“I imagine so. Hell, I would too.”

An unwieldy pause lingered.

Finally, he said, “Can you tell me the rest of it?”

“When we were at the end of the divorce proceedings, my mother returned. I moved into her new place, which ended up being a good thing because not four months later she was diagnosed with uterine cancer.”

“Jesus. Are you serious?”

Sky nodded. “Sounds like a soap opera, doesn’t it? Of course, my mom had let her health insurance lapse while she was in seclusion, so all the payments to the hospital and doctors came out of her pocket. India actually cleaned up her act for a while and helped me care for Mom. My grandma, my mom’s mother, Elizabeth, came to help.”

A warm feeing unfurled in his chest. “Eliza was named after her, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah. She was a remarkable woman. It fascinated me she was part Cheyenne since my mother had never mentioned that part of our background. Grandma mixed up herb ointments for my mother that actually worked. When I asked her about them, she gave me the basics until she realized I had more than just a passing interest. We created batches of new soaps and lotions made from all-natural ingredients. I decided someday I would start my own company using her formulas. After she passed on and left us this land, I knew this was where I was supposed to be. Everything had come full circle.”

“Well, you’ve done her right proud, sweetheart.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Know what else I know?”

“What?”

Kade brushed his mouth over her ear and was tremendously pleased when Sky trembled. “That Eliza has a long line of strong women behind her to look up to. She’s a lucky girl.”

“You’re so sweet, Kade, you’re going to make me cry and I swore I wouldn’t, not ever again. Not over him or what he did to me or anything from that awful part of my life.”

“Go ahead and cry, baby, I gotcha.”

Skylar didn’t sob, but she allowed him to hold her and settle her, stroke her wherever he wanted. Her arms. Her breasts. Her belly. Up and down her thighs. Her breathing had become erratic, even as she relaxed against him.

Time to make his move.

“Thanks for tellin’ me the truth. You gotta know I wouldn’t ever do what that bastard done to you.”

“Pretend to be someone else? Take something from me? Use me? No offense, but I’ve heard that line before, from every single man who’s been in my life.”

“I ain’t like them.”

“You sure? Would you be here with me if it weren’t for Eliza? Especially since she’s the rare McKay girl child?”

When Kade paused, she assumed it was a guilty pause. “I didn’t think so.”

“You’re wrong, but it don’t change a damn thing.”

“Change what?”

“That I still wanna marry you. I’m gonna keep askin’ until you’re so sick of it that you’ll say yes just to get some peace.”

She smiled slightly. “Not happening, McKay. Once burned, twice shy.”

“We’ll see. I’m not Ted. I’ll never be the man who wants more from you than you’re willin’ to give. But I’d be lyin’ if I told you I didn’t want it all.” He turned her around so he could kiss her full on. He loved the way their mouths fit together, hunger fed sweetness. The kiss changed from slow and easy to hot and heavy.

Kade traced the line of her body from her neck to her knee. His fingers inched up the inside of her thigh until they reached that warm wetness between her legs.

Skylar made a soft moan when his first two fingers pushed inside.

He rocked them in and out in a steady rhythm. She began to undulate and whimper, clenching and unclenching her thighs, kissing him with more force. Kade twisted his wrist so the heel of his hand rested on her clit. As he plunged his fingers in, he pressed on the swollen bit of flesh.

She jerked her mouth away, placing her own hand on top of his. “Move side-to-side.”

Encouraging, that Sky’d become willing to teach him how to satisfy her. “Like this?”

“Yes. Exactly like that. Oh. Don’t stop.” She threw back her head and came on a low, throaty moan.

It was hot as hell, the way she looked, the sounds drifting from her beautiful throat when she let go. The fact she’d let go with him only made him want more of the same.

While Skylar was still tingling from orgasmic aftershocks, Kade reached for a condom and put it on. “Come on.”

He led her to the hallway. Specifically to the antique armoire with a wooden bench seat located above the compartment used for storage. Metal coat hooks decorated the ornately carved top and both sides. What made the piece unique was the full-length mirror along the back.

They stopped in front of the mirror. Once Sky caught sight of her naked reflection, she immediately tensed up and tried to turn around. “What—”

“Ever done it in front of a mirror?”

“No!” She tried to twist away.

