“You didn’t have to.”
“But I wanted to.”
Even after she’d told him she’d be leaving. When she’d insisted she would raise their babies. When she’d demanded he stay away from her.
“Thank you.”
He just waved her toward the table, where he’d put out the plates her mom had bought. She was so famished that she didn’t hesitate. When he pulled out a chair for her, she softened even more. When he scooped an omelet on her plate, one oozing with spinach and cheese, her mouth watered.
“Milk or orange juice?” he asked.
“Juice,” she said, her eyes closing when she took her first mouthful. “Delicious.”
“Good.”
He didn’t try to talk to her, just continued cooking. He heaped some bacon on her plate next.
Heaven. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she sat there eating. When he finished cooking, an omelet and bacon on his own plate, he took a seat opposite her. She ate so fast it wouldn’t surprise her if she got a stomachache.
“This is great.”
He paused with a forkful halfway to his mouth. “Yes, it is.” He smiled. “Sometimes I surprise myself.”
She looked away because she didn’t want him to see how pleased she was by his presence. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Sunlight backlit his hair. It was one of the few times she’d seen him without a cowboy hat.
“I have no doubt.” He paused for a moment to chew. “But sometimes it’s good to know someone cares.”
She set her fork down, something about his words causing her to look down at her empty plate. He always managed to take her breath away with his kindness.
“I’ll be back to cook you dinner, if that’s okay. I can’t promise much, but it’s the effort that counts.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I told you, I want to.”
“I can cook, too.”
“I’m sure you can.” He smiled after taking another bite. “I’m sure you could hire a cook if you wanted to. You could arrange for a meal service. Go out and get fast food.”
Did he know about her recent addiction? She hoped not. As often as she went, that would be embarrassing.
“The point is I’m here to do all that.”
“Why?” she felt the need to ask.
He set his fork down, met her gaze. “You know, my aunt said something the other day. Said you surprised her. That you were a hard worker despite being born with a silver spoon in your mouth...or words to that effect.”
She didn’t know how to feel about his backhanded compliment. Flattered, she supposed. She had a feeling his aunt wasn’t easily surprised by people.
“But it struck me that she was wrong.”
She stared into his eyes, transfixed.
“You’re not some spoiled little rich girl, are you? Sure, your family loves you, and sure, you were born to wealth, but I have a feeling nothing’s been handed to you over the years, sort of like me.”
Her jaw almost dropped, because he was right, and it was something people never guessed, likely because they would never think the daughter of racing royalty would have to work for something. All they saw was her famous father and his big race team and her own career and presumed it’d all be handed to her. But her father and mother had never handed her anything.
“You’ve had to work hard to get where you are. I’ve only met your dad once, but he doesn’t strike me as the type to let his kid drive for his team unless he or she was damn good at it. But you’re a woman in a man’s world and it’s hard for people to believe you got there on your own merit, that you’re just as good a driver as the men.” He shook his head, his blue eyes turned light by the sun. “People never think that, do they?”
“No,” she whispered. How had he seen her so clearly? Why did the fact that he did, despite all the trouble she’d given him, make her heart swell in a way that was impossible to ignore?
“But this is one instance where you don’t have to do it all on your own.” He leaned forward. “I’m not going to let you push me away anymore, Kait. I’m going to be here every morning, afternoon and night, job permitting. I’m going to take care of you and our babies and when you’re given the all clear to leave, I’ll drive you to North Carolina myself.”
“No, Shane—”
“Shhh.” He got up, went to her side of the table, and suddenly her heart began to pound. “Racing is a team sport. Raising a kid takes a team, too. So we’re going to do it together. I’m not sure how, exactly, but I’m going to make sure that it all works out. You have my word on that.”
She didn’t know what to say. He always took that extra step for her. Marrying her when he didn’t have to. Arranging for her to live on the ranch when he could have told her to find her own place. Protecting her. Caring for her. Loving her.
She stared down at her hands.
Well, not love love. The other kind of love, the kind that made her heart dance and her skin heat and her thighs tingle to the point that she had to press them together.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll drive you up to the house. I’m sure my aunt is expecting you.”
“Shane, wait.”
She didn’t know how much she’d missed touching him until she held out her hand and, God help her, he took it. She felt it again, that connection that was more like touching the live end of a wire. The buzz through her body and the warmth that followed.
“What?” he asked gently.
She swallowed. “I miss you.”
There. She’d said it. As hard as the words had been to admit, she’d put it out there. It wasn’t that she was lonely. She had all the company she wanted on the family ranch. No. It was that she ached for him. Wanted to be with him. Needed to touch him.
She felt him move. A hand cupped her cheek and this...this was what she wanted from him. The soft stroke of his fingers. The warmth of his body next to her own. The knowledge that he wanted her, not because she was Kait Cooper, famous race-car driver, but because he saw her. Her. It was as potent as an aphrodisiac.
