by Desiree Holt
“I don’t think we can ever let them out on their own again.” Lexie turned to him. “You guys are worse than little boys.”
“She’s right.” Rori shook her head. “You guys knew he was a greenhorn. Rogue, you aren’t much better. You never should have saddled those horses. What were you all thinking, anyway?”
“We just wanted to get in a little ride,” Rogue complained. “I mean, we were on a ranch. That’s where you ride horses, right?”
“And we were bonding,” Jackson put it. “You know, like brothers should.”
“Maybe you should find something safer to bond over.” Kit made an unladylike sound. “You guys don’t seem to do too well with physical things. Fishing and horseback riding sure aren’t in your wheelhouse.”
“She’s right,” Rori agreed. “Personally, I’ve seen all I want to of emergency rooms. They’ll need a note from us before they go out to play again.”
“Right.” Rori snorted. “Jackson gets a fishhook in his hand. Dylan falls off a horse. Maybe we should keep you guys tied up and in the house.”
“Ooh, darlin’,” Jackson teased. “That sounds hot.”
Rori smacked him, but Killian noticed a tiny twitch of her lips as she squelched a smile.
Beside him, Lexie cleared her throat. “Well, I’d still like to take my husband’s head off for letting such stupidity take place to begin with. I would like to point out, however, it’s not all his fault.”
“Thanks, darlin’.” Killian gave her a crooked grin.
“Don’t be thanking me too much,” she snapped. “We’ll discuss this when we get home.”
“You’re right, Lexie.” Rogue cleared his throat. “We all talked him into letting us do it.”
Kit flapped her hand at everyone. “Fault’s not the big thing right now. We still don’t know how much damage Dylan did to himself.”
“I’m fine.”
They all turned at the sound of Dylan’s voice. A nurse had pushed him into the waiting room in a wheelchair. Zoe walked beside him looking both concerned and pissed off.
“He is,” she told them almost reluctantly. “And I’m taking him home so he stays that way. I’m not sure I’ll let him out to play again any time soon.”
Dylan gazed at his brothers and their women. “Like I said, I’m okay. The docs all checked me over. I’ve got a few bruises, including a big one on my ego, but Zoe promised to kiss them and make them better.”
“In your dreams, little boy.” She glanced at Killian. “They were your horses. How could you let him be so careless that way?”
“Zoe.” Dylan’s quiet voice rang with authority. “Leave the man alone. I told you. I made up my own mind.”
“It was his fault,” she insisted.
Dylan’s face reddened, but Killian saw him bite his lip, knowing now wasn’t the time to object to anything.
“Like he said, he’ll have some bruises on his hip.” Zoe’s voice sounded a little calmer but irritation still sparked in her eyes. “But the doctor says otherwise he’s fine.”
As a group, they followed the little procession out to the emergency room exit and waited while Zoe went to get their vehicle.
“I’m happy to drive both of you home,” Killian volunteered, trying to get back in Zoe’s good graces. “We’ll get your vehicle back to you.”
“We’re fine, thank you.” She remained polite but definitely still unhappy with him. “We’ve got it from here. Thank you all for coming.”
She walked away, her back stiff as a ramrod. The icy demeanor continued as she pulled up to the loading area and waited while Dylan was loaded into the passenger seat. Then, with a curt nod, she climbed in behind the wheel and drove away.”
“That is one pissed-off woman,” Killian commented.
“No shit,” Rogue agreed.
“Well.” Jackson cleared his throat. “I guess we’d all better get the hell out of here. If I never see this place again, it will be too soon.”
*****
On the ride back to the ranch, the atmosphere in the SUV vibrated with tension. Killian realized what people meant when they talked about a silence so thick you could touch it. Unable to stand it any longer, he said, “Okay, I agree. It was my fault. I was stupid to let this happen.”
He sensed Lexie shift beside him.
“You think I’m mad at you?” Her voice shook with outrage.
