“I’m going to need to conduct a few tests.” He kissed his way down her belly, taking a long, slow lick once he reached her pussy.

So. So. Good.

It was the gentlemanly thing to do, to go down on your partner. Especially when you expected your partner to do the same. He didn’t resent it. He dug making his partner feel good. But this—with Kelly—it was so much more devastating. Intimate. The taste of her sang through him, settling in as if it had never been gone.

He didn’t stop until she trembled against him, her fingers knotted in his hair, her back arched, a hoarse whisper of his name on her lips as she came.

He kissed his way back up her body, resting some of his weight over her.

“That still works, too. Just in case that wasn’t clear.” Her voice had gone whiskey-rough.

“I’d forgotten you sounded like a torch singer every time you came.” He kissed her.

“Only with you.” Her smile was a little shy, a little surprised. He couldn’t tear his attention from her neck as she reached back, under her pillow, and held a condom aloft. “Show me if you still make that growling grunt right before you climax.”

He managed to tear the packet open and get the condom rolled down his cock and was back, teasing them both, pressing in just slightly and retreating. Getting deeper with each thrust but making it last.

Kids in the house or not, the door was locked and he meant to make this something special.

Even if he wanted to rut. To mark her as his so everyone could see it. But he had to earn that.

* * *

KELLY KEPT HER eyes closed as he thrust deep and slow. Over and over until he’d lodged himself to the root.

He kissed her closed lids and then over her cheeks. Touching her with so much tenderness she was crying before she could stop it.

He paused as she wiped her face on the back of a hand. “Am I hurting you?”

She took his face between her hands. “Not anymore.”

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she held on as he continued to keep his pace. Slow torture but it was the best kind.

And when he finally came—after making her come another time, too—he left her boneless as he went to deal with the condom and then came back to her, sliding in behind her body, tucking her close.

“Why did you cry?”

She turned in his arms. “Because you touched me tonight and made me feel something I wasn’t sure I even could again.”

He smiled, his worry past.

“Oh. I like that. I feel the same. It was right there. The way I am only with you. I just reached for it and it was ready.”

She knew exactly what he meant.

“I’m going to the ranch tomorrow morning after the girls get on the bus. I need to pack some more stuff. I’ll be back in time to have dinner with everyone. I figured I’d bring back some takeout.”

She nodded and tried not to think about him not coming back. About him getting to the ranch and his mother talking him out of getting back together with her.

“Have you told them yet? Your family?”

“Ezra knows. I talked to my dad the day you broke the engagement with Ross. I’m going to talk to my parents tomorrow. Do you want to come along? I don’t want to exclude you. Especially after the way things have been.”

“That would be negatory. Maybe one day I’ll feel as comfortable around her as the new crop of Hurley women, but for now, I think it could be really bad.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think... I was about to say I didn’t think it was that bad, but I guess it’s more like I didn’t think. I made the mess, though. She’s just reacting to what she thinks.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “Your mother is not stupid. Or naive. Not even when her precious sons are concerned. She knows you and your tricks. She didn’t want to confront it. And I get that, too. But I’m not ready for that. Not yet.” Maybe not ever.

“All right. But I am coming back. We have dinner plans.”

“Okay. Oh, and I need Tuesday’s phone number so if you see Ezra tomorrow can you get it for me? I want to talk to her about the jewelry she makes.”

“You two seemed to get along pretty well when she was over here last weekend.”

“I liked her a lot.” Kelly really did click with Ezra’s new girlfriend. The other woman seemed to love clothes in the same way Kelly did. She had a fantastic sense of style and if her work was half as stylish as the rest of her, Kelly wanted to feature Tuesday’s designs in her boutiques.

“Do I have to go back to my lonely bed or can I sleep in here with you?” Vaughan asked.

“I want to be careful. This thing between you and me is complicated. But we’re adults. It’s their happiness I worry about. I have to trust you to keep your word. It’s not just my heart you’d be breaking, but theirs, too.” Being a grown-up sucked sometimes. But she wasn’t going to be like Rebecca.

If the girls saw him in here they’d assume things Kelly wasn’t ready to fully admit yet.

“I think for the time being we should sleep in our own rooms. Sometimes they come get in bed with me in the middle of the night. They’d be so ridiculously excited to find you here, no kidding. But I think taking it slow is good when it comes to them. But you certainly don’t have to go just yet.” She smiled.

He pulled her more tightly against him. “Sounds very good. Now. I think we should investigate round two.”

He pulled the blanket above them both and when his hands were everywhere at once, she readily agreed about round two.