Raising Kane (Rough Riders #9)(19)

“I’d wondered if I’d embellished that kiss from a few months back, but I hadn’t. You sure know how to make my head spin, Kane McKay.” She reached up, letting her fingertips trail over the lower half of his face. “I love the way your mustache and goatee feel when you’re kissing me.”


“Imagine how it’ll feel other places.” He threw back the covers. “If I unhook your sling are you gonna be able to keep your bum arm still?”


She cocked her head. “Depends. What do you plan on doing to me?”


Kane grinned. “Oh, I’ve got a couple of real good ideas, Red, but sharin’ them at this point would spoil the surprise. I’d rather demonstrate than explain.”


“Then no guarantees I can hold still.”


“Then the sling stays on.”


“Fine.” Ginger gave him a head-to-toe perusal. “You wear flannel pants and a wife beater as pajamas?”


“Normally I don’t wear pajamas at all.”


Her hazel eyes enlarged when he climbed onto the bed, straddling her pelvis, with a knee on either side of her hips. He whipped off his tank top.


She sighed gustily. “You should never ever wear a shirt. In fact, it should be illegal for you to cover that magnificent chest.”


Kane reveled in the way her hungry gaze roamed over every ounce of his exposed flesh. “That so, counselor?”


“Yes sir. Do you work out to maintain this fantastic physique?”


“If feedin’ cattle and doin’ stuff around the ranch is considered workin’ out, then yes. Sometimes I meet up with Colt at the community center and we lift weights.” Not recently, since his cousin had been a serious dick lately.


You really wanna think about Colt when you’re finally in Ginger’s bed?


No.


“I cannot wait to put my hands all over you, cowboy.”


“Same goes. My turn first.” Kane rested on his haunches and reached for the snaps on her shirt. “Keep your eyes on mine as I undress you.”


She opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it.


Tempting, to yank the sides of her shirt apart and be done with it. Especially since he’d forced himself not to gawk at her beautifully tempting body parts earlier. Now faced with the luxury of memorizing every abundant inch, he wasn’t about to rush.


He popped the first pearl-snap button. Then the next. Then the next until a long strip of her luminescent skin, from her neck to her belly, peeked out from beneath the lapels. Carefully, Kane peeled back the left half of her shirt, tucking the right side beneath her sling. He traced the delicate line of her clavicle to the hollow of her throat. With every teasing stroke, the pulse along the side of her neck jumped.


Not as calm and cool as she appeared.


Kane let the backs of his fingers drift, paying particular attention to the patterns of freckles. He murmured, “I love the way these spread across your skin. Looks like mud spatters on alabaster.”


Her body went rigid.


Kane met her gaze, surprised to see a hint of anger. “What did I say?”


“Don’t spout poetry about my stupid freckles. They don’t resemble ‘cinnamon sprinkled on cream’ or


‘nature’s polka dots on a flesh canvas’. They’re ugly. They’re weird. They’re blotchy. There’s too damn many of them. They’ve been the bane of my existence since the day I realized the more time I spend in the sun, the more freckles show up. And that really sucks when you live in sunny California.”


He closed the distance until they were nose to nose. “If I wanna spout poetry about your beauty marks, then I’ll damn well do it. So suck it up.” He bent his head and his tongue zigzagged random patterns across the brown dots, switching it up to nuzzle her neck, nibble her earlobes, nip the strong line of her jaw.


He teased, tormenting until she moaned his name.


“Something you need?” he asked, trilling his lips down the pointed tip of her chin.


“You. More of this.”


“I could get used to hearin’ that sexy squeak when I taste you right here.” He opened his mouth along the side of her neck and sucked.


“Maybe I have other noises, you know, when you lavish attention with that talented mouth…elsewhere.”


“Such impatience. You hintin’ about some place in particular?”


“You could do a freckle check by my nipples,” she suggested.


Kane chuckled against her skin, then sucked another spot in the middle of her breastbone.


“Hey, no hickeys.”


“Tough. I wanna leave my mark on you. So when you’re alone in your bed? And you look down?


You’ll see it and remember me puttin’ my mouth all over you.”


“Like I’m ever going to forget this.”


“I hope not.” He kissed a path down the center of her body, right through her deep cleavage. When he reached the front clasp on her bra, he took it between his teeth and bit down, expecting it to snap open.


Nothing happened.