Kade's Worth (Butler Ranch)

on top of her, his hardness taking the place of his fingers. He slowly eased in, waiting for her to adjust to his size.
“Baby,” he moaned. “It’s been a long time for me.”
“Me too,” she whispered, writhing against him.
He tortured her with slow, languid strokes until he was finally as deep inside of her as he could get. Only then did he start to thrust, harder each time as he pulled almost all the way out and then plunged back inside. Peyton grabbed his ass like he’d done to her but she was no match for his strength. He controlled the pace, as agonizing as it was.
“I can’t hold back,” he groaned.
“I don’t want you to.”
His momentum increased until she found herself once again hovering on the precipice of another orgasm. She held off, though, until she felt his spasms as he pounded out his pleasure. He thrust once more and then stilled. His tongue on her neck sent a chill coursing over her overheated body.
“Peyton?”
“Shh,” she whispered, wanting to bask in the afterglow of the most powerful orgasm she could remember.
“Peyton?” he repeated.
She opened her eyes and looked into his. “Kade?”
“I need you again.”
They spent most of Saturday in bed, only venturing out at night to pick up food from the local Italian restaurant and more condoms from the drug store.
By Sunday morning, Peyton ached everywhere.
“You’re sore,” Kade said as he settled between her legs and licked between her folds, the stubble from his beard was prickly on the sensitive skin of her thighs.
“But I’m happy,” she groaned as he brought her body to yet another orgasm.
He rolled her to her side, wrapped his arms around her, and settled in with his back to her front.
“My boys will be home this afternoon.”
She felt him nod.
“Kade, I’m not ready—”
“Shh,” he whispered. “I know you’re not.”
“It isn’t you.”
“I know that too.”

10
Limited to when her boys were in school and Peyton wasn’t working, Kade treasured every minute they had together. He let himself be selfish and didn’t share her with anyone else. They surfed together, went on hikes, and kayaked. Other than when they were having sex, they spent most of their time outdoors. Sometimes they’d take a blanket, some food, a bottle of wine, and spend the early afternoon on the beach, like they were today.
“Kade, school gets out in a week,” Peyton said, setting the book she’d been reading on the blanket and biting her lower lip.
He rolled to his stomach and rested his chin on his hand. “We’ll have less time together.”
“I was thinking…”
Kade smiled. “Yes?”
“I don’t know. I mean, maybe you could just meet them. Something casual.”
“Do you have something in mind?”
Peyton shook her head.
“How about this? You take them out for pizza and when I show up, you ask them if it’s okay if I join you?”
“You’d do that?”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “It seems…forced, or underhanded.”
“It’s a little of both, but it’ll give us the chance to see how open they are to having a man around.”
“What if it doesn’t go well?”
He reached up and stroked her cheek with his fingertip. “You don’t have much confidence in my getting along with kids.”
“Have you, you know, spent time with any?”
“A little.” He’d spent a great deal of time with one particular child, but that wasn’t a conversation for them to have today. The time may never come for him to tell Peyton about that part of his past. If he did, he’d have to explain why he’d been forced into decisions that changed his life and the child’s irrevocably.
He stared into her eyes, willing her to let go of questions he couldn’t answer. Eventually, she turned and looked out at the waves crashing on the beach.
“I need to go away for a couple of days.” When she turned her head toward him, he looked at the same waves she had been.
“Just a couple?”
Kade nodded. “I’ll wait until next week.” That way, his mind would be on something other than missing her the first few days the boys were out of school.
“You don’t have to work your schedule around me.”
He scooted closer and wrapped his arm around her waist. “What if I want to?” She’d certainly been doing it for him. Whenever he walked into Stave, Alex Avila gave him the stink eye and he really didn’t give a shit. Maybe not having Peyton around would motivate her to do something more about her own secret relationship.
Plus, in a little over a month, he’d get the call telling him it was time for him to report for duty. The idea left him more determined than ever to leave the agency and start his own firm. He rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that had been on Peyton’s waist and she scrunched her eyes.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“What do you mean?”
“If the idea of meeting my boys is giving you stress, we don’t have to do it.”
He pulled his hand from his neck and looked at his palm. “It’s my tell.”
Peyton smirked. “You don’t say.”
Kade fell back on the blanket and laughed. “I enjoy you, Peyton.”
She leaned forward and kissed him. “Likewise.”
Jamison and Finn were great boys. Knowing their mother, that didn’t come as a surprise. They were polite, well-spoken, and fun to talk to.
At the end of their impromptu dinner, after they’d learned Kade had an apartment at Butler Ranch, near their grandparents’ place, they asked their mother if Kade would go riding with them the following weekend.
Soon it became something they did frequently. By the end of July, he had plans with them almost every weekend. As he’d feared, it was also when he got the call to report to Langley for his next assignment.


11
Just like every other time Kade had to leave, Peyton sensed it was coming. She didn’t ask. When he got the call, he’d tell her.
When she’d left for Stave this afternoon, he told her he had a meeting and would come by later in the evening.
Tonight, the boys at their grandparents’