Page 45 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

She nodded happily. "Much."

He walked her over to the counter and set her down on it, realizing as he stood between her legs that it might not have been the wisest move. Her cheeks flushed pink as she looked up at him, and he could see the peaks of her nipples pressing against her pajama top. It took a lot of restraint not to close his hands around her ass and pull her closer to him.

She bit down on her bottom lip, and the look in her eyes gave him the impression that she might not mind too much if he did. Instead, he stepped away and reached for her mug.

Giving it back to her, he said, "If we're not careful, I could do more than crowd you."

She ran her tongue over her bottom lip before saying, "Then I hope we're not going to be too careful for too long."

He shoved his hands in his pockets to adjust his pants, which were suddenly a lot tighter in the front. "Do you eat eggs and bacon?" he asked. “Do you want some?”

She let out a short laugh. "I do. I'd love eggs and bacon, please, but only because it's too soon for me to have you for breakfast."

He stepped right back to her and rested his hands on the counter on either side of her hips. Leaning in close as she set the mug back down, he spoke next to her ear. "It might be too soon yet, but when we get there, it'll be me eating you for breakfast."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and he couldn't resist sliding his hands under her ass and hauling her against him, his cock aching to press into the heat between her legs. But he showed as much restraint as he could, even though that didn't include a pause before he claimed her mouth in a kiss that demonstrated how badly he wanted to be inside her.

~ ~ ~

Amelia stood under the shower, letting the hot water run down over her face. She should probably be taking a cold shower right about now, but she'd never had that kind of discipline. She reached up to touch her lips, remembering the way Ford had kissed her.

He'd talked yesterday about sparks lighting a fire – if he kept kissing her like that, it would be more like an inferno. The man was lethal – and she loved it. She was a little sad that he hadn't whisked her off to bed. She wouldn't have complained if he'd wanted to, but he'd eventually stepped back and given her a rueful smile. He hadn't apologized at least; she wouldn't have liked that.

He hadn't even tried to hide the fact that he had to adjust his jeans. She smirked – from what she'd seen, his feet weren't lying.

She turned around to shampoo her hair. Unfortunately, after they'd eaten the amazing breakfast that he'd cooked for her, someone had called him down to the bunkhouse. It hadn't even occurred to her until then that on a normal Sunday, he would already be down there working. She made a mental note to remind herself that she shouldn't get carried away, taking up too much of his time – no matter how much she wanted to. She didn't want to interfere with his work any more than she'd want him to interfere in hers.

When she made it back downstairs, her hand came up to cover her heart when she saw that he'd left the coffee pot ready to run again and a slice of yesterday's coffee cake in the fridge with a note on it.

I figured you'd spot this when you get milk for your coffee.

I saved it for you. Thought you might want something sweet,

but don't eat too much else. I'll make us dinner later.

"Ford MacFarland," she murmured to herself. "You big, sweet, adorable man."

She took her cake and coffee to the great room and set them down on the coffee table in front of the sofa, where she settled into his spot with her laptop. It was only when she logged in that she remembered about the message on the TangentOps forum. It was time to see if she'd received a reply.

She held her breath as she entered her login details – then caught herself doing it and consciously breathed normally for a few moments. She didn’t know what the weird feeling she had about the message – and whoever had sent it – was, but she wasn’t going to deny it was there. One of the guys … Wade, had said something about Spidey senses last night. She’d laughed that a guy like him would use such a term – she hadn’t heard it since she was a kid. But as she waited for her messages to load, she knew exactly what he’d meant.

Rootless2: I’m someone Danny used to know.

She inhaled sharply and stared at the words. Her mind filled with memories of her brother. He’d been so full of life that it was hard to believe, even now, that he was dead. She could see him as a teenager in his football uniform – helmet under his arm, big smile on his face, girls surrounding him. In his early twenties: his hair a little longer, his eyes a little wiser. His black leather jacket and motorcycle boots making him look more like a model than a biker. Then later versions of him: older, thinner, paler, dark circles under his eyes.

She forced herself to breathe again and reread those six words over and over. She hadn’t known Danny’s friends for a few years before he died. She hadn’t wanted to – they were all addicts, and she’d tried to get him away from them, out of that world. She’d been hopeful when she met Crystal, but Crystal had gone down the same road. She was a sweet person, but not a strong one. But of all Danny’s friends and peers, she’d never known one of them who she might expect to have even found TangentOps.

She was torn between proceeding cautiously and tearing into whoever this imposter was. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard until she finally nodded to herself and answered with her usual restraint.

Subroutine: That doesn’t tell me anything. Who are you?

It had been days since she’d sent her reply, and having spent yesterday with Ford, she hadn’t even thought to check if she’d had a response. She knew that she should log out and put it out of her mind again but …

Her heart leaped into her mouth when her laptop beeped with a notification – a new message.

Rootless2: Hunter.

Subroutine: Is that your name or some kind of clue?

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