Razing Kayne

THREE



Jess and the kids spent several hours at the library before tackling other errands. It had been a week since they'd seen Kayne, and the kids couldn't quit talking about him. He'd certainly made a positive impression on them, and on her. He struck her as the last person who'd be comfortable in the kitchen or around children, and yet he'd seemed like a natural. Not that any of it should matter.

Her cell phone rang as she pulled out of the library parking lot. She recognized the ring tone—Del St. Phillips. Del and his wife, Polly, were as close to parents as Jess had. She'd been raised by a step-father and his apathetic wife after her mother died when she was eleven. They’d uprooted her halfway through her senior year, moving her to Chicago. The moment they'd been legally able to sever ties, they had. She'd come home to Payson and Polly, her mother's lifelong friend. And while she didn’t call them Mom and Dad, her children called them Grandma and Grandpa, and that suited everyone just fine, especially Polly, who'd never been able to have children of her own. Something Jess and Polly had in common.

“Hey, Del, what’s up?” As if she didn’t know.

“Just wanted to remind you it's the first Sunday of April tomorrow, Jess.” Each month after church service, a group of friends held a potluck picnic at some designated location. While Jess no longer attended church, she still took the kids to the potluck.

“I know there's only one reason you called to remind me about the picnic—you're afraid you'll miss out on my chicken salad sandwiches.” She always made chicken salad sandwiches for the potlucks. The good kind, made from scratch with roasted chicken, celery, red onions, and seedless grapes in a mayonnaise base.

Del didn't deny the accusation. “It's at Green Valley Park this time, so the kids can sled on the amphitheater hill.”

Jess looked up at the cloud-covered sky. There'd still be snow on the ground tomorrow. Probably some fresh powder added to it. “Don't you work tomorrow?”

“I should be there by two. Save me a couple extra sandwiches. I'm bringing a friend.”

“Ha! I knew it.” Jess bid him goodbye and turned into the grocery store parking lot. Once she'd parked, she added celery to the list of items she was already getting.

“Right behind you,” a familiar voice warned just as Jess turned to open the back door to unbuckle Grace.

Kayne. Jessica felt her nipples pucker and goosebumps race across her skin, but was pretty sure her body’s reaction wasn’t from the cold weather.

“Are you stalking me?” God, he was so ruggedly handsome. All planes and angles and muscle—there was no softness about him. Except when laughed or smiled, like he had last Saturday with the kids.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. You pulled in right behind me.” He smiled. Yep, that was it, right there, and it had been directed toward her.

“Kayne, Kayne, Kayne!” Gracie shouted, uselessly struggling to get out of her car seat.

“Hey, squirt, quit giving your mama such a hard time.” He laughed, and took the squirming bundle who was still chanting his name, even once she'd been freed from her car seat.

Grace threw her arms around his neck and gave him a slobbery, toddler kiss right on the lips.

Kayne gave her a bemused smile. “Hey, sprite, what was that for?”

Gracie giggled and buried her head in the crook of his neck, suddenly shy. Jess took Isabelle's hand once Maddy and Ash were out. With the doors locked, they started walking down the lane.

Kayne fell into step beside her. “So, shopping with the kids. Brave woman.”

“There's such a thin line between bravery and stupidity,” Ash replied. “At least that's what Mom says.”

“I also tell you to do your homework, pick up your room, and keep your feet off the furniture, but you can't seem to remember those,” Jess pointed out.

“Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you.” Ash laughed and ducked behind Kayne.

She expected Kayne to say something about not protecting him from his mother's wrath, but he simply took Ash's hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

Kayne asked with quiet concern, “Is she always this friendly with strangers?”

Jessica looked up and realized Gracie was just about asleep against his chest. “Here, let me take her.” Gracie was usually very shy around most people, but when Jessica tried to take her from Kayne’s arms, she started crying and clung to him. Jessica tried to not let it hurt her feelings, but it stung a little.

“I'll take her with me.” Kayne grinned. “I'm just getting stuff at the deli. I'll take Ash too, and we'll find you when we're done.”

