“So we’re sharing a bed strictly as parenting partners?”

“Yep.”

“You’ll be a perfect gentleman?”

“If that’s what you want. Besides, you’ll probably be so glad to get a full night’s sleep that you won’t even notice I’m there.”

“But—”

“But, it’s only for a few weeks, until you put her in her own room, right?”

“Ah. Right.”

“So, how hard can it be?”

The look on Skylar’s face was priceless. He knew she wasn’t convinced it’d be no big deal having him in her bed.

And that’s exactly what Kade was counting on.

Chapter Six

Two weeks later…

“Wah. Wah. Wah.” Pause. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

Skylar groaned and rolled toward the edge of the bed. “Hang on, baby. I’m coming.”

Kade placed his hand on her shoulder. “Stay put. I’ll get her. Go back to sleep.”

She mumbled, “Thanks.” The minute he was out of bed, she sprawled in the middle of the mattress and snagged his pillow.

What a bed hog.

“Wah. Wah. Wah.”

“Good Lord, child. Them lungs work fine at four in the mornin’, don’t they?” Kade murmured, scooping Eliza out of her crib. He skirted the footboard and snuck out of the room.

Downstairs in the kitchen, he kept the lights dimmed as he reheated a bottle. Eliza rooted against his chest, making angry snuffing sounds. He brushed his lips across the top of her head, inhaling her sweet baby scent, rocking her back and forth. “I know. Poor starvin’ girl.”

The timer dinged. Kade plucked the bottle from the pan, tested the temperature, shifted Eliza into the crook of his arm and popped the nipple in her mouth. Greedy sucking noises echoed in the quiet house as he headed for the rocking chair in the dark living room.

After he set the rocker in motion, he closed his eyes. He was tired. The third time he’d been up with their fussy baby in so many hours. Usually he and Sky took turns, but the last two nights Eliza hadn’t slept for more than an hour at a stretch. Didn’t help Sky said Eliza wasn’t napping during the day. She screamed bloody murder any time Skylar wasn’t holding her, so Skylar had fallen behind at work.

When Kade returned from a long day at the ranch, Sky passed Eliza off to him and snuck back to the office for a few hours. He’d gotten into the habit of dozing when Eliza did, as it was his only chance for a little rest. How had Sky done this by herself for three months?

No matter. The important thing was Sky trusted him with Eliza. His darling Eliza’s immediate and unconditional acceptance of him was damn humbling too. It filled him with pride that both mother and daughter had begun to rely on him, to need him, and it amazed him how quickly he, Sky and Eliza created a family routine.

So as exhausting as the past two weeks had proven, Kade didn’t remember ever being so content.

He sure as hell didn’t remember ever being so horny.

Damn. If he wasn’t thinking about formula and diapers, or wondering how loud his daughter could howl, or what he wouldn’t give for a full night’s sleep, his thoughts focused on sex. Hot sex. Slow sex. Fast sex. Nasty, dirty, raunchy sex. Sweet vanilla sex.

Any type of sex, really. He’d gone for long stretches without it in the past. When he tired of his own fist as a partner, he’d find a willing woman to scratch the itch. Problem solved.

Now the problem was Kade couldn’t fathom having sex with anyone besides Skylar.

Fearful of her rejection, he hadn’t the balls to make the first move.

What the fuck had he been thinking, promising that gentleman crap? He didn’t want to be her goddamn “parenting partner”—he wanted to be her lover. The sexiest woman on the planet lay beside him, mere inches away, every night. Warming the sheets with her body heat. Surrounding him with her alluring scent so he couldn’t breathe without thinking of her. And to make his descent into lust complete, the standoffish Skylar had started…snuggling up to him in her sleep.

Oh, she wasn’t aware of spooning her body to his. She wasn’t aware she hummed contentedly before drifting off. But he was aware. Acutely aware. Painfully aware.

Still, Kade never touched her. His hands ached from squeezing them into tight fists.

Some nights his cock was so hard he couldn’t sleep, yet he couldn’t force himself away.

He’d close his eyes and breathe her in.

On those rare occasions Eliza let them rest for a few hours, Kade imagined waking Skylar with hot kisses. Peeling away the baby doll pajamas she favored. Running his hands down her long, slender throat, between her full breasts and over her belly, until his fingers brushed the curls covering her sex.

She’d dreamily whisper, “Please,” in the darkness as she opened her legs for his touch. With his mouth busy on her neck, or his tongue tasting her nipples, his fingers grew damp and sticky from her arousal. He’d slide in and out of that sweet heat, deeper, faster, sweeping the pad of his thumb over her clit, building her excitement. When he sent her soaring over the edge, he’d clamp his mouth over hers and swallow her cries as he mounted her.

