“Hey! I haven’t gotten into any trouble since I’ve been back. I’m a changed woman.”Emphasis on woman,I think to myself.
Nathan raises a brow. “Tessa, I caught you speeding the moment you passed the welcome sign. The generator went out right before Santa arrived andyoujust happened to be there. Almost fell off the docks and into the water. The Prices’ goats got loose. Oh, and you crashed your car into a ditch when you shouldn’t have been on the road to begin with. All of that in the first what, week that you’ve been back?”
I can’t fight the blush in my cheeks. “Okay. The speeding thing was kinda my fault. But the ditch wasn’t on purpose!”
“None of it is ever your fault, is it Tessa?” he teases.
“Exactly. You’re finally beginning to understand. I’m merely avictimof circumstance.”
He grins and shakes his head. “You should know, I’ve been on high alert since you rolled back into town,” he says, his voice rougher sounding. Sexier.
The words hang in the air between us for approximately three seconds, and then I move.
Or maybe he does.
It doesn’t matter. Because the next thing I know, his mouth is on mine—rough, searching, hot enough to burn right through the chill that’s been clinging to me since the storm started.
This kiss is everything I shouldn’t want and everything I can’t turn away from.
When he finally pulls back, his breath is unsteady and his forehead is pressed to mine.
“Bad idea,” he murmurs.
“The worst,” I whisper. “But I’m not sorry.”
Neither is he. I can feel it in the way his thumb traces my jaw, the way his breath shudders against my skin.
Then he leans in, his voice barely a rasp. “You should get some sleep.”
“Yeah,” I say, though neither of us moves.
“We shouldn’t,” he says quietly, but his hand is still on my face, his warm thumb dragging lightly along my lower lip. The motion makes my breath hitch.
“I know.” I whisper, even as I lean into his touch. “But you kissed me first.”
He huffs a soft, humorless laugh. “You didn’t exactly stop me.”
“Would you have wanted me to?”
That gets me a look—sharp, pained, and wanting. He exhales through his nose and shakes his head, almost like he’s trying to clear it, but when his gaze finds mine again, the restraint there is unraveling thread by thread.
Before he can answer the power flickers briefly again and then we’re draped in darkness except for the glow of the fire.
The storm howls outside. Inside, it’s just warmth, passion, and everything we both know is about to change.
“You never did know when to stay out of trouble,” he mutters, eyes still focused on my lips.
I smile faintly, daring him. “So you’ve pointed out. More than once.”
He swears under his breath and his hand moves, tracing down the side of my neck, his thumb brushing the pulse there.
The fire crackles, but the only sound that matters is the quiet inhale he takes before he leans back in—slower this time. His lips find mine again, not the desperate clash from before, but something darker, deliberate. His tongue teases at my bottom lip, tasting, testing, and I open for him without thinking.
The kiss deepens until I forget where I end and he begins. Bourbon, smoke, and the heat of him fill my senses, and when his hand slides into my hair, I almost melt into the rug.
He pulls back just enough to breathe me in. His forehead presses to mine again, and I feel him fighting every instinct to stop. “You’re making it really damn hard to do the right thing here, Pope.”
“Then don’t.” The words slip out before I can take them back. “For once in your life, Nathan,let go. It’s okay to lose control sometimes. Fun even.”
