“They seem really happy,” she told him, picturing the pretty brown-haired, blue-eyed girls in her mind. “I mean, I don’t know the girls well, but every time I see them they seem happy.”
“I think they are. I think Katie and I are doing right by them. As much as we possibly can.”
“It’s been a couple of years since you divorced, hasn’t it? Haven’t you dated anyone since?”
“Why do you ask that?” His eyebrows arched.
“Oh.” Her cheeks were warming again. “Sorry. I just hadn’t heard about you dating anyone. I figured I would have...” She was embarrassed and didn’t really know why.
“I haven’t dated anyone,” he admitted. “At first I just felt kind of... tired. Like the whole idea of dating was too exhausting. And then there just wasn’t anyone I was really excited about. The thing about Azalea is that, if you go on one date, you immediately get hit with this pressure to be serious. Because everyone knows about it. And it felt like it might be worse ’cause I’m the sheriff. So even thinking a girl is cute isn’t necessarily enough for me to want to... face all that.”
“That makes perfect sense to me,” she replied with a smile, feeling strangely connected to him through the sheepish vulnerability in his expression. “So you never had your rebound?”
“My rebound?”
“You know. The throwaway relationship to help you get over a relationship and move on.”
He gave a huff of dry amusement. “No. I never had a rebound.”
“Me either.”
He lifted up enough to look down on her. Cupping her cheek, he said with a warm texture to his voice, “I’ll be yours, baby, if you’ll be mine.”
Her heart was hammering like crazy. Her cheeks were blazing. And a throbbing had awakened between her legs even though he’d done nothing but touch her cheek. “Really?”
He leaned down so close to her now she could feel his breath against her skin. “If a rebound is what you want, then a rebound is what I’ll give you.” His eyes were hot, even in the shadowed light of the night.
“And that’s okay with you? I mean, you’re not wanting... wanting more?” She was excited now. Trembling with it. But she also wanted to be careful. Relationships could be tricky, and she liked and appreciated Ken far too much to do anything that might hurt him.
He shook his head. “A rebound sounds about right to me.”
Her lips parted. She could hear herself panting in the near silence of the night. Ken was propped above her now, holding himself over her on one forearm. Arousal had tightened so fast and strong that she shifted her hips restlessly.
“So you wanna try a rebound with me?” he asked, low and soft and rough.
“Yes.” She couldn’t hold herself back anymore, so she raised a hand to comb her fingers through his thick hair. “I kind of do.”
He chuckled and murmured against her lips, “We’re gonna get rid of that ‘kind of’ pretty quick.”
Then he kissed her, and a wave of pleasure crashed over her at the touch of his lips.
The kiss was soft and slow at first. He caressed her mouth with his. Then started using his tongue in shallow, intoxicating flicks. She heard herself moaning in response and couldn’t believe that shameless sound had come from her.
Ken gradually deepened the kiss, teasing at the line between her lips until she opened fully for him. Then he was suddenly deep. All the way in her mouth. It felt so good she arched up into him and dragged her fingernails down the back of his shirt.
Soon he was touching her. Stroking her face. Her arm. Her hip. Then he lifted enough to cup one of her breasts over her shirt, and she made the most ridiculous sobbing sound when he rubbed her tight nipple with the heel of his hand. She was still wearing her clothes, but she was squirming with desire.
She had no idea how it had happened so fast.
After a few minutes, he surprised her by rolling over onto his back and pulling her on top of him. She was disoriented by the move, so she broke the kiss and stared down at him. He looked flushed. Damp with perspiration. Hot as fire. His body was hard beneath her. She could feel the bulge of his erection in his jeans, and she rubbed herself against it without thinking.
He bit back a groan and turned his head to the side. “Damn, baby, you’re gonna kill me before this is over, aren’t you?”
“I’ll try not to.” She smiled, thrilled beyond all reason by the way he was making her feel and the way he was responding to her kiss. She resettled herself on top of him, straddling his hips so she felt more stable and leaning down to meet his mouth. Her hair was falling down over them both. His hands moved up to stroke her back and bottom.
They kissed for a long time like that. She rocked over him eagerly, following the urges of her body.
It wasn’t until one of his hands tucked under the hem of her top, stroking her bare skin, that she suddenly got scared.
She wasn’t sure why. Just that this was new. Really new. And it was so intense.
She wasn’t sure she was ready for it.
Her whole body tensed up with a wave of fear.
Ken’s hand moved immediately, sliding out from under her top. He broke the kiss and eased her up slightly so he could look at her face.
“Get up, baby,” he said softly, after taking a good look at her. “We’re gonna stop for now.”
“No, it’s really o—”
“Madeline.”
She nodded and swung her leg off him, immediately relieved as the intensity of the pleasure lessened. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“But I got you all—”
“You were into it too. We had a good time. But there’s no way in hell we’re
