Read Online Dakota Heat (Book 3 - Dakota Hearts) by Lisa Mondello - Free Book Online

fire. She was a woman who loved her job, loved her city, and was now falling for Sam McKinnon. She was sure of it. But the decision to stay here or go home wouldn’t matter. Either way, Sam would be moving on to another town, another fire. It didn’t matter where. It would be without her.
    * * *
    The headlights in the driveway sent fingers of light stretching across the ceiling of his bedroom before it went dark again. Sam had passed the night tossing and turning, unable to forget the fact that Summer was only a few steps away from where he was.
    He heard his parents talking as they came into the house and then a few minutes later, as they climbed the stairs to their bedroom. Sam waited a few minutes before getting out of bed. He looked out the window toward the garage and saw that the light in the room above the garage was still on. Summer was awake too. Either that or she’d fallen asleep with the light on.
    He quickly pulled on his sweatpants and a tee-shirt and walked through the house barefoot to the front door and then across the driveway. For a second, he paused at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the room above the garage. Summer may be sleeping. If she’d managed to calm herself enough to sleep, he didn’t want to disturb her. He just needed to see for himself that she was fine.
    Having her in his arms last night and waking up with her this morning was the only thing that calmed his nerves. Watching her, taking in the rise and fall of her body against his, touching her full lips with his fingers as she slept…he needed that again. He needed to have that connection again.
    To his surprise, when he reached the top of the stairs the door opened. Summer stood in the doorway wearing a fluffy pink terry robe that looked two sizes too big for her frame. Her hair was tousled on one side as if she’d been tossing in bed.
    “You couldn’t sleep either?” she asked.
    Sam shook his head. Stepping aside, Summer opened the door wider so he could come inside.
    “I usually make myself a cup of tea when I can’t sleep,” she said.
    “Do you want to go over to the kitchen? I’m sure there’s some tea—”
    “No, I don’t want tea,” she said. Her voice, slightly rough from fatigue, caressed him as much as the cool night breeze he’d felt as he’d walked over.
    She shut the door behind him. He stood in front of the oversized chair in the corner of the room that he and Wade had struggled mightily to get up the stairs and through the door years ago.
    He’d known exactly what he wanted when he’d left the house. He wanted Summer in any way he could have her. He’d wanted so much to make love to her last night, but it wasn’t right. She was upset. She needed his comfort and his strength, not a man to take advantage of her vulnerability. His body still ached from wanting her and yet he was at war with his desire for her and his need to protect her from all the uncertainty surrounding her right now.
    But right now, the woman standing in front of him wasn’t gazing at him with fear in her eyes. All he saw was the same red hot desire that was burning inside him.
    * * *
    Summer could feel the same heat blazing in Sam’s eyes that was burning within her. Whatever doubts she had about loving Sam McKinnon were long gone. She’d live with whatever heartache that remained when it ended. All she knew now was that Sam wanted her just as she wanted him.
    She raised herself on her tiptoes and brought her lips to his. Sam’s lips caressed hers softly, gently until her body was tingling with anticipation. His hands grazed her back, but the heat of his hands couldn’t penetrate through the fabric of her thick terry robe. She wanted his heat. She wanted it all.
    His lips left her mouth and made a trail of kisses along her neck until he nuzzled his face between her neck and the terry robe, tickling her with his breath and his kisses. She pulled the fabric back to give him more access. He brought his lips back to hers and