by Jill Sanders
“Think it was the same someone who hit her with rocks the other week?” Patty asked.
He didn’t even bother asking how she’d heard of the incident at the property. He shrugged and replied, “Sounds like it.” He turned towards the bread aisle. “Got any French bread left?”
“Sure,” Patty called after him. “On the last shelf on the left.”
At this time of night, he and Patty were the only two people in the store. He’d caught her moments before she was going to lock up and head home.
He grabbed a loaf of the freshly made bread and added a few more items to the cart, then paid and headed back upstairs with his arms full.
Hearing the shower running, he took his time putting everything away in his cupboards and then heated up the container of soup his dad had packed for him. At this point, he’d pretty much gone through everything his folks had made for him. Which is why he’d been down at the store getting more supplies when he’d spotted Kara running through the snow.
He’d only had the soup left and had planned on eating it alone that night after everyone had finished helping him move everything into the apartment.
He’d spent almost an hour putting things in place but still, there were boxes of his things piled along the living room and bedroom walls. He’d finished bringing over his clothes and he’d been correct in his assessment—his items didn’t even take up a quarter of the massive closet.
He heard the shower turn off and smiled at the thought of Kara, naked in his shower. Of being able to fall asleep with her wrapped around him like before.
He almost burned the bread he was heating up in the oven, daydreaming about the coming night with Kara. Thankfully, he remembered it just in time and was pulling it from the oven when she stepped out of the bedroom dressed in tight black leggings and an oversized sweater that hung off her left shoulder.
She’d tied her long-wet hair in an intricate braid that lay over her other shoulder. She’d freshened up her face and no longer looked pale and scared.
He smiled at her. “Feel better?” he asked as she moved over to sit at the bar top.
“Yes, thank you.” She nodded to the bread. “That smells amazing.”
“The soup or the bread?” he joked as he set a bowl in front of her. He set the bread on a wood chopping block and grabbed a knife from the drawer. “How about some wine?” He pulled a bottle of red wine from his fridge. “I just bought this downstairs and it’s not that cold yet, but…” He shrugged.
“It will be perfect,” she assured him as he opened the bottle and poured them each a glass before sitting down next to her with his own bowl of soup. “Man, your dad can cook,” she said after taking the first bite of soup.
He broke off a piece of bread and then dipped it in the soup. “Yeah, it’s a miracle me and my sister and brother didn’t weigh a ton growing up. Then again, when I was eight, I was significantly chubby.”
She chuckled. “I can’t see that.”
“Oh, it’s true. I have the pictures to prove it,” he said between bites.
“I was too skinny and too tall,” she replied with a frown. “Boys used to make fun of me all the time. Well, at least until they finally outgrew me in junior high.”
“Most girls grow up faster than boys. I remember when Riley used to be as tall as I was.”
She almost choked on a bite. “What is Riley? All of five-two?”
He chuckled. “Five-four and I hit six foot at eighteen.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re what? Six-five now?”
“Six-four. I grew another inch just last year. My uncle Aaron claims that most men don’t stop growing until their mid-twenties.” He shrugged. “Boys are stupid if they make fun of girls because they grow faster than us.”
“Oh, like you never made fun of your sister or cousins?” She nudged him on the leg, causing him to smile.
“Oh, I made fun of them plenty of times, but never about their height. I guess I always figured I’d eventually be taller than them. After all, it runs in the family.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “It must have been wonderful growing up with so many kids in the family.”
“At times, yes.” He was more interested in watching her than remembering all the good times growing up. “What about you?”
“As I’ve mentioned, our cousins didn’t live too far from us, but they were… well, boys.” She rolled her eyes and held in a chuckle.
He smiled. “You know, that’s one thing the Jordan clan never had issues with. The whole boys versus girls issue. I suppose it was my aunt Lacey’s doing. She insisted on showing us that anything a boy could do, she and any of the girls could do as well.”
“Even become Mayor?” Kara added.
“Especially that,” he added with a laugh. “Do you know, she’s been the best thing for Pride. The budget has been balanced every year she’s been in office, and the growth of the town has been on a steady incline. We aren’t losing businesses like some other small towns.”
“Speaking of that.” Kara pushed her empty bowl away. “I meant to tell you that I can officially say it was Thomas Carson who bumped into me a few weeks ago and posed as a lawyer.”
He tensed. “It was? How do you know?”
“I pulled up a picture from the C&C Investment website.”
“Okay, so, what? Pose as a lawyer to…” He shook his head trying to run over the reasons. “I don’t get it.”
“Neither did we. Robin thinks he’s wanting to do a time-share scam in Pride. You know, build a bunch of condos and a resort and then sell them off to multiple people who only get to visit one week out of the year. Half the time the place sits empty because people don’t travel or decide to go somewhere else.”
“Time shares aren’t really scams. I mean, legally they’re allowed,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, I get that, but in Pride?” She shook her head. “I just can’t see it.”
