Tied Up, Tied Down (26 page)

By the time she’d squeezed out the excess water in the laundry tub, hung up the drip-dry items, started another load and swept up the last of the powdered detergent she’d spilled all over the floor in her fit of anger, Skylar had calmed down some. And realized she’d been a total jerk to Kade. The man always did everything she’d asked, a lot of times he did things before she even thought of them. He was nothing but sweet and cheerful, helpful and kind to her and to Eliza, and she’d snapped at him like a fishwife.

Wife.

Dammit, that wasn’t a word she should use to describe herself or her relationship with Kade. She was not Kade McKay’s wife.

And doesn’t it bother you just a little? He hasn’t asked you to marry him after he’d
made love to you? Not since the night he tied you up.

No. That was not it. Unhappy if he asked her; unhappy if he didn’t ask her. She was not that psycho and controlling.

Was she?

Yes, it appeared she was.

Argh.

Sky sucked it up and went to apologize to him. She found the living room empty.

She dashed upstairs. No Kade. No Eliza.

Oh hell no. He hadn’t gotten pissed off and taken off with their baby, had he?

Can you blame him if he did? Haven’t you been afraid all along he’d take her or sue
for joint custody?

She flung open the front door. Sure enough, his truck was gone. Sky unearthed her phone and dialed his cell number, a number she’d programmed in, but never called.

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Didn’t that just speak volumes about how much she wanted to prove she didn’t need him?

Argh.

“Hello?”

“Kade? Where are you?”

“I’m in my truck.”

“Is Eliza with you?”

“Yes, she’s with me. Why?”

“What are you doing?”

“Goin’ to the store.” Pause. “Isn’t that what you were anglin’ for when you threw that hissy fit, not more than a half hour ago?”

Shit. Shame heated her cheeks. “It wasn’t a hissy fit.”

He laughed softly. “Yeah, sweetheart, it was.”

She managed a smile. “Fine, it was. But I didn’t expect you to drop everything and go right then.”

“Well, I wasn’t doin’ nothin’ else and it needed to be done, or else you wouldn’t have made such a big deal about it, right?”

The man was so damn even-keeled. Why wasn’t he barking at her for being such a bitch to him? Demanding an apology?

“Skylar?”

“Yes, it needed to be done. I’m sorry I snapped at you. Thank you for taking care of it.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard. And you’re welcome.”

“I’m just not used to help of any kind, especially not immediate help.”

“That’s another thing that’s gonna change. Look, I wanna help out, but I need direction. I’m a longtime bachelor, darlin’. I’d live on chili and ramen noodles and wash clothes only when I was completely out of ’em if I was in charge.”

“Good thing you have me, huh?”

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“Very good thing, but you’re foolin’ yourself if you think the only reasons I’m with you is because you can cook and do laundry.”

Are you with me only because of Eliza?

“Besides, sweet thang told me she had a hankerin’ to ride in the truck.”

She laughed. “She did?”

“Yep. She loves Gretchen Wilson. She already knows all the words to ‘Redneck Woman’.”

Sky pressed her forehead to the rain-slick wooden pillar on the porch. She resisted asking him if he’d grabbed the diaper bag. Or if he’d bundled Eliza up since the night air was damp. Or if he knew what kind of formula and diapers to buy. She really resisted asking him why he hadn’t asked her to come along.

Because the sobering truth was, Kade didn’t need her to come along. He could handle anything when it came to Eliza, with or without her.

Why didn’t that thought make her happy?

Because she wanted him to need her, the way she was beginning to need him.

“Sky, we’re at the store. We’ll see you in a bit.”

She clicked the phone shut and stayed on the porch, absorbing the warm rain, feeling bewildered, and a little bereft.

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Lights bobbed up the driveway. Kade’s truck rolled to a stop. The door opened and a baby wailed. Skylar dashed down the porch steps before Kade had Eliza out of the car seat.

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s mad at me for some reason. She screamed all the way home. Again.”

“I’m sure it’s not you personally, Kade.” Sky unbuckled Eliza, picked her up, and right away Eliza snuggled into her and quit crying.

