His voice is so low and quiet, it feels intimate.
“Will you kiss me?”
I barely get the words out, and h
e’s pulling me close. I think it’s going to be fast with how he grabbed me, but he pauses as he looks into my eyes and waits. It’s like he just wants to memorize my face or this moment, I don’t know which, but the hesitation feels somehow special. Like he’s not used to kissing a woman.
After what feels like forever, he leans in and kisses the corner of my mouth. I close my eyes and he kisses the other side too. I feel him watching me as I absorb his touch, and his hands gently rest on my shoulders. He kisses my lips this time, and he uses his thumbs to tilt my head back more. He keeps placing soft kisses on me, taking his time moving down to my neck and back up. He’s savoring me. It’s not the kiss I expected, but it’s so much more. It’s tender and kind, but there’s something simmering there too. Underneath his gentle touch, there is a possession that is unmistakable. He’s not only memorizing me, but he’s marking me too.
I’m unable to understand the millions of emotions that run through me, and it comes out of me in the form of a whimper. Then I feel his lips on mine, and this time his tongue is tasting me.
“Part those lips for me, beautiful.”
I do, and when his tongue touches mine, I moan. I have no idea what I’m doing, but it feels so right and I hope it never stops.
“Fuck.” Clay leans back for a moment, his breathing heavy.
He holds me against him, and my eyes open. His dark green eyes look black right now, and I can see my primal need reflected in his.
“Clay.” The intensity of them does nothing to cool the desire building inside of me. In fact, it only spurs it on.
“I’ll take care of you, Dotty.” He kisses me quickly before looking into my eyes once more. “I’ll always take care of you.”
With one motion, he hauls me onto his lap, and I straddle his hips. It’s like a rush of heat and need all over my body as he takes control. His mouth is on mine as one hand goes to my lower back and the other goes to my ass. I hold his face as he grinds against me, and pleasure like I’ve never felt spikes in my core. He rocks me back and forth, and I moan into his mouth.