He’d stare into her eyes, pushing his cock into her, an inch at a time while she was still coming. Kade would fuck her with painstaking precision, keeping her teetering on the brink of another orgasm. She’d whimper for more; he’d deny her, keeping her body pinned beneath his. When he allowed her to climax, she’d moan his name. He’d ram into her, coming hard enough to leave them both gasping, sweaty, fucking her so completely she’d never mix him up with another man again.

Tame, as far as fantasies went, but damn perfect in his mind.

He glanced at Eliza. She’d finally crashed. He removed the bottle from her milk-slackened mouth and carefully repositioned her on his shoulder. Two pats on her back and she belched.

Wearily, Kade rose out of the rocking chair and climbed the stairs.

The bed dipped and Skylar rolled to her side.

“She asleep?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re a good daddy.”

“Mmm. I’m good at a lot of other things too.”

The next thing she knew, the bedcovers were flung back and his hot, naked body was pressed against hers.

“Kade, I don’t think—”

He sank his teeth into the curve of her shoulder and her whole body shuddered.

“Then don’t. I’m dyin’ to touch you, Sky.”

“But, Eliza—”

“Is sleepin’. We’re not. Maybe we oughta take advantage of that fact.”

Rough hands skated from her collarbone down to her hip. His warm mouth left a trail of kisses up the back of her neck and his breath stirred her hair, making her shiver.

Making her realize how long it’d been since she’d felt this rush of need.

“Lemme make you feel good.”

“Kade—”

“Ssh.” Then he shifted so she was lying on top of him. Her back plastered to his immense chest. Her legs layered over his, the coarse hair and rougher skin of his thighs tickled the backside of her knees. Her arms were stretched high above her head. He’d nestled his erect cock in the crack of her ass, lengthwise between her butt cheeks. A low, sexy chuckle burned her ear. “Kinda like a hot dog fittin’ into a bun, huh?”

She groaned softly at his strangely voiced observation and gave up any pretense of resistance. His callused hands traced her arms from her wrists, down past her elbows, over her biceps until his big palms cupped her breasts. He strummed her nipples with the pads of his thumbs while kissing the slope of her shoulder.

“I love your tits. So soft and round. Perfect for my hands and mouth. For buryin’ my face in. Suckin’ ’em for hours until you come.”

Skylar turned her head to try and kiss him.

“Ah-ah-ah.” Kade flattened his hands and dragged them oh-so-slowly down her belly to her hips. The first two fingers on his right hand breached her curls, and slipped down her slit to plunge inside her sex.

She hissed.

He stroked her several times, each thrust deeper, each thrust bypassed her clit.

“Touch me.”

“I am.” He sucked on the spot behind her ear that made her head swim. “Maybe you oughta point out exactly where you want me touchin’ you.” Kade reached for her right arm, placing his palm over the top of her hand, gliding their joined hands down her torso to rest on the top of her pubic bone. “Show me.”

Skylar pushed their joined fingers inside her pussy, pumping in and out, coating all four digits with her wetness. “You do that,” she said, leaving his fingers. She slid her hand up, placing her middle finger on her clit, rubbing in circles, making sure he could feel her every movement. “While I do this.” Sky never remembered being so bold. So brazen. So confident with her sexuality.

Kade created a rhythm, setting her whole body tingling with anticipation. Then he tilted his pelvis slightly and his cock slid in her crack as he fucked her pussy with his fingers.

“Oh. That feels…good. Really good.” She rubbed her finger faster over that engorged nub. Sweat made their bodies slippery. The room was filled with the sounds of skin scraping on fabric, heavy breathing, and a slight squeak of the bedframe.

“Clench your cheeks.” Kade’s beard rasped over her arched neck as he drove his fingers deeper and rolled his hips. “Come on, darlin’, bear down. Squeeze me hard.”

Her internal muscles clamped around his thrusting fingers. Her butt cheeks tightening around his cock set off an orgasmic chain reaction, traveling from her pussy to the top of her ass crack and she moaned, “Yes, like that. Please, deeper.”

The tip of his cock jerked, coating the small of her back with sticky warmth and he swore a blue streak in her ear.

She flung her arm over her eyes, rocking into him, slowing the strokes on her clit to prolong the moment. The blast of pleasure roared in her head, blocking out all sound but her stuttered gasps of orgasmic bliss.