The Buckhorn Brothers Box Set: Sawyer\Morgan\Gabe\Jordan (42 page)

She took a step closer to him and stared up, her brows beetled. “I had to change.”

His gaze dropped to the large cone she held, now dripping on her hand. “Nor do they eat ice cream cones during business hours.”

“Morgan.” She said his name like a growl.

He ignored the warning, too angry to care that now she was angry, too. “I pay you to work, to answer the phone and take messages. It’s little enough to expect that you might take those duties seriously.”

Casey groaned, then mumbled, “Now you’ve done it.”

Morgan paid no attention to his nephew. He was too fascinated by the way Misty’s eyes darkened, turning midnight blue.

She went on tiptoe. “I’ll have you know, I’ve worked my butt off today!”

He leaned to look behind her. “Looks to me like you’ve got plenty of ass left.”

Her gasp was almost drowned out by the groans of the spectators. Misty turned around and snatched up a stack of notes scattered over the desk’s surface. “These,” she said, slapping them against his chest one by one, “are from your various girlfriends hoping for a date tonight.” They fluttered to the floor to land around his feet. “They’ve been calling all day, tying up the damn phone.”

“Malone—”

“And they were rather persistent that you reply right away.” She gave him a sarcastic-sweet smile. “Before I leave, I’ll be sure to let them all know you’re most definitely free!”

“Malone…”

“And this,” she said, throwing a yellow bill at his face, “is for the plumber, because everything backed up and soaked the floor. If it wasn’t for Howard and Jesse helping me mop we’d still be six inches under.”

He started to get a little worried. “Uh, Malone…”

“And that constant banging you hear,” she practically yelled, “is the repair man working on the cooling system. In case you missed it, it’s about ninety degrees in here.”

So that was why she was all warm and damp. Not because she’d been playing so hard? His brow lifted, but she wasn’t through yet. Morgan was aware of Howard and Jesse trying to slip out unnoticed. Casey’s two friends had already slunk as far as the door. Nate was openmouthed beside him, not moving so much as a muscle. Casey, the rat, whistled.

“And finally,” Misty snarled, in a voice straight out of a horror movie, “this is the first break I’ve had all day. The flooding water ruined my lunch, and with no air-conditioning I was too hot to eat, anyway, so Nate got me an ice cream cone to tide me over until dinner. But since you don’t think I should be eating it, why don’t
you
take it!”

And with that, she aimed the damn thing like a missile, ice cream first, into the middle of his chest. Morgan gasped as the chill hit him, then made a face when he felt the first sticky dribble soak under his collar and mingle with his chest hair.

Casey stopped whistling. “Uh-oh. The fat’s in the fire now.”

Howard and Jesse ran out the door, slamming it behind them.

Nate made a strategic turn and crept out.

Like a stiff, well-trained soldier, Misty tried to troop out after him. Morgan caught her by the arm, pulling her up short. “Oh, no, you don’t.” A clump of ice cream dropped to the floor with a plop. He dragged Misty closer.

He hated to admit it, but her temper turned him on.

He had an erection that actually hurt it was so intense, and every muscle in his body was pulled taut against the need to take her. He stared at her, aroused by the glitter in her eyes, by the way her chest heaved. “I think we should share the cone, Malone.”

Misty reared back, but he caught her other arm, pulling her up close. She stared at his chest, covered in goo, and her lips twitched.

“You think it’s funny?” But he fought his own smile. No, life with Misty would never be mundane.

“I think you got what you deserved.” Her bare heels slipped on the floor as she tried to dig in. She giggled as another plop of ice cream fell loose. “Morgan, no! I mean it, Morgan. Don’t you dare—”

Her words ended in a gasp of outrage as he squished her up against his chest. “Cold, isn’t it?”

She tried to twist free, which only made her breasts slip and slide over his chest. Morgan groaned.

“You…” she started to say breathlessly.

Morgan kissed her. It was a funny kiss, since she was struggling so hard against him, but laughing, too, and they had the damn cone crunching between them, the ice cream fast melting with their combined body heat.

Casey cleared his throat. “I’ll be on my way now. See you both later. No need to see me off.”

Morgan lifted his head. “Get out of here, will you?”

Casey laughed. “I’m going, I’m going.”

