by Lori Foster
His tone of voice was sweet and gentle. Tish watched him, creeping closer, inching toward the table.
“Good girl,” Buck crooned softly.
Slowly, he reached out to her. He was almost touching her when Tish snatched his colorful boxers off the back of the chair and ran off.
Startled, Buck shot back to his feet. “Hey!”
Sadie watched her run around the corner and into the living room. “Uh…”
Butch ran after Tish, and Buck was next in line. Sadie followed. The dogs had gone under her couch. When Buck knelt down to look underneath, both dogs barked at him, trying to warn him off.
“What the hell is she doing with my underwear?”
Sadie stared at the picture he made, on his knees peering under her furniture. “I don’t know.” And as Buck stood to face her, she said, “I can get them for you later, when she comes back out.”
Buck hesitated, then, amazingly enough, stood, slung his thick arm around her shoulders and led her back to the kitchen.
“I suppose that’ll be okay.”
Awareness made Sadie so stiff she could barely walk. Buck’s arm was heavy and warm, his embrace casual. He kept her tucked in close to his side. When they reached the kitchen, he pulled her chair out for her, waited until she got seated, then joined her at the table.
“So tell me what you do. I know you work at the shelter, but what’s your job there?”
He began eating, not paying her much mind, and that made it easier to converse with him. “I work as a vet’s assistant.”
He nodded. “I sort of figured it’d be something like that.”
“I’ve always loved animals.”
“It shows.”
He was so open and friendly, he made it easy to talk. “I’d always wanted to be a vet, but I never got my schooling finished for it.”
“How far did you get?” In two large bites, he finished off a piece of toast.
Watching him eat amazed Sadie. Without looking like a glutton, he polished off the food in short order. She pulled her gaze away from him to taste her own eggs. Delicious.
“I got accepted to a veterinary college,” she admitted, and hoped she didn’t sound boastful.
“Yeah? You have to have a really high GPA for that, right?”
She remembered how thrilled and proud her mother had been. Buck sounded almost as admiring. “Yes. Admission was selective, but I’d already completed a pre-veterinary curriculum with a strong focus on the sciences. Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, microbiology and some clinical sciences.”
“Wow. Heavy subjects. So what happened?”
Sadie toyed with her fork. “My mother needed me at home.” So that he wouldn’t misunderstand and think her mother selfish, she rushed through the rest of the explanation. “She’d raised me on her own. For as long as I can remember, it was just the two of us. She did a great job, but she was sick for years.”
“Sick how?”
“Cancer.” Just saying the word made Sadie relive the hurt. “She’d go into remission, feel a little better, then go downhill again. Each time it got worse and worse, and her recovery from treatment took longer. The cancer began to spread.” Her voice started to shake. It hadn’t been that long since she lost her mother, and talking about it still hurt. “I didn’t want her to be alone.”
Buck pushed his empty plate away. His brows were drawn with concern and sympathy. “You took care of her?”
“Me and a nurse who visited three times a week.”
“How old were you when she first got diagnosed with cancer?”
Looking back, it seemed her mother had always been ill, but Sadie knew that wasn’t true. It was just that when most young women were breaking away from home, striving for independence, she’d had to stay close to her mom. “We first found out she had breast cancer when I was almost fifteen. She had surgery, and things seemed okay for a year or so. Then they found more cancer. Lung. Bone.” She swallowed and pushed her plate away. She couldn’t eat another bite. “Eventually brain cancer.”
Buck reached across the table and took her hand. “Must’ve been really rough.”
Watching her mother weaken over time had been a living hell. But she’d borne it all alone. There’d been no one, other than peripheral strangers—doctors, nurses and a variety of legal people—to offer her any support or assistance.
For years, she’d been hungry for human contact, and to compensate for that lack, she’d turned to the animals she’d understood best. But now Buck held her hand as if he really cared. Sadie was amazed, and very grateful.
“Toward the end, she had very few good days.”
