AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Loving you.” Mercilessly she persisted until his breathing against her neck was ragged with desire.
“Darling, if you… you don’t stop… ah, Leigh… I won’t be able to.”
“I don’t want you to.” She adjusted her body to his, accommodating his instinctive initial thrust.
A long, shuddering sigh shook him as he delved into the silken realm. “You take me so completely. So tightly. So perfectly.”
He was right. It was perfect.
* * *
“No kitchen should be without one,” he said into her ear after pushing her hair out of the way with his nose. His arms came from behind her to brace against the countertop and pin her between.
“Without what?” she laughed, wringing out the sponge she had been using at the sink to wash their breakfast dishes.
“Without a sexy-as-all-get-out cook.” His mouth opened over the skin of her neck and teased it with his tongue.
“You smell good,” she said, laying her head against his shoulder and turning her face into his throat.
“I availed myself of your shower and razor before I got Sarah up.” Her ear was being analyzed in detail by his inquisitive mouth. “Luckily I had a change of clothes in the car.” He was wearing jeans and another plaid cowboy shirt. She could tell he had his boots on. They always made him an inch or so taller.
“Thanks for letting me sleep late.”
“Well, I thought it was the gentlemanly thing to do. I kept you up half the night.”
“You were up half the night, too,” she quipped naughtily, rubbing her hips against him.
He smacked her jeans-clad fanny. “You’ve got a saucy mouth, too.” Apparently his hand couldn’t think of a good reason to leave what it found so interesting. It stayed to caress the firm, round muscles of her bottom. “But I like your sense of humor. As a matter of fact,” he growled in her ear, “I like just about everything about you. This, for instance.” He squeezed her lightly. “And the way you feel against me.”
He stepped closer and fit his middle against her hips. “See what a match that is?” he asked seductively. Leigh sighed and leaned back against his chest. “We haven’t even got to the good parts yet.” His hands slid around her waist, up over her rib cage to fondle her breasts. Only the soft cotton of her T-shirt covered them. “Tell me when to stop,” he said as he massaged her.
“Never.”
“Never? Hmm… so you’ve decided to keep me around after all?”
Chapter Seven
She stood upright and swiveled around to face him in one swift motion. “I didn’t mean it that way, Chad.”
He folded his hands around her face and impaled her with his compelling eyes. “Then what did you mean?”
With effort, she tore her gaze from his. “I don’t know,” she sighed. “I do know we’re attracted to one another, Chad, and we’ve shared a precious moment together—the birth of Sarah. But that’s not enough.”
The corners of his mouth shifted into a frown. “I explained why I didn’t tell you about my job, Leigh.”
“Oh, I know, Chad.” She buried her face in the warmth of his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Give me time. Please. I still can’t reconcile your career with my own future. When Greg died, I swore I’d never get involved with a man whose work was dangerous. Don’t you see? I can’t risk losing the man I love a second time—I just can’t.”
He gripped her shoulders hard. “You wouldn’t be risking that. I swear it. It’s ridiculous to cling to a resolution you made long before we met. We belong together, Leigh. I’ll do everything in my power to convince you that you should marry me. I won’t pressure you, but you’ll say yes, sooner or later. I won’t give up until you do.”
He started his campaign with a kiss so earnest that Leigh almost capitulated immediately. But she broke away from him before the persuasion of his mouth became too hard to resist.
Leigh turned her back to him and braced her hands on the countertop. She struggled against the weakness stealing over her, struggled against succumbing to his appeal.
“Don’t you have to go to work today?” she asked, hoping to divert him.
“I called in this morning. As long as they know” At her wince, he paused, then went on calmly. “As long as they know where to reach me, I have a few days to myself. Do you have to work today?”
“I want to stop by the mall to see that the poinsettias have been watered and that no one has tampered with any of the decorations.”