Morgan watched as Casey dragged his gawking friends out the door and quietly closed it behind them. Misty tried again to pull loose, and he tightened his hold. “Oh, no, you don’t. I have a few things to say to you.”

She twisted in his arms, realized she couldn’t get free, and stopped squirming. “What?”

He kissed her again. Then against her lips, “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

“Mm.” With her mouth open he deepened the kiss, tasting her, making love to her. He groaned when the banging noise suddenly stopped.

As he gasped for breath, she muttered, “You ruined my T-shirt. Now what am I going to wear to work?”

Morgan cradled her head in his palms and asked, “You were going to go to the diner dressed like this?”

“I’m perfectly decent, Morgan, so don’t start again.”

“Dear God, you’ll start a riot.”

“It was your plumbing that ruined my other clothes. Casey was nice enough to bring these to me when I called.”

“I’ll run home and get you something else, okay?”

When she hesitated, he waggled her head. “Have some pity on me, Malone! I’m not used to being jealous, and it’s taking some getting used to here.”

“You really were jealous?”

“What did you think? That I just enjoy making an ass of myself?”

She mumbled, “Well, you do it often enough.” Then she glared at him. “You have some explaining to do, insulting me like that in front of everyone.”

He swallowed hard, still very aware of her soft body lined up along the length of his. “You’re not going to quit on me, are you, just because I yelled a little?”

“I can’t.” She gave him a sad smile. “I need the job.”

Morgan kissed her again, this time gently, because he hated to hear that, to be reminded of her position. “I’m sorry.”

“For embarrassing me?”

“Yeah, though you didn’t seem all that embarrassed to me. More like raging mad.”

“True. On top of everything else, I was suffering my own share of jealousy. I mean,
eight
calls from women, Morgan.”

“You were jealous?”

She frowned at him. “That, and annoyed. You have very pushy girlfriends.”

He tried to look innocent. “Some of them are probably just friends.”

“Probably? You don’t know?”

He bit his lip, then chuckled. “It doesn’t matter anymore, anyway. I swear. Now tell me you forgive me.”

“Are you sorry for what you said?”

“About your sweet tush? Hell, no. You do have a great—”

“Don’t say it, Morgan!” She laughed. “And about ruining my clothes?”

“Come into the bathroom and I’ll help you clean up.” Then he frowned. “I gather we do have running water now?”

“Yes, but I can clean up without your help. You,” she said, pointing to all the paper littering the floor, “have a lot of calls to return.”

Morgan looked down and saw that he’d stepped all over the message slips.

“You know, Morgan, it suddenly occurs to me.” Her frown was back, her mouth set in mulish lines. “You’re running around insisting every male in the area believes we’re involved, even to the point of putting on this caveman routine. But there seems to be an awful lot of females who don’t know a thing about it.”

“I’ve been too busy mooning over you to give other women a thought. And that includes thinking about them long enough to update my status from available to unavailable.”

He loved how quickly her moods shifted, from mad to playful, from brazen to shy. Right now she looked uncertain. She stared at his chocolate covered chest. “Are you considered unavailable now?”

Morgan tipped her chin up. “For as long as you’re willing to put up with me.”

She stared at him a moment, then pulled him down for a hungry kiss. Her hands were tight on his shoulders, her mouth moving under his. Morgan felt singed. It was the very first time she’d ever initiated anything, and he wanted so badly to strip her naked and sate himself on her, he was shaking with need.

A sudden hum and the kick of cool air let him know the repairs on the system were complete. And just in the nick of time. A few more seconds and he’d have burned up.

“Tonight, will you let me make love to you, Malone?”

She touched his mouth, gave him a small smile, then nodded. “I do believe I’d like that.”

His heart almost stopped. He reached for her, but the repairman gave a brief knock and stepped in.

“All done.” He drew himself up short as Morgan stepped away from Misty and he got a good look at the ice cream mess on their clothes.

Morgan grinned. “Just leave me a bill.”

10

I
T SEEMED TO BE
Morgan’s day for chaos.

The rain was endless, coming down in sheets, and he was relieved and thankful when he saw that Misty’s car was already parked around back by the kitchen door, as was her habit. He’d worried endlessly about her driving home in the pouring rain. She’d worked all day and had to be exhausted. He’d hoped to follow her home, then immediately sweep her off to his house. But then he’d gotten held up and the storm had started. He put the truck in park, close to where she’d left her car. Normally he would have driven the Bronco into the garage, but he wanted to be as close to the back door as he could, so Misty wouldn’t have as far to run in the rain.

