Flirting with Love(32)

My feeling exactly. “We do have a lot in common.”

Emily surveyed the kitchen and her eyes landed on the beer cakes. “No wonder you said you needed more ovens. You must bake all the time. How can you stay so thin?”

“Oh, those aren’t for me.” Elisabeth laughed at the thought of eating three cakes by herself. “I was creating new recipes for cakes to sell at the county fair. Ross taste tested them for me. You can actually take one home with you if you want.”

“Really? Thank you. We’d better talk about your renovations or you’re going to think I came for free food.”

They went over Elisabeth’s ideas for the kitchen, and Emily took notes on the layout and sketched out ideas for moving counters and adding an island. Two hours later they had moved into the living room, taken their shoes off, and were sitting on the sofa with a sketch of the new layout and a plate of crumbs between them. And Elisabeth had a new friend.

Half an hour after Emily left, Elisabeth heard Ross’s truck in the driveway. She went to greet him. His steps were heavy, his eyes serious and pinned on the ground.

She stepped off the porch and hooked her finger in his pocket. “What’s wrong?” He shook his head, and her heart sank. “Ross? Did something happen to Storm?”

“No, he’s fine, sorry. Just thinking about Trout.” He raked his eyes down her body and smiled. “You look beautiful.” He leaned down and kissed her. “See? And your kisses wipe my worries away without a trace.”

“Fibber. I see that wrinkle on your forehead. What’s wrong with Trout?” She took his hand and they sat down on the porch step.

“I just can’t figure out how or why a guy who had a free ride to college and was a high school valedictorian would throw his life away.” He squeezed Elisabeth’s hand. “How does that happen? And more importantly, as a parent, how can you stop it from happening?”

“Didn’t you tell me that he killed the man who killed his mother?” She remembered the story Ross had told her, and she knew how much it had bothered him then, but she wondered why his worry had escalated.

“Yes, but I just don’t get it. He’d not only made it through ten years in the system, he beat it.” He shook his head. “Why on earth after ten years, and all that hard work, would he throw it all away?”

Ross shrugged and rose to his feet. “I don’t mean to be a downer. I’ve been thinking a lot about life and family lately, and when I was at the prison today, I saw him in a whole different light. I’ve seen him as an inmate all this time, but today I saw him as his mother’s son. Surely he wasn’t a monster at eight years old. He was a kid, Lis. A little boy who watched his mother die. God only knows what me or any of my brothers would have done if someone killed our mother. It could be any one of us in that jail.”

“I wondered if that was what you were worried about. Rossie, you’re not a killer.” She watched him pace. “You love your mom, but I think something has to go really wrong in someone’s brain to actually murder another person. I saw you when you had to put Gracie down. Your eyes were damp, and even if you don’t want to admit it, you were upset for a long time afterward. Your body was tense, and you could barely look at me.” She touched his arm to stop his pacing. “And if you’re worried about when you have children, I highly doubt you could raise a child who would kill another person.”

His eyes grew even more serious. “I know that. That’s not really what I meant. None of us—not me or any of my brothers—could actually kill a man, but the question running around my mind is this. Does the fact that he avenged his mother’s death make him a cold-blooded killer from birth, or did something snap when it happened?”

“I don’t know enough about that stuff to answer, but it makes me want to call my mom.”

He pulled her into a hug. “Sorry to unload on you. Go ahead and call your mom.” He kissed her again. “Did everything go okay with Em?”

“Yeah. I love her. She’s like the best friend I’ve always wanted.”

“Really? Well, that gets me a little jealous.”

Elisabeth looked into his seductive gaze and felt her heart opening even more to the man who wasn’t afraid to show her he was human. He had fears and worries just like she did, and he wasn’t embarrassed by them, which made her fall even harder than she realized she could.





Chapter Fifteen


WEDNESDAY EVENING, ELISABETH put on a pair of dangling silver earrings and slipped her feet into a pair of sandals. She looked way too sexy in a royal blue halter-top maxi dress that hugged every inch of her incredible body.

