He was good to follow, she decided, as they entered the kitchen. Apparently, her libido was still lit from that quick gaze in the parlor, because his backside held just about as much fascination as his naked chest had held.
My God, she needed to get hold of herself. Or get laid.
Remember, a woman’s knitting needles are sharp, and her eyesight is sharper.
—
E.C.
H
e’d never been treated as such an object in his life, and he’d participated in a wet tee shirt contest in college. The girls had screamed at him then, but tonight had been different. Cade honestly thought that if he would have fit in their knitting bags, they would have scooped him up and run with him right out of the house.
Crazy knitters.
And the craziest of all of them was right on his heels.
Good. He didn’t necessarily need the whole world to hear him go off on her about the party, but he was mad enough that if she hadn’t followed him, he wouldn’t have cared.
“We need to go back to what I was saying,” he said and turned around, leaning against the sink.
“I don’t actually remember what that was.” She tried to hide a giggling sound behind her hand.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, my God, did you see their faces? They wanted you to keep going!” She leaned forward, giggling, her hair falling in her face. It made her look about eighteen years old. “If only they’d had one-dollar bills, you could have cleaned up. Bought a tractor or something with your g-string money.”
It was too late, she was full-blown in the middle of a giggle fit. He knew the signs, and he’d have to wait it out.
He stood in one place, not moving an inch; even though his hip was leaning at an uncomfortable angle against the cabinet door, to move would have been to invite more hilarity. And sure enough, she kept it up for a while, subsiding slowly, after huffing and snorting and hiccupping.
She looked funny enough to make him smile. It lifted his heart to see her like this.
He banished the thought and plastered the stern look back on his face.
This was serious, goddammit. None of this was okay. He wouldn’t allow a retail store on his property, even though it wasn’t, technically, his property anymore. He’d told her no. He’d made it clear.
Then, not only did she go and have a grand-opening party, she pulled it off here. In his house, which she owned no part of. None at all.
It was enough to make a man…Damn it. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do right now that didn’t involve her getting closer to him, and that wasn’t acceptable. That was absolutely the last thing he wanted.
He would put more space between them, that was it. He needed to be able to breathe, and she was so close to him.
She wasn’t laughing anymore. She was looking up at him, expecting him, he was sure, to light into her about the party. To lambaste her with remarks that would hopefully have the effect of making her sorry she chose to have the party here, sorry that she even ever came here. Sorry enough to pack up her things and leave her dream behind.
But that would mean leaving him behind, too, wouldn’t it?
That wasn’t what he wanted.
God, what did he want?
He wanted space. He would have to back up. But the sink was behind him. All right, he’d move to the other side of her, around her.
Why didn’t she say anything? Why was she standing there, looking at him, so beautiful? His heart felt funny, so odd that it was almost painful.
Screw it. When it came right down to it, even with everything he wanted to say to her, none of that mattered. Not when their eyes were locked like this, not when she was melting into him from four paces away.
There was only one thing he wanted.
He stepped forward. She jumped. Her mouth opened as if to speak, and then his own mouth was on hers, where it belonged. He should have done this at the start. Shouldn’t have wasted his time trying to make her jealous, bring Betty here. What had he been thinking?
This
was what he wanted.
She gasped against his mouth, and he touched the inside of her mouth with his tongue. Then more. He needed more, and he couldn’t have more, not right here in the middle of the kitchen with two dozen women in the next room, all armed with sharp and pointy sticks.
The pantry. It was behind her and to the left. He maneuvered her as best he could; she gasped again, but it wasn’t because of his kiss. He remembered her ankle too late.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, keeping his mouth as close as he could to hers without actually kissing her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then hold on to me for a second.”
He put his arms around her waist and lifted, raising her slightly off the ground. He pressed her fully against his length at the same time. He moved forward, kicking the swinging pantry door open with the toe of his foot.
“What are you doing?”
“Here, I’m putting you down.” He did it as gently as he could, but as her feet touched the ground, something stabbed him in the stomach.
