by Lass Small
And there Kyle was, clean and peeled like a newborn’s backside.
Maybe he ought to have asked her if she was taken by a raspy-faced man?
What if she’d asked, “Who?”
So Kyle was uncertain when he went back into the last of the kitchen’s warmth. After he fixed the gas line, only the living room’s fireplace would give them heat.
Reality intruded and Kyle decided he’d cook some things first.
He found a nice small roast, some sweet potatoes, a quiche, and a frozen pie a woman had left for him. He put the pie and roast into the oven. Then he set the timer to remove the pie and put in the quiche and the sweet potatoes. That way the pie would be cooled just right by the time they ate.
Lauren watched Kyle with active interest but with no offer of help. She observed his diligence. She considered his menu. She was amused inside her head and body without showing any of it, and she was entertained.
At home, her father never lifted a domestic finger. Lauren had heard men were capable of caring for themselves but her father had given no indication such could be so.
Kyle was positive, efficient and practiced. He knew what he was doing. And it was done.
The two storm victims played cards, there in the warm kitchen. He watched his guest from under halfclosed lashes. She still had some relaxed, warm time left. He wouldn’t alter the gas line until the food was safely cooked.
He felt clever. He was amused at himself. He: thought no other man in the world had ever pulled this trick on an innocent woman. Well, maybe. One or two other males might be as sneaky? It was remotely possible. He was secure that he was being innovative.
His smile should have tipped her off. His eyes danced with lights of amusement, and he felt so clever that he was a little animated.
Animated men are never up to anything good. It’s a sign of underhandedness. Any moxie woman knows that. Since there was no flirting, or other woman around, his plans must be for her.
Lauren watched Kyle’s conduct with interest. She suspected he was up to something. And she decided she’d go along with it—as long as it pleased her.
It was then that she realized just having him around pleased her. Why him? She looked at Kyle Phillips and considered him. He just might do for the long haul. How could that be? Just because he’d saved her from freezing?
How could she decide he was perfect on such a short acquaintance? Good gravy! She’d only met him yesterday. It was the storm. That’s what had happened. She was lost out on that plain, but she hadn’t yet admitted that she was lost. And he showed up like a magically conjured phantom.
It was the isolation. Him Adam. Her Eve.
Across the kitchen table, she observed him. He was a man. Not only was he attractively male, but he was an interesting person. He didn’t brag. He liked her. He knew her from another time.
Of course, his admitting that had delayed her seduction of him. He was what? About thirty?
She asked, “Do you have any wife or kids, or an exwife?”
“No.” He looked at her. “Neither do you have anybody like that.”
“How much do you know about me?”
“You’re not a display woman. You hated being Queen of the Fiesta.”
She lifted her eyebrows in question. “That gives me Brownie points?”
“I’d not like—being around a woman who is part peacock.”
“That’s male.”
He turned out his open palm. “—the female version.”
“What do you look for in a woman?”
He smiled.
Disgruntled, the seducer-woman replied, “Men are so basic.”
Gently, with a foggy voice lightened, he told her, “You would make any man a good mate. Besides not wanting to show off, you’re independent, a little weird and you adjust to circumstances without complaining.”
“My parents nailed our palms to the wall when we whined.”
Knowing full well that wasn’t so, he nodded. “Did it stop you?”
She responded, “We learned to debate.” Then she added modestly, “I won a state championship.” She looked up at him to see his reaction. She was a show-off if it was mental or skill. She didn’t want to be window dressing or just know how to smile and wave.
He was interested. “You won the state contest?”
“Yes,” she replied. Then she added, “But I lost to some bug-eyed male in D.C.”
He inquired, “What was your subject?”
“Television versus computers for sports.”
And he was curious, “Which side did you take?”
“Television. We have one that is the biggest tube viewing instead of a larger camera screen. I dislike sitting at a computer to watch TV.”
“I have a computer.”
“Do you use it?”
He shifted and put his arm over the back of his chair as he was deliberately smug. He told her, “I was one of the first to get an Apple II Plus. I still have friends from those first remarkable years. They were all smarter than me, and they were patient and led me along.”
“Do you still have it?”
He was disgruntled. “The recently updated one is my seventh. It’s flawed. It doesn’t have sex or cook or make my bed.”
She tsked once and shook her head. “How irritating.”
He laughed and looked at her differently. He had expected her to either blush or be shocked or impatient or disgusted with him. She had responded perfectly. Now all she had to do was say that while she wasn’t a computer, she could do all those other things.
She asked, “Who made the pie?”
It was cooling on the counter.
He seriously considered lying and saying it was his mother, but he told her honestly, “It’s from one of the ladies who wants me to admire her cooking.”
“Does she have. other talents?”
“I haven’t asked.” But then he watched her with such a slight, amused smile.
She admitted with some challenge, “I can’t cook.”
“I can.”
“How did you learn? On the computer?” She was being rather snide.
