Summer Kisses (168 page)

“Top secret,” he replied with a nod. Then he leaned over to whisper against her ear, “Beer and garlic.”

The warmth of his breath against sensitive curve of her ear sent delicious shudders racing through her. She turned slightly to look up at him. “You don’t say.”

“It’s true.” He slowly closed the space between them, his mouth drawing ever closer to hers. “But you can’t reveal the lieutenant’s secret recipe to anyone.”

He was so close she could practically feel his mouth on hers. Wanted to feel his mouth on hers. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, her words fading off as she gave in to the temptation and pressed her lips to his.

Cole reached up to thread his fingers in her hair with a low groan, deepening the kiss.

Closing her eyes, Kelsie returned the kiss, days of longing for just this moment urging her on. She sighed into his mouth as he moved to cup her face with his hands.

A moment later, Cole pulled away with a long, drawn out sigh. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

Carry away some more
, she wanted to scream. But what little was left of her common sense told her she should be grateful. Lips still tingling, she said, “Thank you for inviting me here today.”

“So I’m forgiven for tricking you into coming today?”

She smiled. “Yes. And lucky for you. If I hadn’t, I might have turned Nanci loose on you. She gives new meaning to ‘hitting below the belt’.”

He feigned a wince. “I’m thinking I’d prefer not to be at the receiving end of Nanci’s anger.”

“Smart man. You should’ve seen...” her words trailed off. She forced her gaze to her plate. “Never mind.”

“Seen what?” he pressed.

And she thought Nanci had a big mouth. “Nothing,” she said, pushing the food on her plate around with her fork. The last thing she wanted to talk about while sitting there with Cole was her ass of an ex.

He reached out to push a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “What aren’t you telling me that I’m going to find out about sooner or later anyway?”

He was right. Nanci had probably already told Joe all about their night out which meant Cole was bound to hear about her run-in with Kyle. She lifted her gaze to his. “I ran into my ex last night when Nanci and I went out.”

His playful expression sobered. “I see.”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

“How did you feel about seeing him again?” he said, his words tight.

He almost sounded jealous. Wishful thinking on her part, Kelsie quickly decided. That is, until she noticed the rhythmic tick of a muscle at the hinge of his freshly-shaved jaw. He cared?

“How did I feel?” she repeated, giddy that the thought of her with her ex bothered Cole. The man deserved to be a little bothered after scheming behind her back with her mother to get her there. She smiled brightly, pressing a finger to her lips. “Let me think. That’s a hard one. There were so many things I felt when I saw Kyle again.” She watched his frown deepen and fought the urge to giggle. “But, if I were to describe it all in one word, I guess that word would be – nauseous.”

His dark brown eyes widened. “What?”

“My ex-husband is an arrogant ass. I realized last night when we ran into Kyle just how much better off I am without him in my life.”

Relief eased his taut expression. “I’m glad to hear it. You deserve better.”

“I know.”

“So where does Nanci being the giver of pain come into this story?”

“Kyle was belligerently drunk and, as Nanci put it, invading my personal space, so she put him in his place with a firm kick to the groin.”

“He’s lucky I wasn’t there with you or he’d have gotten a boot up his ass as well.”

Cole’s protectiveness towards her felt good. “You’d have had an easy target, seeing as how he was curled up on his side in the fetal position when we left him at the club. Unfortunately for my big-mouth ex, Nanci wore her pointiest toed high heels to the club and she knows how to use them.”

“Nanci’s a good friend,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m thinking I’d better warn Joe to start wearing a cup whenever he and Nanci go out. Just in case he says the wrong thing and sets her off.”

She laughed softly. “I think your friend’s manhood is safe.”

His smile softened as he reached out to stroke her cheek. “Seriously though, I’m sorry you had to deal with your ex last night.”

“I’m not.”

His hand stilled. “You’re not?”

Placing her hand over his, she replied, “No. Seeing Kyle again was something I’ve worried about for a long time, wondering how I would feel. Wondering if the hurt I’d felt from his betrayal would still be there. But there was nothing.”

“Not even a flicker of feeling?”

