“I come up here to think,” she remarked as he pulled her into him, running his hand up her back, needing to touch her again, enjoying how solid and strong she felt. She was fit because of what she did, of course, but in a different way than women he’d dated in the city. She was all functional muscle, not yoga-toned and smooth. She had definition and athletic curves that fit into his large hands perfectly.
“Just think?” he drawled, as she nestled closer to him. “I hear all the country folk come up to lookouts for something other than ‘thinking.’”
She chuckled and swatted at his chest, tilting back to look at him, humor in her eyes, the tension and reservations gone.Thank god.
He moved her hair away from her neck and kissed her pulse point, her rapid heartbeat on his lips exactly what he wanted. Her hand went into his hair as his lips made their way down her neck to her collarbone, and she let out a soft moan as he moved back up and grazed her jugular with his teeth.
“I could seriously strip you right here, right now,” she murmured, and all the blood drained from his head to his dick. Then she looked him square in the eye and ran her hand over the bulge in his jeans.
“Is that a dare?” he growled, and dug his fingers into her ass, pulling her up and into him the moment she moved her hand. She laughed at that, a deep, throaty, turned-on laugh, and her fingers slid between them and unbuckled his belt.
“Yes,” she replied, hefting herself up to sit on the wall, pulling him to her with the end of his belt. “Now.”
If he needed further invitation, he was fooling himself. His fingers found the top of her jeans and popped the button, and hers hurriedly pulled at his as she bit her lip and threw him a look that was pure heat.
“Condom. Wallet,” he wheezed as her fingers dove in and sheathed him. They were cold but warmed immediately as they circled and squeezed. He had to slap a hand onto the wall for balance, because she was making him lightheaded.
Headlights lit everything up behind them, tires crunched on gravel, and she squinted, pulling up her other hand to shield her eyes. He sighed and reluctantly tucked himself back in as the headlights passed. She let out a snort of laughter as a truck pulled into a spot a few down from them, and two men got out with cigarettes already glowing, talking quietly to themselves.
One of the men nodded to him, a knowing look thrown between them, and he was temporarily subdued as it hit him.
He’d nearly fucked Liz out in the open, on the side of a stone wall at a local lookout.
He normally had more control over himself. How she could take that away was somewhat scary to contemplate in the moment afterward.
“Well, fuck, fun spoiled,” she muttered, and pushed his chest, a mischievous look stealing over her face. “Home? Bed. You, me?”
She was tucking her shirt back into her jeans, and even though his heart was hammering in his chest from the interrupted moment, he wanted to end tonight buried deep inside her.
“Home,” he rasped, agreeing with her. He watched her sway back to the truck, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she went, her ass perfectly cupped by her jeans. She looked back at him, eyebrow quirked, and he pushed off the wall to follow her. She looked like trouble and heaven in the same package, and he almost tripped when she licked her lips and hoisted herself up on the running board, a sexy slow smile on her face.
“Come on, City Boy, move that fantastic ass,” she said, and hopped into the driver’s seat.
Was he in trouble? He thought, right then, that he might be.
Chapter Nineteen
Liz pulled him through the door of her bunkhouse, fumbling for the light switch in the hallway, other hand firmly gripping his jacket. He was trying to lever off his shoes while also attempting to grab her, and she smacked at his hand, laughing so hard she could barely speak.
She squealed as he finally caught her and picked her up, striding farther into the house, stopping as he hit the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.
“Which way?” he growled, and smacked her ass lightly as she squirmed.
“Down the hall. Left!” she managed as she wriggled, trying to free herself, but also enjoying the caveman routine and playfulness that had stolen over him when they had pulled into the parking spot in front of her house.
They had driven the rest of the way with his hand on the back of her neck, playing with her hair, the heat from his palm bringing home the relief she’d felt when they’d said were on the same page with this thing they were about to do. Him agreeing to casual meant she could fully relax and let herself have fun.
That fun had ramped up pretty quickly, and she’d almost let him do her right on the lookout wall. On the drive, it sank in that she was wound up to bursting if she was willing to be out in the open, half naked with a guy she barely knew. What it was about him that undid her ability to keep herself in check, she had no idea. Well, other than he was ridiculously hot and was nothing like anything she’d ever put her hands on before. She didn’t even want to compare him to Darren, because Darren was miles away from the sheer male presence this man had when he walked into a room.
Jake toed open her door and deposited her on her bed, which, she discovered, as she hit it, was neatly made. There were no piles of clothes on one side, clean but jumbled because she never put them away. The comforter was smooth and not a massive lump thrown open each morning.
“What the—” she managed as she looked around her in confusion. Her bed was never made.
Mom.
She must have popped in today, unable to help herself. It bugged Liz sometimes that her mother invaded her space, but it was also comforting that she still wanted to take care of her. Without Brett, Peony needed something to do, someone to take care of.
“I never took you for a neat freak, Liz,” Jake teased as he crawled up the bed until they were nose to nose, his arms braced on either side of her head. “You are so not a tidy kind of girl.”
