Give My Heart to Kaitlyn (2nd in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Twelve

Rose ran her hand through his thick brown hair and smiled. "Exactly. Pete might just love our daughter the same way that you love me."

Marston let out a growl that was a mixture of frustration and defeat. He brought himself up to his full height and grumbled. "I hate that you're right all the time."

"Not all the time," Rose countered with a smile. "Just every time you're wrong." Marston chuckled and kissed her brow. "Now, let's get these dishes washed. There's no telling what Pete and Kaitlyn might be doing in that den with only Lucy for supervision."

Rose was unable to hold back her laughter when a look of horror filled Marston's face and he began drying dishes at a much faster pace.

***

"What you did with those bottles today was very impressive," Kaitlyn said as she sat beside Pete on the sofa.

Pete gave a little laugh, though he was cursing the two feet of space separating their bodies. "It was all luck," he admitted.

Kaitlyn smiled, curled her legs beside her and smoothed out her skirt. "There had to be some skill involved."

Pete shrugged. "Maybe... a little. But it was mostly luck."

Kaitlyn smiled as she lay her head back on the cushion. Pete wanted to think of some excuse to scoot closer to her. He tried to think of some reason to hold her hand in his. Nothing came—and he had promised not to push her so he needed to wait for her to come to him.

Damn! He wanted to keep his word but he hadn't realized the going would be quite this slow! He hadn't even held her hand since his first day here. Did the woman realize what she was doing to him? He wanted, needed, to hold her and have her close to him.

Kaitlyn picked at her skirt. "Langley told me that you stood up to pa."

Pete scratched at a callous on his thumb. "Yeah, that's right." He wondered if she'd be angry and he wished Langley had kept his overactive mouth shut.

A smile curved Kaitlyn's lips. "I'm proud of you and I know that had to have impressed my pa. He likes you, you know."

"I don't usually are about impressing people but I want him to like me. I know how important your pa is to you."

Kaitlyn smiled and Pete felt the thrill of victory when she scooted closer and he was able to drape his arm around her shoulders. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. "I have really enjoyed this week, Pete."

Being held like this in his arms felt good. Right. She was safe and warm and she had forgotten the peace his arms seemed to bring her. Kaitlyn had never in her life thought he would find any man's touch comforting but Pete's was.

"I've enjoyed it too, honey," he replied, barely managing to keep from kissing her hair.

"How is your side?"

"Doing fine," Pete assured her.

Kaitlyn shifted her body and grabbed the bottom of his oversized cotton shirt. She lifted it and Pete fought back the wave of passion that blindsided him as her fingertips brushed against his bare skin and she lifted the edge of the bandage to show the healing skin below.

"See, I told you it was fine," he quickly stated as he yanked his shirt back down. Apparently Kaitlyn didn't realize what her touch did to him or how hard it made it for him to remember that he had promised not to rush her—all he wanted right now was to kiss the woman senseless.

"What about your arm?" she questioned and Pete hoped he wasn't only imagining the breathlessness in her voice. Surely he wasn't the only one reeling from the skin on skin contact.