Cal swore he heard a rooster crowing, but he kept his eyes screwed shut and tried to dive back into the dream that had him wrestling naked with a certain auburn-haired beauty, a beauty who had a tiny cluster of shamrocks on that soft space on the front of her hip, which just happened to be his favorite part of a woman’s body. He couldn’t wait to examine that tattoo more closely. He smiled, and then he heard that damned rooster again, followed by a pulsing dance beat.

What the actual fuck?

He cracked open an eye and saw the real-life redhead fumbling with her phone, trying to turn off the disco rooster sounds that blared from it.

“Darlin’, what the ever-lovin’ hell is that noise?”

Kat shrieked, her phone went flying, the disco rooster began doing its groove thing again, and Cal wondered how his naked-wrestling dream had devolved into some sort of hick-hop dubstep nightmare. She scrambled over the bed and finally turned off the wretched alarm.

“Sorry, Cal. I sleep through most alarms, so I went looking for something obnoxious.” She grinned sheepishly, and it made Cal want to show her some of his naked-wrestling moves even more.

“Well, I think you achieved that goal, Kat,” he said with a chuckle. “Good mornin’, darlin’.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Kat said with a grin and a giggle. She slapped her hand over her mouth, but that just seemed to make her giggle more. Cal chuckled, and soon they were rolling around on the bed, laughing. Cal had her pinned down and was kissing his way down her body, bent on examining that tattoo, when Kat tweaked his ear.

“Ow!” Cal yelped. “I was just getting to the good part.”

Kat, who was now on her stomach and pulling the pile of clothes off the floor, turned and wagged a finger at him. “Cal Harper, you are a bad influence. I’m already going to have to do the walk of shame back to my room, which I haven’t done in probably twenty years, and if you keep up with your shenanigans, I’m going to be late to my meeting.”

“There’s no shame in my game, ma’am,” Cal managed to say with a straight face, which earned him an eye roll. Dang, she was even cuter when she was being sassy. Cal lay back and enjoyed the view of Kat adjusting her panties and bra, and he decided watching her get dressed was almost as fun as undressing her. Kat balanced on the end of the bed as she donned those high heels again. When she stood up, redressed but fresh-faced with her hair still wild, Cal’s stomach lurched because he knew she was leaving. Their “here and now” was coming to an end, and he didn’t want that to happen at all.

“So . . . what’s on your agenda today?” Kat was playing with her necklace, looking unsure.

“Uh, a distillery tour, followed by a tasting. That’s supposed to last until late afternoon. Then Phonse has some dinner thing lined up.”

“Oh, okay. Um, I’m sure I’ll get dragged into a corporate thing. So. Um.” She smiled, suddenly shy. “This was fun. Thank you.” She waved and headed toward the living room. “I’ll let myself out. I’ll, uh, maybe see you around the conference.”

“Kat.” Cal leapt out of bed and snagged her by the wrist when she was almost to the door. “Kat, darlin’. Wait just a second.”

She turned, and Cal thought he saw the tiniest glimmer of something in her eyes. Hope? Desire? He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers for a soft kiss. And then another one. And another one.

“Cal . . .”

“I know—you’ve got a meeting.” He smiled at her and shrugged. “And, um, yeah. If, uh, you want to extend this here and now to, you know, maybe, here and later, I’m game.”

Kat rewarded him with a brilliant smile and another little giggle. “I’d like that a lot, Cal. I’ll check back in this afternoon?”

“Great. Sure.”

Kat gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll be in touch. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.”

“Sounds good.”

She waved again and slipped out the door, leaving Cal standing naked and feeling like he’d just missed something monumental.

 

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Beep beep! Beep beep!

Kat groaned and pulled her phone out to check the message, though she already knew who it was from.

Remember: Distillery tour at 10:30 sharp! Be on time!

Kat stared at her phone, and she could feel her face getting hot. Topher had some nerve. She’d been three minutes late in getting downstairs this morning. Three minutes! And the meeting hadn’t started until an hour after they’d arrived at the distillery because of some sort of snafu with daylight savings time or whatnot.

Kat made it to the elevator before her emotions got the best of her. With a shaky finger, she punched the button for her floor and leaned her head against the cool panel. Her feet and her head throbbed, and she seriously thought she might have an aneurysm or maybe a twenty-four-hour brain tumor.

