Chapter Forty #2
After an hour, my mind is more collected than before, and I’ve had multiple full-blown arguments with myself about letting go of this weird jealousy I have about Marlee.
The woman is dead, and being jealous of a ghost is only going to destroy what’s growing—and make me miserable.
Not to mention… an awful human being.
She passed. She’s not here to raise her daughter. Aurora will never see her mom again.
Being jealous of that is awful.
But, simply telling myself to stop is impossible. Only time will make the ache and life's worth of insecurity stop.
I’m reaching for another sheet, arms stretched high, when a low whistle cuts through the air.
“Damn, baby,” a familiar voice drawls. “Sun behind your back, pretty tits heaving in that dress… Even your shadow’s tryin’ to kill me.”
My eyes widen, and I search the field for him, but with all the sheets, I can’t see a damn thing.
I glance at the one I’m hanging, and the sun at my back and smile, though. My shadow casts an outline on the sheets around me, distorted but sexy in a way. I wonder what I look like to him? Can he really see my boobs or is he just fucking with me?
Giggling, I lift my arms, tugging my heavy hair up off my neck, and arch my back.
A masculine groan comes from somewhere in the maze of sheets, sending shivers down my spine.
God, he can really see me?
“This is like porn,” he mutters, his words catching on the breeze.
Giggling, I turn in place. “Where are you?”
A pause, then a deep rumbling sound that goes straight to my clit. “Can’t see me, darlin’?”
Brows furrowed, I shade the sun from my eyes and move through the lines of sheets. They’re all still wet and heavy, making them hard to navigate through. After a minute, I still haven’t found him, but in the distance, I can hear the soft crunch of his boots against the grass.
My heart skips a beat, stomach swooping.
“Kade,” I breathe, spinning in a circle. “Where the hell are you?”
“You were upset earlier,” he drawls and I try to chase his voice, but when I dip under a sheet, there’s nothing but more fucking sheets.
Swallowing, I shake my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me, Georgia. I know you. Know your smiles and tears, your screams for more and harder. Know what you like to eat for breakfast and how it feels to have you curled into my side. I know you.”
I chase every word with my bare feet, moving through the cool, prickly grass quietly, long dress tugged up above my knees, chest pounding.
“Just because you know me doesn’t mean I was lying,” I say just as another crunch lands a few feet to my left. Smiling, I dart under another line and run toward it.
But when I get there, he’s gone.
“How the hell are you doing this?”
“I trained for this,” comes a quiet, sultry purr that ghosts across my neck a second before hands grip my hips.
My mouth opens to scream, but Kade claps a hand over it, silencing me as he drags me into his chest. Behind me, his cock is hard and thick, digging into my back. I whimper, shivering and hot and aching.
“You wanna play with me, freckles?”
He releases my mouth, hand sliding lower to curl around my throat, tipping my jaw up to face him, upside down.
“Out here?” I breathe, licking my suddenly dry lips. “What if someone sees?”
“Mom took Aurora and the twins to the grocery store,” he murmurs, eyes tracking my every breath. “Won’t be back for an hour.”
“But…” My nails dig into his arm, breaths sawing in and out. “What if someone else sees?”
He smirks, hand flexing around my throat. “Guess you’ll have to be quiet and hide real good then.”
“Hide?”
Kade nods, releasing me. I nearly collapse, my legs are so wobbly, but I catch myself, spinning to face him as he steps back, ripping off his t-shirt with one hand behind his neck. The move is masculine, so sexy and primal, a shudder runs through me.
“Are we playing naked hide-and-seek?” I ask breathily, fingers tightening in the hem of my dress as my eyes slide over his thick, ripped body greedily. “In the sheets?”
I’m not opposed to the idea.
In fact, it sounds like the hottest thing I’ll likely ever experience.
“If you want to,” he murmurs, kicking out of his boots, eyes blazing. “Unless you’re scared you’ll lose.”
My jaw ticks and I glare at him, shoulders back, chin high, pussy regrettably empty. This man has my libido trained. “Fine, I’m in.”
“Terms?”
“Well…” I start, shaky fingers digging into the buttons on my dress, but I get distracted by the sight of Kade in nothing but boxer briefs. “Winner gets to do whatever they want to the loser.”
His eyes widen. “Whatever they want?”
“Don’t be weird, Archer.”
Smirking, he rakes his eyes down my body just as I let my sundress pool on the ground, leaving me in nothing but boyshorts.
“No bra,” he mutters, shaking his head with a groan as he adjusts himself. “Never gonna get used to that.”
I tuck my lips between my teeth and bend, dragging my underwear down my thighs before stepping out of them. “How about no panties? Can you get used to that?”
His throat bobs, jaw ticking. “What are you doing, baby?”
“You said naked hide-and-seek,” I murmur breathily as I step behind a sheet and arch my back, hands cupping my breasts in a way I hope looks sexy instead of distorted.
By the sound of his choked, desperate, “Fuck me,” I’d say I’m already winning.
“Game on. May the best woman win.”
And I plan to.