“This isn’t funny,” I tell him, even as my body leans into his touch.
“It’s a little funny.”
“Not.”
My phone buzzes with a text.
Dad: Get home. Now.
The words are like cold water, breaking through my haze.
“Gotta go,” I say in a small voice.
“Probably a good idea,” Wyatt agrees.
But as I start to lead Rita away, Jesse falls into step beside me, his hand finding the small of my back.
“Hey,” he says quietly, his voice intimate. “It’ll blow over. Small-town gossip always does.”
“You don’t know Mrs. Delaney very well, do you?”
“I know she means well.”
“You sure about that?”
Jesse’s mouth quirks up in a half smile. “Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.”
I look at him, this McCoy boy who’s managed to turn my quiet weekday into front-page gossip, who’s looking at me like he wants to devour me right here in front of everyone, and I can’t decide if I want to kiss him or strangle him.
Maybe both.
“It’s kind of bad. Maybe even really bad,” I mutter.
“Hey, don’t throw in the towel.” His voice drops, becomes suggestive. “It would be worse.”
“How?”
“I prefer to focus on the positive,” Jesse says. “How about how good you look in those wet?—”
“Jesse,” Wyatt’s warning growl cuts him off.
“What? I’m making conversation.”
“You’re making trouble.” Wyatt’s moved closer too, and I’m caught between them again.
“I thought Callie was trouble,” Jesse says, his eyes on my mouth.
I am. I’m the kind of trouble that’s about to combust from sexual tension in the middle of a public space.
“I should really go,” I say again, but my body is screaming at me to stay, to see where this dangerous game leads.
“Yeah, I guess,” Jesse agrees. “You should.”
But neither of us moves. We stand there, the air crackling with unspoken want, with forbidden desire that everyone can see.
And judging by the heat between us, this is far from over.
The guys walkme to the property line. Jesse is at my side with his hand on my back, and his brothers follow like predators stalking prey. I’ve gotten seven more notifications, three missed calls from Dad, and a text from acousin asking if it’s true that I’m “fraternizing with the enemy.”
