She stared woodenly through the windshield as Ken carefully disengaged the keys from her hand and then closed her door. In a matter of seconds he was in the driver’s seat starting the engine, almost as if he were afraid she’d leap from the car. And she’d given it serious consideration, but then she’d have to figure out a way home, which meant having the restaurant call her a cab, or she could call Sandra or Sophia. Either would come at a moment’s notice.But then she would be faced with the humiliating fact that her best friends would know her anniversary had been a complete disaster. Hell, for that matter they may have suspected it would be a cluster f**k from the very start. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t expressed enough concern over her faltering relationship with her husband.Ken pulled out of the parking lot.“Please don’t cry, Karla,” he said softly. “I’m so damn sorry. Time got away from me.”“Who was she?” Karla asked coldly, ignoring his words and his apology. Words meant nothi
“I’ll talk,” Karla finally said.But her tone was fatalistic. Like she’d already decided the outcome after they discussed their relationship and why she was so unhappy. Had she lost that much faith in him? The idea devastated him.“But it has to be in neutral territory,” she added. “We have no business having sex with this wall between us. I don’t want our physical attraction to hinder our discussion.” Her gaze swept downward, sorrow creasing her face and tugging her lips into a sad frown. “That’s assuming you even still want me,” she said in a tone tinged with grief. “It’s been so long since you’ve instigated any sort of sex that the reasonable conclusion is you no longer desire me or find me attractive.”Ken damn near swallowed his tongue as protests immediately formed on his lips. Goddamn it but there was so much wrong with her statements that he didn’t even know where to begin.They never used the word sex when it came to their lovemaking. Never. Sex was for people not emotionally
“Karla, baby, don’t say that. Nothing is unfixable. We can overcome this together, I swear it.”She yanked her head so that her eyes were boring straight into his. “You dumped me for a prospective client on our anniversary. I sat there for an hour over cold food after you promised me you’d be there, that you’d only be twenty minutes late, and you lied,” she said accusingly.Ken reared back with a frown. “What did I lie to you about?”Her gaze was full of scorn and rising fury.“You just don’t get it, do you?” she raged. “You call me from work and say you were detained and that you’d be there in twenty minutes. You never said a damn word about meeting a client—a gorgeous female client who was all over you—at the same restaurant where your wife was sitting alone, waiting for her husband. You lied to me. Lies of omission are still lies. You tried to hide from me that you were entertaining a potential client on my goddamn anniversary and you stood there in the bar with her, smiling and la
He clenched the back of his neck and rubbed absently as he paced helplessly around their bedroom. He couldn’t make himself shower or get ready for bed. All he could see was an empty bed, one she should be in, her scent enveloping him as he slept.She was his security blanket. The only solid thing in his world where everything else was uncertain. He’d taken her for granted, had shit on her repeatedly over the last two years, and he’d never realized the extent of his neglect. Until now.He’d done what he’d vowed never to do: Made her feel unwanted. Invisible. Just as her parents had done. Self-loathing ate at him, digging a yawning chasm in his heart and soul.How could he possibly imagine a future without her? He was scared shitless. Fear like he’d never experienced gripped him by the balls and had a stranglehold on his throat.Never, never would he forget the look in her eyes when he’d glanced up from his potential client—hell, what was her name even? He couldn’t remember. All he coul
“Look at me, Karla.”She turned slowly, her face pale, fear in her beautiful eyes. He swallowed back the knot in his throat because this was not the time to hesitate or stand down. He had to pull a full-court press.“First thing I want to say to you, because it was never addressed last night.”She sent him a faintly puzzled look but at least he had her full attention now.“I have never been unfaithful to you, Karla,” he said in a clear, distinct and earnest voice. “I have never even entertained the thought. I love you. You are the only woman I ever want to be with.”Karla’s breath intake was swift and sharp. She stared at him for a long moment, searching his face, as if for the truth in his words.“Then who was that woman last night?” she choked out. “On our anniversary, who was the woman who was all over you in the bar of the restaurant we were supposed to eat at?”The bitterness in her voice made him wince. He’d never expected their marriage to come to this. Not only was she questio
She was almost afraid of his phone ringing. It was only with the fiercest of restraints that she didn’t search for it, looking to see if it was attached to his hip as it always was. She forced herself not to think about it and to savor his promise that finally, finally he was focusing on just the two of them. No business associates, no clients—potential or otherwise. Just her and him and trying to rebuild all that they had lost.He gently laid her down on the bed, standing over her, a fierce gleam in his eyes. His gaze was predatory as it raked over her, undressing her before he even touched her rumpled pajamas.A delicate shiver worked its way over her body. Delicious anticipation. So much wanting and desire pent up inside her that she felt near to bursting.Then he reached down and hooked his thumbs in the waistband of her pajama bottoms and slid them slowly and reverently down her legs. He tossed them aside and then carefully unbuttoned her top from the bottom up, parting the mater
