So that he wouldn’t argue with her about that one-finger deal, she just kept kissing him, just kept moving them toward her bedroom. She had a split second of regret that she hadn’t done that “freshening up” since that would have included picking up her things that were scattered around. But only a split second. Because the heat from the kisses distracted her from any regret she had about her housekeeping skills.
When they’d kissed their way to the bed, she eased him down to a sitting position. He hooked his one designated finger behind her badge and pulled her down with him until she was straddling him. All in all, not a bad position for her. Hayes must have thought so, too, because he shifted his hips, pushing his erection right into the center of her spread legs.
Cait got a fire shower of pure undiluted lust.
It was so strong that it blurred her vision, robbed her of her breath. And nearly made her forget that she needed to take it easy with him.
Best not to strip off his clothes in a heated rush or she could hurt him. So, slowly, she went after the bottom of his T-shirt, easing it up, up, up until she had it over his head. She watched for wincing or any signs of pain, but that wasn’t the look of pain in his eyes. Nope. Hayes had gotten a fire shower of lust, too.
He played dirty, though, skimming his finger over the front of her jeans, going lower. Then lower. So low that he was giving her a modified hand job—with just his finger. Since she wanted this to be mutual torture for both of them, she went after his zipper.
And she didn’t use just a finger.
Cait slid her entire hand down into his boxers and gave him a dose of his own medicine. He was huge and hard, and touching him only made the ache spread inside her. An ache that demanded release now.
“We need to get naked,” she insisted.
She climbed off him, hopping around while she yanked off her boots so she could shimmy her jeans down her legs. Her top went next, and she sent it flying over her shoulder. Cait had reached to open the front hook of her bra when she realized Hayes was just sitting there watching her.
He grinned at her. “Keep going. You’ve got on your borderline-porn panties.”
Cait glanced down at the red swatch of barely-there lace. She hadn’t made a conscious decision to wear them. They’d literally been on the top of the heap in her laundry basket of clean clothes.
“I got dressed when I was still half-asleep,” she muttered. That explained the non-matching peach bra.
Apparently, Hayes didn’t mind the clashing color combination, because his smile had a definite “I’m going to take a greedy bite out of you” look to it. Cait would have been looking at him the same way if he’d stripped, too.
“Let me help you get naked,” she insisted.
She went to him, dropping to her knees so she could take off his boots and socks. The jeans were trickier, but that’s because he took hold of them when she tried to drag them off him. He stopped her and retrieved a condom from the pocket.
“Because the heart doesn’t always make better choices than the brain,” he drawled.
No, it didn’t, and she was glad he’d remembered something as monumental as safe sex. She had some condoms in her bathroom, but they’d been in there so long that it was best not to risk using them.
Cait finished tugging off the jeans and reached for his boxers. Why they weren’t ripping at the seams from his erection, she didn’t know, but Hayes was definitely testing the limits of the fabric. She reached to pull them down, but he stopped her with that damn index finger. It landed against her stomach.
His gaze slid from her face all the way down to where he was touching. Then lower.
“You obviously like borderline-porn panties,” she said, resisting the urge to fan herself. Or just jump him where he sat.
“I like a lot of things about you.” There it was again. That sexy drawl with just the right amount of gravel and sin. Heavy on the sin.
While he held her in place with his finger, he leaned in and kissed that tiny red swatch of lace. Oh, and he used his tongue. And his breath. A lot of breath. It didn’t seem to matter that there was fabric between her and his tongue and breath. Cait could feel it as well as if he were inside her.
She stood there, her legs turning to jelly and the rest of her turning to lava, and she slipped her fingers into his thick hair, anchoring him. Taking everything that he was dishing out. Thankfully, though, she remembered that this was not how she wanted things to end.
“I want to use that condom,” she mumbled.
“Sorry, but I plan to use it.” He chuckled at his lame joke, and the breath from his laugh nearly made her come.
Cait fisted her hand in his hair, and since it wasn’t anywhere near his sore ribs, she gave it a hard tug. Hard enough to get his mouth away from the front of her panties. Before he could go back to finish her off, she distracted him by unhooking her bra.
His eyes went straight to her breasts as they spilled out, and he had her right nipple in his mouth before she could even work the bra off her. Damn, the man was superfast. Cait tried to be faster because there was no way she was going to last much longer if he continued to locate all the hot spots on her body. Her breasts were definitely hot spots.
She wiggled out of her panties. And, yeah, she noticed that it distracted him, too. He would have probably resumed the kisses there, but she took hold of his erection to get his attention.
It got his attention.
“I want these boxers off you,” she said, “but let’s take it easy so your ribs—”
Hayes shucked off his boxers in one fluid motion. He didn’t stop there. He tore open the condom and got that sucker on. Still not stopping, he pulled her onto his lap. Cait wasn’t sure how he got the positioning right so fast, but he pushed into her with one long, hard stroke.
That got her attention.
Time didn’t stop, probably, but it felt as if everything inside her pinpointed to that exact spot where they were joined. Pinpointed and erupted into a need so bad that she wanted to beg him to give her more.
