If that’s what I want.
I lean up, brushing my lips across his. “Not cute.”
“Too cute.” He drags his knuckles through my hair, cupping my head, angling me back. Then his mouth is on mine, all need and urgency, overtaking the desire to argue whatever the hell we were talking about.
Cord leans back, breaking the kiss to stare at me. I gasp at the absence of his lips on mine. Then his mouth settles over mine again, but his kiss is different this time. Still confident, with an edge of what he demands, but gentler. Sweeter. Asking, rather than taking, and I discover that I love this side of him, too. Both sides of the same thoughtful man who helped me hunt for wolves, who let me drag people into his home, when I essentially caused the base of the conflict that we are weathering together.
Two aspects of the man I might just love.
“I’m sorry about J?—”
Cord slides his tongue along mine until I moan. “Shut up, Lanie, and let me kiss you.”
“But I need to te?—”
“Lanie.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
His kisses change. Not hard, but somehow more intimate than when he was rough before, though twice as arousing.Possessive.His weight settles over me, our limbs tangling into a knot I never want to undo. A deep sigh leaves me as I stretch beneath him, my hips undulating against the press of his weight, aching for more.
Cord squeezes my hip hard with one hand. “Still, babe. We have plenty of time. I’m not rushing this with you anymore. Let me apologize for how I treated you. Beg your forgiveness for a bit, okay? Work out if you want to stay?”
I reach up to graze my fingertips over the rough shadow along his jaw. “I want to stay. If you?—”
“I do.”
Cord dips his head, cocooning me in his arms until the world becomes nothing more than us…
And it’s all I want.
SEVENTEEN
CORD
Those I’ll Shatter For
My stolen hours with Lanie end when I head out of the bedroom and her arms to scavenge for coffee for my girl. Finally I know she’s mine again, the taste of her kisses lingering on my tongue. Having her beneath me, even if all we did was make out like a pair of horny teens, is a memory I’ll treasure forever.
The sight of Jed reclining at my kitchen table ruins my entire fucking morning.
“Get out.” I turn my back on my asshole neighbor, smothering the urge to toss him bodily from the homestead. The thought of Coyote Falls in Jed’s hands crushes something inside me.
“Good morning to you, too,” Jed’s voice carries in the large, open space.
“There’s no such thing as agood morningaround you,” I grit out. “There never has been.”
“True. So let’s get this out in the open. You’re not supposed to ride.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have pushed me if you knew that.” I fill the coffee machine with fresh beans. What should be a comforting scent turns bitter in Jed’s presence.
“I want indemnity.”
“You want—” My eyebrow hike as I face the backsplash. A strangled laugh never makes it out of my throat as I swivel to face the red-faced motherfucker. “You’ve got some nerve.”
Jed shakes his head. A small, fake smile is pasted on his sagging face. “No. I won’t pay for your failings if you’re injured again.”
