Tied Up, Tied Down (Rough Riders #4)(75)

“Skylar. You—”


“Let me do this for you. Please. I can’t stand that you’re hurting. Let me make you feel good. Let me give you back some of what you always give to me.” She flicked her tongue down the corded muscles in his throat. When she reached his upper chest, she began her sensual assault.

Kade arched into her and his left hand twined in her hair.

She drove him crazy, went a little crazy herself, licking and playing with his nipples.

Digging her nails and her teeth into his warm, pliant flesh. She suckled and bit every inch of skin on his pecs as she jacked him off. Building from a slow steady pace to a fast one that elicited his near growl of impatience. His hips bumped up, his balls were walnut tight at the root of his sex. And when that thick cock jerked in her moving hand, she bit down on his left pectoral, sucking with enough force to leave a hickey. A big hickey. Sticky warmth poured over her fingers and Kade groaned long and low, slightly pulling her hair, as the pulses intensified and then, tapered off. Then stopped.

Still squeezing every drop of come out of his cock, she sought his mouth, trying to convey without words what was in her heart. Still kissing him, she used the washcloth to clean them both up.

Sky untangled from his embrace and replaced the ice on his eye. His breathing slowed, but he didn’t reach for her. She tiptoed out. He needed his rest, and whatever they needed to say to each other could wait until morning.

But the next morning, when Sky woke up, Kade was already gone.

For Kade not being able to see out of his right eye everything in his life was finally crystal clear.

When Skylar had come to him so sweetly the previous night, it’d been all Kade could do not to demand her submission, mount her like a crazed beast and f*ck her senseless. But he knew her taking the initiative in offering him loving comfort cemented the bond between them.

Especially after he’d seen love bites she’d left all over his chest. Suck marks. Teeth marks. Indentations from her fingernails. By showing him her ferocious, possessive side, she’d been marking him as hers.

Time to return the favor on a more permanent level. He called his cousin Colt, knowing he was up with the damn chickens these days, and Colt happily gave him the phone number he needed.

Kade dialed. No hello, no niceties, he just said, “I’ve got a brilliant idea how I can prove it to her.” He held the phone away from his ear. “Yeah, I know what time it is. I don’t give a shit if you’re not a mornin’ person, you said to come talk to you when I figured it out. Hey, you’re the one who said, no pain, no gain, so can’t blame anyone but yourself for stickin’ your nose in this. I’m takin’ you up on your offer. Yep.” Pause.

“How the hell should I know? You’re the expert. You’ve got roughly ten hours. I’ll be there after work.”


He called Colt back. “Hey, cuz. Remember how you’re always sayin’ if I need anything, just holler? Well, here’s your chance. I’m gonna be hollerin’ real loud tonight and you’ve been elected to hold my hand.”


Chapter Twenty-six


Day One of Kade’s absence from her life was bad.

Day Two of Kade’s absence from her life was worse.

But Day Three? Day Three was absolutely intolerable.

Eliza was beyond cranky. Skylar suspected the baby missed her daddy and decided to make mommy pay for it by disrupting the entire daycare. Disrupting it to the point Skylar had to sequester Eliza in her office all day, which meant she hadn’t gotten a damn thing done. For three days.

Not only that, Nadia had called in sick for the last two days, which threw Sky Blue’s schedule off. The other employees were grouchy because they had to pick up the slack and work on a Saturday. Even India had snapped at her, babbling nonsense about nice guys finishing first, recognizing a good thing, and ending with India threatening to put a boot in her ass if she was too stupid to know she had to fight this time. And all she’d called for was to check on the stock.

Skylar couldn’t concentrate and screwed up the quarterly sales figures four times before she closed the file. Needing a mindless task, she spread out a blanket on the floor, plopped Eliza down with her favorite toys, and waded through the boxes of junk while keeping an eye on her fussy daughter.

Annie barged in. “Glad to see you’re finally takin’ care of that stuff. It’s a fire hazard.”


“Something you need?”


“Two things, actually. Where’s the purchase order for the bottles?”


“Which bottles?”


“The hand lotion bottles. The plant in Cheyenne says they never received the order.”


“Bull. I sent it three weeks ago.”


“Well, they never got it. And the original order form is not in the file.” Annie braced her shoulders against the doorframe. “Is it possible with all that’s been going on, you only think you sent it?”


Yes. “No.”


“What do you want me to do?”


“What are my options?”


“Send another purchase order and pay the rush charge.”


Skylar shuddered. That’d put a big dent in the already small profit margin. “Or?”


“Or wait until you get through those boxes to see if you accidentally tossed it in there during your rant about the ridiculously high prices of plastics and were looking at switching bottle manufacturing companies.”