Lean on Me (9 page)

The world started spinning. Without so much as a grunt, he lifted her, pushing to his feet with her snuggled in his arms. Her hands went to his face and pulled his mouth down for another barn-burning kiss. It ripped through her until her heart skipped and her nerve endings tingled. When his tongue swept inside, meeting hers, she forgot about anything except the feel of the muscles holding her and the erection pressing against her hip.

When she opened her eyes again they were in his bedroom. Like the rest of the house the room was small and cozy. Dark colors and lighter furniture but most importantly, a huge bed with four pillows piled at the top.

Her back hit the mattress and his body slid over hers. With his chest balanced on his elbows, he leaned in and kissed her again. This one was slow and sensual, with his tongue licking across her lips before his mouth touched hers. The slow dance had her pulse hitting triple time. And when his hand traveled up her bare stomach to settle on her breast she thought she’d break into a billion pieces.

He lifted his head and stared at her with eyes as deep blue as the ocean. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

She traced her finger along his jaw, loving the firm line and soft scratch of his stubble. “In a second you’ll figure out I’m not wearing panties either.”

“Again?”

“I wondered if you saw that on the ladder.”

“Saw it. Fantasized about it. Nearly passed out for the kick of lust that hit me because of it.”.

“You say the sexiest things.”

Heat flared in those eyes and across his cheeks. “Condom.”

His weight moved off her as he practically dove for the nightstand. He tossed the small package next to her shoulder. Off came his shirt, revealing a lean upper body that made her wince at her comment about him being fat.

“You’re perfect,” she said as her hands slid down his chest to land on his zipper.

“On fire.”

“That too.” The clicks ripped through the room as she eased the zipper down.

He took over the task and nearly shredded the heavy fabric getting the jeans off. Then he was naked and straddling her. Her hand went to him, up and down, closing on him in a tight clasp as he swelled under her fingers.

“I’m not going to be able to take much of that.” His husky voice dipped low enough to tickle her senses.

The coolness of the room hit her as he stripped her tee over her head. His caressing tongue on her breast warmed her again. His hands and mouth moved over her, taking off the rest of her clothes and waking every cell in her body to a spark of feeling she’d long ignored. With each pass of his lips over her breasts, each dip of his finger deep inside her, her body snapped tighter.

The inner coiling her had her ankles pressing into the mattress and her head shifting from side to side. Her body cried for release as his expert fingers took her spiraling into a sensual haze.

Her hands roamed over the sharp contours of his shoulders as her mouth tasted his neck then pressed into his hair. “Please, Mitch.”

She would beg if she had to. She just wanted him inside her. Wanted to feel him pulsing and alive as he lost control. Needed the pressure to explode and wash over her.

She felt him shift and press against her. She shifted her hips and her lower body rose to meet his. When he finally entered her, slipped just inside, filling her and expanding despite the clamp of her inner muscles, her lungs convulsed on a hard, shuddering breath.

“You okay?” His voice sounded far away and breathless as he pushed deeper, his body slipping into her tight one.

“Don’t stop.” She cried out the plea as her hips started to buck.

With rhythmic smoothness, he pressed in. Every move, every pump, sent a ripple of pleasure spinning through her. His hands slipped to that sensitive area behind her knees. She gasped as he lifted her legs, winding them around his lean waist. The position pushed him deeper until the friction of their bodies as they rubbed together stole her breath.

The sex was hot and anything but gentle. He took what he wanted and adjusted her until her body was open to him. He pumped in and out as his raspy breath blew across her cheek. She wanted this, wanted him. There was no holding back. No waiting. She squeezed around him until the muscles across his shoulders bunched and stiffened.

The last thing she remembered was the fullness of having him inside her and the way she screamed his name as the night exploded around them.

Chapter Ten

The next morning Mitch stood at the kitchen sink drinking a cup of coffee and debating whether he should put on some clothes or strip his briefs off and go find Cassidy. He’d been eyeing the kitchen table and wondering if it could hold their combined weight. When footsteps echoed off the hardwood floor, he thought she had made the decision for him.

