Karin peeled herself off the doorframe and went to her desk. “I’m sorry for laughing.” She dropped into her chair.
“No, you’re not.”
“Okay, okay. I couldn’t help myself. But you are so right. I’m not sorry in the least. That was just too perfect.” She waved her hand in front of her face as a few more random giggles escaped her. “Really brightened my day, you know?”
Sten shook his head. “You said you never liked her, but I guess I didn’t realize howmuchyou didn’t like her.”
“Actually, I did like her at first. She was nice to me then, because she was sucking up to you. Once she had you, she didn’t need to make an effort with the rest of us.”
“So what you’re saying is that I was a complete idiot for ever getting involved with her.”
“You’re no idiot. You’re just a man who was finally ready for the right woman when the wrong one came along.”
“Okay, on second thought maybe I’d rather just be a damn idiot.” That brought another giggle from his sister—and he was still kind of worried that he hadn’t seen the last of Ella. “Tell me honestly. Do you think she’s really gone for good?”
“Yeah. I do. How can she manipulate you if you don’t buy her act? That drama queen has gotten your message and she is never coming back.”
* * *
Madison heard Sten’s truck drive in at a little after six that night. A few seconds later, her phone beeped with a text:Want some company?
With that lovely rising feeling in her chest just at the prospect of seeing his face, she texted back:I do. Especially if the company is you.
When he showed up a couple of minutes later, he took her in his arms and kissed her until her head was spinning. She pulled him inside and they tore at each other’s clothes.
After a breathtaking interlude in the bedroom, they got dressed again and went out to the kitchen.
She fried the pork chops she’d bought that day and served them with baked potatoes and a green salad. They ate. After the meal, when she asked him if he wanted coffee, he got up, grabbed her hand and led her back to the bedroom again.
What was it with her clothes around him? They seemed to fall off of their own accord. Once he had her naked, he knelt before her on the bedside rug.
Oh, the things that man could do with his lips and his hands. The aftershocks of the pleasure he brought were still rocking through her when she pulled him onto the bed with her, rolled on top of him and kissed her way down to where he jutted up hard and ready from the nest of dark hair between his powerful thighs.
It wasn’t the first time she’d used her hands and her eager mouth on him. But it was the first time she felt strong and confident making love to him that way. It not only turned her on, it also felt natural and right.
Afterward, she cuddled up next to him, pulled the sheet over them and invited him to dinner at Daniel’s on Sunday. “It’s kind of a DNA-results party. Daniel specifically said I should invite you to come—and don’t ask me how he knew about us. I never said anything. Believe me, I would have. But I haven’t had a chance. Maybe Aislinn told him.”
He braced an elbow on his pillow and rested his head on his hand. “Isn’t that more of a family thing?”
She got the strangest feeling then. A sense of his retreat from her.
It hurt. Like he was taking away something she needed to live: water, food. The very air she breathed.
And she might have been short on real experience with men when she arrived in Valentine Bay. But she was learning fast.
If he was pulling away, she was going to make him say so right to her face. Yeah, she was new at this romance thing. But she’d never been afraid to come out with whatever was on her mind.
She captured his blue gaze and wouldn’t let go of it. “Right. It’s a family thing. Like breakfast at your sister’s is a family thing. And razor clamming. Those areyourfamily things and you and your family were kind enough to include me. Me and my family want to include you in Sunday dinner. Are you saying you don’t want to go?”
He stared at her for a long time. Finally, he said, “God. You are so beautiful.”
“Thank you. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“I just think we should kind of watch it, that’s all, be realistic about this. Not get in too deep.”
Did that piss her off?
Oh, most definitely.
