CHAPTER NINE
Addy looked down at Trent pinned underneath her. Her head spun as he nudged her lips apart. She’d had romantic encounters before but had never wanted them to progress very far. With Trent, she knew it wouldn’t stop like the others. She didn’t want it to.
His hands roamed slowly over her body, tugging her button-up flannel loose from her jeans until his fingertips brushed her bare skin.
She moaned as the pressure of his touch heated her skin and his mouth set fires down her neck. Her fingers dug into his hair, holding him to her body, demanding more. He flipped them over until she was immobilized beneath his broad shoulders.
“My god,” he said between kisses. He’d unbuttoned her shirt and pulled back to look down at her. She wore a sheer white spaghetti-strap tank top underneath; she could feel that it was pushed up to expose her stomach.
His eyes took her in as his hand shifted slowly over her bare skin. “You’re so beautiful.” His voice roughened as his gaze ran over her. When he tugged on her tank top and pulled it up higher, she moved to give him better access. Instead of pushing it all the way up, he nudged the soft material to just under her bra, then began to play his finger over her belly.
“Appendix?” he asked, fingering a small scar.
She nodded. They had both shed their jackets after sitting in the sun for over an hour. Now she leaned up and tugged his shirt over his head. Then ran her fingertips over all those sexy muscles.
Even though it was early spring in Montana, his skin was tan. A lot tanner than her own.
“You work with your shirt off?” She watched his dark hazel-brown eyes lighten as she touched him.
“When I’m clearing my land.” He closed his eyes, and she knew he was enjoying her touch. She leaned up and placed her lips where the warmth of her touch lingered. His fingers dug into her hair, holding her to his chest.
“My god,” Trent repeated, then tugged her head back, laying her on the soft blanket, until their lips met again. This time the kisses grew deeper, causing her entire body to respond.
Her legs wrapped around his jean-clad hips, pulling him closer until she felt his desire pressed up against her core. His hands moved, pulling her flannel off and tugging her tank top fully over her head until she lay underneath him clad only in her new pale-pink lace bra.
His mouth moved down to brush against a spot just above the light material. Addy groaned and tightened her grip in his hair. While his fingers brushed the top of her jeans, his tongue plunged under the lacy material and had her hips rising off the blanket.
It was a move designed to loosen the last strings of her hold. Trent had somehow undone the top button of her jeans without her knowing. His fingers dipped underneath and found her soft folds just as his mouth closed over one taut nipple and began a soft torture.
Her nails dug into his skin as he slowly loved her, giving her more pleasure than she’d ever experienced in her life. His mouth touched first one nipple then the other as his fingers worked, getting her closer to the edge.
When she cried out, he moved up and covered her lips with his own and kissed her until she felt her entire body vibrate under his touch.
“My god.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around him.
“Yeah.” She could tell he was smiling as he pulled her closer to his chest. “Definitely on the list.”
“List?” She chanced opening one eye and looking up at him.
He looked down at her with a grin. “Top ten moments of my life.”
“Oh?” She smiled and opened both eyes. “But we haven’t even . . .” She reached for him, only for him to grab her wrist and hold it down next to her hair on the blanket. She had never known it could feel like this, wanting someone so much.
“Next time.” He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I’ll want a soft bed and an entire night to watch those blue eyes of yours darken.”
“Your eyes turn a lighter shade of hazel,” she blurted out and instantly felt stupid.
“They do?” He leaned down until they were eye to eye, nose to nose. “Yours are the same color as the South Pacific.”
“Really?” She smiled up at him. “That’s got to be better than most coasts I’ve protested.”
He chuckled. “I’ve only been to one place and”—he leaned down and placed another kiss on her lips—“it didn’t come close to your beauty.”
They both heard voices coming closer and moved at the same time. She felt and heard the smack as her head hit his chin.
“Damn,” she cursed and rubbed the spot, then looked over at him doing the same to his chin.
“I’ll get your shirt.” He gestured for her to stay put, then leaned over and deposited her tank over her head. She pulled her flannel shirt on the rest of the way as he tossed his T-shirt over his head.
She sighed as those sexy muscles disappeared from her view.
By the time the hiking group hit their spot, Trent and Addy had their picnic all packed up and were heading back down the trail as if nothing had happened.
She felt like they were in a stalemate on the issue of what his family had in store, but personally they had just taken a giant step forward.
Of course, her heart rate took until they reached the bottom of the hill to return to normal. Her mind kept flashing to what he’d done to her. How he’d made her feel.
By the time they reached her Jeep, she was pretty sure that she was falling for Trent McGowan.
She was screwed.
Trent sat in his mother’s living room and tried to act surprised when Tyler and Kristen sprang the news. It helped that his mind kept wandering to Addy.
They had parted without setting any further plans. She’d agreed to try and find out who had talked to Beau if Trent would ask his family if he could share their plans with her.
He’d hesitantly agreed but wanted to postpone asking the family for as long as he could. He knew where his loyalty lay, but it wasn’t as if his family was going to kick him out if he didn’t get the information that they wanted from Addy.