“Ow! What the hell?” He reached in front of him. “Are you carrying a skewer in your pants?”
“Oh, crap,” she said. “It’s a double-point knitting needle. Size one. That can do some real damage—are you okay?”
“I think I’m okay, I’m not sure. Am I bleeding?”
The pantry was so small they had to stand against each other. She seemed to want to be as close to him as he wanted to be to her, and he didn’t want to lose that—didn’t want to spook her.
“Here,” he said, taking her hand and placing it under the hem of his sweater. “Feel for me, see if I’m okay.”
She bit her lip and nodded. He wanted to bite her lip in the same spot.
She drew her hand across his belly. “Here?” she asked.
“Yes, that’s it.”
“I don’t think it broke the skin. I’m so sorry…” she started.
“Maybe you should check lower.”
“Did the needle get you…”
“Maybe it did.”
“Oh, yes, I suppose we’re better safe than sorry.” She grinned at him, a cheeky grin that made his heart jump.
“How about here?” Abigail’s fingers were at the top of his waistband.
“Hmm. Kind of sore. But I think it’s just a little lower. You may have to…”
“Under your belt, you mean? I suppose I’d better check. You don’t want to bleed to death because I haven’t done my job.”
She unbuckled his belt and undid the button and fly on his pants. But she didn’t even graze the front of him, the rock-hard part of him that he so desperately wanted her to touch. She knew exactly what she was doing, and he loved it.
Now her fingers slipped a little into the top of his boxers. “No, I think you’re good here, too. I think you’ll live.”
His voice, when he spoke, was low and raspy. “No, maybe a little bit lower. Please, Abigail. I need you to check.”
“Oh, here? That what you mean?”
Her hand was suddenly around him, all the way, cupping and stroking him. He gripped the shelf behind him. He prayed it would hold him.
“How are you doing right here, huh? What if I do this?”
He moaned.
“You don’t appear damaged at all. I’m so relieved.”
“I’m glad you’re happy. But I might be dying.” He had a hard time getting out the words.
“Really? You feel pretty strong to me, like you’re doing okay.”
He dropped his head and ground his mouth against hers.
“See?” she said under his mouth. “You’re going to be just fine.”
“No, I’m not. You’re killing me. Little by little. I need more. I need you.”
And he did. There was only one thing in his mind, and that was having her, and soon. He didn’t care that the house was still full of people, he needed to be in her. He needed her to be his again, to feel her skin against his, to lie, stretched out against her, in bed.
And by the way her hand was moving against the part of him that needed it the most, she knew how he was feeling.
“God, you have to stop.”
“Really?” She laughed, a low sound. It was the sexiest sound he’d ever heard. “Because it kind of seems like you’re liking this. I mean, you don’t seem to hate it or anything.”
“You have to stop touching me like that.”
“Like this?”
He bit back an oath. “I’m serious. I can’t be responsible for what happens if you keep that up.”
“Oh, come on, Cade,” she chastised him, never stopping the motion of her hands, never stopping her lips from moving against his neck, stoking his fire that much higher. “You and I are both well-enough educated to know that’s crap. You can and will be responsible. I can do anything I want to you, and if I said stop, you’d stop.”
“I couldn’t.”
“But you would.”
Cade nodded, took a deep breath and put his hand over hers, holding it tight and still. “If this is a course in women’s empowerment, then yes, I admit I’m enlightened. No means no. But shouldn’t that go both ways? I say no, you stop?”
“You
might be enlightened. But maybe I’m just horny.”
“I’m shocked.” He was, a little.
She grinned at him. “Me, too.” The smile dimmed a little, and she glanced away. He watched her take a deep breath.
“I don’t know what it means,” she said, “and I don’t want to think about it, but I…I want you.”
“I want you, too.” He pressed her hand against himself again, but didn’t allow her to move, to take more than she already had. He couldn’t stand it. “Obviously.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Would you go out to dinner tonight with me?”
“What?”
“Dinner? The evening meal of choice in these parts?”
