Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(29)
“Damn, Sport. I don’t want to sound all flowery, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a f*ck like that before.
You’re somethin’ else.”
She grinned and stood, making sure not to react to the discomfort throughout her body. She thought today would be a good day to skip a workout, though. She combed her hair back with her fingers and pulled the elastic band from her wrist to make a ponytail. “You want breakfast? I’ve got eggs and bacon.
You like over easy, right?” She hunted around for her boxers and tank, then remembered they were in the living room.
Isaac leaned back against the headboard and gave her a look that she didn’t feel like interpreting.
“That’d be great. Thanks—and yeah. I like my eggs over. You mind if I take a shower?”
“My well water is your well water.” She turned and walked naked out of the room.
oOo
He walked up behind her as she was frying the bacon. “Was kinda hopin’ to find you in here naked,” he growled.
She laughed. “That’s how very unfortunate cooking accidents happen.” She’d dressed in last night’s boxers and tank when she’d found them in the living room.
Wrapping her ponytail around his hand, he gently pulled her head to the side and kissed her neck. The gesture was sweet and possessive, and she turned a quizzical eye on him. He only smiled and stepped to the side to pour himself a cup of coffee.
Dressed again completely but for his kutte, his wet hair braided, he stood looking out the sliding glass door, coffee in hand, while she finished breakfast. When she set the plates on the table, he turned and joined her.
They ate in silence for most of the meal. As Isaac was sopping up the leavings from his eggs with a piece of toast, he said, “You should come with me to Tuck’s place tonight. Saturday—there’s live music.
You dance?”
She was surprised. “Do you?”
He clucked. “There you go, underestimating me again. Yes, I dance. But I asked if you did.”
“Are you asking me on a date? Won’t the town gossips have a field day?”
“Baby, they started hearing wedding bells when they saw us at Marie’s. I’m not known to feed my f*cks. There’s nothing we could do to stir them up more—unless I knock you up, which I have no intention of doin’.”
The conversation was taking a turn Lilli had not expected at all. The whole morning was way off script.
“So, what, then—we’re a couple because you bought me breakfast?”
“How about this: we’re a couple because we f*ck like freight trains, and there ain’t nobody else around can handle us.” He pushed his plate away and leaned forward. “Look, Sport. It’s a small town. Staying away from each other wouldn’t be easy. And I like you. I damn sure like gettin’ you naked. I’d love it if I could come by without getting a gun pointed at my head. Here’s somethin’ else: I haven’t had breakfast with a woman I’ve f*cked in fifteen years or more. I don’t sleep over. But here I am, and I’m not in a rush to go.”
“And that’s supposed to mean what to me, exactly? I’m supposed to be honored, or something?” She hadn’t woken up with a guy in years, either—and f*ck, she’d made him breakfast. This was new territory for her, too. She hadn’t been in what could be called a relationship since college.
“Jesus, you’re prickly. No. It means I know I like you more than just a f*ck. I think there’s something happening here. I think you feel it, too. I want to play that out a little.”
She shook her head. There had been a wide swath of hostility running through their sex last night—they had the wounds to prove it. She liked rough sex, but she wasn’t in the habit of needing first aid afterward.
“We don’t trust each other. Not a great place to start something.”
He grinned as if what she’d said had given him an opening. She supposed it had—she hadn’t refused outright. “Didn’t ask you to marry me, Sport. Just sayin’ we play it out. Least I know for sure you’re hiding somethin’. You’re not hiding that.” He picked up her hand and linked his fingers with hers. “Unless you’re entertaining other offers?”
She was quiet, thinking. Something in her resisted the direction he was leading them simply because she hadn’t seen the path. It had not at all been part of her plan to get involved with anyone in Signal Bend. But she did like him. She couldn’t say she exactly enjoyed his company, because their conversations had so far been mainly adversarial. But she enjoyed his presence, she did enjoy the verbal sparring, and she was definitely attracted. Dangerously so. And it remained a good idea to keep him close, despite the entanglement.
She’d been quiet too long. He squeezed her hand and said her name. “Lilli?”
Something about the way he said her actual name resounded in her. The entanglement could indeed become a problem, but she wanted it. “Okay. I still want you to call before you come over.”
He smiled broadly. His teeth were even and white. Lilli realized that she’d never really gotten around to noticing that—she usually focused on his beard and his lips. “Noted. You never did answer my question, so I guess you don’t dance?”
“I dance. Country’s not my genre, though.” She got up to clear the table.