Page 8

The walls were cream, the carpet beige, and there was minimal furniture—a bed, a cabinet—but there was also a walk-in closet. It was a nice room. A lot larger than her own home.

But then, this was the Moore ranch, and she knew he was wealthy, although he didn’t flaunt his wealth. She did hear tales of him donating money to the town and to charities he liked. And of course, his reputation for being mean and a grump preceded him. He was grumpy.

It felt good to cook for them. She did not like seeing those horrible fries in his freezer, though. Not that she was one to talk, seeing as she did have quite a bit of weight on her already, and a lot of people would complain that she shouldn’t be saying anything to anybody about what they ate. She ate healthily. Everything was home-cooked or home-baked. That was her motto. She didn’t eat anything that wasn’t made with a pair of hands. Although, her portion sizes were probably the problem. It took all her strength not to eat that second cinnamon roll, but then, she was hungry.

Cruz also had some dog food, which she expected to be out of date, only it was very much in date. Belle adored him, and that would be a topic of conversation with Tillie. When she spoke to her next, she completely forgot to mention that Cruz had come into the shop, and that Belle adored him. Tillie was missing her dog, and Belle was missing Tillie, so she was not going to cause any concern there.

Kate knew when Tillie got back, she was going to be heartbroken at having to give up the dog, as she’d become quite fond of the little Jack Russell. This was why she was not alone, and snuggled up into bed beside her was Belle. While Kate struggled to get to sleep, Belle was already snoozing.

Slinking out of the covers, Kate padded her way toward the window and looked out over the yard to see it was still snowing. After eating their dinner, she had checked the front yard to see if it had cleared, when in fact the snow had completely covered her car. This wasn’t good.

She needed some extra warmth. Cruz had given her a pair of sweatpants and a shirt. This was long-sleeved, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

She couldn’t sleep, and rather than distract Belle, she made her way out of the bedroom and down the long corridor to the stairs. Walking down to the kitchen, she stepped inside and came face to face with Cruz, who had a mouth full of cinnamon rolls.

“Hey,” she said.

His mouth looked like a squirrel who had just filled it full of nuts. It was cute, and she pressed a hand to her face to hide her laughter.

“You know, no one was going to steal them,” she said.

“I know.”

“You look cute,” she said, and then felt her cheeks heat.

“You couldn’t sleep?”

“It’s cold,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, in an attempt to keep herself warm.

He stepped close, wrapped his arms around her, and he rubbed up and down. Cruz smelled like cinnamon and warmth, and he was so strong. Kate never felt this way, and all he was doing was rubbing his hands up and down her arms. She was losing her mind. Completely losing it.

“There, is that helping?” he asked.

Kate tilted her head back, looked into his eyes, and she couldn’t think of a single thing to say. What had he asked her? What did he want her to say? Why were they standing here in this moment? Words completely failed her.

She just looked up at him.

And then, did his head move closer? She didn’t know what happened next, other than the fact they were trying to make each other warm, and then his hands wrapped around her. He pulled her in close, and she melted against him.

His lips attacked hers, and it felt so good, she didn’t want him to stop. She wrapped her arms around the back of her neck and pressed their bodies close together, not wanting to let go. This was fire. This was perfect.

He teased across her lips with his tongue before he plundered inside, and she melted against him, not wanting to let go. It felt so good. He was amazing.

And then, he moved her, lifting her up, so she landed on the table. They broke the kiss long enough for him to pull her shirt off and over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and she heard his hard, guttural groan as he looked down at her. Seconds later, his hands touched her, cupping her tits, pushing them together.

She fingered the hem of his shirt and wanted to pull it up and over his head. Kate was nervous. This was already farther than she ever got with anyone. She never kissed anyone else. She’d spent a great deal of time imagining kissing Cruz, but she never for a second thought it was going to come true, yet that was exactly what was happening.

His hands were all over her, touching her, exploring her. She couldn’t get enough. Kate found the courage to grab his shirt, pull it right off, and toss it to the floor. It fell to the ground, and Kate marveled at his body. Cruz was heavily muscled from all the years working on the ranch. He didn’t have any ink. Not a single mark blemished his skin. It made her feel a little nervous as she was not perfect.

Cruz grabbed the waistband of her sweats, and she was going to tell him no, but she gritted her teeth, because she didn’t want this to end. It felt too good. His large hands brushed the inside of her thighs as he spread her legs.

She followed his lead and gripped his sweatpants, pulled them down, but he took over, seeing as he had her trapped on the table, and the only way for her to remove the rest of his pants would be to sink to the floor. He kicked them off, and Kate got to see her very first, live, real man, naked, in the flesh. Thick, aroused dick and all. She was amazed. Cruz was big, and he was aroused, and she had no idea how he was going to fit inside her.

This had to be a dream.

He cupped her cheek, titled her head back, and kissed her. She put her hand on her thigh and pinched herself, hiding the wince with kissing him back.

This was not a dream.