“Well, yeah. Aren’t you?”
“Lord, no. I’m mad at Dylan for wanting to do it and at Zoe for blaming you. Maybe it was a stupid idea, and we’ll get to that later. But, Killian, these are grown men. No one held a gun to their heads.”
“They’ll get over it,” he assured her, relieved not to be in the center of the hot seat. But it did bother him he might have upset Lexie, who he loved beyond anything. And yeah, he’d been stupid even bringing up the horses today, but he’d be a lot more careful after this.
“I hate for there to be friction between you and your brothers,” she told him. “You’ve all just found each other and figured out how to be a family. I don’t want anything to disturb that.”
“It won’t,” he promised. “I think between the fishing and the horses we’ve decided to stay away from those kinds of group activities for a while.” He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’m more interested in what’s going on with you.”
“With me? You know what’s going on with me. What do you mean?”
“I saw the envelope from the Savannah Art Show Committee. It was lying on the counter. Unopened.” He glanced at her, but in the dark he couldn’t see the expression on her face.
“So you saw it.” Her voice held a defensive edge. “So what?”
“Are you planning to enter?” He tried to keep his voice as calm and even as he could because he had mixed feelings about this. Savannah had been the scene of not just her opportunity for success but also of a spectacular humiliation. And factored into it was the jackass she’d thought herself in love with at the time. “Lexie?” he prompted, when she didn’t answer.
“I’m thinking about it,” she answered.
He still remembered how shocked he’d been when he learned she painted all the artwork hanging on the walls at Heart Starter. Not to mention the incredible portrait of him now hanging in their family room. He was so damn proud of her, and so pissed off at the jerk who’d stolen her chance from her. He wanted her to have this opportunity, even if it came to nothing. At least it would mean she’d moved past that disaster, and he wanted that for her with everything he was.
“But you contacted them about an entry, right? Isn’t that why they wrote to you?”
“I, uh, asked for a place in the show.” She paused. “There are a limited number of entries, like always. I thought…”
“Thought what?” he pressed, sliding a quick glance at her and seeing her small shrug. “That you might not get accepted?”
“Well, you know,” she murmured. “It’s been almost three years since I went to art school in Savannah and left all that behind.”
“But you’re still painting,” he reminded her.
“For myself,” she told him. “And you. And my friends. That’s all. Killian, I was already older than many of the students when I went there. For all I know, the newest crop of young geniuses has already passed me by.”
“I don’t believe that. Besides, I’m for sure no judge, but your painting has a maturity I bet most of the others lack.”
“Thank you. You’re the best husband.” She reached across the console and squeezed his thigh.
Even a gesture that light made his cock leap to life and beg for attention. He needed to get home in a hurry.
“I say that not just because you are my wonderful wife but because your talent is so obvious. Lexie, you can’t let what happened the last time affect what you do for the rest of your life. You love painting. Why not take a shot here? If you don’t get in, or don’t win the prize, you’re still going to keep painting. And more people will see your w
ork and want to buy it.”
She giggled. “Maybe you could take out an ad that says that in great big letters.”
“If it would make you happy.” He put his large hand over hers. “Right now, what would make me happy is to get you home and naked as fast as I can, and forget about today’s disaster.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Chapter Two
By the time they parked the truck and made it inside the house Lexie was so aroused just from thinking of sex with her husband her pulse raced. Moisture flooded her panties, her cream evidence of her heated desire. The nipples on her aching breasts tightened to diamond-hard tips. A pulse throbbed low in her belly and in the walls of her sex, insistently trumpeting the intensity of her need. Would it always be like this between the two of them, instant conflagration whenever they touched, raging hunger whenever they were alone? She hoped they didn’t burn themselves out before they celebrated their first wedding anniversary.
A slight tremor shook Killian’s hands as he hung his jacket on a peg in the mud room. She hooked hers next to it and, without a word, spun and headed for their bedroom. She’d almost made it into the room when his hands grasped her hips, turning her around to face him.
