Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Boo!” Charley said to the handsome rancher on her porch. Coming from around the back of the cabin, she smiled at him.
“Boo,” he said back to her. With a nod toward the decorative additions to the cabin, he said, “You’ve been busy.”
“It’s called motivation,” she subtly complimented him.
Holding up what was in her hand as she climbed the porch steps, she said, “I remembered seeing these wild cattails in back of the cabin.” She wrapped her empty hand around Sully’s biceps muscle and pulled herself close.
With a grin, he lowered his head and kissed her.
She bent over then and stuck the cattails in strategic spots among the yellow mums. “Did you know that in Victorian times cattails were a symbol of peace and prosperity?”
“I did not know that,” Sully said. “But I thought when I pulled up how peaceful the cabin looked with your touches. All it needs is a hound dog asleep on the porch.”
“I miss having a dog,” she said, stepping into the cabin. “I had the sweetest little beagle, named Bingo, all through high school and college. Bingo would go to the flower shop with me and stay all day. But she’s gone now.”
“I love dogs and have had a couple over the years,” Sully said as he followed her into the cabin and shut the door. “A large dog could provide some protection.”
“Have a seat,” Charley said and pulled out a chair at the table for Sully in the cozy dining area of the great room. When he sat down, she handed him a corkscrew and the bottle of wine. Walking to the stove in the nearby kitchen, she asked, “What kind of large dog?”
“My favorite was the black Labrador retriever I had during and after college,” he replied as he twisted the corkscrew.
“Labs are a friendly, loyal, and energetic breed. In middle school and high school, I had a German shepherd, like Cash and Tracy have now. You met Dude, their dog,” he reminded her as she nodded.
“Derek and Chloe also have a German shepherd named Spike.” He popped out the cork and poured two glasses of wine.
When she came to him, he handed her a glass. “What shall we drink to?”
“A large dog?”
“A large dog.”
Sully pulled her onto his lap, and they clinked their glasses.
After a sip of wine, when Sully kissed her, Charley tingled.
She’d made love to him three times within the last twenty-four hours, and yet she’d thought of little else all day.
She couldn’t get enough of this man. That was a first and she couldn’t explain it.
It was just…Sully. And only Sully. Charley told herself not to question it, but just to enjoy it.
“Do you like salad, salmon, and scalloped potatoes?”
“I do,” he replied.
She smiled. “Well, that’s not what we’re having.”
Sully laughed. “What?”
“I’m teasing.” Charley giggled. “That’s exactly what we’re having.
Sit tight.” When she tried to scoot off his lap, he set his wine and then hers on the table.
Holding her to him, as he kissed her, his tongue touched hers.
She pictured letting dinner burn as she burned right along with it.
When he loosened his hold, she kissed him again and then stood up between his legs. “We’ll have the salmon first.”
“First?”
“I mean we’ll have the salad first,” she said and laughed. “See what you do to me?”
“Tell me about it, city slicker,” he said and cocked a brow.
Walking away from him to gather her senses, she opened the refrigerator and asked, “Are you ready for a tasty wild rocket salad with halved cherry tomatoes and cubed goat cheese with a splash of apple cider vinegar and virgin olive oil?”
Sully tilted his head and said seriously, “I had a tasty wild virgin last night.”
Taking the bowl of salad out of the refrigerator, she turned to him and arched her brow. “Did you, now?”
“Yeah, we have yet to put the sheets back on my bed.”
Walking to him, Charley said, “Today I bought a comforter for the cabin bed.”
“Sounds like you might be planning to stay here instead of with me.”
“My cabin tonight and your house tomorrow night?”
Sully’s smile was slow and sexy. “Yeah.”
Charley had enjoyed cooking for him and heaped a serving of salad on his plate.
When they had finished their glasses of wine and the salads, she brought plates of salmon and scalloped potatoes to the table.
Along with the entrée, she had purchased fresh bread from the bakery.
It all melted into their mouths. When their plates were empty, Sully carried them to the kitchen and placed them in the deep, farm-style sink.
As she rinsed the plates and put them into the dishwasher, he added logs to the fire.
With a glance over her shoulder, Charley saw him sit down sideways at one end of the sofa, rest an arm along the back of it and crook a finger at her.
Thrilling zaps of excitement jig-jagged their way throughout her entire body.
Leaving the kitchen, Charley shut the dining room drapes.
Stopping at the front door, she locked it.
In the living room, she drew those drapes as well and walked to Sully.
He stretched out on the sofa and held out his hand.
When she took it, he pulled her down on top of him.
She had purchased a soft, dark orange sweater that reached her hips and black leggings when she’d been shopping.
He ran his hand down her back and over her fanny.
With a moan of longing, she closed her eyes and nibbled his ears between kisses.
The fire crackled, but it wasn’t the cause of her red-hot skin.