Buck turned her hand over and rubbed her palm with his thumb while looking into her eyes. Sadie felt touched everywhere. Not just on her skin, but in her heart, too. For once, the icy memories didn’t linger. They got soothed away by the intrusion of other, warmer emotions.
It was the oddest feeling, like falling into a deep, heated pool. Silence stretched out between them. She saw Buck’s eyes narrow marginally, saw his shoulders tense.
He said, “Finish your breakfast, okay?”
“I am finished.” Her upset was over, but now she was too excited and anxious to eat.
The dogs came back into the kitchen, distracting them both. Tish crept, keeping her eyes on the humans. Butch just pranced beside her, waiting as Tish dragged the colorful cotton boxers to a sunny spot in front of the sliding doors. She laid them down, used her nose to push them this way and that, digging, tugging with her teeth, before circling three times and dropping into the middle of the material with a grunt.
Butch, openly confused but unwilling to be left out, glanced at Sadie and Buck, back at Tish, then curled into her side.
A slow grin came over Buck’s face. “I think she likes me.”
Sadie actually giggled. “If she’s willing to sleep in your underwear, then she must.”
He turned to face her, still holding her hand captive. “And what about you?”
“I don’t want to sleep in your underwear.”
Buck accepted the joke with a laugh. He tugged her closer, leaning toward her at the same time. “But do you like me, Sadie? Because I like you. A lot.”
And to Sadie’s utter shock and excitement, he kissed her.
CHAPTER THREE
BUCK FELT AS THOUGH SOMEONE had just knocked him onto his terry-cloth-covered ass. It was a simple kiss, a featherlight brush of his mouth on hers. No tongues. No real heat.
And his whole body was buzzing.
He pulled back just a little to take in Sadie’s expression. Her eyes were closed, her feathery lashes leaving shadows on the smooth texture of her flushed cheeks. She swayed a little toward him.
Damn.
When he’d started all this, he’d meant to go slow, to get to know her better, figure out why she didn’t seem to like him.
Given her expression now, she liked him all right. But Sadie had more burdens than any single woman should have to bear. She was shy and sweet and so damn generous.
He leaned in again, but this time he let his nose graze her throat, inhaling the sweet female scent of her. You’d think a woman who played with animals from sunup to sundown wouldn’t smell so nice. But she did. He felt…intoxicated.
And if his friends knew his thoughts, they’d laugh themselves silly.
Ethan and Riley and Harris, his best buddies for some time now, all considered him too goofy to ever settle down. Their wives probably agreed. He’d once heard Rosie call him a “goober.” And then Clair, Harris’s wife, had qualified that he was a “big lovable goober.” Whatever the hell that meant. It didn’t sound very complimentary, but the women had said it with affection, not insult, so Buck hadn’t taken offense.
He knew he wasn’t intense like Riley, and he sure as hell wasn’t heroic like Ethan and Harris, who were both firefighters. He was just himself, easygoing, ready to laugh. He loved his lumberyard, his family and his friends. He loved women, and he especially loved sex
. He was fortunate in that he’d inherited some good genes, resulting in a body that was tall and strong and well-muscled. All the men in his family were big—and plenty of women appreciated that.
He enjoyed good health and business success, so he’d never needed to take life too seriously. But bless her heart, Sadie hadn’t been given that choice.
As he’d told her, she was a sweetheart. Petite and shy and loving. Determined and smart, but so withdrawn. He wanted to bring her out of her shell. He wanted to watch her laugh.
He wanted to get her naked and feel her softness everywhere, and he wanted to hear her scream with a mind-blowing orgasm.
Yeah, he wanted that most of all.
“Buck?” Her voice was tentative, confused.
He sniffed his way up to her ear, brushed his nose across the downy hair at her temple. “Yeah?” he whispered, feeling more aroused by the second.
She cleared her throat, very stiff and still. “What are you doing?”
“Smelling you.” He leaned back to see her face. “You smell good enough to eat.”
