One More Kiss (Forsaken Sons Book 1)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  They’d crossed into Montana yesterday, after traveling around Idaho for the past several days, enjoying the mountains and rivers, the sunshine, and even the rainy days. At the beginning of the trip, he’d assumed that he’d have to pull into a hotel every couple of days so that she could pamper herself.

  But Kinsley had slowly taken to the outdoors as if she were born to it. She was an expert at setting up the camp and building fires now. She knew how to make camp coffee and boil water, cook over the fire pit, and she’d even come closer to the water when he fished for their dinner. She wouldn’t stay close when he cleaned the fish, but she was appreciative of his efforts.

  What the hell was he doing? He was out here in the open air, supposedly trying to come up with ideas for what his next project might be. But he didn’t want to work. He liked just…being with Kinsley. He loved traveling with her and, so far, other than the spiders, she was the perfect traveling companion.

  He didn’t need to work. Hell, he wouldn’t need to work for the rest of his damn life, although he knew that he’d eventually feel the urge to fix something that didn’t work properly. Even as they’d traveled, he’d tossed around some ideas. But nothing that really grabbed his imagination.

  No, he was simply enjoying his time with Kinsley. Too much. She was engaged, damn it! Well, engaged to be engaged.

  That’s when she emerged and every muscle in his body tightened. She’d given up on jeans and had another pair of those damned leggings on. She had a sweatshirt that covered most of her upper body and, when she wasn’t stretching, it came down over her butt. At the moment though, it lifted up along with her arms to reveal a small ribbon of bare stomach.

  “Good morning!” she sighed, blinking as she stepped into the sunshine. “The coffee smells wonderful!”

  “It’s fresh,” he told her, thinking about that small patch of skin he’d just seen.

  “Don’t you need to call Carl?” he asked suddenly. “We’ve been gone for over a week and you haven’t mentioned him once.”

  “Did you pick these flowers for me?” she asked, ignoring his question in favor of admiring the small glass filled with pink and white daisy-like flowers.

  When there was just silence, she glanced over at him. “Did you?”

  “Yes. They’re called bitterroot. They are the state flower of Montana.”

  Kinsley looked at the flowers again, more touched than she wanted to admit. It took extra effort to swallow past the lump of tenderness. “Thank you. They’re…stunning.” Kinsley took the cup he’d set out for her and poured coffee, keeping her eyes lowered so that he couldn’t see her expression. “I’m sure Carl is fine,” she added.

  The truth was, she hadn’t thought about Carl at all. Ever since he’d left her apartment last Sunday night, the only man who had been on her mind was Lincoln. And with every passing day, she fell more deeply in love with him. He was fascinating! He knew how to fish and hunt and do all sorts of nature-like things that would have completely confused her. He’d taught her to load up the camper and set up the campsite. He’d shown her parts of the country that boggled the mind and soothed her wanderlust.

  She loved him. She knew that she was completely, utterly in love with him. Her boss. Her friend.

  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the placid kind of feeling she had for Carl. This was heart stopping, pulse pounding, desire laden feelings that made her mind go blank when he looked at her, and her knees wobble when he smiled at her.

  “You don’t want to call him?” he probed, pouring himself another cup of coffee.

  “Well, we’re not really close to a cell tower just now, are we?”

  He eyed her curiously as she sipped her coffee, eyes closed to better savor the flavors.

  “What’s going on, Kinsley? Is everything okay between you and Carl?”

  Kinsley turned and looked out at the amazing views, wondering how to explain what had happened. But she knew that she’d have to go with honesty. At least, partial honesty.

  “Carl and I broke up,” she announced. She shifted slightly and peeked at him from under her lashes. The intense satisfaction on his features startled her. It was just a flash and Kinsley wondered if she’d misunderstood the look.

  “What happened?”

  She shrugged. No way was she admitting that she had the hots for him, which was why she couldn’t ethically continue to date someone else.

  “It was just…time for us to…” she stumbled, not sure what to say.

