Cait didn’t think she deserved any thanks. Not when it was something that might help lift him out of this dark mood.
Might.
She didn’t mind the “serious as a heart attack” tone, proving to her that her cheering attempts were failing, but she hated seeing that grim expression on his incredible face. It was like seeing a super-sexy, super-sad fallen angel who’d just realized he was screwed six ways to Sunday.
“Well, actually, I brought you here for the handcuffs,” she told him, moving their conversation off the serious track to steer it back to a lighter one.
It didn’t work. He still had the sad fallen-angel face. Of course, any expression on Hayes was still hot. She was certain she could adorn him with every oddball thing in that closet and he’d still manage to look incredible.
Hayes opened his mouth but then promptly closed it as if he’d changed his mind about what he’d been going to tell her. “I don’t want to lead you on,” he finally said. But he stopped again and shook his head. “Shit, that sounds way too confident. I’m not confident at all when it comes to you.”
“Sure you are,” she insisted to make him smile.
When he did, when the corner of that gorgeous mouth lifted just a little, Cait swooped in and kissed him. She didn’t even try to reason with herself not to do this. Nope. She just went with it and was immediately glad she had. She doubted that anything—including doing the right thing—would taste better than Hayes’s delicious mouth.
He made a sound of surprise and staggered back a little. He would have landed in the closet/red room mess if she hadn’t hooked her arms around him to steady him. And that’s when she heard another sound. Not one of surprise, either. She was dead certain it was a grunt of pain.
Crap.
She’d forgotten all about his cracked ribs. Lust could do that, make you forget things you should remember. Like broken bones and bad ideas.
“I’m sorry,” she said, stepping back.
She saw the quick flash of pain on his face. Saw him try to mask it just as fast. He reached for her, no doubt to pull her right back against his aching ribs, but Cait stepped away.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “Your angel face got the best of me.”
Of course, he didn’t have a clue what that meant since he hadn’t been privy to the lustful thoughts she’d just had about him. And she didn’t want him to have that kind of info, either.
“How about a beer or something to eat?” she asked.
His eyebrow came up, and he reached out, gently cuffing her wrist in his hand. By teeny-tiny degrees, he brought her back toward him. Until they were face-to-face. Body to body. But still not actually touching. However, Hayes only left a little bit of space between them. Close enough that she could have sworn she felt the heat coming off him.
Or maybe it was coming off her.
The world was suddenly a very hot place, and her house was definitely the center of all that boiling heat.
Hayes didn’t swoop on her as she’d done. In fact, there was no speed or urgency whatsoever. With the light grip still on her wrist, he held her in place while he leaned in. Touched his mouth to hers.
And he caused the world to explode.
Massive fireworks went off in her head, and Cait was sure if a camera had been able to film it, it would have rivaled a top-notch Fourth of July celebration. Complete with a marching band. The band, though, was likely her heart that had taken off in a gallop, probably to keep pace with the rest of her body. Hayes and she might have been moving slow, but everything else was flashing, clanging and...amazing.
She hadn’t wanted it to be amazing. Cait had wished the kiss would be pleasurable but forgettable. But sadly, it was the opposite of forgettable, and it got even more memorable when he increased the pressure. He angled his mouth, adjusted here and there, and sent her flying straight to the moon.
Mercy, he was good at this, and he’d barely gotten started.
He pushed past the starter stage, but he kept it slow and easy. Probably because of his ribs, but it was causing the heat, tension and anticipation to build inside her. By the time he finally used his tongue, she was hot, ready and aching.
She eased her wrist out of his grip so she could lift her hands, first one and then the other, and slide them around his neck. Cait desperately wanted some body-to-body contact, but his injured ribs were like a chastity belt. Which she might have considered a good thing, had parts of her not started to whine for more.
No way had she expected more, but Hayes managed it. He turned her, putting her back to the wall next to the closet, and he deepened the kiss even more. Their tongues met and fooled around, imitating what Cait wanted the rest of their bodies to be doing. But, no, she reminded herself. The “chastity belt” injury would keep this a PG-rated making out.
She soon learned that Hayes could do plenty with PG stuff. While she couldn’t touch him, he touched her, and he did some hand sliding over the front of her shirt that had her moaning in pleasure. Since his mouth was still on her, the sound mingled with the kiss as his hand mingled with her breasts.
Just as he’d done at the start of the kiss, he kept his touch light. She was certain it was a clever ploy to make her want more. And it worked. Yep. Her breasts began to whine for more, specifically for skin-on-skin contact, and even though she wasn’t what anyone would call busty, her girls felt ready to spill out of her bra in hopes of contact.
Hayes gave the girls what they wanted. That clever hand pushed its way beneath her shirt. Onto her stomach. Then higher. Her bra was obviously child’s play for him because he flicked open the front clasp and brushed his fingers over her nipples.
Oh, the pleasure of it all. It was enough to make her melt into a puddle of something. More important, it was something that could make her beg.
“Chastity belt” ribs, she reminded herself.
Plus, it didn’t seem right that she was the one on the receiving end of all of these pleasure spikes. Hayes should be getting his share, too. Cait would have told him that, too, but then he lowered his head, shoved up her top and replaced his fingers with his mouth.