Hayes gave her more. And more. He hooked his arm around her hips, sliding her forward to match the movements of those strokes inside her.
Their gazes met. Held. And even with the maddening, rhythmic strokes, he lifted his free hand, extended his index finger, and he traced it, slowly, from her mouth. To her neck.
To her breasts.
His touch was so light, a complete contrast to the hard thrusts, and he followed an invisible line to her stomach. Below her navel. Then lower. That one finger touched her in just the right spot.
Until the pinpoint built, built, built. Until she gave in to that building.
Until she’d gotten exactly what she wanted from Hayes Dalton.
* * *
HAYES COULDN’T HELP but notice that Cait napped with snark. There was no other word for it.
She’d crashed shortly after they’d had sex, collapsing on the mattress next to him, but she quickly turned into a bed hog. She shifted, twisted and turned until she was not only out of his arms but sprawled out. Obviously, the sex had relaxed her, and she was getting the sleep that had eluded them since they’d started lusting after each other.
No sleep for Hayes, though.
He was wide-awake, and his thoughts were going a mile a minute. Thoughts that weren’t compatible with taking a nap, even if he did desperately need one.
Having sex with Cait had been inevitable. And it’d damn sure felt like a necessity. However, that didn’t ease the guilt he was already feeling. Guilt that he’d known he would have, but it hadn’t stopped him from coming over to her house and letting her haul him off to bed. All in all, she’d done a damn fine job of hauling, too, but now he had to face the consequences that he’d known from the start would be there.
Because soon, he’d have to walk away from her.
Hayes had gone ove
r and over this, too. The leaving. He couldn’t stay here. Even if Outlaw Rebels was canceled, his life and his work were in California. Soon, he’d have to return to the set to finish out the scenes that had been put on hold when he’d been given the order to leave town and get his shit together. His shit still wasn’t together, but this was probably as good as he was going to get.
With that dismal thought making him feel even lower than he already did, Hayes eased from the bed without waking Cait. It wasn’t hard to do because she apparently slept like the dead. Gathering up his clothes, he made his way to her bathroom so he could take a quick shower. First, though, he looked back at her.
Bad idea.
Cait was sprawled out naked on the bed, the quilt only covering her stomach. That meant he had no trouble seeing the rest of her. Her breasts. The curve of her hips. Her long, lean legs. And the rest of her.
She wasn’t surgically perfect as so many people in his profession were, but her body was still amazing, and looking at her made him ache for her all over again. That’s why Hayes forced his attention away and had that shower. A cold one. It didn’t help, but then he hadn’t thought water had the power to shed him of his need. A need that should have been sated but wasn’t.
Keeping as quiet as he could, he dressed and considered how to handle his exit. No way would he leave her a note. Cait deserved better than that. But he needed to get out of there so that he wouldn’t be tempted to have another round of sex with her. While that would no doubt be as amazing as her body, he couldn’t let this turn into a nonstop fling.
He went back in the bedroom to wake her, to give her a goodbye kiss, but waking wasn’t required. Cait was sitting up in bed, and she’d adjusted the quilt so that it covered so many of her interesting parts. Not the most interesting of all, though—her face. She yawned and gave him a sleepy smile.
“Sorry that I zonked out on you,” she muttered.
Her smile faded, though, when she saw his expression. Hayes had tried not to look horny, troubled or anything else. He’d wanted blank, but apparently Cait saw right through that.
“Uh-oh.” She pushed her hair away from her face. “Regret’s a cold hard bitch, isn’t it?”
Hayes almost wished the conversation wasn’t this honest. A good facade would have gotten him out of there faster and with less emotion. But this was Cait. She wasn’t big on facades.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
She flashed him another smile. “That’s my line. That’s why I didn’t want you doing any heavy lifting or hauling. How are your ribs, by the way?”
“They’re fine.” They were, not much pain at all, but he would have given her that answer even if he’d been in agony. Hayes didn’t want to add to any regrets she might be feeling.
She sighed, and holding the quilt against her, she stood, and dragging it along, she went to him. Cait gave him a quick kiss. “Sometimes, the heart really does make better choices than the brain.”
Thinking this was going to be the start of a list of reasons why they should give this relationship a chance to bloom, Hayes silently groaned, but he would hear her out. Then maybe he could counter those reasons with his brain.
“And I think your heart is telling you to leave,” she went on, “so that you won’t have to say something you think will hurt me.”
Oh. So, not a “giving this a chance” remark.
Cait took a deep breath before she continued, “You’ll be around for another week and a half. So, I say we just have sex—rely on the heart—and not get too bogged down in this.”
He gave that some thought. Yeah, he was bogging down, all right. And a little confused. “Having sex isn’t relying on the heart,” he pointed out.
With a wicked smile, she lifted her index finger and ran it from his mouth. To his neck. To his heart. Then lower. She tapped the front of his jeans, using just that single finger. It was as effective as a BJ.
“The heart is closer to here than the brain,” she argued, giving his quickly forming erection another tap.
