Shohn Read online

  No, not really. For the first time that he could ever remember, life felt amazingly…right. And, damn it, he hadn’t even known anything was wrong until it all got aligned so perfectly with Nadine.

  “What are you doing to me?” he asked.

  Her eyes flared. “Did you want me to do something?”

  Shohn laughed. Yeah, he wanted her to do all kinds of stuff, but most of all, he wanted her to accept him.

  She pushed at his chest. “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing. I just feel good, that’s all.”

  She stared at his mouth and sighed. “Me, too.”

  Taking the hint, Shohn kissed her again, her mouth, her jaw, the fragrant skin of her throat. Near her ear he murmured, “I’ll feel even better if you lose the shorts, too. What do you say?”

  “I say we should both get naked.”

  Sounded like a perfect plan. He rolled to the side of her, but instead of taking off her shorts, Nadine sat up beside him and went after the snap of his jeans. It was a unique pleasure to see Nadine working over his fly. Her long hair hung down to tease his abdomen, her breasts swaying with her movements, her expression concentrated.

  He held his breath as she eased his zipper down.

  “Lift up.”

  He did, and Nadine skimmed his jeans and boxers down to his knees. Sitting back on her heels, her small hands on her thighs, she stared at him.

  What a beautiful picture she made, part innocence and a larger part seductress. She licked her lips, and he throbbed, he was so hard. “Nadine?”

  “Hmm?”

  Reaching out, he caught a long hank of her hair and gave a gentle tug. “Come here.”

  She looked up at his face. “No, not yet.” Standing, she finished stripping off his jeans, then, without an ounce of fanfare, pushed her shorts down and off.

  She seemed so focused on his nudity that she discounted her own.

  Shohn couldn’t do the same.

  When she reached for him, or more specifically, his erection, he tumbled her onto the bed and moved over her. “I need to get inside you, babe. Afterward, you can play touchy-feely if you want. Okay?”

  Her body squirming against his, she said in a whisper, “Okay,” while lifting up to take his mouth.

  He’d never last. Shohn knew it, but he couldn’t rush things, not with Nadine. She didn’t make it easy on him, not with the way she kissed him, how she looked and her scent and the excited little sounds she gave as he touched her.

  He trailed a hand down to her hipbone, her voluptuous thigh, then inward, where he found her hot and wet and so damn ready.

  She groaned, her whole body trembling, as he teased his fingertips over her sensitive lips, spreading her moisture, opening her. Lifting up to see her face, Shohn watched her while slowly pressing two fingers into her.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she clenched around him.

  “You have the prettiest eyes, honey. Open up and let me see them.”

  Instead, she turned her face in against his chest.

  “Nadine, come on, baby. Look at me.” He moved his fingers deeper, pressing until he heard her gasp, then slowly pulling out only to sink in again. Amazingly he felt her getting wetter, hotter, tighter. So close. In a barely there whisper, he urged again, “Let me see you.”

  After a second she obliged him, and it leveled him, seeing her like this. For him. He kissed her bottom lip, her chin, the top of her breasts. Using his tongue, he trailed a damp path to one nipple then suckled while still fingering her.

  Her hands gripped his shoulders, her nails biting into his muscles as she groaned. “Shohn.”

  Carefully closing his teeth around her nipple, he tugged. Given the catch of her breath and the new moisture that bathed his fingers, she liked that.

  Using his thumb and her own slick excitement, he teased her clitoris in a slow rhythm that soon had her moving with him. He forgot his own need while enjoying hers. She tightened more, her body stiffening…

  “Shohn.”

  He rose up again to watch her, loving her dazed and smoky expression.

  She gave a raw cry, arching up to him, her head back as she rode out a powerful climax that went on and on.

  Shohn stayed with her, waiting until the pleasure faded and her body sank back, boneless, to the mattress.

  Sitting up in a rush, he found his wallet, donned a condom and was back over her, settling between her thighs, before Nadine had even gotten her eyes open.

  She came about as he used his fingertips to open her.

