“She’s your mother.”“So?”“So, if I would’ve said, ‘Quinn, your mama’s been demanding answers on why I’m not pregnant yet’, we both know you would have brushed it off. If I had complained every damn time she did it, you would’ve thought I was being overly sensitive and brushed it off too.”Guilt flashed across his face.“It wasn’t bad at first. But as the years wore on, her comments became a little sharper. I didn’t want to cause family problems or make waves so I didn’t tell you.”“Dammit, Libby, I didn’t know. I’m sorry. So damn sorry.”“You can’t control her. I’ll admit I was jealous when your cousins started having babies. It embarrassed me at McKay functions hearing your mother complaining to the other women in the family that she didn’t have a grandchild to spoil yet.”“And yet, she never said a fucking word to me. Sayin’ sorry doesn’t seem like enough. No wonder you resented me. No wonder you wanted to rid yourself of me and this overbearing family.”“Your mother didn’t cause
Libby widened her stance, performing a bump-and-grind routine that’d cause a stripper envy. She rolled her pelvis as she shimmied forward and peeped at him upside down from between her legs. She cooed, “How’m I doing, cowboy?”“Definitely makin’ me wild. Stand up and face me.”She spun around. “What now?”“You’ll see. Be still.” He idly dragged his index finger from the tip of her chin, down the flushed skin of her throat, through the valley of her cleavage, zigzagging over her ribs and stomach. He traced the leather strap between her hipbones and her flesh quivered.Libby trembled when he fell to his knees.Quinn admired his handiwork from the previous night—her completely bare-shaven pussy. He passed his palms down the outside of her thighs. The fringe tickled her legs as he followed the sensuous curves to her ankles.When he allowed his hands the same leisurely journey back up, she emitted a soft moan. Brushing his lips across the swell of her belly, he murmured, “Tell me what you
Late Thursday morning, Quinn was wrenching on an old tractor outside the barn when a Crook County sheriff’s car pulled up. He wiped his hands on a rag and squinted at the familiar driver.His cousin, Cam McKay, had signed on as a deputy after his return from Iraq. The door opened and all six-foot-five inches of Cam unfolded from the vehicle.“Mornin’,” Quinn said.“Mornin’, Q,” Cam replied, slamming the door.Cam’s limp was noticeable as he ambled over. Quinn focused his attention on Cam’s face rather than his disability. “Out makin’ the rounds today, Deputy McKay?”“I wish. Is Libby around?”“Nah. She’s at a conference in Cheyenne all week.”“That explains it.”“Explains what?”“This.” Cam held up an envelope. “Why I’m serving you with papers from Ginger Paulson, Attorney-at-Law.”Quinn’s stomach pitched. “You’re shittin’ me.”“Nope. Sorry.” Cam passed over the envelope. “This part of my job sucks worse than dodging bullets.”“When did you get this?” Quinn asked as he ripped the flap
Quinn dipped his head and kissed her. For a good long time.When they broke apart, she murmured, “My roommate is in a class right now. Wouldn’t it be fun to mess around? Especially when there’s a chance we’ll get caught?”“Sounds like my kinda fun.” Fun. That reminded him. “What did you mean when you said you thought it’d be a fun surprise and we’d never done anything like it?”Color tinged her cheeks. “Oh. When I saw those papers, I thought you’d found the tropical island‘couples only’ getaway packages I’d printed out on Sunday. I wanted to tempt you into taking a real vacation, just you and me, the sand and the sea.”Quinn brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Is that another one of your untold fantasies? Jetting off to a tropical island?”“Only if it’s jetting off with you.”“Then the week after you get outta school for the summer, we’ll hop on a plane and be sippin’ drinks on the beach by sunset. You can call it a fantasy. I’ll call it our second honeymoon.”“Re
PrologueCrash.Bang.Thump thump thump.Silence.Another loud thud followed the distinctive sound of breaking glass.Not good.When the whole building seemed to shake with the next crash-bang-thump combo, Domini Katzinski panicked.Call the police, dummy.Good plan.She scrambled for her cell phone on the nightstand. She dialed and hunkered underneath the covers, counting the rings.Pick up. Please pick up.“Domini?” Cam McKay said with a surprised tone. “What’s goin’ on?”The deep timbre of his voice allowed her to focus on something besides her fear. “I think someone is breaking into the restaurant. There’s loud noises and breaking glass—”“Are you locked in your apartment?”“Yes. Should I—”“No. Don’t move. Stay right there, do you hear me?”Domini started to answer but he beat her to the punch.“I mean it,” Cam said sharply. “Stay put and stay quiet until you hear from me. Keep your phone close to you and on vibrate. Promise me.”“I promise.”“Good. I’m on my way.” Click.For the
“I’ve known you since you were in diapers, boy, don’t you dare smart mouth me,” Opal retorted.Yep, riding the range alone, dealing with animals that didn’t talk back…some days Cam regretted not taking the offer to join the family cattle business. His gun dug into his hip as he shifted off his bum leg to reach his cuffs.“Opal. Leave the poor deputy alone,” the man behind him snapped.“Why ain’t you arresting him?” Opal demanded. “He started it!”“I did not, you crazy old bat.”“See? He’s calling me names again.”Cam glanced at the gray-haired man holding an ice pack to the goose egg on his forehead. “Now, Ralph, you know I won’t tolerate that kinda talk.”“Hah! Told you he’d be on my side,” Opal said gleefully.Ralph muttered.“There are no ‘sides’ here, Opal. I haven’t made an arrest. Yet. Not until someone tells me what happened.”“She—”“He—” the couple said simultaneously, and started arguing simultaneously.Cam tried to listen to the heated exchange, but the accusations flung ba
When Keely tucked away yet another hot cowboy’s phone number into her jeans pocket, Chassie said, “You’re so bad.”The bad girl batted her eyelashes. “Why, whatever do you mean?”“How many men do you have on a string right now?”“That’s rich, coming from a woman who lives with two guys,” Keely shot back.“Ooh. Ouch,” Ramona said with a wince.Chassie bumped Keely with her shoulder. “I’m living with three guys if you count my sweet baby Westin. He’s at such a cute stage right now. Trev and Ed are always—”“Can it, Chass. No baby talk tonight. Remember?”“Fine. But most of us here do have babies.”“What about you, Jessie?” Skylar asked. “You and Luke talked about kids?”Jessie shrugged. “Off and on. We’re ‘off’ right now. We’ve got some really cute baby llamas. You should bring the girls over to see them.”“Llamas?” Domini repeated.“Jessie was the saving grace for the llamas Chase won in some rodeo last fall. He dumped them off with his folks and expected Charlie and Vi to take care of
Bizarre conversational change, but then again, it was typical Keely behavior, so Domini went with it. “Umm. Sure.”“Cool. What the hell happened to our waitress?”“I wondered the same thing, K,” Ramona said.“No worries. I’ll be right back.” Keely popped up and exited into the main part of the bar.While she was gone, the ladies dispensed more detailed advice on how to handle Cam. Some of the raunchier suggestions made Domini blush, but were very intriguing. Mostly because these seemingly mild-mannered mothers were obviously very sexually satisfied with their McKay men. Hard not to be even more jealous of them.Keely returned with a pack of unfriendly women on her bootheels. She slid the tray on the table and faced the gatecrashers.Ramona hopped up in a show of support. “What the fuck are they doing here?”“Grazing,” Keely said.“So this is where the skank meeting is,” a chubby blonde sneered.“We saved a seat for you, Amanda, but damn, I don’t think your fat ass will fit in the chai