He touched the spot with his tongue. “Yup.”
“Come inside, I’ll clean you up.” Kara practically dragged him into the house. Instantly, his mind went to her dragging him other places and what he would do to her. How he would please her. How she would please him.
ChapterEleven
Nick was very quiet as she cleaned him up. She asked him what had happened and after several short sentences, she figured the rest of the story out. She surmised that he didn’t want to say much since she was cleaning up his bloody lip.
But when she was done, he sat there on the edge of the countertop just looking at her.
“What are you doing here?” he finally asked.
“I told you. I saw the police cruiser,” she answered, feeling stupid. She’d been so concerned, she’d pushed Bella into heading that way. The horse hadn’t wanted to cross the creek and that was how Kara had ended up soaking wet. She’d had to return home, shower, and change before she could come over and see what had happened.
Thankfully, at that time, the trucks and police cruiser had disappeared.
“You could have called or texted me,” he pointed out.
“My phone is sitting in a bag of rice,” she explained. “It ended up in the creek with me.”
He smiled slightly. “You really did end up in the creek?”
She chuckled. “Yes, although at the time, I wasn’t laughing about it. It was freezing.” She rubbed her hands together, remembering how cold the ride back to the barn was. “Poor Bella, I left her in the stall without brushing her. She didn’t end up in the water, just standing over me looking as if I deserved it.” She smiled.
“She’ll survive,” he said, taking her hands in his. Then he pulled her close. Before she had time to respond, he was kissing her, her body plastered against his, their mouths fused as his hands roamed over her.
“After the day I’ve had,” he said between kisses, “I just needed a little sunshine.”
She held onto him and felt the tension release even more.
“Stay for dinner?” he said next to her skin.
She nodded, unwilling to let him go. It felt too good to be next to him.
“This time, I’ll cook for you,” she said against his lips.
“We can cook something together.” He straightened up, then took her hand and led her through the house to the kitchen. “I didn’t thaw anything, so we’ll have to figure something out.”
After a few minutes debating, they came up with the idea to do chicken parmesan.
While she oversaw the noodles and the salad, he worked on the chicken and the sauce.
Instead of sitting in the formal dining room like they had a week before, they sat in the smaller nook area off the kitchen. Here, the back windows overlooked the land beyond. She could just make out the creek that crossed over both of their properties. The one she’d fallen in earlier. The one they had first met at all those years ago.
Remembering how that first meeting had ended up with Nick on his ass in the mud, she laughed out loud.
“What?” he asked, frowning at her.
“I was just remembering the first time we met.” She smiled and watched him grin.
“Before we put up the fence that clearly shows we were on my property,” Nick added.
She narrowed her eyes. “The tree is still on our property.”
He raised his eyebrows slightly. “The tree may be, but the rock on which you were sitting on that day isn’t.”
“Let’s agree to disagree,” she said with a laugh.
“Agreed.” He held up his beer, and she tapped her bottle to his. When their eyes locked, he sobered. “I don’t want things to change between us.”