His dakota bride, p.7
His Dakota Bride,
p.7
“They changed when I was pregnant. And then I nursed for a while.” She drew in a heavy sigh and looked up at him.
“They’ve always been beautiful. You are so beautiful.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. But then as she looked at the bed, she bit her bottom lip.
“There are no ghosts in here with us, Sky.” He tipped her chin up with his fingers until she looked at him. “But if it makes you feel better, we can keep the lights on and make love on a blanket on the floor.”
She chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind looking at you.”
Slowly he lowered his head until his mouth connected with hers. Wade thought that nothing could ever be better than the kiss they’d shared on the porch the other night. But he was wrong. With Skylar in his arms, feeling her moist mouth pressed against his, he was about to self-combust.
As he ran his hand slowly across her bare back, Wade felt Skylar’s sharp intake of breath against his mouth. Her skin was warm and smooth, the way he remembered it to be.
He made a trail of kisses from her face, down her neck and then to her chest. His hand grazed her breast and he felt her nipple harden beneath his touch. His mouth came down over her other nipple and he gently sucked it, teasing it with his tongue and reveling in the taste of her until he heard her soft moan.
Her body stiffened and he stopped abruptly to see what had caused her reaction.
* * *
Skylar had forgotten the kind of passion Wade McKinnon could bring out in her. It wasn’t until she was hearing her own moan of pleasure that she realized if she could hear it, so could Alex.
“I need to be quiet,” she whispered, chuckling softly. “Let’s get the comforter on the floor.”
They made a soft spot on the floor out of the blankets and pillows from the bed. After ridding themselves of their clothes, they quickly crawled on top of the blankets. Skylar loved the feel of Wade’s hard body pressing against the softness of her skin. It had been too long.
She wanted to feel every touch, every kiss and know that it was really Wade loving her. Her hands roamed his body as if they had a mind of their own. Each touch, each taste ignited a flame so strong she wanted to scream. She kept herself mindful that they weren’t alone in the house.
And when Wade finally entered her and she felt the completeness of a long journey that had been off course for far too long, she cried. This was the way it should always have been. Just her and Wade. No ghosts or pretense or lies.
His hands cupped her bottom and pulled her closer to him, making him go deeper with every thrust of his hips. She felt the building of tension inside her, rising higher to a point she could no longer control until her orgasm ripped through her in waves of ecstasy.
Wade stifled her cries with a kiss so passionate she barely felt herself floating back to reality. And then his body became stiff and his thrusts became more pronounced. He closed his eyes as his orgasm took hold. She watched the joy play on his face and couldn’t help but reach up and touch his face. When he opened his eyes, she saw they were filled with tears. And her heart burst with love for the first time in years.
# # #
Chapter Ten
“You can’t stay in here,” she whispered against his cheek. She wanted Wade to stay. She didn’t want to let go of him. Ever. But tonight wasn’t like those long nights of lovemaking they’d shared in Samoa.
His eyes were closed as he lay half next to her, half on top of her. “Are you already sick of me?”
“Alex can’t find you here.”
“I’ll stay on the floor. You can get into the bed in the morning.”
“No. He always comes into my room in the morning and crawls into my bed if he gets up before me. He’ll see you. What am I supposed to say if he sees a naked man next to me in bed?”
“But we’re not in bed.”
“Wade, I’m serious.”
“So let him come in here. My brothers used to pig pile onto my parents bed when we were his age.”
She sighed softly. “Wade, he won’t understand. It’s too soon.”
Wade opened one eye and looked down at her. “You really want me to leave?”
“I’m not talking want here. There’s a big difference.”
He groaned his displeasure, but then gave her a half grin that told her he understood.
“Our first night together and I’m already in the dog house?”
“I don’t have a dog.”
“Would you like one?”
She chuckled. “Don’t ever mention the word dog to Alex or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“A boy needs a dog.”
“Forget it. I’m busy enough as it is. Help me get these blankets back on the bed.”
Together they quickly made the bed. Skylar pulled on her T-shirt and shorts and watched as Wade pulled on the sweatpants she’d stolen from him over five years ago before she’d headed to the airport to come back to the United States.
“I can’t believe you’re sending me to the sofa.”
“Don’t pout.”
“I’m going to be thinking incredibly sinful thoughts of you all night. You do know that, right?”
“You can fill me in with the details in the morning.”
She kissed him goodnight and let her lips linger on his. And when she climbed into the bed she thought would always haunt her, she felt only one thing. Happiness.
* * *
“Alex?”
Wade opened his eyes and tried to focus on the room around him. The image of a little boy sitting on the coffee table started to come into view. Alex didn’t seem to be concerned with the stitches that had caused him so much trauma the day before. Instead, he just stared at Wade quizzically.
“Good morning,” Wade said.
Alex frowned. “Did you sleep over?”
“Alex? Come get breakfast,” Skylar called out from the kitchen.
“Seems so,” Wade said, slowly pulling himself up to a sitting position.
“You slept on the couch?”
Wade glanced at Skylar, who rolled her eyes as she stood in the doorway. “I’m making scrambled eggs, honey. Your favorite.”
Alex didn’t pay any attention to his mother. He just sat, swinging his legs back and forth under the coffee table as he waited for an answer.
“Ah, there wasn’t a bed for me to sleep in. So I slept on the sofa.” Wade glanced again at Skylar, whose face was growing more crimson by the moment.
