Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult, #Western, #Red Hots!, #Western Romance
Raising Kane (7 page)
Seeing his gnarled fingers struggling to shuffle the deck of cards caused an ache inside her. But he hid his frustration well.
Her father’s slowness didn’t bother Kane in the slightest. He sipped his beer, toyed with his chips. Not once did he offer to shuffle and deal for Dash. Not once did he urge the man to hurry up. Not once did he sigh or stare.
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Kane’s consideration brought a lump to Ginger’s throat. This man was so much…more than she’d ever imagined. Sexy. Thoughtful. Sweet.
“Read ’em and weep, boy,” her father taunted.
“Yee-haw, here’s a chance to win some money back from the card sharp. I’ll double down and split,”
Kane said.
Dash had an ace showing. He flipped over a Queen of Hearts on one of Kane’s cards.
“That one’s good. Hit this one.”
He turned over a nine of clubs on the other.
“Good. Now let’s see what you’ve got.”
Her father turned over his hidden card. A Six of Spades. “Seventeen. Dealer stays on seventeen. Let’s see them.”
Kane had split a pair of tens, winding up winning with both twenty and nineteen. He grinned and scooped the chips to his side of the table.
The give and take of the game went on for another hour. Ginger almost felt invisible, listening to her dad and Kane talk about their gambling experiences. The highs and lows. The Vegas trips. The rhythm of the male voices soothed her and she drifted off.
She jerked awake with a gasp and found herself the center of three different scowls. “What? I was just resting my eyes.”
“Right. You’ve been out for a good ten minutes.”
“No way.”
“Mom. You were snoring.”
She blushed.
Kane stood. “It’s time for you to call it a night, Red.”
“But—”
“You’re supposed to be restin’, remember? And somehow I don’t think fallin’ asleep at the table is what Doc Monroe had in mind.”
Hayden hopped off his grandpa’s lap, slipped his arms around her neck. “Night, Mommy.”
“Night.” She whispered, “No goodnight kiss?”
He kissed her cheek.
“Don’t stay up too late and no drinking beer.”
His nose wrinkled. “I don’t like beer.”
“No whiskey either.”
He smiled that sweet little boy grin that turned her insides as gooey as a marshmallow. “I promise.”
“Good.” She swung her cast around and stood.
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Kane lifted a challenging brow. “I’ll help you and make sure you don’t fall on your face before you get to bed.”
The automatic response to deny his help was strong, but she let it go. “That’d be great.”
“Play a couple of practice hands for me and keep an eye on your grandpa so he ain’t stackin’ the deck against me.”
Dash rolled his eyes.
Ginger kissed his cheek. “Night, Dad.”
Kane’s body heat nearly scorched her back as he escorted Ginger to her room. The bed she’d cursed hours earlier looked like an oasis. “I’m so tired.”
“I know you are. C’mere.” Kane gently wrapped her in his arms. “It ain’t so bad, havin’ my help, is it?”
“Yes.”
He whispered, “Liar.”
“Okay. You’re right. It’s not all bad.” She sighed and relaxed into him.
Kane didn’t seem to mind holding her. “Since I’m the only one who didn’t get a goodnight kiss, I’ll take a rain check.”
“Maybe you could come and get it later.”
His eyebrows lifted. “You invitin’ me into your room, counselor?”
“Is that so surprising?”
“I’m not sure if that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard or the worst.”
Ooh. Rejection. “Forget it. Kissing me goodnight is not part of your caretaking duties.”
“Now, don’t go and get all pissy on me. We both know there’d be more between us than just one kiss.”
“That’s what I want. Don’t you?”
“Like you wouldn’t fuckin’ believe.” He sighed. “Look. I’ve kept my hands off you because of Hayden. That’s it. You and me bein’ together, especially now, would confuse him. He’s a great kid. I won’t hurt him, Ginger. Not for anything in the world.”
Right then, her heart stumbled. She knew she should’ve probably left it at that.
But she couldn’t.
Ginger wanted to explore this sexual sizzle, a one-two punch of lust she’d never experienced with any other man. “I won’t hurt him either, but I’m more than just a mother. Didn’t you tell me you required an invitation? Well, here it is. And…” Dammit. She sounded needy. Horny. Stupid. She turned her head away.
