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What if Dalton didn’t want her here?
Tough shit.
Rory marched up to the door and banged on it.
No response.
She banged louder. “I know you’re in there. ”
The door opened. “Rory? What’re you doin’ here?”
She ducked under the arm blocking the doorway before he could shut her out. “I didn’t hear from you today. ”
“Yeah, well, sorry. I had shit goin’ on. ”
“Since I’m here, let’s swap ‘how was your day, dear?’ stories. ” Rory kicked off her boots and dropped her outerwear into a pile before she headed for the kitchen.
“You can’t just show up at someone’s house at ten-thirty at night without warning. ”
She whirled around. “Why not? You do it to me all the time. ”
Dalton stared at her.
Sweet Lord. His eyes were so…haunted. She automatically curled her arms around his waist and pressed herself against him. “I missed you, okay? Is that so wrong?”
Then Dalton squeezed her so tightly tears rushed to her eyes. “Not wrong at all. I was needing…missing you too. ”
The fact he admitted he needed her, yet he hadn’t reached out to her, cut a little. She tipped her head back to look at him. “You know you can just call me up to chat about stuff any old time. ”
Dalton pushed her hair back from her face. “Who called you and said I might need to chat about…stuff?”
Rory considered lying, but Dalton should know his family was worried about him. “Georgia. ”
His eyes turned wary. “What’d she say?”
“Just that you had a meeting with your brothers and maybe you’d need someone to talk to. Which I took as the secret McKay code that you really needed sex. And you know I’m all over that and all over you whenever possible because you’re a beast in the sack. ”
He smiled. But it was a sad smile. “Will you believe me if I admit I’m not in the mood?”
“I can see that. So what were you doing before I got here?”
“Spacing out. ” He brushed his lips across hers. “I’m fine. You don’t gotta hang around like I’m on suicide watch. ”
“Shoot. I was really looking forward to being all heroic by saving your life and shit. Way to wreck my night, cowboy. ”
Dalton chuckled. “I see you’re in one of them moods. ”
“So you gonna let me stick around?”
“You gonna be a pain in the ass while I’m tryin’ to watch my show?” he volleyed back.
“Probably. Are we watching porn?”
“You wish. I DVR’d the Universal Poker Tour. ”
“Hate to point it out, McKay, but that is porn for you. ”
“Busted. ” He led her to the couch.
When she sat next to him, he grabbed her legs and draped them across his lap. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “I am glad you’re here, jungle girl. ”
For the next hour Dalton gave running commentary on every hand. Pointing out what he felt were mistakes and how he would’ve played it differently.
“You know…have you ever told me why you quit the poker circuit?”
“Most people assume I quit because I lost my ass. ”
“I’m not most people, Dalton. But that’s not the case, is it? You let people think that. ”
“Yep. ”
“Why?”
“It’s easier than tellin’ them the truth. ”
“Which is what?”
He paused. “I made a fuck ton of money and quit while I was ahead. ”
Rory shifted to straddle his lap. She held his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “A fuck ton? Is that an official financial term?”
“It is according to my accountant. ”
“I’m not asking this because I want a detailed financial spreadsheet, but there’s one thing we haven’t talked about. The fact you don’t have an official job. You said in the last couple of years you were a logger, and a hunting guide. Now you’ve applied for the elk farm. None of which will make you rich, and yet you don’t seem to be struggling to make ends meet while you’re waiting for that decision to be handed down. ”
He closed his eyes. “Do we really have to do this now?”
“Yes. And I’m not asking in an official capacity. ”
Dalton remained quiet for a minute or so. “The truth is, I’ve got enough cash and investments that I don’t need a job. ”
“For how long?”
Then those blue, blue eyes hooked hers. “Forever. Since I played my cards right. ”
Rory groaned. “I’m ignoring your puntastic-ness to ask if you’re serious?”
“Yep. I can pick and choose what I want to do because the job interests me. Granted, I can’t buy a mansion in Beverly Hills or a fleet of sports cars or a yacht, but I’m comfortable. ”
“Why didn’t I know this?”