  “Find someone else?” he offered, inching closer.

  She looked up at him. There! It was there again! Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into those dragon-like eyes.

  “Yes, something like that,” she whispered, looking away.

  “Was Carl seeing someone else? Is that why you broke up with him?”

  Kinsley bit her lip, wondering what to say to that. “No.” She took a deep breath and turned away from Lincoln. “No, actually, I realized that I didn’t love him. Not the way a woman needs to love a man she’s going to marry.”

  There was a long silence and Kinsley moved to the cooler, pulling out eggs and milk, deciding to make breakfast.

  “Kinsley,” he asked, his voice stopping her hands from cracking the first egg. “What happened?”

  Lincoln watched her face, feeling as if something momentous was about to happen. But when she said, “I…sort of…cheated on Carl,” he was stunned. Of all the things that she might have said, that was the absolute last.

  Kinsley? Cheating? If she hadn’t said so herself, he wouldn’t have believed it. Over the past several weeks, he’d come to know her and had always thought she was meticulously honest and fair.

  “You…cheated on Carl?”

  Her blue eyes were cloudy with trouble as she nodded. “Yes. Sort of. Not really but…yes. Really.”

  “How?” he asked, not sure if he wanted to move away from her or grab her arms and shake her. Because he was shaken! Badly! His belief in who she was, in what he admired about her, was completely shattered! “With who?”

  Kinsley shrugged slightly. “You.”

  For a long moment, they stood there, the river gently gurgling behind them as the sun slowly worked its way up into the sky. Birds might have been singing, but he couldn’t hear them. Hell, a tidal wave could have been working its way up behind him and he wouldn’t have noticed at this moment.

  “I’m sorry but…I’m not sure I understand. You told Carl that you were cheating on him with…me?”

  “No,” she tried to laugh, but it came out as a sob. “No, I didn’t tell Carl that. Even if I had cheated on him with you, I wouldn’t do that to him. I wouldn’t be that cruel.”

  Lincoln was completely confused. And he wasn’t sure that he agreed with her. He shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around it.

  “I don’t understand, Kinsley. You said that you broke up with Carl because you cheated on him.”

  “Sort of cheated on him,” she clarified quickly, then put her cup of coffee down on a nearby log and moved towards the river, wrapping her arms around herself. “But, if I explain this, then we’ll have to end our trip, Lincoln. So, maybe we should just let it go, okay?”

  He moved behind her and contemplated her suggestion. But he’d wanted her for so long! It seemed as if he’d wanted to make love to her, to claim her as his woman ever since she’d walked into his office, looking all prim and cute and adorably sexy. So no, they weren’t going to drop this.

  “Okay, so we end the trip. But not before I understand what happened. Because as far as I remember, you and I have never had sex. So it seems pretty impossible that you had to break up with your fiancé because of something that happened between us.”

  He watched her shoulders sag and her head bow. And still, he waited, needing to understand.

  After several long, tense moments, she turned and his stomach ached when he realized that there were tears in her eyes. “Please,” she whispered, “please drop it!”

&nb
sp; He stepped closer, rage almost choking him. He felt betrayed after believing in her honesty and integrity for so long. Plus, she wasn’t making sense! He’d kept his hands off of her! He’d wanted to kiss her, to touch her, to make her scream his name! And he’d restrained every urge! Even casual touches. And now she said that she’d cheated…with him?!

  “You can’t say something like that and then not explain yourself, Kinsley!”

  She shivered, then nodded. “You’re right. I’m not being fair.” She closed her eyes for a moment, steeling herself, then looked up at him. “First of all, I want you to know that I’m sorry. I know that what I’m about to say is completely unprofessional and inappropriate. I would never act on…the things that go through my mind, but when you know the truth, our work relationship will be…different, awkward. So,” she pressed her lips together, then closed her eyes as a tear trembled on her lashes, then slid down her cheek. “Please, consider this my resignation. I’ll even find a way back to Seattle on my own. I don’t…”

  Fury poured over her. “The hell you are! You’re not resigning, Kinsley! Don’t you dare even think it!”