Kane placed a finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him. “And…what?”
“I want you like crazy, Kane.”
“Since when?”
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“Truthfully? Since always.”
“You find me appealin’ because I’m the only man around here that you ain’t related to?”
Smartass man, tossing her words back at her. She drilled him in the chest with her index finger. “Not.
Even. Fucking. Close.”
Kane blinked at her, slowly, sexily, gifting her with the captivating grin that transformed his face from merely handsome to devastatingly gorgeous. “I’m likin’ this sneaky, wild streak, Red.”
“I’m trying it out; it’s brand new.”
“Lucky me,” he murmured. “I’ll accept your invite. But you oughta know I have a condition if you wanna fuck around with me.”
“Which is?”
Kane loomed over her. His eyes darkened. His entire posture changed. “I’m in charge of what goes on between us behind closed bedroom doors. Period. Leave the lawyer out of it because there ain’t gonna be any negotiating for a more even split of who’s in control. You need to be fully aware of what I am.”
“What are you?”
The bad-boy smile he gave her rivaled the devil’s. “In bed? About as far from gentlemanly as you can imagine. Think you can handle that?”
Hell yes, she was on board with handing over all sexual responsibility to him. But the lawyer in her had to poke him. “No humiliation and pain games. Because if that’s what you’re into, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”
“Good pain is subjective as well as erotic. But when I’ve got you nekkid and at my mercy, the last thing I’m gonna be thinkin’ about is humiliation. I’ll be too focused on seein’ how many times I can make you come.”
A man with his purported sexual experience could afford to brag about his inventiveness. She swayed a little.
“You’re fallin’ asleep on your feet. Let’s get you in bed.”
Once she was settled, Kane brushed his warm lips from her temple to her ear. “Keep your door unlocked tonight. Try to get some rest.” He shut off the lamp and left her in the darkness.
How was she supposed to sleep now?
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Kane felt like a horny teen as he snuck down the hallway toward Ginger’s room. He almost turned around and climbed back into the bottom bunk.
Almost.
He slipped inside her bedroom, pressing his back against the door as he shut and locked it behind him.
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Would you look at that?
Ginger had fallen asleep on her back with her left arm gracefully curved above her head. The arc of her hip mimicked the angle of her arm, creating the impression of a 1940s pinup queen.
Jesus. He wanted her. Yet, he knew having her just once would be like a fucking gateway drug. He’d become addicted. He’d want more from her than sex. He’d want everything.
As he debated on the best way to wake her, her eyelids lifted and she peered at him drowsily. Her shy smile proved to be his undoing. He took the kiss he craved, bringing his mouth down on hers hard.
Right away her lips parted, her tongue eagerly sought his and the kiss caught fire.
Kane groaned, lost in the rush, lost in the give and take of the kiss. Pulse-pounding passion tinged with sweetness. No roving hands. No body parts grinding together. Only their mouths touched. Wet lips.
Swirling tongues. Nips of teeth. Gliding, sliding, falling headfirst into the kiss, well past the point of no return, he never wanted to stop kissing her. Somehow, Kane eased back from the pleasure of her mouth.
Ginger stared at him, wide-eyed, tracing her kiss-swollen lips with the tips of her fingers.
“What?” he said thickly.
“I’d wondered if I’d embellished that kiss from a few months back, but I hadn’t. You sure know how to make my head spin, Kane McKay.” She reached up, letting her fingertips trail over the lower half of his face. “I love the way your mustache and goatee feel when you’re kissing me.”
“Imagine how it’ll feel other places.” He threw back the covers. “If I unhook your sling are you gonna be able to keep your bum arm still?”
She cocked her head. “Depends. What do you plan on doing to me?”
Kane grinned. “Oh, I’ve got a couple of real good ideas, Red, but sharin’ them at this point would spoil the surprise. I’d rather demonstrate than explain.”
“Then no guarantees I can hold still.”
“Then the sling stays on.”
Lorelei James
“Fine.” Ginger gave him a head-to-toe perusal. “You wear flannel pants and a wife beater as pajamas?”
“Normally I don’t wear pajamas at all.”
