Midnight Thunder(INCR) by Vicki Lewis Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

a headache.”
    He laid the blankets on the couch. “You don’t know that.”
    â€œYes, I do. You have that squinty look.” She deposited the sheets on top of the blankets. “You should at least lie down for a while.”
    He turned to her with a sigh. “Let up on me, okay? I’m doing the best I can with a shitty situation.”
    Remorse hit her. She’d allowed fear for his safety to turn her into a nagging pest, which wasn’t getting either of them anywhere. “I’m sorry. I just—”
    â€œI know.” His voice gentled. “And you’re right about everything. I’m sure you’d be more efficient at getting the cabin ready. I should accept your generous offer and get some sleep. But I doubt I
could
sleep. I’m way too keyed up about Mom, and—” he paused “—about you.”
    She met his gaze. This might not be the time, but they wouldn’t be alone like this much longer. “Would you ever have come back?”
    â€œI don’t know.” He hesitated. “But I’m here now, and it’s like I never left. No, that’s not right. I want you as much as ever, even when you’re a pain in the ass. I think I want you even more than I did before, but what used to be simple...isn’t.”
    The heat in his eyes made her tremble. “It was never simple.”
    â€œOh, sometimes it was. On a hot summer night when nothing mattered but taking off our clothes and losing ourselves in each other, it seemed pretty damned simple.”
    She was stunned into speechlessness. That brief, honest description hurled her back to those nights, and she ached for him as fiercely as she had then. In his mind, the sex had been fun and uncomplicated. She’d been the one who’d loaded down the relationship with expectations.
    He blew out a breath. “But obviously that’s not how you remember it. Let’s postpone this discussion, okay? Just point me in the direction of the vacuum cleaner so I can get started.”
    She should do that and go about her business. But there he stood, so jacked up with worry and sexual frustration that he couldn’t get the sleep he needed. She was pretty tense, too, but the few hours of rest she’d had meant her brain wasn’t completely fried. “I have an idea.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œWe’ll fix up the cabin together, so it’ll go twice as fast. Then you don’t have to feel guilty about me doing it while you’re lying in a guest room staring at the ceiling.”
    He looked unsure, but at last he nodded. “I guess that’ll be okay.”
    â€œI’ll get the vacuum cleaner and a laundry basket so we can carry everything at once. Oh, and you’ll need towels and washcloths, so pull some of those out of the closet. And bars of soap.”
    â€œYeah, I forgot about that stuff.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I need to shower and get rid of this scruff before I go to the airport, or they’ll think I’ve turned into a vagrant.”
    â€œThen you might as well bring your duffel, too.”
    â€œMakes sense.”
    Wow, that part had been easy. Her plan could still fall apart at any point along the way, and if it did, oh, well. But so far, so good. Anticipation and a slight case of nerves made her shiver as she headed for the laundry room where Rosie kept her canister vacuum cleaner.
    Moments later they left the house with Cade lugging an oversize laundry basket full of linens and the vacuum. Lexi carried his duffel. Too bad she didn’t have X-ray vision so she could see what was inside. When they’d been dating he’d always carried condoms, but that didn’t mean he had any with him now.
    He paused to gaze at the rugged Bighorn range, still dusted with snow above the tree line. “I’ve missed those mountains.”
    â€œSo you didn’t get attached to the ones in