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-102-

NAUTI BUOY

As he stared into the darkness, he thought of her touch, her kiss.

Could he touch another woman? At any time?

“So it would be my choice?”

“It would be your choice.”

“But you would still want to.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t know.” He couldn’t lie to her. He wouldn’t lie to her, even though he was terrified of losing her.

He caressed her abdomen as he held her, as silence filled the room once again.

“This might not work.” Her voice trembled with an awareness of what she might be looking at. “I don’t know if I can do that. I don’t know if I could handle your need to do it.”

He sighed heavily into her hair, drawing her closer, knowing he could be risking both their hearts with the hungers that tormented him. It was the reason he had left four years before, the reason he couldn’t begin this relationship with anything less than the truth.

“I can live without it,” he told her softly. “I don’t know if I could live without you, Kelly. Not now. Not after the years I’ve spent needing you.

I’ll give you everything I am, as much as you want. That’s all I can do.”

She turned to him then, her soft gray eyes dark in the dim light of the room as he stared into the shadowed expanse of her face.

“The first time…”

He closed his eyes. “However you want it.”

Bonding came in so many ways. He would have had Dawg and Natches there, but he wouldn’t push her. He couldn’t push her. Not now.

“You want them there.”

His eyes flew open at the soft statement.

“I want them there,” he affirmed, knowing her safety demanded nothing less. He ignored the possessiveness raging inside him. “Kelly, I

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Lora Leigh

want everything for you, and I know that’s hard to understand. The first time, it’s special for a woman. It begins a bonding with her lover, one that never really dies. It’s why I’ve never taken a virgin, never fooled with a woman who didn’t know the score, until you.”

He felt the shiver that raced over her, the little tremor of fear, or response, he wasn’t certain.

“You want me to have that, with them?” The uncertainty in her voice, the edge of hurt broke his heart.

“Kelly, listen to me.” He framed the side of her face with his hand, his thumb smoothing over her cheek. “I’m not going to do a damned thing that’s going to hurt you or make you uncomfortable. Baby, it won’t be good for me, or for Dawg and Natches, if it isn’t something you want with everything inside you. This is your choice. The perception of it isn’t.”

“But you want it,” she said fiercely.

“Don’t make excuses.” He could feel it in her then, the need to have the choice taken from her, to be seduced. “I’m not making them and I won’t let you. Think about it, Kelly. Decide what you want, what you need. I’m not a kid, and you’ve known me too long to be able to fool yourself about me. You’ve known, you wanted to sugarcoat it, pretend it wasn’t real, but you knew. Now decide what you want, because I won’t make that decision for you. Not now, not ever. I love you, baby, but I can’t love you enough for both of us.”

He felt her then, her fingers moving against his chest, leaving a path of fire in their wake as they smoothed over his chest.

“Can you do anything without your cousins?” she asked. “Or do you need their help all the time, Rowdy?”

Damn. Her fingers were at his abdomen now, her nails raking over his flesh, tracing the skin above the waistband of his sweatpants.

Impetuous. Defiant. An adventure. That was Kelly.

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NAUTI BUOY

His hand trapped hers, holding it still against him, his eyes narrowing on her in the darkness.

“Anywhere but here,” he growled. “Now go to sleep, minx. I’ll be damned if I’ll have our parents hearing us in here screwing our brains out. I’m right fond of keeping my private parts intact if it’s all the same to you.”

She chuckled, flipped around, then horror of all horrors, because his control was edging toward non-existent, that curvy little ass tucked into his hips, cushioning the raging fullness of his cock. Son of a bitch.

“Good night, Rowdy.” Her husky little purr nearly had him coming in his pants. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll see what you can actually do without your cousins around to approve of it.”

A grin tilted his lips. Oh, he’d show her all right, in ways she could never imagine.

-105-

Lora Leigh

Kelly stared at the bed as she came from the shower the next morning. It was perfectly made, the flowered comforter smoothed out, the pillows neatly stacked at the headboard. And lying at the bottom of the mattress was clothing she hadn’t worn since the attack.

