“William had them printed a while back, though I’m not sure we’ve ever done anything with them. Still, they’ll give you our contact details and opening hours.”
The moment Mr. Garrity disappeared, Riley turned toward him, closing the distance Jason had just put between them.
“So,” Riley said, voice low, “just to confirm, was the bear a part of the standard date experience, or is that a seasonal Elk Ridge special?”
Jason blinked. For an instant, he wanted to die because Riley had seen his reaction. But Riley wasn’t mocking him. Jason knew all too well what mockery looked like, and the playful laughter in Riley’s eyes wasn’t directedathim.
He realized that Riley was teasing him. Not unkindly.
“I wasn’t scared,” he said. “I was startled.”
“Uh-huh.” Riley grinned, and it lit his whole face. “You’re adorable when you’re startled.”
Jason’s cheeks heated again, but this was what people on dates did. They flirted. “Well, I’ll make sure to walk into more stuffed animals, then.”
Riley took a step closer. “You don’t have to do anything. You standing there, looking like that? It’s enough to knock silver miners right out of my head.”
This couldn’t be happening. Not to him. Riley was too good-looking, too confident, too everything Jason wasn’t. Everything felt so charged, and Jason didn’t know what to do. He should say something, should stop staring at Riley like a deer in headlights.
Instead, he found himself leaning in, just slightly. His heart hammered. Were they really going to—?
Riley made the decision for him. His lips were warm and soft andperfect.And then Riley’s tongue flicked gently against Jason’s lips, and it was the most natural thing in the world for Jason to open his mouth, and for Riley’s tongue to slide against his.
His body jolted, like he’d been plugged into an electrical current. Heat, desire,needlike he’d never known licked through him, over and over again, until he was trembling with it. Like a tree in a storm, tossed every which way with no control, his grip on Riley the only thing anchoring him.
Riley’s hand was in Jason’s hair, holding him close as his tongue stroked against Jason’s. Jason groaned helplessly, and Riley pushed closer, backing him against the case, all heat and urgency.
Jason had been sure Riley would pull back—would laugh at him for the little sounds he couldn’t stop himself from making—but instead, Riley’s hand tightened in his hair. Riley pulled back for a heartbeat, pupils blown wide, looking almost as lost as Jason felt. For a split second, Jason thought he might pull away completely, because he seemed stunned, almost dazed. But then he leaned back in, need surging between them.
Riley was warm, solid, his body molding against Jason in a way that had heat curling low in Jason’s belly. He was pushing his hips against Jason’s, and—oh, God. Jason realized he wasn’t the only one who was turned on.
“Well, I just have—ah, I see I forgot something. Back in a minute.”
It took Jason, dazed as he was, an instant to realize that, holycrap, that had been Mr. Garrity walking in on them. He pulled away from Riley, though everything in him protested, and removed his hand from where it had somehow found its way under Riley’s t-shirt to cling to the warm, smooth skin of his back.
“I—uh—” he stumbled. His lips felt swollen.
“Yeah,” Riley agreed. “Damn, Jason.”
As Jason wondered what the proper etiquette was after a kiss that had been brought to an abrupt and early end, theImperial Marchblasted from Riley’s pocket.
“Shit,” Riley said, retrieving his phone from his jeans. “I have to take this, it’s my boss. At the publisher,” he added, as if Jason wouldn’t know what he meant.
“Sure,” Jason said, and turned away to look at the pieces of gold and silver ore on display, willing his erection to go away before Mr. Garrity got back.
RILEY
Damn it tohell, Amy’s timing sucked. But then he remembered who was paying his wages and expenses, and he made sure to sound pleased to hear her.
“What’s up?” he asked, and grinned at the guilty jolt that went through Jason’s body at his wording.
“Can you talk?”
“Sorry,” he said. “Later.”
“I want your progress report by six. And if it’s another ‘nothing yet,’ you better tell me why I shouldn’t send someone else to cover this.”
Riley winced. “You’ll have it.” He checked the time and swore silently. Shit. He had less than two hours to pull together something that sounded like a lead. To find proof that there reallywassomething dangerous brewing beneath the surface of this sleepy little town, so they could blow it wide open before Urban had a chance to put his plan into action. And, of course, sell a shit-ton of papers.
