Before The Night Is Over (20 page)

Glancing at the red numbers on the alarm clock next to the bed, she cussed under her breath at the stubborn-assed cowboy in the other room, for letting her sleep so late. Rarely did she sleep a full eight hours, but he must have thought she needed to. “I could have sworn I told him not to let me sleep too late.”

You were exhausted though.

“
It doesn’t matter. Kimberly is my first priority, sleep comes second.”

Maybe he wants to take care of you for a change.

“
Take care of me? I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”

What makes you so sure?

“
I’ve been taking care of myself for several years.”

And you are doing such a fine damned job of it; you decked your brother-in-law for beating up on your sister. Makes sense, Laurel.

“
Shut up. Just shut up,” she grumbled at her inner voice who loved to argue in her head.

The door to his bedroom creaked open as she tugged on it and stepped into the hall.

“
I bet Kimberly has him eating out of the palm of her hand.”

The pitter-patter of her feet as she followed the long corridor toward the living room, didn’t display the annoyance running down her back in a sufficient amount. When she walked into the front hall and looked across the space, she caught the devilishly handsome cowboy doing something she never thought she’d see—cooking.

“
Hey, darlin’. Did you sleep well?” he asked, catching sight of her from near the center island.

“
Why’d you let me sleep so long? It’s going on three in the afternoon,” she said, making sure the irritation could be heard clearly in her voice.

“
You obviously needed it, Laurel, or you wouldn’t have slept like a dead person. I checked on you a couple of times—even kissed you and you didn’t move.” He sipped from a spoon and then stirred whatever was in the pot, again, not giving her the satisfaction of a reaction to her bad-tempered snit. “You hungry?”

“
Starving.”

His warm chuckle sent goose bumps skittering down her arms.

“
By the way, where are my clothes? I could have sworn I left them on the floor in your room.”

“
You did. I washed them.”

“
You did laundry?”

The raised eyebrow over his left eye and the smile twitching at his oh-so-kissable lips, had heat pooling in her belly and racing down her legs.

“
I had to. Your daughter decided to make mud pies in the pig pen earlier.”

“
She did?”

“
Yep. Sneaky little thing took off after she and I came back from checking fences. I thought she was chasing the cat from the barn, but when I found her, she had mud from the top of her head to the tips of her tennis shoes.”

Laurel couldn’t help the smile she felt drifting across her mouth at the picture. “I should have told you to watch her close. She likes to chase things and get into everything.”

His shoulder lifted in a nonchalant shrug as he set the spoon on the counter. “No harm done except maybe the pigs are a little put out.”

His steps brought him toward her with a sexy roll of his hips and his eyes held a determined gleam she wasn’t sure she wanted to interrupt. Every inch of dominating gorgeous male, tugged at her insides coiling tight like a spring ready to let loose with nothing more than a single tough of his callused hand. Goose bumps rose on her arms again and a shiver raced down her back, the closer he got. By the time he stood in front of her, her belly quivered and her breathing came in rapid pants. Heat spiraled through her veins on a rush, stopping and centering low in her middle. One finger slid down her cheek as his musky male scent surrounded her. Her tongue swiped over her now parched lips. “What’s for supper?”

“
You?” he asked, dropping his voice to a low purr.

Her pussy clenched and cream slid out of her to moisten her panties in a wickedly erotic way. “Somehow I don’t think that will satisfy the hunger making my stomach growl. It would satisfy something else though.”

“
Later?”

The question and heat in his gaze reminded her of each time he kissed her, touched any place on her body and heaven help her, when he made her scream as she climaxed right there in his living room.
Had it only been a few short days ago? God, it seems like I’ve known him forever.

“
Maybe.” The purr of her voice didn’t sound anything like a sound she’d heard from her lips before.
Damn, he’s turning me inside out.

The softness of his lips nibbling at the corner of hers had a moan bubbling in her throat. His hands roamed her back and pulled her hips tighter against his pelvis. The hard erection he sported behind the fly of his jeans haywired her brain and made her think of hot, sweaty sex, long languishing kisses and explosive orgasms.

“
Save those thoughts for later, darlin’. Food is ready,” he grumbled as his lips whispered over her neck all too briefly before he stepped back and gave her one of his devastating smiles.

“
You’re rotten and way too tempting for my sanity,” she grumbled, earning a wicked chuckle from him. The television blasted cartoons from multiple speakers imbedded somewhere in the walls and she glanced around for her daughter. “Where’s Kimmy?”

“
Lying on the floor over there,” he said, nodding toward the television.

Laurel scooted a little closer to the back of the couch and caught a glimpse of her normally squirmy three year old, engrossed in the slap-stick of the cartoon show.

“
I take it you don’t let her watch cartoons much.”

“
Not a lot, but it’s fine.”

Kale moved around the kitchen like a pro, grabbing dishes and silverware and setting the table for three.