The low-rise jeans were patched and faded, and she knew exactly how low they were. The waistband barely reached her hipbones, with the snap in the front dipping lower nearly an inch.

The white vest-style summer shirt rose above her navel, and would reveal the belly ring that lay glittering on top of the shirt. The brilliant green emerald twinkled and gleamed beneath a shaft of sunlight coming in from the window. She had chosen that particular gem because of its resemblance to Rowdy’s eyes.

Kelly drew in a deep breath before turning her head to stare at Rowdy where he sat in the recliner. Leaning forward, his arms resting on his knees, he watched her silently, emotion swirling in his gaze.

Compassion, understanding, determination.

She stepped closer to the bed, turning back to stare at the clothes.

She had been too scared to wear them before, terrified that how she dressed had somehow caused the attack.

She was still scared, but as she stood there, she realized that the terror that had often filled her before Rowdy’s return wasn’t there now.

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NAUTI BUOY

Just as he had protected her from those bullies years before, she knew he would protect her now.

She cleared her throat before speaking.

“You’re certain you can catch him?” She picked up the belly ring, staring down at it intently.

“I’m certain, Kelly.” His voice was dark, deep, confident.

“Do you know who it is?” She knew Rowdy, and his cousins. And she knew Dawg and Natches had been investigating the attack since it happened.

“Not yet. But we will. He’s not sane enough to hide for long.”

Could she be a woman again, rather than a child hiding? Kelly admitted, if only silently, that the woman had been protesting the baggy clothes and the lack of adventure for a year now. She was ready to return, just as the psychologist had warned her she would be.

She nodded slowly. “I need to go to town today. To the spa.” The intimate waxing had been put off too long.

Tension began to sizzle in the room. She knew he would know what it meant. Rowdy was an expert at a woman’s body and all the various procedures they used to tempt a man.

“I’d like to drive you in.” His voice was hoarse. “We could pick up dinner later and go out on the lake.”

She inhaled roughly before nodding. She could feel her insides quivering with the knowledge that once he got her out on the lake, she would be in his bed.

“That sounds good,” she said as she turned back to him slowly.

She dropped the towel that covered her, watched his eyes flame, his face flush and his body come to immediate attention as she stood before him.

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Lora Leigh

“It’s hard to put in.” She held the belly ring out to him. “Would you help me?”

“Good God!” His gaze moved to hers slowly. “Dad’s home, Kelly. If I fuck you here, he’ll kill me.”

“I didn’t ask you to fuck me, Rowdy.” She kept her voice low, intimate as she moved to him. “I asked you to put the ring in.” She extended her arm, her fingers holding the glittering gem.

She loved teasing Rowdy, always had. The look in his eyes made her breathless, showed his hunger. It was the reason she had always waited on him, always known she belonged to him. For years, every time he looked at her, he ate her with his eyes, consumed her with the hunger in them. Just as he did now.

Without speaking, he moved forward, spreading his legs before his hand gripped her hips, pulling her forward. His hands were hot on her flesh, rasping against her, sending sizzling impulses of pleasure raking over her nerve endings.

“Give me the ring.” His expression was heavy with sensual intent as he took the ring from her fingers.

Kelly stood still, silent as he inserted the curved metal into the tiny hole before snapping the ball end in place. But he didn’t stop touching her there. He positioned the emerald teardrop in place over the entrance to her navel before his fingertips skimmed over her lower belly.

Her womb convulsed beneath his fingers as pleasure tore through her. Lower, she felt the curves of her pussy dampen further than they already were as her vagina pulsed in heavy need.

“Look how pretty,” he whispered, his eyes centering between her thighs as her fingers gripped his shoulders and her knees trembled.

“You’re wet for me, Kelly.”

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NAUTI BUOY

“I’m always wet for you. I’ve been wet for you for years, Rowdy,” she whimpered.

She realized then the mistake she had made in teasing him. She was too hungry, needed him too much to tempt what she knew she couldn’t have beneath Ray’s roof.