“Okay, let’s set that aside for a moment. The real question that we should be asking is why he was snooping around your land, posing as a lawyer? Has he come back since then?”
“No.” She shook her head and tucked one of her legs underneath her as she sipped her wine. “You don’t think that was him in the truck, do you?”
He thought about it, about what Aiden had told him about the man and shook his head. “From what I’ve heard, Carson doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. Most likely, he’s hired someone. Which is why I’m surprised he was the one to stop by and talk to you himself. It just doesn’t add up. The last my uncle heard from the guy, he was sniffing around some land out by the state park.” He thought about it, then decided that he didn’t want the rest of his time with Kara to be spoiled. “What do you say we take the wine and brownies I bought over to the sofa and watch a movie, then neck a little,” he said with a grin.
She chuckled. “I like that idea.” Just as they got up to move over to the sofa, her cell phone rang.
“It’s Robin,” she said with a frown. “I… didn’t call her when I got here.” She answered it and stepped into the bedroom for some privacy. From what he could gather, her sister was upset at what had happened.
Since he had time, he called Aiden to get an update.
“Any updates?” he asked when Aiden answered.
“No,” Aiden answered with a sigh. “We’ve been all over Pride and short of a few tire marks in the snow, haven’t spotted anything. They could be on the other side of Edgeview by now. But we’ll keep looking.”
“Good. Hey…” He glanced towards the bedroom door. “Just another update. Kara told me that Carson paid her a visit two weeks ago. He posed as a lawyer with a client interested in purchasing their land.”
“Seriously?” Aiden said. “When was this?”
Conner thought about it and gave him the date. “Kara said it was during one of the events at the barn and that she’d run into him on the pathway between the cottage and the venue.” He walked over to look out over the snow-cover
ed town and saw a patrol car drive slowly by. Everyone in town had pretty much called it a night at this point. Even Patty had left to go home, leaving the store beneath his feet dark. Only the streetlights and the patrol car showed life outside his window. The snow was too thick to see a few feet past the last streetlamp or beyond the buildings.
“Guess we need to find out why he’s interested in their place now too. I’ll talk to Todd in the morning,” Aiden added.
“How’s construction on your place going?” Conner asked, changing the subject.
“Slow, now that the weather has come in. But they’re getting most of it done. Might be in it by Christmas. I heard you’ll be building up in Hidden Cove?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I might be in by next Christmas.”
“Well, until then, the apartment is a great place. I have fond memories of living there,” Aiden added.
“Yeah, I’m enjoying it so far.” He heard Kara get off the phone with her sister. “I’ll let you go. Thanks for checking things out tonight.”
“No problem. Oh, and you may want to make sure Kara stays off the streets at night.”
“Will do,” he added before hanging up.
“Did he just say I needed to stay off the streets at night, like I’m some sort of…?” Kara surprised him by being directly behind him.
He jumped a little and winced slightly. “Yeah, um, he didn’t mean…”
“He makes it sound like I was…” She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Listen.” He touched her shoulders and pulled her closer. “Aiden didn’t mean it like that. Trust me. He’s not the smoothest guy I know. I have no idea what Suzie sees in him,” he said with a smile.
Kara’s eyes narrowed. “Then you must be blind. Outside of his rude comments, he’s one of the sexiest men in Pride.”
Conner’s eyebrows shot up as his eyes narrowed. “Oh?”
Kara smiled slightly. “Sure. I mean, if a woman likes the tall, dark, broody, sex-in-a-uniform type.” She shrugged slightly and tilted her head, as if she were thinking about something. “I mean, if he wasn’t a married man…”
“You’d what?” he asked, feeling his defenses go up.
She chuckled. “I’d probably bash his head in after the statement he just made. He made it seem like I was a…” She dropped off again and he waited.
“A what?” he teased.
She narrowed her eyes at him again. “You know what,” she almost hissed.
He laughed and pulled her into a hug.
“So, now that we know what type of man you like… Do I happen to fit into that category?”
“Well, I don’t know. I have yet to see you in a uniform.”
“That could be arranged.” He leaned down and kissed her.
Chapter Nineteen
Okay, so any man who could knock her socks off just kissing her was definingly her type. It had taken her almost half an hour under the very hot spray in his shower to warm herself up earlier. What she should have done was have him kiss her like he was doing now.
Every fiber of her body was sizzling when he finally pulled back and looked down at her.
“So, I know I suggested a movie and brownies…” he said as he ran his eyes over her face. “But what I want to do is take you into the bedroom instead.”
“Great minds think alike,” she said quickly. “I want that too.” She smiled as she took his hand and started walking back to his bedroom.
“Everything okay with your sister?” he asked before they got too far.
“Yes,” she answered with a sigh. “Conner?” She turned towards him after stepping into his bedroom.
“Hm?” he asked, his hands going to her hips as his body bumped up against hers.
“Let’s not talk about my sister right now.” She reached up on her toes to kiss him again. The way his hands were running over her hips had her melting in his arms. Her fingernails dug into his muscular shoulders, pulling him towards the bed in the middle of the room.
