IT HAD BEEN years since Everett McCall had woken up with a woman tangled around him in bed. But here he was, wrapped up in Lila Frost, whose soft, naked body was a hell of a lot more effective at waking him up than his early-morning chores ever could be.
It was late. The sunlight was already beginning to turn the sky around them gray, and that he was still in bed when pale light was beginning to signal dawn spoke more volumes about how significant and strange the morning was than anything else ever could have.
Everett McCall was up before the sun. Always. Nothing was more important than this ranch, and even with employees helping to manage the spread, he considered it a necessity he be out there working, too.
But the sky kept getting lighter, and he kept lying there.
He only stirred when delicate fingertips began to trace shapes over his abs.
“Good morning.” Her voice was sleepy and somehow that was incredibly erotic.
“Good morning.”
“I’ve never woken up with anyone before,” she said, burrowing more tightly against him. “This is weird.”
“Well,” he said, “that is quite the greeting.”
“Seriously, though,” she sighed. “This place is amazing. And your bed is amazing. It’s been wonderful to stay in the farmhouse and have all those memories, but I could ignore a lumpy mattress a lot better when I was fourteen than I can now.”
“Was that mattress lumpy?” he asked, feeling strangely buoyant and cheerful. He almost didn’t recognize himself. “I didn’t notice.”
“Well, I didn’t notice that night. But I’ve noticed it every night since. When I struggled to sleep. Without you.”
Those words hit him funny. He didn’t want Lila struggling to sleep just because he wasn’t there.
In another month or so, he wouldn’t be there. And she wouldn’t be here.
That shouldn’t make a strange arrow of pain lance through his chest. But it did.
“Well, in a bed that size you wouldn’t have slept better with me in it,” he said, deciding to sidestep with something light, which he typically didn’t do, but he always wanted to with her.
He didn’t want to give out heavy, practical answers that might dim the smile from her face, and he couldn’t remember when in hell he last cared about something like that.
“But it’s very, very hard to sleep,” she said, scrabbling over his body and flinging her thigh over his waist, sitting on him, looking down at him.
And wasn’t that a picture.
Lila Frost naked with that fiery, autumn hair all around her shoulders and her eyes gleaming bright.
The way she was sitting brought her hair and arms down to obscure her breasts, and that tempting triangle between her thighs. And there was something even more luxurious about her when she was being a tease.
“It’s really hard to sleep when you want a man to touch you, and he’s not there to do it.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to sleep when you want a woman the same way.” He reached up and curled his fingers around the back of her neck, drawing her down and kissing her hungrily.
He did not have time to indulge in this with her. He needed to get out and get to work. But she was here, and she was naked, and he was desperate.
He had intended to make it quick, but with Lila it could never be quick.
He had gotten lost in her. Her colors and textures and flavors. And by the time he was exhausted and ready to fall asleep again, the sun was well and truly in the sky.
Lila extricated herself from his hold and walked into the bathroom. He kept watch the whole way, entranced by her curves. While he was propped up, he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his phone.
He had eight missed calls.
“Shit,” he muttered, getting out of bed and checking his voice mail.
It was from his foreman, Richard.
One of the horses had foundered and was down in the field.
The vet was there.
They couldn’t get her to stand up.
He bit off a curse and dressed quickly.
“What’s going on?”
“I wasn’t there when I should have been, and there’s an emergency. I have to go.”
“Can I go with you?” Lila sprang into action. “What’s happening?”
“One of my horses is sick.”
“I want to go with you.”
“Dammit, Lila,” he said, complicated emotion rising up inside of him and building behind his teeth. He clenched his jaw, clenched his fist, and tried to breathe through it. “I was here, and I should have been out there. I have responsibilities, and sex with you isn’t one of them. I let myself get distracted, and I can’t do it again.” He shook his head. “You should just go home.”
She looked wounded, drawing back into herself, covering her breasts with her arms, as if that would shield her. As if it would mean he hadn’t seen her naked.
But he had.
And he had let it distract him.
He had let it take his focus away from this thing that was the most important.
But none of his justifications felt right. He just felt angry, and he couldn’t place why that was exactly. So he kept his excuses right there, because they gave him something to hold on to.
And he was a man who needed something to hold on to.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice small. “Everett, call me and let me know how the horse is.”
He couldn’t stay mad, not really. She actually cared. That wasn’t something he could fault her for.
“I will.”
But then he walked out the door and left her standing there, pushing his guilt off to the side.
He had responsibilities.
And Lila Frost wasn’t one of them.