Closer, definitely, and his brain was already moving to shut off. To jump right back into another round of sex. And that was exactly what he would have done had Cait not given him another one of those quick kisses.
“I need to grab a shower and something to eat,” she said. “You can either hang, or I’ll see you when I see you.”
It was the perfect laid-back “off the hook” thing to say. And the worst thing, too. Because it made him think he’d overrated what he meant to her. Of course, she could be fudging her feelings. She might be crying inside. If so, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it. Not an especially good job, though, of covering her ass. When she walked toward the bathroom, turning her back to him, Hayes got a full view of her naked bottom.
That gave him a quick nudge of heat. But he resisted. Barely.
“I’ll head out,” he told her, and because he couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t sexual, he repeated her. “I’ll see you when I see you.”
If his dick had its way, the seeing would happen sooner rather than later.
Hayes ignored what felt like an invitation to join Cait when he heard the shower come on, and he forced himself to get moving out of the house and back to Em’s truck. However, he hadn’t even started the engine when his phone rang.
Sunshine.
Now his groan wasn’t silent, but it was a call he had been expecting. And one that he shouldn’t put off. Bracing himself for whatever shit his mother was about to dole out, Hayes hit Answer.
“I need a meeting with you,” she said, her voice an order, not a request. “Just with you,” she added. “I don’t want to deal with your grandmother and your sisters right now.”
He scowled. “Is that because you think I’ll be an easier sell? Because if so, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“No, it’s because I want to have a conversation without all of the arguing and the attitude.”
“You deserve the attitude and arguing,” he pointed out.
“Maybe, but I think you and I both want to end this stalemate.” Sunshine continued before Hayes could speak. “Meet me tomorrow at noon at the sign for Lone Star Ridge. Not in town limits but on the other side of the sign.”
“High noon?” Hayes grumbled. “Have you been watching too many old Westerns?”
“No. But we’re going to settle this stalemate once and for all.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CAIT STOOD IN her mother’s living room and waited for Marty to arrive. Everyone else was in place. Shaw, Austin, Adam and Lenore were seated on the various chairs, sofa and love seat. Leyton, too, even though both Cait and he hadn’t been invited.
As if a non-invitation would have kept them away.
Both of them wore badges. Leyton even had on his shoulder holster, complete with his gun that he’d never drawn in the line of duty. Cait had her tiny can of Mighty Hold hair spray that she’d stuffed in the back pocket of her jeans. She’d never drawn it, either, but there was a first time for everything. If anyone deserved a good dousing with hair spray, it was Marty. The fumes might finally knock some sense into him.
Kinsley had opted out of this particular family delight and was at school instead. The triplets had chosen to stay away, as well. Wise women, indeed. They’d already had enough of their own family drama without taking on a steaming heap of dung from the sperm donor of their soon-to-be husbands.
Cait was looking forward to the steaming heap of this confrontation but wished she were feeling at least a little mean so that she’d be ready for this family gathering with Marty. Mean always helped her get through facing her father, but she just wasn’t in a mean state of mind today.
She could blame Hayes for that.
Or rather thank him for that.
She’d finally gotten to have sex with him, and despite the restrictions of his injury, Haye
s had been everything she’d thought he would be. Not just before and during, either, but also after.
Cait had seen the worry practically oozing off him after he’d left her bed. He was a good man, and good men didn’t like to dick around with women. Well, dick around with them in the sense of breaking hearts. Normal dicking was often their specialty. It sure had been in Hayes’s case.
But a good man and good sex couldn’t stop the inevitable.
A broken heart was already tapping her on the shoulder, but she was hoping Hayes would do some other tapping, as well. She might have to talk him into returning to her bed, though. Maybe that wouldn’t be that hard to do once they’d both settled their family businesses. Hers with Marty and his with Sunshine.
“Say, maybe we could try to get Marty and Sunshine together,” Cait remarked. “Then they can screw over each other as often as they want.”
Her comment was met with blank stares and a muffled chuckle from Adam. Cait was liking the kid more each day and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Sunshine’s welcome to him,” Lenore grumbled, but she perked up, too. A fake kind of perking up, though, because she obviously remembered Adam was hearing every word spoken in the room.
Cait had to hand it to her mom. Lenore was no doormat, but she usually managed to keep the Marty bad-mouthing to a minimum. It was hard to understand why Lenore bothered to do that, though. Marty had messed her over by cheating on her and then walking out, leaving her to raise the kids he so easily fathered and now grandfathered. Maybe Lenore just didn’t want to add more ill will or bad blood, and Cait wished she knew the secret of how to make that happen in her own life. Her father was always going to be a painful pimple on her ass.
And apparently the pimple had arrived, because Cait heard the sound of a vehicle approaching the ranch.
Showtime.
“Don’t arrest him before he’s had a chance to say what he’s come here to say,” Shaw advised her. Cait noted that Shaw hadn’t given the same warning to the more levelheaded Leyton. “And keep your cursing PG-rated. We don’t need Adam learning any new words.”
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