“I have an hour before I have to be at work. Any ideas how we can burn through half of that time?” He dumped the mug in the sink and turned to find Travis standing in the doorway wearing his jacket and a stupid grin.

“Well, I don’t know, sugar. What do you want to do with me?” He didn’t even try to hide the amusement in his voice. A booming laugh hovered right there at the edge, just waiting to let loose.

“Kick your ass.” Mitch’s insides jumped but he kept his body still, except for a quick look to make sure the boxer briefs were in place. He’d thrown them on pretty fast and more to make sure he didn’t scare Cassidy on their first morning-after than because he wanted them on.

“Understandable in light of your obvious recent activities.” Travis kept his gaze at eye level as he walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. “Sorry for interrupting. At least now I know why you had that stupid grin on your face in the office yesterday and why you left so damn early. I thought you had a head injury or something. You once had the flu and worked a longer day.”

Mitch suddenly hated the town’s openness and his unspoken welcome policy for Travis and the Thomas brothers. “What are you doing here?”

Travis shrugged as he lifted the blinds and looked out the window over the sink. “Drove by and saw a woman on your roof and—”

Mitch’s muscles cramped to the point of cracking. “What?”

“Cassidy is on the roof.” Travis talked slowly, emphasizing each word. “Which brings up a burning question.”

Mitch wasn’t ready to answer any. “You want to know why she’s at my house.”

“I really wanted to know why you were making a woman who looks that hot clean out your gutters, but yours is a good question. Answer that one instead.”

The same hollow sensation that hit his stomach when she talked about climbing for hours on end hit Mitch now. “You mean you’re not kidding about the roof?”

“Nope.”

The smugness wrapping around Travis barely registered before Mitch took off through the family room. His bare feet slapped against the floor as a fire burned in his brain. The fool woman couldn’t sit still for five minutes. He’d left her curled up in bed. The idea of her sneaking past him to get outside made his head thump with the force of a pile driver.

He threw open the door and gasped when the frigid morning air sliced through his bare skin. In his haste, he’d skipped getting dressed or finding shoes. Admittedly, not his best plan. The thin layer of cotton wasn’t protecting anything down below.

But he was committed now. Let the neighbors talk.

Ignoring the sting of cold against his feet and the shaking in his limbs, he walked across the porch to the side of the house. A passing car honked a horn. He thought it was for him until he saw her. She wore a pair of his longer exercise shorts, a huge sweatshirt and her boots. The outfit was so damn sexy he almost forgot about Travis and the crowd that could gather any second.

Then he saw the ladder and realized she was standing on the top step as she stuck a shovel in his gutter. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

She glanced down. As her gaze roamed over him, her smile faded. “You’re naked.”

“I’m wearing shorts.”

“Uh, barely.” Her gaze bounced to Travis then back to Mitch. “Have you lost your mind? You’re turning pink.”

“Answer the question.”

“I thought it was obvious, but I’m cleaning.” She waved the shovel at him as if to emphasize her point.

There was no need to even argue about this. They’d have a conversation when her feet hit the ground and the numbness left his extremities. “Get down.”

“I’m not done.”

“You’ll kill yourself.” If he didn’t shake some sense into her first. The woman had no fear. She had no idea how close he was to grabbing her off the ladder.

“You do know she’s climbed Everest, right?” Travis stepped closer and put his hand in the air. “By the way, I don’t think we’ve formally met. I’m Travis. I work for Mitch, who looks like he might explode any minute.”

She leaned down and shook Travis’s hand but her attention never wavered from Mitch. “What the…why is your face that color? It’s purple now.”

His clothes and coloring were irrelevant, as was the headache booming in his brain and spreading out to his other body parts. One day he’d feel his toes again, but for now he wanted her down. “You should not be crawling around up there. You could fall or slide.”

