Lucy's Liberation [Elk Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Gigi Moore Page A

finish this inventory.”
    “I can wait.”
    “I’m going to be a while.”
    “Lucy, you can’t put me off forever. We have an agreement.”
    “I know that. I would never go back on my word and I don’t plan to put you off forever.”
    No, just as long as you can get away with it. “When are you going to move out of Sabrina’s boarding house and into Uncle Rance’s with me? It’s half yours, or will be soon.”
    “I’ll move in once we’re married.”
    “Why not sooner? Get used to the idea of living with me.”
    “Living in sin, you mean.”
    Ki chuckled. He did love the spitfire Lucy more than the doormat Lucy. “If that’s what you’d like.”
    “Why do you visit so often, Ki? Do you think I’m going to change my mind?”
    “Is that what you think?”
    She shrugged. “Why else?”
    Did the woman not know how gorgeous she was? Of course compared to the ladies in town of more means with their silk and satin attire and fancy jewelry and makeup and fashionable shoes from back East Lucy might have seemed plain to the undiscriminating. Those women, however, didn’t have the most important thing Lucy possessed—natural, inner beauty.
    Standing in that storeroom with a smudge of dirt on her pert nose that Ki longed to wipe off, her head tilted back to stare him in the eyes, and cheeks flushed with irritation, Lucy was more beautiful than any fancy painted lady in several surrounding towns.
    Ki let his eyes roam over the bright cherry dress Lucy wore. The pretty but simple red calico in cotton garment with lace trim at the neckline and cuffs might have been demure if worn by a woman without the inviting sweet curves Lucy had. She couldn’t have been more fetching, more seductive, if she were one of Rebel’s co-workers in revealing corsets and short skirts.
    “What are you staring at?”
    The catch in her voice brought his attention back to the situation at hand but he did nothing to hide the bulge in his pants when he noticed Lucy’s glance home in on his crotch right before her eyes widened.
    “I think you should go now.”
    “Fine.” He stepped forward, placing his palms on the wall behind her on either side of her face before he bent his head to kiss her. He heard her sharp intake of breath right before his mouth made contact with hers and fireworks exploded inside his head. His face and the tip of his ears heated as he thrust his tongue between her parted lips and stroked her tongue.
    Ki’s hat and Lucy’s journal hit the floor almost simultaneously as Ki slid his hands from the wall to press against her back and draw her closer, but neither of them noticed.
    He heard Lucy moan deep in her throat, and the noise spurred him on as much as the feel of her hands burrowing through his hair. When she fisted a length of hair at his nape and whimpered against his mouth, it took everything in him to pull away.
    Ki opened his eyes to glance down at her, saw that her gaze was as stunned as he felt. He homed in on her kiss-swollen lips and his cock pulsed in his trousers, clamoring for release. Unable to fight it anymore, he raised a hand to her face and thumbed off the smudge of dirt before leaning in to give her nose a brief kiss.
    “I’ll see you later this evening.” He turned to go without waiting for her answer and could have sworn he heard her say, “Not if I see you first,” right before he reached the door.
    He had to love that spitfire Lucy.
    By the time Ki made it back out to the store’s main floor, Maia had joined Sabrina at the counter and she, Sabrina, and Rebel were all staring at him.
    He had adjusted himself and dusted off his hat after he’d picked it up off of the floor, so he didn’t think he looked too askew.
    “So, how’d it go with our Lucy?” Maia asked.
    “As well as could be expected.”
    The three women nodded as if in sympathy. He had already gotten the if-you-hurt-Lucy-we’ll-turn-you-into-a-eunuch speech at the end of his first visit, so knew where all the ladies