“Not even a flicker,” she assured him with a warm smile. “Even when we were married, I never felt the flame of passion I feel with you.”

He took the plate from her hands and placed it onto the ground next to his.

He looked like a man on a mission. “Cole?”

“Shh...” Capturing her face between his hands, he covered her mouth with his. His kiss was tender, but thorough, making her legs weak. Thankfully, she was sitting down. Standing at that moment would have been nearly impossible.

When the kiss ended, he picked up her plate and handed it back to her with a sexy, lone-dimpled grin. “Just keeping the flame going.”

It was more of a bonfire at that moment, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. She tried not to think about the other things she’d like Cole to be doing. Food was safe. She’d focus on that. “Thank you for bringing me to your station’s picnic today,” she said as she took another bite of her steak.

“You know,” he said as he sat watching her, his expression still heated, “I never thought I’d be jealous of a piece of plastic.”

She paused between bites to look up at him. “What?”

“Seeing that fork slide in and out of your sweet mouth and wishing it were my tongue delving into that sweetness instead.”

The plastic fork slipped from her trembling fingers to the grassy earth below. So much for food being safe.

“Come on,” Cole said, dumping their drinks in the grass. Then he stacked the empty cups together. His need for her was beyond painful. He wanted to hold her as he had the night they’d made love. To kiss every beautiful inch of her. To open himself up to her as he never done with any other woman. The heat of desire driving him, he pushed to his feet.

“Where are we going?” she asked as he took the plate of barely touched picnic food from her hands and placed it under his own.

Setting the empty cups atop the plates, he said huskily, “Some place more private.” He extended his free hand. “My house.”

She took the offer hand, allowing him to help her to her feet. “But we haven’t finished eating.”

He smiled as he pulled her to her feet, his gaze pinning hers. “Doll, food is not what I’m hungry for right now.”

“That makes two of us,” she admitted with a breathy little sigh.

His heated gaze traveled appreciatively down her slender form. Then he lowered his head to brush his lips over hers, murmuring huskily, “I want you so bad I hurt.”

She responded to his needy admission by running the tip of her tongue teasingly along his bottom lip. “We can’t have you hurting, now can we?”

“Oh, hell,” he said with a groan, his desire erupting like a three-alarm fire.

Threading his fingers through hers, he led Kelsie back to the main picnic area where most of his friends and their significant others were still seated, eating and talking.

“What are we going to tell them?” she whispered with a glance toward the picnic tables as he tossed their trash into an old wine barrel that had been turned into a makeshift garbage can.

He followed her anxious gaze and then shrugged with a grin. “How about the truth? That we’re leaving the picnic to go back to my place to have incredibly hot sex.”

Her head snapped around, her eyes meeting his. “Don’t even think about it.”

He chuckled. “Oh, I’m thinking about it all right. Hot, sweaty, love every inch of your sweet body kind-of-sex.”

Color flooded her cheeks. “Cole...”

She had no idea how sexy she was when she blushed like that. Before he could tell her, Stubby called out, “You two done eating already?”

The others seated at the picnic table with him turned to look their direction.

Cole nodded and called back, “The steaks were great, Lieutenant.”

“Thanks,” the lieutenant replied with a nod.

Taking Kelsie by the hand, he led her over to the table where most of his crew sat talking. Or at least they had been until Stubby had directed everyone’s attention his and Kelsie’s way. “We hate to eat and run, but we have another party we need to get to.”

Maggie Calhoun stood and walked around the table to give Kelsie a hug. “I’m sorry you have to leave so soon. We haven’t had much of a chance to visit. Hopefully, next time we’ll have the opportunity to get to know each other better.”

Kelsie offered her a warm smile. “I’d like that very much.”

The older woman looked to Cole. “Be sure to bring her around again. I like this one.”

“You and me both,” he admitted openly.

“Maybe to the company Christmas party,” she suggested.

“We’ll be there,” he told her with a mischievous grin his date’s direction. “Right under the mistletoe.”

Kelsie responded with a warning jab in his ribs, making him chuckle.