She stared down at Rowdy in a haze of need as he shifted, his head coming closer, his lips pressing into her lower belly as she gasped at the contact. Long-fingered hands smoothed down her hips to her thighs, nudging them apart gently before raising his head. He stared at the flushed folds of her mound. His thumb caressed over the tattoo just above her pussy. The eagle in flight, one wing dipping toward her damp flesh.

“I want to taste you, Kelly,” he groaned, his voice roughening further.

“I want to lay you down, spread those pretty legs and lick all that soft syrup from you.”

Weakness flooded her, taking her breath, her senses, and turning them into one hard ache for just that.

“You’re so wet.” The fingers of one hand trailed around her thigh, then slid slowly, so slowly, but with destructive results, through the thick wetness that lay between the soft folds of flesh.

“Rowdy,” she breathed, her fingers sliding to his hair as his head dipped to her belly again. “Please touch me. Please.”

She had waited so long, dreamed so desperately of his touch that now that it was happening, she feared it was just another dream.

“I’m going to do more than touch you, baby,” he whispered as his lips moved closer to the pounding ache of her clit. “I’m going to touch you, taste you, I’m going to make you scream for me, Kelly. Beg for more.”

Okay. She could handle that.

“Now.”

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Lora Leigh

She felt his chuckle, the sound rasping, filled with hunger as his fingers circled her clit. Her hips arched forward as a low cry left her lips.

Need flamed inside her with an intensity that drove anything else from her mind.

“Shhh, baby,” he groaned, his fingers parting her. “Remember Ray.”

Ray who?

His breath whispered over the damp, throbbing bud, sending her senses reeling as a knock sounded at the door. Kelly jerked in Rowdy’s grip as she felt him tense beneath her hold.

“Rowdy, I’m heading out. I need to talk to you before I leave,” Ray called through the thick panel. “Get out here, boy, so I can get to work.”

She heard his footsteps retreating as Rowdy’s fingers slowly slid from her flesh.

“Damn,” he breathed out, moving her back as he lifted his head to stare back at her. “You’re dangerous, darlin’.”

“Don’t stop.” Kelly shook her head as he rose from the chair, his hands smoothing up her back, yet holding her from him.

“I’ll take you to the spa,” he whispered. “And later, I’ll show you how much I love having your sweet pussy bare to me. Get dressed, baby, so we can escape for a while.”

His lips whispered over hers, ignoring her silent plea for more as her lips parted.

“Get dressed,” he told her again, moving back. “Stop driving me crazy, baby. Let’s get out of here.”

Okay, two could play this game, Kelly was certain. With narrowed eyes she watched as Rowdy stalked from the bedroom, his body tight with tension and the bulge in his pants so apparent he had pulled the tail of his white cotton shirt free of his pants to cover it. She was sure there was no way Ray wouldn’t be aware of his son’s problem.

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NAUTI BUOY

She snickered at the thought of the tough Rowdy squirming beneath his father’s gaze. Ray was a good guy, but she knew how he was. He hadn’t wanted this relationship to develop between her and Rowdy, neither had her mother, though she wasn’t certain why. She had loved Rowdy forever, and despite Ray and her mother’s marriage, she had never understood the reasons for their disapproval.

Twenty minutes later, dressed and feeling more feminine and less afraid than she had in months, Kelly picked up her phone and called the spa. Marla Reiner, her favorite technician, was available and eager to see Kelly returning to her regular visits. With a little maneuvering, Marla managed to schedule her right in and disconnected the call with a cheery goodbye.

Drawing in a deep breath, Kelly placed her hand on her stomach to still the butterflies racing through her system before she moved to her bedroom door and headed downstairs.

In the back of her mind was the knowledge that nothing would ever be the same from this day on. Once Rowdy had her, she knew what would happen. Questions still plagued her, as did an instinctive discomfort regarding the idea that Rowdy could ever want to touch another woman, no matter the relationship that developed between her and his cousins.

God, it was so strange having that thought in her mind. It had always stayed distant, an awareness of what could happen if she ever got into Rowdy’s bed. There wouldn’t be just one man, but three pleasuring her.

Now that it could be reality, she found herself both curious and hesitant.

Aroused and frightened. But Kelly knew she wasn’t willing to draw back.