She noticed that he finally had a bed frame put together but had yet to move it up against a wall.
When the back of her legs bumped up against the mattress, she laughed as she started falling backwards.
Their bodies landed in a heap as he continued to hold onto her.
“That was smooth.” He groaned. “Sorry about that. I forgot I hadn’t moved the bed to the wall yet.”
She held on and smiled up at him. “It’s okay. I was getting too heated anyway.” She ran a finger over his stubble-covered chin.
“I would have shaved if I’d known you were coming over.” He ran his fingertip over her chin. “I’m scratching you.” He moved to get up.
“No.” She held him in place, enjoying his weight pinning her down. “I like it.” She ran her hand over his face now. “It’s sexy. Besides, it makes you look forbidden and manly.” She wiggled her eyebrows, causing him to chuckle.
Then she was pulling him back down and kissing him.
“I’ve wanted you here, in my bed,” he said against her neck as he ran his mouth over her skin.
He nudged her sweater further down her shoulder and trailed kisses over her exposed skin as his hands moved up under the sweater, cupping her.
A moan of delight escaped her lips as he played with her nipples, causing them to stand erect for him.
“Conner,” she sighed as she wrapped her legs around his hips. She pulled him closer to her as she pulled his shirt over his head so she could enjoy running her hands over his toned muscles and tan skin. She didn’t know how he was still so tan at this point but enjoyed licking her way up his shoulder to start nibbling on his ear as his hands moved lower and tugged the leggings down her hips.
Then he cupped her, and she arched into his hand. His name was a sigh from her lips as he slid a finger into her slick pussy. She’d wanted him, wanted this, since the last time they’d been together. She’d dreamed about being with him every night since then.
“Hang onto me,” he groaned as he shifted slightly so that he could suck her nipple into his mouth. His fingers moved with the same rhythm of his mouth on her breast. “Let go,” he begged as she felt herself building. Then he scraped his teeth across her puckered skin and stars exploded behind her eyes as she fell.
Her entire body was lax, and she could only hear her heart beating rapidly in her head along with her labored breathing. Then she felt him shift over her and slowly slide into her.
“Kara,” he whispered into her ear as he moved above her. “My god. You feel so good.” He pulled back and looked down at her.
Reaching up, she tangled her fingers into his hair and pulled him back down to her lips. Pouring all of her feelings into this one kiss, she let it all go and held onto him as she gave him everything.
She must have fallen asleep shortly after her second release and didn’t stir until Conner’s alarm went off shortly after four in the morning.
“I thought you didn’t have to work today?” She groaned.
He rolled over and shut the buzzing sound off. “They called me last night and asked if I’d fill in on some offshore training drills for Reagan, who is out sick.” He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face.
She watched him, curious as to his morning rituals. Even though she was dog tired, she surmised that he wasn’t going to kick her out because he had to leave. Rolling over, she watched him wobble to the bathroom and tried not to chuckle when she overheard him hit something and curse.
“You okay?” she asked.
His mumbled response caused her to smile. She rolled over and must have fallen asleep again. This time when she woke, Conner was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at her.
“What are your plans for the morning?” he asked, running his hand over her hip.
“Right now, I’m going to spend as much time as possible enjoying the quiet and this massive bed.” She stretched her arms over her head, exposing her breasts since she was still naked under the blankets.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “It was there and… well.” He grinned down at her. “Man, I wish I could crawl back in there with you and spend the entire day making love to you.”
She felt her heart kick a beat as she moaned and arched into his hands.
“Call in sick,” she said softly.
He sighed and dropped his hand as he looked at her face. “Can’t. Promise me something?”
She tried not to pout as her skin cooled where his hands had just been. “What?” She figured that if he touched her or kissed her again, she’d promise him anything.
But his eyes grew more focused. “Don’t walk home by yourself.” His hand went to her face and gently cupped her chin. “Promise me.”
She nodded as she swallowed the lump in her throat at the intense look in his blue eyes.
“I can swing by during my lunch break and take you back home. If you want, we can grab some lunch together?”
That sounded really good, so she nodded again. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her thoroughly, melting her further to his mattress.
“You’ll wait here?” he asked and, since she couldn’t think any further, she nodded in agreement.
“Good, now go back to sleep.” He kissed her again before getting up and leaving her there to dream about him.
The next time she woke, light was streaming in the bedroom window and her cell phone was ringing. Without looking at the screen, she answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Kara, where are you?” her sister asked, a little breathless.
Kara pried one of her eyes open and looked around. She knew where she was but just wanted to assure herself that last night hadn’t been a dream.
“Conner’s place. Why?”
“I’ll be there in five minutes. There’s been an accident,” Robin said quickly.
Kara sat up and blinked her eyes a few times. “An… who?” She felt her heart drop at the thought of their parents injured.
“I don’t know, but one of the Coast Guard helicopters that had been out on training drills went down in the water,” Robin said, sounding a lot like she was running.
