“Is this what you usually do?” I ask as we schlep our cholesterol-laden haul up the walkway to his rental home. “Make a bodily offering to the carb gods before the big event.”
“Before, after, and during.” He presses his hand gently into the small of my back as we hit the porch. Shep unlocks the key in one svelte move, and the door yawns open.
Just as I’m about to take a step forward, he blocks me with his arm.
“Hold on.” He leans into the house and sets the fast food bags down.
“Don’t tell me chivalry is dead. I’m all for equal rights, with the exception of doorway privileges and that whole women and children first rule in the event of a natural disaster.”
Shep stretches that sexy grin across his face. His stubble is so thick I cannot wait to rub my hands all over it—among other things. His dimples dig in deep, and my stomach falls straight through to middle earth. His eyes gleam with wicked intent, blue flames ready to take me down and singe my very soul. I sayburn, baby, burn.
“I’m glad you feel that way about chivalry,” he says, swooping me off my feet and into his arms, and I nearly dump all the donuts over my head in the process. Both Shep and I let out an agonizing cry over that one.
“Screaming in unison?” I muse as I tighten my death grip on said box of delectable delights. Shep and I took our time picking out our favorites, and in no way can I risk my glazed raspberry filled donut rolling its way down the street. “Is that required for the night, Professor Collins?” I can’t help but incite that naughty schoolgirl routine. It’s too delicious not to. Besides, it’s impossible to take Shep seriously as my superior. Shep is and has always been my equal in every way. Not one person has ever been able to dish it out just as good as I can give it—and I pray that tonight is no different.
A rumbling laugh percolates through his chest as we crest the entry and he kicks the door shut with his foot. “Screaming won’t be required. It’ll be necessary. But if you want to get started early, feel free to howl, mewl, bark at the moon. I’m ready for whatever noises you want to bring to the party.”
“I’m bringing it all, and then some. In fact, I’ve got a few surprises in my bag of tricks.” My feet scissor through the air as he sets me down.
“Bag of tricks,” he says as he hauls the bags brimming with food to the table. “Now, see there? That’s a first.” He points at me with a fry before feeding me a bite. “I knew I could count on you to be full of surprises. I promise that I have never been with a woman like you.” His arms find themselves naturally around my waist, and I can feel my cheeks heat with color as he holds me like this, calls me a woman.
“Hey,” he whispers as he brushes a kiss over my lips, and my entire body ignites like a tinderbox. “You look stunning tonight, you know that?” He pulls back and examines me. “At any point—I don’t care what’s happening—you have the full authority to pull the plug.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, my voice suddenly threadbare and near tears. I clear my throat and get ahold of my bearings. “The plug? Will that explain the string in your panties?”
He groans out a laugh. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?”
I wrinkle my nose at him while we dive into the fast food bags as if we were readying to climb the Himalayas. We inhale everything in sight, sending greasy wrappers to the ceiling in haste. Shep and I polish off a couple of donuts a piece for dessert, and suddenly moving doesn’t feel like a good idea.
I’m pretty sure a well-seasoned whore would have advised against the two bean burritos and sugar-laden balls of bliss I so eagerly downed. But the raspberry jelly was still warm, so I can’t be blamed for my need to inhale and annihilate. It was practically expected of me. I’m so full that if Shep says he’d rather watch a shoot ’em up marathon on The Man Channel, I might just acquiesce.
What am I saying? I’m about to have sex with Shep! I’m about toshagShep—commit coitus with my favorite partner in crime—sleep with the man on Hollow Brook’s most wanted list—and he with me. Does it get any hotter than that? I think not.
“You’re quiet,” he says, nodding us into the kitchen, and my mouth falls open with surprise as I take in an entire line of bottles behind him filled with all things lethal. “I thought we could do a little taste test beforehand. And I do mean tiny.” He frowns at me, and those dark brows slice right through my solar plexus. Shep is so drop-dead gorgeous. He has the ability to melt me with a simple look. Of course, I’d never tell him that. His ego would swell unnecessarily, like a marshmallow in the microwave. “Try not to swallow.”
“Ha! I’ll remember that for later.” I make a face as I begin to pour a healthy inch into the bevy of wineglasses Shep has set out.
Shep heats up a vat full of honey on the stove, and I dip the tip of my finger into the heated goo and moan as the sticky sweetness hits my lips.
“So delicious! Nothing like that store-bought crap. Where did you get this?”
“Hollow Brook Hives. Grown and bred right here in town. I thought it might be more to your liking.”
I take another lick and moan right through it once again. “You do know what I like, Daddy.”
He winces. “No daddy.” He shakes his head as he adds a dollop of honey into each of the glasses and we begin our tasting spree.
“Huh,” I say, feeling a slight buzz building regardless of the minuscule amount I drank. I tried to take Shep’s advice and wet my palate and nothing more—but the aftereffects feel all the same. “I don’t know.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not right.”
“What are you going to do with all this liquor, Shep? It’s enough to outfit a stellar bar, but the last thing Hollow Brook needs is yet a third toxic watering hole for the coeds and frat boys alike to migrate to.”
His cheek flexes, and I’m right back to melting. “My brother offered to buy it off me.”
My wrists lock behind his neck as I fall into those watery blue eyes. “Nice.” I can’t help but shed a dark laugh as I say it. I’m past the food, the booze, way past ready for my dessert. “I think we need to move the party to the bedroom.”
Shep whisks me off my feet, and I can’t help but giggle like a ten-year-old on the merry-go-round all the way there. In my defense, the entire house is spinning.
