DAKOTA
An inferno blazed around me as I slowly started to wake from what felt like a decade’s worth of sleep. Heat surrounded my body—down my back, legs, and even at the crook of my neck. It was the kind of incredible, snuggly warmth that made you want to stay in bed for that extra fifteen minutes, or forever, ultimately making you late for work. On a farm, the second you woke you were already late, so I didn’t much care about missing the horse feeding schedule by fifteen minutes. Even though Ma’s old horse Marigold would show her irritation with chuffs and kicks against the dirt when I arrived. Blasted animal gave stronger side-eye than I did, and that was something to see.
As I blinked open scratchy eyes, I realized the heat was not a blanket—well, not in the conventional sense. It was Sutton. My husband. The man had taken his enormous body and wedged himself not only against my back, but had me curved to the side where he’d planted his giant tree trunk of a thigh across my leg, keeping me in place. His chest covered my form from butt to shoulders, and he had his face tucked against my neck. I could feel the puff of air from his nose against my skin as he slept. One of his arms was wrapped fully around me, under his discarded T-shirt I’d pilfered last night, and was currently holding my breast in the palm of his hand.
Never in my twenty-four years of life or sexual experiences, not that there’d been many, had I slept with a man who clung to me like his own personal body pillow.
Worse, I’d slept the sleep of the dead. Better than back home in my own bed. There was something about having a mountain of a man at your back that tricked your brain into believing you were safe and protected. And I did feel those things. Even if I hated it with every fiber of my being.
Determined to escape the cling-on attached to me, I eased my hand up the shirt I wore, untangled his hand from my boob, and brought it out from under the cotton. Then I curled my fingers around the edge of the bed and slid inch by inch until eventually I was free of his hold.
I slipped out of the bed and shoved my unruly locks out of my face, intent on using the restroom. I ignored the bathroom attached to the master bedroom. The same one I’d used last night to brush my teeth and wash my face.
Padding down the hall, I used the second bathroom, finding a brand-new toothbrush alongside several more in a drawer with a tube of toothpaste. All of the toothbrushes had the logo for the local dentist in town everyone went to. Sutton probably got his teeth cleaned, then tossed them in the extra bathroom for guests.
A little green monster ran through my veins as I scrubbed at my teeth, wondering how many women he’d given one of his freebie toothbrushes. Hell, he could have asked the doc for a handful; he’d have given ’em to him. Regardless of what my family said, the rest of the people of Sandee adored the Goodall clan. Thought they were the bee’s knees in town. Not only was Old Man Goodall seen as a pioneer farmer next to my own grandaddy, Earl “John” McAllister, but they’d also given a lot of money to the local charities. Buying their reputation, if you asked me. Money shouldn’t buy people’s support, but it sure as hell did. Especially in Sandee where the people didn’t know any better. All they saw were the bright white smiles of the Goodalls and the big checks they wrote to the needy. They didn’t know what went on behind closed doors—the business deals they were ruining for the McAllisters, or how they’d pay way more for horses the very second one of my people went to bid on one. It had been an endless cycle of hell for me and my family that would only get worse once Pa got wind that I’d married one of ’em.
Staring at my bedraggled form, I sighed and pressed my hands to the vanity. We’d gone right to sleep last night, both of us completely out once we got in bed. I was pretty sure I’d fallen asleep even before my head hit the pillow. I definitely didn’t notice when Sutton joined me or wrapped himself around me like a blood-sucking leech after we’d switched places using the bathroom last night.
My stomach grumbled, and I rubbed at it, wondering if Sutton had stocked the fridge prior to leaving for Vegas. When I opened the door, the smells of fresh coffee and cooking bacon wafted through the air. I followed my nose and salivating mouth to the entrance of the big open kitchen. Standing at the stove was a dark-haired, curvy woman wearing a flannel shirt, a pair of jeans, and slippers.
Slippers?
I frowned and cleared my throat.
The woman turned around, and her mouth fell open in obvious shock once she got a good look at me. A pair of purple, plastic-rimmed glasses sat on her nose, attached to a beaded chain that ran around her neck. Her face was lined with age and wore little makeup. Just enough to highlight her rounded cheekbones and green eyes that matched Sutton’s exactly.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I fidgeted, shifting from foot to foot, and tugged Sutton’s shirt down my thighs as far as the hem would go, but I was a tall woman standing five foot ten barefoot, so the shirt landed just past the promised land.
“Um, hi?” I mumbled, embarrassment flooding my cheeks and neck.
The woman blinked a few times, tongs held aloft as she shoved off her glasses and her eyes widened even more.
“No…” she gasped. “You cannot be who I think you are.” Then she looked up at the ceiling. “God, I know you’ve been hinting I needed to switch from readers to prescription glasses, but please tell me my eyes are deceiving me! I surely must be going blind…” she continued.
I watched, numb, as a muscular forearm came around my waist and Sutton’s face tucked into my hair at the side of my neck. The woman’s shrewd gaze took in all as he pushed aside my hair and placed a line of kisses down the column of my neck. I trembled and wrapped both my hands around his arm at my waist in order to have something to cling to as I died a thousand tiny deaths in front of the matriarch of the Goodall family.
“Morning, Ma. Good to see you, but I think I’m gonna hafta ask ya to start knocking before surprising me with breakfast in the future. My guess, Dakota might not be into surprise guests.”
She swallowed, and I continued to think of a million things to say with absolutely nothing fitting this situation.
“Son, would you like to introduce me to your, um, lady friend?” Her voice shook as she turned down the burners and set the tongs on the counter.
He inhaled fully and shifted me to his side, his big arm coming around my shoulders and tucking me where he wanted me. I had to hold back the urge to elbow him in the ribs for such a possessive display, something I would normally have done if I wasn’t stunned stupid being face-to-face with Sutton’s mother.