“Are you excited to see what the walls look like?”
“More than I can say.”
When they finally let themselves into the house, Sunshine whooped with delight. “It’s perfect. The painters did such a good job.”
“If Claire uses them, you know they’re good.” Kerri joined her inside. They made their way from room to room, oohing and aahing over the colors in each of them. “The place looks classy and warm at the same time. Once you get furniture in here, it’ll look great.”
“Bella is going to send Evan on errands tomorrow morning and I’ve hired a handyman to move some of her old things here for now. I’ll have enough furniture for a living room and bedroom. We’ll put a table and chairs in the living room to eat at until the kitchen gets fixed up.” She led the way to that room and sighed. “I didn’t bother to have it painted because the whole room needs to be gutted. There wasn’t time to put new cabinets or countertops in, let alone appliances and flooring. I’ll have to do all that after Christmas.”
“The rest of the house looks terrific.”
“Some of it does,” Sunshine agreed. “Enough so that Cole will get the idea.”
A knock sounded on the door. Sunshine went to answer it and found Mia outside.
“Rock band time!” Mia said. “Can you help me unload my drums?”
“Of course.” Sunshine grabbed her coat, pulled on her boots and struggled with Mia to get all the pieces of her borrowed drum set into the house. While Mia put it together, the rest of the women arrived. Bella and Autumn brought their guitars. Morgan came with her tambourine. Kerri and Hannah had their bases, and Rose was ready to sing, with Camila and Fila as back up. Claire arrived last, a portable keyboard under her arm.
“Let’s get this party started,” Mia cried, banging out a beat that made the rest of them cringe.
“Can’t you turn that down?” Hannah asked.
“There’s no volume on drums,” Mia told her huffily.
“We’re all going to be loud,” Autumn said. “Is everyone plugged in who can plug in?”
“I guess we’re going to find out the state of your wiring,” Claire joked to Sunshine.
“I had the inspector check that out before I bought. The panel’s been upgraded.” She had to laugh at how knowledgeable she sounded. In truth, it was the inspector who’d thought to look. When he informed her of the results, she’d had to look up what it meant on the Internet.
“Let’s go then. Has everyone been practicing?”
“I have,” Claire said.
The rest of them mumbled.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Mia said, thundering out another series of beats and ending with a clash of the cymbals. “I’ll play really loud. The rest of you do your best.”
Their first attempt was an utter failure. The second was little better. Autumn finally put a stop to the proceedings and went down the line, forcing each of them to play by themselves. She identified their errors, made them play the piece until they’d memorized their parts, and then they tried it again together.
“That almost sounded like Jingle Bells,” Fila said.
“Almost,” Morgan snorted.
“Let’s do it again.” Sunshine loved it. So what if they sucked? She was playing in a band with ten other women. She couldn’t wait for Christmas Eve.
They practiced a few more times, then broke up for the evening, with plans to have another session the next morning.
“I wonder if the men have actually learned a dance,” Bella said.
“I think it’s unlikely,” Hannah said.
“We’ll see tomorrow night.”
The crowd broke up and everyone left in their vehicles, leaving Sunshine and Mia to shut out the lights, turn down the heat and lock up. As Mia walked toward her truck, Sunshine paused and touched the front door of her house. “One more day,” she whispered.
She hoped Cole would love the ranch as much as she loved him.
Chapter 9
Cole was relieved when Sunshine and Mia returned home. When Luke asked how their practice session had gone, Mia merely said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Cole didn’t care about anything except getting Sunshine alone.
When they finally went upstairs to their room, however, she immediately headed for the bathroom. “I need a soak,” she groaned. Cole didn’t want to wait another minute, but she did look tired.
“I wouldn’t mind company,” she went on, unbuttoning her blouse and throwing him a come-hither look.
That was an invitation he wouldn’t refuse. Cole grinned. “Light those candles,” he said, referring to the decorative ones Mia had placed around their small bathroom.
“I don’t know if we should. Those look fancy—”
“I’ll buy her new ones.” He tossed her a book of matches.
“If you say so.”
Cole stripped off his clothes as quickly as he could and grabbed the fresh towels Mia had laid on the bed for them. He joined Sunshine in the bathroom and watched the water fill the tub. The little room looked like it had been added after the original construction of the house, and the tub wasn’t fancy, but Cole didn’t care. As long as he was with Sunshine, everything was fine.
Sunshine finished lighting the candles, turned and took him in. If he’d worried that time and closeness would diminish the rush between them, he’d been wrong. He knew Sunshine well, and her survey of his body was appreciative. Without a word she began to undress as the hot water sent billows of steam into the small room.
Her languorous movements were a slow torture. He wanted to touch her, but somehow he knew that she wanted to set the pace. That was fine with him. When she was finished undressing she stepped closer to him, placed her hands on his hips and knelt down before him, her fingertips tracing down his skin.
Cole shivered, then let out a breath as she took him into her mouth. With a groan, he braced his right hand on the counter, the fingers of his left tangling in Sunshine’s hair. She started slowly, tracing the tip of him with her tongue, but when she slid him deep inside, the hot, wet heat of her mouth set every nerve in his body alight.
Cole had meant to seduce Sunshine tonight, but now he was putty in her hands. As she set up a slow, powerful rhythm, he could only try to hang on.
“Oh… God.” It wasn’t original, but he couldn’t manage anything else. Her mouth teased him, taking him so close to the edge he had to brace himself not to end this before it had hardly begun. He felt like a sixteen-year-old, every touch brand new, but he was glad he wasn’t a teenager, because he wanted to make love to Sunshine like a man.
Sunshine slid her tongue over him and aroused him even further. He was so hard he ached with wanting her. When he began to think he might black out if he didn’t find a release soon, he gently pulled back, tugged Sunshine to her feet, turned her around and braced her hands on the counter.
Perfect.
Now he could see her reflected in the wide mirror, and he wanted to watch her as he made her come. Sliding one hand up to cup her breast, he reached down with the other between her legs. Just as he suspected, she was more than ready for him.