Raising Kane (Rough Riders #9)(8)

“Look, I understand your dad’s concerns about me, but if you need help changin’ outta these clothes, I could probably keep it…umm, clinical.”


“Probably?” she asked lightly.


Pause. Then soft laughter. “Ah, hell, who am I kiddin’? If I get even the barest glimpse of your nekkidness, my thoughts would be impure enough to warrant your daddy getting out the shotgun. So scratch that goddamn temptation.”


Ginger’s eyes flew open.


Kane stroked his closely trimmed mustache and stared at her breasts, spilling out the sides of the lace camisole. His avid gaze didn’t return to her face for several long moments.


When Kane did look at her, the lust raging in his blue eyes caught her completely off guard. She blurted, “You’ve never—”


“Acted as if I’ve thought about takin’ you to my bed and keepin’ you there for a solid month?”


“Oh. Umm. No.”


“I have, sugar. Have I ever. It’s an impulse I’ve ignored because I’m supposed to provide ‘moral character’ for your son. So I feel guilty as hell when I see you and imagine all the immoral things I’d like to do to you.”


“What types of things?” she breathed.


Kane traced the length of her bare arm with the tip of his index finger. “Things that’ll make you stammer and blush.” He smiled when goose flesh broke out across her skin from his touch. “And shiver like this.”


“Why are you telling me this now?”


“Because we’ll be in close quarters the next few days.”


She blinked at him.


“So if you catch me starin’ at you, understand you can trust me. I’d never act without an invitation from you.”


Ginger stayed mum for a moment. “Is that why you kissed me and ran last year?”


“I already told you. I kissed you because you needed to be kissed. Besides, you were babbling and I wanted to shut you up.”


“Maybe I’ll have to babble more often,” she murmured.


Hayden burst into the room and passed her a plate with two slices of peanut butter toast. “Here’s your favorite,” he said proudly.


“Thanks. Wow. Look at me, a lady of leisure, with two handsome men waiting on me.”


A frown creased Hayden’s brow behind the bridge of his glasses.


She chewed the toast, although it was hard to swallow. She choked out, “Could I get a glass of water, please?”


“Sure, Mom.”


Ginger jammed another chunk of toast in her mouth to prevent asking Kane what was going on between them.


Kane leaned closer. “Using food to sidestep talkin’ about the issue? Really, Red? Is that a legal tactic?”


She kept chewing, feigning total cluelessness.


“We will finish this discussion when you ain’t stuffing your face. I’m damn tired of livin’ in avoidance.”


Hayden skipped back in, but he was strangely subdued as he doodled on her cast.


She rooted in the plastic hospital bag for the pain meds. Kane handed her the glass of water and kept staring at her mouth after she popped the pills. “What?”


“You’ve got toast in your teeth.”


Great. She swished water in her mouth and curled on her side before shooing them out of her room.


The drugs didn’t immediately kick in, which allowed her thoughts to spin back to the night Kane had kissed her a few short months ago.


Ginger rarely went out, so it was ironic that the two times she’d let loose in the last year, Mr.


Responsible, aka Kane McKay, had been a witness to it. She’d been at the Rusty Spur with Joely Monroe, celebrating their single sisterhood by knocking back a round or five of a delicious little drink called a screaming orgasm. Ginger wasn’t much of a drinker, but the running joke about them having to buy their orgasms made them order a whole bunch. Usually at top volume and then they dissolved into hysterical laughter. Her pleasant buzz dimmed after their designated drivers, brothers Chet and Remy West, drove her home first and she saw Kane’s pickup parked in her driveway. Again. Which just served as a reminder that she couldn’t forget her responsibilities, even for one night. She always had to be available.



She raced inside, fearing the worst, since Hayden and Kane were supposed to be on an overnight camping trip—the only reason she’d agreed to a girls’ night out in the first place. Fortunately, Hayden had only forgotten his inhaler. Once he’d gotten home and used it, he hadn’t wanted to leave again so Kane had waited around to talk to her. Which was sweet and thoughtful and made her feel like complete shit.


She’d double-checked on her son amidst Kane’s reassurances the boy was fine. In that moment Ginger was grateful that Kane was attuned to Hayden’s unpredictable physical ailments and she appreciated Kane didn’t think less of Hayden for them.


Ginger had slumped against the wall across from Hayden’s room, feeling guilty. Feeling relieved.


Feeling overwhelmed.


Kane moved close enough to her she felt the heat radiating from his body. “Ginger? You okay?”