  As soon as he started pressing into her, she was with him again.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  NADINE WRAPPED HERSELF around Shohn. A delicious sort of ecstasy still pulsed throughout her body, amplified by the way he slowly rocked into her.

  It overwhelmed her, how right it felt to have Shohn covering her, his strong thighs pressing hers wider, his big hands covering her breasts even as he kissed her and strained over her. She felt stretched full by his size, and squirmed a little to adjust as he sank into her completely.

  Groaning, he went still. “God, you feel good.”

  She couldn’t help but tighten around him.

  He groaned again. “I’m not going to last.”

  Honestly, she didn’t think she would, either. “That’s okay.”

  Bracing up on straightened arms, he drew three deep breaths while looking at her, cursed low and began thrusting, each time harder and faster than the one before.

  The consuming way he watched her, the heat in his eyes and the flush on his high cheekbones all conspired against her. A spark turned into a flame, and soon a tidal wave of sensation washed over her again.

  Shohn dropped down to her, his face tucked into her neck. She heard his reverberating growl, the way his body shuddered as he pressed hard into her one final time.

  “Wow.”

  She felt his smile on her shoulder. “Me, too.”

  “That was…”

  “I know.”

  She hugged him tighter. He kissed her shoulder, her neck. They were both still panting, their heartbeats aligned, when they heard the scratching on the door.

  Shohn moaned.

  Nadine wanted to moan, too, but she couldn’t find the breath or energy to manage it.

  Untangling his hand from her hair, Shohn stroked her shoulder, down her side to her rump. “Should I let him in?”

  The way he watched her with so much tenderness made her tongue-tied. She drew one more necessary breath, and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

  Neither of them moved.

  Louie was not amused. Nadine heard a funny noise and turned her head. One white paw was extended under the door, claws up as he felt around.

  Nadine snickered.

  Shoving up to his elbows, Shohn smiled at her. “Are you laughing at poor Louie?”

  “Ha.” She pushed at him. “He’s going to destroy my doors.”

  Shohn eyed that groping paw, and agreed. “Yeah, sorry. I guess I better get him.”

  When he stood, Nadine scooted up in the bed to look at him. Mmm, mmm, mmm. She should have brought her camera to bed with her. Not that she really needed a photograph; if she lived to be a hundred, the image of Shohn Hudson naked in her bedroom would be forever emblazoned on her brain.

  Shohn glanced back at her, but his gaze caught on the repellent. He frowned. “You didn’t want me to…I mean…”

  “No.” She found the sheet and pulled it over her. “That was just in case he interrupted at the wrong time. Since we’re done—”

  “Done? Speak for yourself, woman.” Before she could figure out what that meant, Shohn opened the door and walked out to the bathroom. Louie chased after him.

  When he returned a minute later, it was sans condom. He stopped by the side of the bed, Louie following like a shadow, and stepped into his boxers.

  Nadine wondered what to do. Should she get up and get her panties? They were way over there, on the other side of the bed by Shohn. But it seemed very inhospitab
le to stay in bed as he dressed to leave.

  Grinning, Shohn slid in beside her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting comfortable.” He rested on his side, his arm folded under the side of his face.

  Louie jumped up into the bed, searched around and, after a level look of disdain at Nadine, curled up around Shohn’s head.

  Going still, Shohn lost his smile. “What the hell, Louie?”

  Nadine watched the cat paw Shohn’s hair, yawn and snuggle in. He looked like a cat hat, and she had to snicker again. “I think he’s going to sleep.”

  Shohn closed his eyes. “Damn.”

  Hoping Shohn wouldn’t object to the delay, she suggested, “Let him sleep for a little while before you go.”

  “Go?”

  Pride, she reminded herself. Shohn would leave, so better that she arranged things on her own terms instead of waiting for him to make the first move.

  She tried out a bright smile. “That was…well…as I said, Wow with a capital W.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You think so, huh?”

  Oh, no. Her stomach dipped with apprehension. “You were disappointed?”

  “What? No.” He started to raise his head, then remembered Louie and went still again. “Damn it, don’t put words in my mouth.”

