It didn’t sound very focused but it sure sounded sweet.

“It wasn’t,” he whispered back and I felt his teeth nip my ear, his beard tickling my jaw and neck, his hand slid between my legs and his fingers moved whisper-soft against me.

“Tate,” I breathed as I moved my h*ps to press into his hand.

“Like that, Laurie,” he murmured.

“What?” I breathed again as his hand kept moving, still soft, so light.

God, such a beautiful tease.

He’d done that a lot earlier. It wasn’t fast and hard like the first time. Tate was a man who knew how to take his time and make a woman’s body sing.

“Those little hitches,” he answered, lips still at my ear.

“Hitches?”

“In your breath,” he explained. “You gettin’ excited, like to hear that, baby.”

His finger suddenly slid inside and my neck arched back as my back arced forward.

“Yes,” I whispered, my arms moving around him to hold on tight as his finger moved in and out.

“Christ,” he whispered, “like that too.”

“Not as much as me.”

I felt his lips form a smile against my neck. His thumb trailed soft, teasing my clit.

My breath hitched again and my h*ps pressed into his hand.

“You like that too,” he noted.

I didn’t answer.

After more of his sweet torture, I called, “Tate, honey?”

“Yeah, baby,” he answered.

“Am I under your skin?” I whispered as my h*ps moved with his hand.

He replied instantly, “Oh yeah.” His thumb tweaked my cl*t harder, my h*ps jerked and a low mew slid out of my throat as the fingers of one of my hands slid into his hair and the other arm held on tighter. “Fuck yeah,” he growled and his lips left my ear, his mouth found mine and he kissed me, wet and deep.

Then he stopped playing and started playing which led to Tate f**king me so hard, when he was done, I couldn’t move.

Luckily Tate could move. He rolled me so my back was pressed to his front, his arms both went around me tight, his knee bent, taking mine with it and his weight settled into me, pressing my front into the bed.

“Sleep, Ace,” he muttered into my hair and I heard him but I heard him a nanosecond before I was out.

Chapter Eleven

I Ain’t Fifteen

I woke before Tate and laid in bed listening to him breathe. I was again tucked to his back with my arm resting on his waist and I could see the eagle close up.

I stared at that eagle inked into Tate’s skin and it hit me.

I was under that skin.

Me.

This beautiful man in front of me had me under his skin.

I smiled and lightly kissed the eagle’s wing at his shoulder blade then carefully left the bed. I went to the bathroom, brushed and flossed my teeth, washed my face and grabbed my shampoo, conditioner, bath wash, shave gel and razor. I got in the shower, did my business, got out, toweled off and wrung out my hair. Then I wrapped the towel around me, quietly left the bathroom and went to my suitcase.

I was pawing through it, thinking I’d go with the baby pink and ecru lace underwear when I heard movement in the bed.

I started to turn but didn’t finish when a strong arm was locked around my belly, my feet were off the floor and my body was turned sharply toward the bed.

Automatically my knees came up, my hands went to his forearm and I shrieked a girlie, “Tate!”

He made no response because we were at the bed, he twisted and we were falling, Tate on his back, me on top of him. He let me go and I rolled off his body but didn’t get very far when he tagged me and dragged me back so I was under his big, heavy frame.

“Took a shower without me, Ace,” he growled, his deep voice rougher with lingering sleep, his handsome face soft with it but his eyes were intense in a way that was too sexy for words.

“You were asleep,” I told him.

“Consequences,” he muttered and before I could respond to that bizarre reply, his body shifted, he yanked the towel off me and my whole body jerked with the force he used.

“Tate!” I girlie shrieked again but his body rolled back over mine and then he captured my mouth with his.

Then I found out that consequences for not waking Tate to take a shower with me were so divine, after he was done meting them out and I was lying face down in bed unable to move while I listened to him shower, I decided I’d sneak a shower without him at any given chance.

The problem was, the shower I had with him was just as divine.

Lucky for me, these were my problems.

* * * * *

I walked into the hospital waiting room where Tate and Mack were sitting, Mack in a chair with his feet propped up on a low table, his eyes glued to a TV that had the sound down low, Tate in the same position but on a couch.

When I walked in, Tate’s eyes moved to me.

“He’s settled,” I announced and then lifted a knee high to maneuver over Tate’s outstretched legs. I got to the other side and collapsed onto the couch beside him.

“He good?” Tate asked as his arm slid around my shoulders and he pulled me into his side.

I lifted my feet and put them on the table close to Tate’s, nodding and relaxing into his heat.

“It okay for me to go in?” Mack asked, I looked over my shoulder at him and nodded again. Mack pulled his feet off the table, put his hands to the armrests and shoved up. “I won’t tire him out,” he muttered and strolled out of the room.

Dad had been moved out of ICU. He was conscious a lot more that day and talking. This was all good.

He still was an alarming color and weak in a way that both freaked me out and made me so sad I didn’t know what to do with the feeling. So I just let it happen and decided to process it later since there was nothing else I could do.

Tate’s arm gave me a squeeze and I lifted my head from his shoulder where I’d rested it to look at him.

“You need to get outta here,” he declared when my eyes caught his.

I shook my head and his arm curled me toward him so my front was pressed to his side and, to be comfortable, I was forced to uncross my feet and lift a knee until it was resting on his thighs. This was, by the way, very comfortable because I was wearing white shorts and the feel against my bare skin of his soft, faded denim and the hard muscle under it was really nice.

“Laurie, can’t stay here all day, your Mom either. She’s barely left. We’ll get her, check out of the hotel, take her back to the farm. She doesn’t have to be this close anymore. He’s good, she needs a break, she needs to connect with home and he needs to rest,” Tate stated.