Page 53 of A Rancher's Bride
Although he wasnottelling Lisa her gift had come in handy.
He brought Kelli back to their bed and dried her off, her amused expression clear that she was humouring him.
“Grin all you want, I’m not embarrassed.” He tossed the towel away, stretching beside her so he could continue to run his hands over her skin.
“You’re a lot more touchy-feely than I expected, that’s all.”
He swooped the back of his knuckles over her breasts, circling her nipples. Smiling as they peaked. “What makes you say that?”
“None of you Stone boys are big huggers,” she pointed out. “Except maybe Dustin, and I think he tries to hide it because he doesn’t want any of you giving him grief.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the fact we’re constantly touching stuff doing chores.” He frowned as he spotted faint bruises on her forearms. “You did end up hurt.”
Kelli wiggled up on her elbows. “Took you until now to notice?”
Luke shrugged, leaning in to kiss her skin delicately. “I wasn’t looking at your arms earlier. There were a few more distracting parts.”
Like her breasts, which were right there, inches from his lips…
Before he could give in to temptation, he pushed up and kissed the tip of her nose. “Get dressed.”
She sighed. “Okay. Suiting up.”
They were dealing with the breadcrumb trail of clothing they’d left from the front door to their bedroom, the evidence nearly hidden away, when Kelli’s phone rang.
She glanced down with a frown. “Unknown number.” She answered it, her eyes widening instantly. “Yes, ma’am. I’m free right now. Where would you like to meet?”
Kelli flashed a thumbs-up right as Luke’s phone went off, and he reached to check his messages.
Walker.
In the background, Kelli was still on the phone. “I can be down in about five minutes,” she offered. “Okay, I’ll see you then.”
She hung up, mouth open in a silent scream.
Luke lifted a brow. “I take it you’re abandoning me?”
“For a bit. Oh my God, Luke. Mrs. Petrie wants to chat. Said she needs to know more about Silver Stone, and did I like my tea sweet or not?”
Kelli bounced with excitement. He pulled her against him and squeezed tightly before tipping her head. Locking gazes. “Said you were a rock star.”
“I don’t think rock stars have this much fun,” she offered, leaning upon her tiptoes and kissing him enthusiastically before slipping from his arms and shoving her feet into her boots. A second later she had a jacket on and was headed out the door. “If you see Diane before me, tell her we’ll talk later. Oh, and text me if you need me.”
“Same,” he reminded her.
She was off before he could say anything else. No time to share how much fun he’d had, or how perfect the last few hours had been.
Maybe it was a good thing because his brain was really pushing forward too fast, the way this new status quo felt so very right. Damn, Kelli was the best thing that had happened to him, and finally becoming aware of it—
Instead of texting his brother back, Luke put through a call in the hopes Walker was somewhere with reception.
“Hey. I didn’t want to interrupt you in case you were in the middle of a deal,” Walker said. “You keeping busy?”
Momentary guilt set in, because for the last couple of hours Luke hadn’t been doing anything to progress the financial interests of Silver Stone.
Then again, he couldn’t be socializing the entire time. “Just taking a break. It’s not like attending the rodeo or a press event. We’re talking about horses, and Silver Stone, but it’s definitely more about getting to know people.”
Walker made a noncommittal noise. “Not to put the pressure on or anything, but any of those people seemed interested in tossing cash our direction?”
