“All part of Addie’s full-service kitchen,” she said with a teasing grin and a mock curtsy. “Morning, noon, and night. Twenty-four, seven.” She winked.
A smile spread across his face. “You’re adorable.” His eyes widened slightly as if shocked by his words, then his expression went blank.
“Thank you, Cade,” she said quietly, meaning more than just for his compliment. Gratitude for him and his work, his company, his kindness were all mixed together in those three words. She lowered her gaze, feeling shy and uncertain all of a sudden.
When she peeked at him, she saw his slow, sexy grin soften the hard planes of his handsome face once more and he returned her wink, but his reply made her heart flutter.
“Any time, sweetheart. Any time.”
Chapter 6
Cade lay naked on his double bed, a white sheet pulled to his waist, staring up at the dark ceiling trying not to think—but failing miserably. Thinking would get him into trouble, cause problems he didn’t want to face, but his brain wouldn’t shut off.
He’d been laying here for hours, trying to drift into unconsciousness, to ignore the heat and discomfort in his body, but had, so far, been unsuccessful at both.
I should just get up and take another shower. A really cold one this time.
He sighed and stayed where he was. He needed sleep.
He needed to get that woman out of his head.
Damn him if his first instincts about working for Addie Malory hadn’t been correct. She was a huge distraction, one he’d sworn to avoid. Not that it mattered. Despite repeated and painful reminders of the last time he’d let his guard down, his body noticed, reacted to, and remembered Addie vividly.
She had gotten under his skin, wiggled down deep, and made him itch in the most erotic ways. And he couldn’t seem to shake it.
Thanks to that pretty yellow dress and the erotically mouthwatering display she’d unknowingly given him when calling him for dinner, he’d sported wood throughout the meal and during his shower afterward. Talking about his family should have doused the inferno inside him, but it didn’t. He’d been too aware of her and her subtle lavender scent. Hell, even now, his dick was hard as a rock and his balls ached from just his memories of her.
His fingers twitched, wanting to trace the generous curve of her hips, to grip the indent of her waist, and cup the heavy weight of her ample breasts. He could almost feel them swelling in his hands, spilling over his fingers, the hardened tips pushing into his calloused palms.
He groaned, gripping the fitted sheet in his fists, and cursed.
With the sun at her back, her golden hair had practically glowed like a halo as she gazed up at him from the dooryard, but the look on her face had been hungry. He bet if he had climbed down, taken her in his arms, and kissed her in that moment, she would have melted against him…and then gone off like a firecracker. Lord knows he would have. In fact, if he’d gotten that release, it would’ve solved his inability to sleep now.
He’d thought about taking himself in hand in the shower, and he’d tried, but none of his regular fantasies had been appealing. Addie kept popping into his head and wouldn’t leave, which just didn’t seem right somehow. She was his boss for God’s sake, he had to work with her. But that didn’t seem to make any difference to his body.
The minute he’d touched her after her fall, every nerve in his body buzzed to life. Awareness had swept through him like a tsunami. His mouth had gone dry and his heart—shredded and damned as it was—had fluttered in his chest.
Then she’d licked her lips. Those perfect, kissable lips.
He’d wanted to taste her so badly at that moment, it hurt. The past disappeared and his dismal, lonely future evaporated in the molten heat of the present. No thought of the consequences entered his head as he’d leaned toward her, desperate to feel her lips under his. His body at full attention, he’d longed for more of her heat, her softness, her lavender and sunshine scent. She was a breath of freshness in his dreary, solitary existence.
Then reality had suddenly slammed to the forefront. She deserved better than a broken cowboy with nothing to offer and no prospects. She deserved someone who’d commit to her and take care of her the way he never could. He couldn’t do those things, not anymore.
He’d pulled away to protect them both. Not that his dick got the message.
Now, lying in bed alone, he couldn’t stop thinking about her mouth. Those beautiful pink lips. He wondered how they would taste. Would she open for me?
His hand slid over his belly, moving downward as he imagined her mouth raining kisses along the same path, her tongue slipping out to tease him along the way.
His fingers wrapped around his hardened shaft and a shocked exhale escaped him as his hand squeezed and began to move slowly up and down while thinking of her.
“Oh, Addie,” he moaned, his muscles tensing with expectation. His heart hammered in his chest, hot blood pounded in his ears, and his imagination ran away with him.
He pictured Addie’s pretty lips stretched around his taut, over-sensitive flesh, her mouth hot and wet as she pleasured him, her fingers nimbly massaging his balls and driving him wild.
In his mind, she looked up at him, hungry lust burned in her chocolate eyes—just as they had earlier when she’d stared at him on the barn roof and when he’d looked into her eyes by the back door and been so tempted by her lips.
She needs to stop looking at me like that… The brief, wayward thought didn’t break him out of the
