Abrupt Changes: A Second Chance Romance (O-Town Book 3) by Karen Renee (comprehension books .TXT) 📕

Or was. Come on. I brought dinner, and ribs are no good when they’re cold.”

Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “What are you doing, Clint?”

There was no way she didn’t know, but I didn’t want to tell her yet either. I tucked her hair behind her ear before I pulled away from her. “After dinner, Raegan.”

She muttered to my back, “You’re not doing your part to ‘disabuse’ Mom of her hopes.”

I grinned.

PENNY FINISHED HER pulled pork sandwich and sat back in her chair. “This seems as good a time as any for you two to tell me what you were whispering about in the hallway when you thought I was asleep.”

I hung my head and silently chuckled.

Raegan reached out for Penny’s hand. “Mom, he was just looking for me. I was in Wynnie’s room trying to... help. We weren’t whispering about anything.”

She nodded at Rae, but when her sharp gaze hit me, she stared at me like she could see into my soul. The first time she ever did that it was unnerving, but now I simply cocked a brow at her.

“She tells no lies?” Penny asked.

I shrugged a shoulder. “No. Though, I did whisper it was too soon for that.”

Penny’s lips twitched, then she frowned. “It’ll always be too soon, Clint.”

That was a wet blanket on our conversation if ever there was one and I sighed.

“All right. Sorry, ladies, but I didn’t bring dessert. To make up for that, I’ll clear your dishes.”

“Clearing the table doesn’t make up for no dessert, Ramsey,” Raegan said.

I sauntered to the sink. “Your mother shouldn’t have it anyway. Sodium isn’t the only thing she needs to moderate in her diet.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Penny snapped.

Rae laughed and I bit my lip against the warmth growing in my chest.

As I rinsed the plates, Penny stopped next to me. “Thank you for dinner.” Her smile shifted to a smirk. “And for giving an old gal hopes to cling to.”

I clenched my teeth and glared at her, but she laughed before she shuffled away.

Raegan wandered over to box up the remaining food. “You’re good for her, Clint. Thank you for that.”

I hadn’t wanted to do this at the kitchen sink, but the opening she gave me was too good not to. “I could be good for you, too, Rae.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

I turned off the water, dried my hands, crossed my arms and stared at her. “You asked me, ‘what was going on,’ three times. You know damn well what was going on. She needs you. For that matter, I’d argue you need her just as much, to help you get past Wynnie’s death.”

Her face had been open with emotion, but now it shut down. Closed off.

Shit.

I closed my eyes. Unfolding my arms, I leaned a hand into the counter. “I’m just gonna say it. I want another chance. You aren’t goin’ back anytime soon, are you?”

Her guard fell a touch. With wary eyes, she shook her head.

“Then the question is, do you want to give us another shot?”

I could see the war raging in her eyes. She twisted her head away from me, and my restraint snapped. I grabbed her neck with one hand and her waist with the other. Actions damn sure spoke louder than words.

Raegan

I WHIPPED MY HEAD AWAY because he had to be crazy.

His strong, warm hand caught my neck while the other hand grabbed my waist to turn me back to him.

My lips parted to protest, but his open mouth hit mine and it was all over. The moment Clint’s tongue entered my mouth, a familiar heat surrounded my stomach and I worked hard to keep my breath from deserting me. Then, the feeling of his tongue flirting with mine hit me and I kissed him back with a vengeance.

Clint’s hand at my waist slid around and his strong arm locked around me. I wasn’t about to be left out, so I shoved an arm up his back to his shoulder blade while my other hand pushed into his hair. As I suspected, his longer hair was soft and silky, and felt glorious between my fingers, making me moan.

Whether it was the sound of my moan or the feel of it, Clint pulled away from me, but I traced his upper lip with the tip of my tongue. He groaned. Then he bent into me, arching my back over his arm and he kissed me like he had never kissed me before. And that was saying something because he’d put serious effort into every kiss he gave me early in our relationship, and even more so at the end, when our time together was so limited.

As thoughts of our kisses hit me, I straightened and pulled away from him. “Clint, what are we doing?”

His toffee-colored eyes glittered at me. “What we should have been doing the last fucking decade, mi reina.”

My lips parted to say something, but again he took advantage of their openness and kissed me senseless. Worse than that, I kissed him back and it progressed. As in seriously progressed.

No one kissed me like Clint did.

No. One.

The song “No One” by Alicia Keys came to me unbidden. It was popular when we lived together. Who knew it would be so applicable? Ashamed as I should be to admit it, the fact was Clint could kiss me like no one else. With no guidance, no conversation, no nothing, he knew exactly what to do when he touched me, licked me, had me, grazed me. Any of it. All of it. He had been instilled with an innate knowledge of how to wind me up, get me going, and ultimately set me off.

It was simultaneously thrilling and infuriating.

His hand was under my shirt and my hands were under his shirt, when sense hit me like a sledgehammer.

I pulled my lips away from him. “What are we doing?”

His brown eyes held a delicious energy. “Already answered that, baby.”

Much as I hated the idea of being a tease, I pushed