She didn’t show any signs of moving. Didn’t even come down a step. “I’m standing on a ladder, not hanging off a cliff by a rope.”

That visual image made his stomach flip. “On the fifth step.”

Those dark eyes widened. “Mitch, are you afraid of heights?”

“Did I use the word fear?”

“I did, but it was an educated guess based on the color of your face and wild terror in your eyes.”

As far as he was concerned, this was a matter of common sense not fear. “I’m not scared of anything. But if I were, plunging to my death would be at the top of the list.”

“The stepladder at work gives him a nose bleed.” Travis leaned against the house and glanced up at Cassidy as he sipped his coffee.

If Mitch’s calculations were right, that gave his friend a perfect view up her shorts. “Move away from there.”

She finally came down a step. “A lot of people are afraid. It’s not unusual, but there are things you can do to combat the feeling. The fear is controllable.”

“Stop using that word.” Mitch tried to beat back his temper. He didn’t know if his grumbly feeling came from the conversation or from seeing her long, lean legs and remembering what she could do with them.

“You’re still upset about the fear thing?”

His teeth almost snapped from force he was applying on his jaw. “Find another word.”

She threw up her hands. “What should I say?”

Refusing to watch her nosedive into the grass, he grabbed onto the ladder and held it so it wouldn’t wobble. “I have a healthy respect for gravity. Feet should be on the ground at all times unless you’re in a bed, which we’re not. Though we could be if you’d come down from there.”

“Subtle.” Travis said the word over a fake cough.

Cassidy snorted. “I’ve fallen from much greater heights than this.”

“I read about the crevasse,” Travis said. “Impressive.”

Mitch had some memory of the word and hated to ask, but he knew Travis would torture him with small details anyway. “What is that?”

“Basically, a crack in the ice.” She used her hands to demonstrate.

Mitch wanted her hands back on the ladder and scowled at her until she did it.

“They can be fifty feet deep or more. The one she fell into was more like thirty, right?” Travis actually chuckled as he asked the question.

Mitch made a mental note to fire him.

“Sometimes you see them on the surface and can bridge them. Other times, you step and go down. New snow can cover them. It’s a huge danger.” She lifted one foot off the ladder. “I had it happen in Antarctica. Unfortunately, I was one of the guides on that expedition, so the free fall didn’t exactly inspire confidence among the paying customers.”

He reached for her ankle and set her foot back down on the step. “Get down.”

“You really do hate heights.” She bent down and ran a hand over his hair.

Travis stepped up next to Mitch. “Man, you look like hell.”

“You can go.”

“It does look like you have this under control, except for the lack of pants thing.” Travis put his coffee cup on the top of the ladder. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“I guess you’ve heard a lot about me.” Instead of getting down, she sat on the third step.

“Apparently not everything.”

Mitch could picture the company e-mails now. Travis would inform Spence who would tell Austin. The circle of gossip hell would never end. And that was just the part that impacted him. Mitch still needed to worry about her. “Travis, not a word about this.”

“I don’t think your height issue is a secret.”

Mitch ground his back teeth together even harder this time. It was the only part of him that still had any feeling. “About Cassidy staying here.”

“She’s staying here?”

Clearly he was not getting his point across. “Spence, the employees, the entire town of Holloway. No one needs to know.”

Travis glanced at Cassidy then nodded. “Okay.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll let people know you’re doing something at home and will be late.” With that, Travis waved and took off.

Mitch watched the younger man’s old truck bounce down the driveway. He heard the clap of boots against metal and turned around in time to see Cassidy standing on the grass. The knot inside him untangled until he glanced at her face and the way her mouth curled into a frown.

He’d seen that sort of female disappointment before. Carrie wore it when she described the type of women he usually brought home.

“What?” he asked, knowing a smart man would head for the house. Run for it if he had to.

Cassidy balanced her elbow on one of the rungs. “What was with the death stare and unspoken threat of firing Travis?”

