I laughed like he’d told me the funniest joke.
“You should laugh more,” he said, placing a hand on my lower back.
My pulse kept time with the music pounding through the speakers, and I needed air. So before I thought too much about it, I raised up on my toes, turning my neck slightly, and said into his ear, “Want to get out of here?”
Where the courage came from, I wasn’t sure. What I did know was my body was calling to him.
The heat in his gaze said yes before he vocalized it.
Tonight, I wasn’t hiding from my past, from my divorce. It was time to do something for myself.
8
JACE
After Monroe said goodbye to her friends and led me out of the Rusty Spur as if she were my commander in charge, she gave me directions to her house.
The ten-minute drive and a phone call to her son didn’t give us any time to talk. But she kept eyeing me, cheeks flushed and expression flirty.
Man, she was gorgeous. Monroe had all the qualities I loved in a woman. She was strong, feisty, and compassionate. Hell, her singing spoke to me, seeping into my soul as though she was singing directly to me. Even the words matched my character, my inability to settle down. But when she’d sung the last chord, I’d been ready to drop to my knees and worship her. More importantly, I was finding that I needed her like she was the reason I was still breathing.
Maybe she was. Maybe fate had spared my life after the G-LOC just to throw her in my path. Everything looked different now, felt different—sharper, more fragile. And Monroe? She was making me think about things I hadn’t let myself imagine. Marriage. Kids. Forever. If I was being honest with myself, thatwas scaring the fuck out of me. Maybe I wasn’t ready for what was about to come in the next few hours.
She finally hung up with her son the moment we pulled into the driveway. “Sorry, I needed to make sure he was okay. It’s the first night in over a year he won’t be home.”
I killed the engine, and she got out before I had a chance to talk to her.
She rounded the hood of my SUV and prodded me with her eyes like I was some sort of idiot.
Shaking my head, I climbed out. “Monroe,” I called as she unlocked her front door.
She flashed those sultry green eyes my way. “Problem?”
Maybe. Maybe not.
I closed the distance between us. “I just have to ask. Why here? We could’ve gone to a quiet place in town.”
Her tongue darted out to brush over her busted lip, which appeared to be healing. “You’re forgetting most places close early in Pine Valley. And are you afraid to be alone with me?”
Hell, yeah.I had a lot of restraint, but with her I might find that I had none.
As if she could see the war raging in my head, she smiled. “Relax, Captain. I won’t jump your bones. I’ll make some coffee.”
She went inside like the tension between us was a blip on the radar.
I hesitated.
Man, you’re an adult, not a teenage boy in puberty. You can handle her.
A laugh broke out in my head. Maybe with Monroe I couldn’t. The thoughts I had about her were X-rated—both of us naked, in every position possible as she came undone beneath me.
“Jace,” she bit out, “you’re letting the heat out. Please, come inside. I don’t bite.”
“I might want you to,” I volleyed back as I stepped into her warm and inviting home.
Laughing, light and airy, she switched on the living room lamp that threw a soft golden glow across the homey space. “You like it rough?”
My knees almost buckled. “Are we really talking about sex?” My dick thought so.