“Yes, there was,” Alex countered.
“Really? Where?”
“Enough, Alex,” Skylar said. “The eggs are almost done.”
Alex didn’t even look at Skylar. “Next time you can sleep in my room. I have another bed under my bed. Keith sleeps on it all the time when we have sleepovers. But you can’t sleep there when Keith sleeps over cuz you’re too big and there won’t be room for both of you.”
Wade couldn’t help but smile at the simple purity of Alex’s offer.
“Thanks for the invitation. I’ll remember that next time.”
Alex nodded, then hopped off the coffee table and ran into the kitchen. Wade could hear the low chuckle Skylar tried to stifle as Alex climbed into a kitchen chair.
“Hurry up and eat your breakfast. Uncle Keith is going to be here to pick you up soon.”
* * *
Since the overnight fishing trip was cancelled due to Alex’s fall, Hawk had promised Alex an afternoon of fun riding the four-wheeler with his best buddy over at Uncle Logan’s house. Although it was the perfect activity for Wade, Alex didn’t ask him to go. Rather than push, Wade decided to stay back at the house and give Alex a break.
Once Hawk drove away with Alex, Wade walked barefooted into the house, and stopped short when he saw Skylar putting photo albums in a cardboard box she had set up on the coffee table.
He stared at the box and then her face. “What are you doing?”
She glanced at Wade, but continued putting the items she’d pulled off the bookcase into the box. “I told you. We’re moving.”
The disappointment that pulled at the handsome features of Wade’s face was almost heartbreaking. Almost.
“I thought things were going good between us,” he said. “I thought they were changing.”
“They are changing. That’s why we’re moving across town.”
“What?”
Skylar looked around the house she’d lived in for the past four years. “I woke up this morning and decided that I’ve never really liked this house. It’s only big enough for a small family and I want to have a big family. McKinnons have big families. So that’s what I want.”
Wade looked into her eyes for a moment, searching. Abandoning the box, she reached for him and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him firmly on the lips.
When they parted, she said, “It’s going to take some time, Wade. I don’t know how long. But I do know one thing. You make me happy and I don’t want to live another day without you. I think we’ve waited long enough to start the life we dreamed of having together when we were in Samoa.”
Relief washed over his face. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Her heartbeat quickened as she thought about her fears. “I can’t say that I’m not scared that everything that has happened over the last five years won’t somehow build a wedge between us. All I know is that I’m willing to fight for you. For our love.”
“It’s worth fighting for.”
“Yes, it is.”
He pulled her closer, crushing her against the length of his body and making her feel so complete.
“Oh, and I was thinking that maybe instead of calling you Uncle Wade, we could come up with something else. I think it might be too confusing for Alex to call you Dad. How do you feel about being called Papa?”
Moisture filled Wade’s eyes. “You were doing a lot of thinking last night after I left you. How’d you come up with that?”
“I had a friend who used to call her father Papa. I never really thought much about it until this morning when Alex was scrutinizing you as you slept on the sofa.” She chuckled. “I can’t believe he offered to let you sleep on the trundle bed in his room.”
Wade laughed softly, nuzzling her neck as he kissed it. Then, with his fingers buried in her hair, he whispered against her ear, “We’re going to have to work on the sleeping arrangements. But I’m willing to take it slow.”
“Good, because he’s going to need that.” She placed both of her hands on his face and kissed his lips. “We’ll get there Wade. I never thought we would. But we will.”
“You don’t hate me anymore?”
“No. I’m not happy about how things happened. I wish they hadn’t. But I can’t change any of it. All I know is that I have always loved you, Wade McKinnon. Always. Even when I was throwing my shoes at you.”
“You’re not going to do that again, are you?”
She touched Wade’s face and brushed her fingers across the light stubble of his morning beard as he smiled down at her. “No. As long as you promise to never leave me again.”
“That’s a promise that I will fight until the end of time to keep.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
Wade took Skylar by the hand. “You know, I just realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“We have the whole day to be naked together without anyone barging in on us.”
She smiled as she started to unbutton her shorts. “You’re just figuring that out? Why do you think I called Hawk to take Alex for the afternoon?”
Wade turned back slightly to look at her as he pulled his T-shirt off. “You wicked woman.”
She pulled his shirt off the rest of the way and tossed it to the floor. “You love it.”
“I love you. I always have.”
As they collapsed on the bed, naked and laughing, Skylar knew it would always be that way.
The End
Dear Reader:
Thank you so much for reading HIS DAKOTA BRIDE, book 5 of the Dakota Hearts series. I’ve had such wonderful response from readers about the series that I can’t end it here. Several readers have asked me if there will be a story about Ian McKinnon, the McKinnon’s Wounded Warrior cousin. The answer is yes. However, it won’t be right away. I’m scheduling Ian’s story, DAKOTA WEDDING, for a fall 2014 release and will be putting the book up on pre-order. Keep checking Amazon.
I have a lot in store for readers who like all my series. This year two more TEXAS HEARTS books will be published alone with DAKOTA WEDDING and another story for the FATE WITH A HELPING HAND series, called MY LUCKY CHARM. Make sure you sign up for my newsletter to get release dates, order information and for a chance to win a free EReader. I’m giving away an EReader every month to one lucky newsletter subscriber.
All my best,
Lisa Mondello
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