Fierce satisfaction lit his features and he curled his hand behind her neck, pulling her down to him as their lips met in a heated rush. She went down on top of him, her hands splayed over his muscled chest, fingertips pressing deep into his flesh.He kissed her hungrily, his mouth feeding ravenously from hers. His free hand slid up her side and around to cup her breast until her nipples were taught and rigid, tingling, wanting his touch, his mouth.“You have no idea what your happiness means to me,” he said as he pulled his mouth from hers. “That I make you happy … Sophia, you can’t possibly know how much that humbles me. That you trust me. After what I did …”Pain and regret immediately swamped his features and Sophia fiercely put her fingers to his mouth.“James, no. That’s behind us. You’d never hurt me. I know that. You have to know it too. You have to believe it like I believe it. Trust yourself as much as I trust you. I love you,” she added softly. “No one believes in you more
“Is my girl awake?”Ken’s voice rumbled from his chest and she smiled against his chest where her lips rested.“You’re smiling,” he said.Her smile broadened. This was the old Ken. Always so in tune with her every movement, her every thought. She closed her eyes, simply savoring the moment, drinking it in. It very nearly brought tears to her eyes but she refused to allow them because she feared he’d take it the wrong way and they’d be right back at square one.Instead she simply nodded, confirming what he already knew. He hugged her to him more tightly and brushed an affectionate kiss on the top of her head.“Not that I’m not loving exactly where I am and having you naked and in my arms, but I promised you a do-over of our anniversary dinner out, and if we’re going to make it, we need to get up and moving. I need to get cleaned up and I was thinking about a dual shower, one where I wash and pamper you. And then we have dinner and then come back home so I can make love to you all over
She skirted the coffee table. “Is Landon sleeping?”“Yep. He’s been down about a half hour.”“Good. Then I timed it perfectly.”His eyebrows lifted. “Timed what perfectly?”“This.” She straddled his lap, held his face in her hands and kissed him. She tried to keep it easy, a deep, slow, wet reunion kiss. But the sensation of his full warm lips beneath hers, the glide of his tongue against hers, his taste and his scent made her wild, and she inhaled him in a blazing kiss of pure need.Heady stuff, how he met her kiss for kiss, touch for touch, breath for breath.She moved her lips along the line of his jaw to his ear. “God, Brandt. I’m dying for you. Phone sex was hot, but I want real sex. Lots of it. Right now.” She slid off his lap.Keeping her eyes on his, she circled her fingers around his wrists, tugging him to his feet. While gorging herself on his addictive kisses, she herded him down the hallway to his bedroom. After locking the bedroom door, Jessie jerked Brandt’s shirt off. S
“True. But I’ll climb on a back of a bull as long as I can.” He took another drink of beer. “And the injury is healin’ fine, if my nosy-assed brothers asked you to grill me about it.”“They didn’t.”“Good.” Chase shivered. “I forget how goddamn cold it is here.”“You’re spoiled competing in all those warm climes.”“That’s a fact, which is probably why I’ll end up livin’ someplace down south. Speakin’ of… Did your dad talk to you guys about them starting to legally restructure the ranch?”“No. Should he’ve been?”“According to my dad, Uncle Carson and Uncle Cal, yes.”“Does this have to do with Keely getting a chunk of McKay land as a wedding gift?”“Partially. But a couple of us are opting out of bein’ part of the McKay land trust permanently.”Brandt froze. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”Chase kicked back and rested his shoulders on the porch support post. “You really had no clue?”“Nope. So who’s opting out?”“Me, for one.”Brandt looked at him curiously. “Why?”“Because I’v
“Mom. Stop.” Brandt tugged her into his arms. “Just stop.” She was absolutely breaking his heart.“No,” Tell said from behind him, “Let her talk if she wants to.”“We’ll listen to anything she has to say,” Dalton added. “She needs to know that.”Brandt hadn’t heard his brothers come up behind them, but he was damn happy they were here.She pushed back from Brandt and wiped her tears. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last month and wanted to talk to you boys yesterday. On Thanksgiving. To let you know how thankful I am for each of you, but…well. You were there. Wasn’t exactly a Norman Rockwell painting, was it?”None of them could look at each other, which was just weird.“Sorry.” She used a lace hankie to wipe her nose. “I didn’t mean to blather like a fool and get so weepy.”A moment of silence passed as they all struggled.“It’s okay, Mom. Tell cries all the damn time. It’s sort of embarrassin’ if you wanna know the truth,”Dalton mock-whispered.Tell probably would’ve
