Read Kiss Me Hello (Sweetest Kisses) for Free Online

spikes. The dress would feel lovely against her skin, and make her want to move around in it simply for the caress of the fabric on her bare—
    Something—the cat’s tail?—brushed her nose.
    “Wakey, wakey, princess.”
    That gravelly baritone had no place in either Sid’s dreams or her realities. She opened her eyes.
    MacKenzie Knightley sat on the white frothy duvet covering her bed, perfectly at ease for all his size and dark coloring.
    “I was resting my eyes.”
    “Right.” He dropped her braid and stood, without cracking a smile—without needing to crack a smile; his amusement was that evident. “You’ve been resting your eyes for a while now, I’m guessing.”
    “Why would you guess that?” Sid bounced and slogged her way to the edge of the bed. Big beds were for sleeping in, not for making dignified exits from.
    “I’d guess that, because you’ve got a crease on your cheek from the pillows, and because I stood in that doorway there”—he pointed ten feet across the room—“and for about five straight minutes, I politely suggested you wake up.”
    Sid made it to the edge of the bed, but her brain was having trouble waking up along with her body.
    “Where’s Luis?” she asked.
    “Braiding some baling twine halters to use until we can scare up the real deal. I suggested he and I make an excursion to the feed store and pick up the pizza so you could sleep, but he was reluctant to leave you here alone.”
    “Pizza.” Sid’s mind latched onto the image of a big, piping hot, loaded deep-dish with a mug of cold root beer to go with it. “I suppose we can’t get anything delivered here?”
    “You suppose right,” Mac said. “I’ll leave you to get yourself in order while I round up Luis.”
    He headed for the stairs, giving Sid a chance to appreciate his departing side. Lithe, like a big cat, and quiet, but not as incongruous in her bedroom as he should have been. The high ceilings, the solid stone construction of the house, the old oaks in the yard, and the open fields beyond suited him.
    Maybe she could sell the place to him, except a horseshoer—she forgot the other word he’d used—probably couldn’t afford this much land.
    Sid stopped dead in front of her cheval mirror.
    “God in heaven.” She had a crease on her cheek, her hair was a wreck, and her clothes looked like they’d never gotten acquainted with the dryer’s wrinkle-guard feature.
    MacKenzie Knightley had seen her like this.
    Apparently, country boys didn’t scare easily. Sid set to work with her brush, changed into fresh jeans that fit a little more snugly, and a green silk blouse that complemented her eyes. Brown suede half boots and a denim jacket with green and brown beading on the hems completed the picture.
    “You’ll do,” she informed her image. When she sauntered into the kitchen, Luis and MacKenzie were sitting at the table, working lengths of some hairy-looking twine.
    “You’ve taken up macramé, Luis?” She tousled his hair, because they had company, and Luis wouldn’t give her sass for it.
    “Making halters for the horses. I’m supposed to bring them in at night and turn them out in the morning until the hot weather comes.”
    “They might be gone by hot weather,” Sid said, going to the fridge.
    Luis set the twine on the table and stood. “Gone where?”
    “I’m not sure, but we know next to nothing about caring for livestock, Luis. You know this place isn’t long-term for us.”
    “But you told Social Services—”
    “Luis Martineau, what I tell that bunch of officious bi—biddies, or your good-for-nothing lawyer, has nothing to do with reality, any more than they’re really concerned with your best interests. Now what do you want on your pizza?”
    She felt MacKenzie Knightley watching them, but what did a horseshoer know about the red tape, posturing, and endless regulations that went along with being a foster parent? What did he know about Luis’s family, much less Sid’s own