Kade froze. “What did you do to get her to stop?”

“Nothing magical. Must be luck.” She draped the blanket over Eliza to keep the rain off. Inside, while she waited for the bottle to warm, she changed Eliza’s diaper and put her in her fuzzy pajamas.

After sucking down the bottle, Eliza fell asleep as if she’d been drugged, rosebud mouth slack, dark head thrown back. Sky settled her in her crib and returned to the kitchen.

Kade was drinking a beer, gazing out the back door. She saw six canisters of formula, three bags of diapers, a gallon of milk, a bag of apples, a six-pack of beer and a chocolate cake.

Hmm. She hadn’t given him a list, but still, slim pickin’s. “Kade? You okay?”

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“No. I never knew how damn hard it was to shop with a baby. Like a dumbass I took her out of her car seat, thinkin’ the car seat would take up too much room in the cart. So I’m holdin’ her, tryin’ to steer the cart with one hand. I made it to the baby aisle and loaded up her stuff. By the time I reached the bakery, she was screamin’. She screamed in the dairy aisle. She screamed in the produce section. All these people were starin’ at me like I was the worst parent ever—or glarin’ at her like she was one of them bratty kids you hear all over the store. I grabbed beer and booked it to the check-out.”

He drained the bottle and set it on the counter. “And Eliza was the damn Energizer Bunny—she just kept on a goin’. The checker couldn’t wait to get rid of us. I loaded the pitiful amount of groceries in the cart and realized I couldn’t push it, hold her, and unlock the truck door, even if it hadn’t been rainin’. I had to ask the carryout boy to help me.

With five lousy bags.”

Skylar circled her arms around his waist, pressing her face into the middle of his back, hoping she was giving him half the effortless comfort he always offered her.

“Shopping is hard. I usually leave Eliza with India when I go to the store to stock up.”

“Wish I’da known that. No, I’m glad I learned firsthand how hard it is just to do simple things when you’re cartin’ around a baby.” Kade turned into her embrace and tilted her face up. “I’m sorry I wasn’t around, Sky. For everything. For your pregnancy and her birth, but mostly because you’ve had to do all this stuff yourself and it ain’t fair.”

“Stop beating yourself up. Let’s move forward, not back.”

“Okay. Does that mean—”

A blinding reflection of headlights flashed in the window behind Kade. Skylar looked over her shoulder. A car had pulled up by the outside fencepost and cut the lights.

“What the hell?”

“What?”

“Who is dropping by at ten at night? Were you expecting anyone?”

“No.”

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“I don’t like this. Not at all.” She scurried out of the house and made it halfway up the gravel driveway, when the rear car door opened. The
chink chink chink
of glass bottles hitting rocks echoed back to her.

“Hey! What are you doing?” She began to run. “This is private property!”

The car was thrown into reverse, narrowly missing the fence. The engine gunned, muddy water and gravel sprayed her from head to bare toes as the vehicle fishtailed down the driveway and out of sight.

“Goddammit!”

A large hand landed on her shoulder and spun her around. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Didn’t you see that car? They were dumping garbage and who knows what else.”

“And you ran out here to confront them?”

“They were trespassing. What if they’d tried to break into the plant? Or tried to dump something toxic that’ll cost me thousands of dollars in clean up costs?”

“Jesus Christ, Skylar, what if they would’ve pulled a gun out and shot you?”

She went utterly still.

“Bustin’ a couple of underage kids for drinkin’ ain’t worth your time and sure as hell ain’t worth your life.”

“I-I—”

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again, do you hear me?”

Feeling like an idiot, Skylar twisted out of his grip and raced back to the house.

She’d reached the tiny strip of grass in front of the porch, when again, she was jerked around. This time Kade hauled her to her toes. “Let me go.”

“Not until you answer me. Don’t you ever take chances like that, do you understand?” He shook her a little. “Do you have any idea what the thought of anything happenin’ to you does to me?”

She whispered, “No.”

“It rips me clean apart.”

“Kade.”