“If I was there I’d be kissin’ your neck, leaving love bruises from that spot below your ear to your collarbone. I’d feel those cunt muscles pulling my fingers in deeper with every stroke as I moved my thumb faster over your clit. Then I’d whisper, ‘My sweet, sexy Jessie, come for me now’ and you’d explode.”“God, Brandt,” was all she got out before the spasms hit. She gasped as her clit pulsed beneath her thumb. Her fingers were wedged deep in her pussy, squeezed by the contractions so strong they robbed her of breath. The orgasm didn’t last long, but it was intense enough she dropped the phone.When she heard, “Jessie?” coming from far away, she turned, expecting to feel Brandt’s warm body, because she always zoned out after she climaxed. She heard, “Jessie!” again and opened her eyes. Brandt wasn’t there. She was in a single bed with her hand between her legs and her cell phone on the mattress next to her head.“Hello? Jess? Did you hang up?”She grabbed the phone and pushed hersel
“Honestly? Because I’d forgotten about it. So many other things happened over the years. It came back to me when you said you were helping out with Luke’s kid. So no, you’re not a doormat, Jessie. No matter what Luke led you to believe.”She killed her beer. “Luke and I were headed for a divorce anyway.”“I know.”“I loved him. I’da done anything, let him get away with anything, been anyone he wanted me to be, just to keep him.”“I know that too, sweetie.”She held her fingers to her eyes to stem the tears. “God, Mom. I’ve had time to think, a lot, too much time probably, but one of the hardest parts of losing Luke was figuring out I’d lost myself too. I let him define me. And when he wasn’t around to tell me who to be, I didn’t know who the hell I was.”Silence fell and Jessie welcomed it.Her mother cleared her throat. “And what about Brandt McKay? Are you letting him define you?”Jessie shook her head. “Which might seem at odds with agreeing to help him take care of Landon. I’m not
Brandt sighed. “Ain’t no talkin’ you out of this?”“Nope.” She buttoned her coat and slipped on her gloves. “Just double check that everything is shut off before you leave. I’ll call you when I get there, okay?”“Okay. But first…c’mere and give me some sugar.” He curled his fingers around her lapels and tugged her closer.Then he proceeded to turn her inside out with one of his long, drugging kisses, chock-full of passion, sweetness and heat. Boy howdy did Brandt’s kisses pack a wallop. Her knees and her will went weak.Until he chuckled against the corner of her mouth. “You sure that didn’t change your mind?”“Nope.” She backed up and he released her. She reached for the duffel bag strap but Brandt firmly knocked her hand away and picked it up. She still wasn’t used to all his gentlemanly quirks, but she really liked them.But you could get used to them, couldn’t you?Yes.She opened her truck door and whistled. Lexie’s furry body was a blur as she leapt into the cab. Her tail wagged
“Stay like this.” He slid her hands to the edge of the countertop, slipping his knee between her legs in a signal to widen her stance. “Perfect.”“Brandt—”“Trust me, Jess?”It took about ten seconds, but she nodded.“Good. Close your eyes. Relax.”She let her eyes drift shut, but she was in no way relaxed. His body shifted as he reached for something on the counter. Then his wonderfully rough hand glided down her bare stomach, stopping to cover her mound. His fingers stroked her cleft, teasing her folds until she felt herself growing wet, heavy with need.His fingers vanished. Before she could protest, a cool, round object connected with her clit and she gasped, “What is that?”“No fair peeking. Keep your eyes closed.” Brandt steadily dragged it up and down her slit in a smooth glide that followed the contour of her sex from top to bottom. He whispered, “Does it feel good?”“Yes.”His lips feathered hot, moist kisses across her neck. He circled her clit, never too hard, or too soft,
She pointed on the page to a cow hiding in the bushes. “Remember what a cow says? Mmmoooo.” She drew out the word until it was about ten seconds long.Landon giggled.“Now Landon—” she poked his chest when she said his name, “—say mmmoooo.”“Mmmoooo.”Jessie clapped again. “Good job! You are gonna know all your barnyard noises in no time flat.”Usually Landon lost interest before they reached the end of a book, but tonight he stuck it out, although he was pretty squirmy at the end. When she closed the cover, Landon launched himself off the couch and ran straight to Brandt.How long had he been lurking in the shadows? And why was she thinking it was a damn crying shame that he’d gotten dressed?“Up!” Landon demanded.But Brandt wasn’t looking at Landon. He was looking at her with the softest expression. He broke eye contact when Landon bumped into his leg with another demanding, “Up!” and lifted the boy. “So I missed story time? Bummer.”Landon said, “Mmmoooo.”Brandt grinned. “That’ll
“Just Spanish rice, nothing fancy.”He looked around the living room. “Landon asleep?”“Yeah. I know it’s probably crazy to put him down this late, but he was really crabby.”“Sorry I wasn’t here to help. I ended up stopping at Ben’s place on the way home and we had a couple of beers.”Jessie smiled, appreciating he’d told her his whereabouts. “No need to explain, but I’m glad you did.”Brandt crossed into the kitchen, lowering his mouth to hers for a blistering kiss. He tasted of beer and need.This sweet, hot man could wind her up in no time flat. She returned his kiss with equal fervor, loving his deep groan as she pressed her body to his and twined her arms around his neck. She felt him harden against her belly. Then Brandt clamped his hands on her butt, hoisting her up so her legs circled his hips.He walked to the bedroom, breaking the liplock as he set her on the bed. “Damn, woman, kissing you almost makes me forget I have a splitting headache.”His face was pale. And his eyes