“Might sound stupid, but I’d convinced myself that for once, the name I had, the name you knew me by, didn’t matter, because you were interested in the man inside.Yeah, I realize it was dumb. But I didn’t have any idea on how to go about making it right back then.”She waited, unsure of where he was going with this and unsure of how she’d respond.Kade reached for her hand. “Except I can make it right now. Let’s start over.”“It’s too late.”“It’s never too late. Come on. I’ll go first.” He formally shook her hand. “Howdy, little lady. I’m Kade McKay.”Skylar laughed.“You shore are purty. Anyone ever told you that you have a beautiful laugh? Like bluebells in springtime.”“Kade.”“You maybe wanna go out with me sometime?” He grinned and gave her an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows. “Or do you just wanna skip all that normal datin’ stuff and have my baby?”She laughed again. It’d been a long time since she’d made that carefree sound. She’d forgotten how Kade had tried to cajole her
“So we’re sharing a bed strictly as parenting partners?”“Yep.”“You’ll be a perfect gentleman?”“If that’s what you want. Besides, you’ll probably be so glad to get a full night’s sleep that you won’t even notice I’m there.”“But—”“But, it’s only for a few weeks, until you put her in her own room, right?”“Ah. Right.”“So, how hard can it be?”The look on Skylar’s face was priceless. He knew she wasn’t convinced it’d be no big deal having him in her bed.And that’s exactly what Kade was counting on.Two weeks later…“Wah. Wah. Wah.” Pause. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”Skylar groaned and rolled toward the edge of the bed. “Hang on, baby. I’m coming.”Kade placed his hand on her shoulder. “Stay put. I’ll get her. Go back to sleep.”She mumbled, “Thanks.” The minute he was out of bed, she sprawled in the middle of the mattress and snagged his pillow.What a bed hog.“Wah. Wah. Wah.”“Good Lord, child. Them lungs work fine at four in the mornin’, don’t they?” Kade murmured, scooping Eliza out
Kade heard Skylar thrashing around in bed before he opened the door to peek inside.It took a second for his head to decipher the images his eyes were relaying.Skylar was in the middle of the bed. Pajama bottoms off. Her left forearm draped across her eyes. Her right hand stroking madly between her legs as she climaxed.Holy shit.He waited. If he burst in now she’d probably die of embarrassment. But Kade realized Skylar wasn’t aware of what she’d been doing; she’d been dreaming.Jesus. Must’ve been some damn good dream. What would he’ve done if he’d been in bed next to her when she indulged in a little self-love?Woken her up and fucked her like a madman, convincing himself it was his way of making her dreams come true.Kade paced the hallway a few more minutes before he snuck in and tucked Eliza in her crib. He stared at Skylar’s half-naked body lolling on his side of the bed, in the ultimate pin-up girl pose. The ultimate temptation. No way could he crawl in there and not touch he
“True. Dad’d skin us alive if we upset the queen bee, even now.” Kane twisted the wire cutters. “Anyway, I’m thinkin’ about changin’ my name.”Kade laughed. “Right.”“I’m serious. Something that don’t start with a ‘K’ or a ‘C’ like everyone in this damn family.”“How about…Dick?”“How about you fuck off, smartass?”Kade grinned. “So whatcha thinkin’? Bubba? Spud? Deuce? Fred? Ethyl?”“I think Bennett’s datin’ a woman from Thermopolis named Ethyl.”“No kiddin’?”“Yeah, I’m kiddin’. Goddamn you’re easy to tease, Kade.”“Give me a break. I ain’t had to make small talk besides with the cattle for the last year. Good thing Eliza ain’t expectin’ me to be a brilliant talker.”Kane clipped a section of wire. “What about Skylar? Does she expect that from you?”“Who the hell knows?” Frustrated, Kade pounded his foot against the metal jaws of the posthole digger. “We don’t talk about nothin’ except Eliza.”“That’s to be expected, ain’t it?”“Probably. But it’s been a few weeks since I moved in.
“Nice to meetcha, Miz Bancroft.”When Annie yelled, “Sky. Did you hear me? Line two,” Skylar had no choice but to dump him with Dee.Ten minutes later, she found Kade and Dee chatting in the herb drying room. He turned around at her approach. His heated I-wanna-eat-you-up look made her nipples hard and her belly clench. Then his handsome face lit up when he noticed Eliza was in her arms.“There’s my sweet girl.”At the sound of his voice, Eliza’s tiny feet kicked.His grin widened. “Didja miss me, baby? You been behavin’ for your mama today?”“Your sweet girl hasn’t slept for more than fifteen minutes at a time all day.”“Maybe that means she’ll sleep all night for a change.” He nuzzled Eliza’s pudgy neck. “Which ain’t fair because it’s your night to be up with her.”“My night? I thought we were taking turns?”“Me too, sweetheart. But I took all the turns last night. You didn’t move when I got out of bed. At midnight. At two. And at four.”Dee chuckled. “Oh. I get it now.” Still smili
“Great timing. Dinner’s done.”“Good. That looks mighty tasty. Thanks for cookin’.”“You’re welcome.” Weren’t they civilized and polite? What happened to the heated looks and his suggestion of taking her to bed? Why didn’t he suggest they skip supper and head straight for dessert?Why don’t you take a chance and tell him what’s really on your mind?Kade shoveled in a forkful of rice and chewed. “This is good. What’s the spice?”“I added fresh savory.”“Mmm. That it is.”He ate. She ate. They finished the meal in uncomfortable silence.She started to clean up the dishes and declined his offer to help.Finally, he said, “You gonna tell me what’s wrong?”She slammed the cupboard door. “I don’t know.”“Could you at least give me the courtesy of lookin’ at me when we’re talkin’, sweetheart?”Skylar wheeled around. “We aren’t talking, Kade.”“Is that the problem?”“Maybe.”“Only one way to rectify that, Skylar. If you have some to say to me, spit it out.”“Fine. For lack of a better term, w
The mattress shifted and Skylar sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”“Because I liked havin’ you next to me, no matter what your motives were. Don’t matter right now.” He fluttered his fingertips up the inside of her thighs. “Spread your legs wider for me, sweetheart.”Kade caught a whiff of her arousal. Thick. Sweet. Warm. He wanted to taste her so damn bad his mouth was watering. Keeping his hands gripping her thighs, he leaned over and put his mouth on her belly button.Her stomach muscles rippled beneath his lips.He dipped his tongue into the indentation, then dragged it down to the top of her pubic bone. He blew softly across her damp curls.Goose flesh broke out across her legs and she softly gasped.“Any objections about me kissin’ you down here?”“Ah. No. Please.”Kade chuckled at her polite eagerness. After a couple of gentlemanly licks, he buried his face in her pussy, found her pulse with his tongue and began to suck her clit.She moaned his name. His. Kade.Oh yeah. This is
She’d never had much of a sex life, so the fact she was getting some good lovin’ on a regular basis should’ve made her swoon like giggling maiden. So why did it bug the crap out of her that sex had turned…routine? And that was saying a lot, coming from someone like Skylar who thrived on routine. Not only was she too chicken to take a chance on initiating sex with Kade, she was afraid he’d balk at seeing her flab-ulous post-baby body and end all sexual contact. She kept all naked encounters in the dark, figuring so-so sex was better than no sex? Right?Wrong. The niggling feeling that something was missing outside of the bedroom didn’t help her frame of mind because she had no frame of reference for a situation like this—sexually or personally. For the first time in a long time, she had no plan of attack, no earthly idea on how to go about implementing changes.Sky left the office and headed home. The big screen TV in the living room wasn’t on. Kade wasn’t sprawled on the couch. The ba