Tangled (Steele Ranch 3)

I wanted to touch him, kiss him. Hell, I wanted to climb him like a monkey. I understood why Penny’d gone off with Boone. If Sutton tugged me into the pantry, I’d certainly lose my panties. And I wasn’t even wearing any.

He wasn’t moving any closer, most likely scared of three giggling women—which was ridiculous since Sutton looked like the kind of guy who ate nails for breakfast—so I walked over to him, curled my fingers in his shirt and went up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

He tasted of mint, as if he’d just brushed his teeth. I recognized his scent, some kind of spicy soap and all dark, virile male. “Hi,” I whispered.

“Morning,” he replied.

“Want some coffee?” I asked, but I really, really wanted to take his hand and drag him to whatever room Penny and Boone found convenient for their quickies. It might be bold of me to take control, but I had no doubt he’d take over once we got there and the door was closed.

“No, I’m good.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you ladies were talking about.”

I didn’t want him to go and I tightened my grip, keeping him from stepping back. His one dark brow winged up at that.

“Need something, baby?” he said, his voice taking on that dark edge that made me hot.

I nodded, feeling myself slip into the headspace where Sutton would take care of me. Strange, since the conversation Penny, Kady and I were just having was about how I needed to be in control of my life, of my career. Two seconds in Sutton’s arms and I melted.

“Boone likes the office for sexy times, but you two can go upstairs,” Penny offered. I’d barely met her, but I recognized the playful tone of her voice.

Sutton’s face went hard. Shuttered.

“Cord and Riley like the front porch,” Kady added quickly.

Sutton’s gaze flicked to hers and the corner of his mouth tipped up.

“You need me to take care of you?” Sutton asked, his dark eyes shifting between mine and my lips.

“I just want a kiss,” I replied.

He smiled then, the hard edges from a second ago disappearing. He lowered his head, brushed his mouth over mine, flicked my bottom lip with his tongue, then lifted his head. “Better?”

“For now,” I said, letting go of his shirt, then smoothing out the wrinkles. I wanted to make sure he knew a kiss alone wasn’t going to do it for me.

“For now,” he agreed and I saw the dark promise in his eyes. “Ladies.”

He spun on his heel and left, offering me a super nice view of his ass in his jeans. Kady fanned herself with her hand. “That was hot. I’m really glad you two crossed paths again. He never mentioned you, at least to me. He’s been Mr. Grumpy Pants ever since I met him. I always wondered if it was because of his time in the military, the stuff he’d seen or done.”

I knew he’d served, been deployed; he’d told me that last summer, but nothing more. It was obvious with the way he carried himself, the close-cut hair. His…precision. The first night we’d spent together—after a steamy bout of sex—he’d had a nightmare after we’d finally fallen asleep. He’d thrashed, shouted, even grabbed my wrist as if I was part of his dream, as if I was hurting him. I’d finally been able to wake him, but he’d been so upset with himself, felt so much shame that I’d seen him that way, and even worse because he’d hurt me.

I’d had bruises from his harsh grasp, but it hadn’t been bad. I’d been more scared than anything. It obviously hadn’t been his first nightmare and I doubted now, his last. Was that why he liked to dominate in the bedroom? Did he need that control when other parts of his life were out of it? Was that why he’d been so obliging when he’d had Archer and Lee join us in the hotel, so I wouldn’t be alone with him?

“He killed for me.” Kady’s eyes looked toward the ceiling and pointed up. “He shot a man dead in the master bedroom.”

“I heard about this last night, but in the master bedroom?” I asked, leaning against the peninsula. I’d slept in there.

Kady hopped up onto the counter, smoothed down her dress. She didn’t seem freaked out that Sutton had killed someone, in this very house. “It’s a long story, but definitely the reason why he didn’t like the idea of taking you up there.”

“Spill,” Penny told her, going to the fridge and getting a bottle of orange juice, then a small cup from the cabinet. “She might know Sutton in the biblical sense, but that doesn’t mean much with the way we’re all hussies and drop our panties within two seconds of breathing in their pheromones.”

“So true. Okay, here goes.” Kady told me of her sister and her long-term drug abuse, marrying a man from rehab who only wanted access to Kady’s inheritance and his hiring of a hit man in order to get it. All that sounded like a twisted soap opera. It was the part where the guy had been in the house—this house—to kill Kady and Sutton had found him and shot him that had my interest. “I barely got a glimpse of Sutton after he’d done it because I’d been a little hysterical and Cord had carried me out of the house really fast, but Sutton was hard. Like, emotionally shut down. Calculating. Cool as a dang cucumber. He’s killed before that. You probably know better than me, but he’s quiet and a little scary looking. Hot, but scary.”

“Hot and scary,” I agreed.

“After that night, I never slept in this house again. Penny did for a few nights, but never stayed in the master bedroom.”

Penny shook her head.

“I might have to rethink where I sleep now, too,” I said. “It’s not like you can tell me something like that and then I’d be able to get a good night sleep, even if Lee and Archer were in bed with me. God, it gives me the creeps.”