As if he needed proof that women and men spoke two different languages. “What conversation were you listening to?”

“You begged Travis to keep me a big secret.” She held up her finger when Mitch started to talk. “Is that what all this hang-out-at-the-house stuff has been about? At first you wanted me at the nursery then all of a sudden no. You wanted me hiding out here. Is it that you don’t want people to know you’ve taken in The Chosen One?”

“With all the conclusion jumping you must be exhausted.”

“Mitch, I’m serious.”

And way off base. “I wanted you to have a few days to relax.”

“I don’t think so.”

It was true he didn’t want to drag her around town, introducing her as the woman he was sleeping with. He didn’t even know how to define what they had. Letting other people slap a label on it made him nervous. “Tell me about this conspiracy you have in your head.”

“If I’m here and no one sees me, you don’t have to answer questions.”

This time a male yelled out his approval as a car went by. Mitch knew that one was about her legs and not his chest.

“If you keep what we have casual and unimportant, then you don’t have to explain to Travis or Spence. You don’t have to fill in Austin and your sister.”

Mitch had no idea what was happening. The morning started out great. Sex and bacon. Was there a better combination? Now he was standing outside, freezing his junk off, while she threw around accusations.

“That’s ridiculous.” But somewhere in his brain a lever clicked. He didn’t have to face a repeat of the Susan situation if everything stayed casual.

“Does Spence know I’m here?”

Mitch saw the minefield and tried to slip around it. “He’s my business partner.”

“And your friend.” Cassidy folded her arms across her stomach. “What about Darla or your parents?”

“If you knew my parents, you wouldn’t ask that.”

Cassidy threw back her head and let out a dramatic exhale. When she faced him again, some of the earlier spark of excitement had left her eyes. “Mitch, I appreciate everything—”

Desperation welled up inside him out of nowhere. “No.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

She’d back away and he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Casual didn’t have to mean only a few nights. They could enjoy more of each other. “Do not use this argument and whatever you think my motivation is as your way out.”

Her head tilted to the side as she gave him one of those inviting smiles that started his lower body revving.

“What part of last night makes you think I wanted out?” she asked.

He sputtered through a few nonsense words but couldn’t get out anything that sounded like a sentence. He barely choked out a syllable.

“Well?” She was right in front of him now. Her hand on his frozen chest and the warmth of her body pulsing into his.

“I’m thinking.” Just not with his brain, which was the problem.

“I’ll wait.”

When he forced his mind away from her body and back to the casual thing, he had to admit she had a point. He didn’t view her as a one-night stand, couldn’t imagine her walking out now. But he hadn’t exactly demonstrated that. “Okay, maybe I haven’t put an ad in the newspaper announcing your new address.”

Her fingertips traced the dip at the bottom of his throat. “I’m still waiting.”

He knew what she wanted. Giving it to her wasn’t nearly as tough as he tough it would be.

With his palms on her hips, he tugged her closer, blocking out the outline of his neighbor on the porch across the street. “I am not ashamed of you. I swear that’s not it.”

She sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. In that moment, he knew they’d dodged the train barreling right for his thick head. She’d heard whatever she needed to hear. He would dissect the conversation later and figure it out. For now, he reveled in the feel of her.

“That’s the one thing I can’t take, Mitch.”

After everything, he owed her at least that much. “I don’t care about the rumors, except for how much they annoy you. It’s just that, maybe…”

“Since when do you have trouble finding your words?” she asked.

“Is it so bad that I wanted you to myself for a few days?” It wasn’t a lie. The town acted like it owned her. For a short time, he wanted the secret of knowing she belonged to him.

She must have liked his answer because her fingers slipped into his hair. “No.”

“Really?”

“That’s kind of romantic.”

He groaned. “I will never understand women.”

“You’re freezing by the way.” She rubbed her hands over his now numb flesh.

“I can’t feel my feet.”

“Aw, you poor baby.”

“Some very important parts might be out of commission.” As he said it even his lower body sparked to life again.