“
Can I help?”

“
Nope. I got it.” His hot gaze slipped over her bare legs and she shifted from foot to foot as chills popped up on her arms. “I love those gorgeous legs, darlin’, but you might want to put somethin’ more on for dinner.”

Deciding to light a little fire under him and keep the lust smoldering in those pools of chocolate brown, she sauntered close enough her breasts brushed against his rock hard chest, and whispered over his lips, “I don’t know where my clothes are, cowboy, since someone swiped them from the bedroom.”

With a rough clearing of his throat and a few difficult appearing swallows, he replied, “I’ll get ‘em.”

She glanced down, ran one finger over his erection strained the front of his jeans and grinned.

“
Witch,” he growled and stepped away. His ass leaving looked just as yummy as the front view coming back. He returned with her blouse and jeans freshly washed, dried and
ironed?

“
You ironed my jeans?”

“
It’s the cowboy way, babe. Creased and pressed.”

The I’m-gonna-eat-you-up grin on his lips tempted her beyond endurance to sample from his delectable mouth. Slipping one hand behind his head, she tugged until his searing lips settled over hers. She gasped, giving him access to the inside and allowing his tongue to dive between her parted lips. The invasion had her moaning her delight and tipping her head to fit everything together like two puzzle pieces. Each wicked stroke drove passion beyond control, beyond want and into blistering need.

The brush of his mouth along her jaw to her ear spiked her desire hard as he found the sensitive spot just below and licked. Searing heat from his callused palms radiated down her legs when he gripped her ass cheeks and yanked her up against his chest. All she wanted to do was melt into him and let him do whatever he wanted.

A small hand smacked against her bare leg, dragging the thoughts of hot sweaty sex between the sheets with this devastatingly handsome cowboy, to the pixy face of her daughter.
Shit!

“
Uh, hi baby.”

Kimberly held up her arms for Laurel to pick her up.

“
I’ll get supper on,” Kale said, his voice raspy and deep with passion as he moved away.

She bent down and scooped up Kimberly in her arms and asked, “Want to come with me so I can get dressed, babydoll?”

Her daughter nodded and buried her face in Laurel’s neck. She felt like shit, ignoring Kimmy like that. Damn the man could make her forget everything and everyone except him and his sexy-ass body.

Moments later, she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind them, shutting out the temptation of Kale and the wicked thoughts of his hot mouth trailing wetness all over her.

* * * *

The soft click of the bathroom door brought Kale out of the sex-induced fog he’d been in since Laurel walked out of the bedroom in nothing more than his T-shirt. God, she’d been delectable, willing and scorching hot when he’d touched her.

He raked his hand through his hair and exhaled a frustrated sigh. The sexy red-head twisted him six ways to Sunday and she knew it too. There wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it or wanted to do about it either—except fuck her until they both couldn’t breathe. Remembering her slick pussy wrapped around him the one and only time he had managed to make her think of him and nothing else, zipped across his thoughts, driving his need for her higher. What he would give to feel it again.

Within moments, supper was laid out on the table and he’d placed a couple of phone books on one chair for Kimmy to sit on so she could reach the table. He stood at the refrigerator pouring himself a glass of milk when he heard the bathroom door open and glanced over his shoulder. The take-no-shit cop had replaced the delectable woman from the top of her tight ponytail to the tips of her toes even if she now wore pressed jeans. The small smile he let drift over his mouth made her eyes narrow as she walked toward him with Kimmy on her hip.

“
Supper’s on. What would you like to drink?”

“
Milk or water is fine for me and Kimmy.”

He nodded and said, “Have a seat. I made one chair up for her.”

“
I see that. Thank you.”

After they’d both taken a chair and started eating, he wondered at her quietness. Her sassy mouth had been all over him not thirty minutes before and now she seemed subdued and almost embarrassed by her behavior.

“
You okay?”

“
Yeah, why?”

“
You seem too quiet.”

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug, but her eyes didn’t meet his. “Just thinking.”

“
Of?”

When her gaze came up to meet his, he frowned at the distance in her eyes. “I’m sorry about before.”

“
Sorry?”

“
Yeah. I shouldn’t have come on to you in such a manner. It’s not who I am, Kale.”

“
Who are you then, Laurel? I thought you were a sexy, smart, funny, gorgeous woman who I’m extremely attracted to and you make me hotter than hel…a furnace when you’re close to me,” he replied, taking her hand in his and bringing it to his lips.

The soft sigh escaping from her mouth sounded almost forlorn.

She pushed the bowl from in front of her and pulled her hand from his grasp. “I don’t want you to get the wrong impression about me—about us.”

“
What impression are you talking about?”

“
The notion there could be something more between you and I than casual sex.” She jumped to her feet, pushing the chair back an irritating
scrape
to the tile floor and walked to the windows facing out toward the backyard.