“Don’t move.”

“But—”

“That ain’t a request,” he growled, holding her against his body at a sideways angle.

“Watch.” Kade reached for her right hand, and brought it up, placing it behind his neck.

“Look at you. See the way your body curves here?” He trailed his fingers from the outside of her thigh up to her hip. “And here.” He flattened his palm, gradually dragging it up the bend in her waist, his fingers barely brushing her quivering belly.

He stopped at the bottom of her rib cage and moved his lips closer to the arch of her neck. “Look how havin’ your arm lifted like this draws attention to the swell of your breast. One exquisite curve flowin’ from bottom to top, creatin’ this long sexy line. A sexy line just beggin’ for my touch.” His fingertips followed the inside of her biceps up to her elbow. “You have a gorgeous body, Sky. Can’t you see that?”

She shook her head.

“Then look at your face. Your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are bright. Your lips are fuller, a little redder from kissin’ me. See how fast you’re breathin’, makin’ your chest rise and fall so my eyes are drawn to your breasts? See how hard and tight your nipples are, makin’ my mouth water to taste them? If I touch you like this—” he dragged a fingertip from hipbone to hipbone, “—your belly quivers. Makes me crazy, rememberin’ how you quiver when I’m balls deep inside you.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I can.” He zigzagged his tongue up the column of her throat and blew softly on the wetness just to have her trembling in his arms. “Because you are as temptin’ as sin. Because you’re beautiful. Because this is how I see you. In my head. In the dark.

In the flesh. So when I fuck you every way my sex-addled brain can dream up, you’ll know I wasn’t kiddin’ about how hot you can make me burn.”

She closed her eyes and turned her head to kiss his chin. And his throat. Kade allowed it, sensing her surrender.

He nuzzled the inside of her arm and gave a love bite on the tender flesh. She yipped and opened her eyes. “Bend over and hold onto the back of the bench.” Sky appeared to be weighing her options, of which she had none. He said, “Do it. Now.”

In a sensuous move that made his cock harder yet, she untangled from him and angled forward, sticking her backside in the air, letting her tits swung free.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the roundness of her ass, the wavering line of her spine, the way her long hair hung past her shoulders. Mostly how her gaze locked on his.

“Tilt your pelvis up. That’s good.” Kade dipped his upper body and licked Sky from her tattoo up to the nape of her neck, layering his chest to her back. He breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. “I’m gonna fuck you hard and I want you to watch me. Watch me enjoyin’ every damn second of you and your body. Don’t look away.”

Kade snapped upright, latched onto her hips and plunged inside her.

Skylar gasped.

“Like that?”

“Yes. Do it again.”

He withdrew and slammed in. Over and over. Hard and deep. Glorying in the pleasure on her face, feeling the welcoming wetness of her pussy with each thrust. His legs shook, sweat trickled down the side of his face, but he never once looked away from her passion-darkened eyes.

When she rocked her hips back to meet his thrusts, he said, “Can you come like this?”

“Faster.”

He thrust four times more, prolonging her pleasure and their intimate connection.

“Yes.” She threw her head back and came apart.

He hissed when he felt her pussy muscles clamping down on him. His last thread of control snapped. A surge of heat flashed and Kade hammered into her, his balls damn near crawled inside his body and his cock jerked as pulse after pulse of hot seed shot out.

When the primal roaring in Kade’s head lessened, he met her gaze.

She murmured, “I’m never gonna look at this mirror the same way again.”

Once again, he was at an utter loss for what to say. Sky deserved some kind of sweetly romantic words, but his brain was lazy, his body sated, and it took every ounce of control for him not to yawn.

Kade smoothed his hands up her back, past her shoulders and curled his hands around hers on the bench. He nestled his face next to hers as they both struggled for breath. He kissed her temple and slipped out of her body, helping her upright. She faced him, twining her arms around his neck. He was dying to know what was going through her mind, but he didn’t ask. He just held onto her and was grateful she hadn’t bolted in a fit of modesty.

A loud screech sounded from the baby monitor in the living room. Immediately Skylar pulled back. “I’d hoped she’d sleep all night.”

“Go on and get her. I’ll get the bottle ready and bring it up.”

“Am I allowed to get dressed?”

“Depends.”