She nodded as he pulled away and sorted himself out. She didn't make any attempt to move and just waited for his return.
He climbed onto the bed and straddled her, his blue eyes silver in the moonlight. "I can't have you coming all this way and being disappointed, can I?"
"Life is full of disappointments. Some men are just terrible in the sack. It's okay, you're still beautiful on the outside."
With a growl, he nipped her stomach and then moved lower, his wide shoulders spreading her thighs. And then his mouth was on her most precious parts, and God she was moaning and writhing as he added his fingers and everything dissolved into the kind of fiery bliss she'd only read about in romance novels.
After a while, when he'd reduced her to begging, he covered himself again and reintroduced her to his cock, and things got even better. This time when he eventually came she was with him, and that was the most extraordinary sensation of all.
With a deep groan, he rolled onto his back, and she draped herself bonelessly over him.
"Better?"
She managed a faint moan.
"Because we can try it again if it wasn't up to your exacting standards."
"Overachiever."
"Exactly." He kissed her throat and wrapped an arm low around her hips. "Thanks for coming."
She bit his shoulder and he pretended to groan and then she fell suddenly and unexpectedly asleep.
Chapter Twelve
Blue opened one eye and studied the curve of a very feminine throat and a tangle of reddish brown hair.
Not a dream, then.
Jenna McDonald was curled up beside him in his bed and he'd had the best night's sleep in months. Maybe even years. He figured from the extreme angle of the sun that it was just about dawn.
"Jenna," he murmured into her ear. "Are you awake?"
Which was a stupid question as she was snoring like one of Roy's piglets, but he was trying to be diplomatic.
Her eyes flew open and fixed on him.
"Oh God. I actually did it, didn't I?"
"You certainly did." He kissed her nose.
"I crept into your grandmother's house and ravished a serving member of the military." She pulled the sheet over her head. "You're a trained professional, right? Will you just kill me now?"
"And have all the trouble of having to explain why I have a dead body in my bed? It's not happening."
"Please?"
"Nope. I'd much rather you focused on serving that military member again."
She groaned. "No jokes. I can't even claim that I was drinking or anything. I just wanted to see you."
"Which I am totally okay about."
The sheet came down an inch. "You are? Because you have to know that this is totally out of character for me to do anything like this, I mean because I'm not normally the kind of girl who thinks she's the kind of girl any guy would want to turn up in his bed. Does that make sense?"
"No, but what do you want to do about it?"
She slowly disentangled herself from his arms and sat up. "You want me to go, don't you?"
"No, I want to know what you want to do next."
"About what?" She blinked at him like an owl.
Mornings obviously weren't her best time. Blue tried again. "Whether you want to come down and have breakfast with me, or whether you want to keep this to ourselves for a while longer."
"I can't go down with you. Ruth will think . . ." She made a face. "Ruth will think I sneaked into her house and had sex with you. Which is exactly what I did."
"She's more likely to think I smuggled you in, you can bet on that," Blue said. "I'm okay to take the blame if it makes things easier for you."
"You would?"
It was his turn to shrug. "I owe you."
She pleated the sheet between her fingers. "I've put you in a terrible position, haven't I?"
"No, you haven't." He patted her shoulder. "Look, how about I go use the bathroom. When I come back you can tell me what you've decided to do, okay?"
He pulled on his boxers and discarded running shorts and headed out to wash up. After the quickest shower of his life, he made his way back along the silent hallway to his room and went in.
"Coast is clear if you want to-" He stopped speaking and looked around the deserted room. "Where the hell did she go?"
Outside the cockerel crowed, which seemed fitting somehow. Blue dressed properly in jeans and a T-shirt before padding down the stairs in his socks to the kitchen, where he found a crockpot full of oatmeal and a note from Ruth telling them all to help themselves.
Moments later his grandma appeared and started cooking eggs and bacon, which always drew a crowd. Blue sat down and helped himself to oatmeal and then a plate of eggs and toast.