  “But…you haven’t heard what I’m about to tell you!”

  “You’re right!” He snapped. “I haven’t heard your explanation because you’re not telling me anything I need to hear.” He sliced his hand through the air. “You’re not resigning. And you’re definitely not leaving me and making your own way back to Seattle, Kinsley! Just tell me what the hell is going on!”

  “Fine!” she shouted, their words shattering the quiet of the morning. “Fine! I want you! Okay? I want you! I’ve been dreaming about you and fantasizing about you!” she yelled, throwing her hands in the air, only for them to drop and smack against her outer thighs. “After we had dinner at your house that night, I invited Carl over for dinner at my apartment. But when he went in to kiss me, I pulled away! I couldn’t let him kiss me because…” she buried her face in her hands.

  Lincoln was stunned and…thrilled! But he needed to hear all of it. He put his hands on her arms, touching her for the first time since that afternoon when he’d taught her how to ride a motorcycle. “Kinsley,” he said, griping her arms. “Tell me. What happened when he tried to kiss you?”

  She pulled her face away from her hands and tilted her head back, looking up into his eyes. “I couldn’t let him kiss me because…it felt as if I were cheating on you! I’ve dreamed about being in your arms every night. And that night, when he wanted to kiss me, I just…I couldn’t let him.”

  He finally understood and his heart pounded in his chest, his body came alive! “Because you knew that you were mine!” he groaned.

  Her blue eyes widened slightly, her mouth fell open. “Yes,” she finally admitted.

  He pulled her closer. “I’ve thought that too, Kinsley. Every moment that we’re together, and even when we’re not, I’ve thought that. When you went home that night, after being in my home, smiling at me, I was torn up. I couldn’t stand the thought of you leaving my house, going from eating my food and being with me, then going home into the arms of someone else!”

  She squeaked slightly and he wanted to laugh. But he couldn’t. Not now. Not after what she’d just admitted.

  “You…you feel the same way?” She whispered, her lips barely moving.

  He pulled her into his arms. “Yes. You’re mine, Kinsley!” he declared. “Damn it, I’ve wanted you for so long!”

  “Seriously?” she asked, leaning into him. He felt her hands touch his chest and he could barely breathe, needing her touch so damn much!

  “Yes.” He leaned down, his eyes moving to her lips. “So, you couldn’t kiss Kurt, because you wanted to kiss me?”

  Her eyes changed. Gone was the sadness and confusion. In their place was…desire! Damn, she really wanted him? It seemed like such a dream come true, he almost didn’t believe it.

  “So, if I were to kiss you now…?”

  She licked her lips and went up on her toes. He put his hands on her hips and pressed her whole body against his and…damn, it felt even better than he’d imagined.

  “You…want to kiss me?” she asked, her lips trembling slightly.

  “Hell yes!” He cupped the back of her head, weaving his fingers through her hair. A moment later, their lips touched. Just briefly. He lifted his mouth, looking at her to make sure that she was okay. The look of awe in her eyes told him that she wanted more. He kissed her again. When her lips moved against his, kissing him back, Lincoln deepened the kiss, angling her head so that he could taste her more thoroughly.

  She responded by lifting herself up higher, pressing against him. This time, she deepened the kiss, her fingers sliding higher, gripping his shoulders. He bent lower, needing all of her. In the back of his mind, he told himself to slow down. But she kept making those sexy sounds and grinding against him. He was only human and…and this was Kinsley! He felt as if he’d wanted her forever and now she was kissing him! He couldn’t stop!

  “Please!” she whimpered and he lifted his head, staring into her blue eyes that whispered that he was going to love what she said next!

  “Please what?” he asked, his hands moving up and down her back, needing to touch her, to feel her. He wanted to explore every curve on her body and feel her tremble with his touch.