“I have to have a taste.” His voice held that passionate, husky sound she loved.
“Have at it.”
She could barely get the words out before he slid his hands up to cup her face and brought his lips down on hers. God! From the very first time they were together, Lexie swore Killian’s kisses were magic. Erotic magic. He brushed his mouth over hers in a light contact, making all the little nerves there sit up and beg for more. His lips brushed smooth against hers. As always, the brief contact made her automatically open for the exploration of his tongue.
Oh god! His taste! Better than anything she could remember. Tonight, it was filled with the faint lingering flavors of barbecue and corn and the essence that was Killian that not even a hint of beer could chase away. The scent of outdoors still clung to him, an earthy masculine smell which never failed to turn her on. The kiss went on and on, Lexie clinging to Killian’s shoulders, sure she would have fallen from the weakness invading her body without the support of his hands.
“God.” He panted when he lifted his mouth from hers. “Your kisses should be outlawed, you know that? It’s a damn good thing no one gets to enjoy them but me. Otherwise, you’d have a long line of men trailing you wherever you went.”
Lexie wanted to laugh. Not that her social life had been a disaster, but she’d never had a long line the way a lot of the women she knew did, not even in high school. Maybe because she always focused on her art. And Rick had—
No! She would not think about him tonight. Not let thoughts of him creep into the bedroom with her and Killian.
“You okay, sugar?” Killian’s face was still so close she could feel his breath on her cheeks.
“Better than okay. Why?”
“You just got the strangest expression.”
Think of something. Quick, before he asks more questions.
“Maybe I was wondering if you were going to bring out that new rope you ordered tonight.” And what a shock it had been for her to realize how his little rope fetish had turned her on big time. Partly because he never took anything to the extreme but a bigger part was her absolute trust in him and her belief he’d never abuse that trust. She could still remember the first night he’d brought it up, in her little apartment over Heart Starter. At first, she’d been afraid, then skeptical but, in the end, curious enough to let him tie up her wrists.
Holy Hannah! What a turn on that had been. It opened a side of herself she’d never known existed, but one she embraced fully with Killian.
Fire blazed in his eyes at her words. “Who’d ever have thought my little artist would be so hot for bondage.” He traced the outline of her mouth with the tip of his tongue. “I think we can manage it, but first we need to get out of these clothes.”
He was out of his boots and socks before she could blink and already unbuttoning his shirt.
“Wow.” She grinned. “Someone is in a hurry.”
“Especially when you mention rope. Come on, girl. Let me see that luscious body of yours.”
She pulled her Heart Starter T-shirt over her head, tossing it onto the small chair in the corner. Killian’s eyes widened as he took in the sight of her bra. Beneath the utilitarian shirts she wore for work, she’d taken to wearing very sexy lingerie, knowing how much her husband loved it. Tonight’s concoction was bright red, cut low enough her breasts swelled above the delicate lace edging. Teasingly, she held the cups in her palms as if offering herself to Killian. Eyes glued to her, he licked his lips.
“You like to do that teasing, don’t you, darlin’. You know teasers always pay the price.”
“Counting on it,” she told him. Wetting the tip of one index finger she circled the satin fabric around a beaded nipple. She continued to be stunned at how uninhibited she was with him. “Really counting on it.” She ran her gaze up and down his body. “But aren’t you supposed to take your clothes off, too?”
His laugh was rough and ragged with need. “I’m enjoying the show too much.”
“Well, that’s all the show you’re going to get until you at least lose the shirt.”
His gaze still locked with hers, he finished unbuttoning his plaid shirt, tugged the tail loose from his jeans, and eased it down his arms. One flick of his hand and the shirt landed on top of her T-shirt in the chair.
