LITMIR.BIZ

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pie! Where’d that come from?” His expression went from excited to distressed as he looked to Cora with concern. “You been in here making that pie while I was tending to the chores? Woman! Are you trying to kill yourself before we even get to Florida? The doc said you need to rest before the flight and here you are working yourself to death.”

      “Oh, hush,” Cora said to her husband, shaking her head as if he was being a ninny. “Baking a pie isn’t hard, you just throw the stuff in a bowl, mix it up and toss it in the oven. A child could do it. Now stop pestering me and go show Kane what he’s supposed to be doing while we’re gone and I’ll have your slice ready for you when you get back.”

      Warren looked torn between wanting to chastise her a little more and needing to do exactly what Cora said, but eventually the ticking clock won out as he grumbled, “C’mon, Kane, let’s get this done so’s we can hit the road. I don’t want to chance missing our plane.”

      “Lead the way,” Kane said, casting a short wink at Cora before they headed out. The old girl was still running the roost, no matter what anyone said about her health. If anyone could beat cancer, it was Miss Cora—that much he knew. It was a small but vital comfort to his worried heart as he followed Warren out to the cattle barn.

      “I know it was hard for you to drop everything and come, but I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important,” Warren started once they were clear of the house. “She’s not doing so good and I’m not gonna sit by and watch her die without a fight.”

      “Don’t worry about it,” Kane said, shifting against the pinch of guilt for staying away for too long. “I should’ve been more helpful from the start. Why didn’t you tell me that Miss Cora was so bad off?”

      “Troubles are private, son. No sense in burdening others with something they can’t fix,” Warren answered with quiet pride. “Besides, you have your own life to run. How’s that going?”

      “Good.”

      Warren grunted, accepting the one-word answer. “You ever hear from Laci?”

      “No, sir. Not since we were kids.”

      “That’s too bad. She was a good girl. I seen her on the television the other day. She always did have a pretty voice to go with that pretty face. She calls now and then, but with her schedule, it’s hard to break away, being famous and all that.”

      Kane grunted as if agreeing, but he didn’t want to talk about Laci or speculate about her celebrity lifestyle. Warren sensed his discomfort and obliged him by switching tracks, moving to the list of chores that needed to be done to keep the ranch moving while they were gone. It was like riding a bike and, by the time Warren was done, it was dark and time to call it an early night. After a quick supper of cold chicken and freshly baked bread, washed down with cool lemonade, everyone said their goodbyes and the Bradfords hit the road.

      When he and Rian had been boys, they’d slept out in the pump house, makeshift guest quarters that couldn’t have been more perfect for two teenage boys. Kane had offered to take his old quarters, but Warren wouldn’t hear of it and instead offered up the room that’d always been Laci’s. Kane scrubbed his hand over his face with a smothered groan. The worn hardwood floor creaked under his feet and memory sprang to life, vibrant as the day it was created.

      “Laci, are you sure about this?” he asked. His seventeen-year-old voice broke, his nervousness at being caught only temporarily muted by the intense, overwhelming need to feel Laci against him. The floorboards creaked and it sounded like a four-alarm fire bell, clanging like the dickens, blaring a warning for all to hear that Kane Dalton was up to no good with sweet Laci McCall! He froze, sweat beading his brow as he tensed, preparing to jump out the window if need be, but it was all quiet. In fact, if he strained hard enough, he could hear Warren snoring from behind his closed bedroom door. Kane’s heart hammered in his chest and he half feared a heart attack or something the way it was carrying on.

      “Get your cute butt over here right now, Kane Dalton,” Laci whispered with a giggle. “This is a one-time, limited offer. And if you don’t take me up on it, I might just change my mind and leave you in your sorry state.”

      Kane glanced down at the raging erection bulging his jeans and he swallowed in half embarrassment, half agony. “C’mon, Laci, if we get caught...”

      “No one’s gonna catch us, you big scaredy-cat.” She grinned in the moonlight, more beautiful than ever, and he nearly swallowed his tongue. “Warren and Cora sleep like the dead. Nothing could wake them. Now...are you gonna just stand there looking silly or are you gonna get over here and show me a good time?”

      If his cock were in charge, he’d say, Hell yes! And would be vaulting his way to that bed, but he was torn between the fear of being caught and tossed out for violating the Bradfords’ trust and giving in to his deepest, most secret desire and banging the hell out of that country cutie! But he and Rian needed this job and he couldn’t screw things up by thinking with his dick, right? Hell, who was he kidding? It was more than his dick that was talking. He’d fallen head over heels for this girl and there was no denying it, even if it was the stupidest thing he’d ever gone and done.

      “Kane Dalton...don’t you hurt my feelin’s now,” she teased just as she slowly pulled her nightshirt off, revealing two of the most achingly perfect breasts he’d ever had the pleasure of staring at, and just then, he lost all ability to reason, function or otherwise think with anything other than the part of his anatomy that was sucking up all the blood in his body. “Like what you see?”

      “Oh, damn, girl,” he breathed, forgetting about the squeaky floor and the possible repercussions. Within seconds, his pants were off and he was climbing onto the bed with Laci beneath him. Her blond hair was spread out on the pillow like a halo, and her nipples hardened like twin berries, ripe for the plucking. His eyes nearly crossed with crazy desire and he lost himself for a brief moment in the vision of perfection beneath him. “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever known,” he murmured as she threaded her hands through his hair and drew his mouth to hers for a sweet kiss that sent rocket blasts of pleasure straight to his toes.

      She broke the kiss and stared into his eyes. “And you’re mine, Kane Dalton. Always. You hear me?”

      “Yes, ma’am,” he agreed, his heart approving. “I’ll always be yours.” His fervent vow was as true as any, but what the hell did a seventeen-year-old boy know of anything? Still, it didn’t stop him from solemnly promising her his soul. “Nothing’ll ever change that fact, I promise.”

      “I love you, Kane...”

      “I love you, Laci.”

      Kane jerked himself from that memory and shook his head as if he could dislodge it, but the whisper-soft pledge remained an echo from his distant past. He sat on the edge of the bed, wondering if he was going to be able to sleep there. Just walking over the threshold had nearly caused his brain to melt with the recollection of what he and Laci had done in this room, in this bed that summer. What would sleeping there every night do to him? Hell, what was he getting so worked up about? It was a damn bed. It was natural to reminisce about your first time. Plenty of women between that memory and now, so stop dwelling.

      He kicked off his shoes and undressed, climbing into the bed nude, as he always did, and prepared to fight sleep because he rarely slept well in a bed that wasn’t his own, but sooner than he’d imagined, he was out.

       4

      LACI HADN’T MEANT to end up in Woodsville, but her rented convertible seemed to have a destination in mind from the start because before she knew it, she was entering the town where she’d often spent summers while her daddy was out logging. The town square, quiet and still bathed in twilight, brought an easy smile to her mouth, even though it’d been a dog’s age since she’d been back. Everything about Woodsville was steeped in nostalgia—the kind that sucked you in with a powerful current that was impossible to swim against. Woodsville was as charming as a postcard on the surface, but she knew not

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