“Jacob,” Scarlett said in her stern teacher tone. “Some women learn their worth a lot later in life. Brandy, I’m hoping you learn it a lot faster than some.”
“Have you learned it yet?” Brandy asked, saccharine sweet, her pointed gaze shifting to me.
Scarlett’s inhale was deep. I wished I could see her face, but her back was ramrod straight. “Yes, actually. I have two awesome friends who were willing to pay twenty grand for me to go on a date with the best man they know, a man who no longer freely gives himself or his time away. I highly recommend good friends and good men. Ten out of ten.” She waggled her fingers as she rolled the window up.
I was staring at her when she turned, grabbed my face, and hauled me toward her.
4
Scarlett
What was I doing?
All the best things.
I was scaling this bearded mountain man like he was a cliff face and I was a free climber.
I hip-checked my front door open, my lips plastered to his, my tongue down his throat. I tossed the keys somewhere inside and kicked the door closed as he wedged us farther in. He lifted me, and I wound my arms and legs around him.
“Scarlett,” he said against my mouth, then kissed a path to my ear.
Oh my god, that shouldn’t feel so damn good. Shivers traced down my back. “Yeah?” I didn’t recognize myself. I’d managed to give out proper adult advice and totally diss an asshole nineteen-year-old who’d given me heartburn the entire year he was in my class. To top it off, I’d smacked down my guards and indulged with Tate.
“I need to get inside of you.” He was at my throat now, his mouth hot, his tongue licking circles. I was still tied around him, my hands hooked behind his neck and my ankles crossed around his hips.
“Okay.”
He jerked his head up to peer into my eyes. “You sure?”
If there was one thing I was sure about, it was that I wanted to have sex with the scowling dad of one of my former students. If he was willing, I wasn’t going to look much deeper. I wouldn’t do that to myself. This was for me.
“You remember the fourth time I asked you to come to my class for a meeting?”
He nodded and kneaded my ass as he held me against him.
“I didn’t have to. It was nothing that couldn’t have gone home in a letter.”
A slow, sexy grin spread across his face. “Why, Miss Scarlett, I’d like to finally show you how obsessed with those tits of yours I’ve been.”
“You really— My boobs?” I hated being this insecure girl. I was with a strong, confident man from a formidable family who’d single-handedly saved this town with their business and then gone on to save kids. And here I was, having anxiety about my body.
“Yours.” He curled his fingers under the hem of my shirt. “I look at them and think they’ll fit perfectly in my hands. I think that your nipples will be tight little pebbles in my mouth, and I think you’ll quiver when I run my tongue over them.”
I was already trembling. “Tate. I want to find out if you’re right.”
“Lift your arms, Scarlett.”
I did as he demanded. How could I not?
The shirt went over my head and onto the living room floor. We hadn’t even moved beyond the entry nook.
He was about to move farther into the house, but I gasped. “My blinds are open.”
“Here works just fine.” He helped untwine my legs, so I didn’t tip out of his hold.
He put space between us and stopped, his gaze riveted on my bra. Oh no. I’d forgotten I’d changed out of my polka dot set when I cleaned up after the yard work.
“Pink smiley faces, Scarlett?”