Lexie caught herself wanting to drool. Would she ever get used to the sight of her husband’s ripped body, his hard abs and sculpted muscles, the gorgeous sprinkling of curly black hair on the hard wall of his chest? The hair arrowed down to the waistband of his jeans and below, and her mouth watered even more as she conjured up the image of what it pointed to.
“Now, you,” he urged. “Your turn again.”
“Oh, we’re doing the striptease thing tonight?” she baited.
“Darlin’, I’m always up for a little strip show with you, although tonight, I’m not sure I can wait.”
Lexie didn’t think she could either. Not only could Killian turn her on with just the slightest touch, but also, tonight, she needed it to wash away the effect of today’s near disaster and the tension she’d felt in the emergency room waiting area.
She asked herself daily how she ever could have gotten so lucky as to have Killian fall in love with her and marry her. She’d fallen for him the moment he walked into Heart Starter, although her cautious heart had tried to put the brakes on. Now, well, she didn’t even want to think of what her life would be like without him.
Are you crazy, girl? Dithering and blathering when you have a near naked hot man who wants your body, and who loves you to distraction? Get your shit together.
She kicked off the ugly but comfortable shoes she wore at work. Then, wetting her lips, she unsnapped her jeans and pushed them down her legs, wiggling her butt as she did so. Then she stood there in a thong matching the red bra, nothing more than a scrap of satin barely covering her mound. Discovering Killian had a thing for a bikini wax, she’d made it a habit to maintain it so no curls peeped out from the edges of the little triangle of fabric.
“Christ!” he growled. “Come here, Lexie. Let me run my tongue over those smooth, silky thighs.
“Not until you get rid of the rest of your clothes.” To tempt him a little more, she turned around in a circle, making sure to wiggle her hips from side to side. Then, adding sauce on the dish, she bent over, grabbed her ankles, and did another little shimmy.
When she turned around, Killian had ripped off his jeans and his boxer briefs and stood there, legs apart, the most droolworthy specimen of manhood she’d ever seen. The muscles in his thighs and calves were as hard as every other one in his body. And speaking of hard, his cock stood out proud and thick, swollen with need, the purple head dark and adorned with a tiny drop of precum.
Killian reached between his legs and c
upped his balls. “All for you, sugar. Every bit. Now come here.”
She sashayed to where he stood and stared at him for a long moment before she closed her fingers around his cock. He sucked in a breath.
“Jesus, Lexie. You touch me and I’m almost at the detonation point.”
“Then maybe we’d better take the edge off so we can enjoy a long, slow ride.”
His fingers tightened on his sac. “My way.”
She nodded. “Your way. Always.”
He stepped to the large dresser along one wall, opened one of the drawers, and took out a length of light-blue silky rope. Early on, he’d tossed the lengths of regular rope he used, telling her they were too harsh on her skin. But sometimes, some nights, she wanted that harshness. Wanted to see the reddened skin when he released her. She thought of it almost as a branding, a positive sign she was his and he wanted to keep her always.
Dramatic much, Lexie? Of course he wants to keep you. Get that other asshole out of your head.
Yes, out of her head. Would another happily married woman with a hot husband think about some jerkoff? No! And she wasn’t going to, either.
Killian stroked the length of rope as he walked back to where she stood. Cupping her chin, he looked hard into her eyes. “I just want you to know, I never expected to find the woman of my dreams and the love of my life in Red Creek, Kansas.” He ran a finger over the slope of each breast. “For the rest of my life, I’ll be grateful to Dusty for bringing us all here.”
“Me, too,” she breathed.
Again, he took her mouth, thrusting his tongue deep, licking every inch of the smooth inner flesh. Lexie met her tongue with his, again clutching his upper arms to steady herself. Hunger raced through her, and need and desire, a triple threat reaching into every corner of her body. They didn’t even break the kiss when he reached behind her to unfasten the bra, slide the straps down her arms, and let the little garment fall to the floor. Consumed with hunger for him, she dropped to her knees, clasping her hands behind her in a position that had now become familiar.