“Mostly, I learned because I wasn’t at home but was living alone. Peanut butter is a godsend, but there comes a time when other foods sound good. I began to cook. I’m not bad.” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head back to look at her rather sassily.
She responded with some earnest control, “That pie is driving me crazy.” She was not competitive.
He grinned smugly and told her, “Actually, while it’s not one I made, it’s close to perfect. I’m sure about that, but I’ll test it when it quits bubbling. It’s too hot right now.”
So she suggested, “Put it out on the back porch and get it cooled.”
“You’re hungry?” He guessed that with a complacent smile.
“I shouldn’t be, but that aroma is driving me crazy!”
And he laughed. “Good!”
So he did get up and went to the counter where the alluring pie sat. He took some hot pads and lifted the pie. He asked with raised eyebrows, “Can you get the door? Open it when I get there and close it until I want back in, okay?”
She rose from her chair. She assured him with kind earnestness, “You can count on my not locking the door against you as long as the pie is out there, too.”
He considered her with a pursed mouth. “You’re how old?”
“Twenty-seven.”
He exclaimed in shock, “If you are this ravenous at that young age, think how fat you’ll be at forty!” And he shook his head and tsked his tongue.
She dismissed the premise. “You won’t have to worry about it. I’ll be long gone, and back under Goldilocks’ rule.”
He considered her words then questioned haltingly, “Goldilocks and the three bears?”
Lauren explained, “She’s our cook. She’s why I don’t cook. Who could compete with her?”
He stood there by the counter and inquired, “She doesn’t let you try to coo
k?”
Lauren shook her head in resignation. “Who can match her?”
He said earnestly, “You seem to be such a competitive woman. I’m surprised you haven’t gone through cooking on your own.”
“She doesn’t let us in the kitchen,” she exclaimed, putting out her hands in gestures. Then she added, “The only time she lets us in there is if we’re clearing the table or sweeping the floor.”
Kyle gasped. “How do you tolerate such a dictatorial person?”
“We love her.” Lauren sighed in helplessness. “And she’s the best cook in the whole country. We try not to let other people realize that. Daddy already pays her way beyond any logic.”
Kyle considered as he licked his lips to stop the mental drool. “Would she come out and visit us?”
“Tomorrow?” Lauren frowned at Kyle.
“After we’re married, wouldn’t she worry about—”
“Married!”
“Well, yes,” he replied with some resignation. “I’ve already given up on it. I realize that your daddy will demand I make an honest woman out of you. You’ll be trapped here for three whole days, with just the two of us and with nobody else anywhere around. The dog’s no chaperone at all. Your reputation will be shot all to hell. Everybody will whisper about you, but they’ll slap me on the back and call me a clever sly coyote.”
He explained kindly as he replaced the pie on the counter, “If people find you’ve been out here with me for three days, they’ll realize you’re compromised, and that I’m just sly. I’m not, of course. I’m an honorable man.”
And she said, “Well, darn.”
He was so startled that his sun wrinkles went white. He stared at her and his breaths were uneven and rather loud. Softly, he inquired carefully, “Darn?”
“I really thought I just might get you. I hadn’t realized you are that honorable.”
He stared.
She shrugged. “I’ll have to go around denying everything. Just watch. No one will believe me. They’ll nod and cross looks and they’ll say sly things about us.”
“If…if…if we did, what would you do when they taunted you?”
“Blush?”
And he began to smile. “Let me kiss you.”
“If I get up out of this chair and come over to you, you’ll claim I attacked you. My reputation will be ruined forever.”
He considered her seriously. Then he mentioned, “If I come over there and help you stand up, will that, uh, balance the situation?”
She was earnest. “I wouldn’t look quite so wicked.”
Seriously, he asked, “But then, won’t I look-forward?”
So she burst out laughing.
He shook his head and finally he grinned. “You are a surprise.”
“Actually, you aren’t surprised. You just don’t know what to do about me.”
He watched her avidly. Then he admitted, “Well…not yet…anyway.”
So she inquired, “Are you going to take the pie out on the back porch?”
He looked at her soberly, then he looked at the pie. He looked back at her. “I don’t think it needs to be chilled.”
“So I don’t get any now?”
And he told her seriously, “Maybe I can think of some kind of a distraction.”
Her smile was slow and wicked.
Seven
Kyle didn’t just walk over and drag Lauren off that chair. He grinned at her first, watching her, anticipating her willingness. Would she be willing?
He asked, “You’ve really—never—?”
“Not yet.” But then she looked at him. Her eyes were like a deer’s at night looking at the headlights of a car. She asked, “How many women have you tampered with?”
He gasped and put a hand on his hard chest. “Am I supposed to know what to do?” He protested, “I’ve never been in this here fix before, if that’s what you’re expecting. If I come over there and pull you out of that chair, what happens after I kiss you?”
She laughed.
His grin was perfect. He strolled across the floor. That was exactly what he did. He strolled over there in a cocky, male-dominant way that was perfect. He acted like he knew just exactly what he was doing, what he was going to do and what he’d do with and to her.