"BB, when you go down to the barn to start your chores, see if you can find Jenna and ask her if she wants to come up here for something to eat."
"Jenna?" Blue tried to sound surprised.
"Her truck's parked out front."
"You said she'd be coming to check out the new kittens," Maria added.
"Yeah." Blue carried on eating. Thank God for Maria inadvertently providing Jenna with an alibi. "I'll check her out as soon as I'm done."
"Can I come with you?" Maria asked.
"Sure." Blue looked up in surprise. To the best of his knowledge it was the first time Maria had ever asked to do anything with him. Billy winked at him.
Just as he reached for his napkin to wipe his mouth, the screen door banged and Jenna came in carrying her bag.
"Morning, everyone."
Ruth smiled at her. "Morning, darlin', now sit down and let me get you something to eat."
She took the seat opposite Blue, her gaze lowered and the color of her cheeks suspiciously high.
Blue sipped his coffee and contemplated her over the rim of his cup. "Jenna."
"Blue."
"You're out and about early."
"Yes."
"Did something come up?"
"Kind of." She shrugged. "You know how this job is."
She'd managed to comb her hair and tie it back, but if he looked closely he could still see the faint red mark where he'd bitten her throat.
"Were you up all night?"
"Part of it."
This time she did look right at him and he got the full "why don't you shut up" glare, but he wasn't giving up that easily. So she didn't want to be seen with him in public or acknowledge what had happened between them. That kind of stung.
She turned to thank Ruth for the plateful of food.
"Don't you just hate that when you can't sleep?" He shook his head. "I know I do."
Maria pointed her spoon at him. "Did you have bad dreams? I didn't. I dreamed about the kittens playing with my favorite ponies. It was awesome."
"Cool." Blue smiled at her. "I thought I had a really great dream, and when I woke up it had slipped away." He flinched as Jenna kicked him under the table. "Funny how that happens sometimes, isn't it?"
He picked up his empty plate and mug and stood up. "I've got chores to do. Maria, why don't you bring Jenna down to the barn when you've both finished eating and show her where the kittens are?"
"Okay."
Blue dropped his utensils in the dishwasher with a crash that made Ruth complain and headed out, his good mood completely gone. He wasn't sure why he was surprised. Jenna probably didn't want Ruth to know she'd sneaked into the ranch house. He still couldn't believe she'd done it himself. It went against everything he thought he knew about her.
He picked up the bucket of kitchen scraps and put it on the counter in the feed room, trying to move quietly so as not to scare the kittens. A large scoop of chicken pellets mixed in with the scraps would make the free-range birds very happy indeed.
Outside the barn the sky was already set to clear blue, and the chickens were fretting to be released from their pen. As long as he had a stout pair of boots on, Blue didn't mind dealing with the birds at all. Chase still hated them. Blue had made lots of money as a kid doing Chase's chicken chores for him.
After releasing the chickens he fed the dogs and feral cats and then started on the horses in the barn. Shoveling soiled hay and horseshit sure kept his mind and body focused on anything but Jenna McDonald.
At some point he heard Maria's high-pitched voice and guessed she was bringing Jenna to see the kittens. He kept his head down and carried on with his work. If either of them wanted to talk to him, they knew where to find him.
Eventually he heard footsteps outside Nolly's stall.
"Jenna says the kittens look great."
"Yeah?"
He turned to smile at Maria, who was leaning over the half door of Nolly's stall feeding the horse a piece of apple.
"She said it would be really cool if I could keep an eye on them and make sure the mama cat stayed around and to let her know if anything went wrong."
Blue straightened and leaned on the rake. "You can do that, right?"
Her face fell. "If I'm here."
"You will be if Ruth has anything to say about it."
"Ruth's awesome." Maria nodded. "And a bit scary at the same time."
"Exactly." Blue patted Nolly on the rump and eased past him. "You know how busy everyone gets around here? Having you taking on the responsibility of checking on the kittens would be super helpful."