A rush of scarlet filled her cheeks. “I, uh…”
“I don’t mean right this second. We’ll save that for later.”
She looked ready to faint, prompting him to chuckle. He fingered the high neckline of her cardigan. “Aren’t you too warm in this?”
“No.” She clutched the neck together in a protective gesture.
“You sure?” Slowly, using the same care he’d shown with Tish, Buck pried her fingers loose. “It’s comfortable in here, Sadie.” Her top two buttons were undone, so he let his fingers drop to the third button, right above her breasts. It slid free. “I’m only wearing a towel and I’m not cold.” Just the opposite, in fact.
Her eyes were wide and slightly dazed, her breath low and uneven.
When he finished undoing all the buttons, he urged her to her feet and carefully pried the sweater off her shoulders. She was so fine-boned and fragile, he took extra care with her. Standing by her made him feel like a great ox.
She stared at him with wary apprehension and what he could have sworn was hopefulness.
He dropped her sweater over the back of her chair. “Okay?”
Practically panting, she licked her lips, blinked twice and nodded. Her breasts rose and fell beneath the pink blouse.
So damn sweet. He cupped her face. “Can I ask you something really personal?”
She stared at his mouth. “What?”
“When was the last time someone kissed you silly?” He waited, wondering if it’d been a week, a month, or longer. She seemed very unsure of herself and what he had planned.
On stiff legs, Sadie took a tiny step closer to him, then another. With incredible caution, she lifted her hands and let them touch his chest. Her fingers spread out, tangling in his chest hair, while her thumbs rubbed small inquisitive circles on his skin.
It drove him wild.
With her attention on her hands, all he could see was the top of her head. “Look at me, Sadie.”
She did, tipping her head way back. Her lips parted.
“Answer my question.”
Her expression was shy, embarrassed, resigned. She lifted one delicate shoulder and sighed out her reply, “Never.”
“Never?” Disbelief made his voice sharper than he’d intended.
She shook her head and admitted with a grimace, “I’ve never dated. Never had a boyfriend. Never…done any of that stuff.”
Conflicting emotions raged through Buck. Tenderness was at the forefront, so strong it nearly choked him. Damn, but he wanted to pull her onto his lap and cherish her.
Lust ran a close second. He was only a man, and knowing that no one had done anything with her before him turned him on. He’d be her first in every way, and there were so many things he could show her, teach her, let her experience.
Pity was there, too, because no woman should have been so ignored. He wished like hell that he’d forced his way over sooner, instead of letting her remain alone for so long. He’d stupidly wasted three months.
Behind everything else he felt was the need to stake a claim. Not just a friendly, neighborly-type thing, either. He wanted to somehow bind Sadie to him, and the easiest way presenting itself was through sex. Because of her inexperience, intimacy would mean more to her than it did to the women he usually spent time with.
“I’m going to kiss you, silly, okay?” It felt strange to announce his intent, but he needed to know that she understood, that he wasn’t taking advantage of her naiveté.
“If…if you really want to.”
Oh, yeah, he wanted to. He cupped her face, tipped her chin up and tried to quiet the wild drumming of his heart so he could do this right. “I want to.”
It’d been a hell of a long time since he’d had to concentrate on a kiss. Usually it was the way he touched a woman, with the purpose of bringing her to orgasm, that made him concentrate. Not the foreplay, and for sure not the preliminary kissing.
The urge to devour her mouth was strong, but Buck managed to go slow, moving his mouth over hers until she softened and sighed. He licked her bottom lip, liked it enough to do it again, then gently nibbled. Her breath caught.
“Open up for me, Sadie.”
With an excited little moan, she did, and Buck again cautioned himself to go slowly. He held her still and tentatively explored the moist heat of her mouth, letting her get used to his tongue, to the added excitement of a French kiss.
Damn, he’d forgotten how much fun kissing could be. He’d forgotten the sexiness of it. He opened one big hand over the back of Sadie’s head to keep her close, and slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss, feeling the heat rise between them. He realized he could kiss her all day and not get enough.
Shyly, her tongue came out to touch his. He felt a sexual jolt so powerful he couldn’t hold back his groan.
He lifted his head and looked at her, amazed by his own reaction. He’d had plenty of hot, wet-tongue duels in his day, most that he knew would lead to hotter, wetter sex. But none had affected him quite like this.
Sadie’s eyes were only partially open, her cheeks warm, and as he watched, she slowly licked her lips, as if savoring the flavor of their kiss.
Another groan tried to crawl up his throat. He wanted to lower her to the kitchen floor and show her just how clever his tongue could be.
Instead, he pulled her into his chest to hold her close. It took him a full minute to find his voice. In the meantime, he stroked her back and rubbed his chin against the crown of her head.
Finally, wondering at her thoughts, he asked, “Well?”
“Wow.”
She sounded as breathless as he felt, which made him smile. “You liked it?”
She snuggled closer before asking, “Could we do it again?”
She’d be the death of him. “Oh, yeah. But I gotta take a break first.”
Sadie reared back, blinking fast. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be—”
Buck put a finger to her mouth to hush her. Her lips were full and soft, slightly swollen. “If I kiss you again right now, I’m going to lose it. I don’t want to rush you.”
With no hesitation at all, she said, “You’re not.”
Her fast reply was so endearing, his grin went crooked. “I will be if we don’t slow it down a little.”
“But I don’t mind.”
Damn, she obliterated his control. “Sadie—”
“You don’t understand, Buck. I didn’t think anything like this would ever happen to me.”
She looked so vulnerable, it bothered him. “That’s just crazy.” He knew damn good and well that other men had wanted her. But her eyes were now wide and sincere.
“No, it’s not. Men like you don’t look at me twice.”
“Men like me?”
“Nice men. Attractive men.” She again ducked her face, leaving him to look at the top of her head. “I’ve been asked out a few times, but it was by men I wasn’t interested i
n. Maybe my standards are too high. Maybe I expect too much. But I just couldn’t encourage a man I wasn’t attracted to.”
“Who asked you out?”
Her little nose wrinkled. “There’s this one guy who cleans at the shelter. He…smells funny. And his hair always looks dirty.”
In a dry tone, Buck said, “Cleanliness doesn’t qualify as part of a high standard.”
“There’s also this man who won’t get his cat spayed. Three times now he’s dropped off litters at the clinic.” Her brows puckered. “I don’t like him.”
“Anyone who doesn’t take proper care of their pet is a jerk, and of course you wouldn’t date a jerk.” He tipped his head to see her face. “What about in high school or college? Surely—”
She shook her head, cutting him off before he could finish the question.
“Well, why not?” Everyone dated as teenagers. Even if she’d just gone to a few school dances, they counted.
Her bottom lip was caught in her teeth. Sadie touched his chest, absently toying with his chest hair. Buck didn’t think she even realized what she was doing.
“Sadie?”
“I didn’t date then, either.”
Buck could tell the topic was difficult for her. He had a feeling it was important, though, so he pushed her. “You said you trust me.”
Her sigh was long and exaggerated. “Back in high school, a few guys asked me out. But I had to turn them down.”
“Because?”
“They just asked me as part of a dare. Like a…a joke.”
Suspicions rose. “What makes you say that?”
“Because once, only once, I said yes.” She lifted her chin, catching him in her dark gaze. “It was prom night, and I got stood up. That next week in school, everyone was laughing about it.”
Aw, hell. His gut cramped. Stupidly enough, he wanted to find the punk who’d bruised her feelings and pound on him. “It was his loss.”
Sadie smiled, then laughed. “I doubt he saw it that way.”
“So you’re attracted to me?” Buck deliberately took her off guard with that question, changing the subject at the same time.
“What?”
“You said you couldn’t get involved with a guy you weren’t attracted to. And since we’ll be getting involved…” He waited, but she didn’t deny it. “I figured you must be attracted. Right?”
