“No,” Sully said. When he opened his eyes, she brought her gaze up his chest from where it had been below the waist of his boxers. Standing beside the bed, she wore a pale pink, thigh-length shift. The nipples of her full breasts were visible against the ivory lace across the top of the gown, and he glimpsed the outline of bikini panties under the thin fabric. He groaned and flung his forearm over his eyes. “Please douse the light, city slicker.”
“Okay, country boy.” She did as he asked and crawled into bed.
Sully turned onto his side, facing her, and she rolled into his arms. Careful not to put any of his weight on her, he kissed her sweet mouth. She wrapped an arm around his back, and he settled his left hand on her hip. She wiggled closer, and he moved his hand up her ribcage. His fingers met with the side of her breast, and when his thumb caressed her nipple, Charley moaned.
Damn, she was a red-hot fire in his blood, and his body quickly hardened in response. She rolled onto her back, filling Sully’s hand with her right breast. He eased her gown up and slid his hand over the naked skin of her flat stomach. What happened to falling asleep? She tightened her arms around him, and his fingers found her breast again. He caressed her right breast and then her left before trailing his hand down her ribcage. His brain warned him to stop as he hooked his thumb into her panties. Then Charley opened her mouth, and her tongue touched his lips. Sliding two fingers into the front of her panties brought forth an urgent moan from her. But when he moved his leg over the top of hers, her entire body stiffened.
Sully stopped and said, “Roll over.” Charley did so, and he hugged her sweet body protectively to his chest. “G’night.”
She swallowed a gulp and whispered, “Good night.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Charley woke to the sun spilling in around the edges of the shade in her bedroom window.
“Sully?” she said, not finding the handsome rancher in bed with her.
“Out here,” came his deep voice from the living room.
Charley rolled out of bed and looked at the clock, which read eight a.m. She heard Sully’s voice in the living room as he spoke to someone. She made a quick call. Still in her nightgown, she rounded the corner of her bedroom and walked down the short hall. She saw Sully standing barefoot at the plate glass window of her living room. With his cell phone to his ear, he wore only his jeans. Turning to her, he smiled and she nearly swooned. There was a day’s growth of beard on his handsome face. His chest was broad like his shoulders, with a smattering of masculine black hair. He had a six-pack of muscles spread across his torso. Below his indented navel, a trail of black hair disappeared into his snug jeans.
“Morning,” she whispered and detoured into her kitchen. As Sully finished his call, she brewed two cups of coffee for them.
“Got my store and horses covered for today,” he said, sliding his cell into his back pocket and walking toward her. Placinghis forearms on the countertop, he looked her up and down. Charley’s heart raced as she set a mug of steaming black coffee in front of him. “How about you? What did you decide about your flower shop?”
“I decided to play it safe as you suggested and close my shop for a while. I called Leon to let him know, but he didn’t answer, so I left a message.” They took seats across from each other at her kitchen table, and as they talked, Charley imagined enjoying this routine with Sully every morning. “How about we go down the street for breakfast? I know a cute little place.”
“Are you coming to the country with me after breakfast?”
“Yes, if your offer still stands. I’ll need to water the plants in the shop before we go.”
“You know my offer stands,” he said. “Is it okay if I take a quick shower?”
“Of course,” Charley said. Although she’d taken her shower the night before, she suddenly pictured herself wet and naked in the shower with Sully and trembled. Handing him a clean towel, she said over her shoulder, “I’ll get dressed while you do that.”
Twenty minutes later, they were both dressed, Sully in his long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and Charley in a silvery blue sweater and leggings. They left the duplex and walked two stores down from her shop to a breakfast and brunch café open from six a.m. to three p.m. She knew the waitress and asked for the check before they had even ordered. Sully cocked a scolding black brow at Charley, and she gave him a sharp snap of her head. He chuckled.
They dined on waffles and bacon, and when they were done, moseyed back to her shop. They entered through the front door, and Charley began watering her plants. She was in the front half of the shop when the bell over the door tinkled, announcing someone had arrived.
“Good morning,” Leon said with a slight smile that faded when he spotted Sully sitting behind the private counter, where the cash register was, toward the back of the shop.
Charley made a mental note of Leon’s displeasure at seeing Sully but said cheerfully, “Good morning, Leon. I guess you didn’t get my message.”
“I noticed the closed sign hanging on the door,” he said, his freckled brow slightly wrinkling as he ignored Sully and her comment. “Are we not opening for business as usual?”
“Actually, no,” Charley said, a watering can in hand as she paused to explain. “With everything that has happened to my property along with a fourth Cave Killer murder, I’ve decided not to open for a while.” The bell over the doorway tinkled again, and this time, Rod Vaughn burst into the shop. Charley glanced over her shoulder at Sully who merely cocked a brow. Leon backed up a few paces from Rod, but Charley stood her ground and faced him. “Rod, what are you doing here?”
Scowling from Leon to Sully, Rod said, “I’d like to talk to you in private, Charley.”
“This is as private as it’s going to get,” Charley replied.
When she’d gone out with Rod, it was because he’d said he was down after things hadn’t worked out with Kay, the woman for whom he’d bought the flowers. She’d felt sorry for Rod, but she’d not been interested in more than friendship. He didn’t make her heart flutter like Sully did. Never had he stirred her cravings like Sully. She had taken Rod’s first kiss on her cheek and certainly not allowed him any liberties. She’d never once entertained the idea of crawling into bed with Rod as she had Sully. At the end of their third outing, Rod had walked her to her door, and she’d declined to invite him into her apartment. Rod had informed her it was customary to have sex on the third date. When he’d grabbed her, she had quickly turned her head and he’d planted a sloppy kiss on her neck. She had twistedaway and shoved him backward with both hands. Bidding him a firm farewell, she’d darted inside her apartment and locked her door. He’d smacked her door and shouted goodbye. Charley had breathed a sigh of relief.
But a couple of days later Rod had shown up in her shop profusely apologizing and begging for a fourth date. She’d escorted him to the café down the street. Once they were in a public place, she took the opportunity over a cup of late afternoon decaf to confirm there would be no more dates. Zero. Kay must have followed him, because she had shown up and made a scene by throwing a glass of water in Rod’s face. Charley had quietly exited the café and driven to Triple C Ranch-South. There, she faced Rod once again. But that time, Sully and Cash had been there to back her up in getting rid of him.
“I am not back together with Kay,” Rod told her.
“Rod, that doesn’t matter to me,” Charley said, not to be unkind but to get through to him. “I told you I was done.”
