“I’d love to but someone has to keep the business running smoothly and to do that I have to be in LA.”
“I understand. Just miss having you around is all.”
“And I miss being here,” he said with genuine emotion and CoCo was envious of the obvious connection between them. The lack of DNA meant nothing between these two; they were plainly family and that warmed her heart. “So when are you and Adeline gonna tie the knot?” Rian asked.
Adeline tittered and said, “We rather like living in sin. Seems so...I don’t know...exciting. But our pastor is none too pleased, that’s for sure. Thankfully, I keep him supplied with pies and he forgives us.”
Warren cracked a reluctant smile and CoCo just wanted to hug both of them. They were good people, whether they were living in sin or not, and their goodness had nothing to do with how many times they went to church. She liked that. She needed more of this in her life and less of...everything else her life had been comprised of up until this moment.
Deep stuff to contemplate over a plate of country mashed potatoes.
Deep, indeed.
* * *
AFTER DINNER AND some more chatting, they said their goodbyes and made their way back to Kane’s place, Rian barely able to keep his hands to himself. It was dark, except for the sparkle of the stars overhead and the fireflies buzzing lazily here and there. The night was warm but not overly so. He would be more than happy to ditch his clothes but CoCo had different plans.
“Do you ever swim in the pond?” she asked, gesturing to the huge pond on the property that Warren always had stocked with fish because fishing relaxed him. It was far enough from the house that Rian and Kane used to splash around without worrying that they’d wake the Bradfords when they decided to go midnight frogging.
“I used to when I was a kid. It’s plenty deep so the water’s clean. Nothing worse than brackish pond water, right?”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t know.” She tugged at his hand. “Let’s go put our feet in.”
“Why?” he asked, more interested in getting CoCo beneath him than playing splashy-splashy in the water. “I have something better in mind.”
“So do I.” And then she shocked him by stripping as she walked away from him, her dress landing in a heap on the grass as she walked gloriously naked to the small pier. She waved and then dived into the water. She popped from the surface with a gasp, laughing as she exclaimed, “It’s a little chillier than I thought it would be. Come warm me up, country boy.”
Crazy woman. He grinned and kicked his boots free, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. “I could’ve told you that,” he said, shucking his pants and then taking a running leap and landing in the water beside her. He reached for her and pulled her naked body into his arms, treading water with her holding on to him. He kissed her long and deep, loving the feel of CoCo against him. “You’re always surprising me,” he shared as he broke the kiss. Her eyes sparkled in the night air and her sweet smile lit up his heart. “Just when I think I have you figured out, you go and do something to turn my head inside out.”
“Good,” CoCo murmured, leaning back as Rian supported her. Her full breasts crested the water’s surface as if kissing the moon and he bit back a groan of pure desire as his cock began to harden. She rose slowly, her hair dripping down her back, and reached down to squeeze his growing erection. “Hmm, Mr. Dalton, we have a situation,” she said with a husky laugh.
“And what situation would that be?”
“Sex is difficult to manage underwater.”
He laughed and swam over to the shore, carrying her as he went until he climbed from the water, her legs tucked around his waist and her arms looped around his neck.
“A girl could get used to this,” she whispered and his heart skipped a beat, but not in the way that would’ve sent a warning down his spine. No, this was different and would be even more worrisome if he were thinking clearly.
He laid her gently on the ground and joined her, wasting no time in covering her sweet, lithe body with his, loving how his angles matched her curves. “Rian,” she breathed, his name like a prayer on her lips. He moved down her belly, pressing tiny kisses on the bare skin, causing goose bumps to riot, and then delved into that sweet place that he couldn’t get enough of.