The day’s meetings had not gone well, to say the least. Her absence at the opening dinner had definitely been noticed, and she could tell from the reactions of her coworkers that Topher had not offered up any ready excuses. Why would he? It’s not like she’d covered for his bad behavior at any point in the past fifteen years—oh wait! Essentially, her entire career was based on preventing or mitigating Topher’s lapses in judgment.

Not that Cal had been a lapse in judgment at all. Sure, she’d blown off a corporate dinner to get naked and spend the night with a virtual stranger, but she only lived once, right? At least, that’s what her best friend would tell her. But then, what was this she was feeling? Not shame, nor regret, really. It couldn’t possibly be disappointment, could it? How could she be depressed to only have one night with a man she’d just met? Sure, he was handsome and smart and funny, and wow, oh wow, such a good kisser and everything else, but surely this feeling was just a side effect from jet lag, too much booze, and an adrenaline crash from doing something totally out of character. Hopefully, she hadn’t flushed the last fifteen years of her career down the toilet.

Speaking of the drain, she hoped the hot water had been restored. She’d had two freezing showers in Ireland, and she seriously thought she would commit grievous bodily harm to someone if she couldn’t have a steaming hot soak before putting this absolutely wretched day to bed.

Deep, calming breaths, Kathleen. Deep, calming breaths.

The gulps of air she sucked down were not deep, nor were they calming; in fact, they were shaky and shallow and, if she were honest with herself, very close to sobs. How could this trip be both so good and so bad at the same time? The elevator door opened, and Kat stepped out into the corridor with tears running down her face. She had a strict “No tears in the office” policy that she’d adhered to since her divorce, but she wasn’t in the office, was she?

She rounded the corner, fumbling in her bag for the key card, and ran smack into someone who was waiting right by her door.

“Dang it, I—” she began, her voice trembling, but when she looked up, all she could see was Cal’s handsome face, his sapphire blue eyes clouded with concern. “Oh, it’s you. Hi.”

“Yeah, it’s me. Hi.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “I was hoping I could catch you before dinner.”

“Why?”

He gaped for a few seconds, opening and closing his mouth and seemingly very confused by her question. “Well, why the hell not? We’d talked about what we had to do for the day, but I decided that I didn’t want to have another meal with a guy who used to pants me in gym class, that I’d rather see what a smart, funny, sexy redhead was doing.”

“Guys really pantsed each other in gym class? I thought that was just in the movies.” Kat laughed through her sniffles and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was sure she looked like a waterlogged raccoon, but she didn’t really care.

Cal chuckled. “Yes, pantsing is real, and so is my invitation to dinner.” He shook his head. “Man, you really bring out the cheeseball in me.”

“Well, there’s nothing I like to sink my teeth into more than a big ball of cheese.” Kat frowned. “That really didn’t come out like I imagined it.”

Cal gathered her in his arms and hugged her tightly. She felt him kiss the top of her head before she tilted up her face to look at him.

“Darlin’, you can sink your teeth into any part of me you want.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Whaddya say, then? Will you have dinner with me again?”

Kat hesitated. “What happened to just ‘here and now,’ Cal?”

He shrugged. “Well, even though it’s later, it’s still here and now, right?”

She couldn’t fault his logic at all.

´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

 “Um, yeah. I had a little bit of a crisis in deciding what to wear last night.” Kat grinned sheepishly as Cal gawked at the mess of clothes and her suitcase strewn across the bed. “And then I was running late this morning, and there was no hot water, again, and yeah. Um, I’m also kind of a slob when it comes to my personal space. Okay, I’m a total slob. Like, really—”

Cal sealed his mouth over Kat’s just to stop her from beating herself up. It seemed to work, because she hushed and sank into him with a sigh.

“Does that make things any better?”

“Oh yeah.” Kat laid her head on his shoulder and murmured, “Much better.”

“Why don’t you get changed out of your work clothes, and I’ll see if there’s hot water? If not, we can go back to my room.”

Kat seemed unsure, so he kissed her again before going into the bathroom, where it looked like a makeup counter had exploded. Cal shook his head at the mess as he turned on the hot water and decided she really wasn’t exaggerating about being a slob, which just made her a whole lot sexier in his mind. Something about being so buttoned-up and prim in her public persona but wild and haphazard underneath intrigued him. He absentmindedly ran his hand under the water, halfway hoping it wouldn’t be restored so he could whisk her up to his room and they could stay holed up for the next three days.