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“Don’t. Just don’t.” He dragged her into his arms and squeezed her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. He kissed the top of her head as he muttered in her wet hair. His mouth grazed her forehead. Her temple. Her cheek. But when he reached her lips, his mouth didn’t graze; it devoured.

Sky kissed him back as ferociously. With need. Frustration. Every negative emotion fed their passion. Fueled their urgency.

Kade released her. He yanked her tank top over her head. Dragged her shorts down her legs. Tore off his own clothes.

“Just like this. Dirty, angry and wet.” He didn’t wait for her response. They half-fell to the soggy ground with a splash.

In the downpour of the cool rain, Sky swore she could see steam coming off their heated bodies. Kade pinned her hands above her head. She was lost to any kind of reality beyond his solid weight pressing into her. She shrieked when his mouth latched onto her nipple and sucked it with enough force it hit the back of his throat.

Skylar said, “Please, please, please,” and hooked her ankles in the small of his back, pumping her hips to urge him higher.

The slick head of his cock slipped over her clit and then all that thick rigid maleness surged inside her.

A gasping sob burst from her lungs.

Kade put his mouth on her ear. “I wanna hear you.”

Sky knew neither of them would last long, it was too intense. The need too sharp.

She craved that orgasmic rush, she burned for it. She arched and bucked and thrashed against his thrusting body demanding, “More. Kade, please.”

His cock jackhammered into her. Hard. Fast. Deep. Water sloshed around them. He growled, “Let me hear you. Scream for me.”

That did it. The tight coil unraveled. She screamed until every throbbing pulse slowed to nothing more than a dull throb. She blinked away the rainwater and opened her eyes, to see Kade staring at her.

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“God. Skylar. I-I—” His whole body convulsed as he came with a roar. Afterward, he buried his face in her neck even when he still shook.

The rain fell steadily. It was startlingly peaceful, in the aftermath of such an emotional storm, hearing the water droplets pinging on the metal downspouts. Smelling the parched earth beneath them soaking in every drop of moisture. Feeling Kade’s rough fingers braceleting her wrists. Feeling him hot and hard inside her. Listening to their labored breathing returning to a normal cadence.

Yes, there was a certain contentment accepting that not only had she given this man control of her body, he’d taken control of her heart.

Kade had fucked Skylar like an absolute animal, in a mud puddle, on the front lawn.

And she didn’t seem to mind.

A primal sense of satisfaction howled inside him and he couldn’t wait to take her again. Mark her as his.

He released her wrists and lifted his upper body to look down at her.

She brushed the wet hair stuck to his forehead and palmed his cheek, allowing the pad of her thumb to trace his lips. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t make any move to…well, move.

Kade opened his mouth to speak and she shook her head. Then Sky kissed him with sweetness and passion, which got him all hard and needy and desperate again.

She preferred this be a wordless encounter? Fine. What he planned to do to her would probably make her pretty damn speechless anyway.

He eased his cock out of her body and rolled to his feet. Kade helped her up, then snatched their discarded sodden clothes, leaving them on the porch. He led her up the stairs, past her bedroom and straight into the bathroom.

With the hall light on and the door cracked open, there was no need to turn on the overhead lights. She stepped in the shower and cranked the handle, giving him time to snag what he needed from his shaving kit.

Kade pulled the shower curtain back and joined her under the warm spray.

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As she rinsed her hair, he lathered up a washcloth with lemon sage scented soap and began to wash her. The graceful line of her neck. Then her full breasts. Her belly. The flare of her hips. Down each leg.

Wordlessly, he urged her to turn around. Kade swept the suds across her shoulders.

Over her back and spine. When he reached her pear-shaped butt that drove him insane with lust, he pressed closer to her. The water cascaded over them, sending soapy swirls to their feet and down the drain.

He pushed her hair to the side and spoke against her wet skin. “Skylar. Your ass is mine tonight. I’m gonna fuck it, right here, standin’ up in the shower.” His teeth tugged on her lobe and she shivered. “I’ll make it so good for you you’ll be screaming again.

We’ll go as slow as you want, but goddamn I need you like this. I need a part of you that’s just mine.”