“Thanks Joe, want any more coffee?” Hattie offered.
“Maybe later.” Joe smiled. “You want me to ride in with you?” He turned back to Lee once more.
Lee shook his head. “No, I’d rather you stay here with Hattie and the kids. I don’t want to leave her alone. Stay close to the house ‘til I get back, understand?”
Joe eyed Lee. “I will. You be careful. Watch your back.”
Lee’s expression changed to a slight curve. “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving myself open to them. I’ve got the money hidden.”
“That’s good thinkin’.” Joe chuckled.
Joe went outside and started talking to the kids leaving Hattie and Lee alone. Lee wondered if he’d done it purposely, but he wasn’t about to make a move on Hattie. He wanted her trust first, then maybe, at some point, her love.
“Be careful going into town. If they knew you have any money they’ll be after you, don’t you think?” Hattie asked, her soft brown eyes going over him hungrily.
“Yeah, but they don’t know it, that’s my advantage. They would have expected me to already pay the banker if I had anything. So this will surprise them, I’m sure. I’ll be back soon. Need anything from town?” he asked, putting his hat back on his head and moving toward her.
“No, just you…hurry back,” she almost turned away as she whispered the words, but he moved to stand in front of her and turned her chin up. His lips grazed against hers for a long moment.
“God, you taste good in the morning…” He smiled against her.
Her hands went to his waist as she deliberately pulled him closer. “I needed that —this mornin’. More than that, but I guess I’ll settle for what I can get.” She smiled temptingly and reached to kiss him again, this time the kisses deepening. They were losing themselves in the kisses as the children played outside. But directly Joe took them out to the barn and their voices drifted away.
Lee’s hand went around her and cupped her breast. He moaned lowly in his throat as his thumb gently caressed her nipple through the material. Her body reacted naturally to him and he smiled. “One of these days, I’m going to sink myself into those pillow soft breasts of yours, and kiss them ‘til they are raw…” He bent his head, and nudged her cleavage with his nose, kissing her there, feeling the heat rise between them. For long moments, he held her in his arm, and then turned her around so her back was at his chest and his hand romanced freely over her breast.
“Promise,” she murmured.
“Fact…” He kissed her again and pressed himself so she would know how effected he was, his shaft making itself known against her lower back. He let her go slowly, reluctantly. “Kisses aren’t enough…” he rasped. “Never have been between us. Not even when you were fifteen, and certainly not now.”
“Sixteen,” she corrected. "And just one kiss was plenty at the time."
“If you hadn’t been just sixteen when I first met you…Lord…we’d already have a few babies.”
Her breath hitched, and heat consumed her as she stared into his eyes. “Don’t talk to me like that…don’t make love to me with your words,” she panted. "Havin' babies? You'd be proud to father my children?"
"More than proud. I want a dozen…" He laughed.
"You are sinfully brazen. Knowin' how they'd shun us. And yet…still wantin' us to be together, to have children together."
“You know I want you…” he sighed, coming to hold her, her head falling back on his shoulder as he kissed her forehead and rubbed her breast.
“I know…” she whispered. “I felt so brazen standing there kissing you without invitation, but you were being so good to us, and I was overwhelmed. I thought you was the most handsome boy I’d ever seen. I wanted you to make me yours.”
"Oh Hattie, don't you know, you've always been mine, only mine and I know it." He whispered. "I've never doubted you or how you feel."
"I've felt that. That blatant trust you have. The honesty, the bravery you show by your love, it consumes me."
“You have a fire about you lady, always have.”
“And it’s burnin’ pretty near out of control…” she murmured and turned away.
He pulled her back into his arm. His hand went to go under her shirt, this time not satisfied with feeling material but needing to hold her in his arm. And although she gasped, she didn’t stop him. She leaned her head against his shoulder, as his one hand caressed her. Fires flamed between them as he found her with his one good hand. The camisole she wore was easy to bypass. His finger sought the nipple that puckered for his touch. But just finding the tips of her breasts were not enough. “I want to see you, I have to,” he admitted raggedly.
“But…” She looked outside and saw Joe toward the barn with the kids.
“I need you so…” he whisper
ed, his kisses adding fuel to the fire they were building.