Laughter rose up around the table.

Maggie turned to Kelsie. “All silliness aside, we’re so glad you could join us today.”

“Thank you for having me.”

The lieutenant stepped up beside his wife, slipping his muscular arm around her waist. “Any friend of Cole’s is a friend of ours. And I have to say that you’re even prettier than your picture.”

“My picture?”

“You know. The one they ran in the newspaper after Cole rescued you from that tree.”

Cole rolled his eyes. Just what she needed to be reminded of.

Maggie nodded. “And you’re a lot more down to earth than those other women─”

“Will you look at the time,” Cole blurted out, cutting her off. “We’ve really got to get going.” With a quick goodbye to his friends, he hurried Kelsie away toward the open gate.

“Other women?”

Maggie was about the sweetest woman he had ever known, but she had a bad habit of blurting out whatever came to mind without thinking it through first.

He glanced her way with a grin. “Jealous, doll?”

Oh, was she ever, Kelsie thought. She hated the thought of Cole being with another woman. Not that she had any right to feel that way. They weren’t in a relationship. More her doing than his. But the thought of committing herself to one person, putting her heart out there to possibly be broken again, was terrifying. She couldn’t help but think of the old saying ‘too good to be true’. What if Cole really was just that?

“You’ve got that look again.”

Distracted from her thoughts she looked up at him. “What?”

“That ‘I’m ready to run for the hills’ look. Should I change into my running shoes?”

She laughed softly. “I promise I have no thoughts of running anywhere. Except to your bed.”

He gave a low growl. “Good. Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”

She pulled her keys from the pocket of her shorts and unlocked her driver’s side door. “I’ll follow you back to your place.”

He nodded and then opened the door for her. “Just so you know. There weren’t that many.”

She looked up at him as she settled behind the wheel. “That many?”

“Women.”

“Oh.”

He closed the door and then leaned in through the open window, resting his arms on the door frame. “I promise you there’s nothing for you to be jealous about. None of those women even came close to making me feel the way you do.”

She smiled. “Are we talking in bed or out?”

“Both.”

“Race you home.”

“You’re on.” He stepped away from her door and with a sexy grin took off in a sprint for his truck.

Heart racing wildly, she pulled away. Not only had she and Cole slipped away from his company picnic to go back to his place and have ‘hot, incredible’ sex, but he had just worked his way a little deeper into her heart and she wasn’t running.

Halfway back to his place, he passed her in his truck, grinning as he did so. There was no denying the hunger she saw there. The same hunger that had her counting down the streets to Cole’s house. To Cole’s bed.

He turned into his driveway and pulled into the garage even as the door was still lifting, giving her room to park in the drive behind him.

“I hear there’s a party happening here,” she said to him as she stepped from her car.

He gave a deep, husky chuckle, eyeing her up as he did so. “You’ve come to the right place.”

“What kind of party is it?” she asked with playful innocence.

“Pajama.”

Excitement moved through her, making her body tingle. “Sounds like fun. Only problem is I left my P.J.’s at home.”

They stepped up onto the porch. “No problem,” he said as he unlocked the door. He motioned her inside. “You wouldn’t have had them on very long anyway.”

“Promises. Promises,” she tossed back as she stepped past him into the kitchen.

“I’ll show you promises.” Closing the door behind them, he pulled her into his arms, capturing her mouth beneath his own in a hungry kiss.

She sank into him, the soft curves of her body molding against his much harder ones. A body toned from years of the physical demand that came along with being a firefighter. Her fingers threaded through his dark hair and then slid down the back of the dark gray t-shirt that clung to his muscular back.

They moved through the kitchen, peeling away each other’s clothes on their way back to his bedroom. Lips and hands connecting with heated flesh.

“I never realized this hallway was so damn long,” Cole complained as he kicked free of his shorts.

“Too long,” she replied in a breathy groan as her shorts joined his on the floor.

He stopped and turned, pinning her against the hallway wall. His dark eyes sought hers as his fingers moved to tangle through her hair. Their labored breaths echoed in the confined space. With a coaxing tug, he tilted her face up to his.