She forgot all about the reminder. Forgot her own name, what planet she was on and possibly how to breathe. Hayes could do all of that with some tongue kisses to her nipples. Sucking, tugging tongue kisses.
“Phone,” he said, lifting his head.
Cait nearly whimpered at the loss of contact, and it took her several long moments to fight through the lust haze and realize what he was saying. And what she was hearing.
Her phone was ringing.
It took her even more long moments to remember what to do with a ringing phone. Good grief, Hayes’s mouth had really done a number on her.
Cait dug her phone from her pocket, and once she was able to focus her eyes, she saw Shaw’s name on the screen. “I should take this,” she said, but mentally she was debating if that’s what she was actually going to do.
Hayes solved her dilemma by stepping back. Then, giving her some privacy, he went into the living room. Still within sight, where she could see the snug fit of his well-worn jeans. The equally snug fit of his black tee. He made a picture standing there with his carelessly rumpled hair and “to die for” body. Seeing him like that meant her body revved up again.
“Shaw,” she said when she finally managed to take the call.
Silence for a few seconds. “You sound out of breath.”
Cait frowned because that seemed like a “nosy big brother” kind of comment. One with ESP undertones of, Did I interrupt you doing something you shouldn’t have been doing in the first place?
The answer to that was yes, of course.
“Are you calling me because you know I’m with Hayes?” she came out and asked.
“No.” Shaw’s flat response told her that he’d had no idea Hayes was with her. All right, so maybe n
ot brotherly ESP after all.
More silence, but she could practically feel him scowling. “I’m calling about Adam.”
Oh. Him. She certainly hadn’t forgotten about her nephew. Well, maybe she had a little. “Is he okay?”
“To be determined. His grandmother and I will be tied up with the paperwork for a while longer, and I’m hoping you can drive Adam to San Antonio to pick up some of his things. He also needs to run by his school and clear out his locker since he’ll be taking his courses online. If you leave now, you’ll be able to get to the school while the offices there are still open.”
Cait groaned softly, and with the heat from the lust fading, she felt a punch of guilt. She should have already volunteered to help with the boy, especially since it was her day off.
“Adam’s at the lawyer’s office with us,” Shaw added, obviously waiting for her answer.
“All right,” she finally told him. “I’ll be there to get him after I drop off Hayes.”
“Good.” Then Shaw paused. “Should you be with Hayes?” he pressed.
She glanced at the subject of Shaw’s question. Hayes had his back to her, looking at the pictures on the mantel. He could manage to look rock-star hot even while doing something as mundane as that. And maybe it was all the hotness that made her answer easy.
“No,” Cait said. She shouldn’t be with Hayes.
But that for darn sure wasn’t going to stop her.
CHAPTER TEN
Are we still on for our date tonight? Hayes texted Cait. If so, I can pick you up in about thirty minutes.
Normally, he would have put his phone away and waited for a reply, but he watched the screen. Waiting. And expecting her to tell him that something had come up and that she’d have to cancel.
Again.
Cait had had to bow out of their date that should have been the night before because she’d needed to take Kinsley to a parent/teacher deal at the school. The old saying of it taking a village to raise a child was true, but in this case the village was the Jameson clan. All her siblings and her mom had been busy, so Cait had stepped up to do it. And had therefore rescheduled their Friday date for tonight—Saturday.
Hayes didn’t have to guess that Cait was having second and third thoughts about going out with him. The fact that she’d avoided him confirmed it. Now that she wasn’t under the influence of their kissing session, she had probably come to her senses and remembered that he was bad news.
He was.
And he was especially bad news for Cait, but that didn’t stop him from wanting her.
Still watching his phone screen for the little dots to indicate she was texting him back, he went downstairs to the kitchen to grab a Coke. From the sewing room just up the hall, he could hear the chatter. Em and his sisters. They were apparently putting the final touches on the wedding dresses. Of course, they’d supposedly done that two days ago, so he figured there’d be more “finals” to come.
Outside, there was a low rumble of thunder, and the thin drops of rain began to hit against the kitchen window. A storm was moving in. Maybe that wasn’t some kind of bad omen of—
His hand jerked when his phone dinged with the text message. Yes, we’re still having dinner, Cait texted. I’ll be there with bells on.
He smiled and felt the relief release some of the tension that had settled in his chest. She wasn’t going to ditch him. Well, maybe not. A lot of things could happen in a half hour.
Sipping his Coke, he looked at the magnetic calendar that Em had on the fridge. The wedding date was framed with a red heart, and Em had even done a countdown to the big date. Just two weeks away. Not long. Especially considering things still weren’t resolved with Sunshine.
His mother had given them another week to agree to her terms before she claimed she would release Ivy’s emails. What Sunshine hadn’t done was spell any of this out in the phone conversations that Hayes and Ivy’s parents had recorded. Sunshine had been sly, using phrases like I’ll have to do what we’ve already discussed.