When Cal stepped back into the room, Kat was standing in her stocking feet with one high heel in her hand and still wearing her work clothes, though her blouse was unbuttoned and Cal could see the delectable swell of one breast and a peek of cheetah print. Hot damn.

“Darlin’, there’s hot water. Bubbles or no bubbles?”

“Bubbles?”

Cal crossed the room to stand right in front of Kat. He took the shoe from her hand and tossed it onto the bed, then began to slowly undress her. “Bubbles or no bubbles in the bath? There’s hot water, and it seems to me that you could use a good soak. Am I right?”

She nodded, eyes big and bright, almost as if she were holding back tears.

She was down to her bra and panties again, but no necklace or high heels this time—just silky animal print.

“I like these,” Cal murmured, running his finger along the lacy edge of the panties.

She smiled then, just a little grin, and said, “I do, too,” before looping her arms over his shoulders and kissing his neck. “You’re going to join me, right?”

“In the tub?”

“Mm-hmm.” He felt the flicker of a tongue in his ear and teeth on his earlobe. Shit.

“Oh, hell yeah. You go in there and make sure the water is how you like it. I’ll order some room service.” He gave her another long, sweet kiss. “How’s that sound?”

Kat gifted him with a sweet grin and nodded. “But a warning, Cal—I like it hot.”

“Honey, I think I can handle it.”

She winked and sashayed into the bathroom, hips swinging. And as Cal picked up the receiver of the phone, he thought, No fucking way that I can handle this.

´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

The tub in the hotel was perfect for two smallish people. That said, Kat’s non-willowy, five-foot-ten frame coupled with Cal’s lean but six-foot-four body made for more-than-cozy company, but she was just fine with that. Getting situated provided some comic relief in a day that she sorely needed it, and by the time Cal had Kat wrapped in his arms and was feeding her fruit and cheese from the room service tray, she’d completely relaxed.

He was kneading her arms and shoulders, interspersing kisses with lovely massaging, when he asked, “Can I ask what made this day not so great?”

She turned her head and nipped at his chin but answered him. “I’m not really sure. I was mulling stuff over while you were being sweet. It’s really just the same ol’ same ol’, right? But I guess it’s just heightened because we’re in a different locale and Topher is getting a dose of his own medicine for once. And, boy, he doesn’t like it at all.”

“His own medicine?”

She dipped her head, suddenly self-conscious. “You know, me having someone’s interest.”

Cal’s hands slipped lower, from her shoulders to her waist. “You don’t date back home?” Cal ran his hands over Kat’s belly, and she automatically sucked in. “Darlin’, quit that. You’re supposed to be relaxing, and you aren’t relaxing when you’re trying to imitate Ms. Olympia.” He gently squeezed the body part in question and then trailed his fingers over the small cluster of shamrocks. “I like this a lot, by the way. So fuckin’ sexy. It’s like a little secret sign that I’m lucky enough to get to see.” He added another little smooch on her cheek. “You didn’t answer my question: You don’t date back in Boston?”

Kat nestled back into Cal’s chest, giving him better access to do whatever he was doing. Exploring? Examining? It sure felt like worshipping to her, and dang, she could get used to this.

“I date a bit, but I don’t make it a point to go to places where I know he’ll be, or approach him and introduce him to the himbo of the moment.”

Cal’s laugh rumbled against her back. “ ‘Himbo’—I like that. I’ll have to tell Phonse that one.”

“Is Phonse a himbo?”

“Phonse is definitely a himbo. And as my mama would say, ‘Bless his heart.’ ”

Kat laughed in spite of herself, but when Cal pulled her closer to him and hugged her tight, she was surprised to find her cheeks wet.

“Good grief. You must think I’m a complete lunatic,” she said through her sniffles.

“Nope, just a woman who’s not used to being appreciated. And, darlin’, I want to appreciate all of you.” Cal kissed her on the cheek. “But we’re both turning into prunes, our glasses are empty, and the water is getting cold, so why don’t we move this party to the bedroom?”

´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

Glasses refilled, plate restocked, and robes donned, Cal sat against the headboard with Kat nestled in front of him while he brushed and braided her hair. He felt rather than heard Kat sigh contentedly, and when he glanced in the mirror opposite the bed, her eyes were closed and she resembled a sublime blend of Rossetti and Klimt so much that Cal could barely breathe.

“You’ve done this a lot, haven’t you?” she said quietly. “But not with a lover, I don’t think.”

