Feeding the animals didn’t take long. Cade had taken care of the cattle before they left and as they entered the barn, she paused just inside to refill the feed bin for her tiny flock of chickens. A simple chore, but one that Cade made infinitely more difficult with his big hands gripping her hips and his wonderful lips nibbling her neck.
She sighed, loving the way his mouth felt against her skin. “You’re making this harder, you know,” she said with a smile, not that she wanted him to stop.
“I’m hungry,” he whispered in her ear, and his hot breath pebbled her skin with goosebumps. “I had to have a little taste to tide me over.”
Her already taut nipples grew harder and her insides clenched in anticipation.
“Well, you won’t have to wait long,” she said, grinning at him as she stepped out of his grasp and took the feed out to the chickens.
When she returned, Cade had already brought down a new bale of hay from the loft and had broken some off for Dreamer, the old, retired saddle horse she’d taken in when she bought the farm. He tossed the hay into the feed bin and paused as Dreamer pushed his nose in and began to eat. Running his hand over the chestnut gelding’s sleek neck, Cade murmured encouraging words to the elderly horse.
Touched by his sweet gesture, Addie stopped and stared, her eyes traveling over as much of Cade’s body as she could see. Aside from his handsome face, the man was well-proportioned—wide, muscular shoulders, lean hips, and she adored his sculpted ass in those tight-fitting, faded jeans. But he was so much more than just handsome. He was a valued friend, someone she knew she could trust. He might be a tad overprotective, but that, too, was part of his charm. The fact that he hadn’t tried to force her to do what he thought was right with Mark told her he also respected her decisions, even when he didn’t like them.
“If you keep staring at me like that,” he said, as he lowered his hand and turned around, “I might not be able to do right by you.” Brushing hay off his gray T-shirt, he met her gaze. His eyes were so intensely blue, so full of lust, her breath caught in her chest.
She blinked, unsure how she’d gotten so lucky. “And what does that mean?”
He stepped out of the stall, his burning gaze never leaving her as he shut the door behind him. The bulge at the front of his jeans made her mouth suddenly water and she wondered if she might not be able to wait until they got to the house.
“It means, sweetness, that you deserve better.”
She tilted her head and frowned. Did he change his mind?
“I want our first time together to be in a warm, comfortable bed where you could moan and scream as loud as you want.”
Air expelled from her lungs and stuttered back in. She wanted to say that she wanted him, too. That it didn’t matter where they took their pleasure, but he didn’t give her a chance.
“I don’t want it to be in the barn,” he said in that low gravelly voice that had liquid heat pooling between her legs. He strolled down the short aisle, keeping distance between them, but stalking her just the same. She mimicked his movement, only stepping farther into the barn, unable to break away from the hot need in his eyes. “But I don’t think I can wait.”
“What do you want, Cade?” Her voice, barely above a whisper, quivered. Thickness coated her throat making it hard to speak.
He took one step toward her, all the playful teasing gone from his eyes. “Isn’t that obvious by now?”
“Tell me.”
“I want to make you come, Addie,” he said bluntly. “I want to bare your breasts and suck on them until I hear you cry out with pleasure, knowing that it’s all because of me.” He took another step forward.
She took one backward. She hadn’t meant to, she just…did.
“You always look at me like a woman in need,” he rasped. “Devouring me with your eyes. Like you want to devour me with your hands, your mouth, and your body.” He stepped toward her, close enough to reach out and grab her.
She stepped back and bumped into the ladder that led to the loft.
“Are you in need, Addie? Do you want to devour me the way I want to devour you?”
Oh, God, yes!
She swallowed but didn’t move as he closed the distance between them, his face and broad shoulders blocking out everything else. His fingers brushed over her cheek and along her jaw, down her neck and across her collarbone.
“You’re so beautiful, Addie,” he murmured as his fingers dove into the opening of her shirt. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”
“I’m not,” she said, dropping her chin, even as she shivered from his touch, and a sliver of doubt dampened her mood. “I’m not beautiful. I’m short and fat with a passingly pretty face.”
He frowned. “That’s not true.”
She shook her head, unable to look at him. She hated this. The time when she had to find out if he’d tell her the truth or if he would make up lies to flatter her into his bed the way so many others had tried to do.
Long, lean fingers sweeping around the outside of her breast startled her. When his hand changed direction and he cupped the heavy mound in his palm, her breath halted altogether. He gently lifted her face to his with a knuckle under her chin. “Look at me, Addie.”
She did as he said, shaking, fearing what he would say, what she would read in his eyes.
“You are beautiful,” he said.
She stared into his gaze, searching, but the lie she usually saw in a man’s eyes at times like this wasn’t there. The hesitation that said he held back part of his