That gave her some confidence. She knew she had no idea at all how to go about this kind of sex thing. She shivered with nerves, with only a scant feeling of delight. She was excited and a tad scared at the same time. She felt rather recklessly rash. She asked, “Do you have any condoms?”
He hesitated just a tad before he told her, “I’ll see if there’re any in the house.”
A little shocked, she inquired carefully, “You don’t know?”
Quite smoothly with just the right pause, he told her, “Some couples have bunked here.” He gestured. “They could have left some—unused ones.” He bit his lips, but his eyes were so amused. “I’ll check it out.” Then he inquired, “Should I do that before I hype you up with one of my mind-boggling, kisses?” He frowned at her. “Do you need all your brain cells functioning at one time?”
She loved it. “Let’s go look for the condoms and be sure.”
So he asked with interest, “Do you know what a condom looks like?”
“I’ve known a couple of females who carried condoms—just in case.”
And he asked in shock, “And you don’t do that?”
“I’ve never had any reason to do that, but now I wish I had. I certainly will after this.”
“After…this?” He began to smile. “We’ll see what’s available. Want my coat?”
“Yes.”
She was shivering with anticipation, but he thought she was cold and scared. He was especially gentle with her. He held the coat for her arms.
She turned to him very seriously and said, “I thought you were going to kiss me.”
“I’ll have to see if there’re any condoms. I don’t want to hype you up to screeching—gasp—and clawing—gasp—at my body—gasp—if there aren’t any around.”
With some obvious patience, Lauren said, “I wouldn’t do that.”
He was rather more surprised than men are ordinarily as he asked with great innocence, “I shouldn’t look around?”
With patient calm, she supplied, “I wouldn’t screech or claw at you.”
He drew a deep breath as if he hadn’t been breathing at all and he said, “I’m relieved. I thought my body was in danger.”
“Good grief.”
And he laughed. It was such a humorous, pleased, sharing laugh.
She sighed quite dramatically and gave him a patient look, but she had already begun to smile at him and that ruined her chiding look altogether.
So they went on the treasure hunt. He said, “I hope we find something. How vulnerable are you at this time of the month?”
“Very.”
“Uh-oh. We’ll have to hunt. I’m not giving out any free samples. Keep your distance.”
She protested with some indignation, “I haven’t touched you—as yet.”
“Yeah,” he scoffed. Then he asked, “Did you hear that ‘as yet’ you just said? You wicked woman! My daddy told me about women like you. I just hope you don’t ravish me raw!”
Her laughter bubbled. She did try to smother it, but it just went on.
So he kissed her again. It was wonderful. It was amazing. It was wild sex and flaming loving. It was great! Then he finally, slowly lifted his mouth from hers with all those squishy sounds, and she panted. She did!
She moved her restless hands on his shoulders. She breathed and pressed her body against his. She couldn’t keep her eyelids all the way open and her nose didn’t work at all well. It was just a good thing her mouth knew how to take over and give her an input of oxygen.
But she didn’t know how to go on. She didn’t know to press or rub or move her hands. She didn’t know what to say or how to act at all. She could barely control the fact that she was sexually wild and body hungry.
He hugged her to him with severely controlled, crushing arms and rigid, greedy hands. He laughed in his throat in such a wicked, wicked way. He said, “This is like a scavenger hunt. We’ve got to find a couple of condoms.”
She managed to inquire, “A. couple?”
“Once won’t be enough.”
Wow! That was inside her head. Wowwowwowwow! A continuous celebration. But they did need a condom. At least one. She made her eyes open a little as her hands moved in his hair, and she asked, “Where all do we have to look?”
And Kyle replied with what should have been obvious. “All the bedside table drawers?”
She said, “Help me with the stairs.”
It was only then that he realized she was exquisitely susceptible to him. To understand that it was true was so thrilling to him that he was close to being paralyzed right along with her.
So he scooped her up into his arms and the halt helped the lame in yet another incident. They made it up the stairs, into the first bedroom. And their search began.
There were seven bedrooms. That seemed a little rash. She asked, “Who all lives here?”
So as they searched the drawers, Kyle told Lauren, “Long ago, the people who owned this house, before the guy I bought it from, had twelve kids. Six were their own and then there were another six they took in.”
“Wow.”
He scoffed. “They probably worked those kids to a standstill.”
“Do you really think so?”
Kyle was honest. “I have no idea. How’re you doing? Can I put you back on your feet?”
“I like you carrying me.”
He staggered with some skill. “Thank God you didn’t have that pie.”
She hastened to assure him, “I wasn’t going to eat the whole thing.”
“That’s a relief.”
So she said, “You can put me down.”
He leaned his head down and kissed her very nicely. His voice was a little hoarse from emotion as he said, “I find I like carrying you.”
“This is nice.”
His husky voice said, “I know something that feels even nicer.”
“I can’t imagine what that could be.”
“Me in you.”