  “Will you…” she pulled back and he felt bereft without her in his arms. “No, I’m sorry. I just…”

  “Kinsley, talk to me,” he took her hands, pulling her back into his arms. Thankfully, she came willingly.

  “If you keep kissing me like that, Lincoln…”

  He bent his head, nuzzling her neck and enjoying the feeling of her shuddering against him. “What will happen?”

  She moaned and leaned her head back. “I’m going to melt into a puddle right here.”

  “Let’s find out what that’s like, shall we?” He teased, then found another spot on her neck, kissing and sucking it until he felt her shiver again. Over and over, he found more spots that she liked, but he was careful not to take her clothes off. He carefully kept his hands from moving underneath that sweatshirt. After several minutes of that, he pulled back with a sigh. “We’d better stop,” he said, his voice husky with desire.

  “Why?” She asked, her hand sliding down his chest.

  “Because if we don’t,” he laughed when she stared hungrily at his chest, licking her lips, “then we might not be able to.”

  She looked up at him. “Would that be a bad thing?”

  He groaned, tightening his arms around her. “You need time,” he told her.

  She blinked. “Time for what?” she asked softly. Her hips shifted experimentally, fascinated by that hard bulge against her belly.

  “Time to get used to the idea of us as lovers,” he replied, his hands moving to her hips, keeping them still.

  “How much time do I need?” she asked, closing her eyes. That’s when she felt his lips against her neck again and bit her lip to stop herself from moaning.

  “You tell me,” he replied, nipping at her ear lobe.

  She moved her feet, pressing herself more firmly against him. “Um…how about…now?” She asked.

  He laughed. “You need more time than that.”

  She let her head fall back, sighing when he did that nibbling thing on her collarbone. “Right. Time.” Kinsley’s fingers fisted around his tee shirt, wrinkling the material as she tried to fight back the urge to tackle him to the ground. His hands continued to explore, but only outside of her own sweatshirt. “Um…how about now?”

  He straightened and she regretted saying anything, wishing he’d kiss her again. “Kinsley, what are you trying to tell me?”

  She moved her hands, fiddling with the button there. “That I don’t need time, Linc. I’ve had nothing but time. I’m so desperate to feel your hands on me, and not in my dreams…”

  She didn’t have a chance to finish because he covered her mouth with his own, kissing her deeply.

  She felt herse
lf moving backwards and laughed when she realized he was walking her back into the trailer. Not that she minded! The ground was fine but a bed? Even better!

  “You sure you don’t need time?”

  She gasped, feeling something behind her knees. Looking around, she realized that she was already in the small bedroom at the back of the trailer. “Time for what?” she asked, sliding her hands underneath his tee shirt.

  “Time for…” he hissed when her fingers skimmed over his hard stomach. “Damn Kinsley!” he groaned, bending to kiss her again and again, even as his hands moved underneath the material of her sweatshirt. Then it was gone, dumped onto the floor.

  She looked up at him, realizing that he was so tall, he actually had to duck slightly here in the bedroom where the trailer angled downwards slightly.

  “Touch me, Lincoln,” she whispered, reaching higher.

  He paused only long enough to pull his tee shirt off and toss it away. Then he lifted her hands, pressing them to his chest.

  There were no more words after that. Just gasps of pleasure and surprise as he kissed her while pushing her back against the bed. Kinsley didn’t mind at all! In fact, she pulled him down with her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he tumbled on top of her.

  Kinsley pushed off his jeans, but barely took the time to do that since she needed to touch him, to feel his body against hers. He had to stand up in order to untangle his legs from the denim, but while he was up, he pulled her leggings and underwear off as well.

  Lincoln wanted to take this slowly. He wanted to pause and admire her soft breasts that were still encased in a pretty lace bra with tiny blue flowers along the edge. He groaned when he noticed her nipple peeking over the top of that lace. He wanted to know if she wore lingerie like this all the time, but before he could form the words to ask, her fingers slid down his shoulders, gliding over his back until they were on his butt. And damn, she felt good!