Her hazel eyes enlarged when he climbed onto the bed, straddling her pelvis, with a knee on either side of her hips. He whipped off his tank top.
She sighed gustily. “You should never ever wear a shirt. In fact, it should be illegal for you to cover that magnificent chest.”
Kane reveled in the way her hungry gaze roamed over every ounce of his exposed flesh. “That so, counselor?”
“Yes sir. Do you work out to maintain this fantastic physique?”
“If feedin’ cattle and doin’ stuff around the ranch is considered workin’ out, then yes. Sometimes I meet up with Colt at the community center and we lift weights.” Not recently, since his cousin had been a serious dick lately.
You really wanna think about Colt when you’re finally in Ginger’s bed?
No.
“I cannot wait to put my hands all over you, cowboy.”
“Same goes. My turn first.” Kane rested on his haunches and reached for the snaps on her shirt. “Keep your eyes on mine as I undress you.”
She opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it.
Tempting, to yank the sides of her shirt apart and be done with it. Especially since he’d forced himself not to gawk at her beautifully tempting body parts earlier. Now faced with the luxury of memorizing every abundant inch, he wasn’t about to rush.
He popped the first pearl-snap button. Then the next. Then the next until a long strip of her luminescent skin, from her neck to her belly, peeked out from beneath the lapels. Carefully, Kane peeled back the left half of her shirt, tucking the right side beneath her sling. He traced the delicate line of her clavicle to the hollow of her throat. With every teasing stroke, the pulse along the side of her neck jumped.
Not as calm and cool as she appeared.
Kane let the backs of his fingers drift, paying particular attention to the patterns of freckles. He murmured, “I love the way these spread across your skin. Looks like mud spatters on alabaster.”
Her body went rigid.
Kane met her gaze, surprised to see a hint of anger. “What did I say?”
“Don’t spout poetry about my stupid freckles. They don’t resemble ‘cinnamon sprinkled on cream’ or
‘nature’s polka dots on a flesh canvas’. They’re ugly. They’re weird. They’re blotchy. There’s too damn many of them. They’ve been the bane of my existence since the day I realized the more time I spend in the sun, the more freckles show up. And that really sucks when you live in sunny California.”
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He closed the distance until they were nose to nose. “If I wanna spout poetry about your beauty marks, then I’ll damn well do it. So suck it up.” He bent his head and his tongue zigzagged random patterns across the brown dots, switching it up to nuzzle her neck, nibble her earlobes, nip the strong line of her jaw.
He teased, tormenting until she moaned his name.
“Something you need?” he asked, trilling his lips down the pointed tip of her chin.
“You. More of this.”
“I could get used to hearin’ that sexy squeak when I taste you right here.” He opened his mouth along the side of her neck and sucked.
“Maybe I have other noises, you know, when you lavish attention with that talented mouth…elsewhere.”
“Such impatience. You hintin’ about some place in particular?”
“You could do a freckle check by my nipples,” she suggested.
Kane chuckled against her skin, then sucked another spot in the middle of her breastbone.
“Hey, no hickeys.”
“Tough. I wanna leave my mark on you. So when you’re alone in your bed? And you look down?
You’ll see it and remember me puttin’ my mouth all over you.”
“Like I’m ever going to forget this.”
“I hope not.” He kissed a path down the center of her body, right through her deep cleavage. When he reached the front clasp on her bra, he took it between his teeth and bit down, expecting it to snap open.
Nothing happened.
Damn. It’d been a few years since he’d tried this trick of removing a woman’s bra with just his mouth.
He tried it again.
The plastic didn’t budge.
Maybe he’d lost his touch.
Maybe that’s a good thing.
Kane glanced at Ginger to see that luscious mouth forming a smirk.
“Problems, cowboy?”
“Seems I’m a bit rusty.”
“And yet, I’m not exactly sorry to hear that,” she demurred.
“Time to get serious about this clothes removal business.”
He rose on his knees and cracked his knuckles.
Ginger laughed.
The husky sound of her amusement zinged straight to his crotch.
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One deft twist of his fingers and the bra cups separated, revealing the pearly flesh, but the green lace edge kept her nipples hidden. He curled his right hand over her rib cage and traced the heavy underswell of her breast, leisurely sliding the fabric aside with his thumb.