He sighed as he picked up his small bundle in the front seat beside him, wrapping his rain slicker around it to keep it dry, then dashed the few feet through the downpour.

The kitchen door opened before he reached it, so he figured someone had been watching for him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Misty. No, she was engaged in what appeared to be a heated argument with Sawyer. It was Honey who had opened the door.

He kissed her cheek to thank her, then turned to see what the hell was going on.

Misty went on tiptoe and said to Sawyer’s chin, “If you don’t take the money, I can’t stay!”

Sawyer threw his arms into the air, spotted Morgan and let out a huge sigh of relief. “She’s worse than Honey, I swear.”

Rain dripped down the end of Morgan’s nose. His shirt stuck to his back. He glanced around the kitchen and asked, “Where’s Jordan?”

Sawyer looked surprised by his question, then said, “In his rooms, why?”

Slowly, so as not to startle the creature, he unwrapped his burden. A fat, furry, whimpering pup stared at them all, then squirmed to get closer to Morgan. He said to Honey, “Can you get me a towel? I found the damn thing under the front steps of the gym. He’s been abandoned awhile, judging by how tight his rope collar was.”

Morgan was still so angry he could barely breathe. Cruelty to an animal sickened him, and it was all he could do to hold in his temper, but he didn’t want to scare the poor pup more than it already was.

Sawyer picked up the phone and called Jordan while Misty inched closer. Her eyes were large, and she was looking at him in that soft, womanly way she had. He’d get her alone tonight if he had to carry her through the damn storm.

Honey skittered into the kitchen with a towel.

The back door opened, and both Gabe and Jordan came in. They wore rain slickers that did little enough to keep them dry. Jordan was all business, taking the pup without asking questions, ignoring his own damp hair and shirt collar. Gabe shook his head. “It looks pretty young. What kind of dog do you think it is?”

Jordan murmured to the frightened animal as he gently toweled it dry. “A mixed breed. Part shepherd by the looks of him, maybe with some Saint Bernard. He’ll be big when he’s full grown.” Jordan investigated the pup’s throat and scowled where the too small rope collar had rubbed off much of the fur. “I’ll need my bag.”

Gabe turned to the door. “I’ll get it.” He pulled the hood of his slicker over his head and stepped into the rain without hesitation.

Misty started unbuttoning Morgan’s shirt as if she did so every day. “You’ll catch a cold if you don’t get some dry things on.”

Sawyer nodded. “Go change, Morgan. And take Misty with you. Maybe you can talk some sense into her.”

Morgan stood still while Misty peeled off his wet shirt. “What have you been up to now, Malone?”

Sawyer didn’t give her a chance to answer. He waved a few bills under Morgan’s nose. “She wants to pay for staying here.”

Morgan scowled. “I thought we had all that resolved.”

Taking his hand, Misty tugged him from the room. “I won’t be a freeloader. If I stay I have to contribute. I’ve been eating here almost every day….”

Morgan allowed her to lead him away from the others, but the second they were out of sight he pulled her around and pinned her to the wall, then gave her a deep, hungry kiss. Against her lips, he whispered, “Damn, I missed you.”

She looped her arms around his neck and smiled. “I was starting to wonder. I thought you’d be home hours ago.”

“I had to do a class, and one of the women got hurt, and then I found the pup.” He groaned. “God, it’s been a hectic day.”

He knew his wet slacks were making her damp, too, but he couldn’t seem to let her go. He’d thought about her all day long.

“What kind of class?”

Oh, hell.
He hadn’t meant to say that. He took her hand and now it was he leading—straight into his bedroom. He closed the door and turned the lock. “Let me change real quick and we’ll run up to the house. I’ll drive you straight into the garage so you won’t get wet.”

“Morgan.” She crossed her arms and leaned against his door while he hunted for a towel to dry himself. “What class?”

Trying to make light of it, he said, “I teach some of the women self-defense two Fridays of the month. Especially the women who work as park guides for the mountain trails. Sometimes they end up alone with a guy, so they need to know how to defend themselves.”