“What do you mean?I heard my dad encouraging my brother to run for sheriff against you.”
“Oh really.Well how about you let me worry about that.What I don’t want is you getting any heat from your family for spending time with me.”
She nodded.“I don’t really care what they say.”
“Can I kiss you?”he asked, needing to be sure she wanted his attention.
She reached up, gripping his sweater and pulling him closer.“Yes.”
And that’s all the permission he needed.Finding her mouth eager for his was like winning a prize.He couldn’t help the wave of desire for her as he moved closer, and she stepped up on her tiptoes to kiss him back.
But her soft hum of pleasure reminded him he wanted to take her out before they unraveled and they definitely couldn’t get naked in her grandfather’s house.Ending the kiss, he ran his thumb along her full bottom lip.
“Does this mean you forgive me, and you’ll go out with me today?”
She nodded while sucking in a breath.“I just need to make sure Pops has what he needs.I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be right here.”
He watched her unzip her coat and fan herself as she walked down the hall to check on Mr.Shepherd.A minute later she was back.
“He’s snoozing.I left him a note to call me when he wakes up, or to expect me back in time for dinner.”
“That works,” he said with a forced smile, disappointed she wouldn’t be staying with him.But he could understand the whole reason she was in town was to help her grandfather out.
She grabbed her bag at the door, and he put his coat back on.
“So where are we headed today?”
“Do you trust me?”
She paused.“Is it weird that I do?Maybe it’s the badge.”
He laughed.“I’ll take it.”
She locked the front door and then he opened the passenger-side door of his truck and waited for her to get in, then went around to the other side.
“You really did have backup sizes,” she said, noticing the two other boxes in his back seat.
“I told you I’m trustworthy.”
“That’s a great quality.”
He started up his SUV and pulled back out of the driveway.He succeeded in getting her to forgive him and trust him.Now he needed to see if he could woo her enough to spend all her spare time with him while she was in town.There was something about this woman he didn’t want to let go of anytime soon.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Shelby
What Do You Care?
Finding Wes outsideher door that morning was a surprise; riding with him out of town was a relief.Shelby wasn’t ashamed to be with Wes at all, but for some reason she was worried about what everyone in town would think.Maybe they wouldn’t understand why gorgeous, tough Wesley Hart was spending time with outcast Shelby Shepherd.But it was even stranger that only her hometown made her feel that way.In Atlanta, and in her book world, she wasn’t insecure at all.
“So tell me, when did you start writing?Did you always know that was your passion?”Wes asked.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing, in notebooks, on napkins, any idea that would pop into my head.Little storylines I would create and tell myself.If I wasn’t writing, I was reading.”
“And then you just finished a few stories and sent them to a publisher?”