Wherever Sully touched her, she was on fire as surely as the logs in the hearth.
He patted her fanny with both hands and suggested she pour two more glasses of wine.
She scooted off him and headed to the dining room.
He rolled off the sofa, followed her, and held the glasses as she poured.
Pausing near the table, they kissed and sipped their wine.
“Time to flirt?” she whispered shyly.
“No,” he said and set his glass on the dining room table. “I’m going home.”
“What?” she asked in surprise and set her glass down as well. “You’re leaving?”
“Hell no,” he said around a smothered grin and then laughed. “But you’re not the only one who can tease.”
“Sully!” She laughed. “You’re so ornery, I might not give you dessert.”
Sully scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the cabin to the bedroom.
He stood her beside the bed and pulled her sweater over her head.
She tugged up his sweatshirt, emblazoned with his gun club logo over his heart, and he shed it.
Both items landed on the polished hardwood floor.
He pulled off his undershirt as she unbuckled his belt.
She popped open his fly, shoved at his jeans, and he dropped them.
Then he pulled her leggings down and she stepped out of them.
She pushed his boxers down until they were stopped by his hardened manhood.
Molding her against him, he unfastened her bra and tugged down her panties.
When she stood back, her underwear fell to her feet.
She pulled the front of his boxers out and let them drop to the floor.
Sully kissed her and tossed back the new comforter along with the sheet.
Charley lay down and held her arms out to him.
Sully stretched out on top of her. On previous occasions, she had stiffened.
But no longer. Not now. Not tonight. Not with this man.
Instead, similarly as he had done to her when she was fully clothed, Charley ran her hands down his naked back and over his slightly rounded male buttocks.
He groaned, and she liked the power that it gave her at making this experienced man want more.
He kissed his way down her throat, and her nipples beaded as his lips closed over her right one and then her left.
She eagerly spread her legs, and his kisses found her most secret feminine spot.
She thought she might lose her mind as a rolling orgasm engulfed her.
Sully worked his kisses back up her body and his fingers opened her slippery folds.
“Wrap your legs around me.” His deep voice was husky. “And we’ll flirt.”
Charley wrapped her legs around his hips.
And with Sully’s push, they became one. He was in to the hilt.
Gloriously, blissfully they were one. She met his every thrilling thrust. Each plunge into paradise was a ride to remember.
Charley felt the heat building within her again and clung to him.
How could she ever let go of this man? Mentally or physically?
The rapture hit, and she squeezed his long, hard inches with gripping, bursting pleasure.
“Sully,” she moaned, floating in sweet ecstasy.
He answered with rhythmic throbs over and over deep inside her.
She closed her eyes and savored every rock-hard, pulsing sensation.
Only when their breathing had slowed did she unwind her legs from around him.
He separated his body from hers, rolled off her, and pulled her into his arms. With her head on his chest, she listened to the beating of his heart.
“You’ve gotten flirting down,” he praised.
“I’ve had a sensational teacher. I might give him dessert after all.”
Chuckling, he gave her a squeeze. “Besides what you just gave me, what’s for dessert?”
Charley giggled and rolled out of bed. She stepped into her panties and pulled her sweater over her head. “Come on,” she said and grabbed his hand. “It’s being served in the living room.”
Sully rolled out of bed and tugged on his undershirt and boxers.
He followed her and headed into the living room as she went into the kitchen.
He added logs to the fire and stirred them to life.
She returned to him with two plates, each holding a brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
They sipped more of their wine as they ate, and then Sully’s cell phone rang.
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?” he asked and listened.
“The shell casing recovered by the cops at the Fleming crime scene is a .38? Damn. I wish we could run a ballistics test on Vaughn’s gun to see if it’s a match.
” Sully paused, nodded, and then said, “Yeah, I realize there’s no legal reason to seize his gun.
Too bad we didn’t buy it when given the chance.
” Again, he listened and then said, “Thanks for keeping me updated.” They spoke for another minute before Sully hung up.
He looked at Charley as if deciding whether or not to share the conversation.
“What is it, Sully?”
“Maybe nothing.” Sully paused, and when she tilted her head, he said, “Vaughn’s caliber of bullet from the gun he’s been waving around is the same caliber used to kill your mother.”
He paced the floor. Where was she? No doubt with that rancher in the big truck.
He had decided the other guy he’d run into in her shop was of little to no consequence.
It was the one named Sully ruining everything.
This morning he’d stopped by her shop. Still no sign of her.
He had walked up the hill to her apartment.
Not there. Gnawing on his thumbnail, the voices said that Charley had to come home sometime.
Maybe not. Maybe the cowboy planned on keeping her all to himself.
He shrieked at that thought. What were they up to?
Had she had sex with the guy? Picturing that, he screamed again. He had to get Charley’s attention.