Gracie had tucked herself into a little ball against Kayne's Kevlar-covered chest, her little fist over his heart, a sign she was content. Jessica knew nothing about Kayne other than he was a police officer, but he seemed like a decent guy, and Gracie, who trusted few, adored him. Besides Ash would be with him too, so she should be okay. The turmoil must have showed on her face.

“Look at me.” He ducked his head to make eye contact. “I would die before I let anything happen to them.”

Jess read the truth in his unwavering gaze and nodded.

***

Kayne should have left once he was done at the deli. Hell, he should have pretended like he'd never seen Jessica in the parking lot and steered clear of her and the kids. For a guy who believed that cuddling after sex implied too much of a commitment, he had no idea what he was doing here. Granted, he sure wouldn't mind having sex with her, but this whole domestic scene was too much.

And yet he stayed.

Kayne took a moment to study her. She was such a pretty little thing with her long curly hair, a dozen different shades of dark-blond. Her eyes were the color of aged whiskey; warm, sexy, and full of secrets. Every time she flashed that shy, dimpled smile his direction, he felt it all the way to his groin. He wanted to lean in and lick that little dimple and work his way down the rest of her body. Shit, he had himself half-aroused over a damned dimple.

Kayne turned his focus on the game Jessica was playing—I Spy with a twist. She'd give the kids clues, and the child who figured out what she was looking for got to put the item in the cart.

She was a good mom. Unlike Oksana. Her children not only loved her but respected her, and she them. Kayne knew he had no business here. He'd failed his family in the worst possible way and lost everything that had ever mattered. There was nothing he could offer this family. And sex, no matter how great, wouldn’t be worth hurting them. It was time to get the hell out of Dodge and forget about Jessica Hallstatt and her sexy little dimple.

***

Sunday morning dawned cloudy, but thankfully it had stopped snowing sometime during the night. Kayne studied the ceiling above the couch where he'd passed out again, trying to find the motivation to get up and go to work. Even with the alcohol, he'd had a restless night, his sleep interrupted by erotic dreams involving a whiskey-eyed beauty. Vivid dreams of caressing every square inch of Jessica’s luscious body with his hands and mouth. He'd suckled her breasts, tasted her honeyed core, and nibbled her sweet little * until she came against his mouth, and then he'd covered her, surged into her, and lost himself in sheer ecstasy.

Kayne shoved down his boxer-briefs, fisted his throbbing cock, closed his eyes, and let the images wash over him. He could picture her above him, her firm breasts bouncing each time he rocked up into her. Her soft, silky hair would curtain them as her lips met his, their tongues mating in time with their bodies.

She'd touch herself, he decided. She'd play with her nipples, toying and teasing. Were they a sweet peach or a rosy berry, he wondered? He figured they were small and rosy, the color of her lips, slightly upturned like her pert little nose.

Kayne stroked his length from root to tip, letting his thumb brush across the sensitive head before stroking back down. In his mind, Jessica made sexy little kitten noises as she rode him, and he felt her body tremble with impending orgasm.

God, he was so close to the edge, but he fought it, wanting it to last, wanting to watch her orgasm first. And then she was whispering his name, a plea, a prayer, to make her come. Her hot core clenching tight, she sobbed his name. He shouted hers, and the waves dragged them under.

***

Jess woke with a gasp, her face instantly flaming hot as the images slowly faded. She'd never had an erotic dream in her life, but that one had been Technicolor vivid. She'd been skin to skin with Trooper Dobrescu, straddling him, her hands braced on his chest as he surged up into her again and again. Whispering hot, dirty words in her ear, encouraging her to touch herself, to touch him as his hands settled on her hips and guided her up and down his thick shaft, slowly withdrawing to the tip, only to plunge back into her. Stretching her, stroking her * with each thrust, until she came.

Embarrassed by the dream and her body's uncharacteristic response, Jess shoved it to the back of her mind and climbed out of bed to start her day. Someone like Kayne would laugh if he knew she was having any dream about him, much less one of those. He was way out of her league, and she wasn't foolish enough to go down that road again.