No bitin’.”
The dog cowered, whimpered and peed. But she got the point that he was the alpha.
“Lay. Down,” he said tersely.
Gigi dropped to the grass and tried to bury her nose in it, away from him and his reprimands.
Cal slid his hand up the inside of Kimi’s calf. “Show me where she got you. Wait. I see it.” A raised white mark circled by red.
He ran his thumb across it and Kimi snapped, “Don’t. It hurts.”
“That’s because Gigi didn’t bite you. Something stung you and the stingers still in there.”
“Oh. That’d explain why it burns.” She looked at Gigi. “Sorry I doubted you, girl.”
Gigi’s tail thumped.
“Hold on to my shoulder. I’m gonna scrape it off with my fingernail.” He pinched the skin and then ran his nail down the bump, knocking the stinger out. “Done. I’ll doctor you up to keep it from swelling. Hang on.”
She gasped when he picked her up and headed for the house. “You’re such a show-off, McKay.”
“What?” He whistled for Gigi.
“Proving that you can pick me up and carry me around whenever you please.”
“I don’t see you tryin’ to get away.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“That means you like bein’ carted around?”
“By you? Yes. You are just so…big and strong.” She squeezed his biceps. “Are you all hard muscles everywhere?”
Cal waggled his eyebrows. “If we’da kept kissin’ like that? One muscle in particular would’ve gotten really hard.”
Kimi blushed. But she smiled—a strange mix of sly and shy. “Damn bees. Butting in when you were about to give me my very first hands-on demonstration of the birds and the bees.”
Surprisingly, he didn’t miss a step when understood what she was saying. “So all of them boys in Montana are idiots for not tryin’ to get with you?”
“They were boys. I didn’t trust they knew what to do.” She buried her lips in his neck and gooseflesh erupted. “But you’re all man and you know exactly what to do.”
“Sweet Jesus, Kimi.”
“You’d rather I pretended to act shy?”
“Hell no. I don’t know what you want from me.”
“That’s the thing, Cal, you do know. I just wanted you to understand that I want it too.”
Inside the kitchen, he set her on the table.
When she looked at him with that expectant gaze, he fastened his mouth to hers again for a very thorough kiss. “Don’t move,” he said against her lips.
Cal washed his hands and mixed a paste out of baking soda and water. Then he took a knife and spread it over the area. “That should take the sting out. Let it dry and don’t pick at it.”
“Thanks.” She pointed to the fridge. “Don’t forget about your sandwiches.”
Damn. He’d been so hungry for her that he’d forgotten about actual food. He washed his hands again and opened the fridge to find two sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. She’d speared a dill pickle with a toothpick and stuck it on top. Why that amused him, he didn’t know. “Is that pierced pickle a warning to me?”
Her eyes widened. “No! I was trying to make it look like a fancy deli sandwich.”
“I appreciate the thought. But I’m a simple guy.” He held up the plate. “You want one?”
“I already ate.”
“More for me.” When Cal sat at the small table, Kimi started swinging her legs back and forth. “Darlin’. Relax.”
“Okay.”
That lasted about thirty seconds and two bites of his ham and cheese sandwich before she was back at it.
“Kimi. Why can’t you sit still?”
“Because bein’ this close to you makes me want to jump out of my skin.”
At that point he didn’t have a prayer of keeping his hands off her. “Same goes.” He placed his palm on her left thigh and stroked the outside of her knee with his thumb. He tried to pretend he was calmly eating his sandwich, but the warm softness of her skin, and the sweet and earthy scent of her made him hungrier for so much more than just food.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She’d start to shake her foot, only to stop immediately.
“This isn’t workin’. You need to put that leg up anyway. So why don’t you go lie down while I finish eating.”
“Where?”
Cal locked his gaze to hers. “The couch. Or my bed. Your choice.”
Chapter Seven
She bit her lip and he had to sink his teeth into his sandwich so he wouldn’t be tempted to bite on that lip himself. Then she slid off the table and moved to the sink to wash her hands and face.
He eyeballed her ass and those shapely legs, wondering what