  Still unsure, Nadine asked, “So you were…satisfied?”

  “Very.”

  Her pulse slowed again. “Good.” Though, honestly, he didn’t look very happy about it. There were storm clouds in his eyes and his jaw jutted with challenge. Unfamiliar with the protocol, Nadine hoped to brazen her way through. “I’m glad we could get that out of our systems.”

  “Out of my system? No way, lady.”

  “No?” So he wanted her still? Again? “You don’t mean tonight, do you?”

  Through his teeth, he asked, “Are you kicking me out?”

  Not how she would have put it, but… “I assumed you’d leave, yes.”

  “I have a cat on my head!”

  There was that. Louie opened one eye, blinked at her then snuggled a little tighter and went back to sleep. His tail curled around Shohn’s face, over one eye and under his nose.

  Grousing, Shohn gently rearranged the bent tail so that it was up on his forehead instead. Then he scowled at her some more.

  Huh. If Nadine didn’t know better, she might think Shohn had feelings for her, that maybe he wanted more with her than just casual sex. But she did know better. She had the evidence of a lifetime and his reputation for serial hookups to help her keep her head and her heart grounded in reality.

  Most likely, Shohn was used to women begging him to stay, but damned if she would.

  “Nadine,” he said in warning.

  One thing was certain. “You can’t very well be here when everyone shows up tomorrow.”

  “Everyone being who?” He scoffed. “Roxi and Fred?”

  “And the people who will be picking up and dropping off their pets.” Her pride demanded that she keep things private. She could bear the idea of being a fling, but that didn’t mean she wanted the rest of the world to know about it. Or at least, the world of Buckhorn County. It was the type of community that spread gossip fast, and rumor even faster. “Besides, if you ever expect Louie to get acclimated, he needs to be in your home, not mine.”

  Shohn didn’t look happy about it, but he said, “I guess.” Reaching over his head, he stroked the cat and the loud gravelly purring started. “Can you continue to watch him for me when I work?”

  “Sure.”

  That lifted his frown. Instead of petting Louie, he started petting her, her shoulder, down to her waist then her hip. He dragged the sheet along with him as he went and pretty soon she was exposed again.

  She had always considered herself too plump, but the way Shohn looked at her made her feel perfect.

  With his big hand on her belly, he asked, “You don’t want people to know we’re seeing each other?”

  It wasn’t as if they were dating, so… “I’m a private person, Shohn. You know that.”

  For a minute, he said nothing, just took his time exploring her body. When his gaze finally lifted to hers, it was sharp with resolve. “Come over to my place tomorrow after work.”

  Oh, so tempting. Did he ask because he, too, felt the special connection? Nadine couldn’t keep her heart from filling with hope. Her stubborn pride, however, warned her to proceed with caution. “I don’t know…”

  “I’ll convince you,” Shohn murmured. He left the bed amid Louie’s protests, going out of the room to retrieve the shirt and catnip. He set up a bed for the cat on the floor, and even managed to coax Louie to it.

  Then he coaxed Nadine out to the hall, and up against the wall.

  It was another two hours before he and Louie left—with the promise that she’d spend the night with him tomorrow.

  *

  NADINE’S AGREEMENT TO spend the night with Shohn set the tone for the next two weeks. The hours, even the days, passed in a blur of swelling contentment. She stayed over with him and Louie, and left for work in the morning. At her job, they kept things platonic.

  But alone in his apartment, Shohn dedicated himself to showing her new ways of making love.

  And it was making love, at least for her. With Shohn, well, he was incredibly wonderful to her. But didn’t everyone say that about him?

  “A chip off the old block,” she’d heard many times, referring back to his father, Dr. Sawyer Hudson, who was much loved and respected by everyone in Buckhorn. “Just like his uncle Gabe,” many noted, meaning Shohn was a charming seducer, though the Gabe she knew was a dedicated family man who watched over his three beautiful daughters with unwavering determination.

  “He does the family proud” was the favored compliment, and Nadine had to agree. Shohn was the real deal, a gentleman through and through, considerate and caring, protective and sexy to boot.