In other words, his bitch of a mother would drag Ivy’s name through the tabloid mud. Hayes didn’t need another reason to despise Sunshine, but that was one in spades. Of course, Ivy was in a place where she didn’t have any worries about tabloids and Sunshine, but there’d be casualties in this particular Sunshine war. Her parents for sure. But also Hayes and anyone who’d cared for Ivy. It ate away to have someone you loved used this way.
He looked up when he heard the footsteps and saw Hadley walk in. She had her phone sandwiched between her shoulder and ear and was doing some stitches on...well, something that didn’t look as if it had anything to do with a wedding. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was a small hat in the shape of a duck’s head. The yellow brim was the duck’s bill.
“All right,” she said to the person on the other end of the line. “I love you, too, Boo Boo.”
“I’m guessing that wasn’t Leyton,” he remarked when she put her phone away. “He’s not the Boo Boo type.”
“Nope. He’s the hot-sex type.”
It was good to hear, and see, his sisters happy, but especially this one. Hadley had been through more hell and back than the others, and it had taken her a long time to find her way back to her former teenage love, Leyton.
“I was talking to Bailey,” she explained. The child Hadley had carried as a surrogate. “And this is what she wants to wear as part of her flower-girl outfit for the wedding. She’s gotten obsessed with the Slackers books.”
That made sense since Sunny was the illustrator for those books. Ironically, Marty was the author of those books, something that he’d only recently spilled to the family. But a duck hat definitely wasn’t traditional flower-girl attire. Still, this probably wouldn’t be a traditional wedding, so it would probably fit in just fine.
Hayes hadn’t actually seen the dresses, but he’d heard Em say something about them not being “cookie-cutter” and that they matched the personalities of each of the brides. Hayes had visions of McCall looking like a fairy princess, Sunny wearing something simple and sleek, and Hadley wearing black leather.
Hadley grabbed a Coke, too, and sat at the table to continue sewing the duck bill. “We’re having pizza delivered from the diner,” she said. “Should we order some for you, or is Cait going through with the date?”
Smiling in such a way that would have made a lovesick teen proud, he showed her Cait’s confirmation text.
Hadley shrugged. “I guess she blew off the advice that her brothers gave her.”
“What advice?” Hayes questioned.
“That she should treat you like a case of typhoid and run the other direction,” Hadley answered without hesitation.
“Harsh,” he grumbled.
She eyed him over the Coke she was sipping. “And what would you have told McCall, Sunny and me if we’d accepted a date with an actor with your shady reputation?”
“The same,” he readily admitted. “But my reputation is more hype than shady. I haven’t been with a woman in months.” And he hated that the particular dry spell might be playing into this aching need he had for a smart-mouthed deputy. Of course, feelings might be playing into it, too.
Plenty of feelings.
Those were things he was going to have to sort out, and he’d tried to convince himself that the sorting out should happen before falling into bed with her. Unfortunately, he knew he would fail. If Cait offered him the fall, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself.
His sister studied him for several moments and then said, “Ivy. You haven’t been with a woman since her death,” she concluded.
Bingo, and even he wasn’t slick enough to convince himself that the two things weren’t tied together. “FYI, it was the truth when I told you that Ivy and I were never lovers.”
Hadley nodded. “I know.” She paused again. “But I’m guessing the emails that the she-bi
tch has access to will make it seem as if you were.”
Oh, yeah. Then there would be the speculation that he’d been the father of the child she’d lost, and things would blow up all over again. Having a bad reputation played well with Outlaw Rebels, but Hayes didn’t want that slung around on his real life.
“I still think I should pay a visit to the she-bitch,” Hadley threw out there. “I might be able to convince her to back off.”
He couldn’t have possibly given her a flatter look. “You’ll end up arrested and maybe in jail for your wedding. No, you’re not risking that. I have one other ace up my sleeve that might work.”
Might was a stretch, though. It had a thin chance of working.
“Care to tell me what you have?” Hadley asked.
Hayes shook his head. “Let’s wait and see if it’ll be necessary. Ivy’s parents might be able to legally stop Sunshine.”
Again, the injunction Ivy’s folks were trying to get was a stretch, but Hayes was going with a glass half-full on this. He wasn’t sure if he could credit his meds for helping him with that outlook or if he’d just grown weary over allowing Sunshine’s crap to ruin his day.
He brushed a kiss on the top of Hadley’s head. “Let Em know I’m heading out.”
“Good luck tonight with Cait,” she murmured, and then she slid her hand over his, gave it a gentle squeeze. Hadley’s eyes met his. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not an asshole.”
That was likely Hadley’s version of a glass half-full. “Thanks.”
She held on to his hand a moment longer. Kept the eye contact, too. “So, because you’re not an asshole, I’m sure it’s occurred to you that you can’t just diddle around with Cait and walk away as if it doesn’t matter. Because it will matter to her.”
And there it was. Not a glass half-empty but the truth.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
With that sobering thought giving him some gloom and doom, Hayes headed out to Cait’s. Even though his motorcycle had finally been fixed and delivered to the ranch, he didn’t use it. Not with the rain already starting and with his ribs still a little tender. Instead, he used Em’s truck, but he hadn’t even gotten it in gear when his phone dinged with a text.
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