“You look like you stepped out of People magazine, and you should have Brad Pitt on your arm.” They’d spent the night at Ross’s house last night, and he was getting used to waking up with his sexy girlfriend wrapped around him and a dog at his feet. They’d made love that morning, and when Ross was helping her with the animals, they’d made out in the barn like teenagers. She’d left a note next to his keys when she left that morning. I’ll miss you today. Can’t wait to be in your arms again. Even when she wasn’t with him, she was present. And every time he was with Elisabeth, he noticed things he hadn’t before, like the way she crinkled her nose a little when she was reading, and at night, just before she fell asleep, she twisted the ends of her hair between her finger and thumb, the same way he’d seen her do when she was nervous, only at night she did it with a sleepy smile on her lips.

He folded her into his arms and kissed her neck. “Every guy in the restaurant will have their eyes on you.”

“Mm. Jealous?” She arched her neck back, giving him full access to her delicate, tasty skin, which he took full advantage of, trailing kisses up her neck, then sucking hard enough to make Elisabeth gasp a breath.

They were in her bedroom standing by the dresser, and Ross wanted to rip that dress off, lift her onto the dresser, and make love to her until she could barely breathe. But they were supposed to meet Rex and Jade for dinner in thirty minutes.

“Maybe a little jealous,” he admitted.

He gathered the skirt of her dress in his fist, then slid his hand beneath, along the back of her thigh, and took a handful of bare ass. He loved when she wore thongs. He was hard just thinking about ripping it off.

“Rossie,” she whispered. “The time…”

The seconds were ticking away, but he couldn’t stop, not now that he’d touched her. He wanted her too badly.

She spread her legs and he rubbed her through the thin material.

“You’re…unfair.” She clutched his shirt in her fists and snagged a few chest hairs along with it. “We can’t. I’ll have to shower again if you come in me.”

She panted out a few breaths, and he slid a finger beneath the damp material and stroked her slick skin.

“Oh God, yes,” she relented.

“I’ll just make you come,” he whispered as he slid his fingers inside her and furtively stroked her until she was so wet he had to have her.

“Ross,” she whispered, and spread her legs further. “Oh God. You. I want you.”

She tore at the button on his jeans and he had them off in seconds. He pulled her dress over her head and tore her thong from her body—literally shredding the seam. They fell to the bed and he drove into her hard and deep. Their lips met in a passionate, hungry kiss as deep and urgent as his thrusts.

“Jesus, Lis. You’re so hot. So wet.”

She moaned at his words.

“Come for me, baby.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her hips. He grabbed her ass and helped her efforts, angling her back so he could push in deeper. Her inner muscles clenched around him as she cried out, a loud, indiscernible sound that shot fire through his body. He started to pull out so he didn’t come inside her and she clutched his hips.

“Don’t.”

“Lis.”

“Don’t pull out.” She pressed on his hips, squeezing her legs tighter around his waist.

Two deep thrusts took him over the edge, and his muscles corded tight as he pumped her full of his love. They were both breathing hard as they rolled onto their sides.

“Lis, you said not to come inside you.”

She smiled, eyes still closed. “I couldn’t help it. I wanted you in me.”

Still in a foggy haze of lust, they forced themselves to get up and showered together. Even if he hadn’t been able to see Elisabeth’s gorgeous body beneath the spray of the shower, her nipples hard and the sensual look in her eyes, he would still have had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her. There was an energy between them that heated the air and drew him to her like metal to magnet.

“You’re like a drug. How am I supposed to shower with you and not want to make love to you again?”

Elisabeth washed up as quickly as she could and smiled at the sight of his formidable erection, eagerly pointing upward again.

“Good, then I can count on a little loving later on.” She brushed her fingers along his balls as she stepped out of the shower.

“I’ll just stand under the cold water for a minute.” Holy Christ. Where had she been all his life?