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She ignored it "Because he wasn’t around much"

"Yeah? How come?"

"My mom was older than nant, she thought he’d be a lousy parent, so she did theand took off I saw him maybe once a year Seems pointless to tell him about this now, especially when he never knew sos my mom did"

"Like?"

"She’d keep me out of school so I could experience ‘life lessons’ not math lessons

We lived all over the country The year I turned twelve, Dad wanted me to spend summers on the reservation My mom believed he’d take me on the rodeo circuit; she refused to leave h to contact hihteenth birthday, Monosed with liver cancer She died quickly, which was a blessing for her Her death irowing up I wasof a change for uts, Macie She stiffened, full of self-recri all of her pitiful past, and braced herself for his pity or for more questions

But Carter said, "That flat out sucks," and his arathered her close as he kissed the top of her head "Get some sleep, sweet darlin’"

And for the first tiht sleep was a possibility

Carter wanted to punch so, namely Macie’s clueless father As Macie curled into hiht back to his own childhood It hadn’t been perfect, but it’d been damn near idyllic compared to hers

He’d never been a pawn between his parents, never worried about waking up scared and alone A large part of that was because he’d shared a room with Cam And he had three other brothers down the hall

Another bout of fury washed over hi Croarn hiood? It appeared Cash had stayed away from her plenty It also appeared Cash didn’t know squat about as best for his daughter, or what she needed Macie’s combination of independence and neediness made perfect sense now

Macie ling deeply against his chest Carter held his breath and clenched his thighs together, trying--and failing--to fight off an erection

This was so not the way he’d envisioned the first night with Macie in his aret After another kiss on the top of her head, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep

Chapter Eleven

A loud snort burst in Macie’s ear, startling her A hard , male arms snaked around her waist A steady stream of air drifted over her temple

Where was she?

Her father’s ca up

She was in bed with Carter McKay Ohnestled firhtened too

Macie’s pulse spiked

Carter groaned, but ht hand swept her belly to span the area between her hipbones Just the very tips of his work-roughened fingers stroked the skin where the top and bottoap

The continual, sensuous, rhythles raced over her flesh, fro a rush of s A man’s simple touch on her skin never caused this intense reaction

She waited, expecting him to stir Her mouth opened Then closed Did she really want to wake hi her, whether it was conscious or not?

No

His breathing didn’t change even when his hand dipped beneath the stretchy waistband of her pajaer breached the curls on her ht between her pussy lips

And stopped

Macie bit her tongue to keep frohs slightly

Iers slipped further down Another soft groan ruers through the juices gathering at her entrance and glided them back up

At the first contact with her clit, she nearly shot straight up in bed

He drew light circles, drawing out that elusive little nub of pleasure until she whiers slid back across her swollen sex and slipped inside her

This tiasped

His husky voice whispered, "That’s right, darlin’, let me hear you" Carter scraped his teeth across the cord straining in the back of her neck "Let ers moved in and out of her, the base of his pal the perfect amount of friction Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head from the burst of pleasure Still, she was afraid to speak, fearing if she did, he would stop Or she’d wake up

"Don’t be shy You want this" His fingers plunged deep "I can’t wait until it’s my cock pushin’ inside you Hearin’ my name as I make you come"

His words, coupled with his hot breath and kisses da her skin, o Let it happen" Carter curled his fingers and stroked the round into her clit and the combination set her off

Macie turned her head and opened herhers in a soul-stealing kiss The pulses throbbed; inside her sex, outside under his hand, in her blood, in her head, in herstroke of his velvety tongue across hers

Then he slowed and sweetened their first kiss as her orgasm ebbed to a faint, but steady throb

Carter re center of her body His damp lips drifted to her ear "Good mornin’, darlin’"