Read Online Worth It All (The McKinney Brothers #3) by Claudia Connor - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Claudia Connor
Ads: Link
off new waves of heat. After some time, he lifted his head and looked into the blue eyes of a woman who’d been well kissed.
And what the hell?
His heart was pounding so hard he was sure if she looked she’d see it.
They disengaged by degrees. Her arms slid from around his neck, his hand on her back. Though he took his time brushing her side. Her lips were damp and glistening in the lamplight, and it only made him want to start all over again.
“I’m sorry,” she said, all flushed and breathless.
A soft laugh escaped him. No kiss, first or otherwise, had ever felt like that and he didn’t know what to do next. “Definitely not something to be sorry for. That was…”
“I know.”
He wondered what she knew, because he sure as hell didn’t know anything. He’d never felt a kiss all the way to his heart.
Chapter 5
With her heart still racing, Paige fought the crooked dead bolt, then leaned back, thunking her head against the trailer door. Her lips tingled, and there was a warm buzzing inside her head. She hadn’t been kissed by a man, or even touched, since before Casey was born. And she’d never, ever, been kissed like that.
Jake had consumed her, overwhelmed her senses, made her light-headed. And she’d responded to him like they were longtime lovers instead of someone she barely knew who’d offered her a ride home.
She covered her burning cheeks with her hands, touched a finger to her lips. She could still feel the blood pulsing after being pressed against his. Damn it. It scared her to feel her emotions scattering out of her control.
As her heart slowed, she stared at the stain on the beige carpet that ironically resembled the state of Texas.
Pushing away from the door, she crossed the short distance to the kitchenette. She emptied her back pockets, then sat to count out her tips from the night. In the beat-up red spiral notebook, she recorded her income neatly and added it to her current balance of twenty-seven dollars and fifty-four cents. She checked off two things Casey would need for school and added three more.
If she was careful, if she stretched every penny, Casey would start the year with everything she needed. She was good at stretching pennies, she thought with a smile. And Casey didn’t need everything, no child did, but she needed enough and she needed the security of knowing that she would have it.
Her daughter would never lie in a cold bed at night and worry about angry, unpaid landlords or being the one kid in the class who held back the others from a special prize because she didn’t bring in that poster board or pumpkin or flower. Which is why kissing an incredibly hot man was not on her to-do list.
The last of the warm fuzzies from Jake’s kiss slipped away and the real world slid in. She shook her head and did what she always did when uncertainty crept in. She worked. She did something to get where she wanted to go. That’s the only thing that settled her fears about their future. Tonight it was studying for her college history class.
She managed a full thirty minutes before visions of Jake snuck in. Jake McKinney. Just thinking his name sent a hot shiver through her. Would she see him when she took Casey back to Evolution? Maybe not, but she probably should have mentioned that. Before they kissed would have been good. Would he have kissed her if he’d known? Did it matter? She tried to picture him coming back into the diner now, sitting in her section, their eyes meeting while she refilled his drink.
She hadn’t been kissed by a man in exactly five years and nine months. She’d been a week away from her graduation gown and a summer away from her new life. Dressed in jeans and sneakers, she’d left her tiny bedroom.
Eddie, her mom’s current boyfriend, smiled at her from the couch. “Hey, sugar. Hot date?”
“Not really. Just going out.” Eddie was nice enough, in a car-salesman, comb-over kind of way. And he made her mom happy. For now.
Her mom flittered
And what the hell?
His heart was pounding so hard he was sure if she looked she’d see it.
They disengaged by degrees. Her arms slid from around his neck, his hand on her back. Though he took his time brushing her side. Her lips were damp and glistening in the lamplight, and it only made him want to start all over again.
“I’m sorry,” she said, all flushed and breathless.
A soft laugh escaped him. No kiss, first or otherwise, had ever felt like that and he didn’t know what to do next. “Definitely not something to be sorry for. That was…”
“I know.”
He wondered what she knew, because he sure as hell didn’t know anything. He’d never felt a kiss all the way to his heart.
Chapter 5
With her heart still racing, Paige fought the crooked dead bolt, then leaned back, thunking her head against the trailer door. Her lips tingled, and there was a warm buzzing inside her head. She hadn’t been kissed by a man, or even touched, since before Casey was born. And she’d never, ever, been kissed like that.
Jake had consumed her, overwhelmed her senses, made her light-headed. And she’d responded to him like they were longtime lovers instead of someone she barely knew who’d offered her a ride home.
She covered her burning cheeks with her hands, touched a finger to her lips. She could still feel the blood pulsing after being pressed against his. Damn it. It scared her to feel her emotions scattering out of her control.
As her heart slowed, she stared at the stain on the beige carpet that ironically resembled the state of Texas.
Pushing away from the door, she crossed the short distance to the kitchenette. She emptied her back pockets, then sat to count out her tips from the night. In the beat-up red spiral notebook, she recorded her income neatly and added it to her current balance of twenty-seven dollars and fifty-four cents. She checked off two things Casey would need for school and added three more.
If she was careful, if she stretched every penny, Casey would start the year with everything she needed. She was good at stretching pennies, she thought with a smile. And Casey didn’t need everything, no child did, but she needed enough and she needed the security of knowing that she would have it.
Her daughter would never lie in a cold bed at night and worry about angry, unpaid landlords or being the one kid in the class who held back the others from a special prize because she didn’t bring in that poster board or pumpkin or flower. Which is why kissing an incredibly hot man was not on her to-do list.
The last of the warm fuzzies from Jake’s kiss slipped away and the real world slid in. She shook her head and did what she always did when uncertainty crept in. She worked. She did something to get where she wanted to go. That’s the only thing that settled her fears about their future. Tonight it was studying for her college history class.
She managed a full thirty minutes before visions of Jake snuck in. Jake McKinney. Just thinking his name sent a hot shiver through her. Would she see him when she took Casey back to Evolution? Maybe not, but she probably should have mentioned that. Before they kissed would have been good. Would he have kissed her if he’d known? Did it matter? She tried to picture him coming back into the diner now, sitting in her section, their eyes meeting while she refilled his drink.
She hadn’t been kissed by a man in exactly five years and nine months. She’d been a week away from her graduation gown and a summer away from her new life. Dressed in jeans and sneakers, she’d left her tiny bedroom.
Eddie, her mom’s current boyfriend, smiled at her from the couch. “Hey, sugar. Hot date?”
“Not really. Just going out.” Eddie was nice enough, in a car-salesman, comb-over kind of way. And he made her mom happy. For now.
Her mom flittered
Similar Books