  So maybe he treated her just the same as he treated everyone: kindly and with lots of attention.

  Oh, how that man doled out the attention, especially in bed.

  The evening sun sent crimson and purple across the horizon. Nadine loved sunsets, more so now that it meant she’d soon be seeing Shohn.

  She was so sunk. Hopelessly, as Amber had claimed.

  Sighing, Nadine finished scooping the backyard after the dogs had run and played. It was one of her least favorite jobs, of course, which was why she did it herself instead of pawning it off on Roxi or Fred. She owned the place, so the dirtiest jobs were hers to deal with.

  Louie came to walk with her. Though he still doted on Shohn, he no longer freaked out when he couldn’t reach him. He now had the run of Animal House, too. Both she and Shohn trusted Louie to stay close and out of trouble.

  At Shohn’s apartment, the cat preferred his bed in front of the patio doors because that’s where the sun usually poured in. He no longer felt the desperate need to spend every moment with Shohn.

  But Nadine did.

  She missed him horribly when they were apart, and rarely did an entire minute pass without her thinking of him. He was just such a heartbreaker…

  “Hey, Nadine.”

  Looking up from her bag of doggy doo, Nadine shaded her eyes and found Amber’s brother, Garrett Hudson, striding toward her. Talk about a heartbreaker. But unlike Shohn, Garrett didn’t even seem to realize it.

  Tall, strong and with the fitness required to be a fireman, Garrett was another fine example of Buckhorn’s leading family. He wore casual attire of a sleeveless blue shirt, well-worn jeans and scruffy lace-up work boots. He had black hair like his cousin Shohn, but though he sported mirrored sunglasses now, she knew his eyes were the same piercing blue as his father’s.

  His smile should have been one of welcome, but seemed more like an invitation to every woman who saw it.

  Nadine straightened. “Hey, Garrett.” Maybe because he was only one year older than her and they’d more or less grown up together, she could be more objective
in his company than other females. The fact that she’d been in love with Shohn forever might factor in, too. “What’s up?”

  He pushed the sunglasses up to the top of his head. Sinfully long dark lashes framed those bright blue eyes, and offered even more impact for the weak of heart. “Is that Shohn’s cat?” He nodded at Louie.

  Louie sat down next to Nadine’s foot and leveled his yellow-eyed stare at Garrett.

  “Yes, isn’t he beautiful?”

  “Not really, no.” Crouching down, Garrett offered a hand to the cat. “But he has a lot of character.”

  “Character?”

  “Sure.” Now that Louie seemed more receptive, Garrett tickled under his chin. “He’s like an antique. You can see the life he’s led through his imperfections.” He looked up at her. “Perfection is overrated.”

  Being that he was so physically perfect, maybe he knew something she didn’t. “Okay.”

  “You ever look at an older building and compare it to something new?”

  “Not really.”

  “The older homes,” Garrett mused, “even if they’re a little beat-up, always have more character.”

  Nadine didn’t know what to say about that, so she went back to talking about Louie. “He’s a wonderful cat, and very smart.”

  Garrett scooped him up and stood with Louie held to his chest. The cat rumbled his delight and leaned his head back on Garrett’s tanned shoulder.

  That cat had more luck with hunks…

  “Shohn wanted me to stop by to tell you he’ll be late.”

  “Oh?” Had Shohn told his cousin that they were seeing each other? Sexually involved? Burning up the sheets on a nightly basis?

  They weren’t dating, so that wouldn’t qualify as a description for their relationship. So far they’d both opted to spend their time alone together instead of in crowds.

  She assumed Amber knew, though Nadine hadn’t seen her lately. But she doubted Shohn had shared with any of his other relatives.

  “Shohn asked me to pick up Louie for him. He said he wrote Amber as an alternate, but she’s still at the bookstore doing inventory or something, and she didn’t answer. I was already out this way checking on a fire hazard at the local strip mall.”

  Why didn’t Shohn want her to keep the cat? “Where is he?”