Page 22

Heaving out an exhausted sigh, I dust off my hands on my jeans and look around.

We actually managed to accomplish a lot today. We sorted through enough stuff in the basement to fill a dumpster, probably. A small pile of photo albums and actual family heirlooms has been tucked into boxes and stacked near the door, ready to be placed into more secure storage. Cayden cleaned all the little half windows so they sparkle, and chased a couple of mice out of the ducts. I'm pretty sure he fixed the wiring so that the light near the stairs doesn't flicker anymore.

It's been a good day's work. The task still sitting in front of me remains daunting, but visible progress makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing.

Cayden makes eye contact with me across the room. "You about ready to call it quits?"

"Yeah. If I look at one more box of newspapers from the thirties, I think I'm going to get hives."

He laughs, then leans over and makes one more adjustment to the hose behind the washing machine. "Good, because I'm starving."

We raided the fridge for lunch, but it was slim pickings. My father and I finished up most of the sympathy casseroles from the people who were kind enough to drop them off after my grandma passed. Crackers and peanut butter can only keep a girl going for so long.

"Come on." Cayden leads the way back upstairs. We shut off lights as we go.

And there's really no debate. My will to pretend I want to stay here evaporated around the time we kissed, and he doesn't seem to see fit to try to resuscitate it.

"You want to grab any more of your stuff?" he asks.

"Yeah, actually." I head upstairs. My childhood bedroom where I've been staying for the last month looks even sadder, now that I have someplace better to go.

Working fast, I repack my suitcase with fresh changes of clothes. Checking that Cayden didn't sneak up here while I wasn't looking, I slip my vibrator into the suitcase, but I doubt I'm going to need it. Not when Adam fucked me within an inch of my life this morning. Not when Cayden's spent the whole day giving me looks as if he's gearing himself up to do the same.

The sexual tension between us has held at a nice simmer since we kissed. There have been a few more casual touches—just enough to get my engine going again, but not enough to devolve into us tearing each other's clothes off and going at it on the cold basement floor.

A couple of times, it's come close, though.

My pencils and sketchbook make it into the suitcase, too, and I think that's basically it. I haul the thing off the bed and make it to the top of the stairs. The instant Cayden sees how much crap I've got, he bolts up the stairs to meet me and insists on carryingmy suitcase to the truck. He tosses it in the bed and gets in the cab. I meet him there, but as I go to buckle myself in, he stops me.

He puts his hand on my cheek, and then somehow, suddenly, he's across the seat, pressed flush with me. His lips are red and damp, and he smells like dust and hard work, sure, but he also smells like amber and spice. I breathe him in, my gaze darting between his darkened eyes and his mouth. My pulse pounds, and my pussy throbs, and then he's leaning in.

The kiss he lays on me this time has nothing to do with the ones we shared in the entryway of my grandmother's house. He kisses like he means it, hot and wet, his tongue demanding entry as his teeth scrape my bottom lip. I let him in without hesitation. His rough beard burns against my skin, but I don't care. Wetness gathers between my legs as he fucks my mouth with his tongue, leaving no mistake about what he'd like to be doing with my body instead. For a minute, I think we're going to do it, too.

My younger self screams into her pillow again. So many of my idle teenage fantasies involved making out—or more—in this very truck.

But before we can make any more of them come true, he pulls away.

"Sorry," he says. "Been waiting to do that again all day."

"Definitely don't apologize." My cheeks are warm, my lips kiss-bitten.

He squeezes my knee. "I'm really glad you're coming back to the house tonight."

"Me, too."

"The guys are going to want to hang out. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Oh, right. Somehow, I'd almost forgotten that he lived in a house full of chiseled, rugged mountain men, and that they were all accustomed to the company of each other.

Now that he's reminded me, though, I'm actually kind of…excited?

"No. That sounds like fun."

They all seem really nice—I mean, except for Jax, but that's nothing new. It's makes me flush harder to think, considering I just let Cayden stick his tongue down my throat, but I'm looking forward to getting to know Adam better. Sergio and Deandre, too.

"After, though…" Cayden's eyes burn, and they make the desire he stirred up in me glow hotter, too.

"Yeah?"