“Talkin’ about it smacks too much of bragging. I got to this point by havin’ a successful run at poker for about four years prior to leaving here. I didn’t blow the money on booze and broads—well, not all of it. ” He smirked. “Even though I was winning, I had a budget and I stuck to it. ” He shrugged. “Getting paid once a year when I was ranching meant I was already used to stretching out my money. Early on Jack Donohue gave me good financial advice. Then Chase recommended an investment guy and he’s diversified my initial investments. Now I’m able to live off the income. ”
“Who knows this?”
“My banker. My accountant. My investment guys. ” He twirled a section of her hair around his finger. “And now you. ”
“But… Why don’t you—”
“Tell people that I’m not a lazy drifter, picking up odd jobs here and there and shirking my ranching responsibilities, but I’m independently…comfortable?”
“Yes!”
Dalton tugged her closer by her hair and brushed those full lips over hers. “Because I don’t care what people think of me, Rory. I spent way too many years tryin’ to live up to family reputations and expectations. Now the only expectations I live up to are my own. ”
Here was her opening. “Is that what happened with your brothers tonight?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it, especially not when I have a gorgeous woman on my lap who offered to take my mind off my troubles with hot sex. ”
“You turned me down, remember?”
“That was then. Now I’m thinkin’ a nekkid dose of sexy you is exactly what I need. ” He cupped her ass and warned, “Hang on,” before he stood. He set her on her feet and kissed her in the sweetly seductive way guaranteed to melt her resistance.
Rory threaded her fingers through his and followed him into his bedroom.
He reached for the bedside lamp but she stayed his hand. “I think the darkness fits tonight. ”
“But I love lookin’ at you when you come. ”
She pushed his T-shirt up and he yanked it off. Then her mouth and hands were all over his warm chest. Her fingers mapping every ridge of his abdomen. Her mouth following the curve of his pectorals. She loved his chest hair. The feel of it on her face. The scent. She rubbed against it like a cat, filling her senses with him.
And while she licked and tasted and nibbled, he ran his hands through her hair. From scalp to tip. Dalton could be so gentle or he could grab a fistful and be forceful. When she used her teeth, that forceful side appeared.
He held her head in place and said, “I love your mouth on my nipples. ”
Rory tortured him and those sexy male grunts and groans told her he enjoyed every second. While her mouth focused on his incredible chest, her hands roamed everywhere else. Over his beefy biceps and strong forearms, broad shoulders and muscular back. His masculine form wasn’t only powerful, it was beautiful.
His hands cradled her head and tipped it back. “Aurora, did you just growl a
t me?”
“Probably. ” She twisted out of his hold and sank her teeth into the meaty slab of his pectorals. “Because I love, love, love this body of yours. ”
“Good to know—sweet Jesus, you’re killin’ me with that hot little tongue. ”
Rory’s fingers inched to the waistband of his sweatpants. One tug of the string and they were down around his ankles. His cock bounced against his belly. She cupped his balls, playing with them before her fingers enclosed the shaft.
Dalton hissed.
She moved her hand up and down, adding the slight twist at the head that made him crazy. Her tongue traced his collarbone from the hollow of his throat to the ball of his shoulder.
Then his hands were in her hair, his mouth taking control as he kissed her.
His passion could be overwhelming at times. But this was sweet heat. A need for tenderness. Rory fell into the kiss so completely her hand stopped moving on his cock.
Dalton finally released her lips. He whispered, “I need your skin beneath my hands, Aurora. ”
She managed to disentangle from him and stepped back. In less than thirty seconds she was naked.
Immediately those work-roughened hands were on her.
Her body became a mass of gooseflesh, quivering from his touch. “As long as it’s dark and I can’t see your face, hands and knees on the center of the bed, beautiful. ”
“While I love how you think you’ve got a say in this, you don’t. ” Rory put her hands on his chest and shoved with all her might.
Dalton hit the mattress and laughed. “Okay. ”
“Now how about you make yourself comfy in the center of the bed. ”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn the light on?”
“No lights. ” Rory crawled up his body. She bent her head and licked his cock from bottom to top.
His entire body jerked.
She laughed and tongued the tip, precisely on the sweet spot. Then she slipped that hot hard shaft into her mouth and held it there.