She drives me crazy—and yet…
I don’t give her a moment to reply before I lean in closer, pressing my lips to her temple in a kiss that pulls a little tremor through her.
“It’s a done deal, baby,” I murmur low against her skin that smells faintly of warm vanilla spice touched with just a hint of citrus infused by the ever-present aroma of pinched flower stems. It’s an intoxicating blend that is wholly and uniquely her. Addictive.
Her eyes, delicately hooded and blasted with something I want to pick apart and analyze, lift to mine. It’s a wonder I remain standing in my boots. A wonder she hasn’t knocked me clean off my feet with eyes like hers—filled with allthat.
She breathes a trembling breath. “What?”
“You’re mine. Officially.” Her lips part once more, and damn, I seriously consider dipping my head for a taste.
She cocks a daring brow. I get a flashback of her on that cliff that first time I saw her. I recognize it now. Her challenge. “Yours?”
“Mine. My woman.” My eyes hold hers even as I can feel the eyes of others on us. Studying us. “Soon, you’ll be my wife.” I lean in closer as though I’m drawn in on a string from a web she so naturally weaves. I rumble, “Mine.”
Her eyes flick up to mine again, big and beautiful.And then she hits me with a slow curl of her full lips. A taunt that urges me to do all kinds of things I know I shouldn’t. Things I’ve never been tempted to do in all the days I’ve lived. “Well, this is going to be fun.”
I’m about to ask what she means, because as infuriatingly beautiful as she is—she kind of also scares the shit out of me. I never know what the woman is going to do next. Can’t begin to read her.
She angles her body on the stool, wiggling her hips to the edge. I get a flash of tan thigh as her hot pink dress rides up, and then she pushes off the stool. She comes in close, her palm pressing into my pec as she rises up onto her tiptoes, head tipped back enough to draw me even closer in that web of hers.
I can taste her breath, sweet and honeyed when she taunts just inches away from my lips, “Clear your plans tonight, boyfriend. My parents are going to want you for dinner…” She pulls back to flutter those long lashes at me flirtatiously. “And we’ll really get to sealing this deal,baby.”
“Oh, it’s sealed,” I grunt, and call as she spins away from me, “Cemented.”
I realize the entire café is staring at me slack-jawed as I watch Lilah dance away from me, a giggle on her lips that pulls an unwilling grin onto my own.
Damn it, but the woman is dangerous.And I might just be in over my head.
12
HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER
LILAH
“May thinks the man’s got some kind of dirt on you.” Mom eyes me from the counter where she chops veggies for tonight’s salad.
May, our neighbor since I was born, is suspicious of everyone. Her mom on the other hand, Mrs. Opal Kennedy, is a hoot. She’s also a die-hard romantic, which I’m sure is driving May up one wall and down another, what with the town tongue wagging regarding me and Briggs after our recent public sightings.
“You can assure May that I’ve not been stripped of my free will.”
“You can’t know that, kiddo.” Dad bends low to pluck a beer from the fridge. He pops the top and takes a swig. “He’s a pretty one. Girls always get a little funny with the pretty ones.”
“Briggs isn’t pretty.” I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous. He’s hard and sharp and fun to poke at.
Dad’s brows snap high. “Have you seen his eyes? They’re like gems bedded in a forest of?—”
I slap my hands over my ears, but I’m not entirely able to snuff out my laughter. “Dad! Please don’t wax poetic about my boyfriend’s eyes. It’s weird.”
It’s also weird to call the man my boyfriend.
Dad’s cheeks are plump and red as he does his best to contain his own laughter. “I’m just saying. That boy is pretty, and we all know how weird girls get around pretty boys. Brandy,” Dad calls. “Remember that scene in the chemistry lab with the older Williams boy?”
Mom giggles into the chopped salad bowl as I groan. “I was fourteen.”
“Love is love.” Mom snickers.She’s always on team Dad.
“I wasn’t in love with Phillip Williams.”