Not that he was trying to trick her, just keep her around town for a little longer. Hell, to be honest, he’d keep her here as long as he could.
She was different than any woman he’d dated before. Different in so many ways. It wasn’t just that she was smart—in being with her, he could be himself.
He’d never talked about his love for books with anyone else. Like his brothers, Trent had a reputation around town, and in the past he hadn’t wanted to do anything to shake himself from that because it had tended to benefit him with the ladies. Maybe that was changing.
Once congratulations had poured out for Tyler and Kristen and plans had been preliminarily discussed, the family gathered around another homemade dinner.
“So have you found a place of your own?” Kristen asked her mother.
“Well, Gail and I have been talking.”
“Once Trent moves out . . .” His mother’s eyes met his.
“Hopefully in three months,” he supplied.
“Once he moves into his own place, we were thinking she’d just remain here. It’s not like there isn’t enough room.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” Kristen reached over and took her mother’s hand. “To have two grandmothers in one place and so close by.”
“That was what we thought too,” Trisha said. “That is, the plan will work until either of us finds a new man.”
“What?” Trent and his brothers all sat up a little. “Who’s finding a new man?”
“No one is,” their mother said. “For now. But your father and I always talked about what would happen if one of us passed on before the other. Your father wouldn’t want me to be lonely.”
“You’re not,” Tyler said. “You have Trisha. Besides, the two of you walk around here as if you are half of the Golden Girls quartet.”
Gail rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me remind you that even women our age need another kind of companionship.”
“Gross,” Trey said and plugged his ears. “I don’t want to hear any more.” He turned to Trent. “Make her stop.”
Trent laughed. “So what about all your things?” he asked Trisha.
“I’ve sold most of it. The rest we figured we could go through and decide what we can incorporate here.”
“God knows I have enough stuff I could toss out,” Gail added.
“Like the chipped egg bowl?” Trent took a sip of his tea.
“Some things I’ll hold on to.” She smiled.
“How did your lunch with Addy go?” Trisha asked. Suddenly every eye was on him, waiting.
“Fine.” Trent set his drink down and made a point to push the last pea across the plate as if he were playing hockey.
“Just fine?” his mother asked.
“Yeah.” He avoided eye contact.
“Did you ask her?” she prodded.
Trent shrugged. “She is going to look into who told Beau about the purchase.”
He watched his mother’s gaze sharpen. He could tell she was thinking. “How are our plans going?” She turned to Tyler.
“Fine,” he said. “We’ve got the lawyers’ go-ahead. That is, after May first. We’ll be legally free then to do what we want with Dad’s methods.”
“What about your Uncle Carl?” Kristen asked.
“He signed away his rights long ago,” Trent said. He felt something roil in the bottom of his gut. His father’s brother was a sore subject in their family.
“I mean, does he know? Shouldn’t you tell him?”
Trent didn’t really care what the old man thought about their deal, but he did know the guy didn’t deserve to be blindsided.
Everyone looked at each other in silence.
“Should we take a vote?” their mother said.
Suddenly four fists were in the air, and at the count of three, four thumbs rose up.
“Okay,” Kristen laughed. “What the heck was that?”
“How we McGowans vote.” Tyler smiled and took her hand.
“What does it mean?”
“If the thumbs had turned down, the answer was no. But when the thumbs are up, it’s a yes. Which means we tell my uncle ahead of time.” He winked at her. “Want to see how we decide who gets to tell him?”
Trey and Trent groaned at the same time.
An hour later and sporting a bruised ego, Trent made his way into his room. Now, on top of his very long list of things to do, he also had to make time to tell his uncle of their plans for the Lenzes’ property and the future of McGowan Enterprises.
When he crawled into bed, he pulled out his cell phone and called Addy.
“So you’re a caller, not a texter,” she said, answering the phone.
“I can’t hit those tiny buttons fast enough.” He smiled and settled into the pillow. “Are you in bed?” he asked.
“Just about to get there. I was reading.”
“What?” he asked, glancing over at his own stack of books he’d borrowed from the library earlier in the week. He’d been too busy to even crack one open yet.
“You wouldn’t know this one,” she said, and he could hear her shift around.
“Is it a romance book?” he asked, chuckling at the memory of the ending to their earlier conversation.
“So?” He heard the defiance in her voice. “What if it is? People read all kinds of things.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” he said. “I’ve read a few of those myself.”
“Oh?” she said slowly. “Which ones?”
For the next forty minutes, they compared book lists and talked about good plots and characters versus bad ones. The only thing they disagreed on was horror books. Addy loved scary books, while he stayed clear of them.
“I love a book that keeps me up at night.” She sighed, and he could tell she was growing tired.
“I could keep you up all night,” he said softly and smiled when he heard her breath hitch. “Addy . . .” He waited a beat.
“Hmm?” she said.
“Dream of me,” he whispered.
“I already am.”