“I’m pretty sure I know what it means, but…shit. I have a party out there I should get back to. And don’t you already have a date tonight?”
Damn. Betty. Yes, he did. Oh, God, he was a total asshole. He should go back to Betty right now; that’s what a gentleman would do. But a gentleman wouldn’t have gotten himself in this situation in the first place, would he? So instead he said, “Kiss me once more, and then I’ll go get out of the date.”
Abigail gave him a look that he almost drowned in, and he forgot again where he was. Her hand strained to move against him, but he kept a tight hold on her wrist. He wanted nothing more than to let her touch him. Or to turn her around and bend her over the step stool. Or to lead her back through that clutch of knitters straight up to his bedroom. But he couldn’t.
He could kiss her though. He did his best to do that as thoroughly as possible. He brought his free hand up to the back of her neck, and he made sure she knew exactly how much he wanted her.
A click, from behind them, and then a gasp.
“Well, son of a bitch.”
Cade spun around, clutching at his jeans, buttoning them in the second it took to turn fully. Abigail’s mouth was parted, her lips wet and swollen.
Betty stood in the door of the pantry, looking as if someone had hit her across the face. Both her cheeks turned bright red and her eyebrows drew together.
“Well, that’s something, all right.” There was anger in her voice, but her lower lip trembled, just the smallest bit, and Cade felt instantly awful.
“I guess I’m glad I drove my own car over here. Even though I’d really wanted you to pick me up. Like a gentleman. Now I know why you didn’t.”
“I’m sorry. Betty, I’m really sorry.” Cade took a step toward her. This was awful.
She held up a hand. “Save it.”
Abigail said, “Betty…”
“You? No, really, I don’t want to hear it. It’s been a nice couple of days, Cade. From what I hear, that’s all you ever give. So Abigail, enjoy your five minutes of heaven, because that’s all you’re going to get. At least you won’t have to drive yourself home afterward.”
She turned on her spiked heel and walked out.
“Damn
it,” he said. Then he looked at Abigail’s face and hastened to correct the impression he’d just given.
“No, not damn like I’m sorry she’s gone. But I didn’t want to hurt her feelings like that.”
“I think, no matter what, kicking someone out while they’re in the middle of a date is going to hurt their feelings.”
“Yeah, but I wish she hadn’t seen that.”
She sighed and brushed her fingers through her hair, and then wiped her lips with her fingertips. She sidled past him, and while he wanted to stop her, what could he do? This was crazy.
“I guess I’ll go back out to my party.”
“Yeah, I guess you should do that. Before we get caught by someone else.”
“And there are some women in there that would die of a heart attack if they knew what we were just doing.”
“Not we,” Cade said. “What you were doing to me. There’s a difference.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “And you weren’t doing anything to me at all.”
“Not at all. Nothing. I couldn’t be more innocent.”
“Sure. Hey, I could go out there and tell them there’s a sale at the yarn shop in Half Moon Bay.”
“You think they’d believe you?”
“Do I care?”
“So you’ll get rid of them?” Cade asked.
“Do I get a date out of it?”
“Hell, yeah.” He didn’t even bother to try to keep the enthusiasm out of his voice.
“You are already dressed for a date with another woman. That’ll save time.”
“I know. I’m an asshole. Honestly, I’m not usually that big a jerk though, I swear. Can’t we just sneak out without telling anyone?” Cade said.
“No,” Abigail said.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s my…”
“Grand opening, whatever. So you’ll take thirty minutes saying thank-yous and good-byes. They’ll exhaust you and you won’t want to go anywhere at all afterward. Let’s just go.” Cade stepped back a bit and looked at her. “I want you to myself.”
“I have to tell Janet.”
“You have your cell phone on you?”
“In my pocket.”
“Text her.”
He didn’t really think she’d do it. She was too responsible. She wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings by disappearing from her own party. Her own very important party.
But she grinned at him, and his heart soared, higher than he thought was possible. She put her hand in his and said, “Let’s go.”