Cal huffed a quiet laugh. “My mother had a hard life, being married to my old man. She . . . wasn’t able to take care of herself, really, but she always made sure her hair was fixed. When Chet dumped her in a home, they cut all her hair off because it was too hard to keep up. It made her crazier than she already was. When we boys were old enough to do something about it, we moved her and we’d take turns visiting. I went every Tuesday, which was her day to go to the hairdresser, but she always wanted me to brush and braid her hair instead of the shop ladies doing it. So I did.”

Cal’s hands stilled when they got to the end of the braid. He hadn’t let himself think about braiding his mother’s hair in years, not since she’d passed. He kissed the back of Kat’s neck, then rested his cheek on the curve of her shoulder. They sat like that, her curled up in front of him, him wrapped around her body, until Kat stirred. She plied him with soft kisses, and they lay down on their sides, face-to-face.

Kat opened her robe, and then she opened Cal’s and began examining his pecs, his torso, all the ink he’d accumulated over the years. Her touch was intimate, caring, and sweet, with an honesty he wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced. You are so out of your depth, Harper. This woman is way more than you could ever hope to handle, way more than you could ever deserve.

She whispered one word in his ear: “Please.”

Not wanting to break the mood, the emotional connection, Cal fumbled behind him for his wallet but couldn’t find it.

“Hold that thought, darlin’,” he mumbled, but when he got ready to sit up, Kat cleared her throat and wagged a small square package at him.

“I . . . uh, was feeling hopeful,” she said with a grin. “And I like to be prepared for everything.”

Cal bent to kiss her and murmured in her ear, “I really like that about you.”

´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

Cock-a-doodle-doo! THUMP, THUMP, THUMP

“Sweet Jesus, that alarm, babe.” He sounded grumpy, and he was, but not because of the alarm itself. He just wanted more time with Kat. They were halfway through the conference week, and he wanted more time—just more, period—and didn’t quite know what to think about it.

Kat sat bolt upright, limbs flying, much as she’d done on the plane. Cal thought she was cute then, but now, in the early morning light that filtered through the curtain, she was all creamy skin and white sheets and just completely stunning. She blinked at him and then did this sexy feline stretch, exposing more skin and those little shamrocks, and oh, hell yeah.

“You look like you’re thinking dirty thoughts, mister.” But she didn’t move to cover up. As a matter of fact, she kicked the rest of the covers off, did another wriggly stretch, and then flopped backward and sprawled on the bed, naked as a jaybird.

“Damn, woman. I’m forty-five years old. I’m not quite sure my body is up to this.” He laughed and ignored the voice in his head.

And just like that, Kat had Cal pinned on his back as she straddled his body. She wriggled on top of him, holding his forearms down on the bed and dragging the mouthwatering tips of her taut nipples across his chest. She ground her hips against his, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Seems to me that you’re up”—Kat arched her back and began to roll her nipples in her fingers as she gyrated against Cal’s rock-hard erection—“for it.”

Dear God, the woman was almost purring. “Shitfire,” Cal ground out. “Come here, woman.”

She did, writhing and squirming against him as they shared deep, open-mouthed kisses until Kat finally ordered, “Suit up. Now.”

“Yes, ma’am” was the only logical response, and he did.

Afterward, Cal laughed and said, “Now, that was hard and fast, darlin’. Whew!” He looked over at her, and Kat was biting her lip again, but not in an anxious way. She was lying on her stomach, uncovered, and Cal took the opportunity to give her ass a good swat and then a squeeze before leaning over to give her a sweet kiss.

“Mornin’, darlin’.”

“Morning, Cal. That was a way better alarm than that dang rooster.”

Cal saw her swallow down a question or a comment and smile instead. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was: if she might want to trade in that damn rooster alarm for the real thing or maybe for some more of what they just did, only not just here and now but somewhere else and sometime in the future.

Cal’s own alarm started in on its relatively civilized beeping, and it was his turn to groan. “I gotta meet the Phonse for breakfast, babe.”

“Yep, I gotta meet the Topher for a tour.” Kat leaned over and kissed the inked sun that radiated on his shoulder. “Meet you for dinner tonight?”

“That sounds great. Maybe we’ll go out?” Cal arched an eyebrow at her.

Kat grinned. She had her hands tucked under her cheek and was lying on her stomach and looking like someone he wanted to see every morning, just like that.

“Sounds good. Or maybe we can stay in again,” she teased.

“Sounds even better.”