“Kait,” he said softly.
He drew her up and she let him. She was tired of fighting it. Tired of having to constantly be on guard. Tired of being Kait Cooper. She just wanted to be Kait. His Kait.
“I’m going to kiss you again, Kait,” he said, staring into her eyes. “But I won’t if you still want me to stay away.”
It was strange because as she stared into his eyes she felt just as on edge, just as aroused, just as full of anticipation as the first night she’d met him.
“Make love to me, Shane.”
Chapter Seventeen
His hands shook as he undressed her. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to him. Probably to a lot of guys, but she was his, and he marveled at the fact that he was the one tugging her T-shirt off. That she arched into him when he worked the button of her jeans. That she closed her eyes when his fingers touched her belly.
He couldn’t resist bending down, inhaling the scent of her. Strawberries.
Don’t kiss her. Not yet.
Because if he kissed her, he’d lose control and he didn’t want that. Today he needed to show her that she wasn’t alone, that she would never be alone.
And so he pulled the straps of her bra off her shoulders, touching her as gently as he could, slowly teasing a reaction out of her. He watched as she closed her eyes and tipped her head back, and for a moment he marveled that he held Kaitlin Cooper in his arms.
“You’re so beautiful,” he told her gently.
She started to shake her head, and he realized she didn’t do so out of humility but because she genuinely didn’t believe him.
“I’ve gotten fat.”
He thought he misheard her at first.
But
when she looked him in the eyes he knew he hadn’t. Her body had changed and it had upset her, but if anything, she looked even more feminine these days. Curvy. Soft. Like a woman.
“You’re perfect.”
To prove his point, he bent down and kissed her belly, marveling that beneath his lips two little lives grew. Her skin was as soft as the petals of a flower. Her belly contracted at the touch of his lips. He moved them lower, kissing her again, smelling her and tasting her, his hands sliding up her bare legs, goose bumps sprouting beneath his touch. He stood, leaning her back and onto the bed. She sank down willingly.
Crazy.
He wanted to touch her all over, but with a gentleness that belied the urgency in his blood. So he told himself to slow down, moved up so he could kiss her, once, twice, as she tilted her head sideways and opened her mouth, and he marveled at how much she always tasted and smelled like strawberries. He palmed her breast, loving how full she was to the touch. His other hand cupped the back of her head, and he swore to the good Lord above, he could go on kissing her all day.
Her hand slipped between them, her fingers working on his buttons, and all the while they kept kissing and kissing, and somehow she got his shirt off and then his jeans and his boots until they were flesh to flesh.
He drew back then. She’d left her hair down and it lay around her head like a skein of silk. Her eyes were the blue of hydrangeas in the summer with a circle of lighter blue around her pupils. They were big, those eyes, and complemented by high cheekbones and the smallest of chins. She was, to him, perfect in every way.
He sank down to kiss her again, shifted his body, and she closed her eyes as their bodies fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. She arched into him and their hips grazed each other. Shane reached for her hands, to hold on to them because it felt like he might fall, and soon he was falling, though he’d told himself to take his time. But with her, there was no such thing as time. There was only her and the taste of her and feel of her and when he heard her cry out, he did, too.
“Shane,” she sighed, arching into him.
Never, not ever, had it been like this with another woman. When he finally came back to earth he found himself staring into her eyes again.
“I wanted to take it slow,” he said.
She smiled. “We never do anything slow.”
He smiled, too. She had a point. So he shifted sideways, pulling her up against him, his chin in her hair.
“It’s not fair,” he heard her say. “All you have to do is touch me and I’m lost.”
He knew how she felt. He’d tried to take it slowly, he really had, but it’d proven impossible.
“I think I should move to North Carolina.”
Though she hadn’t moved, he sensed her shock. It made him draw back to look into her eyes, and in them, he saw surprise and disbelief and maybe even a little fear.
“I know it’s a big move, but I think we should try to make this work. For the babies’ sake.”
Liar, said a little voice in his head. The babies had nothing to do with this. It was all about her...and what they might have together. His aunt was right. Some things were worth taking a chance.
“But—” her eyes searched his own “—what about your life here?”
“The ranch will survive without me.”
“So you would just give it up. Your family. Your job. The ranch.”
“I won’t be giving up my job. I’ll still ride. There are rodeos on the East Coast. And I can find a job at a ranch anywhere.”
“You would do that for me?”
He knew in that instant that he would do anything for her. “If you’ll let me.”
She smiled, a blinding grin unlike any he’d ever seen on her face before, her hand slipping up to cup his face.
“Yes.”
* * *
THE NEWS THAT Shane would be moving to North Carolina did not go over very well, or so Kait thought. That next week, as she worked on the cutting horse show with his aunt, she could tell Shane’s father disapproved. Whenever the two of them were together, he didn’t have a whole lot to say, not that he ever had a lot to say, but still...his disappointment was obvious.
“Don’t let him get you down,” Crystal said, a woman who reminded her so much of her mother she found herself opening up to her more and more. They were standing beneath a tent they’d erected in front of the main barn. Crystal had explained that they always kicked off their annual horse show with a wine-and-cheese meet and greet, so there were dozens of cowboys and cowgirls around them, each holding a glass of wine, some of them with a plate in hand, all of them laughing and smiling and clearly having a good time. She’d never felt like more of an outsider in her life. Horse people, she had decided, were all a little crazy about the animals they loved. Problem was, she didn’t know a thing about them. Ergo, she had nothing in common with anyone other than Shane’s family. Although she would have to admit, it was nice not to be the center of attention. Frankly, she wondered if anyone knew she drove race cars for a living. If they did, they didn’t seem impressed.
“He’ll learn to live with Shane’s decision,” Crystal added.
“I hope so.” For Shane’s sake. She could tell he’d taken his father’s disapproval hard, but Shane’s determination to make their situation work was yet one more thing to admire about him, and she had to admit, lately there was a lot.
He stood off to the side, talking to an older woman with long blond hair and boots that nearly reached her knees. He was laughing at something she had said, his own boots polished, his jeans pressed, the shirt he wore wrinkle-free. This was, she had learned, one of the premier cutting-horse events in the nation. Why that surprised her she had no idea, but she’d learned a lot about the Gillian Ranch and the various businesses over the past week or so. The family wasn’t just wealthy, they were loaded, and yet Shane was so humble and genuinely nice. She’d met people with far less money, sponsors who thought they were all that and a bag of chips, who weren’t half as down to earth.
“You’re being summoned.”
She’d been so deep in thought she hadn’t noticed Shane motioning her over. She smiled a farewell to Crystal and moved to his side.
“No, really,” he was saying to the woman. “She’s actually really famous.”
The woman had a wide smile, but her eyes were full of disbelief. “You drive race cars?”
“I do.”
“In fact,” Shane said. “There’s a big race near LA next weekend. We’re going to go watch her brother race.”
“Wow. I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be,” Kait said. “It’s just a job.”
It was something she said frequently, and yet it’d been nearly two months since she’d been grounded from racing, and she had more of an appreciation for what she did for a living than she’d ever had in her life. She missed it. Terribly. Next weekend would probably be hell. So close to what she loved and yet so far.
“Well, I’m impressed,” the woman said.
“This is Sue Keller, by the way,” Shane said. “She was last year’s futurity winner.”
“Really?” Kait smiled. “Now it’s my turn to be impressed.”
“Do you ride?”
“No.”
“Kait hates horses,” Shane said.
“I don’t hate them.”
“Okay, she’s afraid of them.”
The woman looked at her as if Shane had just told her she ate children for breakfast. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
She elbowed Shane. He laughed, and Kait turned and froze because as she watched him, eyes bright, chuckles escaping from deep in his chest, it hit her.
She loved him.
She very nearly took a step back.
No, she told herself. Impossible. It was just hormones. She couldn’t love a man she’d known
for...what? A few months.
“Maybe you should make him drive your race car,” Sue said, clearly sympathizing with her embarrassment.
“I’d do that in a heartbeat,” he quipped.
She had to force herself to focus. “Yes, well—” focus “—if he lets me ride a bull, I’ll let him drive my race car.”
Shane snorted. “I’ll get back to you on that after the babies are born.”
“You’re pregnant?” Sue asked.
Kait nodded, her hands shaking as she patted her belly because she couldn’t get the words out of her mind.
In love.
With the father of her children.
“I am.”
“How far along?”
“Three months.”
Six more months before her life would change forever. Six more months of trying to figure it all out. Six months of wondering if she and Shane would work.
“Well, congratulations,” said Sue, smiling at someone who waved her over and leaving Kait and Shane alone.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and the way his eyes grew instantly concerned made her insides go soft.
“Nothing.”
But she lied, because she knew as she stared into his eyes that nothing would ever be the same again.
Chapter Eighteen
Something was wrong. Shane tried to put his finger on it all weekend, but he could never really figure it out. Only at night did things change.
At night everything was exactly perfect. But one evening, two days before they were due to leave for the race on the outskirts of Los Angeles, she cried in his arms.
“What is it?” he asked, cradling her, instantly worried. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Then what is it?”
She wouldn’t look at him. He had to touch her chin with his finger and tip her face toward his own. “Kait, what did I do?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled, eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t do anything.”
“